Dear Editor:
Disturbed by many of the comments, especially Barberio blaming the past administration (aka Mayor-Soriano) for things he was not responsible for, such as the COVID pandemic, for starters. Also, major water infrastructure collapsed during this time, and wells went dry. When Mayor Soriano attempted to instill a minor tax increase of $4.36 to remedy the costs, he was turned down by the Republican majority council, and badged by Barberio with his “hang on to your wallets”. When Barberio was re-elected, he raised taxes and water/sewer fees. His previous use of the water/sewer surplus for tax patches meant insufficient funds to pay for the water infrastructure failures.
This sudden change of mind showed how arbitrary, capricious, contradictory, and hypocritical political figures have become, which says much. Barberio says now, “No matter who the mayor is,” he means as long as I am the mayor.
His allegation that he built the Police backup is also misleading. During COVID, police recruitment and training were canceled or postponed due to lockdowns and social distancing measures. Police academies closed. I would add that his contentions about crime going down are also false. Parsippany never really had a crime problem, except for random incidents, and crime, in itself a social disease, can change at any time. Poverty itself is the father of crime, and most crime that affects us all is corporate crime.
Barberio’s double talk concerning “over-development” is not over-development, but redevelopment is double talk. You can’t redevelop unless it’s already developed. So now we see how over-dependence on corporate tax rate tables has finally caught up to Parsippany. These corporate properties, now idle, have led Parsippany to become an outlier and be subjected to the affordable housing fiasco. Be reminded it was Chris Christie a republican who was responsible for developers remedy, and not keeping Mount Laurel on a State level, but given over to a local problem, which favored the private sector or real estate barons, which have used affordable housing for a fear tactic, to impose their power over a community.
Parsippany, under Inglesino and Barberio, became subject to this tactic. This allowed several remaining sensitive landscapes to be unnecessarily lost to other unwanted and improper developments; the Waterview rezone betrayal stands out and sticks in the craw.
How does going from a rateable chase to 30-year PILOTs make any sense, especially for warehouses? This is another Inglesino deal that smells of political quid pro quo in campaign finance. The warehouse without a PILOT, Lanidex Plaza, is being allowed in an inappropriate location outside the guidelines for warehouse placement, another Inglesino deal using affordable housing as a fear tactic.
Barberio’s remarks on Parsippany’s Highlands Conformance, under the “Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act”, which John Inglesino stopped, saying how Parsippany has good relations, are ironic. Parsippany should have been in Conformance in 2010, during Barberio’s first term, but Inglesino stopped it, all based on falsehoods. In 2014, he took Parsippany completely out of the process.
Highlands enforces and betters a municipal Master Plan. What good is your master plan when corporate developers threaten to sue, and the town throws in the towel?
Musella needs to learn more about the benefits of Highlands Conformance. It is a shameful past that many council members performed no due diligence in educating themselves about its purpose and benefits. It was Mayor Soriano who finally brought Parsippany into Highlands, of which he was given no credit, and rid us of John Inglesino until he reappeared under Barberio again.
Let’s be honest: When Barberio was mayor, John Inglesino was, in fact, in charge. The Waterview no-rezone betrayal and other shady deals that cost taxpayers should never have occurred or been forgotten.
Nicholas Homyak
