Saturday, August 21, 2004

Patricia Quattrocchi
H 908-789-9078
W 732-382-5505

Arts Center purchase is a Freeholders Folly

Congratulations go out to Mr. and Mrs. Union County, shortly you will become the proud owners of a former vaudeville & silent movie house, circa 1928, AKA The Union County Arts Center. The decision to purchase the Arts Center had already been made when it was announced as an imitative at the Union County Freeholders annual reorganization meeting in January. The major question for months has been, how were they going to pull this off and justify purchasing this money looser?

They publicly spoke of using "Open Space Monies" - that doesn't fit, general capital dollars - whoops no good already getting flack over the budget, grant monies - but from who and there isn't any time and even paying a token $1 and becoming responsible for the maintenance and administration of the center but wait a minute, there is a mortgage or two on the buildings. Suddenly, eureka if it had teeth the solution would have bitten them!

So, on Thursday evening, August 18th the board voted to adopt a Bond Ordinance in excess of $49,000,000. Yes, that's right, Forty-Nine Million Dollars of additional debt. Nestled neatly in this amount was $6.18 million for the refurbishment with major improvements, and purchase of the UC Arts Center. You see, they had already voted in April to award a no bid contract in the amount of $312,000 to Joseph Jingoli & Sons Inc. of Lawrenceville to "provide the county with Construction Management Services related to the UC Arts Center". Then in May, they awarded another no bid contract of $630,000, this time to USA Architects Planners & Interior Designers of Somerville "to provide architectural and engineering services in connection with the renovations and additions to the UC Performing Arts Center." Think about it, they had already spent close to one million of the tax payers' dollars on this project before they even figured out how they were going to pay for this thing. What the voters also should know is that since 2000 Jingoli has contributed over $60,000 to the UC Democrats PAC, and USA Planners gave $4,600 from October of '03 to March of '04. I would like to think these contributions had nothing to do with the contracts being awarded, but who am I to say that it looks an awful lot like Pay to Play.

There have been press releases and newspaper articles even a letter to the editor of the Worrall Newspapers by Freeholder Sullivan stating that the Arts Center "needs help to survive and reach it's full potential" and "is a key to Rahway's redevelopment". Please keep in mind that it operated in the red to the tune of $160,000 in 2002 and the Lord only knows what 2003 was like, but we acquired it as an "investment", and as Freeholder Mingo stated "to improve the quality of life in Union County".

Pardon me but this is not a "quality of life issue" this is an economic issue. This could have been funded through private sources as a business venture, a group, who I expect would have made it turn a profit, instead we find ourselves getting deeper in debt. Perhaps the name should be changed to the Freeholder Folly.

We believe our financial resources should be used for essential services and wasteful spending curtailed. Please support responsible fiscal management by voting for of team of Joe Renna, Patricia Quattrocchi, Frank Arena and Bruce Paterson for UC Freeholders in November. To learn more about this and other issues we feel are important to the residents of Union County please visit our website at UnionCountyGOP.org or call us at 908-789-0200.