Pam Hersh

Don’t miss Arts in the Park on Sunday September 10 from 11:30 am – 4:30 pm., Highland Park’s annual arts street fair, juried art show, arts and crafts sale, and music festival in downtown Highland Park. The heat wave will be history, and the street fair is on target for making history – being the biggest in Highland Park’s history. There will be more vendors, more entertainers, more food trucks than ever before. There will be art for sale, other vendors and promotional tables, four performance stages, food, Highland Park businesses, a youth art show, and more! Free and open to all! READ MORE

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Election Picture in New Jersey

NJ Spotlight, COLLEEN O’DEA, SENIOR WRITER AND PROJECTS EDITOR | SEPTEMBER 6, 2023

Labor Day marks the start of election season, but with New Jersey Republicans eager to try to take back control of at least one of the houses of the Legislature for the first time in two decades, campaigning in some districts is well underway. Election Day is Nov. 7. In the 16th District in central Jersey, the Democratic ticket of Sen. Andrew Zwicker, Assemblyman Roy Freiman and Mitchelle Drulis sent out their first general election mailer before Labor Day, proclaiming they “fight for the issues that matter most to you and your family’s future.” They also slammed their Republican challengers — Mike Pappas, in a rematch against Zwicker, and Ross Traphagen and Grace Zhang — for engaging in “extreme Trump-style politics.” 

The races in the 16th District, which was made slightly friendlier terrain for Republicans by last year’s legislative redistricting, are likely to focus on many issues that candidates will be arguing in a handful of other hotly contested races this fall: parental rights, Trumpism, abortion and tax relief. To that list, particularly in districts like Monmouth County’s 11th along the Shore — which has split party representation — add the Murphy administration’s Energy Master Plan, with wind-power development off the coast, no new gas cars to be sold after 2035 and the Board of Public Utilities’ energy incentives, characterized by the GOP as a gas-stove ban.  

“Legislative Democrats have been playing defense,” said Micah Rasmussen, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University. 

Democrats are still stinging from the net loss of seven seats in 2021, including the shocking loss by then-Senate President Steve Sweeney and the assemblymen in the 3rd District. Republicans have been on offense when it comes to energy policy, from electric cars and stoves to the financial and coastal impacts of the wind industry. Republicans also think they have the Democrats on the run over the state’s lawsuits to stop parental notification policies in several school districts.   

“Democrats have even been forced to distance themselves from the Biden administration’s identification of the FAA facility in Atlantic County as a potential site to move immigrants out of New York City,” Rasmussen added. “Democratic legislators could fairly argue that most of these are the policies of other parts of government, but that won’t stop Republicans from urging voters to send Governor Murphy and President Biden a message.” 

Ben Dworkin, director of the Rowan Institute for Public Policy and Citizenship, said Democrats won’t let the GOP continue to hammer away at them unchecked. “Now that we’re entering the real fall campaign, the Democratic campaigns are going to be much more actively engaged in the messaging,” he said.  

Look beyond the numbers 

While registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by almost 1 million statewide and in three-quarters of the state’s 40 legislative districts, party leaders are worried about being vulnerable on some of the more controversial steps taken by the Murphy administration and they may have a right to be.  

Democrats are still stinging from the net loss of seven seats in 2021, including the shocking loss by then-Senate President Steve Sweeney and the assemblymen in the 3rd District in the southwest, and Gov. Phil Murphy’s relatively small victory margin for election to a second term.  

Talking about the elections

And despite their advantage in voter registration, Democrats in recent years have lost seats in three districts — Assembly seats in the 11th, as well as the 2nd and 3rd districts in South Jersey — and have been unable to take control in three others. 

Turnout in years when the state Legislature tops balloting typically is low: In 2019, the last time the Senate and Assembly led the ticket, just 27% of those who were registered, voted. 

Two recent Monmouth University polls indicate both parental rights and wind energy are issues that could help Republicans. The poll on parental rights found that more than three-quarters of people said schools should notify parents if their child wants to be identified as a different gender than is on their school registration, even as the state attorney general has gone to court to stop such notifications. READ MORE

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by John Reitmeyer – NJ Spotlight June 30, 2023

Gov. Phil Murphy, just hours before the start of a new fiscal year, signed off on a new state budget that calls for another big increase in year-over-year spending. An election-year spending bill approved in both houses of the Legislature on Friday includes more money for K-12 public schools, child tax credits and senior property-tax relief, among other key initiatives. All 120 seats in a Legislature now controlled by Democrats are on the November ballot. Murphy signed the spending bill into law just after 8:30 p.m. During a State House event, he said it wouldhelp address the “affordability challenges” faced by many middle-class residents. “Everything in this budget is about growing and strengthening the middle class,” Murphy said. READ MORE

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The winner of last night’s Democratic primary election for mayor of Highland Park was Elsie Foster, the current mayor, who attracted 1,269 votes, 64 percent of the ballots cast. Her opponent, Monique Coleman, a member of the Highland Park School Board, had 707 votes, 36 percent of the ballots cast. Therefore, Foster will be on the ballot as the Democratic candidate for mayor of Highland Park in the November 7, 2023 General Election. In January, the Borough of Highland Park raised the curtain on a political drama that was inspired by the resignation of former Mayor Gayle Brill Mittler from her mayoral position on January 1, 2023. Several individuals vied for the council appointment as mayor to finish out Brill Mittler’s term. READ MORE

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Sheryl Lee Ralph, an Emmy Award-winning actress, Broadway star, TV sitcom star, and one of the first women admitted to Rutgers College more than 50 years ago, encouraged members of the Class of 2023 to chase their dreams and find their voice in a passionate speech that started with her singing and taking a selfie with the crowd. “Don’t chase money. Money will come,” said Ralph who made history in 2022 when she won the Emmy for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as kindergarten teacher Barbara Howard in ABC’s hit sitcom Abbott Elementary. “Figure out what makes you happy. If you enjoy what you do, it doesn’t feel like a job.”

Before Ralph, only the second Black woman to win that Emmy, delivered the commencement address, President Jonathan Holloway bestowed upon her an honorary degree of humane letters during the 257th Anniversary Commencement of Rutgers University-New Brunswick and Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences (RBHS). READ MORE

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Highland Park NJ Porchfest 2023 is back by popular demand for its 3rd year. This Sunday, May 21, 2023, 12 to 6 p.m. several porches in town will be alive with the sounds of music. Last year was a huge success with over 13 porches and a ton of very talented musicians. For exact locations, go to Facebook.com and search for Highland Par NJ Porchfest 2023.     Main Street Highland Park’s annual Downtown Planting Days are back for two more fun-filled days of downtown beautification! READ MORE

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Daylight Saving Time makes its return on Sunday, March 12 at 2 a.m.– time to move the clocks forward one hour. The much debated annual process of changing clocks back in fall and ahead in spring began during World War I as a way to conserve energy. In 1966, the Uniform Time Act established the current practice of Daylight Saving Time, which runs from March through November. The Energy Policy of 2005 made Daylight Saving Time four weeks longer. Only Congress or the Secretary of Transportation can make a time-zone adjustments. READ MORE

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Highland Park has a new leadership team- Mayor Elsie Foster and Council President Matthew Hersh

At a special meeting of the Highland Park Mayor and Borough Council on Tuesday January 24, council members voted for Acting Mayor Elsie Foster to assume the position of mayor and complete the remaining one year in the term of Gayle Brill Mittler, who resigned on the mayor’s position on Dec. 31, 2022. Foster was one of three candidates nominated to complete the mayor’s term; the other nominees were Council Member Phil George and Council Member Matthew Hersh.Council members also voted for Council Member Matthew Hersh to assume the position of council president, which was vacated by Foster when she assumed the position of mayor. Hersh was one of two candidates nominated for council president; the other nominee was Council Member Stephany Kim Chohan.In her remarks before the vote by the council, Foster identified her priorities: safety, affordability, and downtown development. She stressed her 22 years serving on the council and her considerable experience, including having served on all the committees of the council.After the vote, she stated: “I’m complimented by the confidence my colleagues on the council have placed in me. READ MORE

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From NJ Spotlight – Friday Nov. 4, 2022: The day after FBI in Newark warned of a threat to synagogues in N.J., the agency said it has identified its source and mitigated the danger.The agency did not detail what steps it had taken, saying only, “We identified the source of the threat who no longer poses a danger to the community.”The source was identified only as a man who holds “radical extremist views”; there was also no word on whether he had been charged or was in custody.The agency yesterday took to Twitter to say it had “received credible information of a broad threat to synagogues in NJ,” explaining the unusual move as a “proactive measure” as it investigated. 
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The Borough of Highland Park on September 29, 2022 formally opened the nearly two million dollar renovation of the football fields/track & field/recreation complex behind the Highland Park Middle School/High School. The renovation of the Highland Park Recreation Complex was funded by an allocation from the NJ State FY 2022 budget and local matching funds from the municipal budget as approved by the Highland Park Council Members and the school budget as approved by the Highland Park Board of Education Memvbers. Highland Park elected officials and staff worked tirelessly to obtain the funding from the state and to ensure matching local funds. In her remarks, the mayor noted:

“The recreation complex at the Middle School/High School is the only large parcel of land owned by the borough. As such, it has served as the location for different broadly-attended borough activities over the years. READ MORE

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