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BY JOHN SNYDER
OF PASCACK PRESS
EMERSON, N.J.—The Borough Council has returned to Republican leadership, with Councilwoman Danielle DiPaola, soon the borough’s first woman mayor, wresting the gavel from two-term Mayor Lou Lamatina.
DiPaola’s running mates, Brian Gordon and Ken Hoffman, unseated Karen Wolf, who was seated in January to finish John Lazar’s term, and Brian Downing, a retired county sheriff’s sergeant who was making his first bid for re-election to the council.
DiPaola, 52, a lifelong borough resident who studied art history and theater at The University of Maryland at College Park, is a veteran of borough government and owns Danielle’s Baskets & Gifts.
A vocal critic of elements of an ambitious mixed-use redevelopment plan taking shape under Lamatina, she called her Nov. 6 election “a referendum on overdevelopment.”
“We swept, all three of us. It was great. We won, but what really happened is that Emerson won,” DiPaola told Pascack Press the morning of Nov. 7.
Later in the day, she added, “The people of Emerson have spoken. It is apparent that the people have serious concerns about the direction the town was taking. I would ask that the governing body, out of respect to the voters, take no further action [on redevelopment] until January.”
DiPaola opposed borough tactics against holdout property owners, questioned where additional affordable housing is expected to go, and has called for greater transparency of the deal.
Selected to fill a vacated seat on the council, DiPaola was elected to three-year terms on the dais in 2010, 2013, and 2016.
She’s been liaison to Public Buildings and Grounds, Parks and Utilities, Streets and Municipal Services, Finance, Tax, and Revenue Committee, the Environmental Commission, the Historic Preservation Commission, the Board of Health, the Library Board of Trustees, and the Shade Tree Commission.
Her win also could breathe new life into the possibility that Borough Hall, which is eligible to apply for a spot on the State Register of Historic Places, might get what local historians call its due against a push to modernize municipal facilities, including police headquarters and the courtroom.
Campaigning, she told Pascack Press, “My opponents have said I’m against progress, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. I’ve always supported and voted yes on projects that actually improve the borough while still being consistent with its small- town character.”
She cited her votes as vice chair of the Land Use Board and Class III member for over four years in favor of Oritani Bank, The Emerson Grand, Tool Chest, and renovations to ShopRite, The Emerson Hotel, and Liberty Subaru.
“These projects had excellent plans that were befitting of a small town,” she said.
She also has said she would “bring government to the people of Emerson.” She was on a committee looking into televising meetings.
Lamatina, proud of record, wishes new team luck
Lamatina, 60, principal of the Law Office of Louis J. Lamatina, served as a councilman here from 1995 to 1997, was mayor 2007 to 2010, and was elected to the center seat again in 2015.
He also advises the Township of Washington Planning Board.
He graduated magna cum laude from Manhattan College with a double major in economics and history and from Hofstra law.
On Nov. 8 he told Pascack Press he is honored and privileged to have led the Borough of Emerson for the past four years.
“Our legacy will be the major accomplishments which have improved our way of life, including completion of the Kinderkamack Road Improvement Project, moving forward with the much needed revitalization to our downtown, stabilizing and actually reducing the Borough portion of our tax bills by increasing ratables through reasonable and rational development, increasing our surplus, closing the Just Pups puppy mill location in our downtown, and restoring civility to the Borough,” he said.
He added, “My team has accomplished much, and I wish our new leaders all the luck in the world as they will hopefully continue with that progress.”
He took evident delight in announcing recently that redeveloper JMF Properties had struck a deal with owners on Block 419 lots, 2, 3, 4, and 6.01, which include the Cinar Turkish Restaurant, Cork & Keg Liquor, and Ranch Cleaners, to acquire their properties, seen as in the way of new upscale shopping, 147 apartments, and a parking garage on Kinderkamack Road between Lincoln Boulevard and Linwood Avenue.
There would also be a set-aside for some of the borough’s unmet need for affordable housing.
The attorney for the sellers told Pascack Press Oct. 29 that his clients “have had to live with a cloud of condemnation hanging over their properties for nearly three years. They have been forced to incur substantial legal fees in defending their properties in court over the last 18 months.”
Gordon, Hoffman ready to get to work
Celebrating their ticket’s win on the council are DiPaola’s running mates, Brian Gordon and Ken Hoffman.
Gordon, a millwright with Local 715, said he learned his work ethic from his father, “a longtime union man who expected nothing less than my best effort. And I have continued to practice that sense of self discipline in raising my family and in my profession. If I’m elected, the people of Emerson can expect that I’ll bring that same work habit to my position on the council,” he told Pascack Press.
Hoffman is a College of William and Mary-educated clerk who served as councilman for two terms, 2005-2010.
He told Pascack Press, “Unfortunately, we cannot undo the mistakes of the present governing body. But we can promise a future where thoughtless planning and foolish spending are things of the past.”
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