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Thrive Montclair Makes Pledge to Montclair Residents

February 25, 2008 – Members of the Thrive Montclair slate, who announced their candidacy for Montclair’s Town Council in December, have made a formal pledge to Montclair’s residents if elected into office.

The Thrive Montclair Pledge is the slate’s “contract” with the residents of Montclair, a concise, bullet point list of how the candidates promise to do business in the town’s administration. Montclair’s Councilor at Large Ted Mattox, who is running on the slate as the candidate for Mayor, says these are points that members of the slate take very seriously. “One way to increase residents’ participation and interaction with their municipal government is to guarantee to them that they will always be treated with dignity and respect,” he says. “Listening to residents and acting on their concerns is our number one priority as the next administration.”

Mattox says the pledge evolved from years of listening to the needs and concerns of residents, some of whom participated in his trademark community wide “Listening Nights” last year. Those conversations have continued in online forums and homes across Montclair, including at the slate’s recent kickoff party at the home of community organizer Pegi Adam. More than 30 residents in attendance discussed a need for better communication by the town’s administration and stronger ties to lawmakers in Trenton. A short poll was conducted at the meeting to identify residents’ top concerns. The top three issues residents identified were taxes, ethnic/cultural/religious diversity and schools.

In addition to Mattox, the Thrive Montclair team includes Starr Daniels, a grassroots community leader and construction professional who owns her own Montclair-based construction management firm, Daniels Construction Management; Roger Plawker, a managing partner of the well-known Roseland law firm Walder, Hayden & Brogan; Mark Reynolds, a Vice President and Counsel of AXIS Reinsurance Company in New York City; and new to the slate, Sumana Rangachar, an elder law and disability attorney and former assistant district attorney.