Stop Thinking Small Montclair

If you pick up pretty much any newspaper these days, the words "financial crisis" leap off the page. Some are hunkering down, counting their pennies. And many are saying "what the heck," we'll do what we can and wait for the happy days that are sure to be back soon.

As a town, we must recognize the financial challenges, yet we also must be smart in our reactions. While we all tighten our belts I believe that there will be a Montclair next year, and that there are still important tasks to be accomplished. While "nice to haves" must incur double scrutiny, there are still the "must haves."

Here's something I wrote last December, which I still firmly believe in:

Each year, during the last weeks of November, officials from around New Jersey meet in Atlantic City to attend seminars and workshops affecting the lives of our cities.  I was privileged to recently attend this conference and came away with many contacts and ideas.

But most importantly what I came away with is the belief that we, in Montclair, think too small.

Many, if not most of the presentations at the League of Municipalities meeting were given by Mayors and Councilors from towns around New Jersey.  Although the panels included speakers from large cities like Newark, for the most part presenters were from towns much smaller than Montclair.  And what hit me is that many of these towns are planning, and doing, BIG things.  

While we in Montclair plan too little, or not at all.

I'm not talking about the impossible, like redoing every storefront on Bloomfield Avenue from Lackawanna to the Museum, or constructing a flower and tree filled ten foot wide median down the middle of that road.

I am talking about planning for, and taking action on things like a Municipal complex that would provide space for Police, Board of Education, and Municipal Offices, as our existing facilities become more degraded and obsolete.  Or aggressively planning and pursuing development around the new school or transportation hubs.  I'm not saying start building tomorrow; I'm saying we need to get in the habit of planning, and PLANNING BIG.

Planning big gets big things done.  It costs less; and it produces better and more sensible results.

Planning should be more than a "do it yourself" project.   This is especially important when we turn to questions of paying for big projects.  Although we have established a "hit or miss" philosophy where occasionally we obtain grants, it is important to take the grant process seriously and pursue it professionally.

This was brought home to me at another seminar at the League meeting, a seminar on the grant process.  At this meeting one Mayor spoke of how his town employed a "lobbying firm" that they paid close to $100,000 a year for.  When asked to justify the expense he said the firm consistently brought in millions of dollars in grants for the town, clearly an acceptable return.

Afterward, when I spoke to one of the professional firms that help towns understand the grant process, I sure was surprised to learn that not only did they do work throughout the State, including neighboring towns to Montclair, but I also found out that the person I was speaking with LIVED in Montclair. Her firm had never done work in Montclair.

At another presentation discussing grants one town official asked, "Our town wants a new Municipal building.  Are government funds available for such a project?"  And the answer was "Well, not any more.  But if you had asked the question four years ago, and you wanted to put up a fire headquarters with a municipal complex, you probably could have gotten that paid for by outside funding."

What we get, instead of thinking big and getting a municipal complex is an over budget, stand alone firehouse paid entirely by residents taxes.

And let's not forget the projects that were underfunded and that turned out to be disappointments, or failures.  Projects for the Town, and projects for the Schools.

So here's what I'm recommending:

More BIG thinking

More BIG planning

More use of professionals, in planning, finance, and especially use of firms that can help with establishing ongoing grant applications.

Trust me … more will cost us less.