Editor’s note: Each of the nine candidates running for a seat on the Brick Township Council were sent a questionnaire by Brick Shorebeat. Their answers to our questions will be published on our site verbatim. We have disabled comments on profile articles to ensure the candidates’ statements speak for themselves and readers can decide, without additional, potentially anonymous commentary, their view on those running for office.
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Martin Ebert (Camaign Photo)
Full Name: Martin J. Ebert
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Current Age: (No answer provided.)
Educational Background:
Graduated Bayonne High School 1977
1978- Jersey City State Teachers
Veteran United States Air Force 1979-1983
United States Air Force School of Applied Aerospace Technology, including courses through University of Maryland
Granted Security Clearance, Top Secret SCI
Member of Knights of Columbus, Council 8160
Member of American Legion, Post 348
Member of Veterans of Foreign Wars, Post 8867
Member of NRA
Member and Cantor at St. Martha’s Roman Catholic Church
Volunteer singer/performer for various local civic organizations
Current Occupation: Owner of NJ Archangel Corp. An ancillary legal support and investigative services company.
Do you currently receive any public salary compensation? If so, from what public agency?
I do not receive any public salary compensation.
Have you ever previously held an elected office in Brick or elsewhere?
I have never held an elected office anywhere.
If elected or re-elected to council, will you choose to receive taxpayer-funded health benefits from your elected position? Why or why not?
(No answer provided.)
For the better part of the last decade, one of the top questions on the minds of Brick Township residents has been the redevelopment of the former Foodtown site on Route 70. How would you like to see the site redeveloped – commercial, residential Should future proposals set aside space for public to access Forge Pond?
I believe the current Democrat Council and Mayor have missed the mark on all of these issues. The former Foodtown site has been bungled and the property should be sold as soon as possible. The municipal government should not be in the real estate business. Perhaps if they had negotiated more skillfully and sold that property, the folks that live near route 88 and Jack Martin Blvd. wouldn’t be fighting to stop a similar project that was supposed to be built on the Foodtown site.
The concept of perceived “overdevelopment” in Brick has generated a great deal of concern by township residents in recent years, especially given the construction of hundreds of new residential housing units that is currently underway. How should Brick Township manage what land remains undeveloped, and what zoning and land use limitations – if any – should be put on continued residential development in town?
The Democrats have also missed the mark with business development in Brick. Recently, in an effort to encourage businesses to fill all of the empty storefronts here in town, the Council and Mayor announced that they would waive the inspection fees for certain small businesses. As any business owner will tell you, when you’re opening a store, inspection fees are already calculated into your budget. What you can’t count on is how long will it take to get an inspection completed. In business, time is money and you don’t make a dime waiting for an inspection. You need to get your store open for business as soon as possible. That is a major issue that has confronted businesses trying to start up in Brick.
In 2014, Brick enacted a “Rental Responsibility” ordinance aimed at holding absentee landlords responsible for leasing their properties to tenants who commit crimes. What other specific proposals do you favor to reduce crime in “troubled” rental communities and neighborhoods where crime issues are recognized as being a heightened concern compared to the remainder of the township?
The mistakes made by the ruling Council and Mayor are many but the most devastating mistake was to ignore the drug related crime problem and simply dismiss it as a “made up issue”. Brick is heroin haven in part because the Democrats decided to save money by cutting police overtime. As I have stated before, governments primary duty is to protect the lives and property of its citizens. With 15 dead so far in Brick this year, we need a stronger, more effective response than we’ve seen from this Democrat Council. Instead, they spend time regulating firewood supplies.
I am sure that the members of the current council are doing what they think is best for Brick. They all seem like nice folks and probably have the very best intentions, but good intentions do not make good government. Brick needs good government now.
