Township Council

Sunday alcohol sales would be permitted during the same times as the rest of the week under an ordinance amendment set to be introduced at the Oct. 9 Township Council meeting. Currently, Sunday sales of alcohol are restricted to noon to 2 a.m., in restaurants and noon to 10 p.m. in liquor stores. The rest of the week, liquor sales …

The group that for the past 10 years has acted as the repository for donations earmarked for a proposed “Peace and Non-Violence” monument park on Oct. 2 took the first steps toward divesting itself of the money, and effectively killing the project. The Franklin Township Community Foundation is holding more than $79,000 donated to the monument effort. Money was donated …

A Township Councilman appears to have tried to influence a Municipal Court judge – over whom he has reappointment power – to help a local landlord evict tenants from her property, according to emails reviewed by the Franklin Reporter & Advocate. The councilman, Rajiv Prasad (D-At Large), steered the landlord to Municipal Court Judge Hector Rodriguez in an email sent …

Analysis The scheduled discussion of a new aspect to a controversial monument park, the start of a recall effort against the champion of that park, and a robo-call campaign to get people to support the park all heightened the anticipation of the Sept. 26 Township Council meeting. Those who attended weren’t disappointed. The possible creation of a “Citizen’s Memorial Committee” …

The Mayor and Township Council for the second consecutive meeting on Sept. 25 were criticized for the handling of a proposed “Peace and Nonviolence” monument park, targeted for township-owned open space. At the meeting, council members also discussed the idea of scraping all existing plans for the park and starting over with a reconstituted “citizen’s committee” the first charge of …

An anonymous automated telephone messaging campaign designed to bring supporters of the proposed “Peace and Nonviolence” monument park to the Sept. 25 Township Council meeting is underway. The robo-call message, which is less than two minutes long, does not identify who sponsored it. The message urges listeners to attend the meeting, speak during the public portion and ask that the …

The effort by a group of township residents to recall Township Councilman Rajiv Prasad has begun. A “Notice of Intent to Recall,” the first step in the process, was filed with Township Clerk Ann Marie McCarthy on Sept. 18. McCarthy has three business days from then to validate the three signatures on the notice – Christina Ganzer, Ravikanth Kolla and …

Updated with comment from Deputy Mayor Robinson and statement from the Somerset County Democratic Committee. The chairman of the Somerset County Republican party Sept. 18 called on Deputy Mayor Shanel Robinson to release all of her emails concerning the “Peace and Nonviolence” monument park issue. GOP chairman Al Gaburo said Robinson, who is running for one of two available seats …

A Township Councilman on Sept. 13 called on an embattled colleague to “consider resigning” over his actions in furtherance of the proposed “Peace and Non-Violence” monument park. The comment came from Councilman Ted Chase (D-Ward 1) after members of the public had eviscerated the council in general, and Councilman Rajiv Prasad (D-At Large) in particular, for more than an hour …

For the 17th consecutive year, fire fighters and other first responders gathered at St. Matthias Church on Sept. 11 to honor their colleagues from around the country who were killed in the 2001 terrorist attacks. The service included a prayer and statement from St. Matthias’ Fr. Douglas Haefner, and the traditional reading of the names of first responders killed in …