Piscataway mayor faces progressive challenger in Democratic primary

PISCATAWAY – Longtime Democratic Mayor Brian Wahler will face women challengers in the primary and general elections in his quest for another four-year term in office in the 19-square-mile town with about 60,000 residents.

On Tuesday, Wahler, who was first elected mayor in 2000, is being challenged by Staci Berger, chair of the Piscataway Progressive Democratic Organization, in the Democratic mayoral primary race. The winner will face Republican mayoral candidate Debra L. Hopkins in the November general election.

Wahler, who is seeking his seventh term in office, is running with incumbent Democratic Township Council candidates Gabrielle Cahill, who currently serves as the council president, and Councilmen Kapil Shah and Linwood Rouse.

Berger is part of the township's first all-female slate running with Democratic Township Council candidates Laura Leibowitz, Sarah Rashid and Viola Stone, known as the Pway Moms 4 Change.

The Pway Moms 4 Change website indicates the slate opposes building warehouses everywhere in an effort to protect the environment; favors diversifying the town's economic development and lifting the ban on cannabis sales; ensuring safe streets and addressing speeding as well as creating tax fairness and housing affordability for all.

Berger, who has previously twice run for Township Council, said this year several people, especially those supportive of the Piscataway Progressive Democratic Organization's agenda, asked her to run for mayor because people have issues with the current administration related to constant property tax reassessment, the number and locations of warehouse projects in town, and the need to treat constituents with respect and dignity when they raise issues.

Wahler, who grew up in town, said his administration has had a seven-year record of a reduced tax rate at the municipal level and the municipal tax rate is going down seven percent with the recently adopted town budget; and with the tax decrease in the school district budget he expects a substantial overall reduction in the tax rate for homeowners.

He said Piscataway has a very thoughtful process of planning and bringing economic development into the community. He said office space development is dead in Middlesex County especially along the Interstate 287 corridor and the town has looked to repurposing the old office spaces, which has helped pay for the $35 million Piscataway Community Center, which now has more than 12,000 members, making it one of the largest YMCAs in the state, and financed without local tax dollars. He added the warehouses are not in residential areas.

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He said high-density housing creates more trip generations and traffic, impacts the schools and social services and costs the town a lot of money. The town's commercial property tax rate is 39 percent and every percent that increases means corporations and businesses shoulder more of the burden than homeowners, which has allowed the town to improve all the parks and make them ADA-compliant, support programs at the senior center, and youth recreational programs.

Wahler said the only economic plan he's heard from his opponent is to open marijuana dispensaries.

"This is a family town," said Wahler, adding the council made a decision cannabis would not be part of the town's economic plan and questioned how a town could gauge a revenue stream off of people's potential addiction. If re-elected Wahler said the council will not be voting to put a marijuana dispensary at the site of the former ShopRite on Centennial Avenue. He added he's not seeing big financial gains in towns that permit dispensaries and he prefers to focus on companies that bring jobs to town.

"The mayor is not considered someone who is approachable and accessible unless you are already part of what his wife refers to as ‘the Democratic family,'" said Berger, a township resident since 1999, adding Wahler declined to participate in a mayoral debate last month hosted by young people in town.

Wahler said he and the council members are on call 24/7. He takes a pad and pencil to the grocery store because he always gets questions when waiting in line at the deli counter.

"She (Berger) just doesn't like the answers that we give her," said Wahler, adding he's never had residents say he didn't get back to them. "We get back to everyone. We return our phone calls. I was born and raised in this community I know a lot of people."

He maintains the event arranged by the Young Progressive Democrats, an arm of Berger's political organization, was not an actual debate.

Wahler said residents know he stands for keeping taxes reasonable, providing recreational services at no charge, maintaining senior citizen programs at a high level, and providing more recreational amenities such as pickle ball courts and cricket fields. The Piscataway Democratic Organization website also lists achieving an Aa1 stable bond rating as well as implementing green initiatives to combat climate change, improve roadway and traffic conditions and upgrading all 26 parks with a new ecological park among the administration's focus.

Berger questioned the justification of the ecological preserve site across the street from where a large warehouse is being built.

"It's a visual juxtaposition of what this mayor and his administration stands for. They can't seem to get the ecological part done in 25 years, but they can get the zoning and the land use approvals done quickly," she said. "This is a primary and people are looking to the Democratic Party as the leadership of our town that is supposed to stand up for environmental justice, clean air, public safety and health, and the current administration's only economic development strategy is to build these enormous polluting warehouses and then they insult people's intelligence by telling them it's keeping their taxes low."

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Wahler said the ecological park project is moving forward and about $14 million of environmental cleanup work is needed at the site before it can be transformed into a park.

"We don't have all the money in place right now," the mayor said. Piscataway is seeking additional state and federal grant funds for the project, so local tax dollars don't have to be used.

Berger also questioned the current practice of providing full health insurance to part-time council members and their families.

Wahler explained it's permitted because Piscataway is self-insured and not part of the state's health benefits plan.

"Our medical rate is a lot cheaper than the state's health benefit plan for all our employees. We go out to bid for health insurance plans," said Wahler, adding some towns are getting out of the state health benefit plan because of the high costs.

Wahler said Piscataway is a mainstream, diverse town that attracts people seeking public safety, and a better quality of life, good schools, senior programs and parks.

Berger said the machine in power has a lot of resources but nonetheless she's hopeful.

"The most important thing is we are giving people a choice and we are talking about the issues that affect Piscataway residents," said Berger.

Email: srussell@gannettnj.com

Suzanne Russell is a breaking news reporter for MyCentralJersey.com covering crime, courts and other mayhem. To get unlimited access, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Piscataway NJ mayor faces progressive challenger in Democratic primary