Morristown's Ward Two on Flooding, Marijuana and Broken Promises

Earlier this month I wrote two separate articles that concerned Morristown's residential community in the area around Martin Luther King Ave known as Ward 2. The first article, titled "50 Years of Broken Promises and Record Flooding for Morristown," concerned the town's broken promise with Ward 2 residents to subdue overflooding from the Whippany River as a result of the building of Headquarter's Plaza sixty years ago. To this day residents of the area are impacted by disastrous flooding as the town continues to hold back on its promise to fix the issue. Ward two came up once more in an article published days later titled "Morristown's Marijuana Management." This articled, discussing the updates of recreational marijuana in Morristown and the factors holding the town council back. When researching for this article, Ward two was consistently in talks concerning the opening of potential marijuana retailers in Morristown. While the town council spent plenty of time creating a committee and deciding where retailers should not go, they took no time to figure marijuana retailers wouldn't be a problem in Ward two.

So why am I bringing this up? What's the point?

Ward two, a historically black community, has been the brunt of Morristown's misdeeds and broken promises for years. And nothing seems to be changing. The biggest culprit seems to be our town council. Year after year Ward two is overlooked by the council who instead elect to spend their time and our money and community to build new projects (Like the new Deloitte building replacing Mid Town Shopping Center). The town's priority, from the perspective of a local, should be to preserve and support the community of residents that live here. Bringing in new businesses is a great idea, but when big businesses are brought in while locals are overlooked the people who live in Morristown begin to feel forgotten. And Ward two has been forgotten for years.

What can you do? Well, first of all, there's a flood warning out for today, Wednesday, Sept. 22, and if we get flooding anything close to what Ida gave us, residents of Ward two might need your help. Explore your community, talk to your neighbors. Get involved with your town council. The host meetings you can sit in on via zoom. Ask them what they are doing to make up for the years of broken promises with the residents of Ward two.

Regardless of where you live in Morristown, all Morristown locals are neighbors and it's up to us to look after one another. Right now it looks like our town council only cares about some of us.