Three candidates are running for two seats in the Democratic primary (June 2) for Maplewood Township Committee: Bike Bus founder Martin Ceperley; current Mayor Vic De Luca, running for his 10th term on the Township Committee; and Planning Board and Hilton Neighborhood Association member John T. Sullivan. Read Village Green’s election guidelines here. Read our election coverage here.
Vic De Luca is someone who gets things done. You may have heard Vic repeat this mantra on your doorstep or in a debate. But it’s more than a mantra, it’s a matter of fact. While I was growing up in Maplewood, Vic was just getting started doing the hard work and organizing residents around important issues. He helped found the Hilton Neighborhood Association in 1995 and became the organization’s first president. At the time, the Hilton area was severely underserved by the township, with realtors racially steering buyers away from the neighborhood. Vic and HNA fought to stop the practice of racial steering and secure public funds to improve roads and parks in the neighborhood. This was grass works organizing in its most pure form.
Before his arrival in Maplewood, Vic was the Director of the Ironbound Community Corporation, a nonprofit organization that advocated for and organized residents around a range of pressing issues. Under Vic’s leadership, ICC helped to stop manufacturers from polluting unabated, an effort that most likely saved lives. He also helped to fight unsafe housing conditions and provide subsidized childcare for immigrant and working-class families in the Ironbound. As a former resident of Ironbound, I can tell you ICC’s advocacy and the services they provide are a lifeline to the most vulnerable.
Today, Maplewood is fortunate to have Vic as our Mayor. For those who criticize his lengthy tenure on the Township Committee, I have one thing to say: he does the work. Local government from the Township Committee to the Board of Education is cumbersome with time commitments and loads of work. To find someone willing to step up and do this job consistently (and do it well!) is truly rare. In his latest victory for our town, Vic helped to secure a combination of state and local funds to deliver the state-of-the-art, environmentally sustainable Maplewood Public Library. It’s exactly this type of tenacity and statesmanship we need as our town and schools face heart wrenching budget cuts. More than ever, we need a seasoned, creative, community organizer who brings real solutions. We have that in Vic De Luca.
