Update on the name change movement                   by Joseph A. Lypowy 6/6/06

Dover Twp. Mayor Paul Brush ran as an independent who promised to save the township millions of Dollars, instead after being elected, he flip flopped back to partisan politics and proposed 44% tax increases over two years. Toms River Schools Superintendent Rittaco says he’s saving the taxpayers money, yet he was caught padding his salary by about $150,000. Now these guys say it is imperative to change the name of the town otherwise big chain stores won’t move here to compete and create excess competition with our existing local business people. The mayor says it will benefit downtown developers and insiders to change the name and save them money while the rest of the town has to foot the bill.

Recently, the name change committee held a kick off press conference in a local downtown restaurant which offered free refreshments to lure the public to attend. The photograph on the front page of the Ocean County Observer showed that there was about twelve people present of which half were reporters, the other half were from the Chamber of Commerce. Back in the 1990’s there were at least 6000 businesses in Dover Township while the Chamber has around 700 members and not all of them are located in Dover and are residents. Even though the proponents of the name change have an organizational advantage having the resources of the Toms River BID, the Chamber, and using the TomsRiverFest and Founders Day as springboards, I do not see a grass roots swell running to sign the petition. In fact, even though opponents of the name change have an uphill battle, I sense a strong opposition by many residents. On a website I am hosting called www.savedovername.com , I have an online poll which shows 70% of the respondents are opposed to the change. Up until last year the website TomsRiverOnline had a poll on it about the name change and it was taken down. I noticed that the poll was taken down shortly after I noticed the figures to go up against the change.

Regardless of the outcome, Dover Township residents deserve to hear both sides of the story, not just the side of corporate insiders. Information opposing the name change can be found on www.savedovername.com including statements and articles by local residents.