Photo Courtesy Connie Jackson
East Orange Mayor Ted Green said he’s fed up that his city is being plagued by garbage, litter and illegal dumping, so his ‘Mayor on the Block’ campaign will include the mayor and his code-enforcement officers making surprise door-to-door visits in targeted neighborhoods every month.EAST ORANGE, NJ — To fulfill his vision of “One City, One Community, One Goal Equals Progress,” East Orange Mayor Ted Green is beginning his new “Mayor on the Block” community cleanup program.
Green said he’s fed up that his city is being plagued by garbage, litter and illegal dumping, so his “Mayor On the Block” campaign will include the mayor and his code-enforcement officers making surprise door-to-door visits in targeted neighborhoods every month.
The first MOTB campaign will focus on the Greenwood section of the city, commonly known as the “teen streets,” at the intersection of 14th Street and Eaton Place, near the border between East Orange and Newark. Green said the new program’s goal is to clean up the city and aggressively crack down on lawbreakers and city code violators.
“I wouldn’t ask anyone to do anything I wouldn’t do,” said Green, who organized a volunteer shoveling service for the city’s seniors during his time as the 3rd Ward councilman, on Tuesday, Jan. 30. “When I said I was ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work, I meant it. East Orange is a beautiful community and I am not afraid to get my hands dirty to clean it up and keep it that way.”
Green said code inspectors from the Department of Property Maintenance and the Department of Health and Human Services, as well as police, fire and Public Works personnel, will be part of the ongoing efforts of his MOTB taskforce. Two trucks from the Department of Public Works will also be on hand for any areas that can be addressed immediately.
Green said he wants to spread the word that, in East Orange, people who fail to maintain their property or who put out trash ahead of the collection schedule could face fines of as much as $2,000. First-time offenders will receive a standard courtesy warning and a specified time frame to address the violation, before they are issued a fine.
“Ultimately, we don’t want to fine people. We want people to comply with our code and take pride in our community,” said Green. “My motto is: that we are ‘One City, One Community, with One Goal — Progress.’ Whether you are a homeowner, a landlord or a renter, you are responsible for helping to keep our city clean.”
Green is leading the way on the East Orange code-enforcement efforts, after he informed former code enforcement director, Dwight Saunders, that his services would no longer be needed in his new administration on Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2017.
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