Perth Amboy evening news., 1920-06-22
USE OF COUNCIL CHAMBER.

or any committee of that board TO
refuse permission to use the council
chamber for a gathering of citizens
to consider a matter of city govern
ment. After all. the city hall be-
longs to the people and II Is there
for the benefit of the public. The
people themselves are supreme and
if any considerable number desire to
change the form of municipal gov
exlment in accordance with state
laws, the city hall is the proper pace
for such matters to be considered.
That there are a great many peo-
pie in Perth Amboy who believe that
the commission form of government
would be a decided Improvement
over the present antiquated and
cumbersome form, there is no doubt.
Whether a. substantial majority are
of this mind remains to be seen. The
effort being made now is to give the
people a chance to vote on the
question.
The EVENING NEWS has beer
advocating the commission form of
government ever since the Welsh
act was passed by the legislature in
1911. Most of the leading cities of
the state, including Newark, Jersey
City, and Trenton as we'll as a great
many ~boroughs have already adopt
ed it. In some places it has worked
better than in others, but nowhere
has there been any attempt to
change back to the old form of gov
eminent. On the whole. commission
government is admitted to be u de-
cided improvement.
One previous attempt was made
in this city to adopt commission gov
eminent, but it savored so u of
a one-man affair hat many people
did not take the movement serious
Iy with the result that there were
not enough votes cast to make the
election legal. The EVENING NEWS
gave the cause its support, however,
believing that much good could be
accomplished for Perth Amboy by
the abortion of the commission form
of government regardless of how or
by whom the election was brought
about.
In the present movement an at
tempt is being made to get away
from the one-man idea In spite OF
all the agitation for commission gov
eminent that one has heard on all
sides for the past two or three years,
no one seems to have cared to come
forward to get the machinery start
ed.
Finally Harry Medinets, a young
lawyer, got petitions started and the
EVENING NEWS gladly seconded
his efforts. Not desiring to pose as
the n personality in the movement
Mr.. Medinets appealed to the EVE
MING NEWS to assist in getting a
non-partisan organization formed TO
take charge of campaign. Cues
tionaires were sem out to about zoo
persons to get the general sentiment
and, as far as any organization is
concerned, those persons who, In
response to the QUESTIONABLE. have
signifed a Willingness to serve on a
non-partisan committee are the only
hackers of the present agitation.
The desire now is to call as many
of those who favor the commission
form of government together as pos
sible in order to get an executive
committee and a leader chosen to
carry on the work. The purpose is
to have this executive committee and
its chairman picked at a public
meeting participated in by all the
hackers of the movement who de-
sire to attend and take part in the
proceedings.
The request for the council
chamber is merely hat this meeting
can be called so hat the organization
can be formed. The council chamber
seems to b. the only neutral ground
where the citizens of the city can
meet for a public movement of this
kind. There seems to be no other
meeting room of suitable size to be
had.
And why should not the people of
Perth Amboy nave the use of their
own property to consider a matter
of public interest? The matter of
the use of the council chamber has
been left in the hands of Alderman
Riedy, chairman of the committee
on public grounds and buildings.
Permission has been asked to use
the council chamber only on a night
when it is not in use for municipal
purposes. The purpose of the meet
ing IS to consider a matter that con-
Germs municipal government. To re-
fuse the request would place the al
dermen in a narrow. partisan posi-