Please sign the petition if you agree that Millburn Township Committee members should not vote to close Main Street. Life is about community and ensuring the safety of ALL town residents and visitors.

Why close a main thoroughfare in downtown to benefit a few restaurants? This is unfair and unsafe.

We had a close call with a resident who nearly lost his life trying to get to Cooperman Barnabas hospital in time with a heart attack; a doctor from that hospital took the time to come before the Township Committee and pleaded with them not to close Main St., he said, because it poses a major obstacle for critical care hospital staff trying to get to work.

The closing of Main St. creates cost and effort for the taxpayer funded public works and police/fire to maintain the opening and closing of it. It inconveniences 95% of the township residents and visitors that do not have a restaurant al fresco section in the middle of a main thoroughfare in our Downtown. Doctors, surgeons, EMT's expressed their views that this caused a terrible impact on their work AND THEIR PATIENT'S LIVES.

Restaurants in downtown Millburn survived for years before COVID without this closure, and it's time they and we all adapt back to the way it once was. There is no reason for Main St. to be closed 24/7 all summer. They should serve their patrons in their own space that they pay for, not the taxpayer funded roadways!

Let's call it what it is...a subsidy for a select group of downtown restaurants at the expense of the entire township residents and visitors who must work around this closure to get to their homes, work and school. People have to go out of their way to take short cuts through the South Mountain section of town, putting our children and families in danger on our otherwise safe streets.   

Please read the press coverage and letters to the editor about this closure 2023. We  ask that you join fellow Millburn residents in signing this petition to let your elected officials know you do not want Main St. to be closed.  

Sept 6, 2023

https://www.tapinto.net/towns/millburn-slash-short-hills/sections/elections/articles/vote-for-millburn-candidates-thoughts-on-the-main-street-closure

Excerpt: "There needs to be collaboration with the community and respect for residents. Of course, there will be different points of view, but it is the responsibility of our Township Committee to collect everyone’s input, gather the data, and then make a final informed decision on behalf of the community.

As you can see, this is a complex decision that requires a great deal of forethought across various aspects affecting quality of life in town. We can’t commit to continuing this program next summer until the safety impacts are fully studied and understood, but hopefully you’ll agree with us that these are critical pieces of information needed before we rush to any decision." (Committee Members Ben Stoller and Frank Saccomandi)