Lakewood, NJ—a township bursting with growth and potential—remains trapped in dysfunction, thanks to decades of failure by its elected officials. After more than 20 years in office, these so-called leaders have yet to establish even the most basic relationship with Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L), the utility company responsible for keeping the town’s lights on. This negligence has left residents to suffer through countless outages, outdated infrastructure, and an absence of solutions, all while officials sit idly by, collecting their paychecks and prioritizing their political survival over the needs of their constituents.
20 Years, Zero Progress
Incompetence, complacency, or outright neglect—whatever the reason, Lakewood’s officials have made it clear they are not up to the task of governing. Despite having decades to address the township’s glaring power issues, they have failed to establish a direct line of communication with JCP&L, leaving Lakewood’s 100,000-plus residents to fend for themselves during outages.
“Our officials are asleep at the wheel,” said longtime resident Miriam Goldstein. “How do you spend 20 years in office and not even build a relationship with the power company? It’s pure negligence.”
While neighboring towns have secured infrastructure upgrades and faster response times by working directly with JCP&L, Lakewood’s leadership has achieved nothing. Instead, officials point fingers and make excuses, blaming the utility company for being unresponsive, even as their counterparts in other towns succeed in forging partnerships.
Failures in Every Sense
Lakewood’s power problems are not just an inconvenience—they are a symptom of a much larger failure in governance. Power outages have become a regular occurrence, with no clear plans for improvement. Businesses lose revenue, families endure freezing winters and sweltering summers, and schools are forced to close due to extended blackouts.
“The power goes out, and all we hear are crickets from our so-called leaders,” said local business owner Shimon Katz. “They’ve done nothing for us. Nothing. And they have the audacity to keep running for reelection.”
Lakewood’s officials have demonstrated an astonishing lack of urgency or accountability. Instead of tackling the problem head-on, they rely on vague promises, hoping residents will forget their failures come election season.
Outrage Among Residents
The patience of Lakewood’s residents is wearing thin. With each outage, anger grows louder, and the questions become sharper: Why haven’t these officials taken action? Why are they still in office? And how much longer can the town endure their incompetence?
“They’ve been in power for 20 years, and we still have no direct connection with JCP&L?” asked activist Leah Feldman. “What are they doing all day? If they can’t handle something as basic as this, they shouldn’t be in office.”
Many residents believe the problem is rooted in political self-interest. With long-serving officials more focused on maintaining their grip on power than serving the community, issues like infrastructure, utilities, and public safety are pushed to the back burner. The result? A town left in chaos while its leaders pat themselves on the back for hollow achievements.
A Town Betrayed
The failure to address Lakewood’s power problems is more than incompetence—it’s a betrayal. These officials were elected to serve the people, but instead, they’ve allowed the town to fall into disrepair, ignoring the basic needs of their constituents while prioritizing development projects and political alliances that benefit only a select few.
“They’ve betrayed us,” said frustrated resident Aviva Rosen. “They don’t care about us. They only care about themselves and their friends. It’s disgusting.”
A Demand for Change
Lakewood’s leaders have had more than enough time to fix this problem—and they’ve failed. Residents are no longer willing to accept their excuses, and calls for resignations are growing louder.
“It’s time for these officials to go,” said community advocate Rachel Levi. “They’ve failed us for 20 years, and they’ll fail us for 20 more if we let them. Lakewood deserves better.”
As the township moves into another year of power outages and political stagnation, one thing is clear: Lakewood’s elected officials have overstayed their welcome. The town’s residents deserve leaders who will fight for their interests, not politicians who sit back and do nothing while the lights go out—again and again.
9 comments:
Lakewood corruption is showing and the people suffer.
About 10 years ago a utility worker told me that we were going to have blackouts and other similar infrastructure problems since they were adding so many new buildings without upgrading the systems.
This was just a rank and file guy pretty low on the totem pole but he saw this problem long ago. So basically Mr Schnall can pontificate and blame the electric company but they will just retort that the town allowed to much building for the system to handle.
Nothing is going to change. Unfortunately the people in the town just blindly follow whomever the VAAD says to vote for without using their brains
100% the peoples problem for voting in the same people again and again. If you don't like what they do then don't vote for them. That's what elections are for.
Who wants to bet that come next election they will tout the fact that they got the power restored through their relationships. Why else would they all of the sudden send out stupid videos of themselves?
Live like the Amish and save money.
Any other attention seeker wants to put out a angry video about the blackouts
THATS WHY WE NEED TO FIX THE FORMULA
All this bogus stuff is almost laughable. Yes this town has grown tremendously, but part of being the sole service provider for a town is to work with their development and provide the needed resources. JCP&L has failed us tremendously, and for one reason only THEY DON'T CARE an iota about our towns needs!
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