Govenor speaks, takes questions at Christian Love

By Chris Sykes, Staff Writer
Fresh off his annual State of the State Address in Trenton, Gov. Christopher Christie came to Irvington last week to hold his first ever town hall meeting in an urban area at Christian Love Baptist Church on Lyons Avenue.
“It was the second strangest venue for us since I delivered the State of the State Address,” Christie said on Jan. 19. “Yesterday I was at a mall in Voorhees. Today I’m at a church that epitomizes what a church should be at its best.”
Christie thanked Rev. Ron Christian and his congregation for welcoming him into their church and their lives.
“Right now we have a tremendous amount of challenges and we need your help,” Christie said to the pews that were packed with Christian Love parishioners, invited guests, the general public, and several print and broadcast media outlets to the point that the basement meeting rooms had to be opened up to accommodate the audience overflow who were able to watch the meeting even if they could not directly participate in it. “Every day I thank God for the opportunity that was given to me by the voters of this state, including the 4.7 percent that I got from Irvington. I got 459 votes from Irvington in 2009. I came here because the issues that I’m talking about are issues that are dear to you too.”
Those issues that Christie was talking about are also the same ones that he discussed during his earlier State of the State Address. They included education reform through focusing on opening more charter schools and providing more state vouchers so that struggling and economically challenged parents like the ones in Irvington and other urban areas with underachieving public schools can have viable alternatives to ensure their kids’ education and futures. Also, crime reduction through better policing and technology; prosecuting offenders once they get arrested; reducing property taxes; streamlining government to making it more efficient and responsive to real peoples’ needs; and making New Jersey as attractive as possible to investors, entrepreneurs and business interests.