Late last week it was announced that Verona will be under new state representation starting in 2024. We were moved from the 26th Legislative District to the new 40th. Overall, I think this is a great district to be in, and Verona residents should benefit.
As you can see, our current legislative district extends all the way out to Jefferson and up to West Milford. Verona is the eastern most town. We border on 3 additional legislative districts. This has made it hard to combine with other towns to advocate to our state representatives, as the "suburban Essex" towns are fragmented into four districts.
In the new 40th, we are now in the same district of similar towns. The West Essex Bloomfield Avenue towns of West Caldwell, Caldwell, Essex Fells, North Caldwell, and Verona are all together. We all have similar needs and issues, so being together will help us to have a unified voice when we need to involve our state representatives.
In addition, the communities that have the Peckman River - Verona, Cedar Grove, Little Falls, and Woodland Park - are all together. This should strengthen our advocacy for solutions for the flooding issues that we have been experiencing.
Verona went from bordering three other legislative districts to now just bordering one district. Both West Orange and Montclair are in the same legislative district (the new 27th).
Overall, this is great news for Verona. The elections for the new 40th representatives will be in November, 2023.
Comments