FRIENDLY NEIGHBORS, OPPOSING VIEWS

Linwood neighbors maintain friendship in spite of different political positions

By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff

LINWOOD — Despite their differing views, Shore Road next-door neighbors have proved an exception to the political-driven division that currently abounds in this country.

You may have seen the homes between Belhaven and Morris avenues in Linwood — one with a with a banner reading “Joe Biden President 2020” hanging on it and the other with a “Trump Keep America Great” flag flying alongside a pallet painted to resemble Old Glory and a Trump lawn sign.

These are the homes of Ed Plantan, a 93-year-old who said he has voted for every Democratic presidential candidate since 1948, and Joe and Tara Mazza, middle-aged true supporters of President Donald Trump. The husband is a lifelong Republican while the wife is a recent convert to the GOP.

Both properties are well-kept and the homes old, having recently turned 100. Plantan’s yard is filled with flower gardens, shrubs and stone paths leading between them, while the Mazzas’ property has multiple shrubs and hanging flowerpots out front and mature trees, a garage and large patio out back. Joe Mazza said he has even helped Plantan with his planting, and there’s a gate that opens between the properties so they can visit one another more easily.

“We’re good neighbors,” Plantan said of Joe Mazza. “He knows how I feel and I know how he feels.”

The former steelworker and Navy veteran who reads two newspapers a day said he has been a registered Democrat all of his life.

Plantan comes from the gritty coal belt of the Keystone State. He was born in 1927 near Johnstown, a steel community known for its devastating flood of 1889 and two others, in 1936 and 1977. 

“We were working families. The borough I lived in was all Republicans, but it didn’t bother me. I knew all of their children. Their fathers were foremen in the mills, superintendents and all Republicans, which meant that their kids all went to college,” said Plantan, whose father was a coal miner.

He characterized the separation between the two major political parties as a split between rich and poor.

“It’s the same thing today,” he said.

Plantan worked for Bethlehem Steel before moving to Linwood in 1971 to take a job at Wheaton Plastics in Mays Landing. He and his late wife, Jean, raised two daughters in the home — Laurie, 69, a Democrat, and Nancy, 68, a Republican.

“I loved it and excelled and became the manager of the shop,” he said.

Plantan was the manager for 12 years and then retired at age 62 — 31 years ago.

He cast his first vote for a president in favor of Harry Truman in 1948 and never wavered.

“I have no complaints,” he said of the Democratic presidents of his lifetime. “Trump took care of the rich, gave companies big tax breaks and we got zilch, nothing.” 

During the bulk of his career, Plantan made molds for plastic bottles. After his retirement and following his wife’s death in 1996, he continued to polish bottles sent to his home from the plastics manufacturer.

“There wasn’t a plastic bottle that I hadn’t made a mold for,” he said, sitting at his kitchen table where he had been rewiring a lamp.

Like Plantan, Joe Mazza works with his hands, in his case in the construction business. He has owned several construction companies and now works with his son who just started his own company building homes. 

While the Mazzas have flown their Trump flag proudly for years, only recently did the Biden sign go up next door. Plantan said he had a sign in his yard supporting President Barack Obama during that election cycle.

Plantan said his grandson, who is now living with him, bought the flag and put it on the flag pole, then said no one could see it so moved it to a more prominent spot outside a second-floor window.

Plantan said he has never been politically active other than just voting and supporting his favored candidates with lawn signs. He does have a severe dislike for the current commander in chief.

“He’s the worst president this country has ever had. He should never have been president. I can’t understand why educated senators and the House of Representatives don’t say ‘I’ve had enough,’” Plantan said. “We are hated all over the world because of him.”

Joe Mazza, 52, grew up in South Philadelphia where he said there is a “big clan of Mazzas.” 

Tara Mazza, 46, grew up in Somers Point and graduated from Mainland Regional High School in 1992. She now works for a local municipality. They have lived next door to Plantan for 12 years, having raised their children partially there — Joseph Mazza, 28; Anthony Mazza, 26; and Jasmin Smith, 23, are all MRHS graduates.

Joe and Tara Mazza were set up by his mother when they were both working in Longport — he as a construction worker and she as a waitress at Ozzie’s restaurant.

“I’ve been a Republican supporter forever,” Joe Mazza said. “Always registered as a Republican.”

Tara Mazza, conversely, said she has always been a registered Democrat but voted her conscience rather than the party line.

She said she had never been more involved with politics and watching the news than now. 

“It’s a really interesting time,” she said, adding that what attracted her to Trump four years ago was his mantra “drain the swamp.”

“I do feel that we have some career politicians in Washington that aren’t out there really for the people. I think that they are there for themselves,” she said. “That was attractive to me that someone from the outside that was somewhat of a self-made millionaire could come in and run our country. I don’t think it’s a bad thing to run a country or a municipality as a business.”

She said she never “particularly liked the Clintons and I certainly didn’t like Hillary for president.”

Joe Mazza, however, is a staunch Republican and steadfast Trump supporter.

“I am all for the police. I am all for Trump and history, not tearing down any history, because if you tear down history, history will repeat itself,” Joe Mazza said.

He said there is no animosity between the neighbors, just a difference of opinion.

“Me and Ed have had our talks,” Joe Mazza said, adding that he thinks Plantan is uninformed or “watching the wrong news stations that are lying to him.”

The couple said they have socialized with Plantan over the years, hosting him at cookouts and other events. 

“He walks into my yard and I can walk into his yard,” Joe Mazza said, indicating the gate behind him on the patio. “We get along. There are people that, I say I’m for Trump, they don’t even want me on their property. There are people so closed-minded and hate him so much that they would rather see the world destroyed than he get elected. I don’t push Trump on anybody.”

Mazza said he feels the “Democratic Party is trying to destroy America just to win a vote. They are so far left right now that it’s scary to me.”

The Mazzas said Plantan has been “keeping his distance because of COVID-19” but that they are still friendly.

“We were talking the other day and he goes, ‘No matter who wins, we’ve still gotta wake up on Monday and go to work,’” Joe Mazza said of Plantan. “I’m going to have my ammo and guns ready if Biden wins because I think he’s going to be pushed around. He’s definitely not going to be a good president.”

While Joe Mazza finds no fault with Trump, his wife said she doesn’t think “everything he says is golden. I think he does do good but he should probably stay off Twitter and zip it up a little bit. He’s very outspoken and he’s not very presidential when he speaks. Between him and Biden, it’s a no-brainer.”

She said she feels that the Democratic Party “wants people to be dependent on the government, they don’t want people to get out of the ghetto and to get an education.”

Tara Mazza said the nation is clearly divided right now, “but I don’t think it’s Trump doing that.”

Her husband was even more adamant in his support.

“They paint that he’s a racist and I don’t see it. I think he’s done more for black people, he’s hired women. The unemployment for blacks and minorities is at an all-time low. They just want to destroy everything,” Joe Mazza said. “Our political views … I think if it was somebody else besides Ed, I don’t know if it would be as friendly.”