The Alternative Press

The Alternative Press
NEWS AND INFORMATION FOR THE RESIDENTS OF SUMMIT, BERKELEY HEIGHTS AND NEW PROVIDENCE

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Letters to the Editor, March 2008

March 27, 2008

Crown Jewels in Berkeley Heights

Dear Editor:

We now have a third person referring to a “crown jewel” in Berkeley heights (a former Council person and Recreation Commissioner, a current Council Member and a Mayor). This is catchy. Watch out! The latest repeats of rationales are an inappropriate reference to the wrong alternatives that faced our town for several years.

1. The 259 or so low cost units. This was a dead issue on or about 1995 when via a payment Newark picked up our quota. Since then we have surpassed by a great number our COAH requirements even with the new additions. For anyone to assert that this was the “bad alternative” or the only alternative is disingenuous. It’s history not worthy of repeating and inapplicable. The alternatives were brought out in the election coverage of 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006. These were by televised comments and in print by non-partisan groups. They included:

a. Return to industrial site

b. Use for high priced residences

c. Other zoning for private tax revenue generating uses

2. As far as the so-called “blue building” housing 7 Recreation Commission employees, we should note that three of them work out of the DPW shed. What a weak conditional argument! We could also knock down the other inappropriate offices for Town services and relocate them inexpensively if we had a written, transparent plan. Everyone knows we have a great deal of un-rented commercial space in the downtown.

We might add that the Town owns property on Locust and very significant property on Hamilton that could house most, if not all, of our needs. So for anyone to assert a “crown jewel” label on something that will cost the Taxpayers upwards of $40 million is only correct in the fact that $40 million dollars will indeed buy a great deal of crown jewels.

We could do a lot better. We could start by asking the County to donate the land back to the Town and to spend their (our) tax dollars fixing up the fields they already own in Berkeley Heights and others. It would behoove us to crawl before we walk and walk before we run.

John C. Bonacci

Vice-President, Berkeley Heights Town Council

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March 25, 2008

Rec Board

Dear Editor:

Again, New Providence Administrator Doug Marvin, Ken DeRoberts and company have pulled the wool over the public’s eyes.

This past winter, the Borough Council dissolved the New Providence Recreation Commission. This autonomous body was established 50 years ago to set policy for the department, maintain and oversee their own dedicated fund, and hire appropriate full-time and part-time personnel.

In enabling towns to establish a Recreation Commission the state had great wisdom. It eliminated politics from that segment of government. The implications of changing to an advisory board are as follows:

1) All monies collected for recreation programs can now be used for any public purpose council deems appropriate. Your $50 baseball registration fee can now be used to pave roads or cover any budget shortfall Mr. Marvin is faced with. Without their own dedicated fund, the Rec Department will be at the mercy of the Borough Council to pay their part-time and full-time staff, replace equipment, repair tennis courts, etc. If council decides that qualified, outstanding teachers’ and umpires’ salaries should be reduced, it will happen, and you will lose the continuity of teachers you have enjoyed for years. Additionally, vital services will take precedence during the budget process and where will that leave recreation in the mix?

2) Loss of control for selecting staff, both part-time and full-time, to work with our children. You already have the leader of the Recreation Department certified in finance and not recreation. Would you want a roofer teaching your kid’s math class?

Professionalism in the Recreation Department has been going out the window and it continues to dilute. I fought for years to employ the most qualified, certified (including myself) people to teach your children.

It also opens the door for council to employ past politicians in full-time positions as payback for their service to the community. This is a deplorable practice called pension padding, which the state of New Jersey abhors. It costs taxpayers millions in the end paying for pensions not earned.

Please join me in expressing your outrage to the powers that be. If it wasn’t broke, why fix it?

Norman Samodovitz

New Providence, NJ

Editor’s Note: Norman Samodovitz is the former Recreation Director of New Providence.

Agree or disagree with an item posted on The Alternative Press? Spot an inaccuracy? Want to write your own take on an issue? The Alternative Press welcomes all residents to submit letters to the editor or Opinion pieces at letters@thealternativepress.com

March 24, 2008

Opposition to Faith Lutheran Project

Dear Editor:

Thank you for publishing my email on the Alternative Press website. I hope your readers will contribute their voices and concerns to the public discussion after reading my message. We should all be considered about the series of letters to the editor of the Independent Press, and the potential impact they could have on shaping public opinion. However well-intended, the Faith Lutheran project will trigger enormous lower-income housing obligations that would ultimately lead to greater congestion, higher taxes, and a lower quality of life. Unfortunately, these unintended consequences outweigh the potential benefits of a large-scale continuing care retirement community comprised of 435 new units of housing.

On a final note, I am not aware of any efforts by the Alternative Press to reach me concerning my email. Obviously, I would have been glad to respond. Thank you again for helping to bring balanced information to more residents of New Providence.

Best regards,

Councilman J. Brooke Hern

Borough of New Providence

Editor’s Note: The Alternative Press attempted to contact Councilman Hern at his former firm’s email address. We apologized to Councilman Hern yesterday and apologize to our readers today for this oversight. We also revised yesterday’s story, “Councilman Hern Alleges Retirement Community Concept is ‘Enormous Threat’ to New Providence” accordingly.

March 21, 2008

Re: Vengrow Moving?

Dear Editor:

Thank you for informing the public regarding the fact that Councilman Vengrow's home is listed for sale. Is it possible that you have any more information about your recent posting? Has Mr. Vengrow clarified what's happening?

I think he's been on Council for almost 20 years so this kind of change is major, whether you agree or not with him. I am hoping that his "move," if indeed that is what's coming, is for greater personal opportunity and not anything related to health. I hope the Councilman will take advantage of your offer to inform residents if he is leaving New Providence.

Henry Kavett

New Providence, NJ

March 19, 2008

Dear Editor:

I attended my second Union County Freeholder Meeting on Thursday March 13, 2008. Another disappointing meeting. In order to keep this editorial brief I will cut to the chase and let you know why taxes will rise again in 2008. Freeholder Chairman Estrada said it is impossible not to raise taxes. At least he was honest. Although I do have a couple of ways we may be able to lower taxes. Don't hire the 51 corrections officers the County says it needs. Did we have 51 retirements? Were we running 51 short and is that why we had the escape and subsequent manhunt? Don't build the $3 Million building in Westfield. (The funds were just approved for this building a second time. The first time the funds were approved they were used for the Arts Center in Rahway.) How necessary is this building? And in these difficult times we have to make tough decisions. Such as, at least temporarily, eliminate funding for parades and other such niceties.

These may be nice things to do for the community but we simply can't afford to spend money we don't have. Perhaps private enterprise, community organizations, and individual citizens will step up to the plate and offer to underwrite these activities. Every little bit helps. If Freeholder Chairman Estrada believes it is impossible not to raise taxes perhaps we should eliminate Union County Government. Put control back in the hands of our neighbors in our local communities. Show him it is possible to not raise taxes!

Lance Cook

Westfield, NJ

March 15, 2008

Mike, Mike and Mike

Dear Editor:

Most newspaper publishers use an Editor’s Note very sparely. When they do, it is usually to correct a mistake or to clarify something misunderstood because of the way it was written. Of course, the exception is the infallible publisher of The Independent Press.

In what now has become his weekly, signature feature , Mr. Kelly uses his Editor’s Note, directed to one citizen or another, ( including the Union County Prosecutor) to defend, explain, or explain away the action, inaction or inaccuracy in reporting by either himself or Mr. Neavill.

I do apologize to Mr. Kelly about the “long letters” I’ve sent, but if he and the other Mike would do a more accurate job on their end, I wouldn’t have to write them. I’m happy they found it so helpful to lift (Mr. Kelly likes to call it “substantially excerpt”) part of another letter from me to create a story of their own on the front page of the Feb. 20th edition.

In his Editor’s Note of March 5, he states,” The Independent Press has talked repeatedly with officials on all sides of the issue.” The issue, evidently for Mr. Kelly, is whether or not Morris Police Chief Michael Loughman spent part of his winter vacation working as Berkeley Heights’ Township Administrator. Actually, the real issue is whether Loughman was employed at two full time jobs concurrently, which would be in violation of our Ethics Code.

On the Berkeley Heights’ “side”, The Independent Press has not spoken to Councilmen John Bonacci, Jerry Nelson or Louis DiPasquale, who were not in favor of hiring Mr. Loughman .I presume the officials that Mr. Kelly did speak to were those in favor of the hiring: Mayor David Cohen, Council members Elaine Perna, Joseph Bruno and perhaps EX –Councilman Thomas Pirone.

This doesn’t sound like “all sides of the issue”. It’s more like the one-sided view of The Independent Press, or as Mr. Kelly likes to call it, their “very distinctive view of reality”.

Mayor Cohen, in the Feb.20th edition of the Independent Press states, “He (Loughman) represented to us that he was able and available for employment and could leave his other job to accept the Berkeley Heights’ position. He showed up and he did it.” (key words: “other job”)

It is my understanding that Mr. Loughman’s resume included no references. Why would Mayor Cohen, an attorney with a self-described specialty in labor law, hire someone who did not produce references? Why would a labor law attorney accept the verbal self-representation of a prospective employee without any documentation?

In his Editor’s Note, Mr. Kelly continues that “knowledgeable officials in Berkeley Heights (presumably Cohen, Bruno and Perna, since he didn’t bother to speak to Bonacci, DiPasquale or Nelson) and Morris Township are now saying” that Mr. Loughman was not on vacation from his job as Morris Police Chief. Let’s see what “knowledgeable” Morris Township officials had to say then….

January 3, 2008 - The Morris Daily Record reported that “Mayor Robert Nace said he has not received any notice from Chief Loughman. Mayor Nace said he never had a discussion with the chief about the Berkeley Heights job. Nace said,” He is still our police chief.”

January 23 - Mayor Nace appeared to flip- flop when he said on Daily Record.com “He (Loughman) was given permission to use vacation to work in Berkeley Heights in order to transition into the new job.”

January 23 - text of Morris Township press release:

“The Township Committee announces the retirement of Police Chief Michael Loughman, effective April 1, 2008. Chief Loughman has been employed with the Morris Township Police Department since 1973… Succeeding Chief Loughman will be Captain Timothy Quinn, who will become Acting Police Chief on February 1, 2008.”

February 20 – The Independent Press reports that Morris Township Administrator, Fred Rossi, told them that “..an acting chief of police was appointed in late December.”

So according to reports, “knowledgeable” Morris Township officials gave 4 differing reports on three different dates.

In his Editor’s Note of March 5, Mr. Kelly promises “we will continue to report new information as it develops.” Hopefully, the new information will be more accurate than the old information, and this time, genuinely acquired from “knowledgeable officials on all sides of the issue.”

Long live the accurate, unbiased The Alternative Press!

Rosemary Hazan,

Berkeley Heights, NJ

March 14, 2008

Options in your call for votes re the proposed NJT tunnel to 34th Street

Dear Editor:

None of the new rail tunnel options listed are in the best interest of Jersey commuters. They all have the same flaw -- they go to the same place, which flies in the face of common sense, both for most suburban commuters' convenience and addressing the possibility (many say probability) of a future terrorist attack or other calamity. A completely separate new commuter rail tunnel is needed (actually two, but one to Midtown Manhattan for sure, and not just a puny one-track tunnel) and it needs to go to upper Midtown.

While most New Jersey commuters don't work within walking distance of Penn Station, which is why they have to transfer to a subway or bus, most don't work within walking distance of Grand Central either. The various NJT options proposed will all still require most Jersey commuters to transfer to a New York subway or bus. All of them would be wildly non-cost-effective.

A far superior alternative has been suggested and I am mailing you a copy (with maps). The adolescent go-it-alone chauvinism driving the NJT tunnel and the alternatives you are proposing is what got us to the present inadequate commuter rail tangle, but at least 100 years ago it was the result of private railroad competition. Today it is just plain stupid. Sorry to be so blunt but I have lost patience.

Jefferson Chase

Woodside, Queens

Editor’s Note: The current poll being run on The Alternative Press regarding the possibility of a third tunnel to New York City is based on the options currently under consideration by New Jersey Transit and the Governor’s Office or proposed by local advocacy groups. We have invited Mr. Chase to submit an Op-Ed so that his views can be fully aired and considered, as well.

March 12, 2008

Re: Berkeley Heights Motions

Dear Editor:

Your reporting on the Berkeley Heights motions was certainly timely and fair to the responders. However, I find it less than amusing to see how Council members Perna and Bruno continue to miss the points made.

The statute on petition certifications is very clear on either of two actions that must be taken according to the law:

The Town Clerk must work towards SCHEDULING AN ELECTION ON A CERTIFIED PETITION FOR A REFERENDUM.
The Town Council must either approve a special election to take place in a reasonable time frame or allow the referendum election to take place in the November 2008 general election. The Clerk can’t proceed without the Council making its decision.

That is so clear that they must have ulterior or misguided motives. What difference does it make as to their motives? They are not fulfilling their duties. In fact their party’s candidates in the last election did not hear the voice of the people either, i.e. “We should not try to prevent petitions of voters”. Jerry Nelson and John Bonacci made this very clear and they were elected by significant margins.

It was clear from a citizen’s Intervener court action, now a public document, that Perna and Cohen worked behind the scenes to prevent or block over a thousand voter signatures. Bruno and Perna continue this kind of stuff. I am sure the voters will speak out again this year. They do not want to be disenfranchised. Why are these Council members so intent on blocking a voter’s right to vote in favor of a small special interest group that is afraid of a vote by all the Township residents? Why do these members want to sidestep the law when that is what the Mayor continually keeps repeating even when it is inappropriate?

On the second motion, Mr. Bruno must have been in another Council meeting. The resolution to remove the Administrator did NOT state without cause. It did not state with cause either. It simply invoked the Statute referred to as 149.9. That statute outlines what is to be done if there is “with cause” or “without cause”. The resolution however just invoked the statute mainly because Mrs. Perna and Mr. Bruno saw major flaws in the original appointment of Mr. Loughman and in the restatement of the facts written into the originally presented resolution to remove (all matters of public record).

Now, new information has come to light. It was not invented. It was found by a resident that there is a Code in Berkeley Heights that says one should not hold two full time jobs simultaneously if the positions can’t be carried out satisfactorily by the Berkeley Heights job holder. It is too bad under the circumstances of Mr. Loughman’s appointment and confirmation that the Mayor and the Council did not know this, but now it is known. If it is true, then it is a “no brainer”. Perhaps in all fairness a committee can be formed of former Mayors to make this determination. Why didn’t they amend the motion instead of tabling it?

That would be fair to the taxpayers who will foot the $27,500.00 bill brought about because the Mayor and his lame duck Council supporters did not listen to three Council members who told them not to do the appointment or confirmation. This is in the public record also. The Cohen, Bruno, Perna team caused the payment and now they don’t have the courage to admit their mistake and ask for the money back. They would rather play the blame game.

Councilman John Bonacci

Berkeley Heights, NJ

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