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JerseySmarts.com

Book Review: The Citizens’ Manual

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This really should be titled as a “Pamphlet Review,” but it’s no big deal. Also, please remember that this manual is written for New Jersey citizens! This manual is a product of the Center for Civic Responsibility and is authored by Harry S. Pozycki. I believe that this manual is an important read for anyone who intends on or is thinking about becoming engaged in local politics. Some of the points addressed in the manual are extremely relevant given many of the town meetings that I have attended.

One of Pozycki’s best points is about how local citizens can act for change in a community or a region. He details the need to be well-versed on the subject area that you seek a change in and he talks about how one must show respect to those in elected positions. In other words, don’t storm into a council meeting and demand that a business be condemned because you think they are too loud in the morning! Instead, speak with the business and try to handle the problem yourself. If that does not work, then speak with neighbors to get their views and – if support exists – prepare a petition that asks the town council to sanction the business unless certain guidelines are met. And at all times, be very respectful to everyone around you because remember – most of the people who are in positions of power are not paid to be there.

Pozycki also does a nice job of explaining how the planning board and school board has a great deal of power to make significant changes in local municipalities. Many times people overlook these two entities and make all of their judgment calls based directly on the town council. That’s not only not fair to the hard working men and women on the planning and school boards, but it does not do much to accomplish and real change in an area.

One of the best pieces of this manual is that it tells people about party committee seats. These are seats that are elected locally and election district-specific. The folks who serve as committee seat-holders are the ones who get to help decide a specific political party’s slate of candidates and who will fill the holes left by retirements or elected officials stepping down. This is a great way for a local person to become engaged in the political process, though you usually only find Republican and Democratic party committee seats…options that not too many of New Jersey folks may find appealing!

There are a variety of other topics covered in this manual. The manual is written in a way that cuts through the BS and gets right down to business. You can download this manual download as a PDF by clicking here. I highly suggest giving the manual a read if you are into this type of stuff!

The Ocean Fitness Center Closes Up Shop

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According to the Asbury Park Press, the Ocean Fitness Company closed their doors on October 3rd. This was news to some of the gym-goers (and to me) for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is their 20 years of continuous operations and the recent multi-million dollar renovations at the site. From the Asbury Park Press:

Ocean Fitness Center, a health club on Route 35 at Deal Road, has closed its doors.

The club’s owner, The Fitness Company, posted the news in a letter on the door. It thanked patrons for 20 years of membership.

“We apologize for the sudden announcement and the closing of the club,” the note states.

This is weird for so many reasons. First of all, the Ocean Fitness Center was located in a great building and was the only gym in the area that had a full-size pool and jacuzzi. Believe it or not there are a bunch of us who live less than a mile from the Atlantic Ocean and still demanded to have a pool at our health club! Probably has something to do with those bitter freezing months each year…

I was a member of The Fitness Company from November 2003 through May 2006. I quit the gym at that time because the renovation of the swimming pool was supposed to be a quick, 3-month project in the summer of 2005 and it actually wound up taking until last February to complete. I did, however, rejoin the gym for the summer of 2007 and got some good use out of the pool before my membership expired in September. I chose not to renew.

This is striking news because I was just planning on going back to the gym this week and setting up a time to restart my membership (likely in the middle of December after I’m done teaching for the semester and I get back from a trip to Miami). It’s weird that they’re closed.

There are other gyms in the area to choose from including Workout World, Newberry Fitness, Jersey Shore Fitness, Gold’s Gym, Pearl Street Gym, and Edge Health and Fitness Academy (among many others). None of them really strike me as a place that I’d want to join right away, though I used to be a member at Gold’s Gym and if their prices are still as high as they were last year, then there’s no way I’d go back there again.

In a best case scenario, another gym would step in and take over the vacant building where the Ocean Fitness Center once occupied (and maybe change the dreary interior from that urine yellow to a bright white). Anyway, I’ll be keeping an eye out for gym membership deals in the next few months – let me know if you find any!

Another Local Government Issue

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Today’s Daily Record is carrying an article about the Chief Financial Officer in Mount Arlington stepping down from his position. The article is written such that the “story” is how the expected replacement does not have a Master’s Degree nor has she finished the required training classes to assume the position yet. Alright, maybe there is some type of story there, but I’m not really interested in that.

My interest, as many of you know, is with unnecessary government expenditures. The article in the Daily Record lists out the remuneration of the current CFO:

Dickinson was paid $15,000 a year to work about one day a week as the borough’s chief financial officer. He also earned an additional $10,000 this year for extra work overseeing the borough’s bond offerings and an additional $12,000 for acting as an internal auditor.

The salary the next chief financial officer will earn has yet to be determined, Ondish said.

Dickinson will retire from his internal auditor and bond service roles in addition to retiring as chief financial officer. It is expected that Rinaldi will be appointed only as chief financial officer, although she would also retain her current duties as assistant administrator.

Does anyone else see a problem with paying a guy $15,000 per year for “about one day a week” of work? I do. For a municipality as small as Mount Arlington there is no need to spend more than $5,000 per year on such a part-time employee. The $10,000 for overseeing the bond issue is about in the right range, but I have another issue with the $12,000 for acting as the internal auditor.

No, it’s not the expense (which seems about right for doing a municipal audit) – it’s that in a state where “double-dipping” is seen as a major issue and the word “corruption” is thrown around as a catchphrase, I wouldn’t want either of those negative stigmas to hit my good hometown. Of course, my concern might be borne of the fact that I live in Monmouth County a.k.a. Corruption Capital of the Jersey Shore!

In any event, I think it is high time for taxpayers to create independent, VOLUNTEER councils to review municipal expenditures. If such a council can operate on a volunteer basis and remain politics-free, then they would be major benefits to the entire municipality. That is, of course, a pipe dream!

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Hey – We Just Had An Election!

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Early results show that there were no more than 35% of the New Jersey electorate that actually got out there and voted today. You can count me as one of the 65% that did NOT vote today. I did not go to the ballot box in some form of protest – I didn’t vote because I have to drive an hour and a half to Mount Arlington to cast my vote and then an hour and a half back. Not happening…especially when there are no national or statewide candidates on the ballot!

That said, it looks like nothing new happened in New Jersey. Of course, I am writing this about 30 minutes after the polls have closed, but it looks like the exit polling shows no major change in any of the races. My hometown of Mount Arlington had no change in local elected officials. My State Senator (Anthony Bucco) won re-election, too.

The only two folks that I hope did NOT win tonight are Senator Ellen Karcher, a Democrat from Monmouth County (my current place of residence) and Candidate Joe Hughes, a Republican from West Long Branch. Hughes is the gentleman who is dead set against Monmouth University advancement in any form that imposes on his concept of what their boundaries should be. And Karcher waged what I believe was an unethical campaign in 2004 to win her seat from then Senate President John O. Bennett – someone (who I consider a friend) that was thrown under the bus in that election by a biased media.

In any event, it seems that there are just fewer and fewer people who are voting in these local elections. What a shame. The following is from an Asbury Park Press article on this topic:

Why the disconnect between prospective voters and actually voting?

“Life is complicated and this is not important to me and I’m busy,” said Ingrid Reed, director of the New Jersey Project at Rutgers University’s Eagleton Institute of Politics, describing some of the reasons why people don’t vote.

Reed said the Garden State’s well-deserved reputation for political corruption is turning some voters off.

She added most voters don’t know which legislative district they live in, making for very little interest in an election topped by the state Legislature.

Turnout tends to be higher in elections with a statewide or national office up for vote. In 2003, the last time the Legislature topped the ballot, only 34 percent of eligible voters cast ballots.

It’s generally believed that voter turnout is higher when the weather is good. Tuesday’s morning showers probably did not help.

This article, written by the Associated Press, is probably right on here. Who wants to partake in a system that really doesn’t help the end-users equally around the state? That’s how it is in New Jersey – you vote for a candidate that you think will bring change and then you get more of your tax dollars pumped into Newark, Camden, Trenton, and other areas where it is apparently needed more than your pocket.

Ah…New Jersey.

A Sane Non-Decision for West Long Branch

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Every once in a while you find a court case that is just a complete waste of taxpayers’ money and the system’s time. From my view, the recent court case against Monmouth University to block the construction of a 196-bed dorm is a great example of waste. There was no need to go forward with this case after the appeals process upheld the university’s right to build the dorm. The way that Joe Hughes (a local resident who is vehemently against the university’s advancement and running for office) pressed this case forward was shameful. Not only was he putting an undue strain on an already busted legal system, but his “coalition of neighbors” had already been outnumbered by another township-based neighbor group that supported letting the university move forward with their new dorm. A portion of the Asbury Park Press’ story:

WEST LONG BRANCH — The state Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal by a group of residents seeking to block construction of a Monmouth University dormitory.

The Supreme Court issued its decision without comment, as is its custom. The action set the stage for construction of the 196-bed dormitory and adjacent parking lot in a residential zone near the school.

On nearby Kilkare Farm, the school plans to build a smaller parking lot, six tennis courts and a drainage basin. Neighbors fought for more than a year to block the plan that school officials said was necessary to house current students, not to expand enrollment.

Even the Borough Council got involved, when a majority of its members voted to sue their own Zoning Board of Adjustment for approving the portion of the project slated for Kilkare Farm. The council declined to pursue an appeal.

In June, a state appellate panel upheld a decision by then-Superior Court Judge Alexander D. Lehrer that determined the West Long Branch zoning board acted correctly in 2005 when it voted 5-1 to approve the project.

Property owners fought for more than a year to block the plan at the zoning board level before being rebuffed at the trial and appellate court levels.

There are so many variables at work here that it’s hard to put a finger on all of them. One of the things that gets me is that you have a minority of homeowners trying to make their stance the final stance when a majority of homeowners either disagreed with them or did not care about the issue. That’s wrong. America was not founded such that the minority position would win out and the legal system proved that in this case (although I am confident that was not the basis for their decision). The minority is to have a voice and that voice is to be heard and respected when possible. But when that voice is “my way or no way,” the majority rules.

I admire the passion of the minority homeowners group and they can never say that their voice is NOT heard in the township when it comes to university issues. They recently had the new sports complex at Monmouth University reduced in size thanks to their voices being heard. This is an example of public policy working as it should in terms of community input. But when your input isn’t taken as gospel, you shouldn’t immediately go to the courts. That’s ludicrous!

For me, this non-decision by the Supreme Court is one of their more sane actions lately. Let the university build and let these new beds take more students out of the surrounding communities and onto the campus. As a side note – I find it funny that these same neighbors are the ones that complain about students living in their neighborhoods. On the one hand, they don’t want more dorm beds. On the other, they don’t want students living next door. No logic there, folks.