Government
By JAMES T. CLEMONS
July 14, 2022
Dear Mayor Balla, and The Watchung Borough Council Members July 13, 2022 My name is James T Clemens. I live at 162 High Tor Drive. Therefore, I am a resident and I am asking for your consideration of the following topic. Executive Summary – In my personal opinion, the ...
Summer should be about flipflops, ice cream and sunshine. This year, my summer reading includes news articles about the state budget and materials for council meetings. Why? Because we are entering the time of year I love to hate … election season. This is when my mailbox fills with glossy ...
Summer should be about flipflops, ice cream and sunshine. This year, my summer reading includes news articles about the state budget and materials for council meetings. Why? Because we are entering the time of year I love to hate … election season. This is when my mailbox fills with glossy ...
Dear friends and fellow Holmdel Residents, I wanted to reach out to you regarding the July 26th Vote to dismantle our current Township Government. I have heard many things swirling about town. I’ve had many concerned residents ask for my opinion and council on this monumental change. My ...
Holmdel residents are facing an off-cycle election question to convert our current government from the most popular type in our county (Township Committee) to the least popular (Council-Manager). Followers of Chairman Kin Gee of the Holmdel Charter Commission accurately observed residents were ...
I am alarmed and disappointed by the efforts of the Economic Development Department of the City of Plainfield and the Mayor to curtail the potency of the Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) by proposing an amendment to Municipal code chapter 17. The proposed change to the Municipal law directly ...
In the past two weeks, the Supreme Court has eroded decades of hard-fought progress. Six unelected people have now stripped: Women of their longstanding right to autonomy over their own bodies. (Dobbs v. JWHO) Arrested individuals of their guaranteed Miranda rights. (Vega ...
“Abolition is about presence, not absence. It’s about building life-affirming institutions.” – Ruth Wilson Gilmore Over the past two years, there has been much talk of defunding the police in Montclair and reallocating police funds towards resources that promote actual public safety. Over that ...
Today, the Supreme Court abandoned 50 years of established precedent and took the truly unprecedented step of stripping American women of the reproductive rights that the Court, regardless of its political configuration, had recognized and protected for more than half a century. In their ...
Today, the Supreme Court abandoned 50 years of established precedent and took the truly unprecedented step of stripping American women of the reproductive rights that the Court, regardless of its political configuration, had recognized and protected for more than half a century. In their ...
I was appointed to the Newark Landmarks and Historic Preservation Commission by Mayor Sharp James and served for more than a decade. I always believed in following the law and proper procedures. I am dismayed and disappointed that the current administration would choose to bypass and ignore the the ...
UPDATE: Since this article was originally published one year ago, Juneteenth Independence Day was signed into law by President Biden as a federal holiday in 2021. Juneteenth Day has been celebrated on the third Friday of June as a state holiday in New Jersey since 2020. WHY JUNETEENTH SHOULD BE ...
The cost of the Edison Field Project, which intends to install 6 acres of artificial turf and stadium lighting behind Edison Intermediate School, is estimated (by the Town) to be $9 million. The stated intention is that the Town of Westfield will issue a bond to cover the cost of this ...
We write this letter to correct any misrepresentations regarding the role of the Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) in the Prospect Street/Ferris Place redevelopment project. The Town asked HPC to meet with the developer regarding the plans for the Prospect/Ferris redevelopment because it ...
To Mayor Brindle and Council Members Contract, Dardia, Katz and Parmelee: With extreme disappointment do I address this letter to you, our elected representatives who chose to respond to ONE property owner while discounting the pleas of those 1,200 fellow Westfielders who asked you to consider ...
Editor's Note: This is a digital copy of a short speech given by Richard J. Helldober, PhD - President of William Paterson University, This takes place during the June 1, 2022 Wayne Township raising of the Pride Flag ceremony and just before the following town council meeting, where a proclamation ...
As a mother of two young children, ages 6 and 2, and a resident of New Providence, I have enjoyed many of the benefits of living in New Jersey. Yet, despite a strong support network, I have and continue to encounter significant challenges accessing services and support for my children and family to ...
When I recently heard news that $517,000 Safe Routes to School grant had been received, I wondered why this was being discussed again. But that was because I confused this current influx of funding with the previous $410,000 that Jeanne Kingsley’s efforts had brought forth for our town in 2018. ...
As a mother of two young children, ages 6 and 2, and a resident of New Providence, I have enjoyed many of the benefits of living in New Jersey. Yet, despite a strong support network, I have and continue to encounter significant challenges accessing services and support for my children and family to ...
As a mother of two young children, ages 6 and 2, and a resident of New Providence, I have enjoyed many of the benefits of living in New Jersey. Yet, despite a strong support network, I have and continue to encounter significant challenges accessing services and support for my children and family to ...
As a mother of two young children, ages 6 and 2, and a resident of New Providence, I have enjoyed many of the benefits of living in New Jersey. Yet, despite a strong support network, I have and continue to encounter significant challenges accessing services and support for my children and family to ...
I was shocked but not surprised by a recent letter from Randy Piazza Junior regarding the state of the town’s recreation department. It has been apparent for quite some time that the younger Mister Piazza has considerable ambitions for higher office. I just never expected he would be willing to ...
After having attended several of the planning board meetings for the Avalon Bay proposed development on Valley Road and Barbour Pond Road and asking detailed questions about safety and having heated discussion with their attorney, it is my opinion that Avalon Bay has shown little concern for safety ...
All politics are local. It is the policies at the local level that have the greatest impact on our everyday lives. It is our local elected officials, our neighbors, who can more closely relate to our plight. These are the elected officials whom we should feel closest. The ones who should ...
We write this letter as former Chairmen of the Summit Area Development Corporation opposed to the Broad Street West (BSW) project. We join former Common Council members Millie Cooper and Al Dill, former Planning Board Chairman Paul Deehan, current Summit Historical Society Trustees and ...
Dear Editor - I am writing to commend our town government for the smart, forward-looking development planned for the corner of Ferris and Prospect. Like many of you, I have been interested in seeing how this unfolded over the past couple of years to make sure it fits with my view of what we ...
In Re: Union County Deer Hunt: 229 Deer Harvested in 2021-22 Cull Dear Editors, I was disgusted by your use of the euphemistic term "harvested" in the article about the deer hunt, as if deer were some inanimate crop. Journalistic integrity requires you to be more honest about what is really ...
Sparta Mountain Continues, Flawed NJ Forest Management Plan moves to a Committee, without Moratorium. Proforestation somehow escaped NJDEP's approach, while Governor speaks of Climate? Greenwashing happening in these documents and in the actions that the DEP promotes. A sort of "competitive ...
Once again our country faces another incident where children and educators have been senselessly murdered by another madman. Schools, which should be a place of comfort and safety, have now become a place of fear, where children as young as five or six are taught “active shooter drills.” And an ...
This week the Town Council voted to approve a redevelopment agreement that would allow for a 60-unit apartment project at Prospect Street and Ferris Place, known as the Sophia, to move forward. The developer must still go to the Planning Board to obtain site plan approval at a future public ...