| Author |
Message |
    
Evm
| | Posted on Thursday, February 1, 2001 - 10:49 pm: |     |
Cfa-
Are you blind? I'm only telling what I see. I lived in that town for 30 years. I think I know what I'm talking about. |
Harold
| | Posted on Thursday, February 1, 2001 - 11:32 pm: | |
Evm, if you have been reading this board for any length of time you should realize you can never say anything bad about Maplewood.
By the way, M.P.D. called to Richmond at 3:45 pm do to large group of youths fighting and causing a disturbance...check with M.P.D. |
Njjoseph
| | Posted on Friday, February 2, 2001 - 10:10 am: | |
Evm -- I note your comment about Maplewood village being a parking lot on the weekends, although I haven't seen it myself. However, it doesn't compare to the traffic in So. Orange or Millburn that occurs everyday, and there's rarely signficant traffic on Springfield Ave., where I do most shopping on the weekends. |
Tracks
| | Posted on Friday, February 2, 2001 - 10:19 am: | |
I find driving through maplewood village in the early evening a nightmare... worse than S. Orange or Milburn. And there is never a place to park. Most of the parking is used by people going to the movies. They never should have allowed the movie theater to re-open without addressing the parking situation.
At least in S. Orange, there is plenty of parking in the evening and they will have parking for the theater |
Overtaxdalready
| | Posted on Friday, February 2, 2001 - 10:56 am: | |
Tracks..I agree with you. Trying to drive thru the village in the early evening or on the weekends, especially around lunch time, is an exercise in frustration. |
Ffof
| | Posted on Friday, February 2, 2001 - 11:05 am: | |
Maybe everyone otta try walking!!! |
Overtaxdalready
| | Posted on Friday, February 2, 2001 - 11:14 am: | |
Ffof, that's a great idea! If everybody walked, I'd have no trouble finding a parking space!! |
Yvette
| | Posted on Friday, February 2, 2001 - 12:24 pm: | |
Millburn has good grades, because they suggest to their kids that are not going to college not to take their SATs.
This way the scores are not brought down.
How true, I don't know, I heard it at one of the HSA meetings in SOMS. |
Ffof
| | Posted on Friday, February 2, 2001 - 1:09 pm: | |
I believe it. Conversely, our district encourages everyone to take the SATs otherwise it would not look politically correct. This is just what I've heard at these meetings too. |
Tracks
| | Posted on Friday, February 2, 2001 - 4:22 pm: | |
I cannot understand how Milburn has any property taxes with the money they must get from the mall and the other commercial ratables. They have money to burn, and one would think it would catch up to them one day. And they get an increase in state aid from the morons in Trenton. What a joke. |
Eddible
| | Posted on Friday, February 2, 2001 - 5:29 pm: | |
There is, most likely, a better place to post this question...but I'm very curious to hear from the people corresponding on this post. It seems that there's some passion here on living in Maplewood - positive & negative. I may be a new transplant, and am looking for an honest assessment of the people in Maplewood and what it's truly like to live here. It would be nice to hear that assessment outside of the anger, frustration or maybe even "turning a blind eye" viewpoint that I seem to sense in many of these postings. Harold, I can tell you're very frustrated with life in Maplewood. And Njjoseph sounds perfectly content. Obviously, with any town comes the day to day frustrations of life that occur many other places in the country, i.e. traffic, rowdy young people, high taxes, etc. But can anyone here tell me what the benefit would be for a fairly young, mixed-race couple with a 2 year old in moving to Maplewood? |
Mck
| | Posted on Friday, February 2, 2001 - 7:04 pm: | |
Eddible: The benefits would be great. A sophisticated, cosmopolitan population, opinionated (perhaps you've noticed?), some of the most beautiful neighborhoods and housing in the country, all an easy train ride to Manhattan. Expensive? Yes. Taxes are too high. Mixed race? No one will notice. I'm a member of a gay and multi color family. Not a problem, believe me. Schools? Many, many parents and students are happy. The local governmental bodies are about as honest and well run, considering our challenges, as they can be. All in all, you should be happy. I've been a hyper critic of this or that, but all in all, can't imagine living anywhere else. |
Eliz
| | Posted on Friday, February 2, 2001 - 8:19 pm: | |
Eddible - welcome - we are also a mixed race couple (alas not so young...) with a 2 year old and moved here only 4 months ago from Brooklyn. I think if you decide to move here you will find a lot of families who look like yours as well as pretty much any combination you can think of. That was our most important consideration - we want our daughter to feel at home and welcome in her community.
If I am to be completely honest I will say it is not exactly as open as Brooklyn/Manhattan - perhaps we don't feel as at home yet as I would have liked but I am sure that eventually we will. |
Nakaille
| | Posted on Friday, February 2, 2001 - 9:15 pm: | |
Mck, it was so nice to read your last post! Sincerely. You described Maplewood much as I would have. Hi from across the park.
Bacata |
Peterdsandman
| | Posted on Saturday, February 3, 2001 - 1:09 am: | |
i see more fights on this board than in any high school and we're supposed to be the role models.Something to think about. |
Kestrel
| | Posted on Saturday, February 3, 2001 - 9:59 am: | |
Something to think about? Yes, I agree we should be mindful of how we conduct ourselves as "adult" role models at all times. Certainly there are examples on this message board of childish responses to anger and frustration. We see pettiness, sniping, narrow-minded-ness and other assorted lapses, where civility has denegrated to unfortunate instances of "flaming" and name-calling now and then. But, strong and heated WRITTEN verbal disagreements, no matter how lacking in adult role model qualities they may be, are surely preferable to physical violence.
Wouldn't it be a good thing if all children (of all ages!) learned to express themselvs in such a way? Writing well and thoughtfully requires development of crucial social interactive skills; patience, discipline, diligence, and, most importantly, knowledge of self.
Personally, I feel there are some very fine examples of written self expression and thinking found on this message board - Good and Bad! It might not be a bad idea if a course were given in our schools where a "message board" such as this would be used as a teaching tool.
By now, many of us take this message board for granted. It has become a part of our life; informing, inflaming, exchanging and entertaining us daily...It's hard to think of not having it....Thank you Dave! |
Nicky
| | Posted on Saturday, February 3, 2001 - 10:15 am: | |
Kestrel:
Excellent idea for our children. |
Eddible
| | Posted on Saturday, February 3, 2001 - 11:08 am: | |
First, I'd like to say thank you all for your input and response to my post. Mck, you specifically confirmed many of the positive things I've heard already about Maplewood. As a gay couple with a young son, of particular concern to me and my partner is the diversity issue. And hypercriticism is not necessarily a bad thing, as long as it's utilized to positive effect. Eliz, your concerns for your daughter echo our concerns for our son. While very few places are as open and welcoming as Brooklyn, I want a home, with a yard and garage - green grass and lots of it! I can certainly understand why you'd make the move. Kestrel, you bring up so many wonderful points. Obviously, we can't expect all people to behave in proper ways at all times. Unfortunately, valid frustrations can often lead to inappropriate expression. But we are supposed to be the example and, ultimately, it is our responsibility. We can't complain about our youth addressing respect with such blatant disregard when we can't treat our peers with the same respect we would want for ourselves. I think it's quite amazing that this forum even exists to discuss these kinds of issues - good, bad or otherwise. I'm enjoying my "Maplewood" experience so far. My partner David and I are driving to town today to check things out and have lunch. I'll let you all know how it turns out.
Thanks again - Talk soon. |
Peterdsandman
| | Posted on Saturday, February 3, 2001 - 11:57 am: | |
i have to agree with you kestrel on all your points. |
Debby
| | Posted on Saturday, February 3, 2001 - 4:11 pm: | |
eddible-
wlecome to you and David. something no one has touched on is what a great place this is to raise a kid - any kid. When you live in Maplewood your son won't be "that kid with two gay guys living together", he'll just be a kid surrounded by other kids in our great parks, cozy library and heartwarming town celebrations (Fourth of July is the best, followed closely by Halloween). You will also LOVE the elementary schools - just ask anyone who actually uses them.
Regarding the whole east vs. west issue, I don't think it's nearly as polarized as this board would suggest. Check it out yourself.
Good Luck |
Nakaille
| | Posted on Saturday, February 3, 2001 - 11:43 pm: | |
Eddible: we, too, are a gay interracial couple raising a child (daughter, age 4). It has been a terrific experience for us thus far. I don't doubt that she will encounter some occasional grief over being raised by gay parents at some point in her future, just as she is already beginning to encounter some grief about being adopted from China. However, she has lots of true peers in town and her parents don't have to hide or ask her to hide her family's composition. I think that makes a very big difference on these kinds of issues. We are fortunate in that a number of other gay families have entered the school system openly. So the trailblazing has been done already. There are enough gay families and plenty of interracial families around that it is certainly no anomaly. It is, indeed, a good place to raise kids. Because of all of the spirited, concerned people you see writing on this board and chatting around town. While I sometimes vehemently disagree with some of them, I don't doubt their concern for the town and its people. That's part of what makes Maplewood the good place it is.
Bacata |
Bobk
| | Posted on Sunday, February 4, 2001 - 2:37 am: | |
Eddible:
As long as you and your partner can pay the taxes, welcome.  |
Joancrystal
| | Posted on Sunday, February 4, 2001 - 10:56 am: | |
Eddible:
I have lived in Maplewood for 20 years. My son went through the public schools here: Tuscan, Maplewood Middle, and Columbia. He refers to the Maplewood Schools as "a mini United Nations". The educational experience of being in school with young people of such diverse backgrounds was a real plus for him.
As you may have noted from reading these posts, freedom of expression is valued commodity here; so is freedom of lifestyle. I think you will enjoy it here. |
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