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Dave
| | Posted on Thursday, May 9, 2002 - 9:01 am: |     |
From Nohero: "What do you think of the job the Township Committee has done over the past five years? Do you take issue with any major actions during that time, and if so, which action and why? " |
Artchristensen
| | Posted on Saturday, May 11, 2002 - 3:09 pm: | |
I'm not going to debate what has been done in the past. I believe they have tried hard to do the best they can.The past is the past, and we can't change it. We can learn from past mistakes, so lets just debate the future.
Now, on the other hand, can the TC do better, can we do better as a community, the answer is, YES WE CAN! It's time for a change!! More to come..... |
Fredprofeta
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 28, 2002 - 9:48 pm: | |
What do you think of the job the township Committee has done over the past five years? Do you take issue with any major actions during that time, and if so, which action and why?
If one measures by dedication and hard work, then, in my opinion, the Township Committee has done an excellent job over the last 5 years. I know these people well. They include some of my good friends. I have worked long and hard with all of them over the years on various initiatives in Maplewood - with Vic DeLuca, for example, since 1995 on the establishment of the Springfield Avenue Partnership; with Jerry Ryan, since 1993, on creating a Special Improvement District in the Village (the Maplewood Village Alliance) and on the Community Coalition on Race while he was a trustee; with Burt Liebman on the Alliance since 1994 where we both still serve as directors; with Celia King on the Coalition during her tenure as a trustee; and with David Huemer during his stellar service on the Coalition's touring committee. Both Vic and Jerry serve along with me on the Planning Board (with Jerry since about 1991), where we have engaged in productive debate concerning many important residential and commercial developments in Maplewood.
My assessment of the Township Committee changes significantly if one measures by the method of governance and by accomplishments on the big issues confronting Maplewood. In the area of accomplishments, I see a considerable lack of cooperation with the Board of Education on achieving excellence and fairness in our schools. There is an enormous need for an energized partnership with the BOE to achieve our fair share of educational funding. In Trenton, Montclair's representatives from both town and school are known as "Montclair, Inc" because of the cohesiveness of their effort - we are not known for our effort. There is more to discuss regarding education, but not enough space here.
In answering a previous question, I have already alluded to Maplewood's "communication gap" by discussing the Township Committee's removal of the Citizens' Budget Advisory Committee from the financial planning process. It is difficult to see how this can be defended on any basis. I also take serious issue with the Township Committee's vote not to hire an economic planner - I will discuss this further below regarding Springfield Avenue. There are many other actions (or non-actions) with which I disagree regarding a failure to run an open government and conduct a dialogue with the public on key issues as they develop.
Examples of closed government and lack of dialogue are many - I will mention a few. The anger generated by the KFC application could have been averted if the public had been invited to discuss the merits of this proposal before the application was handed over to the Planning Board - a quasi-judicial body not well-equipped to process enormous amounts of public comment. The Township Committee certainly should have discussed plans for the upcoming bike race through Maplewood Village with the Alliance and the Chamber of Commerce before deciding to shut down Maplewood Avenue on a weekend, learning only after-the-fact that the merchants stand to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars by that action. Certainly a compromise solution could have been achieved. And there is no non-political excuse for the Committee's failure to consider and discuss the report of the Community Coalition on Race regarding code violations, submitted to the Committee in November of 2000.
Some communication failures are easy to remedy. The agenda for Committee meetings should be understandable to the public; the audio system should be fixed and members should not mumble; and a website should be utilized in order to explain issues, their pros and cons, before they are the subject of debate at Committee meetings. Even if nothing else were done, these simple measures could make a considerable difference in the public's view of its governing body. |
Iangrodman
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 29, 2002 - 2:47 pm: | |
What do you think of the job the Township Committee has done over the past five years? Do you take issue with any major actions during that time, and if so, which action and why?
Being a member of the township committee is hard work, and I commend anyone who has taken the job for their efforts. That being said, I do believe that some serious issues regarding the manner of governing have been evident in recent years.
In the last few years, there appears to be a decreasing lack of communication and openness from the township committee. Controversial issues addressed by the committee are sometimes cloaked in secrecy. For example, during last year's reassessment process, few residents were made aware of the procedures and standards for determining the new assessed value of their property prior to the process taking place, and the ensuing outrage and manner for handling disputed assessments made the entire process appear arbitrary to many taxpayers. Another example is that the residents of my neighborhood, College Hill, received no notification from the township that Tricon Corporation had filed an application to build a Kentucky Fried Chicken at the corner of Yale Street and Springfield Avenue in July of last year. I was still president of the College Hill Neighborhood Association at the time, and did not know about the application until I was informed informally by a member of the Planning Board in October, three months later.
The township committee has greatly diminished the role of the Citizens Budget Advisory Committee, residents' only manner of providing input into the budgeting process. This year, the township committee passed the budget before the various subcommittees of the CBAC even had a chance to review the documents necessary to provide a thoughtful and meaningful analysis. Some of the responses of the Township Committee to previous reports by the CBAC have appeared to be patronizing, and even flip.
I have also spoken with employees of organizations in town who were encouraged to resign from their positions by members of the Township Committee because they had supported the political campaigns of those not favored by current township committee members.
Such a lack of communication and openness, in addition to vindictiveness directed to those with differing views, is unacceptable. The Township Committee must be open to all residents of the town, alert residents of pressing issues (perhaps through the use of an official Maplewood government website), and strive for inclusiveness of all political thought. Residents of the town should not be accountable to the township committee---the Township Committee must be accountable to the people of Maplewood. |
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