| Author | Message | ||
     Minimalist Citizen Username: Minimalist Post Number: 2 Registered: 12-2004 |
I have written an open letter to SOAR, and I'm posting the url here. Open Letter to S.O.A.R. Thank you for your time. | ||
| SO Refugee Citizen Username: So_refugee Post Number: 511 Registered: 2-2005  |
I was surprised to receive the letter yesterday that: (a) emphasizes the arrival of spring...on the first day of summer, and (b) talks about providing information on the crucial upcoming village elections, which happened months ago???? Did someone print out the wrong letter? Looks like a screw up on the SOAR's part and it seems ironic for them to cast dispersions on the village officials for lack of skills in redevelopment when, obviously, their own "coming soon" correspondence is a bit tardy. | ||
| MHD Citizen Username: Mayhewdrive Post Number: 2530 Registered: 5-2001  |
Kurt, If you don't want to give money to SOAR - don't. There is no reason to mock what they have been attempting to do. no...I had nothing to do with the letter and didn't even know of it's existence until I read Kurt's letter here. I just can't stand the attitude of "Remain Calm...all is well". Take a look at your property tax bill and then discuss it with someone who lives in virtually any other town in the country and then tell us that something is not rotten in South Orange. SOAR is only trying to help expedite progress by getting professionals who know what they are doing involved through a DRMC | ||
| susan1014 Supporter Username: Susan1014 Post Number: 725 Registered: 3-2002 |
Actually, I'm in complete agreement with Minimalist, except that he forgot one thing. The SOAR letter explicitly asks us to give money so that they can work to get South Orange bad press in the media (I don't have it with me, so can't quote it exactly). I don't feel a need to pay someone to work for bad press for my town. I think I support the DRMC effort, but SOARs statements often leave me cold. This letter was just odd, and I'm not contributing to postage for similar ones! As to "mocking" SOAR...if Minimalist's questions about SOAR's effectiveness are off-base, SOAR is welcome to respond to them. I see no sign of mockery, but instead a set of tough but fair questions/comments. This letter makes the loyal opposition look as bad as the incumbents. | ||
| MHD Citizen Username: Mayhewdrive Post Number: 2531 Registered: 5-2001 |
Susan, I admit I have not seen SOAR's letter. Can anyone post it here? | ||
| SouthOrangeNanny Citizen Username: Sonanny Post Number: 26 Registered: 3-2005  |
does SOAR include vose ave? it's getting creepy to walk down that street.. | ||
| singlemalt Supporter Username: Singlemalt Post Number: 1056 Registered: 12-2001  |
In principal, if I was completely uninformed I would agree with the objectives of SOAR. However, they proved to be nothing more than political opportunist in this past election by endorsing 2/3 candidates who would be unable to participate in Beifus, SOPAC, New Market, NJ Transit parking, etc. due to well known conflicts of interest. Why would they support candidates who would keep the current power structure in place? Simple - their hatred for the current BOT is greater than their concern for improving the village. I think their primary goal is to embarrass the current administration at any/all costs. Improving the village is secondary. Anyone who gives them money is a fool. | ||
| Soda Supporter Username: Soda Post Number: 3394 Registered: 5-2001  |
Quite. | ||
| susan1014 Supporter Username: Susan1014 Post Number: 727 Registered: 3-2002 |
MHD, for all of the reasons that singlemalt said, as well as the bizarreness of the letter itself, I think that I filed it in the trash can. So someone else will have to find you a copy of it. Sorry. | ||
| wnb Citizen Username: Wnb Post Number: 243 Registered: 8-2001 |
MHD, I don't see anything mocking in content or tone about Kurt's letter, on the contrary, it is criticism of the most constructive variety. I found it to be quite succinct and well-written, and I believe the people of SOAR would do well not to dismiss it out of hand. | ||
| eel Citizen Username: Eelvb Post Number: 8 Registered: 7-2004 |
I received the same letter from SOAR. Seemed like it was sent 2 months too late. | ||
| Sitoyan Citizen Username: Sitoyan Post Number: 80 Registered: 7-2004 |
SOAR has successfully played the role of a watchdog on redevelopment since 2002. They have informed the public on the issues through e-mails and expensive direct mail, they circulated petitions, they organized the march on Village Hall last fall, they have written letters to the press, they have been vocal in many trustee meetings in support of redevelopment done by professionals. It is to be expected that those of us who support the present "status quo" regime would be against anything that SOAR is doing. Politics as usual. I haven't seen their letter, but if it is as bad as it sounds, that may be the result of the rumors I heard that the organization is having problems right now. It is said that its founder and president, Shelley Stiles, is slowly pulling out of the group for personal reasons after years of brave leadership, and the successors have difficulty reorganizing. Just a rumor though. | ||
| Minimalist Citizen Username: Minimalist Post Number: 4 Registered: 12-2004 |
sitoyan - status quo regime? you sound like the Bush administration talking to the Dixie Chicks. Someone asks some questions and you accuse them of being anti-american. "SOAR has successfully played the role of a watchdog on redevelopment since 2002." Really? What does this mean exactly? Their "expensive direct mail" was that pathetic thing that I received asking for money. Heck, I can put together a form letter, get the address database and send something easily more convincing than that thing I received. What petitions did they circulate, and what was the end result? Who are these people? I see a list of names, no indicator of whether they have any qualification to do what they're trying to do, and judging by their expensive direct mail I'd have to say they don't really know what they're doing. AND THEY WANT MONEY? | ||
| susan1014 Supporter Username: Susan1014 Post Number: 732 Registered: 3-2002 |
Sitoyan, I'm sure as heck not a supporter of the status quo, but find it hard to be a supporter of SOAR given its track record in the last six months or so. In addition to this odd letter, some of the emails sent out during the election seemed somewhat ill conceived to me (unsupported claims that conflict of interest issues would melt away, for example). I wish SOAR luck in finding direction and taking/retaking an effective role for change in town, and may well support them once they do so, but cannot at this point. However, I also hope that they get their act together BEFORE sending out any more mailings, as this one just damages their credibility. | ||
| buckneja Citizen Username: Buckneja Post Number: 15 Registered: 1-2003 |
Here is the letter quoted verbatim (without bolded text or bullets)[Pardon type-o's, please]. Capitalized letters have remained as they are in the letter. Here goes: Dear South Orange Neighbor, Spring has finally arrived after quite the tough winter. We only wish that the beauty of spring's annual renewal were reflected in our downtown. Another spring and still NO PROGRESS in our town's redevelopment! Not one single new building! The only thing going up around here is taxes. SOAR, the South Orange Alliance for Redevelopment, has been actively monitoring our town's redevelopment efforts and bringing pressure to bear on the Board of Trustees for more than two years now. Our march on Village Hall last fall made it perfectly clear: The residents of South Orange are frustrated with redevelopment and want to see changes now. SOAR wants to see the Village's redevelopment completed successfully. To that end we want to: * insure that the residents of this town are not stuck with higher taxes due to poor planning and overly generous tax abatements to developers. * see a master plan created that takes into consideration the entire Village, including good traffic flow, adequate parking, pedestrian traffic, ample open space, and revenues to help offset higher taxes. * know what's going on and not be kept in the dark. We want to be part of the progress. * take redevelopment and place it in the hands of trained, educated and experienced professionals. SOAR is working on: 1) Lobbying for the Downtown Redevelopment & Management Corporation (DRMC) awaiting a vote from the Board of Trustees to take over all aspects of redevelopment in South Orange. Let's get redevelopment out of the hands of the Village government and into the hands of professionals. 2) Taking a much closer look at the South Orange Performing Arts Center (SOPAC). Let's make sure that the SOPAC project is viable. We can only afford an arts and entertainment complex if it's thoroughly planned and successful. 3) Pushing the Board of Trustees to hold Beifus to a strict timeline. If he does not meet it, we will recommend that the property on South Orange Avenue be condemned, and a professional developer be brought in to take over! 4) Drawing intense media attention to the dismal situation in the Village. 5) Closely watching the various PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) and tax abatement programs being offered to developers. 6) Helping to inform all residents about this spring's crucial election for three seats on the Board of Trustees. Together we can make it happen--JOIN SOAR NOW! Your membership dollars are critical! Your contribution allows us to continue our work on your behalf, ensuring that the public is kept fully aware of the behind-the-scenes maneuverings. And it will help us keep up the pressure on Village officials. Please commit to your Village's future. Just print out the form below and mail it back with your membership check, to join us in 2005 in making South Orange the best it can be. Be part of the solution! Sincerely, The Board of Directors/SOAR Shelley Stile, Lewis Dorf, Daria Knarvik, Jamie Gorodensky, Tom Oser, Tracey Randinelli, Andrew Kleinberg, Martin Bearg [followed by a coupon for membership, soliciting contributions and information] | ||
| buckneja Citizen Username: Buckneja Post Number: 16 Registered: 1-2003 |
I just found my letter; thought I had thrown it out. It is definitely too old... Read it closely. Anyway, I figured it was easier to re-type than to get my scanner up and running... Have fun! | ||
| MHD Citizen Username: Mayhewdrive Post Number: 2533 Registered: 5-2001 |
The only troubling thing I see about the letter is the incorrect use of the word "insure" instead of "ensure". (* insure that the residents of this town .....) Meanwhile, Kurt is driving plenty of traffic to his business website.  | ||
| buckneja Citizen Username: Buckneja Post Number: 19 Registered: 1-2003 |
and that's NOT a type-o... | ||
| Minimalist Citizen Username: Minimalist Post Number: 5 Registered: 12-2004 |
MHD - I don't know if you're kidding or not, but I'll just state that I have that letter on my personal site with no navigation or anything, just a blank white page with black text. I composed it there and posted the link here, because I figure I might post the link a few other places. So there's no attempt to drive traffic to my business website, which isn't linked from the page at all. If what you wrote is just sarcasm (wasn't sure, the smiley says so but you never know), that's fine. http://www.sarcasm.com (a sad nothing of a site these days) is also me, so I won't be offended. It's hard to tell without tone. Oh and as long as I'm talking about myself and sarcasm, here's an article... http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/7337972.htm blah blah blah, I could talk about myself all day. i'll shut up now. | ||
| Shelley Stile Citizen Username: Sstile Post Number: 44 Registered: 12-2002 |
As the President of SOAR, I find myself dazed over the string of postings regarding our fundraising letter. SOAR is and has always been a volunteer group of concerned residents, attempting to clarify the redevelopment issues of SOuth Orange. We were formed nearly three years due to frustration over the lack of progress in redevelopment. People were constantly compaining about redevelopment but that was it...complaints and no action. We organized with the intent of looking into why redevelopment was stalled with the hopes of being able to inform the public and then create a grass roots movement to pressure Village Hall to fix what was wrong with the process and move the town forward. In these past three years we have learned a tremendous amount about why redevelopment is so slowcoming. In particular, we discovered that SOPAC was ill conceived, financially unstable and a possible financial burden on the taxpayers. We also focused on the old Shoprite site and the Beifus site. We know exactly why these projects have still not broken ground and we have communicated that information to the Village at large as well as attempting to present these facts to the BOT. We communicated everything that we discoverd to the public in the hopes that more people in town would become outraged at the mismnanagment involved and take action to reform the redevelopment committee. Our biggest dissapointment was the fact that we could barely get anyone to attend meetings with us or volunteer their time. The old adage comes to to ind...If you are not aprt of the soliution, you are part of the problem. We submitted a petition with over 800 names over two years ago in support of a DRMC, a Downtown Redevelopment and Management Corporation. We have been lobbying for just such an institutiion, to take over all redevelopment issues since then. We attended all hearings on the New Market project and were instrumewntal in having the design of the building changed to fit into the architectural integrity of our Village as well as turning it from yet another rental building to a condo. We have lobbied to have the Beifus project either move forward or stopped. We attend the Board of Trustee bi-monthly (when was the last time you were there?) meetings to stay informed and apply pressure to the board. We communicate with all Villagers. We walked door to door in support of the DRMC. We organized a March on Village Hall to apply pressure to move redevelopmetn along and establish a DRMC. We, the volunteers, do this solely because we want to see our Village change and be the best it can be. We spend a ridiculous amount of precious time and energy in our quest for a better South Orange. We give up time with our families to try to improve life in South Orange. We don't ask for thanks or kudos...but we sure don't expect to be trashed for our efforts. I personaly can take all the abuse that Village Hall has to give BUT when the residents of this Village, many of whom do nothiing to fix the problems we face, start in a group of committed individuals who are working on their behalf, well that is simply too much. We have always been concerned at the lack of commitment on the part of many residents to actually get up and do something about the problems in this Village. And then when someone actually does something, we get trashed because our fundrasiing letter was late in coming out! Yes, the letter was about 2 months late. Why? Well, the Board of SOAR is filled with people who work fulltime and things just don't happen as fast as we would want. Add to that the fact that we were each making the copies of the letter as we have spent all of our other funds on the aformentioned activites . We each paid for the copies out of our own pockets...something we have had to do many times in the past to keep the organizatrion going. Once the sopies were made we simply could not afford to redo them. So the letter was late. Is that all you can concentrate on? How about the fact that your fellow residents have been working in our spare time to attempt to do something about the sorry state of affairs regarding redevelopment in this Village as well as attempting to expose the incredible concentration of power that exists at Village Hall. Members of the Board and active members include: Shelley Stile, Tracy Randenelli, Andrew Kleinberg, Loren Liebenthal, Martin Bearg, Sheena Collum, Lewis Dorf, Tom Oser, Jamie Gorodensky, Daria Knarvik, Nancy Gould, Howard Levison, Eric DeVaris. I am truly at a loss. Shelley Stile PS- For those of you who have used extreme language and resorted to base insults, why not sign your real name? |
