Montclair Council Meeting A Hot Ticket

I will handle the Renaissance investigation for $9,000!!

Can someone explain how privatization "impact(s) on traffic patterns"?

Great, 10k down the toilet.

From prior posts -

The kids were out March 3. Construction on the ceiling starts March 10. No airborne asbestos found from March 27 EPA test.

Thanks for helping to raise my taxes CPA. Wonderful neighbors you are.

PS - Your SUV is idling.

I watched the last hour live on channel 34. Did not see Ted Mattox--was it a bad camera angle or was Ted not in the room?

Teddy has left the room. He prefers to sue from home.

"The mayor expressed disappointment with the budget proposal due to findings yesterday that the impact of the school board budget on taxpayers is 2 points higher than originally anticipated. Apparently, the school board was originally working with incorrect property valuation figures."

What a convenient slip up. Keep in mind, the BOE budget is the largest portion of our entire property tax burden. This one is gonna hurt. Can't wait to see the bill from the storm clean up as well. Last year Joe said it would be paid for by grants. Guess what? We paid in full. If Ed and crew never kept taxes under control when not lame ducks, then I can't wait to see the increases now that they have little to lose.

F this town!

Previous info had indicated they were thinking about privatizing garbage collection - is that idea dead? I would have thought the savings would have been much higher than what had been mentioned in the press. Even with the costs for the outside hauler, by selling the town owned garbage trucks and equipment (nice one-time hit) we would presumably be losing the entire salary line for all the collectors along with future pension growth/obligation. I would have thaought that would be a huge budget benefit.

Speaking of huge benefit - there had been some talk of whether the school age population would actually be rising to the level that called for the new school to be built. Last I saw it the size of that population actually fell by 50 students or so. Since this new school has been talked about for 5 years now & looks like it won't be ready for another 2 years - aren't we in a period where we can get a definitive answer as to how many kids are in the elementary school age range? If there is any way at all that the school can be postponed or cancelled that's the way you get the biggest bang - no one has stepped up & said what the impact of $45mil or more (cost of land & expected cost increases included at a conservative rate) will be on an annual basis - PLUS it will cost many $millions to upgrade Rand to middle school. Why can't this be put on long term hold & keep our taxes level????

After selling the Grove St. school because someone suggested (with charts!) that we would never have so large a grade school population, let's build the school.

The last thing we want to do is, say, rent a building that might have asbestos in it......

Watching these clowns on the council pretending to know what they were doing last night was truly a horror show. I could not believe how truly unprepared they were--every last one of them. The scariest thing was seeing how much they all relied on Harnett for info and guidance. And it seemed like most of the ideas they had for cutting the budget were being pulled out of their butts at the last second (pardon my french).
Sample dialogue:

Remsen: "We still need to cut a million dollars from the budget. Any suggestions?"

Robin Schlager: "Why don't we..mmm...how about we shut down the Upper Montclair branch of the public library for a year and see if that works."

I'm just glad these imposters are out of here in a few weeks. They looked truly defeated, to the point where I think I saw Tobin dose off at one point.

prof, if they sold the arena then whatever business opens would have more users than the town does now. Same way that if you sold a school building to a private developer there would be more traffic to and from the businesses that would open.

State Street,

Your assumptions here are grand. For both you assume that any private use would increase traffic.

Have you visited the corner or N. Fullerton and Chestnut before or after school?

There is no greater traffic jams in town than those created by drop offs/pick ups and those buses...

As for the Arena, it's been there for many years--- and was once very popular. Privatizing it may only bring it back to where it was.

January 2010, a date that will live in infamy. This is when I will be moving out of this tax and spend town.

The garbage will never be privatized for the people who work over on North Fullerton would never be terminated.

The Town Council has no cajones.

BossofdaBeach :
There WAS airborne asbestos in the main Renaissance building (reading of 460 when 70 is the acceptable level- that is more than six times the acceptable level) and the tests in Madonna Hall were done at one moment in time, so unclear what the issues were at other times. If we don't find out what happened, it can and will happen again. That's exactly what happened at Renaissance. Parents believed administrators when they were told that it wouldn't happen again, but it DID happen again. The amount this will raise your taxes is about 50 cents I think, unless you live in a mansion - then it will raise it a dollar or a maybe a little more, I think!

prof, I was skating at the rink when it had no roof so I have a good idea of how it's been utilized. If a private company bought the place they would have to increase traffic to make money. At the least there would be a need for MANY more parking spaces.

As far as MHS, if you were to make those many buildings a private corporate park you would have to add more parking spaces and the number of humans occupying the space would surely increase.

Although no one in this town deserves to pay one cent more in taxes, we have to remember that is the bad decisions of the BOE that has left the town open to lawsuits, potential fines from the EPA, and the need for this investigation. The actions of CPR, and other concerned parties, may long-term reduce your taxes by preventing other costly mistakes -- and remember this town is going to be building a new school.

In response to another comment, the EPA did find multiple violations at Madonna Hall and since we have no air testing from the time the children were eating there one cannot assume that the air was clear. Nor is asbestos the only concern, but lead dust and fine particulate matter. It was a no brainer not to have kids eat in a construction site but they were there anyhow.

The Town Manager made a proposal to "privatize" Clary Anderson.

That means, simply, that an outside firm would run the operation. They would collect money and make business decisions. The thought is that the TOWN could receive more money, and patrons could receive better service, by doing it this way. The firm runs the operation, profits are shared between Montclair and the outside firm.

The "crowd" in the audience was not interested in hearing ANYTHING. They heard privatization and went berserk. They concluded that the rink would be shut down, or curtailed, that kids hockey would suffer, etc., etc.

But they had heard NOTHING from the Manager. And, as he said later, if some company is going to run the place, residents could expect to get a BETTER expereince, not worse, because the operator, motivated by profit, wants the experience to be good for the people.

And let's not forget the extremely drunk old dude who heckled from the audience, then got up and spoke in Jack Daniels dialect for five minutes about who knows what. Then, a speaker begging alms for MAC had problems with the microphone, which fell into her pants--sweatpants, which fell down to the ankles. You can't make this stuff up. I didn't notice Tobin dozing. He might have been meditating; but Africk was definitely snoring from his seat in the front row. Don't forget that the Town Manager runs the town, not the Mayor and Councilors. The Faulkner Act--weak mayor, strong manager. All the bike racks in the world aren't gonna chance that scenario.

State Street,

(Your example of turning MHS into a corporate park is a great straw man. Why not just use turning it into a mall? Then it would need even more parking than a corporate park.)

From what's be printed here, I cannot imagine "privatizing" the arena is going to cause such grave traffic concerns. (So despite your long history with the place, I'm unconvinced that have someone other than the town run it is going to be a huge problem.)

As for the school, it's a school. And other than a high school, it's pretty easy to figure out how many spots you need (unless they let 12-year-olds drive....).

Oh, Liz! You take my breath away...

impact on traffic patterns...

This means neighbors fear somebody might actually use the arena.

Thanks for helping to raise my taxes CPA.

I knew there'd be one idiot who'd say it's a waste of money to investigate the possible asbestos exposure are kids in school. Congratulations, BossofdaBeach, you get today's prize.

Are readers of Baristanet awake? Do they realize that the BOE just made an error in calculation by 2% on a $110MM budget? That in order to get BACK to the original 4.72% increase someone would have to slash

$2MM? This was a mistake in simple math. And the town financial experts also missed this mistake. There is NO excuse.

Who is watching the store? Our Board of Education is made up of business consultants and other professionals. Maybe instead of arguing what date to change the prom to they should be spending their
time looking at budget numbers.

Calm down, Montclair.Mommy.

You act like this is "real" money. It comes from property taxes.

They can just raise the rates.

Or create a new "charge": how about a $50 yearly charge for each car, dog, cat, or kid?

I guess you expect town officials to actually know something.

Silly you.....

"The approved school budget was originally calculated to result in a 4.72% increase to taxpayers. With the new numbers the council just received, it has jumped to 6.72%."

In the REAL world the BOE would be told to go rework and cut the budget so it meets the agreed-upon 4.72% increase.

In Montclair...what happens? We get apologies and "disappointment" and no resolution? Just screw the taxpayers as usual?

Where is the fiscal discipline? How pathetic. Could we see perhaps a final act of leadership from the departing Council, by requiring the BOE to fix their error, rather than sticking it to the taxpayers yet again?

no chance of that rubber chicken!

Whoa!!!! I just noticed the reporting credit for Cathy Flynn. Holy Cow! Baristanet is like a real news agency! Sending reporters out to actually cover events! This is so exciting! Does this mean the Internet is now a mainstream news venue?

What's next -- video?

Speaking of which, whatever happened to that "hot and bothered" reporter--what's her name?--that hottie who did the video segments? Why did she stop?

Now that I mention it, where are the links on the home page to the video? What's going on here -- you guys are regressing. You're lying in a metaphorical text-based fetal position.

I'm watching the re-air on channel 34 of last night's council meeting (yes, I have no life). Joe Hartnett just said: "We have three swimming pools. How lucky are we? Other towns would kill to have three swimming pools." Personally, I would kill to have one swimming pool with a snack bar and some shade. If he's serious about how in the next few years things might get so dire that we might have to shut down one or two of our pools, how about we do it sooner rather than later, consolidate our assets and make one town pool that people would actually enjoy? If you've ever been to Cedar Grove or Verona, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Are our pools empty?

Whenever I drive by, they look full of folks.

Does anyone know the figures?

Why close them (snack bar or not; shade? The beach doesn't have shade, but you can bring an umbrella, although shade is not the reason most charge off to the water in Summer...) if folks are using them?

I tried bringing an umbrella to the Mountainside Pool, but try as I might, I couldn't get it to stick in the cement.

The pools in Montclair are the worst. You cannot bring food, there are very few chairs, no shade, and no baby pools. Every other town pool I have seen, has offered so much more. People may be using htem, but the reasons are not because they think they are great. When it is very hot and you don't have another place to cool down, you take what you can get.

The pools in Montclair are the worst. You cannot bring food, there are very few chairs, no shade, and no baby pools. Every other town pool I have seen, has offered so much more. People may be using htem, but the reasons are not because they think they are great. When it is very hot and you don't have another place to cool down, you take what you can get.

The pools in Montclair are the worst. You cannot bring food, there are very few chairs, no shade, and no baby pools. Every other town pool I have seen, has offered so much more. People may be using htem, but the reasons are not because they think they are great. When it is very hot and you don't have another place to cool down, you take what you can get.

Hey Walleroo --
All the videos are still thre. Under the first post, there are file tabs. Click on local video.

I would much rather have one decent pool than three awful pools. The hours are crazy: weekdays the pools don't even open until 1 pm. Plus, no food or beverages allowed on the premises. Granted, the Mountainside Pool does have a vending machine. But usually, it is broken. If there's one good thing about these pools, its that half the time they're closed due to a lack of lifeguards or some sort of bacterial alert, so it forces you to take a trip down the shore.

Let's stop futzing around with the budget. How does that metaphor in the Bible go? "...don't criticize the splinter in your neighbor's eye, when you have a log in yours"? The schools are the single biggest element in the muni budget, and our tax bill. Screwing around with pools, SUVs, whatever, will have no big impact, on a relative basis. GOT TO LOOK TO EDUCATION BUDGET.

Yesterday I heard from a local librarian at the little branch about the potential cut (which seems to amount to the permanent closing of the branch, if some council members get their way) and then tuned in to watch for myself on Channel 34. I was amazed at how it came up--it started with Sandra Lang saying that everyone would have to feel "some pain" over budget cuts and that she didn't see any "passion" from library supporters, in contrast to the "passion" she saw from the hockey parents/supporters, so therefore why not start cutting? Gee, if you're looking for "passion" as a indicator of public interest, maybe that's because there were no serious library budget cuts publicly proposed--the budget was to remain flat--until the 11th hour of the town council meeting on Tuesday. In other words, as with the arts council, the hockey arena, etc, "If you cut it(and post it on your agenda), THEY WILL COME!" Later, in this riveting televised display of yawning, chewing and paper-shuffling, Robin Schlagel offhandedly says that last summer's two-month closure of the branch, due to flooding, didn't seem to make a difference--so why not close it for 3 months, 6 months, a year? Save on electric, water, a/c. Uhh, now precisely what is she basing her "it didnt' make a difference" comments on? Did she talk to residents, particularly students, parents and children, and the elderly, who make use of the branch on a regular basis? The kids who were part of the summer reading club? The countless (or perhaps countable--how about a survey on who uses the branch and why before you vote to dump it?)others who view the branch as a regular destination? Okay, so everyone probably does have to "feel some pain," but can these folks do a little research on the impact of closing a branch library before they shoot their mouths off with desperate suggestions? Oh, sorry, doing research costs money, and this town doesn't seem to have any.

$750,000

Over/under on the storm cleanup?

And Tribble is correct that the school budget is what needs the haircut and primarily the administration. Want to close something down that that will not show an impact, start with firing all of those responsible for the asbestos issue and then leave the positions vacant. Suddenly, money will actually go to the schools rather than to trips to China and Atlantic City.

I Spy,

You could not be more on target. I watched the rebroadcast on channel 34 last night and blood nearly shot out of my eyes when I heard Sandra Lang comment about not seeing any "passion" from supporters of the Upper Montclair branch of the public library. I would highly recommend emailing Sandra Lang and telling her that people sure would care if they closed the Upper Montclair branch...that is, if they knew this was even under consideration. I would also email Robin Schlager as well. She also suggested this as a good idea. Here are their email addresses:

sandralang@montclairnjusa.org

robinschlager@montclairnjusa.org

Complainerpuss, thanks for the specific emails, I will follow-up. (And I see they're having a budget meeting tomorrow night at 7...gee, that's one way to get a good turnout of concerned citizens, have an important meeting on summer Friday night. Oh what the heck, why not just do it at 2 a.m. on Sunday in an undisclosed location and call it a day/budget! Ugh, I have a feeling this will not end well.)