Our Local Pharma Giant Lurks Away

I suppose it could be worse: They could be completely closing down in favor of
"cheap" Indian / Chinese labor.

Hopefully they won't be doing too much down-sizing.

You've just misplaced a whole bunch of workers in that area. The R&D will be one building out of that Campus, I can only imagine the fate of the rest of those buildings. Any environmental risks associated with dismanteling the labs?

Good riddance, Roche. We don't need that big stinking company. Let's get a greener one in that space instead. Perhaps a maker of solar panels or windmills. Or perhaps we can turn that land into a local organic farm. Think of this as an opportunity to rebuild our part of the world into something better.

Oh well. I guess I won't be getting my tamiflu locally any more. Or my 3-quinuclidinyl Benzilate for that matter.

LOL...I love Mathilda's posts for some reason.

I do feel sorry for any displaced workers. I have a couple of friends who work for Roche. Most likely, they'll be told to move to CA or else. I imagine it would be OK if you're single and don't have major family/friends ties here. But it could suck otherwise.

"Or perhaps we can turn that land into a local organic farm."

---- What ?we?, white man?

I am not posting here because I'm some kind of pate or a sit-com for your enjoyment. I am posting here because I am trying to engage responsible people in the community so we can pull together and save God's green earth. Why do people find this so amusing? Doesn't anybody care about the state of the planet and the fate of future generations?

Not sure if you're directing your comment towards me.

But while I share some of your feelings, tell me just how "we" are supposed to to any of the great ideas you suggest?

I'd love to see a maker of solar panels or windmills or an organic farm. But just who is going to do it?

Who is the we?

(Personally, I'd love to see a nuclear power plant- very green.)

Mathilda, if we go by economic contributions to this area alone, then Roche trumps any conceivable "green" use of the land.

Would you perhaps prefer the site to be ourchased by the Gores, as a pied a terre for when Al and/or Tipper come to the area?

Of course you're not pate'. But you arer quite often a lagniappe to much of the silliness posted here.

I am not posting here because I'm some kind of pate or a sit-com for your enjoyment.

And yet, you remain highly-entertaining.

Much the same way ROC's postings about driving his Hummer two blocks because it was to hot/cold/looked like it might rain and screw-the-environment-for-getting-in-my-way posts always made me chuckle.

With extremists, the options are to either laugh or shudder at your absurdity and laughing is much easier.

perhaps we can turn that land into a local organic farm.

But, don't you realize how much carbon would be released in the process of tearing down the existing structures, reclaiming the parking lot and then remediation of the soil to make it fertile again (let alone whatever insanity would have to be done to have it "organic" certified)?

I'd say the cost would be equivalent to at least a dozen acres of rain forest being cut down.

In fact, if that is what they do with the property, I will personally blame you for the "murder" of all those trees and do everything in my power to see you brought up on the appropriate genocide charges!

mathilda's comments are cracking me up too.

"We don't need that big stinking company."

We need all big stinking companies. They are the reason you have a computer and can post nonsense, live in this fine area, and live in the most prosperous nation on the planet.

What is the problem with our local economy being propped up by a great company like Roche? Have you never taken a pharmaceutical in your life?

Maybe you should read their web site and see the beneficial products they make? Don't you think it is important to have cancer medication?

I guess your response to this would be something to the effect of "if we did not pollute and we only ate from organic farms we would not get cancer and then not need big stinky companies"

Another thing, I hope Roche comes up with a product to cure the current case of Greenie fever that is going around Baristaville. This is a very dangerous mental illness that we must nip in the bud.

A Solar Panel Factory. WORST IDEA FOR THE PLANET! Lets see, the majority of Solar Energy thrives in the midwest. NJ isnt ideal for using panels. Try Montana. So, lets say we build them here, put them in trucks and haul them across country. That's green. Im all for solar energy plants, but lets manufacture them in the middle of the country, so they dont have to travel so far

While using the land for a wind farm would be a nicer view then those buildings and be a green energy alternative - how many jobs does a wind farm produce? This loss is about jobs and rateables. Organic farming or the Al/Tipper memorial doesn't seem to fix the jobless problem.

All we need is a vision. Imagine the entire Roch property converted to local farms. Of course, it would take some carbon from the fuel burned by the big machines needed to wreck the buildings, but they raw material could be recycled for housing for the poor. The crops that we would grow ourselves would soak up carbon from the atmosphere, making NJ a greener place and, perhaps most important, provide an example to the rest of the developed world as to how people can take the stewardship of the earth into their own hands. All it takes is imagination and hard work.

But no, you people would rather sneer and make your snide comments than actually do something.

Are jobs more important than the health of the planet, hrhppg? If things don't change, we'll all be out of jobs.

Informal poll..

Mathilda is..

A. a byproduct of the 60's
B. graduate of an ivy league school
C. a communist
D. all of the above

"All we need is vision" - I feel song coming on.

Singing produces too much carbon please DO NOT SING.

I wonder how this effects Nutley as far as taxes. I'm assuming that Nutley received a ton of taxes from Roche.

Well I too pay a ton of taxes to Nutley, and if they put a hippy commune on the Roche campus my money is leaving town too.

Mathilda is having a grand time this morning putting people on.

Et tu, laserlumpenprole?

I vote for putting the workers of Roche out on their ass. If they are homeless, they wont be using much electricty, or driving for that matter (takes a job and income for the right to burn fossil fuels). Increase everyone else's taxes and hopefully making some of them homeless as well. It would be like removing 3,000 cars from the road. Im with you Mathilda. Forget jobs and the economy. And damn those "get well soon" schemes that these scientists come up with at Roche! Midieval Quackery I say!

Mathilda, whatever it is you are smoking, please pass it my way.

Also, though no one's mentioned it yet, "to lurk" implies that one stays in place, if furtively and to sinister intent. Whereas Roche seems to be skulking or slinking away as quietly as possible.

Really, once they lost the "franchise" in some of their drugs, times became somewhat hard for the company.

It?s all a compromise mathilda. You can't say its okay if our economy disappears, and we live in shanties as long as they're earth friendly. This is a major part of our local economy, everyone posting here probably knows someone who works there. People struggling to make ends meet aren't going to accept the green alternative to light bulbs or alternative energy over food for their kids. Even now as the economy turns, people are buying less organic foods. Gas prices are rising yet hybrids aren?t flying off dealership lots. NJ is actually a very green state, but we can't go from 0 to 60 overnight.

To the doubters, I can respond by quoting Blake:

Wisdom is sold in the desolate market where none come to buy,

And in the wither'd field where the farmer plows for bread in vain.

I heard they're putting a Trader Joe's in on that lot.

(actually I'm just making that up, but there would be plenty of room for that, and still be enough space for Mathilda's drum circle)

Mathilda - As a life-long environmentalist and commercial real estate developer, let me try to explain what is wrong with you suggestion regarding organic farming.

First, after 80 years, that site is no longer appropriate for farming. Large amounts of chemicals have built up, not necessarily through malfeasance. It is now a brown field. Short of a Superfund multimillion dollar cleanup, the land will not be viable for raising human or even livestock food. It can be used for other types of manufacturing, office space and even potential residential.

Second, cleaning it up would be a waste of money. The size of the land is not enough to make any noticeable impact in healthy food availability. Furthermore. The millions spent on cleaning the site could instead be used to provide lower income housing there or elsewhere. Which do you think is a more effective use of scant government funds.

The best use of land is not always what we want it to be but rather the most efficient use of space and resources. For example, New York City looks like a dirty, smoggy, blight on the natural landscape. In reality it is a far more economical and environmentally friendly use of land than the suburban sprawl of New Jersey. That is the reason the Sierra Club has joined with developers in recent years to push for high rise multi-use developments. it requires a significant change in the American ideal of a house with a yard and a nice picket fence, but urban living is where our country is going if we want to preserve our land. and natural resources.

mathilda is a troll in the tradition of Proud Montclairion.

We should turn the buildings into factories and go back to manufacturing things like steel, clothing and computer parts. TWe can round up all those illegal immigrants, give them green cards and put them to work. After working as gardeners and day laborers a minimum wage job will be a blessing.

I prefer Robbie Burns, who when looking at a steel plant offered,
"we came nae here ta look an see in hope of bein' mare wise,
But only as we're gawn to hell, it'll come as nae surprise."

I hope Roche's relocation isn't just the beginning of pharaceutical companies flocking elsewhere. NJ is the home base of several of these companies and if they all start relocating, there is going to be a large increase in unemployment.

Mathila is quoting Blake so my guess is Ivy League grad.

Considering that all the buildings in Roche's mini-city have been getting overhauled, I'm thinking that is going to remain/become a rather large corporate park.

I'm thinking that is going to remain/become a rather large corporate park.

That wouldn't be too shabby. Especially if it meant that multiple companies were in the same space (I *think* that means more taxes).

Hmm... Maybe I could convince my company to relocate there and start riding my bike to work again.

(every bit helps, right Mathilda?) :-)

Perhaps Roche is leaving to escape the rats living in the park across the street.

Makes me wonder why Roche is spending so much on refitting the tallest building in that campus, perhaps for selling purposes?

And why can't we build solar panels or other "green" gear in NJ? We're in one of the world's largest metropolis and would be able to export internationally much more effectively.

mathilda,
>Are jobs more important than the health of the planet, hrhppg? If things don't change, we'll all be out of jobs

What good is a job if you kill yourself. These are not either/or choices.

I find that "conservatives" have a hard time connecting the data. It's like they can only juggle with one ball.

Cathar,
Nasty as usual. Your insults is like getting hit with a nerf football, no effect. Don't you get bored. I suppose all that hate warms your cockles.

To all the "why can't WE" crowd: NO ONE IS STOPPING YOU!!

Go do it.

And stop complaining about the stuff you want OTHER FOLKS to do.

If YOU want a solar factory, go do it.

Seriously.

Look at all the innovation going on in the world-- go do it.

You can be the next google, apple, Debbie Meyers or Augusto and Michaela Odone even.

No one is stopping you.

Mathilda and lasermike (insulting cathar, no less) all posting responses to the same article! My boring Tuesday just became joyous.

I did have to look up the word "lagniappe," but I admit that I do not have an Ivy League education.

Carry on (PLEASE)

Mathilda,
What I found offensive in your argument is your use of the term "you people".
How unashamedly immature.
I guess "we" are all to blame, and "society" and "the State" should do something. Pathetic. Take some personal responsibility and buy it yourself, then you can do what you wish with it, or watch as another company buys the space. Don't expect "us" to do anything, as that is crazier than an organic farm on a brown field site.

(Although, we might get some HUGE veggies from the site. HUGE Jerry.)

Just don't let Plofker buy it.

I cannot do it alone, Brit in NJ. I do not have the monetary resources on the scale of Roche. I need the help of my fellow citizens, and that is why I made my appeal. I am very sorry if I offended you or anyone else, but perhaps your offense is caused in part by your own guilt at not doing more. If the shoe fits...

I must say I wouldn't know how to proceed, even if I had the wherewithal, but I don't see this as a personal failing. Did the prophet Isaiah have a detailed plan to defeat the Assyrian army? No, but he knew that his people mustn't turn their backs to the Lord.

I think we should turn the Roche campus into a gigantic bee hive.

Just pray Wal-mart doesn't get a whiff of this.

So let me get this straight, you don't have the resources or the know-how, but compare yourself to a profit whom everyone must follow? Well, as luck would have it, I also have a plan, now go forth and convert the Roche facility into a chocolate factory, my children. - Willy Wonka

That's right april,

Let's pray.

The last thing Nutley needs is a business that will be packed with folks, working and paying taxes-- jobs and ratables.

NO WAY!

God Forbid Wal-Mart shows up.

Better to have it sit empty for years, like the Hanes building.

Mathilda...u should quote bob dylan for this crowd.

Anyway, for my opinion, I'd like to see a clean nuclear plant at the site...it would provide cheap efficient and clean energy. Not to mention the libs would all pull up and leave!

Hey profw maybe you should do a little research on Wal-mart's business tactics.

Just pray Wal-mart doesn't get a whiff of this.

That is EXACTLY what I was thinking. Just the right amount of space for a Super-Walmart which is pretty much all route 3 is lacking in way of super retail.

You can work with NJEF or any one of the environmental groups in the area mathilda. I did when I was able. Of course that was before the SUV craze of the 90's swept away all and any of my efforts.

iceman i agree on the nuke plant and the libs moving out - talk about killing 2 birds with 1 stone!

I think this would be the perfect location for an indoor ski slope. Much more convenient than having to schlep all the way to East Rutherford.

Yes - let's get those libs out! No more free rides for people - we can get rid of welfare, unemployment insurance, and public schools, and we can privatize all the roads and all the services like garbage collection. It can all be pay as you go then our taxes will be really really low.

oh yeah, it will end as retail space for sure.

And Ice, if it was made into a nuclear power plant and all the libs left then you wouldn't need the power any more for the dozen or so of you righties still left ;)

If you keep posting that way you will eventually see the light.

What about a Six Flags super roller coaster park? Nothing but roller coasters and smoothie stands. I would want the dramamine concession though.

Before you all go and start bulldozing the campus, Hoffman-LaRoche has said they will be keeping an R & D operation there. I would think that whatever buildings and infrastructure are not needed on site by H-L, such as the manufacturing facility, might be appealing to another pharma company, perhaps a generic.

realistic - are you referring to my post? i have seen the light. let's get rid of it all. i have no kids, don't use the local roads, have very little trash to put out and i would love to pay my employees less than minimum wage. then i'd be able to afford some illegals to do all my housekeeping and yardwork. works for me.

yes, get rid of the libs! Last time they left the white house, those fools left us a surplus of over 230billion dollars! Sure we blew it within the first year, but the libs were out and now we have the largest deficit in history!

Buying back the land would probably be a good first start. The land must be a mess. Roche can pay for that. It would make a good solar or wind power array.

Cathar, you are spot-on as regards dear Mathilda. Quite entertaining, this!

p.s. so glad now that Roche never called me after I sent them my resume several thousand times over the years. What fabulous benefits! what a pretty campus! how cool to be able to get there on surface streets alone! shopping at Rowe-manse at lunchtime!! Whoo, I was so ready to work there! But - things happen for a reason... and for me, this is it.

I do feel bad for the folks who are told "move west or you're out" however.

jerseygurl will you marry me?

What happened to the real Jerseygurl? It is like Bizarro world.

I kinda like it.

"Yes - let's get those libs out! No more free rides for people - we can get rid of welfare, unemployment insurance, and public schools, and we can privatize all the roads and all the services like garbage collection. It can all be pay as you go then our taxes will be really really low."

So this is happening when?

Mikey, the idea is that Roche wishes most likely to SELL the land. You never get anything right, do you? Wind or solar power in Nutley? Sure, laserboy, sure.

But thank you for snarling at me on this site today. It always makes me feel better to see the proof of your wee sma' brain's hapless flailings in print.

Bla, bla, bla, nerf.

And Kay, great minds think alike! (I knew someone who worked at Roche, it was family tradition, the benefits indeed sounded terrific, on the civil servan level.)

But so far it only seems to be me and thee thinking this way. Some don't even get that jerseygurl is trying in her own strained way to be ironic too.

Do ya think!?!

Mikey, it's traditionally spelled "blah." You even screw this one up, don't you?

jimmytown,

You cannot talk about Clinton's "surplus" without mentioning the Peace Dividend (which he had no part of).

But what about that last great Democrat?

He left us is such great shape in 1980.

(And don't think Carter II: the Obama years will be different.)

Nerf!

If you're comparing your brain to something, laserboy, well, yes, it is somewhat akin to a Nerf ball.

Please....

and Nerf!

Boys/girls/children/whomever you both are! Please! We all adore you both but you are creating some grody bad vibes! Which will result in worse-than-usual driving tonight by everyone who passes through the general Baristaville vicinity (the fact that NJ is dead last in driving ability notwithstanding!) and THAT will cause me to go back to my original plan of filling hubby's truck bumpers with cement (you know, Real bumpers and not those fake ones that cars have these days) and going on smash-up derby!

Wow. How about a wind farm, to catch all the hot air from this dialogue!..

I say, build the indoor ski-jump right on top of the nuke plant. You can cool the reactor core with the same machinery that produces the fake indoor snow. Kill even more birds with one hot stone! Yeah!

At this rate there'll be feathers everywhere.

"So this is happening when?"

When corporate CEOs stop getting a free ride to exorbitant salaries and compensation.

So Spot, a private company cannot pay folks what they want?

What do you suggest, a government salary list for all jobs public and private?

Isn't CEO salary an issue for the BOD and shareholders?

We're not talking about mom and pop organizations, sweetie. Check the news.

I'm all for not feeding the piranha. Even McCain supports limiting CEO's salaries, bonuses, and other goodies. If I was a stock holder with commanding shares I wouldn't pay them anything while working them into a grave. You can wear a suit and still work in a sweat shop. Or tax the friggen daylights out of them until till they get the point. You come down or we go up.

A system that produces such ridiculous salaries for CEOs is rotten to the core, and must be changed. One day soon the world will see the folly of endless economic growth. What's so holy about growth? Where will it all lead, if not to devastation of the planet? Something must be done.

Whatever happens, will be a ratables hit to Nutley, Essex Cty and State. They will appeal their assessment, win, causing a significant loss, and you know how well our government reduces spending. I understand Bloomberg again asked for 5% cut in expenditures, the 3rd reduction demanded of his department heads in the last year, due to forecasts of declining tax revenues, and increased costs for utilities. And our NJ pols have said? I don't know about you, but my heating costs will jump about 50% this winter. So will most, unless hedged by some manner.
Cut expenditures now, personal & government. Can't imagine that Baristaville governments (incl BOE) have the right #s in their operating budgets for this.

Essex county had a huge heating bill this year. Easy solution - lower the thermostat and don't us AC. Let the public and civil servants freeze or fry. If you want to cut salaries start at the top. They pull the highest salaries. Lay offs, pay cuts, and benefits cuts for upper staff is the order of the day. The police chief, fire chief, and school superintendent can pick up there checks today. We can do more foot patrols and do with out squad cars. We can share fire equipment with other towns. If you have a jail close it. If you have a second or third fire station close it. People will die but hey, you'll have money in your pocket so who cares. We must shock the system using the most brutal methods at our disposal. Make it painful but make it a quick pain.

I'll vote for the nuke plant... I have no idea why all the green people are so against nuclear power... the amount of energy produced vs. the amount of waste produced is unbelievable! Sure, it's an awful waste nobody will go near, but there are ways to get rid of it... Get cracking on that, and some more efficient batteries and you will never see a gas powered car again! Isn't that what you want?