Bloomfield Township was amongst the 28 municipalities to be awarded the 2009 Sustainable New Jersey Certificate last Friday. Granted by Sustainable New Jersey, a state-wide incentive program created to promote sustainability initiatives, the award recognizes Bloomfield's commitment to creating green and sustainable processes in their township operations.
"This will put Bloomfield in a much stronger position to be eligible for a whole host of grants put out by state of New Jersey," said Jeff Meyer, a public relations spokesperson for the township.
Bloomfield was one of 240 municipalities that registered with Sustainable New Jersey. In order to qualify, townships were required to complete a minimum of 100 action points - such as passing an anti-idling ordinance, purchasing hybrid-vehicles, and installing energy-efficient lighting in public buildings - as well as create a Green Team and implement 2 out of 4 priority actions. Bloomfield chose to pass a Sustainable Land Use Pledge, which places certain restrictions on development and encourages sustainable growth, and a Water Conservation Ordinance, which urges Bloomfield citizens to be conscientious with their water usage.
Bloomfield Township worked closely with Greener Bloomfield, a new local advocacy group committed to instilling greener practices on both municipal and citizen levels. This is also the first year for Sustainable New Jersey, a state-wide program sponsored by a coalition of state agencies, non-profits, research centers, and experts.
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Comments (19)
They certainly know how to work with the green stuff, and Lord knows they charge us a lot if it.
if it = of it... eyes not working right.
Please show me hopw the "town worked with Greener Bloomfield"! Greener Bloomfield did ALL of the work!
Conan, where's your civic pride? They spent a lot of money they otherwise wouldn't have spent so as to be elilgable for more state grants to enable more spending which otherwise wouldn't need spending.
Congratulations to Bloomfield!
There was NO money spent. Greener Bloomfield did it ALL FOR FREE!
purchasing hybrid vehicles and replacing the lighting in municipal buildings was free Hiding? And the watering ordinance will take extra money to inform and enforce.
"free" You're too much Hiding!
Bloomfield spent NO money to apply for Sustainable Jersey certification all of it was done by Greener Bloomfield
"Bloomfield spent NO money to apply for Sustainable Jersey certification all of it was done by Greener Bloomfield"
Right! They just spent thousands they otherwise wouldn't have spent to get the certification. Yes, yes the application was free! And a volunteer bought the stamp, don't forget that!
RoC,
I don't think these projects were part of the certification. Can you show us that they were?
Maybe I'm misreading the initial post.
"In order to qualify, townships were required to complete a minimum of 100 action points - such as passing an anti-idling ordinance, purchasing hybrid-vehicles, and installing energy-efficient lighting in public buildings"
So If Broomfield didn't spend that extra money, then good! Though it seems some NJ Municipalities did.
At any rate, the water ordinance will cost something to inform users about as well as enforce. Unless, they don't really care about enforcement, which would make it's effectiveness nil.
If not what's listed above, then what did bloomfield do? (for obvious reasons I'm not asking baristanet reporters).
The water ordinance and land pledge wouldn't get them to 100 points.
ROC's continued negative obsession with this issue (already 5 out of the 11 posts are his), only furthers my suspicion that he is (or has considered being) lobbyist for Exxon or some other such company.
OR, he might be an OPEC minister.
OR, just a gratingly annoying pest.
Greener Bloomfield submitted actions worth 140 points, with only 100 required for certification. Bloomfield submitted documentation for the following actions:
Green Team,
Community Education and Outreach,
Green Fair,
Green Design for Buildings,
Anti-Idling,
Sustainable Land Use Pledge,
Natural Resource Protection,
Water Conservation,
Recycling,
Waste Reduction,
and an Innovative Demonstration Project for its Paperless Council system
RoC- feel free to do your own research before you make nonsensical statements. The Greener Bloomfieldwebsite is listed in the Barista's post.
And, by the way- take a look at the water ordinance - it is to be enforced by the Department of Health and Police. No new personnel need to be added. No more hours for enforcement. They just add it to their list.
You are SOOOOOOO full of it.
Montclair (RoC's hometown) also got Sustainable Jersey certification. They have a full time Environmental Coordinator and did not use a volunteer organization or volunter project managers to run their projects or produce their application.
I don't understand RoC's critcism of Bloomfield. maybe he feels that Bloomfield's certification should not be lauded.
if so, how does he feel about his hometown's accomplishment?
Does your wuife still work for the Montclair BOE RoC. Did she get some of that stimulus money that we're hearing about now? 2.4MILLION to the MONTCLAIR BOE and no one in the public (not even the town council) knows where or how it's been spent.
That's an awful lot of motivational speakers.
Considering ROC's idle comments, we may need to revoke the anti-idling component.
For Montclair but not for Bloomfield since RoC is idle in Montclair!
Kind of ironic for a town whose business district is being killed by non-sustainable big box stores!
Big box stores? Where in Bloomfield are you talking about??
While I am glad Bloomfield got this award and is pursuing green initiatives (such as hybrid police vehicles), I do agree the watering ordinance is going to be impossible to enforce. First of all, how are they going to keep track of who watered their lawn when? The code enforcement officers can't even keep up with regular code violations that are much more pressing such as illegal multi-family houses, failure to maintain property, and so on. Will neighbors be ratting out neighbors? Is this a good thing? I don't think so. I'd be interested to hear other people's thoughts on th is.