Tear-Downs and Rebuilds

Driving through Bridgewater in the last few years, I’ve noticed quite a few spots, especially around the Washington Valley area, where single homes are being built on lots whose current owners have decided to do one of two things:

A. Either they build a home from scratch, with the new edifice going up while the owners continue living in their existing house until the new one is ready for occupancy, or, B. The owners decide to move out of their current home, tear it down right to the foundation, and construct a larger, higher quality residence.

The picture you see here is that of a Bridgewater tear-down and on-site rebuild. It’s no surprise that this is happening, as Bridgewater seems to have approached virtual build-out stage. This makes some older homes a target for certain buyers to purchase as tear-downs, or for the current owners to take advantage of the lot size to upgrade.

In Potomac, Maryland, where I spent the Memorial Day weekend with family, this practice is a very common occurrence. Since available land around the Washington, D.C. area is at a premium and, because there is a high influx of people from all over the nation and the world, small, 1940’s or earlier vintage homes situated on large lots are purchased, torn down and replaced by mega-mansions.

A Babe at War

Potomac, MD – Memorial Day. In the early 1940’s, the West was engulfed in a war for which there would be only two alternatives, total victory, or defeat. Two of my three brothers were in the U.S. Army, the other in the Air Force. Too young to comprehend the scope of that conflict, I did what most 6-year-olds of that period would – we mimicked the action of warfare in our play.

I remember cutting out models of planes from the back of Wheaties cereal boxes, and assembling them into three-dimensional flying toys. Each one was properly balanced by gluing a penny onto its nose. This gave the plane good flight attributes. From the attic window, facing the back yard, I launched them downward into imaginary aerial combat.

While playing on the streets and sidewalks in the Pawtucketville section of Lowell, Massachusetts, I noticed small banners hung in the front windows of many neighborhood homes. Each banner had one or more stars affixed to a white background – gold stars represented a serviceman or woman killed in battle. I didn’t understand then; now, I do.

All civilians were involved in the sacrifices needed for victory. Food, commodities and gasoline were rationed. Autos for the consumer market did not roll off Detroit’s assembly lines. You didn’t get to buy a car until the war was over. The U.S. economy was geared 100% to a war effort that had not been entered into lightly. Nor did America come out of it at small cost.

Our family was lucky – all three of my brothers came back in one piece, despite the fact that one of them had moved through the European Theatre of Operations, only to end up in the Pacific, where he prepared for an invasion of the Japanese home islands. Thankfully, that never happened.

It’s very different in 2007: Politicians at the national level do not come together for a common goal. Instead, they squabble among one another in a partisan grasp for power and for the obliteration of political opponents. Their maneuvers skillfully evade the assumption of responsibility and the clarification of national will and purpose.

The burden of war is not now broadly shared, and politicians clamor for simplistic, binary solutions such as “bring ‘em home now,” or “stay the course.” There seems to be no one at the national level with the will and intelligence to analyze the Byzantine complexity that is now Iraq, or the guts to present effective alternatives to the American people. Our elected officials plod along in Washington, mired in their sharply bifurcated ruts, as mothers, fathers, and siblings continue to bury and to mourn the death of brave sons and daughters.

I don’t know what John Basilone, Raritan Borough WW II icon, would say about the Iraq conflict. Somehow, though, I think that this Marine, who knew what it takes to bring a war to an end, would not look kindly upon Washington politicians and their advisors, as they play board games with the national conscience and fritter away the dreams and lives of our totally dedicated servicemen and women.

Tasting the Green Part

Potomac, MD – Saturday morning, two days before Memorial Day, our daughter, Denise, son-in-law Jim, and our two grandchildren, Matthew and Danny invited my wife and me to a pick-your-own adventure in the strawberry beds of Homestead Farm, about 15 miles away in Poolesville, Maryland.

This was a family affair, with many parents supervising their young ones, as they moved methodically between rows, picked strawberries, ate some, and deposited the rest in wide, waxed-bottom cardboard boxes. I think the $1.89 price per pound included a ‘field eating tax’!

While filling my own box, I overheard a nearby child asking his mother, “Mom, there’s a green part on the end of this strawberry. Can I eat it?” With no small degree of concern, his mom quickly responded, “Wait, don’t eat it until I take the green end off for you.” Since I, myself had taken advantage of the ‘eating tax’ while filling my own basket with sun-warmed berries in 90º heat, I reflected upon the meaning of that protective mom’s reply.

If you have enjoyed strawberry picking for an hour or two of fun – an activity that migrant workers do all day for a living – you may agree that the flavor of an occasional small green end of a farm-fresh, just-picked crimson strawberry blends in with the sweet taste of this melt-in-your-mouth treat. To check this, I set out to find several more berries with that characteristic: I can attest that, unlike the store-bought variety, there is no issue here.

It seems to me that our kids would be a lot better off with regard to their character formation, if we simply let them be a little riskier out in the strawberry beds of life. The little green ends that they sometimes encounter are no big deal.

Meeting until Midnight (Cont’d)

2. The 8 Library Assistants: The agenda of the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education meeting on May 22 did not include the $1.6 million cut to the recently defeated 2007/2008 school budget. But the large contingent of people who turned out to ask for reconsideration of the 8 laid-off personnel (about $200,000 of payroll and benefits) guaranteed its reappearance. An impromptu board-and-community dialogue sprang up under the “Anyone to be heard” catchall section at the end of the agenda – the exchange of views lasted nearly two hours.

Howard Norgalis, Bridgewater Township council member and his colleague, Patrick Scaglione, were in attendance. Formally representing Bridgewater and the Borough of Raritan, Mr. Norgalis kicked off the discussion. He expressed both municipalities’ concern that personnel cuts were being made to active payroll people involved with delivering services to students.

Although neither Bridgewater nor Raritan budged from the $1.6 million total cut, both municipalities jointly felt it was not their role to have dictated individual line item reductions to the BR-BOE. In response, board member Evan Lerner underscored that the superintendent, Dr. Schilder, had warned Bridgewater and Raritan municipal representatives in their earlier three-way negotiations, that any cut above $1 million would involve personnel reductions.

A long procession of equally vexed librarians, assistants, teachers, parents and other citizens then stepped up to the mike to address the BR-BOE. After over an hour, board members and the superintendent discussed among themselves what they had just heard.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the board decided to remand the question to the Finance Committee for review and for a recommendation to the full board. This three-person committee, chaired by newly elected board member Jeffrey Brookner, is tentatively scheduled to meet on Wednesday, May 30. The board made it absolutely clear that it held out no promises, except that of a good faith attempt to take a second look at the issue and to see whether other funds might be available for transfer to cover potential reinstatement of the 8 laid-off assistant librarians.

Despite any action which the board may take, the total cut of $1.6 million to the April 17 voter-rejected budget remains firm and final.

Meeting until Midnight

Last night, the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education conference room at the Wade building in Martinsville was filled to capacity. There was standing room only: People lined the walls and spilled out into the corridor. The main topics discussed were: 1. a review of the status of the recently failed $17.4 million March referendum and, 2. what, if anything, to do about the 8 laid-off library assistants, resulting from the voters’ rejection of the school budget on April 17th.

1. The Referendum: A six-page PowerPoint presentation by Dr. Schilder, superintendent of schools, led to a dynamic exchange of views between the administration, board members and the public. Very wisely, board president, Al Smith, allowed people to participate freely and informally by speaking from their places in the audience, without anyone having to step up to the mike.

After one hour of community input, it became abundantly clear from the feedback that to place another referendum before Bridgewater and Raritan voters now would be to invite near-certain defeat. The board and administration prudently decided to step back and to redo their homework.

Although no date was set to propose an alternative, the sense was that the board does not have the stomach to come back to the public trough any time soon. The timeframe bandied about by the board for a resubmittal to the public ranged from 1 to 5 years, with no consensus on an exact time.

Next blog post: 2. The 8 library assistants

Township Council Hears Restoration Pleas

On Thursday evening, May 17, in the Municipal Annex Court Room, over 30 people converged on the Bridgewater Township Council. This was a last ditch effort to restore about $200,000 of salaries and benefits representing jobs of eight assistant librarians. The positions were part of the original Bridgewater-Raritan school budget increase of $6.1 million rejected by voters on April 17.

For two hours, the council patiently heard strong, passionate pleas by one person after another. School librarians, assistant librarians, educators, and other supporters petitioned the council to either convince the BR-BOE to make cuts elsewhere, or to reduce the $1.6 million cut by $200,000 to retain these positions.

The Bridgewater Council listened intently and was very sympathetic. Council President Robert Albano was especially liberal in granting speaking time beyond that normally allowed.

However, council members emphasized that a prior agreement had been reached by a tripartite subcommittee of Raritan Borough, Bridgewater Township, and the BR-BOE. Mr. Albano emphasized that this working committee had concurred to $1.6 million as an aggregate number only, and that the BR-BOE itself was to decide where to make specific line item cuts.

Time has effectively run out. May 21st is the State-imposed deadline for municipal governing bodies to determine and to certify to the county board of taxation the amount of money required for school funding. Under certain conditions, the law may allow a school district 10 days beyond May 21st to appeal to the Commissioner, but that could raise the ire of voters, and it would break the covenant now extant among the three parties

Quindlen Comes to Bridgewater

On Thursday evening of this week, my life-mate, Priscille, volunteered to go to Borders in Bridgewater to get an autographed copy of “Rise and Shine” by Newsweek columnist and author, Anna Quindlen. Pris also snapped the digital photo for this post. I, on the other hand, was at the Bridgewater Township council meeting to observe its final wrap-up concerning the Bridgewater-Raritan school budget increase. More about that in a subsequent blog post.

Our daughter, Denise, originally pointed us to Quindlen who, when I first read her in Newsweek, turned me off because of what I thought was a one-sided treatment of an issue. That wasn’t smart of me. Quindlen is a writer who knows how to assemble words to persuasively express an idea. She is imminently worthy of your time.

Check out her column about the late David Halberstam in the May 14, 2007 issue of Newsweek at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18507630/site/newsweek/. In a tribute to Halberstam, she accurately and humbly portrays the state of journalism today – what it is and what it could be. Quindlen feels that we don’t get “great journalism” merely because the media “decide to put money into serious coverage of important issues.” We get it she says, “because there exists a class of people who have intelligent curiosity written into their DNA, who will never stop learning and telling.” Sounds like integrity to me. Don’t we all know about those big name columnists and writers who have bitten the dust because of cheating, fabricating and lying!

In an examination of herself and of her colleagues, she states that, “When we feel full of ourselves, we like to say that journalism is a public trust.” She concludes, “Sometimes it is even true.” Ouch! Journalism isn’t the only profession that occasionally likes to wrap itself in hubris.

A Sound Mind in a Sound Body

At any age, a person never knows what health conditions fate may have in store. The health profession consistently reminds us that we can tip the scales in our favor with a regimen of regular exercise and healthy eating. One of the best forms of exercise is swimming, one that I adopted about five years ago. The payout from my membership at the Bridgewater facility of the Somerset County YMCA on Garretson Road, across from the Bridgewater-Raritan high school, has paid good dividends.

It’s hard to keep on track though. Exercise requires discipline and a good schedule, while eating well is just as tough to achieve. The fast food and the super-sized meals served at many restaurants and diners in Central Jersey don’t help. Neither does the constant urge to snack at home in front of the TV or, for some, to inactively tick away the hours playing video games.

Swimming at the Y is great. A runner friend of mine once asked, “Don’t you ever get bored just doing laps?” Not at all. Doing laps in the company of others is a great workout and mind cleanser – it’s a good way to simultaneously help out your body, while giving your mind a break and a chance to think things through.

The Policy Lady

Across the breakfast table, while reading the Courier News on Saturday, May 12, my wife pointed out that one of my most trusted former colleagues, Marion Chandler, had passed away. Marion worked for the Bridgewater-Raritan School District when I served on its board of education. At the time, she reported directly to the superintendent, Dr. Joseph McGarry, and was responsible for working with the board’s policy committee, of which I was its chairman.

Marion did the research and assembled all of the data for policy matters. She conferred with the board’s attorney and with New Jersey authorities. Marion was very thorough and meticulous. Her biggest quality in that job, though, was her impartiality and integrity, as she assembled and codified policy issues for review and revision under the committee’s direction, before submission to the full board.

You have to understand how Byzantine board politics can sometimes get, in order to appreciate the value of a clear-minded thinker and loyal partner like Marion, whose final allegiance was always geared towards getting the job done right.

People Who Cross your Path

Have you ever thought of the people that you come across in your life who have had such an impact upon it for the good? It has struck me that many of the professional people that I have come in contact with and who have helped me enormously since moving to Bridgewater are Jewish. There has been no pattern to this, and none of it has occurred specifically because of their heritage, but because they are skilled.

The ophthalmologist who fixed the detached retina in my left eye many years ago is Jewish; so is the surgeon who, about five months ago, repaired my hernia; as is the orthopedist who repaired my right shoulder so that I can resume swimming. And, there are others.

I wonder: How would it have been if the Nazis had totally succeeded in wiping out Judaism? What I do know is this: The contribution to humanity by this statistically small, worldwide remnant is completely disproportionate to its numbers. And that, to this first generation American of French-Canadian descent, is quite extraordinary.

p.s. Happy Mother's Day to all you good Moms out there!

A Pathway to Remembrance

Harry Dunham Park is situated at the southwest corner of Somerville Road and Church Street, in the Liberty Corner section of Basking Ridge. It has soccer and baseball fields, a children’s playground, wide expanses of lawn and excellent walking paths. It’s close to our home, and my wife and I like to exercise there.

The walkways intersect a small pavilion which sits in the middle of the park: There, under an American flag, is a commemorative plaque inscribed with the phrase, “A Place to Remember.” It is affixed to a steel beam taken from the ruins of the Twin Towers. Tributes to some of the brave souls who perished on 9/11 are inscribed on individual slates set into the earth. No one who walks by this resting place of memories can forget what happened. We hope that it will never happen again.

But it irritates me to call to mind the Fort Dix Six, who are described in a recent newspaper story as “radical Islamists,” whose motives allegedly led them into a plot to kill loyal American servicemen and women. I’m just as troubled by the attitudes of certain of their friends and relatives in America, as well as in the Balkans, some of whom are reported to be in deep denial about this intercepted suicide attack.

These are the mindsets that we in America, as well as our children, will need to endure and to defend against, perhaps for decades to come.

Bridgewater-Raritan School Board Accepts $1.6 Million Budget Cut

After a long and very animated meeting, the BR-BOE voted – at 11:10 pm last night – by a margin of 6 to 2, to accept the reductions presented to it by Raritan Borough and Bridgewater Township. A group of about 25 citizens observed the process and made their views known. The total cut of $1.6 million now goes back to the township and the borough for their final review and approval. The entire process has to be completed by May 21st.

A somber superintendent, Dr. Michael Schilder, presented a one-page itemized list of programs covering facilities, extra-curricular, technology, supplies, personnel and curriculum specifics for the board’s review and discussion. None of the board’s members were pleased with these budget restrictions: Most felt that this would result in even more problems down the road. This is because the reduced budget now becomes the basis for the following year’s state-mandated budget cap. As a result, any increase next year will be lower than it otherwise would have been. Residents reading this and who voted down the budget are not likely to have a problem with that.

Nonetheless, there was a deep sense of disappointment hanging over the entire board, as individual members worried over the specific categories of expense presented to them for removal. Much of the debate centered over the proposed elimination of library teaching assistants and the scope of security measures in the school district. Efforts by some to retain library personnel while making cuts in other curriculum areas were not successful.

Bridgewater-Raritan’s New School Board

If you decide to go to tomorrow evening’s meeting of the newly structured BR-BOE, you will find that one-third of the board has turned over as a result of your choices made on April 17. Three new faces, Lynne Hurley, Jeffrey Brookner, and Jill Gladstone will deliberate at their first significant public meeting – this is the one where reductions to the 2007/2008 will be discussed (See my post of May 5th).

The change out on this board is considerable: Presiding over the meeting will be the board’s newly-appointed president, Al Smith – the sole Raritan representative. At his side will sit Cynthia Cullen, the new VP.

Public participation at board meetings has been very spotty, ranging from perhaps a couple of dozen people (not often!), all the way down to one or two, sometimes no one at all. Nobody should have to regularly attend these meetings just to stay informed, or to keep officials’ feet to the fire. Nonetheless, it’s worth your while to stay conversant with the board’s activities. Everybody has a stake in education, and this is where most of your property taxes are consumed. One way or another, don’t be reluctant to make your voices heard.

Bridgewater and Raritan Officials cut School Budget Increase

Raritan Borough and Bridgewater Township have apparently all but formalized their adoption of reductions to the increase in the Bridgewater-Raritan school budget – it was overwhelmingly defeated by voters on April 17.

Initial reduction targets discussed by elected representatives of the Borough and the Township are thought to have been even higher than the $2.2 million laid on the table before representatives of the school administration and of the BR-BOE. But the final number tentatively concurred upon in discussions between the three entities now calls for a reduction of $1.6 million to the 2007/2008 school budget total of $133 million, which includes debt service from prior referendums. Should the school board approve this cut, the original $6.1 million budget increase placed before the voters on April 17th, will have been chipped down to a $4.5 million hike.

On Tuesday, May 8, at 8:00 pm, in the Wade building in Martinsville, the newly installed school board will meet to discuss and to vote upon accepting the $1.6 million cut. If it does, the matter then goes back to the Borough and the Township for what could be their final stamp of approval. The May 8th meeting will be open to the public for comment.

Dina Matos McGreevey, “The Silent Partner”

Before observing her book-signing at the Borders Bridgewater location, I thought that I would come across a fragile, defensive woman – a bitter person publicly venting anger. But the diminutive figure which walked into the bookseller on the evening of May 2nd carried herself with dignity. The trait which most seemed to indicate the depth of her resolve were the eyes: her deep brown, resolute barometers of character which seemed to say, “Enough!”

After she made her way from the entrance and approached the mike, she briefly answered several questions. Asked about her current attitude on men, she smiled and got a few chuckles from the audience in response to, “Have I given up on men? Yes, at least for now.” She went on to say that what happened as a result of Jim McGreevey’s shenanigans, followed by his discredited resignation as New Jersey’s governor, had “…destroyed my ability to trust people.”

Dina Matos McGreevey expressed hope, though, because, she said, “Religion has always played a role in my life.” She emphasized that she continues to attend church services regularly and that she expects faith to continue to play an important role in her future.

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