A Look at “Having Arrived”

If you want a snapshot of how celebrities see life in contrasting ways, just check out yesterday’s edition of PARADE magazine. Under the section entitled, What I did with My First Million, TV’s Judge Judy speaks about her rise from a low-paid job to her current success, as she describes her ability to buy expensive shoes, “There were those lousy discounted shoes in navy and brown, plus black ones I craved at full price. I bought the black ones. I paid full price. I knew then that I’d arrived.”

Speaking in a similar mode, Matt Lauer, co-host of the Today Show, comments about his early career insecurity and his subsequent purchase of a property in the Hamptons upon which he eventually built a home. He volunteered that, “Even now I can hardly come to grips with the fact that maybe I’m finally permanently all right.”

Interesting, isn’t it, how so many celebrities seem to define their success with statements that get right down to cash and big houses? We know something about that in Bridgewater, an affluent community where some define success in similar terms. There are, of course, alternate views.

In the same issue of PARADE, under ParadePICKS®, singer-celebrity, 88-year old Pete Seeger was asked how he felt about the future. He responded optimistically that, “My country has done wonderful things that nobody believed we would do: civil rights, women’s rights, freedom of speech. The nonviolent revolution will come next.”

When asked about his finest achievement, he volunteered, “I was able to exploit a great American tradition – that you may speak your mind. The establishment never moves unless they are pushed by the people.”

Isn’t it remarkable that some will underline success in economic terms only, while others expand the definition to include our national achievements and one’s ability to personally impact government?


Note: For the full text of these and other comments, see the February 24, 2008, edition of PARADE magazine at http://www.parade.com/articles/editions/2008/edition_02-24-2008/My_First_Million and at http://www.parade.com/parade-picks/2008/paradePick/item/music/pete-seeger-american-masters-pete-seeger-the-power-of-song.html

Steel Rises For Bridgewater’s Municipal Complex

The foregoing picture was taken on Monday, February 18, 2008. It shows the steel framework going up behind the existing Township offices. For weeks prior to this, most of the visible activity was for site work only, with huge piles of earth sitting where there is now a flat site, depicting the current state of construction.

To the right of the construction equipment, you can see the tops of trees which point to the Kidstreet play area. Since this is not the best time of year, rain and melting snow have left pools of water and sheets of ice at that location. Be careful if you take your children there.

In general, I’m financially conservative, and like to see public employees make do with what they have. But, during visits to the current Municipal Building shown in the background, I have been in some offices which are truly overcrowded. The structure was originally designed and built as a school, and what you find is a hodgepodge distribution of offices, some of which appear too large and others which look like neither you or I would want to work in them.

It’s been a long time since the Municipal Complex project was first presented to Bridgewater’s citizens in the form of different proposals. At times, the process was very contentious. Now, the project is finally and literally getting off the ground.

Michelle Obama’s ‘Pride in the USA’

Not so long ago, when Bill Clinton was campaigning for his wife in New Hampshire and beyond, some observers thought that he might have gone over the top a few times in some of his talks. If nothing else, Bill Clinton can be a very eloquent and passionate speaker. His remarks were widely reported by the media, and he took a lot of heat for some of them. Example: In a TV clip which you may have seen, he got right in the face of a TV journalist on camera, and heatedly accused him of floating a loaded question.

I wonder if Michelle Obama’s comments on Monday, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, will get the same sort of media scrutiny. While addressing a group of supporters, she said, “Let me tell you something: For the first time in my adult lifetime, I’m really proud of my country, and not just because Barack has done well…” (Emphasis is mine.)

If Barack Obama gets the Democrats’ nod for the nomination and subsequently gets elected President, I wonder if that will be only the second time that Michelle Obama is proud of the USA.

Politicians have always made gaffs and will continue to do so. And it would be easy to simply dismiss her statement as merely an unintended observation and to just move on. But Michelle Obama is very intelligent and articulate. She graduated cum laude from Princeton in 1985, and obtained a law degree from Harvard in 1988. She is known for saying what she intends and for intending what she says.

This country is not perfect, but it’s got plenty of things to be proud of. What about the Civil War to eliminate slavery and to keep this nation united? What about the Marshall Plan that rebuilt Europe after WWII? What about the Civil Rights Act of 1964? Is there any need to go on?

Michelle Obama suffers from an affliction not uncommon to some bright and highly educated persons; namely, that history started on the day they were born, and that events of the past have no meaning for the present or the future.

Perhaps Michelle Obama could benefit from being reminded of what she either did not learn or that she forgot from her university training: There is so much to be proud of in this country, that only an ingrate would be so self-absorbed as to think that it takes 44 years of one’s lifetime to finally discover even one thing.


Note: For a brief bio of Michelle Obama and for some good family pictures, see http://www.squidoo.com/michelle-obama-pictures-biography For a video of her statements, go to YOU TUBE at, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYY73RO_egw

“Flip Flopping” on Public Issues

Ever since the 2004 election, when George Bush and John Kerry were competing for the presidency, there’s been no lack of one candidate accusing another of “flip flopping.” It began with the famous quote attributed to John Kerry about his vote on the Congressional authorization to go to war in Iraq: “I voted for it, before I voted against it.”

I don’t know your thinking about casually calling another person a “flip flopper,” but I don’t find it useful. Yet, I grant that it can be very effective and that it can even destroy a person’s credibility.

A vital consideration in evaluating the sincerity of a politician’s change of position is that of intent. Why did the politician change her or his mind? If it’s merely expedience, or yielding to inappropriate pressure from peers, lobbyists, or political hacks, then it may be valid to classify that politician as a “flip flopper.” Conversely, it could be the result of a well-thought-out change of mind undertaken after serious reflection.

Politicians should be given leeway to change their views as long as they adhere to the critical caveat of explaining logically and convincingly why they have done so.

When circumstances change, do we really want thoughtless elected officials to keep us in Iraq for 100 years, simply because of a prior vote to have gone to war there?

Note: Photo Source: http://www.undermars.com/gallery1.html

Affordable Housing in Bridgewater

Bridgewater has not only fulfilled state-mandated requirements for affordable housing but, according to Township Administrator, James Naples, it has out-performed all of its objectives by building 333 units more than required, and by getting them online long before the deadline of 2014.

Now, according to new regulations proposed by the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA), the state is seeking to impose an additional requirement for another 1100 units to be built in Bridgewater by the year 2018. Complex rules explaining this imposition are outlined in a December 24, 2007, memo to the Township by the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH). Both the DCA and COAH fall under the jurisdiction of Commissioner Joseph V. Doria, Jr.

Affordable housing is not merely a worthwhile goal but, indeed, is an obligation of the state and all of its communities towards its less fortunate citizens -- but not when it is being implemented according to what COAH calls its newly proposed “third round rules.” If allowed to stand without modification, these new regulations will become law and will go into effect in June, imposing an insuperable burden on Bridgewater.

For example, Mr. Naples points out that COAH assumptions for numbers projecting future growth in the Township (these data are largely the basis for the newly assigned burden of 1100 housing units) “make no sense in reality.” He underscores that the assumptions used by COAH “are 10 years old.” In effect, the Department of Community Affairs is assigning Bridgewater a new allocation based upon growth which has already occurred.

Naples underscores that the Township does not oppose affordable housing, but merely that Bridgewater “has met its obligation,” and “we clearly don’t have a place to put all of those units, unless we start to build up.”

Is it too much to expect that the state will give us a break?

Note: For more information, see the DCA website at http://www.nj.gov/dca/, http://www.state.nj.us/dca/coah/dec07proposal.shtml, and http://www.state.nj.us/dca/coah/dec07proposal/muniletter.pdf