Put A Roof On the Arena And Let There Be Skating!

An open letter to LouAnn Visotcky (President of the Board of Trustees of the Boy's &  Girl's Club of Garfield) based on the letter in the opinion section of the Record dated February 20, 2013. This letter is entitled, Reaching out to local youth.

Good for you. Good for Garfield. Stay at home and enjoy your accolades. You have no experience running a rink. Transforming that dilapidated structure into an indoor facility will cost millions in this challenged economy. Who are you? 

 "We have a plan to convert the arena in Mackay Park into basketball courts in the summer and a venue for concerts, banquets and other events."  

Gee wiz, we were never included consulted or anything of the sort. Concerts and banquets are not generally given with children in mind. We have attended Master Plan Meetings in which we have made ourselves very clear. We want a Community Center. We need a Community Center. You got yourselves up in the middle of a 33 year old mess. Step off. Should we talk about how we have done our due diligence in investigation also? Where is the business plan? Garfield has a Community Center and has quite a lot of other problems that are not so attractive. We have been offered the Rink as our Community Center. That is truly comical. We know what is inside that building, a stone floor and disgusting bathrooms.

 Our elected officials have spoken. The Democratic process has done what it is supposed to do. The plan did not get enough votes from the City Council. Get over it. This is the process that should have been followed in the first place. All of those concerned should stop stomping around like little children and suck it up. There is something here that is not being said. How can someone from another town that runs a Boy's and Girl's Club presume to get up in Englewood business and tell us to spend millions without a dime coming out of your pockets? Riddle us that?

 What is in this for the Boy's and Girl's Club? Where is your business plan? You are the ones who need to go back into your drawing rooms and determine why it is that we should agree to convince our elected officials to do what you want. You did not sign a contract with 3rd and 4th ward residents. You signed a contract with the 1st and 2nd ward. This letter is an insult. It should stop now. You have gone far enough. Why should we spend millions on an arena that services less than 10% of our youth. It is not that important. We have some serious problems going on here that demand the attention of the City Officials and the voters. The Arena is not among those problems. What is this Arena diversion really covering up? The Mayor should never have signed that contract with you without first bringing it to us, the stakeholders. 

 You talked to people who live in other wards about something you presume to bring to us. There is  no school in the summertime, so there is  no after school play time here. There is nothing in the rink, but the rink. There is nothing inside that run down rink, but a rink. Whom do you think you are fooling? You have no business plan. 

Take your own advice. Step back and take another look at the mess you have stepped into. This whole rink situation is but a diversion. Put the roof on and skate. That is what was decided at the City Council Meeting that I attended. 

• 
  

There is Nothing Inside the Rink, but a Rink...

Englewood Residents: Do not believe everything you hear. There is nothing in the rink, but the rink. I attended the Mayor's Town Hall Meeting last Monday and the City Council meeting the next day. There was no plan included to renovate the bathrooms inside. They are disgusting. The rink has been allowed to go into ruin. Many of the improvements and repairs needed to make this rink an indoor facility are not outlined. It will take millions to make it an indoor rink with heat for the winter and air conditioning in the summer. Know what you are signing on for. Even if the rink is closed in, it will not be a good place for your children to do anything but skate. It is just a run-down skating rink.

To make matters worse, there is no business plan that they are willing to share with us. It is our money. We are the ones who will pay for this. The facility is just being handed over to the Boy's & Girl's Club of Garfield. What is this all about? The 3rd and 4th Ward Councilmen have voted against spending more millions on this outdated facility. They say put the roof back on and skate. They are our elected officials and they have spoken. So what is this extra piece of propaganda all about? Why are the images of children being used in this way? This is not acceptable.

We deserve a real Community Center that includes Recreation Programs. There are many examples in towns around us. Right next door in Teaneck there is the Richard Rhoda Community Center. Stop by one day and pick up a brochure that lists all of the many activities offered there. These activities include many programs that are not sports oriented and programs that are offered for free. Why is it that when we ask for a Community Center they continually give us Recreation programs for a fee.

There is nothing inside the rink but a rink. Do not allow anyone to fool you in this. There is no romper room. There is no place to sit and play Scrabble, Checkers, Chess, Monopoly, Upwords, Pokeno, Clue, Taboo, Backgammon, Pictionary, Othello, Connect Four or the Game of Life.

There is no place for parents to network, share or just talk and get to know one another. There is no place for children to do homework together. There is no romper room. 

By all means, make a call. Ask for a tour of the John T. Wright Arena. Find out for yourself what it looks like on the inside. 

The person responsible for that very expensive glossy card above should Cease and desist with this skulduggery. 

Usted tiene habilidades de entrada de datos?

Online Standardized Testing Requires DATA ENTRY SKILLS.

Does your 2nd, 3rd or 4th grader have DATA ENTRY SKILLS?

Do you have DATA ENTRY SKILLS?

Find out why this matters.

Does Your 3rd grader have DATA ENTRY TRAINING?

Online Standardized Testing Requires DATA ENTRY SKILLS.

Does your 2nd, 3rd or 4th grader have DATA ENTRY SKILLS?

Do you have DATA ENTRY SKILLS?

Find out why this matters.

Please allow Jack to rest in peace... He has served well

Rest in Peace Jack.

To those who continue to disingenuously evoke the name of a dead man and pretend they shared insights with former Council Jack Drakeford, just stop it! It is disrespectful, offensive, and borders on the obscene! You treated him with such disrespect in the Council meetings, not wanting to even listen to him when it was his time to comment! There are some of us, who came to Council Meetings back then and remember. Even then, change was a struggle, a glimmer of hope,and Jack's was the One lone voice refusing to sellout the people that had put him there.

You really must stop using the name and memory of a dead man to peddle your snake oil and have Our Community drink your Kool-Aid. We all have learned, Kool-Aid is not healthy and snake oil never does what it is sold to do.

One Community United Standing Strong

Submitted by an Englewood resident who wishes to remain anonymous. These are the words of a resident with ties to the City older than most who live here.

Some of our Councilman's ideas are preserved.

The Ten Finger Method Must Be Revived!

We should all post this as our status' across the country: 

CHILDREN MUST BE TAUGHT TO "type or key" IN THE 10 FINGER METHOD!

Online Standardized Tests are timed. The tests contain timed writing in addition to math computations. Time will run out even for those who would have mastered the information. Many adults still use the hunt and peck method of "typing or keying" . Keyboarding classes were removed from most schools years ago. 

Why is America pretending that children have been taught the skills needed to succeed on these tests? Why are so many teachers and administrators remaining silent?

So Bring on the Mavis Beacon!

The People's Town Hall Meeting on

Public Education Issues & Solutions

February 23, 2013

11 am - 1 am

Community Baptist Church

224 First St.

Englewood, New Jersey

Whatever happened to the Recreation Advisory Board?

Englewood City Council Meeting 
February 12, 2013

Note: Before proceeding, it is important to note that the Boy's & Girl's Club of Garfield admits to no special knowledge of Ice Skating Rinks. They have no knowledge of how to run one and have never, ever done so. They have found a 3rd party who will function as a consultant. This 3rd Party works out of an closed in or indoor Rink in Wayne and has no experience operating an Open Air Ice Skating Rink. What is wrong with this picture?

There was some talk out in the Community about a closed in or indoor rink. Several references were made to this idea by the Mayor and one other Council member, but this was not read off as one of the items on the list to be repaired or constructed. 

It seems that the REAL DEAL here is Indoor or Outdoor Rink vs. Open Air Rink. Why is this not being said clearly and openly? Why are we dancing around this old controversy? Perhaps the word we must all learn is compromise. Perhaps we might seek a compromise unlike the one of 1850.

For those of you who have never been inside, there is no place in that rink for other programs with children. It is a dilapidated ice skating rink. 

Ice vs. Roller or skate boarding

Indoor vs. Open Air 

Isn't that the gist of it? 

Where is the business plan? End this craziness. It is not worth

all of the fuss.

  

The Meeting

You just gotta love it when you get a group of men together in front of reporters with cameras. They filler-bustered 4 ways from Sunday about the Rink over two hours. It was like the Town Hall Meeting never happened. They wore us out again. There was, however, a major difference. It was hilarious. I have never had so much fun watching "elected officials" cover themselves.  We really must consider Livestreaming.

Council Woman at Large, Lynne Algrant regaled us with a reading of The allegory of the long spoons, which is a parable that shows the difference between heaven and hell by means of people eating with long spoons where on the hell side they are starving and on the heaven side they are sated.  (The people cannot feed themselves because they have no elbows, on the Heaven side they feed each other.)

The point of this reading seems to have been to chastise us as ungrateful 3rd and 4th Ward people. She ended by giving us another finely veiled threat about how we are never going to get a community center so we may as well shut up and enjoy what they deign to feed us from across the table. We vote for elbows. As a matter of fact, we vote for elbow room.

Oh, and by the way, that recitation was insulting and disconnected. Did the Lady Lynne imagine herself peering down from Mount Olympus as she chastised us for our ingratitude and opinions? 

The Vote:  Elected Officials must learn to mask disappointment when they do not get what they want. Last night's drama matched equally colorful characters, pitting Eugene Skurnick against Mayor Frank Huttle III.  I found myself agreeing with Mr. Skurnick, so times must be a-changing. School Board meetings are never this entertaining. This small, but overlong comedy should have been videotaped. Mr. Skurnick was in rare form. Sometimes his questions and comments were overlong, but they hit the point squarely. No one else on the City Council ever will. 

The repair of the Overpeck Creek drainage ditch retaining wall was separated out from the repair and renovation of the recreational facility. It never made any sense that the repair of the Overpeck storm drain, which is a necessity, should be lumped in with the repair and renovation of a recreational facility. 

Not really sure, but it seems concessions were made on repair and renovation of the rink. There was a vote of 4 to 1. Mr. Hamer qualified his yes with the explanation that he was voting for discussion not in favor yet.  Mr. Dacey, City Manager had a few dicey and defensive moments with Mr. Skurnick and accused him of performing for the cameras. Whenever cameras are introduced to a like situations, behaviors do seem to change. The City Clerk's temper and patience seemed short. 

Michael Cohen, the 2nd Ward Council man took over for the Mayor and invoked Jack Drakeford's name over 24 times. I am praying for a quick release of the book. All of a sudden everyone is the late councilman's protege'. There is such a disconnect here, because that makes absolutely no difference. Please stop doing it. It is disrespectful of the man. 

While the men held their contest over the rink, there was other stuff on the agenda that actually does affect the entire City.

They wore us out. We left before being afforded privilege of the floor.

The other Agenda:

• Bond Ordinance #13-01
• James Street Ordinance

Resolutions:

Every 3 years the 4th Ward is in the house & pay dearly.

• Rescind Shared Services Agreement with the Englewood Public School District to provide Information Technology.
• Award Professional Services Contract to Business Systems Unlimited, Inc. to provide information Technology Services.
• Ressolution for a Zero 2013 Municipal Budget
• Award Professional Services Contract for Feal Estate Appraiser to Defend the 2013 Tax Appeals filed with the Bergen County Board of Taxation
• Authorize Execution of Settlement Agreement with 'C" Cross Creek Home Owners-Association, Inc.
• Authorize Conveyance of Public Land
• Resolution Opposing Assembly Bill A-1196

Is This Really About Keeping People In Their Place?

Monday, February 11, 2013


The Mayor's 3rd Town Hall Meeting
Subject/Purpose: The Ice Arena or The Boy's & Girl's Club or whatever.....comes out......

This meeting came out of nowhere. Or did it? ?Did it grow out of the age old tradition of one man over reacting to folks exerting the power of the right not to agree with him? So the 4th Ward was called upon to stand against something that the person you forced down our throats by hook or crook took a stand on against you? Now that is rich. Maybe there is hope for Mr Hamer yet. Now if only we might get him to a school board meeting. I just love the way the City is so adamant about the autonomous nature of the relationship with our school board yet it still seems hell bent on aligning our City's youth in and out of school with another City.

October 2 or thereabouts of 2012 the Mayor signed an agreement with the Boy's & Girl's Club of Garfield to run the Skating Rink. (I was not able to find minutes to support the City Council ever voting on this. No Town Hall Meeting was called back then. Note to Mayor: that is when the public should have been polled for ideas. Before the signing of agreements. We over whelmed him again. 

• Too much time was spent selling us the Boy's & Girl's Club of Garfield. Imported Cheerleaders from Garfield and who knows where else were seated together on the left side of the room. The small group followed the script and cheered when prompted. We know what the Boy's & Girl's Club is. Okay. Wasted time. 

• Garfield Boy's & Girls Representative talked too much. It  was like Mitt Romney taking his supporters with him on the road. Garfield Representatives profess to have changed the vision of the organization to include all children and not just the underprivileged. Special of them. They showed us a futuristic image of a building that we might call our Englewood Chapter one day if we are worthy.

• It was obvious that the Boy's & Girl's Club of America did not wish to get involved in the situation. Who would? It was made clear that there is no Boy's and Girl's Club of Englewood.

• The Mayor talked and talked and talked. He should stay away from power points.
• Mayor Huttle III, please stop invoking the name of Jack Drakeford. I stopped counting at 20. That was over the top. News Flash. Not everyone in the 4th Ward thought Jack was the greatest Councilman in the world. He was not perfect and he was not Ghandi. Are we to understand that you really needed that old man? Wow. How illuminating. I attended one of the last Council Meetings that Jack attended. I even wrote an article about how thoroughly he disagreed with you. The general public is not comfortable when the name of the late 4th Ward Councilman is thrown about by the Mayor as if he communes with the wise old man from beyond the grave.

• Highlight - a high school student had a very valid question. Although, I have little faith in the happenings at Dwight Morrow High School, I was insulted by the remark made by the representative from Garfield. Something to the effect that if students do not get involved in the activities planned by the school district it means that the school district activities are no good. Well, look at it this way. We don't appreciate other people making this assumption without investigation.
• Two gentleman danced around fistacuffs. 
• The Mayor was told once again that the people are sick and tired of being sick and tired of being brought in after the fact. 
• They never mentioned the bundling of the Overpeck Creek project with the rink repair

The People were bored to death. They literally wore us out trying to win us over. By the time the public was finally allowed to speak, we were exhausted. Some of us got up and started working the crowd for the People's Town Hall Meeting on the 23rd. The first and only time I had ever been inside the Rink was last summer during the reunion. It was big and in desperate need of some attention. It was not even clean. The bathroom  reminded me of one in Mexico at the end of a desolate alley where I was forced to pee standing up. Most people in the 4th Ward have never entered the place except during that reunion party. I wonder how many of those in attendance have ever entered the John T. Wright Arena.

It has been over 30 years. The rink is no more relevant to the 4th Ward now than it was 30 years ago. It is old, dilapidated and even less interesting than before. It was easier for this town to close 2 schools with wrecking balls standing at ready than to close a rink that is not used.

The City had over sight of the rink for 30 years. I don't care what they say about the renters not taking care of the building. An irresponsible landlord who allows such decay is actually called a slumlord. We all know what generally happens to bad tenants. Why had they not been thrown out long ago. Was the negligence neglected for 30 years? Too much time is being wasted arguing over spending millions on a facility that services less than 10% of the residents. The rink does not pay for itself. It is not sustainable because the people in town have not embraced it. They have not been given reason to embrace it. It has always been priced out of range. Did it make a good place to have a party? The people made the party. Is it really worth all this time spent on discussion when the papers have already been signed? It is a diversion.

An unpopular question: If a wrecking ball may be taken to a school why can't it be taken to a neglected falling down ice rink. I'm just saying.

End of the trench?

Not a cold weather person. Join the club.

No. Shoveling that long trench to the sidewalk 
was not fun. It really wasn't.

Not fun at all. 

Why are Englewood Taxpayers Funding the Boy$ and Girl$ Club of Garfield?

Why are Englewood Taxpayers funding
the Boy$ and Girl$ ¢lub of Garfield?

For 30 years, the ice rink in Mackay Park operated at no cost to taxpayers

But since July, when the Boy$ and Girl$ ¢lub of Garfield won to run the rink, we've already spent almost $500,000 of taxpayers' money to spruce up the rink. After that money had already been spent, Hurricane Sandy damaged the roof. Insurance and FEMA money will pay for a new one, but in the meantime,our mayor favors a bond issue to cover the roof and an extra $500,000 for a sound system, hot dog stand and other perks on top of last year’s $500,000. And this is just the tip of the iceberg! A report prepared by a city official described well over a million dollars in near-future upgrades. The city intends to pay for all of this with your tax dollars. 

Other organizations have offered to run the rink, provide free and low-cost programs to our children at the rink and to make all these improvements and upgrades at no cost to the city or its taxpayers. The city government turned down all of these offers…. WHY?

The Boy$ and Girl$ ¢lub of Garfield claims they will, in exchange for our multi-million-dollar investment, be offering year-round programs for our youth at the rink.What programs? Where? The summertime temperature in the arena often rises above 110°. Is this really a suitable environment for our kids to play? The mayor talks about a “partnership” with the School District. As of now, there have been no meetings with the Board of Education. The contract was signed over FOUR MONTHS ago.

Before the Hurricane struck, the city and the Boy$ and Girl$ ¢lub of Garfield were all set to open. A “Grand Opening” had been planned and the ice was ready to skate. 

• Without a new $43,000 snack bar. 
• Without a new $12,000 scoreboard, 
• without a new $23,000 sound system. 
• Without a new $70,000 rubber floor. 

More must be done in terms of
day to day upkeep. We see
signs of neglect.

Why can’t we just fix the roof and return to skating?

The brochure the Boy$ and Girl$ ¢lub of Garfield published in October offers hockey lessons to our children for 50% more than they would pay at the Ice House in Hackensack, and 100% more than they would pay at the Ice Vault in Wayne. Is this really their understanding of our kids’ needs? What could they possibly be thinking?

Sounds complicated? It Is! But one thing is clear: If this is allowed to continue as the city has planned,Englewood taxpayers will be footing some very big bills.

On Monday, February 11 at 6:30 PM at Community Baptist Church 224 FirstStreet

There will be a town hall meeting to discuss spending your money on a "Partnership”with the Boy$ and Girl$ ¢lub of Garfield.

Be there! Ask questions!

· How much do they expect to earn? What is their business plan? (The Boy$ and Girl$ ¢lub of Garfield has said that they will spend all the money they earn at the ice rink on programming.)

· What impact will the Boy$ and Girl$ ¢lub of Garfield programs have on already successful existing programs? Will the Boy$ and Girl$ ¢lub of Garfield take over running our pools and our little league, football and track teams?

· Will Recreation fees go up again?

· What does the Boy$ and Girl$ ¢lub of Garfield intend to do in our schools?

· Why can’t we just fix the roof and return to skating?

The text of this post was taken from an email sent out to residents. I added the photographs. I agree with the text of the post. That is the reason it appears here. 

Denning Park needs repair.

Depot Park needs repair.

The storm drain through MacKay Park needs repair.

The Gatehouse in Mackay Park needs repair.

Bridges & gates restricting access to the Park need repair and attention. 

Below is a photo of the MacKay Park Gatehouse. The City recently received a monetary award intended to repair this long neglected facility. Notice that the elements of rain, sleet and snow may enter through this uncovered rooftop opening. Animals may also enter for shelter. Is this how we maintain our Municipal facilities while insourcing for fee recreational services? 

Read this article. Inquiring minds want to know where the money is going. http://4thwardunited.blogspot.com/2012/10/do-you-approve-of-how-your-tax-dollars.html