A Day of Presence!

November 6, 2017 is Day of Presence in Englewood, NJ

"Did you know that "Day of Absence" is a one act play written by Douglas Turner Ward, the founder of The Negro Ensemble Company"? It tells the story of what happens in a southern town when all of the black and brown people disappear for a day.   Issues within the work still ring true 51 years later.  It is time for us old folks to make it clear to the children that we are "present" and we have their backs. They matter and we care about them. http://www.theasy.com/Reviews/2016/D/dayofabsence.pp

Neighbors and fellow citizens, my name is Ricardo Whilby. I am a long time Englewood resident. The current state of affairs in this town needs to change. The powers that be need a wake up call, and that is where WE THE PEOPLE MATTER come in.

Just think of it, where do we start;

• a failing school system,
• no Equity in Public Education
• no safe haven for children
• an agenda to re-gentrify our town, 
• no low income housing that older Englewood residents that have been here for life can afford, 
• too many broken promises, 
• Politicians with fake zeros in city budgets, 
• the steady rise of our property taxes that only have a upward trajectory from here. 
• no Community Policing
• And no Community Center!

We are being pushed out. Pressure from above and pressure from below. I can remember my father as the owner of Almay's refusing to play the game or pay city officials that would try too extort a God fearing honest small businessman.Today the challenges that face us in this town harking back to pre Civil Rights conditions, and if you don't think so then go back to sleep. Go along to get along until reality reconnects you to that which you already know, but are afraid to confront and deal with.

Jim Crow is alive and well. Discrimination is doing just fine. Systemic racial inequality is on the rise from the white house to city hall. This is why we will rally and march together right here in Englewood to let our voices be heard. We will march as a community to let our children know that they are not facing the issues of the day alone.

We must awaken our corrupted officials by marching. It is time to march as one powerful force to bring the message home. It is also time to MARCH into the voting booth bringing it home to those who have posed as our friends.
We are awake and we are aware.
We are using our power.

The Puppet masters are no more. We the people demand change. We demand accountability. We demand that the corrupt political machine that takes and doesn't give leave our town. We demand the fruits of our labor. We demand good schools, affordable housing, safe streets, equality, fairness, and respect. Lets come together with our individual struggle and collectively work with each other for the greater good and growth for the city.

Join us on November 6, 2017 at 3:30 PM on Herring Field. Tryon Avenue across the street from the Janis E. Dismus Middle School where we will rally and march down Tryon Avenue and up Knickerbocker Rd. to DMHS in support of the students of Englewood. Help us show all Englewood students 
that we are 
"present" and "accounted for" 
in support of them and their education.

We the People, all love Englewood. 

Thank you,
Ricardo Whilby

Moved Across From The Police Station

This building is now located  across the street from the police station. I guess the time comes in our neighborhood when we must realize that the rhetoric expoused by the Crafter of the Master Plan do not apply to some.

Some of us can do nothing to preserve the integrity of our neighborhoods. Seems only money and influence can do that. So the Developers build apartments that make our homes seem tiny. They build them on stilts so that the contaminated ground beneath is not disturbed. Meanwhile, where do we put all of the traffic and the deer? That is correct. The stilts are not just for parking and the river beneath. There is a blue dot beneath the soil there where Caddy Corner Gas Station used to be. And what about the statistics on School bus accidents in that area?

Who among you did not prefer the friendly look of the Salvation Army building that stood on this site for years?

For over a year this building has stood empty with no signs of revitalization. It has been added to the collection of ghost properties in the Englewood landscape, yet the Developers persist. I mean, there might even be a piece of green grass that is not covered with concrete. We can't have that.

Did anyone ever think that maybe it is time to stop building new adding new structures. Englewood is 4.9 square miles with plans to gut downtown with a double light rail track that already promises to bring thousands of strangers to town. 4.9 square miles that is already 95% developed.

A Tale of Two Cities

A Tale of Two Cities

Suburban Hill Sprawl vs Urban Valley Density

This pastoral landscape is soon to be history.  Plans to build an aparatment
building in that small space ahead are currently under way.

My drama begins September 28, 2017 at the Englewood Planning Board Meeting with a denial of an East Hill Application, 
#2016-9. 

Imagine an apartment building in the middle of this fork in
the road that is also a busy school bus route.

The Brayton Estate LLC. Sub division application sought to divide 161 Brayton Street’s, 1st ward, $9 million dollars property into (2) single family residences. The opposing attorney successfully argued, in a nut shell, that such an act would violate the city’s Master Plan by failing to maintain the character of the neighborhood. The Board agreed. 

Coming soon, an apartment building on stilts.
The next two discussions applied to applications for down the hill, across the tracks in the 4th Ward. 

The Claremont Properties discussion,#2017-8, 40 Bennett Rd. and 51 Lafayette Place, was about building a multi -family residential unit which would incorporate the taking of part of an active city street (Elmore Ave). 

Elmore Ave. facing north is for sale!!!!
This project will not move forward without the city selling off another city street in the 4th ward.

There was no opposing attorney. But, there were several residents from the Elmore Ave community in attendance. The applicant and the Board’s presentation and concerns were centered around ‘set backs’, the space between the curb and the building and landscaping. The residents spoke about ‘quality of life’, the elimination of a part of Elmore Ave. and neighborhood…

This Application proposes to 

The proposed building will extend all the way over to Bennett
Rd.

build a structure bordering Bennett Rd, Englewood Ave (incorporating a part of Elmore Ave.) and Lafayette Pl. adding an additional 99 units to a street/neighborhood/Ward which already has:

• Town Center (320 units)
• Lincoln School project (188 units)
• a construction site on the corner of Green St
• a new residence at the corner of Oak St.
• proposed project at 50 E. Palisade Ave.
• a multi-family dwelling proposed for the Mitchell Simon property (100 units) on Dean St.
• an inquiry into Redeveloping the First Student bus depot/Linden Ave on So. Dean St. (which was on this same agenda)

Note: this board has already approved a sub-division for 256 Hirliman Rd. # 2016-15. (also 4th Ward. )
The Board ‘denied’ the expansion on Brayton St. Let’s see if they will ‘continue’ with the ‘Urbanization’ of the 4th Ward…….

The Tale Continues: On October 5, 2017…….

Update: Toxic fume in Shoprite condoned by Englewood fire department

This message from a bewildered consumer arrived in our email yesterday at 4:31 pm

Update: The message was written by a medical Doctor.
 Dr. Sapphire Mann Ahmed  

November 11, 2016, about 10 AM, I went into the Shoprite grocery store in the town of Englewood, NJ and as I walked near the vegetables, a chemical fume overtook me.
I began to feel nauseous and developed a headache in minutes.
I felt sick so I left the store after complaining to 2 managers who said that they were told that the chemical was not toxic.

I told him that it is noxious even if it is not toxic.

Does produce absorb noxious fumes at a level
that may be harmful to humans?

I heard customers and workers complaining.

I went to the health department which was closed wth not even an emergency number.

I went to the police department and picked up the lobby phone and reported my concerns to Sargent Canner (?) who initially tried to brush me off rather than thank me for being a concerned citizen.

Finally, as I persisted, he told me that he would report it to the fire department.
I called the fire department later and I was told that this is an ongoing complaint during the construction in the grocery store.

The firemen supervisor said that their machine had determined that the fumes were from polyurethane and that the levels were not toxic.

I told them that the levels are noxious and doubted if they would allow themselves, their children or parents to be exposed to it for 15 minutes.

When humans are so ignorant that we wait for a machine to tell us if fumes are toxic we need help.

I did not get a satisfactory answer when I asked if the fumes were not toxic from the fire department. The fumes in that store were noxious to me in a few minutes my eyes burned, and I felt that it penetrated my oral and nasal mucous and I developed a headache. Neither customers nor fresh foods should be exposed to those fumes and this would not be acceptable in other communities.
Maybe the fire department doesn't have access to internet to read:

"Uncured polyurethane can cause breathing problems such as asthma. People who are in rooms that have uncured polyurethane floors can also experience health problems including eye and throat irritation, headaches, nausea, vomiting, coughing and shortness of breath." Dr. Sapphire Mann Ahmed 

I like for you to assign some of your staff and some staff of the police department to stand in the back of ShopRite in Englewood for an hour let alone all day long with those fumes.

                              .....And how are the children?

This does raise a very important question. Who is watching out for our health in situations like this?

"...In a 1987 study, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ranked indoor air pollution fourth in cancer risk among the 13 top environmental problems analyzed. The United Nations Development Program estimated that more than two million people die each year due to the presence of toxic indoor air. .. http://renegadehealth.com/blog/2013/03/25/14-plants-that-clean-your-indoor-air-of-toxic-chemicals

I would like to thank this citizen for raising the questions and following them up. People like this are needed  in every Community. I was in Shoprite on Wednesday and Thursday,  but I do not remember if  they removed the leftover mums from the rear of the produce. I had thought the area where the mums were kept was being held for fresh live plants. It was a nice touch for a minute. Now I am wondering if the mums were just doing a fine job of masking the odor. Plants are not  usually allowed to sit and die to that extent in Shoprite. I was not so surprised when I noticed they were gone, but I was surprised to see that a doorway had been cut where they had been displayed. Maybe the store should have closed during the hours of this particular construction and the fumes ventilated outside.