Edgewater Park Committee Embarrassed

I hope you all were able to read the story in the BCT today 7/10/08 by Lauri Sheibley; Beverly maintains tax rate.

The state cut Beverly's aid by $90,535.00 dollars. Beverly's budget for this year is $3,038,054.82. Edgewater Park's state aid was cut $192,584.00, and since the township committee has not divulged its 2008 budget as of this date, I cannot compare the 2008 budgets of both towns to see if the % of state aid cuts are the same for both towns.

Maybe we should merge with Beverly since their elected officials and professionals have done a much better job with their budget this year. 

How is it that Beverly can maintain its services to the residents and not raise taxes, when Beverly City is subject to the same cost increases as Edgewater Park.

I say we send our Township Committee and the Administrator to Beverly and take lessons on how to manage a budget when times are tough financially.

When Tom Pullion comes knocking on your door or calls you asking for your vote to reelect him to Township Committee, ask him why he has done such a lousy job with overseeing the township's finances. Ask him to explain why he has voted to raise taxes by so much. 

I am picking on Tom because, he is the Township Committeeman in charge of finances and he is running for re-election this year. 

Somebody on Township Committee has to take action and get control of the Administrator and spending, or we will all have to move because we can't afford to pay the taxes to live here. As a senior, my income is fixed and I do not get the % increases in my Social Security or my pension, that can keep up with the large tax increases we have seen in this town during the past five years.

Please read the BCT article, I have provided a link if you recycled your paper today or don't read the BCT.    

The Edgewater Park Reporter  

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Edgewater Park Tax Greetings

NEWS FLASH July 9, 2008; I have noticed that several people have commented on the State Web Site Posted State Aid Reports. I am attaching the links to the 2008 and 2007 State Aid Reports for Edgewater Park- Edgewater Park Reporter.

http://www.state.nj.us/dca/lgs/muniaid/08_aid/08sosa/312_ssa_2008.pdf

http://www.state.nj.us/dca/lgs/muniaid/07_aid/07sosa/312_ssa_2007.pdf

Well, I am back from a needed R&R. I am sorry about the pause in Blog Postings but I was able to read the Blog comments and found them very interesting.

The first thing I did when I got back was to go to the Post Office to get my mail and my July Copy of the Beverly Bee, and what did I find but an envelope with greetings from Edgewater Park Township. It was the "ESTIMATED TAX NOTICE 2008 3RD QTR TAX DUE:".

I almost choked when I saw the amount. It is more than 8.5% higher then my 2007 taxes.

I checked with my sources to see if the 2008 Township Budget was introduced, and found out that, no it has not.

I looked more carefully at the TAX NOTICE, and found it contains what I think is conflicting information.

First, at the top of the notice it states; "Estimate

d Tax Bills are considered the same as Regular Tax Bills in regard to all provisions affecting Tax Bills, including interest and the use of the Bill for calculating Escrow Requirements by Mortgage Services." On the bottom of the notice are 4 coupons with information printed on Coupon 3 only, that list an amount due August 1, 2008, but then states at the bottom of Coupon 3, in big red letters; "THIS IS NOT A BILL - FOR ADVICE ONLY".

Confusing?

I then read the July Edgewater Park Propaganda Section of the Bee.

I see that our Mayor is working hard with her July article, to try and justify the irresponsible spending of money on her new office, the new furniture, new carpeting, new painting and best of all, a new file room for legal documents. She also states that, "there are no funds in the budget for any new furnishings" and that "Your current township committee is determined to represent you by governing responsibly". Gee has anyone seen a 2008 township budget yet???? Beverly published theirs.

I will have to check on how much legal billing we taxpayers are paying for and and why.

I bet the Township Clerk is still way behind on the publishing of township meeting minutes and she needs a new file room?

Maybe we need the new File Room because the Clerk can't find documents on her own desk and looses them all the time, that she needs to make two copies of everything, one for her to loose and one for the File Room for her back-up.

I want to ask just one question?

How many of you taxpayers that read this Blog, have adjusted your spending this year on non-essential items due to the economic conditions?

I daresay, that unless you are rich enough, you have made adjustments in your families spending this year. Well the the Mayor and township committee have not! They are taking you for granted and think most of us are dumb enough to continue to believe the Mayor's statements.

I will be following up with additional Posts concerning items I have observed since returning to town.

The Edgewater Park Reporter

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Eggewater Park Committeeman tells Resident to use Blog for Toilet Paper

Resident Mr. D. Robbins of Silver Park, was complaining about this blog during the public comment section of the Township Committee meeting last night. He was told by Committeeman Daly to "print the blog and use it for toilet paper". Mr Daly, a Sewer Authority Board Member (I am not a double dipper) should have known better; copy paper is not an approved paper for disposal into the sewer system. No wonder we have so many back-up on East Franklin! 

Of course Mr. Robbins also likes to comment on the blog and report back to the Mayor on what is said, like a good boy.

Other members of the Committee asked why Mr. Robbins bothered with the blog, that it is a waste of time. I think their comments are interesting because, they have certainly spent plenty of time reading the blog and also commenting on it. The following picture is a good representation of what this blog feels like to our Township Officials. 

I wish our Elected Officials spent the time managing our town and its Administrator/Clerk, instead of trying to discredit honest critics. But, I am afraid that the following picture demonstrates what they use our tax money for.

From my new hideout (I am really close Committee) I bid you to hold on to your wallet and don't use copy paper for toilet paper and keep an eye out for Elvis,

The Edgewater Park Reporter 

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Fw: Edgewater Park Twp Tuesday Budget Meeting

Report on Edgewater Park Budget Meeting from JB that you didn't get from the BCT

Thanks JB for the following report,

The Edgewater Park Reporter

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Okinsnj To: edgewaterparkreporter@yahoo.com
Sent: Thursday, June 12, 2008 12:29:47 AM
Subject: Tuesday Meeting

Hello EPR,

Was not sure if you had attended the meeting on Tuesday & noticed the Blog had no mention as well? If you did miss the meeting, here are the answers from our Mayor to most of the questions (after you read them you will understand why you don't need to know the questions, lol):

Corzine's fault, Corzine's fault, Corzine's fault, Corzine's fault, Christie Whitman's fault, Corzine's fault, Corzine's fault, League of Municipalities fault, Corzine's fault, Freeholders fault, Corzine's fault, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I take care of widows & seniors, we just foundout, I don't know x 15 more times.

What exactly does she know & why did she NOT ONCE say she was GOING TO FINDOUT?

I don't expect people to know everything, but when it is your responsibility to know, one would think they would make the effort to find out?

The Mayor also supports REASSESSING (re-evaluating as she called it) Edgewater Park, and has been urging Trenton to remove the Homestead Rebate program. She would rather have OUR money for real estate tax relief, given to her to waste.

JB

Edgewater Park Reporter,

The following photo gives you an idea of what it was like to lisiten to our Mayor Tuesday!!

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Vote for your city's best dining and nightlife. City's Best 2008.

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Rt 130 Conditions

I received the message below on Tuesday and have removed Rebecca's last name and her address from the message.

Thanks Rebecca,

The Edgewater Park Reporter

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Becky To: edgewaterparkreporter@yahoo.com
Sent: Tuesday, June 3, 2008 10:10:25 AM
Subject: (no subject)

May 20^th 2008

Attention Local, State and Corporate Leaders;

RE: Intersection of State Highway Route 130 and Levitt Parkway in Burlington county

As a driver who uses this intersection several times a day, I would like to bring your attention to the area of Burlington County along the Route 130 corridor that includes Willingboro Town Square and the Edgewater Park businesses across the highway.

Although the work that is being done on the Willingboro side of Highway 130 is remarkable, there continues to exist some very dangerous traffic and pedestrian situations. I would strongly suggest that the following need to be addressed immediately.

1. The New Jersey Transit bus stop is in an awkward spot. The road is narrow and does not allow for more than one bus to pass or park or pull over without blocking traffic. It is dangerous for people exiting and entering the buses.
2. Sidewalks and crosswalks are not existent leading to or away from the bus top and the stop is hidden from Route 130 traffic. Pedestrians exiting the bus do not have easy access to the BCC campus, the CVS , the Commerce Bank, or any of the other shops or businesses in the complex without walking through a grass median and or crossing the narrow highly trafficked lane. This is always dangerous but especially so during inclement weather.
3. The bus stop itself is a very small concrete pad with little signage and no sidewalks, not sufficient for passengers for one bus let alone the several Burlinks and NJ Transit buses that stop there.
4. Crossing Route 130 is dangerous but especially when there are not any pedestrian signs, crosswalks or pedestrian crossing lights. At the intersection of Route 130, Levitt Parkway and Woodlane Road , the traffic is never stopped for pedestrians; there isn't a button or a light telling people when to cross. This really doesn't make sense considering the number of people living in the cluster units on the Edgwater Park side. Access for crossing Levitt Parkway to the Bank of America or Woodlane Road from the Apartments to the Pathmark is also the same situation.
5. The turning lanes on Woodlane road are not clearly marked.
6. The turning lanes on Levitt Parkway entering the intersection are a free for all.. There does not exist any marking for the lanes, people in the center lane may go straight or turn left there is no way of knowing which, Also cars exiting on the jug handle have great difficulty knowing what lane they need to be in because nothing is marked. If you have 2 lanes turning left, there should be signage stating so. I won't even go into the craziness of 3 lanes going into one as the cars enter Woodlane

In conclusion: I believe that if possible you need to work together as town officials, DOT, NJ Transit and the property owners to come up with a solution to the dangerous situation for pedestrians. Presently you have shoppers, commuters, college students, and diners, soon you will have high school students and even more consumers as well as additional office workers, you need to provide them with safe transit from property to property as pedestrians and passengers.

Solutions:

1. Move the bus stop. There are several other places the buses could stop, inside the parking lots or less traveled lanes, but it really should be visible from 130 or have a large sign and not blocking a main access road.
2. Sidewalks at all businesses, especially from Commerce Bank and Acme to the Taco Bell, no one should ever have to walk in the traffic lane or on the grass. Crosswalks and roads with speed bumps should have signs saying, stop for pedestrians.
3. Make the bus stop larger with more seating and sidewalks leading to it.
4. There really should exist a walk over on this particular intersection of Route 130, but in the absence of that, the traffic should be stopped by the push of a pedestrian button and there should be crosswalks should be clearly marked. Traffic should not make a right on the light where pedestrians are crossing.
5. Mark the traffic lanes!!!! Make this a user friendly intersection!

If you cannot help solve these problems please refer this letter to someone who can solve it before the situation gets worse!

Sincerely,

Rebecca

Beverly , NJ 08010

CC: Willingboro City Officials

Edgewater Park City Officials

CVS

Commerce Bank

Taco Bell

Starbucks

Ruby Tuesdays

Burlington County College

Acme

NJ State Dept. of Transportation

NJ Transit

Burlington County Freeholders

Burlington County Transportation

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Re-Elect Tom Pullion if you want more of this for Edgewater Park

At the June 3, Township of Edgewater Park Work Session, the following was presented to the Township Committee for Discussion; Presentation for Relocation and Development of Kove Catering (not part of the plans below) and an Age Restricted Condominium Housing Development:Block 502, Lot 12, Approx 15 acres.


You might ask, Whats wrong with Age Restricted Condominiums? Well as they found out in Silver Park, by law the owners of the condos can have children living with them and those children can go to our schools.


This development is in the Redevelopment Zone and is zoned for commercial use, not HIGH DENSITY HOUSING.
Just to note for the record; the Township Committee went into closed session prior to this presentation to discuss matters concerning the sale of land and development of public property and a Re-Development Agreement.


This information was taken from the Work Session Agenda for June 3, 2008.


The Edgewater Park Reporter

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Vote Tomorrow in the Primary

I know NJ has more elections almost than TAXES. But it is important to South Jersey for you to vote tomorrow. 

In the Democratic Primary Election for U.S. Senate you have a choice between Rob Andrews at the top of Column 3 or Frank Lautenberg in Column 1. I would like you to try and think of when Frank Lautenberg was in South Jersey (not including now because he is running) . Rob Andrews will definitely work hard for us in South Jersey and I hope you will support him. There are no other contested elections for the Democrats.

For the Republicans You have Dick Zimmer Column 1, Joe Pennacchio Column 2 and Murray Sabrin Column 3 running for U.S. Senate. I don't have any ideas except to say that Sabrin has the Moore's on his ticket.

For U.S. Congress you have Chris Myers Column 1, Justin Murphy Column 2 and John Kelly Column 5. Chris Myers has the endorsement of Jim Saxton (Who is not running) and is a resident of Burlington County. With Jim's endorsement I feel Chris Myers is the one to support. Justin Murphy has the Moore's on his ticket-need I say more (not a pun) and John Kelly is a carpetbagger from Ocean County.

In the Freeholder Race, hope you will support Aubrey Fenton and Stacy Jordan (Farias a local girl). They have actually cut the county tax rate this year, so you county tax will go down from last year. You can use that to offset the increase in your municipal tax. Aubrey and Stacy's opponents have a record of always raising taxes when they were on municipal committees. This is the office that William and Carol Moore are running for.

County Clerk has Gary Woodend Column 1, Michael Carr Column 3 (I thought he was a Democrat and is running with the Moore's) and Lauri Sheppard Column 4. Gary Woodend would warrant your support. He is an attorney, ran his own business while getting his law degree and is presently serving on the Medford Lakes Committee. By all accounts he is the better choice because of his experience.

Well good luck to the candidates and please take a few moments to vote for South Jersey and Burlington County. We need the local representation in Washington and Mt. Holly. 

The Edgewater Park Reporter    

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