Middletown Resident Opposes Trinity Hall School Development

By Christopher R. Whalen, CPA

I am writing to express my many concerns regarding the Trinity Hall Development.

Trinity Hall is a commercial enterprise and will bring to our neighborhood all of the communal, societal and environmental harm that such enterprises do.

Let’s project out some of the many terrible impacts this will have on our neighborhood.

The Trinity Hall Development will increase the volume of:

School buses and other school vehicles

Student cars and

Parent drop off vehicles

Evening noise and light pollution.

Daily noise and pollution from the school’s physical plant.

and

Possibly necessitate:

1. the widening of parts of Chapel Hill to install shoulders, the land for which will be taken from existing landowners on Chapel Hill Road using Eminent Domain Laws.
2. the installation of traffic lights at the intersections of  Chapel Hill and Kings Highway, and Sleepy Hollow and Chapel Hill AND
   1. Definitely at the school’s main entrance on Chapel Hill itself.

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8.57% Turnout for Middletown School Borrow and Spend Referendum

4,109 of 47,906 registered voters in Middletown Township went to the polls yesterday to vote on a $32.2 million spending measure for repairs to the township’s schools.  The referendum passed 2,951 to 1,158 with 43,797 abstentions.   Mail-in and provisional ballots are not included in these unofficial figures provided by Monmouth County Clerk M. Claire French’s office.

The Middletown Board of Education is now authorized to borrow $19.3  million for school maintenance and repairs.  $12.9 million for the project is expected to come from 20 Regular Operating District (ROD) grants from the New Jersey Department of Education.

In an OpEd posted on Middletown Patch, School Board Member Vinnie Brand made the case for the referendum, arguing that the grants are a rare opportunity which give the board an opportunity to make the “critical need” repairs for 60% of cost while passing 40% off to statewide taxpayers.  Brand noted that interest rates are low and that labor rates are “more reasonable.”

Middletown resident Chris Fotache countered Brand’s argument in an OpEd on MMM submitted yesterday as the polls opened.  Fotache argued that the Board of Ed did not publicize the referendum in order to assure a low voter turnout that would favor the referendum.  He alleged fiscal mismanagement and duplicate spending on repairs and planning fees.

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RED BANK: LIBRARY PUTS STAFF ON NOTICE

RED BANK: LIBRARY PUTS STAFF ON NOTICE (via redbankgreen)

A meeting of the Red Bank library board in the former living room of the Eisner family last month. (Click to enlarge) By JOHN T. WARD The Red Bank Public Library has put its entire staff on notice of possible layoffs in the face of a looming budget…

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Why I am voting NO on the Middletown Board of Education Election March 11 (Today)

By Chris Fotache

The Middletown Board of Education is attempting to borrow $32 million through a voter referendum on Tuesday March 11, 2014. You have probably not even heard of this because they are doing their best to keep it a secret so that only the school PTA’s and PFA’s (their cheerleaders) are the only ones who come out to vote. They have them brainwashed that this is such a great idea. What many people fail to realize is that the BOE spent $8 million over the last 2 years replacing roofs that needed to be fixed. This was done with extra money left over in the budget. And it was done with only 1% tax increases over the last 3 years. Why now does this new BOE need to pay an architect $1.3 million to do this work all over again? They paid this very same architect over $200K over the last year to do this same exact work. Why are they paying them again???

The answer is they can’t explain it. They refuse to answer any questions. They say vote for it because it’s for the kids. HOW MANY TIMES HAVE WE HEARD THAT BEFORE?

While it’s important to have the schools safe and running in a functional manner, the new Board’s level of mismanagement, misinformation, and incompetence is staggering. These repairs will get done whether the referendum passes or not as it’s the Boards’ obligation to do especially since the repairs are now public.

The board owns 11 properties in town worth millions that they could sell to fund these fixtures. Why are they not selling them and asking the tax payer to fund this. If the referendum fails, they will be forced to sell some and use that money to fix the schools AT NO COST TO THE TAXPAYER.

Don’t forget that not so long ago, a $78 million referendum was passed to upgrade schools. So if they were mismanaged in the past, what guarantee do we have that these $32 mil won’t go to waste?

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Chris Christie’s approval rating flips in new poll

Chris Christie’s approval rating flips in new poll (via NJ.com)

TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie has called the George Washington Bridge scandal an obsession of the press that the public doesn’t care about, but two polls released today show the ordeal continues to erode his political support and public image. One…

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Vin Gopal Threatens Legal Action Against MoreMonmouthMusings

Monmouth County Democratic Chairman Vin Gopal, not Devender Singh

Monmouth County Democratic Chairman Vin Gopal has threatened the owner of this website, Gallco Media, LLC, with “all legal remedies under law” unless the post, Feds Charge Indian National With Abusive Sexual Contact, is removed from the site.  Gopal’s attorney, D. Sam Han, Esq. of Sobel Han, LLP of Englewood Cliffs, further demands that an apology and retraction be posted that clearly denotes the improper usage of Gopal’s picture on this site.  The photo in question is posted to the left.  Han’s letter can be viewed here.

On behalf of Gallco Media, I consulted with two attorneys to find out what these “legal remedies under law” might be. Both said there aren’t any and that Gopal does not have an actionable claim.  Bring it on, Han. Play it again, Sam. You’re not gonna win, Vin.

We really must have gotten under Gopal’s skin.  He didn’t threaten legal action against the campaign of Assemblywomen Caroline Casagrande and Mary Pat Angelini in the the 2011 legislative race when they sent the now infamous Joe Vas mailer out against Gopal who was running against them at the time.  The mailer was widely criticized in the media and even by many Republicans at the time.  MMM didn’t write about the mailer in 2011 because I was in jail on ginned up charges when the controversy broke. I’m particularly sensitive to the consequences of exaggerated allegations made in the media.

Gopal’s gotten a small taste of his own medicine.  We hope he’ll alter his conduct, and lead members of party to do the same.  It’s not looking too good, so far, but that is what we’re after in our “Monmouth County Republican Chairman John Bennett did not issue a statement…” posts and our posts calling Gopal on his duplicity.

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Tom Kean Jr.’s payback: NJ Senators who opposed him removed from leadership

Tom Kean Jr.’s payback: NJ Senators who opposed him removed from leadership (via NJ.com)

TRENTON — State Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean Jr. has purged his leadership ranks of two men who attempted to oust him last year. Kean (R-Union) announced the Senate Republicans’ leadership team in a press release today. Absent from the list were…

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Tea Parties Take Credit For Obama’s Electoral Victories

Four New Jersey Tea Party groups and a Southern California Tea Party group joined forces today in warning national Republicans not to nominate a moderate for president in 2016.  In their joint statement released this morning, the Bayshore Tea Party Group, the East Jersey Tea Party Group, the NJ TEA Party Caucus and the Ventura County Tea Party from California claimed credit for the 2008 and 2012 electoral victories on President Barack Obama and promised more of the same if a moderate or liberal Republican is nominated in 2016.

In the event a moderate or liberal republican is nominated by the GOP in 2016, the Tea Party groups that joined together in this statement, have pledged to refuse any support for that nominee and urge all concerned Americans who believe in liberty, prosperity, smaller government and fiscal responsibility, to join them in their action. Other groups throughout the nation are expected to join within the weeks and months to come.

A moderate Republican will result in the continuation of lower Conservative Republican voter turnout that began in the late 1990’s and was a significant contributor to Republican Presidential loses in 2008 and 2012.

Bayshore Tea Party Group Co-founder Barbara Gonzalez said the groups have polled their members and found that the majority will not support a Republican nominee who does not pass their litmus tests. Read the rest of this entry »

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Monmouth Democrats Are Off And Running

Monmouth GOP has its pants on the ground

Larry Luttrell and Joe Grillo. Photo via facebook

Their nominating convention is not until March 22 at the IBEW Local 400 union hall in Wall Township, but Monmouth County Democratic freeholder candidates Larry Luttrell and Joe Grillo are off and running full speed ahead.

Luttrell, the Holmdel attorney who came in last against Freeholders Tom Arnone and Serena DiMaso, as well as his running mate Brian Froelich, after being endorsed by the Asbury Park Press last year, announced he was running again almost immediately after his sad showing.

Grillo is the former Executive Director of the Monmouth Democrats and the municipal chairman of the Asbury Park Democrats. Like Luttrell, he has never held elected office. Grillo was briefly a candidate for the Asbury Park City Council last year, withdrawing from the race prior to the filing deadline. Since leaving his position as ED of the Monmouth Dems, Grillo has worked for his family’s tile company in Howell.

Grillo stepped up his game over the weekend with a fundraising email blast that announced his candidacy.  He raised $6,200 online through Sunday. A Democrat who does not want to be known for talking to a Republican leaning site told MMM that Grillo has raised over $20,000 for his campaign including checks collected offline. His stated goal is to raise $50,000 by the June 3rd primary.

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Property tax battle: Deadline looms on expiration of key law

Property tax battle: Deadline looms on expiration of key law (via NJ.com)

TRENTON — Mayors say a group with an obscure and achingly bureaucratic name has been the most important tool in slowing the growth of New Jersey’s property taxes, the highest in the nation. For the last three years, arbitrators who decide contract…

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