Just around the corner to the Light of Day

One of the biggest frustrations we have faced on the Board has been the glacial pace of progress for the renovation of the Firehouse. (Although, I am certain our frustration doesn't even remotely approach the level of frustration felt by our Fire Department who have had to endure difficult conditions in temporary trailers for far too long.)

As Chair of the Public Safety Committee, I have met with the Fire Chief periodically to tour the Firehouse in order to see the progress (or lack thereof) firsthand. Earlier today, I had my most recent visit and the good news is that significant progress has been made since I first toured the building in 2007 - when studs were exposed and the building was essentially a gutted shell. On subsequent visits in 2008, the rough/finish electrical was completed, sheetrock was installed and finished and plumbing fixtures were installed etc.

This morning, I noticed much more "finish" work that had been completed since my last visit - such as the front extension doors were removed, carpet and molding has been installed, lockers were installed in the dormitory and appliances were installed in the kitchen.

The good news is that we are very close to having the construction completed. The bad news is that the remaining "punch list" items are lengthy and are still realistically a couple months away from completion, in my personal opinion. Once the punch list is completed, there is still the procurement and installation of furniture, bedding, communications equipment etc which will likely take another month or two.

I wish I had thought to take pictures of the project on previous visits so people could appreciate the progress that HAS been made. However, I did take some pictures this morning, so people can see the progress that still remains.

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AaMWjdm5as2T3&emid=sharshar&linkid=link5&cid=EMsharshar

There is a light at the end of the tunnel... but the tunnel is still not as short as we would like it to be.

Enough is Enough

Anyone who has read previous entries of this blog knows of the financial challenges we constantly face in the Village and my frustration with those challenges. This frustration was brought to a new level Wednesday night when the BOT was asked to pass an Ordinance to bond an additional $275,000 for SOPAC.

This request was raised in Closed Session a few months ago and I was shocked when I first heard they wanted MORE money. For anyone who doesn't know the background, when the project was first conceived in the late 1990s, construction bids were rejected when the low bid came in at $12.7 million--$3.4 million over the original budget. The lowest bidder, Arnell Construction, was asked to "value engineer" the building to reduce costs, and submitted a design-build proposal of $10.5 million. Ironically, several years later, Change Orders for almost an additional $4 million were approved. Around the time the facility was completed, it was determined that there was an acoustical defect which prevented the main performance stage from being used at the same time as the Loft space above, due to the transference of sound between the floors.

The contractor made claims against SOPAC for change orders, increased construction costs, and late payment/interest penalties. SOPAC made a claim to remedy the acoustical defect and to oppose increased construction costs.

However, instead of fighting the issue, a "settlement" was reached for SOPAC to pay the contractor WITHOUT having the flaw repaired. Since SOPAC is largely funded by the Village (to the tune of $300,000/year for Operating Expenses), they returned to the Village for and additional $275,000 for this "Settlement".

Village President Newman suggested we meet with members of the SOPAC Board to better understand their predicament. On November 21, 2008 (nearly 2 months ago!) Trustee Levison and I met with Mr. Leitner, Mr Wolf and Ms. Stoller. While the conversation was pleasant and cordial, Trustee Levison & I each had several very specific action items that were agreed to coming out of the meeting. For me, it was simple:
1) Provide full details around the current finances of SOPAC, including salaries of all employees, benefits, raises etc. We need to ensure that current expended funds are being spent wisely before even considering more.
2) Review and Provide recommendations for improving the programming to have wider appeal to increase the likelihood of all shows selling-out, so the facility can start to wean itself off its dependence on the taxpayers.

In the TWO MONTHS that have elapsed since we met, no further information was provided.

When asked to vote on the funding, it was actually easy based on a complete lack of Responsibility:
a. Nobody has taken the Responsibility to be accountable for the significant flaw to the building
b. Nobody has taken Responsibility for proving they are spending taxpayer money wisely before asking for more
c. Nobody has taken Responsibility to follow-up on their commitment made 2 months ago. To add insult to injury, after the vote, Mr. Leitner had the nerve to blame the holidays for the delay. I can't speak for anyone else, but if I was looking for someone to give me $275,000, I would be certain to follow-up and provide any and all information that was requested....especially if I had 2 months to do so.

As with the situation/controversy around Tau, this has absolutely nothing to do with "Art", and everything to do with Fiscal Responsibility and Transparency. Enough is Enough.

Happy Holidays & Happy New Year

Hard to believe another year is coming to an end. It is amazing how the years seem to go by faster each year. I think 2008 will be remembered as an interesting year for both South Orange and the Country.

Across the Country, 2008 will be remembered most as the year people celebrated the historic election of Barack Obama and the sense of hope an optimism he brings. At the same time, 2008 will also be remembered for the meltdown of the economy and the painful aftermath after so many years of greed and excess.

In South Orange, we celebrated the long awaited opening of Eden Gourmet (plus Kitchen a la Mode, Robyn Ross, Sparkhouse Kids, Rita's, Village Trattoria and a number of others). The Village saw its first new Village Attorney, as well as its first new (Acting) Village Clerk in many many years. The Village also began to plant the seeds for our future over the next 10-20 years with the start of a series of comprehensive Village Planning "Conversations" with the community to help chart a course for where we want to go.

In 2009, we can look forward to having this process finish up, HOPEFULLY along with the the long overdue (understatement of the year) construction of our historic firehouse.

I just want to wish everyone a very Happy Holiday and all the best for a very Happy New Year!

Democracy in Action

For anyone who has read my previous blog posts on the "Parking Woes", we had a very interesting BOT meeting last night where the proposed Ordinances finally came to a head, a public hearing was held and a decision was reached.

For the first Ordinance, it was proposed to limit parking to 2 hours from 8am-noon on streets within a 3/8 mile radius of the train station. At the meeting last night, over 20 residents stood up to speak their mind and share their opinion on the Ordinance. While the majority of residents favored the Ordinance, there were some who felt their street should be excluded from the restrictions and there were some who felt the Ordinance didn't go far enough. In the end, the Ordinance passed by a vote of 4-2. The new restrictions will now go into effect in January.

For the other big Ordinance of the night, it was proposed to create residential permit parking on a number of streets that did not immediately abut homes or businesses. This time over 20 residents stood up to unanimously oppose this plan - mostly on the grounds they did not want the parking in their residential neighborhoods, but also on the fear of safety issues and the fact that there does not seem to be a crushing demand for parking at Mountain Station. In the end, there was no motion to move this Ordinance forward and it died.

I completely understand and respect the concerns of all the residents who came forward to speak on both of these Ordinances. I also certainly appreciated the time everyone took to sit through a very long meeting in order to be heard. I certainly learned alot by listening to what everyone said. I was particularly impressed at how professional and respectful everyone (both on the Board and at the podium) was towards each other. It just proves that people can disagree but do so in an adult manner.

I still feel that we desperately need additional commuter parking, however, I now feel we should focus that effort for South Orange station only and in areas which will have much less impact on the neighborhood, such as N. Ridgewood Rd (which already has bumper to bumper FREE daily parking) and Meadowbrook Lane (which has plenty of capacity - especially in the Winter).

I want to thank everyone who came out to the meeting to share their opinions and to participate in the process. While I'm sure not everyone walked away happy with the results, I am certain that everyone would have rather spent their evening elsewhere and I do think the process was fair. However, clearly we learned alot about how we can improve for next time.

Parking Woes - Part 3

As I posted previously, the Village is looking to try to alleviate the crushing demand for commuter parking for residents, while also trying to balance the concerns of residents who live in close proximity to the train station and where commuters are currently parking all day in front of their homes.

Several weeks ago, the first part of the equation was addressed with the passage of an ordinance on first reading to limit parking to 2 hours between 8am and noon on specific streets. Tonight, we are expected to address the second part of the equation with an ordinance on first reading to limit the following areas/streets to resident commuter parking only between 6am and 11am:

Vose Avenue - East side, beginning at a point 190 feet South of the prolongation of the southerly curb line of Montrose Avenue and extending 128 feet South therefrom.
Meeker Street - West side, beginning at a point 115 feet South of the prolongation of the southerly curb line of Mountain House Road and extending 348 feet South therefrom.
Clark Street - West side, beginning at a point 64 feet North of the prolongation of the northerly curb line of Meadowbrook Place and extending 656 feet North therefrom.
North Ridgewood Road - East side, beginning at a point 800 feet North of the prolongation of the northerly curb line of West South Orange Avenue and extending 128 feet North therefrom.
North Ridgewood Road - East side, beginning at a point 52 feet South of the prolongation of the southerly curb line of Mead Street and extending 260 feet South therefrom.
Ralston Avenue - South side, beginning at a point 30 feet East of the prolongation of the easterly curb line of Vose Avenue and extending 84 feet East therefrom.
Third Street - North side, beginning at a point 38 feet East of the prolongation of the easterly curb line of Church Street and extending 150 feet East therefrom.
Third Street - North side, beginning at a point 255 feet East of the prolongation of the easterly curb line of Church Street and extending 106 feet East therefrom.
Third Street - North side, beginning at a point 397 feet East of the prolongation of the easterly curb line of Church Street and extending 20 feet East therefrom.
Church Street - East side, beginning at a point 200 feet South of the prolongation of the southerly curb line of West South Orange Avenue and extending 106 feet South therefrom.
Prospect Street - West side, beginning at a point 32 feet South of the prolongation of the southerly curb line of Milligan Place and extending 184 feet South therefrom.
Prospect Street - West side, beginning at a point 32 feet South of the prolongation of the southerly curb line of Second Street and extending 20 feet South therefrom.
Academy Street - West side, beginning at a point 35 feet North of the prolongation of the northerly curb line of Second Street and extending 84 feet North therefrom.
Academy Street - West side, beginning at a point 62 feet North of the prolongation of the northerly curb line of Third Street and extending 172 feet North therefrom.

In addition, the East side of Meadowbrook Lane will also be restricted to resident commuter parking from November 15 through March 15.


This results in a net gain of:
66 resident commuter parking spaces for South Orange Station
52 resident commuter parking spaces for Mountain Station
45 "seasonal" resident commuter parking spaces along Meadowbrook Lane which is virtually equidistant to either station.

A visual representation of this is as follows (where red represents new 2 hour parking and green represents new commuter parking):

View Larger Map

Clearly, no solution is ever perfect, but this is a great start to putting a dent in the excessive waiting list that currently exists for commuter parking, while also addressing the quality of life concerns of homeowners.

It is expected that both ordinances will be heard together on second reading on Dec 15th, where a Public Hearing will be held. In the meantime, I'd love to hear your feedback.

Glory Days

It's a little more than 24 hours since Barack Obama was named as "President-Elect" and the significance and magnitude of this election still has not fully sunk in. While all the polls heading in to the election looked favorable, there is always uncertainty. However, watching the thousands of people gathered in Chicago last night, as well as the scene repeated across the world from Times Square to Asia was truly remarkable and historic. For the first time since the immediate aftermath of 9/11, it appeared as there was hope once again for the world to come together again. Even John McCain offered a well delivered and gracious speech in an inspiring tone that was absent from the campaign trail, but ironically reminiscent of the John McCain that most people initially learned to like & respect many years ago.

While the honeymoon will quickly fade, I have great hope that we are on the cusp of an amazing new chapter of American pride, prosperity and global respect. Let's all join together to support President Obama. Even in tough times, let us all remember the amazing feeling of hope and optimism we experienced together on November 4, 2008. If we don't squander this goodwill, this really can be the beginning of Glory Days.

Man at the Top

Man at the top says it's lonely up there
If it is man, I don't care
From the big white house to the parking lot
Everybody wants to be the man at the top

After 8 long years of the Bush Administration, in less than 48 hours we will hopefully have the final official news of our new President. I always find Presidential elections fascinating and far more exciting, interesting, not to mention MEANINGFUL than any Super Bowl, World Series or Stanley Cup. For weeks, I have been diligently following the polls at www.electoral-vote.com, the analysis at www.politico.com, the sensationalism at www.huffingtonpost.com as well as watching the pundits on MSNBC and CNN, and of course the satire on The Daily Show and SNL. It still baffles me when people say they aren't interested or are "undecided"...especially this year, when the difference could not be more stark on virtually all policies of substance and the stakes couldn't be greater - From the Environment to the Economy to the Supreme Court to America's standing in the World.

While certainly all the polls seem to be leaning towards Barack Obama, I hope people are not complacent and that they actually get out there and vote.

I certainly do not want to jinx things, especially after the fiascoes of 2000 and 2004, but I am cautiously optimistic that Barack Obama will win by a rather substantial margin. Based on the polls I have seen, I think it is fair to predict that Obama will get at least 348 Electoral votes and could get as many as 369, by winning North Dakota, Montana and pulling out a surprise in Georgia. In addition, I think Obama will get all the current "swing states" (Ohio, Indiana, Nevada, Colorado and Missouri) with the possible exception of Florida. If that happens, it'll be the largest electoral victory since Bill Clinton defeated Bob Dole in 1996.

Now - make sure you get out there and VOTE on Tuesday, so we can hopefully welcome President-Elect Obama on Wednesday!