Fall 2004 Edition          

Letters to The Editor   Scare at Memorial Pool I want to share with you all something that happened at Memorial pool yesterday. Some of you may have been there. All I can say was that I was filled with dread when they suddenly had to clear the pool and form a line of lifeguards and residents who could swim to dive and search for a missing child. It was a good few minutes that one lifeguard spent yelling to all in the water...1-2-3 DIVE!   Everyone stood around watching with their hearts in their mouths, waiting for the appearance of a little 6 year old boy. I was crying as I stood there, fearing what might be, and that my kids might see the worst. Thank god, when his name and identity of clothing were announced, he came running from playing in the sand with his friends. This was just a solemn reminder to all to keep a constant eye on our little ones at the pool. Heather Blecher    (Note:  This letter was originally published in the Fair Lawn Speaks Discussion Forum)     Flax Story I just read your article about the Flax kidnapping/murder. Some of your facts are erroneous.  Irving had know Martini for many years - they had been co-workers and friends, at least since the 60's, and possibly earlier. Donna Olanoff     Overnight Parking I too am fuming at this overnight parking rule. When we moved to town 11 years ago no one told us about the ordinance. I found out the hard way - with a ticket stuck in my wiper the next morning! For the last 10 years I have been diligent in keeping our cars in the driveway overnight and registering overnight guests.   However, I have recently grown angry again with this "law"!  My in-laws moved away but my father-in-law had to finish out a month before he retired from his job.  He is staying with us during the week. I called in to the police and was told he would have to move his car to a different street each night b/c you cannot park on the same street two nights in a row! How ridiculous is this?    Oh, and it gets better. He can only do that for 1 or 2 weeks. I asked if there was a town lot where we could leave the car and was told no, there wasn't. I even offered to pay for a parking permit and was denied! The officer told me that I would have to find a neighbor with an empty spot in their driveway and ask to use it!    I don't know about anyone else, but all of my neighbor's driveways are full. Am I supposed to go begging to some stranger to park my car in their driveway???? I understand laws and their necessity. I grew up in a very law abiding home - my father was Chief of Police. This law stinks! If a resident dutifully calls in to schedule overnight parking for a guest or special event (repaving a driveway or other home construction work) it should be allowed for the period of time requested. It would be an inconvenience, but I would guess that most residents would be willing to go to town hall and pick up a special registration pass to hang from a rear view mirror or leave on a dash. They could even color coordinate by month so the passes aren't misused.    Come on guys, I'm sure someone could come up with a reasonable alternative. Won't you even try? Kathy Guner     Seven Wonders I think that fairlawnnews.com is a wonderful site and I check it out each time there is a new edition.  So I was wondering, what happened to the Seven Wonders of Fair Lawn??? I really enjoyed reading about each wonder of FL. I have only found 3. Do you plan on continuing this special article? Thank you for taking the time to read this message.    Sincerely, Lloyd Mitchell   From the Editor:  I must admit, we are a bit slow publishing the results.  So far, we’ve published Four of the Seven Wonders.  See Fair Lawn Library, Nabisco Bakery, Weir, and Radburn.     Property Taxes As our property taxes are going through the roof, we have to wake up from socialist approach and start curbing the hikes.  I recently have spoken with Senator Coniglio and conveyed my ideas on how to reduce property taxes throughout NJ.  As per this conversation and others, with Bergen County Freeholder's Committee Valerie Huddle and State Assemblyman Bob Gordon, the idea to minimize expenditures - and, as a result of it, raising our taxes - resonated with them.   Some of those ideas require state legislature, some can be resolved on a local level. But the main problem is that the result of any of the measures, some people will lose their jobs, which is normal in capitalistic society.  As you look around that's what corporate world does, streamlining their business, outsourcing some of the services to other companies, consolidating services into one geographic location, etc. Residents of Fair Lawn shoulder a lot more than just salaries of municipal workers, - we are talking about medical coverage, pensions, etc. That's why it is so hard to implement such cuts, as people get hurt.   Fair Lawn taxpayers can't afford any more 12% tax hikes as it happened this year. Some of us lost jobs and never returned to the same income level, some of us haven't seen the raise in several years, but taxes skyrocketed while economy idles.    The essence of my proposition is consolidation. And as New Jersey is a home of more than 600 municipalities, it would seem reasonable to delegate some of the municipal responsibilities to the State, or at least County level. Or even outsource to outsiders, if possible.  Since educational expenses are about 2/3 of a budget in any NJ town, it would make sense to start with them - can be done only trough State Legislature.   Board of Education in every town is such an overhead and quite a liability to a budget. Town of Teterboro , population of 22, has its own Board of Ed.   If we could combine Boards of Ed of several towns into one, the savings would be tremendous, of course it means reduction of the stuff.   Every worker in Boards of Ed has a salary of at least $75,000 and the highest paying ranks are in well above $100,000 range, multiply it by 2 if you count all benefits and pension liabilities.   It doesn't mean total school reform, - we don't want people from Ridgewood, where taxes higher than in Fair Lawn , complain that Fairlawnites go to their school.  It means that the body overseeing schools in the area (say 5 towns per Educational District) will be less bureaucratic, more streamlined.   We need to trim some fat from numerous organizations in every town, we can't do it all on local level.   Why? Because of the resistance from people who hold these position and telling you that they are vital to community. It's up to us to decide that.   Consolidation of services that can bring relief to our strained budget, is the only way to trim costs.  Same can be said about Department of Public Works and Recycling Department.  Combine them with at least several towns and you will have more bargaining power the next time you contract Waste Management Services to someone.   The areas where excessive overhead must be cut from our budget is limitless.  You just have to start like Nike slogan "Just Do It".  For this to happen, call you local representatives like State Assemblyman Bob Gordon (201) 703-9779, State Senator Joseph Coniglio (201)576 9199  and Freeholders of Bergen County (it is like a congress on a County level) (201)336-6200 and tell them you care.  And if you don't, there is no one to blame when the money, better spent on your loved ones, supporting somebody else's lavish lifestyle.   Mikhail Vinogradov (still proud resident of Fair Lawn )     Fire Just to let you know the Hamlin House you say was torn down, was put on fire and I was there with my children.  Just to let you know. Gloria L.     Thanks I would like to express my joy of having Robert Gordon as our assemblyman.  His staff consisting of Rolando, Morrow, and Mary are just "people pleasers" and very responsive to comments and concerns.  I wish that we had such dedicated people such as Assemblyman Gordon, in the White House. Sincerely, Mr. and Mrs. Albarella Mrs. Gastworth     High Grass This letter is in response to Mr.Michael Miller's Letter Warning to Fair Lawn Residents: Is your grass over 6 inches tall?? in the Summer 2004 edition. If the town is truly interested in property appearance and not in raising revenue (I suspect the latter) the Property Maintenance Officer should visit the Radburn Train Station parking lot. The grass was finally trimmed yesterday. It had been a month since the last trimming. The Radburn Station is beautiful; however the grass around the parking lot is not cut on a regular basis. By last Friday, the grass was as high as my car windows. It was finally trimmed over the weekend. I wonder how much the overtime for weekend grass cutting cost the taxpayers? Richard H. Edmiston