Letters to the Editor
By RON HOGLUND
February 20, 2023
I am proud to live in a town with a model urban forestry program. Each Spring I look with excitement at all the new trees planted. In my area near Sleepy Hollow hundreds of trees have been planted in the surrounding parks and streets during the 11 years I have lived here. My favorites are the ...
To the editor: Can you imagine what our Wayne taxes would be like if we had to pay for a full-time fire and rescue squad? Our all-volunteer emergent services are a precious gift that saves us millions of dollars a year. But it’s getting harder and harder to get new recruits. So we urgently ...
The best things about growing up in Nutley were the parks and magnificent shade tree cover, along with the Nutley Library and the Oval. Nutley Avenue was a cool refreshing tunnel of American elm trees, so welcome on hot summer days. And along the Third River the parks had weeping willows that ...
Same people that abuse area, can be found. Use their behavior to advantage of the Law. Experience as a volunteer in parks for nearly 50 years now has brought me too much frustration in attempts to abatement conditions of abuse inflicted on our commonly shared places; one great frustration is ...
Wayne's 14-year Mayor with an 8-1 political party majority (Republican/Democrat) seemingly felt no obligation to justify a huge increase in cost to the taxpayer to change his role from part-time to full-time. Therefore, I made an Open Public Records Act Request (OPRA) to see what justification the ...
Dear Editor: I live in Scotch Plains, a few hundred yards from the freight tracks that border our town. What is Congressman Thomas Kean Jr doing to protect his constituents from an environmental catastrophe due to a train derailment? In Ohio, a freight train carrying highly toxic vinyl ...
Dear Editor, Years ago at a Somers Earth day event, I saw someone manning a small folding table with pamphlets and print-outs about the environment and the Land Trust while people walked right on by. I was not optimistic about its success. Boy, was I wrong! The Somers Land Trust, with a list of ...
Dear Editor, The West Orange Town Council is proposing amending an ordinance that would permit retail marijuana/cannabis businesses to operate within 200 feet (70 steps) of a school, daycare center, park, playground, public recreational facility or place of worship. THIS IS NOT ...
I've listened closely to the debate around the One Westfield Place project, read through available material, viewed online presentations and visited the preview office. I've also heard the pleas and concerns about preserving the charm and character that makes Westfield "special." As a long-time ...
Dear Editorr, At the February 15, 2023 Town Council meeting, I raised concerns about the lack of an Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) on our major housing developments. My comment was essentially as follows. In the affordable housing settlement agreements, the Township has two options: a ...
February 2023 This letter is to summarize a recent lengthy Facebook group conversation about ongoing concerns at the Madison Community Pool in hopes that the current Trustees will engage more openly and constructively with Members and potential Members ahead of the 2023 season. While instigated ...
Dear Editor, I recently attended a Heritage Hills meeting with Richard Berkley, director of the Office of Consumer Services of New York. There were about 50 angry elderly, along with me, at the earlier meeting, and there was an evening one scheduled as well. It was the classic story of ...
Canceling the Phillipsburg council work session on rent control is outrageous! We have a national problem. We have a shortage of affordable housing. We have an oversupply of unaffordable housing. Just like Phillipsburg! My previously published plan, an ordinance that would cheaply and simply ...
To: Montville Township Board Please consider my thoughts when making decisions about continued building, especially large habitable complexes as opposed to individual homes. I feel the issue of our water supply is not properly addressed or assessed when making any decisions about permitting ...
We ask Mayor Shelley Brindle and the Town Council members to vote to place a stay on the proposed One Westfield Redevelopment Plan. The citizens of Westfield have overwhelmingly shown their support in pausing and readapting this current proposal. The released TAPinto survey on redevelopment, as ...
Carpenters Union Career Connections: Jump-Starting Vocations for JFK High School Students Students at Paterson's John F. Kennedy High School will soon face the same questions students across the country will hear, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" "What college are you going to ...
To the Editor: Nearly one full year after the incident involving a fight between two youths at the Bridgewater Mall in which video evidence clearly showed a Black teen being pulled to the ground by two Bridgewater police officers while a light-skinned teen was left unrestrained, The Patch ...
To the Editor: February 11, 2023 Dear Lafayette School Fifth Graders and families and Bridges Volunteers, Thank you for your gifts of time, resources and love to make another Bridges Outreach run possible. Summit based Bridges Outreach has been working to narrow the gap between the housed ...
Let me start by saying that I love Westfield. I grew up here, and even as a kid, I always knew that I wanted to move back to my hometown to raise a family of my own. The two biggest draws to me have always been the athletic programs in our town, and our lively downtown. Both have always been a ...
Dear Editor, I was at the TC meeting where this was presented and have a couple of comments. First, the question here is what is best for the community overall. Is the community served better by reallocating a municipal space used by one group of residents, those that golf or want to learn to ...
Dear Editor, We believe access to quality health care is a basic human right. So, thank you for writing about problems with our health “insurance” system (“Our health ‘insurance’ system is broken,” Jan. 19, Page 9), and thank you as an employer for paying 50% of your employees’ health ...
The Friends of Yorktown Parks and Recreation held their 2nd annual Polar Bear Plunge at Sparkle Lake on Jan. 7. Many organizations and the public showed up for the event, and it was a splashing success. A special thanks to our Parks and Recreation Superintendent Jim Martorano and his staff for ...
Thanks to our Fork Farms hydroponic garden Send Hunger Packing Princeton was able to harvest our first crop, lettuce, at the YWCA on Monday January 30. Each plant space in the hydroponic garden delivered a robust vegetable, so we were able to fill many large bins with the lettuce and it was given ...
On Tuesday, the Westfield mayor and town council will vote on the controversial redevelopment plan known as One Westfield Place. As our town is deeply divided as to approve or disapprove this enormous project, the mayor, many of the town council members and town attorney Tom Jardim continue to ...
Dear Editor, Recently, I provided testimony at a hearing held by the New York State Independent Redistricting Commission (NYIRC) regarding the potential redrawing of the lines for State Assembly. During my testimony, I encouraged the Commission to preserve the core of the existing Assembly ...
Dear Editor, Recently, I provided testimony at a hearing held by the New York State Independent Redistricting Commission (NYIRC) regarding the potential redrawing of the lines for State Assembly. During my testimony, I encouraged the Commission to preserve the core of the existing Assembly ...
Dear Editor, Yorktown Police Chief Robert Noble’s letter in the Feb. 2 Yorktown News (“Law enforcement oath disregarded in most inhumane way,” Page 11) set exactly the right tone about the death of Tyre Nichols at the hands of Memphis police officers. As a person growing up in an NYPD ...
Since I first published my letter to the editor on January 19th, many residents have contacted me directly or posted comments on social media because they do not want this in our town. Today, I am updating you on what I have learned regarding this potential project. Where the application now ...
Greenwashing is everywhere. Corporations will add a few recycling bins and offset some of their carbon footprint and call themselves “green.” But what does it mean to be truly sustainable? To incorporate it in the fibers of your design and honor your commitment to this core value? Sustainability ...
"Over the past two years, under President Biden’s leadership, our nation has staged a historic comeback. Tonight, the President gave us a powerful reason to join with him under our shared American values and with common purpose to finish the job of restoring our nation’s pride and global ...