My cyber life, and real-life, currently have a common theme, a kind of despondent chaos. I can't say nothing's going right, but overall nothing seems right. I've never felt terribly connected to the rest of the human race, and frankly I have been OK with that--especially considering petty stupid revenge wars and such-- but it is really starting to get on my nerves. As the world gets smaller and the human infestation gets more blightish and invasive, life, for the civilized, seems to be losing its charm as a Journey, or a Destination.

Its funny how little things can cause perspective and perception to condense into perfect clarity. I haven't watched any network television for years, but accidently saw a few minutes of American idol at a neighbor's house. A first surprise was that the stupid show was still on, and with the same stupid judges, then I saw the dime-a-dozen "talent" doing the karaoke thing to other people's music, and the raw cheapness of the average pop-culture humans sensibilities was, as the saying goes, glaringly obvious. This really has become the Special Olympics version of the game of life... and retards rule! ...literally.

The question eating... well at least biting at me is, is there any point in playing the game, under these rules. This website, for example, under the Spam-google Internet indexing rules written by the retarded liars and thieves of unregulated crooked line capitalism, isn't really accessible from the Internet. Yes it's on the Internet, but the Internet won't help you find it, so unless you hear about it somewhere it doesn't have a meaningful or appropriately relevant existence. You would think even retards could realize that there's something very wrong with the search industry that would rank this six year-old site hundreds of references deep on the keyword "Mendham". I mean if they can't figure out that InMendham is in Mendham you have to be a little concerned that a lot of other relevant content is being made practically inaccessible by the marketing companies we are allowing to control the Internet.

Ironically (there always seems to be an ironic twist) the ass backward search industry does regularly visit this website to harvest links. So even though their brilliant software algorithms believe this website to be too irrelevant to be practically accessible they will let this website enhance another websites visibility... capitalism must be on crack, or catastrophically cracked, to pay (the Goooogle) jerks billions of dollars for this idiotic innovation.

Sadly the squandered potential of the Internet is but the tip of the feudal iceberg. There is also the broken political system that seems only capable of electing frauds and cheats unwilling to embrace any notion of accountability. And the broken legal system that has allowed corruption to abolish all principal, and empower any popular prejudice (the bill of rights are officially just an artifact). Contrary to now popular belief, efficiency and fairness don't just happen they must be deliberately and carefully engineered. Clearly, "we as a people" have become too retarded and intellectually "idle" to see need or value in making any such investment in principles and standards.

The old saying advises "if you can't lick them, join them" but then the other old saying suggests that "you shouldn't shit in your own (or someone else's) pants just because everyone else is". It seems a tough choice, on the one-hand, I have the pointlessness of a life of futile fighting, on the other hand, a useless life as just another scheming, doody making, retard. I suppose, being that I am writing this, I must have chosen to continue the fight, but the choice certainly doesn't feel very decisive.

So finally I get to the cleaning, or reorganizing, stuff. Over the years I have received a few requests from local small businesses requesting some help regarding their relative invisibility on the Googlenet. I've pointed out that it's a corrupt marketing scheme that only money and gimmicks can grease, and that I personally won't play by those rules. While considering a recent request I realize I probably could do something more by at least providing some links in a relevant context.... So I've decided to create a loosely constructed local directory/index. Businesses will be included by request only-- that is, they have to do the minimum of asking to be included. I'm willing to set up (for free) business card or brochure style web pages for businesses that don't already have websites to link to. For example, this listing for a local

The "out with the old" part of the equation will be an "archive page" where I will attempt to better organize and store content there isn't enough demand for to justify the work required to fully produce or maintain it. The index of official town meeting minutes, the town history section, and the tediously redundant and useless Channel 25 content will likely end up archived as there just isn't enough cooperation from official sources to keep the information usefully accurate or complete.

Their are a few local issues I just haven't had enough give-a-damn (considering your disinterest) to "report" on... So here is some brief FYI bites. On the subject of the reconfiguration of airline routes, which will likely negatively impact the region, I did pull this graphic out of a stupid PDF file I ran across somewhere.

I also received from the town a copy of the $7,000 redesign of the "historic" Phoenix House garden. My scan is a little sloppy but you should be able to piece it together (40k file, 140k file). These photos from 2001 indicate that there has got to be better ways to waste $100,000. In the first place, the noisy center of town really isn't a great place for a town garden (especially considering parking spaces are at a premium). Also worth considering is the stupid plan to build a new library-- if they are actually going to build that white elephant-- it would make more sense to invest in a great garden there... where it would have actual useful purpose. At minimum, if the Phoenix House garden must stay, I think it would be much wiser to stylishly pave the whole area and maintain movable pedestal planters within the space. This would make the "Garden" multi-use for meetings and events.

permanent link: House Cleaning ....I can't even find the broom

The town "sponsored" fishing derby took place on the 20th from 10 to12:00 noon. The weather wasn't bad--a little windy-- and turnout was about as good as the small pond could take. I pretty much tagged-along with a neighbor and her brothers and spend most of my time baiting hooks and unhooking fish, so the two-hour event seemed to pass pretty quickly.

From what I saw, and heard, two of the big trout stocked for last week's PD event were caught (and released btw). I'm not sure what kind of fish the town stocked, and as anticipated the town didn't seem to take the event very seriously as the only prizes were ribbons and one cheap fishing rod (why give the winner of a fishing derby, amateur quality, fishing equipment?) presumably for the biggest fish. I did see a snack truck show up kind of late, but I don't recall seeing people eating and drinking much so I don't know if or when it was up and running... as I didn't have a gay "100th anniversary fun day" bracelet, of any color, I figured I wasn't going to get anything for free so I didn't bother investigating.

For me personally, the day never seemed to recover from the cranky start instigated by this old fart shortly after my arrival. Apparently in the new PC America--I don't see much of as a neurotic hermit-- you can't smoke a 900% taxed cigarette outdoors in a 15 mi. an hour wind without some fascist feeling entitled to gripe about it. His exact words were, " you going to smoke those things all day"... I suppose I could have responded with a patronizing "no, after a 30 year addiction, I plan on quitting in the next five minutes." Perhaps I should of said, "are you going to use your gas guzzling, polluting, and dangerously lethal SOV to haul your old hypocrite lardass home?" ...What I did say was "it's a free country" and I started to sing God bless America... of course he gave the appropriate single finger salute.

Another obstacle to really enjoying the day was making the mistake of making suggestions to a woman--who thinks she knows how to fish... it seems like kind of an obvious rule to break, but we all make mistakes (just funnen). On the bright side, our little group caught about 10 catfish, 2 trout, and a --nowadays kind of rare-- "sucker fish". The catfish were coming so regular the good sports let some fishing novices real in a couple.

Overall it was a fun couple of hours... but as an "event" it could have been better.

permanent link: Another Big Fish Story

The annual (and now annually to be held at the mud hole) fishing derby sponsored by the Borough and Township police departments was held Sunday the 14th. By comparison, to the event on the 13th advertised on this website, it would have to be described as a huge success (Fortunately, in this circumstance, no one reads this stuff so I was the only sucker fish wondering where everyone was on Saturday).

Although the weather wasn't perfect (but, a lot better than predictions earlier in the week) and turnout was a little thin at the 10:00 a.m. start, by the 2:00 p.m. finish there were well over a hundred people (mostly kids under ten) giving the good old mud-hole a proper bobber bashing. The cops stocked about 400 very nice trout, which included, from what I heard, 4 really big trout and even a couple of golden trout. None of the exceptional fish were caught (which should make next Saturday's town sponsored event more interesting) but I would guess that most kids caught something.

I showed up shortly before the 10:00 a.m. start and was kind of surprised to be greeted with some friendly hey Gary's from people (mostly cops) I didn't even know. The relaxed atmosphere made it possible for me to put my meager Super Hero skills to good use by helping fix a problem with the coffee machine. Apparently the state PBA provides a snack trailer for use at such events and free hotdogs, coffee, soda, candy and such was provided. (I did provide a $5 donation for the goodies I walked off with) The Laurel and Hardy team maning the trailer were also pretty good sideline entertainment.

I wasn't having a very good anxiety day so I didn't do much milling about and stayed pritty close to an easy exit point. In spite of attempting to keep a low profile McGruff the the crime dog did sniff me out, but no arrest was made as apparently it was just a photo op.

Even from my remote location I could HEAR that councilperson Barbara Stanton was at the event (she doesn't have what you would call a local accent). I was thinking of attempting an introduction.... but figured it would just be a confrontation, and there were way too many cops around for me to risk that. ( I did hear indirectly, that my presence did irritate her so I guess fixing the coffee machine, and bating a few hooks, wasn't my only good deed for the day...here is a unbonus photo) The good news for her and family was the fact that they had the adventure of catching a really big catfish... the good news for us (who hear what goes on at council meetings) is we won't have to hear some story about her having to allow her children to urinate in a public pond as Porta-Pottis' were provided.

permanent link: The Memory Was a Keeper

Summation of the May 1 meeting of the Borough town council

Next meeting May 15, 2006

The consent agenda was passed without modification:

• Facility Use Agreement- Gazebo-Girls Scouts-May 24, 2006
• Facility Use Agreement-Newcomers Club-5/11/06-7:30PM-Garabrant Ctr.-Use of Alcohol at Meeting
• Facility Use Agreement- Borough Park-May 4th, Noon-1PM, Interchurch of Mendham
• Banner Request -Interchurch Committee of the Mendhams-Baccalaureate Service-June 5-12th, 2006
• Approval of the minutes of the April 3, 2006 regular meeting
• Res. #87-06 Sewer Connect Permit- John A. Anderson d/b/a/ Tempe Wick Wealth Management, LLC.
• Res. #88-06 Sewer Connect Permit-Blue Ridge Pool & Spa B801/L20
• Res. #89-06 FAA Proposed Flight Plan Alteration
• Res. #92-06 Street Closings for 100th Celebration
• Res. #95-06 Cable Advisory Committee
• Res. #96-06 Return Escrow Fees-B602/L1
• Res. #97-06 Recycling - Apply Tonnage Grants

Traffic Study: There was a report to the council regarding a traffic study commissioned. The presentation was professionally coherent and concise and in general suggested turning lanes at key locations, and the creation of a traffic light controlled combined intersection at Kings to help mitigate against Mendhams traffic woes. It was reported that there are two extended periods of peak traffic from 7 to 9 in the morning and from 5 to 7 in the evening. I will attempt to secure a copy of the report for publication here, but I frankly will not pay our corrupt government any excessive abuse-ery to secure a copy of this publicly owned, and publicly paid for, information.

Phoenix House Garden: There was a presentation by the $7,000 landscape architect regarding his $100,000 vision for the Phoenix House Garden. Surprisingly, there wasn't any discussion of the "historical preservation" that was used as an excuse for paying a premium price for a little garden blueprint. New walk-ways, new fences, and new hedges in the same general style currently existing was pretty much the extent of the "innovative" $7,000 design. It is unfortunate the traffic study did not monitor public use of the Garden, as it might be interesting to understand who's getting value out of this expenditure. Again...I will attempt to secure a copy of the plan, for publication here, but I frankly, will not pay our corrupt government any excessive abuse-ery to secure a copy of this publicly owned, and publicly paid for, information.

Patronizing Boy Scout BS: There was a perfect little propaganda moment when the mayor announced a special addition to the agenda where some boy scouts would earn some merit badges by playing a game of political pretense with the council. The artificial learning game went something like this: Some boys Scouts pretend to be interested in local government and asked the council some preprogrammed questions... the council responds by pretending to be interested in the redundant issues and give elaborate and complete answers demonstrating what democracy would look like if we had actual constitutional government like it is described in schoolbook fairy-tale propaganda-- instead of the secretive, corrupt, evil doing, and overpriced menace we get in actual reality.

Apparently councilperson Barbara Stanton was an invited speaker at one of the scout meetings.... and apparently the freethinking Scouts modeled their questions on her agenda-- snow removal, garbage cans, and Porta-Potti's. It was real, exploit the kiddies, whiffle-ball politics at its pablum worst. ... and when you consider how the real town council responds to my real citizen questions it becomes clear that the American ideal is as dead as its forefather inventors.

The Budget: A few bond ordnances were introduced putting us on the road to increased deficit spending or in 1984 doublespeak--Debt Financing for pay-as-you-go budgeting. In the guise of fiscal responsibility the council is basically just rearranging old debt into long-term vehicles and adding a few million dollars in new debt.

Some of the items this new debt will finance:

• A $500,000 firetruck... no doubt including a chrome cigarette lighter.
• A $200,000 ambulance... even though the old one is only 10 years old and has had its electrical problems repaired.
• A $300,000 jet vac truck to be used to clear storm sewers... apparently talk of sharing the expense of this infrequently used hardware with other towns, was just talk.

Sewage Plant Upgrade: Which has been on the verge of completion for a year now... was again stated to be almost complete. Of course more money might be needed, so the $150,000 previously budgeted to resurface the road into the sewage plant has been moved to cover other expenses. It was reported that a increase in rates will likely be necessary.

Salaries: The council introduced an ordinance modifying salary ranges for "administration". Six-figure "public servants" seems kind of oxymoronick.

100th anniversary: The council passed a resolution allocating $2,000 for catering at the next council meeting which will take place at the Phoenix House... I wonder if they can mail me my $10 donut? ...no doubt they won't be able to find room in the budget for the 49¢ worth of brains required to audio record the official proceedings--so I probably won't be able to provide a summary of that meeting.

In related Historical Discussion... It was stated that Kate Evans did not receive an invitation to the Special Phoenix House Commemorative Council Meeting. It was also mentioned that the historical committee has its 300 lb. model of the Phoenix House (produced by the same landscape architect who did the Garden redesign.) apparently the model will be on display at locations throughout town, throughout the year. There was also an implied request for additional funds to provide for the materials so Daytop "students" can create a Phoenix House float for the Labor Day parade.

Noise Ordinance: There was discussion regarding the need to expand limitations on when construction can take place to include "landscape workers". The gas powered leaf blower is certainly fanning the flames of our Rome burning-- no doubt a top-10 worst invention of the 20th-century.

Regional School Budget: There was brief reference to the voter rejected budget and the negotiations between the towns to agree on a budget cut... apparently one town is suggesting $1.4 million... a likely compromise will be $1.4 cents. The Mayor theorized that the borough's letter regarding flat tax hypocrisy, disguised as an advocacy for a fair funding formula, was responsible for the Borough being the only town where voters accepted the budget.

Water Dog Cafe: The mayor announced that it is closing and stated he will miss the coffee.

Merged Library: The mayor defended a near doubling in the proposed operational costs of the library as being the consequence of inflation. Instead of costing residents $125,000 a year, the cost to run the new (yet uselessly archaic) library may approach $300,000 a year.

Public Comment: My "public comment" questions were again given no equally considerate or responsive reply.

permanent link: Summation of the May 1 meeting

I was having a good anxiety day and made it to this year's "native planting project at Mountain Valley Park". The event is sponsored by the Environmental Commission and intends to reclaim a portion of the natural native environment surrounding the mudhole from invasive species such as multiflora rose, oriental bittersweet, Japanese barberry.

Although turnout wasn't great--only a dozen or so adults, a half-dozen boy scouts, and a well-behaved dog--a good deal of work was accomplished, and the fine weather, and fine company, made for a fine saturday morning InMendham. I kind of feel like making some preachy lament about how too many people have lost too much of their sense of community to see purpose in making time for such events but, in truth, the loss is their's, so maybe encouragement would be more productive than scorn. In plain language, doing good, feels good, and we should selfishly exploit every opportunity provided to do good for the world around us.

In addition to the "fun" but plain hard work, there was a visit from a Watershed Ambassador with the NJ Department of Environmental Protection to do a lesson in stream ecology. Unfortunately, most of the stream ecology, like most town residents, was apparently celebrating Earth Day somewhere else... but the rocks and the water were still there and even for an old adolescent, like myself, that's sometimes enough of an entertainment.

I actually made the best wildlife discovery of a rare five year-old wood turtle while planting one of the trees. What made the find really ironic was the fact that I was going to bring a five year-old snapping turtle I found in my backyard a few days ago with me to the event-- for show and tell and release-- but he escaped my captivity the night before the event.

All-in-all I enjoyed the day and no one showed any visible sign of hating my guts because of this website--on the contrary I got a few keep up the good works. For next year I am thinking it might be a worthwhile expenditure to hide a cash prize somewhere in the area to be cleared to help encourage more people to try a bit of hopefully addictive community service.

As a side note: There are two other events--fishing derbies--that will take place at the mud hole in May, on the 13th is one sponsored by the police department, and on the 20th the town is sponsoring the Derby as part of the 100th anniversary celebration day.

permanent link: Celebrating Earth Day in Mendham

Summation of the April 17 meeting of the Borough town council

Next meeting May 1, 2006

The consent agenda was passed without modification:

• Facility Use Agreement-Mendham Jr. Women's Club-10/4/06-7-10PM- Permission for Alcohol at Meeting
• Approval of the minutes of the March 20, 2006 regular meeting

The Budget: the budget was presented to the council by councilperson Henry who is the chairman of the Budget Committee. I requested copies of the documentation provided to the council and your town government provided this junk in a PDF file -- in violation of state law they refuse to provide the documentation in its original legible format. You really should ask yourself the question: Why would my government deliberately make this kind of basic public information more difficult to access than necessary???

It was stated that the budget will increase some 6.8% which would translate into a $374 tax increase for the average homeowner. As usual there was a laundry list of excuses for the budget inflation. Items of note: A 4% salary increase. $150 an hour for the borough attorney. $100,000 for police pensions and hospitalization. There were two major elements that added extra complexity. The re-evaluation was cited as a cause of confusion regarding making comparisons between the 2005 and 2006 budgets. It was stated that one tax point now equals $160,147.00. Creating a further complication was consideration of different debt financing approaches and the creation of more reserve accounts. It seems the council is intent on increasing, and making permanent, the town deficit under the guise of being more fiscally responsible. Basically they intend to borrow money, and put it in savings accounts so they can feel like they're "paying as they go". Borrowing money to finance any expenditure that doesn't have a guaranteed return on investment greater than the cost of financing charges incurred, is simply bad business practice and it offends common sense.

There was some budget related discussion of an old escrow account with $160,000 in it-- that is a holdover from when the water company was sold. The account was a reserve against legal problems regarding easements... and as there have been no problems the town would like to regain the useful value of the money.

Cell Tower: A cell tower proposal that is currently before the Board of Adjustment was referenced at a couple of points in the meeting. Apparently because of some wetlands issues Most current proposal is for the Tower to be some 20 ft. behind Morrow's.

The Historic District: There was rather extensive discussion regarding expansion of the historic district. It was stated that a professional consultant needs to be hired to evaluate expansion and give proposed expansion credibility. The mayor implied that all that is required to expand the district is passage of an ordnance by the council. The discussion was mostly convoluted debate over whether the master plan should be approved before an expansion of the historic district is considered... or studied. Speaking of the master plan the revised version should be ready for council and public inspection by June 1st.

Underage Drinking Ordinance: The council passed the ordinance which provides for the "arrest" of miners caught with alcohol. In discussion councilmembers defended the new ordinance with anecdotal suggestion of successes in other towns in reducing alcohol abuse by minors. The fact that this new law will likely not be evenly applied was made clear when the police chief explained police procedure for a party of 20 or more participants. He basically stated that some underage drinkers would be issued a summons and that others (under 18) would be held for their parents to pickup. The police chief made no reference to the key feature of the ordinance... "arrest".

Verizon TV franchise: The council briefly discussed plans for setting up the "cable TV committee" and staffing it with the appropriate Nazis to ensure that we pay higher rates to "freely" view government controlled television.

Nite Basketball: Referencing a citizen's complaint there was discussion regarding the problem of the light timer at the basketball courts not being adjusted for daylight savings time. The mayor kind of harshly criticized staff for not addressing this issue as the council had suggested months ago. It seems probable that there will be a new light timer, with a battery backup, installed in the near future.... apparently new benches have been also ordered.

HS funding formula: The mayor and council discussed how they received almost exclusively positive response to the letter the town sent out regarding financing the regional high school district. They stated the public needing to be educated.... unfortunately, the education the council provided wasn't any more accurate than the tripe the overpaid "academics" are providing at the high-school. .... can you say flat-tax hypocrite?

Centennial Flags: Councilman Murphy pointed out how great the centennial flags look.... although it was pointed out that a half-dozen are so had slipped from their proper positions.

Merged Library: There was a brief vague reference to some May 10th meeting in which the land agreement is to be discussed.

Public Comment: The mayor once again showed he doesn't have the integrity to honestly answer a simple question. His responses to my questions.

permanent link: Summation of the April 17 meeting

Summation of the April 3rd meeting of the Borough town council

Next meeting April 17, 2006

The consent agenda was passed without modification:

• Approval of minutes of the March 6, 2006 executive session meeting.
• Approval of minutes of the March 6, 2006 regular meeting.
• Res. #72-06 Return escrow, engineering fees and cash bond to various applicants
• Res. #73-06 Return of duplicate tax payments, 1St Quarter 2006
• Res. #75-06 Revised Interlocal Agreement -Morris County Integrated Justice Information System (MCIJIS)
• Res. #76-06 Acceptance of Deeds of Easement/2-4 Main Mendham LLC
• Res. #77-06 Sewer Connection Permit B801, L20
• Res. #78-06 Social Affairs Permit #02-06-Mendham Borough Recreation Committee 100th Celebration
• Banner Request -Mendham Township HSA -Strawberry Festival - 5/29/06-6/5/06

High School Budget: There was a presentation regarding the $44 million regional high school budget. The council was provided some sort of budget summary document that I would suppose generally summarized expenditures. Two improvements mentioned was resurfacing of the parking lot and new lighting at the Mendham high-school. Curriculum initiatives of a science lab[?] and some sort of art-technology class[?] were referenced. Highlighted as a revenue source was a $500,000 history grant-- not mentioned was the fact that the money will be used for teacher junkets to historical locations. The overall budget increases is somewhere just under 5% and the fact that the state has reduced its contribution (to be made up out of this budget) to some public employee retirement System was part of the explanation provided. Also part of the "annual" budget is $2 million in debt service.

Capital Finance: The council again discussed its plans to "borrow" some pay-as-you-go funds. Apparently councilmembers were provided a fact sheet outlining three different "simulations" for Capital Project financing. I would guess none of the simulations involved paying off the debt and really paying as we go. There was no discussion of how much money was actually to be saved, or lost applying the different simulations. In the end there seemed general agreement to convert our $4 million debt into a $5 million long-term bond (10yr). basically the council has decided to increase and immortalize deficit spending.

Criminal History Check: There was discussion regarding a revision to the town's ordinance requiring publicly exposed volunteers to endure a criminal history check. Because of problems related to the practicality of performing such checks on minors under 18 it was the council's decision to approve modification of the ordinance to only require background checks for persons over 18 .

Business Friendliness: Council approved the introduction of an ordinance modification, it described as "business friendly" as it would permit greater latitude for businesses to "change use" without submitting for site plan approval.

Test Wells: Apparently there as been some environmental concern raised regarding morro's car wash and some test wells will have to be dug on connected Borough property to monitor for contaminants.

100th anniversary: The question was raised whether there would be refunds offered for the gourmet meal if the rain date is rained out.... basically the answer was no. The May 15th regularly scheduled council meeting that is to take place at the Phoenix House was discussed. The general consensus was that the meeting should begin at 7:00 and that at 8:00 there will be other activities-- refreshments, time capsule, live music, and presentations by notables. There was comment that the thousand dollars an hour price for the community Club Band should be worked down. Also referenced as an option was using an outdoor tent for the event.

Air Traffic: There was the suggestion that the council should pass a resolution opposing a pending plan to reroute air-traffic at area airports. It has been reported that some changes proposed would negatively impact the region with a substantial increase in noise pollution.

Verizon TV: Apparently verizon is not putting all its eggs in the one basket of a statewide franchise agreement and is going to negotiate local agreements in towns it has already wired with fiber. Councilmembers showed the shallow depth of Republican ignorance as they spoke of getting the other local communities together to "drive up the number" they can extort from the company.... ironically these Republicans who understand the fact that other businesses pass on regulatory expenses to the consumer ...don't seem to understand that they're just trying to extort US into paying higher rates to have a bunch of control freaks decide what we are able to watch. Sure looks like a big bad meddling government to me. As a side note, I would point out that probably the only truly useful concession they could get from verizon would be agreement to consolidate with Patriot media regarding broadcasting the cable access channel 25 .

MASH: There was a vague reference to some fire problem at one of the senior housing units.... the council agreed to approve $12,000 for reconstruction.

Regional high-school funding formula: There was extensive discussion... again... regarding finding a "solution" to the problem of progressive taxation regarding school funding. Generally the council did not appreciate Mendham Township and Chester sending a letter (I didn't get one) to Borough residents outlining the inequities and the potential solution of deregionalization. The mayor (who wasn't at the meeting) has apparently drafted a letter responding to some of the misimpressions created by the Township letter. The council generally agreed to spend some $1,500 distributing "their" opinion. It also seems likely the council will spend between five and $10,000 for the services of a lawyer specializes in school issues. The council seems quite adamant about not destroying the quality of the education now being provided by the regional district-- there was also some talk of administrative costs saved by retaining a larger district. The council's primary focus is changing the funding formula and cited as work in progress was legislation in the state House that would allow for a different voting scheme that in turn might make it possible for the funding formula to be changed from one based on assessment of value (progressive) to one that assesses taxes based on a per-pupil equation (flat tax). The fact that no council member feels any urgency to flaten taxes for the rest of the municipal budget exposes a glaring hypocrisy. [Apparently regressively taxing the poor is "fairness", but regressive taxing "us" just-regular-rich so the super-rich get a tax break-- is not] -discussion

Public Comment: The public in attendance didn't have much to say beyond thanking the council for their efforts to screw the middle class rubbish in Washington Township. My public comment questions were given pretty short shrift (as usual).

permanent link: Summation of the April 3ed meeting