Advertising: Good, Bad, Creepy

When I went out leafleting last weekend, I saw three kinds of outdoor advertising: good, bad, and creepy.

When it comes to elections and Hallowe’en, it pays to advertise.  Hence, many lawns were decorated with pumpkins, skeletons, tombstones and political yard signs.

As to the election, “my” side, opposing selling New Providence’s largest park to Union County for $1, got the yard signs and the votes out early.  Somehow a “vote yes” sign appeared next to my “no county park” sign the day after the elections.  I suppose that was from someone sore that New Providence rejected the sale 2:1.

As to Hallowe’en, our house failed to advertise this year.  Advertising is very important.  Even though trick or treat day fell on a Sunday, only two children showed up to claim their treats.  This was not entirely bad; we got to eat all the chocolate ourselves.

The creepy advertisement was the house with the newspapers in the driveway, three FedEx stickers on the door and the door hanger from the week before on the knob.

If the owners had merely moved away, they must have been so sinister and unfriendly they couldn’t convince anyone to take care of their entrance.  As it was, the entire front of their house was an invitation to burglars to swoop in off the highway, break a window and help themselves.

On the other hand, maybe the owners were dead and mouldering inside.  That would have been appropriate for Hallowe’en. 

I decided not to leave my bright green brochure at the door to further advertise the vacancy within.  In fact, I picked up the newspapers in the driveway, too.  But, come on, neighbor.  If you advertise the fact that your house is ripe for a break-in, you put mine at risk, too.

Hallowe’en advertising, great.  Political advertising, great, even if you don’t agree with me.  “Nobody home” advertising, reprehensible and creepy.

Darn weatherstripping

Nothing says "Your neighbors hope you'll vote on this issue" like a hand-folded leaflet delivered to your door by a neighbor.

The problem is the darn weatherstripping.

Most of us know that it's illegal to put anything that's not US mail into a mailbox. So there I stand at your stoop, trying to figure out how to leave the leaflet so that it won't blow away.

The problem is that your weatherstripping is so tight that I can't wedge my important flyer between your jamb and your door. I'm all in favor of energy conservation, but I wish I could leave my message for you, confident that it won't take off in the next gust of wind.

Norfolk latches, attached to the door at two points, allow me to fold the flyer and leave it under the latch. Unfortunately, I only found a couple of those.

To the people with the jalousie storm door: I hope it's okay that I wedged the flyer between two of your louvers.

After delivering to 4 1/2 streets yesterday, I have new respect for letter carriers.

Oakwood Park Youtube Video

Thanks to Maria Ludwig for keeping New Providence residents informed about the upcoming referendum over whether the borough should sell Oakwood Park to Union County for $1.

Today she forwarded the link to this video about the potential sale.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFp9C55h8Gs

Our own Brian Flanagan is running for Union County freeholder. I encourage Union County residents to vote for him.

PS Have you noticed the brick outside the New Providence Library inscribed "No County Park 2009"? I wonder where that came from... kh

Oakwood Park Decision Goes to Referendum

New Providence residents are relieved, annoyed or as yet entirely unaware that the borough council has tabled the question of deeding Oakwood Park to Union County. I wish I could say that it would be decided by a referendum in November, but in fact the council has made the referendum non-binding, which means that afterward they can say, "Ha ha! Only kidding! We'll do it our way after all!"

Ups and Downs

Up: I did not want to speak at the public meeting last night about the proposed development of Oakwood Park. I felt I did not know enough about the subject.

I recalled that I had to appear at planning board meetings in the past. For those meetings a friend (an attorney, a gifted public speaker and reluctant political advocate) had advised me at those times that all I needed to do at the meeting was to state my name and residence, and that I opposed the proposal. That was sure a lot easier than mustering arguments and putting them to the elected officials.

Up: decided to research. Called the NJ DEP and spoke to someone in the Green Acres program. In case he was mistaken, I omit his name here. He said that according to Green Acres regulations, the property holders needed to inform the DEP 30 days before any public discussion about a transfer of title. He said that the DEP had not been notified.

This, I thought, was real information that I could proudly bring to the mic. Democracy in action.

Up: Called the New Jersey Conservation Foundation. Because I was too busy writing down my interlocutor's suggestions, I omit her name here. She gave me some great information about the ROSI (open space inventory), and about how to ask about impervious surface coverage.

Up: Looked up the New Providence Master Plan online. It was a productive lunch hour.

Down: Called my friend the attorney. He said my recollection was poor. He said that I could just mention that I opposed the action, but that it would be far better to muster the arguments.

Up: Attended the meeting. Even though I was not perfectly prepared, it was definitely better to be there in person than to learn about it after the fact and grouse about it in private.

Down: Sounded dumb at the mic. They were about to close the meeting because there appeared to be no more speakers from the floor. It was then or never so I approached the microphone.

I asked my three questions.

"What kind of synthetic turf?" and "Have you consulted your impervious surface coverage requirements?" got the "We don't know but maybe they will answer that at next week's meeting."

"Have you notified the DEP?" got "Of course we did. We have been discussing with" (did not have pen handy at the mic to write down his name). In the end my questions sounded random and not very pointed.

Up: Maybe the fact that I did not sound like the brightest crayon in the box encouraged some of the speakers who came after me to air their questions. Democracy is not just for those accustomed to microphones. It's for everyone.

Down: Many of the people who spoke after me sounded much more intelligent. Good thing that this was a public hearing and not a competition...

Up: I felt very web 2.0 blogging about the meeting as it happened.

Up: the meeting petered out around 9:30. Other meetings I have attended have lasted till midnight.

The mayor's public letter said that the borough council had discussed this issue at its December 08 meeting, which was televised. There was an article in the local paper at the time. The minutes of the meeting are online.

I could have checked any of those sources, instead of being gobsmacked last week learning about last night's discussion in the Independent Press. (Kudos to Mike Neavill!)

I definitely should be following my local government more closely. On the other hand, there are only 24 hours in a day. How many of them do I need to devote to the government?

I want to be able to trust that my government is going to pretty much do what I think they should do. I want to be able to trust that if the government is planning to do something really radical, the press will let me know.

Too bad eternal vigilance is so darned time-consuming, and, at times, humbling.

Brian Flanigan's Bons Mots

Brian Flanigan, Planning Board Member, says that he is concerned about the park.

"The problem is that the public hasn't had a voice on this project....it's of a scope and of an intensity that may not be appropriate for this site.....This is really in the heart of a residential neighborhood.....The uses that I'm afraid that this intensity of development will preclude" are the passive uses, the spontaneous uses.

He is also concerned about turfing over the greensward. "If you're going to make that decision, it can't be made in a rush....If the only way out of this is to give Garwood the money, let's give it to Garwood.....Please, let's take more time with this and give more consideration to the intangible aspects of it."

Brian enjoyed two rounds of applause.

Chain Link Fence

Gee, the Mayor's glowing letter http://www.newprov.org/pdflibrary/OakwoodParkMayors%20Letter%20March2009.pdf

neglected to mention anything about 10-foot high fences around the park.

Someone Did His Homework

Whatever this guy's name is, he's asking good questions.

How long has the Union County Open Space Fund been in existence? 7 years
How much money is in the fund? 11.2 million

So there's a precedent where we could have received money and not have deeded it to the county, am I correct? No, said Devanney.
Should the renovation exceed the project 3.5 million, is there any liability on the part of the borough. No, said Devanney

He's from New Providence, but I couldn't hear his name. It's a shame that people here are allergic to microphones.

Oh, and the next guy asked another good one: why wouldn't the county use that money to acquire open space, instead of investing it in Oakwood Park which is clearly in no danger of development?

What Is Synthetic Turf?

Darn, I was really hoping that there would be hours of questions, that other people would ask all my questions and I would never have to go near the mike.

It is always a bad sign when people at these meetings profess ignorance of crucial details. Say the store next door is applying for a variance, including installing a dumpster. As them what time their garbage pickup will be. Their eyes will glaze over. "Oh, I don't know," as if such details were too petty for them to consider.

It makes a difference when the truck comes at 5 in the morning.

So I asked, "This synthetic turf. Is that the kind made out of ground up old rubber tires?"

"We, uh, don't know," was the response, but they were sure that that would be addressed in the April 2 meeting.

The future taxpayer sitting next to me was against rubber "turf," because coaches won't let athletes carry any foods on the turf. Unlike growing grass, the "turf" stains. Also unlike growing grass, "turf" can get up to 130 degrees Fahrenheit.

Maybe I'm a snob, but I don't like the stuff.

Not Surprisingly

Freeholder Scanlon claims that Union County will "rehabilitate" Oakwood Park.

Frankly it does not need rehabilitation. "New Providence has the land; the trust fund has the money," she adds.

The borough had already designed the park before it went to the county for the grant? The county says it was "disappointed" about that. Obviously, this has been in the works already.

After the meeting started 15 minutes late there were 45 minutes of laudatory speeches by the mayor and freeholders. Before any public comment, they announced that the discussion of the Oakwood Park resolution was done and have now opened the floor to the public.

First speaker, Tom Getzendanner of Summit, here to praise the county's cooperation with Glenside Park, and apparently using the opportunity to ask the freeholders not to take a pension holiday.

Next speaker I am not familiar with, asking a question about the Rutgers Cooperative Extension. What, did they convince people to come here and filibuster?

I'm sure they announced that they were opening up the floor for comments about the agenda items, didn't they?

Are we having fun yet?

300 People at Oakwood Park Council Meeting

Maybe some of these 300 people feel like me. I can't do anything about the fact that Geithner is a scofftax. I can't do anything about AIG spending its bailout money on bonuses.

But when the county and the borough council seem to decide unilaterally to redevelop a 15-acre park, that's when we decide to speak out.

So here we all are, ready to tell the mayor and the freeholders what we really think.

Here's what the mayor says:
"We don't want to have lights on those fields," which seems unlikely. Who would not want to draw out the number of available hours after someone spends $3.5 million to resurface?

He has already claimed that the New Providence Master Plan calls to develop this park. I read the Master Plan today, particularly the Recreation Plan Element, but it does not call for developing the park, only for upgrading playfields at schools.

Vis a vis park lands, the master plan does not call for development. It calls for monitoring the facilities. It calls for expanding open space/recreation inventory, but not for developing the park.

Today I called the Green Acres department of the NJ DEP. I learned that At least 30 days prior to any public hearing to be held on the proposed transfer of parkland, the local government is supposed to advise the DEP of the hearing. As of 12:30 today, the NJ DEP had not been notified.

"We did our due diligence," says Mayor Thoms.

Stay tuned for more info as it happens.

Real AK-47

Considering the time and money the Presbyterian Church at New Providence has spent publicizing the World Vision Experience: AIDS exhibit, I was disappointed by how few people attended last night. I hope that when I go back the front-page article in the TwoDays section of this morning's Star-Ledger will galvanize the public.

The only way WorldVision could have made the experience more authentic would have been to hand me a ticket to sub-Saharan Africa. Or at least a bowl of groundnut stew. I knew I had arrived when I heard the drummers playing and singing by the side of the road. Once I got to the tent, a volunteer handed me an iPod.

Each iPod is loaded with a story about a child living in a country battling AIDS. Depending on which narrative you receive, you walk through different chambers with artifacts representing that child's life. Mine included an AK-47 for a Ugandan child kidnapped by the Lord's Resistance Army. I was encouraged to sit or lie down on his cheap foam bedding, but it was too small for me. The place smelled of sisal. The sound effects included rheumy coughs. Considering that this exhibit must be portable enough to travel to 15 cities before the end of October, it is a marvel of interactivity.

I invited my neighbors to go back with me. They worried that it might be too graphic for their daughter, a tween. Yes, when I thought about it, the narrative did mention girls as young as eight turned into sex slaves. But, and this is a question I cannot answer for them, how vigorously and how long can they defend her innocence? Aren't the suffering African girls children, too?

When I go back I will ask if there is a narrative more appropriate to young children. If they say yes, I will post it here.

World Vision Experience: AIDS
Presbyterian Church at New Providence
1307 Springfield Avenue, New Providence, NJ
7/26 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
7/27 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.

There are many ways to help. My own church has actively supported the Good Shepherd Home in Bamenda, Cameroon, for years. Before we can help, though, we have to understand the problem. WorldVision has done a superior job in promoting understanding through all the senses.