Sleepless in Holmdel: What's Keeping Me Up at Night
I attended the June 21, 2012 Holmdel Township Committee meeting last Thursday evening. Two issues stood out as worthy of comment. Jenni Blumenthal gave Friends of Holmdel Library bags to each TC member reminding him of all the work done for years by volunteers to plan for a new library in Holmdel. While the mayor graciously accepted his bag and Larry Fink already had one, other members appeared less genial. Jenni’s fiery resolve, however, and spirited endurance are an inspiration to all library lovers who still hope that one day Holmdel will have a library in its own building or at least above ground.
On another issue, Mark Levinson questioned the TC about the new ordinance allowing alcohol consumption at township owned parks. He mentioned that in Colorado, where he used to live, there had been issues with public drunkenness as a result of leniency in alcohol use and wondered if the TC had considered requiring use of off duty police officers or some other protections to enforce drinking and driving restrictions. Mayor Impreveduto readily agreed that precautions were necessary to be added to the ordinance. I was happy to hear that as I considered the danger of navigating Middletown Road after drinkers left Bayonet Farm.
As I left Town Hall, however, I was sad that more people did not attend the meeting. Democracy works best when people inform themselves of the issues and hold their lawmakers accountable. Fortunately, for those of us who can only rarely attend the meetings, there are people like Mark Levinson and Jenni and Ralph Blumenthal who watch the proceedings and ask the necessary important questions. I hope to join them more often and hope other people will join me.
Mary O'Brian
7:16 pm on Thursday, June 28, 2012
So this has been keeping you up at nights? You must be joking.
Samantha
5:59 am on Friday, June 29, 2012
How absolutely RUDE! Why leave such a comment? Do you not have any manners?
Her objective to get readers obviously worked. So no, she wasn't joking in her article. And I thought it was very well written. Thank you for the updates on these meetings!
Karen Strickland
7:41 am on Friday, June 29, 2012
Thank you Samantha. Maybe these events were little events but I worry that if we don't pay attention to the little events, we'll get surprised by something out of control later. That concern is where the "sleepless" comes from.
joe smith
1:28 am on Sunday, July 1, 2012
We dont need to waste tax dollars on a library, just go to Middletown NJ if you're still reading paperback and using a fliptop phone. Libraries are going the way of the dodo bird, http://www.elibrarynj.com/ is proof of that. We could all buy our kids IPAD's with the money we'd save.
Mary O'Brian
3:09 pm on Sunday, July 1, 2012
Ms. Stickland obviously wrote a politically motivated blog, without much substance except to promote a Democratic candidate running for office and for another "Friends Of" organization who do nothing more than try to stop progress and waste taxpayer money.
I guaranty that Mr. Buontempo pushed the library expansion further along in the few months that he worked on this, than what that organization did in years (of course Ms. Strickland didn't write about that though). I also heard that our Friends of Holmdel Library spent $250,000 of taxpayer money researching how to expand the library.....what a waste of my money!!
Gen. Jack D. Ripper
12:30 am on Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Wow, knocking libraries and volunteers. What's next? Motherhood and apple pie?
Not sure about wasting money (and based on your lack of facts, you aren't either), but one way to waste time is to ignore previous work done on a problem. Seems like Buontempo got annoyed when his missing homework was exposed.
Carol Beckenstein
11:27 am on Monday, July 2, 2012
I believe the $250,000 was a grant given by our former Congressman Rush Holt. Not "your" money, Ms. O'Brian.
Thomas Scarano
1:25 pm on Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Carol: It is taxpayer money. Therefore it was our money.
Mary O'Brian
5:21 pm on Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Well General Ripper....it appears that my facts about spending $250,000 are correct....get YOUR accusations straight before you attack an old lady.
I'm sorry but I am really baffled how our Friends of Holmdel Library can spend a quarter of a million dollars to conduct a study to expand/replace our library????....the entire project shouldn't cost that much....Mrs. Blumenthal is a nice lady, but shame on her and this organization.
Mr. Scarano, does grant money have to be documented when it is spent. I would love to see that report?
Mary O'Brian
9:29 pm on Monday, July 2, 2012
Carol, thank-you for confirming that the Friends of Holmdel Library did actually spend $250,000 researching the library expansion....I was beginning to think that my neighbors were making up that story.
I have to tell you that it is hard to believe that this much money was spent and nothing was really accomplished....but Carol we expect that from your group of people...I guess Mr. Levinson can now be included in that group.
And I'm sorry to inform you that yes even grant money coming from a Congressman is MY MONEY...it's just coming from a different pocket.
Karen Strickland
5:04 pm on Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Very true. Taxes come from the same taxpayers no matter which pocket. So glad to hear Mr B made so much progress in two months. I hope you will tell us the details.
Nick J.
10:16 am on Sunday, August 26, 2012
Well Karen, it turns out your bias has been exposed. You originally wrote this article as a "concerned citizen", but it turns out that you are the campaign manager for Levinson and Luttrell....what a phony you and your cohorts are.
Holmdel residents do not want people like this running our government. These Democrats will stoop to all levels to disguise themselves, hoping they won't get caught in their lies.
Karen I would have respected you more if you came out in the article and said who you were....it's worse when you get caught making up a story that you can't sleep at night.
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