This should come as no surprise to anyone after it was announce that 26 Middletown employees will be laid off due to budget woes on April 29th, I just heard that the Middletown Cultural Arts Center will be shutdown!The "Jewel of Middletown" located next to the Middletown Train Station, will be closed when nearly all of the Middletown Parks and Recreation Department is laid off at the end of this week.
The only thing that will keep the building open and operational, will be if the Township can find enough qualified volunteers to keep the building opened and programs running. If not the building will be shutdown.
The shame of it all is that even though the building will be shutdown it won't save the township much money in utility charges. The heating and air conditioning will still need to be kept running 24/7 so that the floors in the building don't buckle due to the humidity issues that plague the building. It's been reported over the past few years that the utility bill for the Arts Center run upwards of $350K a year.
What a waste!
13 comments:
Rosemarie's mistake !!!
Put some solar on that beast. Or even better yet. Should never have been bought in the first place. Another Republican Gem.
Well at least the TC stopped burying their heads in the sand and took some definitive action. What's really shameful is that it took them so long to do something and this is the result. Had they headed Short & Byrnes's advice earlier, things might not have been so bad.
I place the blame on Scharfenberger who was and continues to be in denial.
How about Middletown approach surrounding towns to see if they want to offer arts programs to their residents through our Arts Center? Holmdel and Red Bank don't really have such a unique place to offer it and they could help us keep it going by sharing the expenses. Also, it would be nice to be able to rent it out to smaller groups wanting to host events, like the Northern Monmouth Chamber of Commerce, etc. Stupid for it to be closed but still have to pay for the upkeep to keep it properly heated and cooled. Or have the library join forces with the arts center, as was suggested a few years back, sharing the space/costs while be able to offer larger numbers of people classes previously offered by both the parks and rec and the arts center offerings. such a shame that Middletown will soon become a less desirable place to live due to the mismanagement by the townships committees for the last 10 years.
The way the TC and Settembrino in particular mde it sound that unless the library gave them $500,000, they would have to lay these people off. They got it and still it's happening and will continue to happen. And of course, those wonderfully corrupt TC members will continue to look in every nook and cranny for money they can pilfer to plug these budget gap and that budget gap. Needless to say, they've gone too far and still it won't be enough. These winners ought to be voted out by referendum. Or be sure none of these clowns get a stipend, healthcare or pension benefits for the lousy "job" they are doing. And while we're at it, let's ship Settembrino back where he came from.
We are jammin at The Mac..never been busier..touching people and childrens lives at its BEST!!!Summer camp is packed.The problem with this life is most people are sooo ignorant of how important the arts are to this negative world we live in..Come on people..wake up... this is major..support our AMAZING Arts Center..be a part of it!!!!!
Support a ridiculous money drain in these economic times, you need the help of a good head doctor.Anonymous 11:01.
Maybe you need a good night's sleep before you make such inane statements.
Spending any more on that mistake is insane !
It's too bad there is so much misinformation about the Middletown Arts Center. As fairly new to the volunteer organization that operates the MAC, I continue to be amazed how this magical place has become a political punching bag. I find it quite distasteful. The arts benefit everyone and this place is very inclusive! I have to agree with the comments that "the MAC is jammin'". Oh and another thing, there are no plans to shut down the MAC.
Why not make it part of the county park system? After all the politicos in town wanted to give our library to the county.
I agree with Mary and anonymous. The Arts Center is wonderful and a great venue for anyone interested in broadening their horizons within the arts. It would be tragic if it closed and we still had to pay utilities. Although the School District owns parcels of unused land and they don't pay tax on it and have stated that it isn't costly to hold onto and this isn't the proper market to sell property. That money would certainly help plug budgets in town!
Give it to the county park system to run. After all the politicians want to give the library away, it would be much more sensible to give the arts center to the county.
Turning the Art Center over to the county makes a lot of sense. The county already offers a variety of programs that could be held at the AC.
If the county would assume the debt owed on the bonds for the AC and they would also take over the utility payments, salaries, benefits etc. it would save our taxpayers a lot of money. Much more so than if the county took over the library. Our taxpayers would still be taxed for the library even though the county would run it.
Having the AC taken over by the county is a great idea both for it's future success and financially for the Middletown taxpayers.
"Turning the Art Center over to the county makes a lot of sense. The county already offers a variety of programs that could be held at the AC.
If the county would assume the debt owed on the bonds for the AC and they would also take over the utility payments, salaries, benefits etc. it would save our taxpayers a lot of money. Much more so than if the county took over the library. Our taxpayers would still be taxed for the library even though the county would run it.
Having the AC taken over by the county is a great idea both for it's future success and financially for the Middletown taxpayers."
Post a Comment