That's a question that many have asked, including the Asbury Park Press. It seems however, after Monday night's meeting of the Middletown Township Committee the answer is evident, Watch07748 is none other than Middletown Committeeman Tony Perry.
The video from Monday night's meeting is queued to where resident Jim Grenafege asked Tony Perry directly whether or not the anonymous email sent out two weeks ago by a fictitious group calling themselves, " Residents Against Over Development" attacking Democratic candidate Sean Byrnes, came from his campaign and if he had any knowledge of it before being sent to residents. Perry's non answers are very telling.
Tony Perry did his best two-step to avoid answering the question as it was asked, " Were you, in any shape or form associated with that email?", What followed was a political non-answer by Perry that by the omission of a direct answer, confirms that he and his campaign was responsible for it. The exchange between Grenafege and Perry lasted several minutes and became a little heated due to frustrations over non-answers (you can watch the exchange yourself, it's queued up to 2:13:35 of the video).
Bottomline here is that Tony Perry and the Middletown GOP where caught redhanded attempting to smear a rival candidate and through their own stupidity, it came back to bite them in the ass. Now Tony Perry and his buddies are backpedaling under the scrutiny of local media and outraged residents and trying to cover-up their tracks.
As I said before, the attempt of this little dirty-tricks email was underhanded and unethical. It also is in violation of campaign election laws for not being properly identified as coming from and paid for by Tony Perry's campaign.
You can watch the entire 3 hour video .... HERE. The Public Comments portion of the meeting starts about 22 minutes in. A vast majority of those there to ask questions of the Township Committee were they to ask about the proposed sports complex being considered for Stevenson Park.
I just finished watching the video from this past Wednesday night’s Middletown Board of Education (BOE) Meeting. What started out as a nice night of recognition for teachers and administrators involved in the school district being awarded 'Future Ready Silver Certification' (a distinction, given to only 35 schools in NJ, 17 of which Middletown is one), ended in what can only be characterize as a desperate attempt to gain some recognition as a candidate for Township Committee by the school community, from Middletown Committeeman Tony Perry, who is up for election this November.
It seems Middletown’s Board of Education isn’t the only entity in our community not immune to political stunts this election season.
When the meeting was opened for Public Comments, the unelected Committeeman and Candidate, Tony Perry (who, by the way was appointed by his Father In Law, Gerry Scharfenburger to the Township Committee), took to the microphone 'On Behalf of the Township Committee' to address the BOE regarding a possible agreement to take over the maintenance of 'Bayshore Elementary'.
A couple of quick notes before moving on; First, wasn't there just a conference held byMayor Kevin Settembrino, where he proclaimed that he alone spoke for the TC, which would mean that either Settembrino sanctioned Mr. Perry's visit to speak on behalf of the committee and make an offer or Tony Perry was going rogue, trying to make deals on his own, even though he is not a member of the joint Shared Services Committee. Later in his comments, he seems to back away from this statement and declared he 'doesn't speak on behalf of anyone, but himself'. Secondly, there is no 'Bayshore Elementary ', he would know that if he lived in Middletown for more than 5 minutes before becoming a Township Committeeman and not attempting an obvious political stunt, so I will assume he is referring to Bayview Elementary School.
Moving on ... Perry made reference to the potential Stevenson's Park Sports Complex, which in his words, 'is a political football' and 'not an honest discussion of how many fields would be placed there.' He goes on to accuse others (presumably, his opponents, one of which is Board Member Danielle Walsh) of 'intentionally misleading the residents of Shady Oaks and Shadow Lake'. Honestly, I'm not sure what these statements were meant to accomplish at a BOE meeting other than an attempt to garner votes by driving a wedge between the BOE and the parents of a few sports kids.
You can call me crazy if you want, but according to the plans for the sports complex that I and others have seen, they clearly show a plan to create a total of 9 multi-purpose sports fields beginning with a Phase 1 start of 2 fields.... Again, call me crazy, but how does informing residents living adjacent to Stevenson Park of plans for a potential Sports Complex by others 'intentionally misleading' or relevant in any way to the BOE?
He then offered to propose on 'behalf of the Township Committee' to take over control and maintenance responsibilities for Bayview Elementary Fields. In return, the Township Committee would decide which entities are entitled to use of the fields, with the school events getting priority. Not a bad deal for the BOE, right? Except, Board President Joan Minnuies pointed out, the Township Committee already decides who gets priority over these fields. He went on to refer to Bayview as an 'unknown and treasured part of Middletown.' Unknown? Really? I’m sure thousands of Belford residents would be shocked to know their elementary school was unknown to a candidate for the Township Committee.
Committeeman Perry also asserted that in the arrangement, the 2 baseball fields presently there (albeit without pitchers mounds because they are multi-purpose fields) , would be torn down to make room for the maintenance of soccer, flag football and lacrosse fields. When BOE member Michael Donlon questioned this, Perry inferred that it would be fine because there were no issues with lack of field time for baseball in Middletown.
BOE member, Danielle Walsh questioned his political motivations for addressing the BOE, since he 'had never been to a Board of Education Meeting before tonight' and 'suggested what would amount to an agenda item for Shared Services'. And further took issue with Mr. Perry's accusation that the BOE 'ignored' their fields. It was at this point that Mr. Perry changed his tune and insisted he was there speaking 'on behalf of himself', then went on to say 'I don't have the ability to have my voice heard to the School Board on my opinions about Shared Services decisions that occur. Unfortunately, that is why I have to come to these meetings.'.
BOE member Nick DiFranco also took issue with some of Mr. Perry's assertions regarding Shared Services and the extent to which the BOE was involved in addressing issues with field usage.
The bottom line here is that Mr. Perry, accompanied by another unelected Committeeman, Rick Hibell (who did not speak) seemed out of his depth of knowledge when it came to not only how the BOE works, but how to effectively communicate within the boundaries of his own Township Committee. But this is what you get when you have a Township Committee where there is no accountability to the point of blatant nepotism. Watch the exchange in the video for yourself and decide (I’ve queued it to the start of Perry’s comments).
Other than what I’ve mentioned above, the Voting Meeting was relatively uneventful (with the exception of Board Member Leonora Caminitti referring to another BOE member as a 'sissy'), but you should still take the time to watch the entire meeting, which you can access …. HERE
And while you’re at it do me a favor, consider asking the BOE to work on their video sound quality. I appreciate the transparency of the taped meetings, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – The New York Giants today announced the schedule for their 2016 training camp, which will be presented by Toyota. The camp will feature 11 practice sessions open to the public at the Quest Diagnostics Training Center, which is located on the MetLife Sports Complex.
The first practice session will take place on Friday, July 29 at 10:40 a.m.
Admission: There is no admission charge for watching training camp workouts. All practices will be held at the Quest Diagnostics Training Center
Fan Guidelines: Practice sessions will be open to the public throughout training camp (July 29-Aug. 14). Limited seating is provided alongside the practice fields. Restroom facilities, concession stands and a free kids' activity area will be available.
Fan Parking: Parking is free and is located in Lot K on the grounds of the MetLife Sports Complex. The lot will open to the public one hour before the scheduled start time of practice and the gates will open 30 minutes before practice begins. The parking lot will close one hour following the conclusion of practice. All fans attending practice will be subject to security screening before entering the seating area.
Autographs: Select Giants legends will sign autographs during practice each day for all fans. A listing of those Giants legends and the dates they will sign will be released on Giants.com.
Each day after practice, a rotating group of current Giants players will sign autographs for the first 400 fans age 12 and under. The autograph opportunity will take place behind the Kids’ Zone area. All kids who are interested in the opportunity are encouraged to visit the sign-up table with a guardian immediately upon arriving at the practice so that they can receive a wristband. The sign-up table will be located immediately in front of the kids’ autograph area, and all wristbands will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. Once wristbanded, they can enjoy the rest of practice and are encouraged to return 30 minutes prior to the end of practice to be allowed into the autograph area. Kids must have a wristband to be permitted into the autograph area. There will not be a post-practice autograph session on August 5 or August 6.
Rain Policy: In the event of inclement weather (including rain, wind, thunderstorms or extreme heat), practices will be moved indoors and be closed to the public. Please check Giants.com prior to every practice for up-to-the-minute changes in the daily practice schedule.
It never ceases to amaze me how messed up Middletown is at times, with no problems at all it looks like Red Bank will be installing new turf fields by the end of year, paid for mostly through grants!
According to RedbankGreen.com the new fields will be installed at over at the Basie Fields complex.
It's too bad Middletown screwed up it's chance to have a a couple of new fields build in town last year with it's assine idea to build a full fledged sports complex over at West Front St. Park in Lincroft, instead of upgrading Trezza Field in River Plaza and the field at Crydon Hall over in Leonardo.
Note: This is a re-post from yesterday. Blogger was experiencing technical difficulty after a system upgrade and wiped out all posts after the 5/11
Now that the Mayor has declared the West Front Street and Croydon Hall sports complexes null and void due to the alleged economic condition, I thought it might be relevant to re post the letter that SONIC wrote to him and the Township Committee back in early February.
After sending Gerry Scharfenberger their letter, SONIC later went on to meet with the Mayor on Saturday February 12th to discuss the issues that were outlined in the letter during his weekly office hours.
The reasons SONIC opposed this development were reasonably stated with valid concerns.
What stands out most to me are the 2 paragraphs highlighted regarding SONIC'S questioning the timing of this expenditure during these current bad economic times. As well as their suggested solutions which the Mayor had promised to follow through with but never did.
It finally took the Governor's convenient cut in aid (even though for many months the Mayor and others insisted that the cost of the new fields would not effect the current budget process), to get the Mayor to recognize what SONIC had been saying all along.
Expansion of Useage of the Field at West Front Street in Lincroft February 11, 2010
Dear Mayor Scharfenberger,
I am writing this letter on behalf of a recently formed group of residents from the Lincroft Community who choose to be known as “Save Our Neighborhood’s Integrity & Character” or “SONIC” for short. This group is principally comprised of residents in and around the West Front Street soccer fields, however we are receiving support from residents and various groups in Middletown and Holmdel as a result of your announced expansion plans. It is our sincere pledge to work with you and the entire Middletown Township Committee with regard to the stated Mission of the Township, which as per Township’s own letterhead is to “Save a Life, Save a Neighborhood, Save Taxes.”
SONIC has no objection to improving these grass fields making them safer for soccer and other sports but we do not support the amenities to the sports complex. We strongly object to the plans for 70 foot tall lights, an expanded parking lot, chain link fence, public address system, snack bar and storage facilities. This represents an entirely different type and concentration of activity; permanently changing the character and integrity of the neighborhood. These changes or what was characterized as improvements are the main reasons why we feel so betrayed by you, our elected officials, in not fully disclosing your intent and the extent of this development.
The following is a list of the key elements that SONIC believes make the West Front Street site not suitable or appropriate for the intended expansion:
A Serious Traffic Hazard: The intersection of West Front Street and Crawfords Corner/Everett Road, a county road, already is a heavily utilized traffic area. It serves as a main route into Red Bank, to various elementary and pre-schools, Brookdale Community College, CBA, as well as a route from Holmdel and elsewhere into the Town itself. Increased activity, such as Pop Warner football , will serve to increase traffic in an unbearable way, leading to a major safety hazard for those who reside and worship in the area and for the children living in and around West Front Street Park. Even with the expanded parking lot in the proposal, with the inevitable tournaments or back to back games there will be insufficient parking available. Where would the cars go but spill onto West Front St, Everett Road and side streets? Required or not, we request a traffic study be done by the county.
Drainage: There will be drainage issues that accompany the current plan to install a drainage pipe through the easement between 109 and 111 University Dr. Natural springs and poor drainage already exist in this location.
Lighting and Sound System: There is little to no natural buffer for the homes on Tuller Ct, Everett Road and University Drive to protect from the tall lights and P/A system. The homeowners on University Drive are very concerned with the removal of trees which may be necessary for installation of an artificial turf football field, sidelines, and additional buildings. This would further reduce an already insufficient buffer and affect our quality of life.
On Table 19 of the Parks and Recreation Master Plan, of the 12 properties considered for a synthetic turf field, West Front Street Park ranked low in topography, available parking, drainage and size. Thompson Middle School and Nut Swamp School ranked considerably better in all criteria. West Front Streets overall ranking was the lowest of all available fields in the area with the exception of Nut Swamp Park.
In addition to the above issues as to why this site is inappropriate, we question the timing of this expenditure. With a projected budget deficit of $5.0MM for our Township this year, when residents are losing their jobs and others are struggling to get by on reduced incomes and reeling from increased property taxes, building a “multi-sport” complex appears extravagant. Not having a CFO and a Finance Committee in place to review all the options is, in our view causing unwise financial decisions to be made. Awarding a nearly $200,000 contract to CMX engineering before plans were appropriately vetted with those directly affected seems equally irresponsible.
Common sense and public duty requires you to act responsibly by pursuing solutions that leverage existing assets for the betterment of the entire community. One solution would be to apply a portion of the $2.5MM in funds the Township received from the bonds issued in 2006 for capital expenditures for Parks and Recreation in order to reduce the deficit and reserve a portion to improve the parking and grass condition of the existing Trezza Field. We already have two artificial turf fields in town and these are not just expensive to build but also costly to maintain. Would it not be better to resume discussion with the Board of Education to seek a Shared Use Agreement for the use of these fields? In reviewing the public correspondence between the BOE and MTC from June through September regarding the Proposed Shared Services/Land Use Agreement, we believe the BOE did their part to work this out. To claim that the BOE “lawyered up” as the reason for the failed negotiations is just not acceptable. Moreover, the President of the BOE has personally agreed to readdress this issue and the members of SONIC urge you to do so. Accordingly, SONIC respectfully requests that prior to the February 16th Middletown Township Committee meeting a few of our members meet with you in your office to have an open and honest exchange of ideas, preferably this coming Saturday, since you will be available as a result of last week’s snowstorm. It is our hope and desire to resolve this issue for the benefit of the community as a whole and restore our trust in our elected officials.
Cordially,
On behalf of the below representatives of SONIC, et al
Sarah Hammond, Mary Mahoney, Jeffrey Blumengold, Stanley Gelfman, Trish Thomson, Jodi Molasani, Marianne Musella, and Peter Simpson
It's too bad that in the end arrogance and bad planning on the part of Mayor Scharfenberger and others is what really doomed the sports complexes. If the Mayor and others would have stuck to the orginal plan to improve Trezza Field, the home of the Pop Warner Chargers, instead of insisting that the Chargers except West Front Street Park as their new home, both Trezza Field and Croydon Hall would be having new turf fields installed as we speak and opposition to the turf projects would have been muted.
Instead the Mayor, like a 3rd grader took his fields and went home, blaming the Governor along the way instead of looking into the mirror that would have shown the egg on his face.
There are still many questions that remain and need to be answered when it comes to the sudden announcement that Gerry Scharfenberger made during Tuesday night's Neighborhood Meeting at Croydon Hall.
It has become apparent based on an email I received that some are starting to ask those questions and want answers:
I'm sure many of you have heard the news, about the fate of the turf fields, that was announced at last night's Neighborhood Meeting. There are many questions still unanswered about this decision:
1. The Neighborhood Meetings were billed as an event that "no formal action will take place". The Mayor decided to take formal action by announcing this decision. I have announcements, below, that explain the purpose of the Neighborhood Meetings.These were taken from the Township website and the alert system that the Township has in place.
Neighborhood Meeting - Senior Center 3/23/2010 - 7:00:00 PM The Township Committee will hold a Neighborhood Meeting at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 23 At the Middletown Senior Center, 900 Leonardville Road, to give residents an opportunity to speak informally with township officials and staff about life in Middletown. Township Committee members, and representatives from the departments of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs; Planning; Police and Public Works are scheduled to attend. No formal action will be taken.
Location: Middletown Senior Center Croydon Hall 900 Leonardville Road
Leonardo, NJ 07737
Source:
http://www.middletownnj.org/html/EventDetails.asp?EventID=2f8b8140-7923-480e-9c2d-e1b80643d843&EventDate=2010-03-23 Neighborhood Meeting 3-22-2010 posted Monday, March 22, 2010 4:08 PM Dear Resident:The next Middletown Neighborhood Meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 23rd at the Middletown Senior Center, 900 Leonardville Road. Neighborhood meetings are held annually to give residents an opportunity to speak informally with township officials and staff about life in Middletown. Township Committee members, and representatives from the departments of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs; Planning; Police and Public Works are scheduled to attend. No formal action will be taken. The last Neighborhood Meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 30th at the Tonya Keller Bayshore Community Center, 50 Bray Ave.
2. At what public meeting did the Committee decide to return the bond? This is not a decision that can be made by the Mayor, Deputy Mayor, or any other Committee person. It must be decided in a public meeting with a vote by ALL Committee members. I believe that a bond ordinance must be have approval of at least 4/5 of the Committee to become effective. The question is, Can the Mayor legally announce this since no formal action was taken on his decision?
3. According to the by-laws of the Township, the Mayor is a member of the Committee and is appointed by the other members of the Committee. His sole functions are to lead Committee meetings and sign legislation that is passed by the Committee. I don't believe that he has any other authority than that, besides what the other Committee members have. Any announcements, coming from the Township, should be with the approval of the whole Committee, not just one member of the Committee.
These questions need to be asked as well as:
- How much interest have WE paid over the past 4 years on this bond? - How much has OUR bond counsel (Middletown GOP Chairman) charged US to sell the bonds and now buy them back? - What other legal expenses are associated with the whole bond. beginning with the sale to retirement? - Why isn't the plan presented, by Mr. Vrabel, acceptable? Who determined this?
The sudden announcement of the cancellation of the turf projects at a neighborhood meeting that wasn't suppose to be an official meeting where actions would be taken on any subject specific subject is troubling.
What really changed the collective mind of the Township to drop plans for the fields and when and with whom were theses plans discussed with? As the email stated, the Mayor doesn't have the authority to act alone when making decisions regardless if the Town Administrator or others thought that the plan should be cancelled. This is a decision that would have had to be have been made during a formal meeting with every committee member present and from what I know that did not happen.
Middletown's "shadow government" has once again crept in from the darkness and reared its ugly head.
At last night's Middletown Neighborhood Meeting at the Middletown Senior Center at Croydon Hall a very interesting turn of events was announced by Gerry Scharfenberger, the plans for the installation of artificial turf fields in Lincroft and at Croydon Hall are being dropped.
There will be no sports complex built or field upgrades at West Front Street Park that met so much opposition from the residents group SONIC (Save Our Neighborhood's Integrity and Character) and the Pop Warner Lincroft Chargers organization, and no upgrade for the field at Croydon Hall which is used by the Middletown Eagles Pop Warner team.
According to the Asbury Park Press article posted online late last night, Scharfenberger use the current economic conditions affecting the Township as the reason for why the turf field projects were being dropped. Scharfenberger is quoted as saying:
"…In a difficult budget year in which the township's state aid has been cut by $1.3 million, 14 retiring employees will receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in parting costs, and snow removal expenses were at least $500,000 above normal, it makes no sense to also take on a fields project…I see no way to go forward with this… In terms of what had to go, this became something of a no-brainer."
The article went on to state that Township Administrator Tony Mercantante said the $2.4 million bond that was originally issued for the project in 2006 will be returned to the lender.
So why the sudden change, why did the Scharfenberger and Mercantante drop the plans for the turf installations? You can't tell me it was because of the sudden realization that the Township is facing a budget deficit of over $5 million and this was a prudent decision on the part of the Township Committee. The Township has known for weeks that it would not be receiving the same level of state aid as in years past and Scharfenberger, Mercantante and crew said that the $2.4 million that was bonded for the turf projects was already in the bank, waiting to be used and would have absolutely no effect on the current budget process.
I feel that the real reason why they decided to cancel plans for the turf fields was the embarrassment that they felt when confronted at last week's March 15th Township Committee meeting by members of the Chargers organization and SONIC when they present a plan to the Township that clearly showed that a multi-sport field could indeed be placed at Trezza Field, the home of the Chargers for over 40 years as originally called for in bond ordinance, with no impact to wetlands that the Township based its decision on as a reason for not going ahead with the field upgrade.
If Tony Mercantante accepted the Chargers' plan, he would have had to admit that the advice from the town's engineers and other professionals was wrong. He would have had to essentially throw them under the bus, which would have lead to questions of competence and may have raised doubts about other projects around town that residents question.
I know that this announcement will upset some people, particularly the Middletown Soccer League and the Pop Warner Eagles; Middletown Soccer aligned themselves with the Township in pushing for the field upgrades at West Front Street and the Eagles who became the victims of the collateral damage inflicted on members of the Township Committee by SONIC and the Chargers in the fight against the sports complex at West Front Street.
It was never in dispute, the playing field of the Pop Warner Eagles at Croydon Hall was going to be upgraded as a multi-sports playing field as part of the Township's turf project but Parks and Recreations Director Greg Silva made it clear during at meeting with the Chargers, that if they succeeded in their efforts to derail the West Front Street field upgrade then the upgrade at Croydon Hall would also be canceled as a result. So I guess he wasn't lying.
While this is a clear victory for SONIC and those who questioned whether or not it was prudent for the Township to move forward with this turf project because ofcurrent economic conditions, the victory for the Chargers is somewhat less and not much of a victory at all.
With the bad blood and hurt feeling inflicted on the Township Committee by the Chargers, Trezza Field may never get the field upgrades that are so badly needed for the continued and future success of their program.
The Independent has a related story that should also be read.
Lincroft resident Anthony Malone scolds Committeewoman Pam Brightbill after she lost her cool while being questioned by Pop Warner Chargers support Jim Cody at last Monday nights Township Committee meeting.
Mr. Malone was very passionate and boisterous during his time at the podium and demanded respect be given to the residents as opposed to Committeewoman Brightbill telling speakers and those in attendance to be respectful of her and her colleagues sitting on the Dias.
Middletown Deputy Mayor Tony Fiore, was not able to attend the March 15,2010 Township Meeting but was able to participate via phone call from Orlando Florida while attending work related business.
His comments were made after the business portion of the meeting was finished, during the Committee comments portion of the meeting just before the floor was opened up to the public.
He agreed with much of what Committeeman Sean Byrnes had to say about COAH and the rezoning of the Avaya property in Lincroft then went on to address the concerns over Trezza Field.
At approximately 2:35 into the audio Fiore starts to address Resolution 10-121 (Resolution 10-121 was going to authorize CMX Engineering to finish design plans for the West Front Street sports complex and develop specs so that the project could go out for bid) and the reason why the Committee pulled if from of the agenda and did not vote on it.
At approximately 5:05 into the audio Fiore talks about how, if differences with the BOE can't be worked out and if there was a possibility that some improvements could be done at Trezza Field then it could be done from the "...design from "OUR" engineers or the perspective of "OUR" professionals come through, we may have to go down that road..."
With that type of thinking in mind prior to Alan Vrable's presentation and the many other people that spoke in opposition to the project, one would diffinately get the idea that no matter what plans or ideas residents came up with, Fiore and crew were not, could not or will not throw their professionals under the bus by stopping the work that would be going on at West Front Street.
But the question remains, what will the Township do about Trezza Field? Will they or wont they take the Chargers/Sonic design plan for Trezza Field seriously enough to stop sports complex from going forward at West Front Street and be redirected where it was orginally intended to be, at Trezza Field?
By now everyone that is interested in or effected by the proposed sports complex in Lincroft that the township wants to build is familiar with the events that transpired during the Middletown Township Committee meeting on March 15, 2010.
You know that the meeting was loud, raucous and at times on the verge of being out of control if you were lucky enough to be there. If not, I have a series of audio clips from the night that I will be sharing over the next couple of day that will let everyone know exactly what they missed.
The audio clip that I have posted is of Lincroft resident Alan Vrable, who was speaking on the behalf of both the River Plaza/ Lincroft Chargers Pop Warner Football team and SONIC (Save Our Neighborhood's Integrity & Character).
Vrable presented a detailed, engineered plan to the Township Committee that show beyond a reasonable doubt that Trezza Field ( the home of the Chargers) could in fact be resurfaced and expanded into a multi-purpose sports facility with little impact on the wetlands, that Township engineers have given as a reason why Trezza Field could not be upgraded in favor of West Front Street Park.
This is the first of 6 audio clips that I will be posting between now and the weekend from Monday nights meeting.
The other clips include comments from Sean Byrnes, Tony Fiore and Jim Cody questioning Pam Brightbill, which isn't to be missed. It was classic!!
I was happy to see that Kevin Penton and the Asbury Park Press wrote a follow-up article that appeared in print today about the events that transpired during Monday night's Middeltown Township Committee meeting.
Today's article gave a better depiction of the events that went down Monday night then the first article that was published yesterday.
In this article Penton has quotes from Township Administrator Tony Mercantante, who many feel is the real person behind the West Front Street field proposal.
In the article Mercantante is quoted as saying "If it fits, it fits, but that is yet to be determined.", which was in reference to the multipurpose field, two baseball fields and 221 parking spaces depicted on the plan which was presented by Alan Vrable on behalf of the River Plaza/Lincroft Chargers Pop Warner Football team that plays it games at Trezza Field, to the Township Committee.
Vrable told Mercantante and the Township Committee that the plan for Trezza Field was based on the 2007 T&M Engineering wetlands study, the same study that the township used to determine that Trezza field was not a viable location for the field upgrade and which made the Township decide to build the sports complex at West Front Street instead.
The article also went on to state:
"Middletown's analysis of the residents' plan will include a cost estimate for earth disturbance so parking spaces can be added to Trezza Field, Mercantante said. The residents' plan eliminates a playground and a basketball court that are currently at the site, he said." ...
And concludes with words from Mayor Scharfenberger about how the Committee would take a serious look at the plan and determine if the plan was a viable alternative or not.
On the surface you may want to take what Mercantante and Scharfenberger had to say at face value and give the the benefit of the doubt, but after thinking about the quotes I was left to think that this just may be lip service.
Mercantante didn't seem convinced that the plan would work and seemed to question the fact that the plan as presented by Alan Vrable eliminated a playground and a basketball court in favor of parking.
Would eliminating a playground and a basketball court be considered a viable alturnative by Mayor Scharfenberger? I don't know.
Also I would like to point out that in both of Kevin Penton's articles on the meeting he quoted Deputy Mayor Tony Fiore who was not there but was on the phone from Orlando Florida attending a work related continuing education class, about how the closing down of CMX Engineering was just a little speed bump in the road and that it wouldn't hold up the process of deciding about the installation of the fields.
But what stood out to me during Fiore's comments wasn't what he had to say about CMX but what he said about the field installations in general, which was that the Committee would listen to "OUR" engineers and "OUR" professionals when determining what would be the best location for the installation of turf fields.
With this all being considered, I wonder if Mercantante, Scharfenberger and Fiore meant what they said, because if they do except the plans that were presented on the behalf of the Chargers than they would be admitting that their engineering firm gave them bad advice or is incompetant and they would be throwing them under the proverbial bus if they don't proceed with the exsisting plan for building the sports complex at West Front Street.
Reporter Dustin Racioppi from RedBankGreen.com also attended last nights Middletown Township Committee meeting, I think his article did a better job at capturing the overall atmosphere and feelings that were present in the room, more so than what was published in the Asbury Park Press. He also has a few good pictures worth checking out.
Below is his take on how things went last night:
Podium pounding. Yelling. Fingerpointing. The only things missing from Monday night’s Township Committee meeting were pitchforks and torches.
To say the least, the residents are getting restless.
About 200 of them turned out to hear how the town intended to go forward with contentious plans to upgrade two athletic areas to artificial turf and add more fields to them in order to accommodate more sports. Many came to voice their concerns, some to give the committee a stern talking to and others just to grandstand.
It wasn’t for naught.
Because of a potential sale of the project’s engineer, CMX Engineering, the committee decided not to move forward just yet in finalizing plans to upgrade fields at Croydon Hall and West Front Street Park.
The governing body also nixed its plans to add lighting, a public announcement system and concession stand at West Front, which have long been a bone of contention among neighbors.
Still, a certain level of outrage remained concerning West Front.
A number of residents in the Lincroft section of town — at least 400, if you go by signed petitions gathered by resident Mary Mahoney — are against the town’s plan in one way or another. Some believe that although the committee resolved not to add the amenities now, it may try to do so in the future.
A seemingly larger number are still angered because they’d rather see Trezza Field, the longtime home of Pop Warner’s Chargers, get the improvements.
Originally the committee wanted that, too. But plans drawn up by T&M Associates to add baseball fields, multi-use fields and parking to Trezza Field proved to be an unwise choice for the town, primarily because of limited space and surrounding wetlands, said Mayor Gerard Scharfenberger. As a result, the focus shifted to the fields at West Front Street.
Since then, residents have decried the plan, saying it will increase traffic and otherwise alter the area’s quality of life. And at the meeting, Allen Vrabel tried to prove that T&M was wrong, when he took his five minutes of the public comment portion to break out a schematic drawing from an unnamed engineer and pass out copies of it to the crowd showing that the fields will fit at Trezza with sufficient parking and without impinging on wetlands.
The crowd erupted with hoots and applause.
“What you’re proposing is like putting a square peg in a round hole on West Front Street,” Vrabel said. “These can go out to bid tomorrow.”
Vrabel’s comments opened up the gates for the public to skewer the committee, which took it with aplomb — particularly Scharfenberger, who got an earful from Barbara Thorpe.
Thorpe, who scolded Scharfenberger for not paying close enough attention to her, argued that now isn’t the time to spend the estimated $2.5 million on these upgrades.
“Your priorities are all screwed up,” she said to Sharfenberger. “I don’t know what planet you come from or live on, but you are oblivious.”
The $2.5 million to support the field upgrades comes from money set aside in a 2006 bonding package, and is specifically approved for the fields, Committeewoman Pamela Brightbill said.
More pressing at the moment, though, is the fate of CMX. Scharfenberger said he’s not sure of the specifics or how a sale could potentially affect the timeline of the field work, but said the town is looking into it.
“There’s lots of variables. We’re sort of in limbo right now,” he said.
Scharfenberger said the committee is going to also look into the feasibility of Vrabel’s proposal.
“We’re going to look at this very seriously. We wanted to put (more fields) at Trezza, but conditions, as we explained, precluded that,” Scharfenberger said. “We’re going to consider everything that is viable.”
I've been to plenty of Middletown Township Committee meeting over the past six years, most are sparely attended with little to no dissension among those in attendance or between those that sit on the Dias, last night was different. I haven't seen it like that since the Township was rocked by the arrest of former Mayor Ray O'Grady, who was caught up in Operation Bid-Rig a number of years ago.
The courtroom was packed and people flowed out into the lobby, to say people were upset would be an understatement.
I am still getting my thoughts together on what transpired last night and will have more to say about it later. I saw this morning that the Asbury Park Press has an account of what happened last night online today. The article was written by reporter Kevin Penton and is somewhat accurate.
I say somewhat because you really had to be there to witness what happened yourself, it was loud, raucous and at times uncomfortable to watch.
I am posting Penton's article below with a few pictures that I took placed in between:
MIDDLETOWN — Mayor Gerard P. Scharfenberger said Middletown needs to further question the firm, CMX Inc. of Manalapan, which told the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development on Friday that it intends to layoff all of its 196 employees by May 11.
Before the postponement, the committee was expected to vote on finalizing the engineering plans, and seeking permits and bids for the planned installations at Croydon Hall and West Front Street Park.
The West Front Street Park installation would not include lights or a concession stand, Scharfenberger told a standing-room-only crowd of more than 200 residents.
Many of the Lincroft residents — who have attended the public meetings at which the fields were discussed for several weeks — have said they believe those amenities would add traffic, parking congestion and noise to their neighborhood.
Committeeman Anthony P. Fiore, who participated in the meeting via a telephone connection from Orlando, Fla., said CMX's departure only represents a "little speed bump in the road."
"We weren't completely blindsided," Fiore said, referring to CMX's notification last week.
Middletown officials had asked the company about its situation, he said.
"We were told things were status quo," Fiore said.
A somewhat dramatic moment came when resident Allen Vrabel, standing at the podium during the public comments portion of the meeting, waved his hand towards the back of the jammed meeting room.
Before long, two people walked towards the front of the room and placed two large sets of plans on easels. Simultaneously, others handed out copies of the same plans to people sitting in the audience.
The plans show 221 parking spaces, a 200-foot-by-360-foot, multi-purpose field; a baseball field with 90-foot base paths and 225-foot foul lines; and a baseball field with 60-foot base paths and 200-foot foul lines at the current site of Trezza Field, where the Pop Warner Chargers currently play.
Township Administrator Anthony Mercantante has repeatedly said that Trezza field could not be part of the turf fields project because of wetlands concerns.
But Vrabel said that engineers hired by Lincroft residents and members of the Chargers organization, using a 2007 wetlands study by T&M Associates, were able to make the plan work at Trezza Field.
"These plans didn't cost me $194,000, I can tell you that," said Vrabel, who declined to say the firm that prepared the plans.
Township officials said they would study the plan.
"We are going to look at this very seriously," Scharfenberger said. "We are going to see if this is viable."
As I said, I'll have more to say about what happened last night later, it was a lot to take in. But I think the Mayor and his fellow suporter may have had a change of heart last night after have their heads beaten in by Vrabel and others.
Very courious development in the issue over the Lincroft Sports Complex, CMX Engineering, the firm that Middeltown hired to do the engineeering work and develope bidding specs for the turf field projects at West Front Street Park in Lincroft and Croydon Hall in Belford is going out of business as of May 11th this year and it has left many that oppose the field project scratching their heads.
Could the reason why the Township is so hell bent on ramming through the fields over residents concerns and comments to the contrary, be because they have a timeline with CMX to finish the intial work so that the sports complex can be placed out for bidding?
If so, why would the Township even hire a company that they new was going out of business to do this type of work in the first place ? After all Monmouth County knew back in January that CMX wasn't going to be around long enough to finish work for them so they didn't give them a contract to design intersection improvements at Memorial Drive and Evergreen Avenue in Neptune City and Bradley Beach.
There are many questions that need to be answered at Monday night's Township Committee meeting and I know that people will be out in force that night looking for answers so the Mayor better have answers because it may turn out to be a "lynching"
Here is an excerpt from today's Asbury Park Press on the closing of CMX Engineering:
"...In years past, the company was dogged by controversy.
In 1990, Stephen DePalma and the company were indicted on bribery charges. The state charged that DePalma and then-Woodbridge Mayor Joseph DeMarino paid $5,750 to a Carteret councilman in exchange for an engineering contract. Both DePalma and DeMarino were acquitted.
In 2005, the company announced that it would no longer make corporate political donations after it gave more than $875,000 to state- and county-level campaigns between 2000 and 2004.
In February 2009, founder Howard Schoor was sentenced to two years' probation, 250 hours of community service, and a $7,500 fine after he admitted paying off an Ocean Township official.
Company officials have said Schoor has not been associated with the company on a daily basis since 1996. He retired from the firm in 2005.
Still, CMX has had a presence at the Jersey Shore for years and has contracts or provides engineering services in roughly a dozen municipalities in Monmouth and Ocean counties.
CMX and its predecessor formerly had extensive contracts with the Monmouth County government, but business was reduced to a trickle in recent years.
In January, the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders approved an $88,844 engineering contract with CMX to design intersection improvements at Memorial Drive and Evergreen Avenue in Neptune City and Bradley Beach.
The contract was never executed, a county spokesman said.
"We have been notified this was coming," spokesman William K. Heine said. "There are some open purchase orders currently, and we are working with county counsel to determine what if any deliverables are due to the county to be paid for...."
So what's the latest news swirling around the proposed Lincroft Sports Complex? In each of this weeks editions of the Independent and the Two River Times are articles dedicated to the happens at the most recent Middletown Workshop Meeting that took place on March 1st. Both articles are well written and represents what took place pretty well.
The Independent focus was on the on going negotiations between the Board of Education and the Township over a shared service agreement that would allow the Pop Warner Football League to play games at Middletown High School South before getting into the meat and potatoes of the nights events, while the Two River Times jumped right into it.
Here are excerpts from each article:
The Independent - Talks between the Middletown Township Committee and the Board of Education will reopen to discuss allowing local sports associations to use fields at Middletown High School South.
A preliminary design plan for West Front Street Park was placed on the Middletown Township website for the public to review. The existing soccer fields would be replaced with a synthetic turf field.
Mayor Gerard P. Scharfenberger and Deputy Mayor Anthony Fiore announced at the March 1 Township Committee meeting that they would be meeting with members of the board to discuss field usage on public school property.
“We sent a letter to the Board of Ed. today officially asking to allow the Pop Warner leagues to use High School South for their games,” Scharfenberger said. “I think that would go a long way to solve a lot of the problems and would be the best solution for all the parties involved.”
He added, “I think it’s a step in the right direction.”
The township has proposed a plan for West Front Street Park, off Crawfords Corner/ Everett Road, to replace the existing soccer fields with a synthetic turf field designed for football, soccer, field hockey and lacrosse to be used by the public and local sports associations.
The proposal also calls for the Croydon Hall Complex, located on Leonardville Road, to have its football field replaced with an artificial turf field. A total of $2.5 million in unspent recreation funds would be used for the two projects.
The letter reads, “Specifically, the Township would like to request that the River Plaza/Lincroft Pop Warner Football program be permitted to utilize the football field and associated facilities at High School South for their five to six annual home games that take place on Sundays. Practices and other activities would still be able to take place at their current field while the West Front Street filed is resurfaced with turf for use by other leagues, but the need to utilize lighting, a public address system and concessions is lessened.”
Laura Agin, Middletown Board of Education president, said negotiations are under way.
“We’ve worked with the Township Committee and with shared services,” Agin said on March 4. “We’ve had concessions with them about the fields, and I think we will continue to work with them.”
However, a group in the Jersey Shore Football League weighed in on the controversy at the March 1 meeting....
The Two River Times - Controversy continues to swirl around a proposed plan by the Middletown Township Committee to construct a multi-purpose athletic field at the intersection of West Front Street and Everett Road in Lincroft.
Residents from the potentially affected area once again came out en masse to voice their opposition to the proposal as it currently stands and urged the committee to reconsider constructing the field at a different location.
However, this round of rhetoric included supporters of the proposal primarily from active Pop Warner families, athletes, coaches, and members of the Middletown Athletic Club.
The most telling message sent to the committee might have come from Kevin O'Reilly, Vice President of the River Plaza Chargers, whose future home has been an ongoing topic of conversation among the committee members, the board of education, and area residents but has not, until Monday night, included the River Plaza Chargers organization.
Middletown Mayor Gerard Scharfenberger opened the meeting by allowing those in attendance to speak to this issue but not before he addressed the crowd with an update from the committee's perspective.
"We sent a letter to the Board of Education today officially asking them to allow the Pop Warner league to use High School South for their games. I think that will go a long way to solving a lot of the problems and be the best solution for all parties involved," Scharfenberger said.
Deputy Mayor Anthony Fiore also offered an updated position on the issue.
"My position (at the previous meeting) was to find a way for River Plaza Pop Warner to play five or six games at High School South. From what I understand it's not feasible to redo the facility at Trezza Field (the Chargers current home field). It's my viewpoint, if we are able to work with the Board of Education and potentially make improvements to their field we would not have to have lights or a P.A. system at West Front Street," Fiore said.
Fiore added that the idea would be that the Pop Warner teams practice at Trezza and play their games at High School South. Fiore also noted that the existing soccer fields at West Front Street would still be resurfaced and improved but without lighting and a public address system.
"I think that pretty much satisfies everything I've heard over the last month," Fiore said.
Not according to O'Reilly.
The River Plaza Pop Warner league sent a letter to the Township Committee outlining eight needs of the league to continue operating regardless of its location. One of those needs was a fully functioning snack bar. Additionally as important were adequate restroom facilities.
According to O'Reilly, the Pop Warner league exists solely on the revenues generated by the operation of the snack bar of which High School South does not provide.
"I wish you people would speak to us because Middletown South doesn't work," O'Reilly said. "We play on Saturday, we play on Sunday, we play on Monday, and we also sometimes play on Wednesday and all of our revenue is from the snack bar."
The money generated by the snack bar, which can range between four and seven thousand dollars each game day goes toward operational costs to run the league according to O'Reilly.
"To redo the helmets is thousands and thousands of dollars," O'Reilly said....
So what have I heard over the past few days? As I said, it has been quite but here are a few things:
The meeting between the Mayor and Deputy-Mayor with the Board of Education on Thursday March 4th didn't go as well as the Independent may have made it out to have mainly because the Pop Warner Chargers have made it loud and clear that playing football at High School South would not benefit their organization at all.
Contrary to what Mayor Scharfenberger and others who represent the Township say a wetlands study of Trezza Field, the home of the Pop Warner Chargers, was conducted back in June of 2007 by the Township's engineering firm T&M and it seems to confirm everything that the football people have been saying all along, that Trezza Field can be expanded and resurfaced as originally planned. The Chargers, with help from their own engineer, came up with a new site proposal for Trezza Field and shared it with Mayor Scharfenberger earlier in the week. The site proposal will be introduced to the Committee Monday night at the next scheduled Committee Meeting.
And members of SONIC are still gathering petitions signatures against the sports complex to be presented at Monday night's Township Committee meeting. SONIC members will be out in force that night to once again voice their concerns.
The latest issue of "It's Your Town" Newsletter is now available and believe it or not, it's the largest yet at 22 pages! This issue details the happenings at the March 1st Middletown Township Workshop Meeting.
Due the size of the crowd in attendance the Mayor moved the meeting to the courtroom to accommodate the large number of people that showed up to express their mostly displeasure with the plans to build a multi-field sports complex at the corner of West Front Street and Crawfords Corner Rd in Lincroft.
Some of the highlights included in the newsletter are:
A letter written by Jeff Blumengold, a member of SONIC, that read for inclusion into the record.
Pop Warner Chargers Vice President Kevin O'Reilly stated 8 things that would be needed to make the sports complex work.
Committee Comments that express feelings behind the sports complex
And numerous Ordinances and Resolutions that were introduce for discussion
Your can read all about it Here to see what you missed.
I never put much thought into the validity of various conspiracy theories; for the most part these theories are generally not based on facts or have only a loose affiliation with them.
One such theory has recently developed around the controversial Lincroft Sports Complex issue thanks to members of the River Plaza/Lincroft Chargers Pop Warner football organization.
The theory revolves around the fact that Trezza Field, the home of the Chargers for over sixty years is located next to Shadow Lake Village, an age restricted community for those over the age of fifty-five and the fact that Monmouth County Freeholder John Curley moved into the community in 2008 just before his first attempt at running for Freeholder.
It is believed that many of the seniors that live at Shadow Lake are unhappy with the field being located so close to the complex and that the lights and noise from PA system are a nuisance that can no longer be tolerated.
It is believed that Curley used his political influence in some way to pressure the Middletown Committee to give up its plan to refurbish Trezza Field by threaten that the all important senior vote from Shadow Lake would not be there for them come November if the Chargers were not moved from Trezza Field.
Here’s some history that lead to the theory:
The Chargers were promised a number years ago by the Middletown Township Committee that their home, Trezza Field, would be re-surfaced with artificial turf and in 2006 a bond was issued that stated as much, but somehow along the way plans changed.
Instead of re-surfacing Trezza field as promised the Township decided that it would build a multi-sports complex in Lincroft, off of Middletown-Lincroft Rd. The complex was to have light towers, bleachers, snack bar, PA system and ample parking to accommodate hundreds of cars, much like the currently proposed and controversial complex planned for West Front Street.
But the plan met with so much anger and resistance from the residents in the area, that it lead to the town dropping the plan and the election of Patrick Short, the first Democrat elected to a committee seat in Middletown in 20 years.
During the three years that followed the Chargers continued to press the Mayors of Middletown to have their field taken care of because it’s condition continued to worsen. Middletown in the mean time hired a consulting firm to develop a master plan for it Parks and Recreation Department.
When completed, the Master Plan had made a number of recommendations as to how to better utilize the use current parks and sport fields throughout the Township. The plan called for the creation of two multi-use artificial turf fields that could be used for football, soccer and la cross and suggested that the Township enter into mutual use agreements with the Board of Education to build at least one of these fields on BOE property and to share the use of the newly turfed fields at both township high schools. But yet again no real plan for Trezza Field.
Shortly after the plan was adopted Mayor Brightbill met with the Chargers and told them not to worry, that all of the concerns would be addressed and taken care of, the Chargers would have a new field to play on soon.
In May 2009, the Township hastily approach the Board of Ed with a plan to possible build two multi-sports fields on the grounds of Thompson and Thorne Middle Schools. After lengthy negotiations between the BOE and Township talks broke down in October. The BOE felt that the Township was not addressing their concerns over usage and maintenance while the Township felt that the BOE was not negotiating in good faith.
It was at this time that the Township Committee voted unanimously drop the idea of mutual usage of fields with the BOE and announce their intention to build a multi-use sports complex on the corner of West Front St. and Crawford Corner Rd. in Lincroft, on the grounds of West Front Street Park, which has lead to the current controversy.
And now instead of having Trezza Field re-surfaced, the Chargers are being told that they will have to move from their beloved field of over sixty years to the new complex at West Front Street Park due to lack of space and wetlands issues, even though the new complex will not have the amenities that they feel are vital for the continued expansion and success of their organization.
As conspiracy theories go this one is somewhat plausible but highly unlikely. It seems to have come from that fact that members of the Chargers organization are frustrated and angered over how the feel repeatedly lied to and betrayed by the majority that sit on the Township Committee, that have promised field upgrades years ago and have not delivered on those promises.
And when I asked my friends at Shadow Lake if they had heard of any rumors floating around the Lake about opposition to the Trezza Field upgrades they had this to say… “Nobody at the Democratic Club Steering Committee meeting had any issues with the sports field, and no one had heard any rumblings about disaffected residents. In fact, people seemed to agree that a bit of noise during some afternoons in the summer was just kids having a good time and something that came with the neighborhood. So there very well may be some folks who are grousing about the games, heck, somebody is *always* complaining about something around here. But it is surely not some kind of organized protest.”
So it seems that Freeholder John Curley and the residents over at Shadow Lake are not behind some master conspiracy theory to pressure the Middletown Township Committee into not renovating Trezza Field (much to my chagrin).
At this point it seems that the reason for not putting artificial turf over Trezza Field is based entirely on the recommendations of the Township’s Master Plan which recommended the installation of synthetic fields for multi-use complexes that could accommodate many, not just a football field that in the eyes of the Township could not be expanded.
The following letter was sent to me by Lincroft resident Barbara Thorpe who wishes to express her opinion on how irresponsible the Republican majority is when it comes to managing the Townships finances:
The Republican majority of Middletown's Township Committee is financially irresponsible.. big time. They exhibit insensitivity to current economic conditions as they relentlessly pursue the installation of turf fields within the township which already has turf on each of it's high school fields. Are the taxpayers now being obligated to providing turf in townships parks at the public expense during the most financially challenged times since the Great Depression ?
Middletown Township has more parks than Monmouth County and fails miserably in adequately maintaining any of them. Just what is done with the appropriations for Parks and Recreation? More than half goes to salaries and why is the town not realizing better service from the employees in that department. Is it attributable to poor management ? Please tell us,Greg Silva or Gerard Scharfenberger . Seems there are many questions that demand answers in this scenario. Also bond issues are indebtedness that must be repaid with interest over time so it's not free money as the committee would like the public to believe.
This resident understands one consideration of the republicans..this is a re-election year for the current mayor and he desperately needs an issue to run on. Try financial responsibility. That's an issue every resident can understand and wants. It has been lacking in this township for several years. I am referring to the Township finances,not the BOE finances for education.
The BOE in Middletown does one of the best jobs in this state with the tax dollars they are entrusted to manage. They achieve one of the lowest per student expense and one of the best quality of education ratings.
The following letter was presented to the Mayor and the Township committee at Monday nights Workshop meeting. The letter was written by SONIC (Save Our Neighborhood's Integrity & Character) member Jeff Blumengold. It questions why a letter to the Middletown Board of Education was not written expressing a desire to reopen negotiations between the Township and the Board of Ed. concerning the use of turf fields by the Pop warner program.
The Mayor promissed Mr. Blumengold that he would receive a copy of the correspondence once it was to be sent, two weeks ago.
From what I understand that letter to the BOE was not sent until this past Monday afternoon at 5pm.
Mayor Scharfenberger and members of the Middletown Township Committee --
Unfortunately, I am unable to appear before you this evening. Nevertheless, as one of the founding members of "SONIC", I believe it is important to receive a definitive update on the actions that have been taken since the last meeting with respect to the West Front Street Field issue, especially since there have been on-going and repeated rumors and some public statements made that run counter to the direction set by the MTC as a matter of Public Record.
Specifically, there was a directive by Mayor Scharfenberger to Mr. Mercancante to immediately prepare, for review and release, a letter to the BOE, which was to request a reopening of the discussions concerning careful consideration of all available assets of the Community in seeking to address the quality of our fields issue, as well as alternative fields suitable for consideration for the Pop Warner league to utilize.
As the Mayor knows, I spoke with him since the meeting two weeks ago and as late as this past Thursday, and was assured on Thursday that the letter had been drafted and was being edited by the Mayor for immediate release -- and that I would receive both confirmation and a courtesy copy, once released.
As of this writing, I still have not received confirmation or a copy, which is troubling, to say the least. I am not sure, nor can understand why this letter could not be turned around in one or two days, at the most!
Let me now remind you and the other members of the MTC that SONIC had been assured in a meeting with the Mayor during his Saturday office hours, as well as the last MTC meeting on the record, that the project was now "On Hold", pending this joint effort with BOE to seek a solution to this dilemma.
What is clear and most troubling at this time is that there has been both statements made in other public forums by Township representatives, sp ecifically at a recent Pop Warner meeting by Greg Silva, that as I understand it, completely contradict this project status as being "On Hold". This, coupled with other actions and discussions that I have only heard about, also contradict the status you indicated to us.
Accordingly, and for the benefit of those in attendance and the community at large, I am requesting on behalf of the members of SONIC that you enlighten those in attendance as to the specific actions taken over the two weeks since the last MTC meeting, and also planned efforts contemplated or underway in the near term, as it relates to the WFS site.
This will be put to bed the speculation that continues to plague the outcome with respect to this issue.
The issue of the proposed Lincroft Sports Complex has become a ticking time bomb that is getting closer to detonation and based on the outcome of this past Monday nights' Workshop meeting in Middletown, the Township committee did nothing to defuse the situation in he minds of many who attended.
I arrived late to the meeting Monday night because I attended the wake of a dear family friend.
When I walked through the doors of Town Hall shortly after 8:40 pm, I was not surprised to see that the small conference room located near the Clerks Office, where Workshop meetings usually take place, dark and empty. The meeting had been moved to Middletown's Town Hall courtroom. And when I walked into the courtroom I saw why. There had to easily be 60 or more people in attendance when normally fewer than a dozen show up for Workshop meetings.
Many of those in attendance were from SONIC (Save Our Neighborhood's Integrity & Character), the River Plaza/ Lincroft Chargers and Middletown Eagles Pop Warner teams along with a sprinkling of soccer parents.
I expected to walk in during the normal business portion of the meeting but that was not the case. The Mayor, in a tactic that I believe was designed to limit the opportunity of those in attendance from speaking, decided to allow the delay of the business portion of the meeting in favor of letting those in attendance voice their concerns about the proposed sports complex. In so doing, the mayor placed a one-hour time limit for discussion, hoping in my opinion, that those that did not have a chance to speak would not stick around long enough for public comments at the end to voice their concerns and just go home. As it turned out however that was not the case, many stayed passed midnight to have their voices heard.
Due to the format change to the agenda, I missed much of that first hour’s discussion but what I did hear was fiery nonetheless.
People who were there to voice their concerns in favor of the Chargers football program stated that they did not want to leave their field of 61 years to move to a facility, that in their opinion would not be adequate for their program. They questioned why a new synthetic turf field could not be installed at Trezza Field, where they currently practice during the week and play on weekends, as spelled out in the original $2.5 million bond ordinance signed by then Mayor Hall in 2006.
The Pop Warner group offered many suggestions as to how the currant field location could be upgraded by eliminating two unused baseball fields and by asking if the small parcel of wetlands that border a portion of the area could be worked around somehow. They also voiced concerns about the West Front Street location because there would be no amenities like snack bar available to them. It seems that the snack bar is the one major source of the team’s revenue that they depend on and cannot survive without.
The Committee allowed the Township Administrator Tony Mercantante and the Township Engineer Ted Mahoney, to answer and basically told the Pop Warner people sorry. Trezza Field just wasn’t big enough and could not be expanded any further to accommodate them and nothing could be done about wetlands issues. Of course all kinds of catcalls then ensued.
Members of SONIC spoke against the West Front Street location as well and questioned why other sites that had been rated higher on the Park and Recreation Master plan, such as Nut Swamp Park is not being consider for the sports complex. The answer to that question, which the members of SONIC and the other groups have heard before but still believe to be a farce, is that the terrain of the park makes the location not cost effective because too much work would have the be done to level to playing area and provide proper drainage, which perplexed the questioners because, after all, Nut Swamp had been rated higher.
During the Committee Comments portion of the meeting, which took place about 90 minutes later, Sean Byrnes spoke to the issue of the fields and stated how the township has to do a better job of planning how it handles recreation issues in the future to avoid these types of conflicts with residents. He stated that the process is haphazard and flawed and that through better planning, fields all through out the township could be utilized.
Committeewoman Brightbill and Mayor Scharfenberger addressed the issue during comments by say that many of the rumors and conspiracy theories surrounding the issue of the sports complex is just that, rumors and conspiracy issues. They stated that there is a lot of planning and discussions that are happening behind closed doors because it is “a very complicated issue” and contrary to what people have heard or read much of it is not true.
The meeting was then opened back up for public comments, but if you had spoken earlier you could not speak again to follow-up on a point or comment, and I left shortly afterward.
Based on what I witnessed and what others have told me it doesn’t seem like the Mayor and the Committee did anything to defuse the anger and bewilderment of any of those in attendance Monday night over this sports complex. Many felt that the Mayor Scharfenberger was condensating, insincere and not to be trusted, while others felt letdown and betrayed on this issue and are vowing to fight.
Here’s what a couple of posters on the NJ.com Middletown forum had to say about Monday night’s meeting:
21747. Scharfy's tries to duck and lie by chargerfan20, 3/2/10 8:15 ET What show at township meeting last night. Lies , lies and more lies. Heard mayor wants to throw Chargers off Trezza Field if they don't shut up. West Front st field and South field can't handle chargers program.
21747.1. so right you are...what has to be done by divebojangels, 3/2/10 8:55 ET Re: Scharfy's tries to duck and lie by divebojangels, 3/2/10 is at sign ups pass out a paper telling the parents to vote for the jackass party in nov...thats the only way this can be resolved...get rid of all those elephants....talk about ramming through a field ...there just unbelievable...and all they do is lie...amazing how they can sit there and say there for the people.... 21750. croydan hall will get there new turf field by divebojangels, 3/2/10 9:01 ET and get to play on it all 7 days,to go along with there snack stands and lights and bathrooms....but the chargers get to play n6 days at the dog park,and on the 7 day are being ask to move up to front street to play without lights a bathroom,and most of all no snack stands....just amazing....its time for lincroft the step child of middletown to vote for the jackasses...bounce all those elephants out...all they do is lie
21750.1. What about Chargers??? by chargerfan20, 3/2/10 9:23 ET Re: croydan hall will get there new turf field by chargerfan20, 3/2/10 they were so two faced last night. Not thinking about the chargers just about their own little @#%'s. When will they listento people in this town? NEVER
Corrections:
1). Members of SONIC questioned the field at Nutswamp School which was rated higher than WFS, not Nutswamp Park. Nutswamp school is the property that the BOE offered to the MTC in lieu of Thompson school.
2). The Township Engineer's name is Ted Maloney not Mahoney as stated above.
