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Post by fedup on Nov 14, 2006 7:58:59 GMT -5
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Post by fedup on Nov 14, 2006 8:05:48 GMT -5
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Post by Marc LeVine on Nov 14, 2006 10:15:57 GMT -5
Neither side won...the lawyers won and that makes me sick.
The real losers live far beyond Freehold Borough...in our cities...in the heartland...on the Pacific Coast... No, America, on the whole, lost this one and not because of what Freehold Borough did or didn't do, here. Town by town, our federal court system is defeating America and making Americans powerless to do anything about it. If you try to stand up to our courts - you must ultimately face these judges, who have no backbone to stand up for the American people.
America lost because of an ultra liberal court system that decided-long ago- to give people, who routinely disregard our laws," representation WITHOUT taxation." How is this constitutional? How is that right? How do you allow people that entered our sovereign country, illegally, the right to sue using only their first names? How do we let fringe advocacy groups backed by socialists and labor unions dictate American law?
If the advocates and their charges are laughing this morning, they are laughing at our federal government and its court system. We are talking about erecting 700 miles of border fence to keep people out, when we can't even protect our own people 2500 miles north of the border, from those seeking to steal our own rights.
Ultra Liberal judges? Aren't these the same kind of people that once told Custer, "look up on the hills, those are friendly Indians?" Aren't these the folks, who still think we can negotiate with Osama Bin Laden? Aren't people these among those, who told President Bush that the American "liberating" army would be greeted in Baghdad with parades and flowers? This is not kindness...this is weakness. And how does "right" prevail, when these people sit on the bench?
On day one, they needed to tell the so called "plaintiffs" to go home and come back when they are legal. Better yet, these people should have been held in contempt of court and penalized for trying to use the American court system against its own people - bonified Americans and those here, legally.
Yes, I am railing at this. We all need to rail at this -and vent- and then we must decide what our next move is and GO POSTIVE. No more negativism or the kind of depressing, hopeless crap some folks post on this site or chat about. This kind of talk plays into the hands of our opponents and declares us DOA to those ultra liberal judges and advocates trying to put here, what they don't want in their own towns.
In Freehold, we MUST take a very different approach and stop the bad press. My words of defiance, last night, also challenged the Mayor and the rest of Council to do what the advocates fear most - create a welcoming environment for more upscale living. Using a more positive outlook and prosperity against them. They can't stop a North Jersey business couple from buying and rehabbing a potentiall charming Freehold home, that is presently owned by some absentee landlord. We need to encourage more of this. Sure, we must shed a bit of our "working class town image"and become just a little more upscale. We do this with better code enforcement... pressing the Partnership to do more... influencing the real estate community...offering the Press more positive PR...etc.
If we can envision the kind of Freehold Borough that we all want to have, we can move to wards that goal with every step we take. We can replace what we see, with something much better. Other cities and towns have done this and we can, too. We can build parking garages, bring in stores that attract wealth downtown, fix up older homes and help first time buyers afford them, get those trains headed to New York and have well dressed people enjoy Starbucks on the ride in. This is what we must do. I am going to Maplewood in the next few week to see how they did it and will report back to you all.
The law suit is over, but the progress is just beginning. Please join me in this vision. I reject all negative talk, going forward. It is a force working against us all an we must rid ourselves of this handicap.
This is my last posting on this drawn out and unfortunate episode. Let us all move on. And... to those who prefer to second guess and citicize, get out and pick up a shovel, yourselves.
Marc
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Post by admin on Nov 14, 2006 17:19:59 GMT -5
Dear Councilman LeVine,
Allow me to introduce myself. I am Brian, a Representative of a group that you may have heard of, PEOPLE. PEOPLE stands for Pressing elected officials to Preserve Our Living Environment. And that is just what we will do.
I believe that we can agree that this sad chapter in Freehold history is over. With that said, we the PEOPLE, can not be quiet. We have the highest expectations that you, and all of our elected leaders, will now move forward and deliver the very things that have been talked about.
We, the PEOPLE, demand safe streets and quiet neighborhoods, We expect that our children will have the best schools that our tax dollars can buy. We expect to have a sense of community and unity within our small town. We expect that the small town feel will remain, as opposed to the attempt by some to turn us into a city slum.
We expect that the deviants and slumlords will have the welcome mat yanked out from under them. That welcome mat must go to good Americans who can really appreciate this beautiful town.
We expect the Freehold Center Partnership to promote a down town area that will become a shopping mecca for all the surrounding towns, as well as a fine place for the residents of our town to find and embrace a strong sense of community.
We expect that the Historic Preservation Commission will do it's job, and highlight the historic charm in this town.
We expect this town to be a place where average people will desire to purchase and live in their own homes.
In other words, good councilman, PEOPLE is here to stay. We have asked for everything and we expect no less. We will be watching and growing on a daily basis. Now is not the time for you, or us to rest. Now the real work begins. We will be watching,
Brian
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Post by Libyan Sibyl on Nov 14, 2006 18:09:38 GMT -5
Wilson said the day laborers' advocates failed to succeed in any of their goals in the lawsuit, namely forcing the borough to establish a permanent muster zone. The day laborers and their advocates "wanted a special place to gather to look for work," Wilson said. "They didn't get it." That is interesting. I understood that the muster zone was established to keep the day laborers off the streets. Then the muster zone was shut down because it acted as a magnet for people to come to Freehold. Now that the muster zone has been shut down, the day laborers are all over the streets. But given the settlement, and that loitering laws have been struck down, my question is whether is would be better if the muster zone was re-established? My opinion is that, in hindsight, it was better to have them all congregated in one area. |
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Post by admin on Nov 14, 2006 18:18:42 GMT -5
Wilson said the day laborers' advocates failed to succeed in any of their goals in the lawsuit, namely forcing the borough to establish a permanent muster zone. The day laborers and their advocates "wanted a special place to gather to look for work," Wilson said. "They didn't get it." That is interesting. I understood that the muster zone was established to keep the day laborers off the streets. Then the muster zone was shut down because it acted as a magnet for people to come to Freehold. Now that the muster zone has been shut down, the day laborers are all over the streets. But given the settlement, and that loitering laws have been struck down, my question is whether is would be better if the muster zone was re-established? My opinion is that, in hindsight, it was better to have them all congregated in one area. Hindsight has been everybody's demon. But, the muster zone was re-established. The problem is that there is no incentive for the laborers to go there. The other problem is that with so many seeking work, any muster zone will lose it;s participants as they spread out through out the town to lessen their own competition. In other words, how can we say that the workers would have stayed at any muster zone? Look at Lakewood. |
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Post by Marc LeVine on Nov 14, 2006 18:35:55 GMT -5
Sibyl:
Part of the problem on Throckmorton was that the area businesses (Bill Murray's, Beacon Metals, etc) were being effected. Those businesses have a lot of van and truck traffic that was being confused by day laborers as potential employers. There was jumping on cars and trucks that were going in and out of these businesses and the businesses complained about this. It was both a safety and business "curb appeal" issue.
Also, Conrail owns the majority of that property and didn't want people gathering on it. It was only later found out that a small existing portion of the muster zone is public property. That strip IS now open for use, but can no longer accommodate hundreds of people and is much too close to the roadway, creating many dangers for drivers and the people standing over there. But, it remains open and is beign used.
Thirdly, 300+ people gathering in a single location caused public safety issues of much greater magnitude (needing dedicated and costly police monitoring). Having a very popular zone like that, which was growing so fast encouraged even more people to not only see work there, but to move closer to it (into town) and...begin to overcrowd, bloat the schools, strain our services...well, you know the rest.
But, you are not incorrect in saying that a solution is needed to the hanging out at 6-12, Ritas and in other areas in town. The virtual hiring hall Monmouth County Hispanic Affairs set up was a promising concept, but it silently failed, though the town supported the effort (not financially).
We now return to the most favorable solution - your County government. They have plenty of land just outside the Borough to designate as a muster zone and can much better afford to arrange something, if they wanted to. Everyone approached them many times, during the crisis, but they have remained silent.
It may be time, once again, to revisit them on this. And now a former Freehold Borough Councilwoman (Barbara McMorrow) is a County Freeholder. Perhaps, there is hope for a REGIONAL SOLUTION to the problem.
Marc
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Post by Marc LeVine on Nov 14, 2006 19:14:49 GMT -5
Brian:
And you are also correct. As Lakewood already proved to us all..."Build it and they will NOT come." It was no "field of dreams" for them, either t $38K.
Sounds like classic passive resistence to me.
Marc
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