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Post by admin on Jul 18, 2008 12:04:21 GMT -5
There is a public safety element to the NPC and it's in the ordinance. If a particular neighborhood wants, they can have a "Crime Watch" program (just as an example) instituted and any other public safety and traffic concerns will also be discussed and addressed with everyone involved. In knocking on all the doors over there last weekend, the neighborhood is not terrified and the residents were much more concerned with speeders on the street. The beauty of the NPC is that it can address just about anything a neighborhood is concerned and once the NPC is there and establishes block captains to report back to the committee - the attention is ongoing. We will get to know the resisdents of Center quite well over time. Read the book "Broken Windows" and see what kind of things Rudy Guiliani started with leading to progress in NYC. Squeegy Washers and Grafitti were he first to go and the rest is history. Negativism should will not effect us. Here is a quote from an email I just received from a resident in town: "I was happy to read about the recent progress. Your leadership and the work of the committee is starting result in some progress." Here's another from yesterday: "This morning, workers showed up at Gordon Vinyard Park with mulch for the playground, that borders Jackson and Center Streets. I'd like to thank you. I look forward to seeing recycle bins in the park ..." There are many people in town behind this effort including a SRO committee made up of some of our towns most involved citizenry. The people on Center are very appreciative of the early efforts and look forward to much more to come. There enthusiasm will not be diminished nor will we be deterred from satisfying them an continuing to roll through town. You can either get on or off the train...it will move forward with or without you. Marc Marc, Excellent post. This backs up the very point I have been trying to get across in defending Concerned. It is all a part of the picture. |
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Post by misterpr1981 on Jul 18, 2008 12:17:00 GMT -5
But Concerned's post had nothing to do with the whole picture. If you can read between the lines, Brian, which I really urge you to start doing, and not take things at face value, you will see that their post is all about focused negativity, and has nothing to do with offering solutions, or reasonable ones at that, or offering constructive criticism. Look at their "body of work," so to speak, and notice how almost all posts made by this person are attacks, and not constructive.
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Post by admin on Jul 18, 2008 12:23:22 GMT -5
But Concerned's post had nothing to do with the whole picture. If you can read between the lines, Brian, which I really urge you to start doing, and not take things at face value, you will see that their post is all about focused negativity, and has nothing to do with offering solutions, or reasonable ones at that, or offering constructive criticism. Look at their "body of work," so to speak, and notice how almost all posts made by this person are attacks, and not constructive. I was talking the whole picture, not Concerned. Concerned brought up a piece of it that has value and Marc backed that up. Maybe you should start seeing that. maybe Concerned just does not fit into the rosy picture everyone wants, but sometimes that is the way it is and should be respected. |
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Post by misterpr1981 on Jul 18, 2008 12:31:23 GMT -5
But that's my point, there's a right way to offer criticism and a wrong way. As simple as that. Concerned is offering negativity, not constructive.
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Post by admin on Jul 18, 2008 12:48:35 GMT -5
But that's my point, there's a right way to offer criticism and a wrong way. As simple as that. Concerned is offering negativity, not constructive. Your point is very fair and I am with you. Constructive criticism is a reasonable expectation. I am merely trying to respect all the points. The same thing happened yesterday with Bobbi. Too many jumped on that post too quick. There were valid and good points in her post. I happen to agree with a great deal of what Bobbi wrote. That whole issue with run down properties is real. We could make a new sport in FB- "Guess the rental." Out of twenty homes, how many are rentals? The only problem is that game would be too easy. Steve, you are an articulate person with good writing skills. The only thing I am going to ask is that you remember that not all people are. Some are not good communicators and others communicate differently. That has to be respected. Concerned is a participant who is brief and to the point. To back you up, I would like to see Concerned write about some positive experiences in the boro. That would be even better. There is not always some evil intent or agenda behind every person who has a gripe. Concerned is the real deal, as I mentioned about Bobbi yesterday. Sometimes the best approach is to draw out the point the person is making. Engage in proper discussion instead of the attack thing. Lisa S is very good at that. Which is why she is a much valued mod. In the end, readers will make up their own minds. We are adults and are capable of filtering out crap. AS mentioned, Marc followed through with a great post. Just what the doctor ordered. He tactfully addressed Concerns concerns. Nobody can ask for better. I understand and respect the caution you have about negativity. You have good points when you mention this topic. But, we cannot devalue the very real concerns that many, many people have. The neighborhood pride committee is a great thing. I doubt that any sane person wants to tear it apart. |
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Post by misterpr1981 on Jul 18, 2008 13:28:58 GMT -5
First, I know that my father responded with a tactful post. But what I'm saying is sometimes certain people don't deserve even that, because they are simply just trying to bait others. Have you looked through all of Concerned's posts? I think 95% of them are just purely anger-fueled. They consist of snide remarks to try to damage the credibility of the poster and their post.
There's also a difference between not being articulate and negativity. You can find it hard to articulate, but still offer constructive criticism. But Concerned has a certain style. There's a sarcasm behind it. It almost reminds me of another poster, who I won't name, which is why I'm actually starting to see through it all.
For example, Concerned could have said something like...
"I think it's great what this committee is doing. My only complaint is that I feel this won't exactly help the cause if there are still guns and...." But coming right out with a snide remark about the so-called danger in the town, is just trying to slam the person posting.
Even with Bobbi, when she started posting, she brought up good points and was fair about it. She would bring up positive and negative and would discuss certain things. Concerned comes in like a Kamikaze who attacks and then disappears. See the difference, Brian?
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Post by admin on Jul 18, 2008 13:33:18 GMT -5
First, I know that my father responded with a tactful post. But what I'm saying is sometimes certain people don't deserve even that, because they are simply just trying to bait others. Have you looked through all of Concerned's posts? I think 95% of them are just purely anger-fueled. They consist of snide remarks to try to damage the credibility of the poster and their post. There's also a difference between not being articulate and negativity. You can find it hard to articulate, but still offer constructive criticism. But Concerned has a certain style. There's a sarcasm behind it. It almost reminds me of another poster, who I won't name, which is why I'm actually starting to see through it all. For example, Concerned could have said something like... "I think it's great what this committee is doing. My only complaint is that I feel this won't exactly help the cause if there are still guns and...." But coming right out with a snide remark about the so-called danger in the town, is just trying to slam the person posting. Even with Bobbi, when she started posting, she brought up good points and was fair about it. She would bring up positive and negative and would discuss certain things. Concerned comes in like a Kamikaze who attacks and then disappears. See the difference, Brian? Never mind. I give up. My only concern as the admin is that the many views and perspectives we have are respected. That includes, yours Steve. |
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Post by concerned on Jul 18, 2008 15:51:54 GMT -5
lisa, its really called common sense. Do you relly believe that this whole "lets walk the street and greet people in a completely minority community has nothing to do with an upcoming election soon..." Couldn't be. lisa, apparently your much more intelligent then me, so why not ask the police dept to give you a rough estimate about how much of this towns crime comes from the center street area....keep painting those hydrants. Great idea, lets make our town's drug den pretty!!!!
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Post by misterpr1981 on Jul 18, 2008 16:27:30 GMT -5
Because, Lisa, that would actually involve walking the walk and not just talking the talk. And we all know that's not what Concerned's agenda is about.  |
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Post by misterpr1981 on Jul 18, 2008 16:36:36 GMT -5
Agreed. By the way, I smell cricketes and grilled ham & cheese sandwiches, Lisa. What a mix!
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Post by admin on Jul 18, 2008 20:12:38 GMT -5
lisa, its really called common sense. Do you relly believe that this whole "lets walk the street and greet people in a completely minority community has nothing to do with an upcoming election soon..." Couldn't be. lisa, apparently your much more intelligent then me, so why not ask the police dept to give you a rough estimate about how much of this towns crime comes from the center street area....keep painting those hydrants. Great idea, lets make our town's drug den pretty!!!! To clear up some confusion today. This post was the last post from Concerned which was posted at 4:51. Eight minutes later at 4:59 Concerned deactivated his/her own account. In other words, nobody posted as a guest. |
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Post by novillero on Jul 21, 2008 8:55:52 GMT -5
I'm not sure I get the real gist is this committee, and how it is going to accomplish its objectives.
But here is a thought (I'm not sure how well it meshes with the intent of the committee): Home Depot and Loews have DIY (do it yourself) classes all the time. Perhaps this committee could team up with one or both of these organizations for some classes for interested borough residents, or could team up with assistance with such companies for assistance on projects.
As to painting a fire hydrant or two... does it revitalize an area, no. But it's certainly not a step backwards. Every little bit helps. I would say that a fledgling committee such as this needs to take some baby steps, get a few accomplishments under their belts before tackling larger, more complex projects. As to the naysayers, bite your lip for a bit, let the group gain some momentum before you jump on them. After the barbarians invaded, Rome wasn't re-built in a day.
p.s. I haven't seen one of these hydrants, but I did see one recently in naother town (I forget where exactly), it was painting black and white - like a dalmation. I thought that was pretty neat.
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Post by stffgpr2003 on Jul 21, 2008 9:25:25 GMT -5
Nov - Thanks for the suggestion. We'll look into these things. The work done - so far - on Center was only a "kick off" of a list that includes 30+ possible improvements on it. There is still much more to do on Center Street, including but not limited to the cosmetic help the volunteers will provide for some of the homeowners, probably after the street is repaved. So far, public works is doing it's portion of the work that will make the paving project look even nicer when it is done. Beautifying the "gateway" on the street, removing dead trees and stumps and working on some grading issues all is yet to come. The NPC's we've modeled ourselves after have focused municipal efforts, first, and followed them up with volunteer contributions on homeowner projects and finally, established ongoing social networking and programming through block captain reporting. We'll encourage homeowners to fix up their homes even more, make the community tighter and teach the residents to raise the bar for everyone on the street. For example, if a rental property is not well maintained the neighbors will say "not on my street!" and hopefully tell the property owner they will not tolerate neglect before calling code enforcement to report non compliance issues. The folks in Columbus, Ohio told us to expect this to happen. And, went on to predict that as the neighborhood improves, owner occupancies rise. This is because many streets become more desirable for homeowners and too much of a hassle for noncompliant landlords to deal with. By the way, I received a letter on Saturday from Jean Holtz (Freehold Education Foundation), who provided me with a ton of Neighborhood Pride Initiative grant sponsors that we will investigate to potentially fund our future projects. The NPC is also trying to set up a block party at nearby church to possibly be sponsored by a new, local business. This will set the social piece of the committee in motion - bringing the neighbors and community closer together. There will be learning opportunties (code enforcement, going green, neighborhood watch, fix up "how to do" etc) and social actrivities (porch meetings, talent contests, etc). There is a lot of info on Neighborhood Pride Committees on the Net. Google the topic to get a better idea of where we may be headed. We ARE new and still learning - but the sky is about the limit for what we can achieve. So far...here are some of the stars of the show, but look for more stars to arrive:  As for what looks a little nicer on a street...same hydrant before and after. <a href="http://img103.imageshack.us/my.php?image=cimg065410100100dt4.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img103.imageshack.us/img103/8414/cimg065410100100dt4.th.jpg" border="0"/></a>   |
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Post by novillero on Jul 21, 2008 9:51:40 GMT -5
If the fire department doesn't mind, perhaps hydrant painting projects could be tackled by art students from the local schools - assuming they draw something on paper first, get permission from the fire department (maybe the property owner too?), then they can paint some "different" fire hydrants - like the dalmation one I mentioned.
There may be other painting projects we could local kids to participate in (not sure what off the top of my head).
I'm sure the committee already thought of this, but you should look into local organizations for help - the various scouting organizations, KofC, Masons, VFW, the kajillion churches in town... (perhaps a competition?)
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Post by stffgpr2003 on Jul 21, 2008 10:36:31 GMT -5
Again...all good suggestions. Keep em coming. Yes, the committee has thought of some and residents are thinking of others.
As for organizational help, committee member Danny Xavier and I are both Master Masons and the local lodge has been very impressed with the concept of the NPC since it was announced.
I am sure at some point they will support the committee as I am sure the Rotary and other local groups will also do. When we get to the volunteer part, I expect to see Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts working along side KofC's, Rotarians, PTO members and Center Street residents.
That's how this COMMUNITY EFFORT is all supposed to work. We'll do your street and you'll do ours. I know I will be doing my share of scraping and painting. As a painter, I hope I do more good than damage! LOL!!!!
Marc
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Post by stffgpr2003 on Aug 1, 2008 10:40:22 GMT -5
Just received a nice photo of our NPC counterparts in Columbus, OH. Bruce Black (top) has been a great help to Freehold Borough and these are some summer volunteers for a Bike Festival the NPC hosted. Nice shirts, but Anthony DiFlumeri did a better job with ours!  |
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