SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING

[adefonzo]

libyansybil said:

Congrats George. As to the partisanship comment, why doesn't he or someone post here. It doesn't have to be an ongoing conversation, and it could be unofficial prepared" statements.

What does it hurt if council answers questions on matters of public interest? I think a lot of "partisanship" issues would have died quiet deaths but for silence, etc. which only heightened perceptions of wrongdoing, deceit, etc. Let's not go into that right now. But I think Geo is onto something.

Question: What happens with the seat Geo is in? Does he serve out the rest of Crawford's term or does he have an election this year for the rest of Crawford's term?

Again, congrats to Geo. Sorry, Casual.

If I am correct, Mr Schnurr is up for re-election in November. All he is doing, basically, if finishing out Mr Crawford's term in office.

[richardkelsey]

admin said:

www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071228/NEWS01/712280423/1285/LOCAL09


FREEHOLD — The all-Democratic Borough Council has named George J. Schnurr, a Planning Board member and former Little League president, to fill a vacancy on the governing body.

Schnurr, a Democrat, was appointed at a special council meeting Thursday to complete the one-year unexpired term of Robert Crawford. Under state law, the appointee must be of the same party as the person who held the vacated seat.

Crawford stepped down earlier this month because he was moving to Howell. His term expires at the end of 2008.

"(Schnurr) shares our vision and our optimism for the future of Freehold," Mayor Michael Wilson read from a prepared statement. "He will help us to continue to develop new and innovative ideas for the betterment of our town."

Schnurr has served for two years on the Planning Board and will serve as the council's liaison to the board.

Schnurr said he began to work with the borough government as president of the town's Little League. Schnurr served on the Little League's board of directors for nine years and was president for four of those years, he said.

Schnurr has been praised for his accomplishments in Little League, particularly for improvements to the town's baseball fields.

Schnurr worked with borough officials to secure more than $300,000 in federal and state grants, which were used to repair the main baseball field and create a multipurpose field, playground and walking trail at the Otterson Road complex. A scoreboard and batting cages were added to the Fourth Street baseball field.

Schnurr encouraged the borough's Recreation Commission to launch an "urban initiative" that would involve low-income children in organized sports, he has said.

Schnurr said Thursday that as councilman, he hopes to cleanse the town of what he called its "partisan atmosphere."

"I would like to put the last few months of the previous election cycle behind us and move forward to improve the quality of life in Freehold Borough," Schnurr said, also reading from prepared notes.

"We need to listen to each other" without concern for party affiliation or group identification, and to pick good ideas regardless of where they came from, he added.

Schnurr is married with two children. He is the director of information technology at the Howard Press division of FedEx Kinko's.

Kim Predham: [phone] or [e-mail]

The man seems more than qualified, and appears to have a very strong community record of doing good int he community for the community's sake, and not his own.

Those are positives, and of course I wish him the very best -- as my efforts have always been to help Freehold. With that, we appear to share a common vision.

Let's see how his efforts at bi-partisanship turn out.

[fiberisgoodforyou]

libyansybil said:

Congrats George. As to the partisanship comment, why doesn't he or someone post here. .

If we have not figured out by now, an executive order had been issued mandating all council members to not create public web posts.

Not even a post that talks about weather!

Specifically to those who are appointees (now three of six), your not going to violate an executive order.

[pricewepay]

I am always amazed at the call to eliminate "partisanship" by a Democrat, appointed to the all Democratic council. What they really mean,is for everyone to shut up, go along with their do nothing policies, and never,never criticize the mayor. If you do,we will go after you. This Borough has had enough of "nonpartisan" politics. It needs a srong and active opposition that holds the council accountable !If they really wanted a nonpatisan person, they would have appointed a Republican.
One other point - George has no ties to the Public Schools. Once again, the mayor talks one way,and acts another.

[fiberisgoodforyou]

Old baseball complex enjoys
new life as Community Park
By clare MARie celano
Staff Writer


FREEHOLD — The new Community Park is completed and ready for borough residents.

The park on Otterson Road, which is home to the Freehold Borough Little League, combines the excitement of team sports with the fun of a picnic on a grassy field. It is now also a place where children can enjoy wonderful, colorful new playground equipment.

According to Borough Administrator Joseph Bellina, borough employees have converted a "virtual eyesore into a community park that will be enjoyed by all residents."

Bellina said the project required more than three years of planning, design, funding and implementation. He said the borough received more than $300,000 in various forms of grant funding from the Community Development Block Grant program to undertake this endeavor.

Numerous repairs of the grounds have taken place under the direction of Superintendent of Streets and Roads Bobby Holmes, Superintendent of Water and Sewer Norm Townsend and the borough’s engineer aide, Dan Megill, according to Bellina.

The administrator said the credit for the design of the park goes to Abbington Associates of Freehold.

The park’s fields have been resodded, new sprinklers have been installed on all fields and two new bathrooms have been installed in the clubhouse.

According to Bellina, prior to this time there was only a baseball field at the facility. The new $30,000 red, white and blue plastic playground has changed all that. Parents can enjoy watching their young-sters play in a baseball game while sitting on new bleachers, while taking turns walking their little ones over to the playground section.

The town has also installed new batting cages and has provided a concrete walk and access to comply with the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as well as ease of pedestrian movement. An ADA walking trail has also been provided, according to Bellina.

Landscaping throughout the park has been added and now accentuates the improvements made.

A new scoreboard and a parking area have also been added to the Fourth Street field.

New park benches are expected to be installed in the coming weeks.

The Freehold Borough Little League has been using the new fields at the park sporadically, due to inclement weather, since April. Little League President George Schnurr said everyone is enjoying the new facility.

Calling the Community Park "a first-rate facility," at a dedication ceremony on May 10, Schnurr thanked Mayor Michael Wilson, Borough Council members, bor­ough employees, Bellina and Megill for all of their efforts in seeing that the im­provements were completed.

"I am very fortunate to have had the mayor and council’s unyielding support for our program," Schnurr said. "I thank them for today’s participation and for all of their cooperation during the preceding months."

Wilson was joined at the ceremony by council President Sharon Shutzer, Councilman Michael Toubin and Samantha Daesner, representing the recreation commission.

Schnurr said Bellina has "worked tire­lessly on our behalf, for almost three years, to make this a reality. It is nice to dream, but without the technical and ad­ministrative expertise that Joe Bellina brings to the table, this project would have never seen the light of day."

[fiberisgoodforyou]

ASBURY PARK PRESS
SALUTES HOME TOWN HEROS


Freehold parent hits a home run for borough Little League
Published in the Asbury Park Press 06/5/05
BY NINA RIZZO
FREEHOLD BUREAU

FREEHOLD — George Schnurr wanted the best seat in the house when his son began to play tee-ball eight years ago.

Freehold Borough Little League requires parents to get involved with the program, so Schnurr opted to become an umpire. That volunteer post gave him a clear view of each game. It also enabled him to travel to various towns during the end-of-the-season tournament and see ball fields in considerably better shape than the ones his son, Michael, now 15, played on.

"I said, "Why can't our fields look like that?' " Schnurr recalled last week. "Our fields were a dump. . . . It was a terrible place to play baseball."

He described the borough-owned ball fields on Otterson Road as a "red light district" where adults and teens would engage in other kinds of activities. Homeless people slept on the benches and burned the benches with their hibachis. Dog fights were held in the dugouts.

"I said to myself, "This is nuts,' " Schnurr said.

Then he did something about it.

Schnurr, 47, is recognized this week as an Asbury Park Press Hometown Hero.

The Park Avenue resident joined the Little League board of directors at the end of his son's first season and persuaded his colleagues to put gates on the fields, which are leased to his organization, to keep out troublemakers. He became president in 2001, and the following year, worked with borough officials to get more than $300,000 in federal and state grants to create a community park.

The grants were used to repair the main baseball field and create a multipurpose field, playground and walking trail at the complex. Other improvements, including a scoreboard and batting cages, were added to the Fourth Street baseball field.

"One person can make a big difference," he said. "But one person can't do it alone. I had help from many parents and board members who made my dream a reality."

James Whiting of Bond Street said that as he watches his 10-year-old son Jahree Locklear play baseball, he appreciates Schnurr's efforts to clean up the complex.

"The kids need it around here," Whiting said, noting that there aren't many other borough-based recreational activities in this small town.

Annie Ferro, a league board member, also credited Schnurr with improving the fields. Now, she said, "we're up there with the rest of the towns. It gives us pride in the town."

The manicured grounds aren't the only noticeable change at the Little League complex. Schnurr said he encouraged the borough's Recreation Commission in 2001 to establish an "urban initiative" that would sponsor low-income children. This season, 32 children are in the program, and most of them are black and Hispanic, he said.

"There's a lot of kids who wouldn't be introduced to organized athletics and baseball if it wasn't for that program," Schnurr said.

Katherine Blum of Monmouth Avenue, who has run the snack stand for the past seven years, said the league runs smoothly because of Schnurr's keen organizational skills.

"He's unselfish with his time. He focuses on something, and it gets done," she said.

"I know that I left my mark," Schnurr said, sitting in an office that overlooks the fields. He gazed at the uniformed children and added: "Ten years from now, they may not know who the president was back then, who helped get the grant, but they'll know someone did.

"I think everyone should contribute something to their society and their town," he said. "I picked this because I knew I could do this."

[fiberisgoodforyou]

pricewepay said:

I am always amazed at the call to eliminate "partisanship" by a Democrat, appointed to the all Democratic council. What they really mean,is for everyone to shut up, go along with their do nothing policies, and never,never criticize the mayor. If you do,we will go after you. This Borough has had enough of "nonpartisan" politics. It needs a srong and active opposition that holds the council accountable !If they really wanted a nonpatisan person, they would have appointed a Republican.
One other point - George has no ties to the Public Schools. Once again, the mayor talks one way,and acts another.

Good post Price,

Sure its easier to vilify opposition than to openly offer visibility that resolves reasonable inquiry. What we see is power and control, which leads to arrogance and vilification.

Anyone else notice that much of the Mayor and Council President recent comments are about Malcontents, Partisanship, Radicals, Tactics, Cleansing, etc...., has a ring of familiarity?

Are you not sure where you heard vixenish terms of vacillation used to depict critics or contrarians who hold an intelligent view of opposition.

I recently was reading up on Nixon and Agnew when it hit me. Sprio Agnew, Nixons first term hatchet man was notorious for discounting and devolving alternate critical opinionsthrough his speeches using terms such as “ nattering nabobs of negativism“, "pusillanimous puss-y-footers" and "vicars of vacillation", "the hopeless, hysterical hypochondriacs of history", "tiny and closed fraternity of privileged men, elected by no one".

Spiro Agnew was the Proto-VP for Dick Chaney today.

Agnew developed a distinctive, jeering speech style that mixed some heavy fun into the contempt. Sound familiar, today?

Lets better understand the words being put forth from Borough Hall. The recent course of “Soft-Core” Public Name calling has been established solely by the Boro Establishment. I'd like to see were or who else from the opposition has merit less public belittlement been charged?

In a democracy, we accept the fact that we live with two (plus) parties, and it is constitutional to criticize, complain, question, compare and measure the accountability of those people elected to perform for public service.

Comes down to this, we all work hard, we all get Taxed hard, Taxpayers must see it evident that we are the beneficiary of these heavy levies. We expect no less than a set process that maintains a flattening as well as a reduction of these tax levies wherever and whenever possible! Accountable Government upholds to this principle, not resort to calling constituents malcontents or radicals!

2008 is days away, lets hope to see new constructive vocabulary from Borough Hall this new year. We are allowed to disagree, and express disagreement.

[admin]

fiberisgoodforyou said:

libyansybil said:

Congrats George. As to the partisanship comment, why doesn't he or someone post here. .

Specifically to those who are appointees (now three of six), your not going to violate an executive order.

The irony, all three of the appointees are the only ones who have ever posted here on their own. Council Woman Shutzer and Mayor Wilson, to their credit, have sent messages to us through another person. Of course, that was before they all got mad at all of us.

Now, if we can work on getting Dibettideno and Kane to post here........

[adefonzo]

admin said:

fiberisgoodforyou said:

Specifically to those who are appointees (now three of six), your not going to violate an executive order.

The irony, all three of the appointees are the only ones who have ever posted here on their own. Council Woman Shutzer and Mayor Wilson, to their credit, have sent messages to us through another person. Of course, that was before they all got mad at all of us.

Now, if we can work on getting Dibettideno and Kane to post here........

it would be nice, Brian, after all, the Mayor and Town Council continue to talk about the open lines of communication they have developed with immigrant advocacy groups...hopefully in this new year, they will take the time to develop open lines of communication with the legal residents of our town who don't always see eye to eye with them. Even if you don't agree with someone on one particular issue, doesn't mean they won't be useful in other avenues.

Personally, I would rather engage in conversation with people who appear to be on the opposing side of an issue than myself. So long as someone has an intelligent opinion based on facts, there is never a harm in discussing it with them. Silence and avoidance is what breeds distrust and a sense of being malcontent. Educating and trying to be transparent has certainly happened on the school board, it should be able to work with the Mayor and Town Council as well.