Monday, September 17, 2012
Our columnist takes a closer look at Democratic council candidate Mark Hines—where he (and his running mates) stand on the issues, and how he feels about his detractors.
Our neighborhood has changed dramatically in the last few years, as houses have sold and younger families have moved in. The cul-de-sacs are once again filled with wagons, toys, tricycles and the sounds of children playing. The joyous sounds of unstructured playtime drift my way in the late afternoon, reminding me of when my boys were young, shooting hoops out front or organizing the other kids for a pre-dusk game of "jail break." Games from my childhood are lost now: Mother May I?, Freeze Tag, Red Light/Green Light, even Jacks and jump rope have been stashed in the past. One game lives on, though: rock, paper, scissors. I was thinking about this the other day, reminding myself that paper covers rock, rock trumps scissors, scissors cut …
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Moorestown council voted 3-2 in favor of dipping into the Open Space Trust Fund to pay for improvements to Wesley Bishop, while a potential lawsuit looms in the background.
CLARIFICATION: Township attorney Thomas Coleman, noting he is "also a taxpayer of this township," told council he would handle the litigation related to the Open Space case pro bono. This information was accidentally omitted from an earlier version of this story. Patch apologizes for the oversight. __________________________ After all this time, it ended more or less how you expected it to end. Following months (and months) of debate and indecision, township council voted 3-2 Monday night to use $1.5 million from the Open Space, Recreation, Farmland and Historic Preservation Trust Fund for improvements to Wesley Bishop North. The vote followed more than an hour of public comment—mostly in opposition to the use of the Trust Fund—and …
Monday, May 21, 2012
Yet another special meeting about using Open Space funds for recreation is on the docket tonight. Will we see a resolution to this never-ending debate?
For those of you eagerly awaiting Part Two of the library saga, you will have to be patient a little longer. The research takes time and, well, we at the library occasionally put down our cocktails and do something called “work.” Apparently we haven’t been doing enough of the right kind of work, like sweeping, changing light bulbs and general building maintenance, as all the other township employees apparently do in their workplaces. Rumor has it township manager Scott Carew is quite adept with the vacuum cleaner. At the last town council meeting (which I missed) it was announced yet another special public meeting would be held to decide whether Open Space funds should be used to pay for field improvements. Someone please cue Dionne …
Friday, May 11, 2012
The candidates for Moorestown Township Council discuss plans to revitalize Main Street, guide open space spending and court public opinion early and often.
Democratic candidates Greg Newcomer, Brian Sattinger and Mark Hines have plenty of ideas for what they’d like to accomplish if elected to council—a finished town hall, a revitalized Main Street, a township TV channel—but their core message is simple. Their primary mission, Hines said, is to find out “What does the community want, and really work hard to make sure we understand. So if I walk down the street and I said, ‘What do you expect out of Moorestown?,’ and you walk down and talk to another person and ask, ‘What do you expect out of Moorestown?,’ we’d start really putting it together and synthesize it into a vision.” The candidates peppered words like “discussion,” “dialogue,” and “consensus” throughout their conversation about their …
Friday, April 27, 2012
Council has until the end of next week to decide on how to proceed with the projects.
Several township sports clubs have come together to commit a little more than $1 million to the athletic fields improvement project. Mayor John Button said the township has until the end of next week—60 days from receiving the bids—to decide on the remaining projects. A special meeting had been scheduled for this past Monday, but was called off to give the clubs more time to firm up their funding commitments. “I didn’t feel we would have complete enough information (to have the meeting this past Monday),” said Button. According to information provided by Kevin Loftus, member of the Open Space Committee and former K.I.D.S. subcommittee chair, the combined private funding commitments from the township youth sports clubs to date comes to …
39.97684
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Wesley Bishop Park
1248 N Church St, Moorestown, NJ
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1828354
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39.99228
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John Pryor M.D. Park
Salem Rd & Hartford Rd, Moorestown, NJ
/articles/sports-clubs-commit-1-million-to-field-improvements
1820179
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Monday, April 23, 2012
The battle rages on as both sides of the turf/open space issue air their opinions.
Last Monday night, in an attempt to resolve funding for the fields project, we were treated to “Special Meeting, Part One.” Tonight, we were supposed to have “Son of Special Meeting,” hosted by the congenial Mayor Button. That meeting has been cancelled, although not due to lack of interest. If you actually got up out of the “Land of Apathy” last week to attend, you witnessed something akin to a rumble between the Sharks and the Jets, as the sports dads roared on one side of the WAMS auditorium and the tree huggers clumped together on the other side of the room, breaking into polite applause when a councilman actually appeared to be listening. I think it only happened once. I have been accused of being mean-spirited, of misrepresenting …
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Resident Edward Nice tries to clear up what he calls the "confusion" surrounding the open space debate.
To the editor: It is clear to me most people are confused by the open space fund. Before I did any research, I admit I was a little too, so I did some research. The first thing that bothered me was the references to it being the open space fund. It is not the open space fund, it is the Open Space, Recreation, Farmland and Historic Preservation Trust Fund. The fund is established pursuant to NJSA 40:12-15.1 and, as the name states, it allows our tax dollars to be used for all permitted uses. Each use is clearing defined in the law. http://www.state.nj.us/dca/lgs/lfns/98lfns/98htms/mc98-2.htm Despite that fact, some continue to claim it is not what they “intended” or what they were “led to believe" when they voted for the Open Space, …
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
“We just don’t think one-party rule is best for Moorestown ... It feels like it’s time to make a difference.”
UPDATE: This isn't the first time Democratic candidate Greg Newcomer has been asked to run for council. It's just the first time he's said "yes." "A lot of people have asked me to do this. It's kind of a large thing to do," he said when reached for comment Wednesday. "The other times I was asked, I had different things happening in my life. I just felt now was probably the right time. "And I think more people asked me to run this time than ever before." Newcomer said he's honored to have been selected. If elected, Newcomer said his focus will be on ensuring the public's voice is heard early and often, particularly at council meetings. "I hope what we're about is getting people to come out and feel good about meeting at a town council …
Thursday, January 19, 2012
"I am praying for a return to the days when a person wishing to run for president of the United States could do so even if he or she weren’t a millionaire or billionaire backed by super PACS."
- OPINION
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Thursday, January 19, 2012
To the Editor: One of my super PAC’s latest ads is the talk of the town. It features two colored photographs. The first shows a glass filled with cloudy, yellowish-brown water described as a sample drawn from the faucet of my kitchen sink on Oct. 6, 2011. The second shows a glass with a deposit of sand-like brown particles at the bottom of a clear container. The caption describes it as the same water sample—a month later. The camera shifts its focus to a child drinking the water. It goes on to ask, “Should we believe Moorestown public officials who assure us that whatever is in our drinking water supply is perfectly harmless?” Another of my super PAC ads is now saturating the airways. It features athletic fields carpeted with plastic …
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Town manager Scott Carew says the $4 million project could be partially paid for using business sponsorships and naming rights.
- GOVERNMENT
- Rob Scott
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Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Township council gave town manager Scott Carew its blessing Monday to seek bids for improvements to three township athletic fields. The project, otherwise known as the K.I.D.S. Initiative, includes upgrades to Wesley Bishop North (new turf field, parking improvements), Wesley Bishop South (irrigation and refurbishment of the grass field, fencing), and Pryor Park (drainage improvements, new lights). The township has estimated it will cost around $4 million to do all three fields, including interest. Carew described the project as an “investment” for the township. “I do think the fields are a benefit beyond the direct user,” he said. “It is a very important amenity that young families looking to move to the area, it’s right near the top of …
HD
12:23 pm on Tuesday, September 18, 2012
I would want him on town council because of his management/leadership skills, ability to get things accomplished, dedication to improving Moorestown, and fiscal responsibility. I know Mark and he would always act ethically and with integrity. He is a very good choice for town council. I hope he wins. more ›