Saturday’s weather held up nicely and a good number of residents stopped by the 2nd Annual Hillside Street Fair held at Central Avenue near the community pool.
The general consensus was that the event, sponsored by the township’s Urban Enterprise Zone office, was a success — and an improvement over last year’s fair near the Municipal Building.
The fair featured 80 vendors, including a food court in the pool complex.
The Hillsider stopped by for about an hour. While we did see plenty of well-known folks (more photos after the jump), we didn’t see the mayor while we were there. Did anyone else see her?
If anyone would like to share any of their photos, please send them, or a link to them, to tips–at–thehillsider.com
The members of the new Hillside Alliance Against Drug Abuse (previously the Hillside Mayor’s Alliance) were announced this week.
Not a member is George Cook, who during the last four Council meetings lobbied for a seat on the panel.
It probably didn’t help Cook, who ran for a seat on the school board in April, that he described the new Alliance in a newspaper article as “a little toy and they are pulling it back and forth to see who gets it.” Even if it is true.
Here are the minutes from the last Community Forum meeting held on May 3. The minutes were released by the organizers.
Stay tuned for the date and place of the next meeting.
* * * *
Attendance: Councilwoman Bates, Nathalie Yafet,, Ralph Humphrey, Rayba Watson, George Cook II, Lynn Liput, Marcelle Jackson, Lenora Williams, Tawn Walker, Robert Douglas Jr., and Tonia Hobbs.
Develop a Mission Statement:
A final statement will be tabled for the next meeting. However, some suggestions included a nonpartisan grassroots group of Hillside residents dedicated to providing information that empowers citizens to access and participate in local government for the purpose of strengthening our community.
All 10 candidates running for the Hillside Board of Education agree — at least they did at Thursday’s forum — that voters should approve the district’s flat-tax budget.
YAFET
There wasn’t much more the candidates — who are grouped into three competing slates and one independent — agreed upon, although several of the 150 people who attended agreed that much of what was said was “usual pablum” and “cliche.”
ISAAC
Richard Samiec, who’s running with Salonia Saxton and Jamar Cherry on the Democratic machine-backed slate, opened with this insight:
“When I ran five years ago our team was the ‘Children FIRST Committee.’ This year we’re the ‘Committee for Sensible School Spending.’ Put them together and you have the Committee for Children FIRST and Sensible School Spending.”
Incumbent Nathalie Yafet, however, pointedly slammed the political machine and stopped short of calling her opponents puppets.
KORZENESKI
“I am passionate about education and about the taxpayers,” Yafet said in her closing statement. “But I’m also passionate about not yielding control to the political machine. I have fought them for the twelve years that I’ve been on the school board and as long as the voters are behind me and I have a breath left, I will continue to represent this community in the best interests of the taxpayers and the students, not the political bosses!”
Yafet is running with Tori Isaac, a college student, and incumbent June Korzeneski, a former high school teacher, guidance counselor and teachers union leader.
The crowd cheered Yafet and solo candidate Shelby Robinson’s comments about being independent, but the politicos’ hatred of Yafet was evident in the peanut gallery.
As Yafet spoke, board member Elbert Smith — who’s backing Saxton-Samiec-Cherry — said: “She’s psychotic as hell.” To which political hanger-on Arthur Kobitz replied: “From the Twilight Zone.”
Speaking of the Twilight Zone, perhaps the weirdest moment came when the candidates were asked about their own education — as in, do they have any.
Cherry, who introduced himself as “the best candidate for the Board of Education,” hotly blurted out: “I won’t answer that question!” Then the Union County public works laborer went on to say: “I don’t have any degrees. I’m a coach and I can represent the rest of you.”
CHERRY
On the topic of drugs and violence in the schools, George L. Cook III said the effort “must start in the home so that teachers can spend more time teaching.” Cook is running with Antoinette “Toni” Parker and Jose Betances and they’re backed by school board member Andre Daniels and activist Jeffrey Dykes.
Robinson, the W.O. Krumbeigel Middle School PTA president, said that a police officer should be in the schools.
SAMIEC
Samiec suggested “cameras in the schools,” but Yafet corrected him: “We already have cameras in our schools.”
On the topic of school regionalization, which Gov. Jon Corzine has suggested as a way to save money, Cherry said he is “60-40″ in favor of it “until we get our house in order.” Saxon is “against it for now” but “willing to take a look at it later.” All others were fully against it.
SAXTON
When asked for areas where the budget can be cut if it is turned down by the voters, Issac said academics should not be cut but suggested looking into athletics. Robinson suggested finding savings in building usage. Other candidates avoided the question.
Yafet said that it is unreasonable to believe that the public would vote down this budget, which won’t raise school taxes, and ran off a list of items that have been put off for years that need to be addressed, including heating, ventilation and window replacement.
* * * *
After the forum, Kobitz — who’s the brother of former school board member and county election administrator Dennis Kobitz — was telling people that the campaign “was going to get nasty.” Read: expect slime targeting Yafet.
* * * *
Fourth Ward Councilman Gerald “Pateesh” Freedman, who’s backing Yafet-Isaac-Korzeneski, and 2nd Ward Councilwoman Shelley-Ann Bates, were the only council members at the forum. The mayor was also absent.
From the school board were: Smith, Angela Menza, Andre Daniels, Nagy Sileem and Angela Garretson.
Also: Joseph Menza, and community organizers Tonia Hobbs and Rayba Watson.
A group of parent-teacher association mothers and professional workers with questions about rising property taxes are calling for a separate public hearing next month on the proposed 2008 municipal budget.
The council has been insistent on having a budget hearing during its regularly scheduled Jan. 8 meeting, and then immediately voting on adoption of the spending plan. Such a budget hearing/council meeting format was followed Nov. 27, to protests from residents, when the council introduced a budget in time to qualify for state extraordinary aid.
After receiving $700,000 in relief funds earlier this month, the council planned to routinely proceed to a final adoption of the budget next month. But residents who said they were denied an opportunity to give input on the budget last month are demanding to be heard now.
“They should have a separate budget hearing so more people will attend, and then take people’s comments into consideration,” said Rayba Watson of Jerome Avenue. “They seem to be wanting to have it during a (council) meeting, and then voting without considering what we say.”
— POST CONTINUES BELOW —
In a usual retort, Council President Leonard Gilbert said notices of the budget and meetings are published (in fine print) in the local newspapers. The Ledger quotes him as saying that he’ll personally notify residents of the Jan. 8 meeting. Let us know (tips @ thehillsider.com) if you’re one of the lucky ones he gets a hold of.
Residents have cause to be upset. The council never has any discussion or explanation of their budget — unlike the Board of Education, which distributes massive amounts of information to go along with the lengthy PowerPoint presentations the schools superintendent makes each year about the school budget.
Then again, the public gets to vote on the school’s budget but not the township’s.
