Thursday, May 31, 2007
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Densie and Jon's Wedding
Densie and Jon had their wedding on May 5th. The rehersal dinner was held at the Charlesworth Hotel. It was quite the nice evening for sure. As the picture show we all had a nice time. The wedding was held at the Fortescue Chapel Its a cute church a short distance from the Delaware Bay. The following pictures are taken from the church. I was in the wedding party so I do not have a lot from the actual service BUT I have have lots of family photos. The reception was held at the Union Lake Sailing and Tennis Club. The catering was done by Sandy Riley and folks liked the food. The day was cool and dry and the Newlyweds vacationed in Belize.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
A Very Bad SLUMLORD
Here is a letter I am writing to one of the WORST slumlords in Millville Abdul and Irene Sheikh
Please copy and write your own letter to this slumlord couple making $$ off the misiry of others
Abdul S & Irene Sheikh
2002 E 28th St
Brooklyn, N Y 11229
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Sheikh:
I am writing to file a complaint about your property at 320 E. Oak Street in Millville, NJ. I will copy this letter to Millville code officials and the City Commission.
Your tenant was recently fined for maintaining a nuisance property with frequent police calls about drugs and loud and abusive behavior. I have read that you have not returned calls about your responsibility for activities on your property. The police chief has called you the “city’s most problematic rental property owners”
You are an absentee landlord, and a scourge to the residents that are trying to improve our quality of life in this town. I will request that the city revoke your permit to rent this property as you have made it clear that you will allow any sort of criminal activity to go unchecked on this property.
My neighbors and friends will be writing to you as well. Attached is the article in our local paper. We will complain until this matter is resolved. . We all will petition the city to revoke your rental permit.
Regards,
Mark Krull
Concerned Resident and Neighbor
Cc: Mayor James Quinn
Vice Mayor Joseph Derella
Commissioner Tim Shannon
Commissioner Jim Parent
Commissioner John Hollingshead
Wayne Caregnato, Code Enforcement
Please copy and write your own letter to this slumlord couple making $$ off the misiry of others
Abdul S & Irene Sheikh
2002 E 28th St
Brooklyn, N Y 11229
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Sheikh:
I am writing to file a complaint about your property at 320 E. Oak Street in Millville, NJ. I will copy this letter to Millville code officials and the City Commission.
Your tenant was recently fined for maintaining a nuisance property with frequent police calls about drugs and loud and abusive behavior. I have read that you have not returned calls about your responsibility for activities on your property. The police chief has called you the “city’s most problematic rental property owners”
You are an absentee landlord, and a scourge to the residents that are trying to improve our quality of life in this town. I will request that the city revoke your permit to rent this property as you have made it clear that you will allow any sort of criminal activity to go unchecked on this property.
My neighbors and friends will be writing to you as well. Attached is the article in our local paper. We will complain until this matter is resolved. . We all will petition the city to revoke your rental permit.
Regards,
Mark Krull
Concerned Resident and Neighbor
Cc: Mayor James Quinn
Vice Mayor Joseph Derella
Commissioner Tim Shannon
Commissioner Jim Parent
Commissioner John Hollingshead
Wayne Caregnato, Code Enforcement
Friday, May 04, 2007
Letter from the Deputy Secretary
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Deputy's Corner / Focus on the CAO / Up and Coming / TANF R / Change Center
Deputy's Corner
May 2007
Customer Service
Day in and day out CAO staff – IMCW’s and Clerical staff alike – are on the front line for DPW. The work you do provides a lifeline to so many people on a daily basis. People walking in our doors are people in trouble – and you are the gateway to the help they need. The words from a recent thank you note sent to two workers in the Ogontz District in Philadelphia describe so well what each of you strives to achieve in our daily interactions with clients:
“It is very comforting to know that I have workers like you. You are always courteous, available, and helpful. I know that you have a hard job and lots of clients but you handle it very well. You have treated me with the dignity and respect that I deserve as a human. I never felt that you guys looked at me any other way. And I thank you for that.”
For nearly half of the individuals who apply for assistance, we can’t meet their need, because the family or individual has too much income. These families also need our understanding and care – every day you provide a sympathetic ear and referrals to other possible sources of help. Often, you are called on to talk to clients who are very challenging – frustrated, demanding, not able to comprehend what we are asking them to do. It is hard to remember sometimes that their behavior is not aimed at you personally, but is an expression of their own helplessness and fear in the situation they are in.
Every now and then, one of our staff lets the workload and their personal frustration with the pressures of the job lose that perspective and treat our clients rudely. I am guessing that ninety-five percent of our interactions with clients are positive. But every week, a dozen or more letters and several calls find their way to my desk from clients who have encountered poor or insensitive handling or downright rude treatment.
This loss of professionalism is incredibly damaging to us all – it blackens our reputation – and leads to questions about our competence. All of this is to say, we need to be vigilant that we help each other to maintain our perspective and not take out our frustrations on our clients – even the ones who are offensive to us. We must have zero tolerance for rudeness.
It is clear that CAO staff are incredibly dedicated to the work that we do. I have heard loud and clear that the workload is very taxing. Retirements are going to put additional demands on all of us. However we must remain committed to providing those we serve with the very best in customer service.
I am confident that the initiatives that we are working on right now – Reception Redesign, Scanning, Automated Renewals, Child Care Unification and development of the Dashboard and IEVS redesign – will provide better support for you in managing our work which will allow us to continue to move forward in our quest to “Becoming a Stellar Organization.”
OIM Home Category Search Global Search Feedback
Deputy's Corner / Focus on the CAO / Up and Coming / TANF R / Change Center
Deputy's Corner
May 2007
Customer Service
Day in and day out CAO staff – IMCW’s and Clerical staff alike – are on the front line for DPW. The work you do provides a lifeline to so many people on a daily basis. People walking in our doors are people in trouble – and you are the gateway to the help they need. The words from a recent thank you note sent to two workers in the Ogontz District in Philadelphia describe so well what each of you strives to achieve in our daily interactions with clients:
“It is very comforting to know that I have workers like you. You are always courteous, available, and helpful. I know that you have a hard job and lots of clients but you handle it very well. You have treated me with the dignity and respect that I deserve as a human. I never felt that you guys looked at me any other way. And I thank you for that.”
For nearly half of the individuals who apply for assistance, we can’t meet their need, because the family or individual has too much income. These families also need our understanding and care – every day you provide a sympathetic ear and referrals to other possible sources of help. Often, you are called on to talk to clients who are very challenging – frustrated, demanding, not able to comprehend what we are asking them to do. It is hard to remember sometimes that their behavior is not aimed at you personally, but is an expression of their own helplessness and fear in the situation they are in.
Every now and then, one of our staff lets the workload and their personal frustration with the pressures of the job lose that perspective and treat our clients rudely. I am guessing that ninety-five percent of our interactions with clients are positive. But every week, a dozen or more letters and several calls find their way to my desk from clients who have encountered poor or insensitive handling or downright rude treatment.
This loss of professionalism is incredibly damaging to us all – it blackens our reputation – and leads to questions about our competence. All of this is to say, we need to be vigilant that we help each other to maintain our perspective and not take out our frustrations on our clients – even the ones who are offensive to us. We must have zero tolerance for rudeness.
It is clear that CAO staff are incredibly dedicated to the work that we do. I have heard loud and clear that the workload is very taxing. Retirements are going to put additional demands on all of us. However we must remain committed to providing those we serve with the very best in customer service.
I am confident that the initiatives that we are working on right now – Reception Redesign, Scanning, Automated Renewals, Child Care Unification and development of the Dashboard and IEVS redesign – will provide better support for you in managing our work which will allow us to continue to move forward in our quest to “Becoming a Stellar Organization.”
Plan to build 60 townhouses at Millville Gardens
The meeting at Millville Gardens was held yesterday May 3rd at 6pm outdoors and consisted of the city, the developer and the housing authority who laid out the tentative plans for what's going to happen with the complex and the current residents. Even though the meeting wasn't heavily publicized, the meeting drew a nice crowd which included residents, the Mayor Quinn and other city residents.
Thursday, May 03, 2007
The State of of the USA
From the Philadelphia Inquirer today May 3rd 2007.
Hey, poor people: Blame yourselves!
Associated Press
Henry Fonda as Tom Joad in the film classic "The Grapes of Wrath." For the poor to return to those 1940 halcyon days when Tom Joad was idolized by millions, they are going to need to undergo a classwide makeover.
The other night, while channel-surfing, I happened upon the famous final scene from John Ford's classic film The Grapes of Wrath. Hearing Henry Fonda's inspirational words about always being present, if only in spirit, whenever injustice was perpetrated on the downtrodden reminded me that, within living memory, poor people served an important function in this society as icons.
Once upon a time, great writers such as John Steinbeck lionized the poor; once upon a time, talented men like James Agee and Walker Evans paid homage to the faceless, indigent but insuperable masses. And though the average moviegoer may not have envied Tom Joad his plight, the viewer definitely felt a grudging sense of respect, recognizing that even if Joad did not have much in the way of worldly possessions, he at least had his dignity. And this made the typical moviegoer feel better about himself.
The days when dignity counted for anything on this continent are long gone. A society afflicted by an almost pornographic fascination with the foibles of the idle rich has no time to spend thinking about the poor, and, as a result, the lower classes have largely dropped off the radar screen. The agenda-setting tendencies of the media have had much to do with this. A profession once dominated by tough, streetwise refugees from the working class is now dominated by dainty alumni from our finest schools, people to whom poverty is not only unpleasant and unhygienic but totally uncool.
In a world bristling with such sexy topics as the latest exploits of predatory hedge funds and lupine private-equity firms, why would anyone want to write about the poor, who never do anything that is even vaguely exotic? In a world filled with flashy megalomaniacs including Paris Hilton, Mark Cuban, Tom Cruise and Madonna, why would anyone want to read about glamourless screw-ups living in public housing?
Lest I be accused of mawkish condescension, let me make it clear that I am not relieving the poor themselves of responsibility for their disappearance from the nation's consciousness. Poor people rarely set aside sufficient money for retirement. Poor people do not network. Worse, many poor people have scary tattoos. This is not the way Tom Joad went about winning the hearts and minds of Americans.
And let's not forget that many poor people smoke cigarettes - a vile, self-destructive habit that not only makes them persona non grata in some quarters, but also serves as further proof that, as a class, poor people may simply be incorrigible.
Poor people do not read our finest magazines and thus cannot participate in high-level discussions about collateralized mortgage obligations and the vagaries of cognitive neuroscience and Vermeer. No two ways about it: A lot of poor people have an attitude problem.
For society to function properly, there must be a top, a middle and a bottom. Otherwise, economic mobility ceases, stasis sets in, and a society starts to die. The problem in the United States today is that fewer and fewer young people are emotionally equipped to handle the enormous responsibility of being poor, and those who do choose to remain poor are not holding up their end of the bargain by leading desperate lives suffused with quiet dignity, thus serving as shining beacons for the rest of us.
In 2007, the United States finds itself at a moral and demographic crossroads. It cannot expect the upper class to provide strong moral leadership because the upper class is filled with people who work for Halliburton. It cannot expect the middle class to assume that burden because the middle class has always suffered from a certain moral flabbiness as a result of commuting long distances to jobs they hate. Realistically, only the poor are in a position to provide inspiration to the rest of us, because they have the most time on their hands.
Still, for the poor to return to those halcyon days when Tom Joad was idolized by millions, the poor are going to need to undergo a classwide makeover. For the underclass to get back to the point at which society actually honors them, appreciates them, and seeks out their advice on salt-of-the-earth issues, the poor are going to have to shape up.
They need to take better care of their health. They're going to have to cut back on the breaking-and-entering mayhem. And they need to express more of an interest in pressing issues of the day, such as raising Third World emissions standards and deciding once and for all whether information found on Wikipedia can be used in term papers.
Most important, they need to stop pouting. Sure, it's unfair that they were born poor. So, are you going to just sit there and pout about it for the rest of your life?
Look on the bright side: When Tom Joad delivered his thoughts about poverty during the Depression, his words vanished as soon as he said them. Were Joad alive today, he'd be blogging.
If that's not progress, I don't know what is.
Joe Queenan
writes frequently for Barron's,
the New York Times Book Review, and the Guardian
Associated Press
Henry Fonda as Tom Joad in the film classic "The Grapes of Wrath." For the poor to return to those 1940 halcyon days when Tom Joad was idolized by millions, they are going to need to undergo a classwide makeover.
The other night, while channel-surfing, I happened upon the famous final scene from John Ford's classic film The Grapes of Wrath. Hearing Henry Fonda's inspirational words about always being present, if only in spirit, whenever injustice was perpetrated on the downtrodden reminded me that, within living memory, poor people served an important function in this society as icons.
Once upon a time, great writers such as John Steinbeck lionized the poor; once upon a time, talented men like James Agee and Walker Evans paid homage to the faceless, indigent but insuperable masses. And though the average moviegoer may not have envied Tom Joad his plight, the viewer definitely felt a grudging sense of respect, recognizing that even if Joad did not have much in the way of worldly possessions, he at least had his dignity. And this made the typical moviegoer feel better about himself.
The days when dignity counted for anything on this continent are long gone. A society afflicted by an almost pornographic fascination with the foibles of the idle rich has no time to spend thinking about the poor, and, as a result, the lower classes have largely dropped off the radar screen. The agenda-setting tendencies of the media have had much to do with this. A profession once dominated by tough, streetwise refugees from the working class is now dominated by dainty alumni from our finest schools, people to whom poverty is not only unpleasant and unhygienic but totally uncool.
In a world bristling with such sexy topics as the latest exploits of predatory hedge funds and lupine private-equity firms, why would anyone want to write about the poor, who never do anything that is even vaguely exotic? In a world filled with flashy megalomaniacs including Paris Hilton, Mark Cuban, Tom Cruise and Madonna, why would anyone want to read about glamourless screw-ups living in public housing?
Lest I be accused of mawkish condescension, let me make it clear that I am not relieving the poor themselves of responsibility for their disappearance from the nation's consciousness. Poor people rarely set aside sufficient money for retirement. Poor people do not network. Worse, many poor people have scary tattoos. This is not the way Tom Joad went about winning the hearts and minds of Americans.
And let's not forget that many poor people smoke cigarettes - a vile, self-destructive habit that not only makes them persona non grata in some quarters, but also serves as further proof that, as a class, poor people may simply be incorrigible.
Poor people do not read our finest magazines and thus cannot participate in high-level discussions about collateralized mortgage obligations and the vagaries of cognitive neuroscience and Vermeer. No two ways about it: A lot of poor people have an attitude problem.
For society to function properly, there must be a top, a middle and a bottom. Otherwise, economic mobility ceases, stasis sets in, and a society starts to die. The problem in the United States today is that fewer and fewer young people are emotionally equipped to handle the enormous responsibility of being poor, and those who do choose to remain poor are not holding up their end of the bargain by leading desperate lives suffused with quiet dignity, thus serving as shining beacons for the rest of us.
In 2007, the United States finds itself at a moral and demographic crossroads. It cannot expect the upper class to provide strong moral leadership because the upper class is filled with people who work for Halliburton. It cannot expect the middle class to assume that burden because the middle class has always suffered from a certain moral flabbiness as a result of commuting long distances to jobs they hate. Realistically, only the poor are in a position to provide inspiration to the rest of us, because they have the most time on their hands.
Still, for the poor to return to those halcyon days when Tom Joad was idolized by millions, the poor are going to need to undergo a classwide makeover. For the underclass to get back to the point at which society actually honors them, appreciates them, and seeks out their advice on salt-of-the-earth issues, the poor are going to have to shape up.
They need to take better care of their health. They're going to have to cut back on the breaking-and-entering mayhem. And they need to express more of an interest in pressing issues of the day, such as raising Third World emissions standards and deciding once and for all whether information found on Wikipedia can be used in term papers.
Most important, they need to stop pouting. Sure, it's unfair that they were born poor. So, are you going to just sit there and pout about it for the rest of your life?
Look on the bright side: When Tom Joad delivered his thoughts about poverty during the Depression, his words vanished as soon as he said them. Were Joad alive today, he'd be blogging.
If that's not progress, I don't know what is.
Joe Queenan
writes frequently for Barron's,
the New York Times Book Review, and the Guardian
Thursday May 3rd 2007
Well, its an exciting time. First off my Step-Daughter Densie is getting MARRIED this Saturday. So we are getting ready for this. The wedding is at Fortesque Chapel and the reception is at the Sailing club facing Union Lake. The weather promises to be excellent for this weekend. It will be a nice time.Tonite is the Millville Gardens meeting at 6pmThe address is 102 W. Foundry Street and is easiest to access if everyone takes Dock Street heading toward Harrison Avenue. They are going to have this eyesore turned in to single-family homes. Tonite is the zoning meeting at 7pm as well. I intend to have some pictures soon.
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