Wednesday, May 17th, 2006
featured in Carnival of the New Jersey Bloggers #53
The AP reported today that the embattled Schools Construction Corp. (SCC), the New Jersey agency that blew through $8.6 billion of taxpayer money without completing two-thirds of the work it was supposed to have completed, is not ready for more funds.
A report issued by a task force states the SCC is not managed well enough currently to receive funding. But it was also this same group that called for the dismantlement of the SCC last month.
If the task force recommended that, then why are they now saying that SCC is quite ready for more cash?
The view of Scott Weiner, the current head of SCC. shows that Governor Corzine disregarded the task force’s recommendation:
The governor remains consistent in his views that no new funding should be authorized until the SCC has strengthened management. If everything continues along the current path, It will be there in very short order.
Why convene a task force if one is going to disregard the recommendation?
SCC squandered billions of taxpayer dollars. The view of the Corzine-appointed head shows that nothing has changed. Weiner expects more funds.
Taxpayers had no say last time around and were burned badly. Mr. Weiner is mistaken if he thinks that is going to happen again.
One last thing . . . if SCC has no money and there is no money coming immediately, what does the agency do? How is Mr. Weiner and his staff doing the state’s work right now? I assume he and the rest of the SCC are being paid. Dear reader, what are you receiving for the SCC’s services this week?
Posted in New Jersey | No Comments »
Thursday, April 27th, 2006
featured in Carnival of the New Jersey Bloggers #50
The headline of today’s Daily Journal editiorial sums up the issue well:
Unenforceable regulations are simply a waste
The other day I reported how it would soon be a crime for my daughter to feed the ducks in Vineland. That is her feeding the ducks at Giampetro Park. Here is a log from Grifftari for a cache he recently found in that park:
It has been quite awile since our last cache, but what a nice day it was today! We could not help stopping in and grabbing this one. Mostly we watched the parents with their children feed the ducks and remembering all the days the boys and I spent doing the same thing when they were younger! Thanks for the memories!
Hmmm . . . a regular guy visits the park with his family. He enjoys it and notices others enjoying it too. Yet, those others are criminals!
The time-honored tradition of feeding the ducks with your family has been criminalized. If there ever was an instance that government has intruded into our personal lives, this is it.
The Daily Journal concurs:
When regulations start making criminals of children whose only offense is feeding the ducks, it’s time to step back and think of more productive ways to protect our water.
The editorial continues:
If the intent of the regulations is to educate the public on how the state’s stormwater accounts for nearly 60 percent of water pollution and why it’s important to cut down on contaminants, then why not just do that with free educational forums and visits to classrooms to get this message out, instead of using this punitive charade that will only cause anxiety among the public and possible strife between neighbors?
And lest, dear reader, you think this is only Vineland going haywire, it is not. These regulations were passed to comply with New Jersey regulations governing all Garden State municipalities. Pretty soon Bloomfield, Princeton, Woodcliff Lake, and all those other towns will be criminalizing your youngsters too.
Regulations such as these are costly and have no teeth. Remember this at election time, dear reader. This kind of representation is pathetic!
Posted in New Jersey | 1 Comment »
Friday, April 21st, 2006
featured in Carnival of the New Jersey Bloggers # 49
They are not talking about emancipation. And there is nothing free about it.
This is the mentality in Abbott districts. Everyone thinks all the money for these programs is free. I attended a board of education meeting a few years ago when a board member stated that all the hirings, programs being added, etc. were free to the town’s taxpayers. Of course, there is no free lunch.
Roberto posted about murmurs of another property tax convention. While a convention brings along its own headaches, I am onboard with Sharon with this. Let’s get the ball rolling. Three words are bankrupting our state. Re-word the constitution and the state can resume control from the legislating state supreme court.
Meanwhile, we can continue our “free” education.
Posted in Education, New Jersey, Politics | No Comments »
Sunday, April 16th, 2006
Perhaps I am missing something, but isn’t This Full House supposed to have posted the Carnival of the New Jersey Bloggers today? From the looks of things, The Thompsons have been on vacation for a week.
Oh well . . .
I hope everyone had a pleasant Easter. And if you haven’t finished your taxes, get crackin’.
And fortunately, today was not like 2003 when I proceeded to get stuck at 6:20 AM on Stokes Road and missed mass. That adventure was something trying to get to a new cache. Three years later, the new caches tend to be easier to get to and I had nary a scare this morning.
Posted in GPS Games, Geocaching, Miscellaneous | 1 Comment »
Thursday, March 16th, 2006
featured in Carnival of the New Jersey Bloggers # 44
The
Star~Ledger reported today that the task force set up by Governor Corzine to evaluate the effectiveness of the embattled Schools Construction Corp. (SCC) has recommended that the agency be dismantled.
(
Hat tip to NJ Conservative.)
The state corporation set up to manage a $6billion overhaul of decrepit public school buildings in New Jersey’s poorest communities has bungled the assignment so badly, it should be scrapped and replaced with a new agency
We agree with NJC that dismantling is appropriate, replacing it is not.
Looking through the archives here at eCache will highlight the corruption and inefficiency of the agency.
The AP today reported that New Jerseyans would prefer to cut services than raise taxes (by a 2-1 margain, no less) to meet the current $4 billion shortfall in next year’s budget. Of course, we are the first in that line. As we stated with our proposed solution to the Transportation Trust Fund issue back in July,
Yes, taxpayers will lose services. But for one year, an election year at that, Trenton will be biting the bullet for its reckless spending. The entire state pays, but at least not more financially. We will be paying through a loss of services. And as bad as that will be, perhaps it will be enough to keep this kind of abuse from ever happening again.
Two articles published on the same day speak of remedies sought. Governor Corzine, are you listening? Did you listen to the public during the town hall meetings last week?
How can the governor pitch tax increases in llight of this? He went to the people, the people have spoken. He formed committees. The committees have spoken. If the governor disregards the advice he has sought and raises taxes, further spoiling the business climate here and paying for the free-for-all out of our wallets, I suspect the comparisons to former Governor Florio will be many.
Governor: you have a responsibility to slash state government. It won’t be popular, but it will be the right thing to do. Remember, you wanted to rid the Garden State of corruption, favoritism and fraud. This is one campaign promise you need to keep.
Posted in New Jersey | No Comments »
