Thoughts on the Spending Referendum

I hate these things.

If you want something to win that you don’t believe deserves to, what would you do?

Pick a random Tuesday in January? Check

Abbreviated poll hours? Check

Seniors in Florida? Check

Knowing they have about 1,500 supporters that will vote yes, they are banking that 1,501 won’t make the trip to vote no.

There is no reason why this could not have been last November or next November. (The state is in on the game if the aid “expires”.) They didn’t want it voted on last November as it probably would have gone down in flames.

Is the $75 million a good value for money? Hard to tell. State Regs stipulate that prevailing union wage rates are paid, which jacks up the cost. For that much money, AC and new windows don’t sound like much. But since we’re conditioned to pay millions for any infrastructure, we’ll go along.

I want good things in our schools but I don’t like the smell of this.

UPDATE: Let’s go spend some money!!!

 

Whoa. If NJ.com doesn’t change the totals, Andrews and Gallo are OUT.

The page update is 10:46 PM. But NJ.com has been crappy about updating results late in the past. Still plenty of time for “updates” and mail-in votes.

If these hold, it is a big rebuke about 750 Walnut, which in my opinion is a disaster. Andrews has been thin-skinned and off-putting and has had several exchanges with residents that were not good looks.

Cranford Township Committee

Vote for 2

Brian Andrews (D) — 3,093

Paul A. Gallo (D) — 3,042

Michael Petrucci (R) — 3,138

Deirdre Koczur (R) — 3,134

Cranford Board of Education

Vote for 3

Christopher Kolibas — 4,112

Kurt Petschow — 4,517

Kristin Cohen — 4,230

Update: It’s fixed and the Dems are in.

 

Vote Today! Or rather, Go Participate in Election Theater!

I don’t make endorsements because a: who cares? and b. like anyone would listen anyway

But I do think that you should go participate in Election Theater while there is still time!

Why? Because there is a small chance I am wrong.

The polls were not busy when I went. I had a stub number in the 500’s but I am not sure that means anything. I did my thing and left.

But a while back I worked the polls and it was obvious that the process is clearly open to manipulation. There were no serious signature verifications, no two-party machine counts and reconciliation, tallies, totals or reporting. It was a big show about zip ties, “chain of custody” and throwing everything in the back of an open pickup for counting in some space owned by the county. Who knows what the hell happens next.

Or rather, already happened.

The winners are determined by who counts the votes. And it wasn’t the poll workers who showed up at 5:15 and stayed past 9pm. (Hardest couple hundred I earned in a very long time.)

No, and if the Secretary of State is of one party and that party wins, the likelihood of audit is probably not very high.

So when the Town Council gives all kinds of goodies to developers, finds nor implements no improvements on flood mitigation, and has secret meetings or tables tough issues when there are butts in seats, they are indeed providing service to their constituents.

You are not one of them (unless you’re Hartz or a big donor).

They don’t work for you. When they don’t fear losing they don’t have to bother to pretend to.

In the off chance I am incorrect, go vote.

 

22 Years Ago…

Other than some events in NYC, and the 6:30 memorial service near the Municipal Building, it’s business as usual.

From my NYC Apartment Window

 

Way Better Than a Drive-Through Dunkin’

Drive-In Dunkin’s have their merits, but not at the least congested north-south crossover we have.

For many years there was a very overpriced Sunoco at the corner of Lincoln and South. Without a lot of background available (was it a front? just badly run?), it closed and sat vacant for more than a decade.

Over the years different uses were pursued. A 7-11 (which neighbors didn’t want due to the bright lighting in the parking lot at night) and a Drive-Through Dunkin’ was proposed – which I thought was a terrible idea as that intersection is critical for getting to the north side from the south side in the mornings.

https://www.cranfordnj.org/zoning-board-adjustment/pages/49-south-ave-west?fbclid=IwAR075ryhksFsz48wW7nWSc6rsJ4ks7Odkd1PCSNfA1Fzj2vmQXmicY_AA30

Now the proposal for a Medical Arts (fancy term for doctor’s office) building will go in looks like it will be getting approval.

Good.

That site will be busy during business hours and not in the early morning and will not have the entries and exits of something like a Duncan which will lock up the intersection.

The downside is the three other Medical Arts building in town with vacant space will have to wait longer for tenants.

 

Election Results: And More Brooklyn We Will Get

From NJ.COM

Cranford Township Committee 2 seats open

Mary O’Connor (R) — 4,618

Chrissa L. Stulpin (R) — 4,360

✔ Kathleen Miller Prunty (D) — 4,784

✔ Terrence Curran (D) — 4,789

William Thilly (I) — 810

Cranford Board of Education
3 seats open

✔ Susan Shaw — 5,787

✔ Brett Dreyer — 5,925

Thomas Grasso — 3,238

✔ Patrick Lynch — 4,706

Francis N. Riccio III — 1,216

Cranford Board of Education — Unexpired
1 seat open

Brian Lopez — 2,049

Christine Bradley — 2,460

✔ Jessica Soltys — 3,423

 

New Cranfordians: you left Brooklyn for a reason. Please don’t vote for people that would make Cranford Brooklyn.

The headline says it all.

In the past two years there has been a great “turnover” as more new people have moved in and new apartment complexes has become filled up.

Now it is time to vote.

I don’t do endorsements. Nobody really cares what I think anyway.

But I can try to make you think. Before you pull the lever, regardless of whether you’ve been a good party member or a member of the party of your grandparents, think.

What do you want Cranford to be? For you? For your kids?

What do you want Cranford Schools to be? What would give your kids their best chance?

Don’t just mark the box and press the red button. Think about who you are voting for and what you are voting for.

I will share this: I am hoping like crazy for Kathleen Prunty to lose. Her lack of transparency and visible contempt for Cranford residents should not get rewarded.

 

Twenty One Years Ago…

Was traveling yesterday. First “normal” day anniversary as I had a lot to do.

With the weather, and the time I got home I couldn’t even see if the Towers Of Light were still on. Hopefully yes.

It is getting to be a long time ago. Babies born on that day can now raise a glass legally.

But we should not let ourselves forget.

From My NYC Apartment Window

 

A perspective on the formula shortage

Usually, I don’t wade into the national / international stuff because I am just a guy in Cranford and who knows what the truth is in what we’re told by news and government.

But recalls? Those I know a couple of things about.

1. The government calls every shot. When you are in a company that gets sucked into a recall, the only thing you can do is go limp. Anything you do that irks or inconveniences the government will make coming out of it that much harder. If you fight and they make a recall mandatory, you may as well padlock the gate. Anything that they request, no matter how irrelevant or stupid, you serve up faster than humanly possible on a silver platter.
   
2. If you did do it, after you get over the shock and guilt you need to hustle. You need to know where, when, and what breakdown caused it. You need a plan to remediate that will address concerns that have not yet been thought of. By tomorrow morning. (In my experience, the entity I was involved with did not do anything wrong, but the items below still applied.)
   
3. You didn’t have anything to do with it? Like you don’t have any recalled components in your product? Tough. Everything is done in the name of safety. The bureaucrat DOES NOT CARE ABOUT YOU, YOUR FAMILY OR YOUR BUSINESS. You are a checkbox. You can’t make them be uncomfortable when they communicate up to their boss. Logic doesn’t matter. Bureaucratic fear of getting in trouble is literally the only thing that matters. If your business fails as a result, oh well!
   
4. What matters to the government is the perception of safety. Not safety itself. If someone in government can’t say “we did everything we could” in a press conference, it’s not over.
   
5. The work takes months if not years. The formula recall is huge. A small recall requires lots of tracking, attestations, proof of destruction, and form after form to close it out with the government.

Infant formula is a tough business. The barriers to entry are huge. It is an intensely complex product that needs a myriad of nutritional compounds and still be palatable to a baby. The amount of regulation and compliance requires it be made by a large company (who likely lobbied for these things to prevent others from entering the market – that’s what big companies do).

People can’t make it in their kitchens and sell it like soaps and jams. It needs a lot of institutional knowledge and experience to develop and perfect, as well as manufacturing expertise to ensure consistency and safety. An infant formula start-up would take a ton of investment.

Take away 42% of the manufacturing capacity (by shutting Abbott down and have it drag on for several months) will affect the already damaged supply chain. (https://www.wsj.com/articles/governments-baby-formula-shortage-abbott-mead-johnson-tariffs-wic-fda-perrigo-democrats-11652996346). Viola.

A decent overview of the issue: https://www.cnet.com/health/parenting/baby-formula-shortage-explained-why-its-happening-and-when-it-could-end/

While it is tragic that some babies got sick and a couple died, the facts did not stand in the way – such as none of the product contained the bacteria that caused the sickness. But as above, actions are taken “in the name of safety” and no uncomfortable upward briefings trumps families desperately driving all over creation visiting one empty shelf after another or those babies that will have developmental or health issues due to malnourishment at a critical time in their lives.

To quote an FDA rep: “You’ll be okay.”

Update: The conduct by the FDA in this is incredible. Either it’s staggering incompetence or malice.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/25/fda-whistleblower-report-infant-formula-00034999

Prediction: The only people getting fired work for Abbott.

 

What should have been done at 750 Walnut

I was talking with a friend of mine the other day about what should have been at 750 Walnut.

While it was closed yet still accessible it was a fabulous place for someone to practice driving without actually being on real streets.

And that got us in “what if” mode of what could have been done with the property. Way back when I proposed an alternative plan for Riverfront (to be fair, River and Rail is the only one to do anything imaginative on the property) which included creating some photogenic canals. It could have been more of a tourist destination. But you can’t maximize retail space and rental units with canals running around. So…

It occurred to us that 750 Walnut’s layout would have been fabulous for a Formula 1 style racetrack. So what about with the golfers setting up on the tee being shaken by the roar of engines (we could do the electric ones which are way quieter). What’s a few complaints from the neighbors in Sunny Acres? It’d be a place to go and have fun. Hanging out in parking lots of shoddily built and identical apartments is no comparison.

As racing is not an all-day every day activity, we could put some apartments on-site. What a perk! Have your morning coffee on your miniscule balcony while cars whiz past below you vying for position. The sights, sounds and smells. The accidents.

(Artist rendering. Not my work. All rights reserved by the artist and used with permission)

But, we’re sticking with the usual. The tried-and-sort-of-true.

Sigh.