Thursday, July 4, 2013
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Millburn wasted time and money fighting Chai Center Synagogue
THURSDAY JUNE 13, 2013, 10:19 AM
THE ITEM OF MILLBURN AND SHORT HILLS
Town wasted time and money fighting Chai Center
Editor, The Item:
I attended the Millburn Zoning Board hearing in Feb of 2012 which denied the Chai Center its Synagogue use application. I was one of the town members who spoke publicly during that hearing.
I spoke not as a proximity neighbor to the 1 Jefferson St. address nor as a member of the Shul, which I am not. I spoke out as a town resident and taxpayer for 20 years now and as someone who has spent years battling the township on another constitutional dispute which I won 6-0 in the NJ Supreme Court. That litigation cost myself and the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars, so I urged the township to work with Rabbi Bogomilsky, since their best negotiating position was at that 2012 hearing. At that very moment, the township could have gotten concessions from the rabbi in exchange for approval and while not everyone would have been completely satisfied, there would have been a fair and low cost resolution.
It was obvious that the town's three-acre zoning ordinance could never stand up to Constitutional scrutiny and the way they handled the Chai Center in this dispute was going to earn them some disdain from the courts. I pleaded with the zoning board to act in the taxpayers' best interest and grant approval with conditions. The zoning board and town council acted and continued to act in total disregard to the cost this whole affair and as a result, we should ask that they reimburse the township for their irresponsible decision making and all of them should submit the resignations immediately.
I hope Millburn Township isn't foolish enough to waste more taxpayer money on appeal of this ruling and the zoning board thinks more carefully of the consequences of their decisions when the Chai Center application comes before them again as directed by the court. This has cost taxpayers a significant amount of money to this point. How much will it cost when the U.S. Justice Department gets involved? But who knows what the zoning board will do, since they are not spending their own money.
http://www.northjersey.com/news/opinions/211387281_Letter__Town_wasted_time_and_money_fighting_Chai_Center.html
Background Story
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Illinois is a Big Windy Mess
Wilmette Breaon Article
Illinois Review Article
Former State Senator and Republican Cook County Board President candidate Roger Keats and his wife Tina are leaving Illinois to live in Texas. They bid farewell to their Illinois friends with the following letter.
Dear friends, As we leave Illinois for good, I wanted to say goodbye and wish all of you well. I am a lifelong son of the heartland and proud of "The Land of Lincoln " state.
After 60 years, I leave Illinois with a heavy heart. But enough is enough. The leaders of Illinois refuse to see we can't continue going in the direction we are and expect people who have options to stay here.
I remember when Illinois had 25 congressmen.
In 2012 we have 18. Compared to the rest of the country we have lost 1/4th of our population. Don't blame the weather, because most of us love the 4 beautiful seasons of Illinois.
Illinois just sold still more bonds, and our credit rating is so bad we pay higher interest rates than junk bonds. Junk Bonds!
Illinois is ranked:
• 50th for fiscal policy
• 47th in job creation
• 1st in unfunded pension liabilities
• 2nd largest budget deficit
• 1st in failing schools
• 1st in bonded indebtedness
• Highest sales tax in the nation
• Most judges indicted (Operations Greylord and Gambat)
Five of our last 9 elected governors have been indicted. That is more than the other 49 states added together!
Then add 32 Chicago Aldermen and (according to the Chicago Tribune) over 1,000 state and municipal employees indicted.
The corruption tax is a real cost of doing business. We are the butt of jokes for stand-up comics. We live in the most corrupt big city, in the most corrupt big county, in the most corrupt state in America. I am sick and tired of subsidizing crooks.
A day rarely passes without an article about the corruption and incompetence. Chicago even got caught rigging the tests to hire policemen and firemen!
Our Crook County corporate tax system is intentionally corrupt. The Democrat State Chairman, who is also the Speaker of the Illinois House (Speaker Mike Madigan), and the most senior alderman in Chicago, each make well over a million dollars a year putting the fix in for their clients tax assessments.
Cook County's property tax system is a disaster: The assessed value of our Chicago home was 50% higher than the sale price.
Our home value is down 40%, our property taxes are up 20%, and our local schools have still another referendum on the ballot to increase taxes more than 20% next year.
The Illinois system is unfair and incompetent. In the Hill Country of Texas (near Austin and San Antonio ) we bought a gracious home on almost 2 acres with a swimming pool. It is new, will cost us around 40% of what our home in Wilmette just sold for, and the property taxes are a third of what they are here.
We are moving to Texas where there is no income tax, while Illinois just went up 67%.
Texas sales tax is half of ours, which is the highest in the nation.
Southern states are supportive of job producers, taxpayers and folks who offer opportunities to their residents.
Illinois shakes them down for every penny that can be extorted from them. I could go on, but enough is enough.
I feel as if we are standing on the deck of the Titanic and I can see the icebergs right in front of us.
I will miss our friends a great deal. I have called Illinois home for essentially my entire life. But it is time to go where there is honest, competent, and cost effective government.
We have chosen to vote with our feet and our wallets.
Our best wishes to all of you.
Cordially, Roger and Tina Keats
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)