LOCAL NEWS CLIPS - FEBRUARY 2010

Mayors cringe as they learn state municipal aid to be cut (The Daily Journal, by Jane Roh, 2/26/10)

Gov. Chris Christie told municipal officials that the state would be slashing their aid.

 For complete details go to:  www.thedailyjournal.com

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Towns get bad news on state aid (CourierPostOnline.com, by Jane Roh, 2/25/10)

TRENTON — Municipal officials hoping for less bad
news in a grim budget environment were told
Wednesday by Gov. Chris Christie that the state
would be slashing their aid.

"I'd love to be able to tell you that municipal aid will
stay level, but it's not," Christie said. "So you need to
prepare for what's coming down the line, because at
the end of the day we don't have a choice but to do
these things."

Speaking before mayors at the League of
Municipalities' annual Mayor's Legislative Day,
Christie attacked the budget of predecessor Jon S.
Corzine, laid into familiar foes such as public
employee pay packages and the Council on
Affordable Housing, and gently scolded lawmakers
for lethargy on the long-running issue of property  
taxes.

It was a speech that didn't sit well with several local
mayors.

"It was a complete waste of time," said Mayor Fred
Grant, of East Greenwich in Gloucester County. "The
governor came in and started off the speech saying
he was happy to have a frank conversation with the
mayors of New Jersey, and he just gave a speech
telling us there are going to be cuts all over the
board and didn't take any input."

Grant added that Christie spends too much time
blaming municipalities for the state's budget crisis.

The governor compared the situation officials in
New Jersey find themselves in to the 1969 film
"Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid."

"When they were running and got to the edge of that
cliff, they had a seminal decision to make -- are they
going to get shot from behind or are they going to
take the chance to jump off the cliff and hope that
when they land, they survive. I don't suggest either
are attractive options, but they are the options we
have left," Christie said. "We have to hold hands at
every level of government and jump off a cliff. I

firmly believe that we will land and we will land fine.
The ruination of New Jersey's economy and the
quality of life we want all our citizens to have is
certain if we don't take this course."


Gloucester Township Mayor David Mayer praised
Christie's "good and direct" speech, but complained
that Christie was more concerned about his
projected $11 billion budget deficit than with the
predicament municipalities face.

"I don't think we need to jump off a cliff. What we
need to do is keep our taxpayers from falling off,"
the former assemblyman said. "He's not solving the
problem. He's solving the state's budget problem. I
don't know if that's leadership."

Christie repeatedly promised to give municipalities
"the tools" to combat higher taxes, such as ending
binding arbitration, eliminating COAH, more
changes to public workers' pensions and benefits,
and cracking down on state boards and authorities.
He has issued executive orders to begin that
process, and on Monday the Senate passed a
package of pension and benefits reforms.

But officials packed into the State House committee
room said they weren't just there to listen to Christie
speak. They were there to get answers on those
feared municipal aid cuts and appeal for state
lawmakers' help in minimizing anticipated property
tax hikes.

The League of Municipalities has said that the best it

was hoping for was for Christie to announce regular
municipal aid would remain flat. Though Christie
delivered bad news, municipalities will still be
squirming until he announces how much will be cut
during his budget speech on March 16. He has
already informed school districts to expect cuts of
up to 15 percent.

"We need to do cuts in (state) government spending.
We need to make sure the cuts that we implement are
on our obligations and our budgets -- not passing
that burden onto local communities that's going to
drive up property taxes," said Assemblyman Louis
D. Greenwald, D-Camden, chairman of the budget
committee.

He advocates giving municipalities the authority to
diversify their tax revenues, which would allow
some to implement local sales taxes.

Many mayors warn that substantial decreases from
Trenton will force them to lean harder on already
overtaxed residents.

In the tri-county area, mayors from East Greenwich,
Gloucester Township, Haddonfield, Deptford, and
Collingswood attended the conference. Cherry Hill
Mayor Bernie Platt is in Florida for his annual
monthlong vacation. On Monday, Chief of Staff Dan
Keashen asked council Vice President Sara Lipsett to
represent the township. Both Lipsett and Keashen
were in attendance.

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Hot Club Harlem Memories (Philadelphia Inquirer, by Amy S. Rosenberg, 2/23/10)

ATLANTIC CITY - It was K.Y. and the Curb. That's what they used to call the great Club Harlem on Kentucky Avenue between Arctic and Atlantic, now no more.

And the greatest time to be there was 5 a.m., for the legendary breakfast show. Those, truly, were glory days.

"If you went to K.Y. and the Curb, you just knew you were going to have a good time," said Nancy Martin, 54, a cocktail server and bartender there in the early '70s, now a substitute teacher in town.

"Gladys Knight and the Pips, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, Teddy Pendergrass. I was there when he did his debut. I have the paper that Teddy Pendergrass signed with the teddy bear on the inside that he left on all the tables for all the guests. I still have that."

But like so much that once was great in this vexing town, the classy jazz and R&B legacy of Club Harlem that dates from 1935 is now just dust and memories, and, thanks to some quick-handed neighbors on a surprise demolition day in 1992, a few actual concrete reminders.

These mementos - an old neon sign, the red stuffed leather swinging doors with drawings of Sammy Davis Jr. and club owner Leroy "Pops" Williams - are now on display at the Atlantic City Free Public Library in an exhibit called "A Pictorial of Club Harlem and the Way We Were."

The exhibit was organized by Ralph Hunter, founder of the African American Heritage Museum of Southern New Jersey in Newtonville, in Buena Vista Township, a town with its own distinguished African American and abolitionist legacy.

Hunter hopes to expand the exhibit - which features 110 photos, 80 from Hunter's collection and 30 from the library's own extensive archives dating from 1944 - and bring it to Philadelphia, D.C., and Baltimore. It runs through the end of the month.

Hunter said he had received a request for the Club Harlem sign from the new National Museum of African American History and Culture being built on the mall in Washington. He said he was "not willing to give it up so easily," but he'd be willing to loan it, especially if it could get repaired (it's cracked).

"A lot of people ask me, 'Will the Club Harlem come back?' '' Hunter said. "It's an emphatic no. But we can still relive what took place then and there."

The club closed for good by the late 1980s. It was Gregory Wood, owner of the Fishheads restaurant across the street, who darted in and rescued the doors and some other mementos in 1992. He eventually gave the doors to Hunter to exhibit at his museum. "He wanted them to be in safe hands," Hunter said.

The doors fantastically evoke the mood of the old club, with their fanciful drawings of Sammy Davis Jr., his left arm bent upward with an oversized left hand in a wave by his face, and Pops Williams with his plaid pants and signature two canes. They were originally at the end of a long hallway (usually lined with waiting patrons), and led into the main event.

"People would touch those hands for good luck," Martin recalled.

Cab Calloway, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Dick Gregory, Dinah Washington, Dionne Warwick, Sarah Vaughan, Moms Mabley, and comedian Slappy White made Club Harlem an A-list stop on the African American entertainment circuit. Local legend Chris Columbo led the orchestra. Sammy Davis Jr. would bring his Rat Pack friends over for the breakfast show.

"It was very exciting because it was like the heyday in Atlantic City," said Patti Harris, who in the '50s was one of the original showgirl dancers for Larry Steele's Smart Affairs, a high-style Las Vegas revue that had a long run at the club. "It's like a piece of Americana, actually. I thought I was very lucky to be in that."

Martin stopped by the exhibit recently on her way to do her taxes and bumped into Ralph Hunter.

"I'll tell you what," she said, "it was a fantastic place to work. It was a great time to be had by all. It just fizzled out."

Done in by changing trends, the overall downslide of the town, and, eventually, casinos that had their own entertainment venues, which fed their employees for free, the club was one of hundreds of nightspots in town that have disappeared, including, notably, the old 500 Club, which hosted Frank Sinatra and his Rat Pack.

"There was no need to go to Kentucky Avenue or Arctic Avenue to get soul food; they could get free food," Hunter said. "The casinos got bigger and bigger."

Hunter has a list of about 100 black nightclubs that once flourished in Atlantic City. There are none left.

Still, the memories are vivid. There were many people in town who went on to become teachers and professionals, and even a mayor, who got their start working at Club Harlem. Former Mayor James Usry worked as a doorman. His daughter, the late Soundra Usry-Hollingsworth, was a local icon who sang at the club. The exhibit features an exquisite photo of Soundra Usry in a long white gown stepping off a jitney. It radiates glamour.

Hunter said his own first impression of the scene outside Club Harlem was: "I couldn't believe this many black people were walking around with suits and ties."

Martin, the former server, said the breakfast show was where the club's true personality shone.

"It was mostly the slicksters, the fast people in the fast lane," she said. "They bounced from Timbuktu to Little Belmont," local clubs. "They would wait, and go to this early-morning show. They would be just decked out. Everybody who thought they were hip would be there."

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Here's a solution to ATV problem for city and state (The Daily Journal, Opinion, 2/18/10)

Opinion on problem and solution of ATV riders having no place to ride.

 For complete details go to:  www.thedailyjournal.com

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Night of Comedy (The Daily Journal, Lifestyle, 2/18/10)

BVT's 9th Comedy Relief Gala will be held at the Buena Tavern on Saturday, February 20, 2010.  Doors open at 6:30. Tickets are $25 per person and include buffet dinner, entertainment, and comedy show. Cash Bar.  For more information or tickets call Joan at 856-697-2100 or 609-561-5650 extension 8. 

 For complete details go to:  www.thedailyjournal.com

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ACUA trash-disposal debate continues (Press of Atlantic City, by Eric Scott Campbell, 2/17/10)

MAYS LANDING - Five Atlantic County freeholders heard Tuesday night from a slew of residents eager to maintain "freedom of choice" in trash disposal, then from a utility director adamant that the county's program be responsibly re-established in its original image.

Rick Dovey, executive director of the Atlantic County Utilities Authority, is asking the freeholders to mandate all garbage produced in the county be discarded within its boundaries, an action that could solidify the utility's continued eligibility for a crucial state subsidy.

Cumberland County's landfill currently receives garbage from some private Atlantic County businesses, as well as seven Atlantic County municipalities: Buena Borough, Buena Vista Township, Corbin City, Estell Manor, Folsom, Hamilton Township and Hammonton.

Those fees generated about $2.2 million for Cumberland County last year, $84,000 of which went to Deerfield Township as the landfill's location, Dovey said. Cumberland County charged $51.64 per ton for disposal, compared with Atlantic County's $65.64.

For the towns and businesses who dispose in Cumberland and Salem counties for lower fees, Dovey is proposing to honor those rates and give existing utility customers in Atlantic County a small discount, too, through 2013. Nonetheless, Egg Harbor Township resident Doug Stroz said, "It's naive to think that prices won't go up without competition."

Freeholder Director James Curcio asked Dovey whether it would be better from a practical standpoint to keep as much garbage out of the county as possible.

"No, we have no capacity problems at all," Dovey said.

Freeholder James Schroeder surmised that Cumberland County might have to raise its rates if the Atlantic County customers left, which would defeat the purpose of switching to Atlantic County to be charged at Cumberland County rates.

Several municipalities' elected officials expressed their concerns with the plan and its potential economic impact in the future, but one spoke up in favor as Dovey made the presentation.

"Hammonton's got our pen out. We'll sign," said Steve DiDonato, Hammonton's mayor. "We'll sign if you dot the i's and cross the t's."

Curcio said the freeholders likely will vote on the proposal at next Tuesday's meeting. The ACUA's debt service payment is due March 1.

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State trooper injured in rear-end collision on Route 54 (Press of Atlantic City, 2/17/10)

A New Jersey state trooper suffered minor injuries Tuesday evening when someone rear-ended his patrol car while he investigated an accident on Route 54 in Buena Vista Township, State Police said.

The trooper, whose name was not released, responded to an accident on Route 54, just south of Weymouth Road, at 5:51 p.m. when his patrol car was hit from behind by a woman driving too fast for the snowy road conditions, according to the State Police Buena Vista station.

The trooper suffered neck and back injuries and was taken to South Jersey Regional Medical Center in Vineland, where he was treated and released, police said. The driver, whose name was also not released, suffered minor leg injuries and was taken to the hospital, treated and released.

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Cost concerns surround ACUA trash plan (Press of Atlantic City, by Rob Spahr and Elaine Rose, 2/16/10)

Deerfield Township Mayor Frank R. Spatola Jr. has watched the revenue coming into his rural Cumberland County municipality drop steadily over the past few years due to a sharp decline in the amount of trash received at the Cumberland County Improvement Authority landfill that it hosts.

Now, the township's bottom line could be dealt another significant blow in the weeks ahead if the Atlantic County Board of Chosen Freeholders approves a plan that would force all Atlantic County municipalities to ship their trash to the Atlantic County Utilities Authority's landfill on Delilah Road in Egg Harbor Township.

That decision could hinge on the type of feedback the county receives at a public hearing scheduled for 7 p.m. today in Atlantic Cape Community College's Walter E. Edge auditorium.

With the fate of the plan still undecided, officials in the six western Atlantic County municipalities that currently send their trash to other counties - Buena Borough, Buena Vista Township, Estell Manor, Folsom, Hamilton Township and Hammonton - are worried about the long-term impact the measure could have on their taxpayers and businesses.

"I go back to the sentiment it's a bad time to be thinking this way, as it could raise taxes for residents of these six towns," Buena Vista Township Mayor Chuck Chiarello said. "Most people probably aren't aware of how this all trickles down."

Officials in those towns say they send their trash to the CCIA landfill because it is $13 cheaper per ton to dump their trash there than it is at the ACUA landfill.

Another issue concerning the municipalities, Chiarello said, is that businesses all over the county who hire private waste haulers would have to deposit their trash in the Atlantic County landfill. They generate much more waste than residents do, he said, and businesses in the western end of the county would be affected more than those in cities such as Margate and Ventnor.

"Apparently the freeholders are kind of on the fence as to what they want to do about this," Chiarello said. "We want to let them know there are concerns."

Hammonton Mayor Steve DiDonato said his town would be "very much on board" with the ACUA plan, as long as the parties can agree on a rate that is comparable to what the town is currently paying to send its trash to facilities in Cumberland and Camden counties.

"We don't know what the future of state funding is at this point, and every dime in our budget is accounted for, especially with the recent snowfall," DiDonato said. "So at the present time we are against (the plan), but we're willing to work out a rate that we can live with."

ACUA President Richard Dovey said one of the things he hopes to make clear tonight is that the tipping fees for all six municipalities would mirror what they would be charged to use landfills in other counties. He said the ACUA would also sign a contract to keep that agreement in tact for "at least" three years and eight months.

But DiDonato said that alone would not eliminate the skepticism of some officials.

"We'd definitely be concerned of any type of monopoly developing four years from now that would cause the rates to balloon," he said. "That would be very much a problem that could force us to look at taking our trash over the bridge to a different landfill out of state, which I think we are still able to do."

Dovey said he could not guarantee rates would not increase after the contracts expire.

"Of course, everyone wishes they knew what will happen later," he said, adding any change to fees would be based upon how much trash gets dumped at the ACUA landfill and must to be approved by the Atlantic County executive. "Let's just say that after waste flow has been in effect for a year, we notice that we're recapturing more waste than we expected … the fees may actually be lower."

In 1997, the U.S. Court of Appeals determined that waste-flow regulations hurt interstate commerce. But the U.S. Supreme Court reversed that decision three years ago to allow counties to regulate all of the waste generated within their borders.

Dovey said several other counties in New Jersey - including Ocean and Cape May - already have waste-flow measures in place and that the ACUA needed to take that step because it is in jeopardy of losing a $5.6 million annual subsidy it receives from the state government.

"Basically the state is telling us, 'We're broke and the U.S. Supreme Court said you can have waste flow again, so pursue it,'" Dovey said.

The ACUA released a statement Monday saying Cumberland County earned nearly $2.2 million from Atlantic County municipalities' trash in 2009, while Salem and Camden counties earned another $4 million.

Even though Deerfield Township likely would be hurt by the plan - the ACUA estimates it would lose more than $84,000 in revenue from Atlantic County tipping fees, if it is enacted - Spatola said he does not blame the ACUA for pursuing it.

"I can only imagine that (Atlantic County officials) are sitting there looking at all of the money that they're losing from their towns sending their trash to us. And I can't resent them for trying to make their prices more competitive so they can get some of that money back. It's their trash, they don't have to send it here," Spatola said. "But it will certainly be a shot in the arm for us and one that's going to hurt."

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Weddings now on Romano's to-do list (The Daily Journal, by Kristi Funderburk, 2/3/10)

Vineland Mayor Robert Romano when first took office  said he would not be performing weddings.  Recently he has changed his mind.

 For complete details go to:  www.thedailyjournal.com

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        Address:    Buena Vista Township
                         890 Harding Highway, PO Box 605
                         Buena NJ, 08310

        Phone:      (856) 697-2100  or  (609) 561-5650
        Fax:          (856) 697-8651
        E-mail:       buenavistatwp@comcast.net

Copyright © 1999 [Buena Vista Township]. All rights reserved.