Eureka!

"There are no creeds in mathematics."--Peter F. Drucker

If you're looking for one place to sum up every problem in Matawan, I've got it for you. The Aberdeener's most recent post lambasting the school board--deservedly so--really brings into focus every single problem we face as a community. What Aberdeener doesn't explicitly mention, but what we will right now, is those problems are further exacerbated by the fact the school board is responsible for THE VAST MAJORITY OF YOUR PROPERTY TAXES. Far more in fact, by a power of 4 or 5 times, than Matawan Borough, Aberdeen Township, and Monmouth County. And who is holding these capricious, dangerous, unanswerable individuals accountable? NO ONE. No one bothers to vote for the school board, no one curtails their spending, no one even cares. But they'll show up at a council meeting to complain about a measly $10,000 here or $25,000 there. Really? How about the $60 million being spend irresponsibly on our most precious resource--our children--every year?


Enough with our commentary, Aberdeener does it more succinctly:

Imagine the following: Your neighbors have entrusted you with their children’s education. They have given you sixty million dollars and asked you to do the best you can with what you have. You recognize the responsibility your neighbors have bestowed upon you; so much of their children’s futures depend on what you do. In such a scenario, would you do any of the following?

1. Give all teachers guaranteed employment for life if they manage three years without getting fired
2. Dole out millions of dollars a year as an incentive for teachers to improve their own education but not one penny as an incentive to improve the education of their students
3. When presented with two candidates to coach the chess club, a local grandmaster willing to work for free or the gym teacher who demands a thousand dollars, choose the gym teacher
4. Adopt the legal minimum standards of education as your own standards
5. Allow students to coast through school by taking only the easiest courses
6. Dedicate more resources on psychiatrists and drug counselors than on the science department
7. Draft a mission statement that doesn't include teaching
8. Guarantee every teacher an automatic raise regardless of performance...

There's more, and it gets even more depressing when Aberdeener illustrates that despite all the spending with Abandon, our children aren't even learning enough to keep up with their neighbors here in Monmouth County, let alone the rest of the world. Real eye-opening stuff.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE WHOLE THING. IT'S GOOD. CLICK ON IT. TRUST US.


And if after reading that, you're all fired up and want to read some more about the sordid details of the waste, look no further.
CLICK THIS ONE FOR ANOTHER EYE-OPENER.

It will provide some hard numbers about where the money's going, as well as the statistical long-shot it takes to have a board where not one single person votes no to spending anything, ever.

Your house is worth HOW much?

" In searching for the truth be ready for the unexpected." --Heraklietos of Ephesos

So Realty Appraisal Corp, of West New York, NJ, has completed their evaluations of Matawan properties, sent out the re-val letters, and is meeting with property owners who disagree with the assessment and would like to appeal, as well as property owners who just want some help in demystifying the assessment process, or clarifying what the new property valuation means to them. Here's how it breaks down.

The town's preliminary assessment is 2.4 times that of what it was prior to the new valuations. So if your home has increased in value as a result of the re-val less than 2.4 times, your taxes will not go up as a result of the revaluation process, but will in fact be less. Of course, even if the town also doesn't raise taxes this year, you'll still see an increase due to the reckless spending of the school boards, which is the single biggest problem for every single Matawan and Aberdeen resident, not the councils and their spending. But that's another post.

If your assessment increased by that 2.4 times number, then the re-val process will have little to no effect on your taxes, again, absent other criteria like the school budget.

If your assessment increased by more than 2.4 times, then the re-val process will indeed translate to an increase in your taxes, this in addition to any tax increases coming our way from the fiscally irresponsible school board.

Examples:

• Your property was assessed at $100,000 and is now assessed at $220,000. You've more than doubled and are likely nervous. In fact you have only increased 2.2 times vs. the town's aggregate 2.4 times, so you'll more than likely see a reduction in taxes based on your assessment.
• You property was assessed at $250,000 and is now assessed at $600,000, a big increase to be sure. But it is only 2.4 times, putting you right in line with the town, thus you'll see little or no increase in your taxes based on your assessment.
• Your property was assessed at $135,000 and is now assessed at $365,000. You have an increase of about 2.7 times, this vs. the town's 2.4 times average increase means you'll likely see an increase in taxes, even before new budgets come out from the town and the school board.

Hopes this helps puts some minds at ease, if you need help with the calculations and what it means for you, Truth in Matawan can assist any who request it with their particular numbers, or contact Realty Appraisal Corp at (201) 867-3870.

Yes, but was it close?

"Truth always rests with the minority, and the minority is always stronger than the majority, because the minority is generally formed by those who really have an opinion, while the strength of a majority is illusory, formed by the gangs who have no opinion—and who, therefore, in the next instant (when it is evident that the minority is the stronger) assume its opinion ... while Truth again reverts to a new minority."--Soren Kierkegaard

Wow. The mayoral race final results are in, and Matawan Mayor Mary Aufseeser was able to hold onto her seat. By one vote. Talk about a town divided. When she won her election two years ago, she won with 1464 votes to then-mayor Bea Duffy's 1112, or 58% to 42%. Slightly more of a mandate than she got this time. What's different? Was it a perceived ineffectualness on her part for the last two years? Was it stonewalling of initiatives again and again by the Republicans on the council in an effort to undermine her administration? Was it just plain old voter apathy? We might never know, but two things are the evidently true in this matter:

1) She's going to have a tough road ahead of her, and

2)If people don't get out and vote, they really can't complain about who their neighbors elected.

Of course, once elected, the Mayor becomes the Mayor of ALL of Matawan, not just those who voted for her. So let's hope she gets the support she needs to see her ideas and initiatives through to fruition, so our town can continue moving forward. When she ran the first time, she said she wanted to see the existing downtown area revitalized, rather than razing the houses by the train station and putting up new strip malls. She also said she would like to see the police department get new cars (and a new building) and see the glass- and litter-strewn parks renovated and better-utilized. How has she done on those fronts? There are at least six new businesses on Main Street that were not there before she was elected, including the 2006 spa of the Year, Peter Conte; two new upscale restaurants, La Riviera and La Pesce; a brand new sushi/teriyaki eat-in/take out restaurant, Sushi Bento; a national financial firm in Edward Jones, and oh yes, the "controversial" anchor store, C-Town. All of these businesses came into EMPTY BUILDINGS on Main Street, in C-Town's case, the biggest property on Main Street, and one that had been empty for years.

The police department have their new cars (and trucks), but not the new building yet. The Lakeside boathouse has a new roof and the Jackson Street park has been completely beautified, and re-dedicated to Joe Penniplede. The park adjacent to the Community Center has also been rededicated, to the apparently ungrateful Jeremiah Hourihan. We say "Apparently ungrateful" because he wasn't at his own dedication ceremony because he reportedly didn't respect the democrats that were in charge at the time. These of course being the same democrats that let him keep his borough post on the Shade Tree Commission. Truth in Matawan doesn't know if these were the real reasons he didn't show up, as opposed to say, health reasons, but we'll see if we can uncover the truth there, as well.

As for the Mayor, good luck to her. As we've just seen, in less than two years, she's accomplished nearly all she said she wanted to in her initial run. Let's hope that with the proper support, she can do even more in the next 4 years.

Truth in Advocacy, part 2

"When we blindly adopt a religion, a political system, a literary dogma, we become automatons. We cease to grow."--Anais Nin

Continuing to shed the light of truth on Matawan Advocate's mistake-laden blog. The post of November 5 reads as follows:

What local politician had Matawan Police remove Buccellato,Buragina,Clifton signs from the Strip Mall on Main Street(where StarBucks is located?) All weekend signs for Aufseeser, Bunyon & Mendes were covering strips of grass on this strip mall. When a volunteer put signs up for Buccellato, Buragina & Clifton (several, I might add, not 20)the Matawan Police were called and told that the Democrats have the "exclusive" rights to put signs up and insisted the Police Department remove the Republican signs. The Matawan Police complied. Now perhaps the Police should have requested proof i.e., a letter of some kind, a phone call to the owner. But they didn't and why should they, after all it was a Democratic Councilman from the Borough. Waste of manpower, waste of taxpayer money, absolutely! The same Democratic politician who told our Police this story and wasted our tax dollars....was not telling the truth. OH NO, YOU SAY, NOT TELLING THE TRUTH, yes, readers sorry to say but that pleasant face does lie! Just when you thought it was going to be a fair, honest election, HA! This certain Councilman must want to win so badly that he lied to the Matawan Police. He should have known better.... Isn't that against the law?

THIS ELECTION I AM EXCLUSIVELY VOTING REPUBLICAN! WHY YOU ASK? BECAUSE THE REPLUBLICANS WILL TAKE MATAWAN IN THE DIRECTION IT SHOULD BE GOING. That aside, underhanded, devious, conniving, deceitful politicians will never get my vote.

OK, where to begin? What is the purpose of this post? Other than to spread vitriol and propaganda for the Republican campaign, I mean? If the Advocate is saying that the Democratic councilman LIED, and the owner of the Main Street Village Strip Mall DID NOT want the Republican signs removed, how did they come by this information? Are THEY the owner of the property? Did they speak with him? More importantly, what proof can they offer that this intent was NOT for the Republican signs to be removed? THAT would make for an interesting blog, one we here at TiM would be keen to read.

If he is a business owner in town who was sick of the years that the Republican administration drove the town straight down, into the ground, without stopping, don't pass go, FOR DECADES, then it would follow he would want their signs removed. If the Advocate is truly a concerned citizen as they hold themselves out to be , shouldn't they have gotten out there and helped the police removed the offending Republican signs, so that they could get back to work protecting us quickly, thus reducing the amount of time that their manpower was being "wasted" as they claim?

The best part of the post can almost be missed, tucked as it is at the end there. They claim that the Republicans are the party that "Will take Matawan in the direction it should be going". Really. REALLY? And what direction is that? The direction it had been going in for two decades? Do they mean we should resume our one-way trip into municipal oblivion, or perhaps, PERHAPS, could they give another administration a little bit more than a year-and-a-half to implement some changes?

This is now the second post I've read of theirs that is full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. In short, it's a lot of hot air, with no facts. We will continue to follow up on this.

Now, if you had some facts about the strip mall owner's intent, THAT would be a juicy blog, and one I would sign up to read in a heartbeat! I will continue my trek through your blog, I hope the "truthiness" improves!

Truth in Advocacy, part 1

"All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them."--Galileo


As part of our continuing campaign to bring the truth to the people of Matawan, we're going to be "shadowing" the Matawan Advocate, and sharing some of their findings here. At times, we might agree with the "truth" they're showing, more often, we'll be shedding some light on their fallacies and inaccuracies. We'll be starting with their November posts.

In their post of November 1, Matawan Advocate writes:

"When businesses enter into politics it can only lead to rule by others. Does the owner of the Plaza where StarBucks is located live in Matawan? Does the owner of Dunkin Donuts live in Matawan? Does the Dr. on Main Street, the Financial Planner on Main Street or the Prudential Bulding on Route 34 live in Matawan. Do owners of any business in Matawan live in Matawan? Well if they don't then I say, Mind your own business? If they do a sign at your home is sufficient. Spare me from the people who put "huge" signs on businesses but when it comes to their homes do not! We in Matawan are not sheep that need outsiders telling us how to vote. We hopefully vote on issues. If I need a Doctor, Financial Planner, Bank or any other related services, you better be damn good at what you do because I for one am not interested in your politics! Having signs on our homes is one thing but plastering signs all over the Borough in the hundreds is absolutely ludicrous. Main Street Matawan looks like "Trash City" with all those signs. You would think it was a Presidential election and the candidate lived in Matawan. Are you people stupid or what spending all that money for signs? How many people do you think that could be fed with that money? How many homeless families could be better served by that money? This election has made me ashamed to live in Matawan. My hope is that this never happens again. Perhaps I'm wrong and the more signs you clutter a Borough with, the more votes you get. I hope not. Never wanting to trample on anyone's rights, whatever makes the residents of Matawan happy. "

I'm sorry, but this post reads like one big batch of sour grapes. Their depiction of Main Street bedecked in signs is a vivid one, if a little inaccurate. While there are plenty of the little Buccellato, et al signs on Main Street, I want the Advocate to imagine that the Republicans had the support of the town and its' businesses and it was THEIR large signs up and down Main Street. Would it look so ugly to them then? I think not.

And if they want to imagine what Main Street would look like, all they have to do is drive through Marc Woods. There are houses there with more Republican signs than blades of grass. There's one house in particular, with such a big sign done up in such an outlandish manner than the term "Shrine" comes to mind. We were surprised that we didn't see the owner out on the lawn the night before election day doing novenas.

What's worse is that it's a residential neighborhood, not a commercial one more suited to signs, as Main Street and Rt. 34 are. It is indeed a blight on the neighborhood.

Now, the Advocate does make a valid point about the owners of the properties not living in Matawan (for the most part). Well, it WOULD be valid, that is, if commercial property owners didn't pay property taxes. Oh wait, they do. So their point now becomes completely IN-valid. I hope they can appreciate the distinction.

Oh, and to answer one of the questions they asked, the financial planner they point out that had the huge sign apparently lives in the same house as the office. So the answer would be yes to their question of "Does she live in Matawan?"

Now on to the issue of WHY would the businesses support a candidate (or a party if you prefer) that is not the candidate (or party) that the Advocate obviously supports? Furthermore, why would they support a candidate in Mayor Aufseeser (or party in the Democrats) that, as Councilman Buccellato's campaign literature pointed out, raised their property taxes two years in a row by a large margin?

Could it be that they recognize the value of fiscal responsibility--that is, that an administration that steadfastly refused to raise taxes for years in a self-interested effort to get itself re-elected, and instead bonded the town into financial ruin to the point where it has no more available credit at all, and in the process let the town go to rot and its services dwindle to nothing, was an administration they they did not want to see return to power, even if it meant higher property taxes in the short term?

Could it be that they recognized that raising the taxes in an effort to get us out of a deficit situation, so that we may enjoy our first surplus in YEARS and so that services could be better deployed was something worthwhile, rather than the "same old" policy of don't raise taxes and borrow, borrow, borrow till you can't borrow no more?

Or could it be that, when faced with the choice of a genuine, caring person or a would-be Machiavellian schemer, they saw it as no choice at all. A choice of a person who people know and love and will take the time to talk to anyone, even her detractors, or a liar who plots behind the scenes and mopes and sulks on the dais and who doesn't give his constituents the time and respect his position of authority requires him to. If you were a business and property owner in town, who would you choose?

In summary, their post was long on vitriol but short on facts and common sense. I look forward to perusing the rest of their blog to see if the rest of the posts are similar, or if this was an isolated case.

By the way, we're wondering how much money the Matawan Advocate donated to feed the homeless this election season. We'll be waiting for the answer. If they need a suggestion, they can try donating to The Community Foodbank of New Jersey, a worthy cause.

Setting us Free?

One of Matawan's most famous citizens in its long history was "Poet of the Revolution" Phillip Freneau. Another famous poet, Khalil Gibran, in his classic work, Sand and Foam, said:

"Let my strength be equal to my enemy, so that Truth may be the victor"

Aristotle's version is just slightly more complicated:

"To say of what is that it is not, or of what is not that it is, is false, while to say of what is that it is, and of what is not that it is not, is true"

A mouthful, to be sure, but hey, he was setting the ground rules for some pretty important stuff, stuff we're still talking about millenia later. The truth is something important, that much everyone can agree on. Many times, truth can seem subjective; at other times, it can seem very clear-cut. What we endeavor to do here, at Truth in Matawan, is cut through the misstaements and mistakes, the hidden agendas, the political claptrap, and especially the blatant lies, and get at what should be important to every tax-paying citizen of Matawan--The Truth.