A flier forwarded by Councilwoman Charlotte Bennett Schoen:

ELECTRONICS RECYCLING FOR ENGLEWOOD RESIDENTS!

Sunday, March 30, 2007
11:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Department of Public Works,
175 South Van Brunt Street

Keep toxic waste out of our landfills!

Load up your vehicle with those obsolete electronics lurking in closets and basements, and drive to the Department of Public Works. Staff of Advanced Recovery Inc. will unload the items, sort them, and load them onto trucks. They’ll go to a central sorting facility and on to appropriate recovery and re-use operations. Electronics can contain lead and mercury and other substances hazardous to the environment but they can be reclaimed! Glass, plastic, steel, aluminum, copper wire can be recycled! Bring:

• Computers, including laptops, monitors, cables, CPUs, keyboards, mice, printers, copiers, scanners
• Televisions (not flat screen or consoles)
• DVD and CD players
• Stereos
• Radios
• Audio and video tapes
• Fax machines
• Video games
• PDAs, pagers
• Camcorders
• Cell phones
• Telephones

Sponsored by the City of Englewood Department of Public Works with the Englewood Environmental Commission

For more information call the DPW at 201-568-3401

Businesses, schools, non-profit organizations please contact:
Advanced Recovery Inc. (ARI)
Robert P. Travers
845-858-8809
rtravers @advancedrecovery.com

The League of Women Voters is sponsoring a Board of Education Candidates Night on Thursday, March 27th at 7:30 PM at Englewood's public safety complex. Come listen, question and meet the candidates.  Learn about our school system's progress, accomplishments, future plans and challenges. The schools are responsible for the education of over 2500 students with a budget of over $50m.

It is official.  The Pew Center on the States report card on governance shows New Jersey to be a cartoon of government dysfunction.

As a March 8 Bergen Record editorial states:

It took years of pension increases, pork, patronage and other profligate spending to get us to this point. Now the state's debt load is almost the size of the budget itself.

Of course, the blame can't just be placed on our elected officials.  We, the people, have been – and pretty much remain – AWOL (Asleep With Open Lids).  We pay taxes not to play, outsourcing our state's political system to Boss controlled pay-to-play machines.  These monopolistic County Party Organizations stack municipal committees with government patronage employees who, in return for their jobs, make their Boss/patron happy.  How?  By rubberstamping his dictatorial monopoly over YOUR electoral choices, the candidates allowed to appear on your party's line.  And, in turn, these candidates do the Boss's bidding on no-bid contract awards and patronage jobs. Slick.

Justifiably, we regular folk tend to see politics like the sewer system.  We know it is vital and that it needs maintenance and attention.   But few of us want to climb in there and deal with it personally.   So the patronage/pay-to-play insiders have the field more or less to themselves.  They reward themselves with contracts, jobs and money -- and it is all quite legal. And it is only remarkable elected officials who are willing to be independent or bite the hand that feeds them.  After all, according to State law, County bosses have a special legal advantage: they can collect up to 17 times more per donor than any candidate is allowed to collect on his or her own!  Isn't that a recipe for loyalty from those running on the party line?  No wonder public financing is an idea pay to players hate.

We at the Englewood Report urge you to dig deeper, inform yourself and friends. Don't just buy the political talking points of the politician/marketers.  Inoculate yourself with a healthy skepticism and familiarize yourself with the Orwellian methodologies the insiders, the Bosses, spinmeisters, trash talkers, PR pros, patronage cronies and no-bid contract profiteers use to manipulate us into electorally ratifying their political power and selfish business plan. 

What to do? 

Short of volunteering to run for an elected position (please do!), exercise a healthy skepticism when reading or hearing political content. Apply such a skepticism to all sources...yes, even us.  So, we urge you to not only view our hyperlinks and sources, but to go further. Seek your own sources of data and facts (not just talking points, spin, assertions, namecalling or opinion).  Share them with us and your friends and neighbors.  It takes more effort, but the easy consumption of political marketing has led to voter ignorance, compliance and confusion.

And that has earned our State its duncecap.

Usually the reader is privy to the final result rather than the internal dialogues that occur at the Englewood Report. While Bob and I have different approaches, we share a common concern: citizens who live and work in Englewood deserve to be well served by their government. And at times, there is plenty of room for improvement, transparency, right action and straight talk. This democratic project involves public officials taking risks and, at times, abuse at the hands of special interest operatives. And yes, it also entails the willingness to lose elections and battles on the way to winning the war for good government. Yet, Bob and I considered a recent debate/dialogue we had instructive for the reader on many levels. For that reason, I've decided to share that dialogue with you.

Bob's most recent column is focused on the questionable reasoning and ethics involved in the City's deal with Police Chief David Bowman -- one in a long line that includes similar deals with former City Manager Robert Benecke and that mirror those given to Fourth Ward Councilman Jack Drakeford and former City Manager Cheryl Fuller. Bob feels that such deals damage the City.

Upon initially reading the proposed commentary, I was more focused on public awareness. Is a critical mass of people prepared to seriously consider our critiques? Are we the right messengers? Does the public want to hear from candidates who lost elections and/or does everything we say from that point on become tainted as sour grapes? I also had another concern that weighed heavily on me.

There is one woman presently sitting on the City Council and only one female mayor in Englewood's history. I experienced outright misogyny (woman hating) when I recently ran for the 4th Ward Council seat.  And I got it from women and men, Black and White alike.   I am led to ponder Englewood's capacity to accept that Black women leaders, who clearly don't fit into a comfortable and archetypal model of leadership, have anything to contribute to the public good.

Bob clearly believes that even unsuccessful candidates, men or women, have something to add to the common good. Further, he possesses the strong conviction that, through the Englewood Report, we are able to stimulate public awareness, concern and dialogue. Until last week, however, I remained unsure and my uncertainty was more specific to my role as a Black woman who refuses to let others define me and chooses, quite deliberately, to speak truth to power. Further, my appearance is deceptive.  My petite presentation masks a combative and competitive person. Does Englewood want to hear from me? Am I the right person?

Well, as per usual, I have come to value the common sense in Bob's argument. I now believe that not only should I, but I have a responsibility to speak up and facilitate change. I would like to tell you that it was the power of Bob's argument alone that changed my perspective, but many times events converge. I will share such an event that changed my position. During my campaign, I came across a 14-year old City Affirmative Action ordinance that had never been enforced. I was livid about it because, while the constituents with whom I spoke never mentioned Chief Bowman's return to his position, they routinely mentioned concern for their children's future. They were confronting the fact that those children could no longer realistically expect to make a living in the City where they were born, and they worried about the City leaders (Black and White) helping to push and price them out of Englewood's Fourth Ward altogether.

As a result of listening to their concerns, I took the issue to the Bergen County Central Trades and Labor Council (AFL-CIO). As the ordinance calls for Union apprenticeship programs for City residents, they were very interested. I also took the issue to the State President of the NAACP, James Harris, and the Chief Operating Officer of the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, Ellen Brown. While Brown is currently studying the ordinance, Harris was immediately interested in both why the City had failed to enforce it and how he could help me in doing so.

After losing the Fourth Ward Council race, I have continued to work on this project because I believe it will enhance the quality of life for the underserved here in Englewood. Because I was not a sitting Councilperson, Gordon Johnson continued my work by taking the project to Acting City Manager Robert Casey on my behalf. I am grateful to Gordon and Mr. Casey for finding a venue (the Route 4 public access road) through which the ordinance can finally make a difference and fulfill its promise.  After years of inaction, this ordinance will finally be enforced and make a real difference for Englewood's young people.

Hearing the City Council discuss the project's next steps at the March 4th Englewood City Council meeting is further evidence that individuals do make a difference in the fight for transparency and good government. I've come to another realization, as well. Englewood is due for a course correction. Women…and yes, Black women, must play an integral role in that corrective effort.

I don't see the world in either/or terms, so I am not making the claim that women are better at governance than men. We are different, however, and often bring uniquely valuable insights and perspectives to the table. The lives women lead tend to make many of us more focused on the collective good rather than the personal.  And that orientation in government helps us to strive toward community transformation and redemption. Many times, we are more inclined to seek the moral high ground than the personally advantageous position.

For those reasons, Englewood does not need to feel satisfied that it had an majority female Council at one time and a woman mayor many years ago. Englewood needs a government today that can lead it to fulfill its promise as a community of energy, openness, diversity, and talent that others want to emulate. 

Women must be active partners and leaders toward that end.

This post is somewhat of a parenthetic note, but important nonetheless.

My last post for The Englewood Report was written to put into context the history of New Jersey during the Revolutionary War. I had planned that this post would deal directly with New Jersey's experience during our war for independence.

But, given the comments I've received asking why I felt obliged as an architect to write about American history, I've decided to address these questions head on.

Isn't architecture, as an art, strictly about the design of buildings? Yes, it is about that; but, no, not only that.

Architecture, like mathematics, is in many, many ways whatever you want to make of it; which is to say, architecture has its roots in everything. Vitruvius, the gifted Roman polymath, alluded to this when he wrote in his De Architectura that for a thing to be architecture, it must possess "firmitas, utilitas, venustas" -- firmness, utility, and beauty. I take him to mean that for a building to rise above simple building-ness and reach the status of architecture it must, first of all, be well constructed -- that is, be structurally sound, have a roof that successfully keeps the rain out, and have windows that bring fresh air and light into the interior. Second, the building must competently serve a function -- if a fortification, be well fortified; if a bath house, be well plumbed and heated. And third, the building must possess a beauty that touches both inhabitant and visitor alike.

By Vitruvius' own standards, I would surmise (leaving questions of beauty aside) that he would criticize Englewood's new parking garage as architecture, because it apparently serves its purpose poorly: people aren't choosing to park in the garage! Nor would Vitruvius praise Englewood's Palisade Avenue "Towne Centre" as architecture, since a significant number of its residents are dissatisfied with its construction quality, calling it "uninhabitable." But these are simply two of a number of buildings in our town that fail Vitruvius' prescriptive test, and what's more, a footnote to the central purpose of this article.

Of course, Architecture is art, but it doesn't usually tend towards the social commentary that we are accustomed to seeing in the art of our day. On the other hand, while architecture can passively comment on our society, architecture is itself an active ingredient, an almost living agent that is involved in shaping our society.

We, the people, in turn make the decisions which lead to the building of various types of architecture. Casino, school, cathedral or prison: each of these are a type of architecture that we choose or don't choose to construct and to shape our world.

This point -- that you and I help to shape the architecture that in turn shapes our city -- does not by itself give a good accounting of why I am writing about the American Revolution as part of a blog intended to focus on architecture. For us to intelligently choose what our city's architecture should be, we need to be knowledgeable of the environmental, political, and historical ground that our city has sprouted from. Why know this? Because there's no point in building an ice palace in the desert, or a hospital in a cemetery, they're out of place.

By bringing to light the historical context out of which Englewood has emerged, I hope to give each of us a more complete sense of where we have been, where we are now, and where we may be headed.

I for one feel deeply that we are selling our city and ourselves out; we can do much better. We must do better, if those future builders of architecture are to view us as wise and not foolish.

On February 21, 2008, Robert Gulack, a Democratic County Committeeman from Fair Lawn, mailed a letter to all 1134 Bergen County Democratic Committee members, in which he accuses Ferriero of violating State election law by failing to heed the Bergen County Democratic Organization’s own by-laws. With the letter, Gulack sent a series of resolutions providing more democratic and open procedures for submission at the County Convention on February 28. Gulack is challenging the increasingly high-handed behavior of County Democratic Chair Joseph Ferriero, as typified by Ferriero’s quick adjournment of the Convention, which took place on January 29 after he had achieved a voice vote for his hand-picked Freeholder candidate.

The Englewood Report has reported on the damage done to Englewood by local officials who have allowed their allegiance to Ferriero and his developer cronies to outweigh their obligation to the citizens of Englewood. We have also reported on the successful effort to replace several of these officials in a series of Democratic Primary elections, and thus reduce Ferriero’s ability to corrupt our City. However, Englewood is just one of 70 municipalities in Bergen County, and Ferriero continues to exercise his pernicious influence in many of the other communities where Democrats are in control.

Ferriero’s control depends on the Bergen Democratic County Committee, an organization he chairs and of which most voters are only vaguely aware. In Englewood we have 14 voting districts, and, every two years, registered Democrats vote for and elect one man and one woman in each district to represent them on the County Committee, for a total of 28. In Bergen County, there are a total of over 1,100 members, of which a significant proportion are County employees and others who owe allegiance to Ferriero. These committee members select Democratic candidates for office, who in turn tend to respect the desires of those who selected them. Meanwhile, lucrative jobs, contracts and planning approvals are awarded to those donors who contribute to the party machine. In this fashion, Ferriero has built the most formidable political machine ever seen in Bergen County, outdoing in sophistication and scope the notorious Hudson County machine of yore. The County Executive and all seven Freeholders are Ferriero allies, and the County Republican Party has become virtually dysfunctional. In town after town mayors and council members are also part of the team.

In the June Primary this year, Democratic voters will again be electing County Committee members in each voting district. An effort is underway to recruit and elect persons for these positions who are not under Ferriero’s control. In the interim, Gulack’s letter is an effort to make clear to present Committee members what is at stake, so that their votes in the Committee are not based on ignorance. Ferriero’s grip on our County and our towns will only be loosened by increased public awareness and by grassroots activity within the Democratic Party.

"Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you God?"

The credibility of the word and testimony of police officers is at the heart of our justice system.  If their word cannot be believed, then they are not credible witnesses and their arrests are suspect.

In matters of truth-telling regarding criminal investigations and prisoner custody, we have Englewood officers Scott Jenkins, William Hollenfer and, now, Shawn Bland on one side and Chief David Bowman on the other.  Logically, they cannot all be telling the truth.

No amount of taxpayer money or symbolic reinstatements can paper this credibility gap over.  Without factually resolving issues of personal and professional integrity, the only sure thing is that the Englewood Police Department will be a confirmed refuge for mendacity -- the source undetermined.

In this light, Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes' equivocation in The Suburbanite (Feb 11) is hard to understand:

I hold each officer with the highest esteem but would suggest politics in any department is not productive," he said. "This must end."

Really?  Each officer, even a prevaricator?  Knowing what we know about the unresolved issues of truthfulness in the Englewood Police Department dating back to when Mr. Wildes was a Councilman, how can we make sense of the Mayor's current choice of words?

Only by rewriting it.  Substitute the Mayor's word "politics" with the word "integrity" and the fog is suddenly lifted, making the meaning appallingly clear.

No, Mr. Wildes.  There is no time limit on integrity.  And your assertion that law enforcement professionals who care deeply about their Department's reputation are just playing office politics is hardly holding them in "highest esteem."

The thoroughness and competence of past and current investigations into matters of integrity in the Englewood Police Department should no longer remain cloaked in the excuse that these are, most importantly, "confidential personnel matters."  They are far more than that.

The full disclosure and factual resolution of these matters strikes to the heart of public trust in law enforcement and the intentions, quality, transparency and ethics of our government.

SEEK, a citizen organization formed in 2003 to recruit qualified candidates for the Englewood Board of Education, has announced its recommendations for the April 2008 School election.  They are George C. Garrison III, Dr. Jerry D. Lamb and Margaret Mora. Mora is running for a second term, while Garrison and Lamb are first-time candidates. This is the fifth year in which SEEK (an acronym for Supporters of Education for Englewood’s Kids) has selected candidates using its standard format, which includes a formal application, an extensive interview with each applicant, and a secret ballot of SEEK members when it is necessary to choose among multiple applicants.

Garrison is an insurance consultant employed by Health Plans of New York and Group Health Insurance Plans. A fourteen year resident of Englewood, he has four children currently attending the public schools. He has been an active PTO member and a frequent attendee at Board of Education meetings. If elected, he expects to contribute his business experience and interpersonal skills, as well as his commitment, to the Board. He thinks the schools "are on the right track" but still have the major challenge of "fully motivating the Englewood students to believe in themselves."

Lamb is an Englewood native and product of the Englewood Public Schools, graduating from Dwight Morrow High School in 1986. After obtaining a criminal justice degree and spending several years in the court system, he became so "disheartened by so many African American and Latino males going through the criminal justice system" that he decided to go into teaching. Today, he has a Masters Degree in Special Education, a Masters Degree in Administrative Supervision, a Doctorate Degree in Educational Leadership, and 15 years of educational experience mentoring at all grade levels in an inner-city school system. In Englewood he started the Wilson Mentoring Program at Dwight Morrow High School, and has been an active member of SEEK since its inception.

Mora is a teacher of students with disabilities. She is Chair of the Board’s Support Services Committee. Concerned with the high cost of special education, she is working with the administration to reduce costs by bringing students now sent elsewhere back into the district. She has also focused on increasing parents’ involvement in their children’s education, working tirelessly on parental outreach, and establishing a drop-in parental resource center.

In the last five years, the Englewood public schools have made major strides forward under the leadership of Board members selected and backed by SEEK. The system has received public recognition from State education officials for significant curriculum improvements, enhanced student achievement, and the integration of the highly regarded Academies@Englewood into Dwight Morrow High School. The sizable school construction program authorized in the 2004 Referendum is progressing well. The 2008 SEEK candidates are committed to continuing this forward progress.