Welcome to the West Orange Puppet Show

The meeting of the West Orange Township Council last night was the culmination of the shell game the Council members have been playing for a year. Here's the tree ordinance, there's the tree ordinance, where's the tree ordinance?

First and foremost, for a town the size and complexity of West Orange to not have a protective (operative word here is protective) tree ordinance is egregious. After a year of consideration, debate and enormous input, to put forth the kind of gutless ordinance read last night goes beyond egregious. It is offensive.

Now, lest anyone get the idea that this is just another bungling, inept, municipal government let's set the record straight. The fact that the tree ordinance is so full of holes it makes swiss cheese look solid is not just the usual bad government at work. Indeed, the council members may be incapable of getting out of their own way, but that is not the core reason the tree ordinance has no teeth.

The tree ordinance is not just imperfect, it is impotent by design.

Why would the council members not want a good tree ordinance?

Certainly there is a circuitous trail of campaign funds. These have benefitted every one from Mayor McKeon to every Council member and trace back to a major developer who most assuredly would not benefit from having a strong tree ordinance instituted.

But beyond that there is the issue of abslolute power.

Senator Codey, John McKeon, and the developer for the project slated to bring down 27,000 trees behind the West Essex Highlands are just too close for comfort. The Mayor has been heard to claim (and in public) that he "promised" Wilf, the developer, that this project would come about.

Never mind that it was never properly vetted, that it flies in the green "face" the town pretends it has, that it is totally unacceptable to the towns adjoining the 180 acres of land where the development is to take place, that it has raised safety concerns even among West Orange police and fire officials, that virtually every resident who will be within sound and sight of the blasting that will have to take place first rejects the project....Never mind any of that. The Mayor made his promise, and the Mayor is an honorable man.

And so the developer greases the wheels and pulls the strings. The Mayor dances to the developer's tune. The Council serves as the triage point for the ordinances to be considered with each of the council members having an obligation, not to the town or to the residents, but to the Mayor himself.

Does that sound like too much inter-connectedness?

Welcome to the West Orange puppet show. Now aren't you happy you live here?

Poor Old Mrs. Jones

The West Orange Council Chambers were quite full tonight as residents protesting the weakening of the Tree Ordinance politely made their case for a stronger ordinance.... and listened to the Council attempt to explain their "dilemma".

The presentations of several in the audience were quite impressive. There was the mention of Mayor McKeon having supported the Kyoto Accord to reduce green house gases. And here is Mayor McKeon now backing more and more development and tree removal every day in his own town!

There was also the very visual presentation of a tree trunk which was used to demonstrate how trees absorb stormwater runoff. Were the council not so determined to keep the evening short, it could have been mentioned that trees save their host city millions of dollars in infrastructure costs.

But the confluence for the evening was the Council offering as rationale for this diluted and quite useless ordinance the fact that there are two opposing needs: the need to protect individual property owners' rights and the need to preserve the township's trees.

Even if this split in needs were not the ostensible rationale for the Council not having any tree ordinance in place for almost a year, the reasoning strains credibility for all of us watching this process unfold.

In previous discussions, the Council spoke of the poor woman who has neither health, nor youthful mobility, nor monetary resources to appeal if she needed to take down a tree and the ordinance got in her way. Poor Old Mrs. Jones.

Yet, Paul Tractenberg in his presentation, spoke of much more onerous, expensive and confusing ordinances that would necessitate that Mrs. Jones spend time and money she does not have to hold a garage sale, dispose of her leaves or have her chimney relined. Professor Tractenberg's argument went right to the core of the Council explanation of this anemic ordinance. Why does the town council feel so strongly for Mrs. Jones if her hardship concerns removal of a tree, but demands that she go through a rigorous process if she wants to invite her neighbors to pick over her discarded treasures?

It really makes no sense.

And it totally defies logic that there are people in West Orange, who knowing all the facts, would advocate for the diluted tree ordinance that the council would obviously gladly accept. In its absolute application, this ordinance would preserve no trees at all.

Are we really to believe that the Council has heard from legions of Mrs. Jones' asking the Council's intervention to keep the tree ordinance toothless? Hard to believe.

But the Council proffers this moral conundrum as the reason the ordinance has taken 12 months to craft, and now has everyone going back to the drawing boards once again to come up with yet one more ordinance, one more solution.

A solution indicates that there is a problem. Sorry, Township Council. There really is no problem here except for what ever tacit agreement you made with the developers and/or with the Mayor to make certain that nothing and no one gets in the way of progress.

Please don't take your constituents for a bunch of fools. You have made yourselves as transparent as Casper, and we are seeing right through you.

Shark Infested Waters

Hopes, if not dashed, are seriously subdued. On June 2, with the stalwart environmentalists and concerned citizens sitting in attendance, the West Orange Township Council completed crafting an ordinance that would protect the town's trees. The ordinance was the result of nearly 11 months of collaboration, often frustrating and always challenging. The resulting ordinance was not perfect, but as stated previously, it was good enough. Even more than good enough given that for those 11 months West Orange had no protective ordinance at all.

We had hope as we left the Council chambers on the night of June 2 that the ordinance would be kept as is. We also had assurance from the Council members that the language unanimously accepted that night would be the language introduced for final reading.

Just 8 nights later, on June 10----the night of a religious holiday when many of the regulars could not be in attendance---- the council sliced and diced the ordinance, literally making it gutless in fending off development encroachment. Their definition of what a tree is in terms of size would leave a good number of trees throughout the township on the chopping block as they would be too small to be considered a tree. And almost every protective phrase still remaining from the ordinance passed on June 2 now has the caveat "to the greatest extent possible". This language leaves every thing open to interpretation. No tree stands a chance.

One powerful example of the folly of the new language suggested and adopted on the night of June 10 is the steep slope provision edit. The new language will now allow for trees to be removed on slopes FIVE TIMES steeper than the hill on Route 280.

Now any one who travels 280 with any regularity, and especially so when that hill is snow or ice covered, knows that the angle of that slope is formidable. Imagine then, if you will, a slope FIVE TIMES that angle now bereft of trees. Then imagine living down from the slope where all those trees have been removed. Visions of landslides no doubt spring to mind, and that is no dramatization. That no doubt will occur if this ordinance, now clearly a vehicle to invite and allow totally irresponsible development, comes to fruition.

And the ordinance will come to fruition unless there is full scale community turn out on June 24 for the 6:30 p.m discussion.

We need to be there en masse on June 24 to protest the edits that were made virtually behind the backs of those concerned with tree preservation and quality of life in West Orange.

We need to be there to protest the clearly evident bias on the part of town council members who are working on behalf of outside development corporations and not in accordance with their own constituencies. And most of all we need to be there to say we will no longer tolerate the duplicitous, deceptive, underhanded actions that have been taken with the turn-around language on this ordinance.

Are the council members a bunch of untrustworthy, opportunistic sharks looking for the moment to close in and make a kill that benefits them and puts every tree and every person in West Orange in peril?

I have seen no evidence that they are not, and if I have to swim in these waters as a town resident, you can bet I will arm myself. Words are my armament. I hope you will add your own on June 24 at 6:30 sharp.

Hope Springs Anew

On the night of June 2 after more than 6 hours of discussion and deliberation, and with some very animated input from Jerome Sharfman, the West Orange Township Council came to a unanimous agreement on a tree ordinance. Perhaps it is not a perfect ordinance, but it is a good ordinance, and good is good enough at this point.

The final step in making it come to fruition will take place on June 24 at the Council meeting when the Council members will hear from the community at large as to comments on the ordinance.

It is important that everyone in this town come to that meeting on June 24 and support the ordinance as it is written. With a good show of support, the ordinance should be accepted and adopted that night, ending the jeopardy entailed in there being no ordinance at all in place. We are hopeful that this 11 month struggle to get a protective tree ordinance in place will be over with a most positive outcome!

The Door to Opportunity

This blog has been a bit short on good news.

The circuitous and often frustrating road to success with the tree ordinance has been exhausting. The lack of action on the part of the township council has been hovering above our heads like a dark cloud.

And though we still do not know what the outcome of the council discussion will be in its June 2 tree ordinance meeting, there is some outstanding progress that has occurred on other fronts.

One major bump in the road for We Care has been a limitation on funding. This has necessitated that heretofore all advocacy and legal efforts were implemented by some dedicated volunteers, volunteers who understandably have other concerns in their own professional and personal lives.

The complexity of tasks to be addressed in this campaign to restrict development of the woods behind the West Essex Highlands has been burdensome, yet borne nobly by a half a dozen people.

But there is relief in immediate sight. Barbara Bailey, a concerned and very generous member of We Care, has made a significant contribution to help in the hire of an attorney. Other members have jumped in with contributions as well, and the advocacy group is on its way to having legal counsel that will pick up where the valiant volunteers have stopped to rest. The projection is that this funding will sustain legal representation for an extended period.

Though the volunteers will remain active and dedicated to this cause, having counsel to carry the most significant weight will be a ray of sunshine in this 9 year battle.

This gift from Barbara has opened the door to opportunity at a most critical time. We harbor hope that the donation will continue to inspire others to come forward with gifts.

There is now a good possibility that the residents of West Orange will eventually benefit from solid and forward thinking environmental policies to include tree stewardship and open space planning.

Biking in Place

The town council meeting last night was a heroic effort. Heroic on the part of the council who stayed there debating the language of the tree ordinance from 5:30 p.m. until 11:20 p.m. when the discussion finally ended. Heroic on the part of three extraordinary environmentalist volunteers, Jerome Sharfman, Joyce Rudin and Warren Manspeizer who sat up front and advocated for the strongest restrictions on protecting the trees. And, heroic on the part of several members of the audience such as Karen Feinblatt of We Care who sat the entire time listening to this 10 month conversation continue. Particularly heroic on the part of the environmentalists and Karen as the council broke for a pizza: not a luxury enjoyed by the remaining people in attendance.

And credit must be given where credit is due. Even with the pizza break, the township council did indeed do their best to assure that individual home owner's did not have their property rights abridged by restricting tree removal in the face of house expansions or pool installations.

Though there are concerns about where a home owner's rights end and public good begins, the rationale proffered for the great debate---- as it may be entitled in the future---could at least be understood and viewed as credible.

But it still leaves open the question of timing and process. Is it possible in this entire 10 month period of writing and re-writing the tree ordinance that these issues of home ownership rights could not be adequately addressed?

As it stands now, there is a special council meeting sheduled for June 2nd at 5:30 p.m. in the hopes, once again, of having a first reading of a completed ordinance.

Again, we must trust that this council will be able to come to grips with what is and what is not acceptable for individual owners, and still create stewardship for the forested areas of the township.

But this is continuing to feel like an endless cycle. We keep pedaling forward yet going nowhere. Until there is something concrete created with the best interest of the environment in mind, this is truly just biking in place. We have changed the scenery, but we have not yet made any movement.

The Dog Ate My Homework

Still on Sanibel and bemoaning a departure in just 3 days, I have loved the time ON the Island and AWAY from the daily grind. One of the many advantages to vacation time, even when mingled with many errands and tasks, is the clarity provided in seeing and reading things from a distance.

The rash of emails between the West Orange council members and We Care have been illuminating.

Work, illness in the family, a death in the family, discomfort with written communication, out of town visits: the council members are offering a variety of reasons why they have not gotten to and may not get to reading and remarking on the new tree ordinance scheduled for first reading on May 20, just 6 short days away.

While I totally understand that bad things happen to both good people and good ordinances, let's put this in perspective:

-The discussions have been on going for nearly 10 months.

-A broad field of volunteer environmental, land use, legal and community experts have hammered out several similar versions of a protective tree ordinance.

-The Council and City Administration have been shamefully negligent and/or obstructive in advocating for the environment. This has resulted in the paving over of acres of wooded areas in the township, and a huge obligation to build affordable housing.

And then there is the architect brought in by the city council to critique the new ordinance. Mind you, this is a structural architect, not a landscape architect. Don't architects depend on buildings, contractors and developers to keep their business thriving? Kind of like the fox guarding the hen house!

If this reading takes place on May 20, it will be nothing short of miraculous. The town council appear to continue to throw every obstacle in the path of progress.

And while there are reasons why things don't happen as they should, there are also excuses. Let's make sure we differentiate between the two.