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.

A bird of a different feather

Writing from our vacation rental home on Sanibel Island, Toucan House, I am happily and whimsically surrounded by Toucan

"memorabilia" ..... paintings, some photos, various trinkets. Some might say it is over-Toucanized, but we love it. Just as we value Sanibel for its unique environment in Florida, and in the country overall.

Looking at all these Toucans with their enormous beaks, I am struck by how deceptive the size of the beak is. One would think that the poor Toucan would not be able to keep its balance given the ratio of beak size to bird size. But the trick of Toucan balance is that the beak is essentially a fine and light honey comb within a fairly delicate shell. The weight and shape of the bill enables the Toucan to sit in branches that support it, while reaching out for berries on much smaller branches.

Balance, for the Toucan, is a natural occurence. Balance in legislating must be constructed.

The note to Paul Tractenberg from West Orange Councilman Reynard Barnes is more than reasonable when the councilman expresses appreciation for all the effort put forth to craft an acceptable tree ordinance that will offer balance. With seeming understanding and sensitivity to the frustration caused by the long deferred ordinance, Councilman Barnes states that any ordinance adopted by the township must take into account the individual home owner: "Despite our desire to save as many trees as we can, we must still balance this interest against a person'a (sic) property interests, a fundamental interest that must still be afforded protections. "

Councilman Barnes has been assured by Professor Tractenberg that the tree ordinance as created and revised " eases the burdens on individual property owners, but still makes protecting trees and regulating their removal the ordinance's primary thrust".

On Sanibel Island where restrictions to protect the environment are the consistent thread in Island management, there is understanding and agreement among elected officals and residents on such issues as conservation. Were real Toucans to live here, none of us would want any Toucans falling out of trees. More importantly, we would want to make sure that they, indeed, have the trees from which not to fall out of. I would like to think that the deliberate judgement of this little island in the Gulf of Mexico has some application to the town of West Orange.

The Jury Is Still Out

In an amazing display of either nonchalance or arrogance---or both---- at least one township council member has declared that because of other duties, he may not have a chance to preview the once again revised tree ordinance.


Ever pressing forward the pressing need to adopt a tree ordinance, Paul Tractenberg, the attorney who leads the advocacy group We Care, wrote a memo to the West Orange Township Council on May 1 reminding them of their commitment to provide a first reading on May 20 for the new ordinance.


The ordinance, crafted by Professor Tractenberg and other environmental volunteers, is tailored to West Orange and was modelled off successful ordinances in other municipalities. As a key point of his memo, Professor Tractenberg offered to address the revision once again and make it available to council members seven days in advance of the May 20 council meeting.


Keeping in mind that this ordinance has been "filibustered" by the council for nine months, the response to the memo by councilman John Skarbnik is nothing short of stunning. In his response to Tractenberg, Skarbnik writes:


" On a different note, as you can appreciate, this is the end of the semester and I have exams to write, and grade, in addition to a number of work related demands. My last Exam is be given on May 15th. So I do not know whether I will have adequate time before then to review the revised draft and provide my comments."


So nine months is not sufficient time to craft a viable ordinance?

And seven days is not sufficient time to review an ordinance already presented several times with little variation?

Is it any wonder that apathy exists among voters disgusted with the legislative process?

Let us hope good reason and duty to protecting the township prevails in these next 14 days. Until then, the jury is out as to who this council is and what their real agenda may be.

The Role of Media in Public Advocacy

Reporters are probably among the most beleaguered of professionals. There are so many elements in getting a good story---- and doing it often on tight deadline---- that errors in fact do occur. And, of course, there are always errors in omission. The press must deal with an angry public when the story is not factual or complete, as well as with an irate editor who is always expecting better.

Accustomed to not always being content with the article presented on any news item of interest to me, I was surprised and pleased at the front page news coverage in the local paper, The West Orange Chronicle. The article, complete with color photograph, was entitled "Township's Trees Remain Unprotected". From headline to last line, the article written by Diane Lilli, hit the mark perfectly.

Essentially she covered the issue of the languishing tree ordinance and the ordinance status at the West Orange Town Council Meeting. Her piece is threaded with meaningful and well placed quotes from both the council members and Paul Tractenberg, the chief advocate for the revised ordinance. I don't think any one could accuse Ms. Lilli of being inaccurate, incomplete or biased in the architecture of the article.

But she did more than cover the story, she raised the essential questions. Why is this taking so long to accomplish? Why has the council discussion been post-poned until after the council elections?

Of course, the responses are as one would anticipate. That the council does not want to act precipitously. But again this reporter drums at the issue of the time line and brings out how deliberation could and should have preceded the meeting on April 29.

The highest purpose for news media should not just be the telling of a story, but in raising the questions that put the story into the most understandable and illustrative context.

This, Ms. Lilli did admirably.