Monmouth County Fair 2009 - Horsemanship

Here are some photos from the last day of the Monmouth County Fair. We had just entered East Freehold Park and approached the riding trials.

Environmental Reports at Matawan Aberdeen Public Library

Significant reports were written about the environment of Aberdeen Township and Matawan Borough back in the 1970s in the wake of the founding of Earth Day and the Environmental Protection Agency. Both reports remain available in the reference section of the Matawan Aberdeen Public Library, in case anyone wants to do a retrospective study comparing the municipalities today with thirty plus years ago. Sounds like a worthy thesis project for a budding environmental scientist.

• Aberdeen Township Natural Resources Inventory 1979, edited by H Gray Multer, was written by members of the Environmental Geology Class at the Department of Earth Sciences at Fairleigh Dickinson University. It spells out the little details of hydrology and surface water runoff patterns of the local watershed, among other things. Multer passed away last October at the age of 82, according to the FDU website. He was the founder of the Dept of Earth Sciences at the College at Florham, as well as the founding director of the school's marine laboratory in St Croix, Virgin Islands.
  

• Environmental Index 1975 was prepared by the Matawan Borough Environmental Commission. You'll want in particular to look at Appendix 2 Map B, which identifies the seven open spaces evaluated in Appendix 3. The report points out that the borough's then-present 31.5 acres of parkland was less than half what was required for the borough's 9,136 pop (1970). NJDEP thought that 8 acres of parks per thousand of population were the baseline need, or 72.95 acres as of 1975. As of 2000, Matawan's projected population of 13,000 would need 103.95 acres, a deficit of 72.45 acres.

Planning Board to Continue Discussion of Cross RD and Arlington AV Proposals

The agenda has just been published for the next Aberdeen Township Planning Board meeting scheduled for Wednesday 19 August 2009 at 7:30 pm.

The Board will continue discussion from June regarding plans for commercial construction along Cliffwood Avenue at Cross Road. As you might recall, they plan to demolish that old house near the Garden State Parkway bridge and build some commercial property. The space is apparently too small for what needs to be included -- 20% too few parking spaces and no loading docks -- so variances are being sought in a revised plan. I have no opinion on this particular project but am always glad to hear when local officials are keeping the township's overall welfare in mind when considering new construction plans. At the same time, when I see local officials squeezing homes and businesses into dime-sized lots, I consider everyone involved to be poor stewards of the public good. See my blog article on the Cross Road project from way back in April when it was first proposed.

There will be continued discussion of a project involving plans to move existing property lines to form two buildable lots in the Cliffwood neighborhood. Two single family homes would be constructed along Arlington Avenue, which is south of the NJ Transit railroad tracks and just west of County Road near Cliffwood Avenue. Does anyone know precisely where the properties in question are located (Block 180 Lots 10, 11, and 12) relative to cross streets of Arlington Avenue -- Bayview, Gordon, and Avon?. I found Lot 11 mentioned by Gannett NJ as of 2006 as being a 40 x 100 lot owned by Ronko Developers of Manalapan and assessed as of 2004 at $8,000. The Board announcement says no variances are sought. Here's a map of the area.


View Larger Map

1. New business includes the yielding of a parcel of township property to the property's adjoining neighbors. The Board agenda refers to that parcel being on Cliffwood Drive, which, according to the township historian's guide to Aberdeen street names, is the old name for North Concourse in Cliffwood Beach.

A Glass of Wine Might Help

NJ Transit left us in the dark at South Amboy tonight to await the next train to Matawan. Everyone was so pleased, especially after the train had left Newark over ten minutes late and jerked around like the engineer had never driven before.

The train behind us was the express to Matawan. Everyone on that train was equally excited about their evening's train ride. They were delayed because the express can't pass the local. Instead, it has to wait for the local at each stop between Newark and Matawan. So deboarding the local and joining those folks on the "express" was probably just the thing to make everyone's evening complete.

Well, there was the guy on my train dodging the conductor in order to avoid paying the fare. He was an interesting side show and made my evening even more complete. He was doing pull ups from the overhead rack. And he reached into the trash bin all the way up to his armpit, just to find a seat check to try to fool the conductor with. Never trust the idiots with baseball caps on backwards, especially when they're doing chin ups on the train.

I'm going out for a glass of wine.

News Updates as of 13 August 2009

• Robin Anderson of Matawan successfully competed in the US Tennis Association (USTA) Girls 18 Nationals on Tuesday 11 August 2009 in Berkeley, California, according to USTA Florida.
• The Independent has some nice photos of Matawan's Night Out Against Crime. Oddly, most are in broad daylight, but I think the event was an all day affair.
  
• Tom Gambino of the Matawan Aberdeen School Board has been hosting a series of meetings intended to lead parents, teachers, administrators, and community members to new Mission and Vision Statements for the school district. The most recent was Wednesday evening August 12 at One Crest Way. The group worked through a number of possible renderings using the overhead projector and much mental elbow grease. I understand that the group's favorites will be circulated for discussion quite soon. The next and final meeting is set for Wed 9 September at One Crest Way.
  

Where the Dollar Store Stands

I went to Matawan Public Library on Sunday to do some local history research. While I was there, I picked up some books and CDs. Remember that the library is open on Sundays, btw. It was crowded this weekend -- I counted nearly 30 cars in the lot off Broad Street on Sunday afternoon!

I read through parts of the library's reference copy of Matawan, 1686 - 1936. Did you know that there was a big church on Main Street at Ravine Drive, the place where the Dollar Store (former Kings Drugs) currently stands? Or that there was an old schoolhouse at the corner of Routes 79 and 516 at Mount Pleasant? That book's got a nearly 75 year old perspective on the history of our local schools, churches, and so much more. And photographs.

I picked up The Literary Heritage of New Jersey, by Laurence B Holland, et al (1964) to read a bit more about the famous local writer, Philip Freneau. The book has a long chapter about him.

The library has two great books on picking a place to live in retirement: Where to Retire: America's Best and Most Affordable Places, by John Howells (5th ed, 2003) and Retirement Places Rated: Plan the Retirement You Deserve, by David Savageau (7th ed, 2007). Only one of the books suggests a place in NJ worth living in on the far side of employment: Lower Cape May, but it came in 180 out of 200. While it was rated highly for its ambiance, the more important services and cost of living were in the bottom 15% of all places. Seems about right. Actually, they don't recommend living anywhere near Central NJ. Go hundreds of miles away, my son. The closest spots in the Top 30 in one book were Charlottesville, Asheville, and Charleston. The other book likewise focused on Virginia and the two Carolinas.

The music collection is upstairs along the rail. I picked some jazz, some Broadway, and some opera:

• The Great Jazz Soloists: Finest Performances, including performers like Charlie Parker and Stan Getz and songs like Misty, Laura, and an exciting rendition of Cherokee.
• Jekyll and Hyde: The Musical comes with a booklet with the words.
• Kathleen Battle: Bel Canto, accompanied by the London Philharmonic conducted by Bruno Campanella

The wife is on an ancient history kick of late. Early Greeks. Early Romans. Persians. Spartans. I've set the Tivo to record 300. She missed that one -- I happened to see it with friends. I'm not sure she's prepared for the story of the Spartans told like a rock video.

Halfway Down the Platform

What's with NJ Transit running its trains halfway down the platform at Aberdeen Station before stopping to let off passengers arriving from Newark and New York during the evening rush? I was in the next to last car and was nearly to Hazlet when I got off the train that was scheduled to leave Newark today at 6:40 pm and arrive at 7:18 pm! The end of the last car was actually near the stairwell in the far corner of the parking lot, leaving many of us with quite a hike back to civilization.

Matawan's Fr3sh Competed in America's Best Dance Crew

Fr3sh, a Matawan dance group, competed in Season 4 of America's Best Dance Crew on MTv on Sunday. They ran into stiff competition right from the start and were soon out of the running. There's a video blog at MTv recapping their tearful departure from the show.

Check out VEVMO, which provides a nice summary of each dance crew competing on the show. This is what they had to say about Fr3sh:

Fr3sh started in 2003 in Matawan, New Jersey. Founded by Adrian Causing, Fr3sh started as a group of friends dancing for fun. It has since evolved into a huge dance company. These seven dancers are the backbone of the company and are ready to take on America's Best Dance Crew.

The members have a variety of training, including jazz, ballet and hip-hop but they are not interested in dancing with the same precision as they were previously taught. Cindy says that one thing that makes their group unique is their "ridiculous and silly" moves, and that's what will help them win this competition. Leslie thinks that other dance crews take themselves too seriously, but you can expect the opposite from Fr3sh.

While they are all passionate about dancing, they think the most important thing is to have fun. The members of Fr3sh combine their professional training with a sassy and lighthearted attitude to show how much fun dancing can be if you let it happen naturally.

It looks like that might be a winning combination; they won first place in the 2008 East Coast Dance Competition in Washington, D.C., which helped put them on the map and allowed them to be featured in many performances and competitions around the country. They've proven they can work a crowd and they are going to try to win over all of America in order to be known as the "best."

Matawan Gets Small Chunk of Extraordinary State Aid

Matawan is to receive $105,000 in property tax relief from the State of New Jersey, according to a public announcement covered by the Asbury Park Press.

The state awarded 39 municipalities a total of just over $10 million. The top ten winners were alloted over half the money, averaging $565,000 each for a total of $5.65 million. The balance received average awards of just over $150,000 each. Matawan ranked 15 of 29 in the lower tier and received less than the average award. Here are the top ten municipalities receiving aid:

• $1 million to Roseland in Essex County
• $860,000 to Bound Brook in Somerset County
• $850,000 to Penns Grove in Salem County
  
• $750,000 to South Orange in Essex County
• $550,000 to Clifton in Passaic County
• $550,000 to Washington in Warren County
• $450,000 to Haledon in Passaic County
  
• $425,000 to Bogota in Bergen County
• $400,000 to Salem in Salem County
• $360,000 to Chesilhurst in Camden County

Looked at another way, 70% of awards went to municipalities in only 5 counties. Monmouth County is one of half a dozen winning counties that each received 1% or less of the money being doled out. Here are the big winners:

• $1.75 million to Essex County
• $1.5 million to Bergen County
• $1.28 million to Salem County
• $1.25 million to Passaic County
• $1.235 million to Somerset County

To be sure, Aberdeen is getting no tax relief at all, but maybe we didn't ask for any.