Retail - Part 1

I'm rather upset. I went to buy a new canvas and paints, because I wanted to paint a new painting. So I went to Pearl, over next to Toys R Us, across from Woodbridge Center.

As I walked up, it seemed... wrong. I wasn't sure what the problem was. I couldn't tell at first.

But then, as I walked closer, I saw that Pearl is closed. Pearl has been there since I was in High School. That's a lot of years.
So today, for my post about Retail in Iselin, is just simply the comment that retail is certainly having trouble. Who could ever imagine that Pearl would close? Or, even more strange, that Woodbridge Center would lose an anchor store like Fortunoff? I still miss Fortunoff. And I'm definitely going to miss Pearl.
But stay tuned for tomorrow's post, where I'll talk about Retail, part 2...

WTEA Meeting held at Woodbridge High School today

 In response to the pressures of the state and school budget issues, the WTEA held a purely informational meeting for the members of their union this afternoon at Woodbridge High School.

To be completely honest, I was there as a member of the union.  I am one of the people who will mostly likely be laid off.  So I am not an unbiased person in this issue.  (Feel free to comment at the bottom of this post, if you want to.  Good or bad.  If you are not flaming me, I won't delete you.)  The statements that I make on this blog represent my own opinions, and no one else. I do not speak for any other side in this battle, only my own perspective.  I do not represent the Union, even though I am a member.  I do not represent the state, even though I am a voting tax payer.  And I do not represent the school, even though I am an employee.  And a parent with a child in the school.

If you listen to the Governor's press releases, it all seems so very simple.  It seems like the state's current financial crisis is completely due to a union who represents people who are unwilling to bend in the current economic storm. All the teachers have to do, according to the Governor, is just bend the contract a LITTLE BIT, and the hundreds of employees in Woodbridge Township who are being laid off will still have jobs.

But in fact, NOTHING IS THAT SIMPLE.   The issue at hand is so complex, it's nearly impossible to wrap your head around it.  In fact, the truth is that even if the teachers concede, my job probably won't be saved.  Unless the Governor is playing with the numbers in order to get his way, and magically finds more money as a reward once he busts the union.  And even then?  The money will probably go to fund sports programs that have been cut.

To me this looks a lot like a chess game, and the Governor is a much better chess player than the Union is.  The Governor has come out attacking early, and the Union is pushing pawns around the board hoping to defend itself.  The Union seems to be losing.

There is no black or white.  Everything is a shade of gray.  No matter which side is telling you something, no matter which side you believe, there are two sides to every story.  (Is that too many cliches for one sentence?)  There is an element of truth to both sides.  I just wish that people would stop believing every press release that the Governor's PR staff sends out.

And I really wish that the union would do a better job of expressing it's side of the story.  But I don't think they HAVE a PR staff.
 

Bird on a Wire

Bird on a Wire
Originally uploaded by Love, Iselin NJ

 A LITTLE BIRDIE TOLD ME...

That's what my Gram used to say.  I'd say, "But Gram, how did you KNOW that?"  And her response, of course, was, "A Little Birdie told me." 

This blog isn't for that kind of information.  It isn't about rumors.  I only intend to write very upfront information.  It also isn't really about news.  The idea of this being the "Times" is rather tongue-in-cheek.  There is no way I'm going to beat a real reporter to the scoop.  It's more like feature stories.  If you want news stories, there are better websites -- I've linked to in the right column - check them out.

This blog is for positive, up-beat kinds of things.  It's to meet your neighbors.  It's to show you some of the things in town you might not know about.  It's to brag about how smart our kids are, and how great our shopping and restaurants are, and how many great things you can visit nearby. 

If you have an idea for a story, post a comment or give me a call.  I can't make any promises, but I'll see what I can do. 

The Board of Ed Meeting

 

Woodbridge Board of Ed members wait for tonight's meeting to begin.

The Board of Ed is caught between a rock and a hard place - the new Governor of New Jersey, and the powerful Teachers Union.

It seemed to me that the meeting itself was very carefully worded to point this fact out to the people of our town. Hey, folks, it isn't us. We didn't know that the state was going to cut our budget so severely. We, too, are horrified. We are madder than we can even express. Don't blame us.

The meeting, while well attended, was no where near the sell out crowd that was expected. Rumors were afloat that the Fire Marshal would be in attendance to keep count of the room occupancy, to shut the meeting down in case the crowd grew too large. He wasn't needed. Also surprising, to me, was the lack of speakers. I expected many impassioned speeches by audience members who wanted to make sure that the cuts did not extend to either their favorite school program or their job. There were a few very calm speeches. Nothing overly dramatic, in my opinion.

Woodbridge Township's Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Crowe, made a speech that was very slow, considered, and deliberate. It was paced so slowly that I almost thought it was funny. (I tend to be irreverent, unfortunately.) He spoke about how fundamentally horrified and upset he was. The example that he used, that hit home with the audience, was that when he asked the state representatives where else we could possibly cut, a suggestion was raised that we cut Kindergarten. "But we don't HAVE a full day kindergarten," Dr. Crowe objected; and the response he got was, do we really need kindergarten at all?

On a few occasions, the idea of opening up the teacher's contracts for negotiations was raised.

That is a Pandora's Box, isn't it? Of course, it is exactly what the Governor wants. And it's probably one of the best ways to save some significant money. Unions protect their workers, though, and once the contracts are opened, what happens next?

Big Board of Ed Meeting tonight -- UPDATE

This was sent to the parents of the Woodbridge Township School District:

Tonight's meeting is a regular monthly meeting of the Board of Education. Although the Board will vote on authorizing the Superintendent to forward a tentative proposed budget to the Executive County Superintendent, the proposed 2010-2011 budget will not be presented. The Superintendent will present the proposed budget Tuesday, March 23, 2010, at the Presidents' Council meeting to be held at 7:00 PM at Colonia Middle School. The Board of Education will hold a budget workshop on Thursday, March 25, 2010, 6:00 PM at Woodbridge Middle School and will have the final budget adoption on Wednesday, March 31, 2010, 7:00 PM at Avenel Middle School.

I think that the "powers that be" have heard about how many people are attending this meeting tonight, and they have released this announcement to try to keep a few of them at home. I'll post again tomorrow.

Big Board of Ed meeting TONIGHT

Tonight, the Woodbridge Board of Education will be meeting at Avenel Middle School The agenda can be found HERE.

It promises to be a crowded, heated, stressful meeting. They are expecting the room to be filled beyond capacity with employees and community members. In fact, although the meeting starts at 7:00 PM, I've heard that if you want to get in, you might have to get there at 6:30.

I plan on getting over there tonight. I'll let you know what I find out.