Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Mark Alexander is challenging state Sen. Nia Gill (D-Essex) in 34th District Democratic Primary on June 4.
- ELECTIONS
-
Wednesday, May 1
The following letter was written by Mark Alexander, of Montclair. He is a former senior adviser to President Barack Obama and current Democratic candidate for the New Jersey state Senate in the 34th District. This was Sen. Nia Gill’s (D-Essex) excuse to explain her support for the watered-down gun control legislation introduced by Sen. Steve Sweeney (D-Glouchester): We cannot let the perfect be the enemy of the good. It is baffling to me that Gill could even utter those words in front of the families of Newtown victims. That’s Gill’s excuse for not pushing forward a bill limiting the size of ammunition magazines the other day. All elected officials must stand by a simple pledge: when it comes to protecting our children, we must put …
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Former Councilor Cary Africk talks about how state legislation will help Montclair residents understand their own government.
While we often lament the lack of progress in running a more efficient and more open government, we often overlook the work that is being done at the state level. Some very important, and progressive, things are taking place. These will all impact Montclair, in a very positive way -- at least from my point of view. One of the topics being spoken in Montclair is the concern for transparency. People have written about the incomplete agendas that are missing attachments, the rule that residents can only speak before items are discussed at council meetings, and so on. The state has initiatives in at least three areas that should reassure residents -- provided Montclair decides to cooperate with the state. These areas include user friendly …
Thursday, November 22, 2012
One resident reflects on the positives that Sandy provided.
- NEWS
-
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Thank you, Sandy. More than a week without power, heat, phone, Internet, TV -- the comforts, conveniences and amusements we hardly ever contemplate -- gives a person time to think. For one thing, it surely makes me grateful for the life I usually lead, free of worry about meeting my family’s basic human needs. This tiny taste of what life might be like if our family were in less fortunate circumstances has given me greater empathy for families who face the cold regularly without the certainty that in a few days things will be better. These trying days after the storm also made me feel profoundly grateful for living in a community full of such kind, supportive neighbors. This year, I feel that Thanksgiving can’t come soon enough and …
Saturday, September 29, 2012
A new animation about vampires is a twisted version of Twilight with a whole bunch of fart jokes. The good news is, it doesn't stink.
Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy...they all come out in this 3D animation where monsters who have to get away from humans and the horrors of modern life head to Hotel Transylvania. Dracula (voiced by Adam Sandler) is the head of the house, and when his daughter Mavis (voiced by Selena Gomez) longs for the human world, problems arise…causing quite a scare for the hotel guests. There are more than a dozen celebrity voiceover characters here, which does add to the mainly slapstick animation consisting of supernatural chase scenes and jokes involving excrement, ectoplasmic goo, rear ends and breaking wind. The film is a perfectly Halloween-themed movie for kids, but leaves very little for the adults. Its a fun film but the 3D really isn't …
Friday, September 21, 2012
This is the latest column offering insight into MHS by senior Lena Rawley.
- OPINION
-
Friday, September 21, 2012
More powerful than elephants, faster than cheetahs, and fiercer than lions…student athletes are the strongest species to walk this Earth. And this is especially true for those at Montclair High School. Student athletes are put up to the challenge of balancing school and a sport—a feat that may not appear so difficult at first glance but upon further examination may be viewed as nearly impossible. Yet, they do it with such ease, like a circus performer dancing across a tightrope. This dance across the tightrope is made especially difficult with the large workloads MHS teachers assign. Freshman, sophomores, juniors, and seniors alike are bogged down in schoolwork for a majority of the year; combine that with extremely long practices and …
Friday, September 14, 2012
Lena Rawley, a senior, writes about the surprisingly mixed feelings among students about the start of the school year.
- OPINION
-
Friday, September 14, 2012
There is, truthfully, no way to begin this article except with the simple fact that the 2012-2013 school has, indeed, begun. I could’ve opened this article with rants about how the next eight to nine months are a prison sentence dedicated solely to depleting my mental health. I easily could have cheerily applauded this return to academia, praising the scent of its books and the crisp points of its pencils. However choosing a side wouldn’t be right considering there is no one right answer. Throughout the grades, every kid has their own praises and misgivings about their return to MHS. For MHS seniors, there are surprisingly mixed feelings. On one hand, they are now the kings of the school, and one final step closer to graduating and …
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Now that McDonald's will be providing calorie information on its menus, will you think twice before ordering that Big Mac?
McDonald’s announced Wednesday that, starting this month, it is adding calorie information on restaurant and drive-through menus. So now when you bite into that Big Mac, you will know just how many calories you're about to ingest. According to a drive-through menu, an Angus Cheese Burger Meal is 1,170 to 1,410 calories. According to a press release on behalf of McDonald's, the move to include calorie information is the latest in a series of actions to support the company's commitment to offer improved nutrition choices. It is, however, also a requirement of the Obama Health Care initiative that requires any restaurant chain with more than 20 outlets to list the calorie counts of its meals on the menu. Our question is, now that you have …
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Former Councilor Cary Africk asks whether the project really responds to the needs of residents.
- OPINION
-
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
The Assisted Living project on Church Street is now a "done deal." We [the township council] responded to the request of one of the developers to approve the project by June 1st in order to meet his financing needs. We responded to the developers to meet their needs for maximum profit. And while the project will provide needed tax revenue, did we really respond to the needs of the residents? Did anyone contact any of Montclair's extensive connections with the non-profit caregiver community to see what Montclair's residents, not the developers, need? Last week, the media, including Patch, reported on the United Way's "ALICE" report on the surprising number of Montclair families whose income is below that needed to barely get by day to day…
The letter writers represent Hilltop and South Mountain reservations in Essex County.
- OPINION
-
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
The South Mountain and Hilltop Conservancies are mobilizing a petition drive for supporters of the Hilltop, South Mountain and Eagle Rock Reservations to counter a possible end to the County's deer management program. After several years of culling deer densities in our area have been reduced somewhat, but are nowhere near the 10-per-square-mile number needed to allow the forests and their ecosystems to regenerate. We believe that stopping the culling, even for a year, is extremely ill-advised. With no natural predators in our area (wolves, mountain lions, black bears), deer populations will continue to expand unless the County actively reduces the herds. We've set up an online petition for voting-age residents to tell Essex County …
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Most of the speakers at last week's Democratic National Convention whipped up the partisan crowd into a frenzy. Here's why I think the main event — President Obama's nomination acceptance speech — fell flat.
The crowd was ready. The delivery, as always, was masterful. But in the end, President Obama's nomination acceptance speech spoke more for what it wasn't, in fact, than what it was. Republican nominee Mitt Romney has made a habit of criticizing Obama's habit of criticizing America on foreign shores. Many political observers found Romney's claims grossly distorted. Naturally, conservative groups such as the Heritage Foundation disagree. Nevertheless, for someone so willing to acknowledge prior administrative policy failures, Obama found little fault with himself or his way of doing business over the past nearly-four years — with the exception of not doing a better job selling his narrative to the American people. Perhaps America has become …
Bob
11:18 am on Tuesday, May 7, 2013
I pause to think about how much of the complaining about NJ's firearm laws, and the allegations more laws are watered down," are made by individuals with no concept of what the existing laws are. I'm speaking in particular of legislators and putative legislators (like Mark Alexander, and I will stand by my foregoing comments about his integrity and sincerity). So many of the legislators and the … more ›