Union Residents, Officials Confront
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Teen Arts drawing me. The annual Teen Ai Serving Summit^ Springfield and Mountainside Summit High Sch? place next weekend iiiiiiiilil Union residents, officials confront Did you ktiowrhe sings? By Paul Greulich "We're trying to make sure both the FAA and routing, an option many of them favored, had not understand what the proposals mean," said Mountainside dentist Dr. Rob Staff Writer the officials going up the chain of government been deemed inconsistent with the project's pur- Bob Belzer, president of the New jersey Coali- WortzeJ and his group will perform SPRINGFIELD — The Holiday Inn in through county, state and federal understand the pose and needs. tion Against Aircraft Noise. a folk and blues concert Friday at 8 Springfield was the site of the most recent, and effect this is going to have on the quality of life The FAA representatives were charged with "I wish someone was here to give us the p.m. at the Barron Aits Center in by far the best-attended, FAA public hearing on in our towns," said Springfield Comrnitteeman the difficult task of relating complicated infor- straight talk," said Union County Freeholder Woodbridge. the proposed re-routing of air traffic in and out of Mark Hurwitz. mation to the public regarding a business that is Chairman Al Mirabella. For more information, call 908- Newark Liberty International Airport, in an The event outlined four options that are being important to the health of the economy. The freeholders passed a resolution officially 654-5151. ; effort to increase efficiency and reduce delays. considered. These are to take no action, modify "The most difficult aspect is to describe it in opposing the FAA's proposal on March 9. FAA representatives gathered a considerable existing airspace, re-route the flights over the layman's terms," Kelly said. Freeholder Nancy Ward said, "I'm surprised amount of public feedback on the proposal. ocean: or integrate airspace. Project Manager Indeed, the several dozen graphs, diagrams it took so long to come up with such a bad plan.'1 AARP to discuss felts Approximately 150 people, including rriany local Steve Kelly and a panel of aviation and air traf- and computer-animated images that lined the A long question-and-answer session followed The Summit AARP will meet officials, attended. • fic specialists explained that each of these walls of the large adjacent room illustrating the the residents' examination of the data. During the Monday at 10 a.m. at St. John's The major concern of most of the attendees options held different benefits as well as short- various options proved confusing to some resi- course of the questioning, the complexity of the Lutheran Church, 587 Springfield was aircraft noise, which can rattle window- comings. : " . dents. air traffic situation at Newark, as well aslnir Ave.., Summit A coffee social will panes, interrupt conversations and otherwise Residents expressed some dissatisfaction ' . "I'm very concerned that people from the travel in general and the limitations of the FAA's begin at 9:45 a.m. affect the quality of life. when a video presentation revealed that ocean public who are seeing this for the first time may See PUBLIC, Page 2 Julie Reich of SAGE Eldercare will speak on preventing falls. For more information, call 908- 273-1962. BOE preliminary Democrats to meet Summit Mayor Jordan Glatt will budget approved speak at the Mountainside Democ- ratic Club's meeting on Wednesday By Joan M. Devlin chase goods, gas and even legal serv- Staff Writer ices and PTA-PTO gifts. at 7:30 p.m. in the Mountainside : Borough Hall conference room. SUMMIT .— The preliminary •. After going over the details, the Anyone interested in the 2006 school budget for 2006-07, the main room was opened to questions and election campaign and the future of topic of the Summit Board of Educa- comments. Council woman Ellen the Democratic party in the borough tion's meeting on March 16, was. Dickson indicated she had checked is "welcome. Refreshments will be unanimously approved. with other districts in the surrounding served. Board of Education President areas, such as Madison and Millburn. For more information, call Rick Harry Olsen said, "This is very impor- "Not all of them are ready with tax Schkolniek at 908-789-0664. tant, and the budget increase is at 6.5 numbers, but Madison's taxes are only percent, which is one of the lowest in up 3.5 percent. They have reduced recent years. The administration and staff and I know that Millburn has Four-day children's staff have worked very hard to bring in lowered property taxes, even at the cSotiiing safe next week this budget." ; Short Hills Mall." Shopping for Walton, a four-day Fliers were distributed that indicat- She added, "I think we have to be children's clothing shopping extrav- ed how they arrived at the amount and, very, very careful not to drive a lot of aganza, will be March 30 through indeed, it was the lowest percentage as middle income people away. It is a April 2 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the far back as school year 2001-02, when very difficult situation and, hopefully, Springfield YMCA, 100 South it was 7.8 percent. Subsequent the state board will help us." Springfield Ave. increases were either higher or the Olsen replied, "It is difficult to This sale is a liquidation of New- same; this new amount is the lowest in compare changes in budgets, and ours I'huto iiv Barbara Ki>!:k;ili\ born Necessities of West Orange, six years. is theJowest it has been in six to seven Springfield crossing guard Joseph Nitti assists students at the intersection of South .which, will donate .25 percent of all The new dollar amount is years., _We are also more diversified Springfield and Shunplke avenues. sales JG the Walton, School Play- $5%i20,425, with all spending growth than many of the schools in the area; ground Fund. limitations and adjustments included. We have ESL — English as a Second The array of children's clothes During the 2005-06 school year, the Language —-•programs and one of the on sale, sized preemie through 4T, revised budget number was things we had to look at was cost per Guards request raise will feature many famous brand $49,687,929. pupil: about $11,560." names. Increasing enrollment is always a "Another important thing is what By Elana Aron Springfield and Shunpike avenues, says he is responsible For more information or for a factor in a budget increase. In kinder- we have done. Our scores are very Correspondent for approximately 100 kids each morning and afternoon private layette appointment, call garten through fifth grade, a 2 per- high and we have had tremendous SPRINGFIELD — Local crossing guards requested shift ; Robin Weinstock at 917-250-9778. cent increase is anticipated next year. achievement," added Olsen. "For a a salary increase at a Springfield Township Committee "I've got a busy post," Nitti said. "We're out there in For more information on the Walton An even larger increase is anticipated diversified school district, we are run- meeting last week. the cold, rain... We take pride in our job. Our job is School Playground Fund, call Jodi in grades nine through 12: 8.2 per- ning the best school in the district." "Springfield crossing guards haven't gotten a raise in important and the kids are important. A lot of the moth- Silverstein at 908-522-1442. cent, and in prekindergarten, 10.5 Board members felt the budget was six or seven years," said Joseph Nitti. "We get no bene- ers think our job is important, too." percent. as lean as they could make it. fits or vacations. All surrounding towns make more than Springfield Committeeman Mark Hurwitz believes Wine testing scheduled In the flier, the board listed many Another comment was from former us." the crossing guards, many of whom are retirees, deserve possible options to save money, such Board of Education President Phil Eis- The approximately 20 Springfield crossing guards are the raise. The parents of the Governor Liv- paid by the township. They currently earn $ 11 an hour, a "Our crossing guards are essential for public safety," ingston High School Lacrosse Club, as the coordination of student trans- ner. "I remind you how important it is portation with other districts through to educate our children, and if we salary that has not increased in six years. said Hurwitz. "They give excellent service. What a lot of with the assistance of the Berkeley "I'm retired. I live on Social Security," said Nitti. "I people don't realize is that they're very important to our Wine Company, are sponsoring a the Morris-Union Jointure Commis- don't do it, who will? If we fail, the sion and the Union County Education- children fail, and then everyone fails." need this job." bottom line. If we don't have them, we have to pay the wine tasting on March 31 from 7 to Nitti, who assists both public school and St. James police a lot more." 10 p.m at Mt. Carmel Hall, 56 River al Services Commission. Also, there Staff Writer Joan M. Devlin can be Catholic School students crossing at the corner of South See RAISE, Page 2 Rd., Berkeley Heights. were many ways suggested to partici- reached at 908-686-7700, ext. 123, or The cost is S50. The event will pate with other school districts to pur- [email protected]. feature affordable wines from around the globe as well as a raffle of magnificent gift baskets.