It is very nice that the Sierra Club has taken a position against the CC plans. However, the Sierra Club does not trump the implied political clout of a minority owned Megachurch. We are not fighting the local Lutheran Church, folks. This effort WILL NOT have any effect on the DEP's decision; the DEP will remain politically correct.
I guess it makes some people feel a little better, anyway, so I guess that is a good thing in the short term, - - - but if we really want to solve this problem, there is really only one alternative:
Rational....I have to know. Do you EVER add anything constructive to the conversation?? I see well intentioned people here working their butts off to help our town, and there's good ol' Rational adding his negativity and worthless 2 cents.
Who's side are you on, anyway? You never add anything constructive, just pompous negativity. You have probably given more fodder to CC that tED has!
Think before you type. Things are good, despite what you think.
First, I am not Craig. Actually, I have been very constructive. If you look back at my posts over history, you shall see that my prognistications have been completely correct thus far. How about yours?
Condem the Property Now before it is too late!
There will come a time when everyone will wish that they had taken my advice since Ireland will stop at nothing. He could not care less about the Seirra club any more than the DEP will.
Sorry if the truth hurts, folks.
BTW - personally, we do not care. We are in the process of getting out of town - - - our own personal solution to this disaster (which is what I think that Craig decided to do too). But we do enjoy watching the naivitee of most of the people in this town. Some of you seem like you are living on a different planet than we are.
quote: Originally posted by: RTconcern "Well, I like the planet me ,VORT , and the Sierra Club are on......"
Kewl. Well, given your methods of dealing with the problem, you better start getting used to your world including Christ Church in its domain, my friend. The tactics that the town and VORT have been taking have been and shall remain completely ineffective. They are the tactics of the innocent and naive. It's pretty sad to watch.
Sorry - but you folks do have but one option. You know what it is. Exercise it.
Personally, I appreciate, Rational's insights, but I do not know what else he would have us do. I dont think that our position is one resulting from naivety as much as frustration at what little power we have to control our own destiny against an organization with the resources of CC. Certainly you can appreciate that its not within our individual power to force the town and especially the BOE to condemn a $14M property. Even if they chose to go that road, it is not easily done by them either and will immediately result in the town being taken to court over it. I firmly believe we will end up there anyway, but it may be something that the town leaders dont want to take as an early first step. Aside from trying to garner support for the cause and increase public awareness, and of course, keep the pressure on the politicians, I dont know what else VORT or anyone else can do at this point.
I have made a number of useful suggestions, all of which are practical. Some of them are as follows:
1. Have the town condem the property, not the BOE. We, as a township, have the right to do that for whatever reason we deem appropriate. I am sure that we can deem something to be appropriate. That will cost every family in town an average of something under three thousand dollars which could be spread out over a 5 or 10 year bond. Yearly cost: Insignificant
2. The cost of not doing number 1 is extremely significant and could devestate this town in many ways.
3. We should fire Dimin, who is clearly over his head and not capable of looking out for our best interest. We should hire the best, not someone who is a mid grade lawyer. The towns survival depends on it and he is at best a "D" grade attorney.
4. We should fire the Town Planner. He gets an F for his efforts. Nobody can argue with that one. A town planner is expected to be Pro-active and not reactive. Had he done his job, we would not be in such a jam. In my business, we fire the incompetitents. That is how we excell in our area of endeavour.
5. I have suggested that we run some non-binding referendums. Consider the following questions to be placed on the ballet:
A. Are you in support of the Christ Churh plan, and do you support it?
B. Should the township float a bond to purchase the Green Pond Tract of land?
C. Should we get rid of Dimin and the Town planner and replace them with two competitent individuals?
D. etc.
6. Fight fire with fire. Hire a PR firm to counter and buy off the news media. That is how you get your message across. You do not get it across by praying that the newspapers will pick up your point of view. The world just does not work that way. You gotta pay to play. Ireland knows this. Why don't we? Or are we too "moral" to do that. If we are, get prepared to pay the consequences. Add this as a question to the list of Referendum items.
7. Shall I go on? Certainly, playing games with semantics like Megachurch and Gigachurch are never going anywhere. Neither is playing in the DEP sandbox with the Sierra Club. I respect these organizations, but I also understand the basic body politic which has Minority owned Churches significantly out trumping any Environmental group or government agency. Come on, folks! Surely you can not be so naive as to believe otherwise!
The truth will be what wins this fight. We have a great team of people with a great deal of knowledge on the subject matter working on this.
There is a meeting tonight of the environmental committee at town hall 8pm it is open to the public. Christ Church will be presenting there environmental plan to the committee.
The DEP is has been caught with their pants down, that made a ruling without a complete plan and they know it. This was stated by a member of the DEP yesterday by phone to a Rockaway resident.
There is a great deal going on... this is FAR from over... in fact in someways it has only just begun!
Have a great day!
Lisa
__________________
The truth wins out over slick PR and personal attacks.
The Christ Church Plan for the redevelopment of 140 Green Pond Rd is just too big for the area.
Originally posted by: Lisa Salberg "The truth will be what wins this fight."
The above statement makes my point about the naivetee of most people who reside in RT. The problem with the above statement is that, historically, things just do not work that way.
It takes a good street fight or war and a lot of money and political clout and coeresion to win a fight. Truth has nothing to do with it, since truth is a relative term.
As I have said before, we live on different planets folks!
If you want to win this fight, forget the corny platitudes.
