No Land Ethic, No Country

Lake Hiawatha resident Nick Homyak pens Patch Letter to the Editor.

No land ethic, no country. Is there more plastic debris spread upon the American Landscapes than stars in the sky? The spread of litter and trash may have reached the point of no return, as far as we as a people in our ability to ever retrieve it back from its stain upon our nation making the United States one of the dirtiest places in the world. This ever-present evidence shows clearly our "loss of a land ethic". Two aspects of our consumer society are guilty of this behavior, individual and corporate. Convenience has taken over as a social force of degeneration. Convenient fast products sold in mass quantities to individuals by corporations who promote and manufacture these products in a free market. Convenience needs to be defined as …

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Thank You to Voters from De Hart & Eames for Freeholder

Stephen DeHart and Barbara Eames pen Patch Letter to the Editor thanking voters.

Stephen DeHart and Barbara Eames would like to extend a sincere “Thank You” to everyone who volunteered, contributed financially, or in any other way helped in our campaign for Morris County Freeholder. Thank you especially to the more than ten thousand voters who believed enough in our message to cast their votes for us.  Although we were not the winners in Tuesday’s primary, we know our message was heard by many Morris County residents.  Perhaps that is more important than who was elected, if you believe that elected representatives need to follow the wishes of the electorate.  Please continue to educate yourself on the issues confronting Morris County, including the related topics of Agenda 21, Together North Jersey, the HUD grant, Open…

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Waterview – Why RD Realty Attorney Threat Letter is Weak

Dave Kaplan, President of Citizens for Health, Safety and Welfare pens Patch Letter to the Editor.

Waterview – Why RD Realty Attorney Threat Letter is Weak On March 18, 2013, counsel for RD Realty submitted a letter to the town attorney threatening to force Parsippany to accept an exclusive residential rental complex of 530+ units with 106 set aside for low income housing if Parsippany failed to rezone Waterview with the proposed mixed use overlay ordinance. The likelihood that RD Reality could successfully be granted a zoning change to put in a combination of 530+ town homes with at least 106 low income housing units on the Waterview property is very weak.  At this time, Parsippany has built some 152 units more than required by law and our round 3 plans call for the building of an additional 274 low income units.  The idea that a …

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Letters to the Editor

Resident Discusses "Threat" to Forest Landscape

Resident Nick Homyak pens Patch Letter to the Editor.

The greatest crisis facing Parsipanny is the Threat from the RDR developer to destroy the last remaining mature forested sloped landscape on Route 46. This is no ordinary Block Lot. Its natural undeveloped resource is part of the aquifer water system of the New Jersey Highlands. A Rutgers university study has identified this very area for preservation of biodiversity and aquifer recharge its fits perfectly into criteria that would protect it from development because of its value to the integrity of the Highlands, which accounts for 65% of the States drinking water while making up 17% of the States landmass. This 65% is ever shrinking because of poor decisions and bad policies that favor private over public interest. Apparently the present …

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DMHerinya

10:42 am on Monday, June 3, 2013

@Rosie D If you have actual proof of this, PLEASE bring it to the attention of the Patch editors and Whole Foods corporation. Otherwise we need to let go of this rumor. The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation doesn't even have record of the land being "donated... with stipulations" as you mention. Of all things, wouldn't THEY have an interest in keeping record of such a thing if it existed? As user @…   more ›

Letters to the Editor

Parsippany Resident Questions Election Venues

Lauren Bosi of Parsippany pens Patch Letter to the Editor.

I am a parent and also a life-long resident of Parsippany. Why must we have elections at the elementary schools? While the last election at Intervale was to the least a huge lack of security for the 500 kids plus staff, I totally agree to close the schools. However, we can eliminate having to close the schools if we move the polling places to some place other then the schools. How about the PAL, the local firehouses, which I do not know why they moved them out of there in the first place. Something to do with 9/11 is what was explained to me. If they must be at the schools, how about using the outside entrance to the gyms with an armed officer? Adding two additional days off to the school calendar in my opinion is a little extreme, …

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Letters to the Editor

Resident Blames Town Administration For Lack of Woods and Wetlands

Letter to Editor: Waterview crisis and the Election for Mayor by Nick Homyak

The subject "community", what is it exactly, if not a relation of land and people; we all exist in a place and time. The time and place have also been part of a geological and a human history which has given its character in this time and place. Community would be then recognizing and maintaining this balance and understanding its unique elements so as to maintain this character. Too much change stemming from one aspect or political disrespect toward not recognizing the uniqueness of community; the man land relationship spells disaster. A healthy look around at Parsipanny one can see the overdone development of impervious surface which has destroyed many areas of the once "Arcadian Suburbs" and expanse of woods and wetlands. Parsipannys' …

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DMHerinya

2:25 am on Sunday, June 2, 2013

@Rosie D and @Dave Phillips With all due respect, please hear me out. This comment keeps coming up. I even mentioned it myself once, since I heard it many times, but it's actually not true. User @Nicole pointed out in January that Parsippany never owned the property. She said, "A quick drive to the county clerks office or phone call to the tax assessors would confirm this." Editor @Natalie Davis …   more ›

Letters to the Editor

State Officials Urge Citizens to Register as Organ Donors

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When it comes to giving gifts, there is none more precious and important than a second chance at life. April is Donate Life Month and both our departments – the New Jersey Department of Health and the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission — are working in partnership to raise awareness about the importance of organ donation. We are encouraging individuals to register and help us save even more lives.  In New Jersey, we are proud that more than 2.3 million adults are registered as organ donors, but we can and must do more to grow those numbers. But, sadly, eighteen people die every day in our country while waiting for an organ transplant and every eighteen minutes another name is added to the waiting list. Currently, nearly 5,000 of our …

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Letters to the Editor

Fields Referendum Puts Power Back in Citizens' Hands, Resident Says

Send your Letter to the Editor to natalie.davis@patch.com.

On Jan. 22, residents of Parsippany will have the opportunity to exercise a right abruptly taken away from them by a majority vote of the Board of Education two years ago. That vote cynically guaranteed the board an annual budget increase of 2 percent that doesn't have to be explained to or approved by the voters, an automatic 2 percent budget increase that equates to $2.5 million of our money going to the BOE for its members to use as they and only they see fit.  The school board took that action betting that Pasippany residents had grown too apathetic and too disinterested to care about how and why their tax dollars are spent.  On Jan. 22, the right to vote on how our tax dollars will be spent will be returned to Parsippany residents on …

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Letters to the Editor

Don't Miss the Jan. 22 Fields Referendum, Says Resident

Send your Letter to the Editor to natalie.davis@patch.com

Jan. 22th is fast approaching. Hopefully Parsippany voters will come out that day to vote on the Board of Education Athletic Field Improvement Referendum. I have given great consideration to this referendum. From my involvement with the open space ordinance and the Fields of Dreams proposal I have studied and reviewed the positives and negatives on the improvements to the athletic fields at Parsippany High School and Parsippany Hills High School.  I felt the mayor's plan to use township Open Space Trust Fund money to pay for school athletic improvements was wrong. The Open Space Trust Fund was originally designed to protect and preserve the few remaining open tracts of land from development and to save our town’s historic heritage. The …

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Letters to the Editor

Fields Referendum May Have Hidden Costs, Warns Resident

Opinion to share? Send a Letter to the Editor to natalie.davis@patch.com.

In compliance with the law, the Board of Education has provided voters with an estimate of how much annual bond repayments will cost the homeowner if the $7.7 million school referendum is approved. Like most components that make up our property taxes, a homeowner’s share of the principal and interest on the bonds will depend on the assessed value of your home. For example, a house assessed at $350,000 would result in a $35 charge to the homeowner each year for the next 10 years. Normally, property tax increases are limited by the state mandated 2 percent cap. In this example, approval of the referendum would allow taxes to exceed the cap by $35. However, in addition to the bond repayments, there are also undefined annual maintenance costs …

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Beth Bluj

10:02 pm on Thursday, January 10, 2013

Then they have to vote as they see fit and I respect that.   more ›