As the first to comment, I want to wish Ed Borden all the best. While Ed and I don't always agree on every issue ( i.e. Bancroft ) I know that he puts in countless hours and always has the best interest of the town at heart.

I am also pleased that a couple of the incumbents have decided to run. Our choices will include candidates with experience, which should enhance the stability of the new board.

Geez....more bad news. Borden (democrat) waited to announce that he was running until after Lee Albright (liberal) did. (He and Albright are good friends.) The commission is SUPPOSED to be nonpartisan, but Borden is the first commissioner to bring politics into it. Borden has his own agenda. Lee Albright was for the purchase of Bancroft, but stayed in the background because she was intending to run for commissioner (trying to obtain votes from both sides). She can be a tough cookie. She is also good friends with Bill Tourtellotte, which should tell you a great deal. (See Patch "Lee Albright Enters Commissioners Race.") It was well-known when Neil Rochford was a commissioner that he did not have any individual thoughts or ideas. He just agreed with and voted for whatever the other two commissioners decided (Borden & Colombi). Citizens were not happy with Rochford. He was voted in because he was a "nice guy." And he is a nice guy, but that is not the point. At least Jeff Kasko will step out of the box in he does not agree with the other commissioners. So their plan is to have Borden, Albright, and Rochford be our 3 non, nonpartisan commissioners, which is like voting for the same person 3 times. Get prepared for "tax and spend" and more "tax and spend" and more debt.

Ladies and Gentlemen, our next Mayor!

Go ahead Joanne, step right up.

Not really, I'm just pointing out the hypocrisy of many of the cranks (I mean concerned citizens) on this forum. They are all for healthy debate when it suits them, but throw out “sore loser”, “sour grapes” and “The people have spoken, so move on.” When others point out their inaccuracies, call them out on their Ad Hominem attacks and stand up to their political name calling.

I was asking my wife if she thought Ed was going to run again. Told her I certainly would not blame him if he didn't knowing the aggravation and what I thought was rudeness on occasion on something "relatively" unimportant as a parking problem we thought we were having on the street where I live. What I said was who needs the aggravation as I am sure this happens regularly to ALL the commisioners.
I am GLAD Ed has decided to run and feel Haddonfield is fortunate it has individuals like him who are amazingly giving of what would normally be free time to pursue other things.
It looks like I am going to have to wait for the next election to run.. lol
P.S. the parking problem was taken care of and the solution has worked quite well!!!!

Every single candidate must make clear their position on Bancroft. And Patch - we expect you to find out. Will they in fact respect the will of the people as evidenced by the recent vote? Or will they - since most appear to be Democrats - instead act like it never happened and again try to ram this White Elephant down the gullet of the taxpayer, as their party did with Obamacare?

BOE proposal WAS a once in a lifetime opportunity for a public entity of the borough to own and control the Bancroft property outright with no encumbrances. Was the price fair? Well, it was the price that Bancroft was willing to accept for this offer. That’s capitalism. I truly believe that we have little leverage to ever get the same terms for a reduced price, and any future “deal” would be a compromise that would still require dealing with Bancroft. So yes, this was a “Once in a lifetime opportunity”.

Over time, I have leveled a barrage of criticism towards Mr. Borden via email, at public meetings and face-to-face. Comments for or agin Eddie by George, Joanne, Jack S, Scott or any other anonymous Tom, Dick or Mary lose their validity as far as I'm concerned. Say what you need to and put your name behind it. George Washington thought 8 years was enough...Ed Borden is no George Washington. J.ack. Kirkwood

Where is Bill T as Ed Borden as a Commisioner

Ed is a very Smart Commissioner

I don't want to get into any great debate on this way of communicating because I will start having a big problem with my much better half as I am often accused of saying what everyone else is thinking but if I am not mistaken there really ARE other issues to be dealt with BESIDES Bancroft.

Anonymity in this venue is cowardice, plain and simple. lacking the courage to stand behind their words. Folks can make all of the excuses that they like, but as much as they hide behind their keyboards hurling largely unfounded nonsense, they cannot hide from this fact. Yes, their are repercussions from being unreasonable and not careful with what you say in public about people. Yes, you do have alternatives to hiding behind anonymity without any accountability. For starters, you can pass along your viewpoints more tactfully, carefully and responsibly. That would remove the Jerry Springer factor from PATCH. Wouldn't that be great! If you lack the abilitity or fundamental decency to "fight fairly", then perhaps a slightly less cowardly approach would be to find a friend or neighbor who is a resident of this town and agrees with what you write and have them post and stand behind your words. The anonymous people can jump all over me for laying out these basic truths and maybe you might even find a few non-anonymous people who like the cowardly mudslinging to defend you because it serves their purposes. But it is what it is and it speaks for itself. There is no hiding from that. I like PATCH in many respects. But this first election cycle with this out of control service with no accountability is not likely to be positive for Haddonfield when it is all over.

Our tradition of being able to disagree without being disagreeable is falling apart in a Jerry Springerlike fashion thanks to this. At least on Haddonfieldtalks, there was general knowledge of who was who and at least there was the requirement for the moderators to know for sure. It was a far better service and tone of discussion than PATCH has. Better access and archiving as well and we all effectively own it. Here are some other examples (just a few out of many) of how anonymity hurts us. Regardless of your views on Brandywine, Bancroft or any other land use or issue that includes significant commercial interests. Actual employees who stand to profit from misinformation can, and I'm virtually certain have, posed as concerned residents here. How on earth is THAT something that is good for Haddonfield's venues of civic resident discourse? Here is another tidbit, competing candidates themselves can now masquerade here as concerned residents and sling mud at each other, misleading others and leading folks to believe that other residents actually feel that way and are communicating as such. This venue lacks credibility and honor and it is reinforced with every anonymous post in my opinion. Nobody HAS to communicate that way, they choose to.

There you go. Aggressive, hostile and petty and afraid for me or anyone else to know who you are. Thank you for doing such a fine job of proving my point.

Btw, the voice recognition software on my iPhone did not go to HMHS.

Haddonfield Talks only has a few people posting not very representative of the Town and they have not made a difference in any debate on issues too small a sample of issues .These forum is more current and has more positions from many others. Bill stop complaining about other posting and come up with some fresh ideas

You are absolutely correct. Whether I agree with them or not, those who hide behind anonymity and take pot shots at others have essentially zero credibility with me and others. Yes, if you won't sign your name, it has less value in the discussion. Try doing that in a public meeting. Come in to Borough Hall with a bag over your head and refuse to state your name. I personally view this the same way, regardless of how much anonymous folks who are afraid to say these things openly and with courage want to slam me for it. Here is another fact for folks to consider. No candidate in their right minds would EVER respond in this anonymous forum. They would be out of their minds to engage with people who are hiding in the shadows and won't even stand behind their comments. Cowardice is cowardice, regardless of the excuse or justification. Obviously I am not afraid to say it despite the fact that I'm getting a lot if cheap shots thrown at me by people who would not come up to me and say these things to my face. It is what it is. I think it is a darned shame because I am a huge fan of good quality public discussion. I see this as a big problem and if no sane or positive candidate would ever engage here, I think that pretty well supports at least some of my concerns.

Well Bill, those who post endlessly in all venues and feels bullying is justified has zero crediability with me. Enjoy your day.

Actually, I admire the slate of candidates that we have even though I don't agree with them all on many issues. These people are giving up huge pieces of their lives to serve us for free. Each of them pretty well knows those issues are where we disagree and they know who the concerns have come from. If I am actively pursuing the activity of defending them from unfounded cheap shots and you anonymously want to assert that this makes me a bully, then feel free.

Bill the posting needs to be what it is some people do have positions that require quiet posting stop calling people cowards not very professional or kind. You will lose those people and their thoughts with out those postings. All Dialogue is important. Appearing at public meeting is not the same since most meeting like that your limited in time from allotted to speak .Quiet posting is part of life and should be respected.

We do not agree on this. But if folks are going to post anonymously, they sure ought to be held to a higher standard of reasonableness and decency which is very often simply not the case for obvious reasons.

Bill, respectfully,I can agree with you on one point that you make. A sane person would not endlessly engage with anonymous posters.

Just a heads up that The Retrospect appears to have the best Facebook page as an additional venue for public discussion of our local matters. By its structure, it will have a favorable and accountable tone to it.

The problem with anonymous posting is that there quite often can be many different ID's and just 1 author. During the Bancroft debate I am certain there were quite a few monologues on this site. Who among us has but one e-mail?

Delighted to see that we have a fourth candidate. The last thing this town would need would be just three candidates running for three positions. I would hope that we may be able to hear from an additional candidate or two to make this a wide open race with some new faces as well as the old. I hope to hear debate on many issues - in particular on how we are going to spend the money we have guven the realities of being in New Jersey with its pension plans and labor costs and state aid and state mandates. Secession is apparently not an option. I want to hear what their priorities are, with a relatively fixed budget and I want to know where they stand on raising raxes. I want to know their ideas for new revenue streams, besides just hitting up the tax payers for more and more.

Sue, good thoughts.

Has anyone looked at Christie's budget yet? It appears state and school aid is going to be flat.

Upon a deeper review, you will see how the state will spend more on union pensions this year than it will on municipal state aid. This would be a good time to ask yourselves how does that benefit my family, boro or me?

http://www.state.nj.us/treasury/omb/publications/14bib/BIB.pdf

Pension payment $1.6 billion versus State Aid $1.4 billion

Look further under school aid. State budget will spend $2.9B on teacher pensions and retiree costs, etc.

Speaking of Borden, I find it very strange that the Board of Education wants to buy open space for the benefit of the town and the town wants to buy turf fields for the benefit of the Board of Education. What's up with that? Why can't these officials stay in their lane and do what they were elected to. Apparently the Board of Ed is bored of ed and the commissioners have extra money to throw at the school. Makes me want to vote.

The rec council and town sports programs do extensively utilize BOE lands in a collaborative manner. I would expect that this is the rationale for a borough contribution.

Liberals gave us political correctness and have instituted their lovely speech codes on university campuses across America (What is the opposite of diversity? University!). And for example we've seen the retaliatory liberal lynch mobs in action in Cailfornia against people who happen to believe in traditional marriage. I too hold a position in which people automatically assume that I'm a liberal and some would likely be appalled at my conservatism and support for limited government. So no, I won't be using my real name here anytime soon.

Oh, and more thing - nobody thinks your brave here Bill.

Bill stay on point and make a difference stop complaining about others people who input and opinions .

Answer move to a tax friendly state if you are un willing to tackle the real problem posted previously.

Response to Joe T - The reality is that the taxpayers of NJ are going to be on the hook for the D's and R's, beginning with Christie Whitman, who underfunded the pension funds and assumed that the investments would increase at unrealistic rates.
What we can do is go forward - the state should be pressured to switch to a 401k system for all hires going forward. That includes the teachers as well when a new contract is negotiated. In addition, going forward, they should pay more of their own medical costs, like everyone else, as should the borough employees.

The pension is under funded so that is the pensioner problem. Benefits should be reduced to fund the short fall not raise higher taxes to fund an un popular program, Freeze all pension benefit and start 401 K only and the pension will never be under funded again. Where is the leadership put it up for vote and the tax payers will vote for private sector 401K not the bloated pension system.

Sue and Jim - AMEN! Think of how much tax relief could be achieved if the pension contribution went to helping the taxpayers afford to stay here.

Check out this group

http://www.njtaxes.org/

Jim Conway it will if you put it to a public vote that will over come any judge ruling. And old way of doing this because some union boss put his signature to a Union contract can be broken so vote to the change the system since it is broken the 401K can was introduced and private pensions frozen and the new system has been put in place to the private sector. Jim vote for real Change stop the insanity of funding million dollar pension for all teachers [ who move out of state when they retire] in the next school public Vote .
Sign a referendum to place that on public ballot .Jim would you vote for that change a judge can not change a public referendum .Bill T Vote the same way and make a difference. You have 400 applicants for every teacher position now. The private sector survived that change so stop making excuses and vote for real change and write and call your Governor and Commissioner and BOE officials.

Have the new Commissioners place any major spending bill like the public library and Bancroft on public Vote. Place the Pension revision to a vote and the Public can make a real change.

Joe T is right vote to make a Real change and the pension is now not a tax payer problem.

James, I expected a more serious comment than that's the way that it is. Let's review the facts.

1. The pension is $50B underfunded and growing
2. All govs stopped funding. But what did they do with the money? They gave it out as aid and higher union wages and healthcare.
3. If they paid $1B a yr over past 20, they still would be short and the increased costs from LESS aid would be embedded in our already high property taxes.
4. There is NO money. The choice should be the publics. Money for pensions or money to state aid.
5. The promises can be broken. It's called bankruptcy. If we cannot pay our bills like GM, we can restructure and eliminate the problem.
6. Taking your OH Well position and complaining about property taxes is the problem.
7. I am after solutions so we and our kids and grandkids have a future. One that is about their savings and not paying for someone elses. Too bad if that offends the 1% of the state population that is in the union. Time for the 99% to stand up!!!

My position is not "oh well". It is reality. We cannot just break state contracts. Remember there are two sides to a contract. The voters do not have the authority to vote to stop paying pensions. Nor can states declare bankruptcy. The courts will force the state to raise taxes. Should we have a 401k going forward ? Absolutely ! But the people currently vested in system are entitled to the benefits - by law.

Move is the answer to a more tax friendly state if you can not change the entitlements in Liberal NJ.

There are some interesting implications to Jim's post. If enough of us put our homes on the market, since the law of supply and demand still holds, housing prices will fall. If they fall enough, then eventually assessed values will fall (due to reassessments with comparative home sales) and then property tax revenues will decrease. So in the end, the path the Borough and State are taking will only add to their financial woes. In terms of the state, businesses will leave and new ones will seek more friendly places for commerce.

New York will financial center will be in Florida in the next 20 -25 years. Taxes in NJ NY are too high and the liberal policies will doom these Liberal states.

Interesting comment, Jim. I just had a conversation with a good friend of mine who lives in Philly and is affiliated with a big company in the Financial District (I can't divulge the name). They have already started to move their operation from Manhattan to Florida. I imagine we'll be seeing more of this.

Sue, the boro and county (and country) have spending based budgets that require taxes in our case primarily prop taxes. They don't care if our assessments drop as they need the same amount of money (barring changes as we have been discussing). Lower values and ever increasing prop taxes will put additional price pressure on home values resulting in even more destruction of net worth. At some point, no one is going to pay $10k in prop taxes for a $300K house

The state and unions have chosen to pay their members salaries, benefits and pensions over what is best for the 99% of the state's residents. How many times do you see service cuts so the money can go towards paying the unions.

The politicians have gladly given away our money for the power they crave. How else can the state have unfunded liabilities of over $80B for pension and healthcare. Who in their right mind would sign off on that deal? It's criminal and they should be prosecuted.

More bad news but let's just pretend it doesn't matter shall we.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-04/n-j-unfunded-pension-deficit-rises-to-47-2-billion.html

Has anyone looked at the platforms of any of the proposed candidates on their websites? Do any of them take a position on anything? Lee Albright's big push is to use "technology" so that residents can better communicate with borough officials. Someone should clue her in to this new thing called "email". I hear it's all the rage. I don't think the problem is that residents can't communicate with officials it's that the officials don't want to listen. Anyone addressing our high taxes, runaway spending and overstaffed Borough Hall? This town is in big trouble.

Lee Albright does not have a website up and running at this time. Her Facebook page does not mention her candidacy and seems more like a personal Facebook page. I agree with you about some of the problems. The other problems relate to issues about the County and the state and the contracts with teachers and borough workers that need to be changed but will have to wait to the next round of negotiations. The other issue that I have mentioned previously is trying to identify any sources of new revenue besides raising our already astronomical property taxes. I wait to hear about this from all the candidates.

The commissioners except Jeff do not respond to email so you are wasting your time trying to communictate Tish Columbi has never responded in the last 12 years