I read the letter in the NEWS about the pornographic ads on Hunter Street.

I sent an email to the board attorney to see if we can send a resolution to Gloucester City Mayor and Council and have an

ordinance in town to put a stop to this practice in the future.

I don\’t want to look at it, just like many other people. It degrades a neighborhood and that\’s what needs to stop.

Also, a telephone pole is no place to advertise a business.

John Bisconti Chairman Gloucester City Planning Board

On March 10, 2007. (nee Hartmann) Age 72. Of Gloucester City since 1962. Beloved wife of the late Richard Kimble. Surrounded, cared for and loved by her two children: H. Franklin Greener and partner Vince of Haddon Heights and Virginia E. \”Ginger\” Trout and husband Charles of Gloucester City. Beloved grandmother of Gretchen DellaVecchia (Vince), Gary Greener (Melissa) and Heather McKillop (Stephen). Cherished great-grandmother of Madison Virginia McKillop. Dear Sister of Ann Weihman and her husband Harold of Oregon. Virginia worked in the food industry for 25 years fulfilling a family tradition of proudly serving the public.

In later life she became an accomplished researcher in the area of Genealogy. Her work was recognized nationwide and published data entered into the archives in Utah. Her volunteer work included cataloging public information for the Camden County Historical Society and providing spiritual comfort throughout the Catholic Diocese of Camden.

Proficent in painting, needlework and crafts her talents will be missed. At Virginia\’s request, there will be no viewing nor visitation. Relatives and friends are kindly invited to attend her Mass of Christian Burial on Wednesday 10 am at Saint Mary\’s R.C. Church: 426 Monmouth Street, Gloucester City, NJ 08030. Interment Eglington Cemetery, Clarksboro.

In lieu of flowers, the family strongly requests memorial donations made to Heartland Hospice: 800 Jessup Road, Suite 808, Thorofare, NJ 08086 and St. Mary\’s R.C. Church Memorial Fund: at the above address. Please write in the memo of the check Virginia M. Kimble. Expressions of sympathy can be e-mailed to the family through our funeral home website www.mccannhealey.com under online obituaries of Virginia M. Kimble.  

On March 11, 2007. Age 90. (nee Wood). Of Gloucester City. Loving wife of the late William P. Martin, Jr. Surrounded, cared for and beloved by her children: Judith A. Hartzell and husband David III, William P. Martin, III and wife Leah Budne, Paul J. Martin and wife Marie DiPasquale and Patricia K. Martin. Devoted grandfather of David Hartzell IV, Meghan Hartzell, Jordan Martin and Laurel Martin. Dear Sister of Alice Curran. Survived by her beloved cat Maggie.

Nellie was born, raised and lived her entire life in Gloucester City. She was an accomplished athlete at Gloucester City High School and was a star basketball and field hockey player. She graduated in 1935. Nellie met her husband William at the tennis club in Gloucester City and it was love at first sight. Nellie was a lifelong devoted parishioner of Saint Mary\’s R.C. Church in Gloucester City. She worked as office personnel for Hinde and Dauch Paper Company in Gloucester City for 10 years. She was self-taught in Spanish and did volunteer teaching of Spanish courses. Nellie had a true passion for gardening throughout her life. Relatives and friends are kindly invited to attend her viewing on Wednesday Evening from 6:30 to 8:30 pm and Thursday morning 9 to 9:45 am at the McCANN-HEALEY FUNERAL HOME: 851 Monmouth Street, (at Brown Street) Gloucester City. Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated 10:30 am Saint Mary\’s R.C. Church: 426 Monmouth Street, Gloucester City. Interment New Saint Mary\’s Cemetery, Bellmawr. Family requests memorial donations be made in Nellie\’s memory to Saint Mary\’s R.C. Church Memorial Fund: at the above address. Expressions of sympathy can be e-mailed to the family through our funeral home website www.mccannhealey.com under online obituaries of Nellie Regina Martin.

Funeral Arrangements and Inquires may be made through: McCANN-HEALEY FUNERAL HOME: 851 Monmouth Street, Gloucester City, NJ 08030

  

By: Sara Martino

NEWS Correspondent

Former Camden County Freeholder, Thomas Gurick, was honored by the Brooklawn Borough Council at its February meeting with a resolution commending him for all his efforts and assistance to the Borough of Brooklawn during his six-year tenure as a Freeholder.

 

\”This resolution was scheduled for last month but now we can present it to you in a frame,\” commented Mayor John Soubasis. \”We consider this resolution as a \”hardship resolution.\” Having a friend and a neighbor on the Freeholder Board was a very nice thing,\” the mayor said.

Gurick was thanked for his help in acquiring Broadway Streetscape funding, the erecting of the Battleship New Jersey sign on Broadway, the repair and fixing up of the streets leading into Gloucester City and many other contributions to his home town.

He did joke that he was pleased he was not listed on the agenda under \”old business.\”

 

\”It was an absolute pleasure to serve the people of Brooklawn as Freeholder. I have lived in the area all my life and I know that my mother is looking down on me now,\” he said.

 

The mayor and council discussed the use of the road at Maude Ave. near the firehouse during emergencies. Several members of the fire department and emergency management in the audience gave their opinions and ideas on whether the road should be one or two lanes just during emergencies such as when the lane is cut off from leaving town during the times when flooding prevents any exit from town. Council intends to ask the NJ State Department of Transportation for funding to help alleviate the problems.

 

Mayor Soubasis and council member Tom Adams are scheduled to meet with Assemblyman Joseph Roberts regarding funding for highway 130, waterfront development, school issues, and the future of Brooklawn. The mayor said Roberts will also be approached for his help in securing funds to re-grade the railroad crossing. \”Safety is the utmost priority and the re-grading is a necessity,\” the mayor said.

In other business, the fees for a dog license were discussed. Borough clerk Lewis said a communication from the office of Governor Corzine indicated the state will allow municipalities to charge up to $21 per dog license.

\”AT the present time fees are $7 and $8 and $5 for a cat license. In discussing this issue with other clerks, it seems that some of them will be raising their fees. This licensing and having an animal control and shelter is mandated by the state, but municipalities most absorb the cost,\” she said.

Council will go over the figures that the clerk will present and then mayor and council can decide on the fee. \”We want to keep our residents in mind and we will try to determine what a fair average increase would be,\” said the mayor.

Council also approved 13 resolutions on various applications, agreements on home credit for heater contracts, appointment of DW employee, Carol Helveston, and other business.

EMS applications were received from Joann Goglin, Shawn Gogolin, Andrew McFadden and Michael Miloshevsky. Barbara Lew-is said the Borough phone system that was \”cooked\” should be working soon and council members did not have voicemail as of council meeting time.

 

 

Some still haunted by impact of cheap Disney rooms in 1994.

Orlando Business Journal – March 9, 2007

by Bob Mervine

Staff Writer

KISSIMMEE — Many mom-and-pop hoteliers in the Four Corners and Kissimmee areas are wary of the massive \”value-priced\” resort project announced March 3 by Walt Disney World.

\”It\’s one of the most controversial projects they have done to date,\” says Steve Baker, theme park consultant and former Disney executive.

\”It\’s going to be very hurtful to the mom-and-pops,\” he says, of the small, family-owned and mainly unaffiliated motels that line U.S. Highway 192 from Kissimmee to U.S. Highway 27.

Some even predict at least a few lodging operators could be driven out of business by the project, which Disney says will include 4,000 to 5,000 competitively priced hotel and time share units near the west side of Disney property.

Shops, eateries in the mix

Disney says site work will begin later this year, with completion of the long-rumored Western Beltway project being finished in phases during the next eight to 10 years. The as-yet-unnamed project will go on 450 acres at the intersection of Western Way and State Road 429.

Disney plans to sell its property there to an as-yet-unnamed developer or group of developers and de-annex it from the Reedy Creek Improvement District into unincorporated Orange County.

Disney President Meg Crofton says the Western beltway resort will appeal to the value and mid-priced market, mixing non-Disney branded time share and low- to mid-rise hotel units with 300,000 to 500,000 square feet of retail space — shops, restaurants, entertainment venues and clubs — to service visitors staying in the complex, as well as Disney employees and area residents.

Not all bad

Not all hoteliers in the mom-and-pop category fear the new resort\’s impact.

Take Ron Matay, owner of the Golden Link motel at 4914 W. U.S. Highway 192 in Kissimmee. He welcomes anything that draws more people to the area.

After all, the customers who frequent his tidy, 84-room property on the edge of Lake Cecile come back year after year for the low rates — $35 to $65 a night — as well as personalized service.

Matay says his ongoing capital investments in everything ranging from new sheets to new air conditioners, as well as a fleet of jet skis on the lake, set the Golden Link apart from other nearby chain motels.

But mom-and-pop properties that don\’t invest in capital improvements eventually could be forced out of business by the planned new resort, says Matay.

reprinted with permission of Blue Jersey

by: jay lassiter

Mon Mar 12, 2007 at 10:26:33 AM EDT

Good morning everyone and welcome to Monday\’s news roundup. I\’ll try to keep the commentary to a minimum but it won\’t be easy. Let\’s get right down to it!

 

Tom Hester Jr. reports that the days of nice gifts for lawmakers may be coming to an end. AP: Free meals, hotel rooms, golf games, train rides and Philadelphia Eagles tickets – those were some of the offerings enjoyed last year by New Jersey legislators. But the days of lawmakers enjoying food, lodging, entertainment and travel paid for by lobbyists may soon be over. Find out why.   The highest paid workers in the state? Here\’s a clue: it\’s not the Governor. Believe it on not, it\’s it was \”Lourdes Montezon, a clinical psychiatrist who admits and treats mentally ill patients at the Sen. G.W. Hagedorn Psychiatric Hospital in Hunterdon County. Last year, Montezon made roughly $277,000, about $116,500 of that by working extra shifts.\” According to the pInky, 85 out of the top 100 paid state workers were mental health professionals whose base salaries were supplemented (sometimes doubled) by overtime pay.   Here\’s the latest about that horrifying (but titilating) tale from Atlantic City about a politician/priest, a hooker and a video camera. According to media reports, the blowjobee caught on tape was none other than City Councilman Eugene Robinson, described in his City Hall bio as a \”minister of the Gospel\” at the Second Baptist Church. Too bad he\’s not Catholic, he could just go to confession and move on with his life of hypocracy. Stay tuned.   Life ain\’t easy for the aging NJ politician. Tom Moran takes a look at the case of outgoing Sen. Littell.   Here\’s the latest on the \”That\’s a Family\” video that sent the Evesham school district into a tizzy. This story is not going away anytime soon, aparently.   The state budget review starts this week.   The Rutgers Camden provost who\’s at the heart of Wayne Bryant\’s no-show job lecturing gig (not to be confused with his arrangement at UNDNJ) takes umbrage with the suggestion that Bryant didn\’t deliver by saying \”This was not a no-show job. We netted significant value out of it.\”   This just in via NPR: Assembly Budget Chair Lou Greenwald (who happens to represent yours truly in the Statehouse) has promised that this year\’s budget will be signed sealed, delivered and available for public scrutiny by June 15. That date is much earlier than last year. More to follow on this one, too. The sun will set on Trenton today at 7:02pm. I am being literal, not metaphorical. Today will be 2:30 longer than yesterday and likewise tomorrow will be nearly 3m longer than today. Spring is in there air and I am so glad. This is an open thread. Fire away.

On March 10, 2007. Age 79. Of Thorofare. Formerly of the Borough of Wenonah. Son of the late Loren and Mildred Martin of Jacksonville, Florida. Cherished and beloved husband of 48 years to Geraldine Ella Martin (nee Savidge), (Ed.D. of Gloucester County Community College). Cherished father of Richard S. Martin, Jr. and Elizabeth Heenan Martin of Ocean City, NJ and Lenora \”Lori\” Martin Tetzner and John Albert Tetzner of Swansea, Illinois. Adored Poppy of Frank, Patrick and Hannah Martin and Samantha and Jessica Tetzner.

Dear Brother of Dorothy Martin Caffey of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and predeceased by brother Freeman Martin of Florida.

Richard loved his family above all else, loved playing in his bridge groups, singing in the Gloucester County College Community Chorus. He was gifted in the fine arts, playing with the Jacksonville Philharmonic Orchestra when he was 16 years old. Richard proudly served our country in the U.S. Navy during World War II and the Korean Conflict. He was a graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology with a degree in Civil Engineering. Richard attended graduate school at Wharton in Philadelphia and Glassboro State College. He was a member of the Florence Lodge Masonic Temple No. 87 F & AM in Woodbury. Richard worked as a certified data processor for CIGNA Insurance Company with 29 years of service.

Relatives, friends and members of all Richard\’s organizations are kindly invited to attend his visitation on Saturday from 10 to 11 am at Gloucester County Community College: In the College Center on Campus: 1400 Tanyard Road, Sewell, NJ 08080. Phone number for directions: 856-468-5000.

His Celebration of Life Service will be 11 am officiated by Pastor Larry Long of Verga United Methodist Church and Brother Tom Osorio of Saint John of God in Westville Grove. Cremation is private at the request of the family. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made in Richard\’s memory to the Savidge / Martin Scholarship Fund of Gloucester County Community College Foundation: c/o the College at the above address. Please write in the memo of the check Richard S. Martin, Sr. Expressions of sympathy can be e-mailed to the family through our funeral home website www.mccannhealey.com 

Richard Searles Martin, Sr. Funeral Arrangements and Inquires may be made through: McCANN-HEALEY FUNERAL HOME: 851 Monmouth Street, (At Brown Street) Gloucester City. PH: 856-456-1142.

 

I am writing this letter to inform the residents of town about the future of the Fort Nassau Playground. As the volunteer coordinator of Community Built Playground, I feel that I owe an apology to all the volunteers who assisted with the building of the playground. Eight years ago, I asked people to come out and help with this wonderful project. Back then it was great to see the community come together for the benefit of the children of this town.

Everyone involved in the project felt the true spirit of Gloucester City. But now it seems that after several meetings with City Officials, it has been decided by the City that this playground cannot be maintained properly and must be modified.

The modifications are very severe. The City officials have decided to tear down most of the components of the playground inside the picket fencing.

There have been several meetings to discuss the future of the playground. At the meeting on February 19 it was decided that the playground Committee members would assist in the cost and labor to bring the playground up to code.

According to the official survey dated April 11, 2006, the \”conditions at the Fort Nassau Park remain favorable and in good condition. Equipment at the park appeared to conform to CPCS Guidelines for the safety of children. However a few items of concern were noted during the survey and are offered as suggestions for improvement.\”

The most recent survey dated January 15, provided a complete listing of all necessary repairs to bring the playground up to code and even possibly meet yearly to make sure that the playground doesn\’t fall into disrepair again.

However, at the meeting held at the playground site on February 25, 2007, it appears that the City officials have \”changed their minds\” and all that was agreed upon at the February 19, 2007 meeting is now null and void.

The new City Officials have now made it clear that they do not want to deal with the issues of this playground and are unable to fully maintain it, so it needs to go!

Most people realize that it takes a lot of work to maintain a unique wooden playground and all of the people at the meetings understand the issues that occur at the site of the playground. We also realize that PSE&G had donated playground equipment to the city.

But do you have to tear down a playground in order to place that equipment on that site? Put the new equipment in an area of town that needs it the most. Why spend more money to tear it down when it will cost the city much less to make the changes that are needed? There are many options that have been discussed in order to work together to make some changes, but it seems that the city had already made their decision (even prior) to these so called meetings).

So for my apology to residents who donated money, sponsored playground equipment, provided food for the crews, lent your tools for the project, purchased a picket or paver, and who came out and donated their time for five days in the sun and rain to build this unique playground.

I am so sorry that all of your efforts are being destroyed after only eight years. It is very disheartening that other towns have made efforts to keep their community built playgrounds for over 15 years, but Gloucester City can\’t…or won\’t?

I will continue to try to work with the City Officials to save the playground; but as they say sometimes \”you just can\’t fight the City Hall\”.

Marie McNutt, Gloucester City