Well said, and once again Frank thank you for your leadership and integrity. This whole issue is a disgrace and I for one think you hit it right on the head with your post below.
--- In AsburyPark@yahoogroups.com, "asburycheech" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hi Group Members: > > I do not speak for the BOE. This was my statement upon asking > that the attorneys' fees for September and October, totaling a little > under $60,000. be separated: > > "I have asked that the monthly bills for the BOE's lawfirm, > Schwartz, Simon, et al., be separated. I did this so that I would > have the distinct pleasure of voting "no", because apparently my vote, > useless and feeble as it is, is all I have left. As chairperson of > the finance committee, I do not believe that we should be wasting the > taxpayer's money to enrich a lawfirm that is hell-bent on stopping > kids from playing ball on public property. In my opinion, we have > wasted thousands of dollars to do exactly the opposite of what we are > charged to do as educators. The BOE has voted on several occasions to > give the Little League and Danny McKee, who has invested the better > part of the last two years of his life in accomplishing this, the > green light to make the improvements necessary so that the kids here > will have a world-class Little League field, something they richly > deserve. Every time we have done so, the lawyers at Shwartz Simon, > who apparently don't have enough other issues in our district to > contend with, have turned every green light into a red one. What > Danny and the Little League parents want to do would inure to the > kids' benefit as well as the school system's since the Little League > is the obvious feeder system for our own baseball teams. Much to the > lawyers' chagrin, I suppose, every time they fashion, at taxpayers > expense, more and more elaborate hoops for Danny to jump through, he > has done so. Now they have fashioned various Catch 22's for him to > overcome, like telling him that he has to have soil tests done and > then not giving him access to the soil. That alone cost Danny $1800 > today out of his pocket. > > Meanwhile, the lawyers charge the taxpayers thousands upon > thousands of dollars writing interminable reports for our edification > telling us why the Little League cannot proceed. Their latest report > explains why the BOE should not pay $300 to have ancient deed > restrictions lifted. So it is costing the taxpayers thousands for the > lawyers to tell us that we shouldn't pay hundreds. That is either an > irony that escapes the law firm or maybe amuses them. But I am not > amused, neither should the parents, taxpayers, or even state > officials, who I regret to inform you, are taking the side of the > lawyers and are themselves piling on the Little League instead of > doing something useful for the ridiculous amount of money that the > taxpayers are paying them. > > Only in Asbury Park would this be a problem. Any other sane > community would have embraced and celebrated Danny and the Little > League and helped, not hindered him, in his volunteer work. > > All of our stationery used to have a little nifty saying at the > bottom. It used to read "Make it Happen!" I suggested at the time > that we change it to something more accurate, like "Make Nothing > Happen!" Instead we have changed the motto to "Together Everyone > Achieves More!" Of course, the acronym for that is T.E.A.M. The fact > that it is a team, the Little League, that we have thrown every > roadblock in front of, is also an irony that seems to have escaped > some of us. I'd like to suggest a new motto in honor of Danny and the > Little League. How about, "Let No Good Deed Go Unpunished" ? > > For that reason it will give me great pleasure, although no > satisfaction, to vote "no" to the monthly bills for Shwartz Simon et > al. I will continue to do so until I get an exact accounting to the > dollar on how much it has cost the taxpayers for our lawyers to work > on the Little League case and to proceed in a direction counter to the > clear direction that the Board had given them. > > I would remind them that, even though I did not vote for them, > they work for us, not the other way around." > > Frank D'Alessandro > Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/