I think you missed the point! July 4th came BEFORE the bottom fell
out of our economy! I'll argue this point though, the snowflakes that
light up on the utility poles are up now, 2 weeks! Christmas, YES,
Kwanzaa, NO? I'll bet there'll be a tree lighting, too! Not a
problem! Bradley Beach has a tree, menorah and a Nativity scene. No
Kwanzaa anything! I have no idea what Neptune has beside a lit tree.
Ocean Township either but in Allenhurst, the same as Bradley Beach.
Kwanzaa for me, is a personal celebration. Kwanzaa was a creation to
allow African Americans to celebrate the Black Family, where small
inexpensive gifts are presented and the 7 principles are focused on.
No more, no less! The Kinara sits on my dining room table with 3 red,
3 green and a black candle in the center. Liberation colors. Since
we don't know the region of Africa, we were taken from, those colors
celebrate the red for our blood, the green is for hope and the black
is for our color, created by Marcus Garvey.
--- In AsburyPark@yahoogroups.com, "justifiedright"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> Thank you for the response, Councilman Keady.
>
> So you don't think the City should expend any money on cultural
> events.
>
> Thank you for clearing that up.
>
> I note it is only the Columbus Day celebration which you publically
> oppose (with great vigor I might ad, including props).
>
>
> Why not support them all with such vigor?
>
> By the way, you march in the Fourth of July parade. That is also a
> cultural celebration.
>
> Why the exception?
>
> Do you also opposed to public resources spent on the Pride Parade?
>
> Finally - where is your stance on the City scubbing all mention of
> the word "Christmas" from its celebrations? For or opposed?
>
> In that line:
>
> Isn't Christmas a cultural part of America, and has been so for many,
> many years?
>
>
>
>
>
> --- In AsburyPark@yahoogroups.com, James Keady <james.keady@>
> wrote:
> >
> > Mr. Deseno:
> >
> >
> >
> > In a recent post to this list you wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> > <<For the same reason, Keady will bash Columbus Day and rage on (as
> he did
> > last month again) about the use of public funds for a cultural
> holiday
> > (Columbus Day) but stays silent on Kwanzaa. >>
> >
> >
> >
> > Once again, you exercise your less than scrupulous tactics, this
> time -
> > judgment without query. Thank God our judicial system does not
> operate in
> > the way that you do. Let me share with you how an adult looking
> for an
> > answer to a legitimate question may have framed this.
> >
> >
> >
> > Mr. Deseno: "Mr. Keady, in the past you have been outspoken about
> the use of
> > public tax dollars for the City's Columbus Day event. I am curious
> to know
> > if you have similar feelings about tax dollars being spent on the
> upcoming
> > Kwanza celebration and for that matter the City spending money on
> any
> > religious or pseudo-religious events?"
> >
> >
> >
> > And I would have responded.
> >
> >
> >
> > First, let me be clear that my concern with the Asbury Park
> Columbus Day
> > celebration is that it presents a sanitized version of history at
> best and
> > outright lies at worst. As an educator, my concern was/is that
> public
> > dollars were/are being spent to misinform our youth about Columbus'
> > "discovery" of America. If however a private group would like to
> put on
> > this event (ex. Knights of Columbus) I would both support and
> defend their
> > right to do that.
> >
> >
> >
> > Second, since you raised the issue about Kwanza, let me share the
> following.
> > I had a conversation with the City Manager about two weeks ago
> regarding
> > this and expressed my concern that the City should NOT be paying
> for this
> > event. While I do believe that the Kwanza event is a positive one
> for our
> > community and our youth, I do not believe that taxpayer dollars
> should be
> > spent on events like this. I also do not believe that taxpayer
> dollars
> > should be spent on any Christmas celebrations either. These are
> religious
> > or pseudo-religious holidays and spending tax dollars to support
> them does
> > come dangerously close to violating the establishment clause. To
> keep these
> > kinds of events going, and I do think they should be kept going,
> the City
> > could/should help the organizers to find private dollars (Churches,
> Business
> > Groups, etc.) to fund and promote these events.
> >
> >
> >
> > Now. Since we are talking about spending tax-payer dollars, this is
> an
> > excellent time to explore a much broader discussion that this
> community MUST
> > have. In light of the current fiscal crisis in our nation and the
> impact
> > that that this crisis will have on municipal governments in both
> the short
> > and long-term, we need to ask (and answer) the questions, "What
> should we
> > spend our tax dollars on?" "What should we cut from the budget if
> tax
> > revenues decrease by 10%, 20%, etc.?"
> >
> >
> >
> > I recommend that the City start with a clean sheet and put very
> directed
> > questions to our citizens regarding budget line items and educate
> them on
> > what each item will cost. Then, with this information in hand, the
> > community can set spending priorities.
> >
> >
> >
> > For example: "Do you want to keep the Police Department at its
> current
> > staffing levels?" If so, here is what that will cost (the City
> would
> > provide a breakdown for every projected penny spent). Once there is
> > consensus on what to spend, move on to the next item.
> >
> >
> >
> > For example: Do you want to keep the Department of Public Works and
> the
> > Department of Engineering separate departments or should we merge
> them? If
> > we merged them, here are the potential cost savings, potential
> increases in
> > efficiency for delivery of services, etc. Once there is consensus
> on this,
> > move on to the next item.
> >
> >
> >
> > I think you get the idea.
> >
> >
> >
> > I hope everyone is having a great start to the week.
> >
> >
> >
> > Peace, JWK
> >
> >
> >
> > Councilman James W. Keady
> >
> > 1 Municipal Plaza
> >
> > Asbury Park, NJ 07712
> >
> > TEL: 732.502.5196
> >
> > EM: james.keady@
> >
> > www.cityofasburypark.com
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
>
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