CNBNews

CHEER-The City of Gloucester City was notified in November that it had received $24,914 in dividends for the year 2011 from the Camden County Municipal Joint Insurance Fund.

CHEER-Construction work on the Bottom Dollar in Bellmawr should begin before the end of the year. Work had been stopped in April because of a lawsuit filed by the clerks union of a area super market. 

CHEER-To the students and staff members at Alice Costello School, Brooklawn for their hard work in making the “Celebration” video a success. Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScSSPSWtEN8

CHEER-Thank you for the newly paved roads in the Cypress Garden section of Gloucester City. The contractor did a great job. ~signed A Resident Resident

JEER- The Delaware River Port Authority appointed John Rink to fill its vacant PATCO High Speed Line general manager’s position. Rink has spent nearly 20 years with the DRPA and its PATCO subsidiary in their engineering departments earning a salary of $95,000. He will earn $165,000 as general manager. The raise comes out to 74 percent. The average salary in New Jersey is about $45,000. The raise is a bit much. Especially when you consider the current economy and the scrutiny the DRPA is under by commuters, transportation watchdogs and even other governmental agencies.

JEER-The Fort Nassau Park,  Johnson Blvd. jogging track, Gloucester City is a mess. Trash cans are overflowing and there is trash laying in piles.  Nasty graffiti written all over it, it is missing half the slates in the railings where the children can fall. It needs to be re- stained, the mulch and the lawn care is non- existing, and there are no picnic tables. The whole park is atrocious. It is such a shame after all the hard work and money people put into it. To let it reach this condition is a disgrace. I don’t even like to take my children there. ~signed A Resident.

JEER-The NJ State legislature is delaying passage of a civil service reform bill that would help municipalities across the state to save money. The law empowers towns that operate under civil service rules, which govern the hiring and firing of employees, to pull out of the system entirely. This Christie proposal also lets municipalities furlough, or temporarily lay off, employees. The bill has gone nowhere after Christie conditionally vetoed a Democratic version of a bill to modernize the civil service system. 

JEER-The nation’s debt climbed above $15 trillion in November. The first time in the history of the country.  Decrying partisanship is almost as old as the republic itself. But longtime observers say Congress has actually taken a turn for the worst- with more gridlock, more grandstanding, less compromise to get things done. A new book Throw Them All Out describes just how bad things are in the nation’s capital. The author makes a good argument on why the time has come to rid Washington of the permanent political class.

JEER-Fifty- two days to repair a bent fence post/rail at the Lane Avenue playground is much too long, especially when the fence rail protruded into the park entrance. A child could have gotten seriously hurt. Gloucester City employees did a good job repairing the fence, saving taxpayers money. It took the two men less than two hours.  

JEER-Gloucester City Police Chief George Berglund pointed out this past month that the City of Camden receives the majority of federal funding for fighting crime. Berglund said, “Camden has gotten the grant for each of the past two years and the other towns in Camden county have been largely shut out.  Camden has received approximately $30 million.” Camden also receives over $100 million in state aid. The Chief is right, it is time for the government to spread some of this money to  the other communities that surround Camden.  

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