Spend $500, get a FREE Pound of Butter

I like butter.

Maybe the Azzolina and Scaduto families that run Food Circus-Foodtown bought a marketing program that spits out rewards for products their customers like, but the “NOT COUPONS” I received the last couple of days are not motivating me to fill the freezer by Thursday by purchasing another $350.19 worth of groceries.

The four sticks of free butter if I spend $350.19 by Thursday doesn’t make me feel appreciated either.

That their staff greets with me a smile and some of them know me by name makes me feel appreciated.   The gift cards, free turkeys or hams, at Thanksgiving and Christmas make me feel appreciated.  But I would shop there even if they didn’t do those giveaways.

That Food Circus-Foodtown opened in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, before they had power, so that Bayshore residents could get non-perishable food, really makes me appreciate them.

Lou Scaduto and his team run a fine business.  They missed the mark with this promotion.

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The Arnone Report

Freeholder Tom Arone

By Monmouth County Freeholder Tom Arnone

At the last meeting of the Board of Chosen Freeholders, the Board authorized an award of bid for an asphalt recycler for the Department of Public Works and Engineering. This equipment will allow the Divisions of Bridge and Highway to take waste asphalt from construction projects throughout the year and turn it into high quality hot mix, re-using it for road repairs. This will reduce our disposal and operating costs, along with being environmentally friendly. The cost of the recycled material is 75% less than the cost for new material.

Last year the county spent over $150,000.00 for cold mix, base material and disposal of waste material. As an added benefit, every ton of asphalt the county recycles will benefit Freehold Township in the amount received from the State of New Jersey in their tonnage grant.

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A Shore Thing To Help Sandy Impacted Families

The Foundation to Save the Jersey Shore is hosting a “high-spirited, beach-casual” fundraiser at Windows on the Water, Thursday July 24 at 6 PM.  Tickets are only $75, almost all of which will go directly to families and individuals who are still displaced after Hurricane Sandy.  The food, alcohol and entertainment have all been donated.

Co-founded by businessmen Warren Diamond, NFL Veteran Phil Villapiano and Kevin Leahy after they personally witnessed the destruction of Sandy in their own and surrounding communities on the Jersey Shore, The Foundation to Save the Jersey Shore assists local families, businesses and municipal leaders in rebuilding. Click here to read some of what they have accomplished.

“The news media may have moved on from the devastation of Sandy, but we haven’t,” Diamond said, “Although much of the visual damage has been addressed through repair and demolition, we are looking at thousands of our neighbors who are still struggling to get back into their homes. They are committed and tenacious—they refuse to walk away, and that keeps us focused and inspired.”

Tickets to the event can be purchased here.

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Marlboro Council Passes Political Sign Restrictions

Over the objections of citizens who urged them not to restrict their 1st Amendment Rights and to avoid expensive litigation, the Marlboro Township Council unanimously passed an ordinance that prohibits the placement of temporary political signs on public property and rights of way, limits the time before and after an election that signs may appear on private property and rights of way adjacent to private property, and regulates the size of signs and the distance they may appear from each other on private property.

At the request of Councilman Frank LaRocca, the ordinance was amended to eliminate the imposition of a 90 day jail sentence for violating the ordinance.  Candidates, Committee Chairmen, Campaign Treasurers and private property owners now face fines ranging from $100 to $1250 if signs appear more than 45 days before an election, 7 days after an election or if signs promoting the same candidate are posted within 50 feet of each other on the same property.  The total square footage of all political signs on any one tax lot must not exceed 16 square feet.

Matthew Rasmussen, an attorney representing the Marlboro Republican Committee told the council during the public hearing prior to the adoption of the ordinance that it contained numerous “constitutional infirmities, some of them fatal” and urged the governing body to defeat the ordinance in order to avoid expensive litigation that they would certainly lose.

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Two River Times Is Sold

Domenic DiPiero, the new owner of the Two River Times. photo via uhnj.org

RedBankGreen is reporting that the news weekly, The Two River Times‘s, ownership has changed hands.

Domenic DiPiero, founder and president of Newport Capital Group bought the paper from Mickey Gooch, founder and president of GFI Group under terms that have not been disclosed.

DiPiero is a lifelong Two Rivers area resident, according to an announcement of the paper’s sale posted on it’s website on Monday.

“I look forward to continuing the great tradition that The Two River Times has built. I want the newspaper to continue to be a source of pride and news in the community,” DiPiero said, according to the TRT announcement.

Gooch, and his now ex-wife Diane, bought the paper from Geraldo Rivera in 2004.

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Sunset Provisions: Keeping Laws Relevant

By Gary Rich, Sr, Monmouth County Freeholder Deputy Director

Late last month, Governor Christie signed into law Assembly bill 3424, which extended the two percent cap on binding interest arbitration awards. I was present when Governor Christie inked his name to this bill, extending the cap through December 31, 2017.

The law which originally set the two percent cap was enacted back in 2010 when the Governor joined with legislative leaders to implement these important reforms to a segment of the government system that desperately needed revamping. Historically, it was a system that had often run amok, awarding benefits to the public unions in question without regard for the town or county’s ability to pay for such benefits.

The 2010 law was historic and vital—and temporary. The original law included a Sunset clause, which allowed the law and its terms to expire as of April 1, 2014 if no action was taken by the legislature to extend it.

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Greg’s List: Things to do in Monmouth County this weekend, July 18-20, 2014

SPONSORED BY SEASTREAK

By Greg Kelly

Friday, July 18

• Oklahoma! at Algonquin Arts Theatre (Manasquan) – MORE INFO

• Historical Society House Tour (Ocean Grove) – MORE INFO

• Seining at the Bayshore (Port Monmouth) – MORE INFO

• Bang, Bang, You’re Dead and Lady Parts at Monmouth U (WLB) – MORE INFO

• Campfire on the Beach at Sandy Hook – MORE INFO

• Beachscapes at the Jersey Shore with Mike Miller (Avon) – MORE INFO

• Downtown Freehold Farmer’s Market – MORE INFO

• Campfire & Sand Casting (Long Branch) – MORE INFO

• Enviro-Quest at Turkey Swamp Park (Freehold) – MORE INFO

• Battery Gunnison/New Peck Tour on Sandy Hook – MORE INFO

• Martha’s Vineyard Weekend Trip via Seastreak (Highlands) – MORE INFO

• Canoeing in Sandy Hook Bay – MORE INFO

• An Intimate Evening with Judy Collins at TRT (Red Bank) – MORE INFO

• Forks & Fears: Eat Healthfully and Enjoy It! (Shrewsbury) – MORE INFO

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Marlboro GOP Poised To Challenge New Sign Ordinance

A proposed Marlboro temporary sign ordinance on the agenda for adoption by the Township Council on Thursday evening July 17 has Marlboro Republicans contemplating a federal court challenge should the all Democratic Council enact the measure.

Mayor Jon Hornik, named the best mayor in New Jersey in an unscientific PolitickerNJ poll earlier this month after the Township’s resident email list was used to rally online votes, told MMM that political signs create clutter and traffic safety issues in the Township and that his administration has been working on an solution that protects free speech rights while improving public safety since 2008.  “It’s not just local races, but every level…county, state, and federal.  Marlboro gets littered with campaign signs every fall,” Hornik said, “It is a safety issue that has gotten worse since the Board of Education elections were moved to November. The council has been working hard to make sure the safety and clutter issues are addressed while at the same time protecting free speech rights.  I will support what they come up with.”

The proposed ordinance, which can be found here, would prohibit temporary political signs on Township property and public rights of way, with the exception of rights of way adjacent to private property (that strip of land between sidewalks and curbs), regulate the size of signs to 16 square feet, and allow signs to be placed on private property only 45 days prior to an election or event and seven days after an election. Candidates, Committee Chairmen, Campaign Treasurers and private property owners with signs on rights of way adjacent to their property would be subject to fines ranging from$100 to $1250 and/or 90 days in jail for violations.

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Christie’s Long Branch Town Hall Rained Out

Governor Chris Christie’s Town Hall in Long Branch this afternoon has been postponed due to expected back weather.

The Governor’s office said it would be rescheduled soon.

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Freeholders seek candidates for Brookdale’s Board of Trustees

The Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders have opened a search for a new member of the Brookdale Community College Board of Trustees.

“This is a terrific opportunity for a resident to take a dynamic role at New Jersey’s best community college,” said Freeholder John P. Curley, liaison to the college. “Brookdale needs leaders who will help steer the future course of this quality, affordable higher education institution.”

Applicants should be interested in taking an active leadership position as a Trustee of Brookdale Community College and be knowledgeable in the opportunities and challenges of higher education. This unpaid position is for a term of four years.

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