“Fiscal cliff” is the popular  term used to describe the "perfect storm"  that the U.S. government will face at the end of 2012, when the terms of the Budget Control Act of 2011 are scheduled to go into effect.

Among the laws set to change at midnight on December 31, 2012, are the end of last year’s temporary payroll tax cuts (resulting in a 2% tax increase for workers), the end of certain tax breaks for businesses, shifts in the alternative minimum tax that would take a larger bite, a rollback of the "Bush tax cuts" from 2001-2003, and the beginning of taxes related to President Obama’s health care law. At the same time, the spending cuts agreed upon as part of the debt ceiling deal of 2011 will begin to go into effect.

To add more to our worries we will be having a fiscal cliff of our own. For the past five years our Township Committee has been borrowing and spending enough money to keep us in debt for years to come. We are currently spending most of our Municipal budget on debt servicing. This means that as the town grows and its needs grow we have the same two choices as we do on the national level. We can raise taxes dramatically and continue all services at the current level, or we can cut services drastically in order to keep our taxes somewhat stable.
Whichever painful path we choose one thing is certain. Our leaders have put us on the path to stagnation at best with the threat of bankruptcy swinging above us like the sword of damocles.
If we needed to give up any services which would you choose?
We want to hear your opinions

An anonymous text was sent to The Lakewood Times. Steve Langert is congested. We know that the flu has been going around and there are many cases of sinus infection and bronchitis. Although at times we may have some political differences, we would never wish nasal discomfort on another human being. We would like to wish Steve a speedy recov......Oh someones auto spell changed the word? He is not Congested  he was whaaaaat? oh it was just a nasty rumor?
never mind

Should the people of New Jersey decide whether they should recognize the marriages of same gender couples?

That question could be coming up as Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, New Jersey’s first openly gay state lawmaker, proposes a ballot measure for you to decide whether New Jersey should recognize same sex marriage.

Gusciora originally opposed Governor Christie’s suggestion to put it on the ballot comparing it to civil rights issues to which Christie called him “numb nuts”.
Corey Booker has been critical of allowing the public to decide a civil rights issue as well. Although now that other states such as Washington and Maryland have voted for Marriage equality, perhaps he would also agree to the public vote option.

Zoning board appointment – From Anonymous – “Please Help”

It has been brought to the attention of the Zoning Board Members that Committeemen Steve Langert is spearheading an effort against Zoning Board Member Elliot Zacks, whose term is up for renewal at the end of this year. Committeeman Langert wants to have him removed from the Board, because his attorney and friend Abe Penzer, Esq, who appears in front of the Zoning Board more than any other attorney, does not like him. 

Committeeman Langert has already suggested a replacement for Mr. Zacks. That proposed replacement is none other than his long time friend and neighbor Sam Rabinowitz. This suggestion is very disturbing to some board members and it should be to the public as well. An appointment of this individual would be extremely unethical, based on many conflicts of interest 

It seems like only yesterday that Isaac Akerman called me up and asked me if I cared if he ran as an independent against Committeman Bob Singer, and if I could help him. Of course this was after I had lost in the primary to our then double dipping Senator/Commiteeman and I could not run again in the same election. My goal (as it is now) was to remove the old corrupt system more than to become a part of it. I did not know Isaac and I didn't have much trust in political players after being lied to and used by the Shmukler, Seitler LAC duo. I asked Isaac why he wanted to run. He said very simply "I want to try to help do good for the town". That was the best answer I could expect and I thought anything would be better than Bob Singer. Perhaps if he won he can be strong enough to resist the corrupt committee members and be a voice of truth on the committee. I drove him to the County Clerk, he signed the papers, got him the signatures at Satmar and officially announced that he was running in the general election against Singer. 

SOUTH Korea's "battle of the singles" - a highly-anticipated mass dating event organised on Facebook - fizzled out yesterday, with thousands of lovelorn men at the venue but few women in sight.

The event was triggered last month after two young men jokingly floated the idea on the social networking site and eventually prompted more than 36,000 Facebook users to sign up.

But only about 3500 people - mostly men in their 20s or 30s - turned up. Many of the women who did show up brought male partners just to watch the event.

"Apparently most of the participants were young men ... many left fairly quickly as the place was increasingly filled with guys," a police officer in Seoul told AFP.

Romantics who braved temperatures of around minus 10 degrees Celsius mostly milled aimlessly around the venue in a city park during the two-hour event.

FROM Singer's website:

--The full Senate unanimously passed Thursday legislation by Senator Robert Singer to appropriate more than $4 million for grants to CERTAIN  nonprofits for farmland preservation.“Farmland preservation remains a necessary initiative in the Garden State to protect a unique facet of our economy and prevent sprawl, which often causes an increase in government and taxes,” said Singer (R-Monmouth, Ocean). “This measure directs to that cause millions of dollars that have been languishing in coffers over the past few years.”Senator Singer’s bipartisan S-2395 appropriates $4,083,320 — from the 2009 Farmland Preservation Fund, the 2007 Farmland Preservation Fund, and the
Garden State Farmland Preservation Trust Fund — for grants to certain nonprofit organizations for farmland preservation purposes. It directs the state Agricultural Development Committee to provide such grants.This bill also frees up approximately $2.6 million in additional funds for other farmland preservation projects. It allows grants
to qualifying tax-exempt organizations for up to half of the cost of acquisition of development easements on farmland for farmland preservation purposes, or up to half of the cost of acquisition of fee simple titles to farmland for resale or lease with agricultural deed restrictions approved by the State Agriculture Development Committee.---

Dear Senator
This is the ultimate example of your hypocrisy for two reasons.
#1 you state that preservation of farmland to prevent sprawl is important? Your own town is the poster child of bad planning, sprawl and congestion. You of all people as Mayor and Senator could have put a stop to the destruction of open space in Lakewood. Yet you did nothing. Now every new wave of residents to Lakewood is shocked at the
amount of unchecked growth that Lakewood must endure. The increase in government and taxes is a result of your years of being at the helm of two positions.

#2 you state the importance of farmland for the economy. Is this the same singer that didn't allow a farmer's  market on Sundays in the town square because it would attract bees? This is yet another perfect example of a Singerism. A Singerism is an overtly hypocritical proposal or statement made to stay in a position of power for
personal gain by pandering to those that help you stay there.

There are over 45 other towns in the United States that call Lakewood home. It is probably one of the most ubiquitous city names in our country. You could live in California, Washington, Colorado, or Ohio (where your vote actually counts), and still call Lakewood your home. 

In the never ending quest to help improve our town perhaps we need to look at what other Lakewooders have done to improve theirs. Besides looking at demographic models and statistics such as size and population perhaps we can find ideas and inspiration from towns that share the same name that our town has had for over 100 years. 

In a series of future articles TheLakewoodTimes will be examining what other Lakewoods have done to improve their town and deal with the common problems that many small cities share. The poster above is not about our Lakewood obviously. Perhaps some day in the not too distant future we can make that list. I could tell you right now that none of the other Lakewoods have a VAAD (I couldn't resist)
HH