Amazon.com, the world's biggest online retailer, said Tuesday that it has picked a site just outside Trenton for a planned distribution center that's expected to create hundreds of jobs.

Amazon employees will pick, pack and ship items for customers at the 1-million-square-foot center in Robbinsville, which the company plans to occupy in early 2014.

As part of a deal with the state announced last year, the retailer will be eligible for state economic assistance grants totaling millions of dollars on its investment, which is expected to exceed $200 million.

Tucked away in a small parking lot off of Clifton Ave. between First and Main Street sits a small eatery for Lakewood residents that want to experience a little authentic Israeli cuisine.

Eat A Pita (formerly Pitaleh) is a popular little treasure that may still be unknown to many.

A small menu filled with the usual shawarma, grilled chicken, french fries etc. Fresh and flavorful for sure. But what many people may overlook is that they also make one of the tastiest falafels to be found this far from the central bus station in Jerusalem. The restaurant is clean, service is fast, and the prices are reasonable. So drive down first street, pull into the parking lot and you can't miss the colorful entrance to Eat A Pita

Pros: delicious, healthy alternative to fast food, inexpensive and clean.

Cons: Should be a much bigger store on the main street and not hidden from view.

After serving Lakewood for well over twenty years Dina's Dinettes has decided to sell their store to a Brooklyn furniture store owner. The store is called Living Quarters, an offshoot of the larger store in Brooklyn. 

There is much debate as to whether our community should welcome new businesses from outside our community, especially if we already have businesses of the same or better caliber that have served our community for years. 

Most people admit that in the end it is a free world and there is no reason to be protectionist. It is anyone's right to open a business anywhere they please. 

But what If a business with more buying power because it has a large store in Brooklyn comes into our town and proceeds to threaten their suppliers not to sell to stores in Lakewood that were already selling furniture? Should we be a part of their "celebration"? 

The owners of Living Quarters have come into Lakewood with the intention of putting existing stores out of business. Not by providing better service, quality or pricing. Simply by using their influence to stop their competition from buying furniture from companies that were always a large part of their business. 

If the leaders of our town don't have the guts to help our embattled merchants, let us join together to ignore any stores whose first goal it is to put our own friends out of business. 
Hershel Herskowitz

“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

Welcome to the all new Lakewood Times website. The intention of this website is to provide a forum for honest news and opinions that effect us- the residents of Lakewood NJ. Our intention is to keep this website positive and free of any personal agendas that are not intended to help the community at large.