LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

From the issue of April 6, 2006.

Thanks for supporting Woman’s Club efforts
To the editor:
   The Woman’s Club of Hillsborough would like to thank the entire community for participating in the fall 2005 UNICEF fund drive.
   The 2005 campaign raised $3,979.03, the largest amount since the Woman’s Club started this project over 30 years ago. Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF boxes are distributed to all Hillsborough kindergarten through sixth-grade students at Halloween.
   Typically, UNICEF does not provide the United States or other industrialized nations with assistance. Advocacy and fundraising efforts are directed to these areas.
   However, because of the devastation endured by the Gulf States, one half of the money raised from the 2005 Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF campaign was designated for the youngest survivors of Hurricane Katrina.
   Once again I would like to thank all the residents of Hillsborough for their generous support and thanks to all who helped this year, including the Superintendent of Schools Karen Lake, each school principal, office staff and teachers, and, of course, the students and their families.
   Personally, I would like to thank the Woman’s Club members and middle school students for their help with distributing and collecting the UNICEF boxes and Provident Bank for kindly allowing us to use their coin machine to count the thousands of coins collected.
   Everyone’s participation is greatly appreciated.
Karen Shulack

UNICEF Committee,

Woman’s Club of Hillsborough

Lessons learned: check assessments
To the editor:
   Unlike Dorothy’s cyclone entrance, I entered through a walk on a sunny day in June 2005 in Hillsborough.
   In my stroll, I noticed an "open house" sign in the Alexandria Condo complex, and owning one myself, decided to take a look. Of the three basic types of condos in Alexandria, this was the "1 bed deluxe" like mine.
   I said like mine except for one glaring difference on the flyer — their taxes were $452 less than mine.
   I thought, maybe a typo, so I’ll go down to the tax office tomorrow and get some answers. And that’s where my trip to "Oz" took off.
   I asked one of the computer operators to compare my condo to the open house one and she said they’re the same except for my extra bathroom.
   What? I don’t have an extra bathroom. At this the inspector joined in and said he could go there tomorrow and see about the extra bathroom.
   When he came and saw I had only one bathroom, I told him that I thought I was classified wrong because the only ones with two bathrooms are the larger models, hence the $452 overcharge.
   I said I want it corrected and my back overpayment returned.
   Now for those of us, who think that common sense prevails, read on.
   No, the inspector said, that’s not how it works. For one, the township or county are not responsible for tax errors, therefore no refund.
   And second, being that you discovered it after April, nothing will change till next year when you file an appeal before April.
   He said he would go back to "Oz" (the tax office) with this information and compute my new assessment.
   The next day he calls me with the reduction in my taxes that will occur in 2006 — $52.
   I asked if anyone in the tax office had any common sense. It’s not about the extra bathroom, it’s about the charge for a larger condo.
   I could see I wasn’t getting through, so I decided to visit "Oz." I thought if I spoke to the person in charge, she would understand.
   My common sense simple explanation of being put in the wrong category was ignored, and, refusing to look in the tax books that showed only three types of condos in Alexandria, she said that they will reassess the condos in January.
   No need to fill out anything, they would take care of it.
   Come January 2006 and six months out of "Oz," I had time to cool off, and decided to return to see if anything had changed. When they said I had a $52 reduction for the bathroom, I couldn’t believe my ears.
   Wait a second, I’m in "Oz," things are supposed to not make sense. After about three "I don’t believe this" from me, the inspector said he never measured my condo.
   Silence … yes, he would measure the condo tomorrow.
   I learned a lesson that day that I’d like to pass onto you. Check your assessment.
   How? Easy — get your lot and block number from your tax bill, and look up your home in the tax books that are on the counter in "Oz," oops, sorry, the tax office.
   Then compare yours with your neighbors on the same page.
Edward Riordan

Westbrook Avenue

Levin right for school board
To the editor:
   I am writing to support Andy Levin to the Hillsborough Board of Education.
   His background as an educator and his track record of saving money for a school program make him the best choice to serve on our school board.
   Mr. Levin is a computer professor and is on the only candidate with hands-on classroom experience as an educator. Moreover, in his information technology work at Rutgers University, he saved the University more than $100,000 by organizing a purchase of better equipment at cheaper cost.
   With exploding school budgets, and ever-rising taxes, we need people like Mr. Levin who are committed to economize, and support the strongest possible classroom programs for our children.
   Mr. Levin is getting my vote, and he deserves yours.
Jeff Michaels

Oxford Place

Support school budget — change tax system
To the editor:
   On April 18th I’m going to the polls and vote to support the school budget in Hillsborough Township. I figure it’s the least I can do to give something back to the future citizens of New Jersey.
   In the past several years, our governors and our state legislators have relied on debt to finance a large part of our state budgets.
   Gov. Jon Corzine and our legislators recently continued the trend by using bonds to replenish our Transportation Fund.
   It’s those future New Jersey citizens, our current students, who will be required to pay for that debt.
   In order to give our students a greater chance of earning a decent living — so they can repay that debt as well as have a little left over for themselves — I’m supporting the budget to give them a thorough and efficient education.
   I value education, and I feel a community should support all its citizens, from young to old.
   The easiest thing to do is vote "no" in school budget elections. But that won’t change things in the long run.
   The public needs to pressure our Township Committee to bring clean ratables into Hillsborough to ease our tax burden. We also need to pressure our state legislators and governor to have the political strength to change the tax structure, so we aren’t dependent on property taxes that burden those least able to pay taxes. But this takes time and effort.
   I’m going to try and change things by first voting "yes" on the school budget. And then try to tackle a Township Committee meeting or two.
Dorothy Cassimatis

Featherbed Lane

Ports deal with Dubai would be helpful
To the editor:
   In early March this year, there was much debate in the white house over the UAE proposed control over some of the Port of Baltimore and five other major sea ports.
   Congress took an unexpected insurgence against the president’s first, ever; veto in order to prevent the UAE’s established control in the US seaports. Congress’s decision reflected the huge wave of outrage amongst the American public at the idea of a Middle Eastern establishment having influential connection, let alone predominance over American ports.
   Republican Representative for the House Appropriations Committee stated, in support of this outcry, "This is a national security issue", concluding that, "We want to make sure that the security of America’s ports is in American hands."
   The Senate, having differed, ignited a temporary compromise that issued a more intense, 45 day review by the Committee of Foreign Investment.
   In response to this, it is seemingly apparent that many may be overlooking the UAE’s strong connections with the nation’s military and its title as the United States’ fifth largest oil supplier.
   An Associated Press article on msnbc.com stated, "The U.S. has a ‘superb’ military relationship with the country, Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters this week. He also said U.S. forces use UAE seaports and air fields for logistics support and for training of Air Force pilots."
   Additionally, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently and firmly stated that, "The UAE is a good partner in the war on terrorism," and, "It has been a stalwart partner. And we believe that this is a deal, a port deal, that serves the interests of the United States, serves our security interests and serves the commercial interest as well."
   Aside from politics, there is also a common misconception of the UAE as a whole. As Dubai and Abu-Dabi are now Britain’s alleged, hottest tourist sites. Dubai’s clean streets, wide diversity of people, extremely low crime rate, and the rows and rows of skyscrapers, restaurants, hotels, and malls that weave in and out of an array of palm trees are remarkable.
   America’s fear and resentment towards the UAE is an undeniable reflection of racial profiling, the very thing that this nation has spent the last several years trying to diminish.
   Conclusively, and more importantly, President George W. Bush’s decision to veto Congress’s attempt to torpedo a deal with the UAE demonstrated a moralistic understanding of the situation.
   The United States signing over control of several ports would be, undeniably, risky, however, it is a huge sacrifice made for the sake of proving the America is willing to look past the stereotypes and imbedded fear that 9-11 has deeply rooted into this nation and, incidentally into its foreign relations.
   Despite public opposition to American port exposure, it is essential to recognize that this deal is derived from a great leap of faith and is a huge step for American foreign policy.
Savanah Eichfeld

Bluebird Drive

Levin offers board educational experience
To the editor:
   We have been residents of Hillsborough for the past four years and plan to continue our residence here for hopefully many more years to come.
   When it comes to our children’s future and our pocketbooks, we recommend people to vote for Andrew Levin for school board.
   Mr. Levin is the most balanced candidate of the group. He is an educator, earned a master’s degree in education, has real world experience in cost savings, and has been a Hillsborough taxpayer for over 15 years.
   We worked with Mr. Levin at Rutgers University and have seen firsthand how he can save money while maintaining high quality. He saved our department over $100,000 one semester when he realized that we were overpaying for computers by $1,000 each. The computers he found were better, faster, and less expensive than their $1,500 counterparts.
   We have also seen Mr. Levin’s teaching abilities, which is interactive and experiential in nature. He also believes that the student should have positive experiences both inside and outside the classroom.
   We sincerely believe that Mr. Levin has the best interest of the both our children and the community in mind.
   We highly encourage the people to vote for Mr. Levin for school board so that we can have the best educational experience for our students and teachers while keeping costs at a minimum for the Hillsborough taxpayer.
Sung and Ji Baek

Fieldhedge Drive