Rethink plans
for theater
To the editor:
We represent a very concerned group of residents, parents, students, teachers, theater professionals and local performing arts groups.
We are also members of the community that is paying, via taxes, for the new theater at South Hunterdon Regional High School.
Input from this group of "stakeholders" has been ignored, and the current design plans have critical shortcomings, explained below.
The present design is unacceptable. We have waited so long for this opportunity, and the chance to "get it right" will not come again.
We ask the Board of Education halt the building of the new theater until the design flaws are addressed and corrected to assure our students, faculty and community will have a facility that is smartly designed, functional and practical rather than a perpetual source of regret for the missed opportunity.
In order to get the best facility for the available capital, the community’s theater professionals offered their knowledge and experience in the planning of this facility. Much work was involved in meetings with the local performing arts groups to assess everyone’s needs, particularly technical, but also in terms of the "house," i.e., number of seats, box office, etc.
After completing our assessment, we attended a meeting on Dec. 11, 2006, with the architectural design team and representatives from the school, including Joanne Bunce, music director, who attended to represent needs of the choral, band and theater programs for the middle and high schools.
At this meeting, the technical plans were reviewed, and we discussed how the plans met, exceeded or fell short of our needs assessment.
Our concerns were discussed, and these included:
Functional need for a pit.
Access to lighting positions over audience for focusing and maintenance.
Number of seats in audience.
Stage height of 30 inches too short to seat an orchestra.
We now understand there will be no pit; a genie lift to access lighting in the house was the only alternative and is not currently being provided; the height of the stage would remain at an impractical 30 inches; and the fly system (for flying scenery), either automatic or traditional, is no longer part of the design. All pipes, either for drapery, lighting or scenery, must be dead-hung, just as they have always been in the cafetorium.
There are four events that are presented annually, which would naturally now be performed in the new theater. A talent show in the fall; winter and spring concerts during which four choirs and two bands perform; a middle school play; and the high school musical in the spring.
These are the primary uses for this new theater, which was always a given. Yet, according to the theater plans as they stand now, the winter and spring concerts cannot be accommodated because of the stage height and lack of a pit.
It is impossible to accomplish the setup for both chorus and band, which is integral to these performances. Without a pit, the high school musical still cannot use a small orchestra without blocking line of sight to the performers onstage.
And we still cannot fly scenery, which seriously limits design and technical functionality.
As for other performing arts groups, the same restrictions apply. Not only will community groups not get the facility they hoped for, but more important, South Hunterdon will not realize the income potential from these rentals that were deemed very likely a much-needed source of revenue.
The proposed theater is not responsive to the school’s needs or to the needs of the community’s arts groups. Does it not make sense to really look at what you’ve agreed to build more carefully?
Our money, as well as yours, is being used for this theater’s construction. Should it not be the best, most functional, our money can buy? Can’t we discuss building it correctly, perhaps in phases, so we don’t regret it in years to come?
We’ve waited this long; the chance will not come again. Don’t we owe it to our students, our parents and our community to ensure they receive the best value for the dollars being spent?
The suggestions we offer are:
Consider reducing seating to 350 to 400.
South Hunterdon events typically draw 150 to 250. With 519 seats, the house will always be half full.
No new school auditoriums are built to house the entire student body, let alone more. The brick and mortar costs of building a theater to seat 515 (roughly 30 percent larger than the current student population) has diverted funds from essentials such as, a pit, a working fly system and an accessible front-of-house lighting position.
Find a way to either build a pit, even if it is just a concrete cavity with a cover to be outfitted later, or raise the height of the stage so an orchestra can be accommodated without blocking the stage.
Provide the necessary structure, etc., for future fly loft rigging.
June 21, we again brought our concerns to the Board of Education. We were told there was nothing that could be done. Any changes now would be costly, and there is no money.
We understand budget concerns. However, the architect and the board have agreed to plans that are wrong for our community. They were advised of this many months ago.
It still makes sense to rethink the construction plans and to make the necessary changes. Then we can all take pride in a job well done. Otherwise, we will forever have regrets.
We understand a new architect has been assigned to this project. We request the new architect review the design plans with our concerns in mind.
We are available to meet with the architect to discuss mutually beneficial solutions that will better serve the community, the school, residents and performing arts groups.
If you agree, please communicate your concerns to members of the Board of Education. You can find their names, addresses and phone numbers on the school’s Web site www.shrhs.org.
technical director
South performances
Audrey Frankowski
director
South musicals
David Conant Ringer
Architect
Polly Anderson
Barbara Fordyce
Deborah Mercer
Sue and Ken Bacorn
Wendy and Harry Gordon
David Moraski
Pam Baker
Kathryn Hall
Michele and Peter Romeo
Kevin Brady
Pam and Rich Hart
Diane and Dave Siglin
Darcy Burkholder
Marci and Duncan Hawkins
Emily Siglin
Debbie Closson
Lolly Hoagland
Virginia Siglin
Elissa Cullen
Susan and Marc Irgang
Lisa and Dean Stephens
Bob Dahl
Dana Kurtbek
Mike and Jenny Stoy
John Dale Benedetta
and Russ Lambert
Deb and Rich Tettemer
Robin Deal
Russell Lambert Jr.
Emma Warwinsky
Sue Dumas
James Mastrich
Linda and Carl Weber
State needs hunting
laws changes
To the editor:
I’ve lived in Pennsylvania in the Poconos where everything that moves is shot at (except insects).
I’m pro-life in the true sense of the word. These animals belong to God who put them in our care to protect.
I’ve also noticed if people drove more carefully, there would be less collisions with deer.
Fish and wildlife is comprised of hunters who also use taxpayers’ money. Trapping laws are not enforced. Trapping should be banned anyway; it is inhumane and barbaric.
No one chosen by God to be a leader in the Bible was a hunter.
I hope Pennsylvania will change a lot of laws for God’s creatures. The puppy mills are horrendous as well.
founder
God’s Creatures Ministry
Wayne, N.J.
Police wonderful
to robbery victim
To the editor:
To Mayor David Del Vecchio and City Council members:
I am writing on behalf of my 82-year-old aunt, Lucy Tisza, and our entire family to recognize and express our appreciation of the Lambertville Police Department following a robbery Monday, June 4, 2007.
It was a very frightening experience for her and for all of us.
As I am sure you are aware, Aunt Lucy was walking back to her home on Brunswick Avenue after doing some shopping in town by way of the Mount Hope Cemetery as she has done many times before.
While in the cemetery, she was robbed by two youths who spun her around and took her groceries and purse containing a significant amount of cash. Apparently, a concerned neighbor heard her yelling for help and called the police.
Officer Michael Miloszar arrived quickly and took control in a very professional manner. She was checked out by our squad and found to be OK physically, but very stressed as to what had happened.
We cannot express enough the caring and warm attitude of Officer Miloszar to Aunt Lucy and all of us.
Under the direction of Police Director Bruce Cocuzza, the needed resources of the department were allocated in an attempt to seek the persons who committed this horrendous crime. As we understand it, Officer Miloszar continued as the officer in charge of the case with the assistance of officers Michael Gramlich and Vincent Albani helping to canvass the neighborhood and doing good old-fashioned police work.
All this work was completed under the watchful eye and supervision of Sgt. Robert Brown. As a result, the assailants were identified, found, processed and arrested.
I can’t express enough how much better Aunt Lucy feels knowing the assailants are no longer on the street to be allowed to commit the same crime against another unsuspecting victim.
Our neighborhood is safer as a result of the outstanding efforts of the LPD.
Please express our heartfelt thanks and appreciation to all those who have brought this case to a successful conclusion, and, hopefully, the courts will have the same sense of need exhibited by Director Cocuzza, Officer Miloszar and the other officers involved.
You and our city should be very proud of our police department.
Lambertville
Fix plans
for theater
To the editor:
The South Hunterdon Regional High School Board of Education has the opportunity to do the right thing.
For whatever reason, the theater, approved in the recent capital referendum, is being constructed in such a way it will not serve the purposes upon which it was sold to the public.
As presently planned, the theater will be built with a 30-inch high stage and no orchestra pit. As a result, the building will have limitations, which will impact on its ability to serve the purpose which the voters approved and will limit its desirability to be used by other performing arts organizations.
Other desires were not possible as a result of financial restrictions. This can be understood.
But to build a theater without a fundamental basic is inexcusable. If someone dropped the ball in designing the building or approving it, so be it. Just fix it so what the kids need and the taxpayers were told would be done with their money is completed.
Not to do so is a wrong. A mistake was made. The time to correct it is now.
Lambertville

