The City of Gloucester City made the Friday, May 23 edition of Star Ledger. In a story somewhat critical of the Abbott District school construction program the City was used as one example of how poorly the program was run.
The article written by Bill Wolfe states in part, Inspector General Cooper\’s April 21, 2005 Report to former Governor Codey found that $330 million had been spent on sites \”patently unsuitable\” for schools -perhaps the poster child for these findings are the purchase of a Superfund site in Gloucester City and former Manhattan project site in Union City. Cooper\’s Report also found Full Report Here
One section of the report that particularly bothers me (quoting findings) SCC has minimal guidelines for what constitutes an acceptable site for a school and generally accedes to the site submitted by local school authorities.
It was a well known fact that the area surrounding the Pop Corn building was listed as a federal government Superfund site. Yet our school board and administrators choose this area to build a new school. The school never got built because the state School Construction Corporation (SCC) mismanaged the $8.3 billion it was given to construct schools in the Abbott Districts.
But don’t despair. According to the same article state legislators are still looking for more money to spend on this program. See Lawmakers Ask for an Extra $2.5 billion
Neighboring Brooklawn made the headlines on Monday, May 26, 2008. Courier Post columnist Jim Walsh took the Town Fathers to task for evicting a family of seven from a borough home two years ago. According to Walsh who quoted from court documents, \”In September 2003, Laura Burrough\’s family of five rented a three-bedroom duplex under an affordable-housing program. Over the next two years, she had two babies.
In June 2006, the Borough said those babies violated an occupancy limit. It then opposed a finding by an administrative law judge and the state Department of Community Affairs that the uprooted family was owed about $4,100 for moving expenses.
Walsh writes, \”In its appeal, the borough put a creative spin on how to view a family of seven that moves after receiving one month\’s notice that its lease won\’t be renewed. \”Finding that this matter was an eviction was arbitrary and capricious,\” Brooklawn contended.
That wasn\’t good enough for the judges, who ruled against Brooklawn on May 14.
Congratulations to Walt Burrows, Courier Post Sports writer who is retiring after 58 years of reporting on local sports. Walt grew up in Gloucester City and graduated from Gloucester City High School. While in school he worked as a stringer for the Gloucester City News, and continued to do so after he graduated. Later he got a job with the Courier Post and as they say the rest is history.
For many years, up until he had a health problem, Walt continued to write for the City News. Each week he would hand deliver two articles one on the Rams and the other on the Lions. He lived in Marlton and Sunday night he would drive over to Gloucester City and leave the stories in the NEWS mailbox. Walt never forgot his home town. And this was his way of saying \”Thank You\” to my Dad for helping him out when he was just beginning his illustrious career as a sports reporter.
CHEERS TO YOU WALT! May you have many happy years of enjoyment. You certainly deserve it.
The Classic Sportsman, Walt Burrow Retires
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