An Education in Giving

MCIA
NEWSLINE
Summer 2008
An Education in Giving
STUDENTS COLLECT 52 TONS OF FOOD FOR NEEDY
Students from 161 public and private schools
throughout the County collected about 51.8 tons
of food for Middlesex County residents in need
during the annual Spring Schools Food Drive.
ISSUE
HIGHLIGHTS
2
Special Golf
Offers
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Named #1
Recycling
County
said Freeholder Liaison Blanquita B. Valenti. “It is
wonderful to see our young people taking such an
active role in community service and in helping
their neighbors. We are all so proud of them.”
The 12th annual drive was sponsored by Middlesex
This year, five schools each collected more than
County Food Organization and Outreach
3,500 pounds of food. A sixth school collected
Distribution Services (M.C.F.O.O.D.S.), which
more than 2,000 pounds, and 22 schools collected
serves more than 65 local food
more than 1,000 pounds each.
pantries, soup kitchens and
HEAD OF THE CLASS For the first time, area
other emergency food providers
businesses partnered with
TOP SCHOOL: Middlesex County
throughout the County. About
local schools and matched the
Academy for Science, Mathematics and
25 other agencies, including
Engineering Technology
food donations with grocery
residential facilities, shelters,
store gift card donations.
TOTAL: 150 students collected 5,430 lbs.
and programs for women
Contributors included
of food – that’s over 36 lbs. per student!
and children, also use
CME Associates of Parlin,
M.C.F.O.O.D.S. stock.
TRACK RECORD: The Academy has
Magyar Bank of New
placed among the top collectors in
The annual schools drive is
Brunswick, Pathmark of
every one of the eight years it has
the largest single event for
Carteret, and Gloria Zastko
participated.
M.C.F.O.O.D.S. each year.
Realtors of North Brunswick.
“Year in and year out, our
students embrace this drive
with such great enthusiasm,”
“STUDENTS FROM
THROUGHOUT THE
COUNTY CERTAINLY PUT
THEIR BEST FOOT FORWARD
FOR THIS FOOD DRIVE.
I’M ESPECIALLY PROUD
TO ACT AS LIAISON TO
THE ACADEMY, ITS
STUDENTS, STAFF AND
ADMINISTRATION.”
- Freeholder Ronald G. Rios, Chair of the
County’s Public Health and Education Committee
Corporations, organizations
and individuals also host
drives throughout the year.
M.C.F.O.O.D.S. maintains
permanent drop-off locations
at libraries and other public
buildings throughout the
County.
For information on
M.C.F.O.O.D.S. or on
hosting a drive, please
call Jennifer Apostol,
M.C.F.O.O.D.S. coordinator,
at 609-409-5033.
Open
Space
County Program Grows
BY 352 ACRES IN 2008
fore!
“We are strongly committed to preserving as much open land as
possible and to raise the quality of life in Middlesex County for all
our residents,” said Middlesex County Freeholder Director David B.
Crabiel, who is liaison to the MCIA. “The residents of Middlesex
County voted twice to support Open Space preservation efforts, and
we are working hard to fulfill their needs.”
In addition to the open lands saved, there are more than 3,300 acres
in the County’s Farmland Preservation program, and numerous
municipal recreational facilities have been built or improved with
grants from the Open Space and Recreation and Farmland and
Historic Preservation Trust Fund.
SUMMER GOLF SPECIALS AT
THE MEADOWS AT MIDDLESEX
WEEKDAY
WEEKEND
TWILIGHT SPECIAL
AFTERNOON SPECIAL
Tee off after 4 p.m. Mondays through Fridays (excluding
holidays) to take advantage of these special greens fees:
Tee off between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays
for these special rates:
REGISTERED GOLFERS
REGISTERED GOLFERS
COUNTY RESIDENTS
$12
COUNTY SENIORS & STUDENTS
OUT-OF-COUNTY
$17
$10
NON-REGISTERED GOLFERS
COUNTY RESIDENTS
$17
COUNTY SENIORS & STUDENTS
OUT-OF-COUNTY
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Middlesex County’s inventory of preserved Open Space continues
to grow. Since January, about 352 acres have been purchased or are
under contract to be added to the County’s Open Space Preservation
Program. The new acres bring the total number of protected
acres to 6,861.
$20
COUNTY RESIDENTS
OUT-OF-COUNTY
$25
COUNTY SENIORS & STUDENTS
$20
NON-REGISTERED GOLFERS
$15
OFFER EXPIRES SEPTEMBER 1, 2008
COUNTY RESIDENT
COUNTY SENIORS & STUDENTS
OUT-OF-COUNTY
$30
OFFER EXPIRES AUGUST 31, 2008
THE MEADOWS AT MIDDLESEX GOLF COURSE • 70 Hunters Glen Drive, Plainsboro, NJ (609) 799-4000 • www.mciauth.com
EVALUATION ON FORMER
Milltown Tire Plant Progresses
Progress has been achieved in the ongoing investigations of environmental
contamination at the Ford Avenue Redevelopment Project site in Milltown.
Located in downtown Milltown at the intersection of Main Street and Ford Avenue,
the site, formerly a Michelin tire plant, now consists of deteriorated buildings and
contaminated areas. The Ford Avenue Redevelopment Agency, with the aid of the
MCIA, has secured a series of state and federal grants for assessing contamination.
Boraie Development LLC has been named the developer for the project and a mixeduse residential and commercial office/retail plan is envisioned. There are currently
four activities simultaneously being carried out:
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An evaluation of the minimally impacted areas has been completed, and
a remedial action work plan is being developed that will encompass
demolition and construction activities
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3
An investigation of the more significantly impacted areas continues,
and the results are expected to be finalized shortly.
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A proposal for a separate investigation of the Mill Pond, along
which the site lies, is being prepared for submission to the State
for funding.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) completed
the remediation of some areas that were considered an immediate
threat to the environment
Pulomena:
NEW COUNTY
ADMINISTRATOR
John Pulomena, a former Middlesex County Freeholder, has been appointed to a fiveyear term as Middlesex County Administrator and will be responsible for the day-today operation of the County.
“My 20 years of service in local and county government, along with my extensive
business experience in the private sector, have given me the confidence to serve as a
County Freeholder and have prepared me to take on the responsibilities of County
Administrator,” said Pulomena of South Plainfield, who resigned his elected position
as Freeholder in February to pursue the County’s top administrative post.
As a Freeholder, Pulomena chaired the County’s Public Health and Education Committee.
Before that, he served for eight years on the South Plainfield Borough Council.
Pulomena was employed for 22 years at AT&T/Bell Laboratories, working his
way up to Division Manager of Customer Network Operations.
SAVE THE DATE
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
UPDATES
The MCIA has been working with the
Borough of Middlesex in its efforts to
rehabilitate 400 acres in the Lincoln
Boulevard area. As part of this effort, the
MCIA has facilitated discussions with
Quantum Developers Group LLC in order
to assess possible environmental issues at
two sites the Group is developing in the
Gateway Focus Area of Lincoln Boulevard
near the South Bound Brook border. The
stated goal is for the developer to designate
the scope of work that will be necessary for
a proper assessment and for the MCIA to
carry out the environmental investigation
utilizing grant monies from a US EPA
Brownfields Assessment Grant.
The Middlesex County Improvement
Authority has been working with the
Borough of Carteret in its West Carteret
Redevelopment Area negotiating agreements
for site access to areas that are privately
owned. These sites are possible brownfields,
and funding secured by the MCIA through
the US EPA Brownfields Assessment Grant
can be used for environmental studies. The
MCIA and the developer Sitar LLC were
able to arrange a series of site investigations
in West Carteret, with Sitar carrying out
some of the work, and the MCIA, through
its consulting engineer Langan Engineering,
investigating other sites. A proposed mixed
use of residential and retail has been the
goal of the work in the West Carteret
Redevelopment Area, and these site
assessments will help move the project along.
September 24th
The 13th Annual Friends of Middlesex County Golf Charity Golf Classic will be held Wednesday,
Sept. 24, 2008 at Tamarack Golf Course in East Brunswick.
About 300 golfers are expected to hit the greens to raise funds for the Cerebral Palsy Association of
Middlesex County and Roosevelt Care Center.
If you wish to play or would like to learn more about sponsorship opportunities,
call Jennifer Apostol at 609-409-5033.
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SPECIAL DELIVERY FOR
M.C.F.O.O.D.S.
About 5 tons of food were collected for
M.C.F.O.O.D.S. during the 2008 Letter
Carrier Food Drive, a coordinated effort
between the MCIA and local members of the
National Association of Letter Carriers from
the New Brunswick, North Brunswick and
Highland Park post offices.
Carriers collected donated items from their
postal customers on May 10 as they completed
their routes and then dropped them off at the
M.C.F.O.O.D.S. warehouse in New Brunswick.
Twenty-three volunteers were on hand to help
unload and sort the donations.
COMMITTEE SETS
TRANSPORTATION
Priorities
The MCIA has been serving as a member of the
Middlesex County Transportation Infrastructure
Committee with representatives from the Middlesex
County Departments of Planning and Engineering
as well as the Middlesex County Utilities Authority.
During 2007 and 2008, the committee has been
identifying and prioritizing current transportation
projects in the County, with the ultimate goal of
securing funding for such programs from federal and
state sources. The project team is drafting a status
report with recommendations to be presented to the
Board of Chosen Freeholders this summer.
The committee has been in place since 2002 and has
been a catalyst in a number of successful road and
transportation projects such as: Woodbridge Center
Drive, Route 18 Extension, the Route 9 and Route
35 Victory Circle elimination, Route 18 and Tices
Lane intersection, and the Route 35/Victory
Bridge replacement.
GROUPS RETURN TO MEADOWS COURSE FOR
Fund-Raising Efforts
Charitable organizations that run golf outings at The Meadows at Middlesex Golf
Course in Plainsboro keep coming back to the course for their annual fundraisers.
Two successful outings that took place in May 2008 are already signed up for
their 2009 outings.
Tom Ondreyka, a golf committee member of the Sayreville Knights of
Columbus, said the group’s May 5 outing was the fifth time his organization’s
event was held at the Meadows.
“We love the course,” Ondreyka said. “The staff is always gracious and helpful.”
The outing is the group’s Number One charity fundraiser, and the $3,000 in
proceeds from the 82 golfers and various sponsors will be used for holiday
baskets for families in need as well as meeting special need requests from
within the community throughout the year.
Mark Sedlak who organized East Brunswick VFW Post 133’s golf outing on
May 22 commented: “This is the second year I’ve run the golf outing at the
Meadows and I have nothing but compliments for the manager and staff.”
Seventy-two golfers teed off and found the course to be in excellent shape.
The funds raised are used to help the residents of the Veterans Home in
Menlo Park with bingo games as well as a trip to a Somerset Patriots minor
league baseball game. In addition, VFW Post 133 supports a local event for
the benefit of a brain-injured child and makes donations to local Cub and Boy
Scout groups.
Outings at the Meadows require a minimum of 16 golfers and the greens fee
and cart rental are $50 per person. Outing organizers can select their own
format, and special event contests (longest drive, closest to the pin, etc.) are
overseen. The course takes care of scoring, golf wrap-ups and provides player
ID on the carts.
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For more information about outings, call (609) 799-4000.
ROOSEVELT
Gardens Bloom
Roosevelt Care Center residents are testing their green thumbs this spring by
planting 10 newly installed pots at the
rear entrance of the Parsonage Road
building and, for a second year, the pots
and areas of landscape just outside the
Alzheimer’s/Dementia unit there.
The new raised garden area was built at
the residents’ request after Ilona Merel,
president of the Resident Council,
brought up the idea at a council meeting.
“I feel that if we have it, we can do it,”
Ilona said. “The administration was very
cooperative. They are making it very easy
to do the planting and weeding.”
The pots sit atop a 2.5-foot-high brick
paver wall built by Silver Creek
Landscaping. They line the wrought iron
fence to the right of the rear entrance.
Residents voted on which types of flowers
and vegetables to plant. They expect to
enjoy the fruits of their labor by preparing salads and cooking the vegetables
they grow.
Kelly Kwaak, Senior Recreation Therapist
on the Alzheimer’s/Dementia unit, said
residents there are putting together their
wish list for the enclosed garden just outside the unit. Large round pots, a potting
bench, shovels, hoses and other gardening
needs were donated by the MetuchenEdison Women’s Club.
Kwaak said residents specifically requested
parsley and lettuce “because the unit’s
rabbit has to eat” and zinnias and petunias because they attract butterflies.
Kwaak said residents go outside every
morning to tend to the garden.
ROOSEVELT
Exceeds
Quality
BENCHMARKS
Roosevelt Care Center in Edison was
recognized by a national quality improvement
organization for exceeding the quality care
targets in two areas: chronic care pain and
physical restraints.
Roosevelt, owned and operated by the
Middlesex County Improvement Authority,
was honored for the successes it made as a
voluntary participant of the nationwide
Nursing Home Quality Initiative, a threeyear project sponsored by the Centers for
Medicare & Medicaid Services, an agency
of the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services.
The Care Center was recognized during
a recent awards ceremony hosted by
Healthcare Quality Strategies Inc., which is
under contract to the Centers for Medicare
and Medicaid, to improve the quality of
services in long-term care centers.
MIDDLESEX COUNTY
RECYCLING RANKS
#1 in State
For a second year in a row, Middlesex County has been named the top recycling county in
New Jersey, according to 2006 figures, the latest available from the State Department of
Environmental Protection (NJDEP).
With a recycling rate of 64.5 percent, Middlesex County ranked No. 1 among the 21 counties
for a fourth time since 1995, the first year the State set a 60 percent recycling goal. The data
also marks the 10th time that Middlesex County has met or exceeded the goal. No other
county has achieved this.
“This is an outstanding effort that means many good things for Middlesex County,” said
Freeholder Director David B. Crabiel, MCIA liaison. “Besides the obvious environmental
benefits, recycling helps extend the life of the landfill and saves municipalities and taxpayers
money that would have been used for waste disposal tipping fees.”
The MCIA operates the curbside recycling collection program in 16 municipalities. In 2006,
over 30,184 tons of material, such as glass, plastic, aluminum, cardboard and newspaper, were
collected from almost 98,000 residences and small businesses.
“I feel it is important to recognize that this accomplishment results from the concerted efforts
and support of the County’s numerous recycling initiatives by the Freeholder Board, the
MCIA, the Middlesex County Utilities Authority, the Public Health Department, Division of
Solid Waste Management, the municipal recycling coordinators and, most of all, the
residents and businesses of Middlesex County,” said Freeholder Camille Fernicola,
chair of the County’s Engineering and Planning committee, which oversees the
Division of Solid Waste Management.
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About 9,600 nursing homes nationwide
participate in the STAR system, a web-based
tool that provides methods to set improvement
targets and to help track performance goals.
STAR is available to all Medicare and
Medicaid certified nursing homes.
Dr. Frank Damiani, Administrator and
Director of Resident Care, said: “We are
always grateful for an opportunity to
improve care, and the STAR site has
encouraged us to raise the bar in terms of
care. It is a credit to the entire nursing staff
that we have surpassed the benchmarks in
these two important care areas.”
Senior
TV Program
M A K E S R O O S E V E LT T H E S TA R
Roosevelt Care Center’s Parsonage Road building became the star attraction May 9 as it
was used as the location for videotaping the July program of Aging Today, a monthly
cable television show of senior topics hosted by Peg Chester, Director of the Middlesex
County Department on Aging.
“We want to address the misconceptions that people have about long-term care, and
Roosevelt seems like a good place to do this,” said Ms. Chester. “We were able to
interview residents, family members, staff and administration. Talking directly to the
people involved is the best way to get at the reality of what a nursing home really is.”
Chester interviewed Dr. Frank Damiani, Administrator and Director of Resident Care,
staff, residents and family members.
Chester also spoke with Middlesex County Freeholder Director David B. Crabiel about
the County’s plans for the construction of a new long-term care center in Old Bridge as
well as the County’s commitment to helping seniors.
The show will highlight resident rooms, dining areas, recreation activities, rehabilitation
and physical therapy as well as a nursing station, lobby entries and the buzz of everyday
activity.
The program is taped and edited by the staff of Piscataway Community Television
Center. Three technical staff members carried out video, lighting and audio functions.
Additional exterior shots of the building, gardens and Roosevelt Park were also taped.
Aging Today broadcasts on 14 Middlesex County municipal channels and on the
Comcast and Cablevision community channels.
NEWSLINE is published by:
Middlesex County Improvement Authority
101 Interchange Plaza, Cranbury, NJ 08512
Phone: (609) 655-5141
Web:
www.mciauth.com
Jane S. Leal
Director of Administration & Editor
Stacey Bersani
Senior Writer
David B. Crabiel
Freeholder Director & MCIA Liaison
MCIA BOARD:
Leonard J. Roseman, Chairman
Robert J. Mantz
Raymond J. Geneske
Jacque Eaker
Anthony Raczynski
Richard Pucci, Executive Director
New Carts
IMPROVE MOBILITY
FOR GOLFERS
Raritan Landing Golf Course in Piscataway
now has available a single rider golf cart
designed for golfers with limited mobility.
Equipped with a swivel seat and a 360degree turning access, this lightweight cart
can traverse tee boxes and greens. Dewey
Ferguson, a resident of Piscataway Township,
was the first golfer to play from the cart in
the fall, and he has been utilizing it ever
since. “I’m having a blast. As for the golf
course, I feel it’s perfect. You can use all
of your clubs while you’re out there.
With the single rider cart, there’s not a
hole I cannot play.”
The MCIA purchased the Eagle SGC and
expects to purchase two more carts this
year for Tamarack Golf Course in East
Brunswick and The Meadows at Middlesex
Golf Course in Plainsboro. The Middlesex
County Human Services Department and
the Middlesex County Commission for
Persons with Disabilities strongly support
these purchases.
Printed on recycled paper.
SEE YOU AT THE
FAIR
August 4-10
Be sure to stop by the Middlesex County Improvement Authority’s
booth at the County Fair this August. You’ll be able to learn all about
what we do here at the MCIA to help make the lives of our County
residents better. We’ll have informational brochures and samples
of recycled products, and our Recycling Education Robot,
MC Blue®, will be on hand for some lively conversation with
residents of all ages.
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