MY ADIOS

For seven and a half years, I led our homeowners association and I am proud of my voluntary work, a task I did with honesty and relentless effort on your behalf.

The passage of time brings change and now it is my turn to move on as I am heading to a warmer climate.

These 2731 days amid the local tide and winds have been an unforgettable experience where I quickly learned how our local government works and the serious difficulty in bringing new tax revenues to help homeowners with our huge tax burden. For years the opposition of numerous elected district members (MDC) and their pals was always present at important city council meetings and at the Planning Board. And, no one was there to support the proper development of our industrial and commercial zones until our homeowners association was formed.

Together we should be proud of our enormous achievement. Finally, the Old Industrial Park was wisely rezoned for residential, retail and office buildings. And, in the near future about $5 million in new tax revenue will roll into the city coffers together with the new tax revenue generated by the new developments on the west side of Palisade Avenue which will increase that figure substantially. We also stopped the Marriott Assisted Living proposal on East Palisade Avenue and now there are 24 townhouses which will add more tax revenue to help balance our massive taxes.

The EHOA, Inc. has indeed made an enormous difference in our city! There is no doubt about it!

The most disheartening part that I’ve witnessed as co-president occurred when attending Board of Education meetings. Especially when Dr. Greico, about six months after he was nominated superintendent, began to show his wild ambitions and endless appetite for money as the test scores under his tenure have touched rock bottom.

The budget under his supervision has increased by 20 ½% in two years with no enrollment growth (proving again and again that more money is not the answer, the answer is the proper allocation of funds). Playing the race card he divided the Board and the city with his ill conceived building plans. Also, no one knows where this gigantic administration will have their offices, but the superintendent recently spent over $90,000 in decorating the offices of his pals at the Liberty School. It is the responsibility of the President of the Board or the Vice-President to authorize expenses. Lazaro Carvajal (who let us down) and Joan Meltzer (who is running for re-election) obviously did not bother to watch the checkbook. What a duo!

At a recent meeting, the city engineer advised the superintendent and the four supporters he has left on the Board that they must obtain variances from the Board of Adjustments because the new 700 student school (no one knows where the students will come from) is planned to be built on 4.2 acres of park land. This will require many meetings and it will cost real money in legal and expert fees including a full traffic study of the entire area and the rezoning of Durie Avenue as a street where an elementary school can be built. To make things worse, Durie Park is in a flood zone and there will be serious expenses dealing with the drainage of this site. Also, Durie Avenue will need to be widened which will not come cheap either. With all the difficulties it will be a long time before a school is built for 700 students from grades 1 to 3 on that site. Besides, it is the city council’s obligation to defend park land.

Also, enormous enlargement of Cleveland Elementary school for a total of 700 students only 150 feet across from Durie Park will create severe traffic problems that will be impossible to resolve properly. Nothing new for Dr. Greico and his supporters on the Board because for a very long time I spoke against this plan to no avail. Filling me with the same frustration as my six years of speaking at the Board of Education meetings, is the huge problem of the many students who do not live in Englewood but attend our schools. Finally, I came to the conclusion that these two issues are related to each other.

The superintendent wants to keep every student that walks in because absolute proof of residency is not required in our district. He wants to show a big enrollment to substantiate the enormous amount of employees this district has (the last time I checked it was around 553). So, by building this gigantic three story school building in Durie Park and enlarging Cleveland School for another vast number of students he will achieve his goal which is increasing the overload of employees. Therefore, “the system” has nothing to do with education. Instead it is a colossal business for job creation and not necessarily for new teachers.

There is a solution! Elect board members who have a full understanding of finance that will not be manipulated or intimidated by the superintendent and they will have the foresight to clean out the system from the inside out. So, after decades of failure our public education for Englewood children can finally begin.

Lastly, after 4 years of patience the project for Signalization on East Palisade Avenue at the intersection of South Woodland and North Woodland Streets has finally gone out for bids. The traffic light was requested with over 500 homeowner’s signatures.

Ruth Baum and I started our homeowners association together and we are leaving together as well. It is our intention to donate the remaining EHOA funds to the Englewood on the Palisades Charter School whose test scores have shown to be among the best in the county, and in a short time they will be honored by the state. We encourage those of you who do not agree with our decision to request your current dues to be refunded via fax at 201-569-1636 or mail us at 293 Morrow Road by May 1, 2004 which is the date our confidential membership list will be deleted.

My deepest thanks to the EHOA Board members for their time and sound advice.

From the bottom of my heart I thank each and every one of you for your support through these 2731 days that I lived amid the local tide and wind.

Eugenia Maria Vogel

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