Hank Kalet

I received the following note from a resident over on Cardinal Court in Kendall Park:

Sprint is attempting to get South Brunswick to approve erecting a cellular tower on the property of Christ the King Church on Route 27 in Kendall Park. They want to build a 112-foot, flag-pole style tower with an equipment building. There is a zoning board meeting on Oct. 5 at 7:45 p.m. where Sprint will attempt to get the property at 3330 Route 27 rezoned from R-3 (residential) status to accommodate its plans. I am writing to you to see if there is a way to get this information published so the residents of the town can be made aware. We are planning on fighting this issue, and could use the support of everyone who agrees that this is not a desirable structure in our area. Our concerns revolve around potential long term health issues from RF emissions, potential negative impact on property values, and esthetics. We believe a 112-foot tower in this area would be an eyesore in what is essentially a residential area.

I can understand the concerns. Cell tower placement, however, is a difficult issue because of the various layers of government involved — while the local zoning board can review the tower, it’s hands are basically tied. If the Federal Communications Commission thinks that the tower is needed and that there are no better locations, it can overrule the zoners — which puts the onus on residents to do their homework.

Personally, I am of two minds on this. I generally side with residents when they are defending their properties against development. But at the same time, I believe we have invited this plague on ourselves by our attachment to our cell phones. We want to use the phones, want good service, but don’t want the towers necessary to guarantee what we want.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

Maybe something good can come from all this ugliness and greed in Trenton. Maybe reform will finally end up on the agenda — like those ordered for independent authorities by Gov. Corzine or proposed by legislative Republicans (a mixed-bag of the good and the politically expededient, but a proposal nonetheless worth a discussion).

Here, according to the AP, is what the GOP is proposing:

The Republican-supported bills, among other things, propose barring public officials from holding more than one elected office, prohibiting public officials from receiving late-career salary increases that boost taxpayer-funded pensions, expanding a state anti-nepotism law, requiring unpaid suspensions of indicted public officials and mandatory jail time and full pension forfeiture for public officials convicted of corruption.

The Corzine executive order:

requires state authorities to establish bidding procedures, award most contracts to the low bidder, boost financial reporting, publicly advertise all contracts and work with state economic growth officials to coordinate spending.

A first step? I hope so.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

The administration seems to be waging war against the press in Iraq, targeting Iraqis working for American news organizations. Read this Bob Herbert column for details.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

Good post from Bill Bowman on Civil Disobedient on this story from Sunday’s New York Times on the most recent National Intelligence Estimate. Seems everything those of us opposed to the war in Iraq were saying back before the war was right. How about that?

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

Here is a draft (I think) of a poem I wrote this week for my niece, who came home from the hospital earlier this week:

TINY FINGERS
for Jocelyn, seven days old

by Hank Kalet

Tiny fingers

like the smallest twigs
tossed off trees
in a storm, scattered

across the yard,

fragile, like the last
warm day of fall
or news pages

dried and yellowed,

flitting in the breeze,
or a moment of quiet
in Khartoum, in Baghdad

or on the back streets

of this coughing
industrial city.
I can feel you

twitch and turn

in my arms
against the rhythms
of your new breath

under fluorescent lights,

against the hum
of air conditioning and
pinch of feeding tubes,

in your room with a view

of the city and the river,
with our voices, set
like sax solos above

the clinical din

of machines.
What could you
be thinking, dreaming,

seven days old,

nurses on strike
outside your window,
as you raise your hand,

cover your face,

try to pull
the tape off
that holds your

feeding tube

in place?
What could you
be thinking,

fragile fall day

the sun out,
your parents
waiting to take you

home.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick