DEAR MONTCLAIRVOYANT,
Today, June 22, is the first full day of summer — and commencement time for Montclair High School’s talented Class of 2023! What follows tonight’s MHS ceremony?
Sincerely,
Senior Centered
The fabulous annual bus parade around town and then the Project Graduation party for students at a secret location. I’m guessing that location is a planet 13 light years from…kindergarten.
DEAR MONTCLAIRVOYANT,
Congratulations to all senior students! What’s in store for them?
Sincerely,
Rhea Taylor
Depends on where in Montclair they shop. But, seriously, most are of course heading for college, where tuition is light years from cheap.
DEAR MONTCLAIRVOYANT,
Grants! Hoping those departing seniors are getting lots of them, including Jim Grant — the real name of author Lee Child of Jack Reacher books fame. Oh, and Ulysses Grant. What was he famous for?
Sincerely,
Lincoln Highway
Being a general in the Civil War — the epic series of 2020-23 battles among or between Montclair’s mayor, councilors, appointed officials, and residents. Reminds me of local roads Grant Street and Lee Place. As in Robert E. Lee.
DEAR MONTCLAIRVOYANT,
Are you glad Councilor-at-Large Peter Yacobellis dropped his lawsuit against two people who had accused him of an alleged conflict of interest relating to Lackawanna Plaza’s redevelopment?
Sincerely,
Tort Abort
I am. Not good for elected officials to sue citizens. It evokes the title of the 2007 Reacher novel “Bad Luck and Trouble” — even as the 2022 Reacher novel “No Plan B” better not evoke Lackawanna.
DEAR MONTCLAIRVOYANT,
Yes, most of us are hoping the massive Lackawanna plan has been or will soon be significantly scaled down in size.
Sincerely,
Smaller Grove Trove
Indeed. Montclair isn’t Manhattan, though I’m not sure why I’m comparing our town to Manhattan, Kansas. As a writer, I suppose I’m no Wichita line man.
DEAR MONTCLAIRVOYANT,
Oh, stop it — though the song “Wichita Lineman” WAS written by former Montclair resident Jimmy Webb, who also wrote…
Sincerely,
By the Time I Get to Kleenex
…”Where’s the Playground Susie,” about a question posed to a girl living near the playground-less Anderson Park.
DEAR MONTCLAIRVOYANT,
Getting back to legal actions, could you comment on a new development in the lawsuit rightly filed by Chief Financial Officer Padmaja Rao against the Township of Montclair?
Sincerely,
Case Eastern Reserved
After Judge Stephen Petrillo denied the township’s push to keep many things secret, its law firm Riker Danzig had to file unredacted documents June 20 that make one wonder whether some of our municipal officials graduated from another MHS: Malfeasance High School.
DEAR MONTCLAIRVOYANT,
A cronyism and corruption eruption? Getting back to the start of summer, I understand all three municipal pools will be open.
Sincerely,
Wet It Be
Unlike last summer when only Mountainside was open and Essex and Nishuane pools were not. So, the Great Lakes defeated Montclair 5-1 in 2022.
DEAR MONTCLAIRVOYANT,
Thus making it a “Superior” bodies-of-water grouping. What do our three municipal pools and the Class of 2023 have in common?
Sincerely,
Joke on the Water
In John Cheever’s 1964 short story “The Swimmer,” Neddy Merrill swims Nishuane, Essex, and Mountainside pools before plunging into Toney’s Brook as 2023 grads “cross the bridge.”
DEAR MONTCLAIRVOYANT,
That makes no sense, and is in fact a blatant lie.
Sincerely,
Skeptic Tank
Okay, okay, in the Cheever story Neddy swims Edgemont Pond alongside cap-and-gown-clad, diploma-clutching waterfowl in the awesome spectacle known as Project Geese Flotation.
Interesting article.
Dave Astor, author, is the MontClairVoyant. His opinions about politics and local events are strictly his own and do not represent or reflect the views of Baristanet.
Dave,
For giggles, here are photos of Inserra’s Supermarkets, Inc. new 72,000 sf Shop Rite in Fair Lawn. It has all the features the Planning Board, the Council and Montclair has been asking for in a supermarket…just a 10% bigger version. This is what we want: visible from the road, plenty of signage to ensure people remember where it is, surface parking all within a football’s field walking distance of just the doors. Once inside, you have to walk another 3-5 football fields to complete your shopping list.
This is today’s state-of-the-art supermarket.
https://crossroads-companies.com/properties/22-00-maple-avenue/
Thank you for the link to that image, Frank! I certainly like the visible-from-the-road aspect, which seemed to be lacking from the Lackawanna Plaza plan we saw a few months ago. But this Fair Lawn supermarket looks like it’s in an area with a lot more open space to play with than Lackawanna has — and without hundreds of new housing units as part of the mix.