MontClairVoyant: BOE and TC Are On This Column’s Marquee

DEAR MONTCLAIRVOYANT,

There was so much news for your column last week you didn’t have room to talk about the October 15 forum featuring the nine candidates vying for three Board of Education seats. Thoughts about that event before you pivot to commenting on October 24’s Township Council meeting?

Sincerely,

One, Two, Three, Forum

While watching that interesting BOE discussion held at Montclair High’s George Inness Annex, I realized the forum lacked only the ghost of George Inness painting the scene and eating a school lunch despite the event being after dinner.

DEAR MONTCLAIRVOYANT,

After writing this column for 20 years, I thought you would’ve reached your quota of dumb Inness jokes by now. Your favorite candidates among the nine?

Sincerely,

Naming Names

I was impressed with several — Dr. Kimberly Robinson Santos most of all. Meanwhile, if Mr. Chips was on the BOE and lost reelection, I’d say “Goodbye, Mr. Chips” in a future column because I also enjoy making dumb references to novels.

DEAR MONTCLAIRVOYANT,

Speaking of incumbents, the names of the three candidates up for BOE reelection are on MANY yard signs around town. Does that remind you of Sean Spiller hugely outspending Dr. Renee Baskerville to narrowly win the 2020 mayoral election?

Sincerely,

Not Curbed Near Curbs

Yes, similar vibes. And after being poked by sign stems, so much Montclair dirt has rushed to the Mountainside emergency room that the hospital received park funding from Essex County.

DEAR MONTCLAIRVOYANT,

Highly doubtful. When is the election for the BOE positions (and for various non-BOE governmental positions)?

Sincerely,

A Date That’s Not Dried Fruit

November 7, although some residents are already doing the first of these two things: voting early and often.

DEAR MONTCLAIRVOYANT,

Now, your thoughts on Tuesday’s aforementioned Township Council meeting — the first including Roger Terry since he was appointed to replace Peter Yacobellis in one of the two at-large seats?

Sincerely,

Entity Entry

Mixed thoughts. It was nice that Terry expressed hope for more civility among Council members, and the six members there (Mayor Spiller was absent) did seem to get along better. So, I wasn’t surprised that the word “contentious” has been banned from gas-powered dictionaries.

DEAR MONTCLAIRVOYANT,

Heck, didn’t a couple of councilors at the meeting even publicly apologize for certain actions?

Sincerely,

Montclair Meets Miss Manners

Yes, proving that the word “apology” hasn’t been banned from gas-powered etiquette books.

DEAR MONTCLAIRVOYANT,

But the meeting had me wondering about whether calls for civility are at least partly designed to try to squelch legitimate opposition to things — and about the lack of apologies for worse actions than what councilors apologized for on Tuesday.

Sincerely,

Phil O. Sophical

I hear you. Did any Council member apologize for not giving the aforementioned Dr. Baskerville or other candidates besides Terry a fair chance to replace Yacobellis? No. Did any Council member apologize for approving the Lackawanna Plaza redevelopment after the Planning Board said the proposal doesn’t conform with Montclair’s Master Plan? No. Did any Council member apologize for blind-siding fellow councilors with several last-minute motions and decisions in recent months? No. Did any Council member apologize for waiting so long to oust the township manager who was sued for creating a hostile workplace for women? No. Did any Council member apologize for still keeping a fire chief — and giving his department a big budget hike — despite that chief getting an overwhelming no-confidence vote from firefighters and being known for a promotion exam credibly labeled rigged and racist? No. Did any Council member apologize for charging Glen Ridge way too little for the fire-services-contract renewal? No. Etc. And did I apologize for writing such a long answer? I’m sorry.

DEAR MONTCLAIRVOYANT,

Lots of other stuff came up at the Council meeting — in many cases mentioned by attendees during the public comment period. For instance, speakers lamented too many motor vehicles dangerously speeding in Montclair, too little ticketing for that, too-slow implementation of the Vision Zero plan that would try to eliminate traffic-related deaths, and more. Your response?

Sincerely,

Derek Car

No ophthalmologist calls their practice Vision Zero.

DEAR MONTCLAIRVOYANT,

All joking aside, pedestrian/cyclist/driver safety is a VERY serious issue. In other news, this Saturday, October 28, is the Montclair African-American Heritage Foundation’s African-American history tour. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Plenty to see!

Sincerely,

Participants Will Pass the Past

Tour? Tours, actually. Two separate ones. Three, if you count the city of Tours, France.

DEAR MONTCLAIRVOYANT,

Earlier this month, the Friends of the Howe House organization was among the award recipients at the Montclair NAACP’s 107th Thurgood Marshall Freedom Fund Dinner for its superb work buying the home of former slave James Howe to turn into a public site. Comment?

Sincerely,

Dwelling Selling

A very deserved honor. I should add that if you subtract the Municipal Building at 205 Claremont from the Howe House at 369 Claremont, you get 164 — which the Internet tells me is “the smallest number that can be expressed as a concatenation of two squares in two different ways.” That’s huge.

DEAR MONTCLAIRVOYANT,

Huge? You mean, like size-of-a-cow huge? I don’t even know what you’re talking about.

Sincerely,

Puzzled on Princeton Place

That makes two of us. If I had written a local column when Howe was alive 200 years ago, I would’ve named it “Clueless in Cranetown.”

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 Montclair Local.