Peter Koenig
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On the article Monmouth County Motorists Reminded to 'Click It or Ticket'
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On the article Long Branch Creates Transit Village Designation For Area Around Train Station
Peter Koenig
12:27 pm on Friday, May 17, 2013
Shangri-La it isn't; Shangri-La is nowhere..
The question is how to improve our town. Shall we aid and support its current residents - particularly, single-family homeowners - or will they be redeveloped into oblivion? Here, the (very modest, I think) State funding assistance is tied to changes in zoning to promote demolition of existing homes and replacement by high-density housing.
Since Shangri-La was mentioned, may I say (without rancor) it's also a philosophical question: is Long Branch so "bad" that improvement can only come through demolition and dispossession? Lost Horizon? Lost self-respect, I fear.
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On the article Long Branch Creates Transit Village Designation For Area Around Train Station
Peter Koenig
1:06 pm on Thursday, May 16, 2013
Quick look at the zoning map - feel free to check it out yourself; it's hard to read - seems to show the area immediately around the station was C-3 Neighborhood Commercial (businesses, 2.5 stories / 30' height), but it was bordered on the South, West and East by R-4 Single-Family Residential. MMC area is "M" zone ("hospitals specifically) and S-1 Professional Offices. Thus, multiple dwellings are probably prior non-confirming uses, and high-rise high-density residential seems to have been prohibited.
Anyway, my point was this change is much more than a minor tweak to syphon a few bucks from a State program. It's another challenge to single-family homeowners.
Perhaps there's a silver lining, though. If this is the "Transit Village" then maybe we won't have to pay for the laughable ferry pier project. Or maybe they'll dig a canal from the ocean to the train station. Look what the Erie Canal did for NYC ... just 180 years ago ... we could use mules to pull the barges ... note to self: buy local mule stable cheap, before word gets out ...
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On the article Long Branch Creates Transit Village Designation For Area Around Train Station
Peter Koenig
3:59 pm on Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Reply"many of the areas around the train station currently only allow single-family developments," In other words, single-family homes (and homeowners) are the enemy. This proposal would foster demolition of single-family homes and their replacement by high-density multi-family housing.
One wishes in vain that the City government would do something to aid single-family homeowners, instead of conniving ways to run us out of town.
Note also that high-density housing places additional financial strain on our schools by reducing ratables-per-pupil, unlike commercial development which does not add to the school population.
Finally, how much money will this actually garner from the State? This is about far more than a mere pedestrian connection to the west of the station. Is it worth the long-term costs of higher population density, and the increased pressure on already hard-pressed single-family homeowners?
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On the Blog Post Teacher Appreciation Week
Peter Koenig
5:00 pm on Friday, May 10, 2013
Real quick:
No student loans; merit-based scholarship paid about half the cost of undergrad; family paid the rest + postgrad courses required to teach. All-in cost of college + postgrad courses (without scholarship) would have been about $275k - college was $60k/yr "rack rate." (OK, Ayn Randites: who's got a quarter million bucks for college? ) If he had loans, he either couldn't teach or couldn't eat.
HS GPA >4.0 (with the AP bonus thing), National Merit Scholar, Governor's School in NJ, merit scholarship to college. Gave up a job at a research lab to teach. A couple of colleagues are similar. Altruism isn't ignorance.
He's at a magnet school in a disadvantaged neighborhood. He believes that's where the need is greatest.
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On the Blog Post Teacher Appreciation Week
Peter Koenig
5:16 pm on Thursday, May 9, 2013
Oh my. I have a close relative who teaches at a public HS in another State. He graduated from a distinguished university, with a degree in a field in which his alma mater has produced more Nobel prizewinners any other in the world. He makes about $50k a year, for working 10+ hours per weekday and several hours on the weekends. He takes courses in the rather short summer vacation to improve his teaching skills. He's not in it for the money or the short working hours. In private industry or research, he'd make three times the salary for half the work. He does it because he wants to do it, cares about his students, and seeks to contribute to their (and our) future. Is there a teaching job that pays $125k for three hours' work a day? If there is, he probably wouldn't want it. Thanks to him and all who share his dedication.
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On the Blog Post Teacher Appreciation Week
Peter Koenig
5:09 pm on Thursday, May 9, 2013
Oh, my. I have a close relative who is a teacher in a public HS in another State. He has a degree from a distinguished university, in a field in which that institution has produced more Nobel prize-winners than any other in the world. He doesn't make $125k, or even half that. (In private industry or research, he'd be making three times his present salary.) He works 10+ hours per weekdayday, and a few hours on most weekends. He's not in it for the money or the relaxed work schedule. He does it because he wants to do it, because he cares about his students, and because he is contributing to a better future for our country. Thanks to all who share his vision and dedication.
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On the article Yelp's Top 10 Restaurants in Long Branch: Do You Agree?
Peter Koenig
5:34 pm on Friday, April 26, 2013
ReplyUm, how about Avenue? Authentic French bistro cuisine, stunning wine list from the economical to the astronomical, friendly yet polished service ... IMHO one of the best in NJ, up there with Nicholas. Lived here for nearly 30 years and the only one of the "top ten" I've been to is the Windmill - good hot dogs but not my concept of a "restaurant."
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On the article Long Branch High School's Academic Performance Below State, Peer Averages
Peter Koenig
1:07 pm on Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Thanks to you and all for contributing to this discussion. (Now, will the admin ever speak?)
IMHO, the problems faced by students at LBHS with advanced intellectual potential isn't just, or even chiefly, the misbehavior of other students. The main problem is the intellectual poverty of the curriculum in so-called advanced and AP classes, combined with over-enrollment in those classes to artificially inflate certain statistics. A class moves at the pace of its least-able student. That's not the teacher's fault: it's the system. The AP failure rate is proof of this. If 75%+ of students in a given class fail the AP test (and thus the course - regardless of the grades on their report cards) then there's a systemic problem. Since the reporting of AP stats was gutted a few years ago, we don't even know the percentage or number of LBHS students scoring the "5" they need for credit at a top college. We (OK, I) do know that despite some truly superb teachers, many AP courses don't even finish the syllabus.
This characterizes other classes and other grade-levels as well. The politically-correct approach is to force every child into remedial-level classes because some children need it. Minds are terrible things to waste. The years wasted in the morass of "Success For All" and similar pedagogical absurdities are lost forever. -
On the article Long Branch High School's Academic Performance Below State, Peer Averages
Peter Koenig
6:15 pm on Monday, April 22, 2013
Two brief observations on a complex and contentious subject::
1. At LBHS, even potentially good students are ill-served. Of students taking AP classes, only 23% score "3 or better" (3 = "C") vs. a Statewide target of 75% and a peer-adjusted average of 55%. Put plainly, over three-quarters of these bright and motivated students fail their AP tests. I'd add that competitive colleges require a "5" for college credit - but DoE and LB stopped publishing those statistics years ago. The 75th percentile of LB students (the top quarter) averaged 460 Critical Reading / 480 Math / 450 Writing on the SATs. One cannot blame this on "the home" - these young people are potentially the best and brightest.
2. It'd be nice if an administrator from LB actually discussed this report in public. Read the "school narrative" for LBHS, then read the State report. Do these even sound like the same place?
Peter Koenig
10:36 am on Tuesday, May 21, 2013
You're right - that stat is not the best one to quote. Some crashes are not survivable even with a belt. The CDC has better stats: In the front seat, belts reduce the risk of death by approx. 45% and serious injury by >50%; unbelted occupants are 30 times more likely to be ejected in a crash (and >75% of occupants ejected sustain fatal injuries); belts at present use levels save approx. 13,000 lives per year; 100% belt use would save at least 4,000 more lives per year.