MULCH ADO ABOUT MAPLE COVE, AGAIN
A request for mulch at Maple Cove digressed into a clash between Cindy Burnham and council members Tuesday. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
When Cindy Burnham and other volunteers, part of the ad hoc Friends of Maple Cove group, ended a yearlong spat with the Borough of Red Bank and secured a deal to designate a one-acre patch at the foot of the Navesink River on Maple Avenue as a natural area with waterfront access, the understanding was that Burnham and company would maintain the parcel.
So says the town council.
Burnham maintains a different recollection.
“The only reason the Friends of Maple Cove came out to do anything was because you guys wouldn’t,” Burnham told the council Tuesday, following a request that the borough donate a half-truckload of mulch to the site.
The request triggered a kerfuffle between Burnham and the governing body over who should take care of the property, a question that never was answered.
“I think what’s got everybody baffled here is the original agreement was that you would maintain the area,” council President Art Murphy said.
Councilmembers Juanita Lewis and Ed Zipprich, to whom Burnham claims she sent numerous emails about mulch costs without getting a reply although in Zipprich’s case, Burnham spelled his name wrong in the address said they couldn’t understand why she was coming to the council in the first place.
“Last year, you couched it to us (that you) were to take care of Maple Cove,” Zipprich said. “These are tax dollars. We’re responsible to the taxpayers of the town. This is not what we agreed to.”
Burnham, who owns property in Red Bank but lives in Fair Haven, raised her arms in frustration, pointing out that a half a truckload of mulch is not too much to ask, and besides, she said, if the council is so worried about tax dollars, then why is Murphy taking benefits from the borough?
“Please Cindy,” Murphy said, “we supported you with this. Nobody up here is going to say you didn’t do a wonderful job down there, but have a funny way of twisting things.”
The question still lingers, however, just who is responsible for Maple Cove? It is, after all, borough property, and public works does do maintenance down there and, in Burnham’s assertion, some destruction to the site but Mayor Pasquale Menna said work that’s done at the patch is the same kind of routine maintenance that all municipal property receives. Throwing down mulch is not in the maintenance plan, he said.
Burnham said she felt bullied by the council, and when Murphy tried to end the discussion with a “thank you for coming,” to Burnham, the squabble ended on a bitter note.
“I’m not going to sit here and listen to your rant,” Burnham said.
“We listened to yours,” Councilwoman Kathy Horgan said.
Apr 27, 2011 @ 13:48:42
I will donate the mulch if Cindy promises to stop wasting the Council’s time at meetings on her cause celebre.
Apr 27, 2011 @ 16:06:49
I actually have to blame both sides for this one. When this deal was made, it should have been clearly written out who’s responsibility it is to take care of this patch of land. Since that obviously didn’t happen, it was simply an issue waiting to boil over.
That being said, since putting down mulch is apparently not part of the land maintenance plan that the town operates on, the logic is that it wouldn’t really be the town’s responsibility either way. It would be nice if they helped out with it, but it isn’t their responsibility as far as this deal is concerned.
Apr 27, 2011 @ 16:47:27
I apologize in advance. I have tried so hard to resist this comment. But. I. Can’t. Resist…
This is mulch ado about nothing.
Apr 27, 2011 @ 16:48:57
oh and now that I log on to the acutal rbg site, I see you guys couldn’t resist either. Sorry, I got here via twitter and didn’t see the headline.
Apr 27, 2011 @ 16:53:30
You sure hit pay dirt with that one Brian!
Apr 27, 2011 @ 17:45:21
May I make a suggestion. In the future the town should plan on putting in its budget a few hundred dollars for mulch and maintenance of Maple Cove. In the mean time I hope that those who use it and those in the past who have contributed to the upkeep will do so now.
Apr 27, 2011 @ 20:02:34
The fact is, that the Borough said they would do no maintiance at Maple Cove and they never have. That is why the “Friends of Maple Ave”,have been doing the maintaince for the last three years and will continue to do so. RB does mulch, clean, weed,trim,seed and mow all the other parks in RB, why not Maple? Lets use the interest from the $210,000 that was paid to RB,by Riverview Hospital in 2002, for selling the public boat ramp and which funds were intended to be utilized towards the aquisition and development of a new municipal boat ramp. This may not be a “boat ramp”, buts the only game in town. Created without using tax payer or town money. A money maker for the fireworks, Boasted about by Councilwoman Lee and Lewis. Is half a truck of mulch really to much to ask? This council just gave away a two million dollar historic borough building away for a dollar. Yea, mulch is gonna break the bank.
Apr 27, 2011 @ 20:37:08
I wonder how much it’s going to cost the Borough to defend the lawsuit that you brought against the Borough Cindy. Maybe that’s why they don’t want to help you out with mulch, or find an extra nickel to pay for it.
Apr 27, 2011 @ 22:18:17
Cindy, if the borough doesn’t come through I’m good for some cookies if a fund raising bake sale would help.
Apr 28, 2011 @ 00:14:15
If anyone freecycles, there’s a homeowner in Shrewsbury who just had an acre of land cleared professionally and has a load of mulch to offer just for the taking. Just posted tonight. Perfect timing, and it’s green to use what’s already available. Go to MiddletownNewJersey_Freecycle-owner@yahoogroups.com to start an account.
Apr 28, 2011 @ 06:26:07
Christine, Thanks for that info. We will look into that!
Jennifer, If this governing body had done the right thing, we wouldn’t have had to bring a lawsuit. Of course the council is upset, however, they supported illegal behavior, and gave this historic and valuable piece of RB property away, which is illegal, and that is costing the taxpayers millions! Doesn’t that upset you? The RB Council had a chance to make this right and chose not to in order to cover the backs of their buds.
Apr 28, 2011 @ 06:27:08
That comment was for Jennifer Woods.
Apr 28, 2011 @ 08:54:40
Cindy,
I find it interesting that you berate Councilman Murphy for taking health benefits, accuse the town of wasting money & then force them to defend a lawsuit, which could potentially cost tens of thousands of dollars & drag on for years. Am I the only one that sees that?
While I don’t agree with what happened to the YMCA building, forcing the town into litigation seems a bit overkill. What do you expect to gain from this? Are you going to force the town to take the building back? & what if they do take it back? Then what? Then we have another empty building on our hands.
If you spent 1/2 as much time working as you do on these ridiculous causes, or in Fair Haven, where you actually live, things may run a bit more smoootly here in Red Bank. I think people are getting tired of your silliness.
Apr 28, 2011 @ 16:37:50
Woods, you concede that you “don’t agree with what happened to the YMCA building…” but you’re not doing anything to address your concerns. Your silence is outright complicity. At least Ms. Burnham is taking a stand against what she believe to be misappropriation.
Things running smoothly in Red Bank and things running justly are two different stories. I think we’d run into even bigger injustices without Watchdog Burnham amongst us and I appreciate her dedication to the improvement of our town.
Apr 28, 2011 @ 16:51:19
Do we really need a pink stripe, paid for by the taxpayer to remind us of breast cancer?? C’mon, how much can some mulch cost? Point being that money is wasted all the time.Sounds like the council has a case of sour grapes.
Apr 28, 2011 @ 17:04:22
Jennifer Woods, As someone who has been active in all Red Bank issues since 1983,I want to tell you that I have enjoyed reading your comments on RBG. Your enthusiasm regarding RB issues is evident. I only wish that you would take your enthusiasm and use it to actually do somthing in this town to improve the quality of life for Red Bankers, instead of bashing those of us that actually do get things done.
Just a quick little fyi, I do work fulltime and I still have time for my ridiculous causes. As you grow and mature, you will come to know this as multi-tasking.
Apr 28, 2011 @ 20:46:11
I like the idea about freecycling, but if that doesn’t pan out, what kind of financial commitment are we looking at here? How much would a “truckload of mulch” cost? I find it interesting that this somewhat important piece of information has not been reported by anyone.
I am guessing that, while the mulch would be very reasonable, the council fears that an upkeep precedent would be set and one granted request would lead to others down the line.
Apr 28, 2011 @ 20:51:56
You know I’ve been called a lot of things in my life.. obnoxious, b*tchy, too smart for my own good, but immature…never. I guess there’s a first for everything.
Just because I don’t shamelessly self promote all the causes that I stand for like you do Cindy doesn’t mean I don’t get things done.
But if you want to resort to name calling because you’re trying to avoid the question that I asked – about costing the Borough thousands of dollars in litigation for your cause, that’s fine. I really didn’t expect to get an answer anyway, at least one that isn’t self serving.
Apr 28, 2011 @ 21:01:13
Ok, I know, like, and respect Jenn and while I don’t know Cindy personally (other than her visits to our business for charity donations) I do respect her fighting for her passions – bottom line is I’m not gonna get between either of you in this… um, disagreement. Either of you could probably take me. lol.
But I do have a question. Isn’t the fundamental issue with the building the fact that RB gave it away with the agreement that it couldn’t be sold – it could only be given to another non-profit? Then the Y tried to sell it and no one could prove that that was the agreement? And now, basically with the maintenance issue Cindy is saying that the town agreed to take care of Maple Cove and the town says, “uh-uh, you said you would take care of Maple Cove”?
So my question is… doesn’t anyone get anything in writing in this town? Doesn’t anyone take down minutes or record the council meetings? Seems like everything is he said – she said… whether it’s organiziations like the Y or issues like the maintanence. Seems to me the town could save a lot of money by investing a little bit in a video cam for the council meetings. Hell, if Pat can star in a EyeDesign commercial, I’m sure he’d slap on some pancake for a council dog and pony show. Now I’m on a roll: think of the revenue that could be generated if they sold it as a reality TV show!
Apr 28, 2011 @ 21:38:58
Rob, Maple would need two yards of mulch. That would cost $110. RB DID say that they were not going to maintain Maple Cove. I believe that’s because then, they could come back and say, Hey, look at us, aren’t we wonderful, we sold this overgrown, useless piece of property. Now we can pay down the budget. The Friends of Maple Ave. will not let that happen and so we have cut the grass, mulch & maintain Maple for the last four years. I thought that since so many council people have publicly and in print, come out and praised Maple Cove, that maybe RB would start to treat Maple Cove like any other park. Menna said in the Aug Journal, “The vista on the river opens a whole new phase of what we can do together”.Lewis said,”I’m glad we were able to get this access formally named and residents will now be able to use it” Lee said, “Maple Cove is now the most coveted kayak launch site in town. Residents and non residents alike have enbraced this opportunity to access the river”. I think that if you are going to use Maple Cove to your advantage, you should support it. I don’t think 2 yards of mulch is to much to ask to maintain this most coveted kayak launch site. In fact, it’s the only launch site in town.
Apr 28, 2011 @ 22:15:32
Ok, I misunderstood about the he said – she said. Your position is that you said you’d maintain it, but now you think the town should chip in for the mulch. Well, good luck with that. lol. I think you’re right, personally, they should step up for something that has turned into a nice thing for everybody. But I also think sometimes you have to choose between being right and being effective. At this point, I don’t think your rightness is going to prevail, so go the effective route and take up some of those generous offers of help with the mulch.
And while we’re on the topic, why the hell does a yard of what’s basically wood waste and cows**t cost so damn much?!?!?!
Apr 28, 2011 @ 23:23:28
Thanks, Cindy, for the info.
BTW, good points with the quotes. If everybody is going to take credit for the successes of the Cove (and, really, who can say Red Bank would be better off with Maple Cove unnamed, uncared for and unused) the community needs to come up with a sustainable plan for its care.
When it was an experiment, an ad hoc volunteer group made sense; but as it becomes part of the fabric of the community it seems that the support relationship should change, no?
Apr 30, 2011 @ 06:49:48
Many thanks to Rysers Landscape Supply, in Little Silver for donating the 2yards of mulch needed to spruce up Maple Cove. Your the BEST!!