New Year’s Resolutions for Bloomfield
by John Palomaki

I’m sure most of us are happy to give 2009 a swift kick out the door. The economy, jobs, war, healthcare, and climate crisis would be enough challenges for a lifetime. We’re losing trust in our elected officials and institutions. At a time when we need to work together, divisive rhetoric is pushing us apart. We’re losing the middle ground in our economy and in the ability to work together to find solutions.

Fortunately, 2010 is a new year, and all of us in Bloomfield can make some New Year’s Resolutions to think and act in ways that will benefit us all in the long-term, economically, socially, and environmentally, without causing new problems along the way.

By the way, that’s the definition of SUSTAINABILITY. While often used to refer to the environment, it’s just as important to think about sustainability in terms of thriving financially and socially. It’s often called the “triple bottom line” where we measure success not just by someone’s wallet, but on how we all do:  “People, Planet, and Profit” (they’re not mutually exclusive). We just need the will to discard our old unsustainable ways and create newer more sustainable habits and practices.

So, here are a few resolutions we should make for Bloomfield. If you have more ideas, write a letter to the editor or add your comments on www.GreenerBloomfield.org.

1. Build greater civility and seek common ground. Say “Hi” to your neighbor, or even have a nice conversation. Hold the door, apologize when you bump someone, offer to help answer a question or give directions or shovel the snow. We can keep our voices calm, listen, acknowledge and try to understand another’s perspective, and show respect for others, even if we disagree. On virtually every issue, there’s something we all can agree to, and we can seek win-win solutions.
2. Work for change. It’s easy to complain, anonymously write a nasty letter or blog post, or rely on someone else to do it. But change only happens if we work for it. Go to meetings, speak your mind, write letters, and have discussions, but talk about the solutions, how you’d fix the problems or make them better. Volunteer to help, even if it’s just an hour, on any issue you feel passionate about.
3. Set a good example. Someone is always watching what we do, whether it’s a neighbor, a co-worker, a stranger on the street, or a child. Young people especially need positive role models. A good attitude, a good deed, careful words, and even a smile can go a long way toward showing someone there’s a better way.
4. Make a commitment to health. Eat a balanced and varied diet of less-processed and more natural foods, exercise regularly, and spend more time outdoors. Help your kids develop healthy habits. Diabetes is the biggest health issue for children, and limiting sugars and encouraging exercise and more diversity in diets can go a long way to prevent it.
5. Support local efforts. Shop, eat, and play locally, give to local charities, and participate in local events. You’ll use less gas. You’ll be supporting local jobs. You’ll help businesses stay here or start here, which in turn support local organizations and contribute to Bloomfield’s tax base. And you’ll make Bloomfield a more vibrant place to be.
6. Turn your car off. We have great mass transit, from the Bloomfield shuttle to the many buses and trains that go through town. We have bikeable and walkable streets. Leave your car at home or take fewer trips. If you have to drive, don’t idle! Turn your car off after 10 seconds if you’re stopping for 30 seconds or more, while you’re waiting to pick up or drop off your kids at school, when you’re “just running in” to the convenience store, post office, or dry cleaner, or warming up your car on a cold morning. You’ll save gas, save money, keep our air cleaner, and keep our more vulnerable kids and seniors safer from asthma and other respiratory diseases.
7. Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. Do we really need all the “stuff” we buy? The first step is to buy less, so less stuff is manufactured, packaged, shipped, and discarded. Use reusable coffee mugs, water bottles, grocery bags, recycled paper, and “pre-owned” goods from garage sales and vintage shops. Take advantage of Bloomfield’s top-notch recycling programs, with curbside pickup of all papers, plastics, bottles, and cans and depot drop-off of electronics and clothing each Saturday at Grove Street (recycling even earns our town some money).
8. Support sustainable building, land use, and resource protection. As a township that’s already over 90% built out, we must be careful about how we use the property we have. We need to build and renovate our properties for greater energy, water, and resource efficiency. We need to preserve open space to regenerate air and water quality, provide scenic beauty and recreation, protect habitats for wildlife, and save the Township money (since open space uses fewer costly resources like schools, infrastructure, and services). We should encourage (green) mixed-use development, low-and mixed-income housing, and complete streets programs adopted for the new Downtown Redevelopment and extend them throughout the township for their economic, social, and environmental benefits.
9. Make hard but long-lasting choices. It’s going to be an extremely tough year for municipal and school budgets, with increasing costs (especially salaries and benefits) and decreasing revenues (less state aid and lower tax collections). We must encourage and support our elected officials in making tough but wise choices with a long-term view, just as we have to in our households. All sides need to work together. People may have to sacrifice a little in salaries, benefits, conveniences, and services, so we can have employment levels, budgets, and taxes that we can sustain over a longer time with less dependency on the state. We can insulate buildings better, buy more energy-efficient equipment, and make other capital changes that will reduce annual operating costs. We can use more fuel-efficient vehicles, or use the vehicles we have less. We can turn down the thermostats in the winter. We can print less, print on both sides, make fewer copies, and do more electronically.  We can share or outsource services with other neighboring towns and businesses. We can step up our efforts to find new revenue sources, including grants, property sales and leases, solar access leases, and selling services to other municipalities. We all need to accept and contribute to a new way of thinking sustainably in our school and government operations, as well as in our homes.
10. Celebrate! Celebrate our successes, our family and friends, our diversity, and our heritage. They give us the capacity to understand each other better and make the world a better place.

Remember, it’s not just about us, it’s about our children, our planet, and future generations.

(John Palomaki is a Bloomfield homeowner and the co-founder and coordinator of Greener Bloomfield, a community organization that works toward sustainable living, working, and community in Bloomfield NJ. Greener Bloomfield coordinated actions with the town government and community to be one of the first 34 towns in New Jersey to receive Sustainable Jersey certification. For more information, go to www.GreenerBloomfield.org.)

“This application is the culmination of months of work from many members of Greener Bloomfield, the Bloomfield Recycling Committee, the Mayor and Council, and the Administration,” Palomaki said. “It’s been a group effort, and now our town is one of the leaders in New Jersey in sustainability.” Registration in the program provides Bloomfield with some priority in grant applications, and certification could bring additional funds for sustainability projects in the Township.

Bloomfield submitted actions worth 140 points, with only 100 required for certification. Only five towns in Essex County have applied. Bloomfield submitted documentation for the following actions: Green Team, Community Education and Outreach, Green Fair, Green Design for Buildings, Anti-Idling, Sustainable Land Use Pledge, Natural Resource Protection, Water Conservation, Recycling, Waste Reduction, and an Innovative Demonstration Project for its Paperless Council system.

“New Jersey is the first state in the nation to have a sustainability program that links certification with strong state and private financial incentives, and a fully resourced program of technical support and training,” according to the press release. “The Sustainable Jersey program is now the accepted benchmark for evaluating a municipality’s progress.”

The Sustainable Jersey Awards Luncheon is open to the public for $35 per ticket. To attend, see www.njslom.org.

With the amount of rainfall this regions gets, lawns can thrive with no more than 2 days of watering. Best practices are to water each section of lawn for 30 minutes, allowing water to infiltrate into the soil and encourage deep root growth. Watering for less than that results in short roots that are susceptible not only to drought but also disease. There are exemptions for establishing new lawns and for nurseries. Flowers, shrubs, and vegetable gardens may be watered as often as necessary and cars may be washed, as long as the hoses have automatic shut-off nozzles. The ordinance applies to both residences and businesses, and also urges use water-efficient plumbing fixtures. The water conservation ordinance also earns Bloomfield 10 priority points for Sustainable Jersey certification.

After a warning for a first offense, fines for subsequent offenses range from $25 to $2,000 and/or community service or imprisonment for the most extreme cases.

As one campaign says, “Ilding Gets You Nowhere”. Vehicle idling is an important public health issue, as well as an environmental one. Vehicles emit particulate matter (”soot”) that contributes to asthma and other respiratory diseases, with children and the elderly as those most vulnerable. It’s estimated that 25% of New Jersey’s school children have asthma, and schools are a primary location where idling occurs, particularly at student drop-off and pick-up times.

The Township Ordinance copies current state law and sets local enforcement policies and fines of $100 to $2,500 for idling longer than 3 minutes. The proposal for the Board of Education would establish schools as “No Idle Zones”, ask the administration to sign the NJ DEP Idle Free Pledge for Schools, and instruct bus drivers to turn off buses while parked at school and after 10 seconds when they’ll be idled for longer than 30 seconds at other locations.

The Township Council meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. in Council Chambers, 1 Municipal Plaza. All are welcome to comment on the ordinance before the vote. The Board of Ed meeting starts at 7:00 p.m. at 155 Broad St, 3rd Floor.

• Project Porchlight resolution – declares August 15 Project Porchlight Day, when volunteers will go door-to-door, and encourages residents to save money and electricity by changing a standard light bulb to a more energy efficient one. (More volunteers needed!)
• Anti-Idling resolution – declares September “Anti-Idling Month” to focus attention on the issue, warns of the dangers to health (especially asthma), wasted fuel, greenhouse gas emissions, engine wear, and NJ’s state law and $250 minimum fine for idling more than 3 minutes. It also encourages residents to idle no more than 10 seconds and supports anti-idling education, targeted enforcement of the law, and establishment of “idle-free zones”.
• Sustainable Land Use Pledge resolution – resolves to take a number of steps in land use decisions and include them in the next Master Plan resolution, such as facility siting, housing variety, open space, transportation choices, mixed use, green design, regional cooperation, and sustainable parking regulations.
• Grass “Cut It and Leave It” resolution – encourages residents to leave their short grass clippings on the lawn where it will help mulch and fertilize, rather than bagging it for fuel-hogging, polluting trucks to pick up.
• Anti-Idling Ordinance – copies the NJ state laws restricting vehicle idling to less than 3 minutes and sets penalties of $100-$2,500 (with a few exceptions for emergency vehicles, etc.).
• Water Conservation Ordinance (draft) – encourages protection and conservation of water, limits residents and businesses from watering more than 2 days per week (except for new plantings and other exclusions), and establishes procedures for water/drought emergencies.

Some members of the Township Council are proposing an ordinance to reduce the Open Space Trust Fund collection by half for “just this year” due to the economic situation, which would save taxpayers an average of only $7 on their tax bill.

While they may have good intentions and we all could use some extra cash in tough times, we feel this sets a dangerous precedent, and we need a strong public turnout at the meeting with people speaking to support the current levels of Open Space funding will go a long way toward preserving the will of the voters, avoid setting a bad precedent, protecting our environment, and providing long-term financial benefits. It’s not worth the risks in changing the ordinance just to save $7.

1. This proposed ordinance says to voters that a majority vote (even a 2-to-1 margin) doesn’t count – that the Council can overturn their wishes.

2. While they say it’s for “just this year”, it makes it easier to do it again in future years, and makes it easier to do exceptions for any other referendum issues.

3. They say it’s to help voters in this difficult year, but next year and the year after could be similarly difficult, and they could use the same justification again.

4. The municipal budget has already been cut from a projected 12% increase to just 3.4%, but 5-year projections will be higher and there’s not as much to cut, providing another possible reason to continue the decrease in funding for open space.

5. They may say they’re not taking money out, they’re just reducing the amount of the deposit. But reducing the income for Open Space could mean the difference in being able to acquire a critical property that has become available or not. And long-term plans for acquisitions may be hampered due to a reduction in funding. It’s taken 9 years to build the fund to its current $1.3 million, and as you know, that isn’t enough.

6. Open space is important for our environment. It helps reduce pollution by absorbing contaminants from the air and soil, prevents flooding caused by impervious surfaces, ensures health and diversity of animal and plant communities, preserves our connection with the natural world, and provides peaceful, noise-free islands in the midst of the rush and clamor of life.

7. Open Space is good for the economy and our wallets. Studies show that residential development costs a town more in educational and public services than it generates in tax revenue. Even commercial development may not provide expected tax relief over the long-term, due to increased infrastructure costs like water, sewers, roads, police, and fire services. In other words, investment in Open Space actually helps more to keep our taxes down over the long run because it is usually less costly than allowing development.

Please come to the Council meeting Monday night, June 15, at 7:30 p.m., in the Municipal Building, to speak out against cutting the funding for Open Space and for preserving our commitment to Open Space.

The certification process is intended to help towns save money as well as becoming more sustainable. It includes a number of actions muncipalities can take in a variety of categories, each worth a number of points. For each action, an online toolkit provides the steps required, resources available, and examples. The towns achieving certification will be recognized at the NJ League of Municipalities conference in November.

Registering for the program will boost Bloomfield’s priority in getting a comprehensive energy audit of the the town’s buildings under the state’s Local Government Energy Audit program, with the possibility of having 100% of the cost of the audit rebated back to the Township. Bloomfield could also be eligible for one of the four $25,000 grants or ten $10,000 grants offered by Sustainable Jersey with funding provided by Walmart. A preliminary review by Greener Bloomfield indicates that the necessary points could be readily achieved. 

Members of Greener Bloomfield and others who wish to encourage the township to seek certification are welcome to speak during the public comment portion of the meeting at 7:30 p.m.

Local Government/Business Greenstorm Ideas

• Sustainability Coordinator
  • Possibly as a shared service between neighboring municipalities?
• Explore shared services with neighboring communities
  • Possible cost reductions with volume
  • Access additional services others are using
  • Examples: Recycling, composting, biodiesel and other alternative fuels
• Recycling education and enforcement
  • Important to get businesses recycling
  • Needed for entire community to increase % waste recycled
• Improved vehicle fuel efficiency
  • Eliminate excessive/unnecessary idling
  • Consider having a departmental incentive/award for best fuel mileage increase each month
  • Encourage new vehicle purchases to be hybrid/electric and other high-mpg, low-emissions

• Recycling – make mandatory at all schools
• Solar panels (photovoltaics) to provide electricity
• Improve indoor air quality and comfort
  • Have better heat adjustments (rooms are too hot or too cold)
  • Add air purification
  • Switch to “green” cleaning supplies
• Turn lights off when rooms not in use
  • Add occupancy sensors
  • Having cleaning crews only turn lights on for the room they’re cleaning and turn off when leaving
• Composting of cafeteria food waste
• Switch all electrical appliances to “Energy Star” appliances
• Start an Environmental Club at all schools
• Have more buses that use alternative fuels
• Post “no idling” signs at schools