Jason O’Grady’s Blog

I had an idea that I thought would be a potential winner for Northfield because it addresses one of my biggest personal problems with the city–speeding down our streets. It’s called “Slow Down in Our Town.”

Northfield has an excellent Community School on New Road at Cedarbridge Road which many students walk to, but the problem is that many motorists speed down Mill Road, Zion Road and Cedarbridge Road (to name just three). The problem is exarcerbated by the fact that most of our roads don’t have sidewalks on them leaving our children at risk.

“Slow Down in Our Town” is a 6″-round magnet that residents can purchase for $5 to put on the back of their vehicles to raise awareness about the speed limits on city streets. The magnets cost $2 to make and I propose that the additional $3 that’s raised from each sale be set aside to purchase larger, 24″ round signs that could be attached to our existing speed limit signs around the city to further raise awareness about the speed limits in Northfield.

It’s just a thought, but I think that it might work. Similar programs have been effective in other municipalities and there is no cost to the city. Dozens of people that I’ve talked to on the campaign trail (especially those on affected streets) have talked to me about this issue and it’s time to do something about it. I look forward to hearing your thoughts about it.

Update: If you’d like to find out more about the Slow Down in Our Town campaign or you’d like to buy a magnet, send an email to slowdowninourtown@gmail.com.

Here’s a sneak peek at our little display ad that’s running in the October 31 issue of The Current:

Our pledge to you:

1) Support for all senior citizen, youth and volunteer programs
2) Actively pursue shared services and save taxpayers money
3) Fiscal responsibility
4) Control capital spending
5) Improve traffic conditions and control speeding
6) Continue to purchase property through the Atlantic County Open Space Funding Program

The Press of Atlantic City had a nice piece on a free clinic that will scan toys for lead in Hammonton. More than 21 million toys and products made in China have been recalled since August because they contain lead, according to Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown. The free clinic is a nice way to make parents feel a little safer.

A free lead screening for toys clinic will be held 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at the former K&H Auto Supply, 216 Bellevue Ave., Hammonton. The event is organized by Health and Safety Services, an environmental inspection company.

Jim Proctor, the company president, will use an X-ray florescence device, a laser gun used to screen for lead paint, to examine the toys. There will be a limit of 10 items per family. Proctor said if a family wants further lead screening on an item, the company can remove a small piece of the toy and send the sample to be reviewed by EMSL Analytical, an environmental testing lab in Westmont, Camden County. The fee for the more detailed screening is $50 per item.

Proctor said he organized the event to help fellow parents feel more confident about their children’s toys. The event will also have information pamphlets on lead and lead poisoning and a raffle. For information, call 609-704-8850.

Dr. Jeffrey Weidenhammer of the Ashland University in Ohio recently discovered that a toy called “ugly teeth” contains 100 times the allowable levels of lead in the paint.

“We analysed the paint on the surface of the teeth. The orange teeth were the worst in terms of having six to seven percent lead by weight in the paint,”

That’s about 100 times the U.S. government standard on lead in paint which is .06 percent.

You may already be familiar with a letter that I sent to Northfield about corruption in the City’s Building Department. If you’re not, I encourage you to read the letter.

I wrote the letter because I had heard that the Building Department was conducting a covert investigation of me and my residence in an attempt to get “dirt” on me because I am running for City Council. The problem with it is that salaries of city employees is paid for by taxpayers (you and I) and is supposed to be bipartisan and neutral.

In addition to spreading lies about me being an illegal renter (which Mr. Jim Dickinson in the Building Department told me to my face) and being ineligible to run for office, Northfield employees were digging through city archives looking for building permits about my Geothermal installation in my home, which was featured in The Current.

I caught them in the act when I stopped into the Building Department one day to address the lies that were being spread about my residency status. Sitting out on the counter in the Building Department was a copy of my the Building Permit issued for the Geothermal heating system installed at my home in 1999. That’s right, an eight year old building permit for my residence happened to be sitting on the counter waiting to be picked up. What a coincidence!

When I asked Jim Dickinson who requested it, he lied to my face and said that he “didn’t know.” Um, right.

Did I mention that Jim Dickinson is the Treasurer of the Northfield Republican Club?

When the City Administrator investigated the issues brought up in my letter, Mr. Dickinson immediately “lawyered up” and had union representation at the meeting. His response? The building permit wasn’t there!

Jim Dickinson lied to the City Administrator.

I know what I saw and I saw a copy of the building permit for my residence sitting on the counter. Mr. Dickinson fears losing his taxpayer funded cushy job because of his deception, lies and his use of municipal resources for political gain. He may have been able to lie to the Administrator, but a lot of other people are aware of what he did and are starting to pay attention.

I would like to see a full investigation of the security tapes from the hallway outside the Building Department between August 22 and September 24 to see if that helps Mr. Dickinson “remember” who requested a copy of my building permit.
I have my theories about who is behind this heinous taxpayer-funded witch hunt, but you be the judge. Here’s a time line:

- A certain “green” resident of Northfield and member of the Republican Party Executive Committee gets some PR in The Press and on HGTV about his solar panels. He also calls certain radio programs every day to boast about his solar panels.

- A nice piece written about the Geothermal heating and cooling system in my house in The Current on August 22, 2007. (Geothermal is a renewable energy source and very environmentally friendly. Dare I say that it’s “green?”)

- Many Northfield residents read The Current and probably read the story about me.

- A couple of days later I hear rumblings that I am being smeared and covertly investigated by members of the Northfield Building Department that are also on the Republican Party Executive Committee.

I can’t prove who was investigating me on the taxpayers dime, but I have my suspicions… Stay tuned.

City workers should should be bipartisan and impartial, especially when our taxes are paying their salary. I’m wondering why the Building Department has so much extra time on their hands that they can conduct investigations of private citizens?

With my opponent’s recent rash of lies and slander about me and my family I’m left to wonder who’s running the ship at the Northfield Republican Club?

The Northfield Republican Club has endorsed Mr. O’Neill as their Second Ward candidate and have taken out numerous ads with the headline “Leadership for Today. Vision for Tomorrow.”

Is Mr. O’Neill’s idea of “Leadership” lying to The Current about his record, lying to The Press of Atlantic City about me, or lying to his neighbors? How many other times has he lied?

The other Northfield Republicans have been suspiciously quiet about their candidate lately…

What about the rest of the Republicans on City Council? Do they endorse Jim (Mr. Negative) O’Neill for City Council?

Guilty by association?

Next up: I’ll take a hard look at the Northfield Building Department.

I’ve been spending a lot of time on the campaign trail these past few months and I was very troubled by a few things that I heard on the street last night.

• One resident in Sutton Woods told me that Mr. O’Neill promised to “reduce their property taxes by 15 percent.”
• Others told me that he was telling everyone in Dunkin Donuts at New and Tilton Road that I run “a porn site.”

When is Mr. O’Neill going to realize that no one wants to hear his lies? His negative campaign is the worst that Northfield has ever seen and even his own party is distancing themselves from him.

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I want to comment on Mr. O’Neill’s comments this morning on the Hurley show.

• Timeline of posts. I posted the Mission Accomplished piece because O’Neill lied to The Current saying that he’s “accomplished” making Northfield green (his words) and because he was the only candidate to bash another candidate in an article that was supposed to be about his platform and him. Poor form Mr. O’Neill, no one appreciates a negative politician.
• “I don’t want to be on his site.” Mr. O’Neill complained that he doesn’t want to be on my blog. As a public figure Mr. O’Neill doesn’t have a choice. Second, the photo I posted is his publicity photo that he submitted to the newspaper. My opponent may want to read up on my post about the First Amendment.
• Objectionable content. When it was brought to my attention that I had a picture on my blog from two years ago that someone found objectionable, I removed it immediately. What did Mr. O’Neill do? He printed out dozens of copies and brought it to a Pee Wee sports team that he coaches and handed it out. That’s right, he handed out what he considered objectionable content at a Pee Wee game.
• Positive campaign? Mr. O’Neill accuses me of running a “porn site.” (this site). As you can tell, nothing could be further from the truth. This isn’t the first time Mr. O’Neill has lied to the newspaper either.

The Republican Party of Northfield has endorsed Jim O’Neill for City Council. This is the candidate that they think will best represent them. Do you? It’s a real shame that the Northfield Republicans (many of which I am very fond of) have put their eggs in Mr. O’Neill’s basket.

Mr. O’Neill has lied to the newspaper not once but twice and is running the most negative campaign in Northfield’s history. I think that Mr. O’Neill should withdraw from the campaign before he drags the rest of the Republican ticket with him.