Jason O’Grady’s Blog

The Atlantic County Utilities Authority (ACUA) collects Christmas trees in Absecon, Ventnor, Northfield, Linwood, Buena Vista Township and Hamilton Township on specified dates for yard waste in January.

Christmas trees should be placed at the curb on the day of yard waste collection, which is either Saturday or Monday depending on which zone you live in. You can confirm your zone by downloading the Yard Waste Collection Zone PDF from ACUA.

Some tips:

• Trees should be free of lights and decorations, including tinsel
• Trees do not have to be bagged
• Flocked trees are acceptable for collection and composting
• For more information on Christmas tree recycling please visit: www.earth911.com

In other Christmas tree news, an article in the Press of A.C. has determined that fresh cut “real” trees are more eco-friendly than artificial trees.

Often made of PVC - “the worst of the worst when it comes to plastics,” - fake trees, while reusable, have no green method for disposal. Also a factor is the cost of shipping a tree, real or fake. According to the National Christmas Tree Association, 85 percent of fake trees are made in China.

…A real tree is a renewable resource. For every tree that’s cut, three are planted. When a tree is young it gives off the most oxygen. We give an ecological benefit and they’re a good habitat for wildlife.

If the residents of Northfield need some motivation to get in shape, this may be it. According to an article today in the Press of A.C. the healthiest families at Northfield Community School could score a cool US$5,000.
Parents of children at Northfield Community School (NCS) are receiving information on the 2008 Healthy Schools Initiative. The regional contest for schools sponsored by AtlantiCare offers a prize of $5,000 to the school it deems the healthiest.

NCS will give five families with children in the school the chance to work with personal trainers for 12 weeks, as well as learning to cook healthy meals from top chefs from Harrah’s and the Local 54 Chef Apprentice program.

The personal training for the families (provided by Mainland Fitness) is worth about $6,000 making the combined prize value close to $10,000 per family.

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The Northfield tree lighting ceremony is tonight (Friday, December 07, 2007) at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 1600 Shore Road.

There will be a visit from Santa, music by Community School Chorus and free refreshments will be served. The rain date is December 14, 2007.

See you there!

You can see the “Man in the Moon,” up close and personal, at the Northfield Public Library’s “Moon Watch” at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 19. The rain/cloud date is Tuesday, Nov. 20.

There will be a short, informative slide show about the moon at 7:30 p.m. At 8 p.m., viewers will go outside to use several professional powerful telescopes located in the Library’s parking lot. If observing conditions are good, local residents should be able to see spectacular, detailed views of individual craters, ancient volcanoes, mountains and plains on the Moon.

The Library purchased an astronomical telescope in 2005 with funds from the New Jersey State Library; two more telescopes were donated by the Friends of the Library and the Briliant Family. With their 8 inch and 6 inch primary mirrors, these 4-foot-long Dobsonian telescopes are capable of gathering 400-600 times as much light as the human eye, and can magnify objects by 200-300 times.

For more information about the Moon Watch, call the Northfield Public Library at 646-4476.

(Source: Press of A.C.)

Thank you to the residents of Northfield for supporting me and my running mates Jimmy Martinez and Vince Mazzeo. We appreciate your support and look forward to serving you!

As you probably know I’m running for City Council in the Second Ward in Northfield. I want to take a moment to talk about what being on City Council would mean to me.

Although I’m new to politics, I’ve been to almost every City Council meeting since I’ve lived in Northfield. I’ve always been active in my community and I am a participant, not a spectator. I attend City Council meetings because I care about Northfield and I like to know what’s going on in my community. I like to know how my tax dollars are being spent and what our elected officials are up to.

I am also the President of the Democratic Party of Northfield.

I was appointed to the Northfield Planning and Zoning Board in January and love learning about development in our fair city. The Planning Board allows me to learn more about the more technical aspects of planning, permitting, zoning and construction and it allows me to keep in touch with another aspect of our town.

My wife, daughter and I are active members of St. Bernadette’s Church, we attend Parish Council meetings, we volunteer and most recently have been asked to participate in the Parish Fund Raising Committee.

I want to be a member of City Council because I like what they do and I want to be a part of it.

City Council is about working together as a team and it shouldn’t be about partisan politics–especially on the local level. Residents don’t care about divisive, negative politics. They just want to know that their money isn’t being spent carelessly, that the roads are paved, that the streets don’t flood and that their kids can walk safely down our streets (among other things).

In a town of 7,000 registered voters, we shouldn’t waste time on negativity and partisan politics–there’s no time for that. We need to focus our efforts on the resident’s interests and eliminate the time and effort wasted on negativity and mud-slinging.

My pledge to you is that, if elected, I will work diligently with every member of City Council regardless of their political affiliation to affect change. I will do everything I can to keep Northfield great and make Northfield even better. I will work with the resident’s interests at heart and I will have a 100 percent open door, transparent policy. As the old saying goes “sunshine is the best disinfectant.”

There’s no time for negativity, lies and slander in local politics–or any politics for that matter. The residents don’t like it and it’s insulting to their intelligence.

Since I entered this race I’ve been investigated, slandered and the victim of a vicious smear campaign by my opponent. Many people have told me that he’s run the most negative campaign in Northfield’s history. Is that who you want up on the dais in City Hall? This is not why I got into politics. In fact, dirty politics is probably the main reason why there’s very few people willing to run for office.

The good thing is that the residents of Northfield are intelligent and they’re aware of what’s going on. My opponent’s dirty, eleventh-hour attempts to knock me down have backfired.

I hope that you’ll consider all the facts and vote with your heart and your mind on Tuesday. I look forward to seeing you at the polls.

- Jason O’Grady

Keep an eye on your mailbox for our new postcard which will be arriving today or tomorrow.

Please also note that our postcard complies with State and Local election campaign laws because it has the required legal disclaimer at the bottom. Some other postcards arriving in my mailbox recently (not going to mention who) don’t have the disclaimer and are illegal.