Why You Really Need to Clean House on Both Sides of 'Downtown' Edison!

After two years of waiting for the Council of the Whole to find themselves and with the latest attack on a current Board of Ed candidate - you really gotta appreciate it when our elected officials start going after each other.

Here, take a peek at Councilman Sendelsky at Monday's Worksession ripping into Edison Board of Mythomania President Jerry 'Needs to Step-down' Shi and Board Member (and Current Council Candidate) Richard Brescher.

Something how the truth trickles out when you're on your way out the door.

While the Board of Mythomania unilaterally moved the BoE elections to November to block the People from having a say on their now $262 million Bloated and Out-of-Control $pending School Budgets and Hoarding practices every year and made the Board of Education a pawn in the twisted politics of this town - they aren't alone.

Seems the Edison Council had an opportunity a while back to move the BoE elections back to April but canceled their meeting at the last minute. Cowards! Politics prevailed over People!

So, you reap what you sow in this town but listen to Mr. Sendelsky spout out some of the truths about the inept leadership of Jerry Shi and his Board of Silence that goes right along with him. Pay attention to what he has to say about this idiotic $189.5m School Bond Referendum that will triple you current year's school tax increase for the next 30 years.




Anyhoo, aren't you Happy Now that both the Cowardly Council and the Inept Board of Education are now hiding behind and using the twisted politics in this town against what's in the Best interest of the Kids? You Should Be!

Edison Board of Mythomania, aka Board of Silence Unanimously Approves the $189.5m 'Money Grab' on December 10th! Now there's a shocker.

Well, in the spirit of truth and transparency, all eight Board Members went along with Jerry 'Needs to Step-down' Shi's idiotic, ill-conceived, overpriced and unnecessarily burdensome plan to stick it to the People of Edison on December 10th.

Apparently, they don't have a problem doubling your last school tax increase for the next 30 years, which in effect triples it - they just have a problem publicly talking about it. Take it they'll wait to take their nonsense to the captive audiences in the schools and go with the old standard - it's all about the Kids. Good luck with that approach.

Here, let me help you out. At the ETEA's Candidates' Night tomorrow night, grab a hold of Emil 'Do the Right Thing' Ferlicchi and get him back on the 'It's All About the Kids' Bandwagon.

I miss the old days whenever the People of Edison properly said No to a Ridiculously Bloated School Budget or Bond Referendum, he was out there telling us 'Do the Right Thing' and give it to us anyway. Always said he was the Best at shoveling it and, if I didn't know better at the time, I would of actually believed him. Look forward to engaging in conversation with Emil again.

Remember that they all did this last night after first burying the Vote in the Public Agenda and then without any discussion or comments on this $189.5m 'Money Grab' before their Yes Vote.

Remember as we work our way to the December 10th Vote - they all agreed with Señor Shi.

Remember too, that they budgeted for 3 attempts to get this 'Money Grab' passed because they know that after 3 failed attempts, they can go to the State and have them Overrule the People of Edison. That's how they plan and that's how they think. That's the kind of hideous and deceptive planning being put forth on the backs of People of Edison by these People who are supposed to represent You.

Just knowing you're throwing out a ridiculous number because you're planning to take it to the State if You don't give it to them after 3 bites of the apple - says a lot about these so-called elected officials and makes you proud to live in this town, doesn't it?

Here's a thought - kick this nonsense to the ground every time they try and take advantage of You and let them go to the State. No problem there. It won't be too hard to show how ridiculous this thingie is. This is Not the plan to solve the Overcrowding problem, it just a number they picked because they couldn't properly and practically solve the Overcrowding problem. There's a practical and rational way to fix this problem that doesn't have to put such an unnecessary and unfair burden on the residents/taxpayers of Edison.

It's a long way to December 10th and as the song says, 'It's a long way to the top, if you want to Rock & Roll!'

Here, enjoy Jerry 'Needs to Step-down' Shi and his Board of Silence discussing and explaining their rationale for this Vote on this $189.5m 'Money Grab' - Not!

Anyhoo, you gotta like how all these Board Members saw the very dim light of Jerry Shi on this one. You should remember this as we move on down the road.

Tonight's Board of Mythomania's, aka Board of 'No Taxpayer Friendly Members Here' Public Meeting!?!

Just an update: Just for the record - been told that all 9 members of the Board of Silence Voted Yes to place this ill-conceived and outrageously overpriced $189.5m Bond Referendum on the ballot on December 10th - in SILENCE and without comment or discussion, of course.

Well, this is interesting. Just saw the agenda for tonight's meeting and I don't know - maybe it's me but wouldn't you think that the most important thing up for vote tonight over there on Mythomania Lane would be that idiotic $189.5m December 10th Bond Referendum put together by Jerry 'Needs to Step-down' Shi ands his band of architects?

If so, then why wouldn't it be highlighted on the Summary on Page 1 of the Agenda? You have to scroll down some 50-60 pages or so to see it's even up for a vote.

That's Nice if transparency isn't your thing, don't you think?

But you know what's important for them to highlight on the Summary Page? The Superintendent's $24,553.35 in Merit Goals.

Hmm...let's see, a Vote on $189,500,000 or $24,553.25 - I wonder which is more important for the Public to be aware of and to know?

Ok, so let's play this one out. You know this Board has a history of putting together sophomoric merit goals for their Supers' that are usually laughable and could probably be achieved by just showing up for work. Even worse, let's face it - it's the teachers' that deserve all the credit for achieving these quantitative goals and yet the administrators get the money. That's a Tad Bit unfair and as is - it's silly and a waste of taxpayers' money.

Anyway, in this case, there were 5 Merit goals and you can see them below. The first 3 qualitative goals relate to computer science, math and language arts, respectively. The 2 qualitative goals relate to a Bond referendum and security, respectively.

There are 3 quantitative goals each worth 3.33% of base salary or $6,546.25 and 2 qualitative goals each worth 2.50% $4,914.60 for a total of 14.99% for a Max payout to be earned of $29,467.85.



So, how much did Mr. Saxton earn? He earned $24,553.35 and you know which goal he failed to achieve and got a big zilch, nada, nothing? The Bond Referendum one and are you surprised that they only show you what was achieved and don't show you what he was eligible for so you can see what was missed? Even worse, are you surprised that Board Prez. Shi didn't make sure that was the Bond Referendum was the number one priority for the school district?

You shouldn't be and goes to show you that this $189.5m disaster lies in the inept hands of Jerry 'Needs to Step-down' Shi and his band of architects and a Board of Silence that does nothing about it. And you wonder why we still don't have a full time Super?

Pay attention to how each Board Member Votes on this Bond Referendum tonight - that will tell you everything you need to know about this November's BoE Election.

Seriously now, isn't 30 years a Tad Bit too long and too expensive to be played for a fool by the powers that be?!?

Well, you know what they say about both sides of town here in 'Downtown Edison' - One Hand Washes the Other and Both Hands Pick Your Pocket.

Anyhoo, pay attention folks - this ill-conceived, grossly-overpriced and piecemeal Overcrowding plan that makes no sense put together by Senor Shi and his band of architects isn't all about the Kids, it's all about Grabbing Your Money for something they can't even justify. It's how they play You here in 'Downtown Edison' - they make sure everyone isn't dealing off the same facts at the same time.

Jerry 'Needs to Step-down' Shi's Idiotic Overcrowding Plan that adds double the Unnecessary School tax increases You're Paying Now!?!

Yeah, makes a lot of sense to ask the People of Edison to fund an opaque and single-minded piecemeal plan for just 6 schools with an Outrageous cost of $312,772,719 for the next 30 years.



Anyhoo, this takes the Board of Mythomania to new heights or should I say new lows- to the Board of No Taxpayer Friendly Members Here!

What they didn't tell You last night about the $189.5m School Bond Referendum - it will cost You $269,164,093

Well, watched last night's Board of Silence Caucus meeting and watched their experts roll out their Proposed $189,500,000 Bond Referendum which is seriously opaque, based on an ill-conceived plan, is grossly overpriced with ridiculous costs (cost per sq. ft. and other allowable costs), has no scheduling plan and many other things wrong with it.

It's a Jerry 'Needs to Step-down' Shi and his band of architects plan as a result of failed Overcrowding Committees on both sides of town.

There's a lot more to say about this Proposal but I'll wait until after they vote on this Resolution next Monday to get into the details.

The purpose of this post just to let you know what they conveniently neglected to tell you at last night's meeting.

They conveniently didn't tell you that the total cost of these six (6) schools is $312,772,719 ($189,500,000 + interest of $123,272,719) and with only $43,608,626 in state aid, the total Cost to You is $269,164,093.

While they talked about the what you'll see in the language of Bond Question on December 10th was only the names of the schools involved and the insignificant state aid numbers - they conveniently left out the most important thing that will be on the Bond Referendum Question - the increase in the School Tax Levy.

What You'll be Voting on is to Approve a Tax Levy of $269,164,093.

YUP..that's $269,164,093 on You!

That's a Tad Bit Not Nice to be so deceitful to the public to try and sell something that only deserves to be laughed at and then kicked to the curb.

Even with their own numbers, they want to double what you pay now in school tax increases for the next 30 years.

Now, these aren't my numbers, it's their numbers, which they conveniently didn't show or tell You about last night.  I OPRA'd the numbers from the financial consultant and you can see them in the picture below. There's some obvious financial questions about some of the numbers used in this report but that's a discussion for another day.

And seriously, what's all this jibber..jabbish on state aid? On the $189,500,000 they only got $31,083,781. It's simple - renovations are funded at 40% of full cost and new additions are only funded at 40% up to $143 sq. ft.. And if you go back and look at the compilation post (July 11, 2019) in this blog, you will see that the sq. ft. run in the $400 range. They should of spent more time talking about the $189,500,000 than the $31,083,781. Oh wait, they couldn't do that - then they'd have to explain their ridiculous numbers.

Be that as it may, this is an Excel file which is a calculator so you can see what this Proposed Disaster will cost You over the 30 year life of the bonds with their own numbers. All you have to enter is Your assessed value and it will show You how this will effect You.

Not everyone, except Mayor Tom 'Now 24.1% but Won't Debate' ChoiLankey claims to live in that mythical average home assessed at $173,800 - so enough with that nonsense, it's just a point of reference but reference points don't help You in knowing what it will Cost YOU. Use the calculator below.

Feel free to hit the 'Email Me' button up top and I will forward you the file. I can't upload that file here since this Blog doesn't handle the calculations.

Here's the Financial Consultant's Report from which I put together the calculator above:




And here's last night's Caucus meeting. Pay attention to the experts discussion and then compare that to the numbers in their report above - and You'll see exactly why You Got Played. And if you don't see that - ask yourself why the experts didn't put up all their usual fancy slides with all the numbers on it for you to see.




Anyhoo, pay attention folks, this Bond Proposal is Ridiculous and they're trying to sneak it in past you. Don't fall for it. There's a better way to deal with the Overcrowding and a lot less expensive than the Jerry 'Needs to Step-Down' Shi and his band of architects way.

$25k later - we're still $uing ourselves - can we get anymore ridiculous in this town?

Well, saw this piece here about Jerry 'Needs to Step-down' Shi and his Board of Silence appealing the decision in their suit against the Edison Zoning Board.

Apparently, Shi thinks it's justified to continue litigating ourselves.

This is what happens to your tax dollars when you have a Board of Ed that turns a blind eye to this mistake:

Anyhoo, and you wonder why your School Budgets are so Bloated with Out-of-Control $pending every year?