Morris Street update set for Morristown seniors center, Jan. 18

morris street redevelopment meeting poster jan 2017
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Just a quick reminder that town planners have scheduled an update for tonight, Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2017, to discuss the self-storage facility proposed for Morris Street.

The meeting will run from 6 pm to 7 pm at the seniors center on the third floor of Morristown Hall, at 200 South St.

Last year Hampshire Realty got some blowback for pitching a five-story structure. That’s been reduced to four stories, according to town Planner Phil Abramson.  Plans also call for a 2,600-square foot art studio to be run by Morris Arts.

morris street redevelopment meeting poster jan 2017

3 COMMENTS

  1. Great idea!
    You should approach the owners about purchasing this property in order to bring your grand vision to fruition.

  2. Here’s another option for the area in question. This was published in the New York Times. The article is below and here is the link. There are pictures included in the link.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/18/us/repair-cafe.html?emc=edit_nn_20170119&nl=morning-briefing&nlid=60514536&te=1&_r=0

    At Repair Cafes, ‘Beloved but Broken’ Possessions Find New Life
    By CHRISTOPHER MELEJAN. 18, 2017

    Cyd Charisse Villalba and Adam Factor at a Repair Cafe in New Paltz, N.Y., last year.
    If you’ve ever despaired of getting your vacuum cleaner fixed or thought that your broken lamp was a lost cause, there’s hope. A worldwide movement is trying to reform our throwaway approach to possessions.

    The movement’s foundation is the Repair Cafe, a local meeting place that brings together people with broken items and repair coaches, or volunteers, with the expertise to fix them.

    The cafes have taken root in 11 states, including New York, where they are most prevalent in the Hudson Valley: Eight exist and more are on the way. John Wackman of Kingston, N.Y., who organized the cafe in New Paltz, N.Y., in 2013 and coordinates the others in the Hudson Valley, said the region was home to “people who are sustainability-minded” and have a “strong ethos of community.”

    Organizers count as small victories any broken goods that can be repaired and kept out of the trash. In 2013, Americans generated about 254 million tons of garbage, including furniture, clothing and appliances, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

    The Repair Cafe concept has its roots in Amsterdam, where Martine Postma, a former journalist, came up with the idea after the birth of her second child prompted her to think more about ways to reduce the waste going into landfills. Repair Cafe started in 2009 and spread across the Netherlands. Today, it has more than 1,100 sites in almost 30 countries.

    Helen Karsten with a stuffed animal in need of mending. Credit John Wackman
    Clothes, books, dolls, stuffed animals, bicycles, appliances, chairs, jewelry, electronics — if they are broken, ripped or inoperable and you can carry it in, repair coaches will try to fix it. (But no gas engines, please.)

    “One of the things that makes it challenging and interesting is that we don’t know what people are going to bring,” Ray Pfau, an organizer of a Repair Cafe in Bolton, Mass., said in an email.

    Lamps top the list of items brought in to be repaired, followed by vacuum cleaners, Mr. Wackman said. The types of repairs offered vary by location and reflect the particular talent in a community, he said.

    New Paltz has a repair person with a national reputation as a doll expert. It also has a “Listening Corner” with a psychiatric nurse “because being listened to is a ‘reparative act,’ ” he said.

    The cafes invite people to bring their “beloved but broken” possessions to the gatherings, which are hosted in church basements, libraries, town halls and senior centers. The cafes make no guarantees that items will be fixed.

    “All we can guarantee is that you will have an interesting time,” Mr. Wackman said.

    The gatherings tend to draw professionals, retirees and hobbyists who volunteer as repair coaches.

    Photo

    The New Paltz United Methodist Church in New Paltz, N.Y., hosting a Repair Cafe.
    “It’s a truism of human nature that people like to show off what they know,” Mr. Wackman said. “That said, there is a lot of gratification on both sides of the table.”

    The gatherings generally last about four hours. No preregistration is required, and those with broken items frequently travel from afar to attend. While there is no charge for the repairs, donations are accepted. The Repair Cafe Foundation provides groups with information to help get started, including lists of tools, tips for raising money and marketing materials.

    For Liz Pickett of New Paltz, the Repair Cafe is a chance to fight a consumer culture driven by buying new products instead of fixing old ones. “It opened my eyes to the fact that this stuff is built to fail,” she said.

    Products today are manufactured in a way that make their parts inaccessible, so that if they break, it’s just easier to buy a new one, she said.

    Ms. Pickett, a single mother of four — two boys, ages 17 and 14; and twin girls, 11 — said the cafe helped extend the life of headphones and a laptop for her children.

    “I would not be able to replace every single thing they break,” she said. “Are you kidding me?”

    Elizabeth Knight, a cafe organizer who lived in Hoboken, N.J., for more than 20 years, said she often found “great trash picking” there. When she moved to Warwick, about 60 miles northwest of New York City, she learned that the village hosted a spring cleanup during which residents discarded furnishings and other bulk items that did not get picked up with the ordinary trash.

    “I was stunned at what I saw,” she said, referring to the kinds of discarded materials that could gain a second life if repaired. She said the Repair Cafe “is all part of the jigsaw puzzle of what do we do with our stuff.”

    The gatherings engender a sense of camaraderie as volunteers learn the stories of the items they repair. On the Sunday after Thanksgiving, a woman went to a cafe in Warwick as it was winding down, Ms. Knight recalled. She had a silver cylinder on a necklace with a broken clasp.

    When Ms. Knight told her that repairs were finishing for the day, the woman began to cry. The cylinder held the ashes of her grandson, who died when he was 22. She had worn the necklace every day since.

    Suzanne O’Brien, a cafe volunteer, sat back down and worked on the necklace. The woman smiled through her tears when Ms. Knight hooked the repaired chain around her neck.

    “It’s not just about fixing things,” Ms. Knight said. “It’s about the community, also.”

  3. Morristown can do better than what is being proposed for this area. What may be desirable is a “quiet zone” where people can gather without LOUD music. Maybe an indoor mini market area with “stalls” for vendors that sell healthy food, used books, local artist’s art, local made jewelry, a “rest area” for seniors and shoppers (a place to have a soft drink, chat, and maybe read a book), etc.

    Be innovative! a good place to rest and relax is the eating area at the ShopRite supermarket on Hanover ave. Morristown can benefit with a similar area for the local population.

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