SIA Newsletter 2 12 2014 - Fire Commission Elections Saturday; Trash & Recycling Tuesday; Owl; Pax; Revaluation Coming; SVFC Laptops; Like Us!

To All Strathmere and Whale Beach Homeowners and Visitors,

This Saturday, Fire Commission Elections will be held at the Firehouse from 2:00 to 9:00.

You’ll be asked to vote for one commissioner (Randy Roash is running unopposed) and whether or not to approve the 2014 budget adopted by the Commission.

Here is the (new) website for the Strathmere Fire Commission. Here is the 2014 budget you’ll be asked to vote on.

For comparison, here is an article in the Cape May County Herald that allows you to see the budget proposals for all fire districts in the county.

Please come out and

keep those lonely poll workers company!

***************************************************

There will be no trash collection Monday because of Presidents’ Day; it will be collected on Tuesday.
Officially, recycling won’t be collected until the following Monday.

Unofficially, the Township Public Works folks send out a recycling truck for commercial businesses after a Monday holiday and ask the truck to run through Strathmere for the recycling at this (slow) time of year. It doesn’t take long to pick up our recycling and still have time to do the businesses.

So, we can’t guarantee it, but if you put out recycling with your trash on Tuesday, it will likely be collected.

The official trash and recycling information is on the Township’s website, here.

Strathmere is treated differently for Bulk Trash (furniture, etc. but not construction materials). The Township picks up our bulk trash on every regular trash collection day (usually Monday).
The exception to this is that metal, electronics and mixed ridged plastics will only be picked up on the first Wednesday of each month, but must be called in (609-628-2011 ext. 352) by the previous Friday. 

*******************************************

If you follow us on Facebook, you saw that the snowy owl was still here on February 4, at the Whittier Road beach:

*************************************************

As we write this, winter storm Pax (actually not so peaceful) is working its way across the south and will head up the coast toward us tonight.

Considerable snow is forecast for the Philadelphia and New York areas, but it is expected to be mostly a rain event in Strathmere, with perhaps a little snow at the beginning and end of the storm. We are expecting minor tidal flooding, however, so Bayview should be impassable tomorrow morning and perhaps again at the evening high tide.

**********************************************************

Upper Township will begin a property revaluation this spring, with inspections set to start as early as April.

 Here is the story in the Upper Township Gazette.

The Fire Commission budget, at the link above, shows in the top line that the assessed valuation of Strathmere properties has fallen $60 million (15%) in the past five years.

Since there has been no township-wide revaluation during that time, this decrease is due almost entirely to tax appeals.

************************************************************

Thanks to Deputy Chief Ed Scanlon, the SVFC will receive two Panasonic Toughbook laptop computers from the New Jersey American Water Company.

The laptops will allow our firefighters to access property and other information while on their way to a call, enhancing safety and effectiveness. Story here.

**************************************************************

Remember to follow and "like" the SIA (click the "Thumbs Up" box ) on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Strathmere-Improvement-Association-SIA/184810134906201

You'll get an early look at lots of things going on in Strathmere (the January pictures above were there first)!

*****************************************

Upcoming Events - please add to your calendars:

*Fire Commission Elections at the Firehouse, 2:00 pm to 9:00 pm, Saturday, February 15th

*SFEC Winter Social at the Deauville Inn, 6:00 pm Saturday, February 22

***************************************************************

Again, check out Carol Baker's wonderful Strathmere History website at http://www.strathmere.net/, and her blog at http://strathmere.blogspot.com/.

You can also see the beach and ocean from the Octagon Webcam

*******************************************

The Strathmere Improvement Association was founded in 1951 as a community organization with the simple objective of making Strathmere a better place. We are proud of the organization's many accomplishments over the years.

Please let us know if you have comments or suggestions for the newsletter or for SIA in general, or if you'd like us to change your e-mail address in our records.

You can contact us by responding to this e-mail at sia6@comcast.net or by mailing SIA at PO Box 57.

Thanks very much for your continuing support of the Strathmere Improvement Association!

Linda Bateman

Elaine Holsomback

Donna Diefenderfer

Rosemarie Whelan

Ken Weaver