A recent request for "civil servant" salary information got me less than complete information and a bill for $17 from the town. Considering that the town freeloaded on my web hosting space for months after the mayor had officially proposed my replacement as volunteer web developer (without informing me) I'm feeling pretty indignant about not personally paying this rotten government one thin dime for this insult to injury. No doubt the town will obligate me to pay this excessive bill before complying with any future requests for information--so until one of you (perhaps one of you who actually voted for mayor Kraft) decides this site is worth supporting (by providing information or a financial donation to defer the costs imposed by our local BS government) this site will have to function under a, government provided, information blackout.

To make a secure credit card donation use this Pay-Pal link. (no personal information regarding donations will be made public without permission)

Total donated as of 8/11/02: $0.00

Progress Report

I wish I could say things were moving right along, and that this cyber representation of our town was fast becoming the one-stop, all you what, or need to know “information center” I invision--but it’s just not happening. The one success over the past two months was that I did get enough cooperation from the Garden Club to establish a basic site--but content is a bit thin and may remain so unless or until some club member gets a bit more enthusiastic about helping maintain the site. As part of the site there is a memorial page to Marjorie Davidson who died in September. I very much would like to create a section of the main site devoted to remembering the people of our community. The internet is [I think] perfectly suited to the creation of this kind of permanent memorial, and I hope I can get the assistance required to develop the idea.

There is a kind of sick, sad irony in the fact that it would appear that I cannot even “give-away”, in my hometown, services other communities have paid real money to secure. The fact that I continue to get the runaround from town officials is discouraging enough-- but not even getting the courtesy of a return phone call from some local organizations, after offering free publication of any content they would like to make available on the web, is downright irritating. I have to wonder about the purpose of organizations that have nothing to say and wish to remain invisible to the local web public. Even assuming that I have a truly hate-able personality, why not take advantage of a “free” offer? Regardless, I will plug away awhile longer, and I will try not to lose all hope under all the dragging feet.

In an effort to make the site as navigable as possible, I have been working on ways to expand the usefulness of drop-down menus. If you hadn’t noticed, there is an arrow between the top frame menus. If you “click it,” the menus rotate to the next pair. I have filled these menus with quick links to pages within other area web sites. I think once you become familiar with their use you will find these menus a convenient way to access other sites.

Till Next Time,
-Gary

Progress Report

Unfortunately progress has been slow.

Item: I have contacted the, police and fire departments trying to establish some efficient process whereby I can publish on this site general "public" information regarding department activities (calls). The fire dept. hasn't returned my calls (left messages on their voice mail). And the police dept. has indicated that they will consult with the town administrator regarding the issue, but I am doubting anything will come of that. Hopefully somewhere short of a lawsuit these people will realize that doing this the hard stupid way will not serve anyone's interest.

Item: Speaking of things that must be done the hard stupid way. I have been making the rounds to the various major search engines attempting to get this site index. Unfortunately, the industry is so corrupt that it is becoming impossible to get a site fairly listed with out paying extortion money. Currently, this site is virtually invisible to the general web public (or a mendham resident looking for local content) as it is only faintly referenced (100 listings deep) on one internet map (google.com) and the only local site as yet willing to provide a reciprocal link to the site is the high school site. With almost no "visibility" it is no surprise that this site is getting very little traffic and is in turn currently serving little purpose. Hopefully someday the web public will demand that all the snake oil and spam dumped by internet marketteers be cleaned off the information superhighway-- Till then a lot of people (like me) are just going to continue to, "spin their wheels" on this waste of cyber asphalt. For more on the subject of web navigation do go to donotgo.com

Item: I had a working set-up for the web-cam, but unfortunately AOL did a software update that crashes the old laptop I would like to use. I have tried two other ISPs but the internet connection they provide is of insufficient quality ( unreliable FTP or e-mail). I do expect to find a solution in the next couple of weeks but being that no one is probably reading this I guess it won't matter if it takes more time.

Till Next Time,
-Gary

Item: I have set up the frame work of the Discussion boards, the software was free and not all it should be, but I will work on it. Better usage information should be provided shortly.

Item: I added a couple of listings to the Local Organizations section, My intention is to include a listing to all known regional organization in this section with links to on-line information where available. I am offering free web space to any organization wanting it. I have found some organizations are not organized enough to coherently reply to my efforts to make contact, In these cases I will just republish what ever public information I can find. If you are a member of an unlisted organization and/or desire control over what I publish regarding your organization please have appropriate person contact me: Org@inmendham.com or Gary@ (973) 543-6003

Item: I took a look at the old homestead mendhamnj.org and found to my surprise NEWS. For two years I couldn’t pry a paragraph of news out of these officials and now there it is, too tiny to read, but there. Just a coincidence I guess.

Till Next Time,
-Gary

Item: Welcome to the new-ish, ex-and-now-un-official web site of the Mendhams. Now that this site is no longer under the controlling, unimaginative, do-little thumb of the borough government, it is my hope, and expectation, that it will be able to grow into something we all can be proud of. Produced truly “by and for the people,” this site is intended to be the “public servant” government (most notably our local government) can’t seem to produce. Believing that information is empowering and enriching and, in general, “a good thing,” it will be the primary purpose or “mission” of this site to make as much information as possible as easy to access as possible. To fulfill its mission, this community resource will no doubt need community support, and I hope I can inspire some of you to contribute what you can, when you can-- even if the what is just an opinion or advice.

First Step:
Right now I am reorganizing the site to better accommodate its expansion into areas “government” closed off. Some parts of the site may not be functional during this rebuilding/moving stage, and I apologize for any inconvenience. (As you probably can understand, when you move some things get broken.) If you have any suggestions regarding the basic design of the site, now would be the time to make them. Send e-mail to: gary@inmendham.com

Some Enhancements In The Works:

A WebCam that will provide an hourly (or so) updated picture of the town center. As I have no budget to spend, and a less than a complete understanding of the technology required to make this happen, the quality of the picture and reliability of updates might not be what it should be at first.

Better issue discussion/message boards where we can hope to find better understanding by looking at what’s happening to, and InMendham, through each other's eyes.

More News coverage including Police/Fire call reports: My greatest disappointment in “working with” town government was learning that these “public servants” all seem to believe they have a right to be more informed regarding what's happening in this town than “we the people.” If there is a giant man-eating ant chomping nicely stuffed customers as they exit the Black Horse Tavern, I personally think we have a right to know and that government has a responsibility to make some effort to let us know. Things like traffic accidents and fires may be less extreme events, but understanding the whats, wheres, and whys is useful information that should be easily acquired. I am hoping to persuade a person in the “in-the-know” network to share their “insider knowledge” so when the whistle blows, I can blow the whistle regarding what’s happening InMendham. If you're a person willing to give me a call when you know something the rest of us don’t, e-mail me at: notgossip@inmendham.com
Regarding non-emergency news: Right now a subscription to the local newspaper is beyond my budget, so I am pretty uninformed regarding local news and issues. If you can provide a used copy of (or clipping from) the local paper (not too used--no-after-the-bottom-of-the-bird-cage copies please) and can, without inconvenience, get it to my Ironia Road mailbox, please send e-mail to: news@inmendham.com

The Town History section of the site, was another good idea that got no town support. I have read the available books and am attempting to reshape the content as to not violate any copyright. Unfortunately history you didn’t live is hard to write. Not being able to know what story (if any) is the right story has left me with few hard facts and not much truly interesting information. If you have some old pictures or “stories” you think might help Please send e-mail to: history@inmendham.com

A Lot More good stuff--but it is time to stop writing about it and time to start doing it.
-Gary

Item: I know not regularly updating the "updates" page makes it seem pretty pointless, but once the town employees "get connected" (RCN is installing a cable modem) this page will be more useful.
- Gary

Item: There have been many site improvements sense my last site update message. Most notable the new location, mendhamnj.org. Now that the site should be soon index (I hope) by the major search engines I will try to be more reliable concerning update notices. The newest improvement to the site is the addition of drop-down menu's, they will provide a sometimes more functional choice regarding site navigation (as long as you remember to click the "go now" button.)

In the coming soon category, I hope to add a on-line document creation page that will allow local citizens to fill in, download, and print any town form. As always let me know if you have any ideas regarding site improvement at: gm@inmendham.com .
Till next time, have a happy whatever,
Gary

Item: Added Mendham Borough Police Dep. Web Pages

Item: Added more Recycling information.

Item: Added a Finance page.

Item: Added the first listing to the Events page

Item: Added the framework for the Discussion Forum. Got any Questions or Answers then please Check It Out.

Item: You can now choose a different "style" of town page:

• A more modern looking, very purple style: Click here
• The more conservative, regular style: Click here

• RECYCLING Inf.
• Some interesting factoids in the Local Ordinances section.

Item: Added additional information to the Information Center, Including:

• Links to Photo Pages For the Mayor and Council.
• Board and Commission information.

Item: I added this Site Updates section to the WebSite. Check it out! (Ha Ha)