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Hey all - Check out the summary of the September 12th Special and Conference Meetings below:

To find a list of all of the events remembering September 11th 2001 in South Orange please download the schedule here.“Yeah they closed all the airports or something, no planes are even allowed to fly.”Those would be the first words I would hear about the terrorist attacks of September 11th, though I didn’t know it at the time. I wasn’t even aware of what happened, but was standing in the hallways of Columbia High School in Maplewood, waiting for 4th period study hall to begin. After a few more minutes of chatter it became clear that something major had happened in New York City, and as the teacher arrived we rushed in to turn on the TV. Instantly a live picture of smoke billowing out of the World Trade Center filled the classroom, and like a vacuum had been created all other details in that classroom vanished except for that image, which is burned into my, and probably everyone’s, memory of that day.For a few deafeningly silent minutes everyone in the classroom watched in awe of what was happening. Still trying to make sense of what they saw... could this really be happening? In New York City, not much more...

Below please find the statement from the Village about the storm this weekend. Continue on to southorange.org/ready for more information, shelter locations, and more resources.

It's by no means been a quiet summer here in Village Hall, and before folks head out at the end of the summer and then we get into the fall rush, I wanted to let you know a little bit about some of the things we have been working on. I've had some great meetings and discussions with some of our neighbors, especially Seton Hall University President Gabriel Esteban, and I'll fully address all of the SHU initiatives we are working on in a separate update soon. Anyway, check out the short video below, and let me know if you have any questions or suggestions! You can download an .mp3 of the video here.

There is something about summertime that encourages us to sit back, take stock of things and reflect on the year so far and where we plan on going, once it cools down a little bit at least.It is, for some people, a vacation, for others an early morning jog down Wyoming watching the sun rise, or sitting on a beach down the shore watching the sun set, or maybe just enjoying a cold drink or a book on a patio in the warm evening air. But whatever it is, however each of us, no matter how briefly, takes stock of things, it is a crucial phase of our yearly routine and evolution. And it’s no different at Village Hall.

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Below, you can find my summary of the July 25th Regular Meeting of the South Orange Board of Trustees. Please don't hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions or feedback!

Click below to view my brief video update from the July 11th 2011 Special and Conference Meetings of the Board of Trustees. Visit southorange.org for the full meeting video and minutes of our meetings! Here is the text from the email that went out this morning, with one correction: There is a lot happening in South Orange these days, and not just in Village Hall: The farmer's market has started, and is every Wednesday from 2-7pm in the parking lot off of Sloan Street Every Friday and Saturday night there is live music on both Sloan Street and in Spiotta Park, starting at 7:30pm. Wednesdays at 7:30pm at Floods Hill check out the summer concert series, organized by SOPAC. Art classes at the Baird on a daily basis. More here. (These art classes were mistakenly reported as free, but they are actually part of the adult school's large lineup of programming and classes in the community) And Tea Time with Torpey is officially back - I'll be providing a written update in the last News Record issue of the month. If you missed last Thursday's, you can read the full text here on the blog.And don't forget, if you have...

This is the text of my column that appeared in the most recent issue of the News Record. “Tea Time with the Village President” Doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, but this is nonetheless a great opportunity to keep folks updated and informed about what is going on in South Orange. In addition to this column, which will appear in the last issue of each month of the News Record, I am keeping a blog on my website and Patch, doing video updates after the Board Meetings, looking into restarting an update show on SOMAtv in addition to micro-updates on Twitter and Facebook and office hours every Tuesday 4:30-6:30pm (to start). This builds off of the already great set of resources that are available to residents by watching the full meetings on southorange.org or on TV, or reading the minutes of any of the meetings, which are posted on the website (which will be going through a total redesign very soon). “How’s it been so far,” you ask?

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