people of c.h how did your township stop the group homes or

we the people of lake villa, voorhees, are in the same boat as you with these group homes. our township is allowing a business here, the girly men say their hands are tied, if not let us join as one and we will stand by you if you stand by us, the people of lake villa, voorhees, new jersey.

Happy Holidays To All!!!

Please reply for help.

I feel your pain. I have personally been waiting for closure and peace since June/July. As the neighbor next door to the Valleybrook home, I can only say that the quick togetherness, shock, intellectual and factual speediness of information gathering by fellow residents, communication and legal research brought this to a temporary halt. The Valleybrook home is not safe for the children and this type of business. Between the pool, the green acres of land behind the property, the deep water easement, the deck on the upper level that leads from the unattached 5th bedroom upstairs, the 24 feet from my house to their door and 50 feet from my front door to that door. What this turned out to be was a web of deceit, a vendor (NJMentor) that the State contracted out to that obviously and faithlessly did not do their due diligence properly....much could have been avoided had they communicated effectively with municipalities and neighbors as other group home vendors have. This has turned out to be precedent setting, a learning experience for all. I pray that we, as a whole, figure out a much better approach and set of rules as to how and where these vendors place these particular group homes. I think these homes should be categorized differently. We, as a community, seem to have different or no rights to the same laws. Laws are made to be changed, not broken.

At this point, we can only wait for Commissioner Ryan’s decision (which was promised within 30 days and has been well over that). Continue to email DCF and your representatives. I would be happy to share my experiences, research and files with you.

Maureen Gornowski
12/5/07

It may be time to pull together some form of a Rally (preferably in front of the offices of our elected officials, and put some pressure on. We need to organize this meeting Asap.

Andy

Absolutely.
Because even if the Brookfield and Cherry Hill estate houses are not occupied yet, they might be in a very short future.
So, we are stiil in the very hard situation, and EVERYBODY IN CHERRY HILL VOORHEES AND OTHER TOWNSHIPS ARE NOT SECURE FROM THIS, that why I am absolutely amazed on the elections results, I CANNOT BELIEVE people chose the same failing govermental cabinet.
Anyway, I do support the idea about the rally or something like this.

Thanks for replying, at least there is a few good americans left.
Hey, if you can get your community together i can get mine. We could do a three day rally and go to each of our mayor's house. Hell i am willing to go to Corzine himself, we need to wake up New Jersey. The state is more concerned with five kids instead of entire communities.

I see a common theme here amongst the two towns (Cherry Hill and Voorhees), we both need many questions answered to ease our minds with this process.... We would like to unite in numbers with as many people as possible that will support our concerns as loving, caring citizens of NJ and of our communities. Please contact myself with any ideas, input or support for this cause 609-280-6547.

I have personally contacted some of the concerned residents in Cherry Hill and would like to know of any lead role persons in this endeavor.

please advise.

Rich

From my knowledge, the Lake Villa property/location is the next NJ Mentor group home to be opened up. Commissioner Ryan and DCF just informed the Tanforan Drive residents of Cherry Hill that they will be opening their doors within the next 2+/- weeks with decisionmaking processes to take place for the Brookfield location sometime in January +/-.

Having attended multiple meetings for the Cherry Hill listed neighborhoods with DCF and NJ Mentor authorities attending, I note that it was said that an RFP or contract would not be complete until the home (or homes) was(were) approved to be prepared for opening, etc. Having also spoken to this gentleman (Don) they were already in that situation in Lake Villa-Voorhees. Therefore, the RFP/contract would be in the format necessary to plan out and orchestrate the opening of that group home and most likely acquired by the residents of Lake Villa-Voorhees.

Don is right in what he says here --"If you did some homework, you will see these are not your run-of-the-mill problem children, they are the problem. This is the reason they are not in their own homes or foster homes. If any of you bleeding hearts out there are concerned, please call your state representative and ask to have the location moved next door to you."

Remember the old adage referencing "walking a mile in somebody's shoes" before casting stones...........

Each one of you who are throwing your stones about the community members of the three neighborhoods in question (Cherry Hill Estates/Tanforan Drive, Brookfield/West Valleybrook Road and Lake Villa development in Voorhees) think about how you would feel and think really hard what your inner instincts would tell you.

If, in fact, you are extremely comfortable and willing to give one of these types of situations/changes in your neighborhood -- FINE -- give Commissioner Ryan, DCF and NJ Mentor a call to request that such a home be placed near your home.

Only after that is done, and possibly comes to fruition, will you ever understand the feeling these homeowners and residents have been forced to deal with.