“We celebrate Independence day every day”, is what Mayor Steven Langert had to respond to those criticizing the decision to do the July 4th Fireworks on July 1st, a Canadian Celebration day. “We celebrate our freedom every day, not just on July 4th” he said. The decision to do the Fireworks on Thursday he said, was to save money. When asked just how much the Township is saving on the Fireworks, the Mayor said it would save about 66% of the $30,000 dollars it would cost on July 4th, totalling approximately $20,000 dollars in savings.
Doing it on Thursday he explained, would save on Police and Public Works overtime, which would be more costly on the weekends.
Steve is the Best! Thanjks for lloking out for the oilam’s money. He is ‘chas al mamon shel yisrael”
maybe a better idea would not to have fireworks this year?
not have fireworks in lakewood …….?????????……..NO WAY!!its tradition
So it is only costing us a total of $10,000? I want to hear it that way. Somehow I dont believe these numbers. What firework company would do all those fireworks for that little? In addition the police and public works will still cost us money- only less since it is a typical workday. I see that what he said as deceiving and he only meant the Township portion would be 66% less. Mayor, please correct me if I am wrong.
lacey township has cancelled thier fireworks to save money.
jackson township is having furloughs to save money
Lakewood……….
Actually everyday is a typical workday for the PD and Public Works may be cheaper because they will be cleaning Friday morning on regular time instead of overtime on Sat.
a little respect for the mayor he is an upstanding indivdual who can be trusted at his word!
thats who you want to compare us to? Our mayor brought in a zero increase budget while those towns blew up their budgets and have to force 10% pay cuts on employees indefinitely until they catch up. Celebrate your leadership, they are delivering for you. and yes, July 4th fireworks is a tradition in Lakewood and has been done in the worst of times and the best.
#4 The mayor did save you money this year he reduced the EMS pay by 30 % and is having them pay 7.5% of their insurance.
Ridiculous, July 4 is an important day and either have fireworks that day or don’t have them, July 1 is just a stupid idea. If we don’t have the funds for it, we can’t have it – time to face reality. Why no one approached businesses for sponsorship I’ll never understand.
I still say we should get someone (Blueclaws) to sponsor the fireworks and not cost us anything!
im confused, every year it has been on july 3rd which is not independence as much as july 1st is not so if it saves us even half of what he says it does then why not????
do it July 4th or don’t do them at all. I’m sick of us not having them on July 4th for “reasons”
This is not the first time it was done on another day then July 4th for financial reasons.
I think this time Steve is trying to take the credit where its not his……..
How about some of the store owners in Lakewood donating some money for the fireworks?
#10 YOU ARE 100% CORRECT——#12 YOU ARE 100% ALSO
STOP THESE FIRE WORKS NOW——-JULY 4TH OR NEVER
IF YOU DONT MAKE CHANGES IN THIS COUNTRY BY NOV. 2010 YOU CAN KISS THIS COUNTRY GOOD-BYE——–AND SAY FAREWELL TO JULY 4TH
How about the township committee giving up those health benefits in exchange for some July 4th fireworks – Fire works on the Fourth in Lakewood was always a big deal for many years. Very sad to see this USA tradition watered down to nothing like so many other things. This country needs a big kick in the pants.
Lets build another muster area! O wait we tried that twice.
My Friends and I ( Proud AMERICANS) celebrate our freedom on the Fourth JULY Do the day right- find the money -or dont do it at all.
the store owners in lakewood are literaly just hanging on to stay open. look at the downtown area and you will understand why no one wants to shop there. there is no foot traffic and no events that take place at the strand or the stadium bring people to visit any of the stores to generate sales or local tax revenues.
so dont ask them for a donation.
plenty oh holidays ie memorial or pres. day are pushed off or back so it can be on a weekend
JULY 4th is a special holiday, fireworks or cancell all together it doesnt make sense juiy1 is irrelevant
JD read the rules stop using caps!! We can see lower case just as easy.
So are we going to read that Chanukah is now being celebrated in October and Christmas will be celebrated with Thanksgiving. I guess we can change things to whenever we want in Lakewood!!!!! What a wonderful world.
To 19 – Anonymous says:
“…the store owners in lakewood are literaly just hanging on to stay open. look at the downtown area and you will understand why no one wants to shop there…”
And who are the store owners? And who are the town fathers who run the town? Why don’t the store owners demand the town fathers do something?
Who decided that the way to celebrate july 4th is with expensive fireworks. There are many other ways to celebrate. I don’t think that fireworks are the main part of july 4th and anyone that thinks it is probably doesn’t know what we even celebrate on july 4th.
#22 ok——im sooooo sorry
Fireworks on the 1st just does not make any sense….The celebration is the 4th. Years ago it was an all day event at the lake with boats, BBQ, concerts and the fireworks were the finale’ WHAT HAPPENED…. Politics, Politics, Politics. Just
Cancel them and save the money…. Everyone will be somewhere on the 4th celebrating either way. Or have them on the 4th and ask all business owners to contribute. That’s what Toms River is doing. Everyone in this town should celebrate the 4th of July. Its the day we broke from England so we could govern ourselves and worship the way we wanted to. I mean everyone comes out and watches them maybe these local yeshivas,churches, and businesses could donate.The more we slowly faze things out the harder it will be to get them back.
Someone said that July 1 is Canadian Independence Day?? Why are we going to celebrate that..we are not Canadians..if you want to celebrate that fine but do not include the entire town in that celebration. I am not Canadian, I appreciate the celebrations of July 4th. That is the day of Independence for our country. If you can not respect that..then you should go back to Canada. Let us have our day of celebration in NJ and the US, having it early is just ridiculous. Nice way of telling everyone else in this town that someone thinks another country is more important than ours..WTG