Post office update

Just in from the MVA:

Site clearing and fencing in preparation for demolition of the old Post Office building is set to begin Monday morning, May 9. Lot clearing will start Monday, followed by site fencing. Once the fencing is in place demolition will begin. We will forward the official Township notice(s) with more details as we receive them, and we encourage you to sign up for Township emails, text alerts and social media notices here: http://www.twp.maplewood.nj.us/index.aspx?nid=608

Shopper Parking and New Promotions
During construction the Village Alliance will be adding new promotions and related messaging to support business in the Village. Toward that end we have created a "Shopper Parking Map" (attached). We will be sending this out via email and posting online. We ask that you also use this to let your customers know where to park during construction. You can print the PDF version or use jpeg versions online. 

We are adding a page to our website dedicated to Village Happenings during construction. Please send us any information you'd like posted. This can be anything you have going on, such as: new menu items, new merchandise, trunk shows, exhibits, specials, sales, etc. We will update this information every Thursday. Please send the information exactly as you'd like it to appear and limit it to one sentence (include any disclaimers). We'll be working to drive traffic to this webpage via social media and email
blasts.

Expanded Merchant Parking
We have worked with the Township to add over 40 spaces to the Merchant Parking overlay zones during construction. As soon as the new parking signs are posted we will be forwarding this plan/map to you for you and your employees. And best of all, all merchant parking passes will be free to Village merchants and their employees during construction. Passes can be picked up at the Township Clerks office with proof of employment beginning Monday. Watch for details and a map that includes these new spaces coming soon.

Will there be access to the drive-thru mail box?

Oh, they're opening the lot behind the Burgdorff! Isn't that usually reserved for merchant parking?

The destruction of the old Post Office has begun.  The parking spaces facing the building were blocked off. Strangely people were walking along the path going to the train station

Now a crew is taking down the row of bushes.

I understand the roof will go first

Followed by the four walls.

No editorial comment..............make your own

author said:

Strangely people were walking along the path going to the train station

Nothing strange about people walking on a public sidewalk and entering the still-open tunnel.  

ml1 said:

author said:

Strangely people were walking along the path going to the train station

Nothing strange about people walking on a public sidewalk and entering the still-open tunnel.  

It is if the adjacent bushes are being cut down with power equiptment

Path is now closed and bushes are mulch

So, did someone figure out how to profit from the post office demolition?

"Inside, construction workers were jackhammering the floor in search of a crawl space that could contain remnants of the former 1869-era schoolhouse that once occupied the site (and also functioned for a time as town hall) and/or other historical artifacts.

The workers were performing the search prior to beginning wholesale demolition of the mid-century building to make way for a new multi-story mixed use development that will house 20 apartments and five new retail spaces.

When Maplewood Mayor Vic DeLuca ventured in around 10:15 a.m., workers reported “just dirt so far.”
“We are looking for any pieces of the structure that may remain and any artifacts that may have been left at the site,” said Maplewood resident Inda Sechzer, who has led the charge to excavate the space. Developer Joe Forgione agreed to the special dig after Sechzer brought the issue to the Township during the planning process."

http://villagegreennj.com/towns/lies-beneath-looking-historical-artifacts-maplewood-post-office/#prettyphoto[group]/2/

Good grief.

Looking for these?

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/apr/29/massive-haul-ancient-roman-coins-unearthed-spain

I'm told it may contain a secret stash of jars of Gruning's hot fudge.

bramzzoinks said:

So, did someone figure out how to profit from the post office demolition?

"Inside, construction workers were jackhammering the floor in search of a crawl space that could contain remnants of the former 1869-era schoolhouse that once occupied the site (and also functioned for a time as town hall) and/or other historical artifacts.

The workers were performing the search prior to beginning wholesale demolition of the mid-century building to make way for a new multi-story mixed use development that will house 20 apartments and five new retail spaces.



When Maplewood Mayor Vic DeLuca ventured in around 10:15 a.m., workers reported “just dirt so far.”
“We are looking for any pieces of the structure that may remain and any artifacts that may have been left at the site,” said Maplewood resident Inda Sechzer, who has led the charge to excavate the space. Developer Joe Forgione agreed to the special dig after Sechzer brought the issue to the Township during the planning process."

http://villagegreennj.com/towns/lies-beneath-looking-historical-artifacts-maplewood-post-office/#prettyphoto[group]/2/

I found another image from the PO excavation:

chortle

ml1 said:

I found another image from the PO excavation:

The mental image of Inda tromping around in the dirt with a spelunker helmet, rubber boots and magnifying glass while scouring the ground for pottery shards had me literally laughing out loud on the quiet car last night. Sorry, fellow quiet car riders. 

I think we should halt demolition post haste and set up a discernible archaeological excavation site.  If, as ancient alien theorists believe, this site holds what we believe it holds, it's quite possible that this site holds the most important discovery in the history of mankind, if not the known universe. 

agbarganza said:

chortle

ml1 said:

I found another image from the PO excavation:

They found Capone's opera records.  But they were all scratched.

Robert_Casotto said:

I think we should halt demolition post haste and set up a discernible archaeological excavation site.  If, as ancient alien theorists believe, this site holds what we believe it holds, it's quite possible that this site holds the most important discovery in the history of mankind, if not the known universe. 

Cue: Also Sprach Zarathustra

I for one think it's worth taking a look to see if there are any remnants from the old school house there while the site is open. They can be removed and cleaned and kept at the Durand Hedden House, and it would be very cool to go see them.

Having said that, unless, yes, we find something this it shouldn't impede the removal and replacement of the old post office.

All kidding aside, it would be cool if there was something meaningful found on the PO site.  But the chances that librarians actually left anything of historical value behind when they cleared out of the site is pretty slim.

ridski said:

I for one think it's worth taking a look to see if there are any remnants from the old school house there while the site is open. They can be removed and cleaned and kept at the Durand Hedden House, and it would be very cool to go see them.

Having said that, unless, yes, we find something this it shouldn't impede the removal and replacement of the old post office.

http://www.snopes.com/humor/letters/smithsonian.asp

Paleoanthropology Division

Smithsonian Institute

207 Pennsylvania Avenue

Washington, DC 20078

Dear Sir: 

Thank you for your latest submission to the Institute, labeled "211-D, layer seven, next to the clothesline post. Hominid skull." We have given this specimen a careful and detailed examination, and regret to inform you that we disagree with your theory that it represents "conclusive proof of the presence of Early Man in Charleston County two million years ago." Rather, it appears that what you have found is the head of a Barbie doll, of the variety one of our staff, who has small children, believes to be the "Malibu Barbie". It is evident that you have given a great deal of thought to the analysis of this specimen, and you may be quite certain that those of us who are familiar with your prior work in the field were loathe to come to contradiction with your findings. However, we do feel that there are a number of physical attributes of the specimen which might have tipped you off to it's modern origin: 

1. The material is molded plastic. Ancient hominid remains are typically fossilized bone.

2. The cranial capacity of the specimen is approximately 9 cubic centimeters, well below the threshold of even the earliest identified proto-hominids.

3. The dentition pattern evident on the "skull" is more consistent with the common domesticated dog than it is with the "ravenous man-eating Pliocene clams" you speculate roamed the wetlands during that time. This latter finding is certainly one of the most intriguing hypotheses you have submitted in your history with this institution, but the evidence seems to weigh rather heavily against it. Without going into too much detail, let us say that:

A. The specimen looks like the head of a Barbie doll that a dog has chewed on.

B. Clams don't have teeth.

It is with feelings tinged with melancholy that we must deny your request to have the specimen carbon dated. This is partially due to the heavy load our lab must bear in it's normal operation, and partly due to carbon dating's notorious inaccuracy in fossils of recent geologic record. To the best of our knowledge, no Barbie dolls were produced prior to1956 AD, and carbon dating is likely to produce wildly inaccurate results. Sadly, we must also deny your request that we approach the National Science Foundation's Phylogeny Department with the concept of assigning your specimen the scientific name "Australopithecus spiff-arino." Speaking personally, I, for one, fought tenaciously for the acceptance of your proposed taxonomy, but was ultimately voted down because the species name you selected was hyphenated, and didn't really sound like it might be Latin. 

However, we gladly accept your generous donation of this fascinating specimen to the museum. While it is undoubtedly not a hominid fossil, it is, nonetheless, yet another riveting example of the great body of work you seem to accumulate here so effortlessly. You should know that our Director has reserved a special shelf in his own office for the display of the specimens you have previously submitted to the Institution, and the entire staff speculates daily on what you will happen upon next in your digs at the site you have discovered in your back yard. We eagerly anticipate your trip to our nation's capital that you proposed in your last letter, and several of us are pressing the Director to pay for it. We are particularly interested in hearing you expand on your theories surrounding the "trans-positating fillifitation of ferrous ions in a structural matrix" that makes the excellent juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex femur you recently discovered take on the deceptive appearance of a rusty 9-mm Sears Craftsman automotive crescent wrench. 

Yours in Science, 

Harvey Rowe
Curator, Antiquities

Someone mocked up an Onion article to look just like the Village Green. Good work!

Just be careful what you pick up....

Well maybe an archaeological excavation makes some sense. We found old tools in our yard in Maplewood, such as an old hammer. Who knows, maybe they'll find a rake or something.

imonlysleeping said:

The mental image of Inda tromping around in the dirt with a spelunker helmet, rubber boots and magnifying glass while scouring the ground for pottery shards had me literally laughing out loud on the quiet car last night. Sorry, fellow quiet car riders. 

Inda was dressed quite fashionably yesterday in a sort of Mexican Pancho and looked like she was going out for the evening.   I have investigated 100's of crawl spaces and eaten a ton of dirt.

Glad you had a good laugh 

Pretty sure anything significant would have been found when they put up the large building that's currently sitting on the site. The developer's patience with this endless stream of silliness is admirable, I must say. 

author said:

Inda was dressed quite fashionably yesterday in a sort of Mexican Pancho and looked like she was going out for the evening.   I have investigated 100's of crawl spaces and eaten a ton of dirt.

Glad you had a good laugh

dressed as a Mexican Pancho?

.

alias said:

.

A funny thing happens when you meet someone dressed in a different role

For years I was fortunate to to take classes from Dr. Austin Frischman.............a PHD entemologist

Naturally then he was dressed in a suit and tie

Eventually I found myself working in a 1,000,000 foot food warehouse

We bought and stored foodstuffs for a major supermarket chains

With one of our products there was a serious infestation of tiny insects called stored product pests

I worked with a microscope and powerful flashlight

The food vendor blamed my warehouse for the problem

We blamed them and hundreds of thousand of dollars in contracts were at stake

They kept on retainer Dr. Frischman to inspect and find the problem

He was called on to inspect our warehouse

When he showed up at the warehouse he was dressed in a jumpsuit,  hard hat, carrying his own small  

microscope and a flashlight the would reach the moon

He looked like something from outer space

When he greeted me as a long lost friend, which I was,  my boss breathed a sigh of relief

If I ate a ton of dirt in my time

He had eaten 10 times that amount

He was the best

Only dullards scoff at professionalism

Are you suggesting that Inda is a professional archeologist? And that a Mexican poncho is professional-archaeologist attire? Hmm.

imonlysleeping said:

Are you suggesting that Inda is a professional archeologist? And that a Mexican poncho is professional-archaeologist attire? Hmm.

Don't laugh too loud on a commuter train.  People will wonder how well you are grounded

Also apparently the builder had enough respect for her to open up the building and it sounds like provide a few workers to dig where necessary

Several civilizations are built on the remains of others

The area I stay on Aegina has a monument to Apollo and is said to contain as many as 7 strata

of earlier civilizations below it

To make light of the fact and facts surrounding our surroundings betrays a shallowness of thinking