SEVEN TENTHS

Seven tenths of a mile won’t get you very far. On the border of Rockaway Borough and Rockaway Township however, it will get you around Park Lake. More than just taking you through two adjacent towns that paved seven tenths of a mile brings two communities together.

Constructed in 2001-2002 as a joint project between Rockaway Borough and Rockaway Township and with the support of the Rockaway Rotary Club, the Park Lake pathway is a perfect example of a community service project well planned, well executed and well used.

Pavement by its nature is inert. On its own accord, it doesn’t go anywhere and certainly doesn’t do anything. But pouring seven tenths of a mile of pavement around Park Lake has created something of value that is active and alive.

Towns by definition are communities but as the world has progressed our communities no longer have to be our towns. Moving physically from house to car to work to school and back to house again and now digitally through cellular phones and the Internet, we have the luxury to define community however we want. Our communities could certainly be our next-door neighbors but then again, we aren’t required to know their names.

The Park Lake pathway counters this trend and brings contact back to human connection and interaction. Converting a marginal space, the edge of the lake, into a focal point it allows people to congregate, to walk, to run and to exercise. In doing so, the pathway offers the place and creates the opportunity to share in each other’s daily lives. Effectively, it turns a dead zone between two towns into a cohesive communal hub. All that out of seven tenths of a mile of pavement.

Spring and summer would be the obvious choice to demonstrate how well used Park Lake pathway is. The days are long, the weather agreeable and people tend to be outside. On the contrary, it is the dead of winter which shows the true value of the project. Despite the short days, frigid and otherwise unmerciful weather, people, a dedicated few albeit, still come out to walk, run and enjoy that seven tenths of a mile of pavement. When lampposts were added a few years ago, even darkness could no longer keep people away. In short, the use of Park Lake pathway is not a restricted, seasonal activity but has become part and parcel of daily, community life.

Passing by and counting the number of pedestrians quickly shows the popularity of the path but how can the impact of the Park Lake pathway be quantified? After nearly eight years of existence what is the return on investment?

Although the social benefits of the project cannot be given a dollar amount, current value of the path far exceeds the initial $100,000 cost of construction. Instead the Park Lake pathway can be measured in the number of foot steps taken, laps clocked, dogs walked, conversations had, acquaintances made, friendships created, rekindled and resurrected. It can be calculated in as many heartbeats, exercise routines accomplished and appreciative views of the beauty of our hometown recorded.

The Park Lake pathway is a true community service project success story. With an appropriate amount of infrastructure investment, Rockaway Borough and Rockaway Township have identified and addressed a felt need of the local population. With equal and equitable access for all to its use two towns have created one community.

Community is exactly how we choose to define it, being conscious of this point, lets get out there and walk our seven tenths of a mile of pavement.

HOMELAND SECURITY

When you travel: You must suspend Real Time. You are on a Travel Time.

Airports are lonely, impatient and irritable affairs. They are one off destinations. Intermediate transit points between home and away. We all have to use them to get where we want to go but never want to stay longer than we absolutely need to.

There is a shared and futile desire to “do the airport” on our time rather than on their time. But to be honest, airport transit from car side to planeside as always been a fallacy.
Instead, increasingly long lines and indeterminable wait times at a series of intermediary check points are the norm.

The efficacy of the majority of these checkpoints can undoubtedly be improved but some, such as clearing customs and security are of utmost importance and need to be taking with a degree of patience.

Two weeks ago I returned home at midnight to Newark International Airport after spending a year abroad in Istanbul, Turkey as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar.

Traveling often I have come to enjoy the initial albeit brusque “Welcome Back” given by the Homeland Security Officer as he/she stamps me back into the country.

This time however, instead of my anticipated homecoming, I got a scrutinizing second look, a double check of my passport and a forceful, curt command to “follow me.”

Much to the chagrin of the weary travelers waiting in the long line behind me, the Homeland Security Officer escorted me into the backroom of the Homeland Security Office.

As he filed away my passport he told me to sit down and left without another word.

While waiting less than patiently the twenty minutes for my name to be called, there was a Polish woman being questioned via a translator about over staying her tourist visa and another man being asked about a prior arrest.

Note, in retelling this story I could have used terms interrogated and grilled to convey the actions of the Homeland Security Force.

They certainly could have been construed as such, but description is in the eye of the beholder. In this case, tired, travel worn passengers not privileged to the full story of their detainment being delayed at midnight. Not an ideal situation of which to paint a rosy and fond memory.

Upon being called, the on duty officer asked what I had been doing abroad for the entire year. I explained that as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar I had been learning Turkish and performing community service projects in Istanbul, Turkey.
Clearing up this misapprehension I was stamped back into the US without any further ado. Curiosity getting the best of me, I paused, turned and asked the office, why, even though I was an American citizen, returning home had been stopped.

We were just doing our job he responded. Being gone for an entire year came up as irregular and unique in our system and we wanted to make sure that everything was legitimate.

That, as I walked out, was a fair enough reason and I thanked him for it.

Twenty minutes is twenty minutes and we have all whiled away countless hours of our lives without a second thought. However, once at the airport, whether running to catch a flight or see loved one’s, taking away twenty minutes of our time to becomes a personal affront.

We ask, rather expect Homeland Security to keep us safe at all time and from every possible threat and yet, when our safety inconveniences our lives, we are the first to cry foul. Safety and Efficiency are not mutually exclusive but they can only be equated with a healthy degree of patience.