Turning Green?”>Brownfields: Turning Green?
Corrections or additions?
Survival Guide
These articles by Peter J. Mladineo and Barbara Fox were
in U.S. 1 Newspaper on February 11, 1998. All rights reserved.
Top Of PageNetvertising: Yea or Nay?
When it comes to law, Israel D. Dubin is
considered
something akin to “Mr. Ethics.” He is counsel for three major
policy-setting legal organizations in the state, the Advisory
Committee
on Professional Ethics, Committee on Attorney Advertising, and
Committee
on the Unauthorized Practice of Law.
The Mercer County Bar Association hosts Dubin Wednesday, February
18. Call 609-585-6200. Dubin’s topic: advertising on the Internet,
or “netvertising.”
For those interested in the slings and arrows of attorney advertising,
Dubin’s opinion “carries a lot of weight,” says Hanan
Isaacs,
a Ewing Street-based attorney renowned for his successful campaign
to liberalize the state’s attorney advertising regulations in the
1980s. Law firms, Isaacs explains, have traditionally adhered to a
much stricter set of advertising standards than other types of
businesses.
By law their advertisements are required to be “predominately
informational,” and must be void of “techniques that rely
upon absurdity and that demonstrate a clear and intentional lack of
relevance to the selection of counsel, including any extreme portrayal
of counsel exhibiting characteristics clearly unrelated to legal
competence.”
Televised attorney advertisements aren’t allowed to use “drawings,
animations, dramatizations, music, or lyrics.” The Internet, says
Isaacs, could be construed as something in between print and
television,
but the rule has yet to be written.
Isaacs wonders whether his own website, which employs miniature gavels
and other icons as symbolic decorations, would make the cut if the
ossified advertising standards currently in place were applied to
the ‘Net. “Is that an animation?” he asks. “I did what
I thought was tasteful and dignified on my website. Is it not in the
eye of the beholder? We don’t know.”
The anti-ad school, Isaacs explains, dates back to 1905 when the
American
Bar Association became powerful enough to create “a monopoly on
information dissemination,” that precluded lawyers even from
wearing
nametags that identified them as lawyers. Then in the mid ’70s the
United States Supreme Court “opened the door a crack” and
began to allow very conservative ads in newspapers called
“tombstones”
that featured only the name of the firm, its specialty, and its prices
in plain typefaces.
But by the early ’80s, Isaacs and fellow attorney Robert Felmeister
challenged the system. “We came in at that point at the early
`80s and said that the federal court was more liberal than the New
Jersey Supreme Court,” he says. The case got the New Jersey
Supreme
Court to “liberalize” the attorney advertising laws, but
“not
to the point we wanted it to,” Isaacs recalls. The reason:
Robert
Wilentz, the state’s Chief Justice, who died last year. “The
late Chief Justice was really down on lawyer advertising — as
permitting people to showcase their firm in a way that was perhaps
misleading,” Isaacs says.
But Isaacs thinks more liberalized attitudes towards attorney
advertising
will carry over onto the ‘Net. “Twelve years has gone by since
that opinion,” he says. “There may be a less-fearful
perception
of the marketplace. In fact there have not been a glut of clowny ads
on TV.”
“I don’t expect there to be a big fuss over it like there was
15 years ago. It hasn’t been like people have been rushing to the
barricade to create distasteful advertising.”
— Peter J. Mladineo
Top Of PageBrownfields: Turning Green?
If you’ve ever heard the word “brownfields”
and wondered what it meant, think of this: “brownfields” is
a politically correct term for eyesores. It refers to the state’s
profusion of “abandoned or underutilized, often contaminated
industrial
properties” — the things that gave New Jersey its “armpit
of the nation” handle. Currently the Garden State still has
roughly
9,000 of them left.
The word “brownfields” summons similar fears from investors,
says Stephen Nobel of Kemper Environmental in Forrestal Village,
who speaks at the Industrial/Commercial Real Estate Women on
Thursday,
February 12, at 5:30 p.m. at the Woodbridge Sheraton. Cost: $35. Call
973-238-8100, extension 19, for information.
But those fears are disproportionate to the risks, Nobel reports.
“The term `brownfields’ has been a real problem in the
marketplace,”
he says. “It seems to have taken a connotation that’s much worse
than it is. My goal is to demystify what it takes to address sites
like this. There are sites out there that are bad and there’s not
a lot you can do with them, but the large majority of them are doable,
provided you take certain steps.”
One of those steps is to buy environmental insurance, Nobel suggests.
“It is designed to pick up the risks on the edges of a deal.
Insurance
provides for what I call the environmental surprises. For example,
if you’re developing a site and you hit buried drums.”
A good policy will also absorb third party claims related to
contamination
issues at a site, as well as contract damages, legal defense costs,
and business interruption. Nobel attests that these types of policies
have been the popular sellers of late. “I can testify that my
life is made very busy by this,” he says. “The demand is
high.”
State and federal echelons of government have also enlisted their
support. In describing the City of Trenton’s overhaul of the mammoth
Hill Refrigeration site (U.S. 1, February 4), Trenton’s director of
economic development James Harveson reported that the federal
government was willing to commit $1 million to help fix the complex’s
roads, lighting, and drainage. “Everyone wants to get on the
brownfields
bandwagon,” he said. “It’s the latest fad in urban
redevelopment.”
Eager to attract new businesses and not have any more industrial firms
leave the state, Christie Whitman signed a new bill, the
Brownfield
and Contaminated Site Remediation Act, in early January. Among other
things, this law will promote redevelopment projects that will, in
turn, create more jobs and ratables.
The new law’s most important provision is a covenant not-to-sue, which
protects “innocent” persons who undertake a site remediation.
This means: if you purchased a brownfield and undertook site
remediation,
the government will not sue you if an environmental problem that
existed
before you purchased the site arises.
“I anticipate it’s going to be an important tool because in
brownfields
redevelopment there are three major areas, liability is one of
them,”
says Stuart J. Lieberman, an attorney with Goldshore & Wolf,
the Plainsboro Road-based environmental law firm.
This covenant says if a developer remediates a property up to certain
standards and is “truly an innocent,” the state of New Jersey
will not hold the developer liable if a previously existing
environmental
hazard is later discovered.
“In order to qualify as an innocent party you have to undertake
certain amounts of due diligence before you make the purchase,”
says Lieberman. “Generally if you do due diligence and there’s
contamination you will find it. We generally say nobody is innocent,
as defined by the regulations.”
The law also “liberalizes” required clean-up levels, Lieberman
adds. “There are many instances where no clean-up is going to
be required,” he says. “And there are other less-than
permanent-remedies
that will be allowable in certain industries.” Another area to
benefit is funding. “There are now more public monies available
in the government’s loan grant program,” says Lieberman.
But perhaps the most significant improvement the bill seeks to make
is to increase New Jersey’s regional competitiveness. Pennsylvania
made similar allowances last year in its Act 2 legislation. “If
someone is looking to move into New Jersey or Pennsylvania, the laws
are very similar,” he says. “We don’t have a handicap
anymore.”
— Peter J. Mladineo
Top Of PageHiring Without Fear
A common fear among employers, says Carol
Schnitzler
of WiderViews, is that they don’t want to hire because they won’t
be able to fire. If they hire a disabled employee and it doesn’t work
out, they believe the worker could use the Americans with Disabilities
Act to file a lawsuit. (Under the ADA, a worker can indeed sue an
employer who does not make appropriate accommodations for the workers’
disability.)
Nevertheless, hiring and firing a disabled person does not have to
be different from hiring and firing anyone else, Schnitzler insists:
“No one should be hired just because they have a disability. Don’t
hire anyone who can’t do the job.”
Her answer to the employer who is afraid of firing: If it turns out
that the worker can’t do the job, the supervisor must simply follow
the usual procedures for getting rid of an employee — keep good
records and document the work, being very clear about expectations
and having measurable objectives.
Schnitzler will speak at the Alliance for the Disabled at the
Princeton
YWCA on Tuesday, February 17, at 2 p.m. The meeting is free. Call
609-497-2100. Preregistration is recommended. In discussing employment
issues and other areas of disability related disputes, she will
present
an alternative to lawsuits: Mediation.
“Mediation is a newer, kinder approach to the resolution of
disagreements
large and small between people with disabilities and other
parties,”
says Schnitzler, a certified mediator. A trained mediator serves as
a neutral third party who provides a nonconfrontational setting,
facilitates
communication between the parties, keeps the parties focused on the
issues, helps them to create practical solutions, and records and
witnesses any agreements reached.
Among the examples she will cite: accommodation and access issues
involving a merchant, a college administrator, and a health care
provider.
She will also discuss resolving a complaint already filed with the
Department of Justice or the EEOC under the Americans with
Disabilities
Act. These individuals, for instance, sought mediation and were able
to achieve a satisfactory solution:
A woman who is deaf. Despite her request for a qualifiedsign language interpreter, she was not provided one by the hospitalwhere she was treated.A customer in a restaurant where the rest rooms were notaccessible and the owners were unwilling to make any reasonableaccommodation.A parent of a disabled son who was denied a summerrecreationprogram, though programs were available to his peers.An employee returning to work after becoming disabled;he was not given the opportunities for advancement that he thoughthe deserved.An employer of a worker who uses a wheelchair who wasno longer willing to accept the employee’s poor performance and badattitude.Schnitzler grew up in New York City, went to Hunter College,taught school, and raised three children. As a reaction to a familymember’s disability, she made it her mission “to help people tosee beyond the disability to the person.” With a state grant shetaught parents to run “More Alike than Different,” adisabilityawareness program for third graders. In 1981 when the disabilityawarenessmovement was just starting, her first client was IBM in Dayton, andher practice spread. During the 1980s awareness grew, and the ADAlaw passed in 1990. Title I was effective in 1992, and in 1994 itapplied even to smaller businesses, those with 15 or more employees.She has expanded her practice from just training to consulting andmediation and can just as easily be on management side as on theemployeeside.Still, though the ADA now legislates acceptance, Schnitzler says thatmost people are still not comfortable with people with disabilities:”We made curb cuts, but not cuts in our belief system.” Andthough the ADA law is in the books, interpretations vary widely.”I understand people’s frustration with the law as not specificenough,” she says. “That’s also the beauty of the law –because you have to look at each individual person.”Top Of PageClockwatching CaregiversNinety-five percent of the people who qualify to bein nursing homes are actually cared for at home, says Michael L.Rosenthal.”This has great impact on the workplace. It affects the employees’work. People who were never absent before start missing days. Or theybecome clock watchers,” he warns.Rosenthal will lead a series of interactive support/group seminarsfor caregivers and potential caregivers. Introductory 90-minutesessions,entitled “Key Concepts for Dealing with the Concerns of Your AgingParents,” are scheduled on Thursday, February 19, in six timeperiods — 9 and 11 a.m. and 1, 3, 6, and 8 p.m. A similar seriesis scheduled for Thursday, February 26. The cost is $15. Preregisterat 609-921-1782.Just like those who have children but work fulltime, workers who haveelderly parents at home never know what they will encounter afterwork.”I know quite well the concerns people have,” says Rosenthal.For a dozen years he had been a caregiver to his own parents. Oncehe came home to find his aged father had gone down to the cellar andmoved all the heavy power tools around. Another time he found hismother screaming, standing in the middle of the kitchen, clutchinga teapot full of boiling water, unable to hold it but not able tofind a place to put it down.”Although one cannot deny a diagnosis, one can and should go togreat lengths to defy any and all negativity — and this includesthe effects of aging both on the elderly and their caregivers.Attitudeis vitally important in confronting all issues,” he says, “andbeing positive can be significantly instrumental in creating positivephysical outcomes — and additional feelings of strength andwell-being.”He quotes the late Viktor Frankel, the Auschwitz survivor andphilosopher,who believed that if one has a purpose in life, one can surviveanything.”Give your parent a purpose for what they can do right now. Tellthem you have to get a mailing out, and give them the stamps to puton your letters. Keep it in the moment: `That’s your job rightnow.'”Rosenthal has a variety of degrees and a myriad of experiences thathe draws on for his counseling and social work practice. He grew upin Trenton where his father was a teacher and his mother a bookkeeper,went to George Washington University (Class of 1963), earned amaster’sdegree from American University in education, taught junior highschoolin Trenton, earned a second master’s degree in guidance and counselingfrom Rider, then worked as a counselor at Nottingham High, and earnedhis Ed.D. from Rutgers.In 1976 Rosenthal opened his own practice, first in Pennington, andthen in Lawrenceville. “I was one of the first career counselorsback then,” he says. He went back to school yet one more timeto get a master’s degree in social work from the Wurzweiler Schoolof Social Work at Yeshiva University.”I work with people in anything that they and I feel I can helpwith — careers, relationships, children having problems in school.I have taken on the two specialties, elderly parents and childrenhaving problems in school because I have much experience withthem.”Just as a toddler has a dream of going to kindergarten, the elderlyparent sometimes thinks he should be back in the workplace. “Ina way it is like caring for a young child,” says Rosenthal.”Youfind your father up at 3 a.m. getting dressed, saying he is goingto work. This is a problem: He has no work and it is 3 a.m.”Instead of imparting the harsh reality, use validity therapy, hesuggests.”Work with where they are emotionally. Instead of saying, `Youdon’t have any work,’ say, `You can take the day off today.'”Top Of PageSun’s Papadopoulos at RutgersLearn about linear programming and progress toward awireless Internet when Rutgers’ computer science department hostsan open house on Friday, February 13, at 9 a.m. in the CoRE buildingon Rutgers’ Busch campus in Piscataway. The free program will includetalks, project demonstrations, and laboratory tours.The keynote speaker: Greg Papadopoulous, chief technologyofficerof Sun Microsystems, a California-based computer industry giant thatdonated much of the equipment in the new program. The program focuseson the design, development, and deployment of advanced Internet andWorld Wide Web systems.”Our new Internet Technology Initiative establishes Rutgers asthe place to study Internet, both for network technologists and thoseworking in technology management,” says Tomasz Imielinski,chairman of the computer science department and director of theinitiative.He teaches courses in database systems and networking technology andis known for research in mobile and wireless computing and databasemining.With the technology transfer program, Rutgers students and facultycan use the facilities to establish new high-tech businesses in thestate. The initiative includes an Internet Technology Laboratory aswell as an Internet Telephony Laboratory for development of softwaretools for Internet access with a telephone interface enhanced withspeech recognition capabilities.It also offers new certificate programs in network technology andnetwork technology management.Born in Gdansk, Poland, the birthplace of the Solidarity movement,Imielinski also plays lead guitar for a Rutgers faculty heavy metalband, the Professors. “Some of my students try to get independentstudies in mobile computing by telling me what instrument theyplay,”he said (U.S. 1, September 24).Previous StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
