About
the Website
The
First Year
On January 1, 2003, the
Livingston, New Jersey township established this website,
its first official presence on the worldwide web. The
site began with very basic information and has continued
to grow with the goal of providing useful, accurate,
up to date, and easy to find information for residents,
employees and visitors.
The address, www.livingstonnj.org,
was coined by Lt. Jeff Payne of the Livingston Police
Department for the PD's internal system.
The initial information
for this site was provided by Councilman Gary Schneiderman
along with the other Town Council members and Town Clerk
Glenn Turtletaub and his staff.
One of the site's first
purposes was to provide residents with notices about
public meetings, scheduling changes and copies of agendas.
Later I met
with Ronni Zuckerman and her staff in the recreation
department to add information about pool passes and
spring vacation programs for children. Security and travel
advisory links were suggested by Councilman Lee Peyser.
I also began to post news highlights on the home page
and added additional community
organization links.
The
Township Technology Committee (now called the Information
Technology and Management Committee) was started to
flesh out the web and assist the
town in other technology matters. Gary Schneiderman,
Lee Peyser, volunteer Jon-Marc Patton continued to help
shape
the content of the website.
In
March, we added Town Council member emails.
Highlights of news and events began to be archived on
the news page. Information about
many of the Township's committees was
published. A page for seniors,
with the assistance of senior citizen coordinator Kay
Whitman, was added.
In
April we added descriptions of the Planning and Zoning Boards
and information about Spring and Summer Recreation programs.
I developed pages for the 8th annual Youth
Appreciation Week thanks to the efforts of co-chairperson
Barbara Long and the wonderful flyers by member Sherry
Rappaport. Health Officer Louis Anello, nursing supervisor
and I met to develop content and useful forms for the health pages.
In
May and June, a number of town offices were wired with
email using the livingstonnj.org address. The front page
was redesigned to make special events, such as Youth
Appreciation Week, more prominent. Les Davidson sent
a list of TV34 programs, and
we hope this will become an ongoing posting. Jon-Marc
Patton and the building
department developed many pages of content, including
processes and forms, to assist residents when working
with construction.
The
many July 4 activities, up to and including the fireworks,
were posted in July. Friends of
Livingston Dog Park held a park clean up and logo
contest which we added to the site. Information about
the Technical Review and Advisory Committee, and members
of the Planning and Zoning Boards, were also posted that
month.
In
July we added forms for requesting birth, marriage and
death certificates. Tara Jaeger provided lots of details
about the Recreation Department's exciting summer camp
programs. Lieutenant Payne provided information about
disaster planning, which is posted on the police page.
Information about houses of worship and recycling were
moved to the community links page.
The
site publicized the four Music under the Stars concerts
and the weekly Farmer's Markets, August listings for
TV34, and the Livingston Senior News for August and September.
We also posted the recreation department's fall programs
and news and photos of the summer outdoor center. I met
with the township youth coordinators,
Joyce Mazzarella and Andrea Ubaldi, to plan their pages,
which debuted on August 24. Click there to find out all
about Project Graduation, the Youth Advisory Committee,
and the TV34 show, Around Town.
It
was an honor to publicize and then publish pictures from
the dedication of the 9-11
Living Memorial Garden, in remembrance of the seven
Livingston residents who lost their lives on Sept. 11,
2001 - and the Healing Field of 1000 American flags at
the Salaam Shrine in Livingston.
The
fall brought us the opportunity to cover many events
that make Livingston special, such as Art at the Oval,
and to provide links to such organizations as our volunteer Fire
Department.
This
first year was one of planning, experimenting, and reaching
out to the many people and organizations that make our
community so robust.
Please
continue to contact us with
any questions or suggestions!
Sincerely,
Ellen
Lazer,
webmaster
December 2003
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