(for January to October, see The Observer Web site)November
We started off with a resolution being passed that will use state UEZ marketing funds to advertise Kearny’s business district on existing billboards throughout the area. The boards, to be created by CBS Outdoor Billboards and Displays in New York, came down $50,000 from the initial resolution.
After the Kearny UEZ board met and narrowed the list of existing billboard locations, they moved to have the budget not exceed $25,000 based on their findings in November. One of the sites is on Passaic Avenue near the railroad bridge. There are a few locations in Harrison, North Arlington and Belleville.
The town moved to acquire a parcel of land that’s for sale on Schuyler Avenue for inclusion in Kearny’s recreational spaces at Gunnell Oval. The parcel is 60-feet by 100-feet and includes a one-family brick house on it and is located on the right side of the entrance to popular spot for sport-related activities.
Our big bang story included Publisher Lisa Pezzolla and Kentucky Care founder, Gino Montrone’s trip to Hazard, Kentucky in order to meet up with the people from Knotts County. Three 50-foot tractor-trailers with over 200,000 pounds of food, toys, clothes and furniture would come to the valley the next day on Oct. 16. This year’s trip was the 16th for the Kentucky Care crew. Everybody loved Pezzolla with her love of freewheeling antics and her determination to work hard and make things as cheerful as possible. She made quite and impression on the mountain folks and Montrone had so much merchandize for the people who live there that some was given to local churches. The Kearny Rotary Club, The Kearny Firemen’s Mutual Benevolent Association and all the local residents who gave of their time and those who donated to the cause at The Observer did an incredible job, far exceeding initial expectations. Way to go dear readers!
The New Jersey Meadowlands Commission is getting even more inventive with their use of Kearny’s landfills. Ever since 1987, the Commission has been successfully converting methane gas into energy on neglected landfills throughout the meadowlands. Their most recent initiative with their renewable energy is to encourage businesses to cash in on the solar power that could be connected to Public Service Electric & Gas’ energy grid after safely closing the landfill. The program would help businesses in the meadowlands district be more energy efficient and recycle more. Interested companies would also be responsible for the designing, financing and operating of the solar array.
The collection of methane gas is good for the environment besides being a revenue source and the solar is continuing on top of that, if the Commission can get that initiative off the ground too. The idea of the solar array is similar to the technique used to put solar panels on the roofs of residences.
The panels are placed on the side of the landfill. They are interconnected and the power generated from them goes right up into the PSE&G grid. While the methane gas is taking something internally from the landfill, the solar array sits on top of the landfill at an angle. The landfill’s considerable acreage is necessary to make the solar arrays more profitable. These large tracts of open land are something that no one wants to put a building on.
The Eire landfill is all in North Arlington and the 1-E landfill is half North Arlington and half Kearny. The entire 1-E landfill is 400 acres and the Eire is 30 acres.
The goal of the Commission doing all the background work is to find out how the initiative is going to play out. Maturano said that there are a considerable amount of companies interested in the proposal. Since solar is the big new wave of creating environmentally sound economic opportunities.
Our big controversy story of the month was when we intimated that Something does not quite add up in the once prosperous coffers of St. Anthony’s Roman Catholic Church in East Newark. Elizabeth McInnis, a parishioner for the last 60 years and a trustee to the church for the last 10 years is calling mismanagement of once solvent, debt-free parish. Even though all she wants is to have a look at the books and find a way to save her church the archdiocese was pretty feisty about deflecting the questions and protecting the exact numbers.
McInnis said she has watched the compact but dignified church go from its usually solvent self to one with a meager account that is astonishing to believe. The 113 year-old-church had $434,000 in its account with the Archdiocese of Newark in 1999 and now have approximately $20,000 in it to date, according to the trustee. East Newark is a borough one-tenth of a square mile in total area with the population of approximately 2500 residents from a variety of ethic backgrounds or countries of origin. Most of the populous is married with children, according to a 2000 census. The median income was around $44,000 with a per capita income of $16,400.
Obviously the borough is not a wealthy one but composed of hard-working low- to middle class residents who contribute weekly. It is a faith-based community as it has always been. Some of its oldest parishioners have moved elsewhere but still send donations to the church. There was a lot of rebuttal and scuttlebutt and then the story disappeared as quickly as it arose, nasty letters to the publisher and all. Imagine that. Oh well, I like my Benedictines, so what’s a Catholic to do?
Domestic violence-related events took a terrible turn for the worst when Kearny resident Diego Leonardo Campoverde-Cabrera, 26, was arrested and charged with murder of Connecticut resident Andrea Catalina Reinoso-Bueno, 22, on Nov 15. at 9 Windsor Street in Kearny.
The autopsy report performed by the State Regional Medical Examiner’s Office in Newark on Monday afternoon. The cause of death, opined by the medical assistant examiner Dr. Edward Chmara, was asphyxia (suffocation) due to ligature strangulation.
The black cord recovered at the scene was consistent with the ligature marks on the victim’s neck. There were also recent wounds Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said, which included several contusions on the body, elbows, hand, and forearm. DeFazio said that the pair had been lovers for some time and the murdered woman would visit her lover regularly from Connecticut.
Bail was set at $500,000 cash for Campoverde-Cabrera.
Mayor Santos and members of the council walked to Town Hall for the dedication of the Town of Kearny Memorial Hall located in the main entrance of the building. The Kearny Police Department and Honor Guard lined the steps of Town Hall and members of the Kearny Fire Department lined the sidewalks under the giant American flag flying from the extended ladder of Ladder Tower 2 on Veteran’s Day.
A short ceremony and speech by Mayor Santos preceded the ribbon cutting and the public was invited inside. The renovation and remodeling was a project two years in the making. The hall’s original design held bronze plaques honoring veterans from World War I and World War II, Korea and Vietnam was the hall itself was dark and institutional looking.
The redesigned look is brighter and well lit, emblems representing all branches of the service adorn one wall, the bronze plaques have been cleaned and moved higher up the wall to make room for two additional granite plaques, one is dedicated to Kearny resident Rev. Lt. Vincent Robert Capodanno, recipient of the Medal of Honor, killed in action September 1967.
The plaque also holds the names of two residents awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the second highest award of the US Army. The actions that merit the award require extreme gallantry and risk of life in actual combat. Listed are Donald A. Pegg World War I and Rev. John P. Washington World War II. Also listed are seven residents killed in action and awarded the Silver Star from WWII and Vietnam and the thirteen residents killed in action who were awarded the Bronze Star.
Members of the Marine Corp Detachment, Nancy Waller and Theresa Ward, sisters of Bronze Star recipient Michael Branin Jr. killed in action in Vietnam, November 13, 1968, unveiled the granite plaques – always a sad but meaningful ceremony for the honored military men and women who paid the price for freedom.
On a bittersweet note in South Kearny on the day before Thanksgiving, the Skyway Diner, a place that has been a landmark closed its doors for good. The site of Sopranos filming for two episodes (Michael Imperioli as mobster Christopher Moltisant was shot there in one of them,) “Hysterical Blindness” with Uma Thurman as a divorced waitress was filmed there as well as an AT&T, Verizon and a Tums commercial.
After 40 years of doing business under the Pulaski Skyway Bridge, the customer-friendly eatery where no cursing or disrespect for women was ever allowed will be but a fond memory.
The owners, Helen and Pete Sotirhos, brought the diner in 1968 when it was a fraction of the size it is now. They have already sold the property and are retiring. The pair will remain in Paramus to be close to their children. Goodbye to a good thing. Wonder what will appear in its place? Stay tuned for developments as they occur.
December
We began the happy holiday month with a major story on the workings of the Hudson County Office of Emergency Management and its local part-time volunteer Battalion Chief James Woods, Harrison’s own. Hudson County OEM Coordinator Jack Burns said there’s quite a few projects and plans on the front burners for the county that includes Kearny, East Newark and Harrison. In some ways that’s good news and some ways it’s bad. The money for the projects comes from our attractiveness to terrorists as attack points.
Hudson County generally gets the largest portion of the state grant money there are more possible targets of risk and threat here than any other county in New Jersey. Our proximity to New York City, the various tunnels and bridges, transportation across the Hudson River, various chemical companies – specifically where we are located within the north/south and east/west corridor for the nation are key elements that make the area vulnerable to terrorist attacks.
With the continuing variety of natural and manmade catastrophe’s affect the world and the United States, the Office of Homeland Security is beefing up it’s knowledge and strategy for keeping our country safe in the event of an over the top emergency incident.
Hudson County usually gets the biggest pot of cash flow. The state and County Executive Tom DeGise will see to it that the funding is secured each year. There are three basic ways the federal government is putting money into Homeland Security and emergency management. Homeland security grants go to the state and are issued to the individual county office of emergency management, which is done by assessing threat vulnerability.
There is also a program called the Urban Area Security Initiative, aka UASI. Funding comes in through the federal government. There is an executive board comprised of representatives of seven counties along with Jersey City and Newark. The group meets and decides how that funding will be divided in order to secure the seven counties as a whole. In that area, there is 52 percent of the population and nearly 65 percent of the threat and risk targets in the entire state.
Currently, John Carnegie is chairing a study on evacuation through the Rutgers University De Voorhees Transportation Center. Burns is the UASI representative for the project. This is another way funds are dispensed into HLS.
The Regional Catastrophic Planning Group is a funding source from the federal government to help understand the impact on a regional basis that will affect the nation as a whole. Burns is the co-chair of the New Jersey UASI on the RCPG.
Battalion Chief Woods attends state interoperability planning and development meetings, which are responsible for the Public Safety Statewide New Jersey Interoperability System. This system allows first responders the ability to communicate regardless of what county or region they might be deployed to during a disaster. This is accomplished with UASI quick deployment vehicle, which can bring up the interoperability communications utilizing onboard cross band radio mixing equipment.
His team coordinates several multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional, Haz-Mat and weapons of mass destruction (WMD) chemical biological terrorism training exercises throughout the year, which are used to test and prepare our first responders throughout Hudson County.
For those frequenting the roads around these parts the month began with a one-two punch in the pocket just before the holiday season. The New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway hiked their toll fares on Dec. 1 in the state’s third attempt at a pressing but difficult problem – how to pay down New Jersey’s monstrous debt and find funds for urgent transportation projects. The current increase can be as much as 50 cents for each pass through the station depending on where you enter and where you exit on the two major arteries for area commuters. For example, the trip from Harrison to Elizabeth and back again is increased by 90 cents.
Let us now thank our lucky stars for the power of public outcry and our incapacitated economy.
After vehicles using the roads dropped, toll revenue dropped with it.
Since the Authority needs to show bondholders that it has enough in reserve to fulfill bond requirements, a workable plan was in order. Making those financial entities unhappy could potentially create a legal and financial mess for an already tainted state budget.
The plan (the third one this year) includes only the most urgent transportation projects as target goals for funding.
This includes the three additional lanes planned for the Turnpike between Exits 6 and 8A, and a third to the Parkway between Exits 63 and 80.
There are other, more concrete reasons for the raises. Those projects include widening the Turnpike below Exit 8 as well as adding lanes to the southern portion of the Parkway. The money also covers New Jersey's share of Access to the regions CORE ARC tunnel – the state is responsibility for the third passenger rail tunnel under the Hudson River.
The average turnpike trip today cost about $1.70 and tolls rate change according to peak hours and distance. To travel the full length of the turnpike has increased from $6.48 to $9.05 and the same trip during non-peak hours costs today $6.80.
More Harrison news includes a new building project proposal that is on the boards and moving along. The boarded up mixed-use building on 774 Harrison Avenue next to Harrison Gardens may soon be the site of 12 to 16 units of senior affordable housing. Mike Rodgers said that the Hudson County and the Town has been enthusiastic about the project.
Rodgers is executive director of the New Town Community Development Corporation, a non-profit corporation with a 5013c tax-exempt status from the federal government and is approved as a CHODO (Community Development Housing Organization) out of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Homes and Communities program.
Even though Rodgers is the executive director for the Harrison Housing Authority, that agency has nothing to do with the New Town Community Corporation, which as was said earlier is a non-profit agency. The HHA can’t, by law, be involved since they wouldn’t qualify for any funding that’s available for building affordable housing.
A group of volunteers formed the non-profit corporation with seed money for the County and met all designated requirements to have the ability to apply for funding by July 2006.
Site acquisition of the property is the first step. Once the agency has site control then financing for the construction can be applied for. Rodgers said the current owner is willing to sell and a price has been agreed upon and a contract is in hand.
There are a number of possibilities for financing with for senior affordable housing; one is the Tax Credit Financing of the New Jersey Home Program. The 225 program is part of the Office of Management and Budget Government within the HUD programs that define cost principle regulations.
The building will have to be demolished but the project is in its early stages with insurance and other preliminary necessities still in the works.
The Mayor and Town Council swore in three new members of The Kearny Fire Department, Dec. 9, at the regular town council meeting. As their families watched from the audience, Ron Protokwicz, Lorenzo Tirado and Damian Caceres took the oath and signed the registry to become the town’s newest firefighters. Kearny Fire Department Chief Steven Dyl presented their badges and spoke to the men of the family they now were part of.
In an ongoing battle over the lack of parking space with Kearny businesses near the West Hudson Park, Mayor Alberto Santos and the town council pretty much ended the desire of some business owners to make the open lot the town owns on Maple Street a municipal parking lot.
During the year’s end regular meeting, on Dec. 9, the mayor and council approved a resolution retaining William J. Stack, of the Belford firm of Stack and Stack LLC, to appraised the town property on Block 24, Lot C and submit a written report of its fair market value.
Once the market value of the Maple Street property is evaluated it may be auctioned to the highest bidder. Santos said the appraisal should be available in a month or two. He said a decision would be made as to the next move on the council’s part shortly thereafter. The site has not been advertised or marketed because the Town has not yet made a decision. End of story.
For holiday giving, the Foster and Adoptive Family Services (FAFS) of New Jersey through Resource Family Advocate Miguelina Nunez could give love and affection to foster children in transition. She works with the statewide advocacy agency for foster and adoptive parents. The organization plays an integral part in the development, training and support of the state’s resource parents both foster and adoptive needs.
There are approximately 25 foster families in Kearny. The goal of the state is to place children within the same area they live, however, due to the lack of foster homes children in Hudson County are placed where there are available slots. If there are relatives available and willing to care for the child, the children are placed out of their community with them.
This year their Annual Holiday Gift Drive was The Observer’s premier way to help those in need. Publisher Lisa Pezzolla found FAFS a compelling way to help those who are often forgotten during the holiday season.
During the Gift Holiday Drive, the goal of FAFS is to make sure that every child gets a toy for Christmas. This is not because it is their only piece of the holiday because they are in homes where they will celebrate but it’s a celebration where all the foster care children go to a big party and don’t have to feel different. The project was a success and once more the generosity of our readers proved bottomless. We can’t ever thank you enough.
We ended the year proper with some props for Harrison Deputy Chief Mike Green who among his many other duties is an instructor for The New Jersey State Police Chiefs Association’s Command & Leadership Academy. He had just finished giving the fourth part of the 13-week intensive program. The Academy allows mid- to upper management attend to become better at their job and maintaining equilibrium in their departments.
NJSACOP Public Information Officer Roman M. ‘Ray’ Martyniuk that the course said goes a long way toward the organization’s goal of providing law enforcement senior personnel with the skills and the training they need to be better leaders so they can meet the reality of the current climate and velocity of crime.
In today’s world the challenges are greater with the increased role law enforcement and Homeland Security. With the rising number of incidents of in school violence leading to homicide and/or suicide, the proliferation of gangs and the ready accessibility of weapons, the challenges for local police departments increase daily.
The course is always full with the top cops vying to get in so we can end the year feeling like our coverage area law enforcement people are in the best of shape in training. Harrison still has to get that fancy fingerprint product from SAGEM Morpho that Kearny Crime Investigation Bureau has. We covered a story on their department in June and wanted to give them a year-end plug too. All our area officers do a lot more work and training than most people know about and face challenges that often do hits the news stands (like good teachers who miss out on the play up too.) So keep an eye out next year for more local focus on these types of features and some zesty political intrigue from our sports writer Jim Hague. Over and out!
Have a happy and see you next week.
