file photo by Boyd Loving
BY DAVE SHEINGOLD AND JOHN C. ENSSLIN
STAFF WRITERS |
THE RECORD
Reforms enacted in 2011 to keep the nation’s highest property taxes in check are showing signs of weakening as a growing number of New Jersey towns fail to stay within the 2 percent cap on increases that formed the cornerstone of the effort.
Three vehicle crash at the intersection of Linwood Avenue and Pascack Road in Paramus
March 11,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Paramus NJ, No injuries were reported in a three (3) vehicle crash at the intersection of Linwood Avenue and Pascack Road in Paramus that occurred late Friday afternoon, 03/11. However, Pascack Road was closed for over one (1) hour in both directions between Linwood Avenue and Ridgewood Road, Washington Township due to a unsafe utility pole that was damaged during the crash. Paramus PD officers responded to the scene along with Washington Township PD and FD units. Two (2) vehicles involved in the crash were heavily damaged and towed from the scene by separate flatbed tow trucks
By Alyana Alfaro | 03/11/16 3:55pm
Though the senate and assembly races in Republican-leaning LD40 won’t be held until 2017, a number of moving parts have made the district one to watch. When Senator Kevin O’Toole announced that he would not be pursuing reelection when his term ends, it opened the door for speculation on what would happen when his retirement came. Now, some are wondering who will eventually become the Republican nominee for his seat and what will happen to the assembly positions in the district.
O’Toole’s decision brings into question the fate of his district mates, Assemblyman Scott Rumana and Assemblyman David Russo. Some wonder if O’Toole’s decision to depart will entice either of the sitting assemblyman to pursue the LD40 senate seat. That move would open at least one spot in the assembly.
The mayor of Wyckoff is no longer pursuing the BCRO chairmanship.
Despite considerable speculation that Wyckoff Mayor Kevin Rooney dropped from the race for Bergen County Republican Organization Chairman in order to pursue an LD40 assembly seat, the mayor said he is not planning on making the move at this time.
“I am happy where I am,” Rooney told PolitickerNJ. “We have two assemblymen who just got elected so why would I even try that?”
On Tuesday, Rooney announced that he would be exiting the BCRO race for chairman and would be endorsing current chairman Bob Yudin. According to his remarks, Rooney’s decision stems from a desire for Bergen County’s Republicans to move forward as a unified front to the November elections.
“If we are going to win this November and in the future we must unite and stop the interparty fighting,” Rooney said. “I know some of you will be disappointed by my decision, but now is not the time for a ugly divisive chairman’s race, this will only lead to a democrat victory.”
On Wednesday, Assemblyman Scott Rumana held a successful fundraiser in Little Falls. Over 130 guests were present and the event drew the likes of Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick, Congressman Scott Garrett, Senator Gerald Cardinale, Conference Leader Dave Rible, Passaic County Chairman John Traier, Ocean County Chairman George Gilmore, and NJ Federation of Republican Women President Vanessa LaFranco.
According to one source, any speculation on what impact O’Toole’s departure might have is nothing more than conjecture. Because the LD40 races are not until 2017, the source said it is hard to know how the process will play out until after this year’s elections are no longer a main priority.
“Rumana is out there fundraising and, as far as I know, David Russo has not said that he is retiring,” the source said. “It is a rumor. Everybody is always looking for the curve behind the curve and, sometimes, there really isn’t just anything there. I think you are going to see a lot of candidates running for a lot of things depending on what happens in the next year.”
Even so, some insiders are saying that Rumana may be positioning himself to run for the Senate seat to be vacated by O’Toole in 2017. Others are saying that he might accept a judgeship.
https://politickernj.com/2016/03/amid-ld40-speculation-rumana-says-he-is-keeping-options-open/
By Ted Sherman | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
ENGLEWOOD—The bank robbery occurred at the Citibank branch in a quiet North Jersey suburb.There were no alarms, no guns, no menacing notes and no threats of violence. More than $52,000 was taken and the bank in Englewood didn’t even know it had been robbed until long after the cash went out the door.
That same day in December 2012, just a week before Christmas, the same guys hit another Citibank in Florham Park. And over the next three weeks they would target additional branches of the bank in New Jersey and New York—walking away with more than $1 million in cash taken from Citibank ATM machines through hundreds of counterfeit bankcards encoded with personal information stolen from unsuspecting customers.
By Alyana Alfaro | 03/08/16 8:25pm
Kevin Rooney announced at a Tuesday Bergen County Republican Organization meeting that he would be dropping out of the race for BCRO chairman, according to a source.
Despite being critical of current chairman Bob Yudin in the past for his leadership of the group, Rooney also backed Yudin for reelection the source said.
Yudin’s leadership came under fire last year after Bergen County Republicans failed to win any seats on the freeholder board and because of a controversy in LD38 that crippled the Republican race in what was initially pegged as one of the most competitive districts in the state.
https://politickernj.com/2016/03/rooney-drops-out-of-bergan-gop-chairman-race-endorses-yudin/
BY JEAN RIMBACH
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
A battle is brewing in Bergen County over law enforcement salaries, with a police union claiming that its contract was violated when a controversial plan to combine the Sheriff’s Office and County Police was enacted.
The gambit, if successful, could lead to higher raises and back pay for its members.
At stake is a chunk of the $3 million that County Executive James Tedesco says has been saved thus far by folding the county force into the Sheriff’s Office last year.
At issue is a clause in the current agreement between PBA Local 49 and the county — a so-called “poison pill” — which calls for the contract to revert to earlier terms if the county police are merged into the Sheriff’s Office.
In recent weeks the union, which represents the former County Police, filed three grievances that were released following an Open Public Records request: one of them saying officers had been merged and earlier salary provisions should be activated.
The county says the grievance is without merit, maintaining that there has been a “realignment” of services. The former Bergen County Police Department now operates as the Bureau of Police Services under the Sheriff’s Office. Tedesco noted in a statement that the department remains “a distinct operating unit, which now reports to the Bergen County sheriff rather than the county executive.”
https://www.northjersey.com/community-news/2.4225/law-enforcement-pay-at-issue-1.1524080
file photo BCRO Bob Yudin
They inch wormed closer as a group, but they still aren’t ready. A month ago, one their number, speaking on condition of anonymity, told PolitickerNJ that he couldn’t back Trump. Max Pizarro, PolitickerNJ Read more
I go to Glen Rock to eat, get a haircut, etc., I park, I pay nothing. I go to Midland Park to the hardware store or the shoe repair shop or others or to eat, I park, I pay nothing. I go to Wyckoff to shop or eat or go to the bakery, I park, I pay nothing. I go to Allendale to shop or eat, I park, I pay nothing. I go to Hawthorne for whatever (including, most often, the movie theater, but also restaurants and shops), I park, I pay nothing, and I don’t worry that the meter will expire before the movie is over, because there isn’t one. I go to Waldwick to the hardware store or to shop or eat, I park, I pay nothing. I go to Ramsey to shop or eat or go to the movies (two different ones), I park, I pay nothing, ditto re: worrying about meter expiring because there isn’t one. That’s not to mention free parking at Route 17 stores, strip malls, and bigger malls, and we won’t even mention the internet (can’t eat lunch or get a haircut there).
What is wrong with this picture? Ridgewood, my own town, is not so special that it’s worth paying so much to park and (more important) looking at my watch and worrying about risking a ticket, which we’ve been assured will soon be increased in price and monitored intensely.
Just no. Sorry. I am frankly embarrassed by this entire thing. We don’t need a garage and we are already paying too much to park. Entire project was a waste of time and resources and will only get worse. Even more distressing is that it’s not going to work. Could end up ripping the whole thing out just as the one-lane underpass road/suicide bike lane will eventually be replaced by the two lanes we had before.
BY ALLISON PRIES
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
A former Glen Rock police officer — whose duties included working with juveniles and handling evidence — admitted Thursday that he sent sexually explicit text messages to two teenage girls and that he pawned guns that were surrendered to the department.
Eric Reamy, 51, of Fair Lawn accepted a pre-indictment plea deal before Judge Susan J. Steele in Superior Court in Hackensack that will likely send him to prison for three to five years.
His sentencing is scheduled for June 24.
Reamy stood with his hands – one bearing a gold wedding band – folded at his waist while admitting that he sent suggestive text messages and naked pictures to two girls, ages 14 and 17. Both youths were involved in complaints that he, as the juvenile officer for Glen Rock police, was investigating.
BY MARINA VILLENEUVE
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
A state judge has challenged a core argument by more than 200 municipalities opposing advocates’ call for construction of more than 200,000 low- and moderate-income housing units statewide over the next 10 years.
Judge Marc Troncone’s Feb. 18 ruling in Superior Court, Ocean County, marks the second time a judge has ruled that local governments can’t ignore the housing demand that’s built up since 1999 amid stagnant action on the issue.
Troncone is one of 15 judges reviewing the affordable housing plans of hundreds of municipalities statewide — and what should be their baseline numbers.
Both municipalities and housing rights groups cite experts with sharply different ways of calculating so-called affordable housing needs until 2025. Each side says it is the one being realistic.
Troncone’s opinion specifically questions a Dec. 30 report, commissioned by a group of 283 municipalities, putting the need at just under 37,000 units. The Philadelphia-based Econsult Solutions report doesn’t include the “gap period” of 1999-2015, when a state agency failed to set affordable-housing quotas for communities..
By Larry Higgs | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on February 03, 2016 at 7:41 AM, updated February 04, 2016 at 12:25 PM
NJ Transit insiders say there is a 75 to 85 percent likelihood that a coalition of 17 rail unions, which have been working without a contract for five years, will call a “soft strike” over the weekend of March 12.
The strike could likely last through the Monday morning commute on March 14, when workers say they expect to be ordered back to work by the Obama administration. The last strike in March 1983 lasted for 34 days.
“They’ll soften the blow … Let the media know, let commuters know, let everyone get home on Friday night,” one NJ Transit insider said.
NJ Transit and the rail unions met Wednesday as a March strike deadline approaches. NJ Transit spokeswoman Nancy Snyder said those negotiation were substantive. She declined to answer a question about when the next negation session would be held.
March 2,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ringwood NJ, Rep. Scott Garrett (NJ-05) today called upon U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy and EPA Region 2 Administrator Judith Enck to share groundwater test results and future testing plans for the Ringwood Superfund Site after recent groundwater tests raised additional concerns about the presence of toxic substances at the site.
These reports found 1,4-dioxane, a probable human carcinogen that may result in liver, kidney, and upper respiratory damage, at levels close to 100 times the state maximum standard. Alarmingly, the EPA first had knowledge of a positive identification of this substance in November 2015, but failed to notify the public.
“As you know, the EPA’s management of the site is a decades old and ongoing concern for New Jersey residents,” wrote Garrett in the letter. “I believe that public health issues need to be dealt with in a transparent manner so that residents are well-informed about the safety of their communities and surrounding areas.”
Congressman Garrett’s Specific Requests:
Information and Reports from the EPA about the Ringwood Superfund Site
The EPA’s Future Plans for Groundwater Testing at the Ringwood Superfund Site
O’Toole Comes Out Strong for Trump
Following Governor Chris Christie’s surprise endorsement of GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump, Senator Kevin O’Toole (R-40) said Monday that he thinks the provocative former reality star is the party’s best chance at drawing out independents and taking the White House. JT Aregood, PolitickerNJ Read more
“Double Dipper” Saudino for Sheriff
By Alyana Alfaro | 02/29/16 3:41pm
Alfonso is running for sheriff in Bergen County.
Manuel Alfonso of Cresskill announced at Thursday’s Bergen County Republican Organization (BCRO) Lincoln Dinner that he is pursuing the nomination for sheriff.
Alfonso’s entrance into the race follows current Sheriff Michael Saudino’s party switch. The former Republican announced in January that he would be pursuing reelection as a Democrat. That departure left Bergen’s Republican Party scrambling in an effort to fill Saudino’s spot on the ballot. Enter Alfonso, a 26-year Department of Corrections and law enforcement veteran who also on an FBI joint terrorism task force for five years.
Though Alfonso has not been involved in politics or run for office before, he says he is excited to enter the fray.
“What made me decide was I was tired of sitting down and complaining and seeing a level of mismanagement that is unwarranted and unneeded and no one doing anything about it,” Alfonso said. “I decided to put myself in the mix and do something about it. I decided to do some research and I was dumbfounded. I come from a department that is significantly bigger and I can’t justify those expenses, especially the overtime budget.”
https://politickernj.com/2016/02/bergen-gop-to-run-doc-fbi-alum-against-saudino-for-sherriff/
BY RICHARD COWEN AND STEVE JANOSKI
STAFF WRITERS |
THE RECORD
Some parts of North Jersey are a lot like Flint, Mich.: old, industrial and poor, with many people living in houses built before World War II, drinking tap water that streams through pipes and fixtures made of lead.
Flint’s belated discovery of dangerously high levels of lead in tap water prompted a health emergency that has made national headlines. Lead in water has long been a problem in North Jersey and elsewhere, but aside from precautions utilities take to guard the water, they most often urge people to live with it by flushing their lines.
That may be changing. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is considering requiring the removal of lead service lines — the pipes that deliver drinking water leading into peoples’ homes. The lines are considered the main culprit in depositing lead sediment in the drinking glass.
Removing these old lead lines and replacing them with copper or plastic was one of the recommendations made by the National Drinking Water Advisory Council to the EPA in December. The council has also recommended expanding lead testing to include a broader cross-section of homes.
Now it’s up to the environmental agency, which is fashioning a new lead and copper rule, with an eye toward adoption by 2018.
Lynn Thorp, the national campaigns director for Clean Water Action, said removing service lines is expensive and complicated. But it’s the surest way to keep drinking water safe from lead, she said.
“If there’s no safe level of lead, and our efforts to control and monitor lead in the water will never be perfect, then there’s only one solution,” she said. “And that’s to get the lead out of contact with the drinking water.”
Flint plans to remove all 15,000 of its lead service lines, estimated to cost $55 million. But as a poor city, it needs to find a funding source and is looking for help from both Congress and the Michigan state legislature.
Service lines connect the home to the water main at the curb and generally are the homeowners’ responsibility. In structures that were built before 1940, these pipes were made of lead. Since then, these service lines have been made of copper or plastic, but in many older neighborhoods, the lead lines are still being used.
United Water, which serves much of Bergen County, estimates there are 9,500 lead service lines still in use, about 5 percent of the utility’s 202,000 customers.
