Category: Bergen County

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Glen Rock council to hear proposal for new housing zone

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JUNE 22, 2015    LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, JUNE 22, 2015, 12:24 AM
BY RICHARD DE SANTA
STAFF WRITER |
GLEN ROCK GAZETTE

The Glen Rock Planning Board has approved a draft ordinance that would permit “S-2” zoning at appropriate sites for the building of multiple-dwelling senior citizen housing, and has recommended its adoption by the Borough Council.

At present, the only option now open to developers of such projects is to apply to the borough for a use variance.

The board’s action came at a special meeting called for that purpose on June 9. Planners had previously reviewed an earlier version of the ordinance at a May session, opting to submit it for professional review.

Planning Board secretary Nancy Spiller said the draft approved last week included recommendations to reduce housing density of any such construction to 30 units per acre from 35 in the original draft; increase the front yard setback to 40 feet from 25 feet; and increase side yard setback to 15 feet from 10 feet. In addition, required total property side yard setbacks were increased to 30 feet from 20 feet, while minimum parking was reduced from two spaces per unit in the prior draft to 1.5.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/glen-rock-council-to-hear-proposal-for-new-housing-zone-1.1360691

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Judge affirms Bergen schools’ right to withhold full security-drill reports from NBC-TV

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JUNE 19, 2015, 5:26 PM    LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, JUNE 19, 2015, 5:26 PM
BY STEVE JANOSKI
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

A state Superior Court judge has ruled that a dozen Bergen County school districts were within their rights to redact details of their school security drills before turning drill records over to a TV station probing alleged irregularities.

Superior Court Judge Robert P. Contillo wrote in the decision that the safety and security concerns voiced by the districts outweighed plaintiff WNBC-TV’s interest in receiving un-redacted records. The redactions, he wrote, which varied district-to-district but generally blacked out the date, time, and length of the drills, were “necessary to protect defendants’ interest in maintaining the safety and integrity of the school community.”

“Any other result would risk this information falling into the wrong hands and being of use in an effort to cause harm,” he wrote.

Donald Doherty, attorney for plaintiff WNBC-TV, was disappointed by the June 4 ruling, which he said didn’t make sense given that other districts freely gave the network the information.

“If it was such a security risk, you’d have thought everybody would have thought [so],” he said. “But I’m not the judge.”

Doherty said he doesn’t plan to appeal the decision, but that that “doesn’t mean we think the judge is right.”

Named in the station’s Feb. 20 suit were the boards of education in Allendale, Bergenfield, Englewood Cliffs, Hillsdale, Oakland, Old Tappan, Ramapo-Indian Hills, Ramsey, River Vale, and Tenafly, as well as the Bergen County Technical and Special Services districts. Also named were those districts’ business administrators, who serve as public records custodians.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/judge-affirms-bergen-schools-right-to-withhold-full-security-drill-reports-from-nbc-tv-1.1359734

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FLOOD WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM THIS EVENING THROUGH SUNDAY EVENING

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file photo by Boyd Loving
…FLOOD WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM THIS EVENING THROUGH SUNDAY
EVENING…

THE FLOOD WATCH CONTINUES FOR

* PORTIONS OF NORTHEAST NEW JERSEY AND SOUTHEAST NEW YORK…
INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING AREAS…IN NORTHEAST NEW JERSEY…
EASTERN BERGEN…EASTERN ESSEX…EASTERN PASSAIC…EASTERN
UNION…HUDSON…WESTERN BERGEN…WESTERN ESSEX…WESTERN
PASSAIC AND WESTERN UNION. IN SOUTHEAST NEW YORK…BRONX…
KINGS (BROOKLYN)…NEW YORK (MANHATTAN)…NORTHERN NASSAU…
NORTHERN QUEENS…NORTHERN WESTCHESTER…RICHMOND (STATEN
ISLAND)…ROCKLAND…SOUTHERN NASSAU…SOUTHERN QUEENS AND
SOUTHERN WESTCHESTER.

* FROM THIS EVENING THROUGH SUNDAY EVENING

* HEAVY RAINFALL FROM THE REMNANTS OF BILL IS EXPECTED TO IMPACT
THE AREA TONIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY EVENING. THE HEAVIEST RAIN IS
EXPECTED TO OCCUR DURING THE OVERNIGHT HOURS TONIGHT INTO SUNDAY
MORNING…AND COULD LEAD TO WIDESPREAD URBAN AND SMALL STREAM
FLOODING. STORM TOTAL RAINFALL AMOUNTS ARE EXPECTED TO RANGE
BETWEEN 1 TO 2 INCHES…ALTHOUGH AMOUNTS OF UP TO 3 INCHES WILL
BE POSSIBLE WITH AREAS OF HEAVIER RAIN…AND IN THUNDERSTORMS.
THE HEAVY RAINFALL SATURDAY NIGHT COULD FALL WITHIN A SHORT
PERIOD OF TIME…LEADING TO SHARP RISES ON SMALL STREAMS AND
CREEKS IN NORTHEAST NEW JERSEY AND SIGNIFICANT POOR DRAINAGE
FLOODING IN URBAN AREAS.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…

A FLOOD WATCH MEANS THERE IS A POTENTIAL FOR FLOODING BASED ON
CURRENT FORECASTS. YOU SHOULD MONITOR LATER FORECASTS AND BE
ALERT FOR POSSIBLE FLOOD WARNINGS. THOSE LIVING IN AREAS PRONE TO
FLOODING SHOULD BE PREPARED TO TAKE ACTION SHOULD FLOODING
DEVELOP.

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Court blasts Bergen County prosecutor on pre-trial program denial

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JUNE 19, 2015    LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, JUNE 19, 2015, 7:58 AM
BY PETER J. SAMPSON AND JEAN RIMBACH
STAFF WRITERS |
THE RECORD

The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled Thursday that it was “a patent and gross abuse of discretion” by the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office to deny Carlstadt Mayor William Roseman entry to a trial-diversion program in a criminal case involving health insurance wrongly provided by the borough to his wife after they divorced.

The unanimous ruling comes amid scrutiny of another decision by the office of Prosecutor John Molinelli involving the program known as Pretrial Intervention — twice approving a Teaneck doctor for PTI who had been indicted on charges of groping female patients but avoided trial and was allowed to keep his medical license.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/nj-state-news/court-blasts-bergen-county-prosecutor-on-pre-trial-program-denial-1.1359044

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Drug overdose deaths soar to double the number of N.J. road fatalities in 2014

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JUNE 17, 2015, 10:02 AM    LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 2015, 12:20 AM
BY MARY JO LAYTON
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

Drug overdoses from illicit and prescription drugs claimed twice as many lives statewide in 2014 as auto crashes, becoming the leading cause of accidental death in New Jersey, according to a national report and state data released Wednesday.

In Bergen County, heroin overdoses rose sharply, one of the most dramatic increases in New Jersey last year, according to data provided by the state Medical Examiner’s Office.

But there are signs that in North Jersey that trend may be reversing, as more first responders are using the rescue drug Narcan to save people in the throes of an overdose. So far this year, the drug has been used 60 times, resulting in far fewer deaths, said Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli. Since Narcan was approved for use in 2014, more than 45 towns across North Jersey have deployed it to stop overdoses. The drug, which can reverse an overdose in as little as two minutes, is injected or inhaled.

Last month, Cliffside Park police responded to a call at a Day Avenue home and found a 34-year-old Fairview man lying on his back, a potential overdose victim. They administered two doses of the rescue drug in the form of a nasal spray and took the patient to Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen. Other saves occurred in Hillsdale, Lodi, Oakland and Ramsey in recent weeks.

The results have been a reduction in deaths so far this year, with 11 people dying of heroin overdoses, compared with 42 who died all of last year in Bergen County, according to Molinelli, who has organized task forces to rein in the heroin trade in North Jersey.

“All the community outreach being done by addictive service groups, parent and school organizations and law enforcement has been substantial,” Molinelli said.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/n-j-drug-overdoses-double-over-4-years-become-leading-cause-of-accidental-death-1.1357250

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Paramus business executive accused of embezzling employer

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JUNE 17, 2015    LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2015, 1:21 AM
BY HUGH R. MORLEY
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

Authorities on Tuesday accused a Paramus man of participating in a scheme to embezzle $2.6 million from a large international insurance company and using the proceeds to buy a multimillion-dollar house and two luxury cars.

The U.S. attorney for Manhattan charged James J. Shea, 49, of Paramus and Eugene Fallon, 51, of Nanuet, N.Y., with wire fraud, arresting Shea on Tuesday morning. Fallon remained at large late in the day.

Authorities said Shea, an executive at the company, which was not named but was described as “the North American subsidiary of an international insurance company,” forged the signature of his supervisor to “authorize numerous payments to bogus consulting companies that Fallon controlled.”

Fallon then returned two-thirds of the money – about $1.8 million – to Shea, the office of U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said.

Bloomberg News identified the insurance company as Australia-based QBE Insurance Group Ltd., and it quoted a spokeswoman as saying the company is cooperating with prosecutors.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/business/paramus-man-charged-in-fraud-scheme-1.1356727

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United Way planning affordable-housing project in Glen Rock

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JUNE 16, 2015, 7:58 PM    LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, JUNE 16, 2015, 8:00 PM
BY CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

GLEN ROCK — Bergen County’s United Way is considering land on Bradford Street as a possible site for an affordable-housing project for the physically and developmentally disabled.

Glen Rock officials disclosed in a meeting last week that the United Way was “under contract” to purchase 15 Bradford Street, the 0.34-acre site of a condemned, four-bedroom home built 80 years ago.

Tom Toronto, president of Bergen County’s United Way, confirmed on Tuesday that his organization had been working with borough officials to find a suitable site for a single-story “supportive housing project.”

It would be the United Way’s first project in Glen Rock and could serve as the new address for “less than 10” adults with needs, Toronto said. Similar projects have been constructed in Allendale, Mahwah, Demarest, Emerson, and Ramsey.

The United Way has been working with Mayor John van Keuren for three years “to identify a site that would make sense for such a project,” Toronto said Tuesday. “The mayor understands the need for this kind of housing. It’s a great locale in a beautiful neighborhood near a park.”

https://www.northjersey.com/news/united-way-planning-affordable-housing-project-in-glen-rock-1.1356776

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Bergen Exec Tedesco: In North Jersey, Meadowlands casino option still cash money

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HACKENSACK – The whole of New Jersey might be embroiled in casino controversy chaos, but to Bergen County Executive Jim Tedesco, the case is clear: any future North Jersey casino should be built in the Meadowlands in his own Bergen County.  (Bonamo/PolitickerNJ)

Bergen Exec Tedesco: In North Jersey, Meadowlands casino option still cash money | New Jersey News, Politics, Opinion, and Analysis

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NJ TRANSIT’S SUMMER SHORE EXPRESS SERVICE RETURNS JUNE 21

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Enhanced North Jersey Coast Line express weekend service to beach towns launches Sunday, June 21

June 15, 2015NEWARK, NJ — NJ TRANSIT is making it convenient and affordable to get to summer shore destinations with the return of express weekend rail service from Penn Station New York and northern New Jersey cities to shore communities along the North Jersey Coast Line this Sunday, June 21.

Enhanced Saturday, Sunday and holiday rail service on the North Jersey Coast Line will operate from June 21 through September 12 and utilize the agency’s dual-powered locomotives to provide a one-seat ride.

“This one-seat ride rail service from New York is a sound investment that not only gives visitors and residents easier access to some of our most popular beaches and boardwalks, it also helps take cars off the roadway and boosts tourism and the economy in our shore communities,” said Transportation Commissioner and NJ TRANSIT Chairman Jamie Fox.

“Our Shore service provides a safe and reliable way to get people where they need to be to enjoy time in the sun and expands transit options for travelers along the state’s costal region,” said NJ TRANSIT Executive Director Veronique “Ronnie” Hakim.  “NJ TRANSIT is grateful for the continued support of the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA) without whom funding for this service would not be possible.”

Four round-trip express trains will operate between Penn Station New York and Bay Head.  This service also features hourly train service between Bay Head and Long Branch from approximately 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.  Two of the round-trips will be geared to beach travelers, with an additional two round-trips providing service during the early morning and late night timeframes.

The express service will serve Penn Station New York, Secaucus Junction, Newark Penn Station, Elizabeth, Rahway, Aberdeen-Matawan, Red Bank, Long Branch, Asbury Park, and then all station stops to Bay Head, without the need of a transfer in Long Branch.  A travel time savings of approximately 25 minutes is expected from the normal travel time between New York and trains such as Belmar, Manasquan and Point Pleasant.

Seating will be limited aboard the express service.  Customers are strongly encouraged to purchase round-trip tickets or discounted beach packages to Long Branch, Asbury Park, Ocean Grove, Bradley Beach and Belmar (a savings of $6.50) prior to the start of their trip.  NJ TRANSIT beach packages are available at some ticket windows and ticket vending machines.  More information on beach packages is available on njtransit.com/summer.

Customers can also purchase NJ TRANSIT tickets using MyTix mobile ticketing.

Express trains will supplement NJ TRANSIT’s regular hourly rail shuttle service between Long Branch and Bay Head, and will operate using the statewide transportation agency’s new ALP-45 dual-powered locomotives.   These specialized trains will operate in electric mode between New York and Long Branch and will switch to diesel operation for travel between Long Branch and Bay Head – allowing for the one-seat ride.

The announcement follows the May 11, 2015 endorsement of the service by the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA), which authorized a $273,000 allocation through the federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program (CMAQ) to fund the new service.

Detailed schedules are available on njtransit.com.

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A Good Way to Wreck a Local Economy: Build Casinos

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If Casinos didn’t help Atlantic City what makes you think they can help North Jersey ?

No one should look to the gambling industry to revive cities, “because that’s not what casinos do.”

Baltimore is a troubled city, as you know from The Wire. Like many troubled cities, Baltimore has turned to casino gambling as its solution. On August 26, a new Caesar’s casino will open on the site of an old chemical factory, a little more than 2 miles from the famous Inner Harbor and Camden Yards baseball stadium. Yet there’s already reason to expect the casino to disappoint everyone involved: the city looking for tax revenues, the workers hoping for jobs, the investors expecting hefty returns.

Outside of Las Vegas—now home to only 20 percent of the nation’s casino industry—casino gambling has evolved into a downscale business. Affluent and educated people visit casinos less often than poorer people do for the same reasons that they smoke less and drink less and weigh less.

Unfortunately for the casino industry’s growth hopes, downscale America has less money to spend today than it did before 2007. Nor is downscale America sharing much in the post-2009 recovery. From a news report on the troubles of a recently opened Ohio casino:

Ameet Patel, general manager of the property, says the softness in casino revenue that he and other operators have seen has been driven by a key demographic: women older than 50 who used to bet $50 to $75 per visit. The weak recovery has squeezed their gambling budgets, and their trips to casinos are fewer, he says.

What’s true in Ohio applies nationwide. Casino revenues had still not recovered their 2007 peaks as of the spring of 2014, when again they went into reverse in most jurisdictions. Moody’s now projects that casino revenues will drop through the rest of 2014 and all of 2015, slicing industry earnings by as much as 7.5 percent.

https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/08/a-good-way-to-wreck-a-local-economy-build-casinos/375691/

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A mix-up in the Meadowlands: Towns haven’t received hotel surcharge

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JUNE 14, 2015, 11:52 PM    LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, JUNE 15, 2015, 12:14 AM
BY LINDA MOSS
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

Six towns have been waiting a month for their shares of nearly $2.5 million in revenue from a new hotel-room surcharge, which replaced a controversial tax-sharing arrangement when Governor Christie signed a bill overhauling oversight of the Meadowlands District this year.

The overdue money is contributing to an atmosphere of confusion in the Meadowlands four months after the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority absorbed the state Meadowlands Commission, the agency that had controlled planning and development in the 30-square-mile district for nearly half a century.

The law, which Christie signed in early February, ushered in the most sweeping changes to the region’s power structure in decades. The governor said it would give the Meadowlands a much-needed economic boost, while opponents worried that it would result in overdevelopment of an environmentally sensitive area of the state.

But the absorption of the Meadowlands Commission’s functions by the sports authority is having unexpected financial repercussions for the 14 Bergen and Hudson county municipalities  that have territory within the district.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/a-mix-up-in-the-meadowlands-towns-haven-t-received-hotel-surcharge-1.1355773

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Beyond Lyme, new illnesses, more reason to watch for ticks

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JUNE 15, 2015    LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, JUNE 15, 2015, 1:21 AM
BY LAURAN NEERGAARD
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS |
WIRE SERVICE

Lyme disease makes the headlines but there are plenty of additional reasons to avoid tick bites. New research highlights the latest in a growing list of tick-borne threats — a distant relative of Lyme that’s easy to confuse with other illnesses.

A study released recently suggests a kind of bacteria with an unwieldy name — Borrelia miyamotoi — should be on the radar when people in Lyme-endemic areas get otherwise unexplained summertime fevers. It’s one of several diseases discovered to have links to ticks in different parts of the country — a reminder to become tick-savvy no matter where you live.

“People need to be aware of what tick-borne diseases are in their area,” says Dr. Peter J. Krause of Yale University, who reviewed the research. “And they should know how to avoid ticks.”

https://www.northjersey.com/news/health-news/ticks-can-mean-more-trouble-than-you-thought-1.1355851

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New look at Tasers after police shootings in North Jersey

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JUNE 13, 2015, 3:34 PM    LAST UPDATED: SATURDAY, JUNE 13, 2015, 11:59 PM
BY KIBRET MARKOS
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

With three fatal shootings involving police in Bergen County within the past month, attention has turned again to stun guns as an alternative to the use of deadly force by officers. But the devices, which incapacitate suspects with a temporary electronic pulse, remain unavailable to most police agencies in the county, and in the state as a whole.

New Jersey, the final state in the country to approve the use of stun guns by police, has guidelines and procedures that stun-gun advocates say have become less rigid but are still more stringent than those of other states.

As a result, the process of rolling the devices out to law enforcement agencies across the state is progressing, but slowly, officials say.

After a series of revisions since it first introduced a guideline for stun guns, the state has gradually eliminated several hurdles for police departments to issue the devices to officers, said Steve Tuttle, a spokesman for Taser International, the company that manufactures the stun guns used by agencies in New Jersey.

Today, 168 departments in New Jersey — a state with more than 500 municipalities and 21 counties — have issued Tasers to officers, he said.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/new-look-at-tasers-after-police-shootings-in-north-jersey-1.1355481

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Hearing Monday on PSEG project that would raise rates 11% over five years

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JUNE 14, 2015    LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, JUNE 14, 2015, 1:21 AM
BY DAVE SHEINGOLD
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

A proposal to raise gas rates more than 11 percent over five years to help pay for $1.6 billion worth of upgrades to the region’s power grid is scheduled for public review Monday in Hackensack.

At 3:30 and 6:30 p.m. in the Bergen County Administration Building, state regulators will take comments on a proposal by Public Service Electric and Gas Co. to raise residential natural gas rates 11.2 percent over five years to replace hundreds of miles of aging, leak-prone gas mains and tens of thousands of gas connections to homes and businesses in its northern and central New Jersey territory, including parts of Bergen and Passaic counties.

For PSE&G, the state’s largest utility, the project would be its second major improvement proposal in the past three years.

The increase would gradually raise the average residential bill by $8.60 a month from 2016 to 2021. Small businesses, such a pizza parlor or a laundry, would see increases of about 8.2 percent, or an average of $13.46 per month, although PSE&G said increases were likely to be offset by continuing drops in the price of natural gas, which makes up the majority of gas bills in New Jersey.

The project would mark the first phase of a 30-year plan, which includes possible additional rate increases beyond the first five years, to make gas distribution safer, more durable, and better able to serve modern residential and commercial needs.

The plan comes fresh on the heels of the state Board of Public Utilities’ approval in 2014 of PSE&G’s Energy Strong program, which uses annual rate increases to help fund $1.2 billion worth of upgrades, mostly to the company’s electric grid, over three years.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/business/hearing-monday-on-hiking-gas-rates-1.1355640

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In using deadly force, cops rely on their training, experts say

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file photo by Boyd Loving

JUNE 12, 2015, 10:46 PM    LAST UPDATED: SATURDAY, JUNE 13, 2015, 12:05 AM
BY STEFANIE DAZIO
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

When a police officer uses deadly force against a suspect, the questions from grieving — and often angry — relatives tend to be as predictable as they are wrenching: Why didn’t the officer aim for the suspect’s arm or leg? Did the officer have to fire so many shots? Couldn’t he have used a baton, pepper spray or a stun gun instead?

The answer in many cases, experts said, is that officers who fire at suspects in deadly force situations are following their training.

These questions and others were raised anew on Friday, a day after a police officer fatally shot a 22-year-old man on a Hackensack street corner. Authorities said he brandished a large knife at the officer, who had responded to an emergency call reporting a domestic violence incident. The fatal shooting was the third in three weeks involving police in Bergen County.

Several experts who agreed to speak generally about deadly force situations said no amount of training can fully prepare officers for the pounding adrenaline and the split-second, life-or-death decisions they must make when confronted with a dangerous suspect.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/in-using-deadly-force-cops-rely-on-their-training-experts-say-1.1355263