Tag: Bergen County

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10 Exciting Races to Watch in Bergen County

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Kathe Donovan with the troops at the BCRO

10 Exciting Races to Watch in Bergen County
Nov. 03 Bergen County, Election 2014, North Jersey no comments
By Matthew Gilson | The Save Jersey Blog

Matt Rooney already gave you ten New Jersey races to watch statewide on Tuesday night, Save Jerseyans.

Without further ado, here are ten worth closely tracking in Bergen County alone, starting with the Garden State’s single most consequential 2014 contest:

1.) County Executive/Freeholder
Nothing else comes close with control of the most powerful office the most county at stake. Incumbent Kathe Donovan has seen the gap between herself and Freeholder Jim Tedesco close in recent weeks and the race may be too close to call. The under card is the battle to take out incumbent freeholder Democrats David Ganz and Joan Voss waged by Republicans Bernadette Walsh and Bob Avery.

2.) Can Scott Garrett win Bergen?
Despite a mini-scare, it appears that Roy has definitely Cho-ked this race away. However, it still remains to be seen whether Garrett will carry the Bergen portion of the district. If he does, it may put this race out of play for 2016 and return Roy Cho to trying on new empty suits.

3.) North Arlington
A swing town and southernmost in the county, Save Jersey previewed this race with an interview with Councilman Dan Pronti who is seeking re-election. The town will prove critical to running up numbers for Kathe Donovan in her south Bergen base, and a win by Council Bianchi over Mayor Massa along with his running mates would put to end eight years of Democratic rule.

4.) Paramus
As important as North Arlington and the south is to Donovan, Tedesco will need to run up numbers in the town he formerly served as mayor to have a shot at what would still be considered an upset. A popular incumbent Democratic mayor headlines the ticket but the race is a battle right to the end.

https://savejersey.com/2014/11/election-bergen-county-new-jersey-results/

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2 years after Sandy hit, some victims in Bergen County are still waiting for relief

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2 years after Sandy hit, some victims in Bergen County are still waiting for relief

OCTOBER 29, 2014    LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2014, 7:29 AM
BY AARON MORRISON
STAFF WRITER | 
THE RECORD

Volunteer Jessica Martinez being trained by Mike Stimson of Habitat for Humanity at a Little Ferry home damaged by Superstorm Sandy.

Of all the money dispersed to homeowners and renters whose lives were upended by Superstorm Sandy two years ago today, not a penny of it has helped rid Donna Mojica of the mold that has festered around her water-damaged trailer home.

Sick of looking at the mold as it crept up the walls of her kitchen and bedroom, the Moonachie resident took a paintbrush to the white- and black-speckled spores.

The Mojicas aren’t confident they will ever receive the thousands of dollars needed for mold remediation, despite the assistance of a case manager helping them navigate various applications for aid grants.

So far, the family has received only about $600 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to replace an awning on the trailer and two months of rental assistance, a welcome reprieve that ends next month. Aside from the paint, nothing has been done about the Mojicas’ mold problem in two years.

“How long am I going to have to breathe this in before I get sick?” said Donna Mojica, who, along with her husband, Adam, reflects a weariness among some storm victims around the state who say aid programs have been inequitably administered and leave some feeling underserved after the worst weather-related disaster of its kind on record.

The storm, which began as the largest hurricane on record in the Atlantic Ocean and devastated the Caribbean, the East Coast and parts of Canada, made landfall as a powerful rain and wind event in New Jersey on Oct. 29, 2012. It killed 37 people statewide, including one person in Bergen County, where 5,000 people were evacuated from the low-lying towns of Little Ferry and Moonachie. Flooding caused by a 10-foot storm surge overwhelmed the nearby Meadowlands’ flood control systems, and municipal pump stations were inadequate to sweep water back into the Hackensack River.

Despite more than $1 billion allocated to victims in the form of relocation, rebuilding and other supplemental grant funds, according to the Christie administration, a new Monmouth University poll finds that less than a third of victims in the state feel recovery efforts have focused on them.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/2-years-of-frustration-1.1120653#sthash.1BzJpzEC.dpuf

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Hudson County Democrat Machine looks to push Cho in Bergen County

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file photo Boyd Loving Hudson County Democrat Machine in Ridgewood

Hudson County Democrat Machine looks to push Cho in Bergen County 

Ridgewood Nj, In the latest attempt by the Hudson County Democratic Machine to take over Bergen County , two of Hudson County’s top Democrats are looking to move into Bergen and push Roy Cho .

These are the same forces pushing for over development , higher taxes , and more control of our schools to Washington DC.

CD5 race: Prieto, Sires: Hudson Dems ready to put ‘bodies on the ground’ for Cho

JERSEY CITY – Two of Hudson County’s most prominent Democrats looked north at fellow Democrat Roy Cho’s effort in the Fifth Congressional District race, then offered Election Day help in a traditional Hudson way. (Bonamo/PolitickerNJ)

https://politickernj.com/2014/10/cd-5-race-prieto-sires-hudson-dems-ready-to-put-bodies-on-the-ground-for-cho/

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Freeholder candidate has roots that run deep in Bergen County

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Bernadette Walsh campaigning with Congressmen Scott Garrett

Freeholder candidate has roots that run deep in Bergen County

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014, 3:20 PM    LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2014, 3:34 PM
BY JOHN C. ENSSLIN
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

To understand Bernadette Walsh, one of two Republican candidates for Bergen County freeholder, it helps to know the story of the “bamboo man.”

That’s the nickname her late father, James Coghlan, picked up in the 1960s when he and his wife, Mary, cultivated bamboo as part of their greenhouse nursery business in Upper Saddle River.

They grew and sold bamboo to people like the philanthropist Doris Duke and to places like the now defunct Jungle Habitat in West Milford and the Polynesian exhibition at the 1964 World’s Fair in Flushing Queens.

James Coghlan wrote a book in 1965 called “The Story of Bamboo.” The couple even made an appearance on “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson.

Walsh was a small child when her parents closed the nursery to instead run a real estate and appraisal business near the train station in Ramsey for 25 years.

But their daughter recalled that time while talking about what she considers her proudest accomplishment in her four years as a Ridgewood councilwoman.

The self-described “tree hugger” helped revive the borough’s Shade Tree Commission, which had been dormant for many years. After Hurricanes Irene and Sandy toppled about 500 trees in town, Walsh said, people felt a need to be planting trees again.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/freeholder-candidate-has-roots-that-run-deep-in-bergen-county-1.1097931#sthash.FM1Dd9Np.dpuf

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Stop & Shop files suit against Bergen County over open records

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Stop & Shop files suit against Bergen County over open records

SEPTEMBER 16, 2014, 7:25 PM    LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2014, 5:32 PM
BY JOHN C. ENSSLIN
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

Stop & Shop Supermarket LLC has filed a lawsuit against Bergen County, claiming the county’s failure to turn over relevant public documents in a timely manner hindered the company’s appeal of a plan for a rival ShopRite Supermarket in Wyckoff.

Lawyers for Stop & Shop contend that county officials withheld a county engineer’s report on the project until nearly three years after the company’s original public records request.


– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/stop-shop-files-suit-against-bergen-county-over-open-records-1.1089312#sthash.VJTXrUFj.dpuf

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Rare enterovirus confirmed in NJ child; 4 others being checked in Bergen County

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Rare enterovirus confirmed in NJ child; 4 others being checked in Bergen County

SEPTEMBER 17, 2014, 12:57 PM    LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2014, 12:42 AM
BY MARY JO LAYTON AND ANDREW WYRICH
STAFF WRITERS
THE RECORD
Print

The rare respiratory illness that is sending some children to the hospital in a dozen states has reached New Jersey, with federal health experts confirming a case from the Garden State that was reported from a Philadelphia hospital, officials said Wednesday.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the New Jersey child is recovering from the illness caused by enterovirus D68, according to the state Health Department.

Meanwhile, The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood has admitted four children who tested positive for enterovirus, a common class of virus that produces some 10 million to 15 million cases annually in the U.S. each year, with varying symptoms and degrees of severity. But tests haven’t confirmed whether it’s the more rare enterovirus D68, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Related: Kids with asthma or wheezing face most danger from respiratory virus 

About a dozen specimens from counties statewide were sent to the CDC on Wednesday to determine if they are the same virus, known as EV-D68, which can cause fever, runny nose, sneezing, coughing and body and muscle aches, state officials said. In the most serious cases, it causes severe breathing problems. The EV-D68 virus is not new but it seems to be a more virulent form than in previous years, doctors have said.

Officials would not identify where the child treated in Philadelphia lives nor would they say from which counties samples were sent.

In Bergen County, Emerson School Superintendent Brian Gatens sent an email Tuesday night to more than 1,000 parents reporting that a Memorial Elementary School girl was being treated for symptoms that were associated with the virus. The school has students in pre-K to second grade.

The girl was being treated at a local hospital as if she has the virus and was expected to be released Wednesday, school officials said. It has not been determined if the specimen samples are positive for the virus.

As with any illness that causes widespread concern, there are far more suspected cases of EV-D68 than confirmed. From mid-August to Sept. 16, 130 people in 12 states have been confirmed to have respiratory illness caused by EV-D68, the CDC reported.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/rare-enterovirus-confirmed-in-nj-child-4-others-being-checked-in-bergen-county-1.1089838#sthash.qb6MTbRz.dpuf

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Bergen County Exec’s race: Donovan does diner politicking as race enters red zone

KathleenDonovanSept.7,2014

Bergen County Exec’s race: Donovan does diner politicking as race enters red zone

PARK RIDGE –  The Park Ridge Diner sits on the corner of Kinderkamack Road and Park Avenue. The avenue there was renamed James Gandolfini Way after the late actor who played the iconic cable television role of Tony Soprano, and who grew up in this Bergen County borough. (Bonamo/PolitickerNJ)

https://www.politickernj.com/80596/bergen-county-execs-race-donovan-does-diner-politicking-race-enters-red-zone

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String of domestic killings shocks Bergen County

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String of domestic killings shocks Bergen County

SEPTEMBER 5, 2014    LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2014, 12:28 AM
BY STEPHANIE AKIN
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

In Bergen County, where violent crime is a rarity, four deaths over the past week have punctuated a stark reality: no community is immune from the horrors of domestic violence.

The killings — a man in his 80s shot and killed his brother-in-law, his wife and then himself in Hasbrouck Heights on Wednesday morning, just days after a 24-year-old allegedly beat and stabbed his mother to death in their Ho-Ho-Kus home — join more than a dozen other domestic killings in Bergen County over the past two years.

“We are well aware that it crosses all boundaries, all races, all communities, all socioeconomic strata and all ages,” said Elaine Myerson, executive director of Shelter our Sisters in Hackensack. “The bottom line is that this happens in Bergen County. We’re not immune.”

Details of this week’s crimes were still unclear Thursday as investigators and friends and family of the victims continued to try to piece together what happened and why. A central question surrounding both cases might never be answered – what could drive a person to turn on those with whom he shared his closest bonds?

“What probably sets the domestic violence homicides apart is, you’re dealing with otherwise very decent people that do some terrible things under circumstances that you just can’t explain,” Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said. “That’s why our courts take domestic violence cases so seriously. … These are all potential homicides.”

So far in 2014, seven of 10 homicides have been domestic crimes, Molinelli said. Last year, it was six out of seven.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/string-of-domestic-killings-shocks-bergen-county-1.1081398

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Campaign season now under way in Bergen County

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Campaign season now under way in Bergen County

Politics is practiced year-round in Bergen County, and street-level campaigning has been going on quietly all summer. But both Republicans and Democrats say the Rutherford Street Fair on Labor Day signals a more intense phase of electioneering. (Ensslin/The Bergen Record)

https://www.northjersey.com/news/campaign-season-now-under-way-in-bergen-county-1.1079080

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Bergen County to cover $615K legal bill, months of back pay in 2 cops’ acquittal

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Bergen County to cover $615K legal bill, months of back pay in 2 cops’ acquittal

A “win-win,” for everyone except taxpayers 

AUGUST 22, 2014, 11:59 PM    LAST UPDATED: SATURDAY, AUGUST 23, 2014, 12:03 AM
BY JEAN RIMBACH
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

Bergen County will be picking up $615,000 in legal fees and cutting a check for back pay to two county police officers found not guilty this year in a politically charged criminal case.The agreement with the pair signals an end to one chapter in a matter that began four years ago and took a turn in May when Officers Saheed Baksh and Jeffrey Roberts were acquitted of charges they lied to investigators and removed evidence from the scene of a police shooting following a high-speed chase. But controversy over their case is likely to continue.

County spokesman John Gil said Friday he could not answer several questions raised by The Record — including the payments due to the officers — until next week. The officers’ lawyers declined to reveal details about the agreement, citing confidentiality.

But Roberts’ attorney, Charles Sciarra, said it provides for back pay and calls for both officers to accept written reprimands. Bergen County Police Chief Brian Higgins confirmed that the settlement calls for reprimands in the officers’ files.

“Everything has been resolved,” Sciarra said. “There’s a back-pay amount, there’s a resolution of the disciplinary case.”

“I think it was fair to both sides and saves the county a lot of money and avoided litigation, so it’s a win-win,” said Louis DiLuzio, the lawyer for Baksh.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/bergen-county-to-cover-615k-legal-bill-months-of-back-pay-in-2-cops-acquittal-1.1072387#sthash.ABIGEVqp.dpuf

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“Knockout Game ” Comes to Bergen County

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“Knockout Game ” Comes to Bergen County 

Hackensack store’s surveillance video shows ‘knockout’ assault suspect

AUGUST 20, 2014, 7:39 PM    LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, AUGUST 21, 2014, 12:40 AM
BY JEFF GREEN
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

HACKENSACK — A video of a man’s sudden, vicious attack on a passer-by in what city police warn may be among the first local incidents of the “knockout game” was released from a store surveillance camera Wednesday.

The athletically built assailant is recorded walking coolly into a convenience store. Four minutes later, he strolls outside, empty-handed and with the same demeanor. But in a burst of violence, he slugs a man he encounters in the face, causing the man to instantly fall to the ground.

The video was released by the Simple Simon Market on Essex Street as city police continued to search for the assailant and advised residents to be alert. The black-and-white film shows one of three separate assaults by the same man Monday night within less than 15 minutes in the areas of Essex Street, Summit Avenue and Beech Street. Police said the victims were two men in their 50s and another in his 20s. None was badly injured, police said initially.

Police did not return calls seeking comment about the investigation’s progress Wednesday. Councilman Leo Battaglia said Wednesday night that police are working hard to apprehend the assailant.

“Pretty soon we’re going to catch the person doing this, and he will be punished to the extent of the law,” he said.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/hackensack-store-s-surveillance-video-shows-knockout-assault-suspect-1.1070257#sthash.a5F6i1yJ.dpuf

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Multifamily projects gain steam in Bergen County

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Multifamily projects gain steam in Bergen County

AUGUST 17, 2014    LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, AUGUST 17, 2014, 11:31 AM
BY KATHLEEN LYNN
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

In a sign of the housing industry’s rebound, two large North Jersey redevelopment projects — in Wood-Ridge and Cliffside Park — are picking up momentum after being stalled during the real estate downturn.

The steel framework is going up at the Towne Center project in Cliffside Park, and developers Fred Daibes and James Demetrakis of Edgewater now expect the project to open around September 2015.

And at the Wesmont Station redevelopment, on part of the old Curtiss-Wright factory site in Wood-Ridge, Pulte Homes has begun work on a section of 217 town houses, while nearby, land is being cleared for 104 affordable apartments.

The Wood-Ridge and Cliffside Park redevelopments are moving forward at a time when home building — especially multifamily building — is on the rise again in New Jersey, after falling to post-World War II lows in the wake of the recession and housing bust. This year, New Jersey home construction approvals are running at their strongest pace since 2006, about 29 percent ahead of last year’s level.

“You’re seeing a convergence of long-term trends toward more multifamily, transit-oriented residential development and the housing market emerging from the deep recession that the industry was in,” said Christopher Jones, vice president for research at the Regional Plan Association.

“There’s a pent-up demand for housing, and builders are getting into position to meet this demand,” said Ralph Zucker, head of Somerset Development, the master developer at Wesmont Station.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/business/multifamily-projects-gain-steam-in-bergen-county-1.1068547#sthash.nS4GZBC9.dpuf

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Police Militarization in Ferguson — and Your Town

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Police Militarization in Ferguson — and Your Town
By WALTER OLSON

Why armored vehicles in a Midwestern inner suburb? Why would cops wear camouflage gear against a terrain patterned by convenience stores and beauty parlors? Why are the authorities in Ferguson, Mo. so given to quasi-martial crowd control methods (such asbans on walking on the street) and, per the reporting of Riverfront Times, the firing of tear gas at people in their own yards? (“ ‘This my property!’ he shouted, prompting police to fire a tear gas canister directly at his face.”) Why would someone identifying himself as an 82nd Airborne Army veteran, observing the Ferguson police scene, comment that “We rolled lighter than that in an actual warzone”?

As most readers have reason to know by now, the town of Ferguson, Mo. outside St. Louis, numbering around 21,000 residents, is the scene of an unfolding drama that will be cited for years to come as a what-not-to-do manual for police forces. After police shot and killed an unarmed black teenager on the street, then left his body on the pavement for four hours, rioters destroyed many local stores. Since then, police have refused to disclose either the name of the cop involved or the autopsy results on young Michael Brown; have not managed to interview a key eyewitness even as he has told his storyrepeatedly on camera to the national press; have revealed that dashcams for police cars were in the city’s possession but never installed; have obtained restrictions on journalists, including on news-gathering overflights of the area; and more.

The dominant visual aspect of the story, however, has been the sight of overpowering police forces confronting unarmed protesters who are seen waving signs or just their hands.

If you’re new to the issue of police militarization, which Overlawyered has covered occasionally over the past few years, the key book is Radley Balko’s, discussed at this Cato forum:

Federal grants drive police militarization. In 2012, as I was able to establish in moments through an online search, St. Louis County (of which Ferguson is a part) got a Bearcat armored vehicle and other goodies this way. The practice can serve to dispose of military surplus (though I’m told the Bearcat is not military surplus, but typically purchased new) and it sometimes wins the gratitude of local governments, even if they are too strapped for cash to afford more ordinary civic supplies (and even if they are soon destined to be surprised by the high cost of maintaining gear intended for armed combat).

As to the costs, some of those are visible in Ferguson, Mo. this week.

https://www.cato.org/blog/police-militarization-ferguson-nationwide

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Bergen County upgrading Glen Rock park

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Bergen County upgrading Glen Rock park

AUGUST 13, 2014    LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2014, 11:20 AM
BY RICHARD DE SANTA
STAFF WRITER
GLEN ROCK GAZETTE

Structural and other improvements now underway in the Glen Rock and Ridgewood sections of the Saddle River County Park are slated for completion from early fall through January 2015, county officials say.

Following a Glen Rock Gazette inquiry this week, Bergen County Parks Department official Alan Koenig listed key elements and timetables of three initiatives: the Glen Rock Pond Renovation, the Glen Rock Bridge Replacement, and the Bank Stabilization Project involving parkland in Glen Rock, Ridgewood and Fair Lawn.

Ongoing through the end of September, the Glen Rock pond renovation includes dredging of an accumulated silt buildup to the waterway’s original depth, “to provide a better and healthier environment for the fish and reptiles, as the water temperatures increase during the summer months,” Koenig said.

Additionally, the banks of the pond will be stabilized with stone work and plantings; an aerating fountain will be added to promote water circulation; a fishing pier and overlook will be added at the pond’s northern end, and new pavilions will be installed for picnic use.

The dredged material is being tested by the county to determine whether it can be reused elsewhere or must be disposed of, according to Koenig, who said results of the test are expected next week.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/community-news/recreation/bergen-county-upgrading-glen-rock-section-of-park-1.1066674#sthash.NxHwY2uv.dpuf

AUGUST 13, 2014    LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2014, 11:20 AM
BY RICHARD DE SANTA
STAFF WRITER
GLEN ROCK GAZETTE

Structural and other improvements now underway in the Glen Rock and Ridgewood sections of the Saddle River County Park are slated for completion from early fall through January 2015, county officials say.

Following a Glen Rock Gazette inquiry this week, Bergen County Parks Department official Alan Koenig listed key elements and timetables of three initiatives: the Glen Rock Pond Renovation, the Glen Rock Bridge Replacement, and the Bank Stabilization Project involving parkland in Glen Rock, Ridgewood and Fair Lawn.

Ongoing through the end of September, the Glen Rock pond renovation includes dredging of an accumulated silt buildup to the waterway’s original depth, “to provide a better and healthier environment for the fish and reptiles, as the water temperatures increase during the summer months,” Koenig said.

Additionally, the banks of the pond will be stabilized with stone work and plantings; an aerating fountain will be added to promote water circulation; a fishing pier and overlook will be added at the pond’s northern end, and new pavilions will be installed for picnic use.

The dredged material is being tested by the county to determine whether it can be reused elsewhere or must be disposed of, according to Koenig, who said results of the test are expected next week.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/community-news/recreation/bergen-county-upgrading-glen-rock-section-of-park-1.1066674#sthash.NxHwY2uv.dpuf

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Ferguson, Mo., crisis echoes in Bergen County debate

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Ferguson, Mo., crisis echoes in Bergen County debate

AUGUST 14, 2014, 9:27 PM    LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, AUGUST 15, 2014, 12:11 AM
BY JEAN RIMBACH AND JOHN C. ENSSLIN
STAFF WRITERS
THE RECORD

What had been a local debate over the use of surplus military armored vehicles for law enforcement in Bergen County intensified Thursday when U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder criticized the use of similar equipment to quell looting and civil unrest in Ferguson, Mo.

Holder issued a statement that condemned the violence by both civilians and police in the aftermath of the fatal shooting Saturday of an unarmed black 18-year-old by a white police officer. He also questioned the use of military vehicles that Ferguson police obtained through a federal program.

“At a time when we must seek to rebuild trust between law enforcement and the local community, I am deeply concerned that the deployment of military equipment and vehicles sends a conflicting message,” Holder stated. “At my direction, Department officials have conveyed these concerns to local authorities.”

His remarks drew immediate parallels to the debate now raging in Bergen County, where the Sheriff’s office has moved to obtain two MRAPs – “mine-resistant ambush protected vehicles” – through a U.S. Department of Defense program that has distributed some 600 of the vehicles to law enforcement agencies around the country in the past year.

The issue also has become a major factor in Bergen political races this year, including County Executive Kathleen Donovan’s bid for re-election.

Donovan has questioned the move by Bergen Sheriff Michael Saudino, a fellow Republican, to acquire the vehicles, saying that it unnecessarily “militarizes” police operations in Bergen County.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/u-s-attorney-general-criticizes-use-of-armored-military-vehicles-to-quell-civil-unrest-1.1067809#sthash.92ksafoC.dpuf