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.
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
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)
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.
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)
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
Bergen County, Nixon’s adopted home, has complicated memories of disgraced president
AUGUST 9, 2014, 7:45 PM LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, AUGUST 10, 2014, 4:53 AM BY CHRISTOPHER MAAG STAFF WRITER THE RECORD
The night before he cut Richard Nixon’s hair for the first time, Domenic Parisi was so nervous he barely slept, with visions of limousines descending on his little barbershop on Maple Avenue in downtown Park Ridge.
But at 7:30 a.m., the only activity was two men sitting in an ugly little gold sedan. One man handed the other a $10 bill, and the second man got out of the car. The man was the ex-president of the United States.
That first haircut apparently went well. For nine years, until Nixon died from a stroke in 1994, Parisi cut the former president’s hair every two weeks.
“He was like everybody else,” Parisi said Saturday, 40 years to the day since Nixon resigned the presidency in disgrace. “He liked to talk about his family.”
from the movie Stripes , the urban assault vehicle
Armored vehicles at the center of latest Bergen conflict
JULY 20, 2014, 10:01 PM LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, JULY 20, 2014, 10:05 PM BY JEAN RIMBACH STAFF WRITER THE RECORD
They were built to protect American soldiers in overseas war zones, multi-ton behemoths encased in enough steel to shield occupants from roadside bombs.
Now, a move to bring two of the surplus armored military vehicles to Bergen County is the latest battleground in a tug of war over law enforcement between the county’s top two elected officials.
Sheriff Michael Saudino has requested two of the vehicles known as MRAPs — “mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles” — from the U.S. Department of Defense under a program that makes them available to law-enforcement agencies for free.
But County Executive Kathleen A. Donovan has tried to hit the brakes, urging the Freeholder Board to rescind a resolution endorsing Saudino’s plans.
“They are combat vehicles,” said Jeanne Baratta, Donovan’s chief of staff. “Why do we need a combat vehicle on the streets of Bergen County?”
There Goes the Neighborhood : Senator Menendez moves to Bergen County
JULY 5, 2014, 4:29 PM LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, JULY 6, 2014, 12:13 AM BY CHRISTOPHER MAAG STAFF WRITER THE RECORD
Sen. Bob Menendez, long viewed as the unofficial boss of the Democratic Party in Hudson County, has moved to Bergen County. The senator has had the good fortune , of beating the odds in many tight political squeezes, BetWinner Cameroon .
Menendez first talked publicly about his move at a political fundraiser in Edgewater on Wednesday night, where he announced not only that he will BetWinner entrar , support Democrat James Tedesco’s campaign for Bergen County executive, he’ll also be voting for Tedesco in the November election.
“Yes that is correct. He lives in Paramus now,” said Steven Sandberg, a spokesman for Menendez.
Menendez, who began his political career in Union City, had been living in North Bergen. The announcement of his move was originally reported by Politicker NJ, a website that covers state politics.
Menendez, who is divorced, is engaged to marry Alicia Mucci, a widow who lives in Paramus. Sandberg declined to say whether Menendez and Mucci have moved in together.
Several Bergen County Democrats hope the move by Menendez, New Jersey’s senior senator, may help their prospects for maintaining control of the Bergen County Board of Freeholders and winning back the office of county executive from Republican Kathleen Donovan.
