Palisades Park NJ, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella announced the arrest of 31-year-old JORGE ORREGO-GARCIA of Palisades Park, NJ on charges of sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child. The arrest was the result of an investigation conducted by the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office under the direction of Acting Chief Matthew Finck and the Palisades Park Police Department under the direction of Chief Anthony Espino.
Ridgefield NJ, at approximately 6:25 PM last evening the Ridgefield Fire Department was dispatched to 392 Shaler Boulevard for a report of fire coming out of the attic vents of a single family home.
Teaneck NJ, according to the Teaneck Police Department, officers from over ten surrounding jurisdictions responded and assisted our agency with dispersing the crowd of over 300 people at the conclusion of the Teaneck boys varsity basketball game vs. Hackensack around 9:05 pm .
Ridgefield NJ, the Veolia water system recently detected E. coli within the distribution system. As our customers, you have a right to know what happened and what we are doing to correct this situation. A sample collected on July 19, 2022 and repeat samples collected on July 20, 2022, with results generated on July 21, confirmed the presence of E. coli.
Hackensack NJ, Bergen County Executive Jim Tedesco announces locations for the next two weeks of the Bergen County Regional Community Testing Program which is available to all county residents thanks to a partnership between the County of Bergen and Bergen New Bridge Medical Center. All testing locations this fall will offer COVID-19 saliva tests and flu vaccinations.
Hackensack NJ, Bergen County Executive Jim Tedesco announces that 11,336 tests have been administered in the first five weeks of community mobile testing across Bergen County. According to results processed by Bergen New Bridge Medical Center, of the 8,147 COVID-19 saliva diagnostic tests and 3,189 COVID-19 antibody tests taken at mobile testing locations, only 2% of the saliva tests and 18% of antibody tests yielded positive results.
Next week, the community mobile testing program, which is available to all county residents thanks to a partnership between the County of Bergen and Bergen New Bridge Medical Center, will deploy to Alpine, Cresskill, Hasbrouck Heights, Mahwah, Palisades Park, Ridgefield, Tenafly, & Wood-Ridge.
Hackensack NJ, Bergen County Executive Jim Tedesco announces the next four locations for the County of Bergen & Bergen New Bridge Medical Center community mobile testing program. This initiative which has brought COVID-19 saliva diagnostic and COVID-19 antibody testing directly to communities across the county, will serve residents in Cliffside Park, Edgewater, Franklin Lakes, Leonia, Oakland, Palisades Park, Ridgefield, and Saddle Brook in the next round of testing. To date, over 8,000 residents have received testing at 15 mobile testing sites across Bergen County.
The Northern Branch is a freight rail line owned by CSX Transportation that runs through Hudson and Bergen Counties to the New York State Border. The Northern Branch Corridor, through which the rail line traverses, is a densely settled suburban environment that has not been served by passenger rail since the discontinuation of service on the Northern Branch and West Shore Lines in the 1950s and 60s.
The Northern Branch Corridor Project calls for transit improvements in northeastern Hudson and southeastern Bergen Counties through the restoration of passenger rail service on an existing freight rail line. The electric light rail service would operate on West Side Avenue in North Bergen, and then on existing railroad right-of-way owned by CSX Transportation (CSX) between 91st Street in North Bergen and the northern border of Englewood and would introduce new station stops in North Bergen, Ridgefield, Palisades Park, Leonia, and Englewood.
Project Planning
The growth of automobile usage and accompanying roadway congestion in recent decades led planners and officials to search for solutions to the growing traffic problems in the Bergen County area. In the mid-1990s the West Shore Region Study provided a comprehensive examination of multi-modal opportunities throughout Bergen County, New Jersey and Rockland County, New York. Recommended for further study was an extension of the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail (HBLR) from 85th Street in North Bergen along the Northern Branch to Tenafly, New Jersey.
The Northern Branch Corridor DEIS was prepared by NJ TRANSIT in cooperation with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to evaluate the benefits, costs and social, economic and environmental impacts of constructing and operating passenger rail service on the Northern Branch. The DEIS evaluated two Build Alternatives: the Preferred Alternative, which extended existing Hudson-Bergen Light Rail (HBLR) service from North Bergen to the Tenafly-Cresskill border, and a similar HBLR extension that terminated at Route 4 in Englewood.
The DEIS was published in November 2011, and can be reviewed here: Northern Branch DEIS.
Public hearings were held in January 2012, and the public comment period closed on February 21, 2012. More than 1,200 comments were received and reviewed by NJ TRANSIT. While many comments expressed support for the service, residents and community leaders in Tenafly were strongly opposed to the extension of service into their community. After considering the comments, FTA and NJ TRANSIT have developed a new alignment that would extend HBLR service from North Bergen to Englewood Hospital, which is north of Route 4 and south of Tenafly. Light rail service would not extend past Englewood.
This new alignment results in changes to the service plan and potential environmental and social impacts explored in the DEIS circulated for comment in 2012. As a result, this new alignment and associated changes have been analyzed in a Supplemental DEIS (SDEIS) and circulated for public comment and agency feedback in a process closely approximating the one undertaken for the DEIS.
The SDEIS was published on March 24, 2017, and can be reviewed here: Northern Branch SDEIS.
Similar to a DEIS, an SDEIS requires a public hearing and public comment period. The comments on the SDEIS and DEIS will be addressed together in the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS). A 60-day public comment period will follow the notice of availability (NOA) of the SDEIS, during which time NJ TRANSIT will hold a public hearing. Comments will be collected and reviewed in the same manner as conducted for the DEIS. Provided that the SDEIS comments do not present compelling arguments for substantial revision to the SDEIS Preferred Alternative, an FEIS will be prepared, incorporating the SDEIS findings and unchanged elements from the DEIS. A response to comments chapter will be included in the FEIS, addressing all comments received during the prior two comment periods.
Ridgewood NJ, Gov. Chris Christie vetoed legislation on Friday that would have imposed taxes on the state’s burgeoning “home-sharing” industry.
The bill was an effort to target and regulate an industry dominated by San Francisco-based Airbnb, even as some municipalities in the state move toward banning the practice within their borders.
According to committee testimony Airbnb had 260,000 rentals in New Jersey last year alone and some municipalities such as Jersey City and Newark already have reached agreements with Airbnb to collect 6 percent fees. Other towns primarily those in Atlantic and Cape May counties, and near the New Jersey Meadowlands are permitted to charge additional taxes and fees.
Currently about 17 towns In New Jersey, mostly in Northern New Jersey closer to New York City, have chosen to bar such rentals, including Palisades Park, Englewood Cliffs, Fort Lee, Lyndhurt and Glen Rock.
Not surprisingly the bill two major proponents are the New Jersey Hotel and Lodging Association and the New Jersey Restaurant and Hospitality Association.
