Demolition Funding Postponed, Naturalization Ceremony Tops Weekly News

American Legion Receives Grace Period as Demolition Funding Postponed

With only four Council members present on Monday night, the American Legion building earned a two-week grace period before the question of demolition funding will rise again. The governing body was initially expected to approve a resolution authorizing the alottment of $45,000 towards the demolition but agreed to table it until the full council was present as both Council President Paul Corts and Councilwoman Kathleen Murphy were absent.

After the loss of one senior bus from poor maintenance, River Edge will now begin the process of seeking additional funding from Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) for a replacement. Additional grant applications will be submitted for the bus driver and dispatcher's salary and wages along with funding for Senior Citizens of River Edge (SCORE).

Architect Peter Pulice came before the River Edge Mayor and Council with bad news this week - as the leaky River Edge Library roof would need to be completed replaced for an estimated $250,000 pricetag - twice the amount that the borough set aside in the capital budget.

Residents in New Milford and Oradell have banded together against a proposed development along the Madison Avenue, Main Street, River Road and John D. Cecchino Drive intersections and are now seeking support from their neighbors to the north in River Edge as well.

According to Elizabeth "Betsy" Dolan, a traffic engineer hired by Hekemian, the additional traffic caused by the proposed development can be accommodated because the roads that she studied around the area are "underutilized." Dolan, hired by Hekemian to analyze the traffic impact and trip generation of the proposed development of the United Water property, reappeared before the zoning board of adjustment Tuesday to continue her testimony on the traffic study she prepared for the proposed site. 

New Milford's Democrats are urging the Bergen County Freeholders to consider extending the boundaries of the county-owned Water Works property to include United Water's 13-acre parcel, currently under contract for private sale with Hekemian, located directly across the street and add it to the county's inventory of open space. 

Over a nine day period approximately 32,000 immigrants will be able to call themselves Americans after participating in a naturalization ceremony. On Wednesday afternoon, 24 men and women from countries such as Cuba, India, Pakistan and the Ukraine, participated in a ceremony at Historic New Bridge Landing in River Edge.

As the days get shorter and the temperatures cool down, Bergen County's canines and their owners are counting down until the under construction Van Saun Park dog park opens for use. Work on leveling the ground began in mid-September and work is expected to be completed by late fall.

Having the best of intentions has never been equated with having the best of bodies—or even less flabby ones. So many of us have unused or infrequently used gym memberships, and even for those of us who do make it to the gym, we often lose a mental struggle with ourselves to stay on the treadmill for a full workout or complete that last set of reps.

So what’s a person to do who wants to get in better shape but needs more motivation to do it? Well, that’s where boot camp comes in. In Oradell, Nicole Anderson, a mother of three boys, has started training Oradell Public School mothers every Saturday, at 119 Elizabeth Street, Oradell.

As Oradell looks for ways to increase the borough's efficiency and reduce waste, officials are weighing the choice between laptop and tablet computers for council members. The switch would allow the borough to go largely paperless, eliminating the need for piles of paper delivered to Oradell officials prior to each council meeting.

To cut back on police overtime costs, Oradell is considering using "per diem" dispatchers to fill in when a regular police dispatcher is sick or on vacation. The borough previously considered outsourcing its dispatching services to another agency, either Bergen County, Paramus' communications center, or Northwest Central Dispatch in Ridgewood. The dispatch services are currently handled in-house, by the borough's police department.

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