TOWN WATCH
NEWARK – The Newark Public Schools district is planning to open more school buildings than last year’s 15 for this year’s expanded and, to some, mandatory Summer Schools program. They include “nearly all” of the system’s 19 high schools.
The expansion is being made not by popular demand. Although some of the 10,000 students in Summer 2022 took advantage of bridge and enhancement classes, some them were making up for regular school year attendance and/or were in danger of academic failure.
The NPS Central Office is anticipating the doubling of last summer’s 10,000. Another 10,000 have been identified as being at risk of falling academically behind. New Jersey’s largest public school district instructs around 38,000 Pre-Kindergarten-12th Grade students.
NPS Superintendent of Schools Roger Leon, at the May 25 Board of Education meeting, cited reports going back to Spring 2002 that students’ academic test scores have not returned to pre-COVID pandemic levels. The Spring 2022 New Jersey State Learning Assessment found 27 percent of NPDS students passing the language arts (formerly English) exams and 13 percent their math exams.
The need to have, in Leon’s words, “accelerated learning” and “credit recovery” was also the superintendent’s decision to add two unused 2022-23 snow days to the Memorial Day weekend holiday.
This year’s summer school will still offer classes for special needs students as part of their yearlong learning program. Transportation will be provided, and all classes are to run 8:30 a.m. – 3 p.m. July 5 – Aug. 4.
IRVINGTON – The two pedestrians who were injured by a runaway car here May 19 should have completed their medical treatment by now. Irvington Police detectives, however, are looking how a white four-door BMW lost control before striking the pedestrians and had splintered a garage.
Irvington police and fire units and a local EMS ambulance were called to a report of “a car colliding into a building” at 676 18th Ave. 7:30 p.m. that Friday.
The responders arrived to find the BMW buried under the roof of a collapsed freestanding garage. They also found the two injured persons nearby.
EMS technicians promptly took the wounded duo to “a nearby hospital.” No further details were given on what condition they were in when admitted.
IPD officers meanwhile called for a forklift truck and a Public Service Electric & Gas work crew. The forklift was used to remove the garage roof from the stricken car. PSE&G employees meanwhile replace a utility pole that the car had hit.
There has been no word about the BMW driver’s condition or whether he or she has been charged with any motor vehicle violation. The car was removed by a contracted tow truck for impounding.
EAST ORANGE – One of the city’s landmark apartment buildings has been sold but neither the seller or its broker said who it was told to.
CBRE Institutional Properties Vice Chairman Jeffrey Dunne, on May 23, announced that it had secured a buyer for 75 Prospect St. on behalf of outgoing owner OneWall Communities. OneWall, of Newark and Stamford, Conn., had bought the 10-story, 44-unit, 1928 building in 2017.
“The buyer thoroughly realized the uniqueness of 75 Prospect and acted quickly and aggressively to secure the deal,” said Dunne. “This is a one-of-a-kind asset in East Orange. The average size of the apartments, at 1,860 square feet, is unmatched and will likely never be replicated.”
75 Prospect, sometimes called The Castle, is a longtime standout in the Brick Church neighborhood. Most of its 44 2 to 4-bedroom units stretch out from the building’s front to rear.
The building was among 20 apartment buildings here and in Newark, Irvington and Orange OneWall bought and managed since 2016-17. Real estate and property websites indicate, however, that OneWall is down to at least three buildings. OneWall’s website only lists its Pennsylvania and Maryland holdings.
OneWall has had its problems with 75 Prospect as late as last summer. Tenants have complained that one of its elevators had not been operating for a month and that requested repairs had not been done.
Platinum Management, of Orange, who operated 75 Prospect for OneWall, said that it was waiting for elevator parts to arrive. It had also said that the building had $1 million in debt. The City of East Orange had meanwhile fined 75 Prospect $2,000 a day until the elevator was running again.
ORANGE – It appears that the first phase of the 395 Main St/YWCA / Orange REC Center project has been completed.
Rossi’s Paint and Decorating has finished its conversion of the former bank at 425 Main St. The two-story mid-20th Century building had held the law offices of the late Mayor Robert Brown, National Westminster Bank and, of late, Bank of America.
Rossi has moved from its headquarters – an 1876-built mixed use structure at 401 Main St. Its ground floor and two upper stories of apartments have been vacated.
The Ecuadorian restaurant at 407 Main St. has also been vacated since last winter. The inset corner site had started off as a service station and, in the 1960s, converted to Guy’s Restaurant.
All three properties – and 395 Main St., are now owned by the City of Orange Township. It had also bought 425 Main for $1.9 million so that Rossi can renovate and move in.
The city’s ownership sets the stage for the next phase; replace all three buildings with a six-story Orange REC Center. Orange REC, as envisioned by Mayor Dwayne D. Warren and his administration in 2017, is a public-private partnership that would bring a community fitness center to the first two floors and 200 market-rate apartments on its upper floors.
City Business Administrator Chris Hartwyk and Planning and Development UEZ Coordinator Christopher Mobley told “Local Talk” that D&R Urban Renewal LLC has been selected as Orange REC’s developer. A redevelopment and financial agreement are to be introduced to the City Council in September prior to any demolition.
WEST ORANGE – A ” Business Administrator Wanted ” sign has been up at Town Hall since June 1 while the resigned office holder is here at 66 Main St.
Mayor Susan McCartney said, on that Thursday, that John O. Gross has stepped down as the township’s BA. Gross remains as CFO and Comptroller.
Gross had succeeded l20-year BA John K. Sayers’ Jan. 1, 2021 retirement. He had been among the township’s administrators who had introduced a Calendar Year 2023 Municipal Budget. with a proposed 16 percent property tax increase.
Mayor McCartney, her administrators and the Municipal Council have held marathon budget workshops May 18 and 24 to reduce that tax increase.
McCartney, in her June 1 announcement named herself as “Acting Business Administrator” and named Gross as her Chief of Staff.
“Mr. Gross, as he did as BA, has agreed to be my chief of staff without compensation,” said McCartney, “adding no additional burden to the Township’s budget.”
SOUTH ORANGE / MAPLEWOOD – There are South Orange neighbors who can commiserate with Maplewood residents’ over the actions of a local developer on a Revolutionary War era house.
Neighbors of 103 Parker Ave. in Maplewood were startled to see a backhoe tearing into the two story Dutch Colonial house at 4 p.m. May 23. The 253-year-old Fleming House, within 24 hours, was reduced to its stone foundation and chimney.
The 1775-built Fleming House, also known as Smith-Taylor House, was sold to Ampere Development for $585,000 in April. Whatever plans that Ampere’s Isaac and Henry Lefkovitz have for the lot were not posted in time for the Maplewood Planning Board’s June 16 meeting.
It turned out that the Fleming House was not among the 18 listed on the Maplewood Historic Preservation Commission register. There is also no requirement to post advance notices of a demolition.
South Orange residents recall that the Village Engineer halted Ampere’s work at 167 North Ridgewood Rd Dec. 1, 2021 for unpermitted tree clearing. Although the South Orange Planning Board allowed the developer to fell 23 trees, Ampere’s workers cut down 30 more.
Some of the felled trees were contemporaries of the 1774 Squier House, a farmhouse that has had several additions over the centuries. Ampere, indeed, removed all but the house’s original structure.
The Lefkovitzes, the planning board, the South Orange Preservation Society and the municipal preservation board, on Feb. 1, 2021, had agreed to preserve the Squier House while permitting the construction of two new houses on flanking lots. Ampere had paid a fine for the illegal tree felling and went on with the Squire renovation and new house construction in 2022.
BLOOMFIELD – Members of the Bloomfield Soccer Club are working to plant a tree and install a commemorative bench here in Lion Gate Park to honor scholar-athlete Christina Lembo.
BSC coach Karen Testa posted a “Thank You” last month on the GoFundMe.com fundraising page she had launched after donors helped reach its goal.
The Lembo memorial bench and tree, when put in place, will be dedicated by Lion Gate Field in the near future.
Lembo, who wore the No. 20 jersey, was a 16-year-old Bloomfield High School junior. She was killed in a Sept. 30, 2012 automobile accident.
“Christina was caring, compassionate and courageous,” said Testa May 30. “Her love for her friends and family were obvious, her belief and compassion for the less fortunate was empowering. Her hustle in soccer was contagious.”
MONTCLAIR – One Montclair Township Council Member has broken attorney-client privilege to make sure his Oct. 24 public meeting remarks remain part of the public record and as evidence in the Pao vs. Montclair and Timothy Stafford whistleblower lawsuit case.
Councilman Peter Yacobellis had recently sent an appeal to Acting State Comptroller Kevin Walsh and attorney Nancy Erika Smith that his comments in the said Oct. 24 public meeting be kept on the record. Smith represents Montclair CFO Padmja Rao in her civil suit against the township and now-former Town Manager Stafford.
Yacobellis “went outside” to Walsh and Smith after saying that his request to retain his recorded remarks to Acting Township Attorney Paul Burr, Assistant Attorney Gina DeVito and outside attorney Derrick Freijomil “has gone unanswered.” Freijmoil, of Riker Danzig LLC, was hire to represent them against Rao.
The councilman said he was responding to a reported May 26 request by Freijmoil to N.J. Superior Court Judge Stephen Petrillo to strike Yacobellis’ comments from evidence. Petrillo, in a pretrial hearing in Newark that Friday, had directed the opposing parties to gather information for discovery.
What Yacobellis said he had said Oct. 24 was that he “was being walled off” by some of his council colleagues about “Pao vs. Stafford.” The councilman said that he did not know about the suit until it became public knowledge.
Yacobellis, furthermore, on Oct. 24, said “Pao was serving in the best interests of the Township” and “We should be doing everything to protect whistleblowers and encourage speaking up.”
Pao is suing the township and Stafford for the latter’s alleged retaliation and hostile workplace environment after bringing up inconsistencies in Township Council health benefits and Montclair Fire Department pension payments since 2017. The Council suspended Stafford Oct. 24 and fired him April 28.
GLEN RIDGE – Investigators from the Montclair Fire Department are searching for the cause of a June 4 South End house fire here.
Members of MFD Firehouse No. 3 responded to the call of a house fire along the borough’s Willow Street at 8:43 p.m. Sunday.
They arrived to find flames coming out from beneath the house’s enclosed front porch. The house’s occupants had also evacuated themselves.
Although the fire was quickly extinguished, the house had suffered heat, smoke and water damage. The last firefighters left the scene at 10:08 p.m.
“Montclair’s Bravest” have been providing Glen Ridge fire prevention and suppression services since its own department disbanded in 1991.
BELLEVILLE – Belleville Police Department Capt. Christopher Schwindt, after 25 years of walking out of police headquarters, did so for the last time here on May 31.
Schwindt, in a suit and tie, was given a ceremonial walking out with colleagues, friends and family members. At least 39 congratulations and farewell messages were posted on the BPD Facebook page.
Schwindt, of Bloomfield, was promoted to captain Feb. 1, 2021. The title includes being BPD’s Bureau of Professional Standards Commander – overseeing the adherence of accountability, integrity and transparency of the force’s 100 uniform officers.
Christopher Schwindt had joined “Belleville’s Finest” Nov. 3, 2003. He was promoted to sergeant in 2011 and lieutenant in 2018. He, along the way, served in the patrol division, on the internal affairs bureau and was part of the emergency response team.
Schwindt came here from the east and northeast. He started serving in the Hudson County Sheriff’s Office in 1994 before joining the Palisades Interstate Parkway Police. The Kearny High School graduate had studied in Essex County College and Fairleigh Dickinson University before beginning police work.
Schwindt has been a girls basketball coach for Bloomfield Recreation and Home School Association. His brother, Sean, retired as Bloomfield Police Deputy Chief Dec. 31, 2022.
NUTLEY – The Nutley Police Department had the Nutley Public Schools district shelter over 60 percent of its Kindergarten-12th Grade students and staff in place for nearly 45 minutes June 2.
An NPD dispatcher asked NPS administrators to have people in Nutley High School, John H. Walker Middle School and the Washington and Yantacaw elementary schools shelter-in-place 10:04 a.m. Friday. Nutley educators complied, holding over 2,782 students plus staff.
NPD gave “an incident on Route 21” as the reason for asking. Several sources said that township officers were pursuing a motorcycle on Rt. 21 South when its rider abandoned the machine and ran into a nearby neighborhood.
The four affected schools are up to a mile west of the state highway. An “all clear” was given at 10:44 a.m.
NHS, Walker, Washington and Yantacaw resumed their normal Friday schedules. The Lincoln, Radcliffe and Spring Garden schools were unaffected.
