TOWN WATCH
NEWARK – New Jersey Transit and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen local have may or may not have averted a strike that may take effect after 12:01 a.m. May 16, affecting the five of the eight commuter rail lines that go through Newark Broad and Penn stations.
NJTransit has established Newark Penn Station as one of five weekday 5-9 a.m. and 3-7 p.m. drop off and pick up centers to board NJTransit or private bus lines, Amtrak or PATH. The contingency service is to partially serve the 350,000 daily rail commuters who will have to find alternate service.
The nation’s largest statewide carrier has also designated West Orange’s Mississippi Avenue Loop as a transfer spot to buses. CoachUSA’s Community Coach through the Oranges, Montclair and Bloomfield is also listed among private bus companies. Boxcar may run additional weekday rush hour buses from Maplewood and South Orange stations to New York’s Port Authority Bus Terminal.
The Maplewood Jitney intends to pick up riders from its rail station and bus stops to Irvington Terminal for the NJT No. 107 bus. Other municipal rush hour jitney services in South Orange, Bloomfield, Montclair and Glen Ridge may also drop off and pick up riders for connecting NYC or local bus routes.
Meanwhile, the Port Authority of NY and NJ will be running free bus shuttles between Newark Penn and Newark Liberty International Airport’s P4 monorail station. EWR riders may also take the Go28, 37, 62 and 67 pus routes. Amtrak will make additional stops at EWR Station.
Respective negotiating BLET and NJT teams, as of 2 p.m. May 13, are talking with a National Railroad Board mediator in Washington, D.C. The 450-engineer union members have not had a contract since 2019. Negotiations have gone through two Presidential labor boards, who act like impasse circuit-breakers.
IRVINGTON / BLOOMFIELD – A State Superior Court-Newark jury, said an ECPO spokesman April 30, found a township man guilty April 25 of killing another man and wounding two others in an Ampere neighborhood store April 10, 2022.
The jury, after a six-week trial, informed Judge Michael J. Ravin that they Found Joseph Ocasio, 29, guilty of first-degree murder, attempted murder, aggravated assault, three counts of endangering the welfare of a child and various weapons offenses.
Ocasio, said prosecutors, had entered the then-Nitty Sons Variety Store at 126 First Ave. April 10, 2022 and opened fire on Christian L. Perez, 23, of East Orange, Kwame Kemp, 31, and Rahim Teague, 32.
Perez, who was in a family of six, was pronounced dead at the scene at 3:18 p.m. He had his memorial reception at Flynn & Sons Funeral Home, in Woodbridge’s Fords section, followed by a private cremation, April 17, 2022. Parents Lissette Perez, John Riveria and Dario Rodriguez, grandfather Eulogio Rodriguez, daughter Avery Elizabeth, brother Carlos Fontanez and sister Tiffany Vincenti were among his survivors.
Kemp was shot in the back and was admitted in critical condition at the Morristown Medical Center. He was left partially paralyzed. Teague, who was also taken to Morristown, was shot on one of his hands in presence of his three children, respectively seven, nine and 14.
Ocasio faces a life prison sentence from Ravin July 7. ECPO thanks the county’s Homicide/Major Crimes Task Force and Bloomfield, East Orange and Newark police for their investigative help. The store, which goes under at least two other names, is listed as being “temporarily closed.”
EAST ORANGE – The East Orange Fire Department spent late April 29 bringing a two-alarm house fire in the “Teen Streets” section under control.
The first EOFD units, responding to a house fire call at 10:38 p.m. that Tuesday, found fire and smoke coming out of the 2.5-story wood frame house built in 1920. The incident commander then pulled a second alarm, bringing all department hands and mutual aid from neighboring towns.
East Orange firefighters, with the help of their Irvington colleagues, combated flames spreading through the house’s hollow balloon frame walls on all floors. Other unnamed neighboring departments were either at the scene or provided station coverage. The fire was extinguished within an hour and no serious injuries were reported.
Resident Accused in Summit Burglary
The Summit Police Department, after a multi-jurisdictional investigation of a Feb. 21 home invasion in their city, said on May 9 that they have arrested an East Orange man.
Summit Chief Ryan Peters said that Alquan Harris, 26, is being held on 12 criminal charges while awaiting a detention hearing as of press time. Those charges are: first-degree home invasion burglary, second -degree possession of a weapon, possession thereof for an unlawful purpose, unlawful possession by a felon, burglary of an auto while armed and theft of a motor vehicle; third-degree burglary, theft by unlawful taking and receiving a stolen vehicle; fourth-degree certain person not to have a weapon and disorderly conduct -theft of an item under $200.
Harris, said Peters, is accused of breaking into a Summit house with its occupants inside at 1:40 a.m. Feb. 21. Although he had no contact with the said residents, he stole a 2025 Infiniti QX80. Peters thanked the Essex and Union county prosecutors, among others, for their help in the continuing investigation.
ORANGE – Although a three-year-old harassment, discrimination and retaliation suit between the Orange Public Schools superintendent and its 30-year executive secretary was confidentially settled for $250,000 in State Superior Court-Newark Feb. 21, its public disclosure had prompted an April 29 statement by the superintendent’s attorney.
Dedrie Dobbs, through Morristown attorneys Robert A. and Stephen T. Scirocco, filed suit against OPS, its school board and Superintendent of Schools. Dr. Gerald Fitzhugh II in superior court Aug. 9, 2022 – two months after she had delivered her hostile workplace allegations to the board attorney.
Dobbs, a 30-year executive secretary to 11 prior superintendents, accused Fitzhugh of making race-, sex- and age- based discriminatory comments in her and others’ presence 2020-21. She considers her being placed on paid administrative leave June 2022 pending an internal investigation and being told she would not be returned to work regardless of outcome as retaliation.
Dobbs said that Fitzhugh, who was hired July 1, 2019, began making derogatory comments about her dark skin and age in 2020-April 2022. She said that he told her that he preferred light-skinned women and had “married a Spanish woman so I can have lighter skinned babies.” Dobbs said that Fitzhugh had rerouted business matters to lighter skinned colleagues – and, when replaced, her position was taken by a lighter hued successor.
Regarding age, Dobbs said that Fitzhugh had called her a “64 baby,” referring to her birth year, in mixed company.
Revealed settlement documents state that the $250,000 would be split $156,146.72 in damages to the plaintiff and $93,853.28 towards her lawyers’ legal fees and costs. She is not required to work at OPS after Jan. 1, 2025 and will retire June 30 once her accrued six leave and vacation time is exhausted.
Fitzhugh’s attorney stated April 29 that OPS had settled “at the recommendation of its insurance carrier in the best interests of the students and the district as a whole,” that his client “unequivocally denied all allegations” and that the settlement was “not an admission of guilt or wrongdoing.”
WEST ORANGE – West Orange Public Schools’ Thomas A. Edison middle school may lose its “Central Six” designation as early as Sept. 1.
The public school district had been sending all of its Sixth Graders to the Tory Corner 1906 building while its 2007-built Liberty Middle by the Livingston border, and 1956-built Roosevelt Middle School, in the Hutton Park section, are for Seventh and Eighth Graders. This configuration was inaugurated in 2005.
WOPS Superintendent of Schools Hayden Moore, at his May 6 presentation, has proposed making all three junior high schools as Sixth-Eight grade institutions. It is one of several proposals the district has been mulling since April 2 to fill a gap in the proposed 2025-26 school budget.
Making all three schools to hold three grade levels would “lead to transportation savings, provide greater continuity for students and positively impact academic performance.”
Township middle schoolers, as a result, would not all be Edison Knights but be evenly distributed with the Liberty Lions and the Roosevelt Mini-Mountaineers.
West Orange’s educators are also considering “streamlining” or consolidating high school courses that have nine or fewer students, seek out more grants and donations, reducing free community use of 13 school buildings and/or ending its in-house school bus late night and/or field trip service.
SOUTH ORANGE – A man who was first ticketed for smoking in a prohibited area April 17 may have had some reflection while at Newark’s Essex County Correctional Facility.
The village police department said that the man -identified as Gregory Bridgers – was arrested after he had punched one of its officers in the face. He now has a to-be-scheduled hearing to answer an aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer charge.
The SOPD blotter began when two officers noticed Bridgers smoking in Spiotta Park in the village center. He began to walk away when police tried to hand him a summons and ignored their orders to stop.
Bridgers, when police tried to stop him, “went into a fighting stance” and punched one of the officers. He was promptly put under arrest and processed at police headquarters.
It is believed that Mr. Bridgers had posted bail since his name does not appear on the county jail’s inmate lookup feature May 9.
MAPLEWOOD – The Maplewood Memorial Library and its friends are inviting the public to return to its 21st Century edition with a formal ribbon-cutting of 51 Baker St., on July 5.
“Come and experience our newly renovated and expanded building, which will once again serve as the heart of the community,” said MML in its May 1 announcement “The new design ensures that our Main Library is accessible, inspiring, technologically advanced and open for all years to come. to open July 5.
The four-year, $23.5 million transformation retained its four walls from 1956 and 1969 but little else. Gone is the Colonial accented Mid-20th Century split-level design that made full handicapped access challenging. Sept. 1-2, 2021 Hurricane Ida’s flooding hastened the Jefferson Village Center institution’s closing.
Maplewood, adjacent and visiting patrons have since had to split their services between the 1957-built Hilton Branch at 1688 Springfield Ave. for children and teen services, or at the former Maplewood First Aid Squad Building at 129 Boyden St. for adult services. Patrons’ BCCLS and/or ReBEL stickers were honored at other towns’ participating libraries.
MML began an interim transition by turning off its computers April 29 and ending its run at 129 Boyden May 1. Maplewood-Hilton reopened with more services May 5.
Maplewood Main’s transformation was paid in part from an $8 million 2021-22 N.J. State Library Construction Bond Act grant. That bond also helped fund moving the West Orange Public Library to a renovated 10 Rooney Circle, revamping the East Orange, Newark and Glen Ridge libraries and the soon-to-be-ground broken connection between South Orange Public Library’s two buildings.
MONTCLAIR – Township Planning Director Janice Talley walked planning board members and the public here May 5 through the affordable housing plan that will need Township Council and state approval before the June 30 deadline.
Talley, through a slide show presentation in the Township Council chamber that Monday night, started with a snapshot of Montclair’s housing and open land stock. Half of Montclair’s housing comprises single family homes. Two-family townhouses make up 15 percent overall and 30 percent of non-single family houses.
Montclair, however, is getting more expensive and less diverse. Medium gross household income, for example, has risen from $79,894 in 2000 to $166,675 in 2023. While demographics show more Hispanic and Asian families between 2010 and 2020 US Census counts, there are nine percent less African American families.
The N.J. Department of Community Services’ Council of Affordable Housing has allocated Montclair 804 immediate housing units in its 2025-35 plan. Most municipalities statewide have been given immediate and projected unit figures. Towns must submit an affordable housing plan or an appeal. The state courts will then review the plans and/or appeals before Sept. 2.
Montclair’s population density, said Talley, qualifies the township as an Urban Aid Municipality. A UAM is allowed to preserve any open or vacant land that would otherwise be considered for affordable housing sites. Montclair has also qualified to have 132 of its allotted units as rehabilitated existing units.
Township planners are looking at some non-residential lots for affordable housing, including the ex-Decamp Bus Lines/Public Service garage at 101 Greenwood Ave. in the “Frog Hollow” section, and Applegate Farms, 616 Grove St., in Upper Montclair.
BELLEVILLE – The Belleville Public Schools 2025-26 budget came down to a stroke of a state official’s pen here at a Belleville Board of Education Trustees May 6 emergency meeting.
Thomas Egan, who has been state monitor over PBS since May 2014, approved the $140,228,132 budget for the next school year at the Belleville High School Auditorium that Tuesday night. This was the same budget that the trustees, on a 6-1 April 29 vote, rejected.
The budget is a $5,930,475 increase on the current 2024-25 outlay – which comes out to a 4.429 percent increase. The incoming budget is being paid with an increase in Belleville property taxes – which comes out to a $127 annual increase on the average assessed property owner’s school tax bill.
Until Egan’s override, the trustees would have submitted a slimmer budget with a reduced property tax hike for submission before May 30. All public school board districts are to submit their upcoming budgets before county superintendents of schools and for June 30 state budget inclusion.
Eagan was appointed 11 years ago when BPS and its school board was facing a $4 million deficit. The state education granted them a loan, repayable through a 30-year bond issue, to get the 2012-13 budget balanced.
BHS Teen Torches Laptop
A 15-year-old who responded to a Tik Tok “challenge” at Belleville High School May 8 now has a charred school-issued Chromebook – and third-degree arson and criminal mischief charges. Township firefighters and police, who responded to a BHS Room 219 fire report at 9:18 a.m. Thursday found the fried laptop computer outside where an adult had put it out of the classroom. A subsequent investigation found that the sophomore had hotwired the laptop to smoke as instructed by a Tik Tok video clip.
NUTLEY – A Perth Amboy driver who struck a Milton Avenue couple here Feb. 14, 2024 – leaving one seriously injured and the other dead – has been serving a 16-year state prison sentence since May 6.
State Superior Court-Newark Judge Karina Fuentes, that Tuesday, sentenced Dhkir Robinson, 44, to eight years for the vehicular homicide of Wiston Perlaza, 22, of Paterson with at least 85 percent served before he can be considered for parole. Robinson is to concurrently serve eight years for leaving the scene of a fatal accident plus 15 months for the assault by auto of Jocelyn Pietri, 21, of Nutley.
ECPO attorneys said that Perlaza and Pietri were on a Valentine’s Night walk on the avenue’s Garden State Parkway overpass at 7 p.m. when they said Robinson struck them at 55 mph with a maroon Toyota Camry he did not own.
The impact fatally flung Perlaza and threw Pietri onto the GSP’s right hand shoulder by Mile Marker 151.4. Pietri survived but, said prosecutors, had to take several months’ physical therapy relearning how to walk.
Witnesses said Robinson got out of the Camry, approached Perlaza, re-entered the vehicle and drove away without assisting. They described to Nutley Police the Toyota’s missing front bumper, front end damage and license plate number.
Essex County Sheriff’s Officers stopped the Camry with Robinson and the car’s owner he had picked up along the way, at Newark’s Halstead Street and Norwood Place. Robinson had appeared to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
A records search found Robinson’s driving license being suspended – and six prior felonies. A personal search found two folds of “crack” cocaine by him and four Ecstasy pills on him. He first resisted arrest by trying to walk away and then refused to walk. (Robinson had earlier pleaded guilty before Judge Fuentes.)
