“Culture of Normalized Harassment”

by Walter Elliott

NEWARK – Restauranteur John Steward, 86, may have died April 10, but mourners who remember him and his long-standing John’s Place have been adding tributes onto his obituary page as late as April 20.

Steward owned, operated and led his same-named place at 24 Wright St. 1990-2015. People from most walks of life, from the celebrated to churchgoers looking for a post-worship meal, often stood in line, waiting to enter the corner store for soul food.

“Local Talk” once visited John’s Place as part of a date, sharing uptown tea. Steward himself greeted visitors with “It’s good to be seen!” if you said, “Good to see you.” He was also a mentor to his family and employees.

Steward, who was born July 13, 1934 in Albany, Ga., was also born into the business. Mother Amelia Nelson Steward, opened her first Steward’s restaurant along Prince Street in the 1940s. She, John and father John Sr. moved to Newark in 1936.

While Amelia moved Steward’s to Lyons Avenue, John graduated from Charlton Street Elementary and Newark Technical High schools. He worked in GM’s Linden assembly plant until he began working alongside her in 1965. John left to open his own restaurant in 1990.

Steward was joined by son Darryl C. Steward, working together until the latter’s 2014 death. Nephew Godfrey Allen took up Darryl’s managerial role until John decided to close and retire around 2015.

The West Orange resident suffered a heart attack and died in Livingston’s RWJ St. Barnabas Hospital 10 days short of his and Dorothy “Dot” Steward’s 50th wedding anniversary. Daughter-in-law Venus, three grandchildren and six great-grandchildren are among his survivors. Whigham Funeral Home hosted his April 16-17 walk-through prior to his private funeral.

IRVINGTON – Township and county detectives are looking for a suspect who left behind at least two men with gunshot injuries from a Crescent Lane housing complex here in daylight April 17.

Irvington Public Safety Director Tracy Bowers said that the first IPD units responded to gunfire reports from the lane’s teens block at 1:45 p.m. that Saturday. They found a man who was critically injured at the complex – who was rushed to Newark’s University Hospital for treatment.

While IPD started a crime scene investigation and notified the ECPO Homicide/Major Crimes Task Force, a second man from the lane walked into RWJBarnabas Newark Beth Israel Hospital with non-life-threatening bullet wounds.

In another case, County homicide detectives are looking for the suspect who left an Orange man – identified as Eliameau Maxime, 32, fatally wounded along Union Avenue in the predawn hours of April 24.

Maxime was declared dead at 5:10 a.m. Saturday at University Hospital. His funeral arrangements were not announced as of April 27. Another man was also shot but was treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

EAST ORANGE – City motorists and residents alike may be reading more into the East Orange Parking Authority’s announcement that it will resume overnight permit parking enforcement May 1.

The EOPA, for the record, will again require vehicles with parking permits to park overnight on designated streets as of 2:01 a.m. Saturday.

Those who still have their 2020 annual overnight permits will be correspondingly honored in 2021. Those who need to buy the 2021 annual permits will be prorated from the month of purchase with no other discounts.

The overnight parking permit re-enforcement, at first glance, may be seen as another step towards post-pandemic normality. The resumption, however, may be considered another turn in the city’s convoluted parking history.

The city has been searching for an equitable policy for the last 110 years, when the first apartment buildings were going up and residents began buying cars. The decades-long ebb and flow have resulted in a patchwork of overnight and visitor/commuter permits, guest passes, public and private lots and curbside parking among the five wards.

Mayor Ted Green, the City Council, EOPA and city police had been surveying residents about what would best work in their neighborhoods. Two phases of a curbside parking pilot program were tested before the March 2020 COVID-19 global outbreak.

Those seeking permits, a list or map of designated streets and/or questions are to contact Eastorangeparkingauthority.org, (973) 672-1116, 60 Evergreen Place, Suite 503.

ORANGE – A Georgia man pleaded “not guilty” to conspiracy and fraud charges, related to a former City of Orange administrator, before a Newark federal judge on the same day he was indicted April 16.

Isaac Newton, 53, of Loganville, Ga., pleaded not guilty to nine fraud and conspiracy charges by teleconference before U.S. Magistrate Judge James B. Clark III that Friday. Newton had surrendered to U.S. Department of Justice attorneys in Atlanta, once he learned of the USDOJ-New Jersey grand jury’s indictment earlier in the day.

Newton is accused of conspiring with then-City of Orange department head Willis Edwards III for furnishing term papers for Edwards for $38,000 between June 2015 and 2016. Newton had a relative write the papers, which Edwards passed on to a local university’s professors towards his doctoral dissertation as his own.

Edwards then provided $38,000 of fraudulent invoices to the city as “Professional Services for Strategic Advisory and Operational Planning.” He had Orange make out the checks to Newton.

Edwards’ four years as Orange’s business administrator, or like titles, ended with his resignation Dec. 31, 2015.  The former State Assemblyman-turned Georgia resident faces a 31-count indictment since Sept. 20 in relation to Orange Public Library contracts and the financing of the Orange YWCA/REC Center project.

Newton is facing five counts of wire fraud, two counts of mail fraud, a count of conspiring to commit said fraud and a count of unlawfully obtaining at least $5,000 from a federally funded local government.

Each count of mail and wire fraud and conspiracy thereof carries up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The unlawful obtaining count carries up to a 10-year sentence and a $250,000 fine. Newton was released April 16 on a $100,000 bail bond.

WEST ORANGE – The Township Council may consider Mayor Robert Parisi’s proposal to designate 6.5 acres of the Rock Spring Golf Club “an area in need of rehabilitation” as early as their May 4 meeting.

Although May 4’s agenda has not been posted as of press time, West Orange elders had witnessed Township Planning and Development Consultant Paul Grygiel’s Rock Spring AINOR presentation during their April 20 workshop session.

Parisi’s administration is asking for the designation to parcel off 6.5 of the township-owned golf course’s 138 acres. The spun-off land would then be developed for residential housing in the St. Cloud section.

Parisi had left that limited redevelopment open since the township and then- Rock Spring parent Montclair Golf Club negotiated its sale in 2019. The 1920s-era 18-hole private course re-opened for public use around April 15, 2020.

The mayor, who said that “there’s no rush” to Rock Spring’s partial redevelopment as a Gold Club for housing. has been looking to widen the township’s tax base through more ratable properties. Projected residential property taxes, said Parisi earlier this year, would help build a parking garage for course patrons and replace a $5 million clubhouse.

West Orange countered a bid Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo (D-Roseland) had made to MCC. Township elders were concerned that all 138 acres would have led to a massive residential development had they not bought the course grounds.

Several St. Cloud residents were concerned that housing on the 6.5 acres would lead to crowding at the nearby St. Cloud Elementary School and more traffic on Northfield Avenue.

SOUTH ORANGE / MAPLEWOOD – Officials within and from outside Columbia High School are working to keep a “culture of normalized harassment” while reopening the school.

CHS Principal Franch Sanchez, South Orange-Maplewood School District Student Representative Lily Forman and two teachers, at the Board of Education’s April 19 meeting, brought up how students brought up their experiences of sexual harassment and/or assault to them in person or online since early March.

Sanchez, in his late March memo, said he had started meeting with administrators, teachers, staff and Schools Superintendent Dr. Robert Taylor on improving incident reporting, counseling and providing resources.

The CHS principal added that he had reported students’ allegations to Maplewood and South Orange police. None of the parties would confirm whether the reports are being investigated.

The two-town school board, on April 19, introduced a revised sexual harassment policy – which CHS history teacher Greg Tuttle questioned as not going far enough.

“By sticking to the script and employing a conservative stance on curriculum,” said Tuttle, “we’ve become tone-deaf in our classrooms.”

“This issue has been a consistent problem in our district,” said Taylor, “so I hope recent events can spark the action needed to change that trend.”

BLOOMFIELD – Township authorities are looking for a suspect who had opened fire outside an Ampere bar after its closing time and fled early April 17.

Bloomfield Public Safety Director Samuel DeMaio said that his police officers had first responded to 142-44 Bloomfield Ave, on a fight report at 2:30 a.m. that Saturday. The BPD officers, upon arrival, were then told of gunfire in the area.

“The initial report of the fight involved unknown suspect(s) and the establishment’s security manager,” said DeMaio. “The initial fight ensued into two gunshots fired at a vehicle.”

A field investigation “recovered two shell casings from the front of the establishment.”

The Avenue Steak House Bar & Grill has a posted 2 a.m. closing time.

MONTCLAIR – One of the three Montclair Board of Education’s outgoing members who Mayor Sean Spillar began replacing April 19, had decided not to go quietly away.

Sergio Gonzalez, when the MBOE microphone was passed to him from colleagues Jessica de Koninck and Eve Robinson April 19, made his parting comments memorable by accusing Spillar of having a conflict of interest. Spillar, who makes BOE member appointments, was recently promoted by the New Jersey Education Association as its president.

“I absolutely can say that the Montclair Education Association leadership has worked tirelessly to usurp the BOE’s legal status as the decisive policy-setting power in the district,” said Gonzalez. “It appears to me that Mayor Spillar is clearly determined to prevent our BOE to perform this critical function.”

Gonzalez accused Spillar of trying to make Superintendent of Schools Dr. Jonathan Ponds leave Montclair Public Schools. The Dell Technologies executive added that none of Spillar’s appointees have a Latin or Asian-Pacific Islander ethnicity or background.

Gonzalez, de Koninck and Robinson were appointed by Mayor Robert Jackson before he declined re-election. Spillar, who was elected last May, chose Crystal Hopkins, Kathryn Weller-Demming and Eric Scherzer as his first MBOE appointees.

Spillar, in his April 20 response, thanked Gonzalez for his service but expressed his “disappointment that he’s making several false and puzzling assertions regarding the appointment of new BOE members.

“He had the opportunity to help shape school policy and take action,” added the mayor of Gonzalez. “I’m not aware of any instance where he raised his concerns at a board meeting or was prevented from providing leadership on these issues.”

BELLEVILLE – The Township Council approved a $1.9 million severance package for former municipal employees, despite the numbers not adding up by one public speaker’s calculations, here April 13.

The council passed what Mayor Michael Mulham’s administrators have entitled “the issuance of $1,982,078 in emergency notes for expenses related to contractual required severance liabilities resulting from the layoff or retirement of employees in or by” the township.”

Belleville’s elders granted the $1.9 million bond ordinance although one of their former colleagues, Vincent Frantantoni, pointed out several problems with the measure.

Frantantoni, in printed and spoken remarks, had cited the results of an OPRA request he had filed with the township earlier this month.

The former councilman said that Belleville wants to raise $1.9 million in bonds for a documented payout of $458,909. The township is raising four times the amount they intend to payout.

Frantantoni further pointed out that the payout will be going to 25 former employees. The payout, on one hand, comes out to an average $19,595.80 per person. The raised funds, on the other hand, will be an average $79,283.12 per person.

Frantantoni also asked if the raised and payout figures include unused sick leave and/or vacation time.

NUTLEY – An April 19 code interpretation by the township’s Zoning Board of Adjustment may have effectively knocked out plans to build a 24-hour warehouse and truck terminal here.

The board had ruled that a warehouse that has parking or storage space for at least three 1.5-ton trucks makes that facility a prohibited use in Nutley’s construction codebook.

Put another way, a resident may not have three large or truck-based pickup trucks parked on most Nutley driveways, except for automotive sales and service. (Some readers may remember when automakers took advantage of the around 1990 pickup truck boom by building such vehicles on car-based chassis.)

A developer had wanted space for up to 40 18-wheel tractor-trailer trucks for a warehouse to be built at 275 Kingsland St. The triangular lot, in part bordered by the Norfolk Southern-owned ex-Erie Newark Branch railroad tracks, would have been accessed to and from Kingsland Street.

The warehouse/terminal, which would have been built without a tenant lined up, would be close to Kingsland’s part of Route 7 and the ON3 property/ex-Roche Pharmaceutical site – on paper.

Site neighbors and concerned citizens brought a 1,500-signature petition to the zoning board to call off approving the facility. They had also cited the lot as being part of an underground aquifer plume that had been contaminated by pollutants from Hoffman-LaRoche.

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