TOWN WATCH
NEWARK – The National Transportation Safety Board – after 20 months’ interviews, investigation of the July 5, 2023 Port Newark cargo ship fire that killed two Newark Fire Division captains – released a preliminary report April 15 on its cause and aggravating circumstances.
The NTSB has found that the fire was caused by overheated transmission fluid that leaked out a Ports America “pusher” car and had ignited. The pusher car, used to move other on deck vehicles, was actually a “modified passenger vehicle” and not one designed for the task that Ports America – operating on the Port Authority of NY and NJ’s behalf – should have used.
Investigators also found that Grimaldi Deep Sea, owner of the Grande Costa D’Avorio cargo ship, had failed to install external controls for its Deck 12 hydraulic garage doors. Having those controls would have helped crew members to seal off and contain the below deck fire.
Failing to close those garage doors meant that the ship’s carbon dioxide fire suppression system was delayed. NFD firefighters were then directed “to enter areas where the CO2 system had been activated, contrary to standard marine firefighting protocols.” The initial report said that NFD, despite being home firefighters for the second largest shipping port in the U.S., had “serious gaps in marine firefighting preparedness.”
The blaze, which took five days to extinguish and damaged 1,000 cars and $23 million worth of property, killed NFD Capts. Augusto “Auggie” Acabou and Wayne “Bear” Brooks, Jr.
The seven-page initial report carried 14 findings plus seven recommendations. Those recommendations include OSHA enforce port operators of “powered industrial truck requirements,” that all NFD “chiefs and responding fire companies that respond to vessel fires to complete specialized marine firefighting training” and that the Port Authority to “establish procedures to facilitate training, drills and vessel familiarization tours for responding firefighters.”
IRVINGTON – “Local Talk” has learned that Essex County’s first Public Defender George L. Schneider, 85, who has roots here and residence in West Orange, had died in Morristown March 29.
Schneider was sworn in 1968 as Deputy Public Defender in the Essex Trial Region-Newark’s newly-established Office of Public Defender. His first assignment was to help pick a jury for a case related to the 1967 Newark Riot/Rebellion/Civil Disorder.
Schneider’s 1966-96 career, which started with a clerkship with Superior Court Judge Joseph B. Sugrue, included a five-year appointment by Gov. Brendan Byrne as Essex County Prosecutor. He supervised over 99 assistant prosecutors and 25,000 annual cases, some of those trials he personally prosecuted. The former NJAG Chief Criminal Trial Counsel spent another 20 years with four private firms plus five years as Morris County Assistant Prosecutor.
Before Schneider graduated from the Seton Hall Law School in 1966, he was becoming known as “a good guy from a tough town.” Born to a family of four siblings, George attended St. Leo’s Grammar School here before it was merged with Sacred Heart School. The St. Benedict’s-Newark prep school graduate first attended St. Peter’s College in Jersey City – where he fell in love with Jesuit philosophy and the law.
Schneider’s other love was his family, in which he and wife Lois raised George, Jr., Nicole and Erika in West Orange. The Pal’s Cabin frequenter and Lois moved to Chester while still summering in Belmar – where they first met. Lois took care of George while he battled Alzheimer’s Disease in his last days.
Brother William and 10 grandchildren are also among his survivors. His Funeral Mass was held at Morristown’s Church of the Assumption April 11. Memorial donations may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association: alznj.org.
EAST ORANGE – Four “Local Talk” area residents – including a former temporary New Jersey Department of Labor unemployment clerk and her relative, both East Orangites – were among 10 indicted last month for an alleged COVID-19 compensation fraud scheme.
Vanessa and Rose Allen, of East Orange, Nerlande Etienne, of Irvington, and Jeffson Cues, of Newark, were among the 10 charged by New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin in an indictment filed in Trenton March 13. V. Allen received the most media attention because she was hired as a temporary DOL unemployment claims clerk during the COVID-19 pandemic.
V. Allen, after being detected by the labor department, was charged with a count each of second-degree official misconduct and pattern of misconduct third-degree computer theft and theft by deception and tampering with public records or information and fourth-degree of falsifying or tampering public records. She is accused of falsely obtaining $56,030 for herself and more for the others.
All four mentioned here have been each charged with third-degree theft by deception for obtaining unemployment insurance they were not entitled to. R. Allen was accused of obtaining $33,459.
Cues was accused of obtaining $41,869. Etienne was accused of obtaining $59,70.
All four are accused of taking $191,059 in COVID-era unemployment claims that they were not entitled to. They were included in Platkin’s release where six other central and southern New Jersey individuals were also indicted for similar but unrelated fraud.
ORANGE / GLEN RIDGE – Residents of the respective municipalities may well have two different memories of the late John G. Weining, 68, who had died after a bout against cancer April 4.
City patrons of Star Tavern in the North Ward and The Jailhouse Pub in the Valley section may remember a young Weining serving them drinks and/or tavern food. (The Jailhouse was of late the now-closed Hat City Kitchen.)
Borough neighbors may remember John and Maureen Weining at 29 Woodland Place as recently as 2023; they had placed a siding replacement application to the Glen Ridge Historical Commission. It was there where they raised their daughters Ashley, Erin and Jessica and cheered and/or coached them on as Glen Ridge High School Ridgers.
John Weining had “Local Talk” roots, courtesy of parents Robert and Margaret, who were married in Newark’s Roseville Presbyterian Church. Weining, after hanging up his bar towel at Jersey City’s Brennan’s Tavern, applied his skills as striking up conversations and making friends while as Newark’s Bell Container’s purchasing manager for 21 years. He had also worked for RTK Cable.
Brothers Bob and Ed Weining, sister Ruth Jernigan and grandson Casey are also among his survivors; a second grandson is expected to arrive this spring.
A memorial was held at Bloomfield’s O’Boyle Funeral Home April 9. Memorial donations may be made to Old Ford Volunteer Fire Department, 6050 Hwy 17 North, Washington, NC 27889 or via Venmo @OldFordFireDepartment.
WEST ORANGE – Township elders and West Orange Public Library Trustees are reviewing a United States Department of Education March report outlining how the library has insufficient Americans with Disabilities Act access requirements. West Orange’s council members and administrators have scheduled to discuss the letter as early as their April 22 meeting.
The report stated that the library at 10 Rooney Circle needs to improve access by those who use wheelchairs, walkers and strollers. “Local Talk,” in its early March experience, was told to use the main floor elevator down the hall to access the lower level. There is no signage pointing back to the library’s lower level.
USDOE got involved thanks to what they said was an anonymous complaint. Both Councilwoman Michelle Casalino and Assistant Business Administrator Peter Smeraldo said they are more than familiar with “countless” people complaining about handicapped access difficulties.
Casalino said that she had difficulties getting her granddaughter’s stroller through the main door. The councilwoman added that WOPL’s latest iteration has been open for two years and that “Phase Two should’ve been done last year.”
Smeraldo said that he and the engineering department had been working on “Phase Two’s” features: improved exterior lighting, a center parking lot, a rain drainage system and installing parking lot electric vehicle chargers. He suggested that the township consider renting more of the three-story building’s space.
Township governors and librarians used 2021-22 state library construction grants to convert the late 1960s office building north of the Essex Green shopping center into a library, an animal shelter and new DPW space. 10 Rooney Circle had housed Lincoln Technical Institute’s national headquarters when it was owned by Ryder Truck Rental in the 1970s and for Beatrice Foods (think Dannon Yogurt) in the 1980s.
“We’ve spent a ton of money on this library and, I’m not sure if this’ the right time to do it but, if we can get more information, then we perhaps consider this again,” said Council President Joseph Krakoviak. “We need to do it if the investigation has sustained an enforcement action.”
SOUTH ORANGE – Village elders may be announcing at least an interim successor by now for Police Chief Ernesto Morillo, who intends to retire as one of “South Orange’s Finest” April 30.
Morillo, who has been chief since 2022, announced his retirement plans April 9 – ending his 29 years with the department. He came aboard in 2005 and was subsequently promoted as Criminal Investigations Unit detective in 2013, sergeant in 2016, then lieutenant and shift commander by 2020.
The married father of three came here by way of the county jail. He started his law enforcement career as an Essex County Department of Corrections officer in 1996.
While chief, Morillo championed the village’s Community Care and Justice Initiative. He has also been a Junior Police Academy instructor.
Village Mayor Sheena Collum has said that she will endorse appointing Deputy Chief Stephen Dolinac as interim chief as early as the next Village Council meeting.
MAPLEWOOD – The Township Committee is to let DeHart Park in the Hilton section go “all natural” on or before 2027.
The committee, at its April 15 meeting, unanimously adopted the Engineering, Public Works and Planning Subcommittee’s recommendation to replace DeHart’s artificial turf field with grass as part of its redesign. That redrawing will be performed by Vanasse Hangen Brustin, Inc. from its Newark office.
Paul Kittner, the Township Engineer and DPW Director, said that the current field suffers from drainage problems due to overuse, maintenance issues, “excessively compacted soil and large amounts of silty clay loams.”
The plan, on one hand, will plant more trees along the park’s perimeter. It will also mean the elimination of the township’s last lighted softball diamond. That softball diamond is relatively underused. The grass field will be managed to have no more than 1,600 hours of annual use through periodic closures.
VHB is to be paid with a $65,000 state grant as part of the project’s $2,5 million. The overall figure includes a $75,000 consultant’s contract.
BLOOMFIELD – Those who were anticipating taking Bloomfield Historic District and/or the Morris Canal and Collins House tours when they should resume this month or May may need to directly contact The Friends of the Morris Canal Greenway and/or the Oakside Cultural Center – and not Rich Rockwell.
Rockwell, township historian and former councilman 2018-24, recently told a reporter that he was told during a Collins House meeting March 11 by a township “representative” to return the gate and rest room keys he has had since 2010.
He was also told that the March meeting would be the last he could attend and to no longer set foot on the property. He retains a position with the Friends of the Morris Canal Greenway – which he founded in 2011.
Rockwell’s sudden banishment is akin to corporate leaders firing one of its founders. He had started monthly public tours of the Bloomfield Green Historic Area and the Morris Canal bed in 2012. The tours grew to between two and four hours in length and $20 ad\ult admission. The cost included a tour book and a mini bus provided by the Bloomfield Recreation Department.
The Morris Canal Greenway Friends added the Collins House to their care in 2015 and had been restoring the 18th Century canal engineer’s house to become a public museum. Set between the JFK Parkway (formerly Canal Street) and Broad Street, the house made Preservation NJ’s endangered historic sites list in 2013. It had since received $940,000 in matching state and township grants.
As councilman, Rockwell provided Collins House information to the township’s grant writer that led to the $450,000 grant awarding. He was also council liaison to the greenway committee.
Rockwell indicated that he was not totally surprised by what happened to him March 11. He said that he had been excluded from twice-monthly house meetings between the architect and the contractor since he resigned from the council Nov. 19. He said that perhaps the committee had a more formal agreement with the township and that it was “strictly following the rules.”
MONTCLAIR – Township detectives have been searching for five males who are wanted in the April 9 assault and robbery of a teen near Lackawanna Plaza.
Officers said that they had responded that night to the area of Elm Street and Orange Road on the report of an injured minor. They found a 16-year-old boy “with multiple lacerations to his head” and being helped by two good Samaritans.
The boy said that he was walking in an alley by the Lackawanna Plaza shopping center when he said that he was accosted by five other males. They beat him and then robbed him of his shoes, backpack and cell phone before leaving.
Several officers left Elm and Orange to find the alleyway and for any on scene evidence. They also reviewed a security surveillance recording, which pinned the assault and robbery as between 9:30 and 9:40 p.m.
The victim was taken to Newark University Hospital Trauma Center for the treatment of non-life-threatening injuries. Anyone with information is to call Det. Kevin Ortiz at (973) 509-4771.
BELLEVILLE – The Planning Board approved at its April 10 meeting the latest phase of development at the former Jergens/Roche Pharmaceutical site at 11 Franklin St.
The board granted preliminary and final site plan approval for the redeveloper to build a five story building behind or to the west of the Starbucks. It will be a mixed use structure to hold a storefront Chipotle’s and 175 residential dwelling units.
57 of the said units are to be earmarked for residents 55-years-old or older. The Chipotle’s had been advertised as “coming soon” by a billboard the last two months on the now-Wawa property.
The accompanying traffic study did not say anything about possible widening Franklin Street between Clara Maass Drive and Belleville Avenue. There has been concern that rush hour traffic spillback along the country road will be exacerbated. There is a provision to widen Mill Street on the Franklin Mills side.
The five-story building will be the fourth structure to be built on the former copper mine, following Wawa, ExtraSpace Storage and Starbucks.
Washington Avenue Update
The southernmost southbound blocks of Washington Avenue, closed to curbside parking and cross street traffic since April 4, will continue to be closed for milling and repaving until May 2.
Crisdale, one of NJDOT’s contractors for the two-town phased project, was seen removing right hand side southbound asphalt from Belleville Avenue to Mill Street April 14 and laying new pavement there April 18.
