Cracking down; Public safety changes celebrated as success stories

When Mayor Dennis Elwell came out to the Plaza Center during the morning rush hour earlier this year, he was shocked to see chaotic conditions in the crosswalks.

“Senior citizens trying to cross Paterson Plank Road to get to the Acme found it almost impossible because of the cars turning at the red light,” he said. “I watched one old woman with a cane trying to get across. The cars didn’t stop for her. In fact, many of them seemed to look at her as if she shouldn’t have been trying to cross the street.” In creating a law that banned cars from making the right on red, Elwell said the council simply gave people time to get across.

ON DUTY – The Secaucus police have been using the fireboat to patrol the Hackensack River. Pictured here are many of those involved in the program.

“According to the law, cars are supposed to make the turn only after they stopped and the way is clear,” he said. “But cars were stopping and senior citizens were finding it difficult to cross the street. By doing what we did, now the cars have to stop.”

Since January, the Town Council and the police department have made moves throughout the town to address various public safety issues. In June, the council passed an ordinance that put into place recommendations of the council’s public safety committee. The council and the police department have also addressed pending issues including a last-minute decision by the state police to abandoned boat patrols on the river. Elwell also has instituted a study to determine the impact of the rail transfer station on the police force and where money might be obtained to pay for additional police if the study deems them necessary.

Councilman John Reilly, in his report to the Town Council on July 25, said that the police enforcement has been stepped up in various areas to help improve safety throughout the town. Police measures have ranged from putting up cones to prevent left-hand turns into the Acme parking lot off Paterson Plank Road to issuing warnings to boaters through the town’s river patrol.

“We’ve stepped up ticketing in the Plaza Parking lot in an effort to keep the fire zones clear of cars,” Elwell said.

While outlawing the right on red at Plaza Drive and Paterson Plank Road may cause other difficulties, Elwell said safety is the number one issue.

As Councilman John Bueckner predicted, backups have occurred due to the change of law, particularly during the morning rush hour. But part of this may have had to do with the re-paving of Roosevelt Avenue – which is the alternative route into town from the Route 3 Service Road.

“I’m the one who may have caused that,” Elwell admitted during a telephone interview. “The contractors actually tried to keep Roosevelt Avenue open. But a lot of out-of-towners use it as a short cut to the industrial sections of town. We couldn’t have workers waiting on streams of cars so that they could continue to work.”

Elwell said residents living in the area of Roosevelt Avenue were allowed through, but most traffic was turned away.

As a result, most cars had to come through the center of town, backing up at the light at Plaza Drive where right-hand turns have been restricted.

“Hopefully, now that Roosevelt Avenue has been finished, we’ll have less traffic,” Elwell said.

Public speaks out

Several residents speaking at the public comment part of the July 25 council meeting agreed that there were problems with backup and that people were sometimes using the Acme Parking to bypass the light. This will likely result in traffic tickets, Reilly said.

In response to numerous reports of dangerous situations in the Plaza, Councilman Mike Greeco toured the area with Reilly and the police department traffic control officer several months ago, making numerous suggestions as to what might make the area safer.

“We’re told the cones we put up to restrict illegal turns into the Acme parking lot work very well,” Elwell said, echoing the complements numerous residents made at the July 25 meeting. “But if the change stopping the turn on red doesn’t work, then we’ll remove the sign and change the ordinance. Right now the police are monitoring the situation, and it may take a little while for people to get used to the new conditions.”

When the ordinance was passed in June, Bueckner raised a concern about exiting First Avenue – the road that exists into the middle of Plaza Drive. As predicted, cars do not make room for exiting cars, causing frustration and anger among some of the drivers. While Elwell said the town is looking into options that would provide relief to this situation, such as reversing the flow of traffic on Wilson Avenue that would allow cars another exit from First Avenue, he cautioned that every change has unforeseen consequences.

“We need to look at things carefully before we make any more,” he said.

Waterways may also be safer

The mixture of new programs and physical changes seems to be working to help curb dangerous situations in the Plaza Center as well as along the Hackensack River, said Reilly.

On Memorial Day, the town took up patrols on Secaucus portion of the Hackensack River after the state police said they would no longer monitor waterway activity on the river.

The state police, according to Secaucus Police Chief Dennis Corcoran, have combined two previous jurisdictions and now cover an area that goes from Sandy Hook to Lake Hopatcong – which means local waters will no longer be patrolled unless the local police do it.

“The state notified us in January that they would cutting back,” Corcoran said. “We made the determination that we would do the patrols ourselves.”

This means Secaucus is one of a handful of communities in the state to establish a marine division.

Councilman John Reilly said this has become necessary because of the increased use of the river for water recreation.

“Since the county installed the boat launch at Laurel Hill Park, the river has seen more and more activity,” Reilly said. “We’ve received more and more calls to help people stranded on the river.”

Reilly – in his report to the council – said the Secaucus Marine police have conducted numerous rescue operations as well as issued warnings or tickets to boaters in violation of state boating regulations.

He said that while the marine unit is still only a pilot program, it seems to be working very well, and will bode well towards continuing the program in the future.

Previously, Reilly said that the local Coast Guard Auxiliary had expressed deep concern over safety in the waters around Secaucus. The patrols – which operate on weekends – have been doing safety checks as well as rescues.

Viewing the overall public safety situation

Elwell said although the police department has hired more officers over the last year, the roles shrank recently as two more officers announced their retirement.

“We’re swearing in another officer this week,” Elwell said. “But we have to look to the future. I know that when we had a force of 80 officers, we were told that we might need as many as 10 to 15 more officers to handle changes brought about by Allied Junction. I don’t know if that’s true, but we need to look at it.”

Allied Junction, or the recently renamed Frank Lautenberg Rail Transfer Station, is slated to begin operations as soon as late 2001.

“I have Adam Michaels [a part time employee in police records room] researching various things,” Elwell said. “We’re looking closely at the variance the HMDC [Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission] gave the project.”

Elwell said there might be additional grant money available for law enforcement. Most of the officers hired over the last year have been funded through grants through the federal COPS FAST program.