Saying that garage sale signs and other notices posted onto telephone poles around the town have become unsightly, Deputy Mayor John Reilly plans to introduce an ordinance at the Dec. 12 council meeting that would establish one or more community bulletin boards in town.
“This might stop people from putting signs up on telephone poles,” Reilly said.
This is not the first time Reilly has taken on the issue of unsightly advertising in Secaucus. Several years ago, Reilly drew attention from the state by proposing local laws banning unauthorized real estate advertising in town. Although the move prompted protest from local real estate agents and others who had been using this as a means of advertising, the Town Council pushed through an ordinance that restricted such postings for commercial purposes.
At the time, Reilly claimed he was not seeking to crack down on garage sales and those advertisements that benefited individuals, but commercial companies coming into Secaucus from outside the town.
The Secaucus ordinance was the first of its kind in the state.
“The ordinance does not just restrict realty advertisements,” said Town Administrator Anthony Iacono during a telephone interview last week.
Reilly also complained that people have not been removing garage sale and other signs after the event has taken place – something that is required under the ordinance.
“While we’ve had Department of Public Works people taking them down, we shouldn’t have to,” Iacono said, echoing Reilly’s complaint.
Local businesses have also added to the problem. Taverns, restaurants, jewelry stores and other stores have made a practice of using telephone poles to advertise upcoming events.
“We’ve noticed more and more signs going up. These are little signs, less than two by two foot. It is against our ordinance,” Iacono said. “While we don’t want to hurt local businesses, we need to keep the town attractive.”
Under the existing ordinance, people can post signs, but only by obtaining a temporary permit. After the event is over, the signs must be taken down.
Reilly said by establishing a community bulletin board, or several, the town might be able to do away with the telephone poles advertisements that currently plague the streets.
“Some of these signs stay up for weeks after the event is over,” Reilly said. “Some of these are for garage sales. I’ve even seen some for a carnival. While driving around town, I’ve seen people putting them up, but I’ve never seen anyone taking them down.”
Street sweeping of new roads is a concern
The Town Council also is expected to set up new regulations at its Dec. 12 meeting governing street sweeping along roads formerly owned by Hartz Mountain Industries, to allow the town to begin cleaning Meadowlands Parkway and other roads at night. This will require the town to hire a part-time driver for the street sweeper The town took over Meadowlands Parkway and 10 other formerly private roads in 1998 and became responsible for sweeping them.
Meadowlands Parkway and some of these other roads are so busy during the day that crews have found it difficult to safely sweep them during normal hours of operation, Iacono said.
“This is not final yet,” Iacono said last week. “We’re still pricing it out and trying to work out the matter with the union. We have to assure the union that we’re not taking away any overtime.”
Iacono said previous to the town’s taking over the 11 roads, Hartz Mountain used a private contractor. “It took them four hours to clean, and two hours just for Meadowlands Parkway,” Iacono said. “With Meadowlands Parkway, they had to do one lane at time.”
If the town moves ahead with the plan, cleaning operations would be conducted three or four nights a week for four hours a night.
“We’re looking from 8 p.m. to midnight or 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.,” Iacono said. “If we can’t work things out with the union we may have to hire a private contractor to do the work.”
Although Councilman John Bueckner recommended the crews start earlier and do these roads first, Councilman John Reilly said the crews can’t get them done on time. Other streets have signs posted saying specific times in which the crews must sweep them. Meadowlands Park takes too long to do it first and still get to the other streets.
Mayor Dennis Elwell said the town can’t sweep during mid-day because of the high volume of traffic.
At the Nov. 28 council meeting, Councilman Mike Grecco asked the town to consider regulations that would restrict landscapers from blowing leaves into the streets. He asked if they could require them to vacuum these leaves up. He said he has seen landscapers blowing the leaves into the street after the streets have been swept. Councilman John Bueckner said the laws on the books require private property owners to clean up their own leaves, while the town can sweep leaves into the street. Mayor Dennis Elwell said he will consider adding the word vacuum to the town ordinance.
Public safety issues
In an interview last week, Councilman Mike Grecco said enforcement efforts have resulted in slowing down traffic throughout town. Over the last few months, police have issued more tickets, and though this has generated some complaints, traffic seems to have calmed down.
Earlier this year, numerous residents complained about speeding cars on various streets. Bueckner asked that enforcement be stepped up. Police put up radar units, and according to Grecco, cars travelling along Centre Avenue and Paterson Plank Road have slowed significantly.
“While we still have some problem areas,” Mayor Dennis Elwell added, “we have made progress.”
In another public safety issue, Bueckner asked the police department to look into possibly passing a local ordinance requiring kids using scooters to wear safety helmets.
“I’ve seen kids fall on those things and it may behoove us to do something to prevent an injury,” he said. Reilly, however, said the police have been monitoring the situation and that a check with the state shows that legislation is currently being considered to make that a requirement statewide. According to a report issued by the federal Consumer Products Safety Commission, scooter-related injuries have increased significantly during the last year. In 1999, the federal government recorded 3,200 such injuries. In one month this year, over 4,000 cases were reported. The death of a 6-year-old Elizabeth boy has prompted the state to consider legislation requiring safety helmets. The state already mandates that children under 14 wear helmets while biking, skating and skateboarding.