Countywide
Jail expansion: Hudson County moved to expand its jail this year. The $30 million upgrade for the Hudson County Correctional Facility in Kearny would help avoid conditions that could lead to federal violations that plagued the previous jail. This six-floor addition is the largest improvement made to the facility since its construction in 1987.
Census: Hudson County officials pushed for what they called “an honest head count” in the 2000 census because an alleged undercounting in the 1990 Census of people in urban areas resulted in a drastic shift of federal funding sorely needed by the poor and other groups. The 2000 Census, federal officials say, will describe the nation and the communities that governments serve, noting who lives here, where they live, how they are housed, and their social needs.
War on bugs: After four people died in the New York area as a result of the West Nile Virus, Hudson County officials declared war on the mosquitoes that spread it. They started a campaign in spring that lasted until the first frost in late fall. Over the summer, a Jersey City man was diagnosed with the sometimes-fatal virus, although he fully recovered. Officials in Hudson County increased the spraying of mosquito breeding grounds on this side of the Hudson River. A combined effort by federal, state and county authorities doubled the financial effort to combat the potential threat by spending as much as $1.2 million in 2000.
Guttenberg
Filling budget gaps: In October, the township of Guttenberg tried its best to handle a messy quandary in regards to the proposed 2000-2001 municipal budget, which to date has yet to be adopted nearly six months after it was officially introduced. According to township officials, the delay in the proposed $9.7 million budget stemmed from the township’s inability to collect some $400,000 in owed municipal taxes. The township applied to the state’s finance board for $1.3 million in what is termed “extraordinary state assistance” to offset what could eventually mean another tax increase. They received $650,000.
Hoboken
Russo recovers: For two days in March, the city was reeling after City Hall released a cryptic news release saying that Mayor Anthony Russo had checked into a local hospital to recover from “stress.” Doctors at New York University Medical Center discovered that he had developed a golf ball-sized brain tumor. Surgeons removed the tumor and it was later learned that the cancer had likely spread to the mayor’s lungs. Russo underwent another surgery – this time to remove a portion of his lungs – and a series of chemotherapy and radiation treatments. Though the usually hard-charging mayor had to take a break from his full schedule to manage the disease, he appears to be nearly back to full strength now, ready to run for a third term in office. Elections are in May of 2001.
Rent control wrangling: Rent control law dominated the City Council agenda as lawmakers struggled to find a way to maintain the city’s affordable housing stock in the face of intense market pressure. A controversy arose over a plan to allow certain moderate- and low-income buildings coming off federal government control to let some of their units shoot up to market rate. After numerous revisions to the amendment before the City Council, activists took up a petition. The council ultimately passed a bill simply stating that such buildings ought to be protected by the city’s rent control law once they come off federal regulation. A new controversy arose, though. Twelve complexes owned by the Applied Housing Companies had faced similar circumstances two years earlier. Rather than negotiate with the city at the time, Applied penned a deal with the state that lets current tenants remain and allows some of the units to ultimately become market-rate. Tenant activist groups recently filed suit to overturn the agreement because they don’t want to lose any affordable housing.
One-of-a-kind garage has one-of-a-kind problems: The first fully automated garage in the United States was supposed to be up and running at 916 Garden St. by now. When completed, it will bring a car from the front entrance to a space automatically. But there have problems that appear to center around the electronic system that distributes cars throughout the garage. The electronic engineering firm that was originally hired to build it has been fired by the general contractor that oversees the entire job and the two parties are suing each other. City officials say the garage will open in April.
Jersey City
Millennium Towers: It began simply enough, as a 43-story high-rise proposal on 3.1 acres of land in an area known better for warehouses and contaminated fields. But as the year wore on, the Millennium Towers proposal spurred debate on the tax incentives the city hands out, prompted two different lawsuits, led to the dismissal of a Planning Board member and spurred a referendum drive to stop the tax abatement for the project. It’s not over, as hearings will continue in January on the referendum and the separate suit that seeks to overturn the zoning that allowed the project to win city approval.
Anglin shooting: As New York struggled with the racial implications of the Amadou Diallo shooting, Jersey City found itself in an eerily similar position this January when an unarmed 15-year-old African-American boy was shot in the head and killed by police after a botched car theft. Witnesses gave wildly different versions of the events. Police did not notify the county prosecutor’s office for two hours after the death, raising questions over whether the scene was compromised. The family was also told that Anglin had been killed in a car accident, not shot by police. A grand jury this summer ruled that the case did not have the merits to go to trial, but the Anglin family has sued Bayonne (where the police officer who did the shooting had been trained as a Bayonne cop) in the matter, and the U.S. Attorney’s office is looking into the case.
State to leave schools: When the state announced a team to help smooth the transition of the city’s schools from state to local control this summer, it was met with relief and skepticism. Since 1989, Jersey City’s public schools have been under control by Trenton, but the state has ceded powers back to the once-underperforming schools. Now, the transition team has recommended a blueprint for running the schools, but some on the current school board have accused the state of foul play for a state legislature bill that has striking similarities to the transition team’s report. The state denies these accusations and will be the final arbiter on the school transition.
North Bergen
School crowding addressed: In January, citing what he called a “crisis situation” regarding overcrowded classrooms, North Bergen Superintendent of Schools Peter Fischbach, along with several other officials, formally introduced a $60 million plan to build a new high school within the confines of North Hudson-Braddock Park by the year 2005. But an organization calling itself Save North Hudson County Park had been formed and had collected more than 1,000 signatures on a petition opposing the plan. The plan was officially abolished in February and no further plans to build a new high school have been introduced by the Board of Education. The overcrowding issue has been addressed by purchasing nine homes around Lincoln School and construction for an extension to the school should begin shortly.
Manhunt: In January, what had become the largest manhunt in North Bergen in ages ended in bloodshed, when Guillermo Gonzalez, the suspect in the shooting of his girlfriend Barbara Aguila, fatally shot himself in front of three North Bergen police officers. Barbara Aguila eventually recovered from her gunshot wounds, but the shooting triggered a manhunt for Gonzalez that lasted for more than a week.
Development: In March, in an effort to establish more development within the township, the North Bergen Board of Commissioners officially requested that the township’s Planning Board make changes and adjustments to existing zoning ordinances, a move that caused quite a controversy among residents from the northern end of the township. As a result of the zoning change, the township opened up a seven-month battle with neighbors of the Sier-Bath complex over possible development at the site. The Sier-Bath factory, an environmental nightmare for the past 18 years, was finally razed and demolished in September. Possible development on the site remains a hot topic in the township.
Secaucus
Milestone: The town celebrated its 100th birthday in the year 2000, and town officials marked the occasion with a number of events. The most unique event occurred on March 5 when members of the contemporary mayor and council dressed up and acted out the parts of the original 1900 council. On June 3, the town held a massive celebration in the streets that drew nearly 4,000 people and included a parade, fire works, sky diving, musical and dramatic performances.
Educational changes: There were several changes in the schools this year. After years of planning, a failed 1995 bond and numerous lesser efforts to deal with increased enrollments, the Secaucus Board of Education managed to convince voters to support a $6.5 million expansion program for the two elementary schools. The project for expanding Huber Street and Clarendon schools moved ahead by the end of the year with the awarding of contracts. The board also worked on reassigning some of the student population, planning to shift some Clarendon students to Huber Street school next September so the school populations will be equal. In another new program this year, the high school began using Intensive Block Scheduling (IBS), which breaks the school day into 85-minute classes.
New library planned: Haunted for years by its lack of space and its inability to meet federal disability access requirements, the Secaucus Public Library finally took a giant step forward in 2000 as the mayor and council awarded a contract to construct a new library at 1377 Paterson Plank Rd.
Union City
New mayor: After Mayor Rudy Garcia was stripped of his mayoral powers in June, a recall movement led by Garcia’s former ally, County Freeholder Brian Stack, began. Stack cited the city’s $3.5 million tax hike and the late budget as reasons for the movement. However, before the recall election was underway, Garcia resigned from office on Oct. 24. At the Board of Commissioners meeting that night, Stack was appointed commissioner of public safety and then mayor of Union City.
Under investigation: Union City was under the watchful eye of the Attorney General’s office this year. First, the city’s Union City Democratic Organization, which has since been shut down by its chairperson, Brian Stack, was subpoenaed. The subpoena asked for all of the financial records for the time when former Mayor Rudy Garcia was chairperson, beginning in 1998 until August of this year. The Union City Board of Education and the Urban Enterprise Zone were also subpoenaed. Garcia is also finding representation for a sexual harassment suit filed against him on Nov. 16, by his former legislative aide and UCDO executive director, Deborah Reed. Garcia’s attorney has charged that the suit is political.
Milestone: Union City celebrated its 75th Anniversary on June 1. Activities that week included a dinner-dance, concert, historical exhibits and guided tours. The celebration didn’t end until October, when the city held its Diamond Jubilee Parade in honor of the anniversary. The parade include the “Burlesque Queens,” Hope Diamond, Joan Torino and Ellye Farrelly, who used to perform in the old Hudson Theater on New York Avenue that became an institution of the Burlesque Theater scene.
Weehawken
Waterfront project: In August, two years after the application was first filed, the Weehawken Planning Board unanimously approved the second phase of the proposed $500 million Roseland Development Project, devised by development group Roseland Properties, Inc. and developer Carl Goldberg. It is the project that will forever change the landscape of the Weehawken waterfront. Goldberg had previously received approval from the Planning Board on the first phase of the project, which will add approximately 50 to 90 brownstone townhouses to the waterfront. The size of the entire development was drastically cut, from the initial 2,200 units to approximately 1,643 currently planned. Nearly 150 of those units will be designated as affordable housing and another 270 will be designated as assisted living for senior citizens.
First murder: In February, Weehawken police were called to a horrific scene after a father found his 15-year-old son brutally murdered in the family’s newly rented Park Avenue apartment. It was the first murder in the township in almost three years and the first within the confines of a residence in almost six years. In June, two teenagers from Union City and one from Weehawken were arrested and charged with the murder. As part of a plea bargain, all three pleaded guilty to murder charges in November and await sentencing.
New zip code: In October, Congressman Robert Menendez and Mayor Richard Turner unveiled plans for Weehawken to gain its own zip code from the U.S. Postal Service, a quest that initially began some 80 years ago. Weehawken has shared the same zip code (07087) with Union City since the zip codes were introduced some 40 years ago. Weehawken should receive its new zip code by July, 2001.
West New York
Various kinds of development: West New York has seen development of affordable housing on the waterfront and in its shopping district over the past year. The Roseland Property Company, which is building a luxury apartment complex on the waterfront, signed a contract with the town to donate $1,500 for every apartment completed to the town’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund. Also, an affordable housing apartment building was opened earlier this year on 60th Street and the town is currently undergoing a multi-site affordable housing development. Meanwhile, on the waterfront, sales continued in the luxury developments. In the shopping districts, the town has completed the streetscape of its Bergenline Avenue Shopping District and plans to move onto Park Avenue with a similar streetscape project and the construction of a new parking lot.
Full-day preschool: West New York took the 1998 New Jersey Supreme Court ruling mandating a three-hour school day for 3 and 4-year-olds in the state’s Abbot Districts one step further. The town decided it would be better to provide a full day of school for its early childhood education, making West New York’s daycare program the only full-day one in the state. Governor Christine Todd Whitman has since commended the program.