In what might be taken as a sign of improvement over years past, the West New York Board of Commissioners’ meeting was focused decidedly on quality-of-life issues. From grant applications for improvements to be made in traffic lights, street paving concerns, waste disposal and littering, sidewalk replacement, to street trees, many of the items on the agenda as well as concerns voiced by citizens centered on what happens along the streets and avenues of the town.
Included in the resolutions on the consent agenda was a resolution to approve the application for municipal road improvement grants provided by the New Jersey Department of Transportation in the amount of approximately $ 1.5 million to replace 12 streetlights along Bergenline Avenue from 50th street to 67th Street. The present lights in this area of Bergenline Avenue are old and present safety concerns due to visibility issues.
As explained after the meeting by West New York Business Administrator Richard Turner, these grants will be applied for in stages, hence the work will phased in as the money is received. The town should find out about the status of the application in the next few months. Previously, these grants were used for a roadway-resurfacing project in FY 2002.
In other items of significance to the streets, the town approved a resolution to apply for grants from NJ Transit for the installation of a bus shelter at 6600 Boulevard East. It was also resolved to advertise to receive bids for “The planting and removal of various trees and shrubs throughout the town of West New York.”
After the business of the board, a crowd of about 20 citizens was given the opportunity to speak their five minutes each. Julius Rotella, a long-time resident of West New York attending a town council meeting for the first time in 20 years, began by telling the Board, “I’m here tonight to talk about trees.” Mr. Rotella’s concerns were with trees that were planted on Bergenline Avenue. He wanted to know if the trees that had died were guaranteed under a contract.
Said Mayor Sires, “There is a guarantee. We’re just waiting for the proper time to replant them.”
Rotella was also concerned about trees that are being broken, which obviously doesn’t fall under any sort of guarantee. Although an ongoing problem, 20 trees planted recently, he indicated, have already been broken in the last two weeks. “Two more are broken of the new batch,” said Rotella. “It would be nice if police kept an eye out for cars, or maybe even people breaking them.”
Rotella’s particular concern with the possible vandalism of the trees is an indication of a larger concern he voiced. “There seems to be a lot of people in this town that just don’t care about the town,” he said. Citing a problem with littering, Rotella suggested an educational approach, “some sort of program, in English and in Spanish, to talk about how proud we are of this town.” Mayor Sires asked Rotella about a newsletter that used to be circulated in the town. Rotella again suggested perhaps mailing out fliers or putting something in the newspapers.
The mayor seemed interested in the possibilities. “I’m going to look into that,” he said.
Getting to the schools
Kathleen Wagner spoke next about a different issue relating to Harry L. Bain School. “I’m here on behalf of parents in the Harry L. Bain School to request a police officer at the school,” said Wagner. “I also spoke out at the Board of Education and the PTA. Every day it’s the same thing. We need a police officer there for the safety of our children.”
A rumor which she mentioned had apparently been circulated amongst the parents at the school that a child had been kidnapped there. The mayor and business administrator swiftly denied this and said that they would have heard about it. The mayor himself mentioned that a grant that the town had used to maintain a police presence in the schools had expired in June of this year.
Said Sires, “The last time I spoke to the director of the police department, we had police in the schools. Now I understand that the grant is not there, and I’ll look into that.”
The mayor tried to be equally reassuring with Rose Lloyd, who began her five minutes by asking, “”When is my street getting fixed?’
The mayor informed her that as part of the $1.5 million re-paving project 62nd Street from Palisade to Kennedy would be re-paved shortly.
Apparently, there was some confusion regarding her address, because Lloyd protested, “But I’m on 64th street. On Adams between 62nd and 65th [streets].”
“Didn’t we do that two or three years ago?” asked the mayor.
Said Lloyd, “It’s sinking.”
Again the mayor offered to quickly address the complaint: “I’ll send the superintendent of public works over there tomorrow.”
Jesus Vega, a past political opponent of Sal Vega, the Commissioner of Public Safety and Freeholder, raised concerns about the safety and efficiency of the ambulance service in West New York. Referring to an accident at 66th Street on an unspecified date and time, Vega indicated that it had taken half of an hour for an ambulance to arrive despite the fact that there were severe injuries. “An ambulance from Ridgefield arrived first – the West New York [ambulance] arrived an hour later,” he claimed.
West New York Business administrator Richard Turner responded, “There’s mutual aid. If they’re tied up with a previous call, the next town on the list responds.”
But Vega persisted, claiming that the drivers had told him that their ambulance had broken down. “And we can’t count on these volunteer kids,” Vega added.
Turner insisted that Mr. Vega didn’t have the right information. “You give me the date and time, and I’ll find out about it.”
Mayor Sires joined in on the discussion, “We run almost 600 runs a month,” he said, then added, “[and] most of the people in West New York are paid.”