If there is one facet of his life that North Bergen Mayor Nicholas Sacco kept secret from most people before Wednesday afternoon, it is that he is very computer savvy.
Put the long-term public servant in front of a computer and Sacco can easily take you on a tour of the Internet, without missing a hitch. He’s as quick with the mouse as he is with the voting button during state senate sessions in Trenton.
Because of his interest in computers and the Internet, Sacco firmly believed it would be beneficial if the township had its own web site, filled with information concerning the town’s activities, businesses, locations, and history.
“There are a lot of residents who are computer literate and are very comfortable with accessing information from the Internet,” Sacco said. “We thought it would be the perfect and easy way to find out all necessary information about the town.”
After three years of collecting the pertinent data and creating links to practically all the town’s mechanisms, Sacco officially introduced the township web site, www.northbergen.org, during a presentation at the North Bergen Free Public Library Wednesday – a gathering that revealed Sacco’s ability to surf the web.
Sacco proudly sat at one of the library’s 50 computer terminals and demonstrated how easy it was to collect all kinds of information about the town.
“It’s a very interactive web site,” Sacco said. “It has maps; it has a link showing the town’s UEZ [Urban Enterprise Zone]; it has a photo section with pictures of the town. It also has links to our other agencies, like the Board of Education, the MUA [the Municipal Utilities Authority], the Parking Authority, the Housing Authority, and the library.”
Sacco also pointed out the ease with which parents can find out how they can register their children for an upcoming recreation activity and how senior citizens can plan their schedule by clicking on to the senior calendar. “It was something we’ve wanted to do for a long time,” Sacco said. “We’re really pleased that we’ve been able to launch it.”
Lots of compiling
While the web site is the brainchild of Sacco, he needed a lot of help to get the site up and running. Administrative Assistant April Busset was in charge of compiling all the information, which was a painstaking task and one that is far from completion, even after the site has been launched.
“We kept having meetings to make sure that all the information was there,” Busset said. “But we’re still updating it.”
For example, Busset had to compile a list of all the various businesses that are located in the town, like bars and restaurants, bakeries, hair salons, delicatessens, and car dealers.
“So we took our business directory and made links for each business,” said Busset, who has also included overhead maps of each business to make it easier to find, even for out-of-towners. “We have to update constantly, because there are always new businesses coming into town.”
The work of putting everything into the web site went to Sai Rao, the executive director of the North Bergen Free Public Library, who volunteered her computer brilliance to provide the various links.
“Each address in the business directory had to be linked,” said Rao, who spent about a year creating the various links. “So it did take a lot of time and a lot of work. The town had a framework of what they wanted and I was just able to fill it in. I helped out on my own. This has nothing to do with the library. But I think it’s become a very comprehensive web site and it’s very detailed.”
Local photographer Charles Baker provided most of the photos for the web site, with separate links to show the township’s parks, streets, and neighborhoods.
Rao said that one of the additions that Sacco would like to see on the site in future months would be the complete history of the township.
“I’m really impressed with the way it turned out,” Sacco said. “It’s a very good web site and easy to use. I think other residents are going to be happy that we have it. It’s a concise web site with a lot of information for everyone.”