February 25, 2015 • www.theobserver.com • Vol CXXVII, No. 40 Visit our
BUSINESS DIRECT on
COVERING: BELLEVILLE • BLOOMFIELD
Decastro picked
By Ron Leir Observer Correspondent
see UEZ STATUS page
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• EAST NEWARK • HARRISON • KEARNY • LYNDHURST • NORTH ARLINGTON • NUTLEY
Gov.’s veto leaves UEZ up the creek KEARNY – Farewell, Farmers’ Market? No more Doggie Halloween Pawrade? Maybe sooner than you think. Kearny’s Urban Enterprise Zone (UEZ) program, which sponsors those events, has been left on life support, now that Gov. Chris Christie has squelched a legislative proposal to revive its funding. Kearny is the only community in The Observer’s coverage area which has a UEZ, of which there are 32 around the state. Businesses in designated UEZ zones continue to offer a 3.5% sales tax (discounted from 7%) to their customers and are still eligible for low interest loans for tax-free capital improvements or equipment purchases but some four years ago, Christie froze the return of the sales tax balance to UEZ municipalities. From that point on, those municipalities could no longer tap that revenue flow to facilitate improvements or services designed to benefit the local business district. Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto (D-Secaucus) sponsored a bill (A3952) which would have restored 30% of the sales tax to a UEZ assis-
RY
By Ron Leir Observer Correspondent
lot vote by members of the Kearny Democratic County Committee last Tuesday at the Frobisher American KEARNY – Legion post, according to t’s all over but the committee chairman Kearny swearing in – which was Mayor Alberto Santos. Sonia scheduled to happen Hill and Jenny Mach were at the next meeting of the also up for the job. mayor and Town Council on County committee memTuesday, Feb. 24. bers last month submitted Marytrine DeCastro was the names of all three candito be installed as the newest dates, from which the Town member of the governing Council was to appoint one. body, filling the seat formerly But, after the council failed occupied by First Ward to reach a consensus at its Councilwoman Alexa Arce, Feb. 2 meeting, the selection who resigned Jan. 5 with – as determined by Town three years remaining in her Counsel Greg Castano – was four-year term. tossed back to the county DeCastro emerged as the committee. uncontested winner following a closed balsee DECASTRO page
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Photo courtesy Marytrine DeCastro
Marytrine DeCastro
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Most liquor stores don’t check IDs By Karen Zautyk Observer Correspondent
In 2013, the Hudson County Coalition for Drug Free Communities (HCCDFC) conducted a test at a number of liquor stores in Kearny, Harrison and East Newark to see how many would check the age identification on young customers. Most of those visited failed to do so, the coalition reported.
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The results were published, along with reminders that 21 is the legal drinking age in New Jersey. A year later, the experiment was repeated at the same stores, and several additional venues. And in 2014, the majority -- 63% -- of vendors visited still flunked. Both tests were conducted on Dec. 30, the eve of New Year’s Eve -- “a holiday largely
associated with excessive drinking.” You would think vendors would be especially wary. That they apparently were not is disappointing. The coalition issued the results of its December 2014 survey earlier this month, with a comparison to the earlier experiment. In 2013, 11 stores selling liquor in West Hudson were visited, and eight failed to ask for
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proof of age. “At that time,” the coalition reported, “we chose a staff member in his early 20s. Though this HCCDFC member was of legal age, he had boyish features and was dressed in a college sweatshirt and sneakers. We did not try to conceal his age.” However, as a coalition spokesperson noted last year, “Based on his see ID page
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