February 21, 2018 • www.theobserver.com • Vol. CXXX, No. 41
HIGHLIGHTS The Observer has you covered at Tax Time. See page 24
COVERING: BELLEVILLE • BLOOMFIELD • EAST NEWARK • HARRISON • KEARNY • LYNDHURST • NORTH ARLINGTON • NUTLEY
REMAKING MEADOWLANDS Prieto set to take over NJSEA Story by Kevin Canessa
T Main photo courtesy of Wikipedia; inset Google Images
he man who has represented parts of West Hudson in the State Assembly for the last 14 years has been tapped to lead the New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority. The NJSEA’s Board of Commissioners last week appointed Assemblyman Vincent Prieto as the agency’s new President and CEO. Prieto will assume his new role Feb. 26. He will resign his seat in the Assembly and his position as Secaucus ConstrucSee PRIETO, Page 25
When Assemblyman Vincent Prieto takes over as head of the NJSEA, he’ll oversee the ‘American Dream’ project.
Nutley schools closed after Instagram ‘threat’ By Kevin Canessa kc@theobserver.com NUTLEY — Students in Nutley Public Schools got an extra day tacked onto their winter break (scheduled to begin Monday, Feb. 19) on Friday, Feb. 16 — but for all the
wrong reasons. The district closed all schools after it says it received word that a “threatening video” had been posted to Instagram. However, despite coming to the conclusion that the video was not serious and would not lead to any violence in any Nutley schools, the
district decided to close the schools, nonetheless, in light of what had happened just two days earlier at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., where 17 students were murdered by a deranged former student. Superintendent of Schools Julie
Glazer issued a statement Friday, Feb. 16, at 5 p.m., explaining the district’s rationale for the closure. “At approximately 8:30 p.m., on Thursday evening (Feb. 15), the district administration became aware of See SCHOOLS, Page 26
#1 LIStIng And SeLLIng reAL eStAte COMpAny In 2015 & 2016!
201-460-8000
LyndhurSt OFFICe 761 ridge road, Lyndhurst, new Jersey C21Semiao@Century21.com
SCAn here! CENTURY
Semiao & Associates
www.Century21Semiao.com
Download
http://kay
21 Semia
o and Assoc
iates http://www.ce - Hudson Coun t... ntury21semi ao.com
QR Code
Reader (App
R3I
Store &Andro
KeArny OFFICe 531 Kearny Ave, Kearny, new Jersey
C21Semiaokearny@Century21.com
wa.me/aB
the Kaywa
201-991-1300
id Market
BASed On nJMLS, KeArny, nOrth ArLIngtOn, LyndhurSt, hArrISOn, eASt newArK ) and scan
your code!
02
THE OBSERVER | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2018
Changes to Nutley’s recycling system By Ron Leir rleir@theobserver.com NUTLEY — Residents’ recyclables are still getting picked up in Nutley this year but part of how that’s being done has changed and a township budget crunch is the reason. The change occurred the week beginning Jan. 29 when the township’s trash contractor, F. Basso Jr. Rubbish Removal of Irvington, hauled away co-mingled recycling materials – cans, plastic and glass – from residential curbsides. No longer is the township Department of Public Works handling that chore, although DPW is continuing to collect and dispose of paper and cardboard products. On Jan. 16, the township Board of Commissioners awarded the Basso firm a 1-year $169,450 contract for the collection of commingled recyclable materials. The BOC also authorized a one-
year extension of its contract with S. Rotondi & Sons Inc. of Summit to accept recycling vegetative waste — clean wood/brush, leaves and grass clippings — for an amount not to exceed $71,000. Mayor Joseph Scarpelli, who is in charge of the DPW, explained: “In an effort to become more cost efficient and reduce manpower, we are outsourcing one-half of our recycling pickup. This change should be seamless to our residents, except I am asking everyone to have their recycling curbside before 6 a.m. on the collection day.” Scarpelli said privatizing a portion of the recycling will result in a decrease in the 2018 DPW budget without affecting services. Asked last week how much of a savings would be generated, the mayor said he was awaiting those numbers in preparation for a draft of the 2018 municipal budget which he said he expected to be
introduced in March. “The savings should be substantial,” he added, apparently even with the contracting out of the collection of commingled recyclables. Scarpelli said township personnel will be reduced by “a combination of retirements, a transfer, people who have separated from employment and layoffs.” Asked for specifics, the mayor said the DPW would be losing three full-time employees and four part-time workers. Additionally, he said, “seasonal help will no longer be needed.” Scarpelli said these steps are being taken to help offset the township’s loss of $1.8 million in special transitional aid that it receives from the state to help compensate for the loss of substantial tax revenues from the former Hoffman LaRoche pharma operation. For 2017, it got $3.6 million
Lusitânia
SAVINGS BANK
Investment Property Special
in transitional aid. Problem is, the mayor noted, that automatically cuts into revenue for the next year because “you can only anticipate 75% of what you got the year before.” Meanwhile, the township eagerly anticipates an ambitious “recycling” of sorts of the 116-acre property, straddling part of neighboring Clifton, by its new owners, Prism Capital Partners of Bloomfield, into on “ON3 Science Center” anchored by a new private medical school campus and bio-tech enterprises, as a groundwater cleanup program continues. Back on the recycling home front, township residents are reminded that all bulk and white goods items must be placed at the curb Tuesday
evenings for Wednesday only pickups. Starting in April, vegetative wastes will continue to be collected also on Wednesdays only, through December. To schedule pickups of discarded furniture, mattresses, box springs, rugs (must be cut, rolled and tied in 4-foot lengths) and small household items, residents are asked to call the township Public Affairs office at 973284-4976 by 2 p.m. Tuesdays. The township plans for an average of five large items the size of a living room couch per collection day. The township will not remove construction debris so homeowners are advised to contact licensed contractors to pick up and dispose of those materials.
Bundle two or more loans and Save! Interest rates as LOW as....
233 Kearny Ave., Kearny
201-997-2360
Michael Symeonides
10-YEAR FIXED RATE 1-4 Family Investment % %
Since 1965, service has been the key to our success!
10-YEAR FIXED RATE Commercial Properties
www.sasinsurance.com • Se Habla Espanol • Nos Falamos Portuguese
2.750
Rate
4.625 %
Rate
0 Points
0 Points
2.866
APR
4.789 %
APR
107 Pulaski Street, Newark, New Jersey 07105 (973) 344-5125 ext. 129 www.Lusitaniabank.com
Payment Example: $9.54 per $1,000 borrowed on a $100,000 10-year fixed rate mortgage at an interest rate of 2.750% will result in 120 payments of $954.11. Payment Example: $10.42 per $1,000 borrowed on a $100,000 10-year fixed rate mortgage at an interest rate of 4.625% will result in 120 payments of $1,042.42. Actual monthly payment may be higher because examples do not include applicable property taxes, insurance premiums or other related costs. Annual percentage rate (APR) based on $100,000 loan with a 10-year amortization term. Discounted rate applicable only to Investment Properties and subject to Investment Loan Bundle Special. Minimum finance charge of $555.00 on 1-4 Family Dwelling and $758.00 on 5+ Units/Commercial Properties. New loans only. Rates and annual percentage rates are based on 80% loan to value. Rates and annual percentages are effective as of publication date of this ad and are subject to change. Please speak with our Mortgage Department for additional terms and conditions that may apply. Subject to credit approval. Other rates and programs are available. NMLS # 640892 EQUAL OPPORTUNITY LENDER
Quality Coverage at Competitive Rates! Auto - Home - Business - Life Let us show you how to save!
Inside this edition ... Opinion....................................................................8 Food & Dining Directory.............................................12 Sports & Recreation...................................................13 Health & Wellness Directory.......................................17 Real Estate..............................................................18 Real Estate Directory................................................20 Obituaries...............................................................21 Classifieds...............................................................22 Tax Time.................................................................24 Business Directory....................................................26
THE OBSERVER | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2018
03
Waiting for new bond rating, school renovations delayed State monitor says he wants to get the ‘best possible deal for the taxpayer’ By Ron Leir rleir@theobserver.com BELLEVILLE — Nearly four months has passed since Belleville voters green-lighted the Board of Education’s spending nearly $50 million to upgrade all public schools with no signs of hammering, plastering or pointing. But there’s no need to panic. The school board is actually doing what it’s supposed to be doing to get to the point where it can start the work, according to Tom Egan, the state monitor assigned to the Belleville school district. Last Thursday, Feb. 15, Egan said he and district professionals participated in a conference call with the Standard & Poor’s rating agency to give them a sense of the district’s financial wherewithal in preparation for the agency’s rating of the bonds to be sold in support of the massive capital project. “We should find out what our rating is by Feb. 27,” Egan said. That rating, he said, will likely dictate the amount of interest the district will have to pay on the bonds for the 20- to 25-year repayment period. With that expectation, he said, “we expect the bonds to be put up for sale by the first week of March.” And, with the district’s consulting engineers and architects having drafted work specifications for the project, “we should be ready to go out to bid by July 1. We can’t award the job until we have the cash to pay for it,” Egan said. Asked whether the district’s intent is to sell bonds for the full amount authorized by the November referendum — $48.5 million — or to do it in phases, Egan said it would likely sell all or half, depending on how the rating impacts the market. “The goal is to get the possible deal for the taxpayer,” he said. Preliminary projections by the board’s professionals were that the owner of an “average” home assessed at $238,100 could expect to pay
‘We should be ready to go out to bid by July 1. We can’t award the job until we have the cash to pay for it.’ — Tom Egan, state monitor an additional $156 a year for a 20-year bond or $139 more for a 25-year bond. Asked how he and staffers presented the district’s fiscal picture to S&P, Egan said it’s gone from having a $4 million deficit for the 2013-2014 school year to the current school year “having new board members who’ve been insisting on getting accountability with monthly capital maintenance and capital reserve reports – a stable district – demonstrated by running a tight ship and generating mostly detailed spending reports. “Whether or not we were convincing enough for Standard & Poor’s, we’ll have to wait and see,” Egan said. As outlined by the district, the project calls for spending $9.9 million on improvements to Belleville High, $4.4 million for the middle school, $3 million for School 3, $5.1 million for School 4, $3.2 million for School 5, $3.8 million for School 7, $3.5 million for School 8, $2.3 million for School 9 and $2.2 million for School 10, for a total of $37.8 million. Schools 4, 5, 7, 8, 9 and 10 will be getting elevators and restroom renovations to comply with the federal ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act); all schools will get masonry wall repairs, heating and ventilation and electrical upgrades, new lighting, clocks and intercoms and site work; the high school; Schools 3, 7, 9 and 10 will get new windows; the high school, middle schools and Schools 4, 9 and 10 will get roof work. An additional $10.7 million is earmarked for professional and contingency fees, for a
grand total of $48.5 million. In other Belleville school news, the Board of Education voted at its meeting last Monday, Feb. 12, to replace
its former general counsel, Schwartz Edelstein Law Group of Mt. Laurel, with Busch Law Group of Metuchen at an hourly rate of
$150 with no overall cap. The board gave no reason for the change but there had been issues raised by members of the public about the amount of money being charged the district for legal expenses. Asked how much Schwartz Edelstein had pocketed for the past school year, Egan said he couldn’t provide a figure but he said he anticipated getting an answer when the board’s auditor comes into the district March 1 to project how much money the district will need for the coming school year, based partly on how much it spent the prior year.
BRADY, BRADY & REILLY
LAWRENCE P. BRADY Jr. has 50 years of experience in representing clients who have suffered injury as a result of others’ negligence. Since 1982 he has been certified by the New Jersey Supreme Court as a civil trial attorney. The National Board of Trial Advocacy has also certified him in a civil trial advocacy. His practice is concentrated on plaintiffs’ personal injury, products liability and toxic torts.
AREAS OF EXPERTISE: • Construction Accidents • Medical Malpractice • Motor Vehicle Accidents • Municipal Court • Personal Injury • Workers’ Compensation • House & Hospital Calls
KATHLEEN M. REILLY has 35 years experience in handling personal injury claims. She has numerous verdicts and settlements including a 1.8 million settlement for a worker injured on the job, a $6 million verdict on behalf of a bicyclist. She is a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum and is certified by the NJ Supreme Court as a civil trial attorney. She is also certified to argue cases before the United States Supreme Court.
FOR 50+ YEARS, BRADY, BRADY & REILLY Has provided outstanding legal representation to citizens of North Jersey. Firm attorneys are committed to their clients, their profession and their community. They have demonstrated expertise in handling complex legal issues and high-value claims.
377 Kearny Ave., Kearny, NJ 07032
T: 201-997-0030 • F: 201-997-7150 • WWW.BBR-LAW.COM