‘MAY IT PROTECT’
Emerson • Hillsdale • Montvale • Park Ridge • River Vale • Township of Washington • Westwood • Woodcliff Lake VOLUME 24 ISSUE 29
INSPIRED DRIVE
PA S C AC K VA L L E Y ’ S BEST H O M E TO W N N E W S PA P E R
OCTOBER 5, 2020
TOWNSHIP OF WASHINGTON
Shovels in for township’s joint firehouse, ambulance headquarters
BY JOHN SNYDER OF PASCACK PRESS
Thomas Huvane of Hillsdale Troop 109 organizing food and blood drive, with covid testing. SEE PAGE 21
WESTWOOD
PAY FOR PARKING TOUCH -FREE
Borough rolls out app option downtown
Beginning the first week of October, Westwoodʼs residents and visitors will be able to pay for parking on their mobile devices, in partnership with ParkMobile, the leading provider of smart parking and mobility solutions in the U.S. Implementation of the ParkMobile app, for use at more than 800 on- and off-street spaces throughout the borough, is particularly timely. As Covid-19 restrictions are being eased, municipalities are grappling with ways to prevent the virusʼ resurgence. Reducing touches on public surfaces is one way to increase public safety. ParkMobile will coexist with Westwoodʼs current meter system, giving drivers the choice of depositing coins into meters or using the touch-free digital payment system. This new technology comes at no cost to the Borough of West-
See Parking on page 214
Members, families, and friends of the townshipʼs volunteer fire and ambulance services cheered on the afternoon of Sept. 27 as officials dug shovels into a box of earth at the current firehouse and raised them with high hopes for the future. At the groundbreaking ceremony, for an upwards of $6 million new emergency services complex at 656 Washington Ave., Mayor Peter Calamari said it was an honor and privilege to participate. “Thankfully, most of us do not have to think about our emergency services too often… because weʼre blessed to have volunteers among us who do think about it every day and are ready to answer that call on a momentʼs notice,” he said. He added that the new construction “shows them our appreciation for all they do for our community. It shows that when it comes right down to it, nothing is more important than meeting the needs of our essential emergency services departments.” On Sept. 1, the Township Council awarded a $5,329,183 base bid contract to Tekcon Construction of Somerset, as recommended by town architect Robbie Conley of Woodbury Heights. Last year, the governing body agreed to appropriate $6 million
VOLUNTEER FIRE AND AMBULANCE personnel flank Mayor Peter Calamari at a groundbreaking ceremony for a new fire and ambulance HQ on Washington Avenue near Pascack Road. Work will take 12 to 14 months and there will be no interruption in service.
for the project, with $5,714,000 in financing. The decision to build a new headquarters was not taken lightly, Calamari said at the ceremony, noting that rates were favorable for borrowing and that a committee of emergency services leaders, the administration, and the town architect and engineer worked out an agreeable cost-benefit scheme. Township Administrator Robert Tovo told Pascack Press on Sept. 30 that a preconstruction meeting was imminent and that work likely would start early this month. Work will take 12 to 14 months and the township will see
TOP PHOTO COURTESY JOHN SNYDER
no interruption in fire or ambulance service, he said. The current firehouse will be knocked down. Just east of its current footprint, near Pascack Road, will rise a 2-story, 44-foot-tall, 20,338-square-foot fire station and ambulance corps HQ, according to the latest plans weʼve seen. Plans call for new traffic signals outside the firehouse to synchronize with emergency traffic, Calamari told Pascack Press in 2019. At some point, the Washington Avenue and Pascack Road intersection will be reconstructed under a shared services agreement the town is meant to be working
out with Bergen County. The Volunteer Ambulance Corps, now at 354 Hudson Ave., near the municipal building, will move into the first floor of the new firehouse. Basic needs for the firehouse—erected in 1951 for $60,000 and upgraded in the 1960s—include bay doors to fit modern trucks, space for volunteers to perform essential primary and support functions, room to store gear, and areas to dress and equip themselves prior to calls. Five bays will be available to the fire department, and two bays
Continued on page 20
TO THE RESCUE
B ck in time...
The Bergen County Food Security Task Force rallies to the aid of the Tri-Boro Food Pantry and other high-demand pantries close to home. SEE PAGE 14
The valley just lost an icon with the passing of the Township of Washington’s Gabriel Marra, 91. Kristin Beuscher reports on Marra’s legacy…
SEE PAGE 4