Council Considers Study of Deck's Impact on Traffic
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Ad Populos, Non Aditus, Pervenimus USPS 680020 Published Every Thursday OUR 111th YEAR – ISSUE NO. 12-111 Periodical – Postage Paid at Westfield, N.J. Thursday, November 30, 2000 Since 1890 (908) 232-4407 FIFTY CENTS Council Considers Study Of Deck’s Impact on Traffic By PAUL J. PEYTON According to a letter from T&M on what the impact of the proposed Specially Written for The Westfield Leader Associates, the consultant would parking deck would be on traffic Town officials announced Tues- gather data on locations and layouts flow in the area. day night that they have received a of entry and exit points, including Mr. Marsh said the council needs $12,000 proposal from a traffic con- peak hour traffic volumes. to determine how far beyond the sultant to conduct a traffic circula- Evening rush hour traffic circula- central business district they want tion study in advance of construction tion counts will be taken at the inter- the T&M study to focus. He said the of a parking garage on municipal lots sections of Ferris Place and Prospect further the study gets from the busi- located at Elm and Prospect Streets. Street, Ferris Place and Clark Street, ness district, the harder it will be to T&M Associates, with offices in and Clark Street and North Avenue. determine what traffic patterns are Middletown and Toms River, recently T&M would determine directional actually related to the deck. completed a traffic circulation study distribution of evening peak hour Mayor Jardim asked the Solid of Westfield’s downtown area for the traffic volumes coming from the deck. Waste Committee, chaired by Mayor- County of Union. The county study Levels of service would be devel- elect Gregory S. McDermott, to re- was focused on determining if traffic oped for the following intersections: view the T&M proposal. signals are warranted at the intersec- Elm and East Broad Streets; Pros- In other business Tuesday, Mr. tions of East Broad Street and Moun- pect and East Broad Streets; North Marsh announced that he is recom- tain Avenue and East Broad and Cen- Avenue and East Broad; Central Av- mending the council turn the collec- tral Avenue. enue and East Broad; Mountain Av- tion of trash at downtown recep- The T&M proposal for the town enue and East Broad; Elm Street and tacles back over to the Department would determine if signals are war- North Avenue; Ferris Place and Pros- of Public Works (DPW). To accom- ranted at East Broad and Prospect pect Street and Clark Street and North plish this feat, Mr. Marsh is seeking Streets. Avenue. the purchase of a small garbage truck The Town Council agreed in Au- “It looks like a fairly straight for- at a cost of $85,000 in his DPW Courtesy of Robert Meiklejohn gust to build a deck of 600 to 800 ward proposal and it’s probably some- budget proposal. MAKING THE HALL...Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler, left, a Westfield High School (WHS) alumnus and star spaces in the downtown at a con- thing we should move on,” Town The town had privately contracted athlete, is shown here with Westfield Athletic Hall of Fame inductee Owen Brand, center, and his son, Ryan, at last week’s struction cost ranging from $8.7 to Engineer Kenneth B. Marsh told the the service last year, at a cost of Hall of Fame induction program. At right is former WHS football coach Hall of Fame member, Gary Kehler. Please see $11.5 million. Town Council. $43,680, to Waste Management Inc. another picture in Sports Section. Third Ward Councilman Neil F. The same firm was the low bidder Sullivan said traffic numbers for ad- this year, as per the state Public jacent roadways near the proposed Contracts Law, with a proposal of Vacancies On Westfield Planning Board deck will be important in determin- $65,208. The other two bids received ing design criteria for the parking were $84,105 and $85,000. structure in terms of ingress and Since Waste Management’s con- egress. He said those T&M findings tract expired, the DPW has leased a Filled by Mayor Jardim; Process Criticized very possibly will dictate the size of truck at $3,000 a month and is cur- By MELISSA BETKOWSKI the deck the town eventually builds. rently collecting downtown garbage. who has moved out of town. and “underhanded” move. have to resign. He said the T&M proposal seems Fourth Ward Councilman AND PAUL J. PEYTON Mayor Jardim indicated at the While saying the Mayor had the At the end of the month, the seats Specially Written for The Westfield Leader to assume traffic from the deck would Lawrence A. Goldman noted that a council’s November 21 meeting that power to make the appointments, held by Planning Board members head westbound down Ferris Street few years ago council members re- With a month to go in his tenure, Mr. Stoner and Mr. McCabe had GOP council members objected to Pamela McClure and Rosemary Mil- Westfield Mayor Thomas C. Jardim or southbound toward East Broad ceived numerous complaints about resigned from the board. how they were done. Mayor Jardim let will expire. Ms. McClure is a full Street or south on Clark Street. overflowing receptacles. Mr. Marsh announced last week that he was Mr. Laporta is a former Mayoral e-mailed council members earlier in member and Ms. Millet is serving as making several appointments to the “I think we also need to be con- said new receptacles have been placed contender and Town Councilman. the day. Mr. McDermott, who as a an alternate board member. cerned about going north on Pros- throughout the downtown at addi- Planning Board. Mayor Jardim, the Mr. McCabe and Mr. Ziff were coun- sales executive for a printing firm In other council news, two Boy first Democrat to serve in eight de- pect (Street) and north on Elm at tional locations, which has allevi- cil candidates in 1997 and 2000, does not have e-mail capability in his Scout troops, one from the First least as far up as Dudley (Avenue),” ated that problem. cades, will be replaced by Republi- respectively. All three are Demo- car, did not learn of the appointments United Methodist Church and the can First Ward Councilman Gregory Mr. Sullivan explained. On another matter, the council is crats. Mr. Stoner ran for council in until arriving at the meeting. other from The Presbyterian Church Mayor Thomas C. Jardim said the set to take action this Tuesday, De- S. McDermott in January. 1998 and 1999. “He did it. What are you going to CONTINUED ON PAGE 12 T&M study should concentrate solely CONTINUED ON PAGE 12 Appointments to the Planning The appointment process has gone do?” Mr. McDermott said in declin- Board are among the few municipal through some bumpy terrain in re- ing to make much of Mayor Jardim’s board and commission selections that cent years, as Democrats have sup- actions. do not require consent of Town Coun- ported the appointments made by Second Ward Councilman Mat- cil members. Mayor Jardim, while Republican thew P. Albano questioned whether Mayor Jardim appointed William council members, as the majority Mr. LaPorta should have resigned Ziff to fill the seat previously occu- party, have used their “consent” from his board seat before being pied by Marc McCabe for the past power to defeat or at least have the appointed to fill out the unexpired three years. He named Anthony list of municipal appointments term of Mr. Stoner. Town Attorney LaPorta, a current board member amended. William S. Jeremiah, 2nd, a former whose term was to expire on Decem- Some Republicans felt last week’s Planning Board attorney, stated that, ber 31, to fill out the final three years appointments were a “lame-duck” in his opinion, Mr. LaPorta did not of the unexpired term of Joe Stoner, Permit Renewal Applications With Higher Rates to Be Mailed By PAUL J. PEYTON percent, thus reducing their cost from parking decals in an effort to reduce Specially Written for The Westfield Leader an average of $50 to $45 per month. the number of persons using vehicles In the next three weeks, Westfield Permit holders had been paying for which permits have not been is- residents who hold commuter per- $30 a month for those permits. sued. mits will be mailed information to The Watterson Street lot permits “If it doesn’t match, you get a renew their applications for another are increasing to $360 for a year and ticket,” Mr. Gildea explained. year per new rates established by the $180 for six months, both equating The new system, he reasoned, is Town Council. to $30 a month. Watterson permits aimed at helping police enforcement Assistant Town Administrator Jim currently cost $15 per month. efforts. Currently, all permit stickers Gildea said the council raised the Mr. Gildea said applications will can be placed on an index card and rates at lots 3 (South Avenue train be mailed to commuter permit hold- placed on the dashboard or attached station), 9 (Shell lot on North Av- ers at the South Avenue train station to the rear-view mirror. enue) and 8 (Citco lot on Elm Street) and Watterson Street lots first. Under “It was a very antiquated system,” to $540 for a year or $300 for six a new program, new permits will be he said. months. Those persons who pay an- issued using the permit holders’ li- There are no plans to use this sys- David B. Corbin for The Westfield Leader nually will receive a discount of 10 cense plate numbers on rear window CONTINUED ON PAGE 12 A WESTFIELD TRADITION...Westfield High School band members lead marchers in the November 22 Homecoming Parade down East Broad Street.