Ad Populos, Non Aditus, Pervenimus Published Every Thursday Since September 3, 1890 (908) 232-4407 USPS 680020 Thursday, January 28, 2016 OUR 126th YEAR – ISSUE NO. 04-2015 Periodical – Postage Paid at Rahway, N.J. www.goleader.com [email protected] SEVENTY FIVE CENTS Trader Joe’s Roof Collapses; Majority of Building to Be Razed By BRIAN TRUSDELL collapsing early Saturday afternoon service was cut Sunday. Specially Written for The Westfield Leader during the height of the blizzard and Plywood boards were erected along WESTFIELD — It will be a while buckling three walls with it, Mr. Freed- the Elm Street sidewalk to keep pe- before Trader Joe’s in Westfield re- man and Fire Chief David Kelly said. destrians away. opens for business. No one was inside at the time of the “The Elm Street side is where most Three-quarters of the supermarket collapse around 2 p.m. and Chief of the damage is,” said Mr. Freed- store between Elm and Prospect Kelly said none of his firefighters man, who noted the roof collapsed Streets will have to be razed within were injured in securing the site be- along with the trusses inside. two weeks, Westfield Building In- fore his department turned the matter Horizontal cracks in the brick wall spector Steve Freedman said. He over to police, which deployed offic- along Elm Street are visible, but the won’t even let workers inside to re- ers to deter looting. most apparent damage is along the trieve the stock. Employees reportedly were in the back of the building facing the Bank “It’s too dangerous,” Mr. Freed- building earlier in the day but all went of America branch. About two-thirds man said. “You also don’t want it home by late morning when Trader of the way up the back wall, a large open to vagrants.” Joe’s decided not to open because of crack can be seen extending from the The store was the highest profile the storm. Elm Street side past the drive-up teller local casualty of last weekend’s snow- Power and natural gas lines were roofs. storm, with the center of the roof turned off late Saturday and water The National Weather Service re- ported that 24 inches of snow had fallen in Westfield as of 10:03 p.m. Saturday as part of winter storm Jonas. Calls to Carol Greco, who is listed as the owner of the building, were not Ben Corbin for The Westfield Leader returned. However, Trader Joe’s MORE THAN A FRACTURE…The rear wall of Trader Joe’s supermarket buckled Saturday under the weight of spokeswoman Alison Mochizuki re- accumulated snow from winter storm Jonas, which also collapsed the roof. sponded via e-mail from the company’s Monrovia, Calif. head- quarters. “Thankfully, the store was closed Region Still Recovering From when this happened, no customers or crew were present — and no one was hurt,” she wrote. “All crew members from our Westfield store have the Massive Weekend Blizzard option to work at other locations, and we are in the process of setting up By CHRISTINA HINKE dead end portions of roadways, and deemed abandoned pursuant to NJS those reassignments. We intend to and FRED ROSSI Specially Written for The Westfield Leader small “one block” streets and were also 39:3-56.5. These vehicles are imped- reopen in (the Westfield) location.” addressing commuter parking lots and ing snow removal and obstructing the The store doubled its capacity in REGION — The local area was still downtown parking lots. flow of traffic,” Chief Wayman said. 2013, reclaiming a portion of the digging out earlier this week from a He said that it took longer than ex- Westfield Superintendent of Schools Paul Lachenauer for The Westfield Leader building that originally was used as a blizzard that dumped two-a-half feet of pected to get to all of the town’s 380 Margaret Dolan thanked workers for ANYTHING THAT SLIDES…Kids in Unami Park trudge back up the hill with supermarket but had been converted snow. The following is a breakdown roads open. clearing school property of snow. “We sleds, snow scooters, snowboards and inner tubes, some getting a snow snack into office space last used by finan- per town. along the way. “Pushing over two feet of snow is would like to thank all of our custodi- cial consultants Wells Fargo Advi- Westfield slow going,” the mayor said. “Our plow ans and maintenance staff for working sors. Westfield Mayor Andrew Skibitsky operators were on duty for approxi- hard through Saturday, Sunday and Skibitsky Gives Update “What can I say about Trader Joe’s said in a statement on Facebook Mon- mately 35 hours straight and after a 12- Monday to clear the snow to ensure the except the entire community is heart- day morning that DPW crews were hour break they have been back at it safety of our students.” broken,” Downtown Westfield Corp. continuing to work on getting to every since 5 a.m. this morning (Monday) Cranford tertiary roadway, such as cul de sacs, On Blizzard Cleanup CONTINUED ON PAGE 10 and will continue to work until all roads “Our guys worked early Friday morn- are open.” ing through Sunday night. I would say By CHRISTINA M. HINKE in front of their home, if the fire Once all roads are open, DPW crews we had a majority of streets cleared by Specially Written for The Westfield Leader department has not been able to clear Garwood Gets RVSA will focus their attention on town-owned Sunday afternoon. It was a lot more WESTFIELD — Mayor Andy Ski- the snow away from them yet. sidewalks, and any areas or roadways than the news was predicting. We got bitsky on Tuesday night addressed The police department received that warrant follow up attention. hit hard. During those tough times it the town’s response to the blizzard cardiac arrest calls, Chief David Briefing; Officer Sworn In “The sheer volume of snow will was tough to keep up. But they did a that pummeled the area with snow Wayman said. The department would require several days to fully complete great job,” Mayor Andis Kalnins said. over the weekend. Westfield received have been “paralyzed,” he said, with- By BRIAN TRUSDELL is approximately the same as it was 10 snow plowing operations,” he said. He said crews were working on over two feet of snow in 11 hours, out those military vehicles because Specially Written for The Westfield Leader years ago. The RVSA initially assessed Meanwhile, Fire Chief David Kelly Monday getting the lots cleared. One Mayor Skibitsky said. The Depart- their ambulances and trucks were GARWOOD – A four-man delega- Garwood $679,927 in November, a asked homeowners to dig it out fire of the reasons the township closed ment of Public Works (DPW) was getting stuck in the snow. tion from the Rahway Valley Sewerage hike of $58,133 from last year. It re- hydrants in front their homes. There municipal offices Monday was so they out on the roads for 35 hours straight, In other business, the sewer use fee Authority (RVSA) appeared before the vised that to $676,057, or an increase are over 700 hydrants in the town. could focus on municipal lots to make with Mayor Skibitisky also riding for a single-family residence was set borough council Tuesday to explain of $54,263, in December. Also, Police Chief David Wayman sure people could get to work. along in a plow for several hours to at $170 per year and for commercial the municipality’s 8.7-percent increase The presentation drew several ques- announced said that any snow-covered The DPW has had to use front-end gauge the situation. and industrial properties at $315 and in its annual assessment, hinting that tions from residents, who struggled to abandoned vehicle still parked in the loaders to move the snow but that there “We continue to work on our ter- for multi-family residences at $100. next year the borough could see a hike understand why, if Garwood’s flow has roadway was to be ticketed and towed is nowhere to push it. They plan to salt tiary roads…and have knocked out This rate has not changed since the about half of this year’s. decreased the past two years, the beginning 8 a.m. January 27th. the roads this week. about 90 percent of our sidewalks,” town began billing property owners Explaining that the RVSA assesses borough’s assessment has increased. “Any vehicle that has remained snow “We asked for cars to be off the DPW Director Greg O’Neil said in five years ago, Councilman Sam Della towns in the 11-municipality coopera- The delegation, which also included covered and parked in the roadway for street; most of the people adhered to the his report to the mayor and council at Fera said. The fee is set based off the tive on a five-year average, Executive Garwood’s RVSA commissioner Steve a period of more than 48 hours shall be CONTINUED ON PAGE 10 the workshop meeting held prior to sewer charges imposed by the Director Jim Meehan said the two con- Greet, who additionally serves as chair- the official council meeting. He said Rahway Valley Sewerage Authority secutive years of steep increases should man of the Garwood Planning Board, it would take four or five nights to (RVSA). It was noted by Mr. Della abate. said that while the flow amount may move snow out of the downtown area. Fera that the town incurs more than “Next year it should be about 2 to 4 CONTINUED ON PAGE 10 The fire department is asking that half of the charge billed by the RVSA, percent, maybe closer to zero,” Mr.