The Scotch Plains-Fanwood Times Mr
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Ad Populos, Non Aditus, Pervenimus Published Every Thursday Since September 3, 1890 (908) 232-4407 USPS 680020 Thursday, September 29, 2005 OUR 115th YEAR – ISSUE NO. 39-2005 Periodical – Postage Paid at Westfield, N.J. www.goleader.com [email protected] SIXTY CENTS Town Permit Fees Lowered; Parking Restrictions OK’d By MICHAEL J. POLLACK side and Trader Joe’s lots will drop Paul Tice of Breeze Knoll said there Specially Written for The Westfield Leader from $702 to $576. is a problem with aggressive driving WESTFIELD — Town council Night hour parking will cost $120, and parking issues around Franklin members passed new parking permit and Watterson Street parking will re- School, but maintained that the times fees, approved parking restrictions main at $360 for a year. Night hour when children are going to school on Lenape Trail and Watchung Fork, parking changes will go into effect represents “less than one percent an- amended the land use ordinance to immediately, while all other permit nually.” redefine lot specifications and heard parking changes are effective Janu- “I can’t park in front of my house a presentation on recommendations ary 6, 2006. 24/7. This negatively impacts my to the Public Works department’s di- A new wrinkle in the same ordi- property value. It’s draconian to elimi- vision of maintenance and construc- nance is the prohibition of parking on nate parking in front of the house,” tion during the Tuesday, September Watchung Fork along the inner curb Mr. Tice said. 27 regular meeting of the town coun- line of the circular portion and on First Ward Councilman Peter cil. Lenape Trail along the northeasterly Echausse said, “In any kind of poten- The council passed on second read- inner curb line of the lower portion. tial parking restriction, all residents ing an ordinance that will reduce per- Other areas of Lenape Trail and are sent a petition. A large majority mit parking fees for employees and Watchung Fork will be impacted and signed the petition. This is no differ- commuters in lots three, eight and parking will be prohibited during ent than the restrictions in Stoneleigh nine. In lot three, the South Avenue times that correlate to high amounts Park. There’s no change in the con- lot, the fee will be reduced from of school traffic. Residents will not sistency.” $58.50 to $48 per month. In addition, be allowed to park between 8:30 and Councilman Echausse said the annually, the rate commuters and 9:30 a.m. and 2:30 and 3:30 p.m. on board errs on the side of safety al- Horace Corbin for The Westfield Leader and The Times employees pay at the north side, south school days. ways and said that emergency ve- FESTIVITY…Town residents and gatherers enjoy the afternoon at Festifall in Westfield on Sunday, September 25. While hicles, under the current arrangement, children examine color spinners, the smells of kettle corn and roasted nuts fill East Broad Street. cannot get through to residents. The councilman cited an incident this past MS BOE Presents Long-Range Facility BOE Discusses Tech weekend where, because people didn’t park adjacent to the inner curb, “the rescue squad was able to come in Plan; Clashes Over Substitute Nurse Rate Updates, New Websites and save an elderly resident.” Mr. Tice still asked, “Why the in- By BETSEY BURGDORF student. Middle schools must have the projection was so far off last year, By JAMES HALLERAN the cost of the system will pay for ner circle is disproportionately im- Specially Written for The Westfield Leader 134 square feet per student. there is the possibility it could be off Specially Written for The Westfield Leader itself in 10 years. pacted? There are many instances of MOUNTAINSIDE – At the Tues- Beechwood School, housing stu- again. The apprehension stemmed WESTFIELD — At Tuesday Ms. Mammen updated the board bottlenecks in town. You’d have to day night meeting of the Mountainside dents in grades kindergarten through from the fact that projected enroll- night’s Westfield Board of Educa- on the new website system. Each look at the entire town if that’s your Board of Education (BOE), members second, was determined to be func- ment could fall well below actual tion meeting, Chief Technology Of- school now has its own home page. standard (for setting new policy).” listened to a presentation regarding tioning at below capacity with 214 enrollment. ficer Hal Johnson reviewed his Everything including activities, Fire Chief Dan Kelly responded to the five-year long-range facility plan students attending. The school is ca- Mr. Messineo suggested looking at department’s summer projects. He clubs and lunch menus can be found Mr. Tice, by saying, “safety is the and were introduced to the Berkeley pable of handling 284 students within the demographers report annually as also recommended an overhaul of on each individual school’s home utmost concern of residents near Heights superintendent of schools. the guidelines. opposed to every five years in order to the technology infrastructure page. Franklin School. With vehicles Members also discussed at length Deerfield School, with a student body keep abreast of head count. throughout the Westfield public School will be closed on Mon- packed on both sides of the street, we the salary for substitute nurses and the comprised of third through eighth grad- Judith Rattner, Superintendent of the school system. day, October 10, in observance of won’t be able to get trucks to negoti- removal of the playground at Deerfield ers, has a capacity of 566 students and Berkeley Heights School District, intro- Barbara Mammen, the Supervi- Columbus Day. Teachers will re- ate the turns.” School. has a current enrollment of 502. These duced herself to the board. Ms. Rattner sor of Instructional Technology, port to school that day to attend a New acting Police Chief John Frank Messineo, a representative results indicate that an enrollment in- and Mountainside Chief School Admin- gave an update on the district’s training season to develop their in- Parizeau gave an update on an inci- from USA Architects, the firm hired crease of 70 and 64 students respec- istrator (CSA) Dr. Richard O’Malley website and teacher training. dividual websites. dent that occurred on September 21. by the governing body to assist and tively could be handled without the have been working closely to ensure that Mr. Johnson said summer projects “We are looking to train all of our Chief Parizeau said that a seven-year- consult in the creation of the five- need for any additional space. the transition of Mountainside eighth included the completion of an up- teaches to develop their own old boy, who was taking piano le- year long-range facility plan, pre- “What it means to us is that in the graders to Governor Livingston High grade to the student record keeping webpage for their class. For in- sions on St. Marks Street, was told to sented the board with a summary. event of student influx, you have some School runs smoothly. system. His department also in- stance, a home page, a calendar and get in a New York license plated BMW. The report, which was mandated capacity left,” Mr. Messineo said. She reported that Berkeley Heights stalled a new program on all admin- a scheduling page. This will allow Chief Parizeau said a countywide by the state in 2000, is the first in what Capital improvements are also part is also working on a five-year strategic istration computers, high school the parents to view their student’s broadcast was issued in response. He will now be a requirement every five of the long-range plan. Projects include plan, which will result in major renova- laptops and all staff workstations in homework assignments and project said the Washington School principal years. By law, the district must sub- the installation of a HVAC unit and roof tions at the high school. The BOE was the faculty lounges. Two devices, due dates on line,” Ms. Mammem was informed, but acknowledged that mit the plan to the state by October 1. and window replacements. The scope given a copy of the plan for review. one for filtering spy ware, pop-ups said. it “could be completely innocent.” “We are the lucky recipient to be of work is estimated at $3.6 million. “I know the volume is large, but and inappropriate websites, and the This year, teachers will be en- Acting Mayor Andy Skibitsky gave able to put this together from scratch,” The board questioned Mr. Messineo we’re looking forward to implement- other which filters e-mails for com- couraged to create their own an update on Westfield’s finest and Mr. Messineo said. on the demographics report submit- ing that,” she said. puter viruses and e-mail spam, were websites According to Dr. Foley, bravest helping in the hurricane- He stated that the firm began with ted by Sara Weissman, which pro- BOE President John Perrin stated also installed and district comput- next year it will be mandatory. stricken regions in the south. an assessment of the facilities jected kindergarten enrollment last that the board “unanimously agreed ers. “This year will be a learning pro- Firefighters Michael Brennan and (Beechwood and Deerfield Schools) year at 96 students. Actual enroll- to execute the proposed (send/receive) Board President Ann Riegel was cess. However, next year we will Tom Ryan, along with Policeman to determine the student per square ment was 68 students. agreement” with Berkeley Heights pleased with the progress of the make it mandatory,” he said. Robert Bartkus, Jr.