Board of Eds Cry Foul Over Budget Legislation in Second Half of 2004
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Special Edition: 2004 Year End Review Happy New Year 2005 Part 2 of 2 – July through December Ad Populos, Non Aditus, Pervenimus (908) 232-4407 USPS 680020 Thursday, December 30, 2004 Published Every Thursday Since 1890 OUR 115th YEAR – ISSUE NO. 18-115 Periodical – Postage Paid at Westfield, N.J. www.goleader.com [email protected] SIXTY CENTS November 18, 2004 July 29, 2004 Benjamin B. Corbin for The Westfield Leader Photo Courtesy of Debi Scholar for The Westfield Leader TRIBUTE TO THE FORGOTTEN...Westfield’s Korean War Memorial was officially dedicated on Veteran’s Day. The THE DELUGE...Cars on South Hetfield Avenue in Scotch Plains navigate through a waterway following the heavy rain Memorial was built by Kevin Devaney as his Eagle Scout project as a tribute to the three Westfield residents who lost their Tuesday evening. Neighbors on Shady Lane help by pushing a stranded automobile out of the flood waters. lives during the Korean War. The photograph is a collage. Westfielders Say No to Parking Garage; Board of Eds Cry Foul Over Budget Legislation in Second Half of 2004 By LAUREN S. PASS pride I come to this district. It is a the resignation of Councilman and fines exceeding $1 million if con- door into her living area, which she community since the area was first Specially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times tremendous community.” Mr. Rusak Michael Brennan. Joseph Higgins was victed. feels is “unacceptable.” She cited settled in 1760. Editor’s note:The following is a held the position of principal at chosen to serve out the remainder of It was arrivederci to America and $10,000 in damage to her basement. summary of news events in Westfield, Deerfield School for the past year. He Mr. Brennan’s term. buon giorno Italia as a group of Scotch New Jersey made national news, SEPTEMBER Mountainside, Scotch Plains and will be acting as the CSA until a Robert and Joan Vivian of Westfield Plains residents headed across the including the front page of The Los From the big welcome, to the sump- Fanwood in the second half of 2004. replacement can be found for Dr. applied to the town to remove and Atlantic to visit the small village that Angeles Times, as Governor James tuous meals, to the various ceremo- Gerard Schaller, who resigned effec- relocate their home at 1 Kirkview provided many of the long-time roots McGreevey announced that he is “a nies and festivities, it was “un viaggio JULY tive in June of this year. Circle to Maine. that make up present-day Scotch gay American” and that, after having di ricordare,” a trip to remember, for “Shall the Town of Westfield issue The Scotch Plains Fire Department The search for a new principal at Plains. A century ago, an influx of an extramarital affair with another the delegation of Scotch Plainsers approximately million dollar general will buy nearly $50,000 worth of por- Deerfield School was underway and immigrants from Montazzoli, Italy man, he would be resigning as Gover- who spent three days in Montazzoli, obligation bonds to undertake the table and mobile radios, using a por- the Mountainside Board of Educa- arrived in Scotch Plains. nor effective November 15. Italy last month. construction of a parking structure on tion of a recent federal firefighters tion had received 13 resumes thus far. Bruce Printz, 51, a former resident The bite from the tax collector was While the numbers still needed to municipal parking lots 1 and 8 be- grant to finance the purchase. The Westfield Fire Department re- of Woodmere Drive in Westfield, bit less than originally expected in be “tweaked,” the finances for the tween Prospect and Elm Streets which The Fanwood Planning Board con- sponded to a fire alarm at St. Paul’s agreed to never practice medicine in Scotch Plains, due to a $90,000 infu- proposed parking garage at Prospect would contain approximately 500 tinued hearing of an application by Church on East Broad Street. New Jersey again after closing his sion of homeland security-related and Elm Streets were presented to the total parking spaces and which bonds Messercola Brothers Building Com- Firefighters quickly located the source osteopathy offices in Westfield and assistance from the state government. Westfield Town Council. The park- would be supported by revenue de- pany proposing a mixed-use devel- of the fire in the second floor of the Woodbridge. In exchange, the Several Fanwood residents stormed ing garage would increase the num- rived from parking fees and fees re- opment on the corner of South Av- steeple above the vestibule and were Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Of- angrily out of the courtroom after the ber of existing spaces by 283. The sulting from mixed use redevelopment enue and First Street in Fanwood, able to contain the fire to the second fice dropped three charges of crimi- borough’s Planning Board and Zon- plan would leave $1.2 million of park- consisting of approximately 19 resi- which proposes commercial, retail floor before it could spread to the nal sexual contact. ing Adjustment Board approved the ing revenue for use in the annual dential units and approximately 3,000 and residential uses, would be situ- roof. Printz admitted to kissing a 30- Messercola Brother’s application for operating budget to buy down taxes. square feet of retail space?” became ated on two lots currently occupied A memo entitled “Poor Legislation year old patient three times in Octo- a development on South Avenue and It was projected that the town would the wording of the referendum in No- by two single-family homes. Acted on in Haste” explained the ber 2003, improperly touching the First Street. take in $1,466,380 in 2004 due to vember, allowing voters to decide the Fanwood received a $250,000 state implications of reducing the 2004- leg of a 35-year-old patient in Febru- With the passage of a bond ordi- permit rate increases. That meant that fate of Westfield’s parking deck. extraordinary aid grant for property 2005 school year budget increase cap ary 2003 and asking a 23-year-old nance the Union County Board of Cho- $266,380 could have been used to A proposal to reshuffle several tax relief. from 3 percent to 2.5 percent, cutting patient about her sexual activity in sen Freeholders began the process lead- offset the cost of the new garage. Evergreen Elementary School teach- Joanne Heller-Saunders, 43, and the allowed increase amount by March 2003. ing to the eventual purchase of the Mountainside Board of Education ers to other schools within the Scotch Abby Saunders, 34, of Westfield be- $250,000. The bill is aimed primarily The Scotch Plains Planning Board Union County Arts Center in Rahway President Peter Goggi announced the Plains-Fanwood district was denied came the first in town to file their at lowering administrative costs. backed the Township Council’s pro- for approximately $6.18 million. appointment of Robert Burkhardt as by the Board of Education. paperwork for a domestic partner- According to the Scotch Plains- posal to re-zone a two-acre piece of With a rich history and pivotal ties Principal of Deerfield School effec- The Surface Transportation Board ship, which became legal in New Fanwood Board of Education, these township-owned property to prevent to the surrounding area since the 19th tive November 15. Mr. Burkhardt was (STB) denied the petition of five New Jersey on July 10. costs include superintendent’s and busi- any future development. The property century, the Borough of Fanwood Public Relations Director for the Jersey municipalities (Roselle, John Losavio, the owner of John’s ness administrator’s offices expenses, at 935 Crestwood Road, just south of recently joined the ranks of New Jer- Board of Education in Irvington. He Roselle Park, Springfield, Meat Market on Park Avenue for over supervision expenses, liability insur- Morse Avenue, was rezoned from a sey towns to be profiled in the Images is currently the Principal for Madison Kenilworth, and Summit) to reopen a six decades and one of the township’s ance, telephone and postage expenses ‘P-Public’ zone to a ‘C-Conservation’ of America series from Arcadia Pub- Avenue School in the same district. July 2002 board decision licensing most familiar faces, died at the age of 87. and staff development planning. zone. The C- zone designates certain lishing. A softcover volume compiled The Fanwood Dunkin Donuts, at Morristown & Erie Railway, Inc. The Union County Freeholders Arthur Attenasio, representing township-owned tracts of land as be- by the Fanwood Historic Preserva- the intersection of South and Martine (M&E) to operate the Rahway Valley approved a $39 million expenditure B&G Properties, presented plans for ing off-limits to development of any tion Commission, “Fanwood” con- Avenues, presented an application to and Staten Island railroad lines for a new juvenile detention facility the subdivision of 231 Benson Place kind, be it residential or commercial, tains 128 pages of text and about 200 expand their existing building, to the through Union County. to be built in Linden. into two lots for the construction of or the development of a new park. photographs celebrating the people, Planning and Zoning Board of Ad- The Westfield Board of Education The Scotch Plains Zoning Board of two single-family homes. The subdi- Mountainside Mayor Viglianti ad- places and events that shaped the CONTINUED ON PAGE 8 voted to seek a bond referendum to Adjustment continued a hearing on vision required no variances. The lot dressed a letter that was mailed to all fund an artificial turf field and a res- an application to erect a building on was the site of a the Benjamin Pierson Mountainside citizens concerning a December 16, 2004 toration of the track at Kehler Sta- Route 22 in order for the township House, a historic house from around community center to be built on the dium for approximately $1,381,000.