Ad Populos, Non Aditus, Pervenimus USPS 680020 Published Every Thursday OUR 112th YEAR – ISSUE NO. 05-112 Periodical – Postage Paid at Westfield, N.J. Thursday, October 11, 2001 Since 1890 (908) 232-4407 FIFTY CENTS Residents Raise Concerns Over Potential Temple Lot By DEBORAH MADISON lieve the Temple will implement new Specially Written for The Westfield Leader “Our chief concern is safety in conditions, such as additional buff- Several Westfield residents in the the neighborhood. We have had ering, if a parking lot is approved. neighborhoods of Fairacres Avenue “Many trees have been cut down and East Broad Street have told The parking and traffic problems in and have not been replaced,” said Westfield Leader that they are con- the neighborhood that an addi- Fairacres Avenue resident Antonios cerned about the potential disposi- tional parking lot would rem- Katsingris. “If additional trees are tion of a piece of property in their edy.” removed, all of the privacy in our neighborhood. - Steven Rosenberg backyards will be destroyed.” The 1.07-acre property, located at President of Temple Emanu-El “A parking lot will drastically de- 750 East Broad Street, adjacent to preciate the value of our homes,” Temple Emanu-El, is being consid- said Fairacres Avenue resident Col- ered by the temple for potential de- leen Ryan. “We want to make sure velopment into a parking lot, ac- market value would be nearly double that the town considers the value of cording a spokesman for the Temple. that amount. our properties before making any The lot currently houses a single- Mr. Thorne’s son and Executor of decisions or approving any further family residence which was previ- his estate, Lawrence Thorne, sold development.” ously owned by the late Isaac Will- the property to Mr. Mahoney in Feb- “We just want this to be a balanced iam Thorne. Mr. Thorne entered into ruary of this year, after his father’s community discussion,” noted Liz a written agreement with Westfield death, for that price, according to the Jacobello, another Fairacres Avenue real estate developer Michael legal papers. resident. Mahoney in January of 2000 to sell Temple President Steven “We have always tried to be a good the property to him for $190,000, Rosenberg confirmed that the temple neighbor to the residents in our com- according to legal documents ob- has been engaged in discussions with munity and to accommodate the tained by The Westfield Leader. Mr. Mahoney regarding the possible community’s needs,” Mr. Rosenberg The Temple has offered to pur- Steven Krakauer and Ingrid McKinley for purchase of the property, but said said. “We welcome anyone to call to The Westfield Leader chase the property for considerably that no agreement has been reached discuss these concerns with us.” CAN YOU PARK HERE?…Several more than $190,000, according to as of yet. Rabbi Charles Kroloff, who has Westfield residents in the neighbor- sources who declined to comment Neighbors have told The Leader been the Rabbi of Temple Emanu-El hoods of Fairacres Avenue and East further on the record. that they have concerns regarding for 35 years, expressed that “the Broad Street are concerned about Properties in the neighborhood are the potential disposition of a piece of the potential devaluation of their Temple has consistently shown con- property in their neighborhood. Ad- being sold for three to four times this homes if a parking lot is constructed. cern for the needs of the neighbor- jacent to Temple Emanu-El, a lot is amount, according to figures obtained They believe the lot would impose hood and quality of life issues. We being considered by the temple for through the Tax Assessor’s office. additional lights, noise and traffic on want to do our best to create safety potential development into a parking According to the Tax Assessor’s their neighborhood. for the entire neighborhood.” lot. The lot currently houses a single- Office, the property is assessed at According to several Fairacres On the other hand, there are some family residence that was previously $183,200. With the current ratio be- Avenue residents, the neighborhood residents, who live across from the owned by the late Isaac William tween assessed and market value at is mostly residential, except for the Thorne. 49 percent, the property’s actual temple on East Broad Street and on Temple property, which they do not side streets, who would like to see an want to see expanded. Several neighbors have also told additional parking lot in order to Committee Formulates Upscale Performances The Leader that the temple has not alleviate the parking problem that met other conditions regarding buff- occurs in front of their homes during ering and lighting that were previ- temple functions. ously imposed by the town’s Plan- “Our chief concern is safety in the To Gauge Town’s Support for Arts Center ning Board and reported by The neighborhood,” Mr. Rosenberg told Leader in December 1999 in approv- The Leader. “We have had parking By JAMES M. FOERST Westfield would receive events of istration. This year our focus is on to hold its initial events at existing Specially Written for The Westfield Leader ing the Temple’s building expansion and traffic problems in the neighbor- this type,” noted Ms. Walsh. setting a schedule of events and rais- locations including the Westfield application. A town-wide arts committee has She further stated, “Last year we ing some money.” High School auditorium and other hood that an additional parking lot The board approved the expansion would remedy.” been formulating a schedule of up- focused on organization and admin- The long-term goal of the commit- similar facilities. of the Temple with six conditions. scale performing arts events in an tee is to develop a per- The committee has not ruled out a Neighbors contend that some of those Several residents have also ex- attempt to gauge Westfield resi- manent facility in move to utilize the Westfield Board conditions were not met. pressed to The Leader that they have dents’ desire for a permanent down- downtown Westfield. of Education Administration Build- For this reason, the residents have numerous concerns regarding how town arts center. There are over “two CONTINUED ON PAGE 10 stated that they are reluctant to be- CONTINUED ON PAGE 10 The Westfield Cultural Arts Cen- dozen performance ter Committee has recently re- groups in town which ceived approval from the state to could utilize a perma- operate as a not-for-profit entity nent facility,” com- Y Responds to Sept. 11 Tragedy for the purpose of bringing the mented Ms. Walsh. performing arts to the downtown Committee member special improvement district. Robert Newell, the cur- The committee, in its second rent Chairman of the With First Sunday of Freedom year of operation, will focus its Westfield Planning efforts on “developing the cultural Board, noted at the By PAUL J. PEYTON Mountainside, Cranford and Specially Written for The Westfield Leader rectly with advocates for each of the arts” through a “series of perform- most recent Planning Garwood. local families impacted with the ing arts events,” stated spokesper- Board meeting that a In an effort to raise funds and to The Westfield United Fund Sep- loss of a family member in the Sep- son Darielle Walsh, the former permanent cultural arts help local families of those killed in tember 11 Fund has grown to $25,000, tember 11 World Trade Center di- President of the Westfield Board center in the downtown the tragic September 11 destruction according to Executive Director saster. of Education. improvement district of the World Trade Center, the Linda Maggio. It is the committee’s intention to Y officials hope to continue spe- would have a positive Westfield Y has unveiled a First Sun- “I expect it to continue to grow,” cial programs “throughout the heal- bring in upscale touring groups “impact on the level of day for Freedom program. Michelle H. Le Poidevin for The Westfield Leader she added. ing process of this tragedy,” said Mr. from New York, Philadelphia and activities and the qual- CULTURAL HUB?…The Westfield Cultural Arts Com- Designed as a community-wide The United Fund is working di- Wafiak. the surrounding areas. mittee is eyeing 302 Elm Street in Westfield, which houses ity of life in the down- family gathering, the purpose of the “We are trying to test the waters the administrative offices of the Westfield Board of town.” program is to build new relation- to gauge whether the people of Education, for cultural arts space. The committee plans ships, while rekindling old ones. Activities will include a family swim, arts and crafts and group Town Council Set to Reintroduce games. Kimberly Broadwell, Communi- cations Coordinator for the Y, ex- plained that the initial program is Restrictions for Disposal Pickups scheduled for November 4. Family By PAUL J. PEYTON it. starting time to 5:30 a.m. But that activities will be slated from 3:30 to Specially Written for The Westfield Leader “I wouldn’t go with Dudley, that’s didn’t sit well with a number of 6:30 p.m. A pasta dinner, donated by The Town Council decided Tues- a pure residential street,” stated council members, including Peter local restaurants and served by Y day night not only to restrict the Fourth Ward Councilman Lawrence M. Echausse, who represents the First staff, will be served from 4:30 to starting time for garbage collections A. Goldman. Ward. 6:30 p.m. in residential zones but also for sev- Disposal collections became an He called haulers’ claim that they The Y administration hopes to eral main thoroughfares that abut issue in the early 1990s, when a need another half hour to complete continue the program in the future.