Westfield Council 5/23/2002

Traffic concerns from town residents continued to dominate public debate at the Westfield Council meeting Tuesday night. Unlike the last meeting on May 7, when the Rahway Avenue traffic calming project was the main item, the debate this time focused on issues affecting South Chestnut Street.

Several residents expressed concern with increased traffic and with the closing of the street during baseball season,fearing traffic is being diverted to other local streets.

“You just move the traffic problems to other streets” said Rob Swadosh also noting that “South Chestnut has become quite a bit more dangerous since Shop Rite opened”. The South Chestnut area is referred to by town officials as the Shop Rite grid because of the supermarket which opened in Garwood last November.
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“It’s becoming clear that any changes we make have to be comprehensive for the Shop Rite grid”, said Council Member Rafael Betancourt.

According to Town Engineer Ken Marsh, the South Chestnut traffic calming project will begin after the work on Rahway Avenue is completed.

Marsh said the Rahway Avenue calming project was nearing completion but any conclusions about its success would take time.
“You can’t look at the project until elevated crosswalks and speed tables are completed on Rahway Avenue “, said Marsh.

“I ask you to be patient. We are going to get there “, added Betancourt, who also noted that the speed limit on Mountain Avenue in Westfield had been reduced to 25 from 35 MPH.

Several residents objected to the noise caused by new rumblestrips placed on many streets in order to slow down cars. Resident Liz Loland asked why more four way stop corners couldn’t be added.

Currently the town only has one four-way stop at the corners of Lennox and Elmer. “If we had our druthers we would have more four way stop signs”, said McDermott.
“The Department of Transportation (DOT) makes it very difficult for you to
have them. You need to justify it with a large number of reported accidents”.


“Without traffic discussion this meeting would have ended at 8:30 “, quipped Board Member Carl Salisbury said at the conclusion of the meeting at 9:30.
“It is an important issue to many of our residents”.

An ordinance creating fire zones and lanes allowing fire trucks to get to fires quicker was passed.

“We had some problems getting our fire trucks parked near buildings” said Fire Chief John Castellano.

The meeting got off to a rousing start as eleven members of the award
winning Westfield Volunteer Rescue Squad dressed in uniform, received a citation from Mayor McDermott. Captain Miki Urso accepted the award for the squad which was named the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Volunteer Service of the Year by, the State of New Jersey's Department of Health and Senior Services. Many members attended the EMS awards dinner, which was held on May 20,2002.

Urso invited township residentas to visit the Rescue Squad at their open house on Memorial Day between 11:30 and 3:30 at their headquarters on Waterston Street. The parade is slated to start at 9 am on Monday.

This weekend also marks the 26th Westfield Cup Soccer tournament. The Recreation Department also announced that Westfield Memorial Pool will open as scheduled on June 8 with renovations scheduled to be ready by the second week of July, a month ahead of schedule. Enhancements will include a 50 meter olympic size pool and a children’s area.

Kenilworth Board of Ed 5/14/2002

The euphoria of a glowing Middle States Validation Report giving Kenilworth Schools full accreditation status was offset by parental concerns about overcrowding and staff reductions at the town’s Board of Education meeting Monday night at David Brearly High School.

“This is a great honor for the school system “ said Superintendent Dr. Lloyd M Leschuk about the final report which was released last week.

“We have only been open five years and we welcomed the ten person committee to come in and fully look at our entire district”.

Leschuk added that it is extremely rare for a town to opt for full accreditation, noting that most towns only seek to have their high school
cited.

After Leschuk’s comments which opened the meeting, came public discussion which was dominated by concerns over the lack of space
at Harding School which hosts a Developmental Learning Center (DLC) for the Morris Union Jointure. The Jointure,which runs DLC’s at numerous locations throughout Union and Morris counties, pays the district for the use of the facilities.

“We are not against the Jointure” said Cindy Manto,PTO president at Harding School.

Manto voiced concern about the amount of extra buses the program’s students need that adds to congestion in front of the school..

“We want to make sure it is manageable. We need to know there will be limits on the amount of students “ added Manto.

“The Jointure is a very good program”, said Leschuk.

“We have four students in the program. It helps keep them closer to home”.
The program benefits students from various neighboring towns.

There was also concern about the layoff of a secretary which would cause an extra burden on the current staff.

“We got no extra money at all this year. We went through a difficult process just trying to keep the school running, “ said board member Gerry Laudati.

After a nearly two hour meeting,closed to the public the board amended the resolution to cut the secretary with Leschuk stating”We are going to seek additional funds to bring her back”.

“We are going to do whatever we can to find the funds but there’s no guarantee”, said Leschuk.

There was also concern about the switching of a special services secretary to another position.

“You just can’t put anyone in that position. It’s a very specialized position. I think the board is making a big mistake “ said resident Joanne Melici.


Among the 28 resolutions that were passed included the hiring of Scott Miller as the new football coach. Miller was passed over for the position two years ago and wound up assistant coach at Johnson Regional the past two years.

Westfield Memorial 2002

Saturday May 11 will mark the eight month anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, The Pentagon and United Flight 93. It will also be the groundbreaking for the September 11 memorial which will honor the 12 Westfield residents who perished and according to Committee chair Janis Weinstein may be the only memorial to list all 2800 victims.

The groundbreaking will take place at 8:30 at Memorial Park.

According to Weinstein the project should be completed by August 15 with a dedication near the one-year anniversary. The model which was almost the size of the memorial was brought into the Westfield Council Meeting on Tuesday. The actual monument will be eleven feet high.

It will contain 12 granite posts which will be chained together representing the 12 Westfield residents, nine of whom resided in the township.

Committee member Sal Caruana,head of Westfield Cares said that fund raising was moving along quite well with $42,000 of the $70,000 needed already collected. He said with appreciation that many of the materials and labor had been donated.

Anyone who would like to contribute to the fund can mail their checks to:
Sept 11 Fund
PO Box 712

Westfiled Council 5/8/02

A nearly completed traffic project designed to make the south end of Rahway Avenue safer, brought lively debate between neighborhood citizens and council members at the May 7 meeting of the Westfield Municipal Council. The meeting commenced without Mayor Gregory S. McDermott who was at a Washington meeting with President George W Bush.

Warren Victor, a town resident delivered a resolution accusing the town of failing to inform its citizens about the four foot bumpouts at major intersections on the south end of Rahway Avenue. He compared the project to a similar initiative on South Avenue in Plainfield which he claimed was responsible for 37 traffic accidents in the past year. Abetting his case was Robert Ferraro,second ward councilman of Plainfield who noted the town has been paying claims to motorists who said the abutment caused accidents.

Council member Carl Salisbury rebutted Mr. Victor’s arguments noting that there had been many weeks of discussion regarding the project when it was initiated in 1999.

“We are not going to create accidents. We are going to make Rahway Avenue safer”, said Council Member Rafael Betancourt.

“We need to slow people down " said Betancourt, who added that Rahway Avenue has had a large percentage of the speeding infractions in town.

Town Engineer Ken Marsh further explained that Rahway Avenue is the longest stretch of road in Westfield with no stop signs or traffic lights.

“We didn’t just do this. We got a lot of feedback from many different people “ said Marsh.

He added that the comparisons between South Avenue in Plainfield and Rahway Avenue are not valid, noting that South Avenue is eight feet narrower than Rahway Avenue.

In addition to Mr. Victor, several other residents of Plymouth Road spoke on his behalf , while other citizens spoke on behalf of the bumpouts saying they will make Rahway Avenue much easier to cross.

Another lively debate involved the resolution to close South Chestnut Street between Fourth Avenue and the town line on Mondays through Fridays from 5 PM to dusk during baseball season and on Saturdays from 8 am to 7 PM and Sundays from 12 noon to 7 PM. Nearby residents opposing it said that traffic would be diverted to other streets which may not be equipped to handle the new traffic.

Council member Claire Lazarowitz read a letter from Captain Miki Urso of The Westfield Volunteer Rescue Squad which has been named the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Volunteer Service of the Year by, the State of New Jersey's Department of Health and Senior Services. The squad will receive the award at the EMS awards dinner, which will be held on May 20,2002.
"We are honored to have been chosen from among squads around the state,"
said. "Our members have shown dedication and
professionalism. They are truly deserving of this award."