NORTH BERGEN, NJ — Law enforcement officers from the North Bergen Police Department will be cracking down on distracted drivers during April as part of New Jersey’s UDrive. UText. UPay. enforcement campaign.
Beginning April 1 and running through April 21, the high visibility law enforcement initiative will target motorists who engage in dangerous distracted driving behaviors such as talking on hand-held cell phones and sending text messages while driving.
“Distracted driving is a serious safety issue that can cause injuries and even death to drivers and pedestrians, and it’s important that all drivers understand that this behavior will not be tolerated in North Bergen,” said Public Safety Commissioner Allen Pascual. “Our North Bergen Police Department will be participating in this program to make sure our community stays safe for our children and all residents.”
Eric Heitmann, Director of the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety, points out that New Jersey is one of only four states nationally (along with Maine, Connecticut, and Oregon) to qualify for and receive dedicated federal grant funding to combat distracted driving.
“This is clearly one of the most critical traffic safety issues that we face today,” Heitmann said. “The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that in 2016 alone, 3,450 people were killed in distracted driving crashes and an estimated 391,000 people were injured in motor vehicle crashes involving a distracted driver.”
In New Jersey, driver inattention was listed as a contributing circumstance in 53 percent of the state’s crashes in 2016. Driver inattention was in fact listed as a contributing factor in crashes at a rate nine times higher than that of the next highest contributing factor (speed).
The campaign is being carried out during the month of April, which the National Safety Council has designated as Distracted Driving Awareness Month. The New Jersey campaign is modeled after similar successful high visibility enforcement programs such as Click It or Ticket and Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over.
The Nicholas J. Sacco Foundation, a non-profit founded by Mayor Nick Sacco, will fund additional performances of North Bergen High School’s production of ‘Alien.’ The show became an unexpected sensation in recent days, and the funding will allow students to perform the play again at a later date to be announced.
“All of North Bergen is proud of the incredibly creative and inventive play our students created, and it’s only right that they have the opportunity to perform it one more time now that it has gained such notoriety,” said Mayor Sacco. “I’m excited that our Foundation can play a role in making this happen and I can’t wait to watch ‘Alien’ and see our students shine.”
‘Alien’ premiered last week at NBHS and immediately became an online hit, with social media posts showing the elaborate sets and costumes created by students going viral and attracting attention from celebrities and journalists. The play has been written about in local and entertainment focused news outlets, who praised the students for the offbeat production. Mayor Sacco contacted Superintendent of Schools Dr. George Solter over the weekend and offered to cover the costs of new shows.
“We have all been absolutely floored by the positive attention this play has brought to our school and our students, and it is wonderful to see Mayor Sacco step up and provide funding so that our incredible cast will once again be able to showcase their months of hard work,” said NBHS Drama Teacher Perfecto Cuervo, who directed the play. “On behalf of our students I want to thank Mayor Sacco and invite everyone to come out and see the show.”
The Nicholas J. Sacco Foundation, a non-profit founded by Mayor Nick Sacco, will fund additional performances of North Bergen High School’s production of ‘Alien.’ The show became an unexpected sensation in recent days, and the funding will allow students to perform the play again at a later date to be announced.
“All of North Bergen is proud of the incredibly creative and inventive play our students created, and it’s only right that they have the opportunity to perform it one more time now that it has gained such notoriety,” said Mayor Sacco. “I’m excited that our Foundation can play a role in making this happen and I can’t wait to watch ‘Alien’ and see our students shine.”
‘Alien’ premiered last week at NBHS and immediately became an online hit, with social media posts showing the elaborate sets and costumes created by students going viral and attracting attention from celebrities and journalists. The play has been written about in local and entertainment focused news outlets, who praised the students for the offbeat production. Mayor Sacco contacted Superintendent of Schools Dr. George Solter over the weekend and offered to cover the costs of new shows.
“We have all been absolutely floored by the positive attention this play has brought to our school and our students, and it is wonderful to see Mayor Sacco step up and provide funding so that our incredible cast will once again be able to showcase their months of hard work,” said NBHS Drama Teacher Perfecto Cuervo, who directed the play. “On behalf of our students I want to thank Mayor Sacco and invite everyone to come out and see the show.”
Mayor Nick Sacco and the Board of Commissioners introduced the township’s 2019 Calendar Year budget yesterday, which the township says “once again keeps property taxes stable while making many significant investments in services.”
“This year’s municipal budget continues our record of keeping property taxes stable, which helps make sure our community stays affordable for both homeowners and renters,” said Mayor Sacco. “This is a responsible budget that funds important priorities and services while staying within our means and protecting taxpayers. I’m proud of the work our finance team has done in putting this budget together and we look forward to passing the budget soon.”
The CY 2019 proposed budget of $98,267,655 is 2.6% greater than last year’s, with increases primarily attributed to rising costs for employee health benefits and pensions.
The township says despite this, “the proposed budget includes a tax increase of just 1.31%, which would only amount to an increase of $48 on a home assessed at the average value in the township. This continues the trend of the last five years of averaging below the rate of inflation.”
“Our finance team works hard every year to keep North Bergen affordable while making the investments our residents need, and this budget is another example of that,” said Revenue and Finance Commissioner Julio Marenco. “From our park improvements to our senior programs, from our new DPW Broom and Barrel program to our constantly expanding recreation offerings, we are continuing to improve all of our services for residents while budgeting responsibly.”
The township’s strong surplus and responsible budgeting lead to an increase in its bond rating from Moody’s to Aa2, one of the highest ratings available.
Kennedy Boulevard holds a special place in every North Bergenites heart. From Sunday drives up or down the Boulevard or getting stuck at 46th Street behind someone trying to make a left. Every person that called North Bergen home surely has a Kennedy Boulevard memory, some old timers can still be heard referring to it at Hudson Boulevard. Recently the Jersey Journal celebrated its 150th Anniversary and there was a highlight of the top stories the paper covered. One that especially stuck out to me was the article written by Carmela A. Karnoutsos and Patrick Shalhoub, a feature on the opening of Hudson Boulevard.
Hudson Boulevard officially opened on Thanksgiving Day of 1895. The roadway itself always existed but in sections. In North Bergen such as there was a time when the road was named Weavertown Road and Dollytown Road, respectively. The completion of the road from the Hudson-Bergen County Line to the tip of Bayonne took roughly 30 years to plan. The roadway itself was meant for pleasure driving, where the twists and turns of the Boulevard assumed a leisurely pace of travel. The Boulevard was also intended for only for pedestrians, bicycles, horseback riding, and horse-drawn carriages. It was completely closed to commercial traffic…if only still. The road opened with ceremony at Scheutzen Park and headed south toward Bayonne.
weehawkenhistory.us
As Karnoutsos and Shalhoub point out in their article only the lower half of North Bergen would see the festivities on November 28th 1895. Riders from the Cilo Wheelmen Bicycle Club would have started at Schuetzen Park in front of a grandstand filled with local town and county officials celebrating the finally constructed roadway. But by searching maps and postcard collections we can piece together what landmarks riders and spectators would have seen and visited on that crispy autumn Thursday.
Heading south the first major landmark would have been Floral Park. Located on New Street (26th St.) the park was an extension of Schuetzen Park just a few blocks up. Floral Park however would be a much quieter park used by families and for weekend outings by local societies as well as police and firefighters. Complete with two dances halls, a pond, ice house and 3 shooting ranges, the park would have hosted an all day event during the opening of the new boulevard. However, after the park there were a few dwellings also a few green houses along the boulevard. The next pit stop that day would be on Highpoint Avenue.
Courtesy of Lenny DiBrango
A short ride further south a lively crowd would have been found at the Dietz Hotel off of Highpoint Avenue (22nd St.) The hotel was owned by one Conrad Dietz, brother of future mayor Charles Dietz (1900-1913). The Dietz hotel proudly sat on Hudson Boulevard as the only hotel south of Schuetzen Park. It hosted visitors from across the nation and was known to a place of lively entertainment on weekend with a somewhat of a rough crowd at times. It is from the hotel and family in which Dietz Place gets its namesake.
Continuing on the ride through North Bergen would become much quieter and country-esque. After the Dietz Hotel and stretching down to Traphagen Street (14th St.) The Boulevard was home to an expansive greenhouse complex. However, there was one indicator you were still in town, perhaps the grandest home to grace Hudson Boulevard. The home was located between present day 18th and 19th Street. By 1910 the home is listed as “manager’s dwelling” for the greenhouse complex occupying the property. Unfortunately, at the time it is unknown who may have lived in the home at the time impart to how the 1895 State Census was conducted. Instead of addresses being record, the census taker own took a head count. However, there is some great information about the towns make up here, documenting that the town had roughly 1100 homes and 8400 residents.
The celebration would continue through North Bergen onto Bayonne. The last place of interest would have been Savoye & Adelina Streets (12th & 11th St). That block was home to several saloons both on the North Bergen and West Hoboken side of the street. After that riders would cycle down, crossing Paterson Plank Road and eventually Paterson Avenue (Secaucus Road) making there way into Jersey City. 1.5 miles is the total distance covered in North Bergen that day, but it was the first part of the newly created Hudson Boulevard to be used.
Michael Maring is a history buff turned history teacher based out of North Bergen, NJ. He has lived in North Bergen his entire life and enjoys spreading the unique history about our town. His goal with North Bergen Time Machine is to spark interest in the history of North Bergen.
On March 6th, 2019 Larry Wainstein filed a complaint with the School Ethics Commission of New Jersey against North Bergen Superintendent of Schools George Solter.
The complaint alleges that Dr. George Solter, North Bergen Board of Education Superintendent, used district money to send out a political mailer throughout the township to disseminate false political attacks against Larry Wainstein. The Wainstein camp says Solter is in violation of the School Ethics Act.
Wainstein’s complaint argues that the language in the letter was “political” and “not informative.”
The following language was specified in the complaint:
“While we continue to work toward implementation of the project, the project has been delayed by two individuals, Larry Wainstein and Diana Ortiz. Mr. Wainstein and Ms. Ortiz seek to block the project from moving forward.”
“Solter used his position as Superintendent to carry Boss Sacco’s water,” Wainstein said,” The fact of the matter is I am not a plaintiff in the lawsuit and I am not listed on the complaint. Furthermore, Solter fails to provide both sides of the issue at hand, instead choosing to reinforce Sacco’s political propaganda.”
While the the Wainstein camp says Larry is in favor of building a new school, they say he has concerns about the proposed location of 85th Street and Tonnelle Avenue.
“There is no traffic study, no environmental report, and no public meetings. Instead, there was a rush to bond for $60 million by holding a special election in December. There as record turnout in November for the U.S. Senate and Congressional races. Sacco intentionally held the election in December to suppress the Latino community,” Wainstein continued.
It was supposed to be just two performances for a few hundred parents and friends, and done. Instead the North Bergen High School Drama Club’s performance of “Alien: The Play” has become an overnight internet sensation, lavished with praise from the likes of Entertainment Weekly, Time Magazine, and The New York Times, with national media outlets rushing to the school to interview the makers, and millions of viewers worldwide watching and commenting on the snippets posted by amazed audience members, along with the no-budget trailer filmed by the cast and crew.
To put this in context, the high school does not have an established theater program. They don’t have a designated budget to put on a slick stage production like some other schools. What they have instead is imagination, audacity, driven students, dedicated teachers, and supportive staff and administration.
Three teachers led the production: English Teacher Perfecto Cuervo, who wrote and directed; Art Teacher Steven Defendini, who oversaw the creation of sets and costumes; and Music Teacher Brian Bonacci, who co-produced and handled lighting and sound. Together with a small crew of kids who worked tirelessly for about seven months behind the scenes, and a cast of nine student actors, they took a 40-year-old cult science fiction / horror movie about a monster stalking and killing the crew on a spaceship, and reimagined it into something that clearly resonates today on a massive scale.
NBHS has been quietly putting on phenomenal art shows for years, with Defendini and his students building meticulous life-size (or larger) tributes to cultural icons like The Avengers or Power Rangers, wowing attendees with incredibly detailed characters and action scenes, complete with atmospheric lighting and environments. The Drama Club has, under film geek Cuervo, eschewed traditional fare like “Rent” or even “Little Shop of Horrors” to feature self-written productions like last year’s “Night of the Living Dead,” based on the cult horror classic. Bonacci has for years helmed the township’s transformation of the pool complex into a virtual theme park for the annual end-of-season pool party, welcoming residents to a Winter Wonderland in the heat of summer, or sprawling Las Vegas complete with performing Elvis.
What the cast and crew accomplished together in “Alien: The Play” is itself a perfect Hollywood story: with nothing but ingenuity and resourcefulness – and about $3,500 raised by fundraisers like cookie sales – they built stunning sets and a fully articulated alien out of recycled and discarded materials. A close look at the astronaut helmets built to faithfully resemble the much-admired ambiance of the original film reveals the finely detailed surface is actually covered with bottle caps, water bottles, and toy soldiers glued on and spray painted. The iconic “chest-burster” and “face-hugger” scenes from the original film were recreated with puppets and a crew member hunkered down inside a prop.
The play was written in loving tribute to the classic film, with as many scenes as possible designed to match the original screenplay, including a few outtakes that were restored years later for the director’s cut. A few new scenes were added, mostly light relief to keep the audience entertained while behind the curtain the crew rushed to change the elaborate staging.
At the first performance on March 19, cast members had to improvise to fill time when set changes took longer than necessary. By the second performance on March 22, they had it down, and things went smoothly. And that was it. They began disassembling the components and tossing them in the trash. The show was over.
Or so they thought. A couple of online posts with photos and shaky video footage by parents led to an unexpected rave by noted special effects designer Adam Savage, co-host of the TV show “MythBusters.” And the internet exploded. By Saturday, reposts had led to international coverage and praise from film celebrities and even the owners of the original film franchise.
Based on the overwhelming response, Mayor Nicholas Sacco has pledged that the nonprofit Sacco Foundation will fund additional performances of the play. Tickets will be required, but be sure to get them early – everyone from Hollywood bigwigs to devoted overseas fans are already lining up to catch the encore performances.
Hudpost 