Montclair Fourth Ward Councilor Toler Holds First Community Meeting: PSE&G, Homelessness Issues Discussed

MONTCLAIR, NJ - Montclair Fourth Ward Councilor Aminah Toler held what promises to be the first of many community meetings in her ward on July 23 at the Montclair Fire Department headquarters.  Also in attendance were Mayor Renée Baskerville and Councilor-at-Large Carmel Loughman, both Fourth Ward residents, along with Deputy Mayor Susan Shin Andersen. The meeting was held in part to give information and updates on Fourth Ward news and activities but also gave residents a chance to air issues and grievances.

Councilor Toler opened the meeting with updates on property development projects in the Fourth Ward, particularly on Orange Road near the South End business district.  She noted the progress with the former service station property at 399 Orange Road, informing residents of the resolution passed by the council a week earlier to move the remediation process farther along with the intent to create a corner park for the neighborhood.  Councilor Toler also said that the property directly across from the former service station property is being earmarked for a new development project – an apartment house comprised of eight single-family units – that will soon go before the zoning board.

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The meeting proceeded with Gary Williams, a regional public affairs manager for PSE&G, addressing the residents. The Fourth Ward has been subjected to numerous power outages of late, but Williams seemed to talk more about perfunctory corporate practices than solutions to the outages.  He told the residents of how there was a new page on the PSE&G Web site that would facilitate the reporting of burned-out streetlights, the $1,500 rebate PSE&G is offering residents and businesses to install chargers for electric vehicles (one rebate per charger), and how to report a power outage by either texting, calling, using the PSE&G app, or going online, the latter an absurd option given the propensity of Internet access to rely on electricity to operate even when Wi-Fi is in use.

Resident Noah Gale called Williams on that point, saying that he has experienced Wi-fi failures during outages not just on his computer but on his phone, given that his service relies on a modem that gets its power from the electrical grid.  Williams could only respond by saying that PSE&G is working to prevent outages by upgrading the network.  Another resident said that the new smart meters PSE&G has been installing produce cancer-causing electromagnetic fields and complained about the exorbitant fee to get smart meters removed in favor of traditional spot-check meters that require a $12 monthly fee to have.  Williams, citing PSE&G’s commitment to safety, said that the smart meters had been conspicuously tested for electromagnetic field generation and were deemed safe and up to regulatory standards, saying also that they increase service reliability and pinpoint outages faster.  As for repairing equipment to eliminate an outage, Williams said that the preponderance of backward utility wires make that difficult.  Having seemed to leave more questions than answers – especially about outages – Williams is expected to be back at Councilor Toler’s next community meeting, now slated for September 17.

Montclair Environmental Coordinator Lisa Johnson spoke to residents about the township’s home energy efficiency programs.  She said that the initiative encourages residents to have the township check residents’ heating and cooling systems, insulation, windows and doors and general comfort levels to determine how residents can save energy and improve efficiency, with possible qualifications for free energy-efficient upgrades.  She also said that residents that live in a New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection-identified “overburdened community” and could qualify for a program to ease the burden of energy consumption and complete a free audit can receive a check from the township for $100.  At least one Montclair neighborhood – the Eastern Gateway area south of Bloomfield Avenue – is a Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool-identified area for being a disadvantaged community that is both underserved and overburdened by pollution.

Johnson also addressed the need to increase Montclair’s canopy of public trees.  The objective is to increase the number of trees that can keep streets cooler in warm weather identifies disadvantaged communities that are underserved &overburdened by pollution and also reduce carbon dioxide by absorbing it.  The program also involves removing dead trees or pruning sick trees in order to save them. Plantings begin in the fall, and there are plans for community engagement to determine where trees can be planted or saved.  The program is based on a grant that is in place for 4½ years.

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Norma Tassy, Montclair’s Director of Administration, Code Enforcement, and Environmental Affairs, spoke next.   She talked about the Vision Zero program that aims to improve safety on the township’s streets and work with communities in Montclair to best determine how to get pedestrian and transport fatalities down to zero.  She said that traffic-calming devices such as speed bumps and possible circular medians in the middle of intersections to discourage motorists from going straight through intersections.  Tassy also updated residents on street rebuilding in the Fourth Ward due this year, reporting that streets to be repaved and recurbed with Belgian blocks are Nishuane Road from Virginia Avenue to Homewood Way, Franklin Avenue from Nishuane Road to Harrison Avenue, Harrison Avenue from Franklin Avenue to the West Orange town line.  Streets that will only be repaved will be all of Elmwood Avenue, Cherry Court, New Street, Enfield Avenue, Hilltop Place, Pleasant Way, and Ward Place.

Councilor Toler heard from residents about other concerns, such as the homelessness issue involving the Bay Street railway station, with homeless people harassing train riders, making indecent remarks toward women, and soiling the premises.  Councilor Toler said that she was aware of the situation and that she planned to talk to Police Chief Tood Conforti about it as well as with nonprofit groups that serve homeless people.  The subject of Lackawanna Plaza inevitably came up, and she said there was a need to talk about the elements of the redevelopment plan to see how to best accommodate a supermarket, but she added that this conversation may be on hold for awhile.  The redevelopment plan is currently facing three lawsuits against it, and she cannot comment on ongoing legal issues.  She did add, though, that the redevelopment plan is on the township Web site for anyone who wants to view it.

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