Residents Sought for Township Committee Assignments

Recently Mayor-elect James Damiano requested that residents who want to serve on a Township Ad-Hoc Committee should email their name, phone number and email address to Cynthia Kraus, Township Clerk: ckraus@lfnj.com for consideration.

The following is a list of the Ad-Hoc Committees seeking participants: Domestic Violence, Open Space, Passaic River Advisory, Planning and Zoning, Public Safety, Senior Advisory Committee, Technology, Transportation and Wildlife Management.

 

Mayor-elect James Damiano's request is a positive indication of his commitment to increase residents engagement in Township affairs.

 

At the same time there is a need to establish a criterion for the selection and assignment of residents to serve on these Committees.

 

The following criteria should be considered:

 

1)  No individual shall be assigned to more than two Ad-Hoc Committees,

 

2)  Residents shall be assigned to Ad-Hoc Committees as individuals and not as representatives of an organization or interest group, and

 

3)  All Ad-Hoc Committee appointees shall be required to complete a financial disclosure statement to provide transparency regarding their financial dealings and to ensure the public of their integrity with respect to possible conflicts of interest.

 

With the installation in January of Mayor-elect Mayor James Damiano, and Council members-elect, Maria Cordonnier and Anthony Sgobba, Little Falls residents can expect new government policies and procedures from our new leaders.

 

The Gadfly will be watching and commenting on the changes in future blogs.

PVT Week #2 - Still needs improvement

Week two of the newly formatted Passaic Valley Today (PVT) was just as disappointing as last week's edition.

Readers might recall that Richard A. Green, the North Jersey Media Group's editor and vice president for news, wrote in an Op-Ed "Message from the Editor," published in The Record on Sunday November 13th, that starting on Wednesday, November 16th readers will see a newspaper that is more visible in the North Jersey community, that will expand its public service and investigative reporting to serve as a watchdog of those in public office.

Regrettably this pledge has not been actualized and residents of Little Falls are now left with a weekly community newspaper that is a shell of what it once was.

In this week's PVT, consisting of 32 pages, there were only two articles relating to Little Falls.  One was about the Passaic Valley wrestling team; and the other was about Passaic Valley High School hosting a substance abuse awareness program on December 2nd.

The remaining content of this week's PVT is lacking letters to the editor; has a generic  article about Black Friday shoppers featuring residents of Bergenfield and Dumont along with an undated photo of shoppers exploring Black Friday sales at the Willowbrook Mall; a listing of Bergen County home sales; an article about mid-autumn in Livingston, Montana; and a review of a New York City play. 

In addition, the PVT web site, which featured the articles from each weekly edition of the PVT, has not been updated since Tuesday, November 15th. 

PVT readers who are disappointed with the newspaper's new format and lack of Little Falls news coverage should flood Mr. Rick Green with messages of concern by calling him at 973.569.7118 or by sending him an email message at: green@northjersey.com

Let your voice be heard!

I Want My PVT Back!

In an Op-Ed "Message from the Editor," published in The Record on Sunday November 13th, Richard A,. Green, editor and vice president for news, stated that starting on Wednesday, November 16th readers will see a newspaper that is more visible in the North Jersey community, that will expand its public service and investigative reporting to serve as a watchdog of those in public office.

Apparently this commitment does not apply to community newspapers such as the Passaic Valley Today (PVT), which serves the communities of Little Falls, Totowa and Woodland Park.

Readers of this week's PVT were in for quite a shock.

For openers, this week's newspaper was reduced to 32 pages (half its previous size); local community news coverage was minimal.  While the newspaper included news items about Teaneck, Paramus, and Wayne, as well as a review of a play being performed in New York City.

The most glaring change was the newspaper's letter to the editor policy.  In the past, the PVT included several letters from readers in each issue of the newspaper which highlighted community concerns and issues.  The current issue featured only one letter to the editor; and there is a new letter to the editor policy that states that "not all letters will necessarily be published."

The northjersey.com's web site states that "residents of communities in the Passaic Valley have depended on Today Newspapers for more than 35 years.... Now, Community Newspapers of North Jersey Media Group covers these thriving suburbs even more completely with separate, community-focused editions."

With respect to the role of a community newspaper, a Pew Research Center survey concluded ".. that newspapers play a far more complex role in the civic life of communities than many Americans believe...."  And the National Newspaper Association reports that 75 percent of people read most or all of their local newspaper each week. 

Now is the time to act and let your voice be heard.

PVT readers who are disappointed and unhappy by the newspaper's new policies should send an email to Rick Green at: green@northjersey.com telling him that you're "mad as hell" and that you want your PVT back! 

Little Falls 2016 Municipal Elections Results

Here in Little Falls the November 8th election was a resounding victory for the Democratic candidates running for Mayor and for two seats on the Town Council.

According to the latest "unofficial" election results available from the Passaic County Clerk's Office:

Mayoral candidate James Damiano (D) received 3,459 votes and Pamela Porter (R) received 2,358 votes

In the race for the two seats on the Town Council, Maria Cordonnier (D) received 2,987 votes, Anthony Sgobba (D) received 3,024 votes, Louis Fontana (R) received 2,536 votes and Chris Stacy (R) received 2,453.

The newly elected candidates will be sworn-in during the Town Council's Reorganziation Meeting which will be held in January.

Changes are coming to Browertown Road

On Wednesday, October 19th the Passaic County Department of Planning and Economic Development held a public meeting at the Passaic Valley Regional High School to inform residents about the Morris Canal Greenway Browertown Road Improvement Project.

The scope of the improvement project includes an American with Disabilities compliant ramp on Browertown Road at the intersection of Stewart Avenue (east side); and crosswalks across Stewart Avenue at both Browertown Road and at the Little Falls Morris Canal Greenway.

In addition, approximately 700 feet of new sidewalks will be constructed along Browertown Road from the Passaic Valley High School entrance to Stewart Avenue.  This, according to the Transportation Alternatives Project, will create a safer route for students and residents that live on Browertown to local businesses and to access the Morris Canal Greenway.

Construction is scheduled to commence next April 2017 and will take approximately 4 months to complete.