Another Tear Down In Bloomfield
On April 6, Bloomfield's zoning board will hear a developer’s plan to tear down the small two-story office building at 1246 Broad Street – next to Brookdale School and Provident Bank – and replace it with a three-story 28-unit apartment building.
The potential over-crowding, traffic congestion, increased taxes, and death of 14 trees are just some of the reasons neighbors are protesting. Residents are meeting tonight to discuss: March 30, at 7pm at the VFW Building, 369 Broughton Avenue, Bloomfield.
Attention Glen Ridge teenagers: all the parents who care about kids and alcohol will be out tomorrow night. Following a spate of teenage drinking parties, a group of parents have decided to show some spine and have formed the Glen Ridge Safe Homes Committee, which will meet at the Glen Ridge Congregational Church on Wednesday night from 7:30 to 9:30 pm. On the agenda: preventing unsupervised house parties when parents go out of town and how to handle those oh-so-awkward conversations with other kids' parents when alcohol is suspected. One little suggestion from the peanut gallery: if we're calling it Safe Homes, do we also check to see that the homes are gun-free? Or is that taboo?
A lot of people complain about our dependence on Middle East oil. But instead of huffing and puffing, Glen Ridge resident Paul Byrne is doing something about it. Recently he saw a representative of 
Still, he says, it's worth it. "I want to be part of a movement that gets us away from oil," says Byrne, a musician. "Coal is filthy. And oil is costing us enough. The more demand we have for wind, that reduces the demand for coal and oil."
Showing up at the protest was Mayor Ed Remsen, who told residents he supports speed humps for the street, but that the fire department gets to weigh in first on how the humps would slow down fire response times. The decision, he told residents, would be up to town manager Joe Hartnett. Photos by Anthony Batson.
In an e-mail pitch we received last night, asking Glen RIdge residents to target their local United Way donations to the Glen Ridge Educational Foundation, came this startling news:
BlueWaveNJ
Check out our 
Hours are 8 am to 9 pm and your reward for being good is some of the cheapest gas around, right across the street at the Shell station. Montclair's other fire stations are also collecting and so is Just Jake's restaurant on Park Street, across from the Y. Donations can also be made, round the clock, at the Glen Ridge police station at 3 Herman Street.
When Glen Ridge sent out a 
While we're in a 
It's depressing as hell, but just in case you're at the wrong place at the wrong time, this could be a good idea:
First, it's mom-to-mom combat over who gets 
Clean up your language next week boys and girls, and put away 
Photo op of the day: American flags, local politicians, white chairs, canines and doggie treats. And it all went down at noon at Watsessing Park, where county comish Joey DiVincenzo opened Essex County's first official off-leash dog facility. (Shhhh. Don't tell them about all the dogs that run around in the wooded oval of Brookdale Park.) The fenced 19,500 square foot "state of the art" dog park features a fully stocked plastic poop-bag dispenser and the "pièce de résistance," 
DiVincenzo said, "a unique doggy water fountain" -- all towards the goal of allowing dogs to "recreate" (we don't think he meant it in the mating sense). The dog park was paid for by EPA, which had Superfund trailers there. The site is located near Locust Ave. behind Bloomfield's Watsessing School.
To you, it may be just a place to cool your heels waiting for jury duty, but to the 
How cool do you want to be? As cool as Jack Bauer, federal agent? The Newark Police Department's Office of Homeland Security is starting an 8-session Community Emergency Response Training (CERT) class to teach ordinary citizens how to become first responders in case of a terrorist attack.
We like pancakes. You don't have to sell us on eating pancakes. We'll pretty much belly up to table and tear into a stack. We don't need anything to sweeten the deal, except some good quality Vermont maple syrup. But it's more than just silver dollars at Project Graduation's Pancake Breakfast: 
Although Baldwin writes about a pre-spin era, characterized by "real statesmanship and real intellectual engagement," he thinks that even modern cynicism can't completely erode the ideals at the core of our country.
The folks at Rocklin Opticians are celebrating the day with valentines to clients and friends asking for gifts to PAWS animal shelter. Donations for the furry ones can be sent to PAWS, 77 N. Willow St., Montclair NJ 07042. 
About 200 children and parents from Rand School showed up yesterday to pack meals for 50 homebound residents as part of the school's tradition of taking Martin Luther King day on, rather than off. They also painted a mural of a peace march, colored pictures of King and listened to a talk by Jeffery Fogel the legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights.
When they're not out selling homes, members of the West Essex Board of Realtors are engaged in various acts of community service. Kudos to Robin Seidon and chairperson Roberta Baldwin (right), who, with a committee of 16 other realtors, collected more than 300 sweaters, cleaned and in good condition, to aid the Just Sweaters program at St. Elizabeths College for those in need. Now if we can just get a Just Pants or Just Skirts drive started, we'll ensure that nobody on campus gets arrested.
Congressman Bill Pascrell showed up at Mountainside Hospital this morning to announce a $300,000 federal grant for the hospital's new Comprehensive Community Cancer Center.
Don't hoard. 
October is breast cancer awareness month and Montclair make-up magnate 
Representatives of Bike Montclair met with Montclair Mayor Ed Remsen, other town officials and a consultant from Princeton yesterday in an effort to make Montclair more bike friendly. The bicycle group won a $75,000 grant from New Jersey's Department of Transportation to help the town develop a bike and pedestrian plan.
Skateboarding down the school steps looks to become a thing of the past in Bloomfield, which has just been earmarked for $37,500 in open space funds from 
Montclair resident Marian Golan says she's never done anything like this before, but last Saturday, she went on an 11-hour trip to Chester, Pa. to register voters for the 2004 election. The trip, officially non-partisan but effectively pro-Kerry, was organized by 
Golan and a longtime friend from Maplewood signed up 16 voters -- 15 of them pro-Kerry. The group she was with registered 260 voters altogether. On the way home in the van, they listened to tapes of the Democratic Convention.
Tonight's the night that McGruff, the great big mascot-sized symbol of neighborhood policing, traditionally prowls the streets of Glen Ridge. It's National Night Out, the annual early-August event where neighbors put out bowls of potato chips and wait for an educational (and toy-filled) visit for the local police. In Glen Ridge, parties are planned for Madison Street, Carteret Street, Adams Place, Lorraine Street and Hamilton Road. Events are also planned in Bloomfield and Montclair.
