North Bergen has hired seven new police officers, making the current force the largest in the township’s history.

Mayor Nicholas Sacco, Police Chief Peter Fasilis, and Public Safety Commissioner Allen Pascual presided over an oath-of-office ceremony in the Recreation Center on Oct. 23, officially hiring the seven new full-time officers to the NBPD.

The new officers are Paul Alvaredo, Anthony C. DeOrio, Michael A. Derin, Nicholas Garcia, John P. Nunez, and Al-Abed Taha. Three were already serving as part-time special officers. The other four will attend a rigorous police training academy in the coming weeks.

This brings the total number of police officers to about 140, the highest number in NBPD history. Both Mayor Sacco and Chief Fasilis stressed that the safety of the community is paramount in maintaining a high quality of life.

Reflecting the township

The township’s policy of hiring only local residents has led to a force that reflects the ethnicity of the town. According to the NBPD, four of the new officers are Latino, two are Caucasian, and one is Arabic-Caucasian.

“Our police department is part of the community, and the community is part of our department,” Fasilis said, pointing out that police officers who grew up in the township are more invested in it, understand it better, and are more motivated and engaged. “It just doesn’t work any other way.”

According to federal data, since 2007, many departments are becoming more white compared to their communities. North Bergen topped the list of local police departments that bucked the trend and became more diverse.

Sacco has touted the data, analyzed by the NYTimes, showing that the North Bergen Police Department became more diverse and less white in comparison to the community from 2007 to 2016.

“One of the ways we have acted to improve police-community relations is by making the North Bergen Police Department more diverse by exclusively hiring North Bergen residents for new positions,” Sacco said. “Hiring local residents means that our officers have a deeper connection to our community and stronger relationships with residents, and we will continue to invest in our NBPD by providing opportunities for local residents to become a part of it.”

The township promoted seven officers in September, announcing intentions to hire more officers in the future.

Also attending the ceremony were Commissioner Julio Marenco, County Commisioner Anthony Vainieri, Township Administrator Christopher Pianese, EMS Chief David Prina, NHRFR Executive Director Michael DeOrio, Township Attorney Thomas Kobin, and many other township officials, along with police and family members. Everyone in attendance wore masks and observed social distancing.

For updates on this and other stories, check www.hudsonreporter.com and follow us on Twitter @hudson_reporter. Daniel Israel can be reached at [email protected].

Mayor Nicholas Sacco and the Board of Commissioners passed a resolution at the Sept. 23 meeting, calling for the closing of the Bergen Generating Station and calling on Ridgefield Mayor Anthony Suarez and the Borough Council to join them.

After calls for the board to oppose the power plant in Kearny at the Oct. 7 meeting, the board may pass a resolution to do so.

 The Bergen Generating Station

The neighboring 1,229-megawatt, gas-fired power plant has been named by environmental advocates as the top producer of greenhouse gas in the state.

“The Bergen Generating Station has consistently been cited as the dirtiest power plant in the state and the biggest contributor to climate change in our area,” said Mayor Sacco. “Closing this plant and transitioning it to a renewable energy use would not only benefit North Bergen residents by making our air cleaner and reducing carbon emissions, it would also help hundreds of thousands of people who live within a few miles of the facility.”

The action by North Bergen comes after PSE&G announced that it planned to divest from its fossil fuel burning plants in the state.

Sacco continued: “With PSE&G announcing its divestment plan, this is the perfect opportunity for local communities to bring pressure on the utility to close this dirty plant, and we hope that Mayor Suarez and his fellow Ridgefield leaders will join us in this fight and make their commitment to environmental justice clear.”

Ridgefield Mayor responds

Mayor Suarez opposed the proposed power plant in North Bergen that was later cancelled after public outcry from environmentalists and residents.

Suarez opposed the project because “our air here already isn’t a great quality. It’s gonna be putting more and more CO2 emissions into the air.”

In an interview with the Hudson Reporter, Suarez said that the proposed Meadowlands Power Plant would have powered New York City and polluted New Jersey, while bringing in tax revenue only to North Bergen. He said the lungs of residents in surrounding towns would have been hurt by the pollution.

“The power plant in Ridgefield has been there since the 1950s and supplies energy to New Jersey residents, including North Bergen,” Suarez said contrasting the Ridgefield power plant to the proposed power plant in North Bergen.

Suarez said he supports clean energy, but there aren’t clean energy alternatives to the current Ridgefield power plant. 

“There’s nothing right now other than the PSE&G plant that supplies energy to Ridgefield and other towns serviced by the plant,” Suarez said, noting that if there was an alternative supply of clean energy for Ridgefield, he would support it.

Suarez said Ridgefield has passed a resolution opposing the Kearny power plant. 

Opposing the Kearny plant

At the Oct. 7 meeting, environmentalists lobbied the North Bergen Board of Commissioners to pass a resolution opposing the Kearny plant.

Members of Food and Water Action Group and Don’t Gas the Meadowlands Committee spoke against the power plants.

“As the climate crisis intensifies, we must rapidly transition off fossil fuels and onto clean energy to protect our health and future,” said Food and Water Action organizer Samantha DiFalco. “So we must work to close down polluting facilites that harm the health of New Jersey residents, we must also prevent the construction and operations of new ones like the 140 megawatts fracked-gas burning power plant that New Jersey Transit has proposed in the nearby Kearny Meadowlands.” 

DiFalco urged North Bergen to join 15 other municipalities, including Hoboken, Jersey City, Union City, Weehawken, and West New York in opposiing the power plant proposed by NJ Transit. 

Sacco asked for a sample resolution to be sent over, a sign that the commissioners may pass a resolution against the Kearny plant at their next meeting. 

Clarifying inconsistencies

Matt Smith, Director of Food and Water Action, pressed Sacco as to why he supported the proposed power plant in North Bergen, which would put the health of esidents in jeopardy. 

Sacco said the difference between the Ridgefield plant and the power plant  that “might have been” in North Bergen “but was simply being studied,” was that the Ridgefield plant “is the dirtiest in the state” and actively pollutes the area. 

Smith countered that if the North Bergen power plant had been built, it would have been the “largest source of carbon pollution in the entire state.” 

Sacco said the plant in North Bergen would have been the “cleanest plant,” given the technology.  

Smith claimed Sacco’s comments were “a complete 180” from the past but embraced Sacco’s calling for the closure of the Ridgefield and Kearny plants. 

For updates on this and other stories, check www.hudsonreporter.com and follow us on Twitter @hudson_reporter. Daniel Israel can be reached at [email protected].

All branches of the North Bergen Free Public Library now have contactless self-checkout through a computer system.

Meescan self-checkout is a contactless way to get books from the libraries using the tablet computer. Contactless operations work to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 by eliminating unnecessary human interaction.

Meescan is available at all three libraries: the main library at 8411 Bergenline Ave., the Kennedy Branch at 2123 Kennedy Blvd., and the Guttenberg Resource Center at Galaxy Towers Mall lower level at 7002 Blvd. East.

COVID-19 precautions

The library has been operating on a Grab’n’Go model since allowing residents inside again, meaning grab a book and go. To accommodate the limited maximum occupancy at each facility, lingering in the library is discouraged. Library use is limited to one hour per day.

Computer use is limited to one hour, and masks are required. Browsing is allowed, but gloves must be worn, available at any staff station.

The library’s children’s room reopened on Oct. 1. Patrons over the age of two are required to wear masks and keep them on, covering both the nose and the mouth, at all times.

The three computers available in the children’s department are reserved only for children and teens, and use is limited to one hour a day.

Virtual and in-person programming

The library has been home to a slew of virtual content since the onset of the pandemic.

From weekly take-home crafts featuring instruction on Zoom, to the virtual Book Club, there are a variety of online activities hosted by the libraries on a weekly basis.

The virtual library is open all the time. Residents can access e-books and audiobooks, and stream music and movies via Libby and Hoopla. For more information, visit nbpl.org.

In-person programming is also making a comeback.

As part of the township’s celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, residents and guests gathered in the parking lot of the library’s main building to enjoy a performance by the five-piece mariachi band, Mariachi Sol Mixteco.

The Kennedy Branch and the Guttenberg Resource Center are open Monday through Thursday, from 9 a.m. to 8 p.; Friday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and is closed Sunday.

The Main Branch on Bergenline has the same hours as the Kennedy Branch but is open Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m.

For updates on this and other stories, check www.hudsonreporter.com and follow us on Twitter @hudson_reporter. Daniel Israel can be reached at [email protected].

North Bergen public schools will remain virtual, Superintendent of Schools Dr. George Solter announced on Sept. 28.

After three weeks of virtual instruction, Solter updated the community. While the district planned a possible return to the classrooms on Oct. 1, Solter said the district decided to work in the virtual environment until the end of the first marking period.

Shifting plans 

The district’s original plan was to open under a hybrid instruction plan with students learning in-person on Mondays and Tuesdays, while a second group learns in-person on Thursdays and Fridays. All students would learn virtually on Wednesdays. 

In August, Gov. Phil Murphy signed an executive order allowing schools to start with virtual instruction, but school districts must have processes in place to slowly move toward in-person education.

The district is currently in the process of reevaluating the plan for students to return to in-person instruction, according to Solter.

The Restart Committee is assessing all possible issues. When the plan is finalized, Solter will announce the plan in a video message. When returning to in-person education, parents can still keep their children in the virtual learning program.

“I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy by practicing social distancing and using PPE when needed,” Solter said.

Emulating in-person instruction

In September, the school district began virtual learning with Google Meet for instruction, and Google Classroom for assignments and presentations. Teachers used other forms of communication to get messages to the students, according to Solter.

His vision was to cleave as much as possible to in-person instruction. Solter said it’s important for students to form relationships with teachers and classmates.

The school district’s goal is to have a classroom teaching period look just as if it were in-person. According to Solter, teachers will introduce material, work through examples, assign independent work, and return for discussion.

“It is not about our teachers speaking and lecturing for the entire period, Solter said. “We want a balanced approach that makes the best sense for learning.”

There will be days when there is no direct instruction by teachers; they will post information for exploration, and related assignment for all schools on Mondays and Thursdays from noon to 2 p.m.

Virtual open house

The school district will hold a virtual open house, according to Solter.

Each staff member will create a video describing tudent expectations, classroom procedures, requirements for the completion of assignments, creation of projects, evaluation of student progress, and how the parent can communicate with teachers.

Details about the virtual open house can be found at northbergen.k12.nj.us.

For updates on this and other stories, check www.hudsonreporter.com and follow us on Twitter @hudson_reporter. Daniel Israel can be reached at [email protected].