West New York Gabriel Rodriguez addressed recent back-to-back crimes reported on the week of March 14 in response to resident questions. The conversation was prompted at the March 23 meeting of the West New York Board of Commissioners.

“Details have just been very, very limited,” resident Mark Bloomberg said. “Is there anything you can share with the public on the most recent crime?”

Bloomberg is referring to a string of reported crimes starting on Monday, March 14, according to computer aided dispatch (CAD) reports that was highlighted by a story in the Hudson County View.

Three incidents the week of March 14

At approximately 11:35 a.m. West New York Police Department responded to the Wireless Express at 5010 Bergenline Avenue on a report of an armed robbery. According to the dispatch reports, the owner of the establishment told police the robbery occurred about 20 minutes ago and refused medical attention. No other information was available as the investigation remains an ongoing.

On the same day, at approximately 4:07 p.m., the West New York police responded to reports of shots fired incident at the intersection of 62nd Street and Park Avenue. According to the report, the victim was shot in the leg and received treatment on scene before being transported to Jersey City Medical Center. A nine millimeter bullet shell casing and a knife was recovered from the scene

The following day on Tuesday, March 15, at approximately 7:57 a.m., authorities responded to 139 66th Street and found a man dead on arrival outside the home. No additional details were available.

Rodriguez can’t say much

In response to Bloomberg, Rodriguez noted the matters were on going, so details that can be released to the public are limited.

“Obviously these are points of concern for all of our community, beginning with myself,” Rodriguez said. “As you may understand, these types of conversations are limited, due to the fact that there are ongoing investigations. We cannot comment in detail.”

However, Rodriguez assured these were not random, yet personal incidents.

“I can tell you that they are not random acts of violence,” Rodriguez said. “These were incidents between individuals who knew each other. That doesn’t make it any better, but they were personal in terms of involvement. That alleviates a little but of the stress that comes with situations like this. But unfortunately, we cant really comment further than that, but thank you for your concern.”

Bloomberg asked about the dead bound found, which Rodriguez said he cannot provide any additional information. Bloomberg thanked Rodriguez for the details he did provide, and asked him to provide feature details as they become available.

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

As West New York addresses what officials in town consider to be a top issue, parking, residents have voiced concerns about some aspects of their efforts.

Jackie Granchamps, a West New York resident, said at the March 9 Board of Commissioners meeting her concern is the way parking space line repainting has been done on some streets in town. She is not the first resident to bring up issues with the town’s line repainting.

“The issue of parking has been something that has been on my mind recently,” Granchamps said. “I’ve lived in West New York for four years and I’ve never been able to get a paid parking spot in any of our garages. It’s really at a premium. I’m finding now with a lot of influx of other areas, parking is at a premium. There’s also a lot of unsafe behaviors because of the lack of parking. What I’m finding now is that even Boulevard East, which used to be a parking spot of last resort is full even by 6 p.m.”

According to Granchamps, the line repainting has exacerbated the existing issue: “The parking spots have been drawn so large, it’s actually cut down on the number of parking spots quite a bit.” She suggested redrawing the spaces smaller on one side of the street as a compromise to keep some of the new larger spaces. 

“The larger cars that are being accommodated by these larger spaces can be still used, but the majority of cars in our neighborhood are compact cars and they would fit,” Granchamps said. “For instance, three large spaces can accommodate four or five compact cars.”

The other problem she pointed out was motorcycles were taking up one large space. 

“What we can do is put in dedicated motorcycle parking. We could have in one large space, five motorcycles parked as long as everyone parks with their nose against the curb. 

Rodriguez highlights parking plan

Mayor Gabriel Rodriguez thanked Granchamps, who has lived in West New York for four years.

“As I’m sure you’ve known, parking is probably our number one issue,” Rodriguez said. “We are in the most densely populated area in the nation, which translates to obviously a lack of parking. We’ve identified that we understand residents need for parking. There hasn’t been done much for parking in many years. We are not going to make that mistake.”

Rodriguez noted that the town is undergoing a plan to construct three parking garages on three existing municipal surface lots at 51st, 54th, and 57th Streets, with all in various states of the process. Additionally, the town is adding angled parking among other measures designed to add spaces.

“We’ve already got plans to create three garages to already established floor lots to remedy that,” Rodriguez said. “We’ve already started creating diagonal parking in some of our areas. We’re serving different avenues to see where that can be implemented because that adds parking.” 

Rodriguez, addressing Granchamps’ specific issue with parking lines, said that was done in order to provide more order to parking and prevent vehicle damage.

“I completely understand your frustration in terms of size, but the problem that we were having before was that cars were getting damaged because people were trying to fit cars where they didn’t fit prior,” Rodriguez said. “But every solution that we try to provide, our solution can also encounter other issues as a result. That is an ongoing problem for the town of West New York, but we are addressing it as best we can.”

Rodriguez asked to continue the conversation offline with Granchamps to listen to any new ideas to potentially solve problem. 

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

The West New York Planning Board has reviewed the town’s plans to construct a parking garage at the site of the surface parking lot on 57th Street. The garage is one of a few the town plans to construct on its current municipal lots to alleviate parking problems including at 51st Street and 54th Street.

Michael Nelson, project architect, presented the preliminary plans for the parking garage to the board. The presentation was a courtesy review and discussion, and no action was taken other than the draft of a letter confirming to the West New York Board of Commissioners that the Planning Board had looked over the project. 

The existing parking lot is around 94 parking spaces. The new planned garage will hold approximately 197 parking spaces. 

“The planned structure parking is for 197 parking spaces with potentially spaces beyond that pending the bid environment and if we’re able to award a bid offer alternate to the project,” Nelson said. 

To the north of the parking lot is 58th Street, to the west is Bergenline Avenue, to the south is 57th Street, and to the east are buildings. The entrance would be on 57th Street. Underneath the first floor drive ramp is storage space for the town, according to Nelson. The three-story parking garage has multiple stairways and an elevator.

Three or four stories depending on bids

While the rendering and current plans call for three-stories, West New York is also exploring the possibility of a four-story parking garage. The town has asked the project architects to look into a bid alternate for an additional floor.  

“There is that option, if the numbers are competitive enough, to have another floor,” Nelson said. “That’s been worked into the bid documents.” 

However, the number of stories selected for the parking garage will all depend on the nature of the bids received for the project. According to Nelson, the structure can be built to have additional stories in the future but the road layout would prevent that. 

“The difficulty with adding floors to parking garages is the really tight logistics,” Nelson said. “This site in particular is highly constrained because of the tight fabric of the street… We could design the structure to support future lodes, but the reality is, it’s not feasible to get a crane of the order of magnitude that’s needed to lift the additional pieces 120 feet on to the building.” 

Incorporating textile industry history 

According to Nelson, the town’s history was taken into consideration when designing the facade of the parking garage.

“When we began work on the project, one of our first endeavors was to review the site in the context of the neighborhood, as well as the relevance of the building within the town. We drew from some of the town’s rich textile industry and history. That began to dovetail with some of the residential vernacular in the neighborhood, brick structures and brick patterning.” 

The brick design is meant to highlight West New York’s history as a former textile industry hub. The brick patterns aim to emulate that and the surrounding neighborhood. 

“The precast concrete structure with brick veneer, brick patterning, and tones and colors were derived from early studies from spending time in the neighborhood and researching some of the town’s history,” Nelson said. 

Pedestrian walkways approximately 13 feet in width will run around the perimeter of the building. 

Board favors parking garage plans 

Chairwoman Clara Brito-Herrera praised the project, but was in favor of the option for the larger parking garage. 

“Beautiful project,” Herrera said. “It will definitely enhance the neighborhood and is much-needed… One of the things I like the most about the design is the safety feature with the glass as you’re walking in the building and the passageways from one street to the next. It’s easy access and it’s a beautiful project.” 

Vice Chairman Jorge Gomez echoed Herrera that the rendering of the parking garage was “beautiful” and that he was also in favor of the larger option.

“If there is a way to add more parking to it, like another level, that would be even better,” Gomez said. “But it looks great and it’s exciting for the town.” 

Commissioner Margarita Guzman expressed her excitement for the project.

“I really like the embroidery design,” Guzman said. “I know that this is going to be very well received by the community because one of the problems that we are facing is parking. And this is one of our promises and we are delivering.” 

Commissioner Andrea Bounsiar said: “It’s aesthetically pleasing, very necessary, and I like the glass features for security.”

Commissioner Jonathon Castaneda called it a “great project” and Commissioner Ignacio Amaro added it was “very beautiful.” 

Project timeline

According to Nelson, in terms of a timeline, the goal is to present bids for the project to the Board of Commissioners on April 20. He added that the structure and aesthetic of the building is what drives the schedule.

“After the project is to be bid, the contractor would mobilize shortly after,” Nelson said. “Hopefully in June the timeline would start with early submittals with the contractor who’s ultimately awarded the project to that’s needed for fabrication of the precast concrete components in the works.”

Nelson said the town is “backing out the schedule so that the site doesn’t remain dormant for any period of time.”

He added that he anticipates completion by mid-November of 2023. This garage, along with the others, aims to add hundreds of parking spaces in West New York.

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