Since we ran last month’s story about the condition of the former American Legion Post on Lake Ave. in Botany Village, the dangerous sidewalk has been repaired. However, the removal of the tree that caused the damage has drawn the ire of Ellen Woodham, who wants to know why she wasn’t allowed to do the same on her property.
Woodham, the individual who lives directly across the street from the Post, was featured in our story last month, after she was told by the city that she had to repair her sidewalk on her own tab, despite it being damaged by a city tree.
“That’s when they started repairing the sidewalk, the day before your magazine came out,” Woodham said, referring to Sept. 4. “They just lifted the concrete out and came and cut down the tree and put the slab of concrete back. But there wasn’t anything wrong with their tree, they just cut it down.”
Normally, the Lake Ave. resident said she wouldn’t have any objections to the removal of the tree. However, Woodham was told that she wasn’t allowed to remove the tree that damaged her sidewalk—a total of $3,100 in repairs—because it was a living tree.
“They refused to cut ours down, because they said they can’t cut down a live tree,” she explained. “But they said the mayor wanted them to cut the tree down. That’s what the DPW supervisor that was there with the crew told my husband.”
However, Mayor James Anzaldi denied those allegations in a phone conversation.
“Me? James Anzaldi? Absolutely not, I can’t authorize that,” he insisted. “I took a picture of the raised sidewalk and filed a City Manager sheet and showed them the picture on my cell phone—that’s it. The last I heard of it, they told me it was going to get done, but I don’t know anything about the tree.”
The mayor explained that the city has a tree policy, limiting the instances in which they can be removed.
“I know clogged sewer line—that’s one of them for sure,” recalled Anzaldi. “I think it would also include drain pipes, since some people have the pipe underground.”
The mayor directed further questioning to City Manager Al Greco, who noted that city policy allows for the removal of a live tree if it damages the concrete more than twice in a five year period.
“We had complaints on it before and had done it about three or four years ago,” said Greco. “We will always come out and cut the roots for the home owners without charge. Usually, they’ll get a contractor to lift the slab and cut the roots to save themselves a lot more money.”
While addressing Lake Ave., the city manager also noted that Clifton is currently in the process of searching for a contractor to remove the asbestos from the city-owned former American Legion Post and then demolish it.
The city would also like to hire a contractor to level 12 Arthur St. in Botany, a private home that has been in disrepair for several years. “We’re trying to get one price for both buildings. There’s a tax sale soon and I’m authorized to buy back the lien and purchase the house on the city’s behalf,” said Greco, adding that the lien is around $120,000.
Funds would be transferred from the city’s affordable housing account, and then Clifton would look to construct affordable housing on the site, in accord with the standards set by the NJ Council on Affordable Housing, or COAH.
Greco also noted that, at the Botany SID meeting in September, there were no remarks about the status of Lake Ave. from residents.
“We mentioned the plan and asked if there were any suggestions or comments,” said Greco, adding that there were about 20 people in attendance. “There were no comments, no feedback.”
The Clifton Rec Center will continue to be in the spotlight for some time it seems. At the Sept. 22 Board of Recreation meeting, newly appointed Council Liaison to the Board, Mayor James Anzaldi, was answering questions regarding his opinion on whether or not the city needs a new center to replace the one on Main Ave.
Board member Tony Yannarelli, an outspoken supporter of a new center, asked the mayor point blank if he was in support of the Board’s 9-0 motion to recommend a new recreation center in town.
However, the mayor essentially reiterated his comments in our Sept. edition, saying that he is open minded, but thinks that current facilities are being underused.
“To be honest,” Anzaldi added. “I think much of what has happened has been twisted badly.”
However, some Board members expressed concern about the Council’s involvement.
“There’s nothing that the Council needs to be involved with at this point,” said Yannarelli.
The Board and Mayor Anzaldi were in agreement with one thing though: if the surveys come back against the project, it becomes dead in the water.
“If the survey is like no one wants this, why waste our time?” said Board President Doreen Delancy-Williams.
Mayor Anzaldi also reiterated his desire to improve existing services instead of adding new ones. He mentioned park adoptions or corporate clean-ups as an inexpensive means of remediation for the Rec Center and other facilities.
Despite disagreeing with the mayor’s proposal, Yannarelli said Anzaldi did bring some good change to the Board.
“The only thing he did accomplish is having Debbie (Oliver, of the Rec Department) tell us that there’s money left from the budget last year,” said Yannarelli, being sure to note that his opinions do not reflect those of the entire Board. “It’s about $28,000 to $30,000— somewhere in that area. It’s for fixing up items in the rec center.”
Another issue brought up at the meeting was the review of Clifton’s parks by an outside firm, to the tune of a $26,000 bill.
“They spent $26,000 on that,” Yannarelli said over the phone later that week. “If you go down to the parks yourself, you can see what the condition of those parks are. They spent $26,000 to tell them what it looks like because they haven’t maintained them for the past 20 years.”
The cost of using water is going up. Sewer user fees have increased from $1.39 to $1.92 per 100 cubic feet of usage based upon 2007 unbilled water consumption as provided by the Passaic Valley Water Commission. City Manager Al Greco said last year’s figures are being used instead of this year’s because the city needs to know exactly how much revenue it will be taking in. It can’t estimate how much water consumption will take place in 2008.
According to the city’s website, the rate change occurred because the figures given to Clifton by the PVWC for actual billing purposes in 2008 were significantly less than in 2006. The lower consumption figures meant that the original rate would not generate enough revenue to pay for sanitary sewer service.
A service fee of $20 per quarter will also be charged to each user. The city says it was instituted because all customers, regardless of consumption levels, are connected to and utilize the sewer distribution system.
But where did this new usage fee come from in the first place?
Greco said when the City Council was reviewing the 2008 municipal budget, which is about six percent higher than in 2007, it appeared as if taxes would have to increase 10 percent and $1.2 million of services would have to be cut.
“The Council didn’t want to layoff anyone or impose a tax increase, so they decided to create a usage fee,” said Greco, who added that the city has put a freeze on hiring certain open municipal positions.
Before this year, the $7.1 million cost of providing sewer service was included in the total municipal tax bill. Greco said the usage fee is a fairer way of distributing the cost.
“We analyzed the structure and it turned out that the commercial side was paying 40 percent but using 60 percent of the service, while residents were paying 60 percent and using only 40 percent,” he said. “For smaller consumers, this benefits them because they’re paying less than if taxes went up 10 percent.”
But despite the fact that there is no increase in the local portion of the tax rate in 2008, Cliftonites are still paying more overall to the city because of this new fee.
“You tell me what you want us to cut out of the budget,” said Greco. “No one wants to pay more, but no one wants to give up services.
“No money is being wasted but we are looking at privatizing some of our services such as the DPW and recycling,” continued the city manager. “We’re also looking at energy conservation in our vehicles and buildings and adding another court session to process tickets quicker.”
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