March 5, 2014 • www.theobserver.com • Vol CXXVI, No. 41
COVERING: BELLEVILLE • BLOOMFIELD
Fife is easy pick for mayor
Meadows redevelopment ratables at risk
By Ron Leir Observer Correspondent HARRISON – James Fife, who taught history to a lot of Harrison High School students over the years, is now in the official Harrison history books. Fife, who will mark his 73rd birthday on April 15, became the municipality’s interim mayor by a unanimous vote of the Town Council at a special meeting held last Monday night. Fife takes over for former longtime Mayor Raymond McDonough who died Feb. 12 after collapsing at his Town Hall office. McDonough, 65, was starting his 20th year as the town’s chief executive. Fife, who will serve out the balance of McDonough’s term which ends Dec. 31, told The Observer last week he plans to run in the Democratic Primary in June as the head of a ticket whose members were all aligned with McDonough. As was required by state election law, Councilman James Doran, who chairs the county Democratic Committee of Harrison, presented the council with the names of three nominees for the open mayoral seat: Harrison Board of Education member Maria Vila, Harrison Fire Director Harold Stahl and Fife. The council voted 8-0 to see NEW MAYOR page
• EAST NEWARK • HARRISON • KEARNY • LYNDHURST • NORTH ARLINGTON • NUTLEY
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By Ron Leir Observer Correspondent KEARNY –
A
proposal by NJ Transit to build a backup power system in South Kearny to run its trains in cases of emergencies like another Superstorm Sandy threatens to derail a redevelopment plan that could generate big tax ratables for Kearny and Hudson County, officials said. The plan by NJ Transit reportedly focuses on a large Kearny meadows tract that includes all or part of the Koppers (Seaboard) Coke Peninsula Redevelopment Area which the Hudson County Improvement Authority has been actively seeking to market on behalf of itself, the Town of Kearny and Tierra Solutions, the other landowner involved. Observer file photo
see KOPPERS page
NJ Transit is eyeing acquisition of Koppers site for emergency power grid.
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Schuyler Ave. fire victim dies By Karen Zautyk Observer Correspondent KEARNY– A man who was severely burned in a Feb. 12 house fire at 131 Schuyler Ave. succumbed to his injuries last week at St. Barnabas Medical Center, authorities reported. The victim, Manuel Lam-
pon, 66, died the evening of Feb. 25 in the Burn Unit of the Livingston hospital, where he had been in critical condition after being admitted with third-degree burns. Other than his name and age, no details about Lampon were available at press time. “It is our understanding that the family had to travel from
Spain,” Kearny Fire Chief Steve Dyl said. Lampon had been trapped in the bedroom of his basement apartment after the fire broke out about 3:30 p.m. on the 12th. Kearny firefighters had been told by another tenant of the building that someone was in the basement unit, but the victim’s exact
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location was not known, and they had to search the premises, authorities said. Heavy smoke and narrow quarters, including low ceilings, reportedly hampered the efforts to remove Lampon from the cellar. He was found unconscious in the bedroom, see DEATH page
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