April 2, 2014 • www.theobserver.com • Vol CXXVI, No. 45
COVERING: BELLEVILLE • BLOOMFIELD
It’s Bianchi vs. Massa for mayor By Ron Leir Observer Correspondent NORTH ARLINGTON – A pair of septuagenarians will square off against each other for the borough’s highest office in this year’s municipal election in North Arlington. It’ll be Democratic incumbent Peter Massa, seeking a third term, facing Republican Councilman Joseph Bianchi for mayor. This is Bianchi’s first try for the mayoralty. Since his 3-year term on the council runs through 2016, he can reclaim his seat if he’s unsuccessful in the mayoralty race. Bianchi’s GOP running mates for Borough Council will be incumbent Dan Pronti, a retired cop who works now as a realtor, and newcomer Kerry Anne Cruz, a realtor, while, on the Democratic side, Massa’s ticket will include incumbent Councilman Mark Yampaglia, an attorney, and Dan Castro, who ran unsuccessfully in 2013. Currently, the Borough Council is evenly divided, politically, with the mayor voting to break ties, thereby giving Dems the edge. Asked about Bianchi’s credentials, Gary Burns, president of local county Republican committee, said: “He’s been reelected several times. In 2013, he was elected to his third term on the council. He’s see NOMINEES page
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• EAST NEWARK • HARRISON • KEARNY • LYNDHURST • NORTH ARLINGTON • NUTLEY
Bidding farewell
Inset photo by Erlinda Polixa
The USS Forrestal enters New York Harbor during Fleet Week in 1989. (Inset) Former crew member Allen Polixa of Nutley.
By Karen Zautyk Observer Correspondent NUTLEY – In 1955, the USS Forrestal was commissioned as America’s first post-World War II aircraft carrier -- a 1,067-foot “supercarrier.”
For nearly four decades, it sailed the seas, serving this nation in peace and in war -- and surviving a disastrous 1967 accident in which 134 crewmen died and more than 160 were injured. In 1993, it was decommissioned and put in
“storage,” first at Newport, R.I., and then at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. And where is this historic vessel now? Being torn asunder and turned into scrap metal in Brownsville, Texas. The Pentagon had failed to
find a buyer for the carrier. It couldn’t even donate the Forrestal as a memorial or a museum, since, according to published reports, no suitable applicants ever came forward. see CARRIER page
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Sewer rehab nightmare for locals HARRISON – You can’t blame people living along the eastern stretch of Hamilton St., between Kingsland and Schuyler Aves., for feeling like they’re in a sort of war zone. For many months, the area has been inundated with a tangle of above-ground pipes
and barricades blocking traffic flow and uprooting curbside parking for the entire block. Harrison Gardens, the sprawling public housing complex, sits on the south side of Hamilton and Harrison High School fronts on the north side. The issue is a massive infra-
structure project being tackled by the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission (PVSC) which has dragged on since last summer, seemingly with no end in sight. PVSC spokeswoman Hollie Gilroy identified the project as a repair of the Kearny-Harrison-Newark branch intercep-
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tor sewer. Gilroy said the job involves “the rehabilitation of approximately 2,000 feet of 42-inch concrete interceptor sewer constructed in 1924 that runs along Schuyler and Hamilton within the towns of Kearny see SEWER page
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