December 9, 2015 • www.theobserver.com • Vol CXXVIII, No. 28 Visit our
BUSINESS DIRECT on
COVERING: BELLEVILLE • BLOOMFIELD
Chief to leave in ‘16
RY
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• EAST NEWARK • HARRISON • KEARNY • LYNDHURST • NORTH ARLINGTON • NUTLEY
Chamber of horrors?
By Ron Leir Observer Correspondent BELLEVILLE – After more than four decades spent in uniform, Belleville’s highest-ranking cop will be turning in his badge next year. Belleville Police Chief Joseph P. Rotonda will be retiring from active duty after he reaches 65, which is mandatory retirement age for police in the Garden State. Although, as of last week, he had yet to file his pension application with the state Department of Treasury, Rotonda told The Observer he expects to do so shortly so that he can leave the department by July 1, 2016. Rotonda, who grew up in Newark, got his first taste of law enforcement in the Brick City, joining the Newark PD in 1973 and continued with that department before transferring to the Belleville PD on July 14, 1980. He advanced gradually up the ranks, making sergeant in 1993, captain in 1996, then deputy chief in 1998. In 2000, he was appointed chief of the department during the administration of Mayor Bill Escott, a former Belleville police captain who later, for a year, became head of the Belleville school see RETIRING page
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Photo courtesy Neglia Engineering
A view of one of Kearny’s CSO netting chambers.
By Ron Leir Observer Correspondent KEARNY – ike many other older communities with combined sanitary and
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storm water sewers, Kearny is facing a new federal mandate that will force it to spend big bucks over the next several decades, engineers say. That directive from the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency focuses on the Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) system which collects storm water runoff and – when the capacity is too much for the system to han-
Walgreens open for business KEARNY – It took demolition of two homes, the old Lynn Chevrolet showroom/service center, The Irish Shop and former Teddy’s tavern, followed by a steady pace of building and now – about nine months later – Walgreens opened Nov. 30 at
201-460-8000 LYNDHURST OFFICE 761 Ridge Road, Lyndhurst, New Jersey C21Semiao@Century21.com
Kearny and Quincy Aves. Johnny Cheng, manager of the drug retailer, the first in Kearny, said he anticipated a grand opening ceremony on Dec. 19, at 10 a.m., with local officials invited, along with the Kearny High Marching Band and cheerleaders and
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even a local DJ. Guests at the 12,670 square foot facility will be greeted by Cheng and 17 full- and parttime employees, mostly local, currently at the shop although if business picks up, there will likely be more hired, Cheng said.
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dle – discharges it, untreated, into a river or waterway. Right now, Kearny has five CSO outfalls with underground mesh netting cham-
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The drug retailer provides its employees an hourly salary of more than $9, which, as Cheng noted, exceeds the $8.38 New Jersey minimum wage. Employees also are eligible for a profit-share plan see WALGREENS page
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201-991-1300 KEARNY OFFICE
213 Kearny Ave, Kearny, New Jersey
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