Emerson • Hillsdale • Montvale • Park Ridge • River Vale • Township of Washington • Westwood • Woodcliff Lake
PA S C AC K VA L L E Y ’ S H O M E TO W N N E W S PA P E R
VOLUME 26 ISSUE 17
Uncle Matt!
JULY 11, 2022
AUTHOR ON HIS OWN TERMS
On the spectrum, Levin aims to inspire
TOWNSHIP OF WASHINGTON
DPW BUILDING BACK AT TOWN HALL? Purchase nixed, council president wants facility to stay put; governing body meets July 11
BY MICHAEL OLOHAN OF PASCACK PRESS
How did you celebrate the Fourth? Tell us in Letters. SEE PAGE 19
EMERSON
BOROUGH
WORKING ON FLOOD RELIEF
Help said coming for two properties; longer to-do list of problem areas in the works
BY MICHAEL OLOHAN OF PASCACK PRESS
Flooding is a regional problem requiring regional solutions, say the Pascack Valleyʼs mayors, but Emersonʼs mayor and engineer RELATED say the time is near to help • Arroyo: provide some Under pressure short-term — Page 6 relief for highpriority flooding issues plaguing local neighborhoods.
See RELIEF on page 84
W
Montvale’s Ben Levin, 19, an author and influencer, champions neurodiversity and ending health stigmas.
BY NOAH SCHWARTZ OF PASCACK PRESS
HEN BEN LEVIN, a 19year-old Montvale resident and 2022 graduate of Pascack Hills High School, was 10, he wrote a version of a Harry Potter story focused on his Jewish faith. He named the main character Gabriel Garnet, and it became his first full-fledged book. Ever since, Levin has been working as a part time author, in
addition to attending school. According to his mother, Susan, Ben has a gift for storytelling, and his unique ability to be creative has allowed him to thrive in an area that he is passionate about. “His storylines are original and his way of seeing things are original,” Susan says. “He just has a lot of natural talent and he just loves words and is so good with language.” Levin, who tells Pascack Press, “Writing was something I COURTESY PHOTOS
had a lot of fun doing,” has devoted much of his time to writing stories in a variety of genres about a myriad of topics that he feels are important. Just last year, “In The Hole,” his first young-adult novel, was pub-
Continued on page 10
A sign advertising the availability of the 1.5-acre 95 Linwood Ave. site of the former Charlie Brownʼs restaurant went up within days of the Township Councilʼs June 21 early-morning vote to cancel its $1.35 million planned purchase over recently discovered underground piping from gas pumps once used on the site. Following nearly six months pursuing the property — under threat of condemnation — for a public purpose that first comprised a Department of Public Works facility, and then plans for a new police department after the public works facility generated strong opposition from local and Paramus residents, the discovery led the council to pull the plug on the purchase. The next regular council meeting is Monday, July 11 at 7:30 p.m. The purchase negotiations were shepherded by Mayor Peter Calamari and township attorney Kenneth Poller, despite early opposition from site neighbors who said they were blindsided by the townshipʼs mostly secret efforts to buy the property, which was also being sought by Apple Montessori Schools.
See DPW on page 184
DEEP DISCOVERY
B ck in time...
Township of Washington Public Library patrons come eye to eye — sort of — with one of the seas’ mightiest eating machines, the megalodon, now extinct. SEE PAGE 5
A Westwood resident and his wife show off their fine new two-seater in this postcard mailed to family in Boston in the summer of 1910. Kristin Beuscher has the story. SEE PAGE 4
