Columns/Opinions

Last month, Livingston said goodbye to one of its most beloved employees, Liliana Branquinho, who is leaving after serving as Livingston’s senior and adult enrichment and special events supervisor for nearly 11 years.

From concerts to senior socials, Healthy Bones classes and special programs, residents surely know Liliana’s face, and most know her by name. She helped run the Fourth of July and Memorial Day celebrations, the Intergenerational Prom, and the outdoor summer concert series, to name a few of Livingston’s most popular annual gatherings. Outside of those public-facing events, she led a variety of fitness classes, held information sessions, and so much more. She loved working with seniors, particularly veterans, and it showed; she was always happy to take the time for a nice long chat with “her” seniors, and despite some late nights as a result of the occasional evening programming, she always did it with a smile on her face.

While mentioning things to do in town this holiday season, we would be remiss not to highlight the Camuso Display, which will by lit up for the season each night at the Oval starting on Saturday, December 3. There is no fee to enter the display.

For those who are not familiar with the Camuso Holiday Display (and if you have spent a December in Livingston – or read a recent edition of the Tribune – how could you not be?), the spectacular figures were created by the late Ernest Camuso, a toymaker and machinist by trade, and displayed annually on the front lawn of his Burnet Hill Road home. The display grew larger and more elaborate every year, and served (and still does) as a fundraiser for the Cooperman Barnabas Burn Unit.

As readers can learn more about in our feature elsewhere in this issue, the

almost lost a century’s worth of history a few months ago. Mold had been found on the bound volumes that hold every edition of the newspaper, and library officials feared they could not be saved.

Thanks to the quick thinking of Livingston Fire Department president and historian Tom Cooney, though, it appears that those decades of history will be preserved. The mold will be removed during a painstaking months long process (with help from the Fire Department 100th Anniversary Committee and the Camuso elves), after which they will be stored in the Camuso barn on the Oval, hopefully a dryer location than where they had been stored in the library.

The Township Council will make appointments to Livingston’s many advisory committees at the annual organizational meeting on New Year’s Day, and now is the time to apply. The Council hopes to attract new residents – and those who have not previously been active in the community – to serve on any of its many committees. Livingston’s volunteerism is a large part of what makes this community so special. This is your town; we strongly encourage all residents to take pride in it and become an active, involved member of the township.

Those interested in joining a committee must email a completed application to townclerk@livingstonnj.org, no later than November 27. A bipartisan committee (which residents may also apply to join!) will then review the applications and make recommendations to the Council. That committee will begin meeting in early December to review submissions.

There has been a troubling rise in anti-Semitic statements and activities globally, nationally, and locally of late.

From shameful anti-Semitic comments and behaviors from celebrities Kanye West and Kyrie Irving (a West Orange native), to hateful words and drawings found in our schools, and now threats to New Jersey synagogues, this cannot simply be brushed off as an aberration. The influx of anti-Semitic activity our community is dealing with is undeniable, upsetting, and unsettling.

Many in this community met just a few short weeks ago to discuss this issue, and we believe that our police department and school officials are taking the matter very seriously. While these are important measures to take, it is clear that those actions alone are not enough on their own to stop more hate-related incidents from occurring in the future.

Tomorrow, Friday, November 11, is Veterans Day. In contrast to Memorial Day, which honors those military personnel who gave their lives in service to our country, Veterans Day pays tribute to all who have served in the military, past and present.

Veterans Day originated as Armistice Day, which was first celebrated on November 11, 1919, the one-year anniversary of the end of World War I. Congress passed a resolution in 1926 for an annual observance, and November 11 became a national holiday beginning in 1938. In 1954, with both World War II and the Korean War in the recent past, the day’s name was changed to Veterans Day to honor American veterans of all wars.

Election Day is next Tuesday, November 8, and this year’s ballot features 11 candidates vying for five total seats in two contested local elections.

Four people are running to fill two open seats on the Board of Education. Those candidates are incumbent Seth Cohen, as well as newcomersAdriana Bordoni, Parul Khemka, and Marjorie Wang.

Seven more are running to fill three open seats on the Township Council. Running on the Democratic ticket are incumbent Mayor Ed Meinhardt, incumbent Council member Shawn Klein, and Rosy Bagolie. Sejal Lakhani-Bhatt, Michael Livi, and Rus Milov are running on the Republican line. Current Board of Education member Samantha Messer is running for the Council as an independent.

Earlier this month, anti-Semitic graffiti, including swastikas and a racial slur, were discovered at Heritage Middle School. A racist term was also recently found on a wall at Livingston High School. Last week, in response to these incidents, several of our community’s leaders held a largely productive conversation at Temple Beth Shalom to discuss the incident and what could be done to stop it from happening again.

We are glad the community came together that evening, but we know that there is still more to do. After all, that Heritage graffiti was not an isolated matter. These incidents have occurred with enough frequency in recent years that we believe it would be beneficial for there to be some sort of speaker series or panel for Livingston Public Schools students.

This weekend, we are sure many residents will be enjoying Halloween-related activities, from costume parties to early trick or treating, and, of course, Livingston’s annual Fright Night festivities.

The “Haunted Walk” will be held on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, October 28, 29, and 30. Billed as “a twisted walk through the woods where the dead have risen to life,” there will be three different walks each night. A less frightening walk, appropriate for children ages seven and up, will be offered from 5 to 6 p.m. A 45 minute walk, from 6 to 6:45 p.m., is reserved for families with special needs individuals. A more intense and frightening walk will be held from 6:45 to 8:30 p.m.; this walk is not recommended for children under the age of ten. Sneakers and flashlights are recommended for walkers.

Earlier this month, the Livingston Fire Department held a huge 100th anniversary celebration, complete with a parade, activities on the Oval, and countless fire trucks for children to enjoy. It was delayed one week due to rain, but that was only fitting, given the circumstances. The anniversary celebration was originally supposed to take place in 2021, but was delayed a year due to the pandemic.

In this edition of the Tribune, we are paying tribute to our great fire department and its 100-plus years of dedicated service. This special commemorative section features historic photos and articles detailing a century of the department’s heroics and good work.

Originally, we had planned to run a sponsored page honoring the LFD, but so many local businesses reached out asking to get involved and say “thank you” to the organization that we were instead able to create an entire section (and a portion of the revenue from this section will be donated to the LFD).