News

Livingston Philanthropies, Inc. (LPI) founder and director, Jeff Friedman, spoke, via Zoom at Tuesday morning’s Rotary meeting. He focused on homelessness and LPI’s mission of providing for the homeless and profoundly poor. LPI is urgently requesting new clothing items and diapers for families living below the poverty line. “The extreme need has rocketed as the pandemic continues,” Friedman explained at the meeting. LPI’s “Personal Shopping for the Homeless” initiative empowers generous Livingston residents to take advantage of online sales to purchase men’s medium, large and extra-large winter coats, winter jackets, underwear, socks, shirts, gloves, hats, scarves, and other accessories at reduced prices. Diapers in all sizes, 1 to 6, are immediately needed by families, many of whom are losing jobs at a record pace.

Because parents have not had much chance to watch their children in the Livingston High School marching band perform, band director Jim Hegedus invited them to last week’s “Thursday Night Lights,” a weekly opportunity for the band to participate in a virtual state competition.

“This was the first time we ever did anything like this in my 20 years here as band director – much like everything else in 2020,” said Hegedus. “Our parents have not had a chance to see the Lancer marching band perform this year other than the one home football game we had on October 9. So I decided to create this event and call it ‘Thursday Night Lights,’ a take on ‘Friday Night Lights’ for high school football games.”

To read more please log in or subscribe to the digital edition http://www.etypeservices.com/West%20Essex%20TribuneID480/

The Livingston Zoning Board of Adjustment held its monthly meeting online on Tuesday, October 27. Seven applications were heard; five were approved, and two were adjourned. Another two applications on the agenda had been adjourned prior to the meeting date.

Rear Deck

The Board granted a 5.6 foot rear yard setback variance to Dr. Michael Sheridan and the Shireen Trust for the property at 33 Burnet Hill Road for the construction of a deck.

Attorney Philip George told the Board that the house was constructed before the applicant realized a variance was needed.

To read more please log in or subscribe to the digital edition http://www.etypeservices.com/West%20Essex%20TribuneID480/

As of Wednesday morning, October 28, the Livingston Health Department has reported that a total of 634 Livingston residents have tested positive for COVID-19 since the first case was recorded in mid-March. Seventy-three of those residents have died as a result of the virus. Compared to the same time last week, there are 38 new cases, with one additional death.

New Jersey’s quarantine travel advisory currently has 39 states and territories on the list.

Individuals coming from the states and territories listed on the advisory should self-quarantine for 14 days. To be included on the travel ban, a state or territory must surpass ten average daily positive COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents. New Jersey’s ban runs concurrently with New York and Connecticut. Currently, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Delaware all also meet this threshold. New Jersey governor Phil Murphy has advised people to avoid inessential travel between the states.

Students in the Biotechnology Career Pathway at Livingston High School are back in the lab. The Biotechnology Career Pathway consists of skills-based courses focused on learning higher level laboratory procedures. This week, in their first in-person lab of the school year, students worked on asexual plant propagation.

“This particular type of plant propagation is a type of plant culture where horticulturists and gardeners can make clones of plants that are genetically identical to the parent plant. This type of propagation has been used as a farming practice since before recorded human history,” explained LHS science teacher and Biotechnology Pathway coordinator Diane Sigalas. “Students selected leaves from plants in the classroom or from their homes to propagate from. We will be working with these samples all year in order to promote the growth of new plants from these leaves and stem cuttings.”

Matt Berger, a junior at Livingston High School, has set up his tenth annual outdoor Halloween display on the front lawn of his family’s home. Residents are invited to view the display at 9 Langtree Drive.

Berger began the enterprise in 2010, when he was seven years old. Each year following, he designed and built more and more intricate figures.

For 2020, he added four new handmade figures, bringing the total to 20. Eighty percent of the display is handmade, he said. He works on new props and decorations throughout the year.

To read more please log in or subscribe to the digital edition http://www.etypeservices.com/West%20Essex%20TribuneID480/

By Jeff Friedman
Editor’s Note: This week, Jeff Friedman, founder and director of Living-ston Philanthropies, Inc., explains in his own words one of the charity’s initiatives, “Personal Shopping for the Homeless.”
    •    •    •
I want to re-introduce Livingston Philanthropies, Inc.’s (LPI) successful “Personal Shopping for the Homeless” initiative to altruistic Livingston residents – especially now during the COVID-19 pandemic.
With jobs vanishing on a weekly basis, more families are finding themselves living below the poverty line or existing totally out on the cruel streets. Along with the serially homeless, our poorest citizens stand on long food pantry lines, which now wind down streets and around corners. As I often drive through Newark to make quick deliveries to our stalwart distribution partners, I see and feel this bleak reality check firsthand. 

Construction on the Habitat for Humanity home at 24 Burnet Street in Livingston accelerated this month as volunteers were welcomed back to the worksite.

Crews led by construction manager Rick Casaretto and site supervisor Alphonso Richards have been installing insulation, boards, and fire stops, and plan to soon put up sheetrock.

Habitat has fielded fewer volunteers due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The last time the Tribune visited, in early March, more than a dozen F D m volunteers, as well as the home’s new owner, were measuring, cutting, and hammering. The home was estimated to be completed by July.

To read more please log in or subscribe to the digital edition http://www.etypeservices.com/West%20Essex%20TribuneID480/

At the Monday, October 19, Township Council meeting, members held two ordinance hearings and passed several resolutions.

20 minutes into the meeting, the Council went into a closed session for about an hour. Topics listed on the agenda for closed session included affordable housing litigation, redevelopment updates, municipal court contract negotiations, and DPW facility contract negotiations.

Technical difficulties prevented the meeting from being streamed on the township’s Facebook page, as it has been since March, meaning those who wished to attend the meeting had to do so directly through the Zoom. It wasn’t clear to all wishing to attend when they were permitted to return to the meeting after it had gone into closed session. At 8:15 p.m., the meeting resumed its open session, on Zoom only. The Council also began a discus

On Tuesday, October 20, the Planning Board held a combined conference and special meeting to hear about a proposal for a mixed use residential and retail development at Northfield Center.

The Board also approved the engagement of a landscaping expert for the new application at Northfield Center.

Northfield Center

The Board continued hearing an application that began on October 6, by Livingston Builders, LLC, for a mixed-use residential and retail development at Northfield Center.

To read more please log in or subscribe to the digital edition http://www.etypeservices.com/West%20Essex%20TribuneID480/