Montclair: Community Block Grants Applicants Make Pitches; Talk of Town-wide 25 MPH Speed Limit

December in Montclair usually means requests for community development block grants in the new year, and the Montclair Township Council spent the bulk of its December 6 conference meeting (Deputy Mayor/First Ward Councilor William Hurlock was absent) going over funding requests from various groups that do all sorts of community service in town.  Planning Director Janice Talley, as per custom, hosted the groups filing for requests for community development block grant (CDBG) funding for 2017.

Talley said she has not heard from Congress regarding what the allocation for Montclair would be for 2017, but she was told to assume the funding would be comparable to 2016, or about $320,000.  Eight groups have filed requests for funding totaling $246,700 in all.  Mayor Robert Jackson and the councilors will rank the requests to determine how the money gets allocated.   Fourth Ward Councilor Renée Baskerville and Director Talley will serve as the Montclair’s representatives to the Essex County CDBG office to present the township’s recommendations.

Sue Seidenfeld of the COPE Center went first, requesting $40,000, double the group’s 2016 amount. The group expects to use the grant money to support its counseling and outreach services, administering to 440 Montclair residents.  Seidenfeld talked about how COPE was seeing a spike in opioid abuse among the people it has been trying to help, and how it has come to rival alcohol abuse as a primary addiction.  She says her group is seeing so many severe cases that their doctor has been authorized to prescribe Suboxone, which is used to treat opioid addiction.  She said that COPE had received funding from the United Way, but that had been cut.

Marcia Marley of Succeed2gether asked for 20,000 for her group, the same amount as in 2016.  Succeed2gether is a group fostering academic excellence among lower-income children and expects to use the grant money to support staff salaries and consultant expenses and also manage the increase in enrollment and student volunteers. She said the group is interested in pursuing places for 60 to 80 children for tutoring over the summer and reaching out to parents with workshops on things from navigating college to helping their children write.  Marley said she promotes the group through flyers and the school system’s electronic backpacks, and she hopes to sponsor a literary festival in April 2017.

The Interfaith Hospitality Alliance was represented by Emma Justice, who requested $32,500 to continue her group’s work in finding emergency shelter and permanent housing for homeless families while counseling them on their problems and helping them toward financial and personal independence.  In its shelter program, the Interfaith Hospitality Alliance provided shelter and support services to 18 families and 58 individuals, the majority of them under the age of 18 in 2016. Some 29 children participated in the group‘s after-school program.

Elaine Spears of the Montclair Neighborhood Development Corporation (MNDC) requested $40,000, double its 2016 grant, and she briefly spoke about the group‘s Project Oasis, A six-week program for children to get them to excel in academics and engaging in cultural-awareness and character-building exercises, including organized sports, as well as engage in science, technology, engineering and STEM projects.   In addition, the MNDC’s Project Life program provides classes to teenagers on Friday evenings and prepares them for adulthood through, according to its Web site, “business education, entrepreneurial skills, financial literacy, résumé writing, dressing for success, [and] business plans.” 

Kristen Wald, representing Start Out Fresh Intervention Associates (SOFIA), requested $51,200 for the organization, which provides workshops and help to enable domestic-violence victims to get back on their feet.  She stressed how the SOFIA program helps victims of domestic violence learn about managing and balancing a checking account to become more financially independent.

Julie Cerf of HOMECorp requested $25,000 for continuing the group’s programs designed to help people make the transition to home ownership and to become more financially literate. Cerf, HOMECorp’s interim executive director, said her group was helping clients prevent foreclosures and handle mortgage delinquencies.  She also said the group would soon relocate to 17 Talbot Street (the former Frog Hollow Community Center) to provide more room for a new staff; the grant requested would help support that staff.  Also, Officer Garth Guthrie, known for his charitable work throughout town, represented the Mindful Breath Foundation’s request for a $15,000 grant (it received no money in 2016) to support staff salaries to teach yoga and meditation to benefit 30 low-income residents.

Finally, Peter Keating of the United Way requested $23,000 for his group, which continues to help the working poor and economically constrained middle-class families keep their heads above water through financial coaching, free tax preparation to apply for earned income tax credits, and job-search opportunities through Internet access.  United Way is also planning to stay in and renovate its historic building on South Fullerton Avenue.

For the township itself, Talley said she hoped to get a $150,000 grant to improve a pedestrian alley connecting North Willow Street, which belongs to the township, and $20,000 for ramps at crosswalks along Maple Avenue to provide access to Glenfield Park and another ramp at Buzz Aldrin Middle School to provide handicapped access to the ball field across the street.  Mayor Jackson asked how access for the blind would be accommodated, since a blind pedestrian would be unaware where the curb ends and the street begins.  Talley said that raised bricks or some other form of pavement could help blind people recognize the beginning of the street at a crosswalk when they touch the surface with their canes.

Acting Township Manager Tim Stafford sparked a conversation about a town-wide 25-mph speed limit in talking about the agenda for the December 20 meeting.  While Councilor-at-Large Robert Russo and Second Ward Councilor Robin Schlager supported the idea, with Councilor Schlager citing the proposed office building at Lorraine Avenue that could attract extra cars from out of town into the community and adding to the traffic as evidence of needing to lower speed limits, neither Councilor-At-Large Rich McMahon nor Third Ward Councilor Sean Spiller saw any evidence that lowering speed limits would cut down on speeding.  Councilor Russo said that extra enforcement and extra signage would help lower speeds among motorist passing through and driving around Montclair.  Mayor Jackson endorsed the idea and also wanted to see flashing signs around schools.  Stafford said he would director Township Engineer Kim Craft to draft an ordinance for a 25-mph town-wide speed limit with reduced speeds on school zones on school days, with a budget item for flashing signs.

An ordinance amending the Seymour Street redevelopment plan as tabled after attorney Thomas Trautner of Chiesa, Shahinian and Giantomasi, representing the developers involved, said his clients hadn’t had a chance to look at the ordinance. Also, Councilor Russo also took the opportunity to pay tribute to the remaining survivors of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, for its 75th anniversary on December.