Rail-Trail Vote, Parking Fees, Ash Wednesday Highlight The Week In Montclair

Watch the previous Montclair Council meeting on Jan. 29 above. 

Monday

In honor of what would have been the 214th birthday of Abraham Lincoln, Montclair Township offices will be closed. 

The senior citizen bus and Evening Shuttle services will be suspended for the day and evening. 

Garbage and recycling will be collected. Garbage and recycling will be collected on the regular schedule without interruption for the rest of the week. 

Tuesday

The Montclair Township Council will convene in the municipal building’s council chambers, located at 205 Claremont Ave. The council will review the agenda at 7 p.m. and then begin the regularly scheduled meeting at 7:30 p.m., the latter of which is televised. 

When the council last met on Feb. 5, discussions focused on the township’s interest in purchasing the shuttered federal Social Security Office, located at 396 Bloomfield Ave.

Previously, the council unanimously voted on a resolution stating the township is interested in acquiring the federal property.    

On Tuesday's agenda is an ordinance for Montclair parking fees. The township dissolved the Montclair Parking Authority in December and officially took over the control of parking on Jan. 1.  

There is also a resolution on the agenda creating a cash fund for the newly formed Montclair Parking Utility.  

The council will also vote on an ordinance approving a financial agreement between Montclair Kensington Urban Renewal LLC and the Township of Montclair for a Church Street lot portion of Hahne's Redevelopment Area.

At the council’s May 23, 2012 meeting, the council approved a resolution designating Montclair Kensington Urban Renewal LLC as redeveloper for the parking lot site. The company and the township agreed to develop a plan to build an 88-unit assisted living facility on the site.

In addition, the council will vote on a resolution to work cooperatively for the planning and development of a rail-trail park within Belleville, Bloomfield, Newark and Glen Ridge. 

Back in August 2010, the council discussed plans to convert the rarely used railway 11-mile track from Upper Montclair to Montclair State University into a trail for pedestrians and cyclists. At a meeting in April 2010, the Bloomfield Township Council voted to enter into talks with Montclair, Glen Ridge, Belleville, and Newark to draft a plan to transform the old Boonton Line, which runs through the towns and into Hudson County.

Those looking for something different can stop by Montclair State University's talk on the life of David Foster Wallace, an award-winning American novelist, short story writer, essayist and professor at Pomona College in Claremont, Calif. The talk will be in the Cohen Lounge, Dickson Hall at the university, at 1 Normal Ave., starting at 7:30 p.m. 

The English Department Visiting Writers Committee, the Creative Research Center and the University Honors Program will be hosting D.T. Max New Yorker staff writer and author of the best-selling, "Every Love Story Is a Ghost Story: A Life of David Foster Wallace," the first biography of one of the most influential writers of his generation.

This talk is free and open to the public.

Wednesday

It’s Ash Wednesday, the first day of the Lent. There are only 46 days until Easter.

Here’s a partial listing of Ash Wednesday service times for Wednesday, Feb. 13. Please let us know your worship times. Send an email to Montclair Patch Local Editor Mike D’Onofrio at mike.donofrio@patch.com. 

—Presbyterian Church of Upper Montclair at 53 Norwood Avenue

For families and adults there will be an experiential service of worship at 8 p.m.

—Grace Presbyterian Church at 153 Grove Street

There will be a service at noon and also a service at 8 p.m. with the Rev. Rachel Brown preaching at both.

—St. Luke's Episcopal Church at 73 South Fullerton Avenue

There will be three separate Ash Wednesday services at 7 a.m., noon, and at 8 p.m.

—First Congregational Church at 40 South Fullerton Avenue

 Holy Communion and Imposition of Ashes at 8 p.m.

—Union Congregational Church at 176 Cooper Avenue

There will be an Ash Wednesday service at 7:30 p.m. 

Essex County officials will be discussing results of the recently completed Deer Management Program on Wednesday, Feb. 13 at a press conference in West Orange. Patch will be there.

The program, which recently completed its sixth year on Feb. 7, began Jan. 22 and was culled back by county officials when Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo Jr. announced the program on Jan. 15.

The program took place in the Essex County South Mountain Reservation, the Hilltop Reservation and the old Essex County Hospital Center complex. It did not include the Eagle Rock Reservation this year.

Montclair Patch needs help filling up its weekly calendar. So add your own event, meeting or program happening this week in the comment section below!