Hurricane Prep, Earthquake, Kenya Jirani Choir Concert Top Local News

While Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich assured residents that the borough was prepared for the potential local impact of Hurricane Irene and the latter part of the week was dominated by , there was other news to report in Fort Lee this week, including an earthquake that was felt in Fort Lee and surrounding areas.

Bergen County residents felt the quake that occured more than 325 miles away in Virginia shortly before 2 p.m. Tuesday. The quake measured 2.2 on the Richter Scale locally, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Sokolich said there were no reports of structural damage in the borough or building evacuations, but he did say “a lot of people felt it in Fort Lee.” (Full Story)

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Fort Lee High School is the seventh best high school in the state in its demographic group—at least according to the latest issue of the Star-Ledger’s Inside New Jersey Magazine.

The magazine ran an article with their version of public high school rankings based on high school proficiency test results from the 2009-2010 school year and sorted by demographic and socioeconomic status. (Full Story)

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The Borough of Fort Lee is in the early stages of planning its involvement in a major Ironman triathlon competition that takes place next summer, and Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich says he’d like to see the borough take on a central role while taking the opportunity to turn it into an event the entire community can enjoy.

The World Triathlon Corporation (WTC) and New York City Triathlon recently announced that the 2012 Ironman U.S. Championship will—for the first time ever—take place in the New York City/New Jersey metropolitan area on August 11, 2012.

Speaking at the most recent regular meeting of the Fort Lee Mayor and Council, Sokolich said that he and several members of the Borough Council have met with representatives from WTC, which owns and organizes “Ironman” events worldwide. (Full Story)

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The Kenya Jirani Choir performed at the Fort Lee Community Center Tuesday evening as part of a U.S. concert tour called “The Unstoppable Song of Hope.” The Choir captivated the Fort Lee audience with their angelic voices and a unique message of hope and community.   

“When I first saw them, my mind took me to Kenya,” said Fort Lee resident Claribel Kwon. “Sometimes we forget that there are kids suffering from poverty, but if we work together, those kids would have more hope.”

The Kenya Jirani Choir began in 2006 in the Korogocho-Dandora slum in Nairobi, Kenya. Jirani’s founder is a Korean missionary, Rev. Tae-Jong Rim, who was inspired after seeing young children picking through trash heaps in search of food in Nairobi. (Full Story and Video)

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A spokesman for the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) said Tuesday that the $3.8 million project to remove and stabilize loose rock along a three-tenths of a mile stretch of highway between Fort Lee and Edgewater is running on schedule, with Route 5, which has been closed in both directions since early August, expected to reopen in about two weeks. (Full Story)

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And the residents of Mediterranean West in Fort Lee were invited to a pool party last Saturday evening. The price of admission: two cans of food.

The third annual pool party at the building on North Ave. provided the opportunity for residents of the co-op to mingle with and meet their neighbors, but also served as a fundraiser for the Center for Food Action in Englewood. (Full Story)

The week in review appears every Sunday on Fort Lee Patch.