Thursday, August 23, 2012
The park has been open for a while, but there are still a few things to finish up like benches designed to look like dog bones. The grand opening is Sept. 22 at 10 a.m.
Fort Lee is putting the finishing touches on its long-awaited, much-discussed and first-ever dog park, and although the park has been useable for some time now, borough officials have announced a grand opening in September. The dog park, located at the end of Stillwell Avenue near the Fort Lee Recreation Center in William T. Birch Park, features a special surface that’s easy on the paws, water piped into both sections and available at the push of a button and stanchions with bags for cleaning up waste. The final touches will be special benches, which were donated by Bank of New Jersey at $3,000 apiece, and a special sign, according to Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, who’s a dog owner himself and has made the park a sort of pet project. …
Republican State Sen. Michael Doherty, who spoke in Fort Lee this week, says red light cameras should be banned and suggested a referendum in Fort Lee might be a good idea. What do you think?
State Sen. Michael Doherty (R-23) released a statement Thursday, just two days after he spoke at a United Republican Club of Fort Lee meeting about his legislation to ban red light cameras in New Jersey, blasting Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich for comments he made in an article published on NorthJersey.com saying he wants to install red light cameras in the borough “for money reasons.” “Mayor Sokolich has admitted that he wants the money generated by red light cameras, despite the opposition of Fort Lee residents to his plan,” Doherty said in the statement. “The Mayor has stated his intention to put cameras at lights on the edge of town where he says mostly non-residents will be ticketed. If safety was truly the goal, wouldn’t he seek to …
Monday, July 16, 2012
Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich said that while traffic wasn’t as bad many had predicted Monday, residents shouldn't get a "false sense of security." Officials say they're prepared to shut down local roads if necessary.
Traffic at the George Washington Bridge was not nearly the nightmare many had feared it would be Monday — the first weekday morning since the New York State Department of Transportation started its three-month-long repair project at the Alexander Hamilton Bridge and resulting lane closures on the Cross Bronx Expressway. But Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich said that while things were “business as usual” Monday and Fort Lee officials were in a “wait and see” mode, he also warned residents not to have a “false sense of security.” “It wasn’t that bad this morning,” Sokolich told Patch. “But I think that in order to properly assess this issue, you need to look back over the next week to 10 days and make a determination as to what your policies are…
Thursday, June 21, 2012
On the same day a newspaper report came out saying Gov. Christie told the Port Authority to end its crackdown on carpooling at the bridge, Fort Lee resident Leonor Javier said she’s eager to see how the agency responds.
The de facto leader of a grassroots group of Fort Lee residents and fellow commuters from neighboring towns who took on the Port Authority over what they saw as a crackdown on the longstanding practice of carpooling at the George Washington Bridge, and apparently won, says she’s pleased with a news report indicating the crackdown is no more. But Leonor Javier of Fort Lee also says she’s not done fighting until tickets she believes were issued “illegally” are dismissed and the Port Authority provides her group with an explanation of how the agency is going to proceed from here on out. Northjersey.com, citing a senior Port Authority official, reported Wednesday that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie recently ordered an end to the crackdown …
Monday, June 11, 2012
Members of the Sisterhood of The New Synagogue received awards for their many contributions, as well as a mayoral proclamation at a dinner dance in Rockleigh Sunday.
The New Synagogue of Fort Lee held its annual dinner dance at The Rockleigh Country Club Sunday—an event that included many local political and religious leaders. Photographer Donna Brennan was there and captured these images for Patch.
41.003363
-73.939706
26 Paris Avenue, Rockleigh, NJ
/articles/the-new-synagogue-honors-the-sisterhood
/locations/7188418
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
The Fort Lee Planning Board has rescheduled the next meeting on Tucker Development Corp.’s site plan application for June 4. Mayor Mark Sokolich says he’s viewing the application with “guarded optimism” but makes no guarantees that it will be approved.
The previously scheduled May 21 special meeting of the Fort Lee Planning Board on Tucker Development Corporation’s mixed-use site plan for the West parcel of Redevelopment Area 5 has been changed to June 4, according to Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich. That announcement comes after one member of the Fort Lee Planning Board called Tucker’s architectural plans “discombobulated” at the third of four scheduled meetings Monday, and Tucker’s attorney, William F. Harrison, said the architect’s presentation had to be rushed, according to NorthJersey.com. “I make excuses for absolutely no one,” Sokolich told Patch Wednesday. “I present applications as complex as they come for a living. But I’m going to tell you that sometimes, especially in the early …
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-73.979337
Fort Lee Community Center
1355 Inwood Ter, Fort Lee, NJ
/articles/mayor-to-area-5-developer-you-re-barely-halfway-to-approval
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/locations/7035879
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich says the borough “took a monumental step” Monday, when the Planning Board approved FLRA’s site plan for the East parcel of Redevelopment Area 5.
Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich made “commencement of construction in the first half of 2012” on the 16 acres of vacant property just south of the George Washington Bridge—known today as Redevelopment Area 5—a major focus of his reelection campaign in November. “I refused to allow the project to go forward for the sake of starting until I was satisfied that the community was delivered amenities and a development worthy of the Borough of Fort Lee,” Sokolich said during the campaign. “After painstaking negotiation over the past several months, we are about to arrive.” And while the borough hasn’t fully arrived just yet, it took a major step Monday, when the Fort Lee Planning Board approved unanimously Fort Lee Redevelopment Associates (FLRA)’s …
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Fort Lee School No. 1’s younger students enjoyed a visit by some special guests, who encouraged them to read.
Pre-K through second-graders at Fort Lee School No. 1 were treated to a visit by three special guests Thursday morning: Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, Councilman Harvey Sohmer and “The Cat in the Hat.” School 1 teacher Luddy Green was responsible for arranging the Dr. Seuss character’s visit through the NJEA, as she did last year, said principal Kristine Cecere. But before the roughly nine-foot-tall Cat in the Hat helped Green lead the kids—decked out for the occasion in paper hats of the type the famous feline is known for—in “The Readers Oath,” Sokolich and Sohmer spoke with the students about what it’s like to work in local government, and Sokolich read to the children from his “favorite” Dr. Seuss book, “There’s No Place Like Space,” …
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-73.971704
Fort Lee Borough School No. 1
250 Hoym St, Fort Lee, NJ
/articles/cat-in-the-hat-visits-local-school-mayor-reads-dr-seuss-to-kids
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Thursday, January 5, 2012
At the Fort Lee Mayor and Council’s annual re-org meeting, “the team” remains the same; Fort Lee Mayor delivers State of the Borough Address.
The Fort Lee Mayor and Council held its annual reorganization meeting Thursday at Borough Hall, where Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich and Councilmen Armand Pohan and Michael Sargenti, all of whom were reelected in November, took the oaths of office; Councilman Joseph Cervieri was selected as Council president for 2012; borough attorney Lee Cohen was reappointed for another year; and Sokolich delivered his annual State of the Borough Address before the governing body went through a litany of statutory, Council and Mayor’s appointments and nominations. Rabbi Meir Berger of the New Synagogue of Fort Lee delivered the invocation before a packed house in council chambers, including Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-37), Assemblyman Gordon M…
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-73.973355
Fort Lee Borough Administrative Offices-Borough Hall
309 Main St, Fort Lee, NJ
/articles/sokolich-expect-progress-on-redevelopment-5-support-referendum
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Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich will once again toss up the opening ball, as the Fort Lee Girls Recreation Basketball League begins the 2012 season Tuesday
The Fort Lee Girls Recreation Basketball League will hold its opening ceremonies next Tuesday (Jan. 3, 2012) at Lewis F. Cole Middle School, league president Michael Klein announced this week. Highlighting the opening ceremonies, which start at 6 p.m. at the middle school, will be Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich tossing up the opening tipoff as he has done for the past five years to mark the beginning of the league’s 2012 season. The ceremonies will also include “coaches and players at all levels, sponsors, parents, friends and town dignitaries,” according to Klein. “Last year we had over 350 people at opening ceremonies,” Klein told Patch. “It's a big event for girls sports.” Klein also said that all members of the Fort Lee Board of …
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-73.980961
Lewis F. Cole Middle School
467 Stillwell Ave, Fort Lee, NJ
/articles/girls-basketball-league-to-tipoff-next-week
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Judy Lapidus
1:40 pm on Tuesday, September 25, 2012
The park is beautiful and I want to thank Mayor Mark for giving our fur babies their own place to run and play. The grand opening was a blast and the generosity of the sponsors such as Oradell Animal Hospital and Fort Lee Pets was amazing! We are lucky to have you as a neighbors. more ›