Page 6 THE VILLADOM TIMES II • October 27, 2010 Emmanuel asks... Can You Help? Commuters lose by John Koster The Glen Rock Borough Council had two pieces of bad news for commuters at last week’s council meeting. The commuter bus service to the railroad stations and main line bus stop will be cancelled at the end of 2010, and commuter parking on Glen Rock Devonshire Place has been banned. The bus now used for commuter trips will continue to serve Glen Rock senior citizens on the same basis it does now. Seniors and disabled individuals may still schedule medical trips by telephone as the bus is available, and the trips to Kilroy’s on Tuesdays, the Mall of the Month on Thurs- bus, Devonshire commuter parking day, and the Fair Lawn Shop-Rite on Fridays will continue in 2011. “It’s purely economic,” Glen Rock Borough Administrator Lenora Benjamin said last week. “We had 43 commuters signed up for 2010 at $75 a year, and that’s about $3,000, and it costs us $35,000 to operate the bus.” Glen Rock is now taking a computerized survey of residents, asking which services could be cut and which should be continued so the borough’s municipal government can cope with the financial crunch. Residents who have trouble with computer access at home may ask for advice or direct assistance at the Glen Rock Public Library any time the library is open. They survey wraps up this week. The commuter bus started several years ago under Borough Administrator Bertrand Kendall and Mayor Richard Hahn. New Jersey Transit supported the bus with a three-year grant and a donated new passenger bus to be used to bring commuters from streets near their homes to the railroad stations. The service for senior citizens was developed because the bus was 4-29-09 karen/janine EmmanuelHelp3x.75(4-29-09) 3 x .75 available after the morning rush. The service quickly became popular with seniors. The ban on commuter parking on Devonshire Place, previously introduced in the form of an ordinance, was adopted into law on Oct. 21. The newly-adopted ordinance reduces permitted parking on both sides of Devonshire Place from Rock Road to a point 150 feet north of the Rock Road intersection to four hours a day. The intent is to keep commuters from leaving their cars parked for 10 to 12 hours a day while they are at their jobs in New York City. Residents had complained that their street was “a parking lot” and that cars parked on both sides of Devonshire Place at the same time made it difficult to exit their driveways and could interfere with emergency vehicle access. One resident who spoke briefly at last week’s meeting expressed concern that the four-hour parking zone could back up parked cars into his own street frontage. Mayor John van Keuren said the resident should call borough hall if this became a problem, and the commuters would be urged not to block residential streets. ‘A Magnificent Catastrophe’ to be discussed On Election Day, Nov. 2, the Glen Rock Public Library’s non-fiction book group will discuss “A Magnificent Catastrophe: The Tumultuous Election of 1800 -- America’s First Presidential Campaign” by Pulitzer Prize-winner Edward J. Larson. The discussion will begin at 7:30 p.m. “A Magnificent Catastrophe” covers the most vituperative and dramatic of all U.S. elections. Facilitated by Jerry Lerner, this informal group meets on the first Tuesday of each month. Multiple copies of the book are available at the reference desk. For details, call (201) 670-3970 or visit the library’s website at www.glenrocklibrary. org.