Area September 7, 2011 THE VILLADOM TIMES II • Page 19 The Waldwick Council is seeking a $3,500 matching grant from the Bergen County Open Space, Recreation, Farmland & Historic Trust Fund to help cover the cost of a security camera upgrade at the borough’s Veterans Park on Lindbergh Parkway. If the borough’s grant application is successful, Waldwick would be required to provide a dollar for dollar cash match for this project. The grant application states, “We plan on installing a camera that will allow the police department to better monitor the area by panning around the park and transmitting a clear picture regardless of the time of day. This live feed will be sent to the police department and monitored 24 hours a day by a dispatcher. This constant surveillance will help to make the park a safer, cleaner place for the enjoyment of park goers and avoid future, costly repairs caused by vandalism.” Borough officials believe the camera installation “is the most effective solution to protect the investment that the county and the borough have made (in upgrades to the park) and still honor the commitment that we made to the neighbors not to install lights.” Plans call for the project to begin in the spring of 2012, with anticipated completion in June. Installation of the cameras would not require disturbance to the surrounding area, such as the felling of trees, clearing of vegetation, or filling in of any wetlands. The borough is considering an AXIS camera with infrared illuminator. The grant Waldwick seeks grant for security cameras at park and the match from the borough would total $7,000, and SMS Security Systems, LLC of Caldwell has already provided the borough with a $6,640 proposal that would include the equipment and the labor charges for the installation project. Veterans Park has been part of the borough’s park system for over 50 years, the grant application notes. “The park has recently undergone an extensive makeover financed in part from previous grants from the County Open Space program. All four tennis courts and the basketball court have been rehabilitated. We have constructed a playground and comfort station/pavilion and the area has a large open space utilized for soccer and other non-organized sport and passive recreational pursuits.” Improvements to Veterans Park were funded by the following county grants provided in the years indicated: $150,000 in 2005, $75,000 in 2006, and $10,000 in 2007. Waldwick High School’s tennis teams use the tennis courts at Veterans Park, and the borough’s junior soccer programs make use of the open space. “The facility is highly utilized,” the application states. “At any given time you can find multiple activities going on at the site.” When the public hearings were held on the initial park upgrades and later for the installation of the comfort station, several residents said they did not want the area to be lit at night, and no lights were installed at the tennis courts or the basketball courts. “Despite our best efforts, the park has The entry sign to Veterans Park. become a teenage hangout and we have received numerous complaints from the neighbors due to acts of vandalism to the comfort station pavilion in the forms of carvings and graffiti,” the application states. The document adds that the borough’s plan is to install the infrared camera monitoring system on a well house adjacent to the park. The camera would pan the property, covering the comfort station, the tennis courts, and the basketball courts. An Internet connection would allow someone in the police department to monitor images being picked up by the camera. (continued from page 4) The Andean peoples gave the world the potato, the lima bean, and had a complicated mathematical system. Their architecture, in particular, featured superb drainage systems and construction tech- Machu Picchu niques not entirely understood even today. Arnold Toynbee and, most recently, Jared Diamond were also extremely impressed with the culture of the Andes. Machu Picchu is said to be the most popular cultural attraction in South America.