NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH BY MIKE LOCONTE

VOLUME 11 ISSUE 1
MARCH—APRIL
WINTER—SPRING ISSUE
HALCYON PARK NEIGHBORHOOD
ASSOCIATION:
Daniel Natal,
President
Nelsha Moorji,
Vice President
Amanda Natal,
Newsletter Editor
Allyson Colon,
Neighborhood Watch Coordinator
Norma Borja,
Beautification CoCoordinator
Denise Serbay,
Beautification CoCoordinator
Auria Natal,
Treasurer
Susana Sotillo,
Secretary/Newsletter Assistant
Barbara P. Hughes,
FROM OUR PRESIDENT, DAN NATAL
Hello Halcyon Park residents! As we put the inconsistent, unexpected winter
mixture of snow, extreme
cold, and record-breaking
warm temperatures behind
us, we are soon to enjoy the
spring season. During the
spring, we do our own cleanup, planting, and gardening,
which also signals the HPNA
to do our own park cleanup,
gardening, and planting
throughout the entire park.
The HPNA has many activities planned throughout the
year and we would really
love it if our residents could
give some of their time to
volunteer or participate in
one or more of the activities
that only the HPNA has.
I urge all concerned park residents to make an effort to
attend Town Council meetings, in which you can voice
your opinion or state your
concerns.
It is important to remain involved in matters that affect your quality of life.
I also highly suggest that
you please volunteer your
time and join The Halcyon
Park Neighborhood Watch
headed by Michael LoConte.
I would also love to welcome
all of our new residents who
have moved into Halcyon
Park! The HPNA is here to
help. Please contact us with
your questions and concerns
Santa, this past December in
and you can also contact
Third Ward Councilman,
Carlos Bernard. You can
reach Carlos at (973) 6804077 or e-mail
cbernard@bloomfieldtwpnj.co
m.
You can also reach out to
our Council-At-Large
members,
NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH BY MIKE LOCONTE
Recently, several surrounding towns, as well as Bloomfield, have had solicitors
coming around that were
casing houses that they
were planning to rob later.
They will often look into
your door to see what you
have, get personal information from you and so on.
Last week, they were going
around posing as township
workers and actually convinced someone to let them
in their home. When these
people come around, it
gives them time to look
around at things on your
property. Maybe they're
looking for an open window, or to see what type of
locks you have on your
doors, etc. All this can lead
to problems.
PLEASE CALL THE PD
WHENEVER ANYONE
COMES AROUND.
It doesn't matter what they
tell you. Just pick up the
phone and call.
Do not ask questions; do
not talk to these people.
Just call the PD when you
see any soliciting in your
neighborhood. These people are very savvy and anyone with even limited computer expertise could make
a phony ID.
Soliciting of ANY kind requires a permit and is not
permitted after dusk, but no
later than 7 PM.
A few weeks ago, solicitors
went into an apartment
building posing as energy
saving company representatives. They attempted to
break into apartments
where no one answered.
We need to keep this trash
Berkeley Bulldogs!
How can you Support our Halcyon Park Students? By Meghan Gulczynski
The Berkeley Elementary Home
and School Association has led
the effort to raise funds to enrich
the education of the students in
our community. We welcome the
communities’ support. We are a
non-profit 503c organization.
Berkeley’s 5th Annual 5k
On May 1, 2016 at 9am we will
hold our annual 5k run/fitness
walk. The event begins at Berkeley Elementary. Please consider
joining us! To sign up for the run or
to donate online: https://
runsignup.com/Race/Donate/NJ/
Bloomfield/BerkeleySchool5K
You or your business can sponsor
the event: We will need your logo
and registration no later than
3/30/2016. A Gold Sponsor ($500)
is entitled to 5 free run registrations, company logo on T-shirts,
opportunity to set up promotional
tent on site, listed on website, event
page and publications. A Silver
Sponsor ($300) is entitled to put
their company logo on T-Shirts,
listed on website, event page and
publication. A supporting sponsor
($150) will have the opportunity
to distribute promotional materials to participants. We are also
seeking donations of water, bagels and fruit for the day of the
event.
Registration forms can be down-
“Nothing is Impossible. The word itself says ‘I’m Possible’ ” - Audrey Hepburn
WELCOME FRIENDS ON BERKELEY AVENUE BY MIKE LOCONTE
The Halcyon Park Newsletter was
created by myself many years ago
when I was the President of the HP
Neighborhood Association. It serves
as a way to keep residents aware of
what's going on in the area. Recently, the decision was made to include
the distribution of the newsletter to
residents of Berkeley Avenue. I've
lived on Berkeley Avenue for
46 years and I love our neighborhood and Halcyon Park. While many
of the faces have changed over the
years, the residents of Berkeley Avenue have maintained a strong sense
of community and pride. I was really
happy to see, during the last snowstorm, that every car was removed
from the street. This was the first
time it has happened in the 46
years that I've been here. We are
looking to plan some activities in
conjunction with the HPNA once
the weather gets warmer. If you
have any suggestions please send
them to me at Mikelk98@aol.com.
Additionally, I am interested in
Easter Egg Hunt By Allyson Colon
SAVE THE DATE!!
MARCH 20
12 Noon
Halcyon Park Pond
It’s that time of year
again, Halcyon Park’s Annual Easter Egg Hunt.
Sunday March 20th at
noon with a rain date of
Saturday March 26th at
noon. Join us down by
the pond for an egg hunt,
snacks, prizes and a visit
from the Easter Bunny! All
kids ages 1-9 are welcome. $2 per child is appreciated or if you would
like, candy-filled eggs are
always welcome. There
will be over 150 eggs to
find and the one lucky kid
who finds the golden egg
will win the ultimate prize!
Please drop off your contribution by Friday March
18th to Allyson at 21 Lexington Avenue.
If you want to make sure
you don’t miss out on activities that are going on in
your neighborhood and
VOLUME 11 ISSUE 1
HALCYON PARK UPKEEP AND SURROUNDING
COMMUNITY ̶ WHAT WE NEED FROM ELECTED OFFICIALS
BY SUSANA SOTILLO
PAGE 3
crossing signs at the dangerous intersection of Grove Street and
Our park grounds are maintained by
the Department of Public Works un-
elections will be upon us and we need
to keep in mind that we need the At-
Watsessing Avenue? 3. Will they create green spaces with playground
der the leadership of Anthony Nesto.
We are very grateful to the DPW staff
Large-seats to be representative of the
entire community of Bloomfield, not
equipment for children of the residents of this end of town, just as the
because they always respond to our
requests
just the Wards with more green space.
Do not fall for the propaganda or emp-
ones built in the Second Ward? The
county paid for these services, but a
(anesto@bloomfieldtwpnj.com). I am
reminding property owners in this
ty promises made by candidates. Ask
questions and make demands. The fol-
portion of our taxes as property
owners goes directly to the county
area to call Mr. Nesto if you see trash
or other material dumped into the
lowing are issues that I would want
each candidate vying for office in
pond. When the weather gets warm,
we will need to be mindful as teenagers who use the park start smoking
Bloomfield to address: 1. Will the township purchase the former Zaller Studios
Inc. on 265 Watsessing Avenue in order
and the school system. 4. Will our
elected officials work closely with the
State in order to get much needed
pot or engaging in illegal or uncivil
behavior. Please make sure you call
to erect a state-of-the-art parking
deck? We desperately need some relief
ue to gauge homeowners for the
bureaucratic expenditures of the
the Police Department immediately
when you see any drug dealings tak-
from the parking congestion in this
neighborhood and surrounding areas,
School System. I have heard horror
stories of how badly teachers and
ing place by the pond or in any area
of the park (973-680-4141 or the
which is exacerbated by the numerous
apartment buildings and multi-families
parents who complain are treated in
the Third Ward. If your needs are not
Community Policing Unit at 973-680
-4106). Primaries and November
in this area. 2. Will they work with our
state legislators to install pedestrian
being addressed, it is time for us to
call our State Legislators: Senator
funds for the neighborhood schools
in this area? The town cannot contin-
VOLUNTEER AND GET INVOLVED BY MARGARET SOBHARAM
This has been a year of uncertainty,is
it spring or is it summer, no it's still
winter. However, we will be organizing
a clean up and planting of flowers at
various parts of the park.
We need help pulling weeds from
flower beds and planting new flowers
and shrubs around the park. Earth Day
is April 22nd and if we can all agree
to get together on April 23rd. to vol-
unteer, we would very much appreciate
your time.
I have also spoken to Mr. Anthony Nesto , the Town’s DPW Administer, and Anthony assured me that he
will work with me and will also provide
me with plants and top soil etc.
Yudi Sobharam will also contribute
towards the purchase of flowers and
shrubs. Yudi is presently running for
Council At Large in Bloomfield.
He spent his childhood in HP and as a
HP resident, if elected, we will have
someone in HP to represent us and
make sure the neighborhood is well
patrolled, clean and up kept.
Rain date for the Spring Clean up will
be announced at a later date. I encourage everyone to help maintain
and beautify our park, I would also
NEXTDOOR.COM BY ALLYSON COLON
There are many new residents that have moved into
Halcyon Park and I would
like to welcome each and
every one of you and invite
you to join our growing
social network page called
Halcyonpark.nextdoor.com,
which was created specifi-
cally for the residents of
Halcyon Park. It is a private
social network specifically
designed for our neighborhood that provides a platform for residents to talk
online, sell stuff and get involved in community activities. Presently, we have over
130 participating residents
and it’s growing every day.
People are using Nextdoor
for safety alerts that are
specific to their street, garage sales, kid’s activities,
and even recommendations
for local businesses. If you
would like to join for free,
log on to https://
halcyon-
TO SAVE ENERGY, ELIMINATE THE “PHANTOM MENACE” BY BARBARA P. HUGHES
Be sure to only use UL rated power strips.
Does it seem like your power bill
has gone up year after year?
While elevated energy costs are
certainly part of the problem,
there’s a “phantom menace”
that’s also been driving up your
bill: New electronics.
Long gone are the days when
shouting at the kids to “turn off
the light!” was a sure way to save
on electricity (though installing
reduced-energy bulbs is a good
move, too). The U.S. Department
of Energy reports that “75% of
the electricity used to power
home electronics is consumed
while products are turned off.”
Why’s that? Because newer electronics and appliances consume
power even when the device is
turned off. The term to describe
this is known as “phantom load.”
Home entertainment systems
with remote controls, wireless
routers, appliances with clocks,
electronics that use a power
adaptor (i.e. a wall cube) and
computer printers are all good
targets for reducing phantom
loads. If you can feasibly eliminate
these loads, you can save a lot of
money over the course of the
year.
So how do you eliminate phantom load? Unplugging devices
every day is a hassle, but one
sound alternative is the use of
power strips which allow you to
kill the connection to the main
outlet without having to unplug
devices. If you Google “smart
power strips” you’ll also find a va-
riety of options for allowing certain
devices to “pass through” while
others are shut off. This can be useful when you have certain devices
which do need to be “on standby”
while others do not.
While going green is a perfectly
good reason to reduce your power
consumption, the money you save
on power can go to other household expenses, family vacations,
and perhaps even the down payment on your next (or first!) home.
Keep an eye out for those energy
vampires! Usually you can tell
who they are
by their LED
lights glowing
in the night.
I love to
help my clients get the most out of
their home. If you’re thinking of
selling or searching for a home