CRANFORD — As promised, Mayor Brian Andrews gave residents an update duringTuesday night’s township committeemeetingaboutconstruction at 750 Walnut.
“We’veseenandheardfirsthandfrom residents that the dust problem has been very severe over the last couple of weeks,” Mayor Andrews said. “We’ve been working with them on the site and have seen assurances that they are going to try to take a number of actions to try to address it. One has to do with the treading of the trucks driving over it and we are going to try to get the dirt off so that is going to be a standard, and the other the use of water now that the weather is warmer.”
“We’re working hard to be responsible over there and washing down the vehicles that are tracking dirt through there and we also sent a letter to them about the trees they took down and it will be an ongoing negotiation with that, as well as including a penalty for being outside the scope of what we planned,” Deputy Mayor Terrence Curran said.
The township committee also passed a resolution in support ofAssembly Bill No. 3450 and Senate Bill No. 1941 for legislation to establish minimum registered professional nurse staffing standards. Members of organizations such as Health Professionals and Allied Employees(HPAE)wereinattendance.
“On behalf of HPAE, we’d like to thank Mayor Andrews, Deputy Mayor Curran, and the Cranford Township Committee for your support of S2700 The Patient Protection and Safe Staffing Act, which is highlighted in Resolution 2024-148 posted for vote tonight,” said Alexis Rainwater of Roselle, a member of HPAE. “We are facing a code-red crisis in health care. But there is a cold, hard, simple proven answer and that is mandating safe staffing ratios.”
Deputy Mayor Curran talked about the beginning of Covid, when hospitals around the country were overwhelmed with sick people. He received a round of applause as he spoke in support of the resolution advocating safe staffing levels.
“The nurses and healthcare workers really took the front role and everyone was praising them as heroes,” Deputy Mayor Curran said. “I want to thank them for all the work they did with these families, but even though the pandemic has subsided there are still unfair conditions that nurses are subjected to and challenges every day with emergency rooms that are overrun with patients with broken bones, broken ribs, trauma patients, bleeding, cancer patients with complications from chemotherapy, people having heart attacks, being done with minimal staffing systems.”
“We spend twice as much on health care out of anyone in the world but access to care, equity, and outcomes are among the poorest in the world, and the only positive lines we see is the bottom line of insurance companies. Safe staffing levels mean that you and your family will get the care you deserve when you go to the hospital, so I’m proud to support our nurses and healthcare workers while calling to support Assembly Bill 3450 and Senate Bill No. 1941.” Mayor Andrews gave residents an update about the library expansion project after meeting earlier in the day.
“We’re getting ready for our library expansion project today,” Mayor Andrews said. “One, we’re getting ready to put together the nuts and bolts of the operating budget that we originated, and two, where is the children’s library going to go? Where are the renovations going to take place? Three, obviously, is the timeline. We’re looking at a start after we figure out an exact budget but we really want a children’s room and the library to be in great shape and it will be, I promise.
Commissioner Kathleen Miller-Prunty spoke about a resolution awarding a contract to Colliers Engineering & Design, Inc. for the Division of Engineering Services in connection to the Lambert Street Pedestrian Improvement Project. She spoke about the field on Lambert Street and about some of the improvements included in this project.
“This project will include sidewalks, new crosswalks, and a vast improvement to that area,” Commissioner Prunty said.
