Hackensack, NJ Community Message Boards

#16783 @elizabeth, we agree that it is important for Hackensack residents to attend the meeting on Thursday January 20th. Thank you for your support.

#16340 The next Zoning Board Special Meeting on Thursday January 20, 2011 is going to be a very important meeting for Hackensack residents. During the December 15th regular Zoning Board Meeting no future date after January 20, 2011 was scheduled. We know that the board was ready to vote during last month's meeting on whether or not to allow this this hospital to be built on Prospect and Summit Avenues.

We need to pack the auditorium to remind the Zoning Board before they vote on this LTACH application just how much we want the board to vote "NO".

#16038 Counsel representing Prospect Avenue residents will question the applicant's expert witness. Please attend tomorrow night:


#16056 Attached is the transcript from the October 27th Hackensack Zoning Board Special Meeting.

NORTHJERSEY.COM

Apartment complex must pay $7.4M in DWI crash
Saturday, November 20, 2010
BY KIBRET MARKOS
THE RECORD
STAFF WRITER

A jury slammed the Excelsior Apartments complex in Hackensack with a $7.4 million judgment on Friday, finding that an underage man was allowed to drink at a party there before causing a car crash that severely injured a prominent cardiologist.

"This verdict just shows you that people have no tolerance for those who serve alcohol to minors," said attorney Rosemarie Arnold, who represented the doctor, Henry Lau, in the trial in Superior Court in Hackensack.

Lau, who was a chief cardiologist at Hackensack University Medical Center, was walking his dog in the early morning hours of Dec. 27, 2006, when a speeding car hit him on Clinton Place in Hackensack and fled the scene.

The crash broke both of Lau's legs, his pelvis, back and several ribs. He also suffered severe facial injuries. He remained in the hospital and in rehabilitation for six months and underwent multiple operations, according to testimony at trial.

The driver, 20-year-old David Figueroa of Maywood, was later arrested and charged with assault-by-auto and leaving the scene of an accident. He was sentenced in May 2008 to two months in jail and five years of probation, along with 180 hours of community service.

Lau then sued the Excelsior Apartments, a pair of luxury high-rise towers on Prospect Avenue. Lau said in his lawsuit that building employees contributed to the crash by hosting a pool party where Figueroa was allowed to drink shortly before the crash.

The lawsuit also named a 21-year-old doorman, Gabriel Ortiz, alleging that he gave permission for the party to take place and allowed Figueroa to drink.

The issue before the jury was whether Ortiz was responsible for Lau's injuries because he permitted a pool party in the building.

Jurors also were asked to decide whether the Excelsior, as Ortiz's employer, was responsible for Ortiz's actions.
Jurors found liability in both cases, assigning 55 percent of the responsibility to Excelsior, 25 percent to Figueroa and 20 percent to Ortiz.

The Excelsior, however, will be responsible for the payment of the entire damages. Under a state law on "joint and several liability," a defendant who is assigned a large majority of the responsibility can be required to pay 100 percent of the damages.

Bruce Habian, the attorney who represented the Excelsior, did not return three phone messages.
The jurors awarded $5 million to Lau for pain and suffering, more than $1.7 million in compensation for lost wages and hundreds of thousands of dollars for medical expenses.

Joseph Tacopina, another one of Lau's attorneys, said Lau, who is now 66, will continue to incur medical costs.
"He is going to need a cane for the rest of his life, and he will have to sleep on a special kind of mattress because of his injuries," Tacopina said.

The jury also awarded $350,000 to Lau's wife for "loss of services." A person whose spouse is injured in such cases can sue under state law for "loss of services," a broad category that covers enjoyment lost by one spouse as a result of the other's injury.

E-mail: markos@northjersey.com

#15495

#15106 Attached is a copy of the Transcript from the August 25th Hackensack Zoning Board Special Meeting. Hope this helps you get up to speed in time for tomorrow's meeting:

#14656

NORTHJERSEY.COM

Proposed hospital protest continues
Friday, September 3, 2010
BY MARK J. BONAMO
HACKENSACK CHRONICLE
MANAGING EDITOR

HACKENSACK — Anyone expecting a summertime lull in the level of concern exhibited by Hackensack residents regarding the potential construction of a 19-story, long-term acute care hospital at Summit and Prospect avenues would have been disabused of that notion at the Aug. 25 zoning board meeting.
 

Mark J. Bonamo/Staff Photo

Hackensack residents Doris Pape, Tama Cuperman and Murray Cuperman (left to right) listen intently at the Aug. 25 zoning board meeting on the proposal to build a 19-story, long-term acute care hospital at Summit and Prospect avenues.


During public comments, local resident Alexis Palinkas asked Frank Miskovich, a traffic engineer from Birdsall Engineering who was hired by the city’s zoning board, a question that highlighted a major issue for neighbors of the proposed project. "Do you really believe that six days out of 365 gives an accurate representation of the traffic in that area?" said Palinkas, referring to the time period of a recent traffic study of the location, not far from Hackensack University Medical Center. "This is the problem – we live here 365 days a year."

Traffic, property values, quality of life and the aftermath of the recent parking garage collapse in the vicinity of the proposed hospital were among the issues brought up by crowd members.

Long-term hospital project controversial a long time

If approved, the proposed hospital would be built at 329 Prospect Ave. According to deed records, Bergen Passaic Long Term Acute Care Hospital LLC purchased the property, presently occupied by a residential home, in 2007 for $1.33 million. Company president Richard Pineles also owns Prospect Heights Care Center, a 180-bed nursing home facility close to the site, as well as Regent Care Center, a nursing home on Polifly Road.

The proposed hospital would provide a range of medical services if constructed. The 120-bed facility would have 10 floors dedicated to patient rooms, a dialysis center with 63 stations and an adult medical day-care center equipped for as many as 180 people. The facility would also include several driveways and five levels of underground parking.

City officials have stated that the project will need site plan approval, as well as more than a dozen variances in order to go forward. These include variances for use, parking and lot size. Pineles is also seeking approval to knock down two-story homes on four lots in order to build the hospital. The site is currently zoned for residential and multi-family buildings.

Pineles first proposed constructing a 24-story hospital with 140 beds and an adult day-care center equipped to handle 250 people. However, he revised the facility’s plans late last year.

Pineles has previously declined comment about the project, stating that it was company policy not to comment on a project that is pending and that is being proposed to the public.

Concerned residents speak out

More than a dozen hearings have been held regarding the proposed hospital, including some that attracted over 200 people. But the more than 70 residents present at the Aug. 25 hearing voiced a new concern about the impact of the potential project: the ongoing effect of the July 16 parking garage collapse at 300 Prospect Ave. that has left residents of the high-rise building without a home, and residents of the adjoining mid-rise building at 310 Prospect Ave. concerned about the future.

"Have you been on Prospect Avenue since the garage collapse?" said local resident Lillika Weinberger, who lives on the street. "This is a dress rehearsal of what could happen for the next three or four years if this building is going to be put up. The situation was absolutely horrendous. It’s sheer madness to think of what would happen should this building go up."

Kenneth Crusius expressed worry that the property value of his home will not go up if the hospital does. "Would you be willing to buy my house on Summit Avenue?" said Crusius.

For Prospect Avenue resident Murray Cuperman, the recent garage collapse down the block from his home only adds to his sense of trepidation about the hospital project.

"The building that collapsed had three levels of parking under it. Now, they want to build five," said Cuperman. "This makes no sense."

The next zoning board meeting on the proposal is scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 29 at City Hall, 65 Central Avenue.

E-mail: bonamo@northjersey.com