PARSIPPANY — The Parsippany Hills High School Competition Cheerleading team is working hard to achieve the ultimate goal of being the first team in PHHS history to compete at the UCA National High School Cheerleading Championships in Orlando Florida. The competition is held from February 11 to February 18.
The team will first compete to qualify is the UCA Northeast Regionals in Toms River in November 11. Then if the team qualifies they continue to the National Championship.
Your support will help each girl obtain this goal and achieve this once in a lifetime cheer experience. Any amount is greatly appreciated and you will receive a receipt for your generous gift. They are hoping to raise over $15,000 to cover registration costs, qualifier costs, airfare, transportation, lodging, and meals for the team.
The National High School Cheerleading Championship (NHSCC) is the most prestigious cheerleading championship in the country. The NHSCC is held at the Walt Disney World® Resort in Orlando, Florida, and nationally televised on ESPN and ESPN2 to over 100 million homes and 32 countries nationwide each year. The Championship is also streamed live on Varsity TV on Varsity.com.
Please support the Parsippany Hills High School Competition Cheerleading team.
PARSIPPANY — The Lakeland Hills YMCA recently renewed their membership with the Parsippany Area Chamber of Commerce. Presenting their plaque was Dr. Patrick Selimo to YMCA’s Chief Executive Officer, Viktor J. Joganow.
The Lakeland Hills Family YMCA is a non-profit community service organization serving eleven municipalities throughout Morris County. It has been in continuous operation at 100 Fanny Road since 1972 catering to more than 10,000 families in the communities of Boonton, Boonton Township, Butler, Denville, Kinnelon, Lincoln Park, Montville, Mountain Lakes, Parsippany, Pequannock, and Riverdale.
The Y is a complete health, fitness and recreational facility that includes: a six-lane heated Pool, Regulation-size Gymnasium, Health & Fitness Training Center, Fitness Studio, Kids Zone, Locker Rooms (also Long-term Locker Rooms for ‘adults only’ that include Saunas and Steam Room), Marion Mann RobertsEarly Childhood Learning Center, Summer Day Camp, Outdoor Pavilion and Picnic Area with restrooms, and a colorful children’s playground. Off site, the Y operates five “Kids Club” After School Programs throughout the service area.
The Lakeland Hills Family YMCA is a community charity with a mission based on Christian principles encouraging members, individuals, and families to grow in spirit, mind and body through programs and services that promote Youth Development, Healthy Living and Social Responsibility for all. It is also the desire of this association to meet the necessities of the community by providing services to those in need regardless of their ability to pay the full cost of membership and/or programs. A large part of providing those services comes from the Annual Giving Campaign, Give a Kid the Y. This yearly event helps those (particularly children) who are less fortunate and without the financial means, a chance to participate in life enriching programs and skill development, both physical and social. Last year the Y helped more than 500 individuals and families with more than $300,000 in contributions, including Give a Kid the Y.
The Y exists to fulfill community needs and to create greater access to opportunities that promote health and wellness for everyone – a purpose that will continue for many more years to come.
For more information on Lakeland Hills YMCA, click here.
PACC is a service organization for businesses, merchants, residents, and volunteers that provides education, information, and networking opportunities to the Parsippany Area. We work with our local and county governments and stand ready to pursue any matter that can make our community a better place in which to live, conduct business, and make a living. We promote a healthy and more prosperous economic climate.
For information on Parsippany Area Chamber of Commerce, call (973) 402-6400.
PARSIPPANY — On Monday, September 25, Punia Company, announced the opening of the new patient, family-friendly, and employee Grab ‘N’ Go café and employee cardio studio located at Littleton Medical and Executive Center, 300 Littleton Road. The Grab ‘N’ Go is open from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday-Friday and features salads, sandwiches, beverages, and snacks stocked regularly by Canteen.
Situated on the third floor directly opposite the building elevator core, the Grab ‘N’ Go was one of several improvements management completed in the building. Approximately $500,000 went into constructing a cardio studio, including two treadmills, and universal weight machine. In addition, they renovated the two-story lobby and upgraded common area bathrooms and hallways. All common areas now have LED lighting. They added a tenant pylon sign at the corner of Littleton and Parsippany Roads for instant property recognition. The project was spearheaded by Punia Company’s Leasing Manager Ryan Tiger.
“We were eager to create a medical environment at 300 Littleton Road where our tenants and staff are excited to go to work each day,” Tiger said. “Moreover, we understand one of the challenges facing hospitals today is the difficulty in attracting new, young medical staff to a suburban office market. We are confident the completed renovations, especially the cardio room and Grab N’ Go, will enhance employers’ ability to attract talent.”
Littleton Medical and Executive Center is located on the corner of Littleton Road and Parsippany Road. The building is 50,000 square feet with 25,000 square feet currently available for lease, divisible to 1,000 square feeet.
The managing agent, Punia Company, is a family of private real estate investment, development, property management, construction, and design companies with offices in Livingston, New Jersey and New York City. It specializes in redeveloping medical buildings of interest and delivering unique and architecturally creative medical facilities to meet the needs of today’s professionals. While embracing the past, it puts value in the environment with the implementation of the highest quality green materials and systems.
Punia Company, LLC continues its 75+ year family legacy of excellence, as it crafts elegant spaces that exist in complete harmony with contemporary lifestyles. To learn more, click here or call (973) 699-7714
Having received the publication Pride in Parsippany Fall 2017, and after examining its contents I see no actual need to rehash what is already being printed or distributed in the mayor’s private source, “Plug into Parsippany” or the other local news sources Parsippany Focus, Patch or what is available on the official Parsippany Website. The concoction statement of “approached by residents who continued to request that the written newsletter be reinstated”, is bunk.
Certain statements of contention are simply stated as fact when they are opinions and promotions; for example our community has changed and all the services continue to remain excellent; or I am proud to report that there is NO increases in this year in your municipal taxes!
The community has changed. Waterview marketplace for example after a council No rezone Vote. The change will bring more traffic, trash, noise and degradation of a once unique neighborhood and environmentally sensitive remaining landscape important in groundwater recharge, and trees for carbon sinks, and scenic beauty. Taxpayers are surrendering $3.5 million dollars of the local open space funds for what a rude and uncaring developer forced on Parsippany residents, with the blessings and feelings of accomplishment by the mayor and town attorney who betrayed their own master plan and community. A look at a Interactive Map shows we are paying the money for a riparian zone along the Troy Brook which under a legitimate NJDEP would be considered a buffer zone.
As far as taxes I can vouch that my taxes went up $202 dollars, as they have increased every year since living here. The wonder is the mayor and council seem not to see that tax retables gained by allowing corporate development do not reduce municipal homeowners taxes. If they did Parsippany would not suffer any increases as they do. We must also remember the “fields of dreams” scam, where the BOE found over $2.5 millions dollars of our tax money and used it not for education butfor artificial turf. Mayor Barberio had attempted in the past to sanction open space funding for this, but was turned down by the voters; so he made a end run, alleging the BOE was somehow a separate entity beholding to the taxpayers.
It is a Constitutional Right that citizens of the republic everywhere have the right to know where, how their tax dollars are spent, to be transparent. 16th Amendment argument is the contention that the IRS has an affirmative duty to respond to taxpayer demands for an answer as to why taxpayers must pay.
This is not so in Parsippany citizens such as others and myself have been denied OPRA requests concerning various and numerous lawsuits incurred on Parsippany by developers who wish to change our master plan to suit them. Parsippany under Barberio/Inglesino and the present council deny Parsippany taxpayers the right to belong to a regional master plan, under the NJ Highlands water protection and Planning Act. This prevents developer’s lawsuits and maintains home rule. Rather than look into this great opportunity, which also includes lower affordable housing numbers and gives immunity from developers lawsuits, it is taboo, because it is of their opinions without objective fact finding or due diligence that we the people of Parsippany may not participate in such an advancement. How can deals be made with developers or the lawyers make money? If one thinks for a moment the simple fact of Parsippany being in a planning zone, would not the best possible planning benefit us all?
This administration has failed us in many ways, from taking too long on Forge Pond a landscape of which the 124 acres instead of 135 original offer is 109 acres of wetlands that cannot be developed anyway. The Captain Carifi ongoing scam involving Aurora securities with more wasted tax dollars in scams to maintain the power of Barberio/Inglesino and the large corporate developers who rule Parsippany leaving wasted empty developments and escaping tax burdens while the citizens pay for a quality of life degraded and with unavoidable future costs scenarios. The most obvious being our water supply being depleted and contaminated by poor land use, unnecessary and unjust developments.
Mayor Barberio need be more concerned with his municipal work force and defending Parsippany’s ordinances and master plan, that is his job. In this he has failed.
PARSIPPANY — The Pride Tournament was held in Parsippany between Friday, October 6 and Sunday, October 8. There were a total of 554 teams who attended the 2017 Parsippany Pride Invitational Tournament sponsored by Adidas at fields (including 15 Turf and Natural Grass) in Parsippany and throughout Morris County.
The Parsippany Pride Tournament the largest fall soccer tournament in the Northeast.
The 2007 Girls Blue Team (pictured above) won the Championship at the Parsippany Pride Invitational Tournament XXIX.
PARSIPPANY — Parsippany Express Cross Country (PECC) awoke to a wet, rainy week 5 during Lakeland Junior Cross Country League’s Sunday races at Morris County’s Central Park.
Thirty-six PECC team members participated in the event; of those, 23 runners beat their own personal best records. Five members of the running group placed in the Top 20 for their age groups.
The results below include: Runner, Mile Pace (provided when available), Final Time
Boys and Girls 13/14 3970 Meter Run
Amanda Hoffman 17:02.86
Justin Hoffman 17:21.95
Sneha Kondru 22:40.97
Boys and Girls 11/12 2977 Meter Run
4th Albin Mullan 11:28.15 Best time by 19 seconds!
William Lanza 14:34.21 Best time by 15 seconds!
Tommy Allen 15:22.46 (15:10 week 1)
Zach Leander 15:26.80 Best time by 8 seconds!
Nate Varughese 15:33.60 Best time by 26 seconds!
Anish Chidella 15:36.66 Best time by 48 seconds!
Dom DeMarco 16:25.30 (15:51 week 4)
Frankie Tracey 18:43.75 (18:01 week 1)
Larry Lui 20:24.28 (18:28 week 2)
Tanish Parlapall 24:13.99 (20:19 week 1)
Rebekah Marsh 24:34.03 (23:09 week 4)
Girls 9/10 2027 Meter Run
9 Chebishev, Kira 8:47.20 (8:42 week 2)
38 Metz, Meghan 9:54.80 Best time by 2 seconds!
41 Voto, Elaina 10:08.78 Best time by 24 seconds!
44 Sisco, Callie 10:15.96 Best time by 3 seconds!
50 Liu, Shyanne 10:27.76 Best time by 9 seconds!
68 Chithambaranathan, Harita 11:34.63 (11:15 week 4)
Boys 9/10 2027 Meter Run
26 Metz, Brian 9:06.66 (8:53 week 4)
27 Becher, Christopher 9:07.44 (8:43 week 3)
42 Kosovich, Mason 9:54.96 Best time by 2 seconds!
61 Parlapall, Pranav 11:19.54 Best time by 2 seconds!
73 Naik, Ishaan 12:58.46 Best time by 33 seconds!
Boys and Girls 7/8 1561 Meter Run (0.97 miles)
Kosovich, Chase 6:45.50 Best time by 14 seconds!
Vavilala, Eesha 7:36.07 Best time by 9 seconds!
Kaplan, Tyler 7:37.80 (7:32 week 2)
Whelan, Desmond 7:40.42 Best time by 10 seconds!
Kondru, Sohan 7:43.07 Best time by 9 seconds!
Thormann, Kaylee 7:48.52 (7:42 week 3)
Mullan, Anina 8:19.31 Best time by 20 seconds!
Duff, Ciera 8:35.76 (8:16 week 4)
Novitskie, Frankie 8:46.57 Best time by 3 seconds!
PARSIPPANY — The Morris County Democratic Committee filed with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission a complaint and a request for investigation of James R. Barberio and his campaign accounts, on Tuesday, October 10.
Charles Robinson, Chairman of the Morris County Democratic Committee said “The complaint alleges violations of a New Jersey regulation that guards against the use of taxpayer dollars to promote the campaigns of incumbent elected officials. The allegations levied in the complaint are serious, as are their consequences, and they would not be made if they were frivolous or not well-grounded in both fact and law. Nonetheless, it is important that the complaint be made.”
“Good, decent people like Michael Soriano will never be able to compete in fair elections in Morris County if incumbents are permitted to leverage the power of town hall for their candidacies and fund their campaigns with taxpayer dollars. Raising funds for campaigns is the most difficult, and quite frankly unenjoyable, aspect of running a campaign. We cannot stand by and watch as incumbents get a pass on this daunting task because they are able to use public funds to promote their own candidacies. Nor can we sit on our hands when faced with an egregious breach of the tremendous trust placed in our elected officials,” said Robinson.
The complaint states “Parsippany Mayor James R. Barberio (d/b/a “Team Barberio” and
“Friends of Jamie Barberio” for violation of N.J.A.C. 19:25-10.11 (b) by failing to disclose a contribution made to the Barberio Accounts by the Township of Parsippany-Troy Hills (“Township”). Both a “newsletter” published by the Township and publications on the Township’s Facebook page are “political communications” within the definition of the cited regulation, and as such the cost of the publication must be reported as an in-kind contribution from the Township to the Barberio Accounts.
Picture of Lake Parsippany on one side of the newsletter
The “newsletter” entitled “Pride in Parsippany” was received by an unknown number of Parsippany residents. It was published within 90 days of the upcoming November 7, 2017 general election – 33 days to be exact- in which Mr. Barberio is a candidate for the office of mayor of Parsippany-Troy Hills. The newsletter is entitled “Pride in Parsippany”. This phrase is a campaign slogan used by Mr. Barberio frequently and as recently the June 2017 primary election.
Last week, Democrat Michael Soriano, who is challenging two-term incumbent Republican Barberio in the general election, said he has filed an Open Public Records Act request “to determine the exact amount of taxpayer dollars spent to prepare, print and mail this publicly-funded campaign material.”
Parsippany Focus also filed a similar request with the Township Clerk, Khaled Madin, on Friday, October 6.
Soriano stated, “On behalf of the taxpayers of Parsippany, I am demanding that Mayor Barberio immediately reimburse the township for all expenses incurred in the production of this flyer.”
He added, “This is exactly the kind of mismanagement and waste that inspired me to run for office. This sort of behavior, violating the trust of Parsippany’s taxpayers, has been emblematic of Mayor Barberio’s administration. Calling out this behavior for all to see is the first step in cleaning up Parsippany.”
According to the complaint, other blatantly-political communications within the “newsletter” include:
• An article entitled “Police Sub-Station Comes To Western Parsippany” which credits Mr. Barberio with the upcoming opening of a new police facility, and features a photo of a banner for the facility with Mr. Barberio’s name prominently displayed. The article boastfully claims, among other things, that “[r]esidents in the western portion of Parsippany can rest easier as Mayor Barberio has secured a police sub-station …. ”
• An article concerning a farmer’s market which credits “Mayor Barberio’s Wellness Campaign” with formation of the market.
• An article concerning the opening of a golf driving range in which “Mayor Barberio is pleased to announce” the opening of the new range.
In addition to the mailer, the Township’s Facebook page, maintained by Township employees at taxpayer expense, appears to have been hijacked by the Mr. Barberio’s campaign organization. Sometime prior to and at all times since August 9, 2017 (90 days prior to the general election), the posts on the account have been near-completely dedicated to promoting Mr. Barberio. Too numerous to recite in their entirety. Some egregious examples of posts promoting Mr. Barberio include:
• “Throughout his term as Mayor, Mayor Barberio has made preservation of open space a priority.” (20 September at 09:18).
• “Throughout his term as Mayor, Mayor Barberio has made preservation of open space a priority.” (20 September at 09:18).
• “Labor Day message from Mayor James Barberio – The Township of Parsippany-Troy Hills ranks as the 5th Best Place to live in America. The Township received this ranking because of the combined efforts of my administration and the township employees.” (4 September).
Parsippany-Troy Hills Township Facebook page maintained by Township employees
A “political communication” as defined by N.J.A.C. 19:25-10.10(b), is:
A written statement, pamphlet … or other printed matter or statement, communication, … or an advertisement delivered or accessed by electronic means, including, but not limited to, the Internet, that does not contain an explicit appeal . . . for the election or defeat of a candidate … if it meets the following conditions:
The communication is circulated or broadcast within 90 days of the date of any election in which the candidate on whose behalf the communication is made is seeking nomination for election or elected office;
The communication is circulated or broadcast to an audience substantially comprised of persons eligible to vote for the candidate on whose behalf the communication was made;
The communication contains a statement or reference concerning the governmental or political objectives or achievements of the candidate;
The production, circulation or broadcast of the communication, or any cost associated with the production, circulation or broadcast of the communication, has been made in whole or in part with the cooperation of, prior consent of, in consultation with, or at the request or suggestion of the candidate.
Mayor James Barberio did not respond for request to comment for this article.
PARSIPPANY — Recently it was reported by a resident that the video on the Township of Parsippany-Troy Hills website (parsippany.net), for the Township Council meeting of October 3, 2017 stated “Video was not exist.” Parsippany Focus obtained the video through an Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request.
Township website containing links to Council Meeting videosThe original page the video of October 3 was linked to.
We did check the Township website on Sunday, when it was first reported and the video was not available. We also checked on Monday, October 9 (Township offices were closed for the holiday) and the video was not available. We checked again on Tuesday morning at approximately 11:00 a.m. and the video was not available. At that time, we made our OPRA request. When we published the video on our website, we checked again, and the video was working on parsippany.net.
MORRIS COUNTY — Cheerleaders living in Parsippany, Whippany, Hanover, Morristown, Florham Park, and other areas in Morris/Essex Counties are taking a stand against bullying throughout October in honor of National Bullying Prevention Month.
The Cheer Pride Junior Level 2 athletes wore blue on Monday, October 3 to promote the importance of kindness and inclusion, and to kick off Cheer Pride’s month-long bullying prevention campaign.
Cheer Pride is a cheerleading and gymnastics center at 31 Leslie Court, Whippany.
The facility serves youths living in the Northern New Jersey area, and promotes a family, positive atmosphere focused on high-quality training and fun, disciplined programming in a safe environment.
PARSIPPANY — The Parsippany Hills High School Competition Cheerleading team is working hard to achieve the ultimate goal of being the first team in PHHS history to compete at the UCA National High School Cheerleading Championships in Orlando Florida. The competition is held from February 11 to February 18.
Dear Editor:
