January 5
...serving up your daily dish.
If you've been wondering about the two new bus shelters on Bellevue Ave, kudos are due to a group of private citizens and members of the Upper Montclair Business Association, for the financing and construction of the beautiful structures. UMBA's Valerie Fischer and Eileen Sheehan, who masterminded the idea, first proposed that the old, rotting bus shelters,"eyesores in the community", should go. The new shelters became the focus of the UMBA's 2005 beautification efforts. DeCamp Bus Lines were the first to endorse the project with a "generous" check, followed by Nutley businessman, Frank Turano, of Kitchens by Turano. 
"Montclair has been good to me, and I wanted to give back to the community," Turano told the Baristanet. John Way provided the architectural plans. "The response was wonderful (to the first shelter) so we immediately went to work on a fundraising campaign for the second one," Sheehan told us. Contributions from local businesses, individuals, and a small grant from the town sealed the deal for the second construction. A celebration and ribbon cutting ceremony is planned for the spring.
January 5, 2006 in Only in Montclair | Permalink
This is very good. Way to go, UMBA. I doubt there's a whiner among you. Terrific precedent for improving the town, as opposed to bitching and moaning about it, or having the town lavish taxpayers' money on red bricks and such. I hope others are inspired by your initiative.
Posted by: walleroo | Jan 5, 2006 12:34:14 PM
Note to DeCamp: What are we (in Verona)? Chopped liver? We need bus shelters, too!
Posted by: Miss Martta (8T) | Jan 5, 2006 12:43:07 PM
From the looks of these two shelters, I expect to find folks in Elizabethan dress there waiting for a coach to take them to the Globe. Not bad at all, and perhaps reason "enow" (to get all Shakespearean-Websterian here) to temper the criticism of DeCamp, which is surely very hard-pressed lately.
Posted by: cathar (8T) | Jan 5, 2006 1:11:23 PM
GR should also take heed. The eyesore at the corner of Blfd and Ridgewood really needs to be replaced. It ought to be part of the Glen project.
Posted by: Lurkerlady | Jan 5, 2006 1:56:40 PM
GR should also take heed. The eyesore at the corner of Blfd and Ridgewood really needs to be replaced. It ought to be part of the Glen project.
Posted by: Lurkerlady | Jan 5, 2006 1:58:14 PM
The few shelters in Bloomfield are so bad (especially across from the highschool) that we would gladly take the throw-aways from Montclair! I guess this is what they mean by the trickle-down theory.
Posted by: todd | Jan 5, 2006 4:08:01 PM
Todd: At least you HAVE shelters! (I know, I sound like one of the 4 Yorkshiremen from Monty Python). Not that I'm a wimp, but it would be nice on those rainy, snowy, icy cold days to wait for the bus in a shelter, no matter what it looks like.
Posted by: Miss Martta (8T) | Jan 5, 2006 4:10:40 PM
Martta - why dont you get a group of citizens together and do something about it? That's what this group did.
My guess is that Decamp donated to Montclair specifically because their company is located here, so they have some allegiance to the city. But, that doesnt mean that if a similar Association formed in Verona that they woudlnt donate there.
Take the lead!
Posted by: Butch | Jan 5, 2006 4:16:20 PM
The shelter in Verona by The Park and Lakeside Avenue was sponsored by an organization (not sure which one) just like the one in Caldwell at the corner of Bloomfield Avenue and Roseland Avenue (sponsored by The Lions Club). The steel and glass shelters that NJ Transit puts up are used for advertising space. It's not likely that DeCamp had anything to do with any shelters. DeCamp is also not as rigid as NJT about "official stops" since their drivers will drop you off pretty much anywhere you ask.
Posted by: Krys | Jan 5, 2006 4:47:29 PM
Hate to burst your bubbles, but I just saw both shelters listed on the MLS for Essex county as "One Bedroom, Zero bath English Tudors. Open floor plans. Very close to NYC transportation. Asking price is $650,000 (taxes are $17.5K)." Let the bidding wars begin.
Posted by: Conan the Grammarian | Jan 5, 2006 5:59:59 PM
It's small, but you could probably bump out the back...
Posted by: walleroo | Jan 5, 2006 6:51:01 PM
I too take the DeCamp bus, but I don't expect nor do I want bus shelters at every stop along Broad Street. Buck up and buy an umbrella.
Posted by: Maureen-a Bloomfield Resident | Jan 5, 2006 8:20:06 PM
Put a bunch of those tudors together and you could have.....a new Marlboro Inn
Posted by: PAZ06 | Jan 5, 2006 11:01:28 PM
Love that, PAZ06. That's where the Marlboro Inn went!
Posted by: The Barista | Jan 6, 2006 12:06:01 AM
> Put a bunch of those tudors together and you could have ...
... a new Midgetville to be featured in Weird New Jersey?
http://www.weirdnj.com/stories/_roadside04.asp
Posted by: Chris | Jan 6, 2006 12:16:23 PM
Krys,
"The shelter in Verona by The Park and Lakeside Avenue was sponsored by an organization (not sure which one) just like the one in Caldwell at the corner of Bloomfield Avenue and Roseland Avenue (sponsored by The Lions Club)."
This shelter was built and maintained by the Verona Lions Club back in the early 1960's. It once had the emblem of that oranization attached to the inner wall, above the bench.
Posted by: One for the Road | Jan 6, 2006 7:58:41 PM
