Springfield Year in Review: The Biggest News Stories

Hurricane Irene

Springfield has always been prone to flooding, so some overflow during tropical storm Irene wasn’t surprising. The extent of damage to Springfield homes and other structures certainly was, though. Ave., Washington Ave. and Alvin Terrace were hit particularly hard by floodwaters, with residents needing to be rescued by boat from their homes. In addition, large parts of Springfield were or .

Springfield was a national news sensation in early October when media outlets picked up on a Patch report that two Springfield elementary schools had banned Halloween costumes during class time. The rule was later rescinded, but not before collecting hundreds of comments throughout the web. 

The snow wasn’t such a big deal on its own. It was the timing of the snow that made it an ordeal. The trees weren’t ready for the extra weight of the snow, and branches and limbs came crashing down throughout Springfield, taking out structures and power lines and closing down streets. And, only two months after Irene, Springfield residents again had to cope with power loss.

It’s been a tumultuous couple of years for the Springfield police department. After unpopular chief William Chisholm retired from the force, Captain Pete Davis became officer in charge of the department. Well liked by his officers and seemingly reform minded, Davis abruptly resigned from his position and retired from the force after the Springfield Township Committee appeared to decline to make him chief. The Union County Prosecutor’s office assumed responsibility for the force. After Karl Riley, the Prosecutor’s office Captain in charge of the force retired at the end of 2010, Springfield Police Captain John Cook became Officer in Charge of the Department. Cook, a , built on the improvements made by Davis and was installed as the first Chief of the Springfield police since 2009.

RVSA in General Tax Fund

A hot-button issue of the previous campaign, Rahway Valley Sewerage Authority fee collection was resolved early in 2011. The fees, which had been collected from residents in a separate utility bill for the first and only time in 2010, were r. After a scuttled the separate fee, the 2011 Democrat-run committee kept the fee in the general budget. 

After spending a year as the youngest Mayor in New Jersey, Republican Ziad Shehady lost his bid for reelection to Township Committee. His year off the Committee wasn’t spent far from Town Hall. Shehady was a common presence at town hall meetings and around town, videotaping meetings and broadcasting them on his website. After a low profile political season, Shehady squeaked by Mayor Hugh Keffer in the general election, resetting the balance of power on the board to the Republicans after a year of Democratic leadership. 

School districts are legally required to provide transportation or aid in lieu of transportation to students attending schools outside of the district. In light of Springfield schools receiving no state aid and needing to balance an impossible-seeming budget, the Springfield School Board voted to withhold the money from parents of students needing transportation to out-of-district schools.The move was met with outrage by those parents, and the district ultimately voted to reinstate the aid after state officials ruled they .

 Springfield’s Board of Adjustment had to rule on whether T-Mobile could build a new cell phone tower on property owned by Springfield’s Knights of Columbus club. The issue was under the radar of most Springfield residents, but homeowners in the nearby Summit neighborhoods opposed the project with vocal passion. After months of hearings, the Board of Adjustments voted against the construction of the 175 foot tower.