Keep sending videos to the FBI.
That was the mayor’s advice Tuesday to Morristown residents spooked by drones swarming like hornets across New Jersey’s nighttime skies for nearly a month.
His tip capped a busy year-end council meeting that also touched on the proposed expansion of Morristown Medical Center, protection of immigrants from deportation under President Trump, and an okay for new apartments on Spring Street that may yield extra affordable housing.
Four new police officers were sworn in, and police announced a lock-box safety program for seniors called Operation Blue Angel.
And the mayor said registration for Real I.D. cards will be simplified when the state Motor Vehicle Commission sendings a mobile unit to Morristown from Jan. 6-10, 2025. The cards will be required soon for domestic air travel.
Former Mayor Norman Bloch also was remembered. He died Monday at age 96.
CAROL OF THE DRONES
“So they don’t know what they are, they don’t know who they are, where they’re coming from. That’s the latest,” said Mayor Tim Dougherty, voicing concerns about authorities’ response to drone sightings over Greater Morristown and beyond that have spurred local anxiety and national attention.
His characterization seems on the mark. An FBI official told an astonished congressional panel on Tuesday that the agency cannot yet explain the drones or say for sure whether they pose a public threat.
The FBI is investigating with federal, state and local authorities, and has received more than 3,000 reported sightings since creating a tip line last week. (Call 1-800 225-5324 or upload photos and videos at https://tips.fbi.gov/home.)
Sightings have spread from Morris and Hunterdon counties to the Jersey Shore and as far south as Camden County. Reports also are trickling in from Staten Island and Philadelphia.
More than a dozen drones followed a Coast Guard ship on Sunday night, and authorities at Island State Park observed 50 more coming from the ocean, according to Rep. Chris Smith (R-4th Dist.).
Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-5th Dist.), a gubernatorial candidate, has introduced a federal bill to fund radar for local law enforcement agencies to monitor suspicious flying objects. Previously, he introduced legislation to criminalize dangerous uses of drones.
Another gubernatorial hopeful, state Sen. Jon Bramnick (R-21st Dist.), has urged Gov. Murphy to declare a limited state of emergency and temporarily ban all drones. Whether the governor has such authority is unclear.
One of the first confirmed sightings came on Nov. 13, 2024, near Picatinny Arsenal, the Army base in northwestern Morris County. Days later, a spate of sightings sparked intense police activity near the Spring Brook Country Club in Morris Township
The Army says whatever is buzzing the area is not from Picatinny. The Federal Aviation Administration temporarily has banned drone flights over Picatinny and the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster. Drones over Somerset County have been blamed for hindering a medevac chopper from rushing an accident victim to Morristown Medical Center.
Many unconfirmed sightings could be airplanes or hoaxes, authorities have suggested. Reports describe many of the drones as larger than those sold to hobbyists, with lights that sometimes go dark when they are tracked.
“I’ve seen them. The wingspan, they’re like, six feet. It’s pretty crazy,” Dougherty said. He voiced safety concerns for Morristown Airport, frequently used by President Trump because of its proximity to Bedminster
Dougherty said people stop him in town every day asking for updates; he said his office has been deluged with inquiries from as far as New Mexico about how to deal with drones. Gov. Murphy scheduled a briefing for mayors today, Wednesday, Dougherty added.
The mayor said he is confident authorities eventually will get to the bottom of what is overhead.
For now, he advised, “the best you can do is continue to do what you’re doing. Take videos. Send them to tips fbi.gov.”
HOSPITAL EXPANSION
A pair of residents insisted town officials demand more information from Atlantic Health about its proposed expansion of Morristown Medical Center.
“I need to know that the town council hears the concerns of myself and the neighbors, and we need accountability from Atlantic Health to solve for these concerns,” said Sarah Eddy, who lives on Franklin Street near the hospital.
Atlantic’s failure at a public meeting last month to address issues raised by residents at a prior session suggests the healthcare giant has no intention of compromising and hints of a done deal, Eddy said.
“I think the general consensus from those meetings was, you know, they showed up. ‘Here’s our plan. Take it or leave it,'” echoed her neighbor, Michael Quattro. He asked whether town officials have pushed back with Atlantic since those public presentations.
Atlantic intends to ask the town council for a zone change to allow an 11-story pavilion and a 2,500 space parking garage, among other improvements, in a five-year buildout costing nearly $1 billion. The corporation has cited a need to improve healthcare for a growing population, along with competitive pressures from rival networks.
Eddy termed Atlantic’s 274-page traffic study incomplete, noting it includes no traffic projections for Atlantic’s eventual redevelopment of properties on Madison Avenue, across from the hospital.
She also pointed out that some vehicle counts in the study were made during the pandemic, when traffic was lighter.
Traffic already makes it difficult to leave her driveway, which some motorists are using as a turnaround, Eddy said.
Atlantic intends to ask the town council for a zone change to allow an 11-story pavilion and a 2,500 space parking garage, among other improvements, in a five-year buildout costing nearly $1 billion.
The corporation has cited a need to improve healthcare for a growing population, along with competitive pressures from rival networks.
Town Administrator Jillian Barrick said town hall has been forwarding residents’ feedback to Atlantic, which she said is working to respond.
“Nothing about this is a done deal,” Barrick said.
“While the hospital, Atlantic Health, has their vision, and they would certainly love if we would all just rubber-stamp what they want, that is certainly not what Morristown does, and that’s not what we’re going to do,” she said.
IMMIGRATION
In English and Spanish, members of an immigration rights organization implored the council for a second time to endorse a state bill that could protect immigrants from deportation.
“We don’t want to see our neighbors disappear back into the shadows,” said Leandra Gerena of the Madison-based Wind of the Spirit Immigrant Resource Center.
Repeating a pitch made to the council last month, Gerna urged the governing body to support the New Jersey Immigrant Trust Act, a bill that would “clarify the distinction between federal intrusions and state and local laws and values.”
According to census data, about one-third of Morristown’s population is Hispanic.
“I feel we want them to know they can seek public services, including schools and libraries, and live safe, productive and happy lives here in Morristown without the fear of detention or deportation,” Gerena said.
Many members of Morristown’s Hispanic community hail from Central America. It’s unclear how many are undocumented.
On conservative media outlets, President-elect Trump’s new border czar has said deportations will start with undocumented migrants who pose threats to national or public security.
During the campaign, Trump spoke of involving the military. Domestic use of the armed forces is a dangerous idea, Trump’s critics have warned.
The Morristown council in 2017 unanimously declared the town a “Fair and Welcoming Community,” New Jersey’s version of a sanctuary city. That resolution stated that Morristown police and employees would not help federal immigration agents with deportations, unless required by law.
On Tuesday, Councilman Robert Iannaccone called for a resolution supporting the Immigrant Trust Act at the council’s next meeting in January. He said the bill would guarantee basic rights for all.
“It protects (migrants) from seeking services and living lives in our towns that we all have access to, and it has nothing really to do with their immigration status. It has everything to do with them as residents,” Iannaccone said.
But immigration is a “very, very, very” complex issue, said Councilman David Silva, an immigrant from Colombia and pastor of an Hispanic church. He reiterated his and the mayor’s wait-and-see stance from last month.
“I think that at this point, my advice for the members of the Latino community is to fear not,” Silva said. “We don’t know how the new administration will proceed.”
SPRING STREET
Without discussion, the council voted 6-0 to name SJP Properties, acting as M Lofts Spring Street Urban Renewal LLC , as redeveloper for “M Lofts.”
The 150-unit, five-story apartment building approved for Spring Street adjoins the M Station office complex, also built by SJP.
Thirty units at M Lofts will be designated as affordable. The town may get credit for eight more units if renovations are made to a tenement house across the street, close to the M Station traffic roundabout, said Barrick, the town administrator.
Last winter, M Lofts partners SJP and Scotto Properties presented
plans that included a makeover for the eight-unit wooden structure, which town officials think may date to the 19th century.
Habitat for Humanity is talking with the M Lofts team about acquiring that parcel and performing the renovations, Barrick said.
Residents of the tenement shared fears last spring that Scotto Properties would boot them and raze the building
Barrick said she believes tenants will be offered temporary housing during renovations, and an option to return afterwards.
NEW PROGRAM, NEW COPS
Police introduced Operation Blue Angel, a free, voluntary program for persons with serious disabilities, and seniors who live alone.
The program is intended to minimize delays, and damage to doors and windows, during life-threatening emergencies, police said.
Lock boxes will contain house keys. Access codes to open the boxes will be on file with police, and shared only with first responders when needed.
To qualify, Morristown residents must be age 55 or older, or have a medical condition that could lead to incapacitation. They must live alone on a regular basis, complete application and liability waiver forms, and designate an emergency contact person.
For more, contact police here or call 973-292-6631.
The bureau also swore in police officers Laura Starnes, Alexander Ramirez, Marisa Gavurin and Daniel Riley.
Starnes, now assigned to the patrol division, emigrated from Colombia in 2015 and became a U.S. citizen in 2021, the same year she graduated from Voorhees High School. She was inspired by her father, retired Morris Township police officer Bruce Starnes. She completed an associate degree in business at Raritan Valley Community College last year. Before pursuing a police career, Starnes briefly trained to be a corrections officer.
Ramirez, a Morris Township native, graduated from Morristown High in 2017. He then earned a criminal justice degree at East Carolina University. He graduated from the Morris County Public Safety Training Academy this year.
Gavurin was a personal trainer and a loan officer before switching to law enforcement. She is from Rockaway Township and graduated from Morris Hills High School in 2012.
2012 Morris Hills High School graduate. She is assigned to the patrol division.
Riley won honors for academic achievement at Ramapo College, where he graduated in 2019 with a 4.0 grade-point average and a degree in business administration/management, and also from the Morris County Public Safety Training Academy. He earned an associate degree in criminal justice from the County College of Morris in 2014. The Parsippany native familiarized himself with Morristown while working at The Famished Frog and Orale Mexican Restaurant. He lives in town with his wife Kasey and daughter Isla.
So much going on. i just hope that Tom Homan drops the hammer on sanctuary cities like Morristown and delivers on his promises. Fingers crossed.