Fire Chief Robert Scheirer predicted months ago that some 50 firefighters would retire before the union\’s contract that contained a generous pension clause was set to expire Dec. 31, echoing a similar mass exodus six years ago in the police department. Now that the paperwork has settled, city officials say 42 firefighters left in 2011 — nearly one-third of the department usually staffed with about 140 firefighters. That\’s by far the most firefighter retirees in one year, second only to the departure of 80 police officers six years ago. Because the city predicted dozens of firefighters would step down to take advantage of higher pensions, officials say they were prepared and public safety won\’t be compromised. Union President John Stribula, who represents the local chapter of International Association of Firefighters, said with the retirements, the department won\’t be up to full strength for six months. Even then, new and inexperienced firefighters won\’t have the institutional knowledge of the veteran firefighters to fall back on, said Stribula, who was one of the 42 retirees.

via www.firehouse.com

Reconstruction of the Baird Boulevard Bridge is slated to begin sometime in March or April. Structural engineers determined in October that the Baird Boulevard Bridge over the Cooper River in Camden is in need of replacement due to damage caused by flooding in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene.

This year, with a still-fluid Facilities Master Plan in play — designed to eradicate the bulk of the PSD\’s more than 70,000 empty classroom seats this year by closing some schools and redrawing catchment boundaries for others — the anxiety is greater than ever.

Parents who weighed the options and chose to raise their children in Philadelphia, in the neighborhood public school system, have invested big: either financially, in properties in sought-after catchments like Penn Alexander (where housing prices have quadrupled since the school opened in 1998, according to a study by Penn\’s Urban Research Institute), or with their time, sometimes 20 or 30 hours a week devoted to improving schools their children might not even be old enough to attend for years.

via www.citypaper.net

Samantha Melamed

 PRESS RELEASE:

(12/P3) TRENTON — The Department of Environmental Protection has received a $1 million federal grant that will be used to protect ecologically sensitive wetlands parcels in Cape May County that provide habitat to migratory birds.