EnviroPolitics Blog

‘Pretty much scared to death’: After two large quakes, Calif. residents on edge

Firefighters battle an electrical fire in a mobile home park in Ridgecrest, Calif. (AFP/Getty Images) — Firefighters battle an electrical fire in a mobile home park in Ridgecrest. (AFP/Getty Images)

By Washington Posts‘ Kayla Epstein and Ariana Eunjung Cha

Two days of intermittent shaking punctuated by the most significant earthquakes California has seen in years have left residents “scared to death.”

Warnings that Southern California’s July Fourth earthquake could be followed by a more intense seismic event came true Friday night when a 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck at 8:19 p.m. local time about 125 miles northeast of Los Angeles.

The epicenter was in a remote area about 10 miles northeast of Ridgecrest, Calif., a city of 28,000 that had already declared a state of emergency after a nearby 6.4-magnitude temblor hit on Thursday. Its residents, startled from the first quake, were jolted into a new level of anxiety by Friday’s severe follow-up, and a persistent “swarm” of aftershocks is expected to torment them for days, if not weeks.

“We’re pretty much scared to death,” said Nancy Pace, 66, who runs the Bake My Day pastry business and feared that another large quake could hit at “any second.”

[A 6.4-magnitude earthquake shook California. Now comes the ‘swarm’ of aftershocks.]

Pace and her roommate “were getting slammed back and forth between the walls” during the earthquake Friday night — one of the biggest in California history — and had been so afraid of her home collapsing from a subsequent quake that they slept outside on air mattresses along with their neighbors. But it was far from a restful sleep.

“Every time I tried to doze off we had another earthquake,” she said.

Friday night’s earthquake was 11 times stronger than that original disturbance, and U.S. Geological Survey geophysicist Paul Caruso said that the region could expect to feel stronger aftershocks as a result. It was part of a “swarm” of earthquakes that had hit the region, located west of the Mojave Desert. Because it was larger than the 6.4 earthquake that struck Thursday, Friday’s quake would be considered the main shock, Caruso said.

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Related news:

3,000 earthquakes since July 4, more big ones likely coming

ALEX WIGGLESWORTH reports for the Los Angeles Times

Shalyn Pineda, regional supervisor of Kern County’s libraries, picks up books at Ridgecrest Library after Thursday’s 6.4 earthquake dislodged bookshelves. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)1 / 20

Southern California could experience another sizable earthquake over the next week, seismologists said Saturday.

The U.S. Geological Survey has calculated a 27% probability the region will be hit by a magnitude 6 or greater quake in the coming days, according to Caltech seismologist Egill Hauksson,

“That probability is over the next week, but it is mostly packed into the hours and days after the main shock,” Caltech seismologist Doug Given said.

In other words, the probability that we will experience another earthquake of magnitude 6 or higher is dropping by the minute, he said.

“Every minute that ticks by, it becomes less likely,” he said.

The heightened seismic activity comes in the aftermath of a 7.1 magnitude quake that hit near the town of Ridgecrest, about 125 miles northeast of Los Angeles, on Friday night. That was preceded by a 6.4 magnitude earthquake in the same area the morning of the Fourth of July. Scientists are now calling that a foreshock.

Since the Fourth, Caltech seismologists have detected at least 3,000 smaller earthquakes.

Those include 340 earthquakes with a magnitude greater than 3, 52 with a magnitude greater than 4, and six with a magnitude greater than 5, Hauksson said Saturday.

In total, this earthquake sequence is expected to generate about 34,000 aftershocks with a magnitude 1 or greater over the next six months, he said.

This week’s earthquakes were the strongest to hit the area in 20 years. No deaths or major injuries have been reported, but homes and roadways were damaged, particularly in the Ridgecrest area.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has requested a presidential emergency declaration for the affected regions.

With the fear of more aftershocks, Jimmy and Jackie Roberts are taking no chances of staying in their home.

The couple was assembling a 20-foot-by-10-foor canopy at their home on Desert Candles Street. They last used the blue canopy at their wedding 10 years ago and plan to put a tent and air conditioner under it.

“We’re staying in it for the next three days,” she said. “We have to keep our three dogs and four birds safe.”

She said the couple and many neighbors slept in their cars last night on the street. “We were all out there,” she said. “We were afraid.” Her biggest fear, she said, is another quake will hit and people will run out of water in the 90-degree temperatures. She also expects more neighbors to sleep in tents or cars until dangers clear. “My other neighbor is buying a camper today,” she added.

Ridgecrest Mayor Peggy Breeden said she encourages residents to take safety precautions over the next few days until the seismic activity subsides. She said the town shouldn’t suffer any long-term consequences from the last several days. She doesn’t believe residents will flee to other cities.

“We’re used to this,” she said after a news conference. “We live in the earthquake capital of the world, so I’m told. Our people are strong.”

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Former State Senator Alene Ammond, The Terror Of Trenton, Dies At 86

Senate Democrats once tossed the rebel from their caucus

David Wildstein reports for New Jersey Globe

Alene Ammond, known as the “Terror of Trenton” during her four years representing Camden County in the New Jersey State Senate, has died. She was 86.

Ammond, a 40-year-old Cherry Hill activist, was elected to the Senate in 1973 to represent the 6th district.

Senate Democrats didn’t like her because she talked to the press too much, often revealing what senators said in the closed-door caucus.

Ammond started out as part of an organization called the Cherry Hill League, a watchdog group that one local official referred to as a “nit-picking body.” Her partner in that group was Rose Marie Hospodor, who would someday become Pallone’s mother-in-law. In 1967, Ammond ran for Cherry Hill councilwoman and finished 11th in a field of 12 candidates.

In 1973, two factions of the Camden County Democrats were at war. Cherry Hill Democratic Municipal Chairman Jack Gasparre was preparing to challenge County Chairman James Joyce, and both put up opposing slates in the June primary. Camden Mayor Angelo Errichetti was part of the Gasparre faction.

Joyce backed Ammond for State Senate, while Gasparre’s candidate was 33-year-old Jack Jehl, a former assistant Camden County prosecutor who was then the Voorhees solicitor.

The Republican incumbent, John Miller (R-Cherry Hill), was seeking his third term in the State Senate. The newly-drawn 6th district appeared solidly Republican in the early in those days; it included suburban Camden County towns, as well as Evesham and Palmyra in Burlington County. Noteworthy is that the incumbent Governor, William Cahill, and former Gov. Alfred Driscoll both lived in the 6th.

Still, Miller had his own political problems. His running mate, Assemblyman William Dickey, a former Assembly Speaker, had tried to dump Miller and get the Senate nomination for himself.

Ammond defeated Jehl by 504 votes, 53%-47%. Her two Assembly running mates, Mary Keating Croce, the sister of the county clerk, and 28-year-old Jack Gallagher, also won the primary – Gallagher by 286 votes.

The general election came not long after the Saturday Night Massacre, when Richard Nixon fired Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox. 1973 was a blowout year for Democrats, winning 30 Senate seats and 66 Assembly seats.

Ammond beat Miller by 3,248 votes, 53%-47%. Keating Croce and Gallagher ousted Dickey and incumbent Eugene Raymond.

Just a few weeks after joining the Senate, Ammond had already gone off the reservation. She charged Senate President Frank Dodd had a personal conflict of interest in the creation of an energy study commission because he wanted to skew the results.

Ammond got into a fight with Joyce over fundraiser. The county chairman brought in U.S. Senator Henry Jackson and Gov. Brendan Byrne for a fundraising to pay off Ammond’s campaign debts. By February, Ammond had accused Joyce of trying to pocket the money and asked that all proceeds go to her campaign directly

The deal, Joyce said at the time, is that she would sell 200 tickets for $50 each. He said that Ammond barely sold any, and the ones she did sell were at cost ($16). He refused to give her any money.

Ammond also took issue with a fundraising letter Joyce sent out saying that he secured a seat for her on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

By March, she was in the middle of a probe by Camden County Prosecutor Thomas Shusted over petitions filed by her Cherry Hill change of government petition she backed in 1972.

When Camden Democrats wanted freeholder Thomas Higgins to replace Shusted as county prosecutor, Ammond used her senatorial courtesy to block him. She also blocked Democratic appointments to the Delaware River Port Authority. Ammond called on the State Commission of Investigation (SCI) to investigate the deal Joyce made to get Higgins named prosecutor. Higgins wound up withdrawing.

She tried to open the caucus to the press.

By January 1975, Senate Democrats had enough. Ammond was barred from attending the Democratic caucus. They stripped her of her senatorial courtesy. She was removed from the Judiciary Committee. And they launched an internal probe into her conduct as a senator.

Dodd said that all Ammond did was try to grab headlines. She said the senators were retaliating against her because she was a reformer. Ammond said that she felt physically threatened by State Sen. William Vincent Musto (D-Union City).

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5.1 magnitude earthquake strikes near Bella Bella, British Columbia, no reports of damage

By Jessica Vomiero National Online Journalist Global News

An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.1 has been reported near Bella Bella, B.C., according to Earthquakes Canada.

The earthquake struck at approximately 5:58 a.m. local time, and there have been no reports of damage.

There have been a number of earthquake reports in this region since the beginning of June, ranging from 3.1 to 5.8 in magnitude.

More to come.

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Southern California rocked by the biggest earthquake in years

By Rong-Gong Lin II, Karen Kaplan, Alejandra Reyes-Velarde and Harriet Ryan of the Los Angeles Times

The largest earthquake in two decades rattled Southern California on Thursday morning, shaking communities from Las Vegas to Long Beach and ending a quiet period in the state’s seismic history.

Striking at 10:33 a.m., the magnitude 6.4 temblor was centered about 125 miles northeast of Los Angeles in the remote Searles Valley area near where Inyo, San Bernardino, and Kern counties meet. It was felt as far away as Ensenada and Mexicali in Mexico, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Reno and Chico, Calif. A 5.4 magnitude aftershock awoke many Friday morning.

Authorities said there were no immediate reports of deaths, serious injuries or major infrastructure damage, though emergency responders were still inspecting areas around the city of Ridgecrest.

Patients at Ridgecrest Regional Hospital were evacuated “out of an abundance of caution,” hospital Chief Executive James Suver said. About 20 patients were transferred to other facilities while seismic engineers inspected broken pipes in the facility. “For true emergencies, we will stabilize them and then get them to the right level of care,” he said.

Ridgecrest, a community of about 29,000 known to many skiers as a pit stop on the way to Mammoth, was inundated with offers of help, from neighboring towns, congressional leaders such as Rep. Kevin McCarthy and Sen. Kamala Harris and even the White House, Mayor Peggy Breeden said.

FULL COVERAGE: 6.4 July 4 Southern California earthquake »

”With all this cooperation … we expect we will be able to move on to this and not see too many awful things happen,” Breeden said.

The quake, estimated to have been felt by some 15 million people, was the largest with an epicenter in Southern California since the magnitude 7.1 Hector Mine quake struck the Mojave Desert in 1999, about 35 miles north of Twentynine Palms Marine Corps base. The last earthquake felt as widely as Thursday’s was the magnitude 7.2 earthquake on Easter Sunday 2010 that had an epicenter across the border in Baja California.

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Before Thursday, it had been almost five years since the state experienced an earthquake of magnitude 6 or stronger. Experts had said the period of calm was sure to end, and when it did it would likely bring destruction.

The sparsely populated location of the Searles Valley quake appeared to mitigate the damage. A similar temblor, such as 1994’s magnitude 6.7 Northridge quake, in the Los Angeles basin would have undoubtedly meant deaths and severe property damage.

The rocking in Searles Valley began with two foreshocks: an initial quake of magnitude 4 at 10:02 a.m. Seven minutes later, a 2.5 temblor struck. About 24 minutes later, the mainshock began seven miles underground, lasting five seconds.

A swarm of 1,000 earthquakes hit Southern California — how nervous should we be? »

The quake hit as children were putting on a Fourth of July performance at Burroughs High School in Ridgecrest, Vicki Siegel said.

“The kids were crying and scared. And so I don’t know what kind of damage was done inside the building but we all got out,” she said. “They probably all have PTSD now.”

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When was the last earthquake felt in New Jersey?

According to Patch staffer Tom Davis,
A 1.8 magnitude earthquake was recorded in New Jersey on Friday. The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was at a depth of 5.2 kilometers, or 3.2 miles, and originated in the Clifton area just before noon.

Just three days earlier, on April 9, a 3.0 magnitude earthquake was recorded off the coast of Long Island, but the effects of it were felt in several states, including New Jersey. The U.S. Geological Survey said that quake was at a depth of 7.1 kilometers, or 4.4 miles, about 33 miles off the coastline. It was among the biggest to impact New Jersey since a 5.8 earthquake in 2011 was felt up and down the East Coast, and caused damage to hundreds of homes and structures.

According to the USGS website, more than 150 responses were logged saying that April 9 earthquake had been felt. The Northeast States Emergency Consortium said it received reports of the earthquake’s effects felt in the Matawan area, the Wood Ridge area, and the Trenton area.

Southern California rocked by the biggest earthquake in years Read More »

Salena Carroll Lesniak, Wife Of Former State Senator, Dies at 43

By Karen Wall, Patch Staff

Raymond Lesniak and Salena Carroll Lesniak at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival. (Noam Galai/Getty Images)

BRICK, NJ — Friends and family are mourning the death of Salena Carroll Lesniak, wife of former state senator Raymond Lesniak, who died Wednesday.

Salena Lesniak was 43, the New Jersey Globe reported. The couple had been partners for 20 years before marrying in 2018, and she died at the couple’s home in Ocean County, the report said. The Lesniaks have a home in Brick Township, according to property records; it was at that home where she died, Patch has learned.

Salena Lesniak had been chairman of the New Jersey Civil Rights Commission, and had led the Bureau of Domestic Preparedness in Union County’s Office of Emergency Management, and was the special assistant to the Union County manager, the Globe report said.

Gov. Phil Murphy issued a statement announcing her death Wednesday afternoon, saying, “Salena was a class act and, along with Ray, a tireless advocate for countless New Jerseyans who needed a champion.”

“If a life is to be measured by the positive impact it had on others, Salena led a full life, indeed,” Murphy said. “Tammy and I send our warmest thoughts to Senator Lesniak and all who held Salena dear.”Subscribe

Raymond Lesniak, 73, served as a state senator for New Jersey’s 20th District from June 1983 through December 2018. He ran for the Democratic nomination for governor against Murphy, John Wisniewski, and Jim Johnson but finished fourth in the primary.

Further information was not immediately available.

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A mega-metropolis is developing in Sayreville, NJ

Riverton in Sayreville will be one of the largest mixed-use projects in New Jersey history. – NORTH AMERICAN PROPERTIES

By Linda Lindner, NJBIZ

Anyone who has traveled in or through New Jersey heading “down the shore” from the north almost certainly has traversed the Driscoll Bridge in Sayreville and no doubt has been witness to the 418 acres of brownfield that sits on its southern end.

The environmental remediation site is the former National Lead Industries property, previously being marketed as “The Pointe” by O’Neill Properties Group out of Philadelphia. O’Neill had obtained initial approvals from state and local authorities in 2014, including financial support from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) through the Economic Redevelopment and Growth Program. Based on a lack of progress toward development of the enclosed regional mall that was the centerpiece of The Pointe, in 2017 North American Properties was engaged by the designated redeveloper, Sayreville Seaport Associates, to create an updated master plan and position the property for a development start. North American Properties hired Cooper Robertson Partner John Kirk, one of the country’s leading urban designers (and a Maplewood resident), to lead the master planning efforts for Riverton.

North American Properties, a multi-regional real estate development company, took over development of the location hoping to turn it into the largest mixed-use project in the state. NAP announced plans to build a mixed-use, village-style development dubbed “Riverton.”

Together, Cooper Robertson and North American Properties worked to create the Riverton vision and craft a master plan, a new waterfront development along two miles of shoreline in Middlesex County along the Raritan River, and less than 20 miles away from Manhattan.

Riverton is a 400+ acre development along two uninterrupted miles of the Raritan River coastline. – NORTH AMERICAN PROPERTIES

North American Properties says the future development project should be thought of as “America’s next great hometown.” It will be a metropolis-meets-mega-town square with spectacular river views, and is expected to bring more housing, retail and entertainment space, along with hotels, offices and other commercial uses, to a Middlesex County town that hasn’t experienced a revitalization.

The $2.5 billion mixed-use development is expected to create a fully walkable city layout with over 2 million square feet of retail and an infusion of restaurants, 2,000 residential units, Class-A office space, hotels, parks, and a 200-slip marina. Additionally, planned civic services include a fire station, performing arts spaces and a public walkway along the entire riverfront. It will become a place to experience the best of New Jersey. Where land meets water; where small-town quaint meets shore-town casual.

The Riverton peninsula has ready access to and from major vehicular arteries like the Garden State Parkway, U.S. Route 9, and State Route 35, with more than 372,500 vehicles per day travelling past the site. Riverton is positioned to be a beating heart of the area. Mark Toro, NAP’s managing partner, called it an access nirvana with the three major highways all feeding into the pipeline of the site. Additionally, public transportation hubs are within a short drive that connects the community to New York and Philadelphia as well as Boston and Washington, D.C. A ferry terminal in South Amboy is also on the way, just a few miles east of Riverton, which will provide boat service to Lower Manhattan and the Financial District.

Riverton will be a connection point to unite the best of New Jersey whether you arrive by boat or car, bike or bus. – NORTH AMERICAN PROPERTIES

Once completed, Riverton will be the largest mixed-use development in New Jersey’s history.

The contaminated National Lead Industries property sat dormant for decades. Redeveloper Sayreville Seaport Associates spent years remediating the land, starting in 2009. And NAP says the ground has been moving on the site and the first of the retail stores should be a reality within the next two years. Many approvals are still required from state and local agencies, but the first phases of construction are scheduled to begin in spring 2020, with Bass Pro Shop being one of the first planned openings in 2021.

Toro, a New Jersey native and Rutgers University graduate who is now based in Atlanta, said: “We create great, walkable places that connect people to each other; cities to their souls … and individuals to experiences that move them.” Toro said the area is going to be a dwelling place with plenty of experiences for people to come and stay, be entertained and have fun.

The existing bulkhead, which was used for industrial barge deliveries, is to become the place where Riverton’s guests can connect most directly to the river, and an important public gathering spot in the mixed-use village, which is scheduled to open in 2022, with a combination of 460 luxury apartments and 81,000 square feet of creative and collaborative office space over retail and restaurants. A full-service hotel and conference center, Class-A office tower and waterfront townhomes will soon follow.

Riverton will be a new waterfront development in Sayreville in Middlesex County. – NORTH AMERICAN PROPERTIES

Riverton will be designed for a variety of age groups and will offer housing at a variety of price points. The rental rates will be competitive with the newest highly amenitized apartment homes in desirable locations in Middlesex and Monmouth counties.

Riverton is poised to provide an opportunity to serve the New York/New Jersey market, which is home to 16 million people, providing the next generation of commercial real estate, which is “experiential mixed-use.” The size and scale of Riverton enables NAP the “freedom to curate and deploy a full array of uses that will serve to energize the property 18 hours a day,” Toro remarked in a recent interview.

What does this mean for Sayreville?

Riverton will energize the area economically by bringing in new retail, restaurant, office and hotel options. It should generate thousands of local jobs including construction jobs as the project is built, as well as retail and service positions once businesses open. It will also reinforce Sayreville as a destination by creating a new downtown for the way people live, work and play today.

The team at NAP apparently knows how to create dynamic mixed-use environments that become the community’s “third place” — an area to gather outside of home and work that fosters human connection and plays host to meaningful experiences in real life.

For Sayreville and the rest of New Jersey, Riverton will not disappoint.

NAP has proven in many of its other projects that it can capture and hold the human energy its environments create. The firm’s professionals combine the right mix of uses, layer in community gathering spaces, deliver resort-level hospitality and activate the public realm with events to create even more energy and driving value for all components.

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