The Record from Hackensack, New Jersey • L2

LOCAL NEWS SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2014 L-2 THE RECORD District gets gift of 4,000 books Little Falls to seek status as transit village Closed school gives to Englewood transit village designation in 2008 and then again in 2010. Former Mayor Michael DeFrancisci revived talks in 2011 because he felt the designation would help downtown businesses grow. New Jersey has 28 municipali Vicki Faithful-Hill, a Dwight Morrow High School library clerk, said she plans to add classical literature and black history books included in the donation to the high school's library. She said the donation was one of the largest she has seen since she began working for the district. "Any time you can replenish the stock of those books, that's a plus," Faithful-Hill said.

Marsha Howard, principal at D.A. Quarles Early Childhood Center, said she hopes to receive informational non-fiction books, as the Common Core State Standards Initiative is moving toward incorporating informational texts into the curriculum. "You can never have too many books," she said. Email: nodanorthjersey.com schools in our district have access to the books," said Bell. "We're also opening to the Englewood on the Palisades charter school and other institutions after we have gone through the sorting if they are interested.

We think this is very important and are grateful for the contribution." The books were donated by St. John the Evangelist School, a pre-K-8 private school that closed last year. A representative from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark confirmed that the school closed. St. John the Evangelist Parish, which ran the school, is still open.

Dolores Williams, a library clerk at McCloud Elementary School, said the donation was By STEPHANIE NODA STAFF WRITER ENGLEWOOD The school district now has 4,000 more books at its disposal after a Leo-nia private school donated its entire library collection. District library clerics began sorting through the new collection of books in midmonth. It is housed temporarily at the St. Cecilia Interparochial School, the site of the district's EAGLE Program, an alternative high school. Two groups of students the National Honor Society from Dwight Morrow High School and alternative high school students, dubbed "Eagle Ambassadors" will sort through the books, said Joseph Bell, principal of the EAGLE Program.

"We're making sure all the Festival From Page L-l ing Slovis around the set of "Breaking Bad" to become a director in her own right. She now directs "Criminal Minds," the long-running police show on CBS. In their comments to about 100 students and parents at University Hall, Slovis and Belsey stressed the essential but humdrum qualities that distinguish successful directors from unsuccessful ones. It's not the genius auteur who walks on the set and demands that the artistic vision be fulfilled. Rather, directors who succeed are the ones who simply get the job done, on time and on budget, every time.

"Your big problem is not how to make a piece of art. It's getting it done at all," Slovis said, as Belsey nodded. "You never have enough money, and you never have enough time. You still have to finish your episode in eight days. If you don't do that, you're gone." In the grueling push just to finish work on time, high-minded expectations may actually get in the By LINDSEY KELLEHER STAFF WRITER LITTLE FALLS Township officials will soon ask the state Department of Transportation to designate the municipality a transit vil lage.

Mayor Darlene Post told members of the township's business association during its meeting last week that municipal officials are working on the final phase of an ordinance for transit-village zoning POST near the NJ Transit bus corridor on Main Street and the train station on Union Boulevard. The proposed transit-village district would favor mixed-use buildings and walkways. The goal is to make the township more pedestrian-friendly. The initiative would aim to improve the aesthetics of the sidewalks and buildings in the center of town to encourage more foot traffic. The transit-village zoning district isn't official yet, but according to the draft of the ordinance, it would extend from the Vance Kitira industrial building on Main Street to East Main Street.

Post said the municipality hopes to adopt the ordinance before the end of the year. The township will then submit an application to the DOT early in 2015. "We should get the designation. I feel very confident that by the spring, summer or fall we'll see changes," Post said. The transit village ordinance is drafted to have commercial and residential uses.

Township Administrator Charles Cuccia told the Township Council during its Nov. 10 meeting that the ordinance is very specific to the variety of properties involved, but that there are other issues to be addressed. These include parking, how a transit village designation would affect the township's state-mandated obligation to promote low- and moderate-income housing and how storm water would be managed. Little Falls started discussing a made possible by Mary Jane Murray, a world culture teacher at McCloud who contacted the parish. Williams said the donation will "help tremendously" by replenishing the elementary school's stock of books.

Some books were editions that library staff was already looking to purchase for the library. Interim Superintendent Michael Roth said teachers from the entire district plan to take advantage of the donation, which includes chapter books, novels and textbooks. "Students are provided with a wider selection of books to choose from," said Roth. "It gives them a better variety. We're quite happy with the selection." school, Belsey created her first national TV commercial.

She felt like she was on her way, she said. But then the commercial work dried up and her dreams evolved, and Belsey wanted to direct TV shows. It took years of internships before she got to direct her first scene of "Breaking Bad." "People don't talk about it much, but a lot of the skills you need are just survival skills," she said. "You need to keep your spirit alive during those lulls." Even the director of a large-budget network show like "Criminal Minds" must remember that she is a cog in a machine, and not even a particularly big one. "The writers, the actors, the crew, they all stay.

The directors come and go it's a revolving door," Belsey said. "So you don't have a tremendous amount of power." MICHAEL KARASSTAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Acclaimed directors Michael Slovis, "Breaking Bad," and Laura Belsey, "Criminal Minds," discussing their work with parents and students Saturday at the Montclair Film Festival event. ties with transit village designations, according to Schapiro. Rutherford and Montclair are examples of municipalities in North Jersey that have the designation. In other municipal busi ness: Township officials hope to get a grant from Passaic County to restore the former police station building on Stevens Avenue.

Although it does not have an official designation, the building originally built as a carriage house in 1914 is considered by the municipality to be historic. The building also is within the proposed transit village district. Post said during the business association meeting that several entities such as a village theater company, the school district and a coffee and sandwich shop have expressed interest in buying the building at 35 Stevens which once housed prisoners and had a courtroom on the second floor. Township officials plan to file for a grant for the restorations by March, said Post. New municipal parking signs will be installed along Main Street in the center of town, directing motorists to park in the municipal lot behind Pencilworks Studio.

The goal is to make more motorists aware of the lot. Parking in the lot does not have time restrictions. The municipality hopes to get new signage for distinct sections of town. The signs would say "Welcome to Little Falls at Singac," "Welcome to Little Falls at the Village of Little Falls" and "Welcome to Little Falls at Great Notch." Township officials are talking with potential sign sponsors such as Montclair State University and PNC Bank. still hauling Sandy debris from people's yards, Tomasi said.

The towns have come a long way, she said, but cleanup work still needs to be done. In Moonachie the municipal government and police station are still operating out of trailers in the back of Borough Hall, which was inundated with 3 feet of water during Sandy. The borough is awaiting receipt of funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to repair the building. Mayor Dennis Vaccaro said it is hoped that the borough could go out to bid for the work in the spring. Email: alexnorthjersey.com way, Belsey and Slovis said.

Many guest directors appeared on the set of "Breaking Bad" assuming they'd teach the full-time producers how to do the show right. Every one of those directors got fired, Slovis said, and half their work had to be shot again. The message, over and over, was about humility. Two years after graduating from NYU film That said, anyone with an iPhone has more power to shoot film now than Belsey and Slovis did when they were starting out. Slovis's grandmother owned a laundromat in Richmond Hills, Queens, for 60 years, he said.

She retired when Slovis was in his early 20s, and he desperately wanted to make a short film about the store closing. But Slovis didn't have any money for film equipment. So the film went unmade. "Maybe that's what I'll do when I retire make all those short films I never had the money to do when I was younger," he said. "But you guys in this room have a tremendous advantage over us, because you have all that hardware available to you.

You'd be foolish not to take advantage of it." Email: maagnorthjersey.com Wheels For Wishes Benefiting Volunteers: Sandy DONATE YOUR CAR From Page L-l ough's Concord Street Park. A short distance away, Girl Scouts planted bulbs in front of the Little Ferry Library. Others assisted elderly homeowners. Family Volunteer Day is held nationwide on the Saturday before Thanksgiving to kick off the holiday season with giving and service. The day was created 22 years ago by Points of Light, a non-profit group dedicated to volunteerism.

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