Some of you may remember a story we brought to you early in September about 13-year-old Jaileen Hanson, of North Arlington. She was the middle schooler who, over the summer, attended a North Arlington Borough Council meeting and who asked Mayor Daniel H. Pronti’s if she could speak up at a meeting. Well, Pronti was thrilled she wanted to speak — and when she did, she asked if bike racks could be placed in the borough. And that is exactly what happened in September when Pronti asked administrator Steve LoIacono to get them for a few locations, including outside the senior center.
Well, don’t you know, Assemblyman Gary Schaer, who represents North Arlington, got wind of it all — and he wanted to honor Hansen with an outstanding young citizen award. And so, too, did Bergen County Commissioner Steve Tanelli, himself a North Arlington resident.
Both recently presented their awards to Hanson and they were joined by Pronti and the entire North Arlington Borough Council. Hanson is in the middle of the photo and to her left are Pronti, Tanelli and Schaer. Further to the left are Councilwoman Allison Sheedy and LoIacono. To her right are Councilmembers Kirk Del Russo, Lynette Cavadas, Mario Karcic and Donna Bocchino.
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Kevin A. Canessa Jr. is the editor of and broadcaster at The Observer, a place where he has served on and off since 2006. He is responsible for the editorial content of the newspaper and website, the production of the e-Newspaper, writing several stories per week (including the weekly editorial), conducting live broadcasts on Facebook Live, including a weekly recap of the news — and much more behind the scenes. Between 2006 and 2008, he introduced the newspaper to its first-ever blog — which included podcasts, audio and video. Originally from Jersey City, Kevin lived in Kearny until 2004, lived in Port St. Lucie. Florida, for four years until February 2016 and in March of that year, he moved back to West Hudson to return to The Observer full time. Click Here to send Kevin an email.