PASCACK VALLEY—I’m a long-time municipal reporter in the Pascack and Northern valleys, and a lifelong journalist, who has taken many other jobs along the path of life to help pay the bills.
For nearly the last seven years I’ve covered the Pascack and Northern valleys as a reporter and staff writer for this newspaper.
And this column is my goodbye (for now) to our regular readers, letter writers, local officials, municipal clerks, school officials, and local supporters whose calls, emails, and texts have so often provided tips, guidance and encouragement when most needed in the pursuit of truth.
Some four-plus decades ago, upon graduating from William Paterson College, Wayne, I joined the Nutley Sun/Belleville Times newspapers, spending three years as a municipal reporter covering Nutley and Belleville governments, school boards, personalities, and politics in Essex County.
And then I took a break from journalism—working in publishing, advertising, public relations, environmental communications, recycling and even airport
security—until summer 2013, when I wanted to start doing what I always felt was a calling, working again as a journalist for a local newspaper or website.
In 2013, I joined the Suburban News, a NorthJersey Media Group weekly, and covered municipal government, school boards, and planning and zoning boards, in Franklin Lakes, Oakland, Wyckoff, and Waldwick. I had the bug again, and wanted to keep reporting.
Almost seven years ago, I joined the Pascack Press/Northern Valley Press newspaper group, after several years at NorthJersey Media Group. My first day on staff was Sept. 11, 2017, an infamous date, although my new colleagues were welcoming and encouraging.
Oddly enough, my first story for Pascack Press—published Sept. 18, 2017—concerned a non-binding referendum on affordable housing, an issue that continues to dominate headlines, and rankle residents and public officials. Every Pascack and Northern valley town dealt with the impacts of affordable housing, and we covered most of them, and now round 4 for affordable obligations approaches this July.
Headlined “Voters to have say; four towns approve non-binding referendum on affordable housing,” my article explored a referendum question sponsored by then-Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi (R-39), which appeared on November ballots in Park Ridge, River Vale, Hillsdale, and Dumont.
Little did I know then but I would write many, many dozens of articles on affordable housing in the next almost seven years.
In fact, conservatively speaking, writing six articles per week (often, more) would mean that in nearly seven years here, I’ve researched and written more than 2,000 articles covering local government issues, features, profiles, elections, budgets, controversies, and debates and decisions that matter to residents.
What’s more, most of these stories provided coverage of topics that no other print or digital news site was covering, and readers often told us that they were reading closely to find out what was going on with their tax dollars and what local officials were saying, or not saying. That is good news, for sure.
In fall 2017 when I joined the Pascack Press/Northern Valley Press newsroom, it featured an editor, four reporters, a few correspondents, and a photographer, along with the advertising director, art director, and publisher. Staff-wise, that is not the case today, following cutbacks required after the COVID-19 pandemic and economic downturn.
Today, the weekly newspaper group—still family owned and based in Westwood—employs one overall editor (John Snyder) and our new reporter (Megan Klepper) who together cover the Pascack Valley and on a monthly basis, the Northern Valley. [With Kristin Beuscher filing her ever-popular “Back in Time” feature for both papers, and various other contributors making their mark.]
So, after seven years here, I am taking leave from the hustle-bustle of reporting on municipal government and school boards, plus scores of other critical weekly news stories that are the lifeblood of communities and community journalism.
I will miss it and I will also miss the colorful and interesting local, regional, and state officials and engaged residents who I’ve encountered over the years. All of them contribute so much to their communities.
On a local level, residents of both political parties—and Independents—volunteer to serve as council members, school board trustees, and on other boards and committees that help shape community life now and in the future.
As a reporter, I’ve tried to tell the stories that readers, and taxpayers, most want to know about and follow them from week to week, and often month to month, and longer. Often, it’s the human connection, or an offbeat feature, or a funny lead to a story, that makes a story popular.
That takes work, but it’s work that pays off in informed readers. I hope that readers have enjoyed reading my articles as much as I’ve enjoyed writing them. I know some folks even read our e-newspaper online before it appears in print, often days before it shows up on driveways. That means people, often local public officials, want to read our reporting. Again, good news.
My hat goes off to all the municipal clerks throughout Pascack Valley especially, who have gone out of their way to assist my efforts to shine a light on public documents—documents that residents deserve to view and consider when thousands, often hundreds of thousands, and millions of taxpayer dollars are being expended. Your mutual efforts to be transparent and non-partisan were recognized and appreciated.
Recently, a bipartisan group of state legislators has attempted to propose legislation (now before Gov. Phil Murphy) that effectively guts the Open Public Records Act. I hope Murphy does not sign it and cooler heads prevail. OPRA helps reporters—and the public—to keep local government honest by keeping the taxpayers informed and aware of government spending and decisions.
To our readers, I may ask you to indulge me for a moment as I approach my soap box. You may not know how truly lucky you are to have a hometown weekly print newspaper—staffed by a dedicated editor and enthusiastic reporter —that covers the Pascack Valley.
Read your weekly newspaper, visit our website to read and search out prior articles, and keep informed on your own. Many communities don’t have a weekly newspaper or website to turn to for reliable, well-researched, and timely news coverage. You don’t know how lucky you are. Journalism—often referred to as a first draft of history—is in a perilous state, and needs your support and engagement. I wish my fellow journalists, John and Megan, much luck in holding down the fort. All the best … until we meet again!
Michael Olohan can be reached at miket.olohan@gmail.com. His observations just might reappear around election time…