PUBLISHED BY TEANECK VOICES
Managing Editor, Bernard Rous
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WHAT IS HAPPENING TO OPEN GOVERNMENT IN TEANECK?
MARCH 28, 2022 Issue
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Contents
What is Happening to Open Government in Teaneck?
Voter Registration Information
Letter to the Editor
Welcome to the Teaneck Library Director
Notable Women of Teaneck
Guide to Council Meetings, Part 2
Waiting for Answers
The Week That Was
COVID Updates
- Rapid Home COVID tests from the Post Office
- Community Baptist Church in Englewood Testing Site
- Rodda Center
- Library Services Curtailed
Upcoming Town Meetings
Events at the Library
Announcements
- Support Teaneck Voices
- League of Women Voters Virtual Screening
- Standing on my Sisters Shoulders
- 2022 Virtual Talent Hunt
- Library eCitizen Program
- Bergen County LGBTQ+ Alliance
- Prayers and Support for Ukrainian People
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WHAT IS HAPPENING TO OPEN GOVERNMENT IN TEANECK?
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"Democracy is the worst form of Government, except for all the others"
extracted from Winston Churchill comment made November 11, 1947
Members of any governing body who share the same positions and walk in lockstep will be more efficient than a government that invites differing opinions, weighs them in open debate, and arrives at consensus positions that represent the majority.
An open government will inevitably slow down decision-making and undoubtedly be more frustrating for those in office who "just want to get things done."
But open government is key to democracy; without public participation, without all the watchdogs and gadflies, there is no real democracy.
On April 10th, 1990, young Phillip Pannell was shot and killed by a police officer. In that moment and its immediate aftermath, Teaneck's idealized self-image of a harmonious integrated suburban community was shattered.
The Council of Teaneck recognized the communal fissures and purposefully set upon a course of repair. Among many steps taken at that time, the Council resolved that no matter where they might be in an agenda, at 9 o'clock the proceedings would be halted and Good & Welfare would be opened for public questions and comments until there were no more hands raised.
That work of reparative openness and inclusiveness has fallen by the wayside.
- In 2015, Council passed an ordinance to cut public comment time for a resident from 5 to 3 minutes.
- Good & Welfare was pushed to the end of the meeting, most often quite late at night.
- Council established numerous 3-member subcommittees to do preliminary investigative work. These committees are not legally obliged to publicize their minutes or publicly report their findings. A recent example is the Subcommittee on Cannabis. Though a report was promised on this major issue, it was never made public.
- Council members have publicly stated that they do not want advisors whose opinions do not reflect their own. Members of Advisory Boards who see things differently have been dismissed.
- In 2020, Council passed an ordinance to close Advisory Boards even to public observation.
- In 2021, Council passed an ordinance changing all the legal requirements in our Town code for Good & Welfare to options at their discretion.
- Council members vigorously opposed allowing residents to decide whether they wanted to vote for Council officials in November rather than May.
- Council members vigorously opposed allowing residents to decide whether they wanted sustainable clean energy for the Town.
- During a legally required Public Hearing, the Mayor of Teaneck decided that he had heard enough from critics and only allowed those in favor of the Cannabis Ordinance to continue speaking.
- The Town Clerk has withdrawn his long-time commitment to include in the public minutes all Good & Welfare statements that were cut off but emailed to him after the meeting. And he has created a new form of the minutes that no longer summarizes everything said by the public during Good & Welfare. This short video (Click Here) demonstrates that public comments and questions are sent to Council but will no longer be available to the public in the minutes.
- The Board of Adjustment (Zoning Board) and the Planning Board have a powerful role to play in how Teaneck develops. The Good & Welfare portion of both these land use board meetings has been moved around, making it difficult for residents to know when they can be heard. The Chair of the Board of Adjustment has publicly stated that he sees no role at all for Good & Welfare at these Board meetings.
- A Master Plan provides an overall framework for all development in the Township. New Jersey law calls for considerable public input in the development of a Master Plan once every 10 years. Teaneck's Master Plan is four years out-of-date. The government of Teaneck has not called for any town halls to craft a new one. Instead, development is increasingly done by designating areas of Teaneck as blighted Areas in Need of Redevelopment, allowing for "spot zoning" and closing off the normal avenues for public participation in development decisions.
- And now the Mayor has promised to introduce an Ordinance in the name of "meeting decorum" that will authorize him to shut off the speech of people who, in his opinion, are wandering off topic or addressing something 'political' or 'causing other problems'.
Democracy is not only a form of government, but it is a process - a way of arriving at decisions that reflect the views of the community governed, not those of the governors.
Democratic open government requires robust opportunities for public input and participation. Where is Teaneck going?
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If you are not registered to vote, please make it a priority to do so. To complete a registration form or for more information regarding voting in Bergen County, please click onto the this link.
If you are not sure if you are registered to vote in Teaneck, you may search here.
To check the details of your voter record, you may sign up here.
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Dear Editor,
A few comments on THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY in Teaneck Voices
on February 28, 2022.
THE GOOD: NOTABLE WOMEN OF TEANECK Jacqueline D. McLeod, a neighbor,
has a reputation that I have been familiar with for over 40 years. Her community
activities are not just numerous, they have had an impact. She reflects, as do the
other residents who have been described in TEANECK VOICES "Notable Women
of Teaneck" articles, what is best in Teaneck.
THE BAD: INTRODUCTION OF A ZONING ORDINANCE The Holy Name expansion
is being promoted by council without regard to the welfare of the hospital's neighbors.
At Good and Welfare I stated that "The hospital should expand upward, not outward.
It should remain within it's current boundaries." Two years of non-productive Council
negotiations with Holy Name seems to have achieved a zero-sum result with the
hospital gains offset by the neighbors losses.
THE UGLY: FREE SPEECH SQUELCHED IN TEANECK There will be a visible
festering wound on Teaneck's reputation if the proposed ordinance that will allow the
limitation of free speech by speakers at Teaneck Council meetings is approved. I
indicated at Good and Welfare that "Once you start restricting, it's subjective and
once it's subjective you're really crossing a line and it becomes censorship".
Sincerely,
Howard Rose
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TEANECK VOICES WELCOMES THE NEW DIRECTOR OF THE LIBRARY
SHINAE HYUN
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Our new library director has a wealth of experience in all aspects of running a community library, including working with teens to make robots with toothbrushes and batteries! It is no surprise that she feels comfortable in her role since she worked in public libraries in Paramus, Leonia, and Haworth prior to coming to Teaneck. She was hired February 1st, 2022.
Ms. Hyun received her bachelor’s degree in Library and Information Science from Ewha Womans University in Seoul, South Korea, and a Master’s in Library Science from Pratt Institute in Manhattan.
Ms. Hyun is excited to be working at the Teaneck Library because it is so active and there is such tremendous support from the town. Although the town is generous with funding, the library building is in need of repairs. One of Ms. Hyun’s goals is to have the library renovated and in the long run, she would like to have more space. President of the Friends of the Teaneck Library, Sandi Silverberg, supports these goals and is happy to have Ms. Hyun on board.
In speaking with Ms. Hyun, her energy, warmth, enthusiasm and humanity were apparent. Her vision of a library is not only as a place to have access to books and programs, but as a place where people can connect with others.
“During covid many people were lonely; now they have a place to come to find connections with others free of charge!”
She pointed out that some of the two-year old’s never experienced story time with other children; now they can. She understands that the library can help to serve the community’s educational and social needs.
There will be some new things coming in the near future: more hotspots within the library and print copies of the library newsletter to increase outreach. Our new director will be keeping current with developments related to the communication of information. Contemporary libraries are vastly different from the libraries of card catalog days, and she wants to incorporate these changes into what is offered at our library.
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BARBARA LEY TOFFLER
CO-CHAIR TEANECK VOICES
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“What an emotional week to be interviewed for this Notable Women feature – a week that saw the Senate Confirmation hearings for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson who will become the first Black Woman to sit on the United States Supreme Court, and the loss of Madeline Albright, one of my heroes, who was the first woman to serve as U.S. Secretary of State.”
Barbara Ley Toffler continues
“I have been privileged -- and cursed – to be the first or only woman in most of the positions of my professional career. First or only is a tough position – you don’t know how best to act and no one around you quite knows how to deal with you.
Case in point – 1980, I was hired into a tenure-track position at the Harvard Business School (HBS), only the 7th woman hired in the school’s 75-year history.
At HBS, I was assigned to a 'section' (class) of 75 students of whom 17 were women, and the only person of color was an Indian man. I was the only woman teaching in the first year MBA program (800 students, 9 sections). Tales had been told of the few women profs breaking down and crying, collapsing, running out of the classroom. My colleagues, I suspect, were eager to see what new juicy stories of disaster my performance would bring.
And some male students tried to incite some! I will never forget the male student who stood when I called on him and bellowed, ‘I didn’t come to Harvard to be taught by a woman.’
I chuckle when I remember being asked to ‘mentor’ a woman hired the next year about how she ought to dress in the classroom, and whether she should remove her jacket during class, because her breasts might be too much of a distraction!”
Barbara continues,
“I taught for many years, and later headed consulting services where I was hiring young people and guiding careers. I found myself hiring mostly women – because they were good, and (perhaps selfishly) because I felt I could be of real support when there was little other help or guidance elsewhere for them. I was frequently asked by male students and colleagues to counsel their wives or girlfriends who were working in the sexist, misogynistic investment banking world.
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson told a brief story in her hearings that will stay with me as it will with many who heard her. She was newly arrived from Florida at Harvard College – feeling homesick, out of place and shivering in the cold New England weather. Walking on the campus, she passed another Black woman student who could sense student Ketanji Brown’s discomfort. This stranger, the Black woman, approached her and whispered, ‘Persevere.’”
For Barbara Toffler, Judge Jackson’s comments about “perseverance” recalled a similar earlier lesson.
The Ley family moved to Teaneck in 1948 – Barbara’s father was working in New Jersey, but the family wanted to stay close to their many relatives in the Bronx. They moved onto the Northwest part of West Englewood Avenue – the first Jewish family to “integrate” the neighborhood! Her parents were Ted Ley with a Mechanical Engineering degree from Columbia and Clarice Weintraub Ley with a biology degree from Hunter.
“My parents, strong believers in public education, became extremely active in the school district activities. During the time that Brown v. Board of Education was in the courts (1952-1954) they joined with another Jewish couple, June and Mort Handler, to form The Teaneck League for Better Schools, a non-profit corporation with the mission to prepare the Teaneck Public Schools to fulfill and exceed the new Supreme Court requirements and to meet the developing activist idealism of post-war Teaneck. It took a village and 11 years of perseverance to reach the goal of integration. Seeing my parents and their neighbors persevere for almost as long as I had been alive was powerful.”
In 2004, after 30 years absence, Barbara Ley Toffler, mother of 5 and grandmother of 5, moved back to Teaneck with her husband, Chuck Powers. Her long career had included consulting in Organizational Behavior and Management Ethics to over 60 U.S. companies and agencies like General Electric, General Public Utilities (operator of 3-Mile Island Nuclear facility), Exxon, Chase Manhattan Bank, The IRS, The Treasury Dept., Prudential, and Polaroid. International clients included Daiwa Securities, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi and other financial institutions in Japan, Newmont Mining including their facilities in Indonesia, British Telecom in the U.K., and IBM and Amana Key in Brazil.
Barbara is the author with Jennifer Reingold of Final Accounting: Ambition, Greed, and the Fall of Arthur Andersen, described by Paul Volcker, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve, as "an object lesson in how ‘infectious greed’ and conflicts of interest can bring down the best,” by the Wall Street Journal as “Fascinating…a deliciously sordid tale,” and by John H. Biggs, then CEO and Chairman of TIAA-CREF ” as a book that “may be the most important analysis coming out of the corporate disasters of 2001 and 2002.”
She also appeared on several television programs and had the honor and the fun of being interviewed by Dick Cavett.
In 2012, Barbara and four senior nurses from Haiti, Canada and the U.S. founded Nursing Education Collaborative for Haiti-Coopérative des Infirmières en Education pour Haiti (NECH-CIEH), a non-profit corporation, to empower nurses to be leaders for improved healthcare and social change in Haiti.
Barbara concludes,
“Coming home again, Teaneck of 2004 felt very different from the Teaneck of my youth. But then, Teaneck and I were both much older, we’d experienced good and bad fortune, but we still had the spirit of those early years in us. And it brought the great joy of meeting the many extraordinarily accomplished women who call Teaneck home.”
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GUIDE TO COUNCIL MEETINGS, PART 2
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A Walk Through a Council Agenda
In an earlier issue of Teaneck Voices, we explained how to access Zoom council meetings, and how to be recognized to speak. This week we discuss what happens at a council meeting. Here is a walk through a Teaneck Council meeting agenda:
NOTE:
- Prior to Fall, 2008, the Council held public Workshop sessions once or twice a month.
- The Council Workshop sessions were held at tables set on the floor in front of the dais.
- No votes could be held during the sessions.
- The goal of Workshops was transparency of government: Showing the public what goes into the decisions the council makes.
- At Workshops, councilmembers discussed ideas about development, about open space, etc. Their disagreements were publicly aired and worked through. With no time limits, they interviewed potential vendors such as developers, they discussed details of resolutions and ordinances, so the public was knowledgeable about what the council was voting on at Regular meetings.
- Regular Sessions memorialized decisions by council member votes.
In Fall, 2008, a majority of councilmembers and the manager decided to lessen the number of meetings by consolidating Workshop and Regular sessions. The combined meetings are held one or twice a month. Much of the work done publicly at Workshops is now done by 3-member subcommittees out of public view. Few vendors or outside service providers are publicly introduced or interviewed.
Standard Meeting Agenda
I. Pledge of Allegiance
II. Mayor’s announcement of Open Public Meetings Statement
III. Roll Call of Councilmembers
IV. Motion to go into closed session
V. Closed session discussion – Closed session is only for discussion of personnel and legal issues. Everything else is the People's Business and must be discussed in public session.
VI. Motion to return to open session
VII. Pledge of allegiance
VIII. Call to Order
1. Roll Call of Members
IX. Mayor’s announcement of Open Public Meetings Statement
X. Presentations( if any)
XI. Work session items - The items listed here under Work Session Items always have been part of the Regular Council meeting agenda. When the Council voted to combine sessions, these items were relabeled as Work Session Items.
A. Miscellaneous
B. Old Business
C. New Business
D. Communications
E. Committee reports by Council liaisons to Statutory and Advisory Boards – Given only at councilmembers discretion. Not required.
F. Council-related items – Any topic a Councilmember wishes to raise.
G. Township Managers report – report by Manager of projects being worked on, unexpected budget requirements and ongoing concerns related to day-to-day management of the Township.
H. Township Attorney’s report
XII. Formal meeting items
A. Public Hearing and Adoptions of Ordinances – Township Clerk reads title of Ordinances into the record. Mayor asks if any member of the public wishes to speak. Only issues related to the ordinances may be raised. Council votes on the Ordinance(s).
B. Good and Welfare – Public input on any matters.
- Councilmembers may comment for 3 minutes before the public speaks
- Each speaker has 3 minutes to speak
- At end of G&W, Mayor must state: “THERE BEING NO FURTHER PERSONS WISHING TO SPEAK AT THIS TIME, THE PUBLIC PORTION OF THIS MEETING IS NOW CLOSED.” At least one hour must be allocated to G&W. Council may vote to allow more time if there are still hands raised.
- After G&W is closed to the public the council members are allowed to respond.
C. Consent agenda
1. Raffles
2. Minutes
3. Resolutions
4. Bill List
D. Introduction of Ordinances
XIII. Adjournment -- The close of the meeting shall be 11:00 pm unless the Council votes to extend the time for that meeting.
DEFINITIONS AND EXPLANATIONS
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Ordinance – A piece of legislation (law) enacted by a Municipal Government. It is permanent.
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Resolution -- A resolution is a record of decisions or wishes of council and includes routine administrative and management matters (such as appointing an auditor). It is temporary, expiring at new council election.
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Consent agenda -- A consent agenda groups routine business and reports into one agenda item which can be approved with a single vote. If a Council member wants to discuss a specific item on the consent agenda, s/he may ask that it be removed for discussion and separate vote.
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Bill List—A list of administratively-accepted township expenses awaiting Council’s final approval.
Note: Often councilmembers abstain or recuse themselves from voting on the Consent Agenda and/or the Bill List. No reason is required for either action, but the public should know if the councilmember taking such action has a conflict of interest, and what that conflict may be.
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THE PUBLIC HAS BEEN WAITING
BUT THE COUNCIL HAS NOT ANSWERED THESE QUESTIONS
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Almost one year ago, last March 10th, Teaneck Council, the Teaneck Library and Fairleigh Dickinson organized a community lecture and lab series called Walk the Talk. What is the follow-up to this effort to put "equity into action"?
- Why has Planning Board Good & Welfare been moved to the end of the meeting – late at night and after all votes have been taken?
- Why does the Council use secret subcommittees (there are 16) to make decisions instead of holding Workshop sessions where the public can listen to discussion and decision-making?
- When will the Planning Board enact an OSRP so Teaneck can receive Green Acres funding support?
- When will the Council hold a workshop or otherwise ask for input from residents with respect to proposed additional parkland located at 611 Roemer Avenue, 1603 Ardsley Court, and 75 Bedford Avenue?
- What is happening with the proposed Alfred Avenue development?
- The 255-unit building for which the developer will pay no taxes?
- The cannabis development to grow, process, distribute and sell marijuana?
- Has our council spoken to Englewood Council about our draining into their drainage system and selling cannabis adjacent to their park?
- What is happening with the Holy Name Medical Center and Good Neighbors agreement?
- Do Teaneck Council and Planning Board still maintain that the American Legion Drive properties constitute a blighted Area in Need of Redevelopment?
- Is the council planning to honor Former Senator Weinberg in any way? To recognize her as a daughter of Teaneck, for her years of service on the Council, General Assembly and State Senate? Is the Council considering anything - possibly renaming a park or street after her?
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Compared to the prior week when Council passed the Holy Name expansion zoning ordinance, this Week that Was was relatively uneventful. But on Thursday night both the Teaneck Board of Education and Council’s Budget meeting made some news.
Board of Education Fills Recent Vacancy
The Teaneck Board of Education had asked those residents who sought the interim appointment to replace recently-resigned member Harold Clark to submit resumes by March 11. Reportedly many qualified applicants stepped forward and on Thursday night the Board elected Sharon Vatsky to replace Clark for the remainder of the year. Vatsky, is a well-known and credentialed educator and long-time resident (Scroll down here and click on photo of Sharon Vatsky for a short resume.)
The Oddity of the Clerk’s 2022 Budget
Clerk Ruccione, actively supported by CFO Issa Abbasi and Manager Kazinci, has proposed that the Clerk’s budget line for 2022 elections expenses should be $100K. That is the highest ever election budget line despite the fact that the Teaneck municipal council elections will now be held as part of the general election in November rather than in May as was previously the case. The County, not the Town, is financially responsible for the November elections.
The rationale offered by these 3 officials for this high budget is that no-one knows in 2022 what election logistics will be, under the new early election period rules. Teaneck officials claim they have no way of knowing what the County will bill the Town - Therefore the $100 K is simply a “precautionary” number – not a forecasted expense level.
Council member Pagan, (who is also Bergen County's Public Information Officer and heads the Bergen County Division of Public Information (see https://www.co.bergen.nj.us/public-information/about5)) claimed, without any explanation or any data, that November elections cost more than May ones. When he tried to get the Clerk, Manager and CFO to agree, they again explained that their budget estimate had nothing to do with Pagan’s claim. A very short video seals the point (Click Here) After months of fighting against moving elections from May to November and losing, this council is now fighting to keep money in the budget that doesn't belong there.
Next Step on getting to a revised 2022 budget (Tax payers are not invited)
Council met on the 2022 budget three times already but has not made a single decision to affirm or change a single number found in the Manager’s Budget Book.( Click Here and scroll to 2022)
But Council has also made it clear that what is in that Budget Book will not be the proposed budget introduced on April 26. That is particularly true of what will eventually be found in the Capital Budget.
So what does happens during the intervening month?
Manager Kazinci said that he was meeting with the Council’s “budget subcommittee” the next morning and predicted he would do so several more times.
This Council “budget subcommittee” membership has apparently never been publicly identified. As a Council subcommittee, it has no more than 3 members and therefore does not have to provide the public with any report of its work. And it has not done so.
The next time the public will see the revised budget will be when it appears in the agenda packet and is introduced at the April 26th meeting. If the process employed by the cannabis subcommittee is a guide, the public will learn nothing about how, when or why the subcommittee revised the budget.
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PARAMUS COVID-19 VACCINE MEGA-SITE
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A new COVID-19 vaccine mega-site opened on Wednesday, January 19th at the former Lord & Taylor store, 34 E. Ridgewood Avenue, off Route 17 in the Fashion Center in Paramus.
Operated by Hackensack Meridian Health, the mega-site will provide children ages 5 and older as well as adults initial vaccine doses and boosters.
Hours of operation are as follows: Tuesdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Wednesdays, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.; and Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
and walk-ins are also welcome.
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Rapid COVID-19 Test Kits Available for Free from USPS
Free at-home COVID-19 tests ordered on www.covidtests.gov and delivered by USPS. Limit of 1 order per household. Each order contains 4 individual tests.
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Community Baptist Church Covid Testing Site
Every Wednesday 9:00 AM-7:00 PM
224 First Street
Englewood, NJ 07631
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Please wear a mask and maintain social distancing while visiting the library. Other Covid restrictions have been removed. Contactless door-side pickup is available.
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UPCOMING MUNICIPAL MEETINGS
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March’s final days constitute a “fifth week” with only a few municipal meetings.
Teaneck has only three meetings scheduled and the public is granted OPMA access and participation rights to only one, Tuesday’s Teaneck Historic Preservation Commission (THPC) meeting.
As the week progresses, if additional meeting access and agenda information is released, it will be found on the Teaneck Voices website home page of www.teaneckvoices.com under the category Meetings Calendar.
Note: Council has not scheduled any more meetings devoted solely to the 2022 budget.
Residents seeking information can now finally get access to the promised Manager’s Budget Book – a useful 200 page document – if you Click Here. Also newly available is the Annual Financial Statement for 2021 at Click Here
Social Services Advisory Board (SSAB)
Monday March 28 at 11:30am
Public access and opportunity for input limited by the Advisory Board ordinance (*See ordinance below)
Note: Teaneck has finally again appointed a full-time head of social services – whose functions and location are finally well-described on the Township website. Click Here.
This Board, however, currently has only 4 of the required 6 resident members; has no Council liaison; and includes both the new Health Department officer and social services staff member while only the former is identified by Ordinance 15-2020 as a SSAB member.
Hackensack River Greenway Advisory Board (HRGAB)
Monday March 28 at 7:30 pm.
Public access and opportunity for input limited by the Advisory Board ordinance (*See ordinance below)
Teaneck Historic Preservation Commission (THPC)
Tuesday March 29 at 7:00pm Zoom
For this meeting’s extensive and understandable agenda Click Here
Note: THPC continues to provide its own Commissioners and the public with a robust and detailed agenda well before its meetings. This meeting will also feature state personnel leading a training session as is required of THPC Commissioners – but surely will be of significant interest to the public.
*Quote from Ordinance 15-2020 on Advisory Boards adopted by Council on August 11, 2020:
“Council’s advisory Board meetings are closed to the public. The public can submit items for discussion to the Council’s advisory board chair and council liaison for review and potential for inclusion on their meeting agenda. If the item is placed on the agenda, the chair, with approval of their Council’s advisory board, may invite the member of the public to come and speak to them about the specific issue they want to have discussed”.
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For those subscribers looking for agenda information about Teaneck’s land use boards:
The Board of Adjustment continues to run far behind with “scheduled” delays and continuations of applicant hearings requiring multiple sessions now stretching out until at least late-May. No schedule of or agendas for those regular and special meetings are available except some information can be obtained by watching videos of agenda discussions at recent earlier Board of Adjustment meetings, discussions which usually occur early in the meeting or at the end of meetings which typically last more than 3 hours. (See also Click Here)
Teaneck Voices has learned that the next Board of Adjustment meeting is scheduled for Thursday April 7th. The agenda will include continued hearing of the 54 W. Englewood application for a 20 unit multi-family facility in a residential single-unit (R/S) zone. The town planner’s initial summary of this application was made available to the Board more than a year ago! And the other multi-hearing application likely to be heard at that 4/7 meeting would address the parking issues associated with Bergen Veterinary Hospital’s proposed expansion.
The Planning Board simply canceled its Thursday March 24th meeting. This Board has recently received several assignments from Council requesting that proposed Areas in Need of Redevelopment (AINRs) be investigated but no schedule for review of those findings has been released.
No review prior to a vote on the adoption of the Town’s Open Space and Recreation Plan (OSRP) has been scheduled since the Board received a draft OSRP document in October 2019.
The State requires municipalities to update their OSRP’s every 10 years and Teaneck’s last submitted OSRP document was 15 years ago - in 2007.
The judge overseeing the Stop & Shop AINR litigation has scheduled the next Case Conference with litigants (S&S, the Planning Board, and the Township) for June 9.
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SUPPORT TEANECK VOICES
CONTRIBUTIONS WELCOME
It is our mission to achieve integrity, transparency, responsiveness, diversity, and social justice in Teaneck governance.
Help us continue to publish by sending a contribution to
Teaneck Voices, P. O. Box 873, Teaneck, NJ 07666-0873
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LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS' VIRTUAL SCREENING:
STANDING ON MY SISTERS' SHOULDERS
REGISTER HERE
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NEW e-CITIZEN PROGRAM AT LIBRARY**
**This Program is offered again in March and April. Click here for more detailed information about this Program.
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**This Program is offered again in March and April. Click here for more detailed information about this Program.
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We're pleased to announce our first ever Teaneck eCitizen Program for adults! This program aims to teach participants how to:
- Evaluate information & identify misinformation
- Communicate effectively online using tools like Google Workspace
- Understand basic cybersecurity practices
- Create informative graphics and posts online
- Navigate intellectual property and copyright issues
These critical skills are valuable tools in our increasingly digital world and can enhance any job seeker’s resume in a work environment that uses computers and/or the internet or add to your own personal skill-set.
All participants will receive a certificate of completion at the end of the 6-week cohort that can be used to demonstrate their understanding of these key skills to current or potential employers.
Our first cohort will be held virtually and run from January 19 to February 23. Participants will be able to attend weekly classes on Wednesdays from 6:00 – 9:00 PM via Zoom.
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BERGEN COUNTY LGBTQ+ ALLIANCE
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TEANECK VOICES OFFERS ITS PRAYERS AND SUPPORT
TO THE UKRAINIAN PEOPLE FIGHTING FOR THEIR FREEDOM
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Editorial Board
Natalee Addison
Laraine Chaberski
Toniette H. Duncan
LaVerne Lightburn
Charles W. Powers
Bernard Rous
Micki Shilan
Barbara Ley Toffler
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Supporters
Denise Belcher
Juanita Brown
Margot Embree Fisher
Gail Gordon
Guy Thomas Lauture
Gloria Wilson
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Contributors
Bettina Hempel
Dennis Klein
Henry Pruitt
Howard Rose
Advisors
Theodora Smiley Lacey
Loretta Weinberg
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