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Final Board of Education Candidate Forum - 10/10



PUBLISHED BY TEANECK VOICES

10/9/2023

Contents:


Final Board of Education Candidate Forum - Oct 10


Community Workshop II on New Master Plan - Oct 11


The Week that Was - October 2 to 8

  • Municipal Open Space Committee; Parks Playgrounds & Recreation Advisory Board; Board of Adjustment


This Week in Teaneck - October 9 to 15


Teaneck's Voting in the General Election Continues


STILL Waiting- No Board of Adjust Minutes since 4/2022


Announcements


Town's General Election Ballot Design-for All Voting Options


Council's Presentations on Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs)


NETBPA Election Forum -BOE Candidates - Oct 10 THS 3rd Floor


Master Plan Community Meeting - Oct 11 - Rodda


Caregivers Confer-Oct 14-at 1 Bergen Plaza, Hackensack


Walser Jazz Quartet Vespers - Oct 14


Teaneck Day - October 15 - 4 pm


Flu Shots - for Appointments call 201-837-1600 ext. 1500


Educational AINR Rally at Decatur & Alfred - Oct 21 & 22


Cannabis Subcommittee Open Meeting - Oct 23 - Chambers


Teaneck International Film Festival - 2023 -Nov. 5 - 12



Contacting Teaneck Voices

Final Board of Education Candidate Forum - 10/10

As they prepare to vote in this year’s general election, all Teaneck voters will have one more new opportunity to hear the views of the candidates competing this Fall for three 3-year seats on Teaneck’s Board of Education. There are 6 candidates.


The upcoming electoral forum is taking place in the 3rd Floor Student Center at Teaneck High School. That forum, sponsored by the Northeast Teaneck Block President’s Association (NETBPA) will occur on Tuesday October 10 and will begin at 7:00 pm.

 

For more information about this forum, our readers are urged to review the NETBPA flyer in the Announcement section of this Voices edition.

 

To follow up on their October 2 forum, the Teaneck League of Women Voters has made its Voter Guide with the bios and responses to LWV questions by all 6 candidates if you


Control Click Here: https://teaneck.info/LWVT/2023.html

 

You can watch the full 1 hr27min forum video if you


Control Click Here: https://vimeo.com/870666469/b1ffd1b459?share=copy

 

The 6 BOE candidates have divided

themselves into 2 slates and all appear on the ballot with their slate-mates in two separate columns.

 

Community Workshop II

on New Master Plan - 10/11

At MP-1 of the Rodda Center beginning at 8 PM on Wednesday night October 11, the Master Plan Steering Committee will host the second public forum/workshop to inform the public about:

1)   the results of the recent resident MP survey and

2)   to hear the report by Town Planner Hughes in part on what he has gleaned from his consultations with the groups identified in the first workshop.

( See Hughes’ initial summary from1st MP workshop Click Here)


The official Town announcement (see Flyer in Voices Announcement Section) promises that the workshop will also provide attendees with “an opportunity to provide ideas to help shape the Master Plan” and “provide input on specific planning issues”. We hope that promise is kept!


Feedback to Voices indicates that there remains strong opposition to any further action – now or in the future – to use the Area in Need of Redevelopment (AINR) mechanisms which have declared so much of the Town to be blighted, ruined Margaret Baker’s Decatur Street neighborhood, and provided unneeded tax breaks to developers.


By contrast, the Council has been fully transparent in presenting the issues associated with Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU’s) as a new housing approach for this town of more than 92% single-family residences.


There is no better place for active and knowledgeable public input to shape Teaneck’s future than at this workshop on Wednesday night.  


PS: An educational forum on Redevelopment is currently planned for the afternoons of October 21 and October 22 by the Coalition of Neighborhood Associations. That rally will take place on the south and western sides of the massive 6-story residential facility now towering over that Decatur Avenue neighborhood. The facility now nearly at full height must be seen and experienced in order for residents to be fully aware of how an AINR’s disregard of the goals and objectives of even our current Master Plan can lead to ruinous results.  See the flyer in Voices Announcement section.

The Week that Was - October 2 to 8

  • Municipal Open Space Committee;
  • Parks Playgrounds & Recreation Advisory Board;
  • Board of Adjustment

Municipal Open Space Trust Advisory Committee (MOST) – Wednesday, October 4, 2023 at 6:30 pm was by zoom only. That 45 minute zoom video remains available on the Township website if you Click Here but be aware to move your cursor to Minute 13 where the meeting actually begins..

 ·     Note The participation of the Manager to describe MOST

expenditures begins at that 13 minute mark and continues to minute 28. The Manager described current balances, large project expenditures and the fact that the Township continues to try to purchase 1084 Queen Anne Road.

Several participants requested that the expenditure data be included on the web site and asked specifically that it be presented in an easily understood form. The Manager indicated that it would be there by 10/5 and, in fact, it was there by 5:00 pm on 10/6. Voices notes, however, that the format for MOST expenses now provided on the website continues to be dramatically divergent from the easily understood presentation by the Manager.


The data is found on the MOST page – at the bottom. Click Here. Voices has begun an effort to research the new data which is for 2022 and to Oct 3 of 2023. It is surely not in a format that provides the public with what was requested – a format that could readily be linked to the Manager’s presentation. To begin with, why

on the very first day of 2023 did the Town expend $90,680 of MOST as payments to its Township engineer – with half of it going to bandshell work and the other half described simply as “original contract”.

We encourage our readers to take a look at these MOST expense reports; help us explain them to our residents.

 

·       Yes Teaneck is making some progress in increased Township transparency – and the Manager’s description of MOST was a help,  But we remind everyone that MOST is an extra tax that Teaneck voters voluntarily agreed by referendum to support for specific open space and recreation purposes. They need a clearer picture of how that half-million$ annually is spent than has been provided to date.

Next MOST meeting is scheduled for November 1.

 

Parks, Playgrounds & Recreation Advisory Board (PPRAB) – Wednesday, October 4, 2023 at 7:30 pm. A 1hr/22min video of this meeting, too, is now available on the website (Click Here)  but move your cursor to minute 15 where the meeting actually begins . The Manager reported steps being taken on recreation upgrades in specific parks (His report began at minute 16 and continued to minute 39). Many issues were raised and readers are encouraged to review it.


Much of the remainder of the meeting involved discussion of the Council’s rationale for creating a new “Fields” advisory board. (An ordinance to that effect is likely to be introduced at the next Council meeting.)  That advisory board would inevitably take away some of the current PPRAB scope.


( Click Here for meeting agenda. Next meeting is scheduled for November 1.)

  

Board of Adjustment – October 5, 2023 at 7:00 pm by zoom only. The video of this long meeting is not yet (as of 10/10 AM) available on the website. The meeting addressed several applications where the renovation/additions that involved zoning variances had already been completed. In one case steps had already been taken to reduce the scope of the required variances.


When it is posted, this meeting’s video will be of particular

interest to readers concerned with whether the Town agrees to approve variances after they have already been implemented before the applicant seeks BofA approval.  


BofA chair Meyer agreed with public input that the publishing of the missing BofA minutes was imperative!  

This Week in Teaneck - October 9 to 15

BOE Electoral Candidate Forum – October 10, 2023 at 7:00 pm in-person only at the Teaneck High School Student Center (3rd Fl.)

 

Cedar Lane Management Group – Wednesday October 11, 2023 at 6:30 pm at 555 Cedar Lane Suite 4, In-person only

 

Youth Advisory Board (YAB)– Wednesday October 11, 20223 at 7:00 pm by zoom (no access information currently available)

 

Teaneck Master Plan Community Workshop – Wednesday October 11, 2023 at 8:00 pm in MP-1 at the Rodda Center (No internet information currently available) 


Planning Board (PB) - Thursday, October 12, 2023 at 8:00 pm CANCELED


Rescheduled Teaneck Day - Sunday October 15 beginning at 4 pm at Votee Park (see Flyer in Announcement Section).

Voting in Teaneck's General Election This Year


Who are Teaneck Voters electing in 2023's General Election?


1 State Senator-Legislative District 37 - 4 yr. term

2 State Assembly Members-Legislative District 37-2yr. terms

2 Bergen County Commissioners -3 year terms

3 Teaneck Board of Education members - 3-year terms


Teaneck Voters have Three options for Voting:


  • Vote By Mail - get ballots now until 10/31;
  • Vote Early - 10/28 to 11/5 at the Rodda Center
  • Vote on election day - 6 AM to 8 PM on Tuesday Nov. 7 at your local polling location


Vote by Mail – The County Clerk Election division sent out Teaneck's Vote by Mail ballots September 25. Voters with active vote-by-mail requests clearly should have received their ballots by now.


·      Voters with active requests who had not received their ballot by October 3 should call 201-336-7020 to request a duplicate. The Deadline for the County Clerk's office to receive a Vote by Mail Application for this Election is 10/31/23.

You can 1) mail your completed ballot by USPS (no postage needed) or 2) , take that ballot to the County drop box in Teaneck at the Township Municipal Building or 3) Take it directly to the County Clerk’s office at 1 Bergen Plaza in Hackensack.


·     If you still want/need a mail-in-ballot your request must reach the County Clerk a week before the Nov. 7 election date (in other words, by October 31)


For the Vote by Mail Application and information in English Click Here; in Spanish Click Here or in Korean (Click Here)

 

  • The Clerk’s office has prepared a useful video for Mail-in Voting Voters – Click Here


  • Follow-up: Once you have returned your Mail-in-ballot, you can track whether or not the County Clerk has received it by going to the state Track Your Ballot website. To access that site Click Here


Voting Early – In Teaneck, voters can vote early at the Rodda Center from Sunday October 28 to Sunday November 5.

Polls are open 10 AM to 8 PM except the polls close at 6 PM on the two Sundays.


Voting on Election Day – 6:00 AM to 8:00 PM is at your normal polling location which you can look up either on the sample ballot you will receive a week before the 11/7 election or at www.vote.nj.gov


Note: A good video developed by the County Clerk’s office for reviewing all of this "how to vote "information is at Click Here


This year's ballot design for Teaneck is clearer than the ballot design in prior general elections. Of particular importance is the fact that the two BOE candidate slates of 3 candidates each are placed in side-by-side columns.


And the BOE portion of the ballot is placed to the right - and separate - from the other to-be elected offices.


With the County Clerk office's permission, Teaneck Voices has in our Announcement section (below) again produced a snipped copy of Teaneck's sample ballot example which is also found on the County Clerk's website at Click Here  

Still Waiting: Board of Adjustment Mtg. Minutes

The Township's website continues desperately to need a major redesign. For weeks the Clerk has said the Town administration is ready to select a redesign contractor.


We depend on it for information we can obtain nowhere else.


Case in Point: We have not had meeting minutes for Board of Adjustment meetings posted on the website since April 7, 2022 - 17months ago!


Last week Teaneck Voices OPRA'd those missing minutes & finally at COB Friday the 6th a response. Answer? The Clerk needs 10 more business days to find the minutes - and now promises them on October 23!


During that 17-month period of missing minutes the Board of Adjustment has made MANY KEY DECISIONS. But the public has no way of knowing what those decisions were and what is upcoming.


Voices continues to press both the Building Department and the Clerk's office to get this issue addressed.


But we are STILL WAITING!

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Teaneck's Gen'l Election Sample Ballot - Same for all Voting Options

Recent Presentations on

Accessory Dwelling Units ("ADUs")


Teaneck's Council in July and September Included 2 Presentations on Accessory Dwelling Units - a potential shift in the zoning rules for single family residences

Click below to review each of those presentations


Regional Plan Association's ADU Presentation to Council | 7/11/23


AARP's ADU Presentation to Council | 9/19/23

Click Here for Trailer

Contacting Teaneck Voices


Co-Editors: Dr. Barbara Ley Toffler and Dr. Chuck Powers

By Email: teaneckvoices@gmail.com

By Phone: 201-214-4937

By USPS Mail: Teaneck Voices, PO Box 873. at 1673 Palisade Ave. 07666

Teaneck Voices' Website is www.teaneckvoices.com


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