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PUBLISHED BY TEANECK VOICES
Managing Editor, Bernard Rous
EDUCATION AND EMPATHY
APRIL 4, 2022 Issue
Contents
Education and Empathy
Education is on the Verge of a New Era
Notable Women of Teaneck
  • Margot Embree Fisher
Voter Registration Information
Open Government at Risk
Teaneck's 2022 Recreation Budget
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
  • Library eCitizen Program
  • Bergen County LGBTQ+ Alliance
  • Prayers and Support for Ukrainian People
EDUCATION AND EMPATHY
BY CANDACE GUTHRIE
It is problematic to discuss the histories of chattel Slavery and/or the Holocaust without considering the extent of the impact it has had on previous and current generations and the impact it will have on future generations to come. It is also interesting to consider how these impactful historical moments correlate to each other and what Teaneck as a community can learn from them.

The Holocaust occurred from 1933-to 1945 and was carried out by the Nazi regime, which targeted Jewish, Romani, disabled people, and homosexuals. The goal was to create a pure Aryan race. Chattel Slavery was the practice of enslaving kidnapped Africans and exploiting their labor in America's colonies. This practice lasted for over 200 hundred years.

The common theme prevalent in these genocidal happenings is a superiority complex. Nazis had it over Jewish people and anyone else considered impure, and white colonial Americans had it over enslaved Africans because of their skin color.

I learned about both the Holocaust and Chattel Slavery in school growing up. I recall reading the Diary of Anne Frank in 8th grade English class and viewing a couple of movies on the topic. I also remember learning about the transAtlantic trade and the debate over Slavery that culminated in the Civil War of 1861. But it wasn't until I branched out and did personal research did I realize just how gruesome both of these events were. The most disturbing things I have encountered were how people were killed, tortured, and exploited in Chattel Slavery and the Holocaust.

While doing this research, I realized that the in-depth details of these events were not being taught to everyone like they should have been. Unless people took the time to research to that extent, their knowledge of the subject only went as far as the simple facts we learned in school. It's not enough to only know the basic facts about these events year after year and then go no further.

The population makeup of Teaneck (30% Jewish and about 27% Black) proves even more why thorough education on these topics is so important. There is a responsibility to the people who endured Slavery and the Holocaust to make sure it is taught in a meaningful and impactful way, shining a light on all the hardships they endured.

In both the Slavery and the Holocaust, people faced persecution for the way they looked, their religion, and who they loved, which we unfortunately still see today. Spanish philosopher George Santayana once said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." When we don't put as much emphasis on teaching the uncomfortable aspects of our past, we open up the door to those same mistakes occurring again.

I come from a long line of African American men and women. From insightful dialogues with my grandmother, I've learned my ancestors were enslaved. My grandmother's mother's mother was an enslaved woman (my great-great-grandmother.)

Understanding this makes discussions and the history of Slavery extraordinarily personal and significant to me. Better understanding my history has shaped who I am and how I carry myself. I know that my ancestors only dreamed of being able to live and express themselves freely without fear of persecution. Understanding this part of my past helps me better guide my future, allowing me to view the world reflectively.
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Candace Guthrie is a senior at Teaneck High School, President of the Black Youth Organization (BYO), and Activism Club member.

She recently participated in a program called "A Call to Action: Transforming How We Understand the Legacies of Chattel Slavery and the Holocaust."
EDUCATION IS ON THE VERGE OF A NEW ERA -
THE CHALLENGES WE FACE
BY DR. DENNIS KLEIN
Disclaimer: This contribution is written in my capacity as a private citizen only and not in my capacity as a member of the Teaneck Board of Education. The views expressed are my own and are not intended to represent the views of the Board.
  1. Technology - it's here to stay and it should be: It is reaching students in a way that the written word alone cannot, but research shows that students also require interaction with other students. We need to find the balance between digital and analogue education.
  2. Equity - public schools are the prime setting for supporting low-access students.
  3. Advocacy - our students are impatient. They are looking for results. Education is becoming an increasingly dynamic enterprise.

For Dr. Klein's discussion of these three topics, go to his video, and enter Passcode: kmrr=6sX
NOTABLE WOMEN OF TEANECK
MARGOT EMBREE FISHER
“Margot, can you dash off a press release?"

“Margot, can you do a flyer for us?”

“Margot, we need a quick annual report. I know you’re so busy, but, please, please, please! You’re the best!"

And she is! Margot Embree Fisher is an extraordinary writer. Professionally, Margot has worked as a medical writer and editor since 1976, developing and implementing continuing education programs for health professionals. But Margot’s true passion is local advocacy. She is an activist who writes eloquently and concisely about beliefs, values, and ways to effectively enact them.

Margot is the daughter of two idealistic university professors who, upon graduation from Union Theological Seminary shortly after WWII, went to India to teach – her father in History, her mother in Sociology. Margot and her brother were born in India during the ten years her parents lived there. On returning to New York, Margot’s father was offered the opportunity to start an Indian Studies Program at Columbia University, so Margot grew up in Morningside Heights, observing, in her teenage years, the demonstration at Columbia triggered by the University’s denial of access to a planned gymnasium by its Black neighbors in Harlem.

Margot and her late husband, Mark, moved to Teaneck from the Inwood section of Manhattan in 1990. Margot notes that, unlike so many residents, she was not initially drawn to Teaneck by her own political or activist interests.

But Teaneck provided the perfect environment for the idealism and activism that surrounded her in childhood to take root and, ultimately, blossom.

Margot says that when they came to Teaneck, she and Mark naïvely believed they had moved to the perfect, integrated community. “Within months of our arrival, the shooting of Phillip Pannell opened my eyes. Things were not perfect in Paradise.” That seminal event, and her three daughters’ entry into the Teaneck school system, launched Margot’s avocation of activism, including serving two terms on the Teaneck Board of Education (from 2007 to 2013).

“I saw so many inequities in the school system. In particular, I could see that African American boys were not thriving and achieving as they should have been. But I knew these kids – and I knew they were smart. Something deeper was going on that didn’t have to do with their innate abilities. It was something deeper and more profound about society.”

Margot continues to be concerned about education, not just in Teaneck but in the whole country. “We need to be teaching REAL history to our kids. Like most of us, I was taught a highly sanitized version – I had to claw my way out of it. We cannot expect our kids to do the same.”

As a community activist, she puts her energies into advocacy for a variety of causes that she holds dear. She serves on the board of the Nursing Education Collaborative for Haiti – Coopérative des Infirmiéres en Éducation pour Haïti (NECH-CIEH), a 501-c3 nonprofit organization, led by nurses from Haiti, the U.S. and Canada that aims to improve the health and wellbeing of the Haitian people by advancing and strengthening the role of nurses in community development and healthcare.

Margot is long-standing active parishioner and volunteer at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church of Teaneck, a member of the League of Women Voters of Teaneck, a member of the Teaneck Organization for Public Schools, and a member of the Teaneck Municipal Democratic Committee.

Margot’s proudest accomplishment as a community activist has been her work with the grassroots One Town One Vote initiative in 2021, which led to the passage of an historic referendum to unify Teaneck’s stand-alone May town council elections, which were marked by depressingly low levels of voter turnout, with the general elections in November.

About OTOV she says, “It was an incredible honor to work with so many different groups and people who I might never have known, all united about one very simple principle: It should be easy for people to vote.”

Margot received her BA from Sarah Lawrence College and did graduate work in Hindi language and literature. She is the proud mother of three accomplished graduates of the Teaneck public school system: Catherine, Sarah, and Emily. All three daughters share their mother’s passion for travel, cultural adventure, and social justice.
REGISTER TO VOTE NOW
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.
OPEN GOVERNMENT AT RISK
At the March 15 Council meeting, there was a Public Hearing on Ordinances.

Under New Jersey state statute 40:49.2, Council is required to provide absolutely every person who wants to speak the opportunity to both ask questions about and comment on the ordinance:

“...all persons interested shall be given an opportunity to be heard concerning the ordinance. The opportunity to be heard shall include the right to ask pertinent questions concerning the ordinance by any resident of the municipality or any other person affected by the ordinance.”

The following people have let Teaneck Voices know that their hands were raised to speak on one or more of the ordinances up for vote, but they were not recognized:

  • Ezra Katz
  • Charles Powers
  • Ronnie Shlussel
  • Rena Shlussel
  • David Shlussel
  • Alan Rubinstein

Mayor Dunleavy closed the public hearing and denied at least these six people their right to speak. You could be next. Democracy requires that voices be heard.
TEANECK'S RECREATION BUDGET, CAPITAL PLAN, AND SWIMMING POOLS
Do we really need to know? Aren’t departmental budgets of municipalities basically the same year to year?

Not so with the Recreation Department budget of 2022 compared to 2021 – it is 26+% lower, dropping from $523K in 2021 to $384K in in 2022.

Just look:
In fact, the 2021 recreation budget included a line item for $200,000 that has completely disappeared in the 2022 budget. Here is the Manger’s verbatim description of the reduction:

“The cause of that [reduction]- You will remember that last year we put $200K into the budget for the Swim Club – the possibility of entering into an agreement with the Swim Club. That’s the big reason. It’s not there this year”.

Just “not there this year”?

But in the second year (2023) of this year’s 6-Year Capital Improvement Plan for the Recreation Department, there now appears $3 million to construct a new Votee Park swimming pool.

Note there is also a planned 2022 expenditure of $300K for the long-delayed Pre-Fab Bathroom in the North end of Votee Park.

The Town has been assured by its engineer that a temporary fix can be made on the
existing leak in Votee Pool that will allow it to open this year and next as scheduled.

The public has been left out of whatever negotiations have made the $200K Swim Club expenditure plans go away and led to a new $3 million Votee Pool capital expenditure plan.

When Councilwoman Rice asked “isn’t the Swim Club located on Township property?” and might it provide an alternative, the Manager answered that discussions with the Club may continue and that “Time is on our side” and “Yes, the Club is located on Town property” – full stop.
As this plays out, the complex history of Teaneck’s original and amended leases to the Swim Club deserves further research.
Meanwhile, where Teaneck residents will swim in the future remains uncertain!

But at Thursday’s March 24 meeting on the Recreation Department's capital plan, the Manager stressed that the capital needs in the parks far exceed his ability to fund them.

The Manager’s capital plan for 2022 includes $200K for converting the Andreas Park tennis court into a pickleball court. He also explained the $1M for major reconstruction of Teaneck Southern Little League fields, but then clarified that the plans for those fields will actually cost more than $2.9M, and would be primarily funded by “a supplemental source”.

Although the Manager did not explain what he meant by "a supplemental source", he was apparently referring to the $1.9M from PSE&G. Teaneck hopes to free up this money when it converts 3.7 acres of Town land into parkland following the specifications of New Jersey's Department of Environment Protection.

It seems clear that individual Council members view specific parks and specific sports field priorities differently. Residents may want to hear just how divergent Council members' views are about capital improvements priorities in the Town’s parks (Click Here to go to the Town video of the 3/24 Council Budget meeting and move the cursor to 31 minutes and 50 seconds).
Teaneck Voices notes that the Town’s inability to adopt a state-approved Recreation Open Space Inventory (ROSI) and Open Space Recreation Plan (OSRP) prevents the Town from being eligible for most state park funding.
THE PUBLIC HAS BEEN WAITING
BUT THE COUNCIL HAS NOT ANSWERED THESE QUESTIONS

  • 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?
THE WEEK THAT WAS
With the single exception of the Teaneck Historic Preservation Commission (THPC) meeting on Tuesday 3-29, this was the week that almost wasn’t.

Notably, however, this very efficiently run THPC meeting saw the Commission, led by Commissioner Theodora Lacey, press for more rapid movement by Town Council on THPC’s recommendations to commemorate
  1. William Cullen Bryant School, recognizing its pivotal role in the educational component of the Town’s 1964 voluntary integration of the Town’s public schools; and
  2. The renaming of part of Alicia Avenue as “Ulysses Kay Way” to honor this distinguished composer whose home for 20 years was Teaneck.

The Town Council will likely pass Resolutions 90 and 91-2022 to make these commemorations official at its 4/5/2022 meeting.
COVID UPDATES
PARAMUS COVID-19 VACCINE MEGA-SITE
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.

Appointments can be scheduled at www.hackensackmeridianhealth.org/en/covid19/schedule
and walk-ins are also welcome.
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.
Community Baptist Church Covid Testing Site
 Every Wednesday 9:00 AM-7:00 PM 
224 First Street
  Englewood, NJ 07631
RODDA CENTER

In an effort to keep the senior center staff and participants safe, all are required to be fully vaccinated and provide proof of vaccination. Mask wearing and social distancing are required.
Please wear a mask and maintain social distancing while visiting the library. Other Covid restrictions have been removed. Contactless door-side pickup is available. 
UPCOMING MUNICIPAL MEETINGS
There are seven municipal meetings scheduled this week. Four of those meetings must legally be open to the public. The public is excluded from the other three.

Unfortunately, Teaneck Voices has been able to secure access information for only two of those four “open” meetings. If additional meeting access and agenda information is released, it will be found on the Teaneck Voices website under the category Meetings Calendar.
Note: Council has not scheduled any more 2022 budget meetings. The Manager plans to bring a budget ready for Introduction to the April 26th Council meeting. Residents seeking information about what is currently known about budget specifics can now finally get access to the promised Manager’s Budget Book – a useful 200 page document.

However, the Manager clarified at the 3/24 budget meeting that the budget found in the Manager’s Budget Book will be revised in closed, unannounced meetings of a Council Budget sub-committee, apparently just before being released immediately prior to the April 26 Council meeting.
There may well be budget savings.

But One Town One Vote - the organization which successfully led the referendum changing the date of Council elections to November – issued a press release asking why the proposed election expenses line (sub-account 243) went up when the major Town election responsibilities are being absorbed by the County.

Pride Awareness Advisory (PAAB)
Monday April 4, 2022 at 7:30pm.
Public access and opportunity for input limited by the  Advisory Board ordinance (*See ordinance below)

Teaneck Township Council
Tuesday April 5, 2022 at 8:00pm
Zoom Link with passcode 632257
For this meeting’s agenda packet Click Here

Notes: The Agenda has several items about which residents may want to seek clarification or applaud.
  • The “correspondence” item on the agenda acknowledges the Council’s receipt of the letter from MANY Teaneck resident-leaders recommending that the Town rename Argonne Park for Senator Loretta Weinberg. Residents speaking in G&W may want to lend support! 

  • Early in the meeting (under Council-listed Items), Deputy Mayor Schwartz is scheduled to propose that “community meetings” be held to discuss discrete Areas in Need of Redevelopment (AINRs). The Township Council has authorized initial steps to be taken to declare 7 locations in Town (as small as a single lot and as large as a huge area of properties along State Street) as blighted, and thus to use a “development process” that allows the Council to avoid normal public disclosure and competitive processes. This mechanism is defined in N.J.S.A. 40A:12A-1 et seq

  • Teaneck Voices has written about how this “development system” works and described the risks it can pose to normal democratic processes and public involvement in the evolution of the Town (Click Here). Residents may want to listen very carefully to Deputy Mayor Schwartz’s discussion of “community meetings” as he is a major proponent of AINR’s. 

  • Passage of Resolution 88-2022 will delay the hearing and vote on whether and how the Town will vacate a portion of Chadwick Road to help expedite Holy Name’s implementation of its newly-expanded hospital district. This incredibly short resolution moves the date to consider this Ordinance 13-2022 from 4/5 to 5/17. No explanation is provided about the delay. Residents may want to seek clarification of this delay. Is this delay part of the saga of the HNMC’s relationship to its good neighbors? And will the next venue of this struggle be at Council or in the courts? To see the delayed ordinance itself, Click Here

  • Passage of Resolutions 90 and 91-2022 will have Council endorse the appropriate commemorations of William Bryant School and composer Ulysses Kay long advocated by the Teaneck Historic Preservation Commission

Teaneck Municipal Alliance Against Substance Abuse (TMAASA)
Tuesday April 5 at 8:30am.
Public access and opportunity for input limited by the  Advisory Board ordinance (*See ordinance below).

Board of Education Workshop
Wednesday April 6, 2022 at 8:00pm.
Click Here for zoom access or see below:

"Teaneck Board of Education will hold its Regular Public Workshop Meeting on Wednesday, April 6, 2022 to be held virtually to begin at 8:00pm. Formal action may be taken. You are invited to a Zoom webinar. This meeting will be held virtually only! Please click the link below to join the webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81019239883  Public comment can only be made if you attend the meeting via the Zoom app. Instructions on how to download the Zoom app can be found on the district website at www.teaneckschools.org

Teaneck Public Library Board 
Thursday April 7, 2022 at 6:30pm.
The meeting will be conducted via zoom – but as of 4/3 no zoom access information was available on the Town website. However, the library website provides the following:

"The link to participate in the Zoom meeting via computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone, meeting ID number, password, one-tap mobile numbers and dial-in telephone numbers are posted on the on the library’s website at www.teanecklibrary.org at least 48 hours in advance of all regularly scheduled meetings."

Board of Adjustment
Thursday April 7 at 7:00pm
As of 4/3 no Town website information about access or agenda

But Teaneck Voices has learned that 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! For information about this application made available before the previous (1/6/2022) hearing Click Here. The transcript of the testimony given by the applicant’s final expert witness, its planner (Joe Burgis) is available if you Click Here. Public questioning and comments about this testimony is expected at this Board of Adjustment hearing.
The other application likely to be heard at this meeting addresses the parking issues associated with Bergen Veterinary Hospital’s proposed expansion.

*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 or agendas for those regular and special meetings are available except for some information which can be obtained by watching videos of agenda discussions at earlier Board of Adjustment meetings which typically last more than 3 hours. (See also Click Here)

The Planning Board simply canceled its Thursday 3/24 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 have 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 13 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 Township) for June 9.
Events at the Library: Click here
ANNOUNCEMENTS
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Teaneck Voices, P. O. Box 873, Teaneck, NJ 07666-0873  
NEW e-CITIZEN PROGRAM AT LIBRARY**
**This Program is offered again in March and April. Click here for more detailed information about this Program. 
**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.
BERGEN COUNTY LGBTQ+ ALLIANCE
TEANECK VOICES OFFERS ITS PRAYERS AND SUPPORT
TO THE UKRAINIAN PEOPLE FIGHTING FOR THEIR FREEDOM
MASTHEAD
Editorial Board
Natalee Addison
Laraine Chaberski
Toniette H. Duncan
LaVerne Lightburn
Charles W. Powers
Bernard Rous
Micki Shilan
Barbara Ley Toffler

Supporters
Denise Belcher
Juanita Brown
Margot Embree Fisher
Gail Gordon
Guy Thomas Lauture
Gloria Wilson
Contributors
Bettina Hempel
Dennis Klein
Henry Pruitt
Howard Rose

Advisors
Theodora Smiley Lacey
Loretta Weinberg