A HISTORIC NOVEMBER ELECTION
AUGUST 1, 2022
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PUBLISHED BY TEANECK VOICES
Managing Editor, Bernard Rous
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A Historic November Election
The Week That Was
Voter Registration Information
Upcoming Municipal Meetings
Events at the Library
One Town One Vote Resident Survey
COVID Updates
- Rapid Home COVID tests from the Post Office
- Rodda Center
- New Library Covid Policy
Announcements
- Meet Your Teaneck Democratic Committee Representatives
- Free Breakfast and Lunch for NJ Students
- NJ Fire Fighter Jobs
- New Jersey State Updates
- Prayers and Support for Ukrainian People
- Support Teaneck Voices
Masthead
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A HISTORIC NOVEMBER ELECTION
STARRING YOU, THE VOTER!
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Last November, Teaneck residents voted to move their Municipal Council Elections from May to November! Now in Teaneck, you can vote for your local government leaders at the same time that you vote for your state legislators, your federal legislators, and (every four years) your President of the United States.
Until this year, Teaneck’s Council elections were held in May. Voter turnout was very low. Why? Who remembers to go to the polls in May? Very few people. Council majorities in Teaneck have been elected by no more than 17% of the registered voters in town.
And who gets elected in May? Very often, it is the candidates who target special interest groups and can rally their supporters to get out to vote.
So, May Council elections, for the most part, were held on a very uneven playing field.
With November elections, most of us remember when the election is!
Yes, there still will be candidates who have more money and professional advisors. But, during the traditional campaign season, donors give to more candidates; forums, town halls, and cottage and parlor parties proliferate; and the public pays attention to candidates during a ritual that is as tradition-laden as New Year’s Eve!
YOU, THE VOTER, ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON IN THE ELECTION ON THIS COMING ELECTION DAY, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8!
As a voter, what is your job description?
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Register to vote. If you are not certain you are registered, check it out:
- Online go to New Jersey Online Voter Registration Website
- You will need:
- A Valid Driver’s License or non-driver Identification (ID) Card, or
- A Social Security Number
- By regular mail: Address request to Bergen County Commissioner of Registration, One Bergen County Plaza, Room 380, Hackensack, NJ 07601
- In person, at the above address
- The Registration Deadline is October 18, 2022
- Learn about all the candidates.
- What does each candidate believe about
- Taxes?
- Budgeting?
- Development and Teaneck’s Master Plan?
- Open Space?
- Inclusiveness and Diversity?
- Other things of importance to you?
- How do their values compare with yours?
- Where can I learn about the Candidates?
- League of Women Voters Forums
- for Council candidates on October 6
- for Board of Education Candidates on September 29
- North East Block Presidents’ Forums
- for Council candidates on October 19
- for Board of Education Candidates on October 26th
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Teaneck Voices -- candidate write-ups in October
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Teaneck Tomorrow – candidate write-ups in October
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VOTE - one of three ways:
- Vote by Mail Ballot
- You must apply for a Vote-By-Mail Ballot at VOTE.NJ.GOV or call 1-877-658-6837 to request a Vote-By-Mail ballot:
- Application in English
- Application in Spanish
- Application in Korean
- Your ballot must be postmarked by 8pm on November 8 (election day), or
- Returned in-person to One Bergen Plaza. Room 380 by 8pm on November 8 or dropped in the secure drop-box at the Municipal Building by 8pm, November 8
- In-Person Early Voting
- You can vote at a polling place in-person, between October 29 and November 5. Your regular polling place may not be open, but the township and these newsletters will inform you of the polling places before October 29. The polling places will be open at least from 10am to 8pm Monday through Saturday, and 10am to 6pm Sunday.
- At your Polling Place on Election Day
- And, of course, you can vote in person at your polling place on Election Day, Tuesday, November 8, 2022.
And remember to study your sample ballot that will arrive in the regular mail!
With so many federal, state and local elections, it is important to study the ballot so you know where on the ballot to find your Council candidates and your Board of Education candidates
WITH YOUR VOTE YOU DECIDE THE QUALITY OF LIFE YOU , YOUR FAMILY AND YOUR COMMUNITY ENJOY!
Voting Questions? Call 1-877-658-6837
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The Planning Board decided unanimously that both ordinances were indeed consistent with the Master Plan.
Proposed Ordinance 36-2022 sets aside Teaneck’s normal development regulations and certain aspects of its Master Plan to make way for a new development plan for a second property on Alfred Avenue - this one at 359 Alfred Avenue.
This is currently the site of Ledoux & Co.’s metallurgical testing operation. This business has a 70 year continuous history at this location, pays its taxes, and provides employment.
Ordinance 36-2022 is a development plan ordinance, approved unanimously by Council on July 12th, as the 8th recently proposed Area in Need of Redevelopment.
It calls for a potential 7-story rental apartment building complex designed much like the facility already approved for nearby 329 Alfred/1085 Decatur Avenue. It would replace the Ledoux facility and the small fitness center at the back of the 359 lot.
The development plan itself is a strange mix of very specific variances. Some allow fewer than the normal number of parking spots required by New Jersey's Residential Site Improvement Standards (RSIS). At the same time, the plan is completely missing some elements that are routinely part of any development plan. For example, it does not specify how many total units and how many affordable units are to be built.
For some reason, it appears that the Planning Board's leadership does not want to identify the developer who participated in this redevelopment plan for 359 Alfred Avenue. Because when residents asked whether the Town will grant the developer of this new facility any special tax breaks, questions were abruptly halted and the Chair explicitly said about the identity of the project’s developer “It’s not important to this Board.”
These questions were spurred by the fact that Teaneck Urban Renewal LLC, the developer for nearby 329 Alfred Avenue, demanded that the Town give it just such a special tax reduction deal.
In the absence of clear replies to residents' questions, speculation in the Alfred Avenue neighborhood is that the financial arrangements for this new plan will be the same.
Is the work stoppage since March on the AINR property at 329 Alfred Avenue related to similar demands for this new plan?
What is clear is that Teaneck residents are not getting reliable information.
In the Board discussion immediately following the public hearing on this ordinance at the Planning Board meeting last week, Deputy Mayor Schwartz immediately made the erroneous and misleading claim that the Town would be receiving more than $1M in tax revenue from the developer of the 258-unit apartment complex approved for the AINR redevelopment project at 329 Alfred/1085 Decatur Avenue.
But the only publicly available analysis of the projected tax revenue/service cost comparison of this project was done in October 2020 by John McDonough Associates LLC of Morristown. It was prepared for the developer of the property at 329 Alfred Avenue.
Using highly suspect “low-ball” analyses of both what the town will spend per facility resident on municipal services and what it will cost to send each new student to the public schools, it nevertheless calculates that the Town’s will take in only $15,415 more than it spends. And, in contrast to DM Schwartz’s claim, the total revenue will be $350K less than his $1M+ assertion.
To see what actually happened during the Planning Board hearing last Thursday, you can watch the full 40-minute Town video or take 5 minutes to watch this summary:
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To date, residents have not received any real evidence that the Council's new blighted-Area-in-Need-of-Redevelopment approach to development has been financially beneficial for the Town. Is the secretive development planning under the designation of blighted Areas in Need of Redevelopment really a success? Or is it failing?
So far, though, the Planning Board membership just keeps approving the ordinances Council sends it for evaluation. This ordinance #36-2022 is being passed back to Council with unanimous PB approval for Council to consider adopting after a public hearing, on August 9th.
Proposed Ordinance 21-2022, the second one reviewed by the Planning Board last week, is alleged to do no more than update and correct Teaneck's Administrative Code to make it consistent with state law. Council members Schwartz and Kaplan claimed that the ordinance does not involve anything really relevant to the development regulation of Teaneck or the authority of the land use boards.
It was explained that the only reason the Planning Board was being asked to approve the ordinance was just that a member of the Township Counsel’s office (William Rupp) had requested PB approval.
Approval of Young Israel synagogue’s application for its largely completed patio was unanimously memorialized by the Planning Board. (The Board of Adjustment had earlier denied a very similar application, citing the fact that the patio that had earlier been completed involved an expansion never approved by that Board.)
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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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UPCOMING MUNICIPAL EVENTS
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Parks, Playgrounds & Recreation Advisory Board (PPRAB)
Wednesday August 3, 2022 at 7:30pm
Public access and opportunity for input limited by the Advisory Board ordinance (*See ordinance below)
Board of Adjustment (BofA)
Thursday August 4, 2022 at 7:00pm.
No access information or official agenda is currently available
NOTE: Teaneck Voices has learned that the only major application likely to be on the agenda for this meeting is expansion of the Plaza Dentistry Arts LLC application – a final hearing that will likely lead to rapid approval of this application. ( See related introduced Ordinance 31-2022 which will be considered for adoption on August 9th.)
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*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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ONE TOWN ONE VOTE RESIDENT SURVEY
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One Town One Vote (OTOV) is a grassroots, nonpartisan volunteer organization that worked with other community groups to make it easier and more convenient for Teaneck residents to vote for their local leadership by unifying Teaneck’s stand-alone town council elections, previously held in May, to take place on the same day as the General Elections in November. Tuesday, November 8, 2022 will be the first time Teaneck residents will have the opportunity to vote for town council members at the same time as we vote for other local, state, and national officials.
In anticipation of this historic event, OTOV is conducting a town-wide survey on resident issues and concerns. We need your input! Your responses will help us achieve our ongoing goal of helping to listen, educate, organize, and empower residents on local issues so your voice matters and your vote counts in the November elections. Your information will not be shared with any other organization.
Please click here to take the One Town One Vote resident survey! Your voices will be heard, your voices will count!"
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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 2 orders per household. Each order contains 4 individual tests
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RODDA CENTER
In an effort to keep the senior center staff and participants safe, mask wearing
and social distancing are required.
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Masks are now optional inside the library. Those attending programs held in limited areas, such as the Auditorium, are still required to wear masks.
Contactless doorside pickup is still available.
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NJ FIRE FIGHTERS
JOB OPPORTUNITY
Closing date: August 31, 2022
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Fire Fighter test and information about the job of being a firefighter.
The projected starting salary next year is $55,687 and $55,781 if the candidate has an EMT (before or after hire) as well. Salary may differ with each jurisdiction.
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TEANECK VOICES OFFERS ITS PRAYERS AND SUPPORT
TO THE BRAVE UKRAINIAN PEOPLE FIGHTING FOR THEIR FREEDOM
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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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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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