Notable Women of Teaneck

NETBPA Celebrates Senator Weinberg

The Week That Was

This Week in Teaneck - Upcoming Town Meetings

Events at the Library

Voter Registration Information

One Town One Vote Resident Survey

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The consent agenda is a tool used to streamline council meeting procedures by collecting and grouping routine, noncontroversial topics into a single agenda item that can be discussed and passed with a single motion and vote. Commonly, no debate is allowed on items included in the consent agenda. Any councilmember can have an item removed from the consent agenda for separate consideration.

However – In Teaneck, The Consent Agenda on the Council’s Meeting agenda often includes items that reflect decisions to be made by Council that should have been made in public but were not. Grouping them within a Consent Agenda allows them to be passed without public knowledge of what is REALLY going on.

Here is the Consent Agenda from the April 26, 2022 Council meeting agenda. Please go to the end of the Consent agenda to find the Discussion, where Teaneck Voices identifies ROUTINE, and NOT ROUTINE Consent agenda items. For Not Routine, we briefly discuss why these items cannot be included in a Consent Agenda. 

There are 24 items in this Consent Agenda. Which are ROUTINE and which are NOT ROUTINE?

First Block: Resolutions – All of these items are routine.

Second Block:

Third Block:

Fourth Block:

Final Block:

Every NOT ROUTINE item should be discussed at a Workshop meeting, after which it can be brought to a regular council meeting for a vote. Teaneck Voices and the residents of Teaneck are still waiting for Workshop Meetings to be reinstated.

Taking stock of our public-school students’ accomplishments not only serves as deserved recognition, especially as we conclude the current school year, but, more than a gloss, it reminds us that for all the challenges, public schools constitute the forum that sustains the democracy we prize.

In this spirit, I invite you take a moment to consider the mission of public schools, which I quote from the Teaneck schools website: Public schools are committed to inspiring social mobility and are the source of hope, well-being, and productivity. They are at the heart of any society committed to dynamic civic engagement. They prepare the next generation of citizens and leaders for global awareness, global competition, and global problem solving. In service to all regardless of heritage and circumstance, the success of public schools is the foundation and promise of social peace and prosperity.

This vision is not merely aspirational. It is the channel our schools are plying.

As evidence: The average high school GPA is 3.3 out of 4; 78 students have achieved a 4.0. The Pre-K program is offering an incomparable jump start and continues to grow; Teaneck’s public schools’ students benefit from their unique collaboration with Fairleigh Dickinson University’ STEM programs – engineering, computing and security enrichment, technical enrichment, and mathematics enrichment. High school students also partnered with FDU in receiving college credits for summer courses in world cultures, creative writing, psychology, and financial planning.

The road ahead is fraught but promising. It helps that communication with all residents is a project I am particularly interested in and toward that end a plan to upgrade social media is in the works. I also continue to meet informally with our neighbors for a confidential exchange of concerns and ideas. As always, please email me if you are interested in joining or co-facilitating one of these cafés.

With appreciation,

Dennis Klein

DISCLAIMER: This Teaneck Voices column is presented in my capacity as a private citizen only and not in my capacity as a trustee of the Teaneck Board of Education. The views expressed are my own and are not intended to represent the views of the Board.

Articulate, eloquent and passionate, with a wry sense of humor, Judy Mckay is full of surprises! She was born in 1940 and talks about growing up in the Southshore neighborhood of Chicago. “As a child, I thought the world was divided into Irish Catholics and Jews. That was our entire neighborhood.”

The first surprise is when she announces, “I was a Shabbos Goy.” For the uninitiated, a Shabbos goy was a non-Jewish person, who did the little household tasks that a Jew is forbidden to do on the sabbath, turning off the lights or the oven. She says she has always understood Orthodox Judaism, not only from her childhood neighborhood but because the Irish Catholicism in which she was raised was so similar – not allowed to enter other houses of worship, specific foods like no meat on Fridays. Judy says that understanding helped her in the 12 years she served on the Teaneck Board of Education.

Judy’s second surprise is that she was a nun. She became a member of a teaching order of nuns, entering the convent at age 18 for 13 years. Occasionally someone sidles up to her and whispers, “I heard you’re a former nun.” Judy’s response, “Don’t I look like one?!”

She comments that people think that religious orders are full of restrictions. But she notes, historically, the convent offered women wonderful opportunities that were unavailable to them almost anywhere else. “We were in charge; we ran things; we learned to manage. Nuns,” Judy says, “are among the best educated women. One of my greatest privileges in life was to live with so many wonderful women. The biggest surprise when I left the convent in 1971 was that people didn’t take me as seriously as when I wore a habit.”

During her years in the convent, Judy taught in elementary school and high school. She began teaching at 19 years old – her first class was 62 fourth graders! Asked how she did, she smiles, “They’re still alive and I’m still alive. Okay, I guess!”

Judy doubts she could have had that full and fruitful launch to her life without the convent. She and her sister were the daughters of a single mother. Early in her life her father was in and out of her life returning when she was 13 years old. The family lived in an apartment building and her warm and wonderfully friendly mother knew everyone. Despite the hardships, Judy says it was a wonderful way to grow up. For her, her mother was a model of strength and resilience.

Judy received her Bachelor’s degree from Sienna Heights College, and later came to New York where she received her M.A. in Education from Manhattan College.

She then went to Pontiac, Michigan to teach. She lived in a “mixed” community – lay people, priests and nuns, kind of “hippy-dippy,” but, as she says, it was “lily white.” She met her husband Richard, a former Christian Brother, at Manhattan College. As she tells it, she and Richard went to the movies one night in Pontiac. As they were leaving, Richard, “a real New York City guy,” said, “We gotta get out of here. Everybody in that movie theater looks alike!”

They moved back East, with their newborn daughter, Kate. At a party in 1973 they met Theresa and Bill Delaney and learned about Teaneck. Having been raised in “Irish ghettos,” Judy and Richard wanted something different for their children. Teaneck was a perfect fit; their son Rick was born here four years later.

Although neither Judy nor Richard knew anything about public schools – Richard asked, “How much does it cost?” – they decided the richness of education and the diverse student body was what they wanted for their children. Kate entered Bryant in 1979, and from that moment on Judy immersed herself in a full PTA/PTO life. Though Judy had been asked to run for the Board of Education while her children were in school, she demurred until 1996 when Rick graduated from THS.

Judy served on The Teaneck Board of Education for 12 years, six as vice-president and two as president and was chair of the Board’s community relations committee for 10 years. She organized and delivered workshops for school leaders entitled, “How the Board Works.”

Judy was a coach and training associate at Exec/Comm for 23 years. She trained facilitators and helped develop new courses including “From Book Bag to Briefcase,” and “Dynamic Client Meetings for Lawyers.” She taught Exec/Comm seminars to a diverse clientele ranging from The Federal Reserve Bank to Avon.

She used her skills – and commitment to community service – to help prepare numerous Council and Board of Ed candidates to become effective public speakers. She continues to serve the community as a parishioner at St. Anastasia’s Church where she now serves on the Parish Council.

Judy and Richard believe in and live a life of service, something they have passed down to their son and daughter. Judy glows with pride as she tells a story about her daughter who is now married. Kate was taking food from the Park Slope Food Co-op to a soup kitchen, accompanied by her reluctant 5-year-old son. She said to him, “Avi, these people have fallen on hard times, and it is our job to help them. And someday you may fall on hard times, and you will want someone to help you.” Her son, Rick started a non-profit, “Kids Need Camp,” at age 20. He raised money to send inner city kids to Frost Valley YMCA Camp.

Judy’s current focus and joy is her family’s commitment to and as supporters of St. Mary’s School and Child Rescue Mission in Nyeri, Kenya. Richard works full-time as the fundraiser for the Mission and in 10 years has raised over $3,000,000. St. Mary’s is a family affair for the McKays, their children and extended family. She is especially proud to have refurbished the library and filled it with 22,000 books. During one of her 5 visits to St Mary’s the library was dedicated in memory of her mother.

If there is a theme or thread that runs through Judy McKay’s life it is EDUCATION. When she was on the Teaneck Board of Ed she spoke at a teacher’s event. “I was from a single mother home. My husband’s parents came from Ireland with a sixth-grade education. We grew up like many of these kids. Education is what changed our lives. It is what will change theirs.”

On May 18, 2022, the North East Teaneck Block Presidents Association (NETBPA) hosted a virtual event, Celebrating Senator Loretta Weinberg in recognition of her many years of public service.

Dr. Pruitt's opening remarks reminded us that Senator Weinberg's public service history contains many years as a fearless and outspoken advocate. He compared the Senator to Eleanor Roosevelt and the late Supreme Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. He then spoke about the history of NETBPA and its relationship with Senator Loretta Weinberg.

A spectacular version of “The Wind Beneath My Wings” was wonderfully sung by

Valerie Johnson and accompanied on the trumpet by the fabulous Reggie Pittman. This music duo truly set the tone of appreciation that was extended to Senator Weinberg throughout the evening.

Heartfelt messages were delivered by guest speakers, Councilwoman Gervonn Romney Rice, Mrs. Theodora Smiley Lacey and former Councilwoman Dr. Barbara Ley Toffler. Dr. Toffler also read from Senator Weinberg’s Notable Women interview so that we could capture from her own words regarding her life’s journey of public service and the importance of Teaneck in shaping her work.

A beautiful glass sculpture was presented by NETBPA President Gloria Wilson. Mrs. Wilson shared a touching remembrance of Gwendolyn Acree and quoted the engraving on the award, "In recognition for your dedication and commitment to democracy, we thank you for years of public service". An emotional Senator expressed her thanks to everyone, including our webinar Techie Toniette Duncan.

The Senator concluded with saying, “I always hear of people getting an Academy award saying how nice it is to be honored by their “peers“. Well tonight I was honored by my “peers“ – the people who have given me Support, and nurturing because they have given our community support and nurturing. Thank you all for being who you are.”

When Ardie Walser performed a rendition of "Young At Heart", he and the Senator delighted us as they danced during the instrumental part. Of course, this was a virtual event, so they danced in unison at different locations. It was joyfully entertaining to see and put a smile on everyone’s face!

If you are interested in viewing the program, here is the link: NETBPA Celebrates Senator Loretta Weinberg Program Recording

Last week, Council placed a number of highly controversial items on the agenda without explaining what it was trying to accomplish – or why.

Case in point was the Introduced Ordinance #18-2022 that is now an adopted Ordinance. It completes the process of changing the “deal” the Town is now giving a for-profit developer from Fort Lee to construct the controversial senior affordable housing facility at Teaneck & Beveridge (1425 Teaneck Road). The developer was not chosen competitively.

1425 Teaneck Road is the property that had once been a teen recreation center. The Town converted it to a storage area for the DPW and then badly neglected it. So in late 2018, the Town initiated a first-ever process to designate 1425 Teaneck Road as an Area in Need of Redevelopment - one of two Town-owned properties the Town first neglected and then called blighted.

As the plan evolved, the Town agreed to lease this municipally-owned property to a developer for 75 years. And the developer agreed to build a 40-unit senior affordable housing facility. The agreement was based on the assumption that the developer could secure state financial assistance which, it turned out, was to be in the form of tax credits. Neighborhood opposition was ignored. The developer went off to make the state financing arrangements.

But suddenly in April the deal was sharply different. Rather than leasing the property for 75 years, the Town would sell it to the developer for $200K. (There has been no explanation for that extremely low sales price.) And the Town would then grant the developer $900K from the Town’s affordable housing trust (which is 64% of the trust’s total) and agree that the developer – now owner – would avoid property taxes by making Payments In Lieu of Taxes (a PILOT). Tuesday’s resolution #18-2022 addressed this 3rd piece of the new deal

At the Council meeting, DM Schwartz admitted that the State financing agency had turned down the developer’s original deal with the Town. So why does the new deal still fail to meet any of the normal transparency or competitive process elements that sale of a Town property would normally have to demonstrate?

Because the Town has certified that the property which the Town itself has allowed to deteriorate, was a blighted Area In Need of Redevelopment (AINR). Welcome to the new model for Teaneck’s land use management.

You might think that at least this deal would benefit the hundreds of Teaneck's older residents seeking to down-size to affordable housing. But actually, this deal is structured so that our long-time tax paying senior residents will have no advantage over seniors from five North Jersey counties in the competition for these units. If prior statistics are a guide, no more than one or two of our current residents are likely to get a unit in these facilities.

Resolutions #127-2022 and #129-2022 were passed and help to create a brand new blighted Area in Need of Redevelopment (AINR). That makes 9 of them. This AINR covers what is now mostly a residential zone for single family homes (R/S). It includes the controversial property proposed for a 20-unit rental facility at 54 W. Englewood Avenue.

This is perhaps the clearest proof yet that no single family neighborhood is safe when suddenly Council decides to seize control of a neighborhood from the normal zoning process.

And there is resident concern that current or very recent Council member ownership of property in this specific AINR could have played a role in its selection.

Resolution #130-2022 passed and confirmed formal Council approval of the settlement of the latest Town loss of a court case – this time to resident Hillary Goldberg - because of the Town’s wrongful handling of her OPRA request. The judge mandated the settlement to include payment of fees to Goldberg’s lawyer. But that is just the half of it. When we have the Bill List at the next Council meeting we can total up the amount that the Town’s lawyers charged taxpayers for losing yet another case.

Resolution #128-2022 seeks approval to appoint another lawyer (Christos Ditkas of Fort Lee) to handle the ongoing Holy Name Neighbor litigation case. The resolution fails to note the obvious reason for needing a new unconflicted lawyer, namely, that Town Attorney Shahdanian’s handling of the hospital expansion ordinance adopted by Council has become a major piece of the Neighbor’s legal complaint!

Both proposed Ordinances #22-2022 and #23-2022 were successfully introduced and both address changes apparently caused by the Holy Name – Neighbor litigation. #22-2022 combines the repeal of Ordinance #9-2022 that was just approved by Council in March to expand the hospital zone but simultaneously reintroduces the same ordinance. Why this strange maneuver? The new ordinance explicitly says the repeal is related to the alleged official conflict-of-interest charges brought to court by the neighbors.

Ordinance #23-2022 would implement turning over a portion of the Town-owned Chadwick Road to accommodate the new traffic configuration included in the hospital zone expansion (Ordinance #22-2022). With the broader ordinance now delayed, so also is this Chadwick Road change.

Both of these newly-introduced ordinances explicitly called for re-adoption on June 14th. But the date given in the public announcement in newspapers and now on the Town website says June 28th.

Proposed Ordinance #21-2022A was been entitled “Revision & Recodification of Ordinances.” It is literally 32 pages of Town Code changes being proposed by Council. In most cases, residents are not told what is being changed. Teaneck Voices analysts spent considerable time perusing these code changes and concluded they could not tell for sure what was being changed or why.

However, early in the meeting Council member Kaplan, citing agreement with the Attorney, withdrew the proposed ordinance before it could be introduced. No explanation was given. But is is believed that we will see a similar proposed ordinance in the near future.

THIS WEEK IN TEANECK

Among the four meetings listed on the Town calendar this week, only one – the Historic Preservation Commission – has provided any information as to how its meeting is to be accessed (it is by zoom) and its agenda.

The times of two meetings of advisory boards are listed, but neither is available to the public unless by special arrangement (*See ordinance below).

The Planning Board (PB) has a scheduled meeting on Thursday night 5/26 about which nothing is known – except that Deputy Mayor Schwartz said in passing at the 5/17 Council meeting that the PB might not meet for several more weeks.

Note: Teaneck Voices’ website provides updates about Town meetings as new information becomes available during the week.

Monday May 23, 2022 at 7:30 pm

Public access and opportunity for input limited by the Advisory Board ordinance (*see ordinance below)

Teaneck Historic Preservation Commission

Wednesday May 24, 2022 at 7:00 pm

For zoom access Click Here and use passcode 797237.

The complete draft agenda for this meeting is available if you Click Here

Thursday May 26, 2022 at 7:00 pm

Public access and opportunity for input limited by the Advisory Board ordinance (*see ordinance below)

Thursday May 26, 2022 at 8:00 pm.

Listed on the Town Calendar but we infer that this meeting may not be held as scheduled. (See above)

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“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”.

This Week's Events at the Library click here

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.

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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