Off to a Good Start (or pretty good, anyway)!
Note: It is our practice at Teaneck Voices to back up factual statements with “evidence,” i.e. links to where a statement was made or to a meeting or event dealing with the cited fact.
Unfortunately, as of today, May 7, it appears that there is no recording of the Development Town Hall and Forum held at the Rodda Center on May 2. Therefore, we are commenting on remembered impressions, statements, and questions.
If you think we have misrepresented anything you said publicly, please contact us at teaneckvoices@gmail.com, and we will try to contact you and set the record straight in a subsequent issue.
A crowd of about 200 filled the gym at the Rodda Center at 7pm on May 2 – and were joined by an undisclosed number who participate by zoom. Almost everyone was eager to be heard or to have their questions answered – AND IT HAPPENED!
A panel of 7 was seated at the front of the space, with 6 members listed in the program as presenting on different topics. (The 7th was Manager Dean Kazinci who was empaneled to answer questions) There likely was a collective silent groan when residents saw the listed speakers, with most thinking there would be little time for Q&A by the time that every panelist spoke.
BUT – HAPPY SURPRISE: After a brief welcome by Councilwoman Denise Belcher who organized the session, the Township’s newest planner, Keenan Hughes, from our long-term planning firm Phillips, Preiss led off with a presentation on Municipal Planning and Development. He spoke most specifically about a town-wide development of a new Master Plan.
Note: Mr. Hughes presentation was chock full of important information – both general about municipal planning and specific about how our planner sees both process and some content of a new Master Plan. If no recording of the session is found, there is small consolation in this very incomplete Power Point placed on the website this week-end. Click Here
As soon as Mr. Hughes finished, residents’ hands shot up all over the room! And the Happy Surprise? Mayor Michael Pagan, our Master of Ceremonies, decided to forego the other presentations and facilitate an untimed Q&A for the remainder of the 2-hour Town Hall.
And what a treat it was!
Each resident who raised their hand was passed a microphone and allowed to speak, untimed, so that each speaker could provide a context to their question, and then a member of the panel could respond intelligently to the question, understanding “where it was coming from.”
As is too often the case at Teaneck meetings, a lot of heads in the room were gray! These residents who spoke frequently mentioned the number of years they had lived in Teaneck (20-50+), and talked about the suburban beauty, peace, fresh air, single family home environment they moved to Teaneck for and wish to see preserved. They were collectively upset at the use of Areas In Need of Redevelopment (AINRs) which not only 1) by-pass the designsted area's neighbors’ input; 2) circumvent the present Master Plan that residents see as their current social contract with the town, and which 3) declare more & more areas of our town to be “blighted.”
BUT IN AN UNUSUAL TURN OF EVENTS, TWO YOUNG MEN SPOKE! Each young man represented one of the most populous communities in Teaneck – a young Black man and a young Modern Orthodox Jewish man. Both spoke about the future of a Teaneck in which both hope to live and raise families.
Do their visions differ from their elders? In some ways yes, in some ways no. Do the ways to achieve what they envision differ from their elders, in some ways yes, in some ways no.
What was clear at the Development Town Hall and must be recognized going forward:
· The 55 and older folks want the town they moved to and see changing in unfamiliar and unfriendly ways. They are told that Teaneck is an Age-Friendly Town striving to make Aging in Place a reality. They must be included in development decisions.
· The 20 to 55 folks (many of whom have grown up in their parents’ and grandparents’ vision of Teaneck) want a town that meets their needs as they build families – many in different forms than their parents and grandparents – and build a post-pandemic world. They must be included in development decisions.
· The Council, with their hired consultant, the planner, is the body that all of us, of every age, entrust with our money, our investment in our hometown. Their decisions must be shaped by the residents of this town. And our hired planner’s job is to show us all how to get what we want!
PPRAB Met to Hear Reports;
No Organized Recommendations
The Parks, Playgrounds & Recreation Advisory Board (PPRAB) met on Wednesday May 3 at 7:30 by zoom. It waited to attract a quorum but eventually most of its membership joined.
Strangely, this meeting was either not recorded or its video has not been placed on the Town website. That is unfortunate because the meeting did serve as an occasion where information about diverse parks and recreation activities and decisions already taken were reported – and are available in no other form or forum.
§ Stated in passing and not pursued was the statement that not only does the Town expect to open the Votee Park pool on time in 2023 but in fact now believes that it can be rehabilitated to serve for another 10 years, not the 1-2 year originally expected.
§ The very sad state of most of the Town’s baseball fields due to widespread ponds throughout got significant attention.
§ Incremental progress is reported on getting adequate toilets to Votee North and other parks.
§ The rehab of senior park pathways was welcomed,
§ Concern about clearing of waste from park receptacles, particularly after week-ends was raised.
§ Concern that the Planning Board’s failure to approve either the Open Space and Recreation Plan (OSRP) or the Recreation & Open Space Inventory (ROSI) will keep Teaneck from getting the actual funding for which it has applied for Herrick Park from Green Acres got attention at the meeting’s end.
The meeting was quite short. No organized effort to engage the Board in developing recommendations to Council occurred.
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