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NETBPA’s “We’re Listening” – And They Were!


PUBLISHED BY TEANECK VOICES

4/8/2024

Contents:

  • NETBPA’s “We’re Listening” – And They Were!
  • The Week that Was in Town Meetings
  • Neighborhood Coalition’s Statement on a Recent Community Meeting
  • This Week in Teaneck
  • And Don’t Forget
  • Subscribing to Teaneck Voices


This Week in Teaneck - 4/8 to 4/14

  • Cedar Lane Management Group
  • New Polling Machine Voter Training
  • Planning Board

NETBPA’s “We’re Listening” – And They Were!

Last Thursday evening, The North East Teaneck Block Presidents Association sponsored the first of several planned “We are Listening” sessions. Deputy Mayor Danielle Gee and Councilwoman Denise Belcher said little but listened closely to residents who spoke articulately, energetically, and, in many cases, with deep emotion about issues they wanted their leaders to recognize and address. Issues included:


  • Environmental concerns particularly town trees which need care so that they don’t pose a danger.


  • Speeding on town streets – an example was given of San Diego where almost every street has speed bumps.


  • The redevelopment surge in Teaneck to bring high-rise apartment buildings to our town where most families moved to escape crowded urban environments.


  • The pain at feeling their hometown, where many were born, no longer welcomes them. Many speakers expressed great concern at the discord among different communities in town, and anxiety at their perception that their communities were identified as being a cause of the discord.


The evening began with words of welcome from NETBPA’s President Mrs. Gloria Wilson and Vice-Chair Henry Pruitt, followed by brief remarks by DM Gee and C. Belcher, inviting the attendees to speak without a time limit. And they did! When not bound by the 3-minute time limit of Good & Welfare sessions, speakers enabled Ms. Gee and Ms. Belcher to clearly understand the issues, ask questions if they needed clarification, and take detailed notes. It was evident that having time to explain their concerns and the genuine interest from our leaders and the audience, enabled almost every speaker to make their points succinctly and effectively. Noteworthy was that almost no speaker talked too long! The overarching feeling in the room was of respect between the leaders and their constituents.


NOW -- will Action result from Listening?

The Week That Was – April 1 to 8, 2024

Council Meeting

Tuesday, April 2, 2024, brought only one in-meeting addition (a resolution to request state help and funding for costs associated with recent protest management). The walked-in resolution passed with two abstentions. 

The Council’s unanimous approval of the Town’s support of the Bergen County Complete Streets initiative was supported by several G&W speakers as issues of pedestrian safety remain a major resident concern.


Council continues to be divided about how expansive Good & Welfare should be. Several on Council want to limit this public input time to either 60 or 90 minutes; others want all who seek to speak to be allowed to do so. In fact, there were 45 participants in Tuesday’s G&W session – although 23 others waiting on Zoom were not given the opportunity to speak when Council member Schwartz moved to end the session. One question raised is whether the Town’s Zoom line should accommodate more participants since the Zoom line itself was cut off 15 minutes before the 8:00 pm public session and an untold number of residents seeking to participate were informed they could not have access. 


The sole new ordinance introduced (6-2024) despite its arcane language (“ACCEPTING THE DEDICATION OF A PORTION OF THE PROPERTY LOCATED AT BLOCK 3003, LOTS 2 AND 3 ON THE OFFICIAL TAX MAP, MORE COMMONLY KNOWN AS CHADWICK ROAD FOR THE PURPOSES OF DEVELOPING AND MAINTAINING A PUBLIC RIGHT- OF-WAY CUL-DE-SAC”) will if passed complete the agreed steps to allow Holy Name Medical Center to implement the new hospital zone agreement completed in 2023. Council’s open hearing and vote on ordinance 6-2024 is scheduled for May 7.



Parks Playgrounds and Recreation Advisory Board

Wednesday night's meeting conducted in person only in the midst of that night’s raging storm brought little in the way of new information. The Board’s leadership will continue to work with the Clerk to ensure either audio or video recording of the Board’s future meetings is available. The Board liaison’s report indicated that the Town is hopeful that its latest submission to Green Acres will result in the State’s concurrence in its new listings of the Recreation Open Space Inventory (ROSI). Teaneck Voices has subsequently independently learned that this long-contested Town/DEP ROSI agreement is imminent. The Board was also provided a report of copies of Town documents that describe the status and process through which a majority of the Town’s voters vote every four years to either approve/turn down a Council-authored referendum for a voluntary 4-year extension of the Municipal Open Space Trust Fund. Town voters have consistently approved these referenda since 2004. 



Board of Adjustment –

Thursday’s B of A meeting lasted just one hour as the Board rapidly worked its way through applications and interpretations of residents' and institutions' requests seeking zoning variance or extension approvals.

Neighborhood Coalition’s Statement on a Recent Community Meeting

Following the March 27 “community meeting” to hear input about new plans for the American Legion and Beverly Road areas, the Coalition of Neighborhood Associations for a Better Teaneck agreed to a statement that was not read in the foreshortened Good & Welfare session at Council’s April 2 meeting. It is a statement on behalf of "the Coalition of Teaneck Neighborhood Associations" – a coalition that now represents several rapidly growing neighborhood associations from across town.

 

  1. The coalition is very concerned with the timing, legitimacy, and official assertions made at the Town’s March 27th community meeting to hear updates on the American Legion Drive and Beverly Road areas’ revised conceptual plan.
  2. We are very concerned about the suppression of Teaneck resident voices. We are aware that despite town opposition, the massive tall residential building directly across the street from Margaret Baker’s home on Decatur Avenue now towers above her. We believe that the Teaneck council is now trying to do the same thing with the area around American Legion Drive.
  3. Hidden rather surreptitiously on the final slide of the presentation was a note that this meeting had been “the final opportunity for public input” prior to the planner’s finalization of the redevelopment plan. We want to know who authorized that statement. And it is not lost on us that our town’s planning firm is now using junior planning staff to interface with residents despite knowing full well that this entire project is being vehemently opposed by the neighbors in this next redevelopment area.
  4. Several times since the Fall of last year the Council stated that all town development be conducted only after the new master plan has been finalized. This commitment was further solidified recently when despite having introduced an ordinance to define rules for Auxiliary Dwelling Units – and receiving unanimous approval for that ordinance from the Planning Board – Councilwoman Goldberg persuaded the Council to wait on the ordinance until the Master Plan was finalized. So why is the council (or its Zoning Subcommittee) pressing ahead with these redevelopment plans?
  5. Although you asked us for resident input for the Master Plan in June and Oct of 2023, and residents have consistently opposed tall, behemoth residential structures in town – this is exactly at the center of the conceptual plans. We haven’t seen a traffic study or environmental impact study. How do we know the impact of this development on the neighborhood? 
  6. And, finally, the conceptual plan has no value for a local gem like Teaneck’s farmer’s market.


Council, you have lost touch with your constituents and continue to consistently ignore residents, losing credibility further. We urge you to recommit to your promise that no other development will happen in town, including the other 7 blighted areas until a Master plan, with resident input, is vetted and accepted by Teaneck residents and the official body that is ultimately responsible for the Master Plan – the Planning Board.

This Week in Teaneck - April 8-14, 2024

Go to Teaneck Voices’ website for additional access and agenda information that becomes available during the week. Click Here


Cedar Lane Management Group – Wednesday, April 10, 2024, at 6:30 pm In person only at 555 Cedar Lane, Suite 4. No other information is available


New Polling Machine Voter Training  Wednesday, April 10 at 7:00 pm – In person only in Gym 1 of the Rodda Center.  

  • Bergen County Superintendent of Elections to conduct in-person training on new voting machines


Planning Board – Thursday, April 11 at 8:00 pm in Council Chambers – presumably by Zoom as well but no other information currently available

And Don’t Forget

In recent weeks we have published articles on important issues that should not be forgotten:


  • The critical importance of an independent audit of the NJ Department of Community Affairs $300,000-$400,000 grant to the Garden of Human Understanding, which includes The Enslaved African Memorial, The Holocaust Memorial, and the Teaneck Public Library. This audit is even more critical now that the Town Council has “decoupled” the tri-partite entity and has determined that either one can go forward alone. What monies were spent by each for the joint effort? What happens to the money when the partnership is severed? Is it time for the Town to do as recommended by the Coalition of Neighborhood Associations – recognize that monuments on the Green are a failed idea?


  • The March 27 meeting to introduce “A New Concept” for the Beverly Road and American Legion Drive AINRs left the residents who attended angry and unsatisfied. The final slide of the evening said that that meeting was the last chance to voice opinions on the project. The voiced opinions were loud and clear: WE DON’T WANT TALL APARTMENT BUILDINGS, A MULTISTORY GARAGE AND HUNDREDS OF PARKING SPACES! WE WANT TO RENOVATE CEDAR LANE AND THEN DECIDE WHAT TO DO WITH THE SURROUNDING AREAS.


  • The Township is considering support of an Empathy Project – since we clearly need to encourage the many different communities in Teaneck to get along with each other. A recent Opinion Piece in Teaneck Voices (Click Here) proposes an alternative town-wide project, Creating the 2024 Master Plan, as a collaborative activity with a superordinate goal to bring the different communities of Teaneck together.


  • Teaneck continues to grapple with the almost constant passage through and idling of CSX freight trains in our town. The possibility of toxic derailments and explosions is even more threatening because Teaneck has lined the sides of the CSX tracks with numerous schools and apartment buildings. Large communities of students and apartment residents (many of them elderly) are at enormous risk in their daily lives. Council needs to prioritize initiatives to secure additional action by both the Town and CSX to more effectively protect this community.

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