As we head into the last two months of August when folks traditionally head out of town, i ask everybody to put on their thinking caps and come up with ideas on how to improve Teaneck going forward.
But, (and while i hate to take a step back) did everybody notice that once again Ron Schwartz has a letter in the Suburbanite?
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Start another paper to compete with the Suburbanite where the editors are un-biased journalists who know how to edit and aren't paid off by the Schwartz/cramer contingent.
Start writing letters to the editor!
At least you would then see two sides of the story instead of the constant one sided rantings of the same handful of people.
If they are not printed, take it up with management (Janice Friedman - friedmanj@northjersey.com) at the Suburbinite.
They'll be printed. Anyone who points to the letters to the editor as evidence of Suburbanite bias just doesn't understand how those pages work.
It's about time The Suburbanite gives Schwartz and the Cramers their due and officially put them on the editorial staff of the newspaper.
The County Seat should replace the Suburbanite. Bergan County Dem's know how to tell it like it is. They don't give a damn what anonymous mailings Rudy and Adam sent as long as Birdsall gets useless "opportunity analysis" contract as pay back!
Anonymous 7:30, so now Rudolph alone decided that the town needed a Development Oppertunity Analysis. This 1 voice on the Council single handidly decided that we should have a development Oppertunity Analysis and single handidly gave it to Birdsall. I'm getting more impressed by this guy. Next thing they'll say is he had something to do with JFK shooting (oh, he wasn't even alive. Then again truths aren't important to these folks).
Get over it already. This Council has been the most productive Council in recent memories. This Council has been working hard. They have gotten things done in a year that no previous council could get accomplished.
Yell about them and the Master Plan, the last I checked you have 7 years to complete it. 3 of 4 of these guys have only been on the Council for 1 year. Read mayor katz's tid bits and look at previous councils. Look at what they got accomplished and look at what this council has accomplished.
Keep doing what you're doing and continue to fight for us.
A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. Like so
many others her age, she considered herself to be a very liberal
Democrat, and among other liberal ideals, was very much in favor of
higher taxes to support more government programs, in other words
redistribution of wealth.
She was deeply ashamed that her father was a rather staunch
Republican, a feeling she openly expressed. Based on the lectures
that she had participated in, and the occasional chat with a
professor, she felt that her father had for years harbored an evil,
selfish desire to keep what he thought should be his.
One day she was challenging her father on his opposition to higher
taxes on the rich and the need for more government programs. The
self-professed objectivity proclaimed by her professors had to be the
truth and she indicated so to her father. He responded by asking how
she was doing in school.
Taken aback, she answered rather haughtily that she had a 4.0 GPA,
and let him know that it was tough to maintain, insisting that she was
taking a very difficult course load and was constantly studying, which
left her no time to go out and party like other people she knew. She
didn't even have time for a boyfriend, and didn't really have many
college friends because she spent all her time studying.
Her father listened and then asked, "How is your friend Audrey doing ?"
She replied, "Audrey is barely getting by. All she takes are easy
classes, she never studies, and she barely has a 2.0 GPA. She is so
popular on campus; college for her is a blast. She's always invited to
all the parties, and lots of times she doesn't even show up for
classes because she's too hung over."
Her wise father asked his daughter, "Why don't you go to the Dean's
office and ask him to deduct a 1.0 off your GPA and give it to your
friend who only has a 2.0. That way you will both have a 3.0 GPA and
certainly that would be a fair and equal distribution of GPA."
The daughter, visibly shocked by her father's suggestion, angrily
fired back, "That's a crazy idea, how would that be fair! I've worked
really hard for my grades! I've invested a lot of time, and a lot of
hard work!
"Audrey has done next to nothing toward her degree. She played while
I worked my tail off!"
The father slowly smiled, winked and said gently, "Welcome to the
Republican party".
Can anyone list this council's so called accomplishments. This constant jibber-jabber about how they've accomplished so much is never backed up by any specifics. Perhaps spending $100,000 on an "opportunity analysis" which will never be used is an accomplishment, but other councils have had similar studies done which have similarly been ignored.
good question regarding what they have done
i am sending out emails, doing some research and will post the "accomplishments" for review, and of course for discussion.
I understand that Rudolph brought in $200,000 for a handicapped playground.
Yes, he did. And the town will kick in over $400,000 from the municipal Open Space Trust Fund. That part often seems to get left out.
Can we get a dog park?
The Monday morning quarterback passes judgement states with perfect clarity and with a sense of superiority from a position of hindsight
We all have a tendency to play this role and make statements like “ What they should have done was…” or “If I was in charge., I would have..” but really what good to these statements do being that the outcome has already occurred, other then boast our 20/20 hindsight.
If I were to play Teaneck quarterback I would start like this “well if i was in Teaneck’s leadership first thing I would have done is try to find some other means of generating revenue to remove the burden from little ma and pa, then I would look to shave off some fat from the township to reduce waste, I would open every book and every account to ensure that when I sent any increase of taxes, that I could say, I have done everything to ensure that not one dollar of your taxes is being thrown out.
I would work on making Teaneck’s retail spots a hotspot ,drawing shoppers from other areas , I would create and maintain open areas to allow our population to enjoy outdoors and nature. I would promote our cities diversity and encourage our strong identities to be celebrated not simply tolerated. I would do all this not because I want to leave my mark,but because I live here. Because I eat here, because people are depending on me to make this place better then I left.
Now you might think that I play decent quarterback but its actually stating the accomplishments of our council to date. I was never good in sports,…
I take pride in hearing all the accomplishments the entire council have achieved, I take pride in watching the majority of this diverse city unite over their leadership..
My sense of pride is marred by those who we define as the opposition or ‘those that play quarterback for an entirely different reason.”
This purpose is more sinister and serves an agenda other then benefiting our city. We have an element within our diverse community that wish to use their perfect hindsight along with a touch of misrepresenting others intentions, with a sprinkle of subterfuge in order to create the perfect blame cake in which to serve to those in support of our leadership. The tactic simple, divide and conquer.
Manifest a feeling amongst Teaneck’s diverse population that if you’re not an orthodox jew, your interests are not being represented.
Create a feeling of Us vs Them by utilizing fantastic events reminiscent of the protocols of elders.
All of this in order to set the bed for next election. The agenda is cheap, the agenda is loaded. I feel angered not simply at the attempt, but at what we will all Monday morning quarterback and say to these people, you have divided our community you have slowed our progress ,you have utilized prejudice simply out of spite of our current leadership.
We must enable our council, we must support the tax cutting and creative thinking, we must continue to reject those that wish to divide us, by drawing lines in the sand. We are Teaneck, we deserve progress, we deserve fiscal responsibility.. we deserve not to be caught up in TNB’s devious agenda . We deserve to be proud.
Last night I saw Monica Honis vote against a new building in a commercial area of Glenpointe that would bring in over $800,000 to help tax payers in Teaneck.
Is the reason that she's (the only one) against the proposal because she doesn't know what it's like to pay property taxes?
Perhaps she just doesn't have enough real life experience to understand how much tax we pay.
If you and Naomi Cramer don't want this building....that's just fine, but can I have my share of the $800,000?
At last night's council meeting, a proposal to build an office building at Glenpointe was being voted on.
They were looking to turn a parking lot paying $17,000 in taxes into an office building, adjacent to Rt. 95 that would bring in $800,000 in tax revenue for the town.
This is minimally invasive and is being handled by a developer with over 30 years of positive experience in Teaneck.
I simply was taken aback when Naomi Cramer spoke publicly, stating that "it will be a small savings to our 12,000 property owners". If $800,000 is a 'small amount of savings', then Mrs. Cramer - Where can I and the other 11,999 Teaneck property owners line up to pick up a check from you?
Granted this project isn't going to be a silver bullet, but why can't it be a stepping stone to the path we need to take?
It's becoming obvious that you are against any and every positive initiative by this Council.
You use your time to obfuscate and slander in an attempt to further serve your personal interest over the greater good of all of Teaneck. It's time to start a dialogue of your own that includes something positive!
Apoplectic-
I wasn't at the council meeting, but the office building in question is twice what the township code generally permits. I would not want to live on East Oakdene, as the residents there will have a lovely, close-up view of a 130-foot building.
I'm very much in favor of appropriate development, but when the proposed project has been buried in workshop agendas, and the Code is basically ignored, I have a problem with the process.
Get it all out in the open, have a genuinely public process and I'm fine with whatever our elected officals decide.
I would not want to live on East Oakdene, as the residents there will have a lovely, close-up view of a 130-foot building.
I'd have more sympathy for that position if the current view wasn't a parking lot followed by a freeway. The fact of the matter is that this is a development project that will have a large benefit for all residents of town (including those on East Oakdene).
...the proposed project has been buried in workshop agendas, and the Code is basically ignored...
For a project that has been buried, there seemed to be a lot of people there to opine on it. Unless I'm mistaken, this wasn't a vote to approve the project - just to allow it to be possible. It doesn't change the zone and the Code is not being ignored at all.
You are mistaken. What the new ordinance does is change the zone. The existing allowable building height was 60 feet, and is one heck of a lot higher at 130'. The proposed new building would be 30' higher than the existing building. There are other changes, but these stand out to me.
What the new ordinance does is change the zone.
Actually, the zone remains the same - what the new ordinance does is change a provision within the zone. It's an important difference.
Is the a rift forming in the Jackie/Monica team? When was the last time these two did not vote the same?
I wonder if the Suburbanite is going to throw the two of them to the wolves to promote a TNB slate next year. Back in March 2003, there were several letters from Joe Harris and crew published in the paper that bashed Jackie for not even entertaining the idea of passing a resolution against the war. Add to that the failure to capture extraordinary state aid and the soon to be delivered tax bills and reelection is no longer a sure thing.
I ind it amazing that in the past week none of the 3 bloggers found anything to write about. The 3 bloggers only appear when there is something negative to say about the Council.
This week's vote to allow another office building to be built at Glenpointe is great for Teaneck. it continues this Council's dedication to shifting the burden of the taxes from the residents to commercial properties.
I think people will start changing their mids about the benefits of development once the new tax bill arrives.
Accorning to www.teanecknjgov.org, the new bills were mailed on August 21.
When you play simcity, if you haven't, you should..youfind that when you zone large areas of land Residential, the area begin to populate.. then become vacant.. families move out and your simcity begins to loose money. In the games strategy it tells you "Try building more commercial an industrial zones" Once these commercial areas are placed (and the game recommends you build parks at the same time as to not ruin the inherent beauty of your city. Once these zones are in place you begin to see your citys account move out of the red, residential areas begin to raise in value.
The real world algorithm is not too far off. For all those who commute to other cities to work, note that 28 pounds of carbon dioxide is let off per gallon of gas consumed. How wonderful would it be to be able to look for work in our backyard? how wonderful would it be to have our tax burden spread so that living in our city is affordable.
Any new commercial building in teaneck will help spread the tax burden,even if just 5$ for the average house. But the long term gains are simply outstanding, we need to encourage our leadership to locate decent land to place our Teaneck businesses while ensuring our open space requirements are enforced.
There is no silver bullet, but with a council armed like ours, im certain we will enjoy the math of -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5...
Well I have gotten my new tax bill and hey I LOVE IT!!!
1. My home is UNDERassesed.
2. My tax bill is $300 less..YIPEE!!
Well I have gotten my new tax bill and hey I LOVE IT!!!
There are times that we are a town and a time that we are a collection of individuals. Congratulations on your bill getting lower - now can you help others that have bills that increased by $300 (or more) by supporting projects that alleviate our insane tax burden?
Thanks, and congrats!
"There are times that we are a town and a time that we are a collection of individuals. Congratulations on your bill getting lower - now can you help others that have bills that increased by $300 (or more) by supporting projects that alleviate our insane tax burden?
Thanks, and congrats!"
Thank you, I am very happy with the way this turned out.
I am always in favor of supporting project that can alleviate our insane tax burden!
You know,actually many folks that have large tax increases is becuase their homes where way underassesed for many years.I say welcome to finally paying your share of the tax bill!
While I understand that the current tax structure charges you based upon the value of your property + the value of your home...
It strikes me as unfair that I'm paying more than my neighbor (over double) even though he owns more land than I do.
Bigger house, more improved house = more taxes. Simple math, very fair.
Anon 10:31
Your answer is premised on the fact that you've bought into the premise that property taxes are based on the price of the house.
My question was in essence, wouldn't it be more fair if the taxes were based upon the amount of land you owned?
Because I have less land than my neighbor and he pays less in taxes, it would appear to me to be unfair.
Why should I have to pay the State more because I have a nicer house? I understand that that's the rule (and it's not about to change)...but do you have a better reason?
I agree that the tax should be based upon the amount of land and not the value of the home on it.
The problem lies with the dirty liberal democratic party (and their whores Loretta Weinberg, Sharpe James, Valerie Huttle, Gordon Johnson) who refuse to address the issue but instead continue to tax the middle class to fund their pet projects and especially the failing urban and suburban public school systems.
Its time to get these idiots out of office (the entire state senate & assembly), and elect people who are interested in reform and not padding their pockets!!
The real fact of the matter is that property taxes are another way of taxing those that have money. Of course, it SHOULD be about the amount of land you have, but good luck convincing anyone to change the current system.
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