Bring Back Rudolph!

Is it me or is it too quiet in town. Our Mayor and Council has done a very good job of keeping the "Dirty Dozen" at bay. The Suburbanite has been very innocuous, even the blogs are desperate for material. The only media has been natural disasters like house fires, house explosions and the East Lawn Drive problem. We need Rudolph back to add a little flavor to our Council meetings. I'm falling asleep watching these meetings.

The Four Women Vote for the Peace Resolution

Its official.

The Teaneck Council now has passed an official meaningless resolution asking the NJ Senate, to ask the Governor, to ask the President, to bring home the troops.

In a 4-3 vote, the Council passed the peace coalition's resolution.

Mayor Farker was the deciding vote and Councilman Gussen was the most vocal against. Gussen demanded to know who wrote the resolution, why was it not discussed at a workshop, how did it get on the agenda and so on. It was a great Council show and I am sure now that the Peace Coalition have Farker wrapped around their pinky, they will be back for more.

Stay tuned.

How will the Credit Crunch Effect Teaneck

As Teaneck news is slow, I haven't posted in a while.

In looking back at the last several weeks and months on wall street, here are some observations of how i feel Teaneck will be effected by the credit crunch. My degree is not in economics, so allow me some leeway.

1- State aid will drop as state revenues fall.
2- Borrowing and bonding costs will rise significantly.
3- Local home assesments will drop- we wont have a reval of course but individual tax protests will skyrocket, and rightfully so.
4- Demand for higher end houses will plummet, as many of the bankers and market makers who purchase them will tighten their pockets.
5- Home renovations will slow, both as a result of homeowners tighten their belts and home equity lines drying up. This will cause permit fees to sharp, followed by the usual assessment increases to vanish.
6- Fill in your comments here.

I can think of no better person to run this ship then Mayor Feit. As we saw over the 2007 and 2008 budget season, he will rip the budget apart line by line, as will Gussen. We will need the rest of the council to jump on board (Monica- just skip those meetings).

As I like to compare Teaneck to NYC, I see Mayor Katz as Mayor Giuliani, both whom i loved. These captains got the boats out of the storm and heading in the right direction. Mayor Michael "Bloomberg" Feit now needs to keep the engines on cruise when everything around will try to send it back into the storm.

The biggest challenge- getting the Board of Education to finally follow suit. I URGE Ned Goldman to head back into that forum, and Alan Sohn to put his positive traits to work ripping that budget into shape 2008 style.

Progress

I heard over the weekend that the Marcihal property at River Road and New Bridge Road was finally approved. Ground to be broken soon!
17 townhomes in an area of Teaneck sorely lacking higher end multi family housing (or any for that matter). While the neighboring Kramers may not like that, where else will people in that area go if they no longer want to take care of their homes?

Good for Teaneck!!! We need more !!

I Missed Teaneck, sort of...

I'm Back. Probably let the last string go one day too much. As Esther or Tom would say, the anonymous posters are probably all of 4 people.

So Teaneck is quiet, Mayor Feit's ratings are high and the new playground is open!

Until some news develops, I've disabled comments so as to not have to read about some synagogue over and over and all the hate it spews.

Email me at teanecktruth@gmail.com if you're bored!

Can't help but noticing that we've got...

the best parks around.

As some of you know, I spend most of my summer on Long Beach Island, so I can't always keep current with all the Teaneck happenings.

You think Teaneck has politics, you should see my blog posts at LBI.

I was amazed to see this week the progress on Rudolph's handicap playground. It is a magnificent addition to our park.

I have concluded that Teaneck probably has the best parks and equipment hands down in Bergen County. Maybe we take it for granted, because its in our backyard, but when you travel like I do, you will see the stark differences in parks. (Unless you prefer beer bottles and take out food garbage).

Off to a Good Start

The first Council meeting seemed to have gone well.

Quick Status report....

1- All of the police promotions were done at the meeting
2-One upset DPW employee for Council's failure to recognize their efforts with the pool closing
3-Board appointments all went uncontested with the exception of Honis voting against Gussen on the Planning Board.

One person that did not make the cut was a very experienced Ned Goldman. Was that the price he paid for trying to win against Toffler?

Glenpointe Officer Tower Approved

While I am hoping for a slow blog summer, one piece of breaking news just came across my desk.

After reviewing plans for 3 hours last night, I was just told that a new office tower was approved by the Planning Board last night. This follows the zoning changes made earlier this year by the Council as recommended by the Board.

I heard from someone there that the conceptual drawing were gorgeous, as is the tax revenue!

GO TEANECK

Enjoy the summer

Now It's Fire Boxes

(warning- contains much sarcasm)

The way you know its not us but "them" is by sitting back and letting "them" shoot themselves in the foot.

All this happy and cheer and let's all be friends have given "them" too much time to find something else to complain about.

In this weeks Suburbanite, the "them" made an issue about having emergency fire boxes in town.

Could "them" have picked a more innocuous (and cheap) safety device to criticize and bellyache about?

Why not critique the fire department for purchasing fire hoses, after all how many hoses do we need?

Maybe we don't even need a fire department (tongue in cheek for my serious readers). We spend 9 million dollars a year for the fire department- if two or three of the taxpayers homes burn down, we can pay $1.5 million and still save money left over (Sohn, start crunching the numbers).

Maybe we shouldn't pave streets anymore. Think how much money we could save? There would be no pot holes, less painting, slower traffic and we wouldn't need a police detail when PSE+G is digging up our dirt roads.

The point is, I realize we are all different people with many opinions, but do we always have to give credibility and press to the nuts?

REWARD IF FOUND: Where is Katz?

Is it just me or is Katz missing in action.

I saw him march at the parade on the 4th.

I heard he was at the workshop meeting last week yet I have not seen him around town or gotten any emails from him.

Is he in the same obscure place as Ostrow has been for the last two years. Is there a Mayors hiding place in town? Are Paul, Jackie and Katz playing Majong in Miami together?

If someone sees him, tell him to email or post something so we know he is alive.I read a nice article this week in the Jewish Standard about Mayor Farker. Seems like they are settling in to the position.

What action items can we expect? We have seen many years of increased taxes and stagnant services.

Will there be any new proposals put forward.

What ideas can we give the Council that we as a community would like, other then banning certain people from the meetings.

Two for the Price of One

I am sorry that I couldn't attend the Council meeting last week. I heard that we now have two Mayors running the meeting- Feit and Parker. The word I got was that Feit was trying to run the meeting and Parker kept interrupting, commenting on everything and telling Feit what to do. I guess we needed two to fill Katz's shoes, but it was a little confusing from what I hear. So please join me in welcoming the new Mayor: Mayor Farker

I See Your True Colors Shining Through

I think that is a song a that was written about Barbara Toffler. Just a few minutes in to Mayor Feit's meeting Toffler tried to stick it to the town attorney and prosecutor by re appointing them on a two month trial. I am sure the family members of both were thrilled to have come out only to have Toffler embarrass their spouses publicly.

Thank goodness that Mayor Katz came to their rescue and derailed Toffler's plan. Katz pointed out that Toffler had ample opportunity (and did indeed utilize the time to do so) to interview and meet with the attorney and prosecutor and specifically indicated that she supports both to the Manager prior to that night. So why the sudden change of heart. Well, the "Truth" is that Toffler was showing her true colors.

This was a power play. She is a vindictive and will not let this Council proceed forward. Good luck Teaneck!!

It's Official

By now we have all seen the email from Mayor Katz in which he will not seek a second term as Mayor but will support Feit.

I personally am very saddened by Katz's decision. While I did not always agree with him, I have not seen someone so dedicated and committed to the success of Teaneck since Ostrow.

The questions still remain will Feit be up for the job and who will be Deputy Mayor.

Inside sources tell me it is a toss between Parker, Toffler and Gussen. This town is really changing, stay tuned.

The Deal of the Century?

Teaneck Mayor and Deputy Mayor Chosen


There have been rumors running around for the last few weeks of Toffler wanting to be the Mayor. After all, she was the top vote getter .With the likelihood of that happening, I hear that Toffler has been trying to drive a wedge between Feit and Katz and pit one against the other for Mayor. I am fairly certain that they both have not bought in to her psychology. I am told that in the interest of a peaceful compromise and to pick someone that has shown from their votes that they represent the northeast community and all Teaneck, Toffler has garnered support from Katz, Honis, and Hameeduddin for Deputy Mayor.

I am not sure what to make of it initially, but the "Truth" is this could be a good compromise.

There are many that feel that Parker lacks any leadership qualities and much of the New Beginnings/ Teaneck Divided conflicts could have been averted. If you think of any of the other alternatives, they may be perceived as too extreme.

Very clever and very impressive, good old fashioned political horse trading. Mayor Katz and Deputy Mayor Toffler, that is my pick as the end result.

7 days left!

United at Last

Unity Day for All

After months of press releases, articles and talk, Teaneck celebrated it's first Unity Day.

At first it appeared that it was going to be washed out because of the rain, though even with the that threat over one thousand people came down.

When the sun came out so did the mass of people.

The "Truth" is, it was probably one of the most successful events Teaneck has seen in many years. My nephew enjoyed the rides. I loved the bazaar and food. I was sad to see they cancelled the dunk tank because of the rain. I was prepared to blow a paycheck dunking Katz and Gussen (Monica next year!!). But this event was great and I thank the event organizers. I hope that Teaneck will continue this Unity even after the event.

And one addition- I got to see all my Blog friends happy together. Anonymous was walking hand in hand with karin and.....