Charting the Goings-On in Teaneck
//This Tuesday, at 9am, the Township Council will meet (virtually) to discuss an extension of the tax deadline.
May 1st taxes are currently due (with a 10 day grace period until May 11th). The Governor has recently permitted municipalities to extend the deadline until June 1st (with a 10 day grace period until June 11th).
Sunshine Notice - special mtg 5-5-20 2nd qt tax//On Monday, April 20th at 7pm, the Teaneck Holocaust Commemoration program of the Jewish Community Council of Greater Teaneck will recognize Yom Hashoa – Holocaust Remembrance Day – via a town-wide conference call.
The dial in number is (563) 999-1684
The Yom Hashoa program will serve to honor the memory of the 6 Million Jews murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators during the Shoa (1939-1945) and recognize Survivors living in the greater Teaneck community. The call will last approximately 35 minutes.
The Teaneck Holocaust Commemoration Committee thanks Deputy Mayor Elie Katz, who provided us with this opportunity to use his dedicated ‘call-in’ line and make this program available to the greater community.
Thank you very much.
Blanche Silver
Holocaust Commemoration Committee
//Public input at meetings of council and statutory boards is critical to the proper functioning of government. But not all opportunities to speak are the same.
If you came out to speak at yesterday’s Zoning Board hearing against an application – it was not entered in the record for the application.
In this post, I’ll outline the problem and then make a few suggestions as to how we might find a fix.
//This week Council did something new and different. We had a weekday meeting.
Mayor Hameeduddin suggested that Council meet in open session at 2pm instead of our typical 8pm meeting time.1
Truth be told I was a bit skeptical. I wasn’t entirely sure that anyone would show up! We walked into the council chambers to this scene:
Literally, every seat was filled. We had an overflow crowd in the halls. Residents were speaking at the Good & Welfare portion for well over an hour, telling the council about their concerns and informing us of how they wished us to proceed.
This was democracy in action and the daytime meeting provided a rare opportunity for many who otherwise couldn’t, to come and address council about their concerns. We will continue holding these types of meetings throughout the year (hopefully supplementing others meetings with additional ways people can address council-members, e.g. video from home).
One of the reasons I was so happy this was such a success is because Continue reading “Working Productively For A Better Shared Future”
//Since joining the Teaneck Planning Board (about a decade ago), I’ve spent a lot of time researching how we did things, in the past.
I use that information to gain perspective, and guide decisions on what we might wish to do, going forward. When you know what has been tried (for better or worse), you gain a good perspective.
Issues residents face tend to be cyclical1 and knowing how we handled them in the past, is very informative if you want to avoid prior mistakes2.
With that in mind, I hope to make several posts in the future about issues affecting Teaneck, that we face on Council.
Lighting:
A couple weeks back, a resident asked, via the Facebook group Teaneck Today (click to join) “has there ever been an audit on the effectiveness of Teaneck’s street lighting? Continue reading “Historical Perspectives on “New Problems””
//Yesterday, the Township held the first of a series of meetings on development.
You can see the slideshow presentation below (it can be downloaded here).
(For information on the “NJ Division of Taxation Senior Freeze Property Tax Reimbursement Program,” mentioned at the meeting, click here)
2019-02-19_Teaneck Development Forum presentation//Tomorrow, I’m requesting the Council put forward Resolution 204-2018 to: Call for the Legislature to Amend the Open Public Records Act to Permit Municipalities to Rely on the Government Records Council as a Defense to Attorneys’ Fees or to Abolish the Government Records Council Altogether.
The Open Public Records Act is an extremely important step towards transparency in NJ. It permits residents to seek information from their elected representatives and to know, relatively quickly, what is happening at the municipal and county levels1.
But like any legislation, there are some exemptions and calls to be made. The exemptions are few, with an emphasis on disclosure. If you have an issue regarding an OPRA request, there’s also a place you can turn: The Government Records Council. Continue reading “We need OPRA reform”
//On Monday, July 2, 2018 at 6:30 pm, the Teaneck Council will hold the semi-annual reorganization meeting at the Teaneck Town Hall.
We will be swearing in Gervonn Romney Rice, Elie Y. Katz, Keith Kaplan & Jim Dunleavy.
In addition, Council will elect the Mayor & Deputy Mayors, among others.
For those that may not be familiar with the way the Teaneck Council operates, I’d like to offer some additional information:
How does our system work?
Teaneck utilizes the Council-Manager form of Government under the Faulkner Act. What that means in practice is that residents choose their council-members “at-large” (i.e. you vote for everyone, as opposed to a ward system like neighboring Englewood) and the Council as a body, once elected and seated, chooses a mayor from among the council-members (as opposed to municipalities where the Mayor runs separately). Continue reading “Save the Date: Teaneck Council Reorganization on July 2, 2018”
//This Thursday, a planning board meeting will take place in the Municipal building.
Information, including the agenda and maps, can be found here: