Jaclyn Hashmat to become Teaneck Manager on July 1, 2024

PUBLISHED BY TEANECK VOICES

6/24/2024

Contents:

Jaclyn Hashmat to become Teaneck Manager on July 1, 2024
What Else Happened in Teaneck Governance this Week
Large Crowd Braves Heat for Juneteenth Flag-raising
Let’s Make our Flag-Raising Celebrations User-Friendly
Code Enforcement Officer Please!
Planning Board’s Challenging Summer
This Week in Teaneck – June 24 to 30, 2024

Announcements

Teaneck’s 4th of July Celebration

Contacting Teaneck Voices:

Email: teaneckvoices@gmail.com
Phone: 201-214-4937
USPS Mail: Teaneck Voices, PO Box 873. at 1673 Palisade Ave. 07666

Jaclyn Hashmat to become Teaneck Manager on July 1, 2024

Teaneck Council’s only June meeting was expected to be – and was – dominated by the changing of the Town’s executive leadership.

For a full hour and twenty minutes (Click Here and move the cursor to 23min&40sec) Teaneck’s officialdom and County and State officials expressed their appreciation to retiring 4-year Town Manager Dean Kazinci. The praise was fulsome and broad in scope, but most speakers remembered first the extraordinary COVID-19 pandemic leadership of the then relatively new manager at the onset of the decade. Manager Kazinci’s 20-minute final statement and remembrance begins at 1hr&17min of the Council Video (Click Here). Then came a cake break – followed by even more testimonials from diverse Township residents during Good & Welfare.

But the evening had begun by anticipating the unanimous consent agenda approval of Jaclyn Hashmat, the recent Hackensack City executive assistant who became Deputy Manager, as Teaneck’s next principal executive. The new Manager was invited to introduce herself and did so in this short statement found below and also found if you Click Here

Teaneck Voices wishes Manager Hashmat well in leading this very demographically complex town through what promises to be a particularly dynamic first six months of her tenure.

There are a myriad of pending decisions to be made not only by Town Council but also by our Planning Board. The capacity of both our executive and legislative entities to listen and implement resident choices into our long-term governance will shape the viability of this unique municipality. Good Luck!

What Else Happened in Teaneck Governance this Week

Not until the Mayor had selected the last speaker allowed to speak in Good and Welfare at Council’s 6/18 meeting, did a resident (in this case, resident Amrit Ramjattan) take just one minute to list for Council a string of key unresolved issues about which the public has been told little or nothing. (Click Here and go to 3hr, 59min of the Council Video). He asked:

“When is the budget expected to be passed; do we have a hard fixed date that we are working toward or are we late and are there going to be any repercussions for being late? Now with regards to the cell tower, do we have an idea of the expected revenue from that sale? And is it a land lease or a full sale when we are speaking about that tower? Is there anything else you can share about that sale? Do we have a rough idea of what would be the percentage of the budget that would be reduced as a result of the sale of that cell tower? And a couple more general questions, do we have an idea of when we expect the Master Plan to be passed – is there a hard date we are working toward? Were there renderings of the renovation of the Library and opportunity for public input? I hear that construction is to begin in September which seems awfully soon – I still do not know what the Library is going to look like.”

Voices listened very carefully to whether Mr. Ramjattan would get answers to his cogent G&W questions. Actually, the one question that got an answer – both at the meeting and yesterday afternoon at the Library - was about the Library’s renovation plans. The answer given by CM Schwartz to the resident’s cell tower question was that Council was passing resolutions about it later in the meeting – though, in fact, the cell tower issue’s non-answer was to be found only – and incompletely - in an ordinance about how Council was approving a land lease deal for the cell tower (See Ordinance 13-2024 which references sale of an easement). How much is Council expecting? No comment.

As to the Master Plan, no response. As to the budget, outgoing Manager Kazinci indicated adoption should occur at Council’s August meeting. No one addressed the “is it late” question – the answer to which is: If Council does get there by August, it will be 4 ½ months late. That is later than any previous annual municipal budget. Kazinci said there would be no penalties for adoption in August, but cited no basis for that assertion. If true, that would be contrary to state policy.

At the Environmental Commission’s June meeting, the current Chair, Josef Gillers, announced that he would be stepping down as of July 1 to be replaced by the Commission’s current Vice Chair, Hildy Dillon. Gillers is being appointed as the new Vice Chair. The project to do a GPS rendering of the Town’s environmental resources will now be pursued voluntarily by three members of the Commission. Its application for this project’s support to the Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions (ANJEC) was not successful. The Commission’s annual report lists a series of accomplishments of the re-invigorated Environmental Commission.

Large Crowd Braves Heat for Juneteenth Flag-raising

Let’s Make our Flag-Raising Celebrations User-Friendly

This month we have had two magnificent flag-raising celebrations at the entrance to the Sportsplex: We raised the Pride Flag on June 2nd and the Juneteenth Flag on June 19th. Both celebrations filled all who were there with huge pleasure!

But, as with so many Teaneck flag pole celebrations, the festivities were challenging because of the weather and the lack of seating. Teaneck Voices has two possible suggestions to both make our flag-raising events more comfortable and to encourage many more celebrations in Votee Park.

1) Install a permanent awning or canopy over the public area in front of the flag poles to protect against the elements. Create storage areas under the adjacent bleachers where dedicated folding chairs to be used for celebrations are to be stored. At the Pride flag-raising, chairs were carted in and out in their own cars by the Manager and members of Council; at the Juneteenth event, the 90-plus degree hot sun baked attendees, most of whom brought their own seating.

Time for Sportsplex redevelopment: An awning over the event space and under-bleacher storage for dedicated folding chairs!!

2) Teaneck has a significantly under-used Votee Park Field House – with Restrooms – opened in 2020 for $2.5 million. At the rear of the Field House is a large covered pavilion (breezy on even the hottest days) with installed tables and chairs that appear able to seat hundreds. Perhaps the 3 flag poles at the entrance to the Sportsplex should be transferred to a space in front of the Field House pavilion – providing Teaneck with space for celebrations protected from the elements, with dedicated seating, like-new restrooms – and two kitchens inside to allow for food to be served at the festivities.

JUST A SUGGESTION!

Code Enforcement Officer Why Have A Code If It’s Not Enforced?

Teaneck has been allowing a few private and several public properties to deteriorate to an embarrassing degree. And, then, has been using these “blighted” properties as targets for the state-sanctioned redevelopment mechanism known as Areas In Need of Redevelopment (AINRs). AINRs allow the town to disregard zoning and other Town Code and Master Plan-mandated requirements and regulations and to essentially bid off these properties to developers who see unfettered lucrative opportunities not available in other Code-abiding municipalities.

Question: How did these AINR properties (9 in Teaneck at this time) fall into such a state of disrepair in what many would call an affluent, mature suburb in the Metropolitan New York City area?

The only answer can be: No one’s minding the store, i.e. No one is enforcing the Town Code, Master Plan, and regulations that were written to assure a high quality of life for all Teaneck residents.

Yet, the majority of the Teaneck Town Council – the same majority that has promoted AINRs -- stands adamantly against a Code Enforcement Officer. Members of that majority cite harassment, embarrassment, and potential fines as their reasons.

At the recent Listening Session held at the Rodda Center, long-time resident and community advocate Raymond Addison asked a question: WHY HAVE A CODE IF IT ISN’T ENFORCED?

Teaneck Voices requests an answer to that question. Council majority, do you see the Town Code, Master Plan, etc. as aspirational (i.e. something to be aspired to but not assumed to necessarily be achievable) or simply the right PR words?

Meanwhile, Teaneck residents, put 189 The Plaza into your GPS and go see what Teaneck has allowed, declared an AINR, and handed over to a developer who for 7 long months has done nothing. The embarrassment should be Teaneck’s.

Planning Board’s Challenging Summer

Summer-time is typically a quiet time for Teaneck governance matters. Not so much this year for the Town’s Planning Board.

The session to review and approve the revised, very-long-delayed Open Space Recreation Plan (OSRP) that was originally scheduled for June is apparently now on the agenda for July 18. OSRP’s 2019 version author Barbara Heskins Davis will likely attend and is expected to have prepared an update of this never-yet-approved document from nearly 5 years ago. .

The site plan application for a multi-function cannabis facility on Alfred Avenue which had been rumored for presentation in June is now more likely to be delayed until the Board’s August meeting. A large turnout to that meeting is widely expected – and divergent views are expected when the public asks questions and makes comments. Council on May 21 passed a zoning ordinance update (7-2024 – Click Here) apparently in anticipation of the cannabis site plan at this location. It is unclear whether, in preparation for that ordinance, there has been a Zoning Subcommittee (ZSC) meeting since the minutes for the March 1 meeting were the last ones published. However, decisions about site plans of this sort belong to the Planning Board alone.

Meanwhile, the Planning Board is said to be continuing to work on its revision of the new Master Plan. That process is being carried out entirely in closed session. It may be until September before a PB draft of the Master Plan is shared with the public.

This Week in Teaneck – June 24 to 30, 2024

If additional information about access and agendas for this week’s public meetings becomes available, we will update our Teaneck Voices website at this post (Click Here) in RED font.

Stigma Free Advisory Board – Monday, June 24, 2024, at 6:00 pm by Zoom (Click Here) and add passcode 867293.

Board of Education – Special Budget Meeting – Monday, June 24, 2024, at 8:00 pm at the THS Student Center. Only Information Available.

Teaneck Road Business and Community Association (TRBCA) – Monday, June 24, 7:00 pm in-person at the Rodda Center in MP2

Hackensack River Greenway Advisory Board – Monday, June 24, 2024, at 8:00 pm by Zoom. Only Information Available.

Advisory Board on Community Relations (ACBR) – Tuesday, June 25, 2024, at 7:30 pm by Zoom (Click Here).

Teaneck Historic Preservation Commission (THPC) – Wednesday, June 26, 2024, at 7:00 pm by Zoom (Click Here) and add passcode 4387254. For the agenda, (Click Here).

Municipal Open Space Trust Committee (MOST) – Wednesday, June 26, 2024, at 8:00 pm presumably in-person only at the Rodda Center, MP-3.

For reasons unknown to Voices, this meeting has NOT -as of 6/23 - been listed on the Township website but has been distributed to MOST members.
The referendum to be presented to Teaneck voters in the November general election to continue this voluntary taxation program was included in Resolution 127-2024 (Click Here and go to p. 45) in the Council agenda on June 22) – and is to be discussed at the 6/26 meeting.

Shade Tree Advisory Board – Thursday, June 27, 2024, at 7:00 pm in person only at the Rodda Center, Room P4. Only Information Available.

Board of Adjustment Special Meeting – Thursday, June 27, 2024, scheduled for 7:00 pm. Though this second monthly meeting is always scheduled, it very rarely occurs.

Announcements

Contacting Teaneck Voices

Co-Editors: Dr. Barbara Ley Toffler and Dr. Chuck Powers

IT Editor: Sarah Fisher

By Email: teaneckvoices@gmail.com

By Phone: 201-214-4937

By USPS Mail: Teaneck Voices, PO Box 873. at 1673 Palisade Ave. 07666

Teaneck Voices' Website is www.teaneckvoices.com