Teaneck Blog

Casting a wary eye on Teaneck politics and municipal affairs

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Seizing the center

While dueling letter writers quibble over who came out looking worse during Teaneck's summer of discontent, one individual at the center of much of the swirling controversy is quietly padding his credentials and look toward the future. While political enemies continue their attempts discredit Mayor Katz and his Council allies, the Mayor himself has begun using the media more effectively to position himself as a moderate leader and dedicated public servant. This constitutes quite an improvement from earlier efforts and may serve to reposition him as a formidable figure in Township politics just in time for the next round of Council elections.

In Sunday's Record, Katz made all the right moves in commenting on an issue of importance to him. For years, Katz has been a promoter of additional parking in some form or another, especially in the Plaza area, though his proposals and the Council's RFPs have been met with limited enthusiasm. Katz wisely took advantage of the opportunity to balance his views with a declaration of the importance of protecting residential areas. Similarly, in local coverage of recent meetings on the future of North Teaneck Rd., Katz managed to come off a sensible and concerned participant in the deliberations who was willing to advocate for the residents. And to cap it off, the latest edition of the County Seat contains a photo that will do more for Katz's political fortunes than the infamous pastrami shot, as he is shown at a lunch with Hackensack officials to discuss a shared services arrangement.


There was little doubt that after a strong performance in the 2006 elections, Katz had lost a bit of his luster once installed as mayor. Around the time of the controversy over the parking lot in Brett Park, it became clear that Katz's widespread popularity and carefully cultivated image as champion of all of Teaneck was somewhat imperiled by his method of governing. To his credit, he seems to have learned from his mistakes and it appears that his opponents' continued petulance and negativity has allowed him the opportunity to move back to the center and regain his place as a pragmatic and likable leader. He may emerge from all the political sniping as a stronger and more mature public figure.

56 Comments:

At 4:42 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is a very well-reasoned commentary on a hard-working public official. Katz' energy and optimistic viewpoint are sorely needed by the naysayers and skeptics in this town, and yes, he has learned from his mistakes. None of us are perfect, and to be an elected official means making mistakes in public view. I give him points for continuing to try hard and reaching out beyond entrenched positions.

 
At 5:12 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

mskj:
ditto, ditto. I could not have said it better myself. Thanks for beating me to it.

 
At 10:12 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

It's about time to hear somehting positive about our Mayor who really in his heart wants to do the right thing for our town. Finally, I can read a blog and have a smile on my face. Good Job to you and a good job to our Mayor. Keep the good news coming!

 
At 10:20 PM, Blogger esther said...

I also agree.

 
At 2:34 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This could also have been more accurately worded as:

After early blunders, such as the blue laws fiasco and the Sanzari parking lot giveaway, Katz has learned to be more careful about his public actions. Taking a page from Englewood mayor Michael Wilds, Katz has been careful to avoid any subject of substance, preferring to focus on taking credit for things he was not responsible for and appearing as often as possible in photo ops to keep in the public eye.

 
At 7:47 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Campaign rhetoric aside, it's extremely tough for Katz or anybody to make substantial changes in a town but he can and has been effective at the margins and be a cheerleader and positive public face for Teaneck.

 
At 8:07 AM, Blogger Teaneck Blog said...

That's exactly it. Like it or not, being Mayor of Teaneck is a small job with limited power and influence. They key to succeeding in that role is recognizing those limitations while at the same time applying oneself diligently where one can make a difference. If Katz sticks to that simple formula, he'll have little to fear from the extremists who have been baying for blood over the past year, who don't really seem to have a broad base of their own. Can he can do this without compromising very much of his agenda? I think so, and it appears Katz may be coming around to that conclusion too.

 
At 10:13 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

"the extremists baying for blood"

Who would that be? I have yet to see extremists baying for anything, except perhaps for unreasonable development.

 
At 12:31 PM, Blogger Teaneck Blog said...

Extremism cuts both ways. Over the past year, a fringe element has demanded the reopening of criminal investigations and the resignation of elected officials.

 
At 12:55 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

What needs to be done:

Completely disregard the dirty 75 who pack the meetings.

Engage in a bold effort to tear down the Cedar Lane taxpayers for high rise shops, apartments, offices.

Get the state to rescind the primitive Blue Law that sucks the blood out of Teaneck business opportunities.

Get the state to toughen the law allowing easy suits by employees against municipalities.

Cut out programs unique to Teaneck that cost a fortune in taxes.

 
At 1:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sky King -

How do you propose we "get the state" to do anything?

Also- which programs, specifically, should we cut?

 
At 1:02 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey...forget Katz and Kates; Sky King for mayor!

 
At 1:13 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

We have an influential Senator who has pull with the Governor. Let Loretta use that influence.

Why don't we have a discussion about the programs in our budget and what they cost and whether it is worth it. Far be it for me to dictate what should be cut. Let you all among the citizenry decide which services we offer that seemingly no other town provides that we should cut back on.

 
At 1:53 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh come now, Sky King-

Surely you have some specific program cuts in mind -- do tell what you think we could do without. Air? Water?

 
At 2:36 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Anomymous 2:34 am -
You must not be very successful in whatever profession you are in. There are ways to say things and ways to say things. To see that you are up and bloggin at 2:34 am must mean that you are one of those sad people in Teaneck who will forever look for the negatives instead of helping to create positives. You should hope that people are a little more generous of spirit to all your mistakes.

 
At 2:48 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Library hours that might be shorter?

Thousands of free rides to those 55 years old?

Numerous recreation programs offered at a fraction of cost?

Volunteer fire instead of paid?

 
At 2:53 PM, Blogger esther said...

Half day public schools?

Cut down all trees to reduce collection costs?

Replace old police building with a 40 story office tower?

Convert Votee Park into a regional garbage dump?

Toll collection along Route 4?

 
At 3:07 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

cedarlane chick wrote: "To see that you are up and bloggin at 2:34 am must mean that you are one of those sad people in Teaneck who will forever look for the negatives instead of helping to create positives."

I couldn't help but notice that your post made strange assumptions about the correlation between people's sleep habits, their professionalism and their politics. My husband often is up at 2:34am (though he didn't write that post) and he is neither pathetic nor negative. The harsh tone of your post undermines your urging of others to focus on the positive in our town.

Back to the subject at hand, I also am impressed with our Mayor and his successes. I believe him to be earnestly invested in bettering our community and it's refreshing to see him recognized as such.

 
At 3:33 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Cut the police force instead of expanding it?

 
At 4:07 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

SLK - there is nothing wrong with being up at 2 in the morning, if you can't sleep or if you are doing something productive, or if you are just one of thosee people who doesn't need that much sleep. However, if you are up that late trolling the blogs to post negative things, it is usually a reflection on your general lifestyle.

 
At 5:12 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sky King said...

Library hours that might be shorter?

Thousands of free rides to those 55 years old?

Numerous recreation programs offered at a fraction of cost?

Volunteer fire instead of paid?

While I disagree with most of Skyking's initial post, I also disagree with Eshter flip response to some pretty specific areas of potential cost savings. Personally, I'd prefer to pay more in taxes for a paid fire department - although it would be interesting to see statistics about the effectiveness of both systems. As to the library, I have to believe that weekday morning usage is pretty light. Why not open at noon 3 days a week. Those that need morning hours would still have 2 mornings a week. Not sure what the free rides for over 55 is all about - but I assume that like the recreation department fees, they are not need based. This is an area that should be looked at closely. If we are to tackle spending, then non-essential services should be a la carte and priced at cost. Subsidies could then be provided to those that met a needs test.

 
At 11:27 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Anonymous,

Did you know that Fort Lee has a volunteer fire department? They are pretty close to Teaneck in terms of total population (I think around 35,000 people), and certainly have very difficult fire-fighting conditions given the high rises there.

 
At 5:08 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

While Fort Lee has a volunteer fire department, there is a Fire Prevention Bureau with a salaried staff. In addition to the capital costs of maintaining four fire houses plus the heavy equipment needed to serve a community with numerous highrise buildings, Fort Lee's volunteer fire fighters receive an annual stipend, annual clothing allowance, life insurance and medical coverage.

 
At 7:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Are you insinuating that costs Fort Lee taxpayers more than Teaneck's FD costs?

 
At 1:32 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Are you insinuating that costs Fort Lee taxpayers more than Teaneck's FD costs?

I believe that he is making an inference, not an insinuation.

Are you making an implication regarding his inference or have I employed faulty inductive reasoning?

 
At 2:51 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

How about plain talk? How much does a Ft. Lee Fire Fighter cost compared to a Teaneck Fire Fighter?

 
At 4:38 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

It might come sooner than you think, the Teaneck Fire Chief has proposed to close a firehouse because of overtime costs.

Which one will it be?

Way to go Chiefy.

 
At 4:41 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

As for Elie ( Paul Ostrow ) Katz, boy does he have everyone fooled.

You all make it sound like he single handidly saved the town from death.

 
At 5:47 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Since you can't fool all the people all the time, maybe the only fools in town are the "Dirty Dozen" while the rest of us know a good thing (guy) when we see it (him).

 
At 1:40 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

If the proposal to shut a firehouse is true - it is one of the oldest political stunts in the book. Not to say that it has not been deployed successfully in Teaneck several years ago when the West Englewood firehouse was slated for closure in early budget talks. Political stunt goes like this. Respond to cry for budget cut by cutting a service in the politically most vocal sector. Shake vigoruously and wait for outcry. Use outcry as basis for rescinding proposal to cut service. Declare inability to cut budget due to public outcry to maintain service. Raise taxes. Best utilized for a service that is either very popular (see Board of Ed initially proposing to cut after sports in response to rejection of budget 2 years ago) or viewed by many as essential (firehouse close to their house). This stunt is even more impressive when played out with federal government spending "cuts."

 
At 7:14 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Last time the Bnai Yeshurun alarm went off on a Saturday morning our professional fire department took seven minutes to arrive.

 
At 8:46 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

wow! waht a great sense of time you have. Either you were the person that pulled the fire alarm and standing there with a stop watch or you probably are the type of person not to evacuate the building and be the first one to sue the FD when you get burned!

 
At 11:54 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The firehouse closing rumor is just another dirty trick by the Dirty Dozen to divide the community. Anonymous 4:38 must be one of them.

The rumor is as fake as all the other lies that that bunch has been coming up with over the past two years.

Closing a firehouse has never ever been discussed anywhere anyhow since the last election and will not be discussed.

 
At 11:55 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I just went on Google Maps, and saw a silver car in front of the Metuchen post office. I know for a fact that Ron Schwartz owns a silver car. Hmmmmm....

 
At 8:38 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

A very thoughtful and positive analysis of a trait of a leader ..the willingness to lead,admit to an error when one is made and then to continue to lead with grace and good heart,and get things done..Elie Katz is of that mold..Let's hope he doesn't tire of the small group of malcontents who will never be satisfied, and that he chooses to continue spending a great deal of his time in local public service for the benefit of us all.
Thank you for injecting sanity and fairness into the public square.

 
At 7:09 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The FIRE CHIEF is the one who told the manager that if his OT budget is used up he would have to close a firehouse until there is money.

Your fire dept. is riding short. VERY short.

Something will give and SOON>

 
At 7:17 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

What do you suppose will give?

 
At 7:30 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I would like the Teaneck Blog author to please make this a topic of discussion. It always seems that the FD is treated like red-headed step children. I would like to see what the citizens really think!

 
At 10:58 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Still riding with only 2 FF's on the ladder truck. NO officer.

$500,000 New rescue truck out of service due to manpower.

At present, the most understaffed paid dept. in BC. DANGEROUSLY UNDERSTAFFED.

The FD is on a crash course and the chief is rearranging the deck chairs.

 
At 11:01 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dear Tneck blogger, please put the FD topic on hold and lets talk about the poor DPW workers and that sewer thy work in.

But Elie ( Paul Ostrow ) is doing a fine job.

 
At 6:07 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

whoever is busy moaning about the poor workers of any stripe ought to understand that the taxpayers have had it and that it is time to pull in belts. the taxpayers are watching the next budget expecting real cutbacks for next year.

 
At 7:26 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

talk about the poor DPW workers and that sewer thy work in.


The poor DPW workers, you are joking right?
I have never seen such a lazy bunch of men!

 
At 9:09 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I agree with this from another blog:

Anonymous said...
Mayors Ostrow, Kates and Katz are and were all caring, involved and interested in our town's well being. The critics and complainers are the obstacles that cause these dedicated public servants to become embroiled in stupidity and wasteful "projects" that hurt the rest of us. Thank you to these three mayors who helped to put Teaneck back on track since the early 90's; we still have a long way to go; if you are not part of the solution, you ARE the problem.

Monday, September 10, 2007 1:43:00 PM EDT

 
At 9:50 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

So what is the solution?

 
At 3:26 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Post 7:26 AM

Karin, Welcome back. Have you been to the DPW recently?

YOUR tax money is rusting away outside. This building should have been closed in the Hall era.

The men and woman of the Teaneck DPW are by far the the best around. Anybody that can work under such conditions should be applauded.

PS If anyone has any old refrigerator boxes, please bring them down to your DPW so that the workers working on all those Twp. vehicles OUTSIDE can keep from getting wet in the winter. I hope next years budget cuts do not cut the supply of those boxes.

 
At 5:29 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The men and woman of the Teaneck DPW are by far the the best around. Anybody that can work under such conditions should be applauded

Really? Is that why my husband once a month has to dump the recycling in the truck for them? Is that why the last time he complained to the DPW, a white supervisor agreed and actually stated that the township DPW workers where lazy?

 
At 5:32 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

What about the conditions outside of the DPW building itself?
That is where they are lazy, have you looked at how they p/u the recycling? Your lucky if most of the stuff makes it into the truck and not the sewers or streets!

 
At 5:56 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

And should we mention the piles of leaves that get buried under snow (can you say unsafe driving conditons?)because they have not swept the streets and picked up the leaves. Oh yeah real hard working (eye rolling)

 
At 8:47 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

WOW! Karin you are back.
Have you ever been to the DPW?
Do you know where it is?

I see that you have not lost your hatred for the Twp. employees.

How was your FD tour? Oh, I'm soory I forgot you were a no show.

All words and no actions.

 
At 8:59 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

"All words and no actions."

Der Worte sind genug gewechselt, lasst mich auch endlich Taten sehn!

 
At 10:21 AM, Blogger Karin said...

"All words and no actions."


LOL! Thanks for the chuckle anonymous. Man, it would seem that you really have issues with me..do you perhaps work for the DPW riding around on those smelly garbage trucks?

 
At 2:49 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Just answer the questions.
Is that so hard.

 
At 3:22 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

What questions?

 
At 4:38 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I answered the question!

 
At 4:27 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

i have a suggestion on a great tax generator. Land use as i understand it includes all structures on ones property.At this time of year many structures are springing up on lawns,driveways and backyards,the tax assessor should be out there having a field day.We need the money.

 
At 9:01 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Very well said, they say a virtuous man says little and does a lot ,as opposed to promising everything and delivering nothing. Mayor katz inherited quite a package, and though successful or not began to turn things around.. Where as our previous administration attempted nothing and thus succeeded at nothing, Eli has brought many issues to the table and worked through some unpopular issues.

I for one am proud to see the Mayor take a positive role, take on issues for bringing in revenue, cut spending, and protect residential areas.

We can be proud of this mayor, we can be proud that he has the strength to make the change others fear.

 

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