Clear and Consistent Policies are Needed!

Commentator Himmelhoch made a good point that got me thinking more about the public display of religious symbols on government property:

"Man, it's hard for me to understand why people get so exercised about this issue. Let them have the creche, the menorah, whatever! I think there are alot of issues more worth fighting over. If people feel left out, let them find a symbol they can relate to to put up. And go ahead and get a giant God Delusion sign to help athiests feel like part of the game."

Perhaps it's because people think their religion is the best and it represents the Truth and everybody else are miguided fools for believing that other hogwash.

This is all the more reason that the town has to establish a clear and consistent policy with respect to display of religious symbols on town property. The policy must clearly address a number of issues:

• What constitutes a religion? For example, does the Church of John Coltrane count? What abour Scientology? Should relgious cults be prohibited from participating?

• What constitutes a religious symbol? What if a relgious symbol is in bad taste or offensive to another religion? For example, the swastika is a sacred symbol of the Jain faith, but it would probably be imprudent to display a swastika on the municipal green.

• How old does a religion have to be? Can newly created religions display their symbols or does a religion have to have been in business for at least 25 years to be considered legitimate?

• What forms of expression are acceptable on public property? Is there a limit on the size of symbols? Can symbols float? Can they spin? Are aural symbols acceptable? If symbols are lit, can the lights blink or change colors?

• How can I display my symbol everyone to admire? What is the procedure for obtaining permission to display one's relgious symbol on the municipal green? How to avoid the appearance of favoritism towward mainstream faiths?
  

• When can symbols be displayed? Is this explosion of public display of religious symbolism limited to December or should the town open opportunities for religious displays during the rest of the year to give equal time to religions that don't have important holidays in December?

• What criteria should be used for rejecting a symbol? Is there an appeals process?
  

Festivus for the Rest of Us!

This is an issue that I've already made fun of previously, but unsurprisingly, the controversy has reared its head again, giving me another opportunity to climb on my soap box. Here's an excerpt from this week's Suburbanite, retyped by hand (grammatical errors intact), since the Suburbanite refuses to post their articles and letters online for my cutting and pasting convenience:

Religious Displays Stir Controversy

The township's holiday display on municipal green rather than promoting peace, has become a sources of contention.

At the Dec. 19 council meeting, Cedar Lane resident, Hector Ferrer asserted that members of his church were not treated as fairly when they sought to put up a nativity scene on the municipal green. Ferrer alleged that he had encountered resistance from the council, which Jewish residents has not when they petitioned the council to put up a lare menorah on municipal green more than a decade ago.

Both a menorah and a nativity scene are displayed on the municipal green. But Ferrer said that the council would not allow his church to donate the nativity scene whereas Jewish groups were allowed to put up their own menorah.

"The foundation of our concern can be summed up in two words, 'equal representation,'" said Ferrer.

Later in the article, Ferrar is also quoted as saying, "Councilwoman Kates chose to vi0late the rights and will of Christian citizens to appease her Jewish consituents."

This allegation of discrimination is pure hogwash. How are the rights and will of Christian citizens being violated when there is a nativity scene proudly displayed in front of the municipal building right next to the menorah.

I'll tell you whose rights are violated: the Sikhs, the Muslims, the Hindus, the Bahais and the Humanists! Where are our symbols? Why should our faiths be excluded from representation in the public square?

The ill-advised decision to display a menorah was made many years ago and I believe none of the current council members were in office at that time. As the article points out both Kates and Gussen have publicly stated that they oppose any religious display on municipal property.

Bully for them. The other councilmembers should follow their lead and this should be the last year that either the menorah or the nativity scene appears. If they find it politically difficult to banish the nativity scene and the menorah, next year, I swear to Darwin, I will petition the town to display a blinking neon sign that reads: www.ethicalfocus.org.

Clarification from the Mayor

The Mayor has added a statement to his latest Teaneck Tid-Bits message which clarifies his position on proposed development projects:

"Not all development projects proposed are right for Teaneck. We must carefully review each project and determine what is appropriate for Teaneck and proper for the area".

I appreciate his clarification. In our eagerness to find new sources of ratables (and I believe many of us share this eagerness) we must be careful not to sacrifice the things that attracted us to Teaneck in the first place. I think the Mayor is aware that he and the council and all the folks that want to see development happen must carefully tread on this thin line.

The Mayor's Got it Wrong on Opposition to Development

Here's a plea from Mayor Katz's latest Teaneck Tid-Bits Message:

Personal Note: We need to bring in more revenue to the town. We must shift some of the tax burden from our residents who currently pay 86% of our township collected taxes to the commercial areas. We must work together as a community to identify the proper developments for Teaneck in the right areas. Otherwise, the bulk of the taxes will keep falling on the residents. Teaneck residents want Open Space, Parks & Services. If we don’t bring in other sources of revenue, then our taxes will keep going up— The residents made a great choice by electing: Councilman Feit, Councilman Gussen, Councilman Rudolph & Deputy Mayor Parker in the last election. They have spent the last six months infusing new ideas and exploring change for the betterment of the whole Teaneck. There are some residents (very vocal minority) that do not want to see any change. Some are focused on the past and not looking at the future. Some are still harboring anger from the last election. It is important that the Council hears from more residents, and not just the handful that write Dear Editor Letter and attend Council meetings. How can we help and what can we do better? Contact your elected officials and encourage progress. We want to hear from you. Teaneck is your town!

It's not as cut and dry as the Mayor paints it. A "vocal minority" aren't clinging to some halcyon past and opposition to development projects has absolutely nothing to do with anger over the election. Most people in Teaneck are in favor of development in principle as a means for reducing their tax burden. However, the average Teaneck resident will oppose a high density development project that will change the character of their immediate neighborhood. The people who were the most vocal in their opposition to the DeGraw Avenue condo project were the people living in that neighborhood. Likewise for the Herrick Park and the American Legion Drive projects. The Mayor marginalizes the feelings of these people at his peril, since most single family homeowners would behave in the same way when confronted with a project that will fundamentally transform the character of their neighborhood.

More on Birdsall

To expand on my prior post about the Preliminary Development Opportunities Analysis prepared by Birdsall Engineering, I think the report would be easier to read and a more effective action-oriented document if it included an Executive Summary that provided an easy to read matrix listing each recommendation with the following information:

1. Timeframe for Implementation. Is this a recommendation that can be implemented immediately, over the short term or over a long-term horizon?

2. Implementation Issues / Obstacles. What are the issues and obstacles to implementation of the recommendation? Does the recommendation require a legal action? Does the recommendation involve cooperation or participation by a private-sector entity, such as a seller or developer? Is there likely to be community opposition? What is the nature of likely community opposition? Is the recommendation dependent on favorable market conditions?

3. Next Steps / Action Items. What needs to be done to implement this recommendation and and who needs to do it?

With this type of matrix in the Executive Summary, government officials and the public will be able to get a clear sense of the development opportunities that exist with an expectation about the timeframe for undertaking the opportunities, the obstacles to execution and the actions necessary to realize different development opportunities.

My sense of the recommendations of the report is that there are a limited number of development opportunities that can be realized in the short term and that they are likely to have a modest impact. Over the long-term, some of the more ambitious development goals may be possible, but only if the current administration lays a policy groundwork today, by making changes to zoning to permit higher density in some neighborhoods, by creating design guidelines that improve the appearance and function of retail districts and by streamlining permitting processes so that the town is viewed by the private sector as business-friendly.

Playing with the Design

The new blogger beta makes it much easier for clods like me to change the design of blogs. I increased the size of the text for the benefit of the old folks out there (which alas, includes me) and I created a photo logo using an idea I stole from a Gussen Rudolph campaign mailer.

First Take on Birdsall

Here’s my disjointed first take on the Preliminary Development Opportunities Analysis prepared by Birdsall Engineering:

No Executive Summary. The report could use a concise executive summary that provides a list of key recommendations, listed in order of priority and an outline of key steps to implement each of the recommendations.

The report reads like a primer on contemporary economic development conventional wisdom. This is not a criticism as I approve of contemporary economic development conventional wisdom. Here are some of the key concepts that the report emphasizes, many of which are laughably self-evident:

• Buildings and streetscape improvements should relate to each other in some contextual way. Not to discriminate, but some styles of architecture, particularly from the 60s and 70s is antithetical to contemporary economic development goals in that they don't relate to other buildings and don't present a friendly and inviting image. Buildings from that era ought to be retrofitted to make them more attractive and friendly to pedestrians.

• Attractive signage and storefronts are important in that they attracts shoppers to stores.

• Pedestrian activity is important for a retail district.

• Pedestrian activity is enhanced by using appropriately scaled streetscape improvements and attractive outdoor places for people to sit.

• A mix of residential and commercial uses creates “synergy”, which is desirable.

• Surface parking is a waste of valuable real estate. Since parking is important, parking decks are preferable to surface parking, as long as they are hidden and encased in retail frontage.

• If you are going to build high rise buildings near a single family neighborhood, you have to step up the height of buildings gradually to create a transition between low-rise and high-rise areas. Hackensack would be an example of a place that does not follow this rule.

• If you take the Ayn Rand approach to economic development of retail districts you end up with no visual coherence, 10 nail salons and 7 banks. This "every man for himself" attitude ultimately undermines the drawing power of a retail district.
  

The Cedar Lane Recommendations. Many of the Cedar Lane recommendations fail to pass basic feasibility tests. While development of the parking lot on Garrison with a combination of retail and parking is a sensible idea that would benefit Cedar Lane, the time and cost associated with assembling parcels controlled by disparate owners combined with likely opposition of neighbors living directly to the north, make it a dud. The conversion of the CVS parking lot into a retail / parking deck is similarly far-fetched from a feasibility perspective. The owners of the property are going to see no good economic reason to cram an expensive edifice on the parking lot, since it would disrupt parking for several years, the rent from the new retail space might not support the high cost of deck parking. Sale and development of the tiny municipal parking lot at Beverly is a good idea. although the site is not very large and the loss of scarce parking spaces would further exacerbate the current shortage. While development of the TriBeCla (Triangle Below Cedar Lane) area is a good idea, it is full of NIMBY and traffic minefields. In sum, we’re back where we started on Cedar Lane. They’re probably correct that any redevelopment of the TriBeCla would necessitate a demolition of the pocket park ti improve traffic flow.

Installing parking meters on Cedar Lane is an excellent idea. It provides revenue for the town and keeps the long-term parkers away. The town should do this immediately.

The Plaza Recommendations. The Birdsall recommendations mirror what I’ve already said in various places in this blog. The area has a great bone structure. It needs in-fill development, streetscape improvements and a campaign to boost it’s identity in the minds of Teaneck residents. The report also mentioned that rezoning the Palisades industrial area for commercial development should be done in conjunction with redevelopment of the Plaza. I’ve said that before as well.

Other Retail Districts. As I’ve said before, marginal improvements are possible. Don’t hold your breath for major tectonic shifts in economic activity.

The report contains several surprises and a disappointment.

• Surprise 1) I had no idea that the industrial area near the Decatur Avenue exit was in Teaneck rather than Englewood. There must be a way for us to glom onto all that development that’s currently happening along Route 4 in Englewood.
  
• Surprise 2) The folks at Birdsall must be smoking crack if they really believe that it would be possible to redevelop the municipal green for commercial uses.
  
• Disappointment 1) I guess the area off of Fort Lee Road adjacent to Route 95 and 80 really is a wetland. Drats. I was gearing up to bring my developer friends out to look at it.

That’s all I have time to report on now. All in all, the report is meaty and full of interesting ideas, many of which would be difficult to implement. It should give the town lots to think about.

It's Here

For those who lack the patience to navigate the town's website, here's a link to the draft report from Birdsall. I'll report back once I get a chance to read it.

How Low Can We Go?

Trying to sell you house? Wondering what it might be worth? Here's a pessimistic piece from Business Week online entitled, Curb Your Enthusiasm About A Recovery.

While the article has a national focus, we in North Jersey are hardly exempt from its grim findings, namely:

• Prices are likely to fall further in many markets in 2007, particularly in high priced markets where values have hardly begun to adjust.
• One particularly pessimistic analyst, Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist of High Frequency Economics in Valhalla, N.Y., projects that prices nationally could fall 5% to 10% in the next year.
• According to the article, if past is precedent, it's likely to take 15 years or more for many parts of the country to get back to their inflation-adjusted peaks.

If you believe these pessimistic prognostications, now is probably not the best time to sell your house and, since prices are likely to fall farther before they flatten out, now is also probably not the best time to buy either. We'll all have to go back to the old philosophy of thinking of our homes as shelter rather than piggy banks.

In the article, Richard J. DeKaser, chief economist of National City Corp. in Cleveland says, "We're looking at several years of weak home prices. It'll return to the time when no one is talking about real estate."

This will be a relief for people like me who have to talk about real estate all day at my job and would prefer to talk about just about any topic other than real estate in my spare time.

(I'm writing this at my office, while on real estate talking time.)

Gone But Not Forgotten

What happened to the TEANECKINFO blog?

Perhaps they received a cease and desist order from Alan Sohn's attorney.

Who will fill the rumor and innuendo void?

WHAT WILL BECOME OF ALL THE COMMENTERS WHO DON"T KNOW HOW RELEASE THE CAP LOCK!!!!!!?

A Great Use for A Surplus Property

Here’s my latest idea for improving life in Teaneck.

This one involves re-use of the old Police Headquarters. I know that the naysayers are going to tell me that the building can’t possibly be re-used because it’s so contaminated by asbestos that the only realistic option for the building is to encapsulate it in kevlar and launch it into outer space.

Yaysayer that I am, my plan assumes that the asbestos problem can be solved without intergalactic interventions and that the cost of clean-up, using money raised from a capital campaign, will not be prohibitive.

I should mention that this plan is inspired by Bloomfield, NJ. When Bloomfield built their new library building in 1967, rather than closing down the old library, they converted it into a comprehensive library for children.

So here’s the plan: After solving the asbestos problem, convert the old police headquarters into the Teaneck Children’s Library and Learning Resource Center. The Center could contain:

• a specialty room for toddlers which would house the toys, puzzles and board books and where playgroups could meet (and where some noise would be permitted),
• a traditional circulation and reference room for elementary school age children,
• a kid-oriented computer center,
• a special resource center for teens where they could obtain homework help and have a quiet place to study outside of the house and
• a multipurpose room to be used for arts and musical programming, films, lectures and children's programs sponsored by the library and other groups who will rent the space for a fee.

The Teaneck Public Library is the most heavily utilized library of the 73 libraries in the Bergen County Cooperative Library System. At present, the Teaneck Library is busting at the seams with its many users and activities. By expanding into the old Police Headquarters and creating a more extensive center for Children and Youth, the space vacated in the main branch of the library could be renovated and leased to Starbucks, thereby creating a pleasant community-oriented café/lounge that would generate revenue for operations of expanded Library. Additional revenue could be generated by renting out the multipurpose room in the Children’s Center parties, outside arts programming and special events.

Such an ambitious plan would require a major fund raising effort. In addition to an aggressive capital campaign, a comprehensive fund raising strategy might involve an expanded book sale effort, a town-wide rummage sale, a series of benefit concerts and other special fund-raising events that would bring diverse groups of people together toward a shared goal.

This idea would be embraced by many people in Teaneck, as it would provide an enhancement to our cherished library that could be used and enjoyed by town residents of all ages.

A Great Local Venue

I want to thank PublicSchoolParent for sending me this link to an article in the Jewish Standard about the Mexicali Blues Cafe. Here's an excerpt from the article:

"A month ago, close to 300 people filled Mexicali Blues on Queen Anne Road in Teaneck to see blues guitarist Joe Bonamassa. Many were garden-variety blues-rock fans: black jeans, graying ponytails, leather jackets. Interspersed among the masses, as has become custom at Mexicali, were a substantial amount of guys wearing yarmulkes, their arms air-guitaring along with everybody else’s to Bonamassa’s songs."

"Three nights later, the venue was barely filled to half-capacity for the jam-band Particle. Still, a large percentage of the crowd was conspicuously Jewish: yarmulkes, long skirts, and tzitzit were visible throughout, bopping until Particle finished up a little past two on Sunday morning. "

"Neither Bonamassa nor Particle is a Jewish band. Neither act plays Eastern European melodies, nor does either explore Jewish lyrics. They are regular artists, and Mexicali Blues is, for all intents and purposes, a regular venue. It does not serve kosher food, it sports a full recessed bar in the back, and the acts that come through, said founder Eli Wells, are never intentionally Jewish."

I've been going to Mexicali Blues since it open in 1993. This place is a terrific music venue and the food is great too, for those inclined to eat triafe. I'm glad it's attracting a diverse crowd.

The question I would pose to the owners if whether they would permit patrons to order meal deliveries from Chopstix.

A collective sigh of relief was heard..

..from the good citizens of Bogota, when they learned that their Mayor has refrained from issuing a public statement about the following controversy:

In New Providence, NJ, Councilmember Stephen Vengrow touched a nerve when he proclaimed New Providence to be a "Christian town" during a council discussion of a Hanukkah banner with a menorah illustration that the town planned to display across the street from Borough Hall near a decorated "holiday tree." Later elaborating on his comments, Vengrow said, "This town is a white Christian town in a Christian nation."

Here's a link to an article about the controversy in the Courier News and here's a letter of support on Mr. Vengrow's position by one of my favorite bloggers, General JC Christian, Patriot.

A Reason for Hope

Sometimes I despair at the sinking level of discourse in this town. One merely has to look at the tone and content of recent letters in the Suburbanite or glance at the comments being made on this and the other blogs, (examples here, here and here) to see that some folks have no compunction denigrating groups of people based on their race, religion or sexual preference or engaging in ad hominem attacks on individuals. What is perplexing to me is that some of the people who say the most reprehensible things, often describe themselves as religious.

I have deep respect for religious people who conspicuously adhere to the tenets of their faith relating to the treatment of people with dignity and respect. At the same time, I’m at a loss as to how other so-called religious people can reconcile the disrespectful and hateful things they say with their religious convictions.

It is with this mind that I want I to report on an event yesterday gave me fresh hope that people of different faiths and backgrounds can work together on behalf of a good cause. Yesterday, a group called the Solstice Ensemble performed all six of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos in a benefit for homeless families in Bergen County. The event was co-sponsored by the Interreligious Fellowship for the Homeless, St. Mark's Episcopal Church, The Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County, and Temple Emeth.

My hope is that the silent majority of people of Teaneck who embrace diversity rather than division can take a stand against all this negativism before it drags us all down.

Two Revenue Ideas for the Town

Here are two revenue-generating ideas for the town. One is relatively easy, the other will take some design and planning:

1. The town should investigate the logistics, costs and potential revenue that could be generated through the creation of an online Teaneck Shop, where people can purchase books, postcards, t-shirts, caps, sweatshirts coffee mugs and other Teaneck-themes momentos and stocking stuffers. Not only might this generate revenue, but t-shirts and other themed garb are a great source of free advertising. This is an old and tested concept for generating cash. The key is to keep the overhead as low as possible. It would be great to get this thing up in time for next year's holiday season.
2. Since the Mayor has floated the idea of using public open space for revenue-producing purposes, wouldn't it be great if the town could set aside an area of the municipal green near the library for a seasonal outdoor cafe. The design might include an inexpensive, but attractive kiosk, where coffee and snacks are prepared and sold, a paved patio and possibly some type of partial covering (perhaps a pergola) to protect patrons from sun and rain. The cafe would be run by a concessionaire who would pay base rent and a percent of earnings to the town. Models of this type of cafe have been highly successful in New York City's Bryant Park. I believe they operate throughout the year, which would probably not make sense in Teaneck. The Municipal Green is an attractive and shaded place with ample parking in the back. A well-designed cafe could enhance the area and generate cash for the town.

Thoughts?

Testing A New Policy

Several people have complained to me about the content of some comments on this blog and have asked whether there's anything I can do to about comments that are inflammatory, off-topic, insulting, or otherwise inappropriate.

The most harsh thing I can do is to turn off comments completely which would render this blog even more boring and pointless than it probably already is. The next most harsh thing I can do to moderate comments. This will require me to manually approve of every comment before it gets published. I don't want to have to babysit this thing 24-7 as it already takes up too much of my time. Therefore, I have opted to change the commenting section so that anonymous comments will no longer be accepted. If you want to leave a comment, you have to register with blogger.com and create a unique name for yourself. It's a simple procedure and it doesn't cost anything.

I hope that this doesn't result in a complete drying up of all comments, as the most valuable thing about this blog is not what I say, but what we discuss together.

So Elie, what's your position on this issue?

At the risk of sounding like a gay marriage advocacy clearinghouse, I'm returning once again to the topic which provides a convenient platform for the rantings of our anti-gay blog troll and purveyor of happy emoticons.

Here's another article in the Record that that caught my eye. It's about how some New Jersey mayors were gearing up to refuse to perform civil union ceremonies. Unsurprising, our pal Mayor Steve Loneghan was prominent among the refusniks.

Try to picture Steve jumping up and down and shaking his fists as he says:

"No! I'm not doing it!" Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan said. "They're not going to force me to do civil unions. They're going to have to put a gun to my head. Even then it's going to be a challenge."

"Lonegan, the Bogota mayor, said he performs about two dozen marriages a year, and officiated at one in which the groom "was so drunk he couldn't stand up."

Apparently, the highly principled Loneghan had no qualms about officiating at that wedding.

Suburbanite Round-Up (Part 1)

There's a lot of provocative material in this week's Suburbanite and I'm curious as to how other people feel about the various letters to the editor. I'm not going to have time now to cover all of the interesting letters so I'll mention a few that stick out:

The Plot Thickens!?!? According to Ron Schwartz, some anonymous person has spilled the beans about the identiy of the people involved in the illegal campaign mailings. He says that deep throat told him the identity of the evil-doers is "well known to many people in the Teaneck Orthodox Community" Ron is asking anyone else with knowledge about this vast conspiracy to come forward and be a stool pigeon and rat out your pals.

The Old Bait and Switch. Rich Siegel starts out his letter talking about why hate is a bad thing. Then, gradually, as the letter progresses, he turns out to be a hater himself! I say he's got a lot of chutzpah claiming to be in the anti-hate camp.

Any thoughts on these or other letters?

Can I Downgrade My Marriage to a Civil Union?

Sezme points out that Loretta Weinberg has an article in today's Record about the Civil Unions bill (S-2407) that she is co-sponsoring with Senate President Richard Codey. She claims that the bill will "provide same-sex couples with all the rights of heterosexual marriage as mandated by the October ruling of the New Jersey Supreme Court."

The purpose of her op-ed piece is to explain why it is politically expedient to create a whole separate (but allegedly equal) infrastructure to confer a set of rights on gay couples rather than simply letting them get married like everyone else.

Weinberg has always been a champion of gay rights and I appreciate her pragmatic approach to getting these rights on the books as quickly as possible, however, it doesn't seem fair to me that a whole class of families should be treated differently under the law mainly because certain traditionalists have some proprietary claim over the word "marriage" and "spouse".

This raises the question of whether heterosexual couples intending to be married in a civil ceremony as I was, should be permitted to elect to have "civil union" rather than "marriage" status. It seems to me that the real test of whether civil unions are the same thing as marriage is to permit heterosexual couples to opt for civil union status and see if they lose certain rights as a consequence.

All Families Deserve Marriage

Here are excerpts from a statement from the Think Equal campaign co-sponsored by Garden State Equality and Blue Jersey promoting marriage equality in New Jersey:

It’s a simple idea that is too often lost on well-meaning people.

Many who believe in equality for same-sex couples favor the term “civil union” over the term “marriage”. While their reasons may vary, they may not fully understand the real world disparities between the different terms.

Civil unions are more complicated for people to understand, especially in times of crisis. The story of Paula Long and Rozz Heggs of Camden is just one of the many heartbreaking examples of how families can be degraded by their interior marital status. Paula and Rozz were registered domestic partners, which under New Jersey law grants the following rights to partners:

- The right to visit each other in the hospital
- The right to make medical decisions for an incapacitated partner

Despite this, when Rozz went to the hospital after suffering a heart attack and stroke, Paula was not allowed to give consent for a blood transfusion. The hospital demanded to see a marriage certificate.

Like the proposed civil union law, the current domestic partner legislation already provides these rights. But a fundamental non-understanding by ordinary people of civil unions and marriage equality can lead to disasters like this. Semantics matter because not everyone follows legislation closely, and this has a real effect on real people.

Marriage is truly the only currency of commitment the real world universally understands and accepts.

Unlike a marriage, a civil union may not be recognized in other states. Therefore, if a New Jersey couple with a civil union has to relocate to another state due to a job or a sick relative, their legal status would be jeopardized.

The Think Equal website has links to two videos worth watching:

- A new television ad, and
- A video of Paula Long and Rozz Heggs’ story.

Anything other than marriage is just not fair.

Property Tax Assessment Meme

I got my property assessment today. I was hoping that the valuation would come in at less than twice the prior valuation, but alas, my ratio, was 2.3. Based on the article in last week's Suburbanite, referenced here, this means that my property tax obligation is likely to stay roughly the same. This led me to wonder how my assessment compares with the assessments of other homes in town that might be roughtly comparable to mine.

To try to answer the question I created the Property Tax Assessment Meme. The point of this exercise is to exchange information about assessments (without providing specific addresses) so to get a sense of whether comparable houses are being assessed at comparable values. Here are the questions. Please cut and past them into a comment. I submitted my response in the first comment:

Neighborhood:
Lot Size:
House Style:
Siding:
Garage:
Bedrooms:
Full Bathrooms:
Half Bathrooms:
Approximate Date of Kitchen:
Basement:
Attic:
Central Air:
Swimming Pool:
Assessed Value:

The Battle of Good versus Evil

There’s an amusing conversation going on over at teaneckinfo.blogspot.com, a new blog which should not to be confused with Alan Sohn’s informative and non-opinionated teaneckinfo.com site.

Since most of the commenters refer to themselves as anonymous, it’s difficult to tell whether the conversation involves two people or many. (As an aside, commenters, please take the time to give yourselves names – it makes it easier to understand the flow of the conversation.)

Essentially, it’s an epic battle over who are Teaneck’s heroes and who are the villains. Naturally, the usual suspects have been nominated for hero/villain status: Gussen and Rudolph (always mentioned in tandem like Scalia and Thomas), Kates, Honis, Weinberg, and the devilish Ferriero (who is never portrayed as a hero).

Depending on who makes the comments, the heroes are those who boldly stand up against the tired ways of the old guard, blaze a new path toward a better tomorrow, protect and enhance the interests of beleaguered taxpayers, protect our town from greed and irresponsible development, fight the machine, and/or stick it to the damnable tree huggers.

Meanwhile, the villains are inexperienced and incompetent bunglers, apparatchik’s of the County Democratic machine and/or tired purveyors of the status quo.

What’s getting lost in this orgy of blind devotion / demonization, is the actual issue that is at stake: In what manner and to what extent should the town alter longstanding policies with respect to planning and development to identify new sources of revenue and ratables? Should the town be permitted sell-off chunks of our public parks to private interests for a bit of extra cash flow? What does the public get in return? Is it worth the cost? How much commercial development is palatable? At what height and density? Where should it occur? If the town is going to encourage a higher level of density than has heretofore been permitted, what should be required of developers in return? What design requirements or other considerations should the town impose on commercial projects to protect and enhance the public benefit of projects?

In their eagerness to fulfill their campaign promises, our elected officials have been flailing about in search of new sources of revenue and ratables. Since the public is naturally skeptical about development in general and apt to reject many projects outright, our elected officials have to be thoughtful and strategic in their efforts to attract development opportunities. If a deal comes along that provides tangible benefits to the town, our elected officials will have to hone their skills in selling the deals to the public or they will accomplish nothing. This may involve making overtures to different constituencies that have different perspectives and priorities and doing a better job of communicating the potential benefits of projects to the public.