Inside the numbers: The
NA Police Department:
Binding arbitration could cost NA taxpayers hundreds of
thousands of dollars in new spending!
NAPD seeks 4.0% pay raise through binding arbitration, twenty
of thirty-two police officers earn in excess of $100,000 last
year!
Average NA police officer earned $101,197 in 2007, does
bipartisan support exist to hold line on salaries & spending?
NORTH
ARLINGTON - The
North Arlington Leader reported this week that the North Arlington Police Department is seeking a 4%
pay hike that would increase municipal
spending about $130,000 for fiscal year 2007 as well as fiscal year 2008.
Because the police contract is retroactive, increases in police salaries in a
new agreement could run well over $260,000! Read More
Editorial:
TRUMP.
JUST ANOTHER ENCAP?
The real
risks for North Arlington.
According
to The
Record of Hackensack, The Trump Organization has taken over the EnCap Cherokee
parcels.
But
we really don’t know what that means. Did they take ownership of the
property?
If
so? When? Read More
EnCap contractor hauled away
A contractor connected to millions in cost overruns and delays in the EnCap golf project was arrested and charged with money laundering Friday in an unrelated federal corruption probe. Read More
Editorial:
IS SCHOOL BOARD PROPERTY PRIVATE?
Lonegan controversy begs the question, who owns and
controls our public schools if not the New Jersey taxpayer?
This week
former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan was arrested for demonstrating at the scene
of a Jon Corzine town meeting promoting his "asset monetization"
proposal that lacks little semblance of public support. Read More
EnCap or Trump, what's the difference?
Now coined a "clean-up" versus redevelopment, why
is North Arlington still being sued to impose eminent domain seizure of Porete
Avenue and the construction of low income housing?
New
brand, same deal?
NORTH
ARLINGTON - While the names are changing to protect the incompetence of the
past, is anything really changing when it comes to the controversial EnCap project that now has a Trump brand
attached to it? Read More
Editorial:
Bi-partisan cooperation makes sense for North Arlington.
Petty in-fighting and "politics as usual" has no
place in the operation of municipal government.
The stakes are too high for political forces to disrupt unity
amongst the members of the governing body
Mayor Pete
Massa and his Democratic majority are to be commended for welcoming the new
Republican members of the North Arlington Mayor & Council.
As Mayor
Massa stated in his State
of the Borough address, the election is in fact over and that the time for governing must
supersede the desire to attack the majority for cheap political points.
Councilman Joe Bianchi and Councilman Rich
Hughes seem like reasonable people who in the end want North Arlington to
prosper. Read More
Stirring
the partisan pot.
NA
Republicans continue to seek Democratic help to mask their own support of
higher taxes , EnCap and low income housing.
NORTH ARLINGTON - An
unidentified GOP source today told the political web site www.insidebergen.com that North Arlington Democrats are "attacking" a neighboring mayor
and the district's state senator in wake of an upset victory in last fall's
council races. Read More
Greedy Developers attack Massa, Zoning Board members in attempt to force storage facility at 170 Schuyler Avenue!
Developers call themselves "Concerned Citizens" of North Arlington in putting public pressure on members to vote yes come the January 9th meeting!
Use "Encap style" tactics to scare community with a twisted version of the truth!
NORTH ARLINGTON - In a highly unusual move, the applicant of a storage facility before the local Zoning Board has started a "media blitz" with several full-page ads in the Leader Newspapers, South Bergenite and The Kearny Observer calling upon the board to approve an application that would construct a storage facility on prime real estate. Read More
Editorial:
Why eliminate the capital punishment option?
New Jersey's death penalty laws are toothless and the legal
system undermines the use of capital punishment even in the most heinous of
crimes!
The NJ
legislature wants to remove from the books the rarely used option of capital
punishment.
Despite
the fact the prisons are filled with convicted murderers who in fact are guilty
of these crimes, the state refuses to move forward with any sense of speed the
application of the death penalty. Read More
Editorial:
LYNDHURST JOINS NORTH ARLINGTON IN VOIDING ENCAP AGREEMENT, FEDERAL PROBE TO FOLLOW?
Mayors DiLascio, Hipp and Massa now all on record in opposing flawed development proposal, when will state finally see the light and financially help Rutherford & North Arlington?
LYNDHURST - Township Mayor Richard DiLascio and the five-member commission voted to void the controversial EnCap agreement. The Lyndhurst decision to void the contract in place now has North Arlington and the township officially against the agreements in place with incoming Mayor-elect John Hipp already on record opposing the Rutherford portion of the embattled regional housing scheme to urbanize South Bergen.
Editorial:
SILENT PROBE
Inspector General's report still a mystery as legislature
will use oversight authority to review EnCap
But who will review the legislature's role in this mess?
According
to the Bergen
Record, the long
awaited report by the state's Inspector General as to what went wrong with EnCap will finally be released to the
public. According to a letter written to Senate President Richard Codey,
"the report will discuss the role played by the various governmental
entities, as well as the use of public funds." Read More
The State Aid Game.
How does Harrison receive $6.6 million while North Arlington
gets just $500,000?
Taxes rise 33% in NA while infusion of state support keeps
Harrison increase at just 8%!
NORTH
ARLINGTON - North Arlington is 2.6 square miles. Harrison 1.3 square
miles. North Arlington has 15,077 residents while Harrison has 14,424.
North Arlington has 6,392 households while Harrison has 5,136. 24.5% of all
North Arlington households have children under the age of 18 while 33.7% of
Harrison households have children under 18. 49.7% of North Arlington households
are married couples while Harrison has 49.8% of households with married
couples. Read More
2007 Final Election Results
2007 Certified Election Results - Borough of North Arlington: Click Here
The perks of public office.
Should part-time elected officials receive free health
benefits courtesy of North Arlington taxpayers?
What example will Bianchi & Hughes set for homeowners?
With
Republicans back on the governing body for the first time in three years,
it will be interesting to see if incoming council members Joseph Bianchi and
Richard Hughes opt to receive free health benefits courtesy of taxpayers. Read More
YOU'RE HIRED!
Just a day after two of the Borough’s anti-EnCap councilmen were swept out of office by local voters, state Superior Court Judge Jonathan Harris ruled Cherokee Investment Partners could not transfer the former Bergen County Utilities Authority property here to one of its subsidiaries. Read More
JUDGE SUPPORTS BOROUGH’S EFFORTS TO STOP ENCAP FROM SELLING PROPERTIES
NORTH
ARLINGTON - Superior
Court Judge Jonathan Harris ruled yesterday that Cherokee Investment Partners
is prevented from transferring the Bergen County Utilities Authority property
in North Arlington to one of its subsidiaries. Read More
N. Arlington demands Encap probe
North Arlington officials on Monday called for a federal investigation into the "entire sorry episode" of the controversial EnCap proposal to build a massive golf course-residential-retail complex in three Bergen County communities.
"The mountain of evidence against EnCap and the people in state government who pushed this project is growing taller than the landfills in the Meadowlands," said North Arlington Mayor Peter Massa. He cited a report in Sunday's editions of The Record detailing environmental problems at the faltering seven-year-old project, originally pitched as a means of closing four old Meadowlands landfills. Read More
MASSA SPEAKS WITH CORZINE ON THE STATUS OF ENCAP AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENT
Attending the retirement dinner of former state PBA President Mike Madonna, North Arlington Mayor Pete Massa got the chance to speak with New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine over the future of EnCap and redevelopment in the Meadowlands. Read More
The affordable housing myth.
The NJMC's misguided notion that government can regulate
housing stock and force inclusionary zoning practices doesn't make
any sense in a state where home values and property taxes are sky high!
Does an unelected regional
state agency have the authority to impose inclusionary zoning restrictions upon local municipalities that have governing bodies directly elected by the
voter? Read More
MAYOR MASSA CALLS NJMC DECISION VINDICATON
Council President Steve Tanelli was interviewed last week by BLOOMBERG on the decision by the NJMC to rescind & terminate the developer agreement with EnCap Holdings.
NORTH ARLINGTON - The Leader Newspapers is reporting that EnCap Holdings, the controversial and embattled developer chosen to remediate the Meadowlands and construct nearly 5,000 units of housing has filed for bankruptcy effectively ending the company's nine-year relationship with the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission (NJMC). 
“The decision by the NJMC to right the wrongs that were made over the past eight years ago is welcomed by North Arlington as a vindication to our long-stated position that EnCap was not qualified, technically, financially or otherwise to transform the Meadowlands from garbage dumps to golf courses. 
The
history of the Meadowlands and North Arlington's involvement with landfill
operations is really in the eye of the beholder. Politics and legacy play a
huge role in what actually happened versus what some would like you to believe. 
Wall, Kairys believe furniture retailer is responsible! 
Democrats tap Councilman Al Granell to head effort with Nick Mazzolla & George McDermott as deputy campaign managers, next fundraiser scheduled for May 1st at Euro Lounge
Tanelli, Granell are responsible for reforming the budget
process and delivering on what GOP just likes to "talk" about!
A state watchdog agency today alleged serious wrongdoing by EnCap, the embattled builder aiming to clean up and develop Meadowlands landfills, and asked the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice to take a close look at the project and decide whether a criminal investigation is warranted. 
GOP voters reject the rhetoric of talk radio and other extremists who for too long have had a debilitating effect on politics in America!
