Sidewalks – the deal you didn’t know you made

We made a deal.

We may not know it, but we did.  The deal was simple — the town would put in sidewalks, assessing homeowners for the cost, and if they had problems, it was on the homeowner to repair them.

That was the deal. 

In fact, the Council went to great pains to see if people actually wanted sidewalks.  They sought and received input from residents, on a block-by-block basis, to see if they wanted sidewalks installed.  You don’t remember anyone asking?  It might have been before your time.

Here’s an example from the Township minutes in the 1950’s:

Beverly Road:

Continue reading “Sidewalks – the deal you didn’t know you made”

Historical Perspectives on “New Problems”

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””

[UPDATE] The Port Authority Apologizes For Any Inconvenience But That Is [NOT] All

[UPDATE] After posting this, I received a call from the manager of the Port Authority.
The update appears below the post


Last month, I was frustrated by the fact that carpools are limited to “Cash-Only” lanes at PA bridges and tunnels and I fired off a tweet to the Port Authority and my elected reps.  Shortly after, I got a letter from Diannae C. Ehler, Director of the Tunnels, Bridges and Terminals at the Port Authority, who is responsible for operations and maintenance at the PA.

If you are tasked with making sure that people can efficiently move between NYC and NJ, there are several things you want to do.  Among them is to

  1.  Reduce the number of cars on the road and
  2. Have the remaining cars move as quickly as possible.

 

The Port Authority has an incentive program, for people that wish to carpool (with 3 or more people) whereby they pay reduced rates to go over the GWB or Lincoln Tunnel: Continue reading “[UPDATE] The Port Authority Apologizes For Any Inconvenience But That Is [NOT] All”

Larch Ave Traffic Study and Police Reports

The Teaneck Police Department was asked to conduct a report as to traffic and safety on Larch Avenue (in the area of Terhune Street).

Here are the findings:

On Wednesday, September 12, 2018, Lieutenant Christopher Kurschner forwarded a speeding complaint he received via Facebook. The complainant, Philip Moell, complained about speeding on Larch Avenue in the area of Terhune Street. Mr. Moell wrote that he had observed a D&M school bus speeding every morning at 8:35 AM. Mr. Moell provided a picture of the bus and what appeared to be a handheld radar gun style device.

In response to the complaint, we conducted a site study, reviewed the speed and volume study we had just completed, and conducted observation and enforcement. Continue reading “Larch Ave Traffic Study and Police Reports”

Grace Terrace (between Sagamore & Woods) Traffic Study and Police Reports

The Teaneck Police Department was asked to conduct a report as to traffic and safety on Grace Terrace (which runs between Sagamore Avenue and Woods Road).

Here are the findings:

On Monday, September 17, 2018, Deputy Chief John Faggello forwarded an anonymous “Report It” notification complaining of speeding on Grace Terrace. The complainant reported that vehicles are proceeding at speeds of at least 50 MPH at all hours of the day. In response to the complaint, the Traffic Bureau performed a speed and volume study and a site survey. Continue reading “Grace Terrace (between Sagamore & Woods) Traffic Study and Police Reports”

School Bus Safety

As many residents and parents are no doubt aware, there was a horrific bus crash that occurred on May 17th involving students at Paramus’ East Brook Middle School, on their way to a class trip.

On Tuesday, it came to light that

“The bus driver, Hudy Muldrow, 77, of Paterson, has had his license suspended 14 times since he began driving in 1975, said Mairin Bellack, a commission spokesperson. Muldrow has eight speeding tickets on his record, as well as one careless driving ticket and a summons for unsafe operation of a motor vehicle, from 2003, Bellack said.”
Source: Bergen Record

Yesterday, it was announced that the driver has been “charged with two counts of death-by-auto, also known as vehicular homicide, for allegedly driving recklessly and causing the deaths of bus passengers Miranda Vargas, 10, and Paramus social studies teacher Jennifer Williamson Kennedy, 51.” Continue reading “School Bus Safety”

Let’s Grow, Teaneck!

Having three kids, the parks and recreation facilities in Town are a large part of our family’s life. We moved to Teaneck for the programs and the commitment to the open space it provided.  But as we grow, our kids, our parks, and our greater community should be permitted to adapt and grow as well.

A mini-library sits on Warwick Avenue in Teaneck
Signs for parks inform parents in shopping districts in MA
A mini-library available outside municipal parks in MA

One very simple proposal I brought up as a member of the Parks, Playgrounds, and Recreation Advisory Board (PPRAB) was to add signage to our residential areas indicating locations of parks as well as mini-libraries for residents to share books.

Some residents have already taken this up themselves.  On the right, you can see a mini-library set up with a bench on Warwick Ave. here in Teaneck.

We have wonderful facilities and many of them are underutilized throughout the Township.  Let’s harness available technology to let people know is available and what the Township has to offer.

 

Another proposal is to adopt an online sign-up system for programs in the Rodda Center and for parks around the Township.  As demand for use of our Votee Parks sportsplex and other areas increase, it becomes increasingly complicated to know what is available, when, and how to request use of facilities.

Let Children Play

As my children start to grow into their own independence, they have started to ask to walk to the park alone.

When is the right time to start allowing our kids to have that independence and who should be in charge of making those decisions?

Teaneck is hardly unique when it comes to this question and in some towns, merely allowing your children to walk to the park has led to arrests, the involvement of children’s services and worse.

I reached out to the Township Manager, the Chief of Police and the School Superintendent to determine how Teaneck deals with the age of kids and the parents’ ability to decide if they are old enough to venture out on their own.  The responses can be found here:
School Superindent Response
Police Chief Response

As a member of the PPRAB, we have heard about issues that have surfaced over the years when students and children were accosted in parks and questions were raised as to whether they were permitted to be in the parks alone.  I made a motion, which was unanimously put forward to council to consider a change to the code which would enable parents, to be the ones that get to determine the age in which their children were mature enough to play unsupervised.

The proper role of government here is to defer to parents.

If parents, in their role as custodians of their children, feel that their child is old enough to earn a degree of independence, we must defer to their decision.  This doesn’t mean that police and other services cannot deal with legitimate and well-founded cases where danger or neglect exists.  But it does mean that we should let borderline cases, in which judgment calls could be made, default to the will of parents.

Since the decision by the PPRAB to advise Council to create such an ordinance, Utah has created the first legislative code to enable this on a Statewide basis.  You can read about the efforts on the LetGrow website.

We should foster our kids’ independence and the parents’ role in crafting it.  Children live in our world and it’s a very safe one (statistically, every crime metric is down from when we were kids).

Let’s give our kids the same opportunity to play that we had growing up.  We all deserve that.