Glenpointe Tax Appeal in the Rear-view Mirror

Keith Kaplan / / Development, Teaneck

What is the Glenpointe Tax Appeal?

The Glenpointe complex, consisting of Hotels, Offices, Atriums, parking lots and more appealed the assessment of their taxes for the years 2007 through 20101.

Had the Glenpointe prevailed, the Township would have been responsible for refunding over $15 million dollars.

[Note: $15M figure does not take into account tax appeals for years 2011 through 2018, which are included in the settlement agreed to by the parties]

After the Superior Court found mostly for the Town, the appeals were ultimately settled for $8,083,000 (including interest).

From Judge Andresini:
(all quotes are fully explained below with relevant links to the opinion)

[T]he court rejects Plaintiff’s expert’s determination of stabilized revenue. Given that the Township’s expert’s stabilized ADR figures are in line with the actual ADR of the subject Hotel for the relevant tax years, did not overstate the effect of the economic downturn on those years, and are supported by the comparable data sets contained in the PKF trends he used, the court finds his stabilization of the subject Hotel’s revenues to be reliable and will adopt his conclusions of revenues accordingly.

Continue reading “Glenpointe Tax Appeal in the Rear-view Mirror”

Soriano-Taveras Apologizes for ‘Doing Nothing Wrong’ in Calling for Boycott

Keith Kaplan / / Elections, Teaneck

After audio surfaced of Alexandra Soriano-Taveras calling for a boycott of Cedar Lane businesses, questions began to swarm about her fitness to represent the 37th District, which includes Teaneck, in the NJ Assembly.

Yesterday, Soriano-Taveras released a statement (see full statement below) via InsiderNJ.

“There was a call to action in Teaneck this past summer and I attended to speak up and speak out against our town leadership who once again was not listening to the voices of our community.”

Continue reading “Soriano-Taveras Apologizes for ‘Doing Nothing Wrong’ in Calling for Boycott”

Teaneck Bans Facial Recognition by Police and Departments

Keith Kaplan / / Ordinances, Safety, Teaneck

Ordinance 7-2021:

ADDING ARTICLE XXXIV, “PRIVACY” TO CHAPTER 2 OF THE TOWNSHIP CODE ENTITLED “CHARTER/ADMINISTRATIVE CODE”

This ordinance will ban the use of facial recognition surveillance technologies by the Township.

These technologies have resulted in innocent people (including this one here in NJ), being held for crimes they didn’t commit. Crimes there were not even anywhere close to. 10 days. Sitting in a cell for a crime you didn’t commit. Continue reading “Teaneck Bans Facial Recognition by Police and Departments”

Blue Teaneck Throwing Shade

Keith Kaplan / / Development, Teaneck

On his page, local gadfly Bill Orr has a post about housing in Teaneck.

This is an important issue and worth taking a look at, in depth.

“Housing should be a basic human right for all not just those who are affluent. Increasingly such is not the case in Teaneck. With people moving from NYC and elsewhere to our town, it has brought us higher prices and done little to help those who cannot afford these costs.”

There are two ways to reduce housing costs.

  1. Create more housing
  2. Reduce the value of existing housing

What does Blue Teaneck suggest Teaneck do? Continue reading “Blue Teaneck Throwing Shade”

IMPORTANT: COVID Vaccine Appointment Updates

Keith Kaplan / / Health, Teaneck

 

Dear Colleagues,

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Holy Name has worked tirelessly to provide our patients and the community at-large with the best and most effective treatment possible. More than that, our work, in the fight against this virus has always been driven by our commitment to compassion, empathy and full transparency. As challenges arose during the course of the past year, we stood firmly as a hospital and as a community leader to meet them.

Today, a new challenge has arisen. Unfortunately, due to weather-related issues across the United States, and beyond anyone’s control, shipments of critically important vaccines earmarked for our hospital, have been effectively grounded in different parts of the country. These issues, coupled with the latest storm affecting our own region, have combined to create a great deal of uncertainty around when additional shipments of vaccines will arrive.

As a result, we have had to postpone many vaccination appointments. I truly apologize for the current situation and would like to assure you all that we are doing everything in our power to make sure these much-needed vaccine doses arrive as quickly as possible.

All individuals with appointments have been notified directly already and should continue to monitor their emails and texts for additional, specific, updates related directly to their appointments. I would also like to reassure those who have had their second-dose appointments delayed, that we are confident those rescheduled appointments will be conducted within an appropriate and acceptable timeframe — in-line with the CDC’s guidance.

As the President and CEO of Holy Name Medical Center, and as a member of this community, I fully understand and appreciate your collective and personal frustration with these delays and the current situation we all find ourselves in. You have all put your trust and faith in us. We are committed to making sure that trust has not been misplaced.

Michael Maron
President & CEO

Civil Rights Lawsuits Filed: South Orange / Maplewood Parents Demand Schools Open

Keith Kaplan / / Board of Education, Teaneck

Parents are willing to put up with a lot, but they will not sacrifice their children on the altar of public education.

Public schools have never been perfect.  From education gaps to special education costs, our schools have always faced issues to a degree that isn’t seen in most private educational settings.  But those were problems we knew and were dedicated to addressing.

We addressed them in schools.

But now? Continue reading “Civil Rights Lawsuits Filed: South Orange / Maplewood Parents Demand Schools Open”

Coming Soon: Facial Recognition Ban in Teaneck

Keith Kaplan / / Ordinances, Safety, Teaneck

When it debuted in 2018, Amazon’s Face Recognition Falsely Matched 28 Members of Congress With mugshots (including 2 from NJ).

Amazon Rekognition False Matches of 28 member of Congress
According to Jacob Snow of the ACLU:
In a test the ACLU recently conducted of the facial recognition tool, called “Rekognition,” the software incorrectly matched 28 members of Congress, identifying them as other people who have been arrested for a crime. Continue reading “Coming Soon: Facial Recognition Ban in Teaneck”

Rest in Peace: Gwen Acree

Keith Kaplan / / Teaneck

We are very saddened to hear about the passing of Ms. Gwendolyn Acree, recipient of the 2011 Matthew Feldman Award for Community Relations, long-time resident and activist.

Our condolences to the Acree family and to the greater Teaneck Community she touched over the years.

Here is Ms. Acree in an interview with the Bergen Record in 2017:

Township Manager Announces Partnership with Holy Name for Vaccinations

Keith Kaplan / / Health, Safety, Teaneck

Link to sign up for the Rodda Center location:  https://rodda.holyname.org/COVID19VAC

Update (1/20/2021):

Earlier today, a fiber optic cable belonging to OPTIMUM was damaged interrupting Internet services in many municipalities, including Teaneck. The outage map now indicates most of Teaneck is back online.

Because of the disruption of Internet services, the link to register for the COVID-19 vaccine was not in service. The link should be active by noon tomorrow (Thursday) for one thousand appointments of the MODERNA vaccine.

All vaccinations will take place on Friday, January 22nd only. Appointments will be available to Teaneck residents with Phase 1A eligibility.

Thank you,

Contact Information:
Dean Kazinci
Manager’s Office
201-837-1600
dkazinci@teanecknj.gov

Update (1/18/2021):

Please note that we have scheduled all available appointments for our current supply of the PFIZER COVID-19 vaccine that Holy Name Medical Center received from State of New Jersey. The vaccine was given to 570 residents today.

Due to the lack of available vaccine, the Richard Rodda Center Vaccination Site will be closed on Tuesday, January 19th. Holy Name Medical Center is awaiting delivery of additional trays of the vaccine which should arrive mid week.

I will release additional information when it becomes available. Thank you for your patience.

Contact Information:
Dean Kazinci
Manager’s Office
201-837-1600
dkazinci@teanecknj.gov

This is Township Manager Dean Kazinci with an important update on the Teaneck COVID-19 point of distribution at the Richard Rodda Center:

The public link to register for the COVID-19 vaccination is now open. There are a limited number of vaccinations available. Appointments listed on the link reflect the number of doses currently available.

Please visit rodda.holyname.org to register and make your appointment now. When all appointments are filled, the link will reflect that information. As additional doses of the vaccination are received by Holy Name Medical Center, the link will reactivate for appointments based on the number of available doses.

Please continue to monitor www.teanecknj.gov and www.holyname.org/covid19/ for updated information.

Thank you,

Dean Kazinci
Township Manager
Contact Information:
Dean Kazinci
Manager’s Office
201-837-1600
dkazinci@teanecknj.gov

Please listen below for a message from Township Manager Dean Kazinci

(this message went out as a reverse-911 yesterday, January 13, 2021)

 

Image may contain: one or more people and people standing, text that says 'STATION'Image may contain: one or more people and people on stage

Promise Kept: Code Update

Keith Kaplan / / Ordinances, Teaneck

There’s something new at the top of the online version of the Teaneck Code:

Available here: https://ecode360.com/TE0774

Includes legislation adopted through 12-08-2020.

Promise Kept:  When I ran for office, I pledged to work on making sure you could go to the website and see what the law is.

This may sound like something you’d take for granted, but for decades, this has not been the case.

In 2018, I wrote this post:

Why re-codification of the Teaneck Code is important

Well, it’s taken the better part of two years, but we’ve done it.  The code is now updated through all legislation passed by Teaneck in the last month.

Want to know if parking is allowed on your block?

You can go here and check: https://ecode360.com/13625579
(as a bonus, the streets are now in alphabetical order for easy perusing)

What’s next?

In 2019, a resident wrote me about a neighbor, seeming violating the code by not having a fence around an above ground swimming pool.  After extensive research and telephone calls with the Building Department, it turned out that the State modified guidelines and pre-empted our code.  The resident read the section correction, but it was no longer enforceable.  Yet, it was there.  Now, it’s not.

There were a lot of projects I’ve been wanting to pursue, but needed an updated code in order to get them done.

Those, are now on my radar.

As always, if you have suggestions, please keep them coming.