Month: April 2019

Trash Talking in Teaneck [Part 1: incorporation to 1960’s]

Keith Kaplan / / Development, Health, Parks, Teaneck

Private vs Municipal Collection of Garbage

It’s a perennial topic of conversation.  There are those that can’t stand the noise.  More that can’t stand the environmental impact.  And yet even more that can’t stand the prices.

So, what should be done about garbage in town?  I decided to see what we’ve done in the past.

Here’s a deep dive into garbage:

People were always unhappy with garbage collection efforts

Teaneck had very few people when we moved to our council form of Government (~16,000), and even as late as the 40’s, it was only about 25,000.

Yet, as early as March, 1948, records indicate that residents complained about the unsightly nature of municipal garbage pickups. Continue reading “Trash Talking in Teaneck [Part 1: incorporation to 1960’s]”

Proposed Changes To Garbage Hauling Hours (with list as currently permitted in 2019/04)

Keith Kaplan / / Health, Ordinances, Teaneck

In NJ, garbage haulers can operate during specific hours.  What those hours are depends on two things:

1) The tariffs issued by the State and County
2) Requirements of municipal ordinance

The Teaneck Municipal Code does not currently contain any restrictions on when haulers may operate, so the times default to tariff schedules.  Those times are listed below for the various haulers in Teaneck.

As you will see, some haulers (Armaniaco & Son, LLC, Generation Waste Services, Inc., Ippolito Industries, Inc., Interstate Waste Services of NJ, and Waste Management of NJ) can operate around the clock, 24/7.  For many, that means loud disruptions at 4am or sometimes even earlier.

The council will be taking up garbage collection hours in our May meeting.  The proposal will limit hauling hours to a minimum of 5am.  Several weeks ago, we also reached out to all sanitation companies requesting comment as to whether the proposed change will affect their ability to operate and / or cause an increase in prices.

As of today, we have not received a response.

The current version of Ordinance 11-2019 can be found here: AN ORDINANCE AMENDING AND SUPPLEMENTING CHAPTER 19 OF THE TOWNSHIP CODE ENTITLED “GARBAGE AND REFUSE” RESPECTING HOURS OF COLLECTION

TL;DR  I’ve requested the current times of operation of various haulers in town ad we plan to curtail excessively early runs.  The information is now available below: Continue reading “Proposed Changes To Garbage Hauling Hours (with list as currently permitted in 2019/04)”

Public Comment is not Testimony: A primer on when / how to speak at public meetings

Keith Kaplan / / Development, Meetings, Ordinances, Teaneck

Public input at meetings of council and statutory boards is critical to the proper functioning of government.  But not all opportunities to speak are the same.

If you came out to speak at yesterday’s Zoning Board hearing against an application – it was not entered in the record for the application.

In this post, I’ll outline the problem and then make a few suggestions as to how we might find a fix.

Types of Public Input

Continue reading “Public Comment is not Testimony: A primer on when / how to speak at public meetings”

The code was meant to be a shield, but someone is using it as a sword

Keith Kaplan / / Lawsuits, Ordinances, Safety, Sidewalks, Teaneck

In my previous post (Sidewalks – the deal you didn’t know you made),  I discussed some of the origins of our sidewalk codes and explained a little bit about the deal residents made to repair them if they became a hazard.

In this post, I want to focus a little bit on how our municipal code operates and the norms that existed when certain provisions were created.

The importance of Norms

While it’s clear that residents who wanted sidewalks, agreed to fix them if they fell into disrepair, problems became apparent from the start.  New residents would buy homes and discover they had to fix sidewalk slabs, coming to council for relief.

Here is how Councilman Haggerty described the problem in January of 1948: Continue reading “The code was meant to be a shield, but someone is using it as a sword”

Sidewalks – the deal you didn’t know you made

Keith Kaplan / / Safety, Sidewalks, Teaneck

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”