IMPORTANT: COVID Vaccine Appointment Updates

 

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

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

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

Rest in Peace: Gwen Acree

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

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

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.

 

Because that’s the rule: Dog Licensing and early re-vaccination

Recently, a question was raised by a resident about the need to re-vaccinate a dog in order to get an annual license from Teaneck.  I’ve looked into the issue.  As with most things in NJ, it’s…. complicated.  I’ll break down the relevant rules below and discuss some changes that I’ll be suggesting.

Issue:

  • July 2020: You get a new dog
  • October 2020: You get your dog vaccinated for Rabies (expires one year later in October 2021)
  • January 2021: You attempt to register your dog in Teaneck

 

This is a common scenario that many people have faced, only to find a rejection notice.  Residents are being told to re-vaccinate for rabies.  It’s confusing to most dog owners, because the vaccine is good for a year and they received it only 62 days ago.

Why can’t a dog get registered and then get a booster before the October vaccination expires? Continue reading “Because that’s the rule: Dog Licensing and early re-vaccination”

Affordable Housing vs Rent Control

Affordable housing enables Teaneck to keep the promise of equality and equitable treatment in our real estate markets. It furthers the objective of what Teaneck has always been about. Rent control does not. And I want to take a few moments to explain what the difference is.

From the time NECO and Fair Housing activists put out “Not for Sale” signs in response to blockbusting efforts, we’ve held true to the creed that everyone* deserves to live here and that we should be a town that creates the environment that allows people to move here and live here.

Affordable Housing creates a lower than market alternative for those unable to afford to live here due to market rates effectively pricing them out. All modern apartments must comply with affordable housing requirements. The affordable housing units are given only to those that can’t afford them otherwise and the processes in place ensures that ONLY those needing affordable housing receive it.

Rent control on the other hand has no means-test. It applies to a mere subset of units here in town and it has a lot of drawbacks. Make $250k a year? You get the benefits of rent control. Continue reading “Affordable Housing vs Rent Control”

Teaneck Deserves Equal Representation

This year, Teaneck saw record turnout at the polls.  One member of the Board of Education received more votes than any local office holder in the history of the municipality.

Resident Tom Abbott, made a comment here, providing a link to details on his website, where he broke down the voter numbers.  And one thing stuck out to to me.  Three of the districts, at first glance, seemed to have far fewer registered voters than others.

Districts should have, roughly, an even number of registered voters.  But as I started to look into the issue, I found that Teaneck, compared to its neighbors also has far fewer districts.

Fact: Teaneck has the highest number of registered voters for any Municipality in Bergen County.

We do NOT have the greatest number of Election Districts.

Why not?

Hackensack, with over 6,000 fewer registered voters than Teaneck, has 25 election districts, compared to our 23.

Fair Lawn, with over 5,000 fewer registered voters than Teaneck, has the same number of districts as us.

When it comes to the average number of voters per district, Teaneck packs more in than anyone.

And when you look at our districts, the numbers of registered voters they contain, are all over the place.  Despite an average of 1,258 voters, some districts (e.g. 12) have 1,776 while others (e.g. 16) have a mere 788.

Why does any of this matter?

There are several reasons.

There is a County Committee pursuant to Title 19, Section 19:5-3

Membership and organization of county committees; vacancies; certification of unit of representation and number of election districts.
NJ Rev Stat § 19:5-3 (2013)

As you can see from the By-Laws of the Bergen County Democratic Committee:

The County Committee shall be composed of one male and one female member elected at the Biannual Primary Election by the Democratic voters of each election district of the County pursuant to law.
– Section 1. ELECTED MEMBERSHIP

and the By-Laws of the Bergen County Republican Committee:

Section 1. The membership of this organization shall be composed of members of the Bergen County Republican County Committee who have been duly elected or appointed pursuant to Title 19.
– Art. III, Section 1.  Membership

On the local level, there is a municipal committee for each party, comprised of one male and one female from each election district.

The members of the municipal committees of political parties shall consist of the elected members of the county committee resident in the respective municipalities
NJ Rev Stat § 19:5-2 (2013)

So, as an example, while Teaneck has 2.25x as many registered voters in District 12 as it does in District 16, both get two representatives.  And while Hackensack has over 6,000 FEWER registered voters than Teaneck, they get MORE representation at the County Committee because they have more election districts.

What is the right number of districts and why does it matter?

When one election district has 2.2x as many registered voters, the lines are 2.2x as long.  The volunteers are asked to work 2.2x as hard.  The number of machines / ballots and equipment needed is in part based on the number of expected voters.

In Title 19, Section 19:4-13, the relevant numbers to look for are election districts with more than 750 or less than 250 votes cast in any two consecutive general elections.

19:4-13. Readjustment of boundaries for correct number of voters
When in any two consecutive general elections in an election district more than 750 or less than 250 votes shall have been cast, the county board shall readjust the boundary lines of such election district and other election districts necessary to effect changes so that none of the election districts affected shall have more than 750 registered voters, and for this purpose shall have power to consolidate any number of districts and subdivide the same.
NJ Rev Stat § 19:4-13 (2016)

How many Teaneck Districts had more than 750 votes cast in two consecutive general elections?

Here’s the breakdown:

2018 General Election
2020 General Election

We have 7 election districts that have consecutively had more than 750 voters, and all but three did, this year.

Will Redistricting Change Council / BOE elections?

No.  Because our elections are “at-large”, meaning that you vote for members of Town Council and Board of Education regardless of where you live, redistricting will have no effect on our elections.  Whoever receives the most votes will still win.

What is the process for redistricting and how many districts will we have?

That is what I intend to look at.  On Tuesday, I will present the information above to the Council and ask that we create a task force to look at our election districts.  We should have clean and clear districts, with roughly the same number of voters in each.

To bring down the average number of voters at the polls to the maximum permitted (750), would require an additional 7 districts.

We currently average over 1,250 registered voters in each of our 23 districts.  Bringing that number down to 750 would mean adding 16 districts.