To the editor:

I am writing in response to your article last week, "Check your local listings…"

I am disappointed that it may take at least six months until a joint meeting of the Council and the Tenafly Board of Education to address the issue of televising the Council meetings. This waiting period is especially disappointing in light of the statements made by Mort Sherman, the superintendent of Tenafly Schools, that high school students (who currently videotape the televised Board of Education meetings) were ready to videotape the Council meetings, and the cable company would provide air time, all at no cost to the Borough. Given this information, why the delay?

There are a number of important issues coming up before our Council, including curtailing McMansions (FAR), limiting the construction of additional two-family houses — which are putting a huge burden on our already overburdened schools — and parking in town.

I would hope all of the Council members would want for as many residents as possible to hear how they, our elected representatives, deal with these important issues in order to garner as much public support for how they ultimately resolve the issues.

I urge the Council to reconsider delaying the televising of Council meetings and instead act quickly to involve the entire community in the legislative.

Mary Beth Wilmit

Tenafly

Time to do what is right for city

To the editor:

This June the residents of the 1st Ward face an important decision. Our City is facing many challenges that affect the cost of living and the quality of life in our ward. Our City is at a crossroad and in order to move forward and insure the best outcome for our citizens, we require representation on our City Council that is both receptive to our needs and unsatisfied with anything but positive results.

Serving on the Council is not a right, nor even a privilege but a pledge to serve and uphold the priorities of those who have elected you. If the people of the 1st Ward give me the opportunity, I will work to reduce their tax burden and see that Englewood is competently and capably managed. To achieve this goal I will:

• Hold regular office hours - at convenient times for working constituents

• 24-7 phone and e-mail contact

• Establish a First Ward Citizen Task Force to address Key Issues

• "First Monday of the Month" Ward meetings

• Work to attract private money to supplement projects in this time of budget cutbacks from businesses, developers, private foundations, state and federal grants

• Work to hold down taxes by eliminating wasteful spending, joining services, and using the City’s money more efficiently

As a veteran of Mayor Michael Wildes’ administration, I have a day to day working relationship with our City’s various departments, contacts with city businesses, religious and community leaders and will be a source of information and problem solving for the people in the First Ward.

Anita Sniderman

Candidate, Englewood City Council, 1st Ward

Pivotal time for city voters

To the editor:

This Election Day is pivotal for 3rd Ward residents. While we bear the financial burden of soaring property taxes, we are forced to simply acquiesce to declining municipal services. Englewood’s skyrocketing costs threaten to extinguish our hopes and dreams of achieving a higher quality of life. This phenomenon is a product of poor planning and the Councils need for a new generation of leadership. That is why we must go to the polls with the message that, Our time for change is now.

Like many of you, I moved to Englewood with the vision of affording my family the best life. I stand for election in the 3rd Ward to ensure all members of this community have that same opportunity.

Over the next several months, I hope my friends and neighbors will grant me the opportunity to replace the councils politics with renewed enthusiasm and professionalism in hopes of reshaping our community.

Roosevelt Jean

Candidate, Englewood City Council, 3rd Ward

Thank you for those that voted

To the editor:

I am writing this letter to thank all of those who supported my candidacy as Trustee for the Tenafly Board of Education. Whether you wrote letters, forwarded e-mails, spoke to others personally on my behalf, or met with me to answer so many questions that I had, I would like you to know how truly grateful I am to you — and especially for the many votes of encouragement and confidence!

I would also like to thank the League of Women Voters for hosting a Candidates Night and to David DiGregorio and his "staff" who made it possible to televise the Q&A on Channel 77 and to view the forum on-line. It was a great experience for me and I appreciated the camaraderie and professionalism of the other candidates as well.

Bottom-line — Thank you all for being involved in our schools and for electing me to serve as a Board of Education member. I promise to continue to do my best for the students, teachers, administrators and residents of Tenafly. I am looking forward to working with the other board members to what promises to be an exciting three years.

As I’ve said many times before, open communication is essential to solving and/or avoiding all problems and using a common-sense approach is key to making an informed decision.

Sharon Strompf

Board Member Elect

Tenafly Board of Education

Council needs to hear your voice

To the editor:

Although I hate to have to write this I must make my feelings known. At Northvale’s April 9^th Mayor and Council meeting regarding our budget a resident requested that all politics and political agendas be set aside and that we should work together for the betterment of the Northvale tax payers. I could not agree with this concept more whole-heartedly. Unfortunately, it has become more and more evident through the actions of the Republican Council majority (Councilmen Furletti, Gullestad, Sokolski, and Winans) that the concept of working together is just not going to happen and I, for one, refuse to have this albatross of a budget hung around my neck. It is evident to me and the residents who attended our meeting know that the only reason a 21.7 percent budget was introduced and passed by the Republican majority is because they put no thought or effort into the process. Again, I refuse to accept the responsibility for the inaction of the majority.

In an attempt to set aside our differences after the nonsense of having two "re-organization meetings", we the Democrats decided that we have no other choice but to try to make the best of it considering that laws and regulations are not something the Republican majority chooses to follow. So, January came and went and we wondered when budget meetings were going to start, the Mayor asked the majority at the February Mayor and Council meeting for budget meeting dates to no avail, by March the Mayor set the dates. Now here we are in April with deadlines pending and an introduced budget that will result in a 21.7 percent tax increase and we are being told that this will not be the actual increase and that is most definitely the truth. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that we are all busy, working, schlepping the kids and so on, but, if you choose to take on the responsibility of being a member of the governing body then you need to step up and do it. Now, to add insult to injury, we have been advised that the Finance Chairman/Council President (Mr. Winans) will be out of the country for approximately two weeks. I certainly can’t fault him for earning a living, after all, we will all need to work hard, extra hard to pay this tax bill.

Getting back to the issue at hand, what I think has escaped the Council majority is that the preliminary budget determines the increase in our estimated tax bill, and whether or not this budget is changed, we as tax-payers will have to dig really deep to pay this bill. It’s all well and good that our tax bills will, down the road, be adjusted, but where are we supposed to come up with the money for the initial payment? Maybe the Republican majority can loan us the money and when they find the time to work on the budget and set things straight, we can pay them back. Again, I am so sorry to have to write this letter, but I will not be held accountable for this introduced budget. There is power in numbers. My feeling is that each and every taxpayer should come to each and every gripe night, work session and council meeting and ask, "OK, what was accomplished this week? How much have you managed to cut this week?"

Now to my next issue — the Board of Health appointments. Again, here we are in April and no Board of Health meetings could be held because the board needs four members to have been appointed and present to hold a meeting. The reason for the borough not having a Board of Health, according to the Republican majority, is because there was an "oversight" on their part. They "forgot" to re-appoint Martha Rooney The majority at their "re-organization meeting" appointed two Board of Health seats, so they knew there were only two seats available.

Being liaison to the Board of Health, I actively looked for the best candidates for the positions. Fran Brogan is the Research Nurse at New York Presbyterian Columbia University Medical Center, prior to this Fran was the Nurse Administrator. Fran holds a Masters in Nursing and has written numerous health care related articles. Her resume is on file at Borough Hall and is available for review. Debbie Visconi is the Senior Vice President of Beth Israel in NYC, and Dave Magnotta is an Emergency Medical Technician for our Ambulance Core as well as a member of the Emergency Response and Safety Team. Professionally, Mr. Magnotta is the Senior Laboratory Technician for the Bergen County Utilities Authority. He has held the positions of President, Captain and 1^st and 2^nd Lieutenant of Northvale’s Ambulance Core and has been recognized by many local organizations for his dedication and hard work.

The nominations by me and the Mayor were for these individuals and their credentials, not against Mrs. Rooney. I am always open to suggestion and am always willing to concede if the concession benefits our community. The Republican majority were asked for Mrs. Rooney’s resume and qualifications. Not only was the request ignored, but when they were asked to just verbally let us know why they felt that Mrs. Rooney’s qualifications trumped the three other candidates there was silence, which leads me to believe that their reasoning for appointing Mrs. Rooney is purely to fulfill a political obligation. Personally, if I were Martha Rooney, I wouldn’t even accept the position in light of the fact that the people responsible for putting her in that position don’t even know why they are putting her there and from what I understand, the majority did not even double-check that Mrs. Rooney still wants the position after all this nonsense.

So, in conclusion, what it comes down to is that my hands and the hands of Councilman Marana and Mayor Hogan are tied. We can vote no until we are blue in the face, we can show fact after fact after fact, what it comes down to is that the Republicans have the voting majority and they call all the shots, for now.

JoAnn Traub

Councilwoman

Borough of Northvale

Where are we headed with the increases?

To the editor:

I felt compelled to write and to pose a few questions around the latest tax increase (7.02 percent) that will be incurred by Tenafly residents as a result of the April 15 2008-9 school budget election.

Have the residents of Tenafly ever seen a tax increase proposal that it didn’t vote for?

Didn’t we just have a school tax increase to fund the expansions of the Middle and High Schools?

What would the ramifications to our school system be if taxes remained flat for more than one year in a row or at least more closely tied to the rate of inflation (around 3-4 percent)? Would our schools absolutely tank in the state rankings?

Is there such a concept as working within a budget (that doesn’t always increase yearly) as individuals do with their personal budget/finances?

From looking at the Borough’s website, it looks as though municipal tax increases are right around the corner in addition to the school tax increase. Now I’m not an accountant, and I don’t know if school taxes and municipal taxes are directly additive. However, municipal tax increase projections are shown at 4.96 percent. Between the school and municipal taxes, does that mean Tenafly resident taxes will increase approximately 12 percent? Ouch, on top of the base we’re already paying from.

My family has lived in Tenafly since July 2000. From that time till present, our taxes have almost doubled and with these latest approved/proposed increases might have more than doubled. Is there any point where this progression slows? What will resident’s tax bills look like in another eight years? Now that’s a scary thought.

Richard Laufer

Tenafly

Sister was a true leader

To the editor:

We have been immeasurably blessed by the gifts of our dear Principal, Sr. Aurelia Cerny. She has been the principal of Catholic Academy of Northern Valley for the past four years and also of St. Mary’s School in Closter since 1997. Sister is a tireless worker and always gave more than anyone we have ever known. She came to our school through the request of Fr. Jim McKenna when he became our pastor of St. Mary’s Church and has been a true influence in the lives of all the families of our school. She is respected by all the students and teachers alike and remains consistent in her beliefs which we have all benefited from in so many ways. Words cannot express our love and gratitude to such a person who is a true servant of the Lord. We will miss her beyond words. We wish her only the best life can offer.

Jeanne Hennessey

Christine Robert

Stacie Gray

Sarah Lucinese

The Home School Association Board

Occupation clock has run down

To the editor:

On April 10 President Bush said: "Today, thanks to the surge, we’ve renewed and revived the prospect of success. With this goal in mind, Gen. Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker have submitted recommendations on the way forward. After detailed discussions with my national security team, including the Secretary of Defense, Secretary of State, Joint Chiefs of Staff, I’ve accepted these recommendations."

Mr. Bush appointed Petraeus and Crocker. It is also clear that the president himself recommended the recommendations to the recommenders. As "decider" he has consistently cherry picked the people and points of view he wants to promote. Yet there are many contrary opinions to which he might have paid attention. Poor General Shinseki argued before the invasion that Rumsfeld’s planned force levels were inadequate. Shinseki was canned. Wrong message. On March 12 Admiral "Fox" Fallon, who openly stated that he considers Iraq a dead end and thinks more resources should be devoted to other crises in the region, was forced to resign. Again, wrong message. He’s toast.

Last week Ret. Lt. General William Odom, a professor at Yale, testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He stated: "...nay sayers insist that our withdrawal will create regional instability. This confuses cause with effect. Our forces in Iraq and our threat to change Iran’s regime are making the region unstable. Those who link instability with a US withdrawal have it exactly backwards....I implore you to reject these fallacious excuses for prolonging the commitment of US forces to war in Iraq."

Gen. Petraeus himself warned, in a 2006 article in a military journal, "...in a situation like Iraq, the liberating force must act quickly, because every army of liberation has a half-life beyond which it turns into an army of occupation. From the moment a force enters a country, its leaders must keep this in mind, striving to meet the expectations of the liberated in what becomes a race against the clock."

In the sixth year of bloody war in Iraq, the occupation’s clock has run down.

Carol Kaplan

Englewood