EARTH TO KELLY, ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
HACK COLUMNIST ATTACKS THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO OPPOSED ENCAP
IN THIS FIGHT TO STOP NORTH ARLINGTON FROM BEING URBANIZED THROUGH EMINENT DOMAIN SEIZURE AND LOW INCOME HOUSING!
How do you
measure a journalistic fiasco?
Take a
look at the Bergen Record, where
anyone with access to a laptop and phone can pose as a responsible columnist
and write just about whatever they want without the facts getting in the
way!
You see,
Mike Kelly over at The
Record decided
his opinion somehow counts when it comes to North Arlington and
controversial EnCap project.
Kelly
forgot to mention Mayor Pete Massa has opposed EnCap for the
last three years.
The same
project he opposed when he ran in last year's Democratic Primary without the help
of the powers that be in Hackensack who awarded the party line to former Mayor
Russ Pitman who saw himself go down in a sea of flames as voters tossed him
from office. The same Russ Pitman who was awarded a seat on the county's
Planning Board by the BCDO. Pitman sought re-election with former
Councilman Pat Roche, who coincidentally received a county job from the BCDO while
singing EnCap's praises!
Despite
the odds, Massa did the impossible.
He
defeated Pitman, a stooge of EnCap as well as the BCDO. He won easily, carrying
all but two election districts even though NJ Senator Paul Sarlo, an
EnCap enthusiast for years endorsed Pitman and sent a letter to every
Democrat calling for Pitman's re-election!
Kelly also
forgot to mention it was Pete Massa who organized a meeting of over 300
people in late March of last year opposing the EnCap agreement Massa voted
against along with Councilman Steve Tanelli. He recruited the likes of
community activist Al Granell and local businessman Sal DiBlasi, both targets
of eminent domain seizure under the unbridled development antics of former
Mayor Russ Pitman!
It was
Pete Massa who wrote a letter to US Attorney Christopher Christie seeking an
immediate criminal investigation of the EnCap project and it was Pete Massa
and this governing body that formally voided the EnCap agreement which ended
the threat of 1,625 units of new housing and tens of millions of dollars in
infrastructure costs that would have been passed along to taxpayers had
EnCap gotten what it wanted from Pitman's Arlington Valley nightmare!
Now
columnist Kelly wants to know why there is no outrage as it applies to this tax
increase?
Maybe it's
because local Democrats have been telling people the truth since the day
they assumed office. That the very day Massa became mayor, he came with
charts and statistics telling voters the price to pay to get out of the EnCap
agreement will be higher taxes!
But the
hypocrisy of Kelly doesn't end here. His own paper wrote an editorial in
April claiming that the state legislature owed North Arlington an apology
and that the revenues lost due to EnCap should not be shouldered by local
taxpayers (click
here)!
If that
was the opinion in April, what's changed for Kelly to attack the very people
trying to fix the problem?
Mike Kelly
obviously has a political axe of some kind to grind or he simply failed to
properly research this complex issue to come to an informed opinion.
Tragically, Kelly's "opinion" piece will be used against local
Democrats in the upcoming election as some third-party testimonial.
While
Kelly doesn't care who he hurts or how wrong he may be, there should be some
code of journalistic ethics applied to such opinion pieces that play with
the facts and pay little attention to the truth.
There is
no question that a timeline of events has been documented in terms of Massa's
leadership as it pertains to EnCap and this tax increase:
4/24/06:
Massa sends letter to US Attorney Chris Christie seeking investigation of EnCap
1/06/07:
Massa sworn into office, warns of severe increase in taxes due to EnCap debacle
2/10/07:
North Arlington hires special counsel to fight the EnCap agreement
3/05/07:
North Arlington seeks to restructure debt to reduce impact on taxes
3/20/07:
North Arlington introduces municipal budget
3/24/07:
North Arlington appeals to Governor Corzine for financial assistance as it
applies to Extraordinary Aid
4/03/07:
North Arlington terminates agreement with EnCap
5/01/07:
North Arlington hosts Town Meeting to discuss EnCap and impending tax increase
Again,
none of the above actions are even mentioned by Kelly. Sloppy, arrogant
reporting by someone unqualified to have an opinion on the issue once you
review the body of evidence and the track record of local Democrats keeping the
public justly informed.
The reason
why no revolt took place is because Massa has kept people informed Mr. Kelly.
The people of North Arlington have a responsible mayor in Pete Massa. Too bad
we didn't get responsible reporting from the likes of Mike Kelly.
