2007 CAMPAIGN:
WHEN WILL THE STATE PULL THE PLUG ON ENCAP?
How much does North Arlington have to suffer before
someone from the state decides to assist weary homeowners?
EnCap is the root cause of higher property taxes
for N. Arlington and local Democrats oppose EnCap!
If this
Sunday's latest expose on EnCap wasn't the proverbial cherry on the out-of-control banana split known as Encap, what is?
The
Record has a new laundry
list of problems based upon 10,000 pages
state documents reviewed by the county newspaper detailing the
project's inability to morph from landfills to golf courses.
But when
one really looks at the EnCap agreement, is it really about remediation and
golf courses or just lots of housing?
In the
case of North Arlington, its all about
housing and using eminent domain seizure to make it happen. More
importantly, they want not only to use eminent domain seizure to build all this
housing but also construct low income units that will have a negative effect on
overall home values.
In effect, EnCap means higher taxes!
It means
higher taxes this year because EnCap enablers
like Kaiser, Pitman and this year's GOP candidates are the reason North
Arlington finds itself in the place it is due to squandered landfill fees,
bounced checks and the complete mismanagement of local government for nearly 25
years!
Let's
review the latest in a litany of EnCap failures:
* Lead & carcinogenic compounds buried at
the site in the form of more than 700 truckloads dumped here from Brooklyn
* Dirty & dangerous fill cover some 800
acres of abandoned trash dumps and poisoned tidelands
* 2.5 million cubic yards of contaminated
materials have been trucked to the Lyndhurst & Rutherford sites
* Work now
at a standstill, the sites are actually more
polluted than ever before
* EnCap has violated relaxed standards, broke
promises and cut corners
* The
dumping of new contaminants is the only thing actually done according to Sierra Club head, Jeff Tittel
EnCap enabler Paul Sarlo, the state
senator seeking re-election who sponsored the
very legislation that created this debacle in the first place now asks how
did things get so bad?
Isn't that
a good question.
How about
some answers Senator?
The people
of North Arlington are receiving a huge
property tax increase directly because of the EnCap debacle.
Mr. Sarlo supported EnCap's biggest enabler Russ Pitman in last year's Democratic Primary over current
Mayor Pete Massa. The only issue that separated Massa & Pitman was EnCap. Why did Sarlo support Pitman if he
is truly concerned about the impact of the project on North Arlington
homeowners?
In fact, Massa as well as Councilman Steve Tanelli voted
against last year's municipal budget that was full of EnCap dollars that
artificially cut the tax levy only to see it swell this year.
Sarlo in
his support of Pitman endorsed that municipal budget.
Massa won convincingly without the help of the
BCDO or Sarlo. This year, North Arlington requested $1.5 million in Extraordinary Aid because of the financial fallout of EnCap. Sarlo did not come to North Arlington's aid as
requested. The state awarded North Arlington only 33% or $500,000 even
though the most casual of observer would agree this debacle was created at the
state level, not by local officials.
Despite
that lack of support, Mayor Massa still endorsed Sarlo for re-election!
Now even
former Mayor Len Kaiser, one of EnCap's greatest cheerleaders is now backing away from his old ally.
Kaiser,
the Executive Director of the Bergen County Utilities Authority and member of
the NJMC as well as the now defunct North Arlington Redevelopment Agency spent all of 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and
2005 supporting the EnCap project through his votes and statements on
these various boards, commissions and authorities.
As Mayor, Kaiser engineered the resolution to have Encap enter into exclusive agreement with the North Arlington Redevelopment
Agency. Kaiser also supported the NJMC's
decision to enter into agreement with Encap as the developer of record as it applied to this three community redevelopment
of the Meadowlands.
Now both
Kaiser and Sarlo have backed off EnCap.
Could politics and public opinion have anything
to do with this back flip in opposition to there friends as EnCap Holdings or the DeCotiis law firm?
Over 80%
of the voters in North Arlington voted to restrict the use of eminent domain,
the very tool EnCap seeks to
construct Arlington
Valley, the ill
advised and unpopular attempt to construct 1,650 units of housing while
applying eminent domain seizure along Porete Avenue to make it happen!
Just where do Kaiser or Sarlo stand when it
comes to the application of eminent domain seizure or the construction of
mandated, low income housing? How about this year's Republican challengers, Joe
Bianchi & Rich Hughes?
Joe
Bianchi served 25 years on the local Planning Board. What did he do to prevent
overdevelopment or Arlington
Valley? Isn't this
the same guy who said EnCap would only speak with him after he won last
year while proclaiming himself "councilman-elect" in the local
weeklies?
Oh, I
forgot. Bianchi lost last year in overwhelming fashion!
And what
about Rich Hughes? Another self proclaimed
expert on the borough's aging water utility that was sold for $4.5 million
dollars when it was only valued at $250,000? Didn't he predict that current
Councilman Al Grannel, himself a target of eminent domain seizure would
not be allowed to vote on matters relating to Arlington Valley and
redevelopment?
By the way
Rich, where did you attend law school?
Ironically,
rumor has it that last year's GOP mayoral hopeful Pete Norcia is entertaining
the notion of endorsing this year's Democratic ticket which doesn't includes last year's running mate, Joe Bianchi!
If that is true, what does that say for the lack of credibility the Republicans
have when it comes to taxes they let increase seven years in a row?
Last week
Mayor Pete Massa met Governor Jon Corzine at a retirement party and briefly
exchanged words. Neither can be happy with the status of EnCap or the latest round of failures as
reported by The
Record of
Hackensack. But one thing is clear and that is Mayor Pete Massa and this
all-Democrat governing body are the only people 100% against EnCap.
That's
just the truth. As inconvenient one
at that for the likes of Kaiser, Pitman and candidates Bianchi &
Hughes.
