Teaneck 2020 Holds First Town-Wide Meeting, Urges Community Involvement

Teaneck 2020, a new organization seeking to increase citizen involvement in township issues, stressed the importance of staying informed and heard a range of concerns from residents at the group’s first town-wide meeting Monday night.

Residents raised issues ranging from , to concerns over neighborhood crime at a meeting at .  Members of Teaneck 2020’s board of directors said they planned to do further research into what residents shared at the meeting.

Increasing voter participation in local elections is one focus of the group, according to Raymond Moore, a member of its board of directors.  Township voter turnout runs high in the presidential election but drops for municipal races.  Increasing attendance at government meetings is another goal for Teaneck 2020.

“Council meetings is where everything happens, you have to come,” said James Kinloch, a resident who spoke at the meeting. 

Kinloch said he was concerned about a recent uptick in crime, including a series of robberies in town.  He acknowledged that residents might have trouble finding time to attend meetings, but stressed the need for more community involvement.

“There’s too much at stake now in this town,” he said.

Residents also submitted questions about the impact the Shalom Academy charter school would have on the Teaneck schools budget.  .

Although Teaneck 2020 is a non-profit group, it is allowed to support specific candidates in elections.  Moore said the group would work to support specific candidates based on what issues they believed in. He did not say if the organization had decided to support any specific candidates yet.

“Those of us in Teaneck 2020 believe that these are crucial, yet exciting, times in Teaneck. There are significant concerns about the transparency and responsiveness of our town government,” said a statement on the organization’s website. “Only by engaging the electorate will we be able to protect the non-partisan government, not beholden to any special interest group, which has been a trademark in Teaneck for 80 years.”

The meeting also featured a presentation on the school budgeting process by Board of Education President Ardie Walser and Interim Schools Superintendent Barbara Pinsak. Residents were urged to attend Board of Education budget meetings and be active during the school budget process.

Councilwoman Barbara Toffler, who spoke at the meeting, reminded residents that the school budget was the only budget members of the public directly voted on.  The Board of Education will present a preliminary budget Wednesday at 8 p.m. at Teaneck High School’s Third Floor Student Center.