Jacqueline B. Kates

By Sondra Wolfer of the Suburbanite
The Teaneck Suburbanite, March 29, 2000 p.1

Teaneck – Eight residents have filed to run for the three open seats on the township council in the upcoming May elections.

The candidates are David Bacall, David Herenstein, Deputy Mayor Jacqueline Kates, Matthew Herenstein, Michael Pagan, Seymore Rappoport, Michael Roth Debra Veach and Board of Education Trustee Marie Warnke.

The township taxes and methods of increasing ratables without development are emerging as the candidates’ primary issues in the upcoming election.

David Bacall, a senior at Ramapo College studying public communications and a graduate of Teaneck High School, said his involvement in Teaneck community life throughout his youth gives him a unique perspective on the township.

He believes township officials aren’t doing enough outreach to Teaneck’s diverse communities in order to bring them together and he would like to change that. “Let’s show people that we weren’t just a model community in World War II, but that we can be a model community today,” he said.

Bacall said spending tax dollars on big projects like the Cedar Lane revitalization is not the best use of the townships money and they need to concentrate on drawing new businesses to Teaneck and improving services. “Let’s concentrate on things that will make Teaneck a better place, a safer place,” he said.

Matthew Herenstein, a financial analyst for an investment bank in New York City, said services are not equal to the township’s high tax rate. He believes the township can responsibly curtail spending, increase the township’s ratables and improve services.

“I care strongly about Teaneck and while the township’s a wonderful place to live I think there are concerns people have that are not being addressed,” he said.

He said spending funds on big projects such as Cedar Lane improvements and the DPW renovations aren’t the most responsible ways to spend the township’s money. And he believes they should concentrate more on attracting new business. “Either not enough effort, or not enough successful effort is being made to bring new businesses to town,” he said.

Deputy Mayor Jacqueline Kates, the customer relations manager for a company that produces formal invitations, has been on the council for four years. “Stabilizing” taxes is one of the most pressing issues for Teaneck, she said, and to that end the township should, among other things, work to increase sharing of services among neighboring municipalities and the Board of Education.

Kates said improving the township’s shopping districts and attracting new businesses is a critical issue.

And she believe the township should create a comprehensive community relations plan.

“I think we should be doing more in the area of communicating with our residents. There are things we can do to make people feel a greater sense of community,” she said.

Michael Pagen, press secretary for the New Jersey General Assembly Democratic Office, says growing up in Teaneck and graduating from the high school has also given him perspective on the township that would be beneficial.

Pagen feels the township needs improvement in the way they deal with residents concerns and he believes Teaneck needs to take an active role in fostering improved community relations.

The township’s high rate of taxes when compared to services is also a problem, Pegan believes.

“For the amount of property taxes we pay in Teaneck, the township service should be better,” he said. He would like to see two recycling pick-ups each month and longer hours at the recycling depot.

Seymour Rappoport, a professional engineer and member of the site plan review board, also believes taxes are a critical issue, but that building large developments in congested areas of town or Teaneck’s open space isn’t the solution. He also believe there are better options for revitalizing Cedar Lane that will bring in ratables by attracting businesses to existing buildings.

“I feel I have many good ideas that can benefit Teaneck, from land usage to economic matters and as a member of the council I can bring them to bear for the benefit of all Teaneck residents,” Rappoport said.

Michael Roth, an insurance agent and president of Congregation B’Nai Yeshurun, said reducing high taxes, improving quality of life and cutting wasteful spending in the township’s budget are critical. He also believes services are not equal to the township’s tax rate.

“I think Teaneck’s a great town I like that it’s very diverse and I enjoy living here. But I don’t like my expenses going up and my services going down,” he said.

Debra Veach, an attorney and founder of the Teaneck Farmer’s Market, said revitalizing the township’s main shopping districts, improving community relations and leveling taxes are the critical issues facing Teaneck. Veach believes improving the shopping areas would “create a gathering place for the town” and improve Teaneck’s sense of community.

“I decided to run because I love Teaneck and I would like to add my positive energy, become a positive spokesperson for the town and be involved in decisions that affect the different communities in the township,” she said.

Marie Warnke, an elementary special education teacher and trustee of the board of education for the past 12 years, is concerned about the township’s rising taxes.

But, as they seek methods of drawing businesses to town to increase ratables, she said it is important to find ways to maintain the residential quality of Teaneck.

“How do you get businesses to come into the town and not destroy the residential quality of the town?” she said is an important question they must grapple with. She also said improving relations with township employees would be a priority.

“If there’s any way we can get better relations between the township and the different employees, I would like to see that happen,” Warnke said.

The township elections are non-partisan and candidates run for seats as council member at large. Following the elections the mayor and deputy-mayor are elected by council members at the reorganization meeting July 1.

Three council seats are open, with Kates the only incumbent running. Council members Eleanor Kieliszek and Mel Henderson are not seeking re-election.

By Jack O’Shea for The Suburbanite
The Teaneck Suburbanite, April 12, 2000, p.9

The eight candidates for three open seats on the Teaneck Township Council promoted their personal qualifications for the jobs, outlined their visions of what Teaneck must become in the time ahead, analyzed its current problems and offered solutions at a Candidates Forum last Wednesday evening, Apr. 5 at the Rodda Center.

The Candidates for the May 9 election in the order in which they spoke at the forum were Michael Roth, Seymour Rappoport, Marie Warnke, Michael Pagan, David Bacall, Jacqueline Kates, David Herenstein and Debra Veach.

Dr. Henry Pruitt, retired Englewood school system principal and a Teaneck resident, moderated the three-hour discussion attended by an audience of more than 100 residents.

The issues discussed by the candidates included ways to seek tax revenue-producing commercial and residential development projects that do not impact negatively on neighborhood or township quality-of-life; how to reduce municipal operating costs, 90 percent of which are financed by residential taxes because Teaneck has a small industrial tax base; how to improve municipal services described by some candidates as unsatisfactory; and ways and means of revitalizing the Cedar Lane shopping district. Most favored all these initiatives.

The format permitted each candidate to answer questions from the audience and, while Pruitt moderated effectively and even-handedly, the format permitted verbose and loquacious showcasing of candidates’ hopes and aspirations rather than sharply pointed intentions.

In summary, the candidates and the central points they made included these:

Roth, a financial analyst and 30-year Teaneck resident, said municipal services are inferior, especially children’s recreational services and programs. He favors finding tax-producing ratables compatible with Teaneck’s image and quality-of-life. He is president of his Orthodox synagogue.

Rappoport, a 24-year resident, community activist and licensed engineer with his own company, advocated a sharpened new Master Plan to establish priorities for the local government, reduce expenses and taxes and improve services. He would sell unused township-owned property to private developers.

One such is the area under the Windsor Road bridge. He favors tax relief for seniors and opposes construction of a 47-unit apartment complex across from the Post Office.

Warnke, a veteran Board of Education member and a teacher in Franklin Lakes, urged changes in the state’s Blue Laws to permit Orthodox Jewish storekeepers on Cedar Lane who must closed on the Sabbath, to stay open on Sundays to recover their losses. She is running to seek wider opportunities for public service and would work to cut taxes and make the Township Council more responsive to residents’ problems.

Pegan, a youthful newspaperman and Democratic Party State Assembly press officer, said he’s found the council unresponsive to residents’ problems, rebuffing and holding critics at arms length.

He would work to change that attitude and also to upgrade now-inferior municipal services.

Bacall, a Ramapo College student who has worked to improve racial understanding in the township, is soliciting the views of residents and storekeepers to identify chronic and change-resistant problems which he would address if elected.

Kates, who is deputy mayor, cited her 27 years of community and government service, including election to the school board and the Township Council and her energetic work in human relations advisory groups helping to interlink Teaneck’s 43 different ethnic groups. She favors affordable housing, stabilizing taxes, revitalizing the retail shopping district on Cedar Lane and improving municipal services.

Herenstein, an attorney and financial analyst, stressed the necessity of cutting taxes, working for compatible new development, questioned the wisdom of recent council capital expenditures as on the new Department of Public Works building and said he felt it a mistake to even contemplate erecting a new Municipal Building. Tax-saving renovations of the existing building are preferable.

Veach is a former assistant district attorney in the office of Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, a Teanecck Parent Teachers Organization and League of Women Voters activist who had a leadership role in mandating seat belts on school buses and started the Teaneck Farmers’ Market. She would work to revitalize Teaneck’s 23 parks, work for more suitable development ratables, work jointly with the school board to cut taxes via joint purchasing plans, revitalize the town’s Master Plan, create more parking space in all business districts in town and seek to create a public relations office in local government.

In response to a newsman’s question as to how candidates would keep aggressive, skilled police, fire and Teanecks’ union bargainers from negotiating contracts with the township that escalate taxes annually without necessarily raising production, most dodged the question and showered praises on the competence of the three agencies in obvious pursuit of their support.

Warnke even declared that productivity was not declining until reminded that raising productivity, not decline, was the question.

Only Pagan, Herenstein and Rappoport seemed to have a practical understanding of the magnitude of the problem with Pagan again urging as he had ealier that Teaneck make use of the state Budget Review System that has shown other towns how to meet these and other problems and cut municipal costs.

At the conlcusion of the forum the reaction of the audience imparted to Pruitt was generally favorable.

Sponsors of the forum were block associations including the Voorhees Avenue Association, the Bogert Street Association, the Friends of Tryon Park and the Renssalaer Road-Irene Court Association.

Other such forums are scheduled Apr. 24 by the AARP at the Rodda Center and May 3 by the League of Women Voters at the Library.

The three council seats are open because Kates’ term is up and she is seeking re-election and veteral Council Members Eleanor Kieliszek and Mel Henderson are retiring.

By Yvonne M. Darling, Suburbanite
The Teaneck Suburbanite, March 31, 2004, p. 6

Property taxes and diversity among local leaders are likely to be crucial issues in the upcoming elections, as five candidates vie for three open seats on the Township Council.

Although originally six people sought to enter this year’s council race, five names will appear on the May ballot.

As of last week’s lottery drawing, candidates name’s will appear on the ballot as follows: Monica Honis, Jacqueline B. Kates, Marie Warnke, Eric A. Cinotti and Deborah Veach.

Joseph Glass, who had hoped to secure a council seat, came up short after gathering 122 of the 219 signatures needed to secure a ballot position. The deadline to file a petition was March 18.

Nonetheless, newcomers Cinotti and Honis, who was defeated in the 2002 elections, will go on to challenge the three incumbents Kates, Veach and Warnke.

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Jacqueline B. Kates

Kates, who is currently the township mayor, is a community relations specialist for the Bergen County Department of Human Services.

As part of her job, she works as an advocate for low income children and families, she said.

Kates has lived in Teaneck for many years, in fact, she is a Benjamin Franklin Middle School and a Teaneck High School graduate.

She joined the township council in 1996, becoming mayor in 2002.

The deputy mayor from 1998 to 2000, she is also a former president of the Board of Education.

Kates is active in the Jewish community and serves on several community boards, including the Senior Citizens Advisory Board.

She is also a member of the township’s Community Response Team.

Kates is the immediate past chair of the New Jersey Human Relations Council.

Former Governor Christine Todd Whitman appointed her to the council in 1998.

As for diversity among local leadership, she said, “As a former member of the Board of Education for 10 years and the council for many years, I consider both boards to have been very diverse,” she said.

Kates said the council has lacked diversity since Mel Henderson, an African-American who served as deputy mayor, retired in 2000.

However, Kates said the township has had an Asian-Indian and an African-American mayor.

She said,”I would like to see more African-Americans and Latinos involved in local government. There has been a great deal of diversity in the past; it is part of Teaneck’s history and it should be part of the future.”