Mohammed Z. Hameeduddin
First Muslim Mayor of Teaneck
By Howard Prosnitz, Staff Writer
Teaneck Suburbanite, July 8, 2010
The council chose Mohammed Hameeduddin as Teaneck’s mayor for the next two years, and Adam Gussen as deputy mayor at an outdoor reorganization meeting in the municipal complex parking lot on July 1. Hameeduddin is the first Muslim mayor in Bergen County and one of only three in New Jersey.
The crowd of almost 100 persons seated in folding chairs also witnessed the swearing in of the four victors of the May 11 election – Gussen, Elie Y. Katz, Lizette Parker and Emil “Yitz” Stern. All will serve four year terms and all are incumbents, except Stern, who was a council member from 1998-2006.
Under Teaneck’s form of government, council members choose the mayor and deputy mayor from their own ranks, and the office of mayor was bitterly contested with numerous residents, including former mayor Jacqueline Kates, speaking in support of Parker at two June council meetings.
Parker, who had served as deputy mayor since her first election to the council in 2006, was the top vote getter in the 2010 election, and supporters contended that a Teaneck tradition gives the mayoralty to the top vote getter and the office of deputy mayor to the runner up.
But Councilman Elie Y. Katz said he had researched the issue and found that only three times in the past 32 years has the front runner become mayor.
Parker and Councilwoman Barbara Toffler voted for Parker for mayor. The other five councilmembers chose Hameeduddin.
For deputy mayor, Parker voted for Toffler and Toffler, for Parker. The others voted for Gussen.
Some Parker supporters alleged that she was passed over because she is an African-American and a woman.
Councilwoman Monica Honis asserted that race and sex were not issues in the selection of mayor.
“Six years ago we did not have a nasty, dirty or divisive election cycle, but four years ago the tide turned,” Honis said, noting that the choice of Hameeduddin over Parker was a matter of policy. “It is a disservice to the women’s movement and the civil rights movement to cry racism and sexism. What I heard (at a recent council meeting) was frightening. No one is walking the middle line.”
Mildred Tucker, a community activist from the northeast section of the township, said that she would be paying close attention to the council, including filing requests for township contracts under the Open Public Records Act.
“I question the integrity of some of you. I question the contracts and the wheeling and dealing that you do,” Tucker said.
But resident Barbara Shapiro noted that awarding the mayoralty to the highest vote getter has become irrelevant because council members today run for staggered terms.
“I am pained to hear many of these comments tonight. Seven members do not run at the same time,” she said.
BOE member Gervonn Romney Rice observed that the town had become “fractionalized.”
“You have a lot of fences to mend,” she admonished the council. “Many people have been hurt by the school budget cuts. We will be watching and making sure that you attend every council meeting and that you are actively working for the township and that part of that work will be in behalf of the children of Teaneck.”
Stuyvesant Road resident Gwen Ace also encouraged residents to communicate and put away their hostile feelings.
“We need to take time out to listen to each other. We have to start to heal because of we don’t the town will not survive,” she said.
Katz, a former mayor, applauded the council’s new leaders, recalling an incident during the 2008 campaign where a rabbi refused to sign the election petition of a Jewish candidate but signed Hameeduddin’s. “I am proud of the Council’s new leadership. Mohammed and Adam are both strong, sincere, accessible and dedicated community representatives and Teaneck will benefit by having them as our new Mayor and Deputy Mayor,” he said.
Both Hameeduddin and Gussen, former classmates at Teaneck High School and Rutgers, pledged to work at reducing the tax burden on residents.
“I look forward to working with my colleagues to continue to find ways to reduce spending and bring in alternative sources of revenue,” Hameeduddin said in an e-mail.
Gussen wrote: “In these times of unprecedented economic hardship and disarray of state finances, there are three things on which we need to focus: cost savings through efficiencies in our operations, non-Tax revenue generation, and real shared service initiatives with local municipalities and our own Board of Education. “
By Howard Prosnitz, Staff Writer
Teaneck Suburbanite, April 26, 2012, p. 2
Teaneck Suburbanite asked both challengers and incumbents to provide biographical information and to respond to several questions about current issues. Incumbents were asked an additional question about a major issue during their tenure on the council. All interviews were conducted orally.
The Teaneck non-partisan Municipal election is Tuesday, May 8. Get out and vote. Polls close at 7 p.m. The six candidates running are seeking to fill three seats for a four-year term on the board.
Councilwoman Monica Honis, who is seeking reelection, did not respond to an email and phone messages requesting an interview. The issue questions follow:
1. What is the biggest problem(s) facing Teaneck?
2. What is your vision for Teaneck in 5-10 years?
3. What is your position on restoring council work session?
4. What is our position on the four day work week and re-opening the municipal building on Fridays?
Incumbents were asked the following question:
1. What is a personal initiative that you have taken on the council?
(Only the relevant candidate is shown here)
Mohammed Hameeduddin
Mohammed Hameeduddin is seeking his second term. Born in Bronx, Hameeduddin has lived in Teaneck since 1981. He attended Emerson School, Benjamin Franklin Middle School and graduated from Teaneck High School. He attended Rutgers University for two and a half years. Hameeduddin is the owner of HW Title Agency in Hackensack. He is married and the father of a pre-school age child. He served on the planning board from 2006 to 2008 and was chosen mayor by his fellow council members in 2010. He was the United Day coordinator in 2008.
Biggest problems: He said the largest problem is rebuilding the municipal infrastructure, including the municipal building, the fire station and DPW.
“They were basically built in the 1930s and we have been neglecting them ever since,” he said. “All three are in need of dire repairs and we need a comprehensive solution to pay for these repairs.”
Other problems, he said, include establishing an advisory board in Votee Park to determine if remediation is needed and raising revenues.
“It is a big challenge to find where to raise revenues in terms of ratable,” he said. “Whenever we have attempted this issue in the past six years, the people who are stakeholders in that are rise up to essentially kill the plan or stop any development from happening.” He noted that a comprehensive plan for revenue enhancing development is needed.
Vision: He wants Teaneck to maintain its AAA bond rating and to have a lean municipal budget that does not cut services. He also wants to see more development and, for that purpose, to establish a redevelopment agency involving township residents.
“They will come up with a plan to determine what kind of businesses we want to attract to Teaneck,” he said.
“Teaneck is a great place to live and home sales continue to grow. All the diverse communities are growing and becoming more active,” he said.
Initiative: Noting that council members work together and that building consensus is important, he said that his most important achievement has been in helping move the town off of self-insurance and obtaining liability insurance. A second major achievement has been to increase recycling from once a month to twice a month.
Workshops: “We should have workshop meeting as needed when we have big issues that need to be discussed and we should have public participation at those workshops,” he said. At a candidates’ forum last week, he said that the council is able to get its work done at two meetings a month and that regularly scheduled workshops were unnecessary.
Four day work week: “Previous councils have wanted to initiate a four day work week. If we look at changing the four day work week, we need to negotiate with the union to find the solution,” he said.
By Howard Prosnitz, Staff Writer
Teaneck Suburbanite, April 23, 2008, p. 8
Teaneck Suburbanite conducted telephone interviews with all eight candidates running for Teaneck Council.
Candidates were asked the same questions about their background and about five issues. All responses were extemporaneous: no e-mails or written replies were permitted. Every attempt has been made to keep all interviews uniform in length; however, some candidates responded more fully than others. Some editing has been done to candidates’ comments mainly to reduce the length of some of the interviews. But no changes have been made to the substance of any candidates’ response.
The questions:
1. If elected what would you do to stabilize taxes?
2. What is your opinion about three development projects that have been proposed for Teaneck: commercial development along the riverfront, the Holuba/soap factory site and the American Legion Drive area.
3. What is your view about the labeling of certain candidates as anti-Orthodox and published statements that those candidates would eliminate amenities that the Orthodox Jews enjoy if they are elected?
4. Would you make a statement about the illegal campaign literature and robo calls during the council campaign in 2006?
5. How can Teaneck build bridges among its various and diverse populations.
(Only the relevant candidate is shown here)
Mohammed Hameeduddin
Residence: Linden Avenue
Age: 34
Born in Bronx, NY. Has lived in Teaneck since 1981
Occupations: Owner of H. and W. Title Agency
Education: Teaneck High School graduate. Attended Rutgers University.
Family: Single
Community service: Member of Teaneck Planning Board since 2006. Serves as liaison to the site plan review advisory board. Member of coordinating committee for Unity Day. Volunteering for Center for Food Action and Muslims Against Hunger. Helped raise money for victims of Pakistan earthquake.
1. We can stabilize taxes by cutting services or by looking for alternative sources of revenue from state, county and federal government. I favor the latter alternative. We also need to explore more shared services.
2. I have not yet seen any cost benefits to the town from these sites. Until I have facts and figures about the benefits that these developments will bring in without increasing future liabilities to the town, I will not support them. I would also look very hard at developing anything along riverfront. I am fundamentally against development in that area.
3. Unfortunately, we live in a society where negative messages resonate. I don’t think that there is a need for this level of discourse in Teaneck. The residents need to take a deep breath, get to know their neighbors and tone down this rhetoric.
4. I was not involved in the election of 2006 so it is not fair for me to say what happened, why it happened or who is involved. Al I can say is that this tactic is very distasteful and is indicative of the society that we are a part of, unfortunately.
5. I am part of this process. People need to communicate with each other. There is not nearly enough outreach in Teaneck, not enough communication among the various boards and not enough community building. The public’s mind is already made up by hearsay, rather than by talking to each other and working out solutions. We need to sit down and begin talking. We have to find ways for people to work together, whether on altruistic activities such as the Center for Food Action, cancer awareness or the library or by volunteering for boards and committees in town.
We have a channel marketing problem where the message for community relations does not get out to the community. People don’t know what is going on in town and they don’t show up to events.
By Alyana Alfaro
Observer, July 1, 2016
TEANECK – When Teaneck Mayor Lizette Parker unexpectedly passed away in April, it left the Bergen County township without a mayor. On Friday, the town council held the reorganization meeting where Mohammed Hameeduddin was named the new mayor of Teaneck.
Hameeduddin previously served as mayor in Teaneck from 2010 to 2014. He is the first Muslim-American to hold the office of mayor in Bergen County.
The new mayor was sworn in by likely 2017 Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop. Though Fulop only swore in Hameeduddin, he stayed front-and-center for the swearing in of Eli Katz as Deputy Mayor I and Henry Pruitt as Deputy Mayor II. Fulop’s appearance and prominent position during the swearing in shows the mayor’s continued resolve and strong ties in Bergen County ahead of the Democratic primary.
At the reorganization, Gervonn Romney Rice was sworn in by County Executive James Tedesco. Additionally, Freeholder Tracy Zur swore in Hameeduddin as councilman, Mu Boule swore in Pruitt and Judge James Young swore in Mark Schwartz. All councilmembers other than Romney Rice are incumbents who were reelected during the May non-partisan municipal election. Romney Rice was selected to fill Parker’s vacant seat until a new councilmember can be elected in November.
Though Hameeduddin was selected as mayor, he was not the only Teaneck councilmember nominated for the position at the reorganization meeting. Councilman Jason Castle recommended Pruitt for the job. However, Pruitt quickly declined the nomination and nominated Hameeduddin. While Katz was the only person nominated for the deputy mayor I position, Councilman Alan Sohn opted to abstain from voting for the position rather than cast a ballot for Katz.
Prior to Friday’s meeting, Katz was serving as Teaneck’s acting mayor. He had previously been deputy mayor. In May, the city council voted to create a second deputy mayor position. Hameeduddin, Katz and Pruitt will serve as mayor, deputy mayor I and deputy mayor II for two years.
Other notable attendees at the ceremony included Bergen County Clerk John Hogan and Democratic congressional district 5 candidate Josh Gottheimer.
By Megan Burrow, NorthJersey
NorthJersey.com, July 2, 2018
TEANECK — Mohammed Hameeduddin was sworn in to another term as the township’s mayor during an organization meeting on the municipal green Monday.
Hameeduddin, who served as mayor from 2010 to 2014 and returned to the role in 2016, has served on the Township Council since 2008.
“Ten years has passed in the blink of an eye, and I’m very proud of the accomplishments we’ve made as a council,” he said. “I’ve never been mayor of one part of Teaneck or another part of Teaneck. I will continue to be the mayor of all of Teaneck.”
The council voted 5-2 to appoint Hameeduddin as mayor. The other two votes were cast for Councilman Henry Pruitt.
Deputy Mayor Elie Katz and Councilman Mark Schwartz were voted as the township’s two deputy mayors by their council colleagues. All three positions are two-year terms.
Katz and Gervonn Romney Rice, Keith Kaplan and Jim Dunleavy were all sworn in to four-year terms as council members. Katz, who is serving his sixth term on the council, and Rice, who joined the council in 2016, were both reelected in May.
Kaplan and Dunleavy, who are new to the council, successfully ran together on a ticket under the slogan “Teaneck Citizens Working for You.”
The council also reappointed John Shahdanian of the firm Chasan, Lamparello, Mallon and Cappuzzo as the township attorney on Monday.
Among the elected officials at the meeting were Sen. Bob Menendez, Rep. Josh Gottheimer and Jim Tedesco, the Bergen County executive.
“In Teaneck, our diversity as exemplified by this council is a source of strength, not one of fear,” Menendez said after the council members were sworn in.
Rice challenged the residents who came to the meeting on the hot summer night to continue attending council meetings and voicing their concerns.
“Today is a reflection of the community and the beautiful mosaic that we are,” she said. “It’s our duty to represent you, but you residents need to hold us accountable.”