CANDIDATES CANVASS IN NO ARLINGTON’S 7TH ELECTION DISTRICT.
Balwierczak & Yampaglia campaigning along 6th Street & Allan Drive
Urbanization, density and the explosion of apartment units along Ridge Road have NA voters ticked-off!
NORTH ARLINGTON – Borough Democrats are determined to leave no stone unturned as they canvass for support in the heart of North Arlington, the 7th election district, the borough’s most populous and affluent neighborhood.
Called “The Manor” section of North Arlington, many of the community’s most exclusive of homes can be found between this stretch of town that encompasses Washington School to Jauncy Avenue and the Lyndhurst border south to north and from River Road to the Ridge Park Apartments across to Ridge Road.
Candidate John Balwierczak can be seen here at the corner of Allan Drive, named after the former North Arlington Mayor and longtime Bergen County Clerk.
While the walking takes the candidates from street to street, and block-by-block, the issues seemingly remain the same.
Overdevelopment of Ridge Road stands out first and foremost as this GOP obsession with multiple dwellings flies in the face of traditional one and two-family homes, as North Arlington has been known as the gateway of Bergen County.
Robert Ceberio, the former executive director of the Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission (now known as the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission after a merger of state bodies), has been retained by the GOP to assess redevelopment opportunities in the community for about a decade.
For Ceberio, a former Wayne school board member and unsuccessful GOP candidate for freeholder in 2011 has become the Robert Moses of North Arlington, having a strong influence and making numerous recommendations to the Mayor & Council regarding development and redevelopment initiatives in the community. Moses was an American urban planner and public official who worked in the New York metropolitan area during the early to mid-20th century. Moses was regarded as one of the most powerful and influential people in the history of New York City and New York State.
More so then those elected by the public.
Ceberio is a political appointment not elected by anyone.
Some believe Ceberio’s influence as a fellow Republican carries much weight in North Arlington political circles.
According to reports filed with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission, Ceberio has donated the following to the North Arlington GOP:
2018 – $550
2019 – $1250.00
2020 – $2000.00
2021 – $2000.00 (Republicans ran unopposed)
2022 – $2000.00
2023 – $2000.00 (Republicans ran unopposed)
Since 2018, Ceberio has donated nearly $10,000 or $9,800!
Ceberio served the HMDC at the time the ill-fated EnCap housing proposal plagued North Arlington and the fallacy of “garbage to golf course living” was being sold throughout the South Bergen region. A failed and flawed housing proposal that ended the political careers of the mayors of North Arlington, Lyndhurst and Rutherford.
For it is Ceberio that is at the center of these public policy proposals such as the fate of the old BCUA site and the talk of some 200,000 square feet of warehouse space in North Arlington’s Meadowlands parcels as well as new initiatives along Ridge Road, River Road and Schuyler Avenue.
For it this reason, if nothing else that North Arlington needs a second pair of eyes, as well as a second opinion when it comes to future development that is reasonable, bipartisan and has the community’s support before a shovel is placed in the ground.
North Arlington Democrats were at the forefront of the political opposition to the Encap project that eventually collapsed under its own weight when the ill-fated proposal was finally killed in 2008.
“The redevelopment process needs to be held to public scrutiny. Many residents feel they have been left in the dark with so much being considered. Why a Town Hall has not been held given the weight of what is being proposed is disturbing,” offered the candidates.
Balwierczak and Yampaglia have accused incumbents Brian Fitzhenry and Allison Sheedy of keeping taxpayers in the dark.
“Why are residents not informed? Here is a consultant (Ceberio) who is clearly promoting massive redevelopment initiatives and at the same time also a partisan campaign donor. We need the incumbents to be transparent with voters and just where do their allegiances fall, with the homeowner or their financial contributors,” offered the Democratic duo.
In their walking tour today, one homeowner was outraged by the amount of property taxes being paid.
“I’m getting crushed by my property taxes,” offered a longtime homeowner on Allan Drive.
The candidates are having an organizational meeting on Wednesday at the Arlington Diner beginning at 7PM. All supporting residents are urged to attend.
For more information on the campaign, contact
Balwierczak at 201-655-8497.
You can join his personal FACEBOOK page entitled “North Arlington First.”