PRONTI DESPERATE! DISTANCES HIMSELF FROM OPUS, THE MASSIVE OVERDEVELOPMENT HE ENGINEERED!

Challenger John Balwierzak describes the OPUS project as “Dan’s Baby,” official Borough Timeline confirms Pronti’s 100% support of the project!

NORTH ARLINGTON – As summer officially ends and the dog days of this election for mayor and two seats on the Borough Council clarify, one thing is clear and that’s incumbent Dan Pronti is now running away from his own record regarding OPUS and the massive overdevelopment of Ridge Road with constant and continued apartment construction on his watch over the past 8 years!

Yes, the record shows that Dan Pronti, a real estate agent supported the OPUS project as a member of the North Arlington governing body right from the beginning, although the strongest evidence is more precise than simply saying he was the project’s primary sponsor.

Here is what the timeline shows when it comes to OPUS and MAGA Mayor Dan Pronti:

On March 8, 2018, the North Arlington Mayor and Council considered Resolution R-76-18, authorizing the Redeveloper’s Agreement with Opus Development, LLC for the 77–85 Ridge Road property.
The official vote record shows Councilman Dan Pronti voting YES on the resolution. The measure passed on the consent agenda.
On July 12, 2018, Pronti specifically asked development consultant Bob Ceberio about when the OPUS project would begin and followed up about whether delays involving the Kearny Bank demolition would affect OPUS.
In December 2019, now-Mayor Dan Pronti said he was stopping by the OPUS construction site to check on the project and expressed “enthusiasm” about its progress.
In a 2023 interview, Pronti explicitly described The Opus as part of his administration’s redevelopment strategy, saying the 49-unit project replaced a rundown, overgrown property and that developments like OPUS brought residents who spent money at local businesses.

Pronti voted yes for OPUS as a councilman and steered the project to completion as mayor. Pronti was a councilman and voted for the Redeveloper’s Agreement in 2018 when initially approved.

Those are the hard facts.

Pronti as a member of the governing body approved OPUS, voted in favor of the Redeveloper’s Agreement, actively monitored its progress, and subsequently, and publicly defended the project as part of North Arlington’s redevelopment strategy.

John Balwierczak found the Pronti “flip-flop” on OPUS rather humorous.

“Dan Pronti is a real estate agent from Bayonne, I’m a lifelong resident and homeowner who left the Republican Party because I was being pressured to support a terrible project that has accelerated the urbanization and demise of Ridge Road under Dan. I was told by Dan that if I would not support overdevelopment policies, I would have no future as a Republican. I took his advice and placed North Arlington first, and I made the right decision for the community and the people who live here like working families and seniors,” offered the graduate of North Arlington HS.

“Dan has a rubber stamp council who fears him. My election along with my running-mates Dennis Papile and Jim Sever will end this overdevelopment nightmare and bring consensus government back to the community after a decade of this Pronti dictatorship. I can work with the remaining Republicans like Brian Fitzhenry and Kirk Del Russo. The problem is Dan Pronti and his out-of-town developer buddies who are turning NA into an extension of Belleville, a gateway to Newark and no longer Bergen County,”

Balwierczak said he would seek a specific plan for the Passaic River waterfront that would create a bike and walking path for residents. He will seek a moratorium on all new apartment construction along Ridge Road and work to revitalize the Ridge Road business district with an emphasis on retail shops.

“People are scared about the conditions on Ridge Road in the aftermath of the double murders and the federal raid of a business mixed up in drugs. I will demand more police deployment in these sensitive spaces. I will be a friend to renters who represent a majority of residents by bringing back the local Rent Leveling Board freeing it from Pronti’s Hudson County style politics. It will be a new day and a new way for taxpayers. The days of copying the redevelopment failures of Belleville will be over,” offered Balwierczak.

Meet the next Mayor, John Balwierczak.

Call him at (201) 655-8497 or via e-mail at [email protected]

Dennis Papile & Cengiz “Jim” Sever for Borough Council.

Keeping NA small, safe, suburban and most of all, affordable!

Small means ending the massive overdevelopment of Ridge Road.

Safe means ending the feeling Ridge Road is dangerous with double homicides and federal raids on local businesses mixed up in drugs!

Suburban means remaining “The Gateway to Bergen County,” not an extension of Belleville or the gateway to Newark!