PRONTI ADMINISTRATION RAMS THROUGH MORE MULTIPLE DWELLINGS ALONG SCHUYLER AS RIDGE ROAD BECOMES A VIRTUAL PARKING LOT!
Freshman Mayor Seeks to Urbanize NA into a twin of Harrison & Hudson County! NA School Taxes will soar with widespread increases in tenant population!
North Arlington is clearly going in the wrong direction with an all-Republican Borough Council committed to abandoning the “small, safe and suburban” culture that was endorsed by every prior administration regardless of political affiliation.
Then Republican Councilman Len Kaiser, the borough’s longest serving chief executive opposed what he termed “North Arlington East” when an explosion of condominiums was proposed in the Meadowlands some 40 years ago! Since then all mayors became advocates who protected the notion that North Arlington remain this nestled suburban community in lieu of the density of Hudson County or East Bergen!
Be it Mayor Russ Pitman, Peter Massa or the late Joe Bianchi, there was a consensus that North Arlington remain unique, special and affordable to those who did not want to be an extension of Jersey City, Newark or Passaic!
Wednesday evening’s Zoning Board meeting was a clear indication of the displeasure felt by residents that signed on to the ZOOM call. The call was to discuss a new project calling for 14 units onto a lot about the third of the size of an acre in a heavily residential neighborhood. A neighborhood dominated by manicured lawns and well-maintained, single family structures built post war.
In fact it has always been considered one of the more desirable neighborhoods in the borough that also hosts the NA Middle School formerly known as Wilson elementary!
Our new mayor is a retired cop and current real estate agent who seems to believe a proliferation of multiple dwellings despite widespread homeowner opposition is a good idea, but for whom?
Not North Arlington!
Does he not understand that North Arlington was recognized for the exact opposite, a South Bergen community where safe and suburban begins and urbanization and city life ends at the Kearny border?
If Pronti has his way, there would be hundreds of new tenants and a density that will strip away our suburban character, raising school taxes and creating a “revolving door” population that is counterproductive to a “small and safe” environment!
Despite providing zero leadership on the ill-fated purchase of Queen of Peace High School by this incompetent Board of Education. Costing taxpayers some $11,000,000 for a facility that doesn’t house a single student or employee. Why didn’t Pronti oppose the purchase and demand that $11,000,000 provide tax relief or at least be invested in our current school facilities? Or place the parcel on the open market where added assessment and the construction of single-family properties be considered to further stabilize our tax base and a permanent revenue stream in character with the rest of the community?
Pronti failed homeowners again.
Instead of following the example of his Republican predecessor, the late great Joe Bianchi, arguably one of the most popular elected officials in borough history, Pronti is reversing course on the fundamental principles and policies that guided North Arlington to national prominence and stature as one of the most desirable places to live in New Jersey!
Would Mayor Bianchi endorse this reversal of his legacy?
Now with no one watching the store in terms of responsible two-party government in the midst of a pandemic that is hobbling local homeowners from paying property taxes, how does stuffing “two pounds of baloney in a one-pound bag” development make sense for the homeowners of this great community?
It doesn’t, and never will!
When you have one of the most prominent and respected citizens of North Arlington label this project as the “most ill-conceived, ill-timed project in borough history,” when will these “Pronti puppets” that populate the governing body offer anything but blind loyalty to a really bad idea?
Pronti has endorsed some of the most inexperienced, incompetent members of this council in borough history.
People with little to zero government experience or practical, hands-on knowledge of municipal government. Who are not capable of providing the checks and balances we need against an arrogant, part-time mayor who thinks he has all the answers when he doesn’t even understand the problem at hand!
North Arlington needs to get on the right track and that will only occur when we have Democrats back on the Borough Council and we find new leaders to step up and run for seats on the Board of Education!
This current crop of elected officials are led by the nose by Pronti; they fear an out of town Schools Superintendent who is now 0-4 in his attempts to raise school taxes to gain an additional $20,000,000!
Mass, scale and character matter.
Curb appeal matters.
Breaking all the prior zoning guidelines as it pertains to height and other basic land use principles fly in the face of keeping North Arlington suburban, especially in the new normal in this pandemic!
It is clear Mayor Pronti doesn’t get it and never will.
This Administration is giving a blank check to over development and this is nasty urbanization no one wants!
Call 201 991 6060 and tell Mayor Pronti enough is enough.
Send a message to Borough Hall and reject puppet candidates Karcic and Bocchino who are embarrassingly inept to serve our interests and give Democrats Bradley and Yampaglia the support they deserve to get this ship back on the right track!