The Facts about Ramapo Ave...

When I have written about political pizza before, I have cited some examples. For those of you who might not know what I mean by this term, political pizza is when someone (typically a politician) looks at an entire pizza, where one slice has pepperoni and then proceeds to call the entire pie a pepperoni pie. Another tactic that (mostly) politicians use, I learned when watching Bob Schieffer (CBS) was discussing Lynton Crosby's infamous, Dead Cat Theory.

This theory essentially states that no matter what the conversation may be about, if you're at a dinner party and someone throws a dead cat in the middle of the table, people are going to start talking about the dead cat. Mayor Laforet employs both of these tactics but the problem is, in doing so, he often contradicts himself, misleads others, or outright lies.

This past weekend, a local resident posed a question centering on Ramapo Avenue, in Mahwah. This is where the Post Office is, and where Tirreno's Pizza was located, until it recently closed. This resident posted the picture above citing that one of the building's was actually marked as an "Unsafe Structure." As such, the Mayor chose to chime in and offer even more misleading or outright untrue information to residents.

I have included screenshots, below, directly from Facebook but have blurred the names of the people with whom the Mayor was interacting out of respect for their privacy-

There really isn't a good reason to move the DPW. However, let's talk about this $4MM dollars the Mayor brought up, as well his nonsense comments on Millennials:

$4MM- When Developers propose land development, there are (generally) two options- they can either pay taxes each year or they can offer a one-time payment to the town. Paying taxes would help our schools and other aspects of our community's needs. A one-time payment to the town would not be used for this purpose (it would be used to build a new DPW and any amount that is leftover goes to the town, not its schools). To claim that this $4MM would reduce the tax burden on residents is misleading in every conceivable way. And because Impact Fees are illegal in NJ, it there would be literally no reprieve for Mahwah's existing residents who would absolutely wind up footing the bill for unforeseen expenses that could arise.

Millennials- the share of 25- to 35-year-olds living at home rose during that span, increasing from 12% in 2010 to 15% in 2016(1). Of those Millennials who do move out of their parent's house, most rent/buy in more urban environments. But the Mayor could cite examples that prove Millennials are moving into such developments. I can also prove that some people actually think black licorice tastes good. That doesn't prove anything in the long-run. The Mayor wants Millennials here for one reason and one reason only...they tend to be Democrats. As such, they would fulfill the orders from Phil Murphy, Todd Sherer and his alleged Band of Merry Men with respect to Fair Share Housing. The more Democrats that move here, the better chance they have of winning the seats they need to manipulate zoning.

The Mayor has already stated that the $4MM would go toward building a new DPW, reducing the tax burden so residents don't have to pay for it to be built. But in this screenshot, the Mayor is stating the $4MM would have been returned to tax payers. Well, is it paying for a DPW facility or is it coming back to tax payers?

I checked with the Council and was told that while the Mayor did present this plan to the Beautification Committee (where he disclosed information from a closed session meeting), nothing has ever been presented to the Council. In the screenshot above, the Mayor stated that this plan was denied by the Town Council...how can they deny something...that was never proposed to them? To that end, had it been presented, it would had been rejected for the reasons I cited above. Our Town Council members do not want to build a new DPW facility and screw over our kids, as a result.

"No movement or proposals." Let's be clear...the downtown area is not zoned for mixed use. As such, maybe part of the reason the Mayor has yet to secure any viable options is because he's trying to find one that cannot be built in that area.

The Mayor wants exactly one thing and one thing only...affordable housing. That's where it starts and ends. We do not need more housing and when he creates this sense of hope that he agrees we should expand the parks and focus on beautification, he is doing nothing more than throwing a dead cat on the table. That is meant to be a distraction.

1. http://www.pewresearch.org/fac...