Response to The Facts about Ramapo Ave…

RING RING….."Hello. This is George Gares over on Malcolm Rd. I would like to place an order for a Riback
Political Spin pizza please."

https://patch.com/new-jersey/mahwah/facts-ramapo-ave

Yet another article from Mr. Riback leveraging alternative facts…facts that are interlaced with
hypocrisy. Mr. Ribacks definition of
political pizza is paraphrased a politician calling a pizza a pepperoni pizza
but only one slice has pepperoni. Yeah
we all get this ridiculous metaphor; but the message being clearly communicated
is that politicians don't tell the full truth or they embellish. Interesting since this article by Mr Riback
is dishonest and disingenuous at best.
Let me cite some specific examples in no particular order.

• "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."

Mr. Riback, this is your first slice of pepperoni pizza, and wouldn't you know it,
not a single slice of pepperoni on it.

First in order to check with the council you would have needed to "check"
with the council during the public portion of any of the recent town council
meetings. Since they are streamed live
by Mr. May, available via OPRA request via a CD from the Township Clerk in
audio format; I ask you sir where are you on video or audio recordings asking
that question or checking with the Council?
Its funny, but it does not exist.
Now you might say that you didn't "check with council" during
a township council meeting, and offer up the truth which is that you have and
continue to communicate with one or two councilman which we all know have slanted opinions and agendas. So I ask you, did you really check with
council or did you check with a councilman?
Big difference.

I also would like to state that I have personally viewed communications between
the Mayor, the developer, and former town council President John Roth which in
great detail confirm that there was a presentation and council was engaged and
involved. Just as the current council
president, Mr Hermansen is obligated to share this with the remainder of the
council….so did Mr. Roth. This notion
that nothing was presented and therefore it couldn't be tabled or denied is
ludicrous and dishonest. OPRA the
communications for yourself Mr. Riback. You fail to provide all of the
facts……specifically you left out the pepperoni.

• "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?"

Here is another slice of plain cheese pizza.
The Mayor stated that the developer was offering $4MM for the
development project. The estimated cost
of a new "state of the art" recycling center was estimated at
$2MM. The intention was to place the
remaining $2MM into an account which would be used to fund shortfalls or
overages in the annual budget for the township but could only be drawn down
over a period of time and was protected from any existing or new mayor or town
council member misappropriating the funds for one time events. This little
inconvenient fact is what you left out of your very poor analysis. Covering shortfalls or overages during any given budget cycle
does go back to Mahwah tax payers, as their taxes are not being increased
during times they might ordinarily as a result of unexpected expenses or
shortfalls. Simple accounting and
economics right?

An example of this might be what we see today with our existing town council,
which is willing to enter into litigation because they theoretically have the
money in the bank to do it….seeing an extra $2MM in the bank would surely be
permission to give themselves the green light to figuratively squander money
without care for fiscal responsibility.

• "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. "

An option that was floated by the developer to council and the Mayor was to
develop a series of shops, additional commuter parking, and one bedroom or
studio units to accommodate so called millennials. Going back to your points you made above,
first you are using a national statistic which does not align with NJ
statistics. Second, if your assumption
is that millennials move to urban areas; what is more appealing to that demographic
then to step out of their one bedroom apartment, walk out their front door, and
without a commute hop on a train to NYC,
PHILADELPHIA, or BOSTON for work?

Once again I will remind fellow residents that you have stated for the record you are a lifelong
registered democrat; yet you continue strong opposition to most democrats and
now you are lumping in to a single bucket, stating "millennials tend to be
democrats" If that is the case
wouldn't you be a democrat? The problem
with your assessment is that many young people are not just democrats, they are
also independents, and have you ever heard of the "Young
Republicans", Mr Riback.

Additionally your assertion that the more democrats that move here, the better chance they have of winning the seats
they need to manipulate is really bigoted.
I am sure after all of your pizza you must have lapsed into a coma. The truth is that every community and every
resident of Mahwah wants to live in a great place; and that is true for
republicans and democrats. Not a single
resident regardless of their partisan views, wants more traffic, higher taxes
more crowded schools, and the other things that are the outcome of high density
housing.

Finally, you might
want to brush up on your affordable housing requirements. The Mayor nor the council are in any position
to push back effectively on this issue without the support of elected officials
representing us in the NJ statehouse and a rollback of law that was passed a
number of years ago. You continue to
hang anchors around the necks of the wrong people and align yourself with only
those that are causing great harm to this community; specifically the Mahwah
Town Council led by Mr. Robert Hermansen.

George W. Gares III

Mahwah NJ