When you remain quiet, the BS seems so much louder...

Last night's Town Council meeting was extremely telling, to me. First, the Mayor completely ignored the warnings I shared in my one of my last articles, where I demanded specific ordinances be added and then remain on the agenda for last night. I noted I understood that this wasn't completely in his control but after last night, it is clear that he is the reason these ordinances were tabled, even if he achieved so, indirectly.

Whereas I typically look forward to my turn at the microphone, to sharing my concerns and vent my frustrations, last night, I decided I was just going to sit back and observe. And I'll tell ya...it was hard to do!

I have mentioned this before but I want to reiterate that my goal, when writing these articles, is to remain as objective as possible. In other words, I want to remain fair to all parties about whom I write. The truth is, however, that objectivity can sometimes appear as subjectivity. For example, if I am discussing black licorice...how can I possibly be objective when that stuff is just, NASTY?!?!

I have referenced this expression before but it bears repeating...one of the biggest mistakes you can make in life, is attempting to rationalize with irrational people. They have no sense of objectivity. The passion with which I see my fellow residents fight back against attacks is truly commendable. At the same time, I would argue that in doing so, we (myself included), only add fuel to the fire. Some of these folks are moles, some are clueless, but all of them are irrational. If you show them an apple, they'll tell you it is a pear. If you pick that apple off of an apple tree in front of them, they'll tell you it is a pear. If you have a 30-year, veteran farmer bring you to that tree on his tractor, telling you about his family's tradition of growing apples...upon picking them, they would tell you it is a pear. They are not listening because their biases are such that they are not capable of doing so. Therefore, I call upon my fellow residents, which includes myself, to no longer engage or reply to comments from these folks on social media, in person, or elsewhere. Let them state whatever they want. We know the truth about who we are as a people and that is all that matters.

The biggest and most important reason I am making this request, is because the time we spend arguing with these folks, is time we are, therefore, not dedicating to watching and listening to what is going on with our government and other decision-makers. And to stress my point, I want to share a few observations/facts with you-

Fundraiser for Senior Center-

There is a fantastic initiative to help raise funds for the Mahwah Senior Center.

While Mayor Laforet is publishing sponsored (paid) ads on Facebook to promote the folks in opposition to protecting our community, he hasn't posted a single ad (paid or not), that I can find, in promoting this fundraiser. Further, did you know that the mayor has been working overtime to end this effort? Why? Well, damned if I know but I don't know how coincidental it is either, that as he is supporting two incompetent candidates for Town Council, he (likely) wants to avoid supporting an initiative being championed by an existing Council Member.

Jaguar-
I watched as the mayor outright and unapologetically lied last night in telling residents that there are many companies interested in the old Jaguar building. Untrue. The property is currently in attorney review on behalf of one, interested buyer. I do not yet know who this buyer is but will (hopefully) find out. I also believe he mislead us (based on how I interpreted his comments) with respect to the land next to Amazing Savings. Technically, he's right that we have yet to know what will actually occur there. But he (conveniently) failed to disclose that the property BEHIND these buildings will be welcoming a new tenant. I also don't know which company this will be but will find out.

Cell Towers-

Todd Van Duren is a member of Mahwah's Planning Board. In case you don't know the purpose of the Planning Board, their function is to "review and approve all commercial site plans and all subdivisions that do not require a "Use" variance(1)." Van Duren's family owns the Ramsey Auto Group, which resides half in Mahwah, half in Ramsey. Van Duren previously had a cell phone tower installed on the Mahwah side of his property. Now, to be clear, that is completely his prerogative and I find no fault in wanting to earn an extra $120K per year. But I also find it quite convenient that a member of the planning board was able to get approval to erect the tower after just one meeting. To be clear, Van Duren's tower is 50' in height as compared to the 180' one that was discussed last night. But nonetheless, should it take this long and require that much more review before being installed? This is suspect, in my view. I don't blame the Council for this because it is an administrative issue, for which they have no control or influence.

Utility Poles-

Replacing Orange & Rockland is not a short-term solution. Councilman Sbarra stressed this point last night. But what is a bit concerning to me is that nobody seems to be discussing the fact that many (if not all) of these poles are co-owned by Verizon. Where are they in all of this?

Post Office-

Laforet would have you believe that the question as to if/where the post office will move to was (simply) a topic that fell off the table...that he would revisit it. I'm not sure I buy it. The last thing I want to do is speculate without having facts. But what is fact is that the mayor's pattern of delaying any efforts related to real estate or ordinances that would influence the behaviors that occur in parks and other areas cannot be questioned. And even despite this, if he actually did let this just fall off the table, then, at best, he continues to prove himself as incompetent.

Roads/paving-

Strong administrators understand that, quite often, dollars need to shift throughout the year for a variety of purposes. We had a very dry winter last season. There is absolutely zero reason (I can find) that the mayor and our business administrator cannot reallocate dollars to pay for fixing our roads and sidewalks. Mike Kelly, Mahwah's Town Engineer is not at fault here. From my view, I feel that he shares in our frustration and yet, has his hands tied. I want to be vehemently clear that this is based off my observations, not from speaking with Mike. It is my understanding that shifting dollars is easier said than done...but my question is, has anyone even tried?

Police Chief-

One of the benefits of sitting and watching last night was that I could observe the body language of everyone on the dais. For most of my life, I have been fascinated by human behavior. Part of this interest has centered on learning quite a bit about body language. Here's what I noticed last night.

As Mayor Laforet spoke about the cell towers and a few other matters, he looked directly into the eyes of the resident sitting behind the microphone. However, whenever the Eruv, ordinances, or the Police Chief were mentioned, he sat back in his chair and looked down at the floor. When you study body language, you learn that looking down is typically a sign of submission, a demonstration of feeling guilty about something. Every time these matters were discussed, he looked down.

As the crowd challenged the council to fire Mahwah's Police Chief, the one man who actually has the authority to do so, Mayor Laforet, was staring at the floor.

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So, let's go back to a question that was posed last night by Council President, Hermansen. If so many other towns have enforceable ordinances, why can't we? Why (exactly) can't ordinances get passed and what's more...how come the Mayor (seemingly) is just sitting back and not doing anything about it?

Here's my take. I want to be 110%, vehemently clear about this, as well- I am sharing the following based on my observations and how I'm looking at this entire situation. I have no concrete proof (yet) of this information but feel confident that I'm likely more correct about this, than incorrect.

The man we need to start to watch with laser precision is, Todd Sherer. Sherer is the Chairman of the Planning Board and by appointing him, the Mayor has only further demonstrated that he is either extremely corrupt or extremely incompetent. Todd Sherer filed for bankruptcy in 2004. You get that? The Chairman of our Planning Board filed for bankruptcy. This was only after working under one of the most corrupt politicians in our state's history (I can write a 200 page book on this, alone). Sherer has never owned a single piece of property in Mahwah. The only land he owns is in the Warwick, NY area. This man is a ringleader- a powerful figure in the Democratic party, and works full time for a company called, Entrepreneur Growth Capital. According to their website, this company offers Asset Based Lending, Invoice Discount/ Factoring, Merchant Cash Advances, Loan Advisory/Hedge Fund Support, Accounts Receivable Management. In my view, it is a direct conflict of interest for the Chairman of Mahwah's Planning Board to also work in a financial sector that land developers rely on, heavily. Between Novartis in Rockland, Jaguar, Sharp, Apple Ridge, as well as several other properties in the area, knowing that Sherer is at the helm of the Planning Board is downright scary. His background, connections, previous deals, and other warning signs, lead me to believe that this is the man at the center of all of our problems. I also feel that there is a lot of suspect behavior behind the relationship between members of the Planning Board, the Police Chief, Mayor Laforet, the Grewal's, and the state's AG.

The Bergen County Prosecutor's (BCP's) brother, Shivi Grewal, is on our planning committee. The Grewal's are Mayor Laforet's biggest campaign contributors and can afford to be given the fact they own a successful business, in Mahwah, ADPP, which owns and operates multiple gas stations in the area. While the Mayor can fight the BCP, namely with respect to his efforts to prevent us from enforcing ordinances, do you think (maybe) these contributions are the reason he doesn't do so? Gurbir Grewal, the BCP, went to school with Chris Christie. I actually believe they were college roommates. They then worked together at a law firm. Christopher Perrino, NJ's Attorney General, is an appointee of Christie's. Small world, huh?

Mayor Laforet has a very strong presence and a unique ability to easily win over new fans and more importantly to him (and his party), more donors. But for some reason...he just can't seem to get his appointees to do their jobs, such as ensuring ordinances can pass, by clearing up any objections efficiently and quickly, as well as holding his appointees accountable for enforcing them.

In conclusion, there is much we cannot (yet) prove about Mahwah's Mayor but in my view, no matter how corrupt he likely is, the fact remains that he is, at the very least, incompetent as a leader. Because if he isn't corrupt, then why else would he allow his Police Chief to so flagrantly and unapologetically behave as he does? Why would he not want to make sure every road is perfectly paved? Why would he want to offer a reward for information leading to the arrest of whoever damaged the PVC pipe but not show any sign that he cares to fight for us? Why would he favor two candidates running for Council who lack even the most basic of experience in or understanding of, local government? Why would he attempt to stop a fundraiser for our senior center? Why would he not make sure that the concerns over the Post Office are taken care of immediately? Why isn't he driving his car down to Verizon and getting the cell tower situation addressed expeditiously?

Too many questions with zero answers...and the one man, who claims to care so very much about his town, is looking down at his feet. My goal of remaining objective has not wavered. But with so much black licorice in my way, I don't see any red Twizzlers lying around.

If you can, please print this article and share it with somebody who might not be actively online. Thank you!

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1. http://www.mahwahtwp.org/cit-e...