The ugliness of the local election in Upper Saddle River showed the teeth of the Republican candidates with their vicious personal attack on Marshall Grupp. Maybe some of their fawning followers fell for it, but for many residents it was a jarring show of the length this party will go to keep the power in their corner. They have had well over 12 years (8 of the same administration) to have their way, run the town as they want and basically lurch from disaster to disaster. All the while telling residents how wonderful they are. How the problems weren’t their fault, how thankful residents should be. At the same time bringing down the positive reputation of the town. And this they can’t blame on social media. They are the ones responsible for the Toll Brothers fiasco, the chaos over the Eruv, and their own financial accountability issues. Yes, people living in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.
The mailer jarred with residents who believe their town is a warmer and friendlier place than the flyer showed. Some residents thought this gutter politics didn’t belong in a family oriented community. That there was no place for bullying and low blows. Is this the example we want for the children? There is no place for toxic hate here – is this the town they thought it was? What are the core values of the incumbents? Residents – past and present have weighed in. Dipping into community forums here is a sampling:
Disgusting. How low can you go? I am so glad to have moved.
A former resident
…appalled when I saw it. Let’s discuss the issues facing our town such as why home prices are drastically falling, the overdevelopment that has happened etc… & not a personal smear campaign.
Current resident
The bully pulpit used by the incumbents needs to stop – that mailer was appalling and shows a total disregard for decency !!!
Current resident
However, one former resident took the time to write a lengthy comment on what has transpired. It is worth reading and reflecting on.
I felt compelled to post this after seeing how the Mayor and Council continue to use falsehoods to advance their political agenda. Five years ago I ran for council and had to deal with a mailing stating I was a part of a housing scheme with Mack Cali. This accusation was blatantly false. I will never forget my Daughter bringing down the mailer to me and asking if this was true about the housing scheme. How can a unelected official who lives in the town get anywhere close to the decision makers at Mack Cali to be a part of a housing scheme? Yesterday I saw how they used the same tactic on Marshall Grupp. They can not run on their record of failure so instead they attack the integrity of a good man. Since I have lived in the town I have seen Marshall volunteer his time to many organizations, charities and has a done a phenomenal job making USR a better place. About a year ago I sold my home in USR for a 500 thousand loss. I got out because of the decisions made by the Mayor and council. This is my reality. Answer these questions. Are you happy your home values have gone down considerably? Are you happy taxes have gone up? Are you happy we have mud and chemicals in our river? Are you happy we lost our golf course? Are you happy about the town spending over a million dollars litigating issues they could have solved prior? Are you happy with the town getting a deal with Mack Cali worse than the original deal offered? Are you happy we continue to have the worst playing fields in Bergen County? Are you happy about our Mayor and Council being reactive rather than proactive? then giving the stock answer, it could have been worse. Are you happy about the soon to be population increase of 15% in our towns? Are you happy to know the influx in this population growth will lead to overcrowded schools leading to our taxes going up, our quality of education going down and our home values? IF you answered yes to any of the above questions then vote for the Mayor and Council, if no then your choice is a simple one. I am a registered independent who votes republican 80% percent of the time. This election is not about party, it is about who do you trust to lead our town. The Mayor and Council have failed us with every major decision they have had to make for the town. The only reason they get reelected is because the amount of registered Republicans outnumber the Dems 2 to 1. To my Republican friends, it is time to put town over party. Marshall Grupp has shown his dedication to the town. Leandro Galasso and Marc Garbar are two extremely intelligent young parents who have skin in the game with kids in the school system. They will work tirelessly for our kids and the town of USR. This Tuesday get out and Vote for Grupp, Garbar and Galasso. It is the only choice.
Perry Bonomo
“Dirty Politicks” and “Dirty Water in USR” should be the theme of 2019 mayoral election in Upper Saddle River.
For the past two years I thoroughly documented on GreenUSR FB pages (please scroll past posts going back to 2017) total disregard in my opinion for the stormwater runoff rules, basic construction runoff rules and Clean Water Act that provides regulations for regulating discharges of pollutants into the waters of the United States. Constant pollution onto my backyard and intentional “colloidal clay” pumping also destroyed my property value and it’s marketability. My house lost IMHO circa 30% of its value! Not mentioning environment degradation in general, decreased quality of my drinking well water located next to Pleasant Brook, esthetics and inconvenience of not being able to use my backyard for almost two years. Despite all of that I still love USR and that is why I demand figuratively and literally a total cleanup of our town because I want it to be great and green again. Toll Brothers and Toll Brothers’ apologists assured me over and over me that this was “normal” and that chocolate wonky brown water is “fine” and that I shouldn’t complain because people in Bangladesh have worse water conditions. Why they picked Bangladesh I have no idea. My homeland country is Poland and even in Poland it would be difficult to pump construction “colloidal clay” directly to the local brook affecting homes of almost 200 residents. And imaging conducting this intentional pumping for almost two years! Crazy as it sounds it did happen. Right in front of our eyes. And you don’t have take my word for it. Just listen to the last few minutes of the interview conducted by The Record newspaper with NJ Sierra Club Director Jeff Tittel standing next to the infamous pumping station at The Preserve – former Apple Ridge. If you believe that the situation was “normal” you need to listen to that interview several times to understand the magnitude of what happened to our beloved Pleasant Brook/Saddle River.
Here is the link to the interview:
http://theridgewoodblog.net/toll-brothers-caught-red-handed-committing-another-stormwater-runoff-violation/