Like Nero who fiddled while Rome burnt Upper Saddle River is functioning like everything is fine and dandy. Nothing is going on, all is ok. Head in the sand.
The agenda for the mayor and council meeting tonight Thursday March 5, 2020 shows a small list of housekeeping issues, nothing unusual. Yet meanwhile the area around the town is engulfed in flames.
A bombshell dropped on 10 February 2020 with the news that Saddle River had reached an Affordable Housing agreement that was going to result in 247 multi-family units in the town. 147 of them affordable.
Let that sink in.
247 Units.
You could almost hear the gasp with the news. Saddle River residents, Woodcliffe Lake residents, Montvale residents all had their heads spinning with the news and the implications of what was about to happen. Saddle River residents will see their property values drop, who knows what the taxes will be. Woodcliffe Lake sees the influx of people on their borders stopping the already over burdened roads. However, this appears to be the good news. The bad news is if this deal stumbles there could be 2400 units, according to the mayor.
This was so serious that Mayor Carlos Rendo of Woodcliff Lake streamed a video on the subject discussing the situation and what the impact will be for residents. Available for viewing on Facebook.
The implications for residents of the Saddle River area are enormous. The traffic. The congestion. Water and sewer will be required…..who is going to foot this bill? Wandell School. And the high school.
Consider the influx of students from these new units. Students of high school age will attend Northern Highlands High School, an educational powerhouse that is desired by residents and non-residents alike. So great is the demand that there is a student or two who lives – quietly – with grandparent to access the school. So the question is what is going to happen if there is an influx of students? Will the school be able to cope with the demand? Will standards be maintained? Who is going to pay?
Meanwhile there is silence from Upper Saddle River mayor and council. No informative, fact filled live stream. No reassuring letter. No statement how the team at borough hall are on top of this and working to look after Upper Saddle River’s interests.
Nothing.
Nada.
Taking their usual wait and see approach (translation – if you ignore it it will go away). Better to focus on awards, social events, medals, accolades and not the grit of actually protecting the town and residents. Ensuring this is a great place to live. Where your property value not only is maintained but increases. And in case you haven’t been paying attention it has gone down quite a bit in the past year or so. There are a lot of For Sale signs throughout town. So do they care? Probably not. Like many residents of New Jersey they are probably planning their escape to some other state so why bother with the town? Just keep the garbage collections going, pave a few roads and give out some awards and run when you can. Which ultimately leaves the town vulnerable and unprotected.
Do you wonder why?
There is a history already of this.
The eruv fiasco which will return in about 1 year. Any idea what this means?
Now Saddle River.
And what do we hear from the mayor and council?
Attend the town meeting and find out. Demand to have your town, where your kids are growing up, protected. Or else suffer the consequences.
Thursday March 5, 2020 8pm
Late news: Saddle River residents are planning to fight the Affordable Housing Plan. They are organized to fight. More to come.