Mayor Alberto G. Santos
Reorganization Meeting, January 4, 2005

Distinguished guests, members of the Council, Monsignor Desmond, Judge Doyle, family and friends, thank you for participating in our town’s reorganization meeting for 2005.

We are gathered here today to reorganize the membership of our governing committees, to designate professionals who will assist us in performing our public duties and to appoint citizens to the town’s board and commissions who, together with the elected officials, perform the duties of local government in our town. Many of those citizens volunteer their time: to them I once again extend my gratitude for their service.

We are also gathered here today to set forth this governing body’s goals and priorities for the year 2005. Let me first set forth what I believe those goals are and secondly how we should go about in order to achieve them.

Our mission is to build our community’s future. That means strengthening our neighborhoods, repairing our streets and infrastructure, expanding parks and recreational spaces and redeveloping abandoned or underused industrial properties. It also means striving to keep property taxes stable so that present and future generations can afford to live in our community.

With this mission in mind, these are my specific goals:

First and foremost is tax stability. As was the case last year, the real story of the town budget is increased costs in areas that are external and largely outside municipal control. By this I mean double-digit increases in garbage disposal tipping fees, sewage treatment costs, liability claims, employee health insurance and employee pension costs. Without these increases, the municipal tax rate would be lower today than it was when I began as Mayor.

We must continue to respond to these fiscal challenges by maintaining a tight belt around expenditures that we can control and staying within our means by remaining below the maximum debt levels allowed by State law. We must strive to do so without compromising public safety, the town’s health and recreational programs or the necessary maintenance and repair of infrastructure and municipal facilities.

The ultimate solution lies in property tax reform. It is shameful that the State of New Jersey has the fourth highest per capita property taxes in the entire country. Property taxes should not be the primary source of how government or public education is paid for. Right now, two-thirds of our school budget costs must be supported by property taxes. That is staggering.

My second priority is to continue our efforts at redevelopment in order to generate additional tax revenues and jobs for our residents. We created new redevelopment zones and adopted plans that envisioned thriving centers of stores, commercial uses and residences where underused or abandoned industrial sites now sit. In 2005, we will see the first fruits of those efforts with the opening of the Saw Mill Park distribution and office facility on the Belleville Turnpike, a new retail center by the Turnpike entrance, and a new restaurant in the Passaic Avenue redevelopment zone.

We will also continue our efforts to reinvent the economy of South Kearny and once again make it a hub of manufacturing and commerce. Together with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, we hope to include significant portions of the South Kearny peninsula as part of the region’s foreign trade zone. If accepted by the federal government, that zone designation would create an area where customs duties and excise taxes on gods are reduced or eliminated, providing an economic impetus for new investment.

Third, in partnership with the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission, we must draft and implement a comprehensive solution that addresses the contamination of the Kearny marsh, the disrepair of flood control creeks and waterways in the marsh and properly closes the Keegan garbage landfill. Every time it rains the Keegan landfill discharges a slew of contaminants, including oil products and metals, into the marsh and surrounding waterways. It is an environmental tragedy. It is also property that can be put to no productive use at all until it is cleaned up. As soon as at our next Council meeting, we must take action to begin reversing decades of damage.

Fourth, we will continue improving and repairing our infrastructure. Of note, we will complete the 2004 repaving program in the Spring and by summer’s end will have completed the third phase of Streetscape on Kearny Avenue and the new half-mile roadway extension of Bergen Avenue. However, because of our aging infrastructure, I will work with the Council to formulate yet another repaving program that includes those streets in most need of repair, such as Belgrove Drive.

Fifth, I will work with the Council and Recreation Commission to renovate and expand recreational venues in town. In particular, I look forward to working with the Third and Fourth Ward Council Members in their plans to renovate Bell Playground on Stewart Avenue and the Belgrove Drive playground. I will also work with the First Ward Council members on developing a small playground with neighborhood parking at the old town nursery on Brighton Avenue. To that we also need to add a skateboarding facility for our youth and we must regain the lost momentum on our community’s long-held dream of building an indoor recreational facility.

Sixth, it is good news that, after five years of planning and hard work, we will have a ribbon cutting for a new, much-needed, affordable senior citizen housing complex on Schuyler Avenue. My office has received over 300 inquiries regarding this facility that will have 49 units. I personally have spoken with many of the senior citizens who have inquired. Their stories are compelling. Even with this facility and Spruce Terrace there will remain an enormous need for more affordable senior housing. This governing body must identify additional locations to accommodate our seniors.

Seventh, we should continue our efforts at renovating our library facilities. They are a vital information source for residents of all ages. This year, I look forward to working with our Librarian and the Council Liaison on the recently begun renovation and restoration of the exterior of the Stuyvesant Avenue Library Annex. We also hope to undertake a renovation of the periodicals’ reading room and circulation desk in the main Library.

Eighth, as head of the department of public works committee, I will work with the new Superintendent, Gerard Kerr, on further improving what I thought was a highly commendable snow removal program last winter. In addition, I have again highlighted planting more trees to beautify the appearance of our neighborhoods, working on faster response times to the removal of graffiti and improving our efficiency in serving residents by using software that tracks the nature of a resident’s request and monitors our response time to the call.

Ninth, this governing body must also look at extending the zoning changes implemented in the Manor zone last year to other one-family zoned areas throughout town. There are many houses rich in architectural details that give definition and character to specific neighborhoods in our town.

Tenth, we must not forget the inequities our community suffered in recent years due to actions or lack of action by the State of New Jersey. The State approved the closing of West Hudson Hospital as an acute care facility without investigation of any alternatives that would keep acute care at West Hudson. The State approved the closing of a commuter rail station in Kearny with nothing more than an after-the-fact hearing. And 2005 will be the sixth year in which an emergency order of the New Jersey Governor has been in effect that forcibly places civilly confined persons who committed sex-related crimes in a facility in South Kearny. None of Governors Whitman, DiFrancesco or McGreevey was willing to lift the decree. Not only is this an indignity to Kearny, it is also an impediment to our plans and efforts to redevelop South Kearny. We renew our plea to the current Governor and ask for the removal of the sex offenders.

These are my goals. How should we go about in order to achieve most of them? By working with each other and not against each other. By committing ourselves fully to these tasks, by listening to the citizens of our town and by believing in ourselves.

To the members of the Council, I pledge to renew our partnership so that we can accomplish our joint mission. Differences of opinion are welcome. They are a necessary component of a functioning democracy. Obstructionism is not welcome.

At times these tasks are overwhelming. It is distressing to see and hear other public officials act as if the currency of politics is money or a political machine or making a deal. The political upheaval of the past two years is evidence of that. Instead, the real currency is people and the communities we represent. To all those here who truly want to make a difference, do not lose faith in government; keep in mind the inspirational words of Margaret Mead:

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.

We have charted the course for the year. May the new year be healthy, happy and prosperous for our community and all our citizens. Thank you.