More from Tanelli

NORTH ARLINGTON – Council President Steve Tanelli today called on the North Arlington Republican Council candidates James Herrmann and Jim Bocchino to condemn New Jersey Meadowlands Commission Commissioner and former Mayor Leonard R. Kaiser for his “enthusiastic and unequivocal support” backing hundreds of low-income housing apartments in North Arlington and neighboring towns.
“The real question is whether Herrmann and Bocchino are going to stand up for North Arlington against the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission proposal seeking to put 5,000 low-income housing units on our doorstep,” Tanelli said. “Are they still the Kaiser ‘Yes Men’ they’ve always been?”
Tanelli went on saying that as a councilman, Herrmann supported the EnCap negotiations under the Kaiser administration. That opened the door to high-density, low-income housing in the borough.
"He compiled a 100 percent pro-Kaiser voting record, never voting no, not once, ever,” Tanelli said. “And as Kaiser’s hand-picked redevelopment chairman, Bocchino was one of the architects of the now defunct 1,625 unit EnCap scheme that would have destroyed North Arlington with high rise, high density housing, hundreds of low income apartments and eminent domain.”
Tanelli, who joined then-councilman and now-mayor Pete Massa in dissenting against affordable housing in 2006, said that “If Herrmann and Bocchino care more about North Arlington than propping up a failed mayor who squandered $45 Million in host fees and gave us $28 Million in debt, now is the time to prove it.”
The council president said Kaiser voted in support of Meadowlands Commission affordable housing mandates three times in the past year.
“And today, the NJMC voted 6-0, again with Kaiser’s enthusiastic support, on three separate occasions, to back forced low-income housing projects in Meadowlands towns, including North Arlington,” Tanelli said.
“It’s absolutely incredible that Herrmann and Bocchino would attack DCA Commissioner Joe Doria on one hand when their political mentor is carrying out Doria’s agenda that will devalue every home in North Arlington. In fact, they even posed together for a photo posted on Commissioner Doria’s home page.”
Tanelli believes in a one-dimensional view of affordable housing – that it has "always led to the same thing: more crime, overcrowded schools, increased traffic, reduced property values and much much higher property taxes.”
“Mayor Pete Massa and I have a consistent 100 percent record of opposing over development and high density, low income housing and the North Arlington borough council will continue to oppose this neighborhood-destroying social engineering as long as the Massa team retains control of the council this year and voters keep the Kaiser Mob from seizing back control,” Tanelli said.