Like it or not, there is a lot of truth there. I agree Madam Mayor.

If we develop on the United Water Company, won't there be more flooding and isn't that bad for the town?

Thank you Mayor for a long overdue, yet heartfelt explanation. The decision to not buy the property was the right decision.

I'm sure the SOD people will try to disembowel every word you spoke.

Pat could you go into detail as to why you think the flooding will not be worse? Why do you think the development won't harm NM especially if there are apartments? I would have been a bit more appreciative of the opinion by the Mayor if indeed the Riverkeeper was in fact an independent voice to be heard. His ties to both Hekemian and Inserra are of major concern to me. BTW if anyone looks back to my responses you will see that I was torn from the get go about the development from the beginning. I was actually interested in the revenue probability. Having read and researched not only our development but others by Hekemian, I turned the corner. I do not belong to SOD although I agree with their stance. I too have spoken to others who would like the development but they are not concerned about the flooding that has occurred in the past or might in the future. As long as it doesn't touch them they seem to be fine with it since revenue from the development is a possibility. I do not live anywhere near the UW property and I also did not live anywhere near FOD but I still think both are bad for those that live there and for the rest of NM residents. Property values in NJ always swing back up so one can't say that the value spent on keeping property open space was a waste. If Carlton Place isn't what she thinks it should be then perhaps she better should take that on as her legacy.

For Mayor Subruzi to state "the question that no one seems to be asking is "What's best for New Milford and its residents?" should be very concerning to all NM Residents. It is both arrogant and ignorant at the same time. It's a fascinating comment really...

Mayor, that exact sentiment seems to be the subject EVERYONE is commenting on. Seriously, do you really think anyone is commenting on the subject without that EXACT concept in mind?

We are happy that you are not concerning yourself with what will ultimately get you re-elected- since 90+ % of your constituents, if not more, have absolutely no desire to see that property commercially developed. The idea that you have spoken to "many people" that want to see it developed would be laughable were it not for the seriousness consequences of your words.

As a matter of fact, short of some of the M&C and other business, payrolled agenda folks in town, I, we do not know of anyone who wants a Shoprite or commercial development on that property. We are very surprised, shocked really, that you do not hear the voices of the majority of your community.

Everyone has the right to speak their mind, and we fault no-one for promoting what they see as in their best interest, career, job, or otherwise, but YOU, Mayor Subruzi, are an elected representative of the people of New Milford. It's time you start to realize what your roll inn this town and GET IT TOGETHER. Its not too late for you, but you are way behind...

The health and safety of our children is what is best for new milford.
That property has been known as the sludge pit = filled with toxins.
I have six siblings and three of them have experienced cancer before the age of 50. I wonder how much the exposure to this sludge pit while in high school has on this. And now we are going to build on that land and disturb the toxins lying in it so our children can inhale them? Are we really willing to sacrifice these young people's health? For what? What will we gain? There is so little concern for what is best for the residents of new milford when we are so blind to the only thing that matters, our childre's health and safety. God help us all.

Mayor Ann Subrizi:
Term Expires: 12/31/14

Liaison Appointments:
Police/Police Aux.
Sr. Citizens Advisory
Community Development
Bergen County Open Space

asubrizi@newmilfordboro.com

James, the Upper Hackensack watershed is about 120 square miles, (give or take a few miles), I do not see how 13 acres is going to make any difference. There will be storm water retainment on the new development. Will it make it better? No, I see it as a 0 sum gain. The problem it just north of there. I do not want the apartments, and in my opinion they can be negotiated out or substantially smaller in size. I would love to see the football field put there also, but I think that would take some negotiations and not the anti-plan attitude. Widening River road is a great idea, they should expand that to the front of the HS. Those ugly, way too big sycamore trees need to go and replace with more suitable trees. Lets get crazy and put an additional lane in front of the high school for some room for student drop off. (Apparently high school aged children are incapable of safely walking or crossing streets in this town.) I would not say that I am a supporter of the plan, but I am not opposed to it either. I have been to many zoning meetings and I still believe that although they do not mean to SOD is not helping the zoning board deny the application, if warranted, by asking questions and allowing the applicant to clarify testimony. The riverkeeper is a non issue, his is a joke, and has been for a long time. His opinion means nothing.

Open space is not an option right now, and probably will never be. Inserra just completed a 3 year application in Wyckoff. Do you think they or Hekemian are just going to walk away? The rezoning of the property is what needed to happen, we needed that for when this goes to court, and it will.

"SOD's response demonstrates that there is no room in the conversation for any voice other than their own".....what a hypocritical statement to have made! Madam Mayor, please remove the word "SOD" and replace it with "Madam Mayor"....it appears that you are the narrow-minded, blind, "my way, or, the highway" entity in this discussion, and not SOD contrary to what you spew out. On the subject of highway, just look at what happened this past election regarding council members.....and if you think that the United Water property had nothing to do with it, just wait until you and the others are up for re-election....same scenario will apply...you will certainly ride down that same highway to defeat!

To Lolita,
Please do not categorize every SOD member into one group, and refer to them as "the Sod People." Is that fair? Should I categorize all of the Lolita's and state the obvious.

Please check your dictionary and use the proper words to make a point. "I'm sure the SOD people will try to disembowel every word you spoke." The word "disembowl" is not used in the correct context. Don't try to impress if you cannot use the word properly.

I have to say that many of us on here, use our own names, and take a lot of heat having been confronted by many, some less sophisticated than others, and have been accused of much including lying and conniving and whining and so on. Many times by people who wish to remain unidentified, and many of whom are as or more guilty of the behavior they’re calling out. If one’s intentions are true, they should be able to hold up to the scrutiny.

I believe the reason SOD’s voice is so loud, is there are so many of us, which speaks its own message. I’ve let to see all these people who are for the development come forward to have it put on record that they are for this development, with the exception of Hekemian himself. If they want it so badly, let them fight for it. To try to paint a picture that they can’t for fear of hearing sour words from SOD is lame. Each of us are hearing our share of sour words, this message included, yet we remain in the open and endure the heat because we believe what we believe.

As for the Riverkeeper, it's not the fact that he has an opinion, it's the fact that his opinion is contrary to his role, that he has no apparent reason for coming forth for the development, that his sponsors are the very people who will benefit from this development. Add to that that he doesn’t know what he’s speaking about, and it makes him suspect.

There is nothing evil about a ShopRite, or a bank, or an apartment complex. There is something evil about a developer proceeding to force a development on a community when there are members of that community who will be hurt by it. People are responding to that.

As for the Carlton Place purchase, without knowing why the litigation occurred and the details of the purchase, no one can judge the wisdom of that decision. However, out of all the tax money taken from the residents, I would consider any investment in open or green space to be a sound one since it supports our health on so many levels.

Do you want this development Mayor Subrizi? Or are you going for the compromise because you feel powerless over the overdevelopment that has descended upon us?

The opinion of the river keeper means nothing, it is the opinion of the residents of New Milford that counts, and for all who keep saying SOD is only represents 120 or so members I say what I have always said, which is when you see a group of people mobilized as SOD has been you must figure the support for their position is probably 10 times stronger than its registered membership. It is just that there are many who are too busy with their own lives to show up for meetings and to engage in protest. Recent elections were decided by approximately 25 votes yet this last election those elected had approximately a 600 vote spread. The opinion of the residents is clear!

If the re-zoning of the property was truly the right way to go, and honestly, its hard to decipher at this point, then the M&C did a piss poor job of explaining that to the people of NM in a timely way that let us know they were really on "our side- the will of the majority of the people"- and that we should have supported them in the re-zoning effort.

But they did not.

They could not.

Ask yourself, Why is that?

Now we are left to believe we are victims of our own apathy, our ignorance, we missed our chance when it was there for the taking, we just didn't pay attention when we had the chance to and now we will just have to deal with the consequences...

Subrizi could have made a dozen extra statements explaining it, screamed out loud to get our attention- but she did not.

The answer is obvious. It's common sense- and whether we want to say it out loud or not, we all know why things are they way they are. We take responsibility for our own actions- or inactions- but then again, we are not all our elected officials who's job it is to make sure we don't miss these opportunities, are we?

Subrizi needs to fight for the overwhelming will of the people of NM or step aside and get out of the way so that the next politician doesn't have the chance to tell us how it's our fault...

Thats what a real mayor, one who really cares about this town, above her political career and personal agenda, should be doing..

I organized New Milford RAID (Residents Against Indiscriminate Development) in opposition to the Carlton Place development that Mayor Subrizi mentions. The developer planned to construct a 28-unit apartment building with a large parking lot on a 1.1 acre piece of property that was at the end of a one-block long dead end residential street. The property was bordered on its west side by the Hirshfeld Brook and on its north side by a Hirshfeld Brook tributary. If I remember correctly, 4 of the apartments were to be considered COAH units. RAID members attended Zoning Board hearings on the matter, questioned witnesses and voiced their opinions. All the borough services (DPW, Fire, etc.) opposed the development. When it appeared that the developer was about to file a builder's remedy lawsuit (which it would have won as a builder has never lost one of these suits), the M&C acted. By a 5-1 vote, the Council voted to purchase the property at a final cost of about $600,000. Then-Councilwoman Ann Subrizi cast the lone dissenting vote which, for some reason, she is still proud of. The property remains in its natural state where deer, opossum, skunks, muskrats (I think that's what they are), birds and all manner of wildlife live and trees and other flora and fauna grow pretty much undisturbed. No trees were destroyed. There is no traffic congestion, additional pollution or noise. A neighborhood was saved. Yes, Mayor, it was worth it.

OK, I'll humor you Mayor Subrizi since you partonize us. What's best for NM & it's residents is if the Riverkeeper who does not live here, has not political ties to our community, does not attend meetings, does not work or pay taxes here &, has no children in our school system, stay out of our business. Frankly, his ignorance is a burden to us & your willingness to acknowledge him or his opinion reflects poorly on you. Now I thank you for offering your opinion on the issue, however having respect for your opinion is another thing. Bill Sheehan is not worthy of respect & endorsing his right to an opinion only makes you appear as ignorant as him.

Good morning;

I guess AML is a spokesperson for SOD since he/she embarrassed Ulises by reprimanding him to not project Uli's own thoughts as being those of SOD in a previous Comment. OK - - if I may ask, What I don't understand is that SOD is not supposed to be political, yet they now threaten Mayor Subrizi, Councilmen Robalino and Collucci and have reveled in ruining Messrs Berner and Rebsch's political future. Meanwhile the a & p boys DID receive monies from Hekemian, UW and Inserra through the NM Dem club also. but NO PROBLEMO! They were lauded profusely by SOD members in their election. yet THEY WILL HAVE A DIRECT BEARING eventually on the UW property issue?!? Sheehan may have received monies from Inserra and Hekemian also, but he is accused of too much Captain Morgan time and being paid off by the very same people that the a & p boys got money from?!?

As everyone all knows, I'm against Overdevelopment, but to be honest, with EVERY DAY character assassinations, methinks a nice little condo right next to the noisy train tracks west of Columbia might not be so bad.....Imagine walking just a couple of blocks to the train, a kid's sports field, a mini mall WHEN severe weather threatens and OUR LIGHTS GO OUT AS USUAL - only kidding, but I just don't like gangs ruining people's reputation and respect. while others get absolutely NO scrutiny at all. Keeping in mind that I just came off a win AS A DEMOCRAT against the local Democratic Party.

As New Milford's Grant Consultant I have never weighed in on this issue publicly, before. As a borough resident, and taxpayer I do have an opinion, but that is no relative to this discussion. What is relavent is that I was asked what grant monies could be tapped to acquire this property, and at that time I never responded that it would be "a leap of faith". I contacted Green Acres, Blue Acres, FEMA and Bergen County Open Space along with State and Federal legislators and was assured we would received the help necessary. The only caveat was that the Borough would have to bond the purchase and the money could be refunded to the Borough over a two year period. This is standard practice for all grant! I am providing this information as fact, and because I believe the public has the right to know. Also I am tired of seeing words in print attributed to me, but not so.

Thank you Hedy- we were looking for that information.

It needs to be finally said- Our Mayor is an embarrassment to our town every time she opens her mouth these days. To be honest, I voted for her. I would never cast that vote again.

We all know she is in way above her paygrade, but now is the time she should be asking the citizens for help- not let her inability to navigate the position she holds continue to spin out of control. Pretending to know what you are doing only gets you so far- and when a responsible person knows their actions are hurting others, they STOP, LISTEN and CHANGE COURSE.

And yet, she does not ask for help.

She does not look to her constituants for guidance.

She pretends to, but she doesn't. The idea that "many" people want to see the land developed proves that she just lies about who she talks to.

She is actually in a very potentially damaging position right now because she knows she is not going to be re-elected and will likely do some very detrimental things to our town on the way out as a parting gift.

Worse than that, the financially vested parties in the development already know she is way over her head, and are playing her, and subsequently all of us like a fiddle.

Even a discussion like this, will create another distraction which will only serve to help them. Keep the townspeople fighting amongst themselves while they do their bidding right under our noses...

Mayor Subrizi says, "From the moment the United Water property became available to the town, there was never enough support to buy the property." The minutes of council meetings during the critical period of January through April 2011 show that the possibility of purchasing the UW property was briefly touched upon but never taken seriously or discussed in depth. And when the option to purchase the property expired, the Mayor never revealed to the public that it had ever been an option. The information only became public in August 2012 when the UW-Hekemian sales contract was discovered online - and by then the option was history. Questions still remain about what really happened during those 4 months. Mayor Subrizi also says that nobody seems to be thinking about "what's best for New Milford and its residents." I believe everyone in town is thinking about that very thing.

tonyg 2010 - The Bergen County Mosquito Commission comes every year or two in the fall to clean out debris from the the Hirshfeld Brook on the east side of the Boulevard bridge. They use the Carlton property to access the brook. The equipment is usually there for several weeks and then removed. If you drive by, you can see the huge pile of dirt they leave behind. Occasionally DPW does some work there as well.

By the way, just before the storm, I noticed about 20 good sized dead and dying fish in the Hirshfeld Brook on the north of Main Street. I reported it to the appropriate authorities. I wonder what it might mean.

Ms. Grant and Ms. Casey thank you for setting the record straight for us.

Jimmy, please don't drag my name into your comments - thank you (btw, AML is a good friend of mine). The Republicans lost big time nationwide this past election. In town, the NM Republican Club had candidates that shared SOD's view but the Mayor, Colucci and Rabolino were campaigning on a different note. So how do you expect them to win if the party was sending mix messages? Colucci was telling my next door neighbors SOD has it all wrong and the development is a done deal, while Rebesch stood their and disagreed with him, but you're blaming us? I had Republicans in town tell me they are voting for Putrino and these were people that don't even agree with SOD, yet SOD's to blame? The Mayor doesn't know how to stay above the fray and that's key for political leaders. She using the Patch and the Borough's website as her bully pulpit to ridicule SOD, a small group of her constituents in town - yet SOD was the reason why NM Republican Club lost? Come on Jimmy, I know their your friends, and I consider Peter and Howard friends too, but they lost because the Mayor set the stage and has handled this UW property issue, since the beginning, and a lot of other things in town too, poorly. Subrizi is to blame not SOD for the election results in town.

Ulises, if I thought anything I said would have an impact on you, I'd post it.

Let's hope for an NMHS victory tonight at DHS!

Hi Laurie.

I don't know Celeste, there you go again confusing the issue with facts and documentation.

A lovely lady like Ms Casey is surely entitled to a simple and honest mistake. I totally believe she has no agenda at all and does everything she can for the town.

The problems start when opinions become "facts" and facts become intentionally distorted.

Thanks for the documentation.

To me, the key sentence in the March 14, 2011 minutes that Celeste Scavetto references is this one: Ms. Casey "provided a strategy should the Council wish to attempt a negotiation with United Water." Period. End of paragraph. Was Ms. Casey's strategy discussed or dismissed without further discussion? Of course by then I imagine the mayor had already approved the plan Hekemian would present to New Milford the following month or was having discussions with him.

Whoa!

lemme see now, I might be losing count:

Boerner lied, Rebsch never offered anything, the Mayor is unfit for duty, Diego and Ol Blue eyes are gonna be thrown out,one guy my be a drunk, Celeste is a fabricator and I can't mention someone's name..

No problem!

Time to reign it in, folks. Let's stick to the issue at hand in this article. I understand passions are high, and I firmly believe in dialogue that involves a good debate, but accusations and personal attacks never accepted here.

BIG big big big football game for our Knights tonight at Dumont High School.

Please make it if you can.

CONGRATULATIONS to our Knights!!!!!!

{That wasn't too hard to say at all now - was it?}

A lot of noise here. To those of you who can't find anything wrong with this development, take a walk around the neighborhood. If you lived in proximity to this property, would you be so anxious to see it built? Then picture it when this gigantic market is plopped down in the middle of it. Now try to picture the high school letting out. Maybe the weather is bad and visibility is low. Parents are picking their kids up and the kids themselves are walking between cars. Tires screech, cars skid, trucks can't stop. Once you visualize this scenario which is only one of many, go down to Boro Hall and research the project the way many residents have. Then come to a BOA meeting and listen to the testimony. You'll be very surprised by the unfinished plans and unanswered questions coming out of the Hekemian camp. I would recommend Mayor Subrizi do some homework as well. She seems to be very misinformed about the scope of the project and its impact on all the residents of New Milford.

SOD’s members and supporters made a commitment early on in this process to do the due diligence required to get educated about all the issues swirling around this debate. As a result, we can speak from facts and research when we express concern about traffic volume near a school, the detrimental impact of increased class sizes if the schools get more overcrowded, the potential for increased flooding downstream if we indiscriminately build on one of the last parcels of open space, especially one so close to the watershed. Our intent is to share the results of our studies so the residents of New Milford can make informed decisions. I keep waiting for Mayor Subrizi to do the same kind of study and research and educate us about why she thinks this is a good deal for the citizens of New Milford. I do not agree with her opening premise that... no one seems to be asking is "What's best for New Milford and its residents?". Since SOD’s formation, that is all this group of dedicated residents has been doing. Mayor Subrizi: Please do not insult my intelligence any longer by continuing to state you only want what is best for New Milford. Prove it.

Hi Bubble and welcome aboard.

"Messrs" simply refers to two or more men.

probably our American abbreviation of the French Monsieur's.

Thanks for thinking of me.

Funny.......Lotsa men make lots 'o messes.

Happy New Year.