October - November 2002 Edition 

Freeholder Race   Two Fair Lawn attorneys are running for Bergen County Freeholder seats this Fall.  The Mayor is on the left.  The former Mayor is on the right.  In the last edition, these two candidates answered questions about themselves, the issues, their favorite web sites, and the seven wonders of Fair Lawn.  In this edition, Dave Ganz and Ed Trawinski were asked two more questions.  The new questions are the first two (A and B) below.    David Ganz Edward Trawinski   A.  Who is the elected official (current or former) that you most admire?    Congressman Steve Rothman (D, 9th District) for his selfless and tireless representation of Fair Lawn and surrounding Bergen County communities   B.  Is Fair Lawn different than the rest of Bergen County or is Fair Lawn a typical Bergen County community?   Fair Lawn is unique, but it is both different and  very much the same as other towns.  As Bergen's County's  4th largest community, it has distinctive issues that 11,800 families (and 31,600 people) raise.  As a town along the Route 4/ Route 208 corridor, it matches many of the 69 other communities in the County. But the imaginative, innovative government that has taken place under my leadership translates  well countywide.  We have typical community and family values in Fair Lawn. We also have a responsive government, I intend to bring that to Hackensack when I am elected Freeholder.   **************   1. Why do you think you would be a good freeholder?   As a four-term Mayor and member of the Boro Council, as a practicing New York attorney, and as a 20 year resident of Bergen County, I have the skills, the ideas, the willingness to work hard, and the desire to help my fellow residents in resolving the pressing issues of the day.  A local mayor legislates but also works to better a community.    As Fair Lawn's Mayor, I wrote the first public advocate law in Bergen County. I'll do the same Countywide when I'm elected Freeholder -- to make sure no one is forgotten and left behind. I helped in the rebuilding of Fair Lawn's police force by making sure they had the right equipment, new police cars, bullet proof vests, and a desire to walk the beat. I'll do the same when you send me to Hackensack.   Recreation amenities in Fair Lawn are now geared towards all of its citizens -- from Seniors to pre-teens; not only was Memorial Pool revitalized on my watch, but outdoor bocce courts were added, shuffleboard, outdoor ping pong, outdoor billiards -- with water slides added to appeal to all age groups, new showers and changing facilities to accommodate families with young children as well as adults. 2. What do you think are the top issues in the race?   Quality of life in Bergen County. That includes open space for recreation and other amenities, quality education, reducing traffic congestion on our highways, making certain that county-wide services continue to be provided to all residents, regardless of where in the County they are located.  Here are areas of the County where promises have been forgotten --  where towns have had to sue the County Executive and the Freeholders over their decades long failure to comply with court ordered recreational amenities. This is simply wrong.    One of my opponents has spent a lifetime representing real estate developers before planning boards and zoning boards as a hired gun.  My approach is  different: allow and even encourage development, but not at the price of more congestion and less open space.  There are areas in need of revitalization where the County can make a difference. For too long, "unfavored" areas of the County have been ignored.  The county government in Hackensack needs to be brought to the people.  I propose to do that after my election as Freeholder by setting up satellite freeholder offices across the county to make it easier for residents to have their complaints resolved, and bringing Freeholder meetings to the people. 3. What accomplishment as Fair Lawn Mayor are you most proud of?    I have brought government to the people and made it more convenient. Our Council, at my innovation, goes "on the road" at least six months of the year, meeting at schools in different neighborhoods and bringing out people who have never been to a council meeting before.     We made government more convenient by putting a drop box in the Borough Hall municipal lot, and adding a book depositary to speed library book returns. I wrote the law to create Bergen County's first Public Advocate to make sure that land developers and businesses could not get a "free pass" before the planning or zoning boards. I made certain that our budget priorities included bringing back foot patrol beat cops and enough new cars to keep Fair Lawn's finest able to protect and defend.    I'm proud to have made non-partisan appointments of Republican to key positions representing the taxpayers -- including the Public Advocate and Zoning Board Attorney slots.    I'm proud to have given back to the people the needs of our volunteer departments such as a new fire engine (replacing a 17 year old outdated vehicle) and a brand new ambulance, funded innovatively at my suggestion with cell tower revenue.   4. How will you help Fair Lawn residents as a Freeholder?  I will help the residents of Fair Lawn the way that I intend to help the residents of Bergen County, by being available to solve their problems, by doing so in innovative ways, by being willing to think "outside the box" in order to resolve an issue, and by being responsive to their inquiries, their needs, and their problems.     I still answer my own e-mail and continue to hand-write answers to correspondence. I return telephone calls promptly, and try to stay on top of local and other issues relevant to our community. That translates well county-wide, and I envision doing the same thing in Fair Lawn, and Hackensack, by this time next year. 5. What do you think are the Seven Wonders of Fair Lawn? 1. 400 year old fishing weir in the Passaic River.    2.  Nabisco Cookie Factory, where 50 foot long Fig Newtons are cut into cookies with high pressure water hoses.    3.  Memorial Pool, where watching it get filled from a slow-dripped pipe makes me continue to wonder how they know it takes exactly eight days to fill, but remains so clean and clear after its refurbishment that you can see the bottom 10 feet deep.    4.  Land & Sea and the Brunch Club (tied) for the quantity of good food that they can consistently turn out to feed Kathy and me, and it seems the rest of Fair Lawn.    5.  Interchange of Route 208 and Fair Lawn Avenue, which I have used going North on 208, and South on 208, all as part of the same convoluted route to take my kids to Fair Lawn High School through the years.    6.  Davidson Pavilion of the Department of Public Works, a building requested for a generation and finally built on my watch; a giant DPW garage facility that is a credit to all of Fair Lawn.    7.  Memorial Pool, the "portable" structures that make up the new air conditioned lunch room, the new changing facilities with showers, and home for the lifeguards and camp workers thanks to an idea that I saw in Conoga Park, California, when I took my son to meet his great grandfather 20 years ago; we saved taxpayers $2-million by doing that, and have a wonderful amenity to boot. 6. What are your five favorite web sites?   www.fairlawn.org: The official Boro web site, which I am proud to say I was the initial sponsor of, with hundreds of thousands of hits since it was created and a state award-winner. www.electganz.org:  An infomercial for my candidacy for Freeholder; the designer of the web site is my 20 year old son, Scott. www.AmericasStateQuarters.com: I came up with a plan that Congress enacted that has ultimately returned $5-billion to the American taxpayers:  the 50 state quarter circulating commemoratives; this web site tells its whole story, with pictures. (Tie) Ebay and google. Addicted to both.   A.  Who is the elected official (current or former) that you most admire?    President Truman, Governor Kean and my late father, Councilman Ed Trawinski (Elmwood Park).   B.  Is Fair Lawn different than the rest of Bergen County or is Fair Lawn a typical Bergen County community?   The unique problems and the diversity of our citizens makes Fair Lawn both somewhat different from other Bergen County communities while at the same time somewhat similar to other Bergen County communities also rich in their own diversity and facing their own unique problems. The loyalty, dedication and commitment of the people of Fair Lawn make us similar to other communities. Unfortunately, the enormous increases in municipal taxes, spending and borrowing over the last four years makes us different from many of the better run and more fiscally responsible Bergen County communities.   **************   1. Why do you think you would be a good freeholder?  As a proven leader and as an advocate for the people of Bergen County I will work hard to listen and to understand their concerns and their problems; and then, I will work even harder to address them. I am a known consensus builder. I strongly believe that good government is superior to partisanship. I know and appreciate that government is not for sale, and that it belongs to the people and not to the special interest groups.    Above all, as a Freeholder I will be guided, as I have been guided throughout my public service - whether as Mayor, Deputy Mayor or Councilmember, as Assistant Commissioner of Commerce in the Kean Administration, as a Public Member on the Urban Enterprise Zone Authority, or as Fair Lawn's Planning Board Attorney - by one overriding standard: What is in the best interests of the people who I represent?    2. What do you think are the top issues in the race?   - Holding the line on property taxes and controlling spending.  While I was on the Fair Lawn Council taxes were stabilized at their lowest rate of increase in over 25 years without reducing services. I will bring that same level of fiscal responsibility to the Freeholder Board.    - Stopping the plans to build a new $400 million arena in Newark for George Steinbrenner and his millionaire Yankee-Net partners. Stopping the plans to tear down the Continental Arena and replace it with a mega shopping mall.    - Homeland security and emergency preparedness. I support a policy of detaining illegal aliens and others who seek to do us harm and commit terrorist acts in the Bergen County Jail until they are processed and deported.    - Since I view the role of Freeholder, in part, as an advocate for the people of Bergen County, I will fight for Bergen County's fair share of education aid and state funding for public schools in our 70 towns.    - Maintaining and improving our quality of life in a manner that strikes the appropriate balance between environmental and open space preservation and reasonable continued economic growth.   3. What accomplishment as Fair Lawn Mayor are you most proud of? Working together with the entire borough council, borough employees, staff, and the people of Fair Lawn, we were able to keep taxes at their lowest level in over 25 years without using excessive surplus, and we paid off old debt as it came due. At the same time we increased services to the people of Fair Lawn.   Responsiveness, openness and collegiality of government.  There are numerous achievements and accomplishments (too many to mention here, but please see my web site www.trawinski4freeholder.org) which are shared with many who participated.    As Mayor of Fair Lawn, I am particularly proud of the fact that I helped lead and unite a politically divided Council into a Council that was more concerned about listening and responding to the concerns of our citizens and working to solve their problems rather than pursuing personal political agendas. We spent our time fixing the problems we encountered or inherited, not fixing blame.    4. How will you help Fair Lawn residents as a Freeholder?   I will help the people of Fair Lawn, as I will help all of the residents of Bergen County, by serving as their advocate, as part of a leadership team that works hard to stabilize taxes, controls wasteful spending, maintains and improves services, makes Bergen County a safer place in which to live and work, preserves open space and our environment, and insures that Bergen County's municipalities receive their fair share of state educational aide so that our children receive the best possible education.    I will work to stop the arena deal and keep the Continental Arena and the Meadowlands Sports Complex as they exist (or maybe even make them better) so that the tax dollars generated in Bergen County remain in Bergen County working for us as we, in turn, work to improve our quality of life.   5. What do you think are the Seven Wonders of Fair Lawn? 1. The long standing history and evolution of our Town from the LenniLenape Indians, to the earliest Dutch settlers, to the thousands of immigrants, to the many different cultures sharing our Town today.   2.  The ethnic, religious, cultural and racial diversity of our citizens and the tolerance and acceptance that is an everyday occurrence which honors and respects that diversity.   3.  The hard work, dedication, and loyalty of our emergency service providers -- our police, auxiliary police, volunteer fire department, volunteer ambulance corps, volunteer rescue squad, nursing and welfare workers, and our volunteer emergency management council.    4.  The strength and quality of our educational system.   5.  The uniqueness and diversity of our various districts such as Columbia Heights, Lyncrest Section, Warren Point, South Broadway, Radburn Historic District, Ferry Heights, Saddle River Road, Memorial District and River Road.    6 & 7:  Willingness and spirit of so many of our citizens to contribute day in and day out to the well being of our community -- whether serving on the planning or zoning board, environmental commission, library board, rent leveling board, garden committee, All Sports Association, Fair Lawn Football Association, Fair Lawn Ice Hockey, Fair Lawn Street Hockey, Fair Lawn Lightning, all the PTA's and PTO's, and far too many more for me to list in the space allotted.    6. What are your 5 favorite web sites?     www.fairlawnnews.com  (of course!)   www.foxnews.com    www.cnn.news.com     www.politicsnj.com    www.half.com    See Questions and Answers to Candidates From the Last Edition.      What Do You Think?: Send an e- mail to editor@fairlawnnews.com or post a message on the Fair Lawn News Discussion Forum.