Fair Lawn News

Matt Ahearn	Bob Gordon	Ed Trawinski

First, I disagree with the proposition that Broadway has seen better days, at least in the twenty-some years I have been watching it change. I think that given the overall economic conditions it is doing quite well compared to other communities designed and constructed in the same post WWII timeframe. The local business owners should be proud considering how much of a burden is placed upon them by governments at all levels. What we in the Legislature need to do is correct inequities in the Governor's corporate tax hikes of last year and this year that unfairly burden small local and family owned businesses, such as those on Broadway. Enron should have paid its fair share; the local deli owner should not be making up Enron's share now. We should do what we can to help local community based businesses thrive because then the people around the local businesses thrive too. As for parking and traffic we should continue to provide state grants for community initiated projects and elected state representatives must provide support in Trenton (DOT) for the local's viewpoint of the best way to handle traffic issues on and near state highway business corridors. For example, I helped initiate at the state level a study for the potential left turn onto Midland Ave. that DOT had resisted in the past. Moreover, what the state should do to help solve Broadway-like development and planning issues everywhere is to prohibit officials from soliciting or accepting campaign donations like the generous UPS PAC contributions. That Georgia based giant of the shipping world is one of many such players that pay to resist local community-based priorities in traffic planning concepts. They support the state manual and a DOT system that dictates rigid adherence to a model rule they helped craft via legislative agents. When considering what is best for our local residents and businesses, $1000 campaign checks from places like that don't help a politician's community vision any.	I will work to revitalize Broadway in a manner that enhances the area as both a commercial center and a residential neighborhood. The possibilities are genuinely exciting. The key point is that nothing should be done by the state (or others) unless the residents in the area are part of the process and support the initiative. Since co-founding the River Road Improvement Corporation eleven years ago, I have learned that the consensus-building process is the critical element of any redevelopment effort. Solutions cannot be imposed from above. All of the key stakeholders—the business community, government and the local residents—must agree on the nature of the problem and participate in finding the remedy. Developing a public-private partnership is particularly important. The process is difficult, but essential for success. The Broadway Committee’s 2000 report identified the basic problems of the corridor and a number of possible solutions. The latter included recommendations for expanded parking, improvements to the Broadway train station, roadway modifications to enhance traffic flow, and streetscape improvements. Some of the proposals, especially those affecting residential areas, elicited vocal opposition. The committee made a good start, but it was constrained in developing solutions by looking at Fair Lawn in isolation. To find new parking areas, it had to look at sites that would intrude on residential areas. As an Assemblyman representing Fair Lawn, as well as Elmwood Park and Paramus, I would involve these communities in the effort, which I believe could yield much better solutions. By developing agreements with Elmwood Park, for example, we could gain access to underutilized parking areas a few blocks to the west of the Fair Lawn border. Interlocal projects also make state funding a possibility. I would fight for state grants that could pay for pedestrian walkways over the highway, facade streetscape and signage improvements, and a shuttle bus that could transport shoppers along the length of Broadway. I would enlist the state Department of Transportation to design “traffic calming” modifications that would make the corridor more pedestrian friendly. I would also work to create a partnership between the Borough and New Jersey Transit to upgrade the Broadway (and Radburn) train stations. That agency is funding station improvements around the state as part of strategy to rejuvenate older communities. A revitalized Broadway station, supported by better parking in nearby commercial areas, could be the catalyst for improvements along the entire corridor.	While it is true that Broadway as a commercial center has seen “better days” in the past 7 or 8 years, there have been some improvements on Broadway; for example, the Rite Aid (now CVS), the complete upgrade of Jack Daniel’s Showroom, the Washington Mutual Bank Building, the Broadway Adult Day Care Facility, etc. Nevertheless, Broadway does need substantial help and planning. However, rather than have the State dictate the revitalization of Broadway, I would prefer to see it remain in local control. A good starting point would be to work with the Fair Lawn Mayor and Council to try to persuade them as to the merits of implementing the Broadway Advisory Committee Report (see report) which has sat on the shelf for almost 3 years. One way the State could help is to provide a means of funding for Special Improvement Districts through some sort of revenue sharing such as Tax Increment Financing (“TIF Financing”). As we are all aware Special Improvement Districts such as the existing River Road Special Improvement District are targeted areas for improvement authorized by the Mayor and Council which the affected property owners become the advisory group for the District and determine how it will be improved. The importance of Broadway to Fair Lawn merchants along Broadway should not be the end of the vision and inquiry however. Since what takes place on Broadway has enormous impact on the residents living on both the North and the South of Broadway Broadway, I would do everything that I could as a representative of the people of District 38 to make sure that the residents most directly impacted are given a seat at the table in deciding the solutions that need to be implemented to help revitalize Broadway. I believe that the starting point should be the Broadway Advisory Committee Report and its recommendation for a comprehensive traffic study of the entire Broadway corridor including the Northern and Southern adjacent residential areas. I am aware that a study is underway for a portion of the corridor but I believe that without studying the entire corridor all that may occur is to shift the problems from one residential neighborhood to another, which obviously would not be desirable. The Broadway Advisory Committee Report provides a methodology for a more comprehensive solution. Since it involves a State Highway NJDOT and the Governor should be convinced to fund the comprehensive traffic study.