Following the 2007 Primary Election in Englewood, I wrote a piece entitled "Wildes Star No Longer Rising." Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes, whose ambition for higher office has been no secret, had undergone a series of political setbacks, capped by the inability of his handpicked City Council candidate, Planning Board Chair Marvin Anhalt, to win the Primary in Wildes' own Second Ward. In the year since, Wildes has fared little better. In April, as Democratic County Chair Joe Ferriero briefly flirted with endorsing Rob Andrews against Senator Frank Lautenberg in this year's Primary, Wildes unsuccessfully attempted to gain Ferriero's endorsement to run in Andrews' column against Congressman Steve Rothman. And, more recently, Wildes-backed City Council candidates in the First and Third Wards were decisively defeated despite unprecedented levels of spending on their campaigns.

Wildes' unabashed narcissism, his excessive and unrealistic ambition, and his inability to gain the respect of his Council colleagues, were initially more pitiable than otherwise. But after five years as Second Ward Councilman and four and a half years as Mayor, his self-focused behavior has become increasingly harmful to the City and embarrassing to its residents. His ability as Mayor to influence City Council actions is now minimal in the face a 4-1 veto-proof majority of non-supporters. But Englewood's City Charter gives the Mayor significant appointive powers, which Wildes has notably used on the Planning Board.

The Planning Board has in fact become his power base, giving him leverage in dealing with County boss Ferriero. Both Wildes and Ferriero have consistently displayed a cynical willingness to sacrifice the interests of the public to those of developers who make political contributions to them. In a front page headline story on June 1 The Record charged, in considerable detail, that Wildes had packed our Planning Board with contributors and friends, including developers. In a later editorial The Record pointed out that, although not illegal, such behavior "raises questions about the mayor's sphere of influence and the planning board's objectivity and credibility." We agree.

Wildes has twice, in 2003 and 2006, run unopposed in the Democratic Primary for mayor. His high visibility and his financial resources generated a sense of inevitability among potential opponents. Now, however, that his ties to Ferriero and his misuse of the Planning Board have become evident, there should be no such sense. The fate of his anointed Council candidates in the 2007 and 2008 Primaries indicates that he is vulnerable to opposition in the 2009 Primary. Whether Wildes chooses to run again or not, this newsletter hopes that one or more qualified and unbought candidates to replace him will surface soon.

This writer served on the Englewood City Council thirty years ago when there was still a functioning local Republican Party and there were still elected Republican Council members. The controlling Democratic majority was regularly subjected to partisan criticism from within the Council, in public meetings, and in the press. Partisan controversy is indeed a normal condition in most Bergen County communities where both parties are represented on their governing bodies. In Englewood, however, with negligible exceptions, all mayors and council members have been Democrats in recent decades. Where there have been significant issues dividing the community, they have tended to be reflected in shifting divisions within the Democratic Party.

At the present time, there is what appears to be a larger division in the local Democratic Party than ever before, to the point where it resembles an old-fashioned inter-party confrontation. To attend a City Council meeting and observe the conduct of Mayor Wildes and Councilman Drakeford, an outside observer would be amazed to be told that they and the other council members are nominally all Democrats. What is going on?

As is often the case in political controversy, the fundamental dividing issue is control. As of January, 2006, with a change in one City Council seat (in the First Ward), control of the Council, and of the local government, shifted from a group associated with Bergen County Democratic boss Joe Ferriero to a group opposed to his control. Political control means the ability to award contracts, to make appointments, to nominate candidates for office, and in general to reward your friends and punish your enemies. It is not gladly relinquished.

Then, in order to govern effectively, the controlling majority in this atmosphere may need to use some of the old techniques. These include: 1) working closely together to agree on its positions before confronting the opposition, 2) careful counting of votes before introducing controversial legislation, 3) patience in the face of clearly unfair partisan attacks.

The power center of the Ferriero faction is in Englewood’s Fourth Ward. Wildes as Mayor and Drakeford as Councilman received Independent challenges in the, respectively, 2006 and 2007 elections, and both were reelected with significant Fourth Ward support. The voters in the Fourth Ward have apparently been convinced that Wildes and Drakeford represent their best interests, and that those interests are somehow different from those in the other three wards. Issues such as the possible reinstatement of former Police Chief Bowman have been irrationally inflamed in order to reinforce this notion.

An objective observer would note that Wildes has never demonstrated support for any interest except his own political advancement, and that most of the irresponsible development which so disturbs many residents took place when the City Council was under Drakeford’s control.

I’m surprised by how often I find myself explaining to people, many of them long-time residents, about Englewood’s four wards. Created for political reasons, each ward having its own representative on the City Council, the wards also have a social and emotional significance to many. A ward is defined in Webster as "a division of a city for representative, electoral or administrative purposes." Our wards have existed since Englewood became a city in 1899. The members of the Charter Commission, who recommended other significant changes in our local government which were approved by the voters in 1979, chose to retain the ward system.

Geographically, Englewood divides roughly into four quadrants: First Ward - northeast, Second Ward - southeast, Third Ward - northwest, Fourth Ward - southwest. Palisade Avenue divides the First and Third Wards from the Second and Fourth Wards, but the other boundaries are more complex. Since the law requires that the population of the four wards be roughly equal, boundary shifts are necessary from time to time. Following the 1960 census, the boundary between the First and Third Wards was moved west to Tenafly Road to reflect the population influx to the Third Ward after World War II. More recently, a shift of the boundary between the Second and Fourth Wards was implemented following the 2000 census. The new boundary, determined by a County commission, with no publicity, shifted residential areas between Dean Street and Grand Avenue from the Second to the Fourth Ward. It also shifted much of our unpopulated (until recently) industrial area from the Fourth Ward to the Second Ward, so that the Second Ward now extends as far as Teaneck! Since this is where large new residential construction projects are either completed or underway, a further boundary change will clearly be needed following the 2010 census.

Each of our four wards has unique characteristics. The First Ward, thought by many to represent the affluent "hill," in fact includes, not only some of Englewood’s most luxurious residences, but a sizable area of modest homes west of the railroad tracks where hispanic immigration has been significant. The Second Ward, also part of the "hill," is known as the center of the growing Orthodox Jewish population of Englewood. It is also the only ward which still has a functioning Republican Party. The Third Ward is the most racially integrated ward, and has historically been the most active politically and in support of the public schools. The Fourth Ward is distinctive in that its population, largely African-American, is more stable and has more cohesion than in the other wards. There are several families in the Fourth Ward who can trace their ancestry here back to the nineteenth century, which is rare in the rest of Englewood.

Although it has become a cliche to speak of Englewood’s diversity, the ward system exists ostensibly to help insure that diverse groups have representation on the City’s governing body, the City Council. The ward system also makes it more difficult for a group from a limited geographical area to gain city-wide control. It could, on the other hand, be argued that our elected officials would be more likely to represent the interests of the City as a whole if they were elected by the entire electorate, as is the case in most of our neighboring towns. It could also be argued that the ward system fosters unnecessary dissension, and that our citizens have in fact far more interests in common than they are aware of. For example, the provision of effective municipal services at a reasonable cost to the taxpayers is clearly an objective of citizens in all four wards.

Regardless of any such arguments, the ward system is here to stay. Our objective then should be to elect ward representatives who see the bigger picture, and who will represent the whole City as well as their wards. Whatever ward we live in, we are all part of this unique community called Englewood, and we will succeed or fail together.

With major contributions from former Mayor Sandy Greenberg.

The opening years of the twenty-first century in the City of Englewood have been a period of unprecedented building construction and also of significant political change. Figuring in both of these interrelated phenomena is the looming figure of Bergen County political boss Joseph Ferriero and his need to control megabuck development decisions in Englewood for the benefit of his law client, developer S. Hekemian Kasparian Troast LLC (HKT). The political change has been the slowly growing awareness of the Englewood electorate that certain of their elected officials were not representing them, but had become part of the powerful pay-to-play County political machine led by Ferriero. Efforts to replace those officials have by now been largely successful, but, unfortunately, the barn door may have been open too long, and we may be paying for decades for the irresponsible giveaways that have been approved.

There was good sense in the City administration’s plans as the new century started to permit denser development in our underutilized industrial area in southeast Englewood. The rationale was to reverse the declining proportion of tax revenues provided by the industrial area, and thereby to benefit residential taxpayers. Office construction, in particular, was to be encouraged, since the ratio of tax income to additional municipal expense is normally most favorable for this type of development. Where residential construction was included in mixed-use projects, condominiums should be stressed rather than rental apartments, since tax revenues from condos are significantly higher than from rental facilities. The idea was to plan for the long-term financial health of Englewood. Unfortunately, as time went on, short-term considerations, the financial needs of the developer, and the political needs of our leaders, have repeatedly been allowed to override the long-term interests of the community. Pleading an inability to sell office space, the developer has yet to build or even apply for such construction.

In 2001, HKT proposed to develop a major site in Englewood’s industrial area south of Route 4, and received the support of the City Council for their plan. The original plan, the largest ever proposed in the County, was for a large office, hotel and residential project. The City created a new redevelopment zone to accommodate the plan. It, however, received opposition from industrial property owners who objected to losing their land under eminent domain, and from citizens in neighboring Leonia, from which the property would have been accessed. In addition, there was already concern in some quarters over the close relationship which some Englewood Council members enjoyed with Bergen County boss Joseph Ferriero, whose law firm represented HKT. The plan, including the redevelopment area ordinance itself, was eventually invalidated by the courts on a legal technicality. 9/11 happened, and the developer, Ferriero, and his Englewood allies, went back to the drawing board.

Ferriero’s Englewood allies were First Ward Councilman Doug Bern, Fourth Ward Councilman Jack Drakeford, and, until his term expired at the end of 2003, Mayor Paul Fader, who made appointments to and served on the Planning Board. With significant opposition to development yet to emerge, they had little difficulty in obtaining Council or Planning Board approval for whatever measures were desired by HKT/Ferriero. The only thorn in Ferriero’s side was the Englewood Democratic Municipal Committee, under the leadership of Violet Cherry, which refused to take orders from him.

In 2003, the Municipal Committee selected Dr. Earl Marsan, a dentist, an African-American, and a 20-year member of the Englewood Board of Health, to run for the position of Councilman-At-Large. His name was submitted by the Committee Chair Cherry, to County Chair Ferriero, who under the law must designate the official Party candidate. Ferriero, claiming he had been so requested by Fader, Bern and Drakeford, endorsed instead Vernon Walton, a clergyman, also African-American, and a two-year resident, with a scant voting record. Ferriero then telephoned Marsan demanding that he withdraw, and when Marsan refused he berated him. A hard-fought primary battle ensued, which Walton, with heavy support from the County leadership, plus Congressman Rothman (but not from then County Freeholder and now State Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle), won. The developer, through an intermediary, gave $4500 to the PAC of Senator John Lynch (former Trenton power broker later convicted and jailed for corruption). The PAC, entitled New Directions for Democrats, made a similar donation to Walton’s Council campaign, which used "New Directions for Democrats" as its campaign slogan. Why was this election so important to Ferriero that he would override for the first time in memory the choice of a local party organization? Because he needed his three-vote majority on the five-person Englewood City Council, and he could not count on either Third Ward Councilman Scott Reddin or then Second Ward Councilman Michael Wildes (see below for Wildes’ later change of heart).

With the the Ferriero faction having maintained control, the City changed tactics and amended its Zoning Ordinance to permit "Planned Unit Development" (PUD) in the industrial area both north and south of Route 4. The PUD concept is to combine residential, office and commercial development. Under the new PUD rules, HKT submitted a plan to the Planning Board for a sizable project in the north of Route 4 adjoining the Crown Plaza Hotel property. Having been given one concession after another, a dense largely rental residential development was approved, without immediate office construction being required, and it is presently near completion.

Following this approval, HKT returned to the Planning Board with an amended version of the original project south of Route 4, similarly enabled by the PUD rules. Known as Flatrock Square, it included an office building, an 8-story hotel, 399 residential units and a parking deck. After numerous hearings before the Planning Board, during which HKT resisted the office building requirement, an agreement was reached in August, 2005. Wildes, by now Mayor, negotiated the agreement privately and presented it to the Board as a fait accompli, triggering the resignation of highly regarded Planning Board Chair Hilary Ballon. The agreement essentially provided that construction of the office building and the hotel could be delayed indefinitely, in exchange for which the residential units would be offered as condominiums instead of rental units.

In June, 2005, Ferriero’s power began, for the first time, to slip. First Ward Councilman Doug Bern was defeated in the Democratic Primary by Ken Rosenzweig, with Bern’s Ferriero affiliation having been well aired to the voters. In January, 2006, Rosenzweig took his seat on the City Council and Ferriero’s majority control ended.

Ferriero’s next move was to form an alliance with Mayor Michael Wildes, who had previously, as Councilman and Mayor, been unaligned. The significance of this alliance was (and is) dual. First, Wildes has appointed persons to the Planning Board who are mostly willing to do his bidding, and he is thus able to negotiate with Ferriero, or anyone else, from a position of strength. This was so especially since the Council had until recently effectively abdicated much of its authority over major development to the Planning Board. Second, Englewood’s Charter gives the Mayor the seldom-used power of veto over Council actions, which can only be overridden by 4 votes. The Mayor, with two allies, thus could consistently thwart the actions of a Council majority.

Now we come to 2006, with Walton’s three-year term, as well as Mayor Wildes’, drawing to a close. It was evident to anyone understanding the Englewood political scene that a truly extraordinary candidate and a strong campaign would be needed to defeat Walton’s machine backed candidacy in the June Primary. When that extraordinary candidate emerged in the person of State Assemblyman Gordon Johnson, the battle was joined. Johnson had been appalled by the events we have discussed, and was willing to add the thankless and neglibly paid ($5000 per annum) office of Councilman to his impressive resume in law enforcement and government, only out of concern for the City where he had lived most of his life. Wildes supported Walton, at first behind the scenes, having assured Johnson of his neutrality, and at the last moment out front with a recorded phone message. Johnson was elected and is now serving as one of four council members not under Ferriero’s thumb and striving to undo the damage done by their predecessors. Walton was appointed by Wildes to the Planning Board.

There are two more chapters in 2007 to this story. The Flatrock Square development was finally given a go ahead by the Wildes-dominated Planning Board earlier this year, after the office and hotel portions, and also the requirement that the residential units be designed and sold as condos, were eliminated . The newly constituted City Council then had to step in to renegotiate the agreement with the developer to include a guaranteed level of property taxes to the municipality.

The other chapter is the unsuccessful effort by Wildes ally and Planning Board Chair Marvin Anhalt to unseat anti-Ferriero Second Ward Councilwoman Charlotte Bennett Schoen in the June Democratic Primary this year. Anhalt had just presided over the aforementioned tax giveaway to HKT, while Schoen, also City Council President, had just presided over the Council’s effort to repair the damage, so logically Schoen’s victory should not have been as close as it was.

And now we have Ferriero, who plainly has no shame about abusing the political system and getting rich in the process, demanding that Gordon Johnson resign from one of his two hardly lucrative public jobs. It is plain that the boss does not like challenges to his authority and that he will stoop at little to punish those who attempt to do so.

According to a recent edition of the highly regarded Kiplinger Washington newsletter, the issue of competence in government is high on a list of voter concerns. "The public has a lot to complain about: a badly managed war, poor care of wounded vets, porous borders, lost laptops with key data, food & drug safety, and now, falling bridges." One of the reasons for this sorry situation is "Bush’s distrust of bureaucrats. It crippled morale and led to an exodus of experienced workers...when government was needed...after Hurricane Katrina hit, for example...it wasn’t up to the job." It would appear that the next regime in Washington will have as large a job restoring credibility domestically as internationally.

Setting aside differing philosophies about the proper role of government, it is hard to argue logically that the governmental functions which exist shouldn’t be effectively carried out. Competence shouldn’t be taken for granted, but sought out and appreciated. There is a large and too often unappreciated body of professional civil servants, working not only on the federal level, but in state, county and local governments, which carry out the functions for which our elected officials take the credit and the blame.

This is just as true in the smaller arena which is Englewood. The responsibility of our elected officials (Mayor, Council members and Board of Education trustees) is to insure that the assigned functions of local government and public education are effectively carried out. But for this our officials inevitably depend heavily on the competence of paid professionals. Since the current city charter went into effect in 1980, the chief executive of our municipal government has been the City Manager, who serves at the pleasure of the 5-person City Council. In the schools it is the Superintendent who has a similar role.

Some of the persons who served on Englewood’s Charter Commission in the late 1970s still live here. The change which they recommended, and which was approved by referendum in 1979, was to a City Manager form of local government, with all except senior level municipal personnel decisions under the sole authority of a non-political professional City Manager. The objective was to minimize political considerations and maximize competency. Our success in realizing this objective over the last 27 years has varied.

At the present time, our local government is in a state of transition, since the Council this year has chosen to replace an unsatisfactory Manager, and is working with a temporary Manager while conducting a search for a permanent replacement. It should go without saying that their choice, expected soon, will be of great importance.

For the first time in several years, Fourth Ward Councilman Jack Drakeford has an opponent in this year's November election. On the ballot is Dierdre Glenn Paul, who is against him as an Independent Democrat. Dr. Paul is a Montclair State University Professor, a fourteen-year resident of Englewood, a divorced single parent, and an active union officer. She believes the residents of the Fourth Ward need a representative on the City Council who will more effectively address their concerns. We agree.

Jack Drakeford has been arguably the most powerful politician in Englewood in much of the last two decades. A lifetime resident of Englewood, he has served at various times as Fourth Ward Councilman, as City Clerk, as City Manager, and as President of the Board of Education. Despite holding these positions, he has generally avoided the limelight, using his influence behind the scenes to attain his objectives. Those objectives have too often been the financial benefit of himself and his friends.

The most important upward step in Drakeford’s career was his appointment in 1985 as City Manager. Accomplished by a 3-2 vote on the City Council, his appointment triggered an unsuccessful suit by concerned citizens alleging his lack of qualification for the position. As City Manager he had authority over all City departments and all except senior level hiring decisions. Under Drakeford, the number of City employees grew to a record high, requiring considerable staff reduction by his successor. Following his retirement in 1994, an anonymous whistle-blower embarrassed the Council by documenting a series of overgenerous retirement packages which had been approved by Drakeford for favored employees. Drakeford himself was generously treated by the Council, receiving a substantial retirement package and a post-retirement consulting contract with vaguely defined duties.

Having formed a political alliance with then Mayor Donald Aronson, Drakeford transferred his interest to the Board of Education. Aronson appointed him to the Board in 1993, and followed up by appointing other compliant persons, thus giving Drakeford control. Drakeford hounded the superintendent of schools into resigning, and replaced him with a new superintendent so unsatisfactory that a later Board felt it had no choice but to buy out his contract. Drakeford’s absenteeism from Board meetings and lack of interest in much of the Board’s business became notorious. The public school system is only now emerging from the disastrous consequences of the Drakeford era.

Drakeford’s successor as City Manager was Robert Benecke, who had worked closely with him as Finance Director. Although as professionally qualified as Drakeford was not, Benecke protected his political flank by continuing to work with him, especially after Drakeford was elected to the Council in 1998. With the cooperation of Benecke and his City Council colleagues, Drakeford was able to effectively control the City government from that time until January, 2006, when a newly elected majority of the Council no longer accepted his leadership. During this time, Drakeford forged a relationship with Bergen County Democratic boss Joseph Ferriero, and cooperated with him and others to bring a series of lucrative and controversial construction projects to Englewood. With Ferriero’s backing, Drakeford is Chair of the Bergen County Special Services School District.

As a result of changes in the membership of the City Council, Drakeford’s influence in Englewood has been reduced. Repudiation by his Fourth Ward constituents would further that process and contribute to the restoration of responsible local government in our City.

As part of the public school construction bond referendum approved by the voters in 2004, the City of Englewood agreed to purchase two of our older school buildings from the Board of Education: Lincoln School and Russell C. Major Liberty School. Both of these buildings were built in the first decade of the 20th century and have become both obsolete by modern standards and expensive to maintain or renovate. The properties are located in Englewood’s central business district. It was believed at the time of the referendum that the City would recoup its expenditures by selling one or both of these properties to private investors. In addition, any such sale would place non-taxed property back on the tax roll.

From the point of view of the school system, the Lincoln School will no longer be needed once construction is completed on the new John Grieco School. This could be as soon as September 2008. Relocating the school central offices and Alternative School now housed in the Liberty School will be more difficult and no plan has yet been finalized.

From the point of view of the City, we are glad that the Council has finally started a process that will include the public's input on what the fate of these properties will be. Unlike the case with most private development, the City is in a position to exercise control over the density, architectural character and purposes of these sites. Positive efforts to attract desired types of investment can be made. However, long-term objectives should outweigh short-term market factors.

There has been a great deal of public discussion on the establishment of a community center in Lincoln School, such as exists in some neighboring communities with recreation facilities and meeting rooms. In fact, the Council passed a $3,000,000 bond issue (now revoked) for this purpose. Much of the pressure for a community center stems from a perceived shortage of extracurricular facilities for our young people. While providing such facilities is a laudable goal, it seems likely that there are more practical and economical ways to do so. An assessment of existing programs and facilities, in order to focus on specific unmet needs and minimize additional costs, is a crucial first step.

Another consideration is the architectural distinction of the Liberty School. The former Roosevelt School on Broad Avenue, now residential condominiums, and the former Engle Street School, now the Renaissance office center, are examples of our ability to adaptive and reuse our outdated school buildings while preserving their distinctive architecture.

The fate of the two school properties may be the most important development decision that remains to be made by our municipal leadership in this decade. We urge that final decisions are only made after the public has had a full opportunity to give its input and a thorough investigation of reasonable alternatives has been completed. The discussion should start now.

Prior to the June 5 Primary Election, we suggested that "it would be hard to overstate the importance" of the Democratic Primary contest in Englewood’s Second Ward between incumbent Councilwoman (and City Council President) Charlotte Bennett Schoen and her challenger, Marvin Anhalt. Schoen’s decisive victory in that contest has indeed immense significance, in that it eliminates any uncertainty over the control of the City government by reform Democrats. After four successive June primary wins, the party faction opposed to control by County Democratic boss Joseph Ferriero has now solidified a 4-1 majority on the City Council, sufficient to override any veto by Ferriero ally Mayor Michael Wildes. But where do we go from here?

The Council’s top priority must be to hire and install a new City Manager. The City government is operating at a satisfactory level at present with an interim manager in place while the search for a new permanent manager proceeds. But major new initiatives will involve the commitment of the new manager and are thus likely to await his/her completing a period of orientation. When the time comes, this newsletter would like to see the City leadership signal a new era by declaring a moratorium on all further municipally-involved development projects until a thorough evaluation has been made of those already under way. This evaluation should consider both planning and financial factors, and it should have both expert and public input.

Considering all the construction already under way or approved, from the massive Flatrock Square development, to the John Grieco School, to the new firehouse, such a moratorium might seem like shutting the barn door after the horse is stolen. But it would signal to the public that their elected officials are taking back control of their City. There is a widespread sense among our citizens that too much control has been ceded to the developers and their political allies.

Until recently, Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes was seen as a rising star in Bergen County Democratic politics. However, a series of political setbacks in recent months has hurt his chances for political advancement. Following his reelection as Mayor last November, Wildes was announced as the Bergen County Democratic Organization's official candidate for the District 37 State Senate seat held by Loretta Weinberg. However, as a result of a deal brokered by Governor Corzine, County Democratic Chair Joseph Ferriero withdrew his support from Wildes, leaving Weinberg unopposed in the June 5 primary.

More recently, Wildes backed two candidates for the Englewood Board of Education, who were decisively defeated in the April school election. And on June 5, Wildes’ handpicked candidate for the City Council in his own 2nd Ward of Englewood, Marvin Anhalt, was defeated by incumbent Councilwoman Charlotte Bennett Schoen by a 55%-45% margin. As Mayor, Wildes has no vote on the five-person City Council under Englewood’s Charter, and his veto of Council actions can be overridden by a 4-1 majority. Thus, as the Council now stands, his influence is marginal.

His lack of clout was underlined by the recent City Council action to renegotiate an agreement with developer S. Hekemian Kasparian Troast LLC regarding the major new building project now starting south of Route 4. The rationale for this project had always been the attraction of substantial new tax income. However, the Wildes-dominated Planning Board had essentially agreed to the developer's demands for scaling it back, which then required intervention by the City Council to guarantee a fair return to Englewood taxpayers.

Prior to all these developments, Wildes had indicated an interest in running for the Ninth Congressional District seat in the U. S. House of Representatives held by former Englewood Mayor Steve Rothman. The rationale was that Rothman might run in 2008 for the U. S. Senate seat held by Frank Lautenberg, thus leaving a vacancy. However, as the political landscape stands, such ambition seems distinctly farfetched.