CITIZENS COMMENDED FOR FORCING OPEN SPACE TRUST FUND ON THE NOVEMBER BALLOT

Candidates Call For Building Moratorium & Open Space Committee

Fair Lawn NJ -- Borough residents are to be congratulated for pressuring the mayor and council in to placing a referendum on the November ballot asking voters to create and open space trust fund, says former mayor and current council candidate Ed Trawinski.

Trawinski and running mate Jeanne Baratta say the pressure from a residents’ group – the Concerned Citizens For Radburn’s Future -- to preserve open space has hit a critical level that not even Mayor David Ganz can continue to ignore. The public desire for open space protection resulted in the collection of more than 2,800 signatures on a petition to place an open space referendum on November’s ballot – a measure Baratta and Trawinski strongly support. The measure calls for a dedicated fund to acquire and preserve open space.

“Everywhere we go as we campaign people have expressed frustration with the current administration that has done nothing to stop the over-development of Fair Lawn,” says Baratta. “People are fed up with the traffic, pollution and the overbuilding that has gone on the past few years.”

Trawinski said Ganz has talked about preserving open space since he was a candidate for office, but has actually done little to stop development.

In fact, says Trawinski, Ganz led an effort on the Council to try to condemn private property and to destroy open space in the Radburn section of town and build 175 townhouses. Ganz, added Trawinski, has a history of attempting to develop Daley Field, the Haywood tract and Archery Field. His proposals for these properties have included a commuter parking lot, an indoor swimming pool and now townhouses.

Trawinski, a land use and environmental attorney, donated his services to Concerned Citizens for Radburn 's Future to oppose Ganz's current efforts to allow development on Daley and Archery fields.

“The residents have been ignored by Mayor Ganz on development issues and were forced to take matters in to their own hands by collecting enough signatures to force a vote on open space this November,” said Trawinski.

“I admire their resolve to fight for what they believe in and force the mayor and council to bend to their wishes. The residents can be assured that they will not have to take such extraordinary measures if Jeanne and I are elected.”

OPEN SPACE COMMITTEE

Baratta and Trawinski say they not only support the open space referendum, but if elected will support a moratorium on building in the borough until the council appoints an open space committee and until that committee has conducted an audit of all open space preservation opportunities in the borough.

Baratta and Trawinski also support stricter zoning laws that prohibit the construction of over-sized houses known as McMansions.

“The Ganz administration has been caving into developers year after year. It has to stop and it will stop when we are elected,” said Baratta.