Baratta and Trawinski for Fair Lawn Council

GANZ FAILS TO APPLY TO COUNTY OPEN SPACE FUND TO PROTECT RADBURN PROPERTY
MAYOR IS A ‘HYPOCRITE’
IFair Lawn, NJ – While Mayor David Ganz is running newspaper ads and sending out political fliers claiming he is a champion of open space, he failed to apply to the Bergen County Open Space Trust Fund for money that could help the borough save critical parcels of open space that are facing development pressure, says former mayor Ed Trawinski, a candidate for council this year.

Baratta and Trawinski for Council.
PUTTING FAIR LAWN FIRST
October 13, 2005

GANZ FAILS TO APPLY TO COUNTY OPEN SPACE FUND TO PROTECT RADBURN PROPERTY
MAYOR IS A ‘HYPOCRITE’
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Fair Lawn, NJ – While Mayor David Ganz is running newspaper ads and sending out political fliers claiming he is a champion of open space, he failed to apply to the Bergen County Open Space Trust Fund for money that could help the borough save critical parcels of open space that are facing development pressure, says former mayor Ed Trawinski, a candidate for council this year.

Trawinski noted that the September 30 deadline to apply to the county fund passed without any effort on Ganz’s part to apply for funding that could go toward securing critical open space in the Radburn section of town. As a mayor and freeholder, Ganz should have been well aware of the fund deadline, he added.

“David Ganz’s inaction speaks volumes about his lack of commitment to open space,� said Trawinski. “Ganz is a hypocrite. He can pay for all the newspaper ads and fliers he wants proclaiming he is for open space, but the fact is he can’t disguise his abysmal record on open space protection.�

Trawinski, who is running with Jeanne Baratta for borough council this year, says Ganz is more interested in caving in to developers than preserving three vital parcels of open space in Radburn. Trawinski, a land use and environmental attorney, has been working pro-bono with a citizens group to save Daly Field, Haywood Plaza and Archery Plaza from development.

In published comments in August Ganz said it would be “too expensive� to preserve the parcels and he challenged Trawinski to come up with a way to pay for the 12 acres. At that time, Trawinski and Baratta pointed to the county open space trust fund as a likely source of the money.

“The taxpayers of Fair Lawn pay into the county fund and they want to see that fund work to protect their interests. But Mayor Ganz has refused to act as either mayor or freeholder to comply with the wishes of the people of Fair Lawn,� said Baratta, a school teacher.

Trawinski and Baratta are supporting a borough-wide referendum that will raise money for open space preservation in the borough. The referendum was forced on to the ballot by residents who collected 3,000 petition signatures. Neither Ganz, nor Councilman Allan Caan signed the petition.

If elected on November 8, Trawinski and Baratta say they will access all sources of funding to preserve open space and institute a building moratorium to stop development until a rational, affordable open space plan can be enacted.