Dennis Elwell
Elwell, 60, a native of Secaucus, has been married for 36 years and has two adult children, Jason and Alexis. He owns a trucking business and has been involved in political life since the early 1990s when he became a council member for the second ward.
He was initially elected for a two-year term as mayor in 1999 when he ran against MacCormack and another Independent, Tom Troyer. In 2001, when he ran unopposed, an act of legislature changed the term to four years. Now he will run against MacCormack for a second four-year term.
"My family has lived on the same piece of land in town since 1888," Elwell said. "I worked hard to improve the quality of life for residents. I believe my record speaks for itself."
Keeping it green
When Elwell began his first term, he vowed to maintain open space and controlled development through land acquisition and negotiation. He has sought the cooperation of state and federal agencies to make his plan a reality. The New Jersey Meadowlands Commission (NJMC) controls 89 percent of Secaucus property. Elwell believes his vigilance at commission meetings and project negotiation tables is keeping Secaucus development true to his vision.
He cites such projects as the 7.5-acre Mill Creek Point Park near the confluence of Mill Creek and the Hackensack River, and the ongoing Riverwalk project, a 15-mile walkable greenway that will include town land purchases at the end of Farm Road in the north end.
The town acquired funds from the New Jersey Department of Transportation for a combination bike path, sidewalk route that will run from the Mill Creek restoration area, around the perimeter of Secaucus, along the Hackensack River, and end at Laurel Hill Park. The paths will extend along Meadowlands Parkway and follow existing and planned portions of a county-long riverfront walkway.
The battle to purchase the Petrillo property with Hudson County Open Space and New Jersey Meadowlands funds appears to be close to a resolution. Edgewater developers want to build 42 housing units on nearly nine acres of land on Koelle Boulevard near Mill Creek Point. Elwell wants to keep the property green as a link with the three revamped soccer and baseball fields and the ongoing Riverwalk trail project. A $2 million grant was voted in by New Jersey freeholders the first week of October. NJMC also has money earmarked for the purchase of the property.
"We are the largest contributor to the NJMC tax-sharing pool," Elwell said. "It is my duty and commitment to get everything I can for the town."
Battling traffic problems
Many of the grueling traffic problems have been addressed or are in the works with funding coming from various sources, Elwell said. The reconstruction of Meadowlands Parkway was resolved using a combination of funds from New Jersey Transit and the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission. Castle Road and Seaview Drive, and the new County Road overpass are just a few projects. Local street beautification, such as Flanagan Way and across-the-board road, pavement and curbing improvements, has reached all three wards.
A new Day Care Center, an improved Buchmuller Park, which includes a band shell/performance space, a NFL-style refurbished Kane Stadium and a renovated Swim Center have emerged in the last three years. There is also a new Recreation Center on the way.
"While we cannot live in isolation, we can work with existing realities of 21st century New Jersey and benefit by the development occurring around us," Elwell said.
The Elwell administration has found "creative ways" to fund various projects, such as two billboards along the New Jersey Turnpike for furnishing the library built in 2003, and the construction of a new Recreation Center scheduled for this fall from the 219-unit Baker Development impact fees from Riverside Court off of Meadowlands Parkway.
Trim budget
The yearly budget approved in May was three percent more than last year. There was no increase in the municipal share of property taxes for the seventh year in a row.
Elwell said that during his administration additional police personnel, new equipment for the volunteer fire department, and the "largest street repair and paving program in the history of the town" have made Secaucus a safer place to live.
The New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA) in Trenton allowed the town to be "self-evaluating" during its budget process for the last two years. The DCA has authorized the Local Finance Board to adopt rules that permit municipalities in sound financial condition to assume the role of conducting their own annual budget examination. It is otherwise assigned to the director of Local Government Services.
"My focus has remained the same since I started - what does this community need and want? How can I make it affordable, beautiful and a fun place to live? And I think I have been very successful in that," said Elwell. "As the town grows and prospers, I hope to keep Secaucus abreast of the times but not a slave to them."
Elwell cites revenues from the town's 2,000 hotel rooms, receiving an anticipated $3 million in hotel tax that municipal government "fought hard to get."
Last year the municipality received one percent from the hotel tax. This year the figure will increase to three percent.
Frank MacCormack
Insurance business owner Frank MacCormac Sr., 80, has lived in Secaucus for 65 years. He has been married for 55 years and has two children, Frank Jr. and Doug, who work at the family insurance agency off of Paterson Plank Road in the middle of town.
MacCormack claims that many of Mayor Elwell's successes are public relations efforts.
"In a word - they're corrupt," MacCormack said.
MacCormack's opposition to the Elwell administration remains the same since he first ran against the mayor six years ago. MacCormack said he does not have his platform of solutions ready for publication yet, but the problems remain clear to him.
"He's really just given the town over to developers," said MacCormack. "He puts on a big show to cover up what he is really doing. We need to keep zoning intact, not change whenever it suits town government."
MacCormack calls the current administration "carpetbaggers," an epithet used in the South after the Civil War to describe Northerners who went to the South during Reconstruction to make money. It is also used to define a nonresident or new resident who meddles in politics.
MacCormack cites a controversy from 2003 concerning the two billboards along the New Jersey Turnpike in Secaucus. One is Department of Public Works property in the south end of town. Then-Gov. McGreevey expressed grave concerns about possible "hidden corporations" connected with the billboard company orchestrating the deal.
The two billboards in Secaucus differ in some respects from others around the state that were under investigation by the federal authorities at that time. The money generated from both billboards went to two not-for-profit organizations. One generated funds for the Secaucus Library through the Friends of the Secaucus Library. The other will help fund a new Recreation Center through an organization called the Secaucus Youth Alliance.
The Secaucus deal also required town officials to seek several layers of approvals that other deals did not face, from the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, the New Jersey Department of Transportation and the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission.
"He lets all these outsiders come in and do what they want," said MacCormack. "The town is losing its value and position."
MacCormack said he is also not satisfied that maintenance costs for the proposed Recreation Center won't "come out of the taxpayers' pockets."
Development issues
The housing in Secaucus is composed of mainly single- and two-family houses built in the 1950s and 60s at the center and north end of town, gated old communities such as Harmon Cove in 1980, and recently built or soon-to-be-built gated condominium communities such as Riverside Court and Transit Village. Warehouses and office towers are concentrated in the southern and central sections.
In New Jersey as a whole, the population has increased nearly nine percent, according to U.S. Census statistics. The current population in Secaucus is 15,931. In 1990, the population was 14,091. There are 3,789 owner-occupied housing units and 1,425 renter-occupied housing units, according to the 2000 U.S. Census.
Riverside Court has brought in 219 units (with 12 affordable housing units negotiated by Elwell), and the beginning Transit Village project has 1,850 units (with 86 affordable units) to be built over a period of five years.
Elwell said the Transit Village development plan has a circuit breaker mechanism that allows the town to review the project for impact issues after a quarter of the project is built.
But MacCormack said his "solution [to increased development] is simple: Live by the zoning code. Stop Transit Village and the rest of the development."
MacCormack alleges that Elwell and the NJMC commission have also "failed to maintain the variance code" by putting townhouses in areas that should be single-family homes, such as the new development on Flanagan Way and Hops Lane.
Elwell said that in 2000 he argued for changing the way the commission zoned those residential areas which are classified as Low Density Residential to be reduced from 84 units allowable to 42 units.
Still, MacCormack claims Elwell's administration has become too closely tied to the county and other outside agencies, noting that two Democratic councilmen have acquired county jobs since Elwell was elected. Elwell said that those jobs do not conflict with good government and in fact allow for many benefits to Secaucus.
"We have received grants and funding and have kept our voice in situations that affect the town," said Elwell. "As these projects develop around us, I believe it is better to have a say in what we get out of it."
MacCormack said he is angry that over 2,000 new housing units have been built or are in the process of being built through Elwell's "silence or inaction."
The world out there
MacCormack also cites the Meadowlands Xanadu Redevelopment Project as another point of contention. The land would occupy much of East Rutherford's Continental Airlines Arena property now used for parking. The development would have 2.2 million square feet of retail entertainment space, an athletic stadium, four office buildings, a hotel and 500,000 square feet of common space. The project would include a new ramp from Route 3 East to Route 120.
MacCormack said that both projects would impact traffic.
"These projects will impact our town in a negative way, and Elwell has not said anything about it - there is no advocate speaking up for the town," MacCormack said. "If Elwell is re-elected, there will be many negative long-term effects on Secaucus."
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