Candidate Profiles: Town voters have choices to make

By Howard Prosnitz, Staff Writer

Teaneck Suburbanite, April 26, 2006, p. 4

Township voters have a choice among 14 candidates running for 4 three-year terms and three candidates running for a two-year unexpired term.

Long term Councilman Paul Ostrow is not seeking reelection, nor is Councilman Emil "Yitz" Stern.

Councilman Randall Day, who was appointed in January to fill the remainder of former Councilman Michael Gallucci's term following Gallucci's resignation, is not seeking reelection. But Councilman David Langford, appointed in January following the resignation of former Councilwomen Deborah Veach, is seeking reelection to fill the two unexpired years of Veach's term.

The Teaneck Suburbanite is publishing interviews with candidates in two alphabetical parts. The interviews will continue next week.

(Only the relevant candidate is shown here)

Elie Katz

Incumbent Elie Katz, 31, is seeking his third full term. Katz was first appointed to the council in 1997 to fill an un-expired term.

The Phelps Road resident was born and raised in Teaneck. He is a restaurant and real estate owner and is proprietor of Chopstix Kosher Chinese Takeout on West Englewood Avenue.

Katz is a life member of Teaneck Ambulance Corps, for which he has responded to more than 2,400 calls and a member of Box 54 of the Teaneck Fire Department, a civilian volunteer group that provides food to firefighters and facilitates communications during fires. He is also a member of the Teaneck Police Department's Crime Stoppers and the Teaneck Youth Advisory Board. He has served as the council liaison to the Teaneck Environmental Commission and is a member of the Teaneck Clean and Green Advisory Board.

Katz seeks to stabilize taxes by finding alternative sources of revenue. He also wants to improve relationships between the township employee unions and the township management. He wants to establish additional recycling day pickups add more parking spaces to the business districts.

As examples of alternative funding, Katz cites the council's hotel occupancy tax that has brought in approximately $700,000 over the past two years and rental of space on cellular towers that has brought in approximately $200,000.

"I feel strongly in finding carefully planned development," said Katz. "I am committed to finding alternative methods for funding projects in town and not constantly knocking on the doors of our taxpayers."