| All interviews were taped and documented. They are available through the Reference Department of the Teaneck Public Library. The Library is not responsible for the accuracy of the statements nor does it necessarily endorse the opinions expressed. |
| NARRATOR: | Brad Menkes |
| INTERVIEWER: | Hilde Weisert |
| DATE OF INTERVIEW: | March 21, 1985 |
| TRANSCRIBER: | Jackie Kinney (9/1985) |
(WIFE) Working together which is what you. .
(N) You had a sense of a family.
(WIFE) Mutual respect.
(N) was taken away by those perfectly worthwhile things but that's what happened. Then you had the labor/management roles. It distinctly polarized points of view.
(WIFE) It was such a friendly setup that when we were robbed while we were out campaigning, in two hours they stripped the house, and the police came then of course and found nothing. They came the next day and I was talking about four or five of them and they were taking fingerprints, of course they found nothing, and, one of them said, are you Holly's mother? Laurie's mother? Are you Jill's mother? They had gone school with our kids and I said, look, if you can't find the thieves, the least you can do is, an election is coming up, is vote for Brad. And so help me, I think they did. And they laughed and they said, oh, of course, we always have and we But that was the kind of friendly feeling that existed.
(N) So you want to know about after 78? My first problem was to get Glenpointe built. So you needed a commitment to that. Even though some of us, including me, were not exactly happy with the whole Glenpointe transaction and what they plans were for it, we all felt that it had been going on too long and it was time to get it done. I'd say the focus of our efforts in 78 to 82 was to get Glenpointe on the way.
(WIFE) What about the library?
(N) Well that happened incidentally shortly after we were elected. And there had been, this is all recent enough that you'll find plenty about it in the papers, fairly early on, we found out we had a problem with the funds for the library which is pretty well documented. It took a certain amount of guts to make some decisions at that time which effectively were based on the idea we had a grant from the government of $837,000 and since the extra money wasn't there, we had to do the best we could without the money and we did. I think the end result is very good.
(WIFE) You are not getting into the rest of that.
(N) I don't want to.
(I) I imagine that is recorded in other places.
(N) There is plenty in the newspapers about what happened with the library. But that was an ingenious solution to this. Because none of us really thought about it in advance. We just felt it could be done for $837,000, we could do something.
(I) Who actually did the council map out sort of what they wanted done for that amount of money or was that. .
(N) No, it was more bold than that. A lot of people, there are a lot of people in this town who love the library. We are part of that group and they felt that since the plans had been to build a new library for $3,000,000, that's what we should do and all of us felt that, after some argument about it, we just couldn't do it. It would take us way over the cap on the annual expenditures, funding for it, we'd have to have a referendum on it, and the town really couldn't afford that kind of a jump. So rather regretfully, we just decided to grit our teeth and said, whatever we are going to do, we are going to do within that limitation.
(WIFE) And it you didn't use it at a certain point, wouldn't you have lost it?,
(N) Yeah, we were getting close to the expiration date on that. And we were lucky. We had a good architect. And he conceived this whole novel approach to it and the result is very good. And we are very pleased.
(WIFE) I call it my country club. I love it since they changed the exit. You used to have to go all the way around from the parking lot. Now you go directly to it which is great.
(I) I live across the street and it is just wonderful. It is a great luxury.
(N) So I guess those were the two biggest things in those four years. And a lot of little things but. .
(I) Are you fairly satisfied with what Glenpointe turned out to be?
(N) No, I'm not but you are getting into an area which I shouldn't talk about.
(I) OK.
(N) Because you are talking about a present-day problem which may end up in litigation.
(I) Ok, fine. And as you look toward the future, . .
(N) We haven't gotten past 63 yet. Or 82.
(I) Right. 82 to now.
(WIFE) That was no cottage parties.
(I) That's right. The 82 election was the first in which you had no cottage party because you knew everyone in town.
(N) No. But it was a different style of election.
(I) In general.
(N) For us it was different.
(WIFE) Other people had cottage parties.
(N) I am trying to think.
(WIFE) I also made thirty afgans in his term of office. They stopped allowing smoking. And as you see, I am smoking. So I'd sit at those meetings
(I) You go to every meeting.
(WIFE) I stopped recently. But I used to. I didn't miss a meeting. And I had to do something. So I'd sit and knit.
(I) Thirty afghans.
(WIFE) My kids homes are loaded with them and we have them all over the place.
(I) That's a very constructive way to . .
(N) Did you ever hear of Madame Lafarge?
(WIFE) I kept telling him, they owed me a rocking chair to sit there and watch the guillotine, but at any rate, that's what I did. I got sick of making afghans because you have to count. Also, Eleanor Kieliczek can read my face. I don't exactly (inaudible) and when something would come up and I disapproved, either my head moved or something but if I were knitting, I could look down and that was my saving grace. They were also on cable television for a while with volunteers. That's why we got cable. Because on a rainy night, I could stay home and watch it.
(I) And it is no longer on cable.
(WIFE) No, because the volunteers quit. You know they worked for nothing for so long.
(N) Let me back trace just a minute here on something. I wrote the original rent control ordinance for Teaneck. In 1973. I've been pretty busy.
(WIFE) I've been trying to tell you that for a long time.
(I) This record of major accomplishments is really something. I personally benefit from the rent control ordinance so I can thank you for that.
(WIFE) You live in an apartment house on Teaneck Road.
(I) Yes. Right across from Eugene Field. It is really pleasant.
(WIFE) On the other side of town.
(N) You mean the one with the brown brick or red brick?
(WIFE) Which side of Teaneck Road?
(I) If Eugene Field is on this side, it is across the street on the other side, OK, and there are a couple that are small and this is the slightly larger one but it is not the big one that's up further across from the dry cleaner.
(N) Anyhow, in 1982, I think there were several things of importance. For instance, Teaneck got a black mayor. And they got a good deputy mayor. That's me. And I think we've worked well together and the council has been pretty good. about a lot of things. Pretty full debates on a lot of questions. But I think that the central thrust of what we've been about has been to attempt to modernize the management of the community. We've had consulting reports on how well each department is functioning and what should be done to it
(WIFE) Also, you set up the software for the computers.
(N) That involved the beginnings of the computers.
(I) You installed the software in the computers.
(N) Just beginning it. You know, I, as this point we had to hire a professional to build on what I started but this is my recommendation and I started the first word processing function in the town and the beginnings of an inventory system for the D.P.W. At that point, I figured somebody else ought to take over.
(WIFE) Somebody who'd get paid for it.
(N) This is one of the things, the focus has been to update. There's a new computer system for assessments which we put in a couple of years ago. There is an update of assessments every year now so hopefully we will never have to reassess or reevaluate again.
(I) That's very efficient.
(N) There were other towns who did it earlier but we were one of the first.
(WIFE) He very fortunately broke his ankle and was in a cast and had to stay home so he worked on it upstairs for six weeks, setting up papers.
(N) And then all the other computer functions, the money, the counting end of it, was all on a service computer basis. That's not internal. Gary Sage could tell you more about that. I wasn't involved in that but the thrust has been in the directions I am talking about. Modernize, update. We are going to have a new fire house one of these days down on Teaneck Road and DeGraw Avenue. So we are looking to the future. How does Glenpointe impact the town? Biggest current problem is where Glenpointe is going.
(I) In terms of expansion or whether it is just going to be what it was supposed to be.
(N) They can't sell the condominiums. I know I left out something. I ran for the Assembly in 79. Now that is personal. That has nothing to do with Teaneck but
(I) No, but that is interesting. You weren't letting any grass grow under your feet then. But 79 was when you were. .
(N) I was already a councilman so I decided it would be a good time for me to try.
(WIFE) They also egged him on. A Republican in Bergen County. .
(N) No, not Bergen County. District 37. This is Matty's district. But nobody, no Republican, is going to win here for a while.
(WIFE) It was funny with that. All the people who were going for the second place or whatever, all those people voted for him because they trusted him and they knew him, etc., they said when they saw the Republican flag over his head, they couldn't vote for him. They were afraid that the party would influence him.
(I) So he became a different person in their eyes.
(WIFE) All of a sudden, he was not Brad Menkes.
(N) Well, that's life. It probably wouldn't have been a good idea anyhow.
(WIFE) Yes, then you'd never be home.
(N) Here, these are my favorite pictures. That's Joan Johnson and I as the Assembly candidates (inaudible)
(WIFE) And we gave cottage parties for her. But she has never taken Teaneck.
(I) Really, I didn't know that.
(N) Teaneck was the town that Carter won against Reagan by 3 to 1.
(I) How did Mondale do in Teaneck?
(N) He won 2 to 1. I mean, this is not a Republican town.
(I) So there was a certain amount of folly in your running as a Republican?
(N) Oh, there was some concern I might have jeopardized my council position in 82. But it seemed like a good idea anyhow.
(WIFE) I call us out of the closet Republicans.
(N) But fortunately people didn't hold it against us too much.
(WIFE) No they didn't. Once that was over, it was over.
(N) Here's an interesting little thing about the council manager government that I used in the debate with (inaudible).
(WIFE) They were always so polarized in their opinions and pretended give and take and there wasn't any because he was a died in the wool Democrat and he couldn't see beyond it and felt the
(N) Who are you talking about?
(WIFE) Leo Gamow. And Brad felt the same way about non-partisan. There was no moving either one of them. And the audience knew.
(N) If you open that up, you'll find a lot of information about the council manager system. I can't think of anything else to say.
(I) This is interesting.
(N) I did it. Including the art work. That was in 1960.
(I) That's very impressive.
(WIFE) He also works for a living.
(I) Yes, I noticed in something I was reading. Professor of mechanical engineering.
(WIFE) Head of his department and a consulting engineer.
(I) What's very interesting to me is although you span this long period, what you are doing on the council now is as forward looking as it could be. You are not, this is not a voice from the past.
(N) They call me their historian. And that's true. I am not that bound by what happened in the past. I am really, oddly enough, being a professor is only a little bit of it. It really is.
(I) All right. I will ask you my best Barbara Walter style but you will be able to refuse. Do you anticipate what's the next election, 86, are you thinking of that?
(N) I really haven't had too much time to think about that. And I am not sure what the decision will be based on. It may be as simple as who else is running, it may be as simple as what my wife feels about it and it may be as simple as how tired I am.
(1) What's the challenge Teaneck is facing now, or going to face?
(N) The challenges in Teaneck are not as big as certain times in the past. One thing that will remain a challenge in Teaneck for a long time is just people living together. We have a very diverse community. People tend to think in terms of blacks and whites. But we have I'd say seven different Jewish organizations, segments, each with their own attitudes and habits. We have a major problem right now with the congregation on Queen Anne Road. That used to be a house owned by Stuart Lipman who is practicing dentistry, I mean an eye doctor, excuse me. He's a very fine eye man. When he left town, he gave his house to an organization which was an Orthodox temple and it was originally a small house and a small congregation but it got to be very popular and now it is big. It is too big and they want to expand the house, they got no place for parking, and the neighbors don't like it This kind of problem, in fact this was an important problem in the last five or six years, is the, there was a time when the rights of religious congregations in this community was the central issue. I am trying to think when that was. It wasn't long ago. It wasn't in 1982; it was before that.
(WIFE) It was in 1974.
(N) No, no. That was early on but in 78 there was a big one. Don't you remember the business about the revision of the master plan?
(WIFE) And it was on West Englewood Avenue.
(N) That's later. But there was others. There were others. In the last time the master plan was adopted which was six, seven years ago, there was a big to do about how much proliferation of religious institutions should be permitted. And we took the position,
(WIFE) Because they don't pay taxes.
(N) Part of it is that and part of it is the fact that people resent it, in some cases, the intrusion of yet another religious group. I must say that I think the focus of the discontent of my neighbors had to do with the Orthodox Jewish congregations because many of the members of the congregations walked to temple on Friday night and Saturday and some of them are sects which have strange appearances, some still grow long beards and so on. .
(WIFE) Not in Teaneck.
(N) Yeah. There is a couple. There are a couple of places like that. And the neighbors didn't like it. So they resented the proximity of yet another house of worship. This was a major controversy. And it was the principal matter in the 78 election. That's what it was. Anyhow, we handled that by passing a law regulating houses of worship in that they had to have a minimum size plot. I think it was half an acre. And the reason is it had to be big enough to have on-site parking. That's where it starts is where are the people going to park. And even the Orthodox congregations, people were seeing it now in this Queen Anne Road one, they'd come on Friday in cars and leave those cars there, walk home and then come back the next day. So the people in the area suffered. And of course there were functions there in the temple during the week as well. That's an intrusion in the residential life of a neighborhood. A very difficult question because you get to the heart of some pretty fundamental rights. The rights of people to worship as they please and on the other side, the rights of people insofar as zoning is concerned. It brought out the worst in people. It really did. It was very unpleasant.
(I) When was the law?
(N) It must have been 78/79. It was thrown out by a judge. Judge Harvey Smith. And of course, more recently, we've had a little fuss about the Pathmark. Teaneck is punctuated with issues that seem to rise.
(WIFE) And then you have the McDonald's thing on Teaneck Road. And the neighbors didn't want it and fought it.
(N) Zoning really stirs people up. Zoning questions.
(WIFE) Well nobody wants anything near them. Then you had the thing with the Lutherans.
(N) Oh, the senior citizens house down there.
(WIFE) And it seems in that particular neighborhood, Commander Walk, it is southwest of River Road and Cedar Lane. The swimming pool is there, the shelter (inaudible) is there, and now the Lutherans are putting up this "high rise" apartment house not subsidized.
(N) It is not high enough.
(WIFE) and there is some beautiful old homes in there and these people are getting angry and it really isn't fair that they should be surrounded with everything seems to be dumped in their lap. I am truly sympathetic with them. I really think they are getting a dirty deal.
(N) I guess in the end, if you look close enough at it, the things that have been most important to people in the town for many years have to do with zoning. The desire to preserve the residential character of the community and on the other side, the need to accommodate to the needs of people. The need for senior citizens housing is important. The need for Shelter Our Sisters is important. But to reconcile
(WIFE) That I can buy if they let people know where they are. These are battered wives.
(N) You can't keep track of all these things. But in the end, that's what makes us an interesting job. They have an awful lot of power on the council. And not much at the same time. Because people who are mad enough about it can get things upset. But the council can act very decisively in certain situations and my wife was telling you about a few of them.
(WIFE) Another one was you can't park a van or even a pickup truck in front of your house all night or where it can be seen from the front of the house because it takes away from the neighborhood. And some object to that. Like there was one, I think he was a paraplegic with an especially outfitted van, that's the only way the man could go to work or get in or out of his house.
(N) That was Ben and Barbara up here on Sussex Road.
(WIFE) And I think they made an exception for him. I just don't remember. He couldn't get it in the garage so he had to . .
(N) I remember very well.
(WIFE) Did they make him redo his garage?
(N) No. Werner Schmid brought this to us in 1960. And we said, forget it. Just don't say anything about it. Forget it.
(WIFE) In other words, let him alone.
(N) It was a violation of the zoning ordinance. Just forget it. Don't issue a summons. Nobody's going to say anything. Forget it.
(WIFE) And it just went away?
(N) They didn't do anything about it.
(WIFE) Because you really can't make him more incapacitated than he is.
(N) I mean there are some things you don't do. And that was one of them.
(WIFE) Oh, also across from Byrant School was an apartment house and then there was a grant or something to put up handicapped people, put ramps in and make apartments so they could be self-sufficient. They started to do it and they ran out of money. So it has been all boarded up. And now it is coming up again.
(N) Oh, they'll get the money.
(WIFE) Is that federal money?
(N) Yeah. I think the other thing that we kind of left out was the Teaneck Road Development Community.
(WIFE) That's in all the papers now. And the Greenbelt.
(N) Do you pay much attention to that one? The widening of Route 4? I wrote that resolution too.
(I) Oh really?
(WIFE) Yeah, that's his Sunday morning occupation.
(I) Writing resolutions?
(N) Sometimes to settle things, yeah.
(WIFE) These committees come over here.
(N) This was a very good end result I think. The question of stating in realistic manner why we wanted what we wanted on Route 4.
(WIFE) You know, our area of Route 4 is the only one without signs on it. Well that didn't impress me one way or the other. I didn't even notice it.
(N) Yeah, but it sets in the back of your mind.
(I) So the Greenbelt Resolution is something that will. .
(WIFE) It is ongoing.
(N) It is alive right now. We stopped the D.O.T. dead in its tracks because they couldn't believe we could thing of all these things. They don't know what to do with us now. They'll resolve it.
(I) Have you thought of writing a book?
(END OF TAPE)
