Meet the candidates: What they have to say about township issues

By Howard Prosnitz, Staff Writer

Teaneck Suburbanite, April 23, 2008, p. 8

Teaneck Suburbanite conducted telephone interviews with all eight candidates running for Teaneck Council.

Candidates were asked the same questions about their background and about five issues. All responses were extemporaneous: no e-mails or written replies were permitted. Every attempt has been made to keep all interviews uniform in length; however, some candidates responded more fully than others. Some editing has been done to candidates' comments mainly to reduce the length of some of the interviews. But no changes have been made to the substance of any candidates' response.

The questions:

1. If elected what would you do to stabilize taxes?
2. What is your opinion about three development projects that have been proposed for Teaneck: commercial development along the riverfront, the Holuba/soap factory site and the American Legion Drive area.
3. What is your view about the labeling of certain candidates as anti-Orthodox and published statements that those candidates would eliminate amenities that the Orthodox Jews enjoy if they are elected?
4. Would you make a statement about the illegal campaign literature and robo calls during the council campaign in 2006?
5. How can Teaneck build bridges among its various and diverse populations.

(Only the relevant candidate is shown here)

Elnatan Rudolph

Residence: Downing Street

Age: 26

Born in Brooklyn, NY. Has lived in Teaneck for three years

Occupations: Deputy Executive Director of the Bergen County Improvement Authority

Education: Attended Brooklyn College and George Washington University

Family: Married, Two pre-school children

Incumbent councilman elected in 2006 to a two-year un-expried term. Seeking his first full term

1. We need to continue to look for additional revenue sources, as we did this year with the sewer ordinance, and we need to continue to work with other municipalities in establishing shared services and finding more efficient ways of delivering services.

2. I am not in favor of commercial development along the riverfront, I favor modified low-density housing at the Holuba site. I do believe that something should be done in terms of developing the American Legion Drive area.

3. I never made statements like that. I never would make statements like that. I talk about what I am looking to do and not what other people stand for.

4. The people who are talking about the 2006 election are trying to distract the voters from the real issues that matter to Teaneck, which are taxes and spending. I believe the voerts are a lot smarter than that and have real issues that they care about. On May 13, we will see that the voters of Teaneck are focused on the present and not the past.

5. Rudolph answered question five, but the answer was accidentally deleted. As Rudolph was not available Monday because of the Passover holiday, his response to question five will be published as a correction in next week's edition.