Brian Jon of the Asian American Youth Council and Mayor Mark Zinna
COMMITMENTS DELIVERED
WITH GREATER SAVINGS TO TAXPAYERS
Road Improvements
Increased Senior and Recreation Programs
Park Upgrades
Bliss Avenue Bridge Rebuilt
Increased Communication & Transparency
Downtown Momentum
Dear Friends,
It has been an honor and privilege to serve the Tenafly community as Mayor for the past four years. In my first campaign for Mayor, I made a commitment to pave roads, fix potholes, keep our parks beautiful, increase Recreation opportunities, deliver services for our Seniors, and improve our downtown.
Now, I am running for re-election, and I am writing to ask for your support.
I am pleased with the work that has been accomplished and our continued focus on the commitments we collectively agreed upon when I ran for Mayor.
My term started differently than we all envisioned. The Covid outbreak created many challenges for our health and our community. I, along with many individuals in Tenafly, pivoted to face the health and livelihood challenges of our community. We provided PPE supplies, organized a vaccine center with our neighbors from Leonia, outdoor dining options were created, fundraising efforts were launched to support our local restaurants and we provided meals for those in need.
Transparency was increased with the launch of voice and email messages throughout the week to keep our community connected to important health news. This communication continues weekly as the Friday afternoon Mayors message, providing transparency and community news.
During this time, we still had a town to manage.
We have been paving ten to twelve roads each year and we continuously repair potholes. We invested in the equipment necessary to even fix potholes during most winter weather. We know that there are more roads that need to be paved. We are doing our best to get as many dilapidated roads repaired as quickly as possible.
The new semi-automated recycling truck program requires one person per truck to operate as opposed to the previous three people per truck program. This has given us the freedom to move people from recycling trucks to focus on park beautification and infrastructure improvements. We were able to improve the recycling program without additional expenses to the taxpayers.
The day after hurricane Ida destroyed the Bliss Avenue Bridge we initiated the work to immediately begin rebuilding the bridge, which is already completed. Unlike many other towns, we filed for special relief. As a result of our foresight, FEMA is reimbursing Tenafly for 90% of the cost of the bridge construction. This is a great, cost-effective outcome for our town.
Programs and trips for our Seniors continue to grow, with new offerings for events and travel. Our Senior bus service is a wonderful success, helping Seniors with local transportation for doctor visits, food shopping and services.
Downtown improvements are underway utilizing American Rescue money we applied for and received from Washington. Based on our initiative, we were able to begin these improvements without using Tenafly tax dollars. We developed, with professional designers and engineers, traffic, and pedestrian safety upgrade plans to include:
• Traffic signal timing improvements,
• A new, full traffic light at the corner of East Clinton Avenue and Dean Drive
• Pilot changes to Piermont Road by Cafe Angelique,
• Selective all-way stop signs,
• Re-timing of all traffic signals. (During the design phase we learned that all the downtown traffic signals are timed as if the commuter railroad trains from 1968 are still running.)
• New directional signage,
• We also approved the soon to begin renovation and upscaling of three of the buildings on West Railroad Avenue,
• And, approved parking agreements for downtown property owners to move cars off our streets.
New water bottle filling stations have been installed at our parks. We opened a dog park, Roosevelt Monument has been refurbished, new walking paths were built at Roosevelt Commons, and Pfister’s Pond at the Nature Center has been renovated and beautified. A new spinner and sign have been installed at Froggy Park.
Planning for a new Multi-Use Play Area is underway which will feature 4 Square, Hopscotch, Kickball, Wiffle Ball, Small Sided Soccer & Lacrosse and Street Hockey, and perhaps even Shuffleboard games.
Plans for new pickleball courts have started. We now have the ability to improve the Little League field for boys' and girls' baseball and softball games. We made upgrades to Municipal Field, and we secured firefighter grants to provide lifesaving equipment to our first responders.
The weekly Friday Mayor’s message was launched to keep the community informed on both important and community event news. Town Council meetings are now available to all residents either in-person or streamed live.
We have applied for Congressional Grants to clean both the Tenakill and Overpeck streams to better handle storm water. Pedestrian safety improvements are coming to include traffic calming measures, changes to traffic signals and street crossings.
The goal of our local government is to deliver quality services to Tenafly residents.
It is my belief that I have succeeded in implementing many of the improvements which our residents requested when I ran for Mayor. I will continue my mission of improving the town to the best of my ability if elected for an additional term. While we still have a lot left to do, under my leadership we have made significant progress for the town in the past four years, at a materially lower cost to taxpayers.
Please consider supporting my re-election campaign and voting for me on Tuesday, November 7, 2023.
If you have any questions or suggestions, please send me an email at mark_zinna@yahoo.com
Best wishes,
Mark
New sign and spinner installed at Froggy Park