Everyone who knows me knows about my love for Mark (Mendy) Schwartz. I’ve known Mark since we were in high school, and one of my best decisions was to get him involved in student government with me. Even then, it was clear that he was—and is today—a doer, someone who cares about other people and would give his shirt off his back to help them. You’ve probably seen his quick replies to posts on Facebook responding to Teaneck residents with a wide variety of problems, from downed trees to potholes and everything in between. Before someone can even tag him, Mark has already responded with a quick “Reported” or “I reached out to the DPW.”
But Mark’s achievements go way beyond Facebook and calling the township manager or the county to report an infrastructure issue. It is hard to imagine Teaneck without Mark’s hard work and service, and since, as you know, he is running for reelection this November, I want to tell you about Mark’s history of public service and some of his accomplishments in his 13 years as a Teaneck Town Council member.
Even before getting elected to the Town Council, Mark had served in many volunteer roles that show his dedication to the community. He has been a TVAC volunteer for 22 years, and he’s served as a volunteer firefighter in River Edge for 26 years. (For context, he’s only lived in Teaneck for 30 years!) Over the years, he’s coached multiple teams on TBO and Teaneck Junior Soccer League, served on school boards (Yavneh, TABC), and he even founded Congregation Shaare Tefillah in his spare time. He was also on the Teaneck Planning Board for six years. His proudest achievement, of course, is that he has raised a beautiful family with his wife Nomi, and they recently celebrated their son’s marriage.
Since joining the Town Council, Mark has served on the budget committee and helped maintain eight years with no municipal tax increase, an impressive feat you won’t find in most other municipalities. Mark is always thinking creatively about revenue sources for the township that don’t involve raising your taxes. He has helped bring responsible development to Teaneck, including hundreds of new apartments that have allowed young families to start off here in town and empty nesters to downsize, while staying close to their children. These apartment buildings have provided the town with over 100 units of affordable housing, making sure that everyone can have a chance to enjoy the benefits of living here. And if you’ve ever been grateful that we have hotels here in town that provide an easy alternative to your basement for out-of-town relatives—you guessed it, Mark helped to bring them here. (The hotels also provide an excellent source of revenue for our municipal budget, in addition to their other benefits, such as providing a location for our only Starbucks.)
Mark wants Teaneck to be the best place to live in Bergen County, and to that end, he has focused many of his efforts on our quality of life. He helped bring the Sportsplex to Votee Park, where so many of the township’s children have enjoyed soccer, football and other sports. With Councilwoman Karen Orgen, Mark helped get the Teaneck Southern field turfed recently, providing our kids in one of our excellent local baseball leagues with a state of the art field. Over the past nine years, he’s been responsible for making sure hundreds of roads get repaved, and anyone who has almost blown out a tire on our roads knows what a critical project that is!
Mark has maintained a close relationship with Teaneck law enforcement, and it’s no surprise that our beloved former Township Manager Dean Kazinci supports him. Mark values our police and fire departments, and during his time on council, he has made it a priority to maintain police and fire staffing levels. He enjoys a close relationship with our first responders, which isn’t surprising given the fact that he is a longtime first responder himself.
Speaking of responding, Mark is probably best known for his quick response time when you alert him to a problem. He’s absurdly accessible, even if you don’t have Facebook. He gives out his cell phone number freely (and even answers it), and despite working full time, he somehow is always able to make time to troubleshoot issues with residents. Mark cares about all of Teaneck’s residents, and no problem is too small or too large for him to fix. Issues that are more complex than a wasp nest on a town tree are handled differently, of course, and Mark has run community-wide forums on affordable housing and pedestrian safety.
Maybe he cares about pedestrian safety so much because he is himself a pretty famous pedestrian. You’ve probably seen him out and about on one of his walks. Most weeks, he and a couple colleagues go walking to different neighborhoods and hang out with the locals. He enjoys meeting his constituents and chatting about the issues that are important to each of them or just schmoozing about whatever is on their minds.
Mark has been a tireless advocate for the Jewish community, and all communities, when things have been difficult, as we know the past year has been. For the past 13 years, he has also been a staunch advocate for every resident of Teaneck. This is why Mark deserves our support. He is a reliable, hardworking and dedicated public servant, and it’s hard to imagine Teaneck without him. He’s come a long way since TABC student council, and there’s no telling how many wonderful things he can accomplish for all of us in the next four years. Join me in voting for Mark Schwartz for Teaneck Town Council!
Elie Y. Katz is the deputy-mayor of Teaneck.
