Karen Orgen has been running on the streets of Teaneck with Deputy Mayor Mark (Mendy) Schwartz for 10 years. Now she is also running with him for a spot on the Teaneck Town Council. Along with Michael Pagan, the three form a slate under the banner Moving Teaneck Forward.
Running for office is more about helping people than being political for Orgen. “I love Teaneck and I’m stepping up to work for my town,” she said. Orgen has always been a doer. “I’m a pharmacist, I have children, I work a lot, but everything I have chosen to do is worth my time.” In college she joined the Teaneck Volunteer Ambulance Corps (TVAC), where she met her husband Eric, and eventually became the president. As her two daughters enrolled, She got involved with schools. She joined the board of her synagogue, Congregation Shaare Tefillah of Teaneck, and became co-president. “Each group I get involved with, I work hard for,” she observed. “They’re things I have been passionate about.”
Orgen had a good role model in her father, David Lew, a labor lawyer who died in 2005. Orgen had planned to donate a kidney to her father—he had been on dialysis for several years—but he passed away before the surgery could take place. Around her father’s 10th yahrzeit, she called Renewal, the Brooklyn-based organization that facilitates kidney donation, and said she’d like to be a donor. In 2016, a match was made.
Lew was a founder, with his wife Harriet, of Congregation B’nai Yeshurun and the Teaneck Mikvah Association. He was a member of the Teaneck Council, Planning Board and Board of Adjustment, and has been the president of Congregation B’nai Yeshurun, The Moriah School and Torah Academy of Bergen County. “When you see somebody working for things their whole life, it encourages you to get involved,” she said.
According to Orgen, Moving Teaneck Forward means continuing the smart development that is now bearing fruit for residents. A member of the planning board for five years, she has been on the front lines of watching the master plan evolve in targeting areas in town that need improvement.
“Teaneck just passed its sixth budget with a zero percent new tax increase—much of it due to new revenue that development has brought into town,” she said. “Smart development improves neighborhoods like the 7-11 and laundromat at Cedar Lane and River Road. That’s great for the apartment community and FDU (Fairleigh Dickinson University) students; it used to be a gravel parking lot with nothing. New apartment complexes on Windsor Road, Teaneck Road, Teaneck Town Square and the corner of Newbridge and River Road are opening up the town to more residents, including seniors. In the past, seniors who sold their homes have moved out of Teaneck to places like Fort Lee, because options in Teaneck were limited. Now, with all these beautiful apartments, they can stay in Teaneck, near their friends and family.”
Orgen believes the mandate of the Town Council is to protect the health and safety of all residents as well as the town’s fiscal health, especially now. Teaneck has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic; it was one of the first communities to see a rise in cases. Orgen said she’s proud of the way the mayor, township manager, and the RCBC have acted quickly to ask residents to self-quarantine and cancel events. “They saved many lives that way,” she said. Council members have been very available, really trying hard to advocate for people in town that need help.
Orgen lives a few blocks away from her mother and the house where she grew up. She is particularly concerned about the seniors. “That’s where my heart is,” she said. She started an “Adopt A Senior” campaign with fellow Teaneck resident Rachelle Zomick. Their goal is to help get food or supplies to older residents who are most at risk of complications from COVID-19 and shouldn’t leave their homes, and to provide a sympathetic ear, listening to their fears. Deputy Mayor Elie Y. Katz advertised for seniors to sign up and gave the document to Orgen and Zomick. They are reaching out to seniors who requested help and volunteers who can give it.
Getting involved is something everyone can do as the coronavirus crisis has upended life as we know it. “We may not be able to change the big picture, but there are little things we can work on to help each other,” advised Orgen. She sees Teaneck coming together for each other. Deputy Mayor Schwartz helped promote the TVAC fundraising drive that earned close to $40,000. She’s enthusiastic about the structured program for seniors at the recreation center, and plans to get more involved if elected. “Every council person takes on a board and that would be important to me,” she said.
One discordant note for Orgen is the way the Teaneck Democratic Municipal Committee (TDMC) has injected partisan politics into the election campaign by announcing that it would endorse a slate of candidates. “Teaneck government has always been non-partisan,” she said. “Our tagline is you don’t have to be Democratic or Republican to fill a pothole.” She noted that Deputy Mayor Schwartz, who is a volunteer firefighter and an 18-year member of TVAC, is constantly on the phone trying to get things done. If he hears about a street not plowed in a snowstorm, he’s on the case. Mayor Mohammed Hameeduddin, who is stepping down, and Deputy Mayor Katz also do anything necessary to help someone in need.
This year the election will be through mail-in ballots only, which will be sent to every registered voter with a pre-paid return envelope. The deadline to register is April 7. Ballots will be mailed out on April 13 and must be submitted by May 12.
In summing up her message to voters, Orgen said, “I hope to be involved in helping Teaneck Move Forward, to continue on the successful trajectory the current council has implemented.It has been proven successful and will only get bett er. Stay safe, stay healthy—and mail in your ballot when it comes.”
By Bracha Schwartz
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