Dear Editor:
Having received the publication Pride in Parsippany Fall 2017, and after examining its contents I see no actual need to rehash what is already being printed or distributed in the mayor’s private source, “Plug into Parsippany” or the other local news sources Parsippany Focus, Patch or what is available on the official Parsippany Website. The concoction statement of “approached by residents who continued to request that the written newsletter be reinstated”, is bunk.
Certain statements of contention are simply stated as fact when they are opinions and promotions; for example our community has changed and all the services continue to remain excellent; or I am proud to report that there is NO increases in this year in your municipal taxes!
The community has changed. Waterview marketplace for example after a council No rezone Vote. The change will bring more traffic, trash, noise and degradation of a once unique neighborhood and environmentally sensitive remaining landscape important in groundwater recharge, and trees for carbon sinks, and scenic beauty. Taxpayers are surrendering $3.5 million dollars of the local open space funds for what a rude and uncaring developer forced on Parsippany residents, with the blessings and feelings of accomplishment by the mayor and town attorney who betrayed their own master plan and community. A look at a Interactive Map shows we are paying the money for a riparian zone along the Troy Brook which under a legitimate NJDEP would be considered a buffer zone.
As far as taxes I can vouch that my taxes went up $202 dollars, as they have increased every year since living here. The wonder is the mayor and council seem not to see that tax retables gained by allowing corporate development do not reduce municipal homeowners taxes. If they did Parsippany would not suffer any increases as they do. We must also remember the “fields of dreams” scam, where the BOE found over $2.5 millions dollars of our tax money and used it not for education but for artificial turf. Mayor Barberio had attempted in the past to sanction open space funding for this, but was turned down by the voters; so he made a end run, alleging the BOE was somehow a separate entity beholding to the taxpayers.
It is a Constitutional Right that citizens of the republic everywhere have the right to know where, how their tax dollars are spent, to be transparent. 16th Amendment argument is the contention that the IRS has an affirmative duty to respond to taxpayer demands for an answer as to why taxpayers must pay.
This is not so in Parsippany citizens such as others and myself have been denied OPRA requests concerning various and numerous lawsuits incurred on Parsippany by developers who wish to change our master plan to suit them. Parsippany under Barberio/Inglesino and the present council deny Parsippany taxpayers the right to belong to a regional master plan, under the NJ Highlands water protection and Planning Act. This prevents developer’s lawsuits and maintains home rule. Rather than look into this great opportunity, which also includes lower affordable housing numbers and gives immunity from developers lawsuits, it is taboo, because it is of their opinions without objective fact finding or due diligence that we the people of Parsippany may not participate in such an advancement. How can deals be made with developers or the lawyers make money? If one thinks for a moment the simple fact of Parsippany being in a planning zone, would not the best possible planning benefit us all?
This administration has failed us in many ways, from taking too long on Forge Pond a landscape of which the 124 acres instead of 135 original offer is 109 acres of wetlands that cannot be developed anyway. The Captain Carifi ongoing scam involving Aurora securities with more wasted tax dollars in scams to maintain the power of Barberio/Inglesino and the large corporate developers who rule Parsippany leaving wasted empty developments and escaping tax burdens while the citizens pay for a quality of life degraded and with unavoidable future costs scenarios. The most obvious being our water supply being depleted and contaminated by poor land use, unnecessary and unjust developments.
Mayor Barberio need be more concerned with his municipal work force and defending Parsippany’s ordinances and master plan, that is his job. In this he has failed.
Nick Homyak
Lake Hiawatha, NJ 07034
