Hey, Ms. Bello.
Nobody is going to develop such a center in a flood zone such as Fayette Avenue. Trying to market Wayne now is a little to late. Residents are fleeing Wayne due to the high taxes here and alot of buisness's are doing the same. What is this Wayne Economic Development Commission been doing the last 20 years? Buisness's and homeowners want to move into a Township that is concerned about keeping the taxes affordable and as low as possible. But Wayne and its BOE is in a "SPEND, HIRE, SPEND" mode. You want to change this Township? Start by freezing all new hiring, hold the budget increases for a few years and get rid of all the useless regulations and codes such as prohibiting LED signs etc etc. Welcome new buisness instead of making it hard to come into Wayne. Stop hasseling property owners everytime they want to improve thier property. Everything you do in this Township results in a tax increase. Why? Property values are down and the Township needs a re-evaluation of all residential properties. The Township has been over-taxing its residents for years. Get control of the spending at the BOE also. They are really out of control and contribute to people leaving Wayne due to thier constant need for more money. They have installed solar panels they are considering school bus advertising and what does the Super say? We will use the money to hire more people and institute new programs. How about using the money to lower the taxpayers burden of the school tax.

Past the "old Stahl Plaza" on Mt. View Blvd yesterday and the place looks like a "ghost town" after all the work the town did to make it look nice. Another fine neighborhood gone and forgotten by our "fearless leaders".

The Wayne Hills mall is starting to look blighted. It's been going down hill for years. The Mall has only 3, maybe 4 tenants. The major portion of the mall is closed and blocked off. That is a huge expanse of land. Lots of potential. In fact recently I saw some of our school buses being parked there. Something needs to be done to that property.

The above comments are 100% correct. What company is going to move to a town where the employees can't afford to live. There is nothing attractive about Wayne from a work standpoint, traffic, parking, where would you spend your lunch hour with no town center. I believe that the people in charge are blind to these concerns.
You have to recognize what you have and then build on it. This town is a hub, 45 minuets from NYC, access to major roadways. We could have had Lowe's and Home Depot but because the powers that be bowed to a few they went other places and in one case we got the traffic and in another an empty lot.

Victorian Florist seems to have folded once and for all has it not?

The same Mz Bello whose home is for sale?

Passaic County has been raising taxes for many years to the point they are the highest tax county in the United States. This information is based on the data available from the Tax Foundation.

Apparently, Passaic County and Wayne Township decided to built schools and schools and more schools every where, including "special needs" schools. These are very expensive to run; they then charged the homeowners to pay for these charges, with minimal funding from the state or federal government.

The businesses managed and continue manage to leave the county, because they can. It is not so easy for the homeowner's to leave though.

Also, research shows that the taxes are eventually become part of the capital of the home. Therefore, high taxes eventually result in lower values for the homes.

This is what has happened in Wayne and Passaic County. Enjoy.

Nothing will change in this town until the present governing body is removed in part or as a whole. Re-elect these people and you'll get the same old, same old. High taxes will continue and you will continue to get their lethargic approach to facing the issues and problems this town is confronted with.

We do have some people on the council that actually give back to the town and then you have our "part time" Mayor that only cares about his picture in the paper cutting a ribbon or some other event. If he really cared for this town he would be out drumming up business somewhere, not scaring them away.

Wayne Economic Development Commission must have been sleeping these years. wake up! fight high property taxes now

Part of the Mt View Development process was that there was to have been a bike way that ran 6.5 miles from the transit center to Riverdale, it was a Morris County project that Wayne -through Scott Rumana embraced. Morris county fizzled on the project with al their pork requirements, so what would have been a great boost for that area came to naught.

As for a place to park your car and walk for a few hours, may I recommend Chicopee Drive, or Rec Center at WPU, or end of Sanderling, all of which have parking for cars and access to wonderful trail running and hiking trails in High Mtn Reservation. Few avail themselves of what is an unprecedented local asset. There is no other town on the East Coast that has such a reservation. Use it and you will be astounded. I have seen coyote,bear, fox, mink, deer all manner of birds.

Wayne does have many attractive features, we should be celebrating them, more and focus on them more. Sure, we have been slaughtered in this continuing recession but we will rebound.

What ever happened to the walking/bike path that was suppose to go around Barbour Pond Park (David Waks Park) ? That would have been money better spent instead of bike paths on our dangerous county roads.Where did our "open space" money go ? Oh, forgot, a dog park on an old "superfund " site.

Wayne, if you go to Parks and Recreation office, they have maps of all the 1200 acre hiking trails on High Mt. Park that we bought years ago.

One additional comment regarding vacancies. It was said the other day that Clifton was proactive in attacting new retail establishments to its Rt3 corridor. They have been succesful, but the better model to follow out of Clifton is their very effective property maintenance inspection program. I very much doubt that Clfton would allow an eyesore like the old IHOP at Preakness to remain in such a condition for more than 6 months before citing it for violation. In Clifton, if a shopping center allows its trash cans to so much as overflow , they are likely to have an inspection visit.
By keeping the city clean, the streets free of debris, and by not allowing derelict parcels they have been able to retain a vitality that does not exist in most other NJ cities. It is the Rudy Guiliani theory. keep it clean and the city will thrive. The opposite effect can clearly be seen righ next door in Paterson. So if Wayne wants to remain vital, it too should address appearances.

There was some talk a few years ago about putting a walking/bike path around Point View reservoir. Not sure if it was the county or the town. Great idea. Not sure where you would park if you had to drive there. Never came to pass.

High Mountain Trail Map is available on the Township Web Site as well as through the NYNJ Trail Conference.. High Mountain is one of the premier birding locations in the United States as it is in the Eastern Flyway for migratory species.

oh great, its about nature walks now?

I very much agree with 'scondo' and the comments about appearances. The message you get when you drive around Wayne is that no one cares and that there is no pride in the town. Why we don't have a shopping/eating walking mall like they have on Rte 3 in Clifton is beyond me considering the amount of vacant property available. My high school age children often say they wish they didn't have to go all the way down there to get that atmosphere. So, how much longer do you want to give your citizen's business away to other towns instead of getting it for yourselves? Listen to the Wayne residents--this is a no-brainer.

When you find that hole Stewart, jump in it. Do you even NOSE where High Mt. Park is ? Like those things you had in California, there called mountains.

I see the village idots are having their convention in wayne this year running about with their tongues sticking out catching snow flakes?

Taxes PERIOD Great job we only had to "RAISE the average homeowner" or ex-homeowner enough already get the message forget DOG PARKS, and NEW school projects. The minute the kids are out of school the parents who demanded air conditioning for band room RUN.

I can drive 15 minutes to High Mountain, Garret Mountain, 15 minutes to Silas Condict (Morris County Park System) or 25 minutes to Ringwood Skylands Manor (Passaic County). They are all wonderful Nature spots with different missions. High Mountain does not warrant the exorbitant property taxes that I pay in Wayne. Most taxpayers are too busy working 100 plus hours a week at a minumum of one job to even have the time to enjoy nature. Other taxpayers have lost jobs and have homes in foreclosure while another group is on a fixed income (income trough Social Security is rising less than the property taxes). Drop the taxes, get rid of the waste, the top heavy administrators all the unnecessary frills. No one has the time to enjoy them .

William Paterson University is a wonderful asset to our township. There are so many things to do on campus there. Wayne needs to see itself more as a college town, and partner with William Paterson wherever they can. Just like Princeton, New Haven, New Brunswick and other college towns. We almost seem to ignore this wonderful university. http://www.wpunj.edu/wplive/#

Maryanne, and all the college kids are not catering to the local businesses since they opened up shops on campus. So it is doing just the opposite by hurting places like Brother Bruno, 7-11, Wayne Pizza among others. People don't want to go there because of the traffic.Ever tried crossing Hamburg Turnpike at lunch time ? And we don't get any money because it is state run.University.

Maryanne,
You mean the University that pays no taxes at all, uses our emergency services fire & ambulance and often uses Wayne PD for back up. Takes over more and more commercial properties which then come off the tax rolls also. Wayne should do what Little Falls did at Montclair State. They get compenstion for emergency services etc. While also speaking about the College do you know how many almost NO-Show jobs are also there fundd by our tax dollars. Yes, it is a great University but it also drains tax money from Wayne also. Every building they have taken over on Hamburg Tnpk, Valley Road Ext. etc pays $0 taxes. As far as parks & trails we have enough. What we need is tax ratables and buisness customers for our small buisness's. The BOE and the Township are draining it's residents dry and they are doing nothing to stop the decline of Wayne.

I've been reading these comments and while I do agree the vacancies are becoming an eyesore as well as lost revenue, I don't think I want to be anything like Clifton. That, to me, has a "city" feel and I want to keep our suburban feel. I would love to see the Wayne Hills Mall turn into something but if the owner doesn't release the property than how can we force them out? Also, you'd all be complaining that bringing in all these "strip malls" would assist in having kids hanging out in front of them getting in to trouble, making noise, committing crime...I don't know what the answer is but I just find it funny how everyone always complains about one thing then it happends and then they complain about how it's now a "city" we're living in...

Wow, I'm stunned by the William Paterson hatred. Did you know that many professors, staff and students actually live in Wayne? Students at WPU eventually buy homes in Wayne because they like the township after they get their paying jobs (including paying taxes) as teachers, accountants, musicians, librarians, speech therapists and nurses. Most towns cherish their relationships with a university. It can be profitable for a town, Wayne needs to explore this thoroughly.

To all....I tend to agree with Maryann in the sense that the Township should develop a relationship with the University. How it could benefit, I'm not quite sure. Are we allowed to use their library? I guess it's considered a state owned facility. Does that give us the right to walk in there any time and use the facilities? I'm not quite sure of that. If not, could something be worked out! As far as the University benefitting from our fire, police and emergency services, if there are numerous calls to WPU, I'm certainly not adverse to Wayne charging them for that, if we are allowed to do that. It's a way for us to recoup some state funding that has been cut to our town. If there is an opportunity to develop a mutually advantageous relationship, why would we not do. It?

MaryAnne,
Its not the University is hated, But they take alot from the Township and pay $0 taxes. And as far a graduates living in Wayne buying homes I beg to differ with you since most college graduates that were born and raised in Wayne can't afford to live here. Building on thier property is one thing but when they purchas and takeover existing commercial property to use it comes off the tax rolls. Wayne has an over abundance of properties that don't pay taxes to the community but use its services. The students who live in Wayne most likely live with thier parents who are being overtaxed by the Township. Tax income is down 27 million and rising every day due to appeals and loss of ratables. This Township cannot continue on this course. Why do you think so many homes are up for sale and in foreclosure in Wayne. If taxes were affordable many could afford to pay thier mortgages. I also hear a big lawsuit will soon be settled concerning our tax department. That will be another loss. The taxpayers are being squeezed with no relief in sight. I kmow people paying over $14K for a townhouse. Why? They are settling and losing in tax court this cannot go on. Maybe they should do a re-evaluation Township wide and bring the taxes more in line with reality. I once spoke to a council member about taxes and people moving out that were long time residents in Wayne. His reply was "If they can't afford the taxes here they should move out". Is that how concerned they are about taxpayers?

Wayne township taxes are not bad at all. We are paying the most because of the county and BOE. The county is run by a small group of people that could care less about spending, nepotism runs high at the county level. Our BOE keeps saying "we have a great school system" ?? compared to what??? we have a mediocre system, I don't see any 5 star gold medalion schools in Wayne, do you ?? http://www.thecartelmovie.com/ this movie gives some insight on why NJ pays the most in BOE taxes.

The flood issue is one Major reason businesses are leaving and new will not take a chance of coming in. On top of that we pay taxes as high as those out of flooding. They need to control the flooding for several years and believe me you will see the difference in businesses and homes staying put.

There are plenty of areas in town that could be developed into beautiful community shopping/dining/entertainment areas that are not in neighborhoods prone to flooding. When was the last time Preakness flooded? Or the Wayne Hills Mall?

We already have community shopping/dining/entertainment. Hamburg Turnpike is full of shopping centers,restaurants,and entertainment places.Maybe you should get out to Preakness Shopping Center Paula and see what the area has to offer.Wayne Hills Mall has some nice stores in it to like Quiznos,Toys R Us,K-Mart,Burlington Coat Factory and LA Fitness.The rest is empty because we are in a recession, check out Rt.17 and count how many vacant strip malls.

Quiznos is gone. Out of business.

Thanks Al, haven't been there in a while. Another one bites the dust.

Dunkin Donuts closed in Mountainview too.

You NOSE it's bad when they close a Dunkin Donuts.There goes the police presents in Mt. View.

Rania,
Most of the buisness's leaving aren't in the flood zone. Most of the Corporations and mall areas are on high ground. The bottom line is taxes and the treatment they recieve from Wayne Township when they want to expand, make improvements etc. This town has a reputation for several things high taxes, buisness unfriendly, hard to deal with etc etc. Lets not forget also some of the past scandals also. This Township needs a total revamp on thier attitude towards buisness and its taxpayers. Until that happens this town will be in fianancial meltdown.

TO ALL, If you really want to see how great this tow used to be get the "Wayne Lions Club Present: Scenic Crossroads, The History of Wayne".For $20, you will see and hear how this town came about and the people and places you hear so much about today. Yes, they WERE the good ole days. Enjoy the book, I did.