Our Tax Money at Work

As many know, the Township of Wyckoff and Inserra ShopRite have been sued in Superior Court of New Jersey by Stop and Shop and the Hekemian Company who owns the land on which Stop and Shop sits.  The lawsuit is attempting to void the approvals that were granted by the Wyckoff Planning Board, after 10+ years of back and forth with Stop and Shop (which involved numerous assessments by engineers, traffic experts, lawyers and our town council).  It is estimated that over 80% of the Wyckoff citizens (a large majority!) favor Shop Rite's application to do business in Wyckoff (with the remaining 20% split between those favoring a smaller Wyckoff store and those who did not want a store at all.)  The grounds of the lawsuit are sheer nonsense, veils for Stop and Shop's attempt to avoid competition from ShopRite.  Setting aside my personal preference for ShopRite to come to Wyckoff, I am outraged that our tax money will now have to go toward our defense on this lawsuit.  The residents of Wyckoff have been, and continue to be, the pawns of the Stop and Shop company.  I am respectfully asking that you think twice before you patronize Stop and Shop.  Think about it.   THEY SUED US....and yet we continue to patronize their business.  We have to communicate to Stop and Shop, through a boycott of their stores, that we do not appreciate them wasting our tax money for their own business gains.   A final thought....I recently received my 3rd quarter estimated tax bill....and was alarmed to see that it had increased so significantly.  While our legal defense against the Stop and Shop lawsuit is surely not the sole reason for the increase, it is just one more example of how our taxes are being wasted on things that bring no real benefit to us as taxpayers.

Please join me in boycotting Stop and Shop.