BY MATTHEW SCHNEIDER
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
RIDGEWOOD – The Village Council meeting on Feb. 24 was an eventful one, as it included a spirited debate between council members as well as a presentation and a number of public comments.
Reintroducing the bond ordinance
Mayor Paul Aronsohn announced via email that the council would be voting to reintroduce the bond ordinance for the proposed Hudson Street parking garage at the upcoming council meeting on March 2, which would allow for the facility to be funded in-town as opposed to by the Bergen County Improvement Authority (BCIA), which residents had been clamoring for. Though the vote will require a supermajority to pass (4-1), the vote, as it stands is 3-2. This means that just one more vote to bond the garage in town is needed.
Should a supermajority be reached, the council will vote on whether to actually bond within the village at the upcoming March 23 council meeting.
“Hopefully, this council can agree to it,” Aronsohn said. “That’s great if we can do it in-house.”
Aronsohn did note, however, that while he is open to bonding in Ridgewood, he is still committed to bonding with the BCIA should there not be enough votes to fund the garage through the village.
“Either way makes sense,” he said. “I think a partnership with the BCIA is fantastic; I think there are a lot of benefits to that for us, for them, but I think if we can do it in-house, and if that brings us together as a council and as community, so be it, let’s do that.”
Well, I hear the petition was a huge success in terms of numbers. Looks like a grass roots effort of honest people actually IS possible in this town. I feel the winds of change blowing.
“As long as I get what I want for my own future personal advancement (I hope) and in order to pay back promises I should not have made, either solution will help me sleep at night, because who cares what happens to Ridgewood and its hateful liar residents after I’ve spat them out and moved away?”
“Either way makes sense”. There is a logical inconsistency here. Implicit in the Mayor’s proposal is that funding w/o BCIA makes MORE sense. The obstacle to the better option is that compromises on the garage will be required to secure the 4th vote. The mayor seems to be saying that he would rather chose the lesser option (BCIA) than compromise on the garage.
On the grass roots effort–that never happens without the sustained efforts of a core group of volunteers. Hats off to them for their vision and commitment.
What are the benefits for THEM??????
“I think there are a lot of benefits to that for us, for them,”
Yes, three cheers to those civic-mindedness volunteers who took the initiative to prepare and work so hard on the petition drive. Their plan was brilliant, smartly conceived and timely executed. Every Ridgewood-registered voter who signed the petition is also to be praised for allowing his name to be publicly associated with this sharp rebuke to the three amigos plus 1 (the VM). A great job all around that bodes exceedingly well for the future of Ridgewood politics.
The article at Ridgewood News has an error. Councilwoman Knudsen DID NOT:
“request that the council vote to rescind the ordinance regarding the village bonding with the BCIA simultaneously to introducing the ordinance regarding the possibility of bonding within Ridgewood, as a gesture of good faith.”
She requested to introduce an ordinance to rescind 3519. She proposed vote on that on Sept 23rd AFTER the vote on new self fund option would have passed the council.
I have contacted the writer at Ridgewood News, hoping this was a typographical error.
11:24 am – If this was indeed a typographical error – they may fix it online, but for the print edition, public is already misinformed.
Even The New York Times publishes corrections…every day. Rwd News can, too.
All — On page 3 of the Ridgewood News, there was an article to try to pressure Mike Sedon and Susan Knudsen to vote for bonding the garage through Ridgewood. If you are skeptical of the viability of the proposed garage, please send Mike and Susan an email to let them know to stay firm on their vote and allow the referendum on the BCIA to go forward. Here’s what I sent to them:
Sent: Friday, February 26, 2016 4:23 PM
To: ‘sknudsen@ridgewoodnj.net’; ‘msedon@ridgewoodnj.net’
Cc: ‘paronsohn@ridgewoodnj.net’; ‘ghauck@ridgewoodnj.net’; ‘apucciarelli@ridgewoodnj.net’
Subject: garage
Susan and Michael,
With regards to the full page ad in the Ridgewood News today, I urge you to maintain your position on the bonding of the proposed garage.
I do not believe that a garage in that location will cover its costs and the taxpayers are going to wind up funding it. There is simply not enough demand for parking at the proposed location. There are usually many spots open right across the street. I’d support a smaller structure located more centrally and I know a lot of my fellow residents would too.
Please stay the course and know that most of the residents who voted in support of a garage did not know any specific information at that time therefore there is NO MANDATE to build anything at this time.
Feel free to contact me via email or at 201-445-8222.
Regards,
Derek Schnure
Derek, while I politely disagree with you about changing the path on this, having enough conviction to post this with your name, # and email speaks volumes about your commitment. As with the petition effort, fueled by a few dedicated individual’s commitment and time, and may pay dividends for those opposed to the garage in its current form, both your effort and the petition effort is what activism is all about. I’ll be curious to see if any retribution comes your way, outside of some of the usual anonymous stuff. If so, please let readers here know. Anyway, well done on your part.