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Reader says , “Council hand picked and created a bogus AdHoc committee and claimed the 5 appointed members are the voice of neighbors”

schedler field 2

“Why are the neighbors, who opposed the original project are supporting this new project?”

How is this a representation of the neighborhood? Schedler AdHoc Committee: Ramon Hache, Michael Sedon, Michael Winograd, Nancy Bigos, Matthew Cunningham, Dan Cramblitt, Tim Cronin, Manish Shrimali, Nick Whitney, Phil Dolce, Paul D’Arpa, Ellie Gruber

Neighbors are not supporting this project. Council hand picked and created a bogus AdHoc committee and claimed the 5 appointed members are the voice of neighbors. The Council completely ignored procedure and the hundreds of public statements given at the Public Meetings. Instead of creating a plan based on required public comments, they went with a plan created behind closed doors-by a hand full of pro field people. FACTS
Here is just one evening of meeting minutes. There are many more.

https://www.ridgewoodnj.net/clerk-minutes/1328-village-council-public-work-session-minutes-20151028

20 thoughts on “Reader says , “Council hand picked and created a bogus AdHoc committee and claimed the 5 appointed members are the voice of neighbors”

  1. Well, ain’t that the truth. Same hand picking happens with every committee, just look at who they appointed at their last meeting.

  2. Cronin is gone….right ?

    Gruber is not pro development…unless she has changed her views.

  3. Why is Jackie Hone not on this committee? Outside of Isabella Altano, she has been the strongest advocate for the preservation of Schedler. Oh, right, that’s why they did not put her on this committee. Disgraceful manipulation.

  4. What they are doing at schedler is a disgrace

  5. Jackie Hone would have ruined their plan and exposed the truth. Vampires can’t handle the light.

  6. I agree that we should stop the Schedler project. The town never should have spent any money on it. It is/was zoned commercial, it should have been sold for a Rt. 17 commercial property so it can generate property taxes. The town thought it was doing the community a favor by buying it for a 90 foot baseball diamond, now the community doesn’t want any sports field there. Sell it to the highest commercial bidder.

  7. Hone was no advocate for anything. Showing up at the eleventh hour after years or meetings only to undermine the hard work of others. The fight has been going on since 2010 without any appearance by Hone.
    She repeatedly interfered with our neighborhood email list and made accustations against neighbors working to compromise. A decade of effort by good people and because of a compromise everyone’s corrupt.

    Give it a rest.

  8. Hone was no advocate for anything. Showing up at the eleventh hour after years or meetings only to undermine the hard work of others. The fight has been going on since 2010 without any appearance by Hone.
    She repeatedly interfered with our neighborhood email list and made accustations against neighbors working to compromise. A decade of effort by good people and because of a compromise everyone’s corrupt.

    Exposed what? Give it a rest.

  9. Manish Shrimali, Nick Whitney, Phil Dolce, Paul D’Arpa and Ellie Gruber are wonderful people for that committee. They are all informed and trustworthy. I have no idea who applied or who wanted to be on it, but those people are a great team and would not sell out their neighborhood.

  10. I agree with Jane that those committee members are great. No problem there. But whoever said that Jackie hone came in at the 11th hour is dead wrong. She has been advocating all along, fighting for truth, exposing falsified statements made by Roberta in the grant application, and relentlessly keeping schedler in the forefront. Jackie is the real deal. Too bad she is not on the committee.

  11. What a scam.

  12. Pure hypocrisy. How can you support this James? Why are you so conflicted?

  13. Its so easy to post anonymous comments, isn’t it? You can say anything you want, and not be responsible for explaining your statements. Re: the posts:
    The ad hoc committee had a lot of friction, but in the end a compromise was reached; lets not forget the public paid for the purchase of the property so all views had to be aired and discussed. The results of the committee (and yes, the four of us were the voice of the neighbors, even though I do not live in the neighborhood) were a berm with trees, sheltering Route 17 from the smaller field (NOT the 90′ field which is what the neighbors opposed), and an evergreen tree line along West Saddle River Road, further sheltering the residents . Also, a playground (the neighbors had no public fields previously), restrooms, restoring the house for public use (the neighbors had no community space), and historical markers along a walking trail. The 90 ft field (which it turns out was not needed in the first place) is replaced by a smaller kickball/youth soccer field. Before Isabella died, she understood the need for a smaller field, and was not opposed to recreation areas. The Friends of Schedler met and the majority agreed a smaller field was a good compromise; the vote was not 100%, not everyone agreed, but the majority did. The evergreen tree line was going in along W. Saddle River Road, a plus for the residents who previously had noise and pollution from the traffic along Route 17 from deciduous trees.
    Once the berm is finished, the area will be restored as much as possible. How easy it is to attack instead of using your time to help out.

  14. Exploiting the stupidity of the American voter is fun and easy: kinda like squeezing a lemon.

  15. Ellie Gruber, the Schedler Ad Hoc Committee failed to FOLLOW PROTOCOL. The park plan was to be a true representation of public comments, stated during the public hearing. Meeting minutes prove, the plan presented by the Ad Hoc Committee was NOT a representation of what residents wanted and expressed during the Schedler Public Hearing. Instead, the Committee presented a plan based on a small group of self interests, after hosting a gathering at a committee member’s house. The handful of guests were carefully selected and personally invited, there was no public announcement. The committee was questioned on this and they couldn’t produce a list of who they met with. Also, why was the historic preservation of the land (NOT HOUSE) and archaeological investigation completely disregarded?

  16. Not hard to imagine that’s what happened. I googled the quotation about squeezing a lemon and found it attributed to another Gruber from Ridgewood. I guess the lemon didn’t fall far from the tree.

  17. What the neighborhood “wanted?”
    When did the residents say they wanted turf field, developer land fill, destruction of wildlife and American history.

  18. Jane S., unlike other committees, there was no resident application process. The Schedler commitee was hand selected without any explanation and operated without transparency. The meetings were not published, the public had no way to attend, there are no minutes.

    In government, on a multi million dollar project, people can’t just be trusted. The public meeting minutes vs. the end plan show something went astray.

  19. I kept up-to-date on the Schedler hearings and was shocked when I heard from the council on the planned development.

    I spoke at two major Schedler hearings about not wanting the land developed. I also wrote letters.

    The council did not inform the residents about the ad hoc committee.

  20. Heading lists a total of 12 Ad Hoc members, without pointing to a specific person. Why do the comments that follow single out and identify 5 specific members, excluding the other 7 (also residents)?

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