file photo by Boyd Loving
December 31,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, the staff of the Ridgewood blog has assembled the biggest winners and the biggest losers in Ridgewood for 2016.Now for the Village winners;
The biggest winner this year was the Village of Ridgewood’s new Mayor Susan Knudsen and Deputy Mayor Mike Sedon. After years of constant abuse from the “3 amigos”, the two came out victorious with the sweeping victory of Jeffrey Voigt, Bernadette Coghlan-Walsh and Ramon M Hache in the Village Municipal elections. While Jeff Voigt has so far been a bit of a disappointment the new council has full plate attempting to fix the mess of the previous administration.
The other major winner this year were the Village residents who put together the petitions to stop and shut down Garagezilla . The residents mobilized when their voices were ignored and took back the town. As we have learned since motivations for building Garagezilla had little to do with parking for shop owners in the CBD but more for housing development, commuter parking, certain restaurants, schools and of course an “arts center”.
The Ridgewood School system was a big winner with its much pushed for Full-day Kindergarten referendum. While the merits for children remain dubious, it certainly takes a lot of pressure off parents with more convenient hours.
We couldn’t finish the list without this one; Doug Bunza, a 22-year-old village resident who set up a go fund me page to help when his favorite Pizza place La Bella Pizza when it burned down. To the Ridgewood blog thats what Ridgewood is all about ,neighbors stepping up and taking charge. I know this is not the only good deed for the year but this one stuck out in everyone’s minds. It showed us that anyone can make a difference and we all make a difference to someone .
Our final pick this year for the biggest winner is a bit unorthodox, we decided to give it Village employees.Despite turmoil with Village leadership Village employees did a pretty good job at whatever they were doing, I don’t remember the last time no one complained about the police or fire departments for a whole year? We seemed to have no major scandal ie the meter thief and when services were not up to par it was always a management issue.
D Fresh is off tha hizzy fo shezzy
Can a brotha get a jive translation, holla?
Great list James. Happy New Year to everyone at The Blog. Thank you for all that you do to keep us informed.
In 2017 I’d be happy just to see North Pleasant get repaved…
Ridgewood friends-
If it weren’t for the guidance and extensive knowledge of Renee Steinhagen, Executive Director of NJ Appleseed, we would be dealing with a massive parking garage, encroaching halfway into Hudson Street, being funded, built and run by the BCIA. Renee and her staff gave us the tools we needed to defeat the massive garage proposals. They have extensive knowledge of referendum petitioning, and were incredibly supportive.
When asked to send to send a bill, Renee said she will not, but rather requested our group contribute to NJ Appleseed, so that they can continue their mission:
“New Jersey Appleseed Public Interest Law Center is a non-partisan, not-for-profit 501(c)(3) corporation. For over 10 years, we’ve striven to correct systemic problems that are at the root of injustice in our state.”
This is the link to donate online. Share this link with your Ridgewood friends!
https://njappleseed.org/donate/