>It is at times almost overwhelming with all of the things that are happening or proposed to happen in the Village and with the BOE. Economically the timing probably could not be worse for many/most of these projects and unfortunately things will probably deteriorate further before improving. However, I think an important thing for people to remember and to think about for the future is the reason all of this is happening now is that we as a town and a school system totally dropped the ball for years and years and let our facilities fall far behind what other towns and school systems were building/renovating. The residents of Ridgewood are not stupid and the level of disrepair has reached such a point that people are demanding the issues be addressed. Many very good, very active, very interested people in town have looked at the facilities and helped to lay out plans that will hopefully result in us having the kind of facilities that the people and children of Ridgewood should have. It is going to be very difficult to figure out how to prioritize the projects and even more difficult to figure out how to pay for them. I think it is important not to place blame on the messengers presenting these plans to the public. If you want to place blame take a look back at the former BOE’s and Villge Council’s who sat on their hands while our facilities crumbled.
If we are going to get anything done, The Village Council and the BOE had better be in constant contact with each other through this process and prioritizing what they each want and need. If the BOE attempts to float a $50 million dollar bond issue at the same time they are laying off teachers and at the Village is looking to spend $25 million (Habernickel, Stedler, Master Plan, Graydon) nothing is going to get approved, nothing will get fixed and 5 years from now our facilities will be that much worse, the costs will be that much higher and everyone will be asking, “Why?”
