A clear violation of Village Code 190-122. Read it and weep .
Required permits and approvals. No sign shall be constructed or displayed unless a sign permit shall have been issued in accordance with the provisions of § 190-97C. No permanent freestanding sign shall be permitted until a site plan for the sign is approved by the Planning Board. Notwithstanding the above, the following signs are exempt from the requirement to obtain permits or site plan approval, but such signs shall comply with the regulations in Subsection H below:
(1) Signs for residential uses permitted by § 190-122C(1).
C. Signs in the residential zone districts. In all residential zones, the following signs shall be permitted, except as may be provided otherwise by this chapter: [Amended 4-13-2005 by Ord. No. 2933; 2-8-2012 by Ord. No. 3327; 3-23-2016 by Ord. No. 3493]
(1) On premises used for residential purposes, a sign or signs identifying the residence, the resident or residents or the street address, or any combination there of. No such sign shall have an area of more than two square feet, nor shall the aggregate square footage of such signs, if there is more than one, exceed three square feet in area.
(2) (Reserved)
(3) On premises used for a permitted institutional use, a sign or signs identifying the use and activities conducted on the premises, which shall comply with the following:
(a) One freestanding sign and one sign affixed to each principal or accessory building shall be permitted.
(b) The maximum area of any sign shall be 30 square feet.
(c) Freestanding signs shall be located at least five feet from any property line and shall be located so as to not interfere with safe sight distance at intersections of roadways and driveways.
(d) Freestanding signs shall not exceed a height of 10 feet.
Seven low income housing units are planned for the Chestnut Avenue development that was just approved. How the heck does Ridgewood make any sort of real dent in its preposterous court-imposed low income housing deficit, seven units at a time?
Judicial fiat in any area of life over a time span measured in decades is utter lunacy. In this case it constitutes a naked denial to New Jersey citizens of their right under the U.S. Constitution to a republican (small ‘r’) form of government. The Municipal Law course at Rutgers Newark offered at the turn of the millenium featured a hands-upturned, shoulders-shrugged admission of all of the above by the part-time prof and active municipal law practitioner (who, of course, supported the system despite its unconstitutionality, but why? Because the prof was a reliablly progressive statist drone who agreed with the POLICY!).
The issue of affordable housing is based on a NJ Supreme Court decision over 10 years ago that requires EVERY municipality in the state to provide affordable housing in their community. The towns then essentially passed that burden along to developers who wished to build new housing units in their community by requiring that a percentage of the new units be dedicated to affordable housing. Nonetheless the legal obligation to provide affordable housing ultimately rests with the municipality and not developers..
It doesn’t. The way the ‘settlement’ has been structured, it never will.The settlement isn’t designed to address low income housing availability. It is designed as a club developers can hold over the heads of affluent communities. No prizes for guessing who the driving force behind the settlement was.
If they REALLY cared about affordable housing, they would insist that developers build 100% affordable housing, instead of giving ‘credit’ for a few units in a giant multifamily building. But there the $$$$$ are just not there for developing pure affordable housing, you see!
The part I can’t understand is that to get the seven we have to get a lot more of the “non-low-income” kind, thereby increasing the proportion of those. At that rate, the more affordable units we build, the farther behind we’ll get. By the way, Aronsohn promised the disabled community that he would make sure appropriate housing became available. Why isn’t his name invoked when complaints are made that Ridgewood needs this? No–instead, he’s thanked.
That was the fallacy and lunacy of the Mayor Arohnson approach – – the last council approved close to 400 new family units downtown with only a small percentage addressing our coah requirements. But, the new council does not seem any more intent on doing what we need to do in a rationale manner. Now we have these new units going forward, our schools and other village services will be innundated with new people and we still have the problem we had before — where do we put hundreds of new coah units??
The CBD is small with narrow roads. Put added parking in my living room.
Some people will just have to move out of Ridgewood if they are unhappy, that is only solution. Tax base may be smaller; but will be doable. Too much unnecessary stuff anyway.
If only seniors lived here that would be best. Walkable streets , supermarkets close by. Ridgewood could be a wonderful town for majority of residents being seniors. A big school budget wouldn’t be necessary then. Taxes wouldn’t be so high; parking wouldn’t be a problem.
How about that for the future, thinking futuristic.
Attorney General, Division of Highway Traffic Safety Introduce New Initiative to Combat Distracted Driving Rebranding of State’s #77 Program Will Allow Motorists to Report Dangerous Driving New Warning Letter to Motorists Will Be One of the First in Nation
April 11,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
WEST TRENTON – Responding to an 8 percent spike in New Jersey traffic fatalities in 2016, largely attributable to the increasing scourge of distracted driving, Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino and the Division of Highway Traffic Safety are announcing a new initiative to provide state residents with a method to report dangerous drivers in order to protect motorists and pedestrians.
The state’s #77 alert system, previously used for reporting aggressive driving, will now be used to report all forms of dangerous driving, from those operating a vehicle while looking at a cell phone to those driving while impaired. Enforcement measures are being stepped up on the road, and in an initiative believed to be one of the first of its kind in the nation, warning letters will be directed to those spotted driving while distracted on New Jersey roadways.
Traffic fatalities in New Jersey rose from 562 in 2015 to 604 in 2016, an average of 12 deaths a week. Division of Highway Traffic Safety officials have said the increase is in part because of distracted driving, such as cell phone use behind the wheel. In 2015 alone, 3,477 people were killed, and 391,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes involving distracted drivers, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Teens were the largest age group reported as distracted at the time of fatal crashes.
“These deaths and injuries are not simply statistics. Those are husbands and wives, sons and daughters, parents and grandparents. How many would still be alive today if others had been paying full attention to driving?” said Attorney General Porrino. “The main mission of the Attorney General’s Office is to promote and protect public safety, and protecting motorists and pedestrians is as important any other initiative we take. We have an obligation to those who suffered losses to combat distracted driving with every means we have.”
“By employing #77 to fight distracted driving, we are giving everyone in New Jersey a role in making our roadways safer,” said Gary Poedubicky, Acting Director of the Division of Highway Traffic Safety. “Motorists and pedestrians can and should be our eyes on the road, helping to protect their neighbors and friends and perhaps changing attitudes as well.”
The current system allows motorists and pedestrians who witness aggressive driving to call #77 to report it. Those calls are answered in the call room of the New Jersey State Police Regional Operations and Intelligence Center in West Trenton. The calls are then forwarded to the local police agency with jurisdiction, which in certain circumstances can respond to the call and, if the behavior is witnessed, issue a summons.
The protocol of #77 will remain the same, but those who witness dangerous driving of all types will now be able to call the number. In addition, if the license plate of the alleged dangerous driver is gathered, a letter detailing the time and place of the observed offense may be sent to the vehicle owner’s home.
“We believe this will serve as a deterrent to future offenses,” said Attorney General Porrino. “And if, for instance, it is a teen driver operating a parent’s vehicle, the letter may serve as a teaching tool, hopefully spurring better driving habits in the future.”
This does not mean that those who spot distracted drivers should text while driving themselves. The Division of Highway Traffic Safety is urging drivers to either pull over in order to make the call, use a hands-free device or have a passenger in the vehicle make the call. Pedestrians, of course, may call #77 as well. Only report what you see when it is safe to do so.
The Attorney General and the Division of Highway Traffic Safety are partnering with the New Jersey State Police, Department of Transportation, the Motor Vehicle Commission, the New Jersey Police Traffic Officer’s Association and the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police in order to bolster the effort to raise awareness about the dangers of distracted driving.
To aid with the rebranding of #77, road signage along the state’s major highways will be changed to note the new initiative and digital signage will also tout the effort. A public awareness campaign, including radio spots and advertisements on buses and billboards, will kick off in April as well.
The new #77 initiative runs parallel with the state’s 2017 distracted driving crackdown, called “U Drive. U Text. U Pay.” As part of that campaign, more than 190 police agencies throughout New Jersey have received a total of $1,204,500 in federal National Highway Traffic Safety Administration grants to help with enforcement efforts. That program runs from April 1 through April 21.
With that money, police departments, including the State Police, will be deploying plain-clothes officers to watch for cell phone users at intersections and interchanges along New Jersey roadways. Marked vehicles can then be contacted to stop and cite drivers. Also, departments will be using high-visibility patrol vehicles, such as SUVs, where officers in the passenger seat can look down into vehicles to spot distracted drivers for citation.
Follow the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office online at Twitter, Facebook, Instagram & YouTube. The social media links provided are for reference only. The New Jersey Attorney General’s Office does not endorse any non-governmental websites, companies or applications.
Gov. Chris Christie’s administration is holding meetings with New Jersey public-worker unions on a plan to merge the state lottery with the ailing pension system, and legislation could be introduced early next month, Christie said Monday.
The merger would be complex, since it would involve converting the nearly $1 billion a year state lottery into an asset of the $71 billion pension system.
And the effect would be dramatic. By Christie’s estimates, in one fell swoop, the retirement system would go from a funded ratio of 49 percent to a much healthier 65 percent, providing more stability for the nearly 800,000 workers and retirees who are beneficiaries.
Things are getting personal in the seemingly endless legal fight over how much affordable housing to build in New Jersey.
After South Brunswick lost a court case seeking to tamp down its affordable housing obligations, the township’s attorney, Jeffrey Surenian, filed court papers last week attacking the judge who issued the ruling.
The allegation is that former Superior Court Judge Douglas Wolfson had a conflict of interest because earlier in his career Wolfson represented and befriended a developer, Jack Morris of Edgewood Properties, who allegedly stood to benefit financially from Wolfson’s rulings last year calling for more affordable housing units to be built than some towns wanted.
8Apr – by Daniel Steingold – 189 – In Health Studies
ROCHESTER, Minn. — When it comes to treating a serious illness, two brains are better than one. A new study finds that nearly 9 in 10 people who go for a second opinion after seeing a doctor are likely to leave with a refined or new diagnosis from what they were first told.
Researchers at the Mayo Clinic examined 286 patient records of individuals who had decided to consult a second opinion, hoping to determine whether being referred to a second specialist impacted one’s likelihood of receiving an accurate diagnosis.
The study, conducted using records of patients referred to the Mayo Clinic’s General Internal Medicine Division over a two-year period, ultimately found that when consulting a second opinion, the physician only confirmed the original diagnosis 12 percent of the time.
A new study finds that 88% of people who go for a second opinion after seeing a doctor wind up receiving a refined or new diagnosis.
Among those with updated diagnoses, 66% received a refined or redefined diagnosis, while 21% were diagnosed with something completely different than what their first physician concluded
Looking for a page-turner to read on the treadmill or on vacation this year? Now’s the time to head to your local library to find one. This week marks National Library Week.
Last year, 73 percent of Americans read at least one book, and believe it or not, print books are still the most common ones picked up, according to the Pew Research Center. Of those who read a book in 2016, 65 percent said it was a print version and 28 percent said they read at least one digital book, the Pew Research Center reported.
And in New Jersey, more than 55 million books were circulated in 2015, according to data from the state library.
We asked the county libraries throughout New Jersey what the most-popular books were last year, and here are the results.
Ridgewood NJ, Chris’ idea to move the bus station to the train station is lunacy.
300 NJT buses every weekday at the tiny and already overcrowded Garber Square intersection.
Up to 20 NJT buses an hour in rush hours.
900 new pedestrians in the morning rush and 900 new pedestrians in the afternoon rush.
Buses acting as 40 foot long walls obstructing line of sight for drivers and hundreds of pedestrians alike.
Each bus = 3 car lengths so traffic that already backs up Franklin and down to Monroe will back up more. Fewer cars will get through each light cycle.
Seven low income housing units are planned for the Chestnut Avenue development that was just approved. How the heck does Ridgewood make any sort of real dent in its preposterous court-imposed low income housing deficit, seven units at a time?
the garage will slum anyway put the bus station there add add more noise fumes centralized homeless and drug dealing shedded alcove . Bid out the rental car franchise that will come soon anyway Major FUBAR folks and we are all on the
Hook when it fails. Time to Sell
No contact from VC until 5:00 yesterday. Horrible communication. The schools found out about it Wed night. I learned about it from Channel 2 news. It was newsworthy enough for network news but not important enough for the VC to contact residents. They only find you when they need you to do something for them like move your garbage cans or leaves.
The Village could make a ton of money selling the details of their communications plan to Harvard’s Business School as a textbook example of what NOT to do when confronted with a situation like this. A classic screw up of municipal government.
By Adam Clark | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on April 09, 2017 at 7:00 AM, updated April 09, 2017 at 9:47 AM
TRENTON — None of Piscataway Township’s teachers took a sick day last year, faculty at one Sussex County school were absent for nearly half of the year, and teachers at another school showed up only 10 percent of the time.
Those unlikely scenarios all played out last school year, at least according to data released in the state’s school report cards.
New Jersey for the first time last week released statistics for how often teachers and support staff miss school, showing that the vast majority of teachers are in the classroom more than 90 percent of the time.
But the faculty attendance rates, released amid a national push to judge schools on more than just test scores, also include a series of implausible statistics and misleading mistakes, school officials say.
By Len Melisurgo | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on April 08, 2017 at 7:45 AM
Just a few months ago, New Jersey was struggling with its worst drought conditions in more than a decade.
Now, thanks to a persistent weather pattern that brought more snow than usual in March and a series of drenching rain storms the past two weeks, the Garden State’s drought woes are steadily washing away.
Hannan Adely , Staff Writer, @AdelyReporterPublished 8:32 a.m. ET April 8, 2017 | Updated 16 hours ago
Ahmed Hassan, a 17-year-old U.S. citizen and New Jersey native, spends his days in a dark, crowded Egyptian prison cell, waiting and hoping for help.
Hassan’s family and supporters say the teen, who loves basketball and who planned to attend college in the U.S., was jailed after he questioned police officers who were arresting his uncle on a zoning violation last December. A surveillance video released to The Record shows him being beaten by officers and dragged and tossed into a van.
“The family is desperate. He’s a 17-year-old kid sitting in jail with at least 20 adults. Egyptian prisons are not the best place for a kid to be,” said Praveen Madhiraju, a pro bono lawyer with the organization Pretrial Rights International who is representing Hassan.
