>My Views on Graydon Park
I have been asked repeatedly in this election about my views on Graydon and how to improve the facility and make the water clearer for swimming. The Village is in the process of preparing for an RFP that would perhaps include major capital improvements. It would not be feasible to add a major structure to the site.
The majority of the site is located in a High Risk – Inundation Flood Zone (AE Flood Zone as designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency https://www.fema.gov).
Our Village Hall is also located in this same Flood Zone and is regularly damaged by flooding. As a small, recent example: a rain storm flooded the elevator pit disabling the elevator this spring 2010. Significant damage and destruction have previously occurred to the Village Hall and vehicles causing significant financial loss to the Village tax payer. While vehicles can be moved when storms threaten, structures cannot and future flooding damage and losses are inevitable. Many residents of Ridgewood remain upset that the Village spent over $10,000,000 (and is still paying off the bond today) for a structure that will flood over and over again.
Graydon has, in the past and will continue to, flood many times. Common sense dictates that placement of the proposed $10,000,000 pool structure will be a future financial disaster for the tax payers of Ridgewood in two ways:
First, the Village will be required to self insure this project and self fund future damage.
Secondly, the Village will be required to back-stop the required bond financing. Those who proclaim the pool financing will not burden the Ridgewood tax payer because the recreation facility will be financially self-sustaining are deceiving the public as the unlimited backstop of the Village of Ridgewood AAA credit rating will be required to finance the project. Should the pool be unable to meet its massive financial obligations, the Village tax payer will be entirely on the hook for loan re-payment.
Common sense and historical perspective provide obvious answers. Stepping back in time we would observe the diversion of a nearby stream. This stream runs along and under the Graydon pool. It may well be imagined that this land was donated to the Village by a generous resident not only because it would enhance the life of countless Ridgewood residents in the future but also because, within Graydon’s border are harnessed powerful forces of nature that make it unsuitable for significant man-made development.
Bernadette Walsh
Candidate for Village Council 2010
