Category: Village of Ridgewood

>By Matt Friedman

Ridgewood Mayor David Pfund isn’t up for reelection tomorrow, but he may not keep the mayoral seat much longer.

The town’s five member council, governed under the Faulkner Act, chooses one of its own every two years to become mayor. Pfund has been mayor for four years, and his council seat is not up for reelection until 2010. But with five candidates vying for three seats on the body in tomorrow’s election, Pfund may either step down and allow someone else to take the helm. Or he could try to hold on for reelection at the council’s July 1st reorganization meeting.

As of right now, Pfund isn’t letting on what he’s going to do, though some local insiders have suggested that he’s getting ready to step down.

“The focus right now is on the municipal election, and afterwards we’ll have a closed-session meeting and we’ll discuss all these issues to move forward in the next term,” said Pfund.

The position of mayor pays $5,000, as opposed to the regular $3,000 council salary. While the mayor leads the council, most of the day-to-day operations of running the municipality are the responsibility of the village manager.

One possible contender for the mayoral spot is Councilwoman Betty Wiest, who’s running for her second term on the council and whose husband, Quentin Wiest, served as mayor between 1986 and 1990. She was the top vote-getter in the 2004 municipal elections.

Also running for council is incumbent Jacques Harlow and newcomers Paul Aronsohn, Anne Zusy and Keith Killion.

Pfund has stayed neutral in this year’s election.

>I have always voted Democrat and I like Paul Aronsohn. In fact I would like to one day see him in the State Senate or even in the US Congress. That said, I also feel that he is just using Ridgewood to further his career and he doesn’t really have a stake in the community. This has put me in a dilemma for the past few weeks. I am torn between wanting to see him advance, but not wanting a professional politician on the council. I understand what he is doing and in a way support it, but I wish it was not in MY town. Why couldn’t he run for village council in some other town? I would fully support THAT as a stepping stone for him to move onto bigger and better things (in which I would support him).

As much as I like him, I do not like being used. Someone here earlier said (something like) that all of his decisions would be made based on what would better advance his career and not what would be in the best interest of the community. I have to agree with that and it gives me pause. I have been turning this over in my head for weeks now and recently came up with another unsettling thought. If Paul succeeds, will the party see Ridgewood as a good place to launch politicians and promote another outsider when Paul moves on? I don’t want Ridgewood to become the clearing house for professional politicians on their way to bigger and better things. I wouldn’t like that.

So, just this weekend, I came to the conclusion that I cannot vote for Paul. I feel that he is bright enough and young enough and skilled enough to advance his career from some other means than through the Ridgewood village council. And when he does, I will be out there supporting him… but just not this time.

Perhaps this will help some of you, but if not, I just feel better getting it all out.

As for the other candidates, Keith has my vote. I still do not know what I am going to do with the other 4 candidates (all of which don’t look particularly appealing).

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>I have to laugh at phrases like:
“…non-partisan election…”

As soon as Paul Aronsohn stepped into the race, it became partisan.

He is not for Ridgewood. He is a hard core party favorite (supposed to be rising star, but more like sputtering star) and this is just an attempt by him to regain his footing and use Ridgewood as a stepping stone. Having been in state government as McGreevy’s spokesman and Federal government, and having failed at getting into the State House with a failed attempt at the 5th district, why would he want to be on a village council and make decisions about swimming pools and security cameras or whether or not to approve repainting the village police cars black and white?

Face it… Aronsohn is just using Ridgewood to hopefully re-launch his stalled political career.

Vote how you’d like, but know what you are voting for…

>

So I stopped in to pick up a pie at Ridgewood Pizza (37 Godwin Ave ,(201)444-1055) the other day and was informed that my pie was now a whopping $10 a full 25% increase from the $8 previous Monday, Wednesday Special price. Yikes …so what’s going on with Pizza prices. Seems the global commodities price explosion has hit home. Prices of wheat, flour, sugar as well as prices for oil, natural gas, coal and precious metals to name a few have not seen these kinds of price increases since the 1970’s . Unlike many other places on earth there is no need for food riots or the offing of heads of inept despots ,in America making money of human folly is fair game .Yes but isn’t investing in volatile commodities very risky you ask? Risky yes but now because of the miracles of modern technology you can invest in Precious Metals, Gold, Oil, Natural Gas ,Agriculture Equipment, Green Power and so on through the use of what we call Exchange Traded Funds or ETF’s for short. What is an ETF you ask? An ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) is simply a basket of stocks that is bought and sold on a stock exchange as if it were a single stock. ETF traded funds are a great way to play a particular sector or diversify your portfolio. So if you want to take advantage of say a falling dollar or just looking to make some extra bread to treat yourself to a pizza give me a call your friendly neighborhood investment advisor and remember that these investments as all securities carry risk of loss of principal and are not insured like bank deposits and you could lose all or most of your money.

James Foytlin
Investment Representative
54 Washington Place
Ridgewood NJ 07450
Toll Free 1(866)492-359
1(201)301-2780
Fax 1(201)301-2762
Cell 1(201)966-788
https://onesmallvoice.blogspot.com/

>BOE Scheduled to Formally Expel Two Students

A scheduled item on the BOE’s 5/12 agenda:

C.

ADMINISTRATION ?????? Dr. Brennan

i.

Approval:? Expulsion of Student #1 Dr. Brennan

Approval of expulsion of Student #1, whose hearing took place in Executive Session on May 5, 2008, pursuant to 6A:16-7.5. The situation will be reviewed prior to the next school year.
ii.

Approval:? Expulsion of Student #2 Dr. Brennan

Approval of expulsion of Student #2, whose hearing took place in Executive Session on May 5, 2008, pursuant to 6A:16-7.5.

>George Will once said, “WE CAN HAVE JUST AS BAD A PUBLIC EDUCATION SYSTEM FOR HALF THE COST.” He must have been right. Russia and Croatia don’t spend anywhere near what we spend.

In a recent study, Finland placed first in student performance among 57 countries in reading and science, and second in math.
Where do students in the United States come in? In math, we’re in the middle of the pack, just behind Russia and just ahead of Croatia.

Educators around the globe are studying the secrets for success in the Finnish toolkit — including light homework loads, no class rankings, no gifted and talented classes, and waiting until children are 7 years old to start school. So what’s the matter with us? Your thoughts…

>Some residents have been called at home and asked to answer survey questions about Valley Hospital. A quick thinking resident asked who the client was, but the supervisor would not make any disclosure, so the resident refused to participate. Since the town is not underwriting such a survey, it is assumed that the client is Valley.
The aim of the survey would seem to be to again gather ammunition to lobby the Planning Board to deliver a yes vote on the Valley Expansion. These types of surveys cost $$$. Is it appropriate that Valley continues to spend tens of thousands of its health service profits on lobbying the Planning Board, through advertizing and other means, all outside of the public hearing procedures? What do blog readers think?

>
2/13/2008 – Village Council Resolution #08-35 – Accept Donation from Bolger Foundation – Installation of Security System in Central Business District, Parking Garage and Other Locations – Estimated worth = $450K+

Roll Call Vote Results:

Councilman Harlow – No

Councilman Mancuso – Yes

Councilwoman RIngler-Shagin – No

Deputy Mayor Wiest – Yes

Mayor Pfund – Yes

Resolution #08-35 was approved
4/28/2008 – Village Council Resolution #08-103 – Accept Donation from Bolger Foundation – Renovation of Pease Library Building Including New Parking Lot – Estimated worth = $750K+

Roll Call Vote Results:

Councilman Harlow – Yes

Councilman Mancuso – Yes

Councilwoman RIngler-Shagin – Yes

Deputy Mayor Wiest – Yes

Mayor Pfund – Yes

Resolution #08-103 was unanimously approved

Total Accepted Gifts From Bolger Foundation YTD 2008 = $1,200,000+

4/29/2008 – Zoning Board of Adjustment Site Plan approval permitting demolition of an existing motor vehicle inspection station and for building of a four-story self storage facility with a floor area of approximately 91,000 square feet and related site amenities. Variances include floor area ratio of 167% where 45% is the maximum permitted, impervious coverage of 95% where 90% is the maximum permitted, 21 parking spaces where 364 spaces are required and a use variance for a self storage facility which is not a permitted use in the C zone at 156 Chestnut Street, Block 2005 Lot 3. Property owner: Bolger and Company.

One roll “no” vote recorded, from Mr. David Larsen.

>Owen Bowcott The Guardian, Tuesday May 6 2008

Massive investment in CCTV cameras to prevent crime in the UK has failed to have a significant impact, despite billions of pounds spent on the new technology, a senior police officer piloting a new database has warned. Only 3% of street robberies in London were solved using CCTV images, despite the fact that Britain has more security cameras than any other country in Europe.

The warning comes from the head of the Visual Images, Identifications and Detections Office (Viido) at New Scotland Yard as the force launches a series of initiatives to try to boost conviction rates using CCTV evidence. They include:

· A new database of images which is expected to use technology developed by the sports advertising industry to track and identify offenders.

· Putting images of suspects in muggings, rape and robbery cases out on the internet from next month.

· Building a national CCTV database, incorporating pictures of convicted offenders as well as unidentified suspects. The plans for this have been drawn up, but are on hold while the technology required to carry out automated searches is refined.

Link to this audioOwen Bowcott on why CCTV is catching few criminalsLink to this audioOwen Bowcott on why CCTV is catching few criminals

Owen Bowcott on why CCTV is catching few criminals
Use of CCTV images for court evidence has so far been very poor, according to Detective Chief Inspector Mick Neville, the officer in charge of the Metropolitan police unit. “CCTV was originally seen as a preventative measure,” Neville told the Security Document World Conference in London. “Billions of pounds has been spent on kit, but no thought has gone into how the police are going to use the images and how they will be used in court. It’s been an utter fiasco: only 3% of crimes were solved by CCTV. There’s no fear of CCTV. Why don’t people fear it? [They think] the cameras are not working.”

More training was needed for officers, he said. Often they do not want to find CCTV images “because it’s hard work”. Sometimes the police did not bother inquiring beyond local councils to find out whether CCTV cameras monitored a particular street incident.

“CCTV operators need feedback. If you call them back, they feel valued and are more helpful. We want to develop a career path for CCTV [police] inquirers.”

The Viido unit is beginning to establish a London-wide database of images of suspects that are cross-referenced by written descriptions. Interest in the technology has been enhanced by recent police work, in which officers back-tracked through video tapes to pick out terrorist suspects. In districts where the Viido scheme is working, CCTV is now helping police in 15-20% of street robberies.

“We are [beginning] to collate images from across London,” Neville said. “This has got to be balanced against any Big Brother concerns, with safeguards. The images are from thefts, robberies and more serious crimes. Possibly the [database] could be national in future.”

The unit is now investigating whether it can use software – developed to track advertising during televised football games – to follow distinctive brand logos on the clothing of unidentified suspects. “Sometimes you are looking for a picture, for example, of someone with a red top and a green dragon on it,” he explained. “That technology could be used to track logos.” By back-tracking, officers have often found earlier pictures, for example, of suspects with their hoods down, in which they can be identified.

“We are also going to start putting out [pictures] on the internet, on the Met police website, asking ‘who is this guy?’. If criminals see that CCTV works they are less likely to commit crimes.”

Cheshire deputy chief constable Graham Gerrard, who chairs the CCTV working group of the Association of Chief Police Officers, told the Guardian, that it made no sense to have a national DNA and fingerprint database, but to have to approach 43 separate forces for images of suspects and offenders. A scheme called the Facial Identification National Database (Find), which began collecting offenders’ images from their prison pictures and elsewhere, has been put on hold.

He said that there were discussions with biometric companies “on a regular basis” about developing the technology to search digitised databases and match suspects’ images with known offenders. “Sometimes when they put their [equipment] in operational practice, it’s not as wonderful as they said it would be, ” he said. “I suspect [Find] has been put on hold until the technology matures. Before you can digitise every offender’s image you have to make sure the lighting is right and it’s a good picture. It’s a major project. We are still some way from a national database. There are still ethical and technical issues to consider.”

Asked about the development of a CCTV database, the office of the UK’s information commissioner, Richard Thomas, said: “CCTV can play an important role in helping to prevent and detect crime. However we would expect adequate safeguards to be put in place to ensure the images are only used for crime detection purposes, stored securely and that access to images is restricted to authorised individuals. We would have concerns if CCTV images of individuals going about their daily lives were retained as part of the initiative.”

The charity Victim’s Voice, which supports relatives of those who have been murdered, said it supported more effective use of CCTV systems. “Our view is that anything that helps get criminals off the street and prevents crime is good,” said Ed Usher, one of the organisation’s trustees. “If handled properly it can be a superb preventative tool.”
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