Category: Bergen County

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Ridgewood Water Stage 4 Water Restrictions Now In force

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Ridgewood Water – STAGE 4 WATER RESTRICTIONS

Dear E-Notice Resident,

Due to the very dry conditions that we have experienced over the last few months, we have deemed it necessary to invoke a Stage 4 irrigation ban. Beginning immediately, there will be no irrigation allowed other than using hand-held spray nozzles – these hand-helds can only be used on Tuesdays and Saturdays for odd-numbered houses and Wednesdays and Sundays for even-numbered houses. No irrigation of any kind is allowed on Mondays, Thursdays or Fridays.

I cannot emphasize enough the importance of obeying these restrictions – this is a public safety issue – our firefighters need to have the necessary water and water pressure to be able to fight fires and we also need to maintain reserves for household use.

As you are aware we have ratcheted up enforcement over the last several weeks issuing over 50 summonses and hundreds of warnings. This has had some impact but unfortunately we need to take this further – so, I have taken the additional step of appointing more Village employees who will have the authority to issue summonses in order to achieve a higher rate of compliance.

We will continually monitor our water supply. Hopefully we will not need to also ban hand-held watering but this may still be a possibility…..let’s hope for some rain! For up-to-the-minute restriction status, please visit our website at water.ridgewoodnj.net.

It really does take all of us to address these types of problems. Thanks for your help and support,

Roberta

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Glen Rock council to vote on S-2 zone , multi family high density housing

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Glen Rock council to vote on S-2 zone , multi family high density housing

SEPTEMBER 4, 2015    LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2015, 12:31 AM
BY RICHARD DE SANTA
STAFF WRITER |
GLEN ROCK GAZETTE

With a final vote on a new age-restricted housing zone in Glen Rock now pushed to Sept. 16, the measure and its purpose were again challenged at the Wednesday, Aug. 26 Borough Council meeting.

Resident and attorney Ron D’Argenio ramped up his public opposition to the pending “S-2” zone ordinance, arguing that the existing zone for multiple-unit senior housing (S-1) is sufficient and saying the new one was conceived and advanced chiefly to accommodate an individual developer’s plan.

Disagreeing with building regulations to be permitted in the new zone, D’Argenio had also assailed the council at an Aug. 10 work session for recently “downplaying” what he called obvious links between the S-2 ordinance and a senior citizen apartment development planned by Glen Park Village LLC – and calling that stance “intellectual dishonesty” and “deception.”

He also criticized the absence of public council conversation around the project or the zoning question, over the period when the borough Planning Board was drafting the S-2 ordinance for its consideration earlier this year.

Mayor John van Keuren and Councilwoman Joan Orseck are also Planning Board members.

 

https://www.northjersey.com/news/vote-on-s-2-zone-planned-1.1403732

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Glen Rock to ramp up enforcement of water restrictions

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SEPTEMBER 2, 2015    LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2015, 2:41 PM
BY RICHARD DE SANTA
STAFF WRITER |
GLEN ROCK GAZETTE

Mayor John van Keuren has directed Glen Rock police to begin issuing warnings and subsequent summonses to property owners who do not observe the current Stage 2 watering restrictions imposed last month by Ridgewood Water.

The village-owned utility supplies Ridgewood, Midland Park and Wyckoff in addition to Glen Rock. .

In effect since Aug. 6, the restriction prohibits the use of above and below-ground water sprinkler systems at all properties on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays. Property owners with odd-numbered addresses are permitted to use the systems on Tuesdays and Saturdays only, while those with even-numbered addresses can irrigate lawns on Wednesdays and Sundays.

There is no restriction against the use of hand-held hoses at any time.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/glen-rock-to-ramp-up-enforcement-of-water-restrictions-1.1402398

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Suspicious Package found in the parking lot of the HoHoKus Police Department

ho ho kus bomb squad
photo courtesy of Boyd Loving’s Facebook

Suspicious Package  found in the parking lot of the HoHoKus Police Department

September 2,2015

the staff of the Ridegwood blog

Ho Ho Kus NJ, At approximately 9:45 PM on Wednesday, 09/02, a suspicious package was found in the parking lot of the HoHoKus Police Department, which occupies a portion of the HoHoKus Borough Hall along with HoHoKus FD and EMS. As a precaution, the entire building, including fire all fire apparatus and ambulances, was evacuated; all on-duty FD and EMS volunteers stood by at the scene.

The Bergen County Sheriff’s Office Bomb Squad unit, including a explosive detection canine, was summoned to the location. All incoming telephone traffic to HoHoKus PD was rerouted to Waldwick PD and portions of Sheridan, Warren, and Sycamore Avenues were closed to vehicular and pedestrian traffic. The package was inspected and examined by Bomb Squad personnel and determined not to be explosive in nature. The scene was cleared by 11:05 PM.

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Driver Transported to Valley Hospital after collision with Utility Pole

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photo courtesy of Boyd Loving’s Facebook page

Driver Transported to Valley Hospital after collision with Utility Pole
September 02,2015
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Glen Rock NJ, The adult male driver of a Ford Expedition was transported by ambulance to The Valley Hospital following an 11:45 AM crash into a utility pole at the intersection of Glen and South Maple Avenues in Glen Rock on Tuesday, 09/01. The victim’s injuries were reported to be non-life threatening in nature. A juvenile female passenger was uninjured in the mishap.

A traffic control sign was downed in the crash; there was minimal damage to the utility pole and no utility service outages resulted from the incident. Glen Rock PD and EMS responded to the crash. The vehicle was removed by a flatbed tow truck. Traffic on Maple Avenue northbound was rerouted at Rodney Street until the scene was cleared.

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Hasbrouck Heights neighbors puzzle over deadly shooting

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AUGUST 30, 2015, 9:25 AM    LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, AUGUST 31, 2015, 6:43 AM
BY LINDA MOSS, MINJAE PARK AND MARINA VILLENEUVE
STAFF WRITERS |
THE RECORD

By Sunday afternoon, only yellow police tape punctured the normalcy of passing traffic and children playing soccer along the usually tranquil Passaic Avenue in Hasbrouck Heights, but neighbors continued to wonder how a verbal dispute had turned deadly a day earlier.

John C. Wisse, an 83-year-old landlord and former Bergen County employee, was charged with aggravated manslaughter in the shooting of Gerald Velardi Jr., his 58-year-old tenant at the two-story home at 1 Passaic Ave. that the men shared, Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli said on Twitter.

Details about the two men and what prompted the disagreement that authorities say spiraled out of control remained unclear Sunday, but one neighbor described tension between the men over Wisse’s potential sale of the home, and Wisse’s ex-wife depicted a short-tempered man prone to physical violence.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/hasbrouck-heights-neighbors-puzzle-over-deadly-shooting-1.1401025

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Glen Rock council discusses police matters in closed-door meeting

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AUGUST 27, 2015, 6:04 PM    LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, AUGUST 27, 2015, 7:28 PM
BY CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

GLEN ROCK — Before a closed-door council meeting last week, in which an investigation into “the general culture within the police department” was being discussed, the borough served its top two police officers with written notices that matters related to their jobs would be discussed, officials said.

Glen Rock Mayor John van Keuren and the borough’s attorney, Robert Garibaldi, both confirmed Wednesday that before the Aug. 17 meeting what are known as Rice notices were supplied to Chief of Police Frederick Stahman and his second-in-command, Capt. Jonathan Miller.

The notices, Garibaldi said, were issued “as a matter of practice,” provided “sensitive” discussions were scheduled for the private meeting and the names of both veteran officers “were going to be mentioned.”

https://www.northjersey.com/news/glen-rock-council-discusses-police-matters-in-closed-door-meeting-1.1399687

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N.J. courses on the list as The Barclays announces future sites

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AUGUST 25, 2015, 12:31 PM    LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, AUGUST 25, 2015, 12:41 PM
BY ANDY VASQUEZ
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

EDISON — The Barclays will be spending a lot of time in New Jersey over the coming years.

The PGA Tour tournament, which changes sites each year, is being played at Plainfield Country Club in Edison this week. Tuesday morning, tournament officials unveiled the future rotation through 2022.

In the next seven years, the Barclays will be played in Jersey four times.

After two years on Long Island, the tournament will next be played in New Jersey in 2018, at Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus. That begins a  a stretch of three consecutive years in New Jersey.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/n-j-courses-on-the-list-as-the-barclays-announces-future-sites-1.1397925

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CHRISTIE ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCES NEW INTERACTIVE FLOOD WARNING MAPS OF HO HO KUS BROOK

RHSFfieldflood_theridgewood-blog

file photo by Boyd Loving

CHRISTIE ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCES NEW INTERACTIVE FLOOD WARNING MAPS FOR PASSAIC RIVER BASIN 

MAP DETAILS SIX-MILE STRETCH OF RIVER RUNNING THROUGH WALDWICK, HO-HOKUS AND RIDGEWOOD IN BERGEN COUNTY 

Ridgewood NJ, The fourth in a series of online, interactive flood-preparation maps designed to aid emergency management personnel and to inform residents in the Passaic River Basin about flooding events in real time has been launched, Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Bob Martin announced today. The Ho-Ho-Kus Brook Flood Inundation Map, covering a 6-mile span of the river in Bergen County’s Waldwick Borough, Ho-Ho-Kus Borough and Ridgewood, is the fourth map designated for the Passaic River Basin in response to recommendations made by Governor Christie’s Passaic River Basin Advisory Commission.
The map was developed in a partnership between the DEP and U.S. Geological Survey. Fifteen additional maps covering critical areas of the basin will be produced in coming months as part of a cooperative effort between the DEP, USGS and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Flood inundation mapping is among the recommendations in the commission’s 15-point plan for short-term and long-term measures to help mitigate flooding impacts in the basin. Governor Christie formed the commission in 2011 in response to a series of damaging floods in the basin, which covers significant portions of Bergen, Morris and Passaic counties.
Key recommendations of the plan called for better information to help prepare for and respond to flooding emergencies. “The Christie Administration remains committed to addressing flooding issues in the Passaic River Basin through mitigation, property acquisitions, de-snagging efforts and emergency preparedness and response,” Commissioner Martin said. “These easy-to-use online maps offer real-time information to residents about conditions during significant rainfalls and will assist local, state and federal officials in making critical decision to protect the public in the event of flooding.” “This flood preparedness tool highlights how our agencies and local officials are working together to create more resilient communities, and to provide better flood preparedness and responses to flooding,” added USGS Associate Director for Water Bill Werkheiser.
In addition to this latest map, flood inundation maps are being developed for Lodi, Ridgewood and Upper Saddle River along the Saddle River; for Little Falls, Pine Brook, Chatham, Millington and Clifton along the Passaic River. Maps are also being created for Pompton Lakes, Mahwah and Oakland along the Wanaque River; for two locations in Wanaque along the Wanaque River; for Pompton Plains along the Pompton River; for Riverdale and the Macopin Intake Dam along the Pequannock River; and for Little Falls along the Peckman River. Previous flood inundation maps were produced for a 2.75-mile reach of the Saddle River in Lodi; a 4.1-mile stretch of the river in Saddle River Borough; and for a 5.4-mile span of the river running downstream from Ho-Ho-Kus Borough through the Village of Ridgewood and Paramus Borough to the confluence with Hohokus Brook in the Village of Ridgewood.
To view the Hohokus Brook map, visit: https://wimcloud.usgs.gov/apps/FIM/FloodInundationMapper.html?siteno=01391000. A click on the map shows the stream flows and water depths for the stretch of the stream that extends from White’s Lake Dam in Waldwick Borough, downstream through Ho-Ho-Kus Borough to Grove Street in the Village of Ridgewood.
Monitoring tools include current stream gauges, which provide real-time data via satellites to the USGS and the National Weather Service. The flood inundation map shows where floodwaters are expected to travel. Emergency management officials and residents can use this information to evaluate the potential threat of floodwaters to property and infrastructure.
Through the website, users will also have the option to receive email notifications in real time of critical thresholds reached in the river via the USGS WaterAlert. To view the Scientific Investigations Report (SIR 2015-5064) documenting the development and methods used to create the flood inundations maps, visit: https://dx.doi.org/10.3133/sir20155064 For current conditions for USGS stream gauge 013910000 Hohokus Brook at Ho-Ho-Kus, visit: https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?site_no=01391000
For information on the Governor’s 15-point Passaic Basin plan and the Passaic River Basin Flood Advisory Commission, visit: https://www.nj.gov/dep/passaicriver/
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Garrett tells Wyckoff crowd stopping Iran deal will be tough

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AUGUST 26, 2015    LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2015, 1:21 AM
BY JOHN C. ENSSLIN
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

Rep. Scott Garrett told a Tea Party audience in Wyckoff on Tuesday that he opposes the proposed nuclear arms agreement with Iran but said stopping the deal will be difficult under the rules that the Senate has adopted.

Garrett, R-Wantage, said he considers the agreement reached by the Obama administration to be a treaty that ought to require two-thirds approval by the Senate.

But he said a majority of his colleagues still consider it an executive action by the president.

Under the rules adopted, it would require a two-thirds majority of both the Senate and the House to disapprove the deal after a 60-day review period.

“The burden of proof has shifted from them to us,” Garrett said of the rules.

As an executive action, the agreement could be undone by the next president, Garrett said.

“But the problem with that is that the next president will not be here for another 16 or 17 months,” Garrett told a crowd of about 70 people gathered at a forum hosted by the West Bergen Tea Party.

While talk of the Iran deal dominated most of the evening, the mostly receptive audience also peppered Garrett with other questions on topics ranging from the GOP leadership in the House to trade agreements and housing discrimination legislation.

None of the questions dealt with presidential politics or the race for the Republican nomination.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/politics/garrett-says-stopping-iran-deal-will-be-tough-1.1398254

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Garrett Says No Deal on Iran Nukes

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August 26,2015
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Will voters remember N.J. Rep. Scott Garrett’s gay comments next fall? In a state with a history of populating the more moderate wing of the Republican Party, U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett has always been an outlier. Jonathan D. Salant, NJ.com
https://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/08/will_voters_remember_nj_rep_scott_garretts_comments_next_fall.html?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=New%20Campaign&utm_term=Wake%20Up%20Call%20NJ#incart_river

Wyckoff NJ, Its been asked over and over by every New Jersey editorial board ,will voters remember N.J. Rep. Scott Garrett’s  supposed, anonymously sourced Speaker Bohner planted gay comments next fall?

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The answer was heard loud and clear today and in meetings like it all over the state. Garrett spoke before a packed house at the WBTP and question after question was about a Nuclear Iran, TPP, TPA, and so on but not one single question about the anonymously attributed “gay ” comments , not one. Apparently Iranians shouting death to America and being handed nuclear weapons by our government , held sway over silly Republican intramural politics .
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Last night Garrett spoke before the West Bergen Tea Party meeting in Wyckoff which looked like a who’s who in North Jersey Republican Politics including Bob Yudin of BCRO and Paul DiGaetano  .
Garrett took some heat for Republican failures to achieve any meaning for change in the disastrous direction the country is headed ,after which he reminded the crowd that he was just one person and will vote against the Iran Nuke deal , had voted against Obamacare, voted to with hold TPA from the president , and had voted against speaker Bohners leadership .
Garrett took it one step further when explained that he and 8 other house members, now grown to 50 that had started a caucus in the house which looked to push a more constitutional based agenda for the house. Garrett seemed even more frustrated than members of the audience with the current political situation and suggested the House could use the power of the purse to defund the Iran deal .

 

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3 Bergen County freeholders ask Bergen Regional Medical Center to expand drug detox unit

Bergen_regional_medical_center_theridgewoodblog

AUGUST 24, 2015, 5:31 PM    LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, AUGUST 25, 2015, 7:40 AM
BY JOHN C. ENSSLIN
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

Three Bergen County freeholders want the private operator of the county-owned Bergen Regional Medical Center to expand its drug detoxification unit to help deal with the epidemic of heroin addiction in the county.

But hospital officials say they have already taken the first steps toward increasing the 54 beds currently available for short-term treatment of recovering drug and alcohol addicts.

The issue comes at a time when the heroin-related deaths in Bergen County have spiked. The New Jersey Medical Examiners office reported in June that there were 42 heroin-related deaths in 2014, a 61 percent increase over 2013 and the third largest increase of any county in the state.

Freeholders Thomas Sullivan, Joan Voss and Tracy Zur sent a letter Thursday to County Executive James Tedesco asking him to “pursue a dialog” with Bergen Regional officials about expanding services.

“We are all well aware of the heroin epidemic in our midst,” the freeholders wrote. “We have attended too many funerals for people who have lost their battles to addiction.”

https://www.northjersey.com/news/3-bergen-county-freeholders-ask-bergen-regional-medical-center-to-expand-drug-detox-unit-1.1397674

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In Saddle River, deer problem spurs thoughts of a hunt

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file photo by Boyd Loving

AUGUST 24, 2015    LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, AUGUST 24, 2015, 1:20 AM
BY MARINA VILLENEUVE
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

SADDLE RIVER — Borough officials are considering allowing hunters to control the deer population, and state-certified Animal Control Officer Carol Tyler says her experiences in the field confirm that something has to be done.

There are so many deer in town, she says, that it’s led to more getting hit by cars, impaled by fences and becoming so dependent on feeding by residents that “The deer I’m pulling out of the woods are skeletons that didn’t know how to deal with winter.”

“Do we have a humane issue, do we have a deer population that we can’t control?” she continued, “Did we cause it? Yes, we did. We have to do something about it.”

Tyler spoke at a presentation last Wednesday night held by the Borough Council’s wildlife management committee and attended by Ramsey Board of Health members, an Allendale council member and residents.

 

https://www.northjersey.com/news/environment/saddle-river-discussing-deer-hunt-1.1397378

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Bergen County Fire Chief’s Association calls for updates to fire code

Dryer Fire theridgewoodblog.net

file photo by Boyd Loving

August 24, 2015

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, News 12 reported that the Bergen County Fire Chief’s Association and other fire officials are calling for an update to New Jersey’s fire code. According to Bergen County’s Fire Chief Association the State of New Jersey is Still using pre-Avolon fire ,fire codes from 2006. Look at all the build being planned in Ridgewood alone then think about all the multi family high density units being built all over Bergen County .

News 12 cited fire experts claiming that would not be enough to prevent another massive Avolon type fire like the one in Edgewater in January . The new codes would ban buildings over three stories, firewalls between every ten units and sprinklers between floors.Under current building codes the entire Avolon apartments can be rebuild from the same plans .

 

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‘No idea why he cracked’; N.Y.C. shooter’s job loss was one in string of setbacks

Ridgewood_Police_theridgewoodblog

AUGUST 22, 2015, 6:03 PM    LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, AUGUST 23, 2015, 12:29 AM
BY CHRISTOPHER MAAG AND MARINA VILLENEUVE
STAFF WRITERS |
THE RECORD

One day after authorities say Fort Lee resident Kevin Downing shot a security guard and then himself inside a federal building in Manhattan, a contradictory image emerged Saturday of Downing as a man by turns warm, sad, distant and obsessed, an Army veteran whose once-bright future gradually dimmed in a series of personal setbacks.

In the late 1990s, Downing was fired after working briefly for the Bureau of Labor Statistics, instigating a 16-year campaign in which he accused the agency of retaliating against him for acting as a whistle-blower. The agency has offices in the same building where the shooting occurred, leading many to believe the attackwas related to Downing’s long-simmering complaints.

The FBI, New York Police Department and the Department of Homeland Security have released little information about the investigation. All the agencies declined to comment Saturday on motives or details in the case.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/rep-pascrell-discusses-his-office-s-role-in-dealing-with-n-y-c-shooter-from-fort-lee-1.1396875

 

Kelly: Call to newsroom gave no hint at violence

AUGUST 23, 2015    LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, AUGUST 23, 2015, 12:36 AM
BY MIKE KELLY
RECORD COLUMNIST |
THE RECORD

On an otherwise ordinary Wednesday morning in April, my phone rang.

Kevin Downing of Fort Lee was on the line with a cry for help and a story of hardship — a story I had no idea would take a deadly turn four months later.

Without any apparent warning, Downing, 68, walked into a federal office building in lower Manhattan on Friday, and fatally shot a security guard. Moments later, Downing turned his gun on himself.

This is every journalist’s nightmare — an out-of-the blue phone call from someone who seems entirely rational at the time, yet is harboring a deep and hidden pain that could one day explode into violence.

It is the kind of nightmare that many others face, too — from parents, coaches and teachers to cops, clergy, health care professionals and even mayors and lawmakers. In short, anyone whose job involves listening to someone with a problem.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/kelly-call-to-newsroom-gave-no-hint-at-violence-1.1396879