Category: Uncategorized

>Leaves Everywhere : Pascack Road Twp of Washington 3pm

>Unannounced Verizon Emergency Alert Causes Panic In New Jersey
 
Scared citizens flood 911 boards with anxious calls
Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
Monday, December 12, 2011

An unannounced test of a soon to be mandatory emergency alert system caused panic in New Jersey today after Verizon customers received text messages warning them that a “civil emergency” was in progress and to “take shelter,” prompting alarmed citizens to flood 911 lines with anxious calls.

However, media reports concerning the alarm completely ignore the fact that Verizon was almost certainly running a test for the federal government’s soon to be mandatory PLAN alert program, which the company has signed up for.

https://www.infowars.com/unannounced-verizon-emergency-alert-causes-panic-in-new-jersey/

>Obviously the leaf issue is a volume issue

Obviously the leaf issue is a volume issue – a volume of leaves from every property owner throughout town. The Octo storm compounded it, as well as property owners by piling branches on top of leaf piles in streets and mixed in with them. Have been a homeowner here 45 years, seen past 10/20 years more volumes of leaves in streets. Leaf production is up as trees grow. A homeowner, not an apartment dweller, no kids, not a troll – just tired of seeing everyone bitchin instead of using common sense and make suggestions.

Both the town and homeowners need to comply together. A better management plan for leaf removal needs be drawn up – as some others say, by either changing to prioritizing clearing all the main roads first, and regular weekly pick ups like the recycle is done, even if temporarily changing rear yard p/u from 2 times week to once week just during the leaf season. After all, what is the leaf season? – c’mon, maybe 8 or 9 weeks, abt. 2 months? Also, hire part time seasonal workers, some other towns do that. I believe the plan for snow removal is prioritize the main roads, then the others.

Compliance on homeowners side should come with either limiting the volume of tarp piles they can place in streets at a time, so not to block the flow of road traffic, c’mon people need to use common sense, you can’t put a football field size of leaves into streets (that’s a bigee safety problem) and or using barrels and bags. Landscapers should remove their clean ups as they do with grass clippings. Some of the town curb trees, are so big, that they need trimming, either by town, or in most cases PSE&G as many are in the wires. PSE&G used to come regularly every 1 or 2 years to trim, but I have not seen them do that in the past 10 years. Only saw them trim certain trees because they had to put up those solar panels on those certain trees.

 

>Orpheus Club Holiday Concert

Men’s chorus performing holiday music – classics, Broadway, pop, and more! December 17 & 18 at Ridgewood United Methodist Church, Dayton Street, Ridgewood.Guest artist trumpeter Rick Henley. $15 at the Door; $10 in advance www.ridgewoodorpheusclub.org Information:201/652-2873

>Leaves: Many Hands make light work

At some point, knowing the difficult situation and unprecedented weather, why not get outside and help clean up the leaves. Rake & bag and transport them. It could not have been a surprise that your thanksgiving guests were coming so why not clean up your area of the street. I mean, if the caterer didn’t come through for a party you would cook your own food, right?

I am not saying I agree with this mess and I certainly don’t agree with the Gabbert raise. Actually, for his level of insubordination towards Paul Aronsohn, I think Gabbert should be fired. And add to that the hefty taxes we pay here Ridgewood there really is no excuse.

All that being said, right now our Village needs our help. Never mind whose job it is or placing the blame for now. If the situation is so dire and dangerous let’s all pitch in. Have a neighborhood clean-up party. Better time spent than writing all these letters and sitting around complaining. Just help clean up.

>I am all for lower taxes, and smarter spending BUT I am not going to support kicking out or making older people feel unwelcome.

“transform Ridgewood into a thriving semi-urban environment that will offer an array of desirable high wage jobs along with upscale living accommodations that will befit a younger,more upwardly mobile population. “

 That is a very scary statement. I am all for lower taxes, and smarter spending BUT I am not going to support kicking out or making older people feel unwelcome.

Additionally, I don’t care if my neighbors are upwardly mobile or stuck in dead end jobs, that is their business. I think Ed needs to review the role of local government. It is not the VC’s role to socially engineer a perfect population.

>MINI NEW PLAYERS FOR GRADES K-5 IS DECEMBER 16

On Friday, December 16, from 4-7:30 p.m., K-5 students will have the opportunity to work with RHS theatre students doing fun activities to that spark creativity and teach the basics of drama. The event will be supervised by New Players Company adult staff. It all takes place at the RHS Little Theatre. Cost, including pizza dinner, is $30 for the first child; $15 for sibling. Questions? Call Meg Schaefer at 201-670-2800, ext. 20411 or [email protected]. Click here for the flyer and registration form : https://tinyurl.com/829fxht

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>Village of Ridgewood : Free Trolley Rides!!!!

11:00am- 4:00pm
FREE Trolley rides for shoppers, children, and families
Ride the Holiday Trolley every Saturday until Christmas!
Memorial Park at Van Neste Square visit Santa at his Ridgewood home!
Bring your list!!

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10TH, 17TH, & 24TH
Santa’s House in Memorial Park at Van Neste Square. Free Trolley Rides!

>Village Council Meetings 

12/06/11 7:30PM Planning Board Public Meeting
12/07/11 7:30PM Village Council Work Session
12/13/11 7:30PM Board of Adjustment Public Meeting
12/14/11 8:00PM Village Council Public Meeting
12/20/11 7:30PM Planning Board Public Meeting
12/27/11 7:30PM Board of Adjustment Public Meeting – CANCELLED
01/04/12 7:30PM Village Council Work Session

>Time to Bag those leaves 

I’ve posted about leaves in the street before, having narrowly missed being hit more than once by drivers who couldn’t see around the skyscrapers people insist on building in the street.

Putting leaves or anything else in the streets should be illegal and the fines should be high to encourage compliance, perhaps after one initial warning.

Village saves money, and you don’t wind up picking up leaves your neighbors pile in the street which then blow into your yard and everyone else’s over and over again.

Simple thing to change. People can bag them, or take to Recycling or compost. (we do all 3 here, and we have no trees, we get loads of leaves though from other people’s trees). If you have a landscaper, make arrangements with them to take leaves away or bag for you.

The other day Village did leaf pickup in our area. Less than an hour later, 3 landscapers and 1 homeowner were out building new street skyscrapers. There is a current ordinance (7 days bef schedule) against that, but it is not enforced. And the schedule sometimes must be changed anyway- out of necessity like weather or storm events.

Simply ban putting leaves in the street completely. As I’ve written before, a long time ago it was tradition here to BURN your leaves. So many people were careless that many fires resulted and so it was changed and no longer permitted.

Time to stop putting leaves and other junk in the street. Is it going to take more accidents, damage to cars -or worse – to make this happen? I sure hope not. I’ve seen kids playing in those piles in the streets, sometimes near when it gets dark too. Recipe for disaster.

It’s simple to do and will save money and pose less hazards too. It is to everyone’s benefit and the cost of paper bags really is not much. You can also avoid that cost and just take to recycling or compost too.

So you have options, and (for 4.11) you can pick “your way” so long as it doesn’t endanger other people the way piling leaves and junk in the streets certainly does.

 

>Village Seeking Volunteers to Serve on Library Board and Parks, Recreation, and Conservation Board

The Village Council is looking for residents who are interested in volunteering to serve on the Library Board of Trustees and the Parks, Recreation, and Conservation Board.

The Library Board of Trustees is the governing board for the Ridgewood Public Library and its employees. The Board of Trustees works with the community to establish Library policy. They also secure funds to carry on services to the public, and set goals and objectives.

The Parks, Recreation, and Conservation Board recommends rules for use and monitors recreation facilities. The Board coordinates community recreation programs and develops and updates the long-range Master Plan for recreation in the Village.

All interested residents should fill out a Citizen Volunteer Leadership form (found on the Village website under “Forms”), and send it along with a cover letter indicating on which board or committee the resident wishes to serve, and a biography or resume to:

Mayor Keith Killion
Village of Ridgewood
131 North Maple Ave.
Ridgewood, NJ 07451

>RHS Stadium : Good schools differentiate themselves by having many extracurricular activities and excellent facilities for the kids to use

I totally disagree with people critisizing the field and stadium. The old field and stadium were embarrassingly in disrepair. Good schools differentiate themselves by having many extracurricular activities and excellent facilities for the kids to use. This field and stadium are just one part of that. RHS offers more clubs and extracurricular activities and varsity sports than many high schools and that participation by the students should be encouraged and supported.

Ridgewood does itself a disservice by having crappy substandard facilities that are falling apart as if we are some inner-city Detriot school with falling down bleachers and a field that could ONLY be used by varsity football and varsity lax because that is all it could handle. Now we have a field that we can be proud of and can withstand high usage by as many classes and clubs and sports that need to use it. Drive by and you see kids on it all the time now and it is great to see.

This is not about just one or two sports teams, it is about the entire school’s appearance and facilities for many of the kids to use. Think about when we take our kids to see colleges, how does an Ivy League school compare to some crappy low budget college? It does not take very long walking around a campus to get an idea for the quality of the school by just looking at the all the facilities, some of which are the fields. One of the things that most differentiates great schools is the depth and breadth of programs and sports they offer and that kids participate in.

Check out a mediocre college (or private High School) and the list of varsity programs and clubs is short and the facilities are not great. Check out a high quality school and the facilities are nice and the kids participate in many things. It seems we have a culture here in Ridgewood where we support building $10 million wings for classrooms, and second stories on elementary schools and junior high schools. But heaven forbid we spend a tiny fraction of that amount to replace a grandstand that was so old and crappy it was about to collapse and fix a field that is the first thing everybody sees and should be the most used by all the students.

I for one love the new field and I know the kids do too (not just football and lax players). Now when people come see RHS they see a beautiful school with a field and stadium that are at least on par with Ramapo, Northern Highlands, Ramsey, and other good high schools(not better). This is one of the things people consider when they buy a home in Ridgewood and the appearance of the high school field is just one small part of that and it is money very well spent in that regard given how highly visible it is.

>As Far as I know the sidewalks are your responsibility.

As Far as I know (here a long time) the sidewalks are your responsibility.

Yet over in HHK, we know many people who got new sidewalks and curbs a few years ago at no cost to them at all, the town paid for the work completely. I checked with many people we know and they confirmed that as fact.

Maybe they got a grant or something- or maybe their officials knew something ours didn’t (I don’t know).

Again, where most of the money seems to go is on paying many higher ups at VH signif. more than their counterparts are paid for same jobs in sim. size nearby towns (by pop.) like Mahwah and Paramus. And now.. even bonuses for many already highly paid VH top people, too. Yet the real work does not get done – no money.

It’s not just sidewalks, the Village has been pushing things back on the taxpayer for a while now. Other examples include the part of sewer pipe under the street that goes to your house (not just what’s under your yard).

Also, many trees that were orig. planted by the Village but on the house side of the sidewalk as opposed to between sidewalk and curb. Apparently these were made yours retroactively some years ago, even if you could prove the Village planted them in 1st place.

Yet we pay very high taxes- even the muni part. And obviously the town is still a real mess from last storm.

If we simply paid at levels more comparable to what other towns pay for the higher-ups, we’d sure save some serious money.

And the answer to most anything over at VH always seems to be “sorry, no money” – whether it’s curbs, walks, storm drains or most anything.

But the leaves in the streets, I really think it has become time to stop that whole thing. Even years when we did not have storms like this year, very often many streets around town have been dangerous from all the huge piles in them.

Few obey the “7days before” rule anyhow and it’s not enforced. Also, the pickup schedules get changed, like this year – often from necessity.

So, stop the leaves in the street altogether. People can bag them and put at the curb. Or you can gather them and take to Recycling if you want. Or you can compost in your yard. Or if you have a landscaper you can arrange whatever you want with them.
All these are very simple and viable alternatives.

Putting leaves in the street just creates big hazards. Also in many spots they then just blow down the street into everyone’s yards – even if those folks spent hours picking theirs up, they now have yours to deal with, over and over.

As I’ve posted before, a long time ago it was “tradition” here to BURN your leaves. So many people were careless that many fires resulted, and so that got changed.

It’s time to change putting leaves in streets now, too.

Last week, we almost got hit by a car pulling onto Glen from a side street- it was a low sports car and apparently could not see around a huge leaf pile someone put at a corner. Our car was heading down Glen from M/Park at the time. Close call- nearly plowed right into us.

Just one example, you can experience many more on many streets here.

It’s a problem with a pretty simple solution– just stop the practice and enforce it — at least on the busier streets. Less cost to taxpayers, more time for what crews we do have to focus on the many other things needing work, too.

It would need to be enforced with fines with some teeth, not a wink or slap on the wrist.

And though I don’t like having to see that be done, if it isn’t, people will just keep on creating the problem, sadly to say. The fines would need to be substantial enough to encourage compliance. After all, people are creating a hazard in the street when they do this.

Plus, your neighbors will appreciate your not creating skyscrapers that just blow into their yards over and over again, too.

>Valley Renewal: We were very dismayed with how Valley management handled this whole process

My family has been here a long time and has been very supportive of Valley in the past, through many expansions.

However, we did not support this plan and have said so many times.

We were also very dismayed with how Valley mgmt handled this whole process, to say the least.

For a long time Valley represented a high standard of being both a good community resource as well as a good citizen.

It’s not that way now. The way Valley management handled all this process proves that. So does how they handled everything regarding Pascack re-opening, and so does all the money and effort they spend trying to attract patients from areas very far away from this one.

Also, they have stressed the need for all single patient rooms. And sure, I agree with that – in concept- for many reasons.

But there are some downsides to that too. Apparently ONLY if you build NEW buildings is this a requirement. If you renovate (or “renew”) it is NOT. And most hospitals in NJ do not have ONLY private rooms.

Why is this impt? Well, my small business has been looking at new insurance plans and we have many proposals for diff plans and carriers.

ALL of them state that they will pay ONLY for semi-private rooms. That means if only private rooms can be had, the patient is responsible for the upcharge, which can be sizable.

At first I thought, “can’t be right”, but looking around online, it DOES seem to be right.

Also pretty sure Medicare (and thus most wraparound M/care coverage) works the same way – only pays for semi private.

I’m no expert on this though– if someone here knows more, please share with the rest of us.

If this is how it works, then we get all the “side effects” and costs of hosting Valley, but if we need to use Valley as a patient, even with good insurance, we would have to pay extra because of that private room upcharge.

Wow. That’s really being a community resource, huh?

Again, pls weigh in if you know more – I very much hope this is NOT how it works, but from what I’ve read, seems to be.

Also checked the NJ Direct Employee benefit handbook at link below and it says same thing re semi-private versus private. Muni employees, teachers, etc are apparently covered by this.

https://www.state.nj.us/treasury/pensions/epbam/exhibits/handbook/njdirectbk.pdf

The recent numbers I saw for such upcharges (from semi to private) were high. Those won’t be going down either.

Yet if Valley renovates without building all new, then there is no such “mandate” for private rooms. Seems to shed a little more light on what is perhaps the real agenda in all this.

In any case, I too have a much different opinion of Valley’s management now than our family used to. Rather than being upfront and engaging and involving the community so all could really work together to find a solution that everyone could live with, they handled this much differently, and likely will continue to do so.

And all the while they fought Pascack re-opening bitterly.

They also expect Ridgewood to pay all the costs of hosting “renewed” Valley — and yet right now way less than 10% of Valley’s patients come from Ridgewood – and they are actively marketing Valley as far away as New England and PA.

If they build anything like this plan, it looks like they would have a facility that only the very wealthy can use – since insurance won’t pay for private rooms – unless you can fight the carrier and truly demonstrate medical necessity.

If you’ve ever had a claim denied with a health insurer, you know real well how difficult it is to get such a decision reversed.

Thanks a lot Valley mgmt. Shouldn’t you want to modernize in a way that lets you market to the largest possible share of those in THIS area – in ways that those customers’ insurance will cover?

>The bridge is in trouble because the BOE — its owners — deferred necessary maintenance.


Let’s not spin this as a good thing. The bridge is in trouble because the BOE — its owners — deferred necessary maintenance. By this argument, if the BOE stops maintaining the High School building itself maybe it will fall down and we can get a new one. It’s only money, after all.

Charlie Reilly’s comments are worth examining:

“Recently resigned trustee Charlie Reilly spoke up as a member of the public to defend the decision to delay bridge repairs in favor of other capital improvements from a budgetary standpoint.

“To say that expenditures on this bridge could have been done, and that we had the resources to do it, is completely fallacious,” he said, adding that the bond referendum vote would likely have not passed if bridge repairs were incorporated.”

So the BOE, knowing that the bridge had serious structural issues as documented in the 2009 engineering report, hid that fact during the bonding process. Reilly’s comment that expenditures could have been done is itself fallacious. The BOE had $48M to work with. Do we seriously think fixing or rebuilding the bridge would have caused the bond not to pass? 

These are apologies after the fact. The BOE knew the situation, deliberately did nothing, and now we have a much larger bill to pay.

Rebuilding this bridge will cost hundreds of thousands.