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Swim Team End of Year Dinner

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July 15,2018

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, the Swim Team End of Year Dinner  will be held on July 20th  .

Friday, July 20 at 6 PM – 9 PM
Next Week · 66–84°F Partly Cloudy

Ridgewood Parks & Recreation
259 N Maple Ave, Ridgewood, New Jersey 07450

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Reader says Citizens We have lost control of our town

high density housing

Citizens We have lost control of our town..but will pay the invoices for these scandalous errors and boondoggles for decades..many will see the handwriting on the wall and sell..then the newbees will be fresh rubes for the VC and their takers to clean them out as well..because they see the future and it’s all for their backers to cleave off extra unearned value by over developing the town and packing up the loot and jetting off to Margaritaville.Folks we are being ripped off.Young families won’t be able to easily sell with multiple kids in VR free but taxed school systems and longer term future college and tax costs so high.we have been gamed folks

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Prevention is key in fight against tickborne disease

Deer Tick1

July 15,2018

Rebecca Eisen Ph.D. (CDC)

 

Ridgewood NJ, Tickborne diseases are on the rise and prevention should be on everyone’s mind, particularly during the spring, summer, and early-fall when ticks are most active. From May through July, people will get more tick bites and tickborne diseases than any other time of year in the United States. It’s especially important to take steps to protect yourself and your loved ones (including pets) from ticks during this season, as well as any time during warmer months when you’re outside.

Many people do not know they are at risk. Each year, more than 30,000 cases of Lyme disease are reported nationwide, while studies suggest the actual number of people diagnosed with Lyme disease is more likely about 300,000. Despite these numbers, a recent national survey reported that nearly 20 percent of people surveyed in areas where Lyme disease is common were unaware that it was a risk. Additionally, half of people interviewed in another study reported that they did not routinely take steps to protect themselves against tick bites during warm weather.

No sure way to predict how bad a season will be
Preventing Lyme and other tickborne diseases is important every year. Predicting the number of Lyme disease or other tickborne infections, and how an upcoming season will compare to previous years, is complicated. Ticks that spread disease to people can have up to 2 to 3-year lifecycles, and many factors can affect their numbers, including temperature, rainfall, humidity, and the amount of available hosts for the ticks to feed on, such as mice, deer and other animals. In any given year, the number of ticks in an area will be different from region to region, state to state, and even county to county.

Know the risk
What is known is that regardless of the number of ticks this year, people should be aware that ticks could be in the areas where they live, work and play. Everyone should take steps to help protect themselves and their loved ones, including pets, While not all ticks carry the same diseases, ticks can be found in every state. Throughout the continental United States, some diseases occur more frequently in some areas than others:
Lyme disease risk is focused in the Northeast, mid-Atlantic, and upper Midwest, with pockets of lower risk along the west coast. However, the range of the tick that transmits Lyme disease also is expanding. While nearly 95 percent of Lyme disease cases occur in 14 states: Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin, infected ticks can also be found in neighboring states and in some areas of Northern California, Oregon and Washington.

Other less known, but serious tickborne diseases include Rocky Mountain spotted fever, anaplasmosis, ehrlichiosis, Powassan virus, and babesiosis. These diseases tend to be concentrated in specific parts of the country. Babesiosis and anaplasmosis occur in the same areas as Lyme disease—mainly in the Northeast and upper Midwest. More than 60 percent of Rocky Mountain spotted fever cases occur in five states: Arkansas, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Tennessee.

Take steps to protect against ticks
Taking steps to protect yourself and your family from getting a tick bite is the best defense against Lyme disease and other tickborne infections. Whether you’re working, enjoying your yard, camping, hiking, hunting or otherwise in the outdoors, CDC recommends that people:
Avoid areas with high grass and leaf litter and walk in the center of trails when hiking.
Use Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-registered insect repellents containing DEET, picaridin, IR3535, oil of lemon eucalyptus, para-menthane-diol, or 2-undecanone. EPA’s helpful search tool can help you find the product that best suits your needs. Always follow product instructions.
Use products that contain permethrin to treat clothing and gear, such as boots, pants, socks and tents or look for clothing pre-treated with permethrin.
Treat dogs for ticks. Dogs are very susceptible to tick bites and to some tickborne diseases. They may also bring ticks into your home. Talk to your veterinarian about the best tick prevention products for your dog.
Bathe or shower as soon as possible after coming indoors to wash off and more easily find crawling ticks before they bite you.
Conduct a full-body tick check using a hand-held or full-length mirror to view all parts of your body upon returning from tick-infested areas. Parents should help children check thoroughly for ticks. Remove any ticks right away.
Tumble dry clothes in a dryer on high heat for 10 minutes to kill ticks on dry clothing after you come indoors. If the clothes are damp, additional time may be needed.

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National Ice Cream Day!

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July 15,2018

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

 

Ridgewood NJ, to celebrate National Ice Cream Day, Ice Cream by Mike will be offering a Buy One, Get One Half Off special, on Sunday, July 15, 2018,

Purchase any size cone, cup or shake at the regular price and get another for half price (of equal of lesser value). This special cannot be combined with any other offer, is limited to one per customer, and available while supplies last.

Ice Cream by Mike
(201) 343-4514
305 East Ridgewood Avenue
Ridgewood, NJ 07451

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Reader asks how do you steal $1 million and you don’t do a day in jail?

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People it will never be over they are so embarrassed one of the biggest factors in village and Street right under their own nose is. So much for the surveillance and police department. Others know about it they just kept real quiet didn’t day. Think about it how do you steal $1 million and you don’t do a day in jail. In this case it came down to all the skeletons in the closet. And they did not want them to come out.

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Ridgewood Public Library : Alexa, meet hoopla!

Amazon Alexa Echo schwarz Katzenbeisser

July 14,2018

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood Public Library is pleased to announce that hoopla now supports Amazon Alexa devices. Ridgewood Library cardholders can play borrowed audiobooks and music albums directly on their Amazon Echo, Dot, Spot, and Show devices. Check out this quick video that shows Alexa and hoopla in action and contact us with any questions.

125 N Maple Ave
Ridgewood, New Jersey

Call (201) 670-5600

 

Alexa, meet hoopla! from hoopla digital on Vimeo.

 

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Ridgewood Elks Club : How Many Golden Toilets ?

"Golden Toilet" by Maurizio Cattelan retrospective at the Guggenheim

July 13,2018
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, after Wednesday council meeting and the confusion over the actual cost of renovations to the Elks Club ,it reminds old time residents of the “golden toilet fiasco of 2009 , and the Village Hall renovation fiasco of 1999.

https://theridgewoodblog.net/hurricane-floyd-and-the-village-hall-renovation-fiasco/

https://theridgewoodblog.net/the-big-flush-golden-toilet-outrage-grows/

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Reader Only Sees Downside to Hudson Parking Garage

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The garage is being built solely for the apartments who will then get a quantity discount that is lower than the actual cost to Ridgewood. Have you noticed the builders offering to pay part of the construction? Restaurants and stores much beyond Walnut will not get one bit of additional business from the garage but even those few won’t commit a cent to the construction. As many said, before you build a garage, see what will happen if Ridgewood starts enforcing repeat parking, marking the tires in such a way that they can’t be rubbed off or just rolling the car a little bit. Easily done with 2 marks on each outside tire at different locations so one would always be showing. Also these business complainers who blame everyone but their employees should enforce the parking rule as well. The lot where they wish to build the garage could be repaved and restriped with diagonal parking at each end and restriping of all the center lanes would provide much more parking than the garage is going to actually allow non-commuters if villagers cannot use but the ground floor. The ground floor as presently described in the garage will not even give as as much space as we currently have without the re-striping. If on the remaining downtown streets they would convert to diagonal parking on one side and parallel on the other, we would gain a lot of spaces. And lastly, take away the favored businesses extra reserved spots where their valet picks up, or where it has to be marked yellow for no parking because an illegal wall blocks parking spots. Do either of these precious to the Village properties pay the town for the parking meter charge that would be normally earned with removal of their illegal blockades? Two meters to a spot would really add up as you know they would be constantly used. Since Susan and Raymond think the Village will just curl up and die without this garage and are going to put it there regardless of objections–why don’t you two take it upon yourselves to count the total spots gained by restriping just in that one parking lot and the on the street parking? And removing the illegal obstacles! If you really wanted an accurate count of what is possible, why don’t you include as a second count all our current parking lots after repaving and restriping? I am sure you could easily come up with over a hundred. Yes, that may not help the commuters much, but who is Ridgewood really for? The commuters who park, maybe grab a coffee and a newspaper, go to work, return, unpark their car and go home? What money or convenience does Ridgewood gain from that? And again, a reduced fee for monthly parking that will not cover our costs. Or for the residents who you are expecting to pay much more in taxes to provide a convenience for the builders (do they leave any money here?). Instead you are forcing Mt Carmel members to use your garage on Sundays and other days that Church is in session (and I’m sure it won’t be free!). I’m going to insult you here but I wish you would rise up out of the poppy field in Oz, put your brains back in your head, and actually think and listen for a change. Are any of you, except Bernie, capable of doing that?
Also, many of the parishioners are handicapped or have several small children and it is a long walk from the garage even to the side door of Church.

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Reader says I’m really beginning to wonder if the members of the council can even balance their own checkbooks

ridgewood elks

Does anyone have a source for fake money? Maybe if we made a visual presentation on how big that amount of money is, the council could understand it better. They appear to be only able to visualize in their minds sums that do not have a large amount of zeros behind them. I was under the impression that the council members were normal people and not among the extremely wealthy in town. I guess I made the mis-assumption that ordinary people could keep track of their money when the council shows it’s only the extremely rich who can count–or even see- the zeros. An unneeded garage and an expensive building that the last I heard the “water company had enough money for the purchase.” I thought that quote was rather interesting as the dispute between towns who think they were overcharged and got court approval to collect has not even been considered as a possible loss of that extra money in repayments demanded by the court. I’m really beginning to wonder if the members of the council can even balance their own checkbooks as they certainly don’t hesitate to spend on bonds for many years in the future and don’t see how this could make it extremely impossible for Ridgewood to balance theirs.
You were elected on the premise that you would only act on things that were good for Ridgewood and reduce costs in every way possible. At this rate you all might have the dubious honor of being the council who threw away the most money in all of Ridgewood’s recorded history during your term on the council.

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Ridgewood Library Film & Culture Programs ,‎Ex Libris: The New York Public Library

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July 13,2018
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood Library Film & Culture Programs presents : Frederick Wiseman’s film makes a case for the library as an urgent idea.
Master documentarian Frederick Wiseman, known for his spellbinding films about complex institutions such as the police, high school, and the Paris Opera Ballet, turns his attention to New York Public Library for his latest film, Ex Libris. In this fascinating long-form documentary, Wiseman exposes the myriad offerings and resources provided by NYPL, from our online archive of images to our author talks to our educational programs and more.
This is a compelling look at a library beyond the books. SUNDAY, JULY 15 at 1pm. With refreshments. All are welcome!

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Ridgewood Fire Fighters Annual Graydon Pool Dive Drill

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photos courtesy of Ridgewood Professional Firefighters FMBA Local 47

July 13,2018

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, the Ridgewood Fire Department ,“A” Shift doing their Annual Graydon Pool Dive Drill!

Fire Fighters keeping residents safe .

From the Ridgewood Professional Firefighters FMBA Local 47 Facebook page :

Our Mission is to protect the lives and property of all residents and visitors of the Village of Ridgewood. This shall be accomplished through fire suppression, fire prevention, public education, emergency medical services and the extensive pool of resources available to the Village to mitigate disasters either natural or manmade. We are committed to protecting the safety and well-being of our firefighters as we strive to make Ridgewood a safer place to live, work and visit.

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Reader says instead of claiming “cronyism” on Village Boards if you know that the law is actually being broken you should report it!

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I’ve been on various boards and committees in town. I’ve also been mistreated on some of them. But that’s all within the scope of how they work. You can get booted, etc. But what are you implying about having no regard for the law? I can list lots of petty and crony-esque complaints, but if you know that the law is actually being broken you should be specific and report it!

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Reader Calls it the Summer Special ,Residents take off and the Board Of Education and Village Council spend, spend, spend

ArtChick_jersey_shore_theridgewoodblog

SUMMER SPECIAL where all the rotten deals for the taxpayers get their wings..case of other people’s future loss making obligation foisted on all the Taxpapers
fish bank construction of a new massive restaurant refurbishment means the fix has been in for over a year or more.
complete abrogation of fiscal governance .A huge scandal.
these folks will be long gone when the deficits wash up on the taxpayers ..
then welcome the car rental companies and other low class operatkons in the loss making town garage .traffic during evening rush hours and evenings will be harmful to that neighborhoods schools churches and families living in that district .its being done for the money people many who don’t even live here .FOLLOW THE MONEY

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Ridgewood Council Holds Vigorous Debate on Elks Club Purchase

ridgewood elks

photo by Boyd Loving

July 12,2018

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, the Village of Ridgewood debated moving move forward with the purchase of the Ridgewood Elks club , Councilwomen Bernie Walsh objected to the purchase of the Elks Club for Ridgewood Water , at $200,000 over the appraised value plus $500-700 to 1.5 million in renovations for 30 people . Walsh reiterated that the purchase was just for Ridgewood Water.

Walsh went on noting that class “A” and class “B” office space are plentiful in Bergen County and there was no need for such a major under taking . Walsh felt is was just, “not a smart idea at this time”.

Former Mayor Knudsen pushed the idea for consolidation of space as well as the Elks is last contagious piece of property near the Municipal complex creating greater efficiencies  . Mayor Hach wanted confirmation on the renovation estimates because there seemed to be significant disagreement about what was or was not estimated .

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Highlights for the Village Council Work Session – July 11, 2018, 7:30pm

Maura McMahon DeNicola with Bernadette Walsh ,Ramone Hache,Mike Sedon, Susan Traina Knudsen and Jeff Voigt

July 11,2018

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, tonight’s Village council meeting will be the first official meeting of our new mayor Ramon Hache .

Some key issues that will be discussed are :

Purchase of Ridgewood Elks Club

Parking Meter Rates/Hours and Kiosks

Return School Board Election to April

Residency Requirement for Civilian Positions