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The New Jersey State Police and the Bergen County Sheriff’s Department are seeking the public’s assistance with identifying an unknown male

Newbridge Medical Center in Paramus

February 27,2018

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Paramus NJ, The New Jersey State Police and the Bergen County Sheriff’s Department are seeking the public’s assistance with identifying an unknown male.
On January 29, the man was admitted to Newbridge Medical Center in Paramus where he currently remains non-responsive.
He is described as a white male in his mid to late 20’s with dirty blonde hair and hazel or gray eyes. He is 5’8”, weighs 130 lbs and has a tattoo on his left chest that reads “NAIVASHA.”Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Joel Trella at (609)203-7294.
Anonymous tips are welcome.

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Willett certified as a candidate for Village Council

Village Council Candidate Janice Willet snoozed

February 26,2018

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, we have just learned that Janice Willett has been certified as a candidate for Village Council. Willett has run before and developer John Saraceno  supported Richard Brooks, Evan Weitz, along with Janice Willett for Village Council .

https://theridgewoodblog.net/developer-john-saraceno-is-supporting-richard-brooks-evan-weitz-and-janice-willett-for-village-council/

Last time she ran the progress Ridgewood group ran an ad in the Ridgewood News saying Richard Brooks, Evan Weitz, along with Janice Willett will be at the candidates forum at Park West Loft on May 2nd. You can only go, if you signed the pledge. The pledge was the brain child of Paul Vagianos, see the Ridgewood blog below :

https://theridgewoodblog.net/village-of-ridgewood-candidates-willett-weitzand-brooks-continue-to-push-the-exclusionary-divisive-politics-of-the-current-council-majority/

Willett gained some notoriety when she was caught on camera sleeping at the Valley whispering woods hearings. https://theridgewoodblog.net/village-of-ridgewood-someone-was-sleeping-while-your-taxes-were-going-up/

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Welcome to Downtown Ridgewood — Circa 1830!

Zabriskie-Schedler 1830

February 16,2018

by John Paquin

originally posted on the Vintage Ridgewood New Jersey Facebook page

Ridgewood NJ, Welcome to Downtown Ridgewood — Circa 1830! (Or what did Zabriskie-Schedler look like, Part II). This view is from the opposite direction from the last one, and what this provides is context — and why this is about more than just “a house”. This is looking SW down West Saddle River Rd toward Paramus Church and what was then known as “Paramus Center”. What you can hopefully get a sense of is the important community that existed here (in Ridgewood!), first settled in the 1690’s as Anthony’s earlier post indicated. Why here? It was the convergence of indian trails that later became an important crossroads connecting the region (much as Rt’s 17, 4 and the parkway do today). As Peggy Norris detailed in her excellent history of the property, John Zabriskie bought just over 9 acres from the church in 1825 to build this house and farm, and incredibly, 7 acres of that purchase remain untouched to this day (the property originally extended across 17 to franklin tpke — those two-plus acres now lie under six lanes). I took license again with that 230 year-old tree — it’s drawn as it appears today — but that is to scale. it dwarfs the house and pre-dates it by some 40 years!

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Ridgewood Knights of Columbus to Host Annual St. Patrick’s Dinner Dance

St Patrick Shamrock Image

 

February 26,2018

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ,  The Ridgewood Knights of Columbus are once again proud to be sponsoring their annual St. Patrick’s Dinner Dance on Saturday, March 24, beginning at 7:00 p.m. in the Mount Carmel gymnasium at 52 Passaic Street in Ridgewood.

Hosting the annual St. Patrick’s Dinner Dance has been a Knights tradition for many years in Ridgewood. Guests are first be greeted by bagpipers. The Best of Everything will cater a full-course of traditional Irish fare including corned beef and cabbage. The Celtic Cross Band will be playing Irish classics and great dance music, along with a special appearance by the Irish Step Dancers. There will also be a grand prize raffle drawing for a trip to Ireland, with the proceeds going to benefit many local and worthy charities.

Come enjoy this annual celebration as the Knights of Columbus continue the tradition that the People of Ireland started over a thousand years ago. And what better way to celebrate the life of Saint Patrick then to gather with friends and family, enjoy a fine meal, and dance to great music!

Tickets are $55 per person.

For more information, please go to:
www.ridgewoodkofc.org

Come out and celebrate St. Patrick’s with the Ridgewood Knights!

Posted on 13 Comments

Reader says the ONLY driving factor should be whether this would be of sufficient benefit to Ridgewood residents now and in the future for us to subsidize the Garage

godzilla

We are being used and abused. It’s dreadful. As said , the ONLY driving factor (as it were) should be whether this would be of sufficient benefit to Ridgewood residents now and in the future for us to subsidize it at a moment when property values are a huge concern due to the new tax laws and other factors. The answer is either. NO or PROBABLY NOT. Neither answer would promote forging ahead with this ludicrous project Yes, it has been discussed for decades. That might be attributable to indecision–or to the knowledge that it is a bad and dangerous idea. PLEASE, council, think about maintenance issues, safety issues, and more before you act. Now that various builders have offered prices, we seem to be in the used-car lot with the salesman asking if we want the blue one or the green one. We want NONE.

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2015 Walker “HUDSON STREET PARKING GARAGE PRELIMINARY FINANCIAL ANALYSIS” shows 32%, or 194, public parking spaces are available at 7pm on Saturday nights

parking CBD fullhouse theridgewoodblog.net

February 26,2018

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, The village has paid tens of thousands of dollars to gather parking facts. We have more parking than we use. The 2015 Walker “HUDSON STREET PARKING GARAGE PRELIMINARY FINANCIAL ANALYSIS” found here: https://mods.ridgewoodnj.net/pdf/manager/2015walkerFinal.pdf is an amazingly comprehensive study of existing village parking. The key findings, on the report pages 15, 16, 17, 19, and appendix page 4 clearly show we do not use the parking we have on weekdays and most importantly, on Saturday nights. On appendix page 4, the bottom table “EXISTING WEEKEND CONDITIONS – PUBLIC” shows 32%, or 194, public parking spaces are available at 7pm on Saturday nights.

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RIDGEWOOD COUNTY COMMITTEE PETITIONS AVAILABLE

gop/democrats

February 26,2018

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, Petitions for County Committee are available in the Village Clerk’s Office. County Committee members represent their political party in each voting district, and they vote at the convention for the County Officials. There are two County Committee members for the Democratic party and two County Committee members for the Republican party from each voting district, one male and one female. The candidates running for County Committee must run to represent the voting district in which they reside. The petitions must be signed by voters in the same voting district and be of the same political party as the candidates. County Committee members are voted on in the Primary Election. The deadline to submit completed County Committee petitions to the Village Clerk’s Office is April 2, 2018 at 4:00 P.M.

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2015 Walker “HUDSON STREET PARKING GARAGE PRELIMINARY FINANCIAL ANALYSIS”The key findings, we do not use the parking we have on weekdays and most importantly, on Saturday nights

ParkingCBD2 theridgewoodblog.net

 

February 26,2018

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, The village has paid tens of thousands of dollars to gather parking facts. We have more parking than we use. The 2015 Walker “HUDSON STREET PARKING GARAGE PRELIMINARY FINANCIAL ANALYSIS” found here: https://mods.ridgewoodnj.net/pdf/manager/2015walkerFinal.pdf is an amazingly comprehensive study of existing village parking. The key findings, on the report pages 15, 16, 17, 19, and appendix page 4 clearly show we do not use the parking we have on weekdays and most importantly, on Saturday nights. On appendix page 4, the bottom table “EXISTING WEEKEND CONDITIONS – PUBLIC” shows 32%, or 194, public parking spaces are available at 7pm on Saturday nights.

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Ridgewood PBA members raise money for NJ Special Olympics at Seaside Heights Polar Bear Plunge

Ridgewood Police PBA 20

photo courtesy of Ridgewood PBA

February 25,2018

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Seaside Heights  NJ, Ridgewood PBA members joined thousands of others to help raise money for NJ Special Olympics. The waters of Seaside were a little cold but it was a spectacular event that ensures no NJ Special Olympian is limited by the cost of competing.

Ridgewood PBA members  and over 7,000 people, some in costume, some just dressed for cold weather, dashed down the dunes in Seaside Heights on Saturday in the 25th anniversary of the Seaside Heights Polar Bear Plunge to raise funds for the Special Olympics of New Jersey. Officials with the Special Olympics said plungers raised more than $2 million, which goes to support the more than 25,000 athletes.

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“if you see something say something” , Well that didnt work so what now ?

Guns

February 25,2018

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, we have been told over and over “if you see something say something” , but if the latest school shooting is any indication ,when you say something you get ignored.

With great sadness the Ridgewood blog has had to report the latest mass shooting . It is ever parents worst nightmare. As usual the media has hijacked the dialogue always leaving out significant details .

First the FBI ignored a warning that 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz might attack a school, failing to act on a call just weeks before Cruz allegedly carried out a shooting rampage at a high school in South Florida on Valentine’s Day. An easily traceable Internet threat in is was made and ignored by the Feds.

Next we learned by documents obtained by CNN, that law enforcement officers responded to Cruz’s house on 39 occasions over a seven-year period .

Classmates claimed in post incident interviews the Cruz often introduced himself as a “school shooter” .

Worse yet according to CBS an armed on duty school security officer waited outside the building till the shooting stopped at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School .

CBS also is reporting that documents released by the sheriff’s office show that the school resource officer had information about the suspect and his “potential to carry out a school shooting two years before it happened.” But it’s his actions the day of the shooting that led to his suspension.

It just keeps getting worse and worse. CNN reports it wasn’t just Broward County Sheriff’s Deputy Scot Peterson who waited outside during the shooting, apparently, the first three officers to arrive on scene joined him in waiting outside, hiding behind their cars with their guns drawn.

This is only a brief outline of the systematic breakdown that took place in Broward County and proof positive government solutions

And of coarse the media plays the blame game and blames President Trump and the NRA neither of which had anything to do with the shooting . The blame game works for politicians but never fixes any problems.

Blaming guns is like blaming cars for drunk drivers . And blaming guns like all “virtue signaling” will not solve any problems . On 9/11 we lost 2997 people with out a gun , in the Oklahoma City bombing we lost 168 people with the use of common fertilizer as a bomb.

If you want real solutions its time to address the real problems and ask real questions ; First why do we only talk about mass shootings , but never the 40 plus people a day who are gunned down by illegal firearms in cities like Chicago, Newark or Paterson? Why have mass shooting increased since the 1960’s , Why are they almost always committed by Democrats? Why does the FBI always seem to drop the ball ? Why if we can try to make it about race its a big deal and if we cant its not? Why are prescription drugs almost always involved ? Why do school administrators and most parents seem oblivious to problems right under their very noises ? Why can a person who being investigated by law enforcement buy guns ? Why is there not a uniform gun data base , like ATM’s or use block chain ? I am sure there are many more questions that need to asked and answered .

And of coarse the big big problem , I will quote my friend Jessica ” it isn’t an AK-47 problem, it’s not an NRA problem…it’s a people problem! Children aren’t raised to respect anything or anyone! We need to stop over indulging our children and start giving them spankings, discipline and teaching them how to respect!! Wake up people! “

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Hudson Garage Next Stop for the Village Concil the Walker Feasibility Study

village council

photo by Boyd Loving

Dollars and Cents 

February 25,2018

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, The step for the in the Hudson garage process will be the Village Council reviewing the results of the Walker Feasibility Study at the next Public Work Session on Wednesday, February 28. The study will provide a planning-level analysis of net operating income potential for the parking system when the new garage is complete, including rate adjustments that will help maintain a parking utility that is self-supporting. Armed with a thorough financial analysis, we can then move forward with discussing contract negotiations and final selection.

Councilwomen Bernie Walsh told us ,” I was impressed by the professionalism of all who presented. They brought their A game and appeared to be genuine in their desire to provide the best option to Ridgewood for a parking structure.I had to recuse myself from the Haas proposal due to a conflict. I was pleased that the time frame is shorter than expected which would lead less disruption to the Village during construction.”

Deputy Mayor Michael Sedon also gave us some similar feedback , ” I thought all presenters highlighted interesting points and the four-hour meeting gave us a lot to think about. Maintenance was included in a past Walker financial report for the bigger garage of two years ago, so the idea that this cost would eat into the revenue generated by the garage has always been on my radar. The developers presenting did a good job this time around at highlighting those costs, while hammering home the importance of maintaining this critical piece of infrastructure to protect any potential investment in our Village.
The decision the declare the Hudson Street parking lot an area in need of redevelopment was very useful in these ongoing discussions, which has given this council the flexibility to work directly with the developer chosen allowing us to bring a project to fruition which is cost effective, efficient and aesthetically pleasing.
Finally the much awaited financial report from Walker will be discussed this Wednesday. With all this important information converging simultaneously it will provide this council with the most current picture as to how the entire project could work to benefit our Village. I am looking forward to the continued discussion as the complete picture comes into focus.”

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Reader asks The question that i think has failed to be answered is, what benefit, to the residents of Ridgewood does a large parking facility bring?

Hudson garage

Whether you want a garage or not, we all need to come to the realization that in it’s current state, our taxes in this town are going up (from already ridiculously high levels) and that this council and ones before have failed to do what I think most would agree is their primary job..to be fiscally responsible, municipal managers and not politicians with special interests. The question that i think has failed to be answered is, what benefit, to the residents of Ridgewood does a large parking facility bring? Will it bring more shoppers to town to stave off the inevitable doom of retail (which if you’ve picked up a paper in the last 5 years you’d realize is happening), and in the slim chance it does, how much of a benefit would we as tax payers realize? Does it benefit the current RESIDENTS who commute via train into NY, probably…but then again, what size garage would do the trick? In the new tax regime, local tax rates matter now more then ever..so the days of raising taxes with little to no push back are over. The idea of a multi million dollar spend on a garage, without clearly and concisely outlining the benefits to tax payers, just falling back on the argument that this debate has gone on for 30 years, just baffles my mind. I’m not pro or con the current or prior council, i question the motives behind certain positions by some, which have been clearly outlined in past posts. Unfortunately, special interests in this town have come to the forefront, probably due to the fact that we all have very busy jobs, lives etc (contrary to what a previous councilman thinks), and don’t think we have to actively monitor town councils…lets be clear, their job is to run the town as efficiently as possible, balancing the costs of services and the level of taxation that is optimum to keep the influx of new families coming. This garage, will probably be the tipping point. Ignore, the older aggressive guy at the council meetings who thinks he’s the smartest guy in the room, why do we care about his pontificating about conspiracy theories and constitutional interpretations?? Let’s move on, rid the council of politics and vote in residents who make decisions based on the good of the town FOR THE FUTURE, not the past. This council should not be a stepping stone for wannabe politicians that will sell this town out in hopes of furthering their pathetic attempts at a political career.

Posted on 5 Comments

Graydon Sycamore

Ridgewood's Iconic Sycamore Tree on the island at Graydon Pool is dying

The following was submitted as a letter to the editor of the Ridgewood News before the deadline last week, but was not published. It contains important updates.

Sycamore article used old news

To the Editor:

The impending removal of the iconic sycamore tree in Graydon Park deserved its front-page coverage (“Tree’s decades-long watch almost over,” Feb. 16). It also deserved real reporting.
In reproducing my emailed comments, reporters Nicholas Katzban and Linda Voorhis imply that they interviewed me online. No such contact was made. I’d sent the quoted email to the Record’s environmental reporter a full month earlier in hopes of inspiring a story. It worked, if belatedly and indirectly. But a lot has happened since January 18.
The authors quote me as stating that I hoped the tree could be saved. That was no longer true once I’d obtained a copy of a report by an outside expert hired to evaluate the tree.
I am quoted as wishing that seeds from the tree had been saved. This is being done. With the approval of Ridgewood’s Parks and Recreation Department, a local environmentalist will germinate seeds from the sycamore toward creating a new generation. Perhaps one seedling will grow large enough to replace its mother tree.
Other news: uses for the wood are being explored by the mayor’s new Ad Hoc Graydon Sycamore Committee.
The “fans” who saved Graydon from being concretized have a name: The Preserve Graydon Coalition. It was the Coalition, formed in July 2009, that had Graydon placed on Preservation New Jersey’s 2010 list of the 10 most endangered historic sites in the state. Grassroots efforts take a village, and this village really stepped up.

Marcia Ringel
Co-Founder, The Preserve Graydon Coalition
Ridgewood
Feb. 20, 2018

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Wild Turkey Alert Issued for the Village of Ridgewood

Turkeys

February 24,2018

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, once again we have herd report of wild turkeys going on a rampage in the Village near the Ho Ho Kus Brooke . While the majestic bird can be fun to watch do not under estimate their tenacity if they are provoked . Two years ago four wild turkeys stopped traffic on Passaic Road in Paramus and Paramus Police were forced to respond in force and removed the Turkeys safely . In 2016 a in a well publicized event a Hillsdale mailmen was attacked by rampaging birds and in the same year Teaneck was forced to use air horns to drive turkeys from a local park.

The wild turkey is an upland ground bird native to North America and is the heaviest member of the diverse Galliformes. It is the same species as the domestic turkey, which was originally derived from a southern Mexican subspecies of wild turkey. Although native to North America, the turkey probably got its name from the domesticated variety being imported to Britain in ships coming from the Levant via Spain. The British at the time therefore associated the wild turkey with the country Turkey and the name prevails.

Remember that wild turkeys have a pecking order and that habituated birds may respond to you as they do to another turkey. The best defense against aggressive or persistent turkeys is to prevent the birds from becoming habituated in the first place by being bold to them.

If confronted , keep away they are extremely dangerous .It is best to call the Ridgewood Police or animal control, fear not most Bergen county Police departments are well versed in the safe removal of Turkeys !

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Ridgewood Water Comments of Water Discoloration

dr-strangelove1[1]

February 24,2018

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood Water comments of water discoloration . Ridgewood Water does not add fluoride to your drinking water. Water hardness in the Ridgewood  service area is 14 grains or 250ppm.Ridgewood Water does not make recommendations as to water filters or softeners .

If your water is discolored, (gray, brown, yellow, orange) this is most likely due to minerals building up in our water mains. These minerals are harmless, but as more people start watering their lawns and turning on sprinkler systems, these minerals can loosen and end up in the water supply. This discoloration can also occur when Ridgewood Water does routine maintenance on it’s facilities that increases the velocity in the mains. Although it is aesthetically unappealing, it is safe to drink. We recommend avoiding doing laundry until discoloration clears.

If your water has a cloudy or milky appearance this is usually caused by air dissolved in the water. We recommend to take a glass of cold water from the tap and set it on a flat surface. If the water begins to clear from the bottom up within a few minutes, it can be concluded that dissolved air is the cause of the cloudiness. If the water does not clear up or you notice particles settling on the bottom of the glass please contact our treatment facility at 201-670-5526 and notify them of your issue.

If your water has a unusual taste or odor, please contact our treatment facility at 201-670-5526.