Monday, November 14, 2016 7 to 10:30 PM Indian Trail Club, 830 Franklin Lake Road, Franklin Lakes, NJ 07417
Ridgewood Nj, The area’s finest restaurants and bakeries will join together for the 24th Annual …A Fall Night of Fine Dining. On this special occasion, West Bergen is honored to present its prestigious Distinguished Service Award to outstanding community leaders, Esther and Patrick Fletcher of River Edge. Please visit afallnight.com for reservations and information. Tickets are $175 per person and are tax deductible. Seating is limited. Sponsoring this year’s event is Boiling Springs Savings Bank. West Bergen is a non-profit organization providing a wide range of psychiatric and counseling services for all age groups with various levels of need. West Bergen is committed to meeting the psychological needs of each of its clients with sensitivity and responsive, innovative services of the highest quality.
RE: October 4th,the Ridgewood Planning Board will be discussing the Conflict of Interest complaint
Get out and speak up. No, get out and shout. If the Aronsohn projects go through, our downtown may never recover and the Aronsohn blight will spread through town over the next decade. We’ve all spent a lot of tax dollars to maintain this town, let’s not give it up to a handful of land speculators who have to be laughing gleefully at the stupidity of the Aronsohn council majority.
More importantly, the conflict issue raised by these citizens calls out to all of us. Is this how we want our local government to be run? If these allegations are true, we need to put that truth into the light of fay and take appropriate action. If we don’t, what message do we tell the next generation? Just as importantly,, what message do we send to the next round of land speculators who want to take over another section of town for their own profit? Do we want that message to be: “Sure, get some friends placed on our planning board and walk all over us.”
So,email or call your planning board representatives. Show up at the meeting. Write tot he town council, especially those we just elected and tell them you want action.
Please also consider sending the following note to the Planning Board and our Mayor via email:
Dear Mayor Knudsen, Chairman Joel and Planning Board Members,
I am aware that a group of concerned residents delivered a Motion of Complaint to the Ridgewood Planning Board, under By Law Sections 2.13 and 7.21, dated September 16th. Their motion brings to light a series of conflicts of interest and unacceptable mistakes that impacted the high density housing votes. It spotlights the truly defective process by which these highly unpopular ordinances (3489, 3490, 3491 and 3493) were passed. It is not right for Ridgewood residents to have such important decisions made, and the future of our village impacted, by a forum influenced by potential personal conflicts and/or mistakes. Preventing such actions is clearly the intent of the Planning Board’s own By Laws.
Therefore, I fully support the motion made by these residents. I ask that the Board stop all current high density site plan reviews and promptly begin a complete review of the residents’ complaints. Should any conflicts or mistakes be found, the Ordinance votes and Ordinances themselves should be rescinded and reevaluated via a proper and untainted process.
Secretary Cafarelli, please forward/print this email to all Planning Board members.
Ridgewood NJ, Blessing of the Animals and celebration of the life and ministry of St. Frances of Assisi at Christ Episcopal Church in Ridgewood has become an annual event .
Everyone brought their favorite pets: dogs, cats, goldfish, rabbits and even stuffed animals….any beloved creature, great or small. A short service celebrating all animals was followed by individual blessings of each animal. Mayor Susan Knudsen stopped in for a visit .
Ridgewood NJ, The illegal dumping of large amounts of concrete, asphalt millings, brick, and home renovation items at the Village’s compost facility on Lakeview Drive remains unsolved more than 14 months after the debris was initially discovered there by NJDEP Inspector Kenneth Cadematori.
The staff of The Ridgewood Blog remains perplexed as to how several tons of illegal materials were transported into a gated and locked facility, dumped, and then concealed with wood chips by someone using a bucket loader – all of this done without anyone seeing anything out of the ordinary?
This is what NJDEP Inspector Cadematori wrote in his official reports about the dumping:
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Report dated 7/14/2015 (Note: Mr. Cadematori had previously inspected the site on 6/4/2015 and found no violations):
During a routine compliance inspection, noticed a large amount of concrete, asphalt millings, brick, and home renovation items illegally dumped over a berm on the site. The four (4) spots where these materials were illegally deposited were along a river. I noticed these four (4) areas of illegal dumping when I saw that these four (4) spots on the berm had a bucket loader of woodchips and tire marks leading up to it. Once I stood onto of the berm I saw the 4 spots of illegal dumping.
I called the site supervisor to meet me at the site because the Superintendent was not in the office. While I was waiting a Town of Ridgewood worker pulled in and then drove off when I was attempting to flag them down about the illegal dumping, I was wearing my bright neon safety vest and white safety helmet and waving my papers while the worker was only 30 yards away from me. The supervisor was shocked and unhappy that someone would do this at their site. We reached out to the Superintendent who is filing a police report with the Town of Ridgewood.
The facility is arranging to get equipment to assist with the job. The facility needs to deconstruct the berm which was previously made up of asphalt millings/chunks, concrete, and dirt so the contaminants in these material don’t run-off into the river directly below the berm. Also, the facility needs to take out all C&D material in the woods, put materials into roll-off containers, and then bring to a recycling center and get receipts for the amount of material and show proof of correctly disposing of illegally dumped materials on their property.
Report dated 7/17/2015:
Met with Ridgewood Village Superintendent and engineer about the illegal dumping that happened on the site. The Superintendent has filed a police report with the town of Ridgewood and an investigation is underway. During the on-site meeting we discussed appropriate actions on removing illegally dumped material in the woods and removing a section of berm which is made up of concrete, asphalt millings and some dirt. The run-off from these berms are going into the river below.
Superintendent is waiting on appropriate equipment and roll off containers top put debris in so the Department and town can understand the amount of material that was illegally dumped.
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In the hope of solving this “crime of the Century,” the staff of The Ridgewood Blog is now considering starting a GO FUND ME page to raise money in order that a CASH reward can be provided to the individual(s) who provides information that leads to the arrest AND successful conviction of the person or persons responsible for this as yet unsolved act.
In my humble opinion, it always appeared that Aronsohn sold us out to developers and other profiteers with whom he wished to curry favor. Its shameful Yes, we have parking issues. They were never addressed by the Aronsohn administration because his focus was on those who seemed to want to profit from government largess and not Village residents. Distribution is probably our main “problem” – – and its good to see the new council recognizing that and attempting to address that issue before spending millions on a new garage. Yes, we may need a new garage, but let’s see what some of the other solutions are first. I thought Voght laid it out very nicely a meeting or two ago. Yes, let’s spend a few thousand on signs, parking and street re-alignment and then see if we need the garage. Keep up the good work!!
The Ridgewood Art Institute Instructor’s Exhibition
On view October 7 – October 27, 2016
The Ridgewood Art Institute
12 East Glen Avenue
Ridgewood, NJ 07450
201 652-9615
The Ridgewood Art Institute is a prominent player in the perpetuation of Classical Realism today and is considered one the nation’s best community art associations. It’s origins are based in the 19th Century French Barbizon School and it is closely tied to The Art Students League’s history, as there are many esteemed artists who have taught and studied at both RAI and ASL.
The Ridgewood Art Institute Instructor’s Exhibition features beautiful still lifes, florals, landscapes and figurative work and will give art enthusiasts a wonderful sampling of the quality of work available for sale at our events. For art students this is a wonderful opportunity to explore the possibilities of starting either a new class or a new medium in one of our beautiful studios.
We invite you to see for yourself, why The Ridgewood Art Institute is cherished by so many.
The Ridgewood Art Institute is a non profit organization providing the finest instruction in Classical Realism in a variety of mediums. Classes are offered on an open enrollment basis, and can be joined at anytime. Each student is taught in direct relation to their personal skill level. For more information on class scheduling, this and future events please visit ridgewoodartinstitute.org
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, YWCA Bergen County has announced the date and location of this year’s TWIN Celebration. The 41-year old tradition will continue on December 1, 2016 (8 a.m. to 10 a.m.) at The Rotunda at Neiman Marcus at Westfield Garden State Plaza.
The keynote speaker is Joann Lublin Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist and management news editor at The Wall Street Journal and author of Earning It: Hard-Won Lessons from Trailblazing Women at the Top of the Business World (Author appearance made possible by Bookends Bookstore, Ridgewood, NJ).
In 1975, YWCA Bergen County (then known as YWCA of Ridgewood) launched an ambitious program that YW leaders called the TWIN Project. TWIN is an acronym for Tribute to Women and INdustry. The project was centered around a series of awards whose stated purpose was “to encourage women and girls to consider and prepare for a wider range of career opportunities in business and industry, and to stimulate, in a positive way, an increased awareness by more firms of the untapped managerial and professional resources represented by women.” TWIN was also a means “to recognize those firms whose progressive personnel policies made possible the achievements of our honorees.”
Clearly, the workplace has seen a seismic shift in the years since the YW founded the project. Among the country’s most influential companies, the Standard & Poor’s 500, women make up 45 percent of the labor force. And although as late as 1998 just one woman led a Fortune 500 company, the percentage of female Fortune 500 CEOs today hovers around 5 percent; women also constitute 15 percent of the senior leadership team at these firms. And overall in the U.S., more than half of all of management, professional, and related positions are held by women.
To quote a popular advertisement from back in the day, “You’ve come a long way, baby.”
This year, the organization has revised the name to reflect the project’s expanded focus. The Tribute to Women of INfluence will continue the YW’s practice of honoring the area’s top corporate women (as selected by their employers), but will now include women of high achievement and/or with extensive contribution to their communities.
On Thursday, December 1 (8 a.m. to 1 p.m.) at The Rotunda at Neiman Marcus, the YW will once again hold a TWIN celebration. The keynote speaker is Bergen County’s own Joann Lublin, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist at The Wall Street Journal and author of “Earning It: Hard-Won Lessons from Trailblazing Women at the Top of the Business World.” After her speech, Lublin will be available to answer questions and sign books.
But, as always, the stars of the event are the year’s TWIN honorees, who will share the spotlight in recognition of their achievements and work in their communities.
For more information and to take part in this important and time-honored observance, contact Mary Migliorino, at [email protected].
Ridgewood NJ, it seems to meany readers that the previous administration worked long and hard to exacerbate the parking problem in the Central Business District . Claims of missing signs making it difficult for the public to find parking intentionally. Decisions made that always seemed to make things worse not better.
We ALL know that there is ample parking. Even Sonenfeld says so. “The problem is that PROMISES WERE MADE to certain key people that a garage would be built near their properties and businesses in the business district.” What Aronsohn, Saraceno, Pucciarelli, Vaggianos, Sonenfeld, Hauck and company failed to consider is that the town if full of very smart people. And the people rose up and ran a petition drive and stopped the insanity.
While others have claimed the signs went missing and lots hidden from public view on purpose .
Readers continually site , “The developers are deliberately going to exacerbate the parking problem with there one car per unit plans. Why should my taxes go to pay them to put in parking?”
And of coarse ,”it’s interesting that the existing apartments all have a shortage of parking and the developers keep insisting that there will only be one car per household in the proposed developments. how is this possible.”
I can’t believe it was a year ago today that over 600 of us went to Village Hall to stop the Village Council from moving forward on the High Density Housing issue. It was truly a remarkable night that brought people together and made an incredibly clear statement: We do not want high density housing in our Village!
So, here we are, a year later and we need your help yet again.
As most of you know, last March the previous VC majority passed an ordinance allowing these massive multifamily dwellings to be built – and make no mistake – once the shovels go into the ground, our schools in particular will be impacted.
What many of us didn’t know then is that the Planning Board and then the Village Council process was riddled with possible conflicts of interest. A few weeks ago, several residents and I filed a formal complaint requesting that the current Planning Board cease their high density site plan process immediately and investigate.
On Tuesday, October 4th, at 7:30pm in Village Hall the Planning Board will be discussing this formal complaint. I would urge you, for the sake of our kids, to attend so that the Planning Board is encouraged to make the right choice. If you do plan to come, please email me to help better coordinate the evening.
Please also consider sending the following note to the Planning Board and our Mayor via email:
Dear Mayor Knudsen, Chairman Joel and Planning Board Members,
I am aware that a group of concerned residents delivered a Motion of Complaint to the Ridgewood Planning Board, under By Law Sections 2.13 and 7.21, dated September 16th. Their motion brings to light a series of conflicts of interest and unacceptable mistakes that impacted the high density housing votes. It spotlights the truly defective process by which these highly unpopular ordinances (3489, 3490, 3491 and 3493) were passed. It is not right for Ridgewood residents to have such important decisions made, and the future of our village impacted, by a forum influenced by potential personal conflicts and/or mistakes. Preventing such actions is clearly the intent of the Planning Board’s own By Laws.
Therefore, I fully support the motion made by these residents. I ask that the Board stop all current high density site plan reviews and promptly begin a complete review of the residents’ complaints. Should any conflicts or mistakes be found, the Ordinance votes and Ordinances themselves should be rescinded and reevaluated via a proper and untainted process.
Secretary Cafarelli, please forward/print this email to all Planning Board members.
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood once again hit by a rash of stolen bicycles .
The Ridgewood police report :
A Van Buren Street resident responded to police headquarters on September 25, 2016 to report the theft of a bicycle in the past. The resident reported his red colored GT road bike was stolen from Station Plaza on September 21, 2016. The bicycle was reportedly left unlocked and was valued at approximately $200.
On September 25, 2016 a Shelton Road resident reported the theft of a bicycle from Station Plaza in the past. The bicycle was reportedly a Cannondale Hybrid mountain bike grey in color, valued at $800.
On September 25, 2016 a resident from Midland Park, N.J. reported the theft of a bicycle from Station Plaza in the past. The victim reported the Iron Horse mountain bike was grey and black in colored and valued at $400.All actors are presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Ridgewood NJ, no surprise that some people in town are not concerned that possible fraud would seem to merit some investigation as well as possible violations of fiduciary responsibility and pay for play violations .Some people have even gone to jail for these things , some people …
“Should this even be newsworthy? This person is obviously a repeat complainer who would rather spend time harassing Village staff (and costing tax payers money) instead of being with their children. They don’t realize their townhouses at one point were full with trees and got bulldozed over with residential complaints. If we want to throw rocks, Susan should recuse herself from any Shedler discussions due to the fact her parents house is located directly across from the property. Yes, by the text of the law not defined as “conflict of interest”, however I do not believe she can make wise decisions without prejudice. Godforbid a RSA member connections was on the council, these same people would be crying, suing for their removal.”
Jackie Hone’s response….
“Dear 12:46, “Anonymous.” Seek to understand. Watching or attending the meeting would help correct your statement. I am not a repeat complainer, harassing Village staff. I filed one complaint, that is finally being addressed, with merit. Thanks to the new Village Council, my claims are being substantiated one by one. As for costing tax payers money…this compliant saved tax payers approximately 10 million dollars and avoided destruction of Green Acres, Open Space and US History (check the facts). Mayor Knudsen defending Historical Preservation and honoring Open Space/Green Acres is not a conflict of interest, it is her fiduciary and ethical obligation. Sorry, but you are wrong on this one too. Additionally, Mayor Knudsen’s parents owning a house, across the street from Schedler (by the way it’s down the road), is not a conflict of interest. That point was addressed, looked into, checked again, re-checked and sniffed one last time just in case. Each and every time, legal counsel said there is no conflict of interest. Lastly, despite your ill-spirited comment (rather spend time harassing Village staff…instead of being with their children”), I invite you to meet before a Village Council meeting so I/we can share more. I’m sure you’ve heard, I have a huge binder with all the proof. I passionately believe residents should be up to date and truly know what is going on in their community. Email me [email protected].”
Ridgewood NJ, An adult male who claimed to have been the victim of an armed robbery and assault brought Ridgewood police units out in force on Thursday evening, 09/29. The incident reportedly took place at the intersection of Godwin and Ackerman Avenues in Ridgewood shortly before 2100 hours. After questioning by Ridgewood PD officers, aided by a Spanish speaking patrol officer from neighboring Glen Rock, the man’s story was determined to have been fabricated. The injuries he sustained appeared to have been consistent with those of a fall. He was evaluated and treated on the scene by Ridgewood EMS volunteers. There was no information available as to whether the individual was charged with making a false police report.
Great news on Valley. Performing Arts Center is a great idea. It is going to be so appealing for Jay-z, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Justin Bieber to ditch MSG for the beauty and diversity of our village. Whoever came up with this idea should be kicked out of Bergen County altogether. The only way this Arts Center would be useful is if Rurik performed his monologues on the stage. I would pay 50 cents for that.
McDonald on Deutsche Bank: Similar dynamic to Lehman 6 Hours Ago | 02:19
German officials could be about to find themselves in an uncomfortable position: Being called on to show they’re ready to rescue a bank in a part of the world where such operations are considered taboo.
Deutsche Bank came under intensified market fire Thursday, the latest salvo being a Bloomberg report that a small number of hedge funds are trimming their sails at the German bank.
In a broad perspective, the move would represent a minor dent in Deutsche’s derivatives clearing business. Barry Bausano, chairman of Deutsche’s hedge fund business, told CNBC on Thursday that while there have been some outflows, there have also been inflows, which he said is “part of the typical ebbs and flows” of the prime brokerage business.
Ooops we jumped the gun with initial headline Appeals Court Rules in Ridgewood’s Favor against Valley Hospital Expansion
September 29,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Appeals Court Agrees to hear Ridgewood against Valley Hospital Expansion Case.
The Valley Hospital had filed suit against the Ridgewood Planning Board for rejecting its proposal to nearly double in size, arguing the board illegally sided with neighborhood opponents rather than permitting an upgrade for “an inherently beneficial regional hospital.”
The lawsuit was filed in state Superior Court in Hackensack . It was an attempt by Valley to end a protracted and costly stalemate with the village and force its expansion plans have been defeated two times .
While Valley wasted its efforts on its “May way or no way” approach its competitors have expanded, renovated and in one case, reopened a hospital in Westwood.
According to Ridgewood resident John Hersperger , “I’m not surprised the Appellate Division agreed to review the lower court’s decision against the Village in the ordinance case. Valley’s lower court victory was short-lived and (knock wood) should be its last. Why? Because the legal grounds for any court to force a municipality to squeeze in a development of this size on such a small parcel simply don’t exist. Valley needs the Appellate Division to create new legal precedent to support their expansion. Such a change would have implications statewide, with healthcare businesses imposing development wherever they please.”
Pete Mckenna President of Concerned Residents of Ridgewood concurred , “The appellate division has not made a decision on the merits, but has decided to review the Judge’s decision. I agree with John’s comments that this Judge’s ruling was without precedent and that the Village’s case to appeal is strong and we are optimistic the Village will prevail in this matter.”
