Category: village of ridgewood

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What You Should know about the Ashley Madison hack

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August 26,2015
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, Ok so generally we don’t like to cover personal issues but since we have been bombarded with emails we feel a bit compelled to cover the Ashley Madison hack. For those that don’t know Ashley Madison’s core mission is to arrange affairs between married individuals .

After a massive security breach hackers leaked troves of data about Ashley Madison’s users, Avid Life Media, the parent company wants to figure out who did it. And it’s prepared to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for information about the guilty party.

The hackers have posted personal information such as e-mail addresses and account details from 32 million of the site’s members. The group has claimed two motivations: First, they’ve criticized Ashley Madison’s core mission of arranging affairs between married individuals. Second, they’ve attacked Ashley Madison’s business practices, in particular its requirement that users pay $19 for the privilege of deleting all their data from the site (but, as it turns out, not all data was scrubbed).

Avid Life Media is offering $500,000 for information leading to the capture of the perpetrator (or perpetrators). But Avid is a Canadian company, paying out the prize in Canadian dollars. In American greenbacks, that’s about $377,000. Avid Life Media, the parent company of hacked extramarital affairs website.

Several “Reality stars” have been sucked into Ashley Madison scandal including Jionni Lavalle, husband to Jersey Shore alum Snooki.

But now the part you are most interested in according to One Reddit data collection identified New Jersey as third highest on the list of states with the most unfaithful husbands and wives in the country, with more than 300,000 users .(https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jpopham91/jpopham91.github.io/master/assets/img/ashley_madison_statewise.png )  Another website has identified the numbers of users in each county, and each state in the United States, putting those towns on a map called “Malfideleco,” which means “infidelity” in the Esperanto language.Tecnilógica, a Madrid-based digital agency, created the world map that shows the distribution of Ashley Madison users around the world without identifying names. It also analyzed their composition in terms of gender balance .( https://tecnilogica.cartodb.com/viz/56e702fe-4693-11e5-8f79-0e853d047bba/public_map )

According to these websites and the Glen Rock Patch https://patch.com/new-jersey/ridgewood/ridgewood-among-top-100-nj-communities-ashley-madison-affairs the Village of Ridgewood, with 6,158 users came in 13th in the state of New Jersey , ouch! Mind you Trenton the state capitol, with 15,504 came in 3rd. Now the map has been updated several times so the exact numbers are fluid and as we all know IP’s and emails are slippery things often hard to get a location.

You can check here to see if you were exposed https://www.trustify.info/check

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Spend ,Spend , Spend Village Moves to Redecorate

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Professional Architectural- Engineering Services for Village Owned Building

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

Requests for Proposals (RFP’s) will be received by the Village of Ridgewood, in the Courtroom, 4th floor at the Village Hall, 131 North Maple Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey, on Thursday, September 24, 2015 at 11:00 a.m. prevailing time, then publicly opened and read aloud for:

“Request for Proposals

For

Professional Architectural/Engineering Services

For the

Evaluation of Alternatives for Village Owned Buildings and Property”

The Village of Ridgewood requests proposals for Professional Architectural/Engineering Services to assess conditions and develop a feasibility plan to consolidate and improve the functionality of select Village departments, as it pertains to location, needs, building condition and components.

The RFP package may be obtained from the Director of Operations, Ridgewood Water Office, Level 5, Village Hall, 131 North Maple Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey 07450, (201) 670-5520. Proposal packages may be examined or picked up in person between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., at 131 North Maple Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey 07450, Monday through Friday. Prospective respondents requesting proposal documents be mailed to them shall be responsible for providing their own postage/delivery service remuneration. No proposal forms shall be given out after 4:00 p.m. on September 23, 2015.

A non-mandatory site visit has been scheduled for Monday, September 14th at 9am. All participants shall meet at Village Hall, Director of Operations / Ridgewood Water Office, Level 5.

All prices quoted in the proposal must be net and exclusive of all Federal, State and Local Sales and Excise Taxes. Proposals may be submitted in person or by mail prior to the proposal opening, addressed to the Office of the Village Clerk. The Village assumes no responsibility for loss or non-delivery of any proposal sent to it prior to the date and time stated for receipt of proposals.

Each proposal must be enclosed in a sealed envelope with the name of the respondent thereon and endorsed, ” Request for Proposals

For

Professional Architectural/Engineering Services

For the Evaluation of Alternatives for Village Owned Buildings and Property – Do not open until Thursday, September 24, 2015 at 11:00 a.m.”.

All respondents shall present satisfactory evidence of being authorized to do business in the State of New Jersey. All respondents shall also provide a copy of their New Jersey Business Registration Certificate with their proposal. All respondents shall adhere to the requirements presented in the “Request for Proposals”. The Village of Ridgewood reserves the right to reject any or all proposals, to waive any informality or to accept a proposal, which in its judgment best serves the interest of the Village.

“BIDDERS ARE REQUIRED TO COMPLY WITH THE REQUIREMENTS OF N.J.S.A. 10:5-31 et seq. and N.J.A.C. 17:27). A complete statement as to these requirements is included in the Request for Proposals

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Ridgewood moves ahead with financial study for parking garage

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AUGUST 26, 2015    LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2015, 10:10 AM
BY MARK KRULISH
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

The village is moving forward with a financial feasibility study for a possible parking structure to be built at the Hudson Street lot while officials wait for responses to the request for proposal (RFP) put out seeking a building design.

The study will determine the levels of expected revenue as well as the cost of a new parking garage, said Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld at the Aug. 12 council meeting.

Included in the analysis will be proposed parking rate schedules for Hudson Street as well as the other village lots and on-street meters, projections for daily and annual income, debt service, cost and operations.

Sonenfeld said the village received proposals from three different firms. After a discussion with the steering committee, there was a recommendation to go with the proposal from New York-based Walker Parking Consultants, the same firm that performed the study to determine whether or not the garage should be automated or self-park.

A resolution to award a contract for the professional parking services was unanimously passed on Aug. 12. The amount in the contract is not to exceed $18,500 with expenses not to exceed $1,000, which will be expended from the $500,000 bond ordinance adopted in July.

 

https://www.northjersey.com/news/firm-to-review-parking-finances-1.1398423

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Ridgewood offers amnesty in exchange for return of any of 37 missing street signs

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AUGUST 25, 2015, 8:00 PM    LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, AUGUST 25, 2015, 10:46 PM
BY MARINA VILLENEUVE
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

RIDGEWOOD — Someone’s been stealing street signs around the village and authorities are warning: Surrender the plundered signs to police by Sept. 15, or risk criminal prosecution.

In an electronic missive to residents on Tuesday, Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld promised the amnesty in exchange for the return of any of the 37 street signs gone missing from village roadways.

Street signs taken in the dead of night are not a new problem in Ridgewood. But Sonenfeld said it continues even after village employees have started using wiring and vandal-proof screws to make it harder to get signs off the eight-foot-tall poles. Now, she said, some thieves have taken to removing the entire pole to get to the sign.

No suspects have been identified, officials said. But in her electronic e-note, Sonenfeld noted “The occurrence seems to increase right before colleges begin.”

It’s become an issue of public safety and increased cost to the taxpayer, said Sonenfeld, who estimated it costs about $100 to replace a sign, including materials and labor.

“For emergency-services employees who are fairly new, it can hurt you in finding a street,” Sonenfeld said. “The thought was we would encourage people to bring their signs in and we wouldn’t ask any questions.”

Borough officials and police chiefs in nearby Glen Rock, Waldwick, Wyckoff, Hawthorne and Oakland all said, thankfully, that stolen street signs haven’t been a problem in their communities.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/ridgewood-offers-amnesty-in-exchange-for-return-of-any-of-37-missing-street-signs-1.1398078

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Ridgewood to settle with state DEP on violation fine

DPW Illegal dumping

AUGUST 25, 2015    LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, AUGUST 25, 2015, 9:36 AM
BY MARK KRULISH
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

The Village Council took action this month to pass a resolution settling a long-standing matter between Ridgewood Water and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) dealing with a contested permit violation.

The settlement requires the village to withdraw its request for a hearing regarding the contested violation with the NJDEP Commissioner and administrative courts and pay $55,000, which will come from water utility revenues.

At the end of the Aug. 12 public meeting, Village Attorney Matthew Rogers explained the decision came down to how much money the matter would cost to litigate versus what the potential result might be of an administrative process involving the NJDEP. More than $120,000 in penalties were sought by the NJDEP.

“After probably two full years of trying to work with DEP and then litigating with DEP, we came to the conclusion this is the best way to approach it and to resolve the matter where we know there’s an outcome and resolve it to the point where we can rely now on newly issued permits that take into consideration what those exceedances were before and hopefully cover us in the future,” Rogers said.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/environment/village-plans-to-settle-with-dep-on-violation-fine-1.1397861

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Residents See More than a bike lane they see the East West Divide in Ridgewood

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August 25,2015
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, Bike lanes are still major concern for safety at the Ridgewood rail underpass. Most observers failed to see the logic from the beginning of of the construction  for changing from two lanes to one and adding extremely dangerous bike lanes under the trestle .

Like the ADA elevators to nowhere that proceeded it resident were quite skeptical at its introduction . Contrary to the elevators ,which seem good for a laugh , the bike lane presents a clear danger to bikers . Not to mention the slow down to emergency services through town .
Recent developments like the continued effort to fill the “east side” with sports fields  have refocused a light on what may have been the real purpose of the so called ‘ “traffic calming”.  Resident now speculate that it is another attempt to inhibit traffic into the west side of town making it more difficult for new residents living in the new high density housing to enter the west side . There also seems to be a movement growing to bus any new children to Hawes school and not to the select schools in the west side like Orchard and Willard  .
Residents again speculate that the bike lane is being used as an excuse to further divide the town like Englewood , giving certain types of politicians a voting block to ensure their perpetual election.
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Ridgewood Water puts Water meters out to bid

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NOTICE TO BIDDERS – Cold Water meters and Accessories 2015 – 2016

NOTICE TO BIDDERS

Sealed bid proposals will be received by the Village of Ridgewood, in the Office of the Water Department/Director of Operations, Level 5 of Village Hall, 131 North Maple Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey 07451 on Wednesday, September 2, 2015 at 10:30 a.m. prevailing time, and then publicly opened and read aloud for following project:

BID NO. 022-2015 – COLD WATER METERS AND ACCESSORIES 2015-2016

The work of the Contract shall be to supply Neptune Cold Water Meters and Accessories or approved equal, for the Ridgewood Water Operating Center at 205 E. Glen Ave., Ridgewood, New Jersey 07451, as needed and described in the contract specifications.

Specifications and bid forms may be obtained by mail or in person from the office of the Director of Operations, Ridgewood Water, 131 North Maple Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey 07451, telephone (201) 670-5521, for a non-refundable fee of $10.00, per set of bid documents. Documents may be examined or picked up in person between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. at the Operations Division, Ridgewood Water, Village Hall, 131 North Maple Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey 07451, Monday through Friday. Prospective bidders requesting bid documents be mailed to them shall be responsible for providing their own postage/delivery service remuneration. No Specifications and/or Proposal forms shall be given out after 4:30 p.m. on Monday, August 31, 2015.

The contractual obligation of the Village of Ridgewood under this Contract for these items is contingent upon the availability of appropriated funds from which payment for this Contract can be made.

Prices quoted must be net and exclusive of all Federal, State and Local Sales and Excise Taxes. Bids may be submitted prior to the bid opening in person or by mail, addressed to the Office of the Village Clerk. The Village assumes no responsibility for loss or non-delivery of any bid sent to it prior to the Bid opening.

Each bid must be enclosed in a sealed envelope with the name of the bidder thereon and endorsed, “BID responding to BID NO. 022-2015 –COLD WATER METERS AND ACCESSORIES 2015-2016, Do Not Open Until September 2, 2015 at 10:30 AM” and must be accompanied by all required forms.

Any award or awards may be made at a later or subsequent time or meeting of the Village Council. All required schedules, that is required forms are to be submitted on the forms attached to the bid documents. No other forms will be accepted.

The successful bidder shall comply with all applicable provisions of the Prevailing Wage Act, as determined by the New Jersey Department of Labor. All contractors, their subcontractors, and material suppliers shall comply with all applicable provisions of the Public Works Contractor Registration Act, pursuant to Public Law 1999 Chapter 238 and the Contractor Business Registration Program, pursuant to Public Law 2004 Chapter 57.

The successful bidder shall furnish and deliver to the Village of Ridgewood a performance and payment bond (Schedule F) in the amount of 100 percent of the accepted bid amount as security for the faithful performance of the Contract. Additionally, the successful bidder shall furnish policies or Certificates of Insurance required by the Contract. In default thereof, said checks and/or bonds and the amount represented thereby shall be forfeited to the Village of Ridgewood as liquidated damages, not as a penalty.

Proposals submitted by Bidders and/or Bidder’s Insurance Company(ies) not chartered in the State of New Jersey, must be accompanied by proper certificate(s) from the Secretary of State, indicating that such Bidders, Bidder’s Insurance Company(ies), and/or Surety Company(ies) is (are) authorized to do business in the State of New Jersey. The Village of Ridgewood reserves the right to reject any or all bids, to waive any informality or to accept a bid which, in its judgment best serves the interest of the Village. No bids may be withdrawn for a period of sixty-days (60) after the date and time set for the opening of bids.

“BIDDERS ARE REQUIRED TO COMPLY WITH THE REQUIREMENTS OF P.L.1975, C. 127. (NJAC 17:27) regarding Affirmative Action, and Executive Order No. 11246 regarding equal employment opportunity, as amended”. A complete statement as to these requirements is included in the specifications.

By Order of the Village Manager Publication date: August 21, 2015

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Village of Ridgewood : Water Restrictions Update and Street Signs Disappearing

Sprinkler watering the lawn

Water Restrictions Update and Street Signs Disappearing – August 24

Dear Resident,

I hope your summer has been enjoyable and relaxing. I’d like to update you on two separate issues – water conservation status and stolen street signs.

I would like to thank residents for their overall compliance with Stage II water restrictions. It has eased the operational difficulties of the overall water system to a degree but weekends are still challenging the limits of system capacity. I know that some of you have commented to me about stricter enforcement and I have indicated that we have been strengthening enforcement. As an update, enforcement has included warnings to hundreds of violators and 16 summonses have been issued to repeat violators. One recommendation that I have received from a resident is that we should mandate the use of rain sensors; we currently mandate their use on newly installed sprinkler systems but not existing. Use of rain sensors is a good conservation method and we do recommend their use.

We cannot predict with certainty when we will be able to ease restrictions but the public will be informed through the usual channels when we do. We encourage residents to check our website at water.ridgewoodnj.net for the most up-to-date information.

Once again street signs are disappearing from local streets. The occurrence of this seems to increase right before colleges begin. At this moment we have 37 missing signs! It used to be that just the signs were stolen but now we are also seeing a new tendency to also uproot the pole. Clearly from a taxpayer perspective this is costly; potentially even more important is the impact it may have on our timeliness to respond to medical and other emergencies if a public safety worker is not totally familiar with our streets. I think you will agree with me that this is totally unacceptable. This is a criminal offense and if we find anyone in possession of Ridgewood street signs we will prosecute them. From now through September 15th, we will have an amnesty program where we will provide an opportunity to anyone who is currently in possession of Ridgewood signs to return them to the Police at Village Hall without facing criminal charges. I appreciate your help in getting this issue resolved.

Have a great rest of your summer…….

Best,

Roberta Sonenfeld

Village Manager

201-670-5500, ext. 203

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Artist shows ‘beautiful world’ at Ridgewood Library

Bike_Ridgewood_Public_Library_theridgewoodblog

AUGUST 21, 2015    LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, AUGUST 21, 2015, 12:31 AM
BY EILEEN LA FORGIA
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

“It’s a Beautiful World,” original oil paintings by Bob Rizzotti are on exhibit at the Ridgewood Public Library during August. The artist attempts to depict this beauty on canvas so that the visions are meaningful and permanent.

“We see so much conflict and strife yet this earth is truly a place of color and beauty,” he said. A Waldwick resident for 43 years, Bob and his wife Ginny have traveled widely. This exhibit invites the viewer to see these beautiful scenes captured in oil paintings.

“It’s a Beautiful World” will remain on view through the end of the month at the Ridgewood Public Library located at 125 N. Maple Ave. Call 201-670-5600.

https://www.northjersey.com/arts-and-entertainment/art/artist-shows-beautiful-world-at-library-exhibit-1.1395939

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Ridgewood should give more attention to King’s Pond Park

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AUGUST 21, 2015    LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, AUGUST 21, 2015, 12:31 AM
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

Village should give more attention to King’s Pond Park

To the Editor:

It was reported last week that two truckloads of construction debris were dumped in the rear of the village’s composting site at the end of Lakeview Drive sometime in the prior two months. The village manager’s response is that the police are attempting to track down culprit. This effort seems like a worthy effort. However, the result of this dumping, although wrong, is inconsequential as it is not visible from any walk paths, does not impede access to anything and actually blends into the landscape of that area.

How the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection was able to discover and react to this violation is to be applauded. However, the DEP and the village administration have failed to recognize the very visible dumping by Mother Nature on King’s Pond Park, the largest wildscape in Ridgewood. Here, we have a dangerous, partially collapsed dam, a pond full of debris, and a shoreline overgrown with vegetation that denies access. All of this is in plain view but remains ignored. It is a disgrace that this wildscape has been allowed to deteriorate without any action by current or previous village mangers or the DEP. After 15 years of neglect, the current village budget is devoid of any funding to address this situation.

From my standpoint, if you want to clean up a mess, let’s put our efforts into restoring a popular fishing area in a very visible park setting to its intended use. The village’s 2006 master plan showed, in detail, how that could be accomplished. It’s way past the time when it should be implemented.

George W. Shabet

Ridgewood

 

https://www.northjersey.com/opinion/opinion-letters-to-the-editor/letter-to-the-editor-ridgewood-should-give-more-attention-to-king-s-pond-park-1.1396099

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Ridgewood Library offers summer reading club for adults

Pile-of-Books

AUGUST 21, 2015    LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, AUGUST 21, 2015, 12:31 AM
BY MATTHEW SCHNEIDER
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

The Ridgewood Public Library has hosted a number of interesting events aimed at all age groups over the summer.

A brand-new program that proved to be very popular was the Summer Reading Club for Adults.

“We had 100 adults register within the first week,” said librarian Kerri Wallace.

In addition to being a good place for adults to meet and discuss literature, the club also served as an opportunity for its participants to earn rewards for reading.

“Participants received a raffle ticket for every book/magazine/ audiobook/ebook that they read or listened to,” Wallace said. “We had weekly drawings for prizes like a new bestselling novel and computer class passes.”

While the club didn’t follow an exact theme, it did offer a few events focused on famed author Harper Lee.

“We ran a week-long series to celebrate the release of ‘Go Set a Watchman,’” Wallace said.

The club also hosted a book discussion on “To Kill a Mockingbird” and showed the film.

For children, the library has been following a theme for many of its events called “Every Hero Has a Story.”

 

https://www.northjersey.com/community-news/reading-club-joins-adult-league-1.1396017

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RHS Class of 1970 45th Reunion October 9, 2015

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Ridgewood NJ, Getting closer to Oct 9-10. We have firmed up the activities, hotel rooms are waiting to be reserved, tickets can be bought on this web site (see the Purchase Tickets page)

When: Fri Oct 9 – Sat Oct 10, 2015
Where: Ridgewood area

Activities
Friday Oct 9
6:00 Tailgate before football game (RHS, alas no booze)
7:00 RHS Football game (at RHS)
7:30 – 11:00 Elks Club (informal get together, $20 per person (cash only, paid at the door), includes light dinner, cash bar)

Saturday Oct 10
11:30 – 1:00 Lunch at the Fireplace (ad hoc gatherings)
7:00 – 11:00 Main Event – Buffet dinner, cash bar, music. DoubleTree Hotel, Mahwah. Tickets $55 (on sale on this web site or via check), $65 cash only at the door

Hotel
Bad news. The DoubleTree is completely sold out on Sat Oct 10.
Good news. We have reserved rooms at the Super 8 Hotel for Fri and Sat, located right next door to the DoubleTree for $65 plus tax. For info:https://www.super8.com/…/mahwah/super-8-mahwah/hotel-overview
For reservations: 201-512-0800 Tell them you are with RHS Class of ’70 reunion. (If any problems, as for Jessica).

Communications
– This web site –We will use this web site like our last reunion (e.g. for general reunion info, for you to update your contact info, to let us know if you are thinking about coming to reunion, (eventually) to sell tickets).
– Facebook page – New. Check it out. Jump on board.https://www.facebook.com/RHS1970

Please do the following:
Buy your ticket(s) – See the Purchase Tickets page
Update your contact info – If your phone, email or street address has changed since 2010, pls use the “Update Contact Info” tab on this site
Let us know if you may come to the reunion – use the “RSVP” tab. Not binding. It lets classmates see who may be coming and helps us plan.
Missing Grads – We still have 71 grads with no email, phone or street addresses. Pls look at the list and let us know if you can help find them.
Talk this up with your classmates – Make sure everyone knows about the reunion.

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Another Ridgewood Resident Targeted IRS Payment Scheme

phone-scam
August 21,2015
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, the Ridgewood Police report that on Wednesday, August 19, 2015 an East side resident reported receiving a suspicious telephone call from a person claiming to be from the United States Internal Revenue Service who said that he/she owed back taxes. The caller requested the resident deposit the money in a Wells Fargo Bank account that they provided an account number for or risk arrest by the police.

While threatening with arrest, the caller also claimed to be from the Ridgewood Police Department. The caller was able to mimic real phone numbers for both the IRS and the Ridgewood Police Department. Fortunately the caller was suspicious and determined that the call was fraudulent.
These types of scams are on the rise and frequently target the elderly. Please be suspicious of calls or internet contacts requesting money and lookout for friends or neighbors who may be targeted by similar scams. Neither the IRS nor the Ridgewood Police Department would be contacting you by phone to request money.All defendants are considered to be innocent until found guilty by a court of law.
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Ridgewood is seeking respite from the heat

Bike_Ridgewood_Public_Library_theridgewoodblog

AUGUST 20, 2015    LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 2015, 2:40 PM
BY MATTHEW SCHNEIDER
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

The village has been experiencing some seriously hot weather recently, with temperatures venturing past 90 degrees.

Though it had yet to be officially declared a heat wave by Tuesday, the temperatures were still scorching, necessitating the use of “cooling stations” around Ridgewood.

These locations offer an overheated individual the opportunity to rest and take a respite from the heat until they are feeling back to normal. Two such locations are the Ridgewood Public Library and the Community Center at Village Hall.

Nancy Greene, director of the library, said the doors “are open seven days a week throughout the year, except for major holidays.”

“We are one of the few libraries in Bergen County that maintains Sunday hours all summer – and we find that summer is our busiest time,” she said. “Hundreds of adults and children arrive every day and often stay for hours.”

These amenities make the library a desirable destination for those looking to cool off.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/weather/residents-seek-respite-from-the-heat-1.1395778

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Readers say Council Has Too Many Conflicts of Interests With CBD Developers

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Here is a comment written by Al Pucciarelli when he was running for council regarding when you should recuse. After reading it, both Pucciarielli (his law firm does work with the developers of the Dayton and he is friends with the owners of the property) and Aronsohn (his wife works in one of the zones and benefits financially) need to recuse themselves.

It also shows Hauck (personal involvement that would impair her objectivity) and Pucciarelli (business and financial involvement) should recuse themselves from any discussions on the Valley issue

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Albert J. Pucciarelli May 06, 2012 at 09:43 AM
The very first time I spoke publicly about my candidacy – February 13, 2012 – I acknowledged my conflict regarding Valley. At Monday’s debate I said that because of the conflict I was uniquely suited to play a roll in bringing the hospital and the neighbors together in what I hope will be a meaningful dialogue. Only two days ago did I read for the first time that candidate Forenza’s wife works for Valley and he too has a conflict that would prevent him from voting. Finally now – two days before the election – I am seeing for the first time the candidate himself acknowledge this. I concluded that I have a conflict (and checked it with a lawyer in my firm who is an expert on such matters) because the state law on the matter is quite clear. I am surprised that for the past two months I have been asked about the conflict of interest frequently while Mr. Forenza, who may have enjoyed support of the Valley proponents, only now – just days before the May 8 election – is mentioned in connection with a possible conflict. Mr. Forenza, a non-lawyer, is not sure he has a conflict. Here is the relevant state law: “No local government officer or employee shall act in his official capacity in any matter where he, a member of his immediate family, or a business organization in which he has an interest, has a direct or indirect financial or personal involvement that might reasonably be expected to impair his objectivity or independence of judgment.” Albert Pucciarelli
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