Ridgewood NJ, I can’t imagine that a local company involved in the training & education of your children would spend money to advertise a product they could not deliver, could you?
Therefore, the appearance of this advertisement in a recent edition of the Suburban News, which indicates that a commercial enterprise (HealthBarn USA) is planning to use Village of Ridgewood owned property (The Stable) as its primary training location – currently without the formal approval of Ridgewood’s Village Council – makes me wonder whether someone at Village Hall should be investigated, or someone there should be fired.
JANUARY 1, 2016 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, JANUARY 1, 2016, 12:31 AM
BY MATTHEW SCHNEIDER
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
The village will launch a redesigned website to go along with the New Year, with the site set to go live on Jan. 1.
The website (ridgewoodnj.net) contains features that make the former one look ancient by comparison, according to officials.
“We are very excited about our new website, because it is more user-friendly, better organized and allows for quicker, easier access to timely information,” Mayor Paul Aronsohn said.
The new website features a search bar, so viewers can find an article or event by simply typing a phrase into the search. This makes locating services or events easier than it was on the old website, where users needed to look around manually until they found what they were seeking.
“Our past website, there was no search feature,” said Dylan Hansen, the village’s network administrator. “You pretty much had to know where something was to find anything. On our new website, you can just type something in, and it should auto-fill … with some of the top articles.”
Another inclusion in the new website is more accessibility. With the click of a button, a person can increase or decrease the text size, change the contrast of the screen’s colors and enable any highlighted text to be read out loud. This feature is aimed at assisting those with poor eyesight, colorblindness or standard blindness.
“One of the things I go onto many websites and don’t see is accessibility features,” Hansen said, noting that most people need to use programs to get these features.
He added that having these features makes the website compliant with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
Ridgewood NJ , Gwenn Habernickel Hauck is getting ready to run for Village Council ( https://www.gwennhauck.com/ ) . Gwen is a current Village Council member and is a key member of the Council Majority ,know to most blog readers as the “3 Amigos” .
While Mayor Aronsohn is as many have long expected moving on , Gwen is preparing for a new electoral challenge. Gwen has long catered to the senior set in town ,but has become a very controversial figure on the dais . Her tenure has been dominated by her unwillingness to address the obvious conflicts with Valley Hospital, her frequent non sequitur out bursts , her addiction to electronic communications during council meetings and he unwillingness to listen to alternative point of views .
It is important to note you get the Government you vote for. So all you posters on this blog that voted for the 3 Amigos and now posting negative opinions about them let us remind you what your vote did and how it screwed the rest of us.
Yes Westsiders, hows your leaf pick up coming along and the high density housing ,cant wait for little Johnny to lose his AP spot, ah?
Yes Preserve Graydon Group hows the new ramp looking , we hear 3 people have used it in 2 years? And the far east side Schedler Field hows the house coming along and enjoy the 90X60 baseball field , especially the lights at night and the traffic .
And of coarse we are all looking forward to paying for the 5 story parking garage through increased in parking rates and hours and of coarse as the Walker report stated ,increased property taxes .
And lets not forget the 0% tax increase for two years and all that money taken from the emergency fund ,the down grade of municipal services ?
Don’t forget the increase in the debt service which we will be paying for long after you 3 are gone. And of coarse our personal favorite ,fill the Village with high density housing destroying the very character , and turning Ridgewood into just one more New Jersey dump waiting to be the next Hoboken, the key word is like Bayonne ,”waiting”.
JANUARY 1, 2016 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, JANUARY 1, 2016, 12:31 AM
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Welcome to a New Year – one full of new challenges, exciting opportunities and endless possibilities.
Indeed, 2016 promises to be a big year for our country and for our community. Big changes in leadership along with big decisions on key issues will lead to important results nationally as well as locally.
These 1/6/16 Village Council meeting agenda items were excerpted verbatim from the agenda posted on VOR’s website.
“Discussion
a. Parking
1. Ordinance t o Participate in Leasing Agreement with Bergen County Improvement Authority
2. Authorize Application to Local Finance Board – Hudson Street Deck
10. Motion to Suspend Work Session and Convene Special Public Meeting #2
11. Special Public Meeting #2 – See Attached Agenda”
It would appear as though the Council will introduce an ordinance(s) to form some sort of partnership with the Bergen County Improvement Authority re: proposed Hudson Street parking garage.
photo courtesy of Boyd Lovings Facebook Police ,Fire and NJ DEP respond hazardous materials spill in Ridgewood
December 31,2015
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood Police & Fire Department personnel, along with an inspector from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Enforcement Division, responded to a hazardous materials spill at the STS Tire & Auto Center, 562 North Maple Avenue, Ridgewood just after 12:30 PM on Wednesday, 12/30.
The spilled substance, believed to be a chemical used in the sealing of flat tires, escaped from a truck that was picking up used tires at the location. An absorbent substance was applied by firefighters to mitigate the spill. Traffic on North Maple Avenue in the area was slowed by the activity associated with the incident. No injuries were reported.
DECEMBER 30, 2015 LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2015, 1:21 AM
THE RECORD
Ring in the new year with a scrumptious meal. The following are just some of the restaurants going all out to satisfy palates in the final moments of 2015:
Picnic on the Square
The Ridgewood restaurant is celebrating New Year’s with a loaded prix-fixe menu. The meal includes a snack plate to start followed by salad, appetizer, entrée and dessert courses. This year’s celebration features an all-new menu crafted by chef Christine Nunn and a complimentary champagne toast. Other than the toast, the meal is BYOB. $85 per person, 26 Wilsey Square 201-444-4001; picniconthesquare.com.
DECEMBER 30, 2015 LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2015, 9:59 AM
BY BY DIANA OLIVEIRA
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Working behind the scenes at a broadcast of a presidential primary debate can be chaotic. Anything can go wrong at any moment, and the technical crew is expected to think on its feet and try to salvage potential disasters.
The role is an embodiment of stress. But 20-year-old Ashling Stanek was unaffected by the pressure of being a runner for ABC’s Martha Raddatz and George Stephanopoulos at last Saturday’s Democratic debate. In fact, backstage was where the Saint Anselm College junior felt most comfortable.
“I’m least stressed when there’s lots to do, and when I’m busy and moving and figuring everything out,” said Stanek.
A 2013 Ridgewood High School graduate, Stanek is currently a member of the Kevin Harrington Student Ambassador program at the college’s New Hampshire Institute of Politics (NHIOP) in Manchester, N.H. Her position at NHIOP – the center features presentations by renowned speakers, authors and scholars almost daily – has helped her become involved with networks like WMUR, ABC, MSNBC, ESPN and CSPAN. She met the majority of the 2016 presidential candidates, some of them multiple times. She was, therefore, more than qualified to be selected to take part in ABC’s weekend-long coverage of the Democratic primary debate on campus.
Growing up, Stanek regularly sat with her father and discussed what was in the news, specifically the goings-on in Washington, D.C. So, she was understandably thrilled when she learned she’d be putting her longtime knowledge of politics to good use and witnessing political action in person as a member of the production’s crew.
“I’m really interested into going into media production,” said Stanek. “I was really excited to finally get the opportunity to work with all the technology.”
Photo credit: Boyd A. Loving Ken Smith parking lot in Ridgewood to be repurposed
December 31,2015
Boyd A. Loving
Ridgewood NJ ,At a recent public meeting of the Village Council, Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld reported that the large parking lot at the former Ken Smith Motors will be repurposed by the property’s owner.
The lot is now being used for CBD employee parking on a permit only basis. Village of Ridgewood parking enforcement agents patrol the lot and issue summonses to violators. The Village currently receives a percentage of each permit fee.
The effective date for complete control by the property’s owner was said to be 1/1/2016. It is reported that the owner plans to offer commuter parking as well as employee parking (maybe “open” parking as well). The Village will not receive any revenue under the new plan, and will not provide any enforcement services.
Special Public Meeting – Multi-Family Housing – January 8, 2016
Ridgewood NJ , There will be a Village Council Special Public Meeting held on Friday, January 8, 2016 @ 5PM in the Court Room at Village Hall. Various Consultants will be presenting proposals for the 4 Multi-Family Housing Studies covering; fiscal impact, traffic, education & municipal infrastructure.
The firms that are competing to conduct the special impact studies that residents overwhelmingly requested on September 30th. The question arises is ,”why would you schedule such a meeting at 5:00pm on a Friday unless you did not want residents to attend?”
Contrary to the view point promoted by the Deputy Mayor , most residents do have a jobs. Jobs are particular necessary to pay the enormous amount of federal ,state and local taxes . No one who can afford to live in Ridgewood who works in the private sector gets home that early .
The other issue that would make sense would be to delay any decision regarding the parking garage until the comprehensive studies are done. It makes absolutely no sense to hire an outside company to conduct the studies without including the proposed garage.
I can’t recall the Village Council ever approving a resolution permitting such an operation (at The Stable).
Does anyone know how this all happened and whether it’s legal? Are they operating there for free (on the taxpayer’s dime), or is money exchanging hands? All a mystery.
Today is Holy Family Sunday, the day on which the Church celebrates family life and asks us to reflect on the family as
the basic unit of society. It is the family in which we are nurtured and nourished and which, throughout our lives,
offers the support that allows us to continue to grow and, at the same time, to be secure in the knowledge that there is a
place where we are loved. It is in the family that we experience the ties that bind, bringing us together into the
most intimate of all human relationships. We all know that families continue under a great deal of stress right now, not
only because so many households now have to have two “breadwinners,” but also because of the number of marriage
relationships that have failed and the stress of “blended families,” and the continued pressure to re-define marriage,
now also including the looming possibility that polygamy will be the next hot-button issue.
As our reflection, I once again offer this prayer, composed by the poet Robert Louis Stevenson, for all our families and
for the parish family of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. It captures so many of the deepest wishes we hope for our
families and it is my hope, prayer and wish for all of you. Lord, behold our family here assembled. We thank you
for this place in which we dwell; for the love that unites us; for the peace accorded us this day; for the hope
with which we wait for tomorrow; for the health, the work, the food and the bright skies that make our lives
delightful; for our friends in all parts of the earth.
Let peace abound in our small community. Purge out of every heart the lurking grudge. Give us grace and
strength to forbear and persevere. Give us the grace to accept and forgive offenses. Forgetful ourselves, help
us to bear cheerfully the forgetfulness of others.
Give us courage and gaiety and a quiet mind. Spare us to our friends, soften us to our enemies. Bless us in all
our endeavors. Give us the strength to encounter that which is to come that we may be brave in peril,
constant in tribulation, temperate in wrath and in all changes in fortune, and down to the gates of death,
loyal and loving, one to another.
As the clay to the potter, as the windmill to the wind, as children to their father, we ask of You this help and
mercy for Christ’s sake. Amen.
God bless all our families and this parish family of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and a very large and warm thank
you for all of you who make this parish a real family.
All peace and joy in the New Year,
Fr. Ron
P.S. And here I go with another PS, which directly affects this parish family that I just wrote about. I have
briefly written previously on the proposed parking garage the Village is considering building on the site of
the present ground lot on Hudson Street. The Council had a first vote on the authorization of the bonds to pay
for the lot. I am not sure if the Council has officially approved the largest of the designs, for 400+ cars, but, I
believe the bond issue would be for an amount that is needed for that design.
As I wrote, I have concerns about the proposed size of that project, the traffic it could create around the church, and the
proposed re-orientation of Hudson and Passaic Streets, affecting the way funerals park at Mount Carmel and ingress and
egress into and from the driveways that surround the former convent. As I write this, we have engaged an
independent consultant to review the Traffic Impact Study prepared for the Village.
I invite all interested parishioners to one of two meetings to be held this week, one on Tuesday evening, December
29, 2015 at 7:30 PM or, for those who prefer not to come out at night, Wednesday afternoon, December 30, 2015
at 2:00 PM. Both meetings will be held in the Parish
Center and the purpose is to give you any information about our review of the Traffic Impact Study and to
offer you the opportunity to respond to the project proposed by the Village. In preparation, I encourage
everyone to go to the Village website www.ridgewoodnj.net . If you click on the Hudson
Street garage icon you will find some valuable information, including the simulations of the designed
garage as it fits into adjacent buildings and from different perspectives. It is very helpful in understanding the project.
It is important that we hear from you before January 6, 2016, when the Village Council will take up the Bond Issue again.
For two years, Michele Colón believed with complete conviction that the end of the world was imminent and that an elderly lady from South Korea was God. For those same two years, Colon, a nurse, attended services at the World Mission Society Church of God in the New Jersey suburb of Ridgewood.
Colón tells PEOPLE she defected from the World Mission Society Church of God more than four years ago. She says she did so because she believes she had been brainwashed into what she alleges is a doomsday cult.
Colón further claims in a civil suit she filed against the 50-year-old World Mission Society Church of God, a copy of which was obtained by PEOPLE, that the group is a “profit-making” cult that “uses a number of psychological control tactics…to prevent its members from exposing its criminal and tortious behavior.”
In its motion to dismiss Colón’s complaint, the church called her allegations “entirely fabricated.” The motion states that Colon’s claim is part of a larger effort by her to “position herself as a veteran of the ‘cult war’ and build a career as ‘cult expert’ to the detriment” of the World Mission Society Church of God’s reputation.
Anthony Neil Cortazzo
Born: March 04, 1926
Died: December 28, 2015
Anthony N. Cortazzo, aged 89 of Ridgewood, NJ passed away on December 28, 2015. He was a member of the Ridgewood Police Department for 38 years; retiring after 10 years as Captain. Anthony served in the US Army during WWII in France. He was an active member of the Riverside Vets in Paterson where he was born and attended Eastside High School. Tony was an avid and well known golfer in the area for many years. He is predeceased by his mother Andrianna, father Raymond, three brothers, Ralph, Frank, and Andy. He lost a son Raymond, aged 15 and daughter Susan, aged 48, his loving wife of 35 years Eileen and recently Ruth Jediny, his loving companion of the last 12 years. Anthony will be remembered as a helpful and caring person to his family, friends, and community.
He is survived by three devoted children and sons-in- law, Kathleen Martello and husband Phil, Claire Baragona and husband Peter and David Cortazzo Menegus. Anthony was blessed with six grandchildren Philip, Ariele, Michael, Benjamin, Jake and Lina; and one great grandson, Evan. He is also survived by nieces, Barbara Ann, Andrea, and nephew John.
The visitation will be at the C C Van Emburgh Funeral Home 306 E. Ridgewood Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ 07450 onWednesday, December 30th from 2 to 4 pm and 6 to 8 pm. Prayer service will be held on Thursday at 10 am at the funeral home chapel with entombment to follow at Calvary Cemetery in Paterson. www.vanemburgh.com
