May 12th – Final Day for Primary Election Registration
The Village Clerk’s Office and the League of Women Voters of Ridgewood would like to remind voters that May 12th is the last day to register to vote in the Primary Election (June 2nd). Voter registration forms are available at the Village Clerk’s Office at Village Hall or can be downloaded at www.njelections.org. In person registration on May 12th will be held in the Village Clerk’s Office from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and in the Library Lobby from 4:30p.m.-9:00 p.m.
Owning a dog is slightly less expensive than being addicted to crack.
May 4 , 2015
Boyd A. Loving
A chocolate brown Cocker Spaniel residing on South Irving Street received the Village’s first 2015 dog license, which was issued by a Village of Ridgewood Health Department employee shortly after 8:30 AM on Monday, May 5th.
Remember: A Late Fee of $20.00 per dog will be assessed for applications received after June 30th.
It is the dog owner’s responsibility to renew the dog license when it expires. It is also the dog owner’s responsibility to maintain their pet with a valid rabies vaccination. The health department sends out reminders as a courtesy and to inform residents of the free rabies clinic.
MAY 4, 2015 LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, MAY 4, 2015, 10:57 AM
BY MARK KRULISH
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
An early start to the school calendar, a late Sept. 7 date for Labor Day and the return of many teachers on the last day of August has caused a quirk in the schedule for Graydon Pool this year.
The pool is currently scheduled to cease weekday operations on Aug. 31.
During a work session last Wednesday, the Village Council discussed potential ways to make up for the lost days of available swimming, including the possibility of opening earlier during the pre-season.
This fall, students will return to school on Sept. 2 with teachers arriving on Aug. 31, which impacts the village’s ability to properly staff Graydon Pool during that final week before Labor Day.
Councilman Michael Sedon floated the idea of opening the pool to residents during the morning in June. Beginning on June 6, Graydon is scheduled to open at noon and close at 7:30 p.m. on weekdays while opening at 10 a.m. on weekends. Sedon proposed to have Graydon open at 10 a.m. on all days until regular season hours commence on June 19.
“I thought maybe a compromise might be opening it up in the pre-season earlier for an additional two hours,” Sedon said. “You would already have staff there, you would already have everybody doing what they would do at the pool, you would just have to do it two hours earlier for, I believe, nine days in the pre-season and there is a cost associated with that.”
MAY 3, 2015, 4:17 PM LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, MAY 3, 2015, 10:22 PM
BY MINJAE PARK
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
RIDGEWOOD — Having lost an uncle to AIDS two decades ago, when HIV — the virus that causes the condition — was a protracted death sentence, Johnisha Gooch feared the worst when she tested positive on Sept. 21, 2012, a date she remembers like her birthday.
“I honestly thought my life was over,” said Gooch, a Hackensack native.
But strolling a scenic, sunny path along Saddle River at the Saddle River County Park for the annual New Jersey AIDS Walk on Sunday, Gooch showed that the daily pleasures of life can continue as before. She enjoys walking — “This is perfect,” she said — and she also relishes spending time with her brother, sister and mother, cooking soul food, shopping and reading urban fiction. She takes an antiretroviral drug once a day.
“I move ahead of HIV,” she said. “I do what I have to do every day.”
The walk was hosted by the Buddies of New Jersey, a non-profit that offers services for those with HIV/AIDS in Bergen and Passaic counties. The goal was to raise $58,000.
Other AIDS walks were also taking place Sunday in Morristown, Newark, Asbury Park and Atlantic City.
Gooch lives in the Robert A. Harrison House, an assisted-living facility in Paramus for people who are HIV-positive. It is on the grounds of the Bergen Regional Medical Center and is run by Buddies of New Jersey.
“The main thing is trying to prevent new infections,” said Mark Anderson, the executive director of Buddies of New Jersey.
With 4,659 AIDS cases and 1,608 HIV cases reported by the end of last year, Passaic County ranks third among New Jersey counties in disease prevalence, behind Hudson and Essex counties, according to a state Department of Health website. Bergen County has 2,550 AIDS cases and 967 HIV cases reported.
The population with HIV/AIDS is aging in New Jersey, with numbers growing for those aged 45 to 64, and 65 and older, according to a state report from December 2014.
Posted by Scott St Clair On May 04, 2015 0 Comment
By Scott St. Clair | The Save Jersey Blog
When I was a kid, I drank out of the garden hose but didn’t die. I did it because I was hot and thirsty after having roamed all by myself on my bike throughout the neighborhood and a goodly portion of Phoenix, where I spent my pre-teen years. We all did – kids drank out of hoses and roamed, and they still do because it’s in their nature to explore and take risks.
But God forbid they do so these days or some nosy busybody will call the cops on them and they’ll be forced to sit in the back of a squad car for three hours while their parents are subjected to an inquisition-style interrogation without regard for their rights or common sense, which isexactly what happened to the Meitiv family in Maryland recently.
As if it was the crime of the century, the police apprehended a dangerous 10-year-old boy and his 6-year-old partner-in-crime sister as they walked a few blocks from a local park to their home.
Now, because they let their kids play outside without a leash or surrounded by a barbed wire fence, their parents have been tagged by the state as guilty of “unsubstantiated” child neglect, whatever that is.
MAY 4, 2015 LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, MAY 4, 2015, 1:21 AM
BY CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
RIDGEWOOD — Restoration work will soon begin on an 80-year-old Gaetano Federici sculpture that was discovered last year in the woods behind the village’s water treatment plant.
It will take about three weeks for a restorer to clean and refurbish the renowned Paterson artist’s cast stone statue, said Ridgewood Councilwoman Susan Knudsen.
“It is a rather stately piece that everyone can appreciate,” Knudsen said.
The sculpture depicts an earlier version of New Jersey’s state seal. The 1927 piece features two female figures — Liberty and Ceres — with three plows, representing agriculture’s importance to the state. As with the state seal, the head of a horse — New Jersey’s official animal — tops the statue.
Until last week, the statue had remained in the same spot it occupied for the four decades before it was unearthed: atop two old tires, covered with a tarp.
But last Friday, Ridgewood workers gingerly moved the sculpture onto a wooden pallet. A forklift was then brought in to transport it to a safer location, Knudsen said.
The statue now sits on a table specifically constructed for it, awaiting fine-art restorer and Ridgewood resident Ornella Muth’s magic touch, Knudsen said.
May 1,2015
Chestnut Street Parking Lot – Changes May 11th
Ridgewood NJ, Starting May 11th the Multi-space meter in the Chestnut Street Parking Lot will be deactivated. The new method of payment for up to 3 hours of parking at .50 cents per hour will be by phone using the Parkmobile App.
The display of the Ridgewood Parking Pass (RPP) will enable users to park from 6AM to 2AM without any further payment.
Parkmobile provides a new and better way to pay for parking using your cell phone. With Parkmobile’s mobile app, starting your parking transaction takes just a few seconds. If you’re driving a different car than the one you registered, you can quickly change the license number and activate your parking session. You can “opt-in” to receive one text message reminder 15 minutes prior to your parking expiring.
We provide secure online access to your parking data so you can track your parking expenses, change your account settings or print a report. You can also easily export information for expense reimbursements.
You’ll find Parkmobile in private and public parking lots, on city streets, at airports, stadiums and just about anywhere you park. Millions of people have signed up. Registering with us is free and you’re under no obligation to use Parkmobile. It takes less than two minutes to join.
Parkmobile takes the stress out of parking. No more searching for coins. No worries about a dysfunctional parking meter. We offer flexible solutions designed to make your day a little easier.
You can register multiple vehicles to one cell phone number and multiple cell phones may be registered to one vehicle. Find out more about Parkmobile by visiting our website.
Rurik, If you wish to make comments on a topic, on a blog that allows anonymity, please do comment on the topic. Every posting you comment on shouldn’t become your quarrel with anonymity. Feel free to start a blog for Ridgewood where anonymity is not permitted, and so how many people post on it. It will be more effective to have those 3 people meet you for a discussion over coffee at Raymond’s.
P.S. I remember your comments on the Valley Renewal wanting to know why people opposing it were not blogging under their own names. It didn’t take a lot of courage for you to blog in favor of it, when your wife Cynthia Halaby was a Trustee of the Valley Hospital. Perhaps there are people with opposite opinions to your whose position/relationship to Valley or Village Hall or elsewhere make them feel uncomfortable expressing their opposing opinions very publicly.
We do live in America, and there is a secret ballot. An opinion (as long as non-libelous) is a form of freedom of speech. Prior to about 1890, when people voted, it was a public matter and the community, including factory bosses, knew exactly how their employees voted. I don’t mind an anonymous blog – why are you so opposed to it? Why do you need to identify those who disagree with you?
Rurik, where have you been? Many MANY people are not hiding behind their mothers’ aprons. The ones who go to the meetings and speak up, actually recently they were lined up to speak out against the Mayor’s outrageous behavior. They are not anonymous. And there have been numerous letters bashing the Mayor’s actions, and the letters are singed by citizens. The fact that you choose to post with your name on this BLOG, where most post anonymously, does not make you more bold and does not make your opinion more worthy. And those who post anonymously are not less worthy. This is the 21st century Rurik. This is how BLOGS work.
All politics is local, and this blog, among other essential functions, supports free and open exchanges of information and opinions bearing on the politics of the VOR. Mr. Halaby is willing to put his name behind his opinions. Good for him. But in Ridgewood we suffer from a particularly bad case of the malady some refer to as “the politics of personal destruction”. In most important areas in which Mr. Halaby offers his opinion, it just so happens that the POPD malady typically operates to the detriment of people who hold considered opinions opposite to his. So to rephrase the salient point of an earlier commenter, those who are motivated to express (non-libelous) opinions opposite to that held by Mr. Halaby are to be forgiven for taking advantage of a means of publicly expressing themselves that Mr. Halaby and his like-minded friends, frustrated in their seeming inability to make headway, are determined to brand as the last refuge of the damnably timid.
Here is the schedule for you to make plans for the upcoming 2015 Entertainment Under the Stars at the Kasschau Shell on Vet’s Field in Ridgewood. All programs are free. Just bring a chair or blanket and enjoy the music!
US Air Force Band in Ridgewood – May 1 at 7PM – Free Concert
US Air Force Band in Ridgewood
Free Admission – YMCA Building on Oak Street
US Air Force Band comes to Ridgewood Hosted by the Ridgewood YMCA, YWCA of Bergen County with the Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce Friday May 1, 7:00pm The YMCA YWCA building 112 Oak Street Ridgewood, NJ 07450 For details or reservations please call: 201-445-2600 Donations gratefully appreciated at the door Proceeds benefit Ridgewood YMCA and YWCA Bergen County children’s summer camp scholarships
MAY 1, 2015 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, MAY 1, 2015, 12:31 AM
BY MARK KRULISH
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
A touch of Hollywood descended upon the Central Business District this week as the red carpet was rolled out for filmmakers taking part in the Ridgewood Guild’s fifth annual International Film Festival.
This year, the festival is truly an international one with entries accepted from Canada, France, Austria and Iran, some of which will be featured on the additional third night at the Ridgewood Public Library on Friday.
“We’re so proud to be calling ourselves an international film festival this year,” said Ridgewood Guild President Tony Damiano. “We received films from 18 different countries and you’ll see them over the course of this evening and we’ve expanded to a third night on Friday evening.”
With a full roster of student films lined up for opening night, many of the festival’s youngest participants attended on Wednesday evening, excitedly posing for photographs in front of the movie premiere backdrop.
Karlee King, a senior at Paramus High School and a newcomer to the festival world, brought three short experimental films with her that feature the common theme of shooting video at abandoned locations.
Boyd LovingDoes anyone know if the Village of Ridgewood (VOR) is exempt from NJ State Department of Motor Vehicle regulations as they pertain to motor vehicle inspection?
On Thursday, 04/30, two (2) VOR owned vehicles were observed with expired inspection stickers (Parks Department pickup truck and marked police car) and another VOR vehicle without an inspection sticker (looked like a fleet maintenance truck).
Considering that the inspection stickers are expired (or non-existent), it is possible that the vehicle registrations may be expired as well.
So are we above the law/exempt from the law, or is it just gross incompetence on the part of whomever is supposed to keep track of these things?
APRIL 30, 2015, 8:41 PM LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, APRIL 30, 2015, 8:47 PM
BY CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
RIDGEWOOD —Starting next week, village officials keen on averting potential parking revenue theft after a former employee stole hundreds of thousands of dollars in meter quarters will begin urging motorists who park in municipal lots to begin using their smartphones to pay for spaces.
Next week marks the official launching of Ridgewood’s recent partnership with Parkmobile, the Atlanta-based company behind the popular parking app that links directly to a credit card, debit card or PayPal account.
Mayor Paul Aronsohn called next week’s rollout of the app a “soft launch,” adding that only the meters in Ridgewood’s parking lots would be affixed with Parkmobile stickers.
In most instances, users are asked to input information from each meter’s sticker as well as their car’s license plate number.
Plate readers — like the two the village already owns — will be used for enforcement.
Additionally, Parkmobile operates a toll-free number motorists can call to pay for parking.
In two weeks, village officials will actively promote the app’s availability in the town’s lots, Aronsohn said.
the staff of the Ridgewood blog and the Ridgewood Police Department
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood Police report ,the on April 29 at approximately 9pm, the Ridgewood Police Department was called to a house on S. Pleasant Avenue for a report of a stabbing. A 19-year-old victim was found to be bleeding from the shoulder.
The police were able to determine that a disagreement occurred with a known person and the disagreement became an altercation and resulted in the victim being stabbed with a 4” folding knife.
Police arrested 20-year-old Matthew Luis from Mahwah at the scene. He has been charged with Aggravated Assault, Possession of a deadly weapon and Possession of a weapon for unlawful purposes. The accused has been remanded to the Bergen County Jail in lieu of posting the $65,000 bail.
APRIL 28, 2015 LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2015, 2:48 PM
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Print
The Ridgewood Guild will present its Fifth Annual International Film Festival on Wednesday, April 29 and Thursday, April 30 at the Bow Tie Cinema, Ridgewood; and on Friday, May 1 at the Ridgewood Public Library.
Red carpet festivities will begin at 6 p.m. each night, with film programming running in two theaters simultaneously beginning at approximately 7 p.m. Ridgewood Mayor Paul Aronsohn will be on hand to open the festivities on Wednesday, April 29.
“There were so many high-caliber entries from around the world this year, the executive committee felt the time had come to expand the festival from two nights to three,” Film Festival Chairwoman Lynne Clements said in a news release.
