Courts should decide hospital expansion
OCTOBER 24, 2014 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2014, 10:01 AM
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Let courts decide Valley’s fate
Rurik Halaby
To the Editor:
I support The Valley Hospital’s decision to take the matter of its renewal to court, as I know that we, the residents of Ridgewood, will win if Valley wins. Valley has to renew to remain viable. And its future cannot be dictated by a small band of neighbors who are only guided by their parochial needs.
And before the politicians start beating their chests, I will relate a discussion I had with a Village Council member after the council voted against Valley in 2011. He/she shook his/her head and lamented the fact the issue ever came to the council: “It should have been settled by the courts.” Well, hopefully the Village Council’s work will be done for it.
History is full of missed opportunities, and Ridgewood’s great missed opportunity this past year was our mayor not mediating behind the scenes between Valley and its neighbors to alleviate the neighbors’ concerns and to arrive at a workable solution. If I lived in the neighborhood, I certainly would have had my concerns, but I would have worked hard to get Valley to address them to the satisfaction of most of the neighbors.
This is now doubly difficult because the neighbors’ fears have gone beyond rationality to the realm of paranoia: The neighborhood being smothered with a blanket of noxious fumes, basements being flooded, walls getting cracked, and children being mowed down by heavy trucks on their way to school. These concerns made me wonder if this project was actually taking place in the most advanced engineering country in the world.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/opinion/opinion-letters-to-the-editor/letter-courts-should-decide-hospital-expansion-1.1117450#sthash.MC5oZryJ.dpuf
Perhaps the Village Council members in the future should be qualified State Judges — it would cut down on time — to get a final decision — on what to do next — What do you really think ?
I think by your above post you have finally lost your mind. I doubt that there are 5 state judges that live in Ridgewood. Or would you want to open the qualification for the Ridgewood Council to judges that live in Bergen County so we could attract judges to run for council . How about this Dom. We don’t vote for Council we just have our Governor appoint 5 judges to run Ridgewood. We all know you use to work for a judge and we all know you are stuck in 1947. Get a life
The letter to the editor goes on in part to read: “I am a 45-year resident of Ridgewood, and it pains me to see Ridgewood’s slow decline over the years. Somehow, the political agenda, be it Valley, parking, or the apartments, is driven by a small highly organized band of what I call the “Vocal Antis,” who are against adapting to change which means Ridgewood is only slipping backwards. How to describe the “Vocal Antis?” I will quote a recent column by Thomas Friedman, who described some of our country’s ills being caused by people who are “self-absorbed, risk-averse, and shortsighted.” con’t..
Whichever side you’re on, this issue will be decided by a judge now… as it should have been from the beginning. If Valley is not allowed to renovate it won’t be the end of the world just like it won’t be the end of the world if they get the green light. Time for some deep breaths ya’ll.
So Halaby and 1947 Reporter wants local Master Plans and zoning decisions to start at the the State level – we can call it the North Korean model. Effecient, yes – is that are criteria for success?
Very well written Rurik…..
As for the mayor he is a non entity….
A carpetbagger from the get go he’s only here to
Advance his own agenda.
Mr. Halaby needs to stop referring to the majority of Ridgewood residents that oppose the overexpansion of Valley Hospital as a small, pesky, short-sighted group of individuals. He is clearly clouded by his positive personal experiences at the hospital and has lost all ability to judge this issue purely on its merits (or lack thereof). Valley Hospital CAN modernize. But Valley Hospital cannot do so with disregard for the community in which it resides. The public wants Valley to come up with a viable solution other than OVERexpansion. Valley has never engaged the community in discussion, and it’s obvious that they do not value the community over their bottom line. That’s fine. But then they shouldn’t expect the residents of Ridgewood to value Valley over their own bottom line and quality of life. It would be a better use of your time, Mr. Halaby, to be like Mayor LaGuardia and motivate Valley to withdraw its lawsuit (which will cost the village dearly), and engage in civil dialog rather than brute force.
Mr. Halaby needs to stop referring to the majority of Ridgewood residents that oppose the overexpansion of Valley Hospital as a small, pesky, short-sighted group of individuals. He is clearly clouded by his positive personal experiences at the hospital and has lost all ability to judge this issue purely on its merits (or lack thereof). Valley Hospital CAN modernize. But Valley Hospital cannot do so with disregard for the community in which it resides. The public wants Valley to come up with a viable solution other than OVERexpansion. Valley has never engaged the community in discussion, and it’s obvious that they do not value the community over their bottom line. That’s fine. But then they shouldn’t expect the residents of Ridgewood to value Valley over their own bottom line and quality of life. It would be a better use of your time, Mr. Halaby, to be like Mayor LaGuardia and motivate Valley to withdraw its lawsuit (which will cost the village dearly), and engage in civil dialog rather than brute force.
Of course Valley’s supporters want a judge to decide. They’ve lost their battle at every turn. Why not let a judge decide who wins the World Series after your team loses there too? There is a process in place to evaluate projects such as this. Valley has gone through the process and lost. Move on people.
And what you call “Vocal Anti’s” I would call “Opposed to Special Interest Groups”. Every project being evaluated from the hospital to the apartments is being driven by individuals who stand to enrich themselves personally at our collective expense. It’s time for our elected officials to ditch their personal agendas, step up and represent the people that elected you.
Those that still support Valley are either very naive or have some skin in the game….
“It’s time for our elected officials to ditch their personal agendas, step up and represent the people that elected you.” People knew they were snakes in the grass and still voted for them.
Recall them now before they cause anymore damage.
I am flattered by the constructive comments, pro and con, that my letter appears to have elicited. Hopefully the debate could be the start of a new way of settling difficult issues in Ridgewood.
One suggestion is for people to list comments under their own names and not as Anonymous. What are people scared of? It is a sad day for America for Americans to be scared to stand up and expressing their opinions. I am sure you all are familiar with Norman Rockwell’s painting “Freedom of Speech.” Can you imagine the painting with the man standing expressing an opinion covering his head with a paper shopping to ensure his anonymity?
Did you ever think Mr. Halaby that they be scared of you and members of Valley hospital
I’m sorry, but when people like Marla, (aka “anonymous”) rail against Valley employees “using our sidewalks on lunch breaks” (post from about a year ago) they loose ALL credibility with me. People like this have gone so far off the rails that It makes worried about our Village. Marla, do you ever go to other towns and dare to “use” “their sidewalks”? This “us” against “them” mentality has gone too far. Let the judge decide. If it was left up to simple majority vote, there would still be slavery in the south… Not in any way equating the Valley “renewal” with slavery but much of the languge of the opposition to Valley sure smacks of dehumanizing the situation.
Mr. Halaby is right — there have been many missed opportunities in the past fifty years. Many of us who lived here pleaded and urged Valley to look to the future and move itself on to route 17 where it would have plenty of room to expand and grow. Instead, it stayed put telling us “this will be our last expansion.” Valley missed the chance to be a regional hospital and remain in Ridgewood. And I am sick and tired of Valley sycophants blaming fellow citizens for Valley’s lack of vision in a quite feeble attempt to re-write history in order to try and excuse the bad behavior of Valley’s management and board.
“Valley has to renew to remain viable.” I agree, but where is it etched in stone that it has to be on a site that can’t handle it ? Why does it even have to be in Ridgewood ? And how does it benefit Ridgewood ? Why not improve within the existing structure ?
I could go on and on because the truth is this proposal has raised more questions than Mr. Halaby, or any other supporter, for that matter, can answer.
Rurik Halaby has a good point in #11, in theory it would be best if we could all put our names on all our postings.
However, some certainly feel constrained by being on the opposite side that our employer/coworkers may be taking. As an example, Mr. Halaby has opinions about Valley that are consistent with that of his wife’s position as a Valley Trustee. I wonder if he would so willing to put his name to opinions about Valley if he disagreed with Valley’s position.
Anonymity has its place, and a blog like this is one.
In his original letter Mr. Halaby states that the residents of Ridgewood will win if the court decides in Valley’s favor. However, in typical supporter fashion he gives not one reason as to why the village would benefit from a 7-10 year expansion in a residential neighborhood.
Rather than discredit the concerns of what has become a very large group of people, he might want to concentrate his journalistic efforts on outlining just what those benefits are. If he cannot, then his comments are nothing but self-serving, at best.
Rurik- I wholeheartedly congratulate and thank you for having the spine to post your name to your opinion and put it in the paper. And I totally disagree with your opinion as well as Dr Cannaliato’s opinion. When you look at the hatchet pr job in round one (remember the bullsh_t Ridgewood News ads?), I still wonder why a non binding referendum was not put out there to judge the appetite for this ridiculous proposal. I still believe the majority of residents oppose this “renewal”. But thank you for putting your cards on the table and not hiding in cyberspace. And I truly hope the proposal is rejected. And this is my real name.
To Paul Smith (#18) – the reason a referendum (even non-binding) is not done, is because planning board issues are supposed to be based on land use planning issues. If decided on anything else, including public sentiment, the courts would rule against the decision when appealed. A public referendum might be pleasing, just as Valley’s self-interested “poll” was pleasing to them, but it can’t be entered into a decision. Just look at Ho-Ho-Kus and the recent online petition to the Planning Board, as reported on this blog.
Paul, thank you for your gracious note. We might disagree on the Valley issue but we are not being disagreeable. I wish more of the political discourse can be done with such civility. Both of us have Ridgewood’s interest at heart.
A lot of good points here. I appreciate #14 and #15. What is lost here on Valley’s supporters is sense, common sense, engineering sense, land use sense, etc. This expansion makes no sense at this scale. Rurik, you can’t agree on that because your a trustee to the hospital? Doubling the size of this structure at this site? Insane, Judges are far from insane so I expect this vote to go the proper way. More wasted time and more wasted money, just like our political process. Changing the Master Plan and revising the H-Zone is the best reason the answer is still No and should always be NO. Why does Valley keep insisting on this over expansion? Not only are they sore losers they have deep pockets that they feel will buy them this eventually. Valley has purchased multiple other properties yet they continue to ask for the unreasonable? Ridgewood is not hurting Valley…Valley, is hurting Valley! The best solution to this situation was given after their last defeat. Renew within and ask for reasonable variances that the town will approve. Stop the Nonsense
For years I have summarily dismissed Mr. Halaby’s rants in the newspaper and at meetings. Anyone who hurls insult after insult at fellow residents comes across as little more than a crank. Mr. Halaby, how dare you talk about “civility”?
Valley Hospital has run out of room. This is not a matter of politics, nor is it the fault of our Mayor. It is a matter of physics: only so much stuff can be crammed into the same small space.
Many hundreds of residents oppose Valley’s plans–we are hardly a “small band”. We have worked our entire adults lives to be able to live here—to enjoy the fine schools, the safety, the parks, etc. We care about the health of our children, and about the quality of our lives. We do not want to live with noise, pollution, and danger resulting from traffic. Mr. Halaby, how dare you call us “disaffected malcontents”, “vocal antis” with “parochial concerns”?
I would say that Valley’s dealings have been very parochial indeed. Weren’t they charged 30 years ago with finding other options? If they hadn’t been so “pound foolish” then, we wouldn’t be in this mess now.
Lay off, Mr. Halaby. You come across like a fool—a bitter, angry fool.