Resident Steve Kim posted on Facebook in the Faceboom group “it takes a Ridgewood Village”
Ridgewood NJ, At the last Village Council meeting (Dec 11), the following was said by one of the high density developers, one who’s building rentals next the train station, in regards to the Library funding resolution.
“I would just hope there’d be a degree of trust. Trust us as a committee and people who have worked with all of your – myself in particular… We’re always open to discussions.”
Would you really trust this person?
Should Village Council?
Remember the whole debacle with the three musketeers, etc etc…
The same guy said he “ran” the building for years and he mentioned HVAC is a major issue, a reason for reimagine funding. HVAC was never mentioned previously as a reason. In fact, it isn’t.
In the Feb 23 2016 Board of Trustee minutes, I read the following: “It is anticipated that most of the existing HVAC equipment will be re-used in the new building, according to architect Peter Gisolfi’s projections.” I include a screen shot of the minutes.
This developer also said, “What you heard from the [Library] board and what you heard from the committee over and over is we’re open to wherever suggestions you have.” Really? Two Village Council members asked the project to be reduced in scope, dating as far back as 2015. Instead, the Library admins reconceptualized the project plans last year to be made more extensive and expensive.
Now, here’s the really weird part. The developer noted “The idea that you asked us to go out and front run this money, then ask you for a match…”. Wait a Jersey minute here. Who asked to front run, and did the wink and nod with regards to public funds? We need clarification from Nancy Greene, the Library Director.
To be clear:
Library has no definitive plans. It hasn’t thoughtfully considered what is optimal from user and capital perspective. It is looking for Village Council to commit public funds for what is largely a vanity project that will shut the place down for 18 months. Last meeting’s resolution wasn’t a simple “thank you” to the volunteers (why is a resolution needed for that?), but instead an overt trap to bonding $2 million.
Library should raise $2 million (it says it already has), and look to get the 1 for 1 grant match from NJ. Then work on the alternate plan that was recently mentioned and also was discussed in the 2018 Library trustee minutes. The cost of that project is $4 million.
Lastly, the developer said the Village (aka taxpayers) is not contributing. Freeloading. Not true at all. Residents fund almost all of Library operations via property tax. Annually, that’s around $2.3 million.
As they say: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Let’s not get fooled.
It’s going to increase value of the rentals.
One of the realities of Village committees is that they need to continually justify their existence. There is a motivation to dream big–and spend big. A responsible mayor and council check these tendencies. The Three Amigos (and now Hache who seems to have morphed into an Amigo wannabe) allowed these splintered interests to run wild–unaccountable to voters and taxpayers. That leaves it up to citizens like Mr. Kim to play watchdog and scrutinize the details.
He wants the Village to pay for amenities for his new rentals. This will enable him to charge top dollar for the units.
Residents will pay for his extras
I would like Mr Kim to tell us when he is going to pony up the $2 million because I’m sure the donors have all walked. You can’t get a state match with zero people.
Steve Kim is a great asset to this town. I wish he would run for Council
Steve Kim is an asset? He draws cartoons and complains. If that qualifies you for council then every kid in town should run in the next election.
instead of attacking Steve perhaps you can address some of the issues he raises ,if you can?
No one is attacking Steve Kim. He is making assumptions that the State will not give the match to Ridgewood. No one has any idea how much the State will give Ridgewood. Ridgewood could ask for the maximum and get $50K. But if they give us the full $4 million and we get $2M in donations that’s $6M to pay for the renovation of a government building. The Village would only have to pay $1.7M to complete the project. That would be only $10 per household for the next 20 years.
Please let us not forget about debt service when we say “The Village only has to pay $1.7 M to complete the project.” No, no and no. There’s debt service to that $1.7M. What’s that $1.7M really costing us and for what? I like the library as is, thank you very much.