Ridgewood is starting to look like NYC in the 1970’s. Out of control spending, rogue employees and elected officials, failing education system and lack of maintenance in the town.
NYC cut police officers and firefighters also in a effort to cut spending. The results of that remains in the minds of those who had to travel to NYC to work during those frightening years. Crime rose 60% in just 2 years. Burned buildings were everywhere. Even today the city still hasn’t recovered from the population loss from those years. It took a good 15 years and federal help for the city to control its spending. They realized the problem lied in poor spending habits, non-working employees and outside political influences.
Im not saying Ridgewood is going be as bad as NYC was, but it could very well be a smaller version of it. Do the residents a favor, instead of cutting essential services such as Police, Fire, EMS, Sanitation and other quality of life services, look at things that we either don’t need or need to cut back on. Example: Rear yard garbage pickup. We also need to stop several projects that we CANT afford. Example: Parking Garage, Bank Ban. I would much rather have a second firehouse instead, i like my house not charred.
If you look at how the finical collapse of NYC started, you will see a smaller but similar problem that Ridgewood has today. But lets not make the same mistakes they made when stabilizing the budget.
>Other recent or planned revenue draining projects (and expensive services) include: purchasing the Habernickel Horse Farm, expanding Citizens Park, artifical turf at Maple Park, Ridgewood Water (sell it to United Water), the waste water treatment plant, curbside leaf pickups, an overstaffed Village Hall, and more . . .
>Not to forget, the snack stand at vets field, the band stand at Van Neste Square and that stupid clock.
These guys are out of control. Mancuso should know better, he was around during the golden years, before the fiscal collapse and Jane Reilly, who may go down as if not the worst, one of the worst mayors in recent history.
The golden years of Ridgewood are long over, its time to start going back to the basics. Ridgewood isn’t Beverly Hills or upper saddle river we have a growing disparity between the super wealthy and the middle class and that’s the main problem. The middle class can no longer afford these “expensive leisure items”
Lets face it, the housing market bomb out has officially hit the north east. There are now a ton a houses that wont sell, and even some houses that are under construction that may never be completed (Brookside Ave).
Let’s face it, with this new report Ridgewood needs to declare a fiscal emergency, it makes me wonder how far the town is from bankruptcy
>You’ve lumped a lot of dirty laundry together… Pick your battles…..
Citizens Park? Seems your local government let that one slip under the radar screen. In 2004, the Village Council approved spending $650,000 for that house and property to expand the soccer field. They sold the house for $1 and the garage for another $1. Nice to be cozy with the village government. Three years later? The house is still sitting there. Council members are now suggesting changing the Zoning Ordinance to accommodate the well-connected buyer, Westside Presbyterian. Meanwhile, Parks and Rec hasn’t touched the field. Did anyone ever consider renting the house (as they did at Habernickel for nearly $4g per month)? Nope. So take your calculator and figure out the carry on the $650,000 bond for that project, 3 years and counting. Taxpayer money…down the drain.
The Habernickel farm was purchased to prevent even more housing development in town. Grabbing open space was a bold move that we’ll all enjoy for years to come. Compare this to the equivalent millions spent on an over-budget (and now soggy) Village Hall renovation. Habernickel has only been designed with one full ball field, so don’t pin that one on the sports groups. Lot of parkland and trails will be included for everyone. Compare that to the unused Teen and Senior Center and swamped Village-owned cars. Two extremes… open space vs. government waste.
>Excuse me, but the Teen and Senior Center is NOT a waste of $$ and anyone with kids in this town can tell you that. This town has NOTHING for young teens to do besides roam the streets, get into trouble and start messing around with alcohol and drugs. When it is open, the Teen center is PACKED with kids playing pool, ping pong, hanging out, watching videos, etc. Unfortunately, the Village council has been unable to see the value (very few kids in their lives) and will not pony up to pay for a staff person to keep the center open. As a mother I am disgusted that there was money for a freakin’ putting green, but my kids are not deemed important enough to spend a few thousand dollars on.
>You gotta be kidding me… With or without a “teen center” Ridgewood is one of the most kid friendly towns in the state. I moved here 5 years ago because the schools and the town atmosphere was perfect for a teenager.
As for the council members, I know a few of them have kids of their own. To say this town has NOTHING for young teens is mind boggling in its ignorance.
>I wish the teen center was open more with a supervisor as well because I see kids being dropped off and hanging around for hours and hours in the park and outside the stores in town. Just try to get through the crowds of unsupervised teens on a weekend night in the spring/summer. Teens + no parental supervision for hours = trouble. That goes for in our houses as well. Don’t leave your kids home alone unsupervised while you go away for the weekend. And you wonder why alcohol and drugs are so prevalent among our children.
The Conscience of Ridgewood
>As someone who grew up in Ridgewood I’m not sure how Anonymous has come to the conclusion that Ridgewood is a kid friendly town, the most kid friendly in NJ at that. I remember hanging out in town and constantly be told to leave the park, go somewhere else, etc…Thats not to say I didn’t understand it, we all knew why we where being asked to move. More often than not it never bothered us, but I will tell ya we always talked about how great it would be to have a place to go where we could hangout. Now Ridgewood has it! While it may suck that the town hasn’t put any money towards staffing it why don’t the parents get involved and talk to the council about starting a volunteer program to oversee the Teen Center. It might just be the best of both worlds. Your kids will have a place to go, and you’ll still be involved and know what your kid is up to and that he/she is staying out of trouble.
>I have lived in seven different towns in Bergen and Passaic counties over the past 40 years. Believe me when I say that Ridgewood is a kid friendly town. There are more parks, a public pool and things to do than any of the towns I lived in. If you think Ridgewood is poor, I assure you the rest is much worse.
Could it be better? Of course. There is always room for improvement.
What surprises me is the attitude that the “town” should do something. There is only so much that government can do. IMHO relying on government to entertain and engage our children is a path that leads to kids disengaging from their families. As far as I’m concerned, all I want the government to do is provide an education. I’ll do the rest with my son. I’ll provide a home for him and his friends to “hang out.” I’ll help him make the right choices about what to do, where to go and who to hang with. As his father, I want to be very involved in his life. I would prefer not to give the government nanny status over my son.
>While I’m enjoying the banter… I don’t think that anyone’s family values are being questioned. Most of us moved here because its a family town. Good and bad, fine…
The issue is our village government and how they spend our tax dollars. How do you have the foresight to build a teen and senior center… then turn around and say you cant complete the job and staff it??? A very nice idea now becomes a waste of taxpayer money. We spend millions on open space deals, yet these very same kids have no access to the end product…..for years on end. Any bets on when the Teen Center will be fully operational? Any bets on when the issues surrounding ball fields and parks and rec will be resolved?
No one thought any of this through? Come on. They just came up with more pork (ie, more putting greens) to waste resources on. More meetings are held, more studies are ordered, and yet nothing gets done. I’d advise everyone to go sit through a village council, planning board, or zoning meeting. You’ll be amazed at just who is itching to spend your tax dollars.
>well if they high more workers it would not look like 1970.sthey need more workers to do the work that needs to be done.the hole town is under staffed.go look for your self,and you will see what iam talking about.its the only way .thank you the man that knows.