the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, residents in Ridgewood have filed a verified complaint against both the Village and the New Jersey Dept of Environmental Protection.
- State agency vs. its own experts: NJDEP overruled its own Historic Sites Council, which issued a 19-page unanimous temp denial from state preservation experts — raising serious questions about oversight and governance before America250.
- Potential conflict of interest: DEP Commissioner Shawn LaTourette seemed to have recused himself due to a personal friendship with Ridgewood’s Village Manager, then delegated the decision to Assistant Commissioner Elizabeth Dragon, who approved the project within 48 hours and wrote a seven-page letter after returning from a week-long leave.
- Environmental justice ignored: The Schedler neighborhood is officially designated an overburdened community defined by NJDEP, yet NJDEP removed their own Environmental Justice application from its website immediately after residents applied, and closed the case, contradicting its own policy.
- Health and contamination: Mount Sinai advised against turf due to PFAS and heat risks. NJDEP’s own 2024 letter documented contaminated fill on the site which needs to be remediated by 2030, yet the agency still green-lit artificial turf directly above it.
- Statewide pattern: This fits a broader trend of NJDEP-linked turf approvals — including funding millions of dollars of plastic turf via NJDEP’s own Green Acres program, approving turf at other historic sites like Hinchliffe Stadium, etc — where environmental warnings continue to be ignored.
This is the 2nd lawsuit to be filed over the Schedler property. The first one was from the 501c3 Friends of the Historic Zabriskie-Schedler house.
Ridgewood’s fight is bigger than one neighborhood — it’s about holding our state and municipal government accountable to its own principles: environmental protection, transparency, and justice.
The citizen plaintiffs are standing up not just for themselves, but for all of us.
Many believe they need and deserve our support.
You can donate to the Legal Fund
Every contribution helps ensure that the people’s voices are heard and our shared environment is protected.
Make a secure donation here
https://secure.lawpay.com/pag
Let’s support these courageous plaintiffs and send a message that we stand strong together
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No photo op for KK w lame duck Murphy at RHS?
He needs to hook onto a new source of power.
Give it up already.
Schedler will never ever happen. Mark my words, it will never happen.
Ur lips to God’s ears
Absolutely, I didn’t mean to be anonymous either. It will never ever happen.
Underestimate Peewee at your own peril…he has lots of contacts across the state.
KK couldn’t organize a 2-car funeral.
Sorry. The failed diner owner and assembly candidate does not have 10% of Keith’s juice statewide.
Well he lost gus assembly election with Duch. Not sure he’s that magnanimous.
More reason to VOTE NO on the upcoming Open Space Referendum.
They are giving our parks away. Look at what the did on hillcrest. A private business uses that entire park and woods and stream as their own. Why do you think the pavilion was built there and the new playground. Take back our parks
Abuse of Open Space Tax funds and resources.
Looks like this council and village manager are at it once again and intentionally trying to fool the public about the need to increase the Open Space Fund with little to no details. Notice who is posting on Facebook, Jim Morgan and others who have spoken openly about wanting more fields because that is probably what they believe the funds will be spent on. They are cascading their message out for a yes vote but anyone who knows this council and understands that things are never on the level, knows they have a hard time being honest.
It’s disgraceful that Ridgewood officials and the NJDEP are working hand in hand to erase history and harm an overburdened neighborhood. The citizens shouldn’t have to sue their own government just to make it follow its own environmental and historic preservation laws.
When an agency overrides its own experts and ignores contamination warnings, it’s not protecting the public — it’s protecting political relationships.
Or as page 13 of the complaint points out, pay to play. #keithkazmark
Commissioner LaTourette’s so-called “recusal,” followed by a lightning-fast approval and the overturning of his own agency’s professional experts by his deputy, reeks of backroom dealings.
All of the NJDEPs internal communications should be pulled and reviewed by the Attorney General, this is highly unethical. After all the woman who gave the approval is a direct report to LaTourette so give me a break.
The Historic Sites Council spent time and expertise producing a 19-page unanimous denial — and the Village and NJDEP tossed it aside within 48 hours. That’s not governance; that smells like a quiet quid pro quo- unethical tradeoff.
Ridgewood has 25,000+ residents. If each of us gave just $25, we could take back our town — no more fake “open space,” no more madness. Real preservation.
I just gave $1,700 to support these plaintiffs and continue the fight for OUR collective Village. Who’s with me? Let’s do this! 💪
Reference: Ridgewood
https://secure.lawpay.com/pages/anselmicarvelli/trust
Thank you! There is no reason why the entire burden should fall on a few when it’s benefiting the greater good. Will send.
Bravo to the plaintiffs! Thank you for fighting the good fight.
Yes — everyone should donate and stand together with them.
I’ll be sending mine today!
If this money goes toward the fight to get Habernickel park back from Healthbarn I bet that whole neighborhood would give truck loads of cash. That’s a disaster over there.
Using “Open Space” tax funds to clear-cut a forest along a major highway in order to install plastic turf over contaminated fill — contamination caused by the Village itself — exposes the sheer absurdity of Ridgewood and NJDEP’s so-called environmental priorities.
😳 That complaint is worth the read:
• Improper influence
• Undue political interference
• Behind-the-scenes coordination
• Conflict-tainted process
• Administrative favoritism
• Insider maneuvering
• Closed-door arrangement
• Political favoritism
• Quiet quid pro quo
• Insider deals
The plaintiffs are absolutely right to sound the alarm and take legal action. The municipality and NJDEP’s decision to ignore residents, their own professionals, along with Mount Sinai’s health warnings, demonstrates a reckless disregard for public health and safety.
Page 13- Point 77- “The Chair of the Village Open Space Committee has actively solicited CASH contributions in exchange for development influence over the Zabriskie-Schedler Site for several years.”
Will he be charged?
https://theridgewoodblog.net/new-complaint-alleges-njdep-overruled-their-own-preservation-experts-to-approve-artificial-turf-at-national-register-historic-site-in-ridgewood/
Good job!!
We are living in a village with one of the dirtiest mayor’s that Ridgewood has seen in years. His plan is to rule the village, special deals, contracts and favors for his pals and plastic grass for the sports teams he promised and who pulled the lever for him baed on those promises. The assisted living project and schedler are just the beginning before he changes the landscape of our village. Vote no to open space and Paul. We can recall paul.
No KING Paul
I really hope an investigation will be opened. You have a former whistleblower village manager who has spent many hours trying to get this field pushed through. Using his political muscle with his good Friend La Tourette is beyond unethical. Keith Kazmark might think that the appearance is that he did nothing wrong but he is a highly paid henchman for Vagianos and has spent many hours on this project instead of focusing on more important pressing matters in the village. Kazmark and LaTourette’s cell phone records and personal emails should be reviewed for any communications that are outside the boundaries of the municipal and state emails. I would be willing to bet you’ll find something and I do not believe that there wasn’t corruption in their decision when their own boards asked a lot of questions and then it was allowed to sail through.
I read the complaint. There’s a serious problem when a government strips its own residents of their basic human rights—forcing them to fight the very system that was created to protect them just to reclaim what should never have been taken away.
I stand with the residents in their pursuit of justice, and I hope they receive the protections, compensation, and legal remedies they deserve. This government left them no alternative.
TEMU Village Manager — Toxic, Entitled, Mismanaged, Unaccountable.
Vote NO on the open space cash grab scam. Village leaders cannot be trusted.
Vagianos and his magical mystery tour seem to be at it again. This time trying to fool the public into voting for something that they have no clue about. Why, because there must be a reason but you will never get an honest answer from this mayor, council or the village manager. They do everything behind the veil of secrecy because they get away with it time over time. It is shocking that they don’t actually care what the public thinks or wants but just running a big scheme with tax dollars.
Vote No to the Open Space fund.
Open Space = Sports Fields. Don’t let them fool you. VOTE NO!
This is just crazy! I read the documentation supporting the complaint that has been filed and this village should really get their act together. The lying and deception all at tax payer expense needs to stop. Apparently Kazmark acting as agent for Vagianos, thinks that there is a virtual limitless access to tax dollars and now trying to get even more through an open space trust when they have irresponsibly managed other properties, like Schedler. They should focus on keeping Ridgewood healthy and safe as a number one priority instead of all of this other nonsense.
The mayor, council and village manager are such lying sacks of sh*t. They will tell you anything you want to hear pretty much, then do exactly what they want with OUR money. Vote NO on the referendum to do more ridiculous spending that only benefit a portion of our community. It is not right.