Every time he seems to have calmed down, he comes out with another Aronsohn-like outrage. Dissing his fellow council members in public before the issue was even decided was pretty low and only makes him look bad.
Known and unknown detractors and calumniators of our mayor are diligent, working toward her political reduction and the resurrection of the Aronsohn faction. There is a level of sophistication in their machinations that our Village has never before seen or experienced. In some ways this speaks well of ordinary citizens in Ridgewood, in that the big guns of political warfare are now being rolled out to try to disarm and discourage them, and yet our non-political municipal heritage is not really yielding to the pressure. Most towns get caught unawares, leading to easy takeovers by the democratic machine. The reader who posted this is quite astute. Voight is undoubtedly recruiting like-minded candidates to run, win, and serve with him for at least a two-year period as a new majority that would marginalize Councilpersons Coughlin-Walsh and Hache much like the present Mayor and Deputy Mayor suffered at the hands of former Mayor Aronsohn and his cronies. Their treatment was atrocious and they are due a debt of gratitude for persisting and waiting for the dawn the way they did.
I remember when VM Roberta Sonenfeld advocated for a modest tax increase Ashe at the time was worried about depleting or lowering the emergency funds account. The extremely low tax rates in the past were well below the current rate of inflation. Many feel that this approach was in the long run ,did not make good financial sense. People who were not involved during Paul’s reign will not understand how truly awful he could be to his own colleagues on the bench and to citizens. The appointment of Ms, Sonenfeld was very political in nature. He got a 4th vote for his side when she became VM. The current council got rid of an un needed and not so nice Human Resource appointee saving us tax dollars and our sanity. They appointed a truly qualified individual as VM when they hired Heather Mailander.They are working overboard to address the parking issues and allowing for all opinions except the one from the Financial Committee that addressed the old garage design! I don’t expect that I will agree with anyone all the time but it sure is nice when you’re elected officials are at least nice people!
Roberta is, was and will always be Paul Aronsohn’s puppet. This move is part of a much larger scheme to discredit Susan Knudsen. Why? Because they are gearing up for the next election. The dark side has to win the two opening spots so they can regain the voting block. Jeff Voight is holding their third spot. Salivating for 2018. They have a lot of shady agendas waiting to push through.
James – you should post about the ruckus last night in village of South Orange by 300 ‘youth’
The future of the village of Ridgewood once the urbanists have had their way with downtown.
Fights, arrests after 300 youths converge on N.J. downtown
By Noah Cohen | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on May 02, 2017 at 2:46 PM, updated May 03, 2017 at 12:37 AM
SOUTH ORANGE — Police plan to boost patrols after officers from several departments were needed to disperse at least 300 young people who gathered in downtown South Orange late Saturday, sparking fights and blocking traffic.
South Orange Police Chief Kyle Kroll said Tuesday the crowd contained a mix of village teens and others from nearby communities, including Newark, East Orange and Irvington residents, who apparently arrived by public transportation.
The unruly crowd formed around 8 p.m. and kept officers busy until around midnight, according to police. Kroll said he requested assistance from the Essex County Sheriff’s Office, Maplewood and Orange police as altercations broke out among the throngs of teens and young adults.
“We just didn’t have enough officers to handle a crowd that large,” the chief said. “The agreement we have with surrounding [police departments] worked out well.
Ridgewood NJ, Mayor puts the hammer down on personal attacks during the pubic comment period . After a bitter attack by Rurik Halaby on the council praising former Mayor Paul Aronsohn and former Village manager Roberta Sonnefeld .Halaby called the council unprofessional amateurs at the same time praising the Financial Advisory Committee .Halaby questioned weather the FAC was invited into the village budget discussions.
Once the Ridgewood blog reminds you that in order for the Financial Advisory Committee to be an effective part of the Village governance the following criteria must be met:
Publish clear and realistic by-laws Post agenda’s of all meetings Post minutes of all meetings promptly All members must sign Financial disclosure forms All members must sign NDA’s or non-disclosure forms
These are professional standards that are used and commonly accepted everywhere in the world.
In the real world this is how you run a financial decision body. It is also important to fill the committee with people who have some experience in finance, not failed or “wannabe” politicians who are promoting their own secret agenda.
I don’t think the point was merely that they spoke and left, but that they left as a group, confirming the impression that the entire display had been organized and orchestrated rather than representing a number of individuals who wished to make statements on the same issue. Yet they had previously been told that this issue would be on the agenda of the following council meeting, which would have been the time to discuss it. And if anybody does not recognize the Aronsohn touch, they have not been watching. And by the way, I am not very interested in hearing what somebody who lives in Elmwood Park (or wherever it was) thinks about which flags should fly in Ridgewood.
you must be new in town if you think this is the worst council ever. This council is honest and is not in the pockets of the developers like Aronsohn and his crew were. Unlike the previous people, there are no ethics violations pending against any of them (Aronsohn and Sonenfeld). Unlike the previous group, no one on this council attempted to destroy a person’s career in order to keep them from running for office (Aronsohn). Unlike the previous council, no one on this council has conflicts of interest with developers and Valley (Hauck, Aronsohn, Pucciarelli). Unlike the previous council, this council engages in friendly dialog with people who come to meetings instead of calling them names like terrorist, stalker, etc (Hauck, Pucciarelli, Aronsohn, Sonenfeld). Unlike the previous council, this council does not have their spouses posting trash about their colleagues on social media (Hauck). Unlike the previous council, no one has signed a police complaint against any of them for their outrageous behaviour. Yep, you must be new in town if you think this is the worst council ever.
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood NJ, as this was done before During Mayor Killion’s tenure members of Paul Aronsohns Financial Advisory Committee or FAC continue to attempt to undermine the Ridgewood Police and Mayor Susan Knudsen.
“Unions don’t allow it because it’s good for taxpayers. The Mayor won’t propose it because she just inducted her sons into the Ridgewood Police Dept and she won’t favor taxpayers over the police. And the union lackeys will talk till they’re blue in the face about why is will jeopardize our safety. How well turn in to Paterson. It’s a total scam against taxpayers to rip us off through excessive OT and too many full time cops on the force with all of their extra benefits that follow.”
Stories like these continue to circulate the Village generating much talk on the parking committee? Why is the Ridgewood parking committee is not spending more time focusing on parking ? It seems the focus has also been on building a garage to bail out some developers .
I am sorry but might reconsider slamming our Mayor. If both her sons qualified to become police that means that both passed the Civil Service exam, ranked highly on the exam, the physical, and the personal interview. I am sure she will continue to support the rights of the citizens of Ridgewood over the incorrectly perceived favoritism for the police.
The same people are also implying ,”Well if you’re “sure” Anon, at least we have that going for us. No conflict of interest here? Perhaps you weren’t aware of changes in the college level education requirement? And when your pool of applicants must meet a Ridgewood residency requirement, are we really getting the best pool of applicants? Funny how most officers move out of the Village once they’re on the force?”
The carpetbaggers came to town, they hedged their bets, bought some real estate,.they had confidence their puppet council would accommodate their demands so they can build build build , pocket the profits, and leave while sticking the taxpayers with the tab for a garage to enhance their bets, You made a bet. You wanted to make the village into your vision of a “Montclair light “. You lost. Now do us all a favor and go home, back to your real home which isn’t 07450
Ridgewood NJ, the so-called “fact checking” of letters to the editor of the Ridgewood news seemed to be inconsistently applied over the years .
Reader says , “over the years I have submitted many letters to the editor of the Ridgewood News (various editors). Any statement not clearly phrased as an opinion was fact checked, often more than I personally considered necessary. I had to supply documentation, explain, etc. Sometimes a letter was edited (always with my approval) and sometimes not printed at all. No newspaper is obligated to publish any letter to the editor in whole or in part. To publish outright lies as flat statements that could easily have been checked was journalistically and ethically unacceptable. This letter was full of them, including the implication that the mayor can fire anybody at will. We have checks and balances; that could never have happened, and in fact did not.”
Yes the practice of “fact checking” was particularly noticeable if your letter was not supportive of the latest scheme to pave over Graydon, build Garagezilla, load the CBD with high density housing, create bike lanes to nowhere , put turf fields in flood plains, let Valley build on its site at the density of the world trade center, build unusable ramps for the disabled at Graydon when far better solutions existed and of course rebuild toilets at Vets field for a cost of 1/2 a million dollars .
Ridgewood Nj, seems the attempts by the council to reconfigure parking have been met with new calls for “Garagezilla” .
In a recent NJ.com article on struggling downtowns Englewood was mentioned for having over 2000 parking spaces available, including a 345 space garage, many new, upscale downtown housing developments, and still stores are closing. The fact is the retail landscape has changed and it has nothing to do with the lack of parking or limited foot traffic/customer availability.
While in Ridgewood many allies of the former mayor Paul Aronsohn are using any attempt at incrementally adjusting parking allocations to promote a massive parking garage. Aronsohns supporters in the Ridgewood Financial Advisory Committee or FAC continue to use the eerily familiar tactics they used on Mayor Killion and Village Manager Ken Gabbert , blaming all cost increases on the new Village Council.
Remember the Financial Advisory Committee was created by the mayor Aronsohn solely as a breeding ground for future council members willing to live in his shadow. The fact remains that in order for the Financial Advisory Committee to be an effective part of the Village governance the following criteria must be met:
Publish clear and realistic by-laws Post agenda’s of all meetings Post minutes of all meetings promptly All members must sign Financial disclosure forms All members must sign NDA’s or non-disclosure forms
These are professional standards that are used and commonly accepted everywhere in the world. If they are not met in Ridgewood the committee must be closed done otherwise the Village will continue to leave itself open to lawsuits.
There has been a noticeable increase repeat critical comments on the Ridgewood blog mirroring the same lines over and over. The same lines once used against Mayor Killion and Kenn Gabbert are now used against the current mayor and Village council.
“My friend went to park at one of the lots that require an app and was unable to download so couldn’t use the lot. She said the lot was mostly empty and also that there was a fee to use the app. I think the VC made these parking rules so complicated now people are just staying away. I’m not aware that merchants supported this plan. I think the new VC came in with ideas of how to “fix” parking and this is the result. I’m sure merchants would rather have seen a parking garage. Good luck. I stay out of downtown altogether now.”
To bad this poster forgot to mention the “parking app ” was the brainchild of the Aronsohn administration and Former village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld.
“The poster does have a decent point about commuters getting screwed by the vocal, anti-development, municipal-election voting majority in Ridgewood who control the Council agenda. Commuters are too busy to care much despite the fact the Council screws them at every turn, i.e. $250 annual increase to $1000 for a commuter parking space which was moved further away from Ridgewood station after the pass was paid for last Dec. Thanks VoR!”
While complaints about the overpriced commuter parking seem valid blaming the current council for the insane property taxes is a recurrent theme,“So go on blaming Aronsohn for the continued inability of this Council to come up with a viable solution for the commuters who pay the bulk of property taxes in Ridgewood. As 12:43 noted, if Ridgewood is no longer attractive to commuters as a place to raise their families (due to high property taxes versus declining schools despite a $100mn annual BOE budget, etc) then property values fall. As potential revenue sources like Valley leave, those who remain will have to just pay more to cover for the excessively expensive contracts the Village and BOE have agreed to with the public sector unions we contract with. Commuters and taxpayers getting screwed, a declining CBD, and a school system that no longer ranks highly in the nation are all facts”
Again,not sure what the Village Council has to do with the Ridgewood Board of Education, and all the residents voting for constant tax increases ie full day kindergarten and turf fields?
Other comments ecco the same shots taken against Killion ,“What proposals does the new Counxil have James? Rebuild Schedler (no conflicts of interest there, right?). Raise taxes to pay the police even more (again no conflicts, wink, wink)? Are we still studying traffic flow? Where’s the Valley PILOT? What’s the plan to renew the CBD? Commuter parking? How do we replace the potential tax revenues from Valley? Do we need such big, expensive police & fire depts if Valley is leaving in 3 years? Even you know the Village is in decline James, while Summit, Tenafly, Scarsdale and Greenwich all see the increase in their property values outpace ours. Why is that?”
This comment is so full of misinformation it ended up in our spam folder.
It all gets summed over and over by the following comments , The poster does have a decent point about commuters getting screwed by the vocal, anti-development, municipal-election voting majority in Ridgewood who control the Council agenda. Commuters are too busy to care much despite the fact the Council screws them at every turn, i.e. $250 annual increase to $1000 for a commuter parking space which was moved further away from Ridgewood station after the pass was paid for last Dec. Thanks VoR!
Anotherwords if we built the garagezilla and massive high-density housing all problems would be solved …. right that’s the ticket oy vey.
James — you should post this and then seek comment from the progressive Clinton/Gottheimer fans. How much are they willing to pay Hudson County over and beyond the Abbott money already going there?
By Steve Strunsky | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on February 07, 2017 at 8:06 PM, updated February 08, 2017 at 9:27 AM
UNION CITY — New Jersey lawmakers from immigrant-rich Hudson County on Tuesday announced a bill that would provide state aid to sanctuary cities denied federal funds for failing to comply with immigration rules.
The bill was introduced in both houses of the legislature on Tuesday by State Sen. Brian Stack, Assemblyman Raj Mukherji and Assemblywoman Annette Chaparro, all Democrats from the 33rd District.
The three held a press conference in the garage at City Hall in Union City, where Stack is also the mayor.
“Union City, technically, has always been a sanctuary city,” said Stack. “We have never turned away anybody, documented or undocumented, when they come in looking for help.”
The difference now is that President Donald Trump issued a Jan. 25 executive order intended to, “ensure that jurisdictions that fail to comply with applicable Federal law do not receive Federal funds, except as mandated by law,” specifically targeting sanctuary cities and states.
Ridgewood NJ, The Ridgewood Arts Foundation Honors were held on Sunday, January 29, 2017, 4-6pm, at Fish Restaurant in Ridgewood. Honorees for this inaugural event are Parlance Chamber Concerts and Art of Motion, two iconic Ridgewood performing arts organizations.
The event was hosted by former deputy mayor Albert Pucciarelli, now president of the Ridgewood Arts Foundation. Pucciarelli opened the evening by acknowledging those in attendance, including members of the Board of Education, council members and you guessed it former mayor Paul Aronsohn.
The Ridgewood Arts Foundation, a public charitable 501(c)(3) foundation, was created to provide funding for the many worthy artistic endeavors within our village, to encourage the further development of the arts in our community, and to establish a scholarship fund for art students from Ridgewood.
Those who attended the hearings could easily reach the opinion that Arohnson sold the Village out to the developers. He pushed for a a formula where the Village allowed land speculators and developers to build 85 regular market units for every 15 coah compliant units. Do the math – – under the Aronson Plan, if the Village was ordered by the Courts to build 150 units, then the developers would be allowed to build 1000 apartments in town. And because the Village may need to build as many as 500 coah units (or even 1,000 according to some attorneys) then under the Arohnson formula, the town would have to let the developers build 5,000 to 10,000 units in total. Think about it, that’s 5,000 to 10,000 new families moving into town. The developers were licking their chops over the stupidity of the Aronson formula and the opportunity to start to apply it to properties throughout the town.
The new council quickly moved to kill some of the enabling legislation behind the Aronson plan. But, frankly, its not clear they have done enough to prevent developers from continuing to buy up property and make the argument that they need to build, build, build in order to enable Ridgewood to meet its coah requirements. Our Council needs to take bold action to meet coah requirements while not allowing developers to re-make the Village.
A lot needs to be done and the process needs to be started quickly. The Council cannot ignore this issue. They need to starting acting now.
Mark Krulish , Staff Writer, @Mark_Krulish4:02 p.m. ET Jan. 19, 2017
Blais Brancheau, the longtime Director of Planning for the Village of Ridgewood, is resigning from his position.
The village manager’s office confirmed Thursday morning that Brancheau had submitted his letter of resignation, but could not immediately say when his last day would be.
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