The Ridgewood Blog Brings a Free Market Laissez-faire Point of View to Local, New Jersey State and National Issues.
I seriously do not believe that our present council members are in it for the non- existent money that they have pouring in for their votes. They are actually forfeiting time that could possibly be used to earn money instead. I’m afraid I can only say that about this council as prior ones had too many commercial supporters and buddies to really know what was going on.
July 21,2018
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, those residents who are concerned with the current level of over development in Ridgewood ,she remain vigilant .the village dogged a bullet during the last election no matter what the Aronsohn and Co. protors want you to think. Candidate Harwin was promoted by the Queen of overdevelopment state Senator Loretta Weinberg.
Don’t think this Village Council Election is all about high density house and forced over development ,think again ,Harwin is bragging all over the internet on her endorsement of “high density” Senator Loretta Weinberg.
Weinberg has continually promoted over development in Bergen County .
Harwin: So grateful to be endorsed by Loretta Weinberg, NJ State Senate Majority Leader and women’s leadership pioneer.
“Now, more than ever, we need to elect strong, progressive women, and it is in that spirit that I hope Alexandra Harwin gets elected to the Ridgewood Council. She’s smart. She’s thoughtful. And she would bring to Village Hall a welcome mix of energy, passion and integrity. Ridgewood is lucky to have Ali Harwin. I hope you vote for her on Tuesday, May 8.”
— Senator Loretta Weinberg — with Alexandra Harwin and Loretta Weinberg.
https://theridgewoodblog.net/weinberg-endorsement-of-harwin-key-to-high-density-development-efforts-in-ridgewood/
Ridgewood schools are already busting at the seams. Add the several hundred students who will arrive with the developments and several new schools will need to be built. Remember, the census of how many students live in the apartments was taken only at the high rise at Franklin and Maple. No count was ever taken in any of the garden apartments on Oak and on the other side of the tracks. Why wasn’t it taken in buildings that do accommodate children? One good thing could probably occur. There will be many fewer houses w/graduation and sale signs together. It would be much cheaper to rent one of our new apartments and just leave when their children graduate. That is what many of current apartment dwellers do when their last child graduates now.
photo of the Brogan development
The Brogan project is a disaster for the town. None of these high density projects will benefit anyone except the developers and their attorneys. Westfield is paying attention – it does not want to become Montclair or Hackensack which is where Ridgewood is headed. Where do the developers and their attorneys live?
What has started at Brogan will sweep the whole Ridgewood. In a couple of years it will be a brand new city. Oh, and for those who think new housing does not affect schools greatschools.org just lowered RHS grade to 9 from 10. It had been a 10 for many, many years. I can only imagine what the grade will be in a few years at which time we can all kiss goodbye our house values.
Congratulating Knudsen for Ridgewood win
The Record (Bergen County)May 11, 2018
I wish to extend my congratulations to Mayor Susan Knudsen on her re-election to the Ridgewood Village Council, as I applaud the commitment and devotion to Ridgewood of all the candidates for council.
We have concluded a hard-fought municipal election campaign where the best of civic duty was at times marred by harsh accusations and allegations, and even by reference to Nazi imagery.
We deplore all hateful language whether it be racist, sexist or anti-LGBTQ, anti-Jewish, anti-Muslim or anti-Catholic.
While we may not always be immune from such discourse in our village, we do have the opportunity to rise above it and close ranks while we work toward our common interests.
Mayor Knudsen has been a friend to the Jewish community. I look forward to continuing to work with her in securing Ridgewood’s values as a village committed to all of its citizens, their rights, their freedoms and their dignity.
David J. Fine
Ridgewood, May 9
The writer is a rabbi at Temple Israel and Jewish Community Center in Ridgewood.
Our town politics went down hill from the day Paul Aronsohn was elected and got worse when Gwenn and Albert came on board with him. All votes on meaningful issue were 3 to 2 and with Roberta Sonenfeld hired as VM after kicking out Ken Gabbert, it was more like 4 to 2. That is one of the reasons why when I look at who is backing Harwin and Willett I cringe. The whole crew is in their corner. Why? I think it is a case of revenge politics and not one bit about the issues. They are not running on issues. Try to find one and not transparency and civility. That is what you run on when you have nothing of any consequence to run on like a larger garage? Give me a break. There was a time that it might have been an issue. Now it is more like no garage vs. a smaller garage. They are clueless about what the residents are interested in and have negatively campaigned with lies and innuendos.
To vote for the woman stating flat out lies because you are tired of the Mayor’s friends rebuking Alexandra is really a sad case of affairs. The Mayor’s friends would have no need to defend her or attack Ms Harwin if Harwin’s speeches and her printed mailings said something about her campaign, what she wants to do to help Ridgewood, etc. instead of doing nothing but slandering the other candidates, the Catholic Church (while she claims we are attacking Jews), the Police and Fire Departments etc. If you plan to vote for Harwin would you please list a few positive things that would encourage you, and us, to do so. Think really hard about voting for Harwin. Her platforms seem to be only a bigger garage than planned and to do whatever Aronson wants her to do. If you lived here during the Aronsohn reign think really hard about returning to it. It’s not just a “poor woman, everyone seems to hate her so I’ll vote for her to make her feel better.” It actually is a clear choice of wanting Ridgewood to continue to grow in an orderly manner or if you want it to grow with immediate speed and heavy development. Please, look at what she has presented as her platforms. Read her mailers. She says nothing to show you how she would add to Ridgewood rather than simply tearing it apart. I too was ready for “change” but not for the destruction the only other candidates offer.
may 4,2018
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, A municipal judge in Hackensack dismissed the latest complaint by Ridgewood Councilman Jeffrey Voigt against one of his constituents on Thursday. Voigt alleged that resident Anne Loving violated a September agreement between herself and Voigt when she filed anonymous OPRA requests for his emails. That agreement was set after the two traded harassment complaints late last year.
Judge Anthony Gallina said that without the opinion of a handwriting expert, there was no probable cause to find that Loving had penned the anonymous Open Public Records Act requests, and found that OPRA requests did not constitute harassment, as they lacked any “offensively course language,” or were “otherwise made to cause alarm.”
In 2017, Loving, her husband and another resident filed separate complaints accusing Voigt of harassment after he posted copies of their requests for Voigt’s council emails on social media, thus revealing “personal information” such as their phone numbers and addresses online.
Voigt counter-charged that the residents had filed the deluge of OPRA requests simply to harass him.
At that time Prosecutor Linda Schwager persuaded the residents to withdraw their claims, citing the lack of evidence to prove a criminal act. Judge Roy McGeady had reached the same conclusion and was prepared to dismiss all claims from both sides.
This time Voigt alleged that five separate OPRA requests for his emails submitted to the Ridgewood village clerk between September 2017 and February 2018 under the name “Victoria Burpee” had in fact been filed by Loving in an attempt to further harass him. Voigt was unable to prove “Victoria Burpee” was Anne Loving.
Clearly the councilmen does understand that every citizens right to OPRA and is attempting to use a short term legal agreement to curtail, the use of the Open Public Records Act ie OPRA and suppress public information.
In the Open Public Records Act the NJ Legislature finds and declares it to be the public policy of this State that:
government records shall be readily accessible for inspection, copying, or examination by the citizens of this State, with certain exceptions, for the protection of the public interest, and any limitations on the right of access accorded by P.L.1963, c.73 (C.47:1A-1 et seq.) as amended and supplemented, shall be construed in favor of the public’s right of access;
all government records shall be subject to public access unless exempt from such access by: P.L.1963, c.73 (C.47:1A-1 et seq.) as amended and supplemented; any other statute; resolution of either or both houses of the Legislature; regulation promulgated under the authority of any statute or Executive Order of the Governor; Executive Order of the Governor; Rules of Court; any federal law, federal regulation, or federal order ;
a public agency has a responsibility and an obligation to safeguard from public access a citizen’s personal information with which it has been entrusted when disclosure thereof would violate the citizen’s reasonable expectation of privacy; and nothing contained in P.L.1963, c.73 (C.47:1A-1 et seq.), as amended and supplemented, shall be construed as affecting in any way the common law right of access to any record, including but not limited to criminal investigatory records of a law enforcement agency.
Harwin is portraying Ridgewood as some sort of hostile community in which people are marginalized for being jewish, gay, black, etc. This is completely untrue and horribly inflammatory. I am a minority, my skin is DARK. No one bothers me, no one ever has, no one bothered my kids, this is a wonderful community filled with educated easy going people. Harwin thinks she needs to save us from inequality what a crock of shit. She is trying to make trouble where none exists.
file photo by Boyd Loving
If you went to the council meetings, you could see Arohnson and Pucc always had chips on their shoulders about any one and everyone who were not like them or who didn’t kiss their butts. They presented themselves as a pair of self-loathing buffons who perpetually expressed the view that they were better than everyone else, even when you could see they are not comfortable in their own skins. That can be the worst combination in human nature.
![mudslinging[1]](https://theridgewoodblog.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/mudslinging1.gif "Reader says Harwin Knows Exactly What She is Involved With")
People can be supported by people they like and trust only to learn that those people are not what they thought. That particular helper has fooled plenty of people before. It is to Susan’s credit that she recognized the truth and turned away. Isn’t this what blog posters have been begging Harwin to do from the beginning, on the assumption that as a newbie in town she didn’t realize whose claws she had fallen into? Yet weeks and weeks later, nothing has changed and that support has not been repudiated. One concludes that it’s all fine with her. This speaks volumes…
As a Ridgewood resident, how would we expect to be treated at public meetings under the Aronsohn-sponsored regime? The way we were treated when he was on the dais. With insults and hissy fits. And do not forget that if, heaven forbid, his protegees should win the election, “here comes the new village manager, just like the old village manager”–in fact, the same as the old village manager, Roberta Sonenfeld. With all those people in place Aronsohn can run the town from Trenton or Newark or wherever his new office will be. How he would love that.
This Village needs to come to the realization that the Harwin camp is not looking to better Ridgewood in any way, this candidate and her wannabe political groupies are looking to use this town as a stepping stone for what they think is the beginning of some pipe dream of a NJ political career. The math on the garage doesn’t add up and i’m surprised that a candidate that will drop her Ivy League education on anyone that will listen can not look at projected financials and figure that out. I’ve listened to council meetings where one pro Harwin supporter actually used the argument that a garage would result in less pedestrian / automobile accidents….this is the type of nonsensical argument that this group will throw out for effect. As is the similar argument the Harry Truman look alike threw out about the garage being the foundation for the future of Ridgewood. People, we need to use our brains…we need to vote in residents who are looking to better this town and effectively manage budgets so that the over taxation of residents does not lead to an exodus of the people from this town. The argument that since this parking debate has gone on for 20+ years so we should just build a garage makes no sense. We need to plan for the future by looking towards the future, not the past, as some residents would like. As someone that grew up in this town, I could care less that my parents generation wanted a garage, that belief doesn’t better this town or pay the bills. This garbage and slanderous platform that Harwin and her irrelevant, wannabe “political players” have launched should be beneath every resident in this town. They are not good for Ridgewood now and will not be good for this town in the future. The main problem we have is that this town’s majority have no idea about the weasle know nothings that are trying to change the core of Ridgewood. Get out and spread the word. The former mayor and his cronies are the past…..do not let these sub intelligent hacks dictate the future of this town.
If you vote for Aronson’s people–who are the only ones running in opposition– You are voting for more massive building, a Garagezilla, and any other major commercial endeavor they can find to have us buy and pay for. I know you’re not happy with our present candidates but throwing them out can lead to many more Health Barn type places in inappropriate places. Susan and Michael have been working for laws that won’t allow that to happen again. Please, be patient and comb the woods for suitable candidates next time. Voting for the opposition is not just voting Susan and Mike out, it is voting disaster in to Ridgewood by letting more of Aronson’s clones in to continue destroying our Village.
I grew up in Ridgewood and we always took pride in this being a “non-political party” place. Not since Paul Aronson saw this as a stepping stone to reverse his previous two failed attempts at running for Congress. He put a voting bloc together of three and basically ignored Susan Knudsen and Mike Sedon until the Village got fed up with the political games and tossed them out. Looking at Ms. Harwin’s campaign piece that arrived in the mail yesterday obviously same inaccurate smear campaign tactics as was the case before. So lets answer some of her charges:
1. Higher taxes – as we all have always knows, the Council has little control over Village spending – this is a school cost issue.
2. Nepotism – hiring by the police and fire department is by state law subject to exam and qualifications. The Mayor can’t do anything to influence this.
3. Fines to residents for leaves – this is a close one to my heart, as last fall we received a summons, as did everyone else on our end of the street. The leaf ordinance was passed by the previous Aronson team, not by Susan Knudsen’s administration. We contracted the Mayor and she could bnot have been more helpful researching the issue for us, talking to the contractor hired by the previous administration, and ultimately telling us what we needed to present to the Court – she told us we needed proof, what kind of proof and how to present it – when we went to Court all charges dropped.
4. The charge is made that Susan Knudsen is somehow responsible for storefronts not being filled. Funny how same problem at malls all over the country. Yet I see Amazon Prime trucks everywhere. We used to have TWO hardware stores in Ridgewood – now we go to Home Depot. The economy is changing from brick and mortar across the country and this means change for the Village too. Hard for me to fault the Mayor for a national trend, and did-honest for Ms. Harwin to do so.
5. My Dad was on the Planning Board in the 70’s and a parking garage was on the agenda then. The Aronson administration was in favor of a garage that would include retail space on the first floor to pay for it – how would more competition for Village merchants help them – so this was dropped. Next a mega-garage was proposed for the Hidson lot, over-hanging the sidewalk – an eye sore as well as an impediment for parking that was not paid for at the garage for church goers (not just Mt. Carmel as some have said but also the United Methodist Church also across the street. In the face of overwhelming upset the Aronson administration backed off on this as well. If we are going to build a garage (*which we need to do) this will involve a bond issue that will cost tax payers for 20+ years – so we want to do it right. Susan Knudsen has been working with the current Council to do it right, and attacking her for not just doing what previous administrations had been unable to do is again not honest.
6. The Harwin mailing also mentions a “failed valet parking experiment” – hard for me to blame the current Council when this was initiated by the Aronson administration.
I look at the two mailings we received yesterday – the Knudsen/Sedon piece noting issues being worked on and achieved, and the Harwin piece full of lies and blaming the current Council for things initiated by her patron, Paul Aronshon. Not much of a doubt in my mind that I am voting for the honest candidates trying to pull our Village back from the mess created by the Aronson team, instead of the one who is spreading lies and backed by the previous failed administration. Don’t be complacent as often happens in non-national elections – this is important, and whether you agree with my comments above or not, get out and vote.
