AUGUST 25, 2015, 8:00 PM LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, AUGUST 25, 2015, 10:46 PM
BY MARINA VILLENEUVE
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
RIDGEWOOD — Someone’s been stealing street signs around the village and authorities are warning: Surrender the plundered signs to police by Sept. 15, or risk criminal prosecution.
In an electronic missive to residents on Tuesday, Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld promised the amnesty in exchange for the return of any of the 37 street signs gone missing from village roadways.
Street signs taken in the dead of night are not a new problem in Ridgewood. But Sonenfeld said it continues even after village employees have started using wiring and vandal-proof screws to make it harder to get signs off the eight-foot-tall poles. Now, she said, some thieves have taken to removing the entire pole to get to the sign.
No suspects have been identified, officials said. But in her electronic e-note, Sonenfeld noted “The occurrence seems to increase right before colleges begin.”
It’s become an issue of public safety and increased cost to the taxpayer, said Sonenfeld, who estimated it costs about $100 to replace a sign, including materials and labor.
“For emergency-services employees who are fairly new, it can hurt you in finding a street,” Sonenfeld said. “The thought was we would encourage people to bring their signs in and we wouldn’t ask any questions.”
Borough officials and police chiefs in nearby Glen Rock, Waldwick, Wyckoff, Hawthorne and Oakland all said, thankfully, that stolen street signs haven’t been a problem in their communities.
