February 20,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, sign the petition and get the question on the ballot. Let the people decide which way to fund. What are the petition opposers afraid of?
PETITION SIGNING LOCATIONS
ELKS CLUB
(111 Maple Ave-next to library-across from Kings)
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 20TH
11:00AM-4:00PM
OLMC – AFTER EACH MASS
HUDSON/PASSAIC/PROSPECT STREETS
SAT FEB 20TH / SUN FEB 21ST
To the Editor,
I am writing to urge my friends and neighbors to let our council know we reject entering into a lease/purchase agreement with the Bergen County Improvement Authority (BCIA) to fund the Hudson Street garage.
Our referendum vote shows that the majority of Villagers support funding a garage on Hudson street. We enjoy a triple AAA rating, and do not need Bergen County for funding. The only reason to go to the BCIA is because our own Council can not agree on the design, and the Council majority believes they and only they know best.
If funding through Bergen County, the likely results will be a garage controlled by the county. All Bergen County residents, including out of town commuters, will have the same access and fee structure as Ridgewood residents. Ridgewood’s general parking fund, which has been used to absorb budgetary overages will no longer be allowed to do so, which most likely will impact our taxes.
We elect our Council with the expectation that they will work together to represent the best interests of our Village. I would like to think they wouldn’t make decisions for our Village that they wouldn’t make in their own personal lives. Yet they approved change orders and are pushing forward with a plan to have the BCIA fund the garage when the public and the Council haven’t received photo simulations, rough site plan with footprint, details of how on street parking will be impacted etc. Would you approve funds for work on your own home without knowing what it would look like? Would you build into the street and not let your neighbors know? if you did so would you expect them to be upset?
Council members Sedon and Knudsen have stated that they would support a garage that fits on the lot, fits within the streetscape, and when their is a clear financial plan in place. Councilwoman Knudsen has repeatedly said she would like to have photo simulations to bring to the church and neighbors for their input. Isn’t that what we would desire from our neighbors? Councilman Sedon has expressed interest in having the specific financial plan in place. Again, this is a very reasonable request. We know the garage is not self funding and meter rates will rise but it has not been determined how much and what the impact will be on local businesses. Would you be willing to pay $.75-$1.00 for a coffee in town or to mail a package or might you visit Glen Rock or Midland Park instead?
I believe when all these details are known, we can achieve a 5-0 vote in favor of a garage we can all be happy with. Please email your council and ask them to work together and say no to the BCIA.
Paul Aronsohn – [email protected]
Albert Pucciarelli – [email protected]
Gwenn Hauck – [email protected]
Susan Knudsen – [email protected]
Michael Sedon – [email protected]
Thank you,
Carrie Giordano
I am outraged at the Chamber’s Ad in the Ridgewood News today. They lied from the beginning with the say “yes” and negotiate size later when there is no negotiation. You try and negotiate and they go around you. We are not a small, rogue, nameless group! Most of us speak at meetings, write letters and emails, and stand on the streets with clipboards. So the paper lets them continue to write lies with no rebuttals?
There was an email floating around today suggesting keeping this transaction off the balance sheet will allow Ridgewood to bond more projects. First, what other massive projects are they planning?? Second, anyone who believes in off balance sheet financing needs a lesson in finance. It is still debt, it needs to be paid back and ratings agencies will still recognize it as leverage.
photos courtesy of Boyd Loving’s Facebook page
EMS personnel and Paramedics administering medical aid after passer by tip off ,in Downtown Ridgewood
February 17,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, A passerby called 911 to report an adult male experiencing a life threatening medical emergency in an automobile parked on North Broad Street in Ridgewood on Wednesday morning, 02/17.
Ridgewood PD, FD, and EMS personnel, along with a paramedic unit from The Valley Hospital, were on the scene in rapid succession to begin administering medical aid. The patient was transported to The Valley Hospital by a Ridgewood EMS ambulance.
Chamber of Commerce/Paul Vagianos begged the council to cooperate with each other and “do this in house”…see video of Council meeting Jan 27th…
Roberta dodging his questions of “will this be open to all Bergen County residents?”— the answer is YES, Roberta
Yes, Paul Aronsohn has been “working with the BCIA for 3 years” on this scheme-WHY?
Yes, this will cost more than funding within the Village of Ridgewood
Yes, parking meters in CBD will be extended until 9pm and increase to a triple the rate it is now
Yes, Ridgewood residents will pay the same as out of town commuters
Yes, this garage is for Bergen County, not for the people of Ridgewood who will pay dearly for it
Yes, the 3 amigos are shoving this thru as an end run around our municipal government. It is disgraceful and Ridgewood deserves so much better.
To sign the petition, go to https://www.no2bcia.com to find locations and people to sign with. Thank you!
The petition is to repeal ordinance No 3519, which allows the village to enter into a 25 year lease purchasing agreement with the Bergen County Improvement Authority (BCIA)
4 Things Entrepreneurs May Be Doing Wrong
February 13,2016
Pamela Herrmann and Patty Dominguez
Ridgewood NJ, Within the timeframe of a year and a half, about 80 percent of new businesses fail, according to Bloomberg Business research.
And, throughout the past 30-plus years, the amount of new businesses has drastically declined, according to Gallup. During the economic meltdown of 2008, it was the first time in several decades in which more businesses failed than new ones were started. About 70,000 more businesses fail than are launched.
“We see it all the time in our communities – signs on doors that read, ‘Due to circumstances beyond our control we have to close our business…’ What business owners today don’t seem to understand is that what’s required, not only to survive but to thrive, is absolutely within their control,” says Pamela Herrmann, author of the bestseller “The Customer Manifesto, How Business Has Failed Customers And What It Takes To Earn Lasting Loyalty,” ranked No. 3 on the list of customer service books every business owner should read by Business.com.
“The truth is, what is required is way outside their skill sets. The typical business owner has no idea how to create leverage, how to utilize new technologies, how to strategize on any level that makes them competitive or how to stop the hemorrhaging of cash in the form of failed online marketing investments.
Herrmann is co-founder, along with Patty Dominguez, of CREATE Buzz (www.CreateBuzzNow.com), a Fortune 50 branding expert which is changing the way small businesses connect with their customers – both online and offline. Dominguez and Herrmann review four mistakes – and ways to correct them – to keep businesses thriving:
• They miss their biggest revenue opportunity. “When we look at traditional marketing, so many solutions providers are focused on customer acquisition and how to get prospects into their marketing funnel – which is totally necessary and valid,” Dominguez says. “However, the biggest revenue opportunity is in knowing how to keep these customers, because that’s where the higher profits are in the lifecycle of a customer.”
“We teach our small business clients not only how to get new customers but more importantly, how to keep their existing customers,” Herrmann says. “Most small businesses don’t have the foundational strategy for how to build their business for growth. Once you have that in place, marketing tactics such as word of mouth online can be fully leveraged, and that is the key to organic growth.”
• Entrepreneurs not only track the wrong metrics, they don’t even know what they are. In the absence of a strategy, business owners make marketing decisions based on short-term data, like how much money is in the bank or how many sales they made last month. This is reactive — not proactive.
“In life and in business, it’s often not the ability to answer a question, but rather whether or not you’re asking the right questions,” Dominguez says.
So, what are some of those questions? – The duo have come up with the following:
How many new leads did you get this month?
How much did it cost you to acquire that new lead or customer (CAC)?
What’s the average value of a single transaction?
What is the lifetime value of your customer (LTV)?
• Businesses don’t manager their message across all customer touch points. Technology brings customers to us from so many sources. Most businesses are not aware of all the ways consumers are using technology to find businesses to transact with. Businesses should go through the process of creating a Customer Journey Map so that they can see all the touch points across all channels and first measure how well they are doing and then identify gaps and opportunities. The goal in this process is to know exactly what your customer is thinking, feeling and doing throughout their engagement at touch point. This one exercise alone will show you where your profits are being won or lost.
• They don’t know the fundamentals of marketing that are the cornerstones to any long term growth strategy. Just like an archer tries to hit the bull’s-eye, an entrepreneur tries to reach her customers. No matter how many arrows that may be in her quiver, if she doesn’t know how to aim, she’ll probably miss with each attempt. The same is true with marketing: you can spend vast amounts in a campaign, but you need to know the who, the how and the why of your aim.
Dominguez, a Fortune 50 business strategist, says: “You need to know who you’re marketing to. Why are you marketing to them? What are their wants and needs; what keeps them up at night? Are there emotional triggers that make your marketing relevant? What is your brand promise and what makes you different from the guy down the street? And, you when you do you this effectively, you shift from sinking money into fixing problems and into growing your business through strategic decision making.
About Pamela Herrmann and Patty Dominguez
Pamela Herrmann and Patty Dominguez cofounded CREATE Buzz (www.createbuzznow.com), an online training experience which helps business owners and their employees get powerful, positive and practical customer engagement habits that build loyalty. As CREATE Buzz, Herrmann and Dominguez provide deep insights and strategic planning on how to make your marketing dollars convert more sales. They co-host Customers For Life podcast and co-host The Morning Would Show providing daily motivation. The duo have a very big vision of helping one million companies leverage customer loyalty in the digital age, and they’ve influenced thousands of entrepreneurs with their straight talk about growing business from a place of strategy.
photo by Boyd Loving minutes after the alleged assault at the council meeting
BY MATTHEW SCHNEIDER
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
RIDGEWOOD – Ridgewood’s Village Council voted 3-2 to bond with the Bergen County Improvement Authority (BCIA) on Feb. 10 in order to fund the proposed Hudson Street parking garage.
This came on the heels of last week’s unanimous vote of the BCIA to authorize the submission of an application to the state local finance board, accelerating the process along.
Just as there was at the BCIA version, Wednesday’s meeting featured both proponents and opponents of the decision to bond with the county, including village residents and council members.
Councilwoman Susan Knudsen, who voted against adopting the ordinance to bond with the BCIA, said that she still has some serious concerns with moving the process along at this time.
“I think that before we get into this, it’s really important to have a conversation with Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and be neighborly and have the simulations and all of the information available to address and allay any concerns that they have,” she said.
While she did admit that bonding with the BCIA “seems like a great option,” she said that she continues to believe “that when we find the appropriate scale and design of this garage, it could be done on self-bonding.”
“While there seems to be some financial benefits to be gained by going through the BCIA, some of the detriments are very real,” Knudsen said. “Maintaining ownership and absolute control is imperative to the success of this garage … I think it’s still an opportunity to bond on our own.”
Councilman Mike Sedon, who cast the other dissenting vote against bonding with the BCIA, said he thinks it is necessary to have a payment plan in place before moving forward.
February 12,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Some questions from the most recent walker report. May be some of our readers who are more financial savvy can answer them / explain them, as residents are a little confused:
1. The main argument for the biggest garage is that it is needed for CBD’s revival. This week’s Walker Report projects up-to 20% reduction in cars coming in to CDB. So, how exactly will this help?
“We project a 10% reduction in volume from rate increases and a 7.5% – 10% reduction in volume for the extension of meter hours through the dinner hour”..
https://mods.ridgewoodnj.net/pdf/manager/20160203revwalker.pdf
2. OLMC was promised that no rates will increase on Saturday evenings. This report doesn’t reflect that.
3. They mention that this report cannot be used for financing. So, the consultant themselves are not confident about this report?
“As with the previous study, this is considered a preliminary analysis. We have not done the very detailed analysis that is required for a financing document and our projections cannot be used as such.”
4. On Jan 27th, in village council meeting, when this new contract was awarded to Walker Consultants, we were told that they will provide us the new makeup of the parking garage, i.e. how many commuters, how many shoppers and how many CBD employees should park there. That break down is not provided in this report (I think we paid somewhere between 12-20k for this piece of pdf).
5. This report recommends additional enforcement for the extended hours, but it doesn’t consider additional enforcement officer’s compensation in the calculations?
Hi James,
As expected, the council voted 3-2 on ordinance 3519, which allows them to enter into a lease purchase agreement with the BCIA for the Hudson Street parking garage.
There are a group of residents that started a referendum petition to repeal the ordinance. We need to get about 1000 signatures in 20 days. Then a binding referendum question would go on the May ballot asking if the ordinance should be adopted?
People can go to [email protected] to find out where they can go to sign the petition.
Thanks
Dear Village Officials, I understand ” the train has left the station ” on the Garage at the Hudson Street site but I would like to state a brief case as to why this is not the best scenario for Ridgewood at the present time.
You are voting on an ordinance this evening to bond 12.3 million dollars through the BCIA. Our first priority should be the acquisition of the Town Garage site and the remediation of that property as soon as possible. If a garage is built there, it would be used by employees, diners sand shoppers as well as commuters as it is more centrally located. The Hudson Street area could be repaved and reconfigured to maximize parking spaces and also for minimal costs made more aesthetically pleasing. I want what is best for the village and right now it is to clean up the toxic site in our downtown area.
Dear Friends and Neighbors,
Village Hall meeting at 8pm, during the first public statement there will be an announcement about what actions you can take if the Village Council votes in favor of bonding the proposed garage through the County. So, whether you can come out to the meeting or watch at home – stay tuned.
Sincerely,
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, We call them “Destination Stores ” if you have a special spot with a unique product people will find parking . The Tobacco Shop of Ridgewood. & Davidoff Lounge is an example .Its called common sense! I know, it’s an old fashioned idea but something that is severely lacking nowadays.
Stores that have a commodity or service that is backed by good business have continued to prosper here in Ridgewood. Hillman, Country Curtains, Jekyl & Hyde, The Art Spot and Panico are examples of a few. Been in business a long time and continue to attract new customers. Mango use to be a good option but the last few years it’s grown stale, not a decline in business because of lack of parking but because the goods are pretty much the same stuff as 5 years ago. A place like Pazzazzed is stealing Mango’s thunder, better, more interesting goods.
If you offer a strong commodity or service, people will find parking, it’s worth the effort to walk a block or two. If it’s mediocre or lost its appeal, you won’t last.
Some business owners think because it’s Ridgewood, they are guaranteed to make money. As many have learned, that’s not the case. The owners of Novo tried the salad place, it didn’t work, now they have a restaurant that is currently successful. Did the salad place not work because there was no parking garage? No, because status quo with parking and now its success.
People like coming to the Village because it’s charming and for many their own towns don’t have a CBD. The worst thing this village could do would be to jam 4 or 5 massive high density building and an ugly, doesn’t fit on the lot garage. If they build that crap, I hope the 3 amigos have a huge plaque with their names and faces on it so all the people who see it and think “what the hell happened to Ridgewood” they can point to those plaques and go “right there, a very dark period in the Village’s history when the door was opened and a no good politician and his cohorts hijacked the place”.
“Furthermore, the actual bonding through BCIA is more expensive than Ridgewood bonding ourselves, and many in municipal finance question the assumptions used. Also, the building will go over budget as Albert promised himself. Lastly, there is demand for parking but currently you can always – always- find parking on street in that area of town. (in front of NY SPorts, up prospect etc.). The garage is not that much closer and it is a shame businesses were never able to convince their employees to park over there as that is what really takes street parking.”
Of coarse there is also the county politics and perhaps the real story;
The apartments will be built as soon as the lawsuits begin, COHA judgements line up, and the remaining council fall in place. Makes some sense”
