Tonight, May 29, 2015, marks the start of another season of “Music in the Night.” Artists play around town from 7-9pm. Please come out and show your support for the local businesses.
Tonight’s Lineup
Take 4 – near Due, La Tour, & Malee
Jake Thistle – near It’s Greek to Me
Dom Boresta – near Raymond’s
George Shabet – near Starbucks
Nic Scott – Ben and Jerry’s
Musicians set up around town at various shops and restaurants, sweetly serenading the patrons. The program is sponsored by The Ridgewood Guild, who holds auditions and places talent around the town at or near member business of The Ridgewood Guild.
If you or somebody you know is interested in performing with the Music in the Night program, please email [email protected]
MAY 29, 2015 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015, 12:31 AM
BY GLORIA GEANNETTE
MANAGING EDITOR |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Times have certainly changed since waves of Italian immigrants first arrived in New Jersey in the 19th century, but there are still Romans searching for the American Dream and some of them have landed in the village.
Claudia Rovegno and her husband, Roberto Santagati, arrived in Ridgewood two years ago with big ideas and a commitment to build a brighter future for their children, Caterina, 11, and Filippo, 14.
The affable couple hit the ground running and opened an online business, FromScratchRidgewood.com, almost immediately. They feature authentic Italian cooking that can be ordered online and they’ve experienced quite a bit of success building up a network of loyal customers. They have just opened a grocery/bistro, Italia Di Gusto Ridgewood, at 44 E. Ridgewood Ave., that includes seating for 25 people and sells imported Italian foods in addition to delicious home cooking. A grand opening celebration is planned for 5 p.m. on Saturday, June 6.
MAY 22, 2015 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, MAY 22, 2015, 12:31 AM
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Don’t make Ridgewood a city
To the Editor:
The Record ran an article on Tuesday detailing applications by two developers in Ho-Ho-Kus to construct new multifamily buildings with unit counts and densities much lower than the proposals here in Ridgewood.
A developer for the 2.12-acre site that currently houses Granny’s Attic on Maple Avenue is pitching 27 one- and two-bedroom apartments along with retail and office space, in a three-story building. This helps maintain the commercial character of Ho-Ho-Kus’ downtown area, while also providing a reasonable and responsible number of new apartments, including some affordable units. Looking at the apartments alone, the multifamily component density is 12.74 units per acre.
Another developer is looking to build 45 townhomes there on 3.66 acres, a density of 12.3 units per acre. I recognize that there are some differences between these proposals and Ridgewood’s, but what does stand out is that commercial, for-profit developers are proposing construction at densities much lower than those they are demanding here.
For the past few years, Ridgewood residents have been hearing from Ridgewood developers, our own village planner, and some members of the Planning Board, that much higher densities are required to incentivize the building of some new housing units downtown. The Ho-Ho-Kus proposals, in a borough very similar to Ridgewood, show that these excessive densities are not required. They are just the product of a desire for improving their property values and profits. But greed is not always good.
To date, Ridgewood’s planner has never given any studied and proper reasoning as to why we need to have densities of, first 50 apartment per acre, and now an amended 30-35 per acre (which is still too high). All we know is that 50 was declared the max and 35 is a number acceptable to some developers. But this is unacceptable planning for Ridgewood.
At the last board meeting, I asked our planner what financial due diligence was done to determine that Ridgewood’s developers needed this high density to make enough of a profit to spur development. I inquired what property purchase prices, what income and expenses and what cap rate of return were used in his pro-forma that says 30-35 is now the number. He admitted he had not done any such study, but came to the higher numbers because the Brogan site developer complained that an earlier determination of 25 per acre wasn’t enough for them. So, the current densities are based on a developer complaint.
That’s not good planning.
Many residents, along with Citizens for a Better Ridgewood, a group promoting smart and fair development in Ridgewood, are advocating for building new housing, but at densities more fitting for our village. If we cannot have the benefit of proper analysis to determine correct densities, we should go with what we know works here. Either keep the master plan the same at 12 per acre, or, if we want to incentivize development, raise it to 18-25/acre, the current average that exists throughout Ridgewood.
Baseball Hall of Fame Manager, Tommy Lasorda, will sign his new book, My Way .Each Person attending must have at least one book.
TOMMY LASORDA
Thomas Charles Lasorda
Inducted to the Hall of Fame in: 1997
Primary team: Los Angeles Dodgers
Primary position: Manager
For more than three decades, he has been the face of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
And after more than sixty years in the Dodgers’ organization, Tommy Lasorda remains the embodiment of Dodger Blue.
Lasorda, who managed the Los Angeles Dodgers from 1976-1996, was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997 by the Veterans Committee following a career where he won 1,599 games, two World Series and two more National League pennants – all with the Dodgers.
Thomas Charles Lasorda was born Sept. 22, 1927 in Norristown, Pa. He got his start in pro-baseball at the age of 18 as a southpaw pitcher when he signed with the Phillies in 1945, then served two years in the military.
In 1948, Lasorda made a record-making return to the baseball scene with the Schenectady Blue Jays as he authored a 25-strikeout performance. In 1949, the Dodgers drafted him from the Phillies, and he made a new home pitching for the Greenville Spinners and the Montreal Royals. During his time with the Royals, Lasorda led his team to four minor league championships.
Lasorda made his major league debut on Aug. 5, 1954 with the Dodgers. He played for the Dodgers for two seasons before being traded to the Kansas City Athletics, where he pitched for one season.
After the 1960 season, Lasorda ended his playing career in pro ball and became a scout for the Dodgers until 1965. He managed in the minor leagues from 1966-72, and in 1973 Tommy made his way back to the big leagues as a third base coach for the L.A. Dodgers under another future Hall of Fame manager – Walter Alston. Alston retired in 1976 after 23 years with the Dodgers, and Lasorda took the reins.
By 1978, he had led the Dodgers to two straight National League championships, and became the first NL manager to win pennants in their first two seasons. After losing to the Yankees in both the 1977 and 1978 World Series, the Dodgers went on to win the World Series over the Yankees in 1981. They defeated the A’s in 1988 to give Lasorda his second World Series title.
After retiring in 1996, Lasorda stayed busy working in baseball. In 2000, he managed the U.S. Olympic Baseball Team to a gold medal in the Sydney games.
“Guys ask me, don’t I get burned out?” Lasorda said. “How can you get burned out doing something you love?”
Appearing authors will only autograph books purchased at Bookends and must have valid Bookends Receipt.
Availability & pricing for all autographed books subject to change.
First In Line Certificate use is the the discretion of Bookends. Blackout dates may apply.
Bookends cannot guarantee that the books that are Autographed will always be First Printings.
Autographed books purchased at Bookends are non-returnable.
While we try to ensure that all customers coming to Bookends’ signings will meet authors and get their books signed, we cannot guarantee that all attendees will meet the author or that all books will be signed. We cannot control inclement weather, author travel schedules or authors who leave prematurely.
Bookends, 211 E. Ridgewood Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ 07450 201-445-0726
TONIGHT (Monday, May 18th) at 6:00pm CHRIS HARRISON from The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, will sign his new book: The Perfect Letter ($23.99) at Bookends in Ridgewood .
Appearing authors will only autograph books purchased at Bookends and must have valid Bookends Receipt.
Availability & pricing for all autographed books subject to change.
First In Line Certificate use is the the discretion of Bookends. Blackout dates may apply.
Bookends cannot guarantee that the books that are Autographed will always be First Printings. Autographed books purchased at Bookends are non-returnable.
While we try to ensure that all customers coming to Bookends’ signings will meet authors and get their books signed, we cannot guarantee that all attendees will meet the author or that all books will be signed. We cannot control inclement weather, author travel schedules or authors who leave prematurely.
Bookends, 211 E. Ridgewood Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ 07450 201-445-0726
Ah, so we can just spend more tax dollars to improve our water pressure once we get the new apartments downtown
And how the hell are we going to add another 500 to 1000 toilets, kitchen sinks, showers, bathroom sinks, etc when we put the projects in downtown? Are we expected to give up our gardens to ensure the developers make a profit?
But the developers have assured us their will be no adverse impact on the Village and I believe them (cough, cough)
Rain has nothing to do with restrictions. Ridgewood uses groundwater . . . . it would take many, years of drought to impact the supply of water available to us.
The reason we have restrictions if because our infrastructure is inadequate to pump all the water we might need in a worst case scenario (ex . everyone is watering their lawns and a huge fire breaks out). Ridgewood doesn’t want inadequate water pressure in and emergency.
We have plenty of water. Every year it has to be re-explained. A few years ago, we almost had a permanent solution to this problem with plans to install bigger water storage tanks that would have been able to maintain full pressure even during heavy usage. The local residents had it voted down because they thought it would hurt their views.
MAY 15, 2015 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, MAY 15, 2015, 7:49 AM
BY ELISA UNG
THE RECORD
What a delightful way to end a meal: a poached pear, turned burgundy from red wine and resplendent with cinnamon and cloves; a banana bread pudding dripping with caramel sauce; a custardy chocolate cake; a creamy crème brûlée singing notes of citrus.
These sweets at Finca, the new global small-plates restaurant in downtown Ridgewood, were also a much-welcomed surprise, having followed two disappointing dinners chosen from a vast, perhaps too wide-ranging menu.
With 98 seats in its spacious dining room with bare wooden tables and another 30 seats at sidewalk tables, Finca is one of Ridgewood’s most prominently located restaurants, occupying the busy corner of Ridgewood Avenue and Broad Street across from the Ridgewood train station.
Good News – the store has been re-opend by my husband and I. we have expanded the menu and now have, in addition to frozen yogurt, hot pressed flatbread sandwiches, wraps and salads. We also do Juicing and have an extensive juicing menu and we have some of the yummiest Smoothies around! Come on by and see us – 43 East Ridgewood Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ.
Empty nesters have been selling their houses to families with young children for generations in Ridgewood and we’ve done just fine. Now the developers and their friends on our Council want to build hundreds of apartments in town for empty nesters. This is a pipe dream – we all know that these apartments will attract families with school children from nearby cities with school systems that lag behind Ridgewood’s.
A couple things are going to happen that nobody wants to talk about. 1. Kids who live in the apartments will go to Ridge, Willard and GW where class sizes are already beginning to tick up. 2. If empty nesters trying to sell their houses are competing with developers renting apartments to families with kids, the value of your house will go down.
We are being sold a bill of goods by special interest groups, specifically developers and labor unions, that are supported by 3 members of our Council. Their “studies” have produced laughable results – traffic will decrease and school population will stay flat. False and false.
The Village of Ridgewood has partnered with Parkmobile the leading provider for on-demand and prepaid mobile payments for on- and off-street parking pay by phone. There will now be an easier effortless and innovative way of paying for parking transactions by mobile phone. The new partnership will allow pay by phone transactions so residents businesses and visitors will be able to conduct their parking transactions by mobile phone throughout Ridgewood.
Ridgewood NJ May 11 2015 – Parkmobile LLC announced today a new partnership with the Village of Ridgewood that will allow customers to use their mobile phones to pay for parking at all Village owned lots. This is the first step in expanding mobile payment transactions throughout the Village of Ridgewood. Parkmobile will be available for the on-street meters in the near future as well. Customers will be able to utilize their smartphones to pay for parking using Parkmobile’s mobile applications for iPhone Android Windows Blackberry and Amazon phones. After an exhaustive search Parkmobile was selected. Patrons may register in advance at www.parkmobile.com or download the mobile app in their phone’s app store.
“We are excited to work with Parkmobile pay by phone industry leader and implement a Village-wide pay by phone option. This partnership will expand current payment options and revolutionize the current parking operation as it has done for Glen Rock Summit Chatham and Montclair.”
“We are very happy to launch our mobile payment parking service in the Village of Ridgewood” said Cherie Fuzzell CEO of Parkmobile LLC. “This technology offers customers a new and better way to pay for parking and is truly beneficial to them as well as the city. Our service eliminates the need to swipe a card or feed coins to a meter and can make our lives easier and more efficient.”
Once registered customers may use the mobile app internet or call a toll free number to pay for parking. After setting up their account they can immediately start using the system with their registered mobile phone. This convenient service also provides customers the ability to receive alerts when their meter time is about to expire and use credit cards in locations that do not offer manual credit card payments. Meters accepting coins are still available except at the Chestnut Street Lot and some parking spaces at the Rt. 17 Park & Ride Lot.
May 11,2015
Ridgewood NJ, Starting May 11th the Multi-space meter in the Chestnut Street Parking Lot will be deactivated. The new method of payment for up to 3 hours of parking at .50 cents per hour will be by phone using the Parkmobile App. (.35 cent fee)
The display of the Ridgewood Parking Pass (RPP) will enable users to park from 6AM to 2AM without any further payment.
Parkmobile – Pay by Phone Option available in Ridgewood
It is not too early to install the Parkmobile App on your phone . Be ready to use this “pay by phone” technology to pay for parking in Ridgewood’s Lots. This system will go live May 11th.
Click Here for Press Release.
Questions: 201/670-5500 x200
Parkmobile has created a few videos to assist you with using our service. To view a short, instructional video, please visit:
MAY 7, 2015 LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, MAY 7, 2015, 2:52 PM
BY MARK KRULISH
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Ridgewood residents and Planning Board members questioned Village Planner Blais Brancheau on the latest changes to the amendment to the land use element of the master plan as multifamily housing hearings resumed Tuesday night.
Two weeks ago, Brancheau presented a reworked recommendation to the board for its consideration, which featured reductions in density, height and floor area ratio along with some zoning tweaks.
All three zones now feature a maximum height of 50 feet and a density of 30-35 units per acre. Floor area ratios were reduced by 20 percent in the AH-2 zone and 10 percent for the B-3-R and C-R zones since the latter two allow mixed-use, but not purely commercial, development.
The C-R zone was also reduced in size as the West Bergen Mental Healthcare building and its adjacent properties were returned to the C zone. The southern end of the originally proposed C-R zone, which includes the Ken Smith property, was moved into the B-3-R zone.
The Ridgewood Guild “Music in the Night” evening performance series is now entering its 5th Season. Every Friday night from 7:00 – 9:00pm, Memorial Day to Labor Day, musicians will be performing in several locations throughout downtown Ridgewood. These talented performers have created quite a buzz, so come join the fun, and enjoy some great music!
If you can strum a guitar, blow a horn or croon a tune, we’d love to hear you. Please email:[email protected] and we’ll get back to you to schedule an audition.
Mark your calendar!
Ridgewood Spring SIdewalk Sale Days: Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. May 14,15, and 16th.
Best Shopping Days in Bergen County.
Participating Businesses:
alba
Alex and Ani
Anik of Ridgewood
Dr. Aretsky.s Ridgewood Hearing Center
Arthur Groom & Co., Inc.
Atelier of Ridgewood
B. Witching Bath Co.
Beauty Plus Salon
DoubleTake Consignment Boutique
Eat Your Spinach!
Exclusive Day Spa
Femmebotclothing
The Gap
Gardiner & Co
GiGi-s Boutique
Glaze Artisan Donuts
The Green Olive Branch
Huntington Learning Center
Just Our Shoes & Mephisto of Ridgewood
Kate Spade & Company
Leapin Lizards
Little Ivy Learning Center
Loft41 Jewelry Studio & More
Lucky Brand
Maui Medical Weight Loss Clinics
P. Smith & Co.
Pangea Coins & Jewelry
Panico Salon & Spa
Pink Bungalow
ProMartial Arts
Red Velvet Luxe
RHS Cake Sale
Ridgewood Bootery
Salon diLuna
Shoe-Inn
Studio Suite 201
Suite 201
Town & Country Apothecary & Fine Cosmetics
West Side Nursery School
YWCA Bergen County
For more details, please call us at 201-445-2600 or email [email protected] www.experienceridgewood.com
MAY 6, 2015, 7:06 PM LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, MAY 6, 2015, 7:06 PM
BY CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
RIDGEWOOD — The executive director of an affordable housing agency has endorsed a proposed master plan amendment that, if approved, would clear the way for high-density, multifamily housing developments downtown.
A letter dated April 29 from lawyer Kevin Walsh from the Fair Share Housing Center, urges Ridgewood’s Planning Board to adopt the amendment, which has been under consideration for years.
The letter was read at the Planning Board’s meeting Tuesday night.
Adopting the master plan change “will assist the municipality in meeting its very substantial unmet affordable housing obligations,” which Walsh put at more than 1,000 units.
Four developers with plans for four different housing complexes initially requested the master plan amendment five years ago. Since then, one of the developers has backed out.
The three remaining developers have plans to construct a combined 208 apartments downtown.
The developments proposed are The Dayton, a 106-unit luxury garden apartment complex at the site of the former Brogan Cadillac dealership; the 50-unit Chestnut Village, which would be on Chestnut Street, and the 52-unit Enclave, proposed for East Ridgewood and North Maple avenues.
Citing the Supreme Court’s March 10 decision, Walsh’s letter contends there is a “renewed focus on ensuring that municipalities meet their obligations in an expeditious fashion.”
