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Reader says Time to End the Reign of Terror in Ridgewood

3 amigos in action Ridgewood NJ

file photo by Boyd Loving

Well, it’s not our government, so it’s on us to Take Back Ridegwood!! Go Monday night to the Valley meeting. Sign the garage petition, talk to your neighbors and friends!! We have a choice we can roll over and do nothing, or get vocal, participate and give it all we got! I know it’s not easy… Exhausting, irritating but we are near a positive change…. The election. Stay strong people, we are near the end of a long and terrible reign.

REGISTER TO VOTE IN THE MUNICIPAL ELECTION

Final voting registration for the May 10th Municipal Election is April 19th.  To register to vote, individuals may register in the Village Clerk’s office from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM or in the Ridgewood Library Lobby on April 19th from 4:30 PM to 9:00 PM.

REMEMBER : 2012 Ridgewood Election Results

Albert J. Pucciarelli – 2078

Keith Killion – 1711

Rissell R Forenza – 817

Paul Aronsohn – 2479

Mary Jane Shinozuka – 1484

Gwenn H Hauck – 1727

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Is Valley Hospital of Ridgewood Using the so called ‘Pac-Man Defense “to fend off Hostile bids?

valley_hospital_theridgewoodblog

March 21,2016

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood Nj, Sources speculate that Valley’s Hospitals recent buying binge of property in or around the Ridgewood area is nothing more than creating what was often called by investment bankers the 1980’s as the “Pac-Man Defense “.

What is the ‘Pac-Man Defense’ ;The Pac-Man defense is a defensive tactic used by a targeted firm in a hostile takeover situation. In a Pac-Man defense, the target firm turns around and tries to acquire the other company that has made the hostile takeover attempt. This term has been accredited to Bruce Wasserstein, chairman of Wasserstein & Co.Read more: Pac-Man Defense Definition | Investopedia https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/pac-man-defense.asp#ixzz43TAEGdAC

As The Valley Hospital has struggled for years to expand its campus in Ridgewood, it has been quietly buying real estate in Bergen County, assembling a portfolio that includes a string of properties on North Maple Avenue in Ridgewood and the building that houses the New Jersey Children’s Museum in Paramus.

Over the past two years, the hospital, in some cases through holding companies, has spent at least $54 million to acquire roughly a half-dozen sites in the village and neighboring Paramus as potential future locations for doctors’ offices, along with outpatient and other services that would be moved from its main campus. Some of these newly acquired properties are already operating as off-site hospital facilities.

But the hospital’s plans for some of its other new properties remain unclear, and Valley’s real estate shopping doesn’t appear to be over. Recently, it has been in talks to purchase buildings that the global parcel deliverer UPS will be vacating on Winters Avenue in Paramus, as reported by The Record. If that deal closes, it would add another property to a medical-services cluster that the hospital has been creating in Paramus, near the Fashion Center mall.

Valley’s push to expand comes on the heels of a bitter, losing battle in which it joined with Englewood Hospital and Medical Center to keep Hackensack University Medical Center from opening the former Pascack Valley Hospital in Westwood. Now, Valley, Englewood and Hackensack are fiercely competing for the aging and affluent Bergen County population, offering hotel-like amenities combined with top-notch expertise and technology in a rapidly changing health care terrain influenced by Obamacare.

The Valley Hospital, which has not commented on the UPS negotiations beyond saying it has not purchased the property, describes its recent real estate buys as “strategic property acquisitions to ensure its ability to develop outpatient and ambulatory programs and services needed by the community.”

Megan Fraser, the hospital’s vice president for communications and marketing, said in an email that the hospital will share its plans for properties it has acquired “as they are finalized.” She said plans may include a health and wellness center and new facilities for Valley Medical Group, a group of family and urgent-care centers with seven sites in North Jersey.

Among properties already being used by the hospital is Parkview Plaza, a three-story office building at 1200 E. Ridgewood Ave. — near the hospital’s main campus — where it is expanding its cardiac center. The building was purchased last November for $28 million

In 2012, the hospital paid $4.8 million for a building at 970 Linwood Ave. in Paramus that in one section currently houses a regional blood center that will be moving out in March. Valley has established a research program there, in what is now the Bolger Medical Arts Building.

Moving outpatient services off campus to reduce traffic to and from the hospital was among the promises Valley made to village residents during contentious expansion hearings that date back to 2002. Valley has been trying nearly to double the square footage on its main campus, nestled on North Van Dien Avenue in the middle of a residential neighborhood. Its first proposal was rejected by the Ridgewood Village Council and a slightly scaled-back project totaling 995,000 square feet has been before the Village Planning Board almost a year. https://www.northjersey.com/news/valley-hospital-buying-up-string-of-properties-near-its-ridgewood-site-1.671045

Valley is looking to bulk up on assents making any unsolicited take over bid of the hospital by local competitors too expensive.

Rumors have been floated in the past of a imminent take over attempt by Hackensack University Medical Center but so far have never materialized.

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Judge OKs Valley Hospital Massive expansion deal; Ridgewood to hold hearings

Valleywood_theridgewoodblog

BY MARY JO LAYTON
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

The Valley Hospital’s proposed expansion moved closer to reality when a judge signed off on an agreement between the hospital and the Ridgewood Planning Board that eliminates a top floor from plans for the main building, but still permits the hospital to nearly double in size.

The ruling by state Superior Court Judge Lisa Perez Friscia remands the case to the Planning Board to hold hearings on the proposed 2016 master plan amendment beginning March 30 with a vote scheduled by April 7.

It marks the third time the issue, which has dominated village politics for a decade and consumed countless hours of public meetings, will come before the Planning Board.

And again, residents overwhelmingly agree the 451-bed hospital needs to renovate, even expand — the campus is dominated by 1960s-era buildings while competitors have built cancer centers, gleaming outpatient centers and even opened a hospital in Westwood. The sticking point is that the residents remain outraged at the size of the proposed buildings in the middle of a residential neighborhood.

The latest plan calls for eliminating 34,000 square feet from 995,000 square feet of proposed construction to modernize and provide all private rooms.

“It’s a minuscule reduction in square footage,” said Peter McKenna, president of Concerned Residents of Ridgewood. “I don’t know why the Planning Board felt compelled to accept this.”

The agreement was reached after several sessions with mediator Virginia Long, who retired from the New Jersey Supreme Court in 2012. Now that the case goes back to the board, Valley and the board can present witnesses, but it’s unclear how much latitude the board will have in the proceedings.

Board Attorney Gail Price could not be reached for comment Friday. McKenna said he was consulting with members of his organization to determine their strategy.

“It sounds like we’re going through the motions in having hearings,” McKenna said. “It doesn’t sound like there can be any meaningful change to the plan in the process.”

https://www.northjersey.com/news/judge-oks-valley-hospital-expansion-deal-ridgewood-to-hold-hearings-1.1530320

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She’s back! Gwenn obviously doesn’t get it Still Using Ridgewood Village Hall to Campaign out of

gwenn hauck

LET’S STAY ACQUAINTED WITH COUNCILWOMAN GWENN HAUCK “Have the Talk of a Lifetime” Discussion and journal writing with guidance from David B. Feeney, CFSP, CPC, as you share memories of your life while making a keepsake for your loved ones. Thursday April 7, 2016 12pm Anne Zusy Youth Center – Village Hall, 131 N. Maple Ave. No fee—Pre-registration required.

 https://www.ridgewoodnj.net/images/Ridgewood/SeniorEarlySpring2016.pdf