The Ridgewood Blog Brings a Free Market Laissez-faire Point of View to Local, New Jersey State and National Issues.
photo courtesy of Ridgewood Schools
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, on Monday night Ridgewood Board of Education meeting , the Board admitted that the fields may be heading for additional flooding this week. The turf field is severely damaged. We are considering all options, working with the Village of Ridgewood, US Army Corps. of Engineers, the NJ DEP and Rep. Gottheimer’s office.
Continue reading Severely Damaged RHS Turf Fields Heading for Additional Flooding this Week
RHS Field 1903 photo, other photos courtesy of Boyd Loving
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ,the Village is abuzz with lots of talk about flooding , so how did it get so bad? Lets leave the Village Hall “wreck-ovation” for another day. Here is the short version, in 2009 residents voted for a $48 million dollar Referendum to Turf Ridgewood High School Stadium Field .
Continue reading Village of Ridgewood Flooding a Little Background
photo courtesy of Suzanne R
photo of Saddle River near the foot bridge on Kingsbridge ln
the staff of the Ridgewood bl,og
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood Mayor Vagianos, and Council majority, claim Schedler Property is a perfect location for a field because there is no flooding. So why does this Village of Ridgewood notice state (once again) that the Schedler neighborhood floods?
Continue reading Ridgewood Mayor and Council Unaware That Schedler Neighborhood Floods
file photo by Boyd Loving
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, the National Weather Service has issues a FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT FROM SUNDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH MONDAY AFTERNOON.
file photo by Boyd Loving
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, FLOOD WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT THROUGH MONDAY AFTERNOON .
Continue reading FLOOD WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT THROUGH MONDAY AFTERNOON
file photo by Boyd Loving
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood OEM Coordinator Jeremy P. Kleiman says Please be aware and be safe!
file photo by Boyd Loving
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, the National Weather Service has issued a flood watch for Bergen County. The FLOOD WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT THROUGH THIS EVENING . Flash flooding caused by excessive rainfall continues to be possible.
Portions of southern Connecticut, including the following areas, Northern Fairfield and Southern Fairfield. Portions of northeast New Jersey, including the following areas, Eastern Bergen, Eastern Essex, Eastern Passaic, Eastern Union, Hudson, Western Bergen, Western Essex, Western Passaic and Western Union. Portions of southeast New York, including the following areas, Bronx, Kings (Brooklyn), New York (Manhattan), Northern Nassau, Northern Queens, Northern Westchester, Orange, Putnam, Richmond (Staten Island), Rockland, Southern Nassau, Southern Queens and Southern Westchester.
Continue reading Saturday October 7th : FLOOD WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT THROUGH THIS EVENING
photos courtesy of Boyd Loving
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood resident Boyd Loving caught some pics of blockage in Ho-Ho-Kus Brook near Spring Avenue that may be contributing to flooding at Ridgewood High School. Before we blame every thing on “Climate Change”, in New Jersey, the responsibility of cleaning debris from clogged waterways can vary depending on the location and type of waterway. According to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, “the property owner of the land under the river or stream is responsible for debris removal after a storm event.
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Continue reading Ho-Ho-Kus Crossings : Major Impact on Maple Avenue Corridor
file photo by Boyd Loving
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, the National Weather Service has issued a FLASH FLOOD WATCH , FLASH FLOOD WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 8 PM EDT THIS EVENING THROUGH TUESDAY AFTERNOON… The Flash Flood Watch continues for portions of southern Connecticut, northeast New Jersey and southeast New York, including the following areas, in southern Connecticut, Northern Fairfield, Northern Middlesex, Northern New Haven, Northern New London, Southern Fairfield, Southern Middlesex, Southern New Haven and Southern New London. In northeast New Jersey, Eastern Bergen, Eastern Essex, Eastern Passaic, Eastern Union, Hudson, Western Bergen, Western Essex, Western Passaic and Western Union. In southeast New York, Bronx, Kings (Brooklyn), New York (Manhattan), Northeast Suffolk, Northern Nassau, Northern Queens, Northern Westchester, Northwest Suffolk, Orange, Putnam, Richmond (Staten Island), Rockland, Southeast Suffolk, Southern Nassau, Southern Queens, Southern Westchester and Southwest Suffolk.
The Ridgewood Board of Education is proposing more artificial turf for Stevens Field,a district owned field, despite mounting evidence that it presents significant health and safety concerns for those using the fields and to the environment. A recent article in the NJEA Review Magazine ,” Use it? Ban it? quotes the following statements from Dr. Philip Landrigan, a Public Health and Pediatrics Professor at Mount Sinai :“ The companies that are marketing the fields don’t talk about the heat hazards, they don’t talk about the chemical hazards, they don’t talk about the costs that are going to be associated with dismantling the fields when they reach the end of their natural life span, when they must be treated as hazardous waste ….. a better solution is to build fields that are properly drained and are planted with tough species of grass that do not require pesticides.”
Continue reading Feds to Investigate Safety of Crumb Rubber Turf Fields
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Dr. Fishbein presented the Ridgewood High School Stevens Field Synthetic Turf Replacement Proposal. The field is used seven days a week, during the school day for physical education, as well as by RHS athletics, youth sports, and adult community programs. Dr. Fishbein provided background on the field, explaining that Stevens Field was first completed during the 2009 referendum.
Continue reading Ridgewood Superintendent Lays Out Stevens Field Synthetic Turf Replacement Proposal
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, according to Professional Sports Field Services, “Flood water can destroy the performance of a turf athletic field in a single event. Not that will occur everytime, but the potential is always there.
Thorough and proper planning for the site would have prevented a flood event in the first place. If a flood plane is the chosen site to install a turf field, then some form of mitigation or divergence would be appropriate if allowed by regulating agencies. If not, relocating the field, using natural grass, or some other alternative would be wise. Of course if you are reading this article, then it’s too late for the planning part isn’t it?”
Continue reading Flood water can destroy the performance of a turf athletic field in a single event
photos courtesy of Boyd Loving
August 5,2018
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, RHS athletic field and Stevens Field closed until further notice!
file photo by Boyd Loving
July 25,2018
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Washington DC, Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) delivered the following speech on the House floor today during debate on a bill to extend the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) without any reforms to the program:
Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor today to do something I do not often do, and that is I have asked my leadership to put a bill on the floor that I do not support. I’m talking about the bill that would provide for a non-reform re-authorization of the National Flood Insurance Program through the end of November.
I want to make it very clear, Mr. Speaker, I believe this program needs to be re-authorized, and the House has done its work. The House passed a bill with reforms last November.
Never underestimate the Senate’s capacity to do nothing, and unfortunately the Senate has done nothing. But this is a program, Mr. Speaker, that continues to be in dire need of reform.
And now we have re-authorized it without reforms not once, not twice, not three times, not four times, not five times – six times since the Financial Services Committee first reported this bill out. Enough is enough.
Mr. Speaker, we lost in America 116 lives last year to flooding. Billions and billions of dollars of property loss, and yet, we have a program unreformed that incents people to live in harm – incents people to live in harm’s way. We should not do this, Mr. Speaker.
I went and I visited those who survived hurricane Harvey. People that were close to your district, people whose homes have flooded three times in the last eight years, and I heard harrowing tales of survival. And yet we have a program that says, “you know what, we will help you rebuild your same home in the same fashion in the same place… hope you survive next time.” That’s wrong. That’s just wrong, Mr. Speaker.
And, yes, we need more mitigation money, we need better flood control projects, and the House bill had more flood mitigation money than any other reform bill.
But this bill before us has no reforms.
This is a program that the taxpayer has subsidized, so far, by $40 billion. Some of the debt has been forgiven, but it runs a billion and a half dollar deficit every single year, Mr. Speaker. It is unsustainable – the Congressional Budget Office says it, the GAO says it, OMB says it – it is an unsustainable program. The finances do not work.
And then last but not least, Mr. Speaker, it is a government monopoly. It’s a government monopoly when people could, through a competitive marketplace, actually get more affordable, flood insurance. And that’s just not a theory, that’s happening as we speak. In the small little bit of the marketplace that is open to competition, people are saving hundreds, if not thousands of dollars in places like Pennsylvania and in places like Florida. We had testimony in our committee, and so it’s just rather disappointing that again we face the seventh time, the seventh time of not reforming a program that has no market competition, that is fiscally unsustainable, and yet we continue to see premiums skyrocket in the government monopoly.
I do want to thank the gentleman from California, Mr. Royce, and the gentleman on the other side of the aisle, Mr. Blumenauer from Oregon. They tried to put together a reform package with the most minimal, minimal level of reforms, and unfortunately it did not appear to carry the day.
So now, I suspect we will soon cast, with an overwhelming vote, a clean re-authorization, but I don’t think they’re going to take it up in the Senate. Maybe I’m wrong, in which case we will have to deal with this. And I would just simply again ask, particularly for the people on my side of the aisle– I think it helps maybe once or twice a month we ask ourselves Ronald Reagan’s eternal question – “If not us, who? If not now, when?” I invite somebody to answer that question for me.
