….the fly would like to remind residents that that the “Reverend” Jan Philips has often been over heard disparaging Mayor Knudsen referring to Paul Aronsohn as the real mayor of Ridgewood . While Arosohn briefly held the title of mayor though his actions it was obvious he was not the mayor or Ridgewood .
The facts support the claim CRAB did target Ridgewood for “disruption”:
CRAB’s own meeting minutes going back to February of 2017 reflect the plan to ask the village to fly the flag in a public space, not over village hall.
CRAB then deviated from that to ask the village to fly the flag at village hall, a request they did not make of Glen Rock.
The village, rightly, raised concerns about flying the flag at village hall.
CRAB’s Jan Phillips, Janice Willet, and their supporters, including Voigt, then used that concern to label the mayor and deputy mayor as intolerant bigots. OPRA requests reveal Voigt ignoring and lying about an email on 5/4 from the mayor about flying the flag at Van Neste.
Facebook posts from Jan Phillips show she and her supporters knowingly took the mayor’s comments about flying the flag at village hall out of context in an effort to smear her. When called out that they had done so, they did not apologize or retract.
While the mayor and deputy mayor are clumsy communicators who have been their own worst enemy more times than not, they have been the target of Aronsohn and his library/garage/high-density crowd on this matter.
June 17,2017
by Assemblywomen Holly Schepisi
New Jersey has the highest property taxes, foreclosure rate and is the most expensive state in the nation to own a home. Common sense and basic economics tell us that there is too much supply and too little demand, with high taxes and a dense population distorting total housing costs upward.
Now we are facing the equivalent of housing Armageddon. A non-profit entity with ties to developers is attempting to force towns across the state to build 280,000 affordable housing units in the next nine years.
Unfortunately, just a few months ago the New Jersey Supreme Court sided with the non-profit Fair Share Housing Center to force towns to build approximately 201,000 affordable housing units. Emboldened by the court’s opinion, the FSHC decided to double down and increased its extortion demand to 280,000 new units of affordable housing. This would financially ruin our state, towns and taxpayers.
While the 280,000 number is insane, the problem is actually far worse. Builders don’t only build affordable housing because they can’t make a profit from those units. So they build four times as many unaffordable units to make up the difference. In total, New Jersey is on the hook for approximately 1.4 million homes – which equals a minimum 2,500 per community. To make things worse, the state Supreme Court is supporting this assault on our communities.
Towns across the state, Democrat and Republican, feel as if they have a proverbial gun to their head. They are being forced to enter into settlements that could be disastrous to their communities as a result of lawsuits brought by a non-profit. They are spending money they don’t have to fight unreasonable court-mandated obligations. This is an unwavering threat to taxpayers who can’t afford already nation-high property taxes.
If the Fair Share Housing Center gets its way, the state will be unrecognizable and the change will be irreversible.
Building an additional 1.4 million homes will cause irreversible problems for our schools, environment and water sources, as well as our roads and power grids. Where are the clean drinking-water advocates who lament that 90 percent of New Jersey water fails at least one water-quality standard? Or the environmentalists that want to restrict sprawl and protect New Jersey’s ecosystem? Where is the teacher’s union fighting for smaller class sizes and increased resources for students?Where are the legislators who represent our communities?
And Fair Share’s logic doesn’t make any sense: The most densely populated state in the country, with the highest property taxes in the country and the highest foreclosure rate in the nation needs affordable housing, and its solution is for that state to build massive quantities of housing funded with higher property taxes, making the state denser and more expensive.
It is mind boggling that the state Supreme Court sided with this faulty logic and is enforcing lawsuits that obligate towns to build housing they don’t need. Why aren’t we considering the obvious issue, that there isn’t a lack of housing supply but that housing is just too expensive because of our obscenely high property taxes and cost-of-living?
Isn’t there a fundamental disconnect that families earning $70,000 per year, an amount $14,000 more than the average US family, are eligible for affordable housing. Plainly, people struggle to own a home in New Jersey because it costs too much. The solution isn’t to make the rest of homes cost more by building 280,000 new affordable units.
We cannot let the courts get away with allowing a non-profit that has no constitutional power to force towns into building what they don’t need. It is also unfathomable that the court would legislate what is best for individual communities.
I have introduced two bills, A-4666 and A-4667, giving the Legislature until the end of the year to properly study and fix the problem: one that suspends all affordable housing lawsuits and another establishing a bi-partisan commission to study the issue. If we wait any longer to stop this insanity, the impact on our communities will be irreversible and our already unaffordable property taxes will skyrocket.
I am calling for an immediate stop to these obligations, and to provide relief for towns across the state that can no longer take the burden. We must take action now before it is too late. We must stop this madness or it will hit us like an avalanche.
Holly Schepisi, Republican, represents parts of Bergen and Passaic counties in the 39th Legislative District in the Assembly.
file photo by Dana Glazer
June 16,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog with a little help from our friends
Ridgewood NJ, a reader wrote us and said ,”I was cleaning up my posts and came across this Facebook thread from last year. It’s amazing that the same people/group that spoon fed and pushed personal agendas are still at it. Our current Mayor and Deputy Mayor remain under attack; false accusations, lies published in the local newspaper, public opinion letters etc.
Why would they still be at it? Answer: We have an election coming up next year. The Mayor and Deputy Mayor’s positions become available. Exactly two seats are needed for this group to resume block voting and to pick up where they left off. They are also desperately fighting the Council’s effort to review and restructure committees, which were previously formed and by them. Why? Answer: Establishing and enforcing committee Bylaws would greatly restrict pushing personal agendas and members would be appointed to these committees in a fair, term restricted, manner. Imagine the use of checks and balances, which doesn’t exist today. Their biggest threat, is loosing their self appointed positions or that these committees be dismantled. Why? Answer: They would loose their last public platform. Meaning, they would no longer have the same clout, wide reach or public accessibility. Note how every one of their publications lists their titles and positions served. Why? Because an official title or experience gives more weight.
Like Derek Schnure said, “the little guy is now able to counter the misinformation and party politics.” Residents beware and stay informed.
Reader, “If people just read this and don’t share the information, nothing will change. Do people think change comes by people sitting on their duffs in the living room and doing nothing more? Go to the event and support her at this event, otherwise, leaving it to someone else just won’t cut it anymore. Progressives who want to change the face of all the communities are working to make it happen…what are YOU DOING? If you can’t go, call your legislator even if it’s Pascrell and tell him this will lead to blighted areas in your town, overbuilding which perhaps including taking people’s homes through eminent domain if you are in the area they want, higher taxes due to more schools being needed, more traffic and of course road repairs and infrastructure costs – sewer, water, etc.”
June 14,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Paramus NJ, Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi will initiate a series of statewide legislative hearings to address New Jersey’s affordable housing crisis. The first will be held on June 15 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Bergen Community College’s Technology Education Center room 128.
Schepisi will be joined by other invited guests, including fellow legislators, mayors, town officials and planners, engineers, traffic experts, board of education members, environmental groups and other interested parties.
She said the hearings will examine ways to provide a better way toward affordability for the residents of this state while protecting towns from a recent state Supreme Court ruling that could force the construction of up to 1.5 million unneeded housing units to satisfy a fictitious population increase of 3.35 million in the next nine years – while Rutgers projects a population increase of only 219,000.
“We have reached a critical juncture in the State of New Jersey. We are the most costly, the most densely populated with the highest number of outmigration because people can no longer afford to live here. Instead of smart discussions regarding how to implement change to reduce living costs for all of our residents, the legislature’s inaction is forcing communities to potentially double their housing population in just the next nine years, destroying all existing housing prices while increasing property taxes,” said Schepisi. “We need to stop the court’s action and fix this issue while we still can.”
Updated on June 9, 2017 at 4:54 PMPosted on June 9, 2017 at 10:07 AM
BY JEFF GOLDMAN
NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
As expensive as it is to live in New Jersey, the cost to rent an apartment here isn’t close to being the priciest in the nation.
Renters in the Garden State — where the fair-market rate for a two-bedroom apartment is $1,420 per month — pay the seventh most in the country, according to a new report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
Hawaii, Washington D.C. and California are the most expensive. Those three are followed by Maryland, New York and Massachusetts.
So while renting in New Jersey is cheaper than a handful of spots, it still requires more money than most make.
In a state where the minimum wage is $8.44 an hour and the average person makes $17.86 per hour, a New Jersey worker needs to be paid $27.31 an hour to reasonably afford a two-bedroom apartment. The report defines “afford” as spending no more than 30 percent of your gross income on rent.
That translates to an annual salary of $56,810 per year. To live in a one-bedroom apartment, you need to make $46,619 per year on average.
May 25,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Paramus NJ, Under recent affordable housing rulings by the NJ Supreme Court, our communities are being forced to permit construction of up to 1.5 MILLION new units of unneeded housing in order to satisfy a fictitious population increase of 30 percent in the next 9 years.
Protect our State from ridiculous affordable housing court mandates (which may result in over 1.5 MILLION new units of housing in NJ) by supporting A-4666 and A-4667 to stop the Court actions and study the issue while we still can.
Many of our NJ residents are unaware that their communities will be forced to DOUBLE their housing population in just the next 9 years, destroying all existing housing prices.
Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi is now asking of volunteers. “I’m going to need all volunteers willing to help. I’ve received permission to host a “town hall” session on June 15th at 5:30 at Bergen Community College in Paramus. If the NJ Legislature won’t hold meetings on housing affordability and court forced overdevelopment, I will. The intent of this meeting is to host an open hearing to gain thoughts, concerns and options from members of the public, Mayors and Councils, planners, engineers, traffic experts, board of education members, environmental groups, etc. I will personally pay for transcripts of this hearing and will have them delivered to the Legislature. This will be the first of numerous hearings held throughout the entire State. I will draft a formal letter tomorrow for distribution throughout the County. Anyone willing to help out in the circulation efforts would be greatly appreciated. If you have an hour or two to spare please call my office (201) 666-0881 and ask for Doreen.”
Mark Krulish , Staff Writer, @Mark_KrulishPublished 3:32 p.m. ET May 16, 2017 | Updated 18 hours ago
RIDGEWOOD — A vote on the application for a mixed-use development at the Ken Smith Motors site was postponed Tuesday evening as concerns about the potential impact on an already overburdened roadway in downtown Ridgewood.
file photo by ArtChick
No doubt online shopping has had a huge negative effect on retailers and the problem is not going away any time soon. The question for towns like Ridgewood is what to do with downtowns that were conceived and build decades ago and are now becoming functionally irrelevant. We certainly do not want or need more restaurants, nail salons or banks. So should we simply turn our backs and let the CBD continue to spiral downward ? Many residents do not seem to care one way or the other. Of course, these same folks will be the first to squeal when their RE taxes start to rise dramatically to offset the revenue decline stemming from rapidly declining commercial property values. If you think for a moment the VOR will trim it’s budget to offset declining tax revenue you are either dreaming or smoking something illegal. The question then becomes what to do to help insure the continuance of a healthy revenue stream from the commercial sector. The proposed luxury apartments will certainly help stabilize Village coffers but many residents strongly object to such development. The purpose of this post is to create an open forum on what can or should the Village do to insure the continuance of a sufficient long term revenue stream so that taxes paid by residents does not spiral out of control. Suggestions and comments please..
May 16,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
I agree about what one gets for one’s taxes now versus then. Mortgage and taxes were never low but they did not take giant bites out of one’s life and the schools were terrific. They actually stink now. I don’t like paying so much for so little. I believe we have not begun to see what will happen to our property taxes when the apartments are built. During construction the CBD will be unbearable, so there go the businesses and restaurants (and garage). The water dept. has already found that the pipe system can’t handle it and plans to bill residents for the pleasure of expanding it for hundreds of residents who should not be moving here because there isn’t room. All the water to be used by all those buildings and renters and lawns is going to take another bite out of our limited water supply. Will we be allowed ONE day a week to water? And will everybody water throughout all the limited hours permitted? Will water start costing more and more? On a personal note, the prospect of losing all the plantings that I could finally afford to have done and make it look nice is unbearable. If I liked cacti I would live in the Southwest.
Roberta is, was and will always be Paul Aronsohn’s puppet. This move is part of a much larger scheme to discredit Susan Knudsen. Why? Because they are gearing up for the next election. The dark side has to win the two opening spots so they can regain the voting block. Jeff Voight is holding their third spot. Salivating for 2018. They have a lot of shady agendas waiting to push through.
May 7,2017
by Assemblywomen Holly Schepisi
Rivervale NJ, I have been on the front lines fighting for the legislature to do its job and provide a legislative solution to recent Court opinions on affordable housing in the State. Even the NJ Supreme Court agrees that the legislature should do something, anything, on this issue.
As a result of recent court opinions, I drafted bills to stop the costly litigations currently taking place in every municipality so that all interested parties, including the NJ League of Municipalities, the Executive Director of the NJ Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, the Executive Director of Fair Share Housing, professional planners and members of the legislature can sit together and develop a better way to ensure affordability in this State for all people regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation or gender. The current plan to have over 280,000 new affordable units or 1.5 million additional total units in a state that is already the most densely populated with a population growth rate of less than 0.3 percent, along with being one of the States that most people are fleeing, is irrational at best.
My bills have received support from Democratic mayors and councils, Republican mayors and councils and communities that are split between political parties. This is not a Republican or Democratic issue, this is one of the most important issues affecting every community in the State and if we, as legislators refuse to address it, we do not deserve to be legislators.
Unfortunately, many times elected officials are unwilling to step up to the plate to address the more difficult issues for fear of the backlash. It is exceptionally unfortunate that in today’s political climate, the immediate “go to” for those who disagree on an issue is to insinuate the other person is a racist or a bigot or a whole host of other items. Today I found myself just in that place. As a result of my trying to bring all parties to the table to properly address an incredibly complicated and difficult topic, the head of the Bergen County NAACP, provided a letter to the Bergen Record today accusing me of “fear mongering”, “trying to advance my political profile” and alleging that I am affirmatively trying to keep minorities out of our communities. Anyone who knows me knows how totally off base his letter is with respect to how I operate or what I believe. I have reached out to the State NAACP President to request a sit down to openly discuss this issue. If we want our State to succeed we better start having the tough conversations now, while we still can. Wanting to figure out a better way to govern this State is a quality we want in everyone who represents us.
Please call your Mayors and your legislators and ask them to protect our State from ridiculous affordable housing court mandates (which may result in over 1.5 MILLION new units of housing in NJ) by supporting A-4666 and A-4667 to stop the Court actions and study the issue while we still can. If you don’t see your town below ask your elected officials why they aren’t fighting for your community.
Here is a current list of towns that have passed resolutions in support of my legislation to provide relief to our communities in the fight against the threat of over 1.5 MILLION new units of housing in NJ. If you don’t see your town on here ASK WHY. Many of our NJ residents are unaware that their communities will be forced to DOUBLE their housing population in just the next 9 years, destroying all existing housing prices.
Closter
Demarest
Dumont
Emerson
Franklin Lakes
Harrington Park
Haworth
Hillsdale
Mahwah
Montvale
Norwood
Old Tappan
Park Ridge
River Vale
Upper Saddle River
Westwood
Woodcliff Lake
Bloomingdale
Wanaque
Wayne
Saddle Brook
Fair Lawn
Oradell
Rochelle Park
Hackensack
Lincoln Park
James – you should post about the ruckus last night in village of South Orange by 300 ‘youth’
The future of the village of Ridgewood once the urbanists have had their way with downtown.
Fights, arrests after 300 youths converge on N.J. downtown
By Noah Cohen | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on May 02, 2017 at 2:46 PM, updated May 03, 2017 at 12:37 AM
SOUTH ORANGE — Police plan to boost patrols after officers from several departments were needed to disperse at least 300 young people who gathered in downtown South Orange late Saturday, sparking fights and blocking traffic.
South Orange Police Chief Kyle Kroll said Tuesday the crowd contained a mix of village teens and others from nearby communities, including Newark, East Orange and Irvington residents, who apparently arrived by public transportation.
The unruly crowd formed around 8 p.m. and kept officers busy until around midnight, according to police. Kroll said he requested assistance from the Essex County Sheriff’s Office, Maplewood and Orange police as altercations broke out among the throngs of teens and young adults.
“We just didn’t have enough officers to handle a crowd that large,” the chief said. “The agreement we have with surrounding [police departments] worked out well.
https://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2017/05/fights_arrests_after_300_youths_converge_on_nj_dow.html
NorthJersey8:02 p.m. ET May 4, 2017
RIDGEWOOD — Public hearings are winding down on two more applications for multifamily housing projects proposed for the village’s downtown. If approved, the developments could bring great change to the bustling business district.
A 43-unit apartment complex with affordable housing units mixed in has already been approved on Chestnut Street at the site of an old MVC inspection station. Two more — a mixed-use 66-unit project at the former Ken Smith Motors site on Franklin Avenue; and The Dayton, a 93-unit residential building slated for the Brogan Cadillac property on South Broad Street — are nearing their conclusion.
