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Continue reading Taxpayers are frustrated by many of Councilwoman Pamela Perron’s actions
photo by Boyd Loving
An important budget message from Mayor Susan Knudsen:
Dear fellow Ridgewood residents,
Last summer the Village of Ridgewood began working on this year’s 2021 municipal budget. Unlike other municipalities, Ridgewood engages in in a robust and transparent budget process with each department director required to prepare an annual budget. The Village Manager, CFO, and Treasurer work diligently alongside Department Directors to ensure budgets meet Village standards without overburdening taxpayers.
Continue reading Mayor Susan Knudsen: Ridgewood Budgeting Process
The Hans and Jeff show, entertainment at its worst.
the staff of the Ridgewolod blog
Ridgewood NJ, So now Councilman Voigt is getting a shill to speak his opinions. The shill is none other than Hans Lehmann going to the council meeting to do his bidding. Hans is the originator of an extremely bigoted anti catholic letter that circulated during the last council election by the the Willett and Harwin camp accusing Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish of fraud.
Continue reading Ridgewood Councilmen Voigt has a New Flunky
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood Court Administrator Maria Doerr retired on July 31. She was an asset to the Village, very professional, friendly, and understanding. She will be missed by those who worked with her. Enjoy your retirement, Maria, you deserve it!
It is ironic, however, that a photo taken at her retirement was credited to Jeffrey D. Voigt. If not for Voigt, Ms. Doerr’s work life would have been a whole lot easier. She spent a great deal of time processing frivolous complaints that the councilman filed against citizens and council colleagues, all of which were thrown out when they reached a judge’s desk. She was surely rolling her eyes that he even had the audacity to show up when the proclamation was read by Deputy Mayor Knudsen, proclaiming July 31 as “Maria Doerr Day.”
the fly has noticed Ridgewood councilman, who left the Ridgewood Pride event very soon after it began (and long before the flag was raised on the new pole) , went to the Glen Rock Pride event where he was photographed in a bromance embrace with Hans Lehman, husband of Jan Philips. So nice that this elected official is more interested in the event at another town than the one he swore to represent.
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood Nj, just days after the Ridgewood Board Ed $111 million dollar budget vote a group of Ridgewood residents lead by Councilmen jeff Voigt is already trying to take the ability to vote on the budget away from residents .
In Voigt’s letter to the Ridgewood News he spells out the case for not voting .
The irony is he claims the $50 thousand or so is lot of money to spend on voting for an $111 million dollar budget ,which accounts for over 60% of property taxes Village of Ridgewood and of coarse there is no mentionn of the self serving law suit filed by Board of Ed members paid for with tax payer money looking to prolong their terms . Our suggestion would be the BOE members should pay back the money spent on the law suit .We are sure it will cover the budget vote .
PLANNING BOARD REORGANIZATION & PUBLIC MEETING NOTICE/AGENDA
Tuesday, July 3, 2018
Village Hall Court Room – 7:30 P.M.
(all timeframes and the order of agenda items below are approximate and subject to change)
1. 7:30 p.m. – Call to Order, Statement of Compliance, Flag Salute, Roll Call – In accordance with the provisions of Section 10:4-8d of the Open Public Meetings Act, the date, location, and time of the commencement of this meeting is reflected in a meeting notice, a copy of which schedule has been filed with the Village Manager and the Village Clerk, The Ridgewood News and The Record newspapers, and posted on the bulletin board in the entry lobby of the Village municipal offices at 131 North Maple Avenue, and on the Village website, all in accordance with the provisions of the Open Public Meetings Act.
2. 7:35 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. – Reorganization of Planning Board
Appointment of Board Attorney
Swearing of Board Members
Election of Officers
Selection of Experts
Appointment of Board Committees and Designees
Resolution re: Open Public Meetings Act and Annual Meeting Schedule
3. 8:30 p.m. – 8:40 p.m. – Public Comments on Topics not Pending Before the Board
4. 8:40 p.m. – 8:50 p.m. – Committee/Commission/Professional Updates for Non Agenda Topics; Correspondence Received by the Board
5. 8:50 p.m. – 8:55 p.m. – Calbi, Minor Subdivision and Permit for not Abutting Street, 315 East Glen Avenue, Block 2106, Lot 20 – Adoption of Memorializing Resolution of Approval
6. 8:55 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. – Land Use Liability Seminar Presentation by the Planning Board Attorney
7. 9:30 p.m. – 9:35 p.m. – Approval of minutes from February 7, 2017
8. 9:35 p.m. – Executive Session (if needed)
9. Adjournment – In accordance with the Open Public Meetings Act, all meetings of the Ridgewood Planning Board (i.e., official public meetings, work sessions, pre-meeting assemblies and special meetings) are public meetings, which are always open to members of the general public.
Members: Susan Knudsen, Jeff Voigt, Joel Torielli, Melanie McWilliams, David Scheibner, Richard Joel, Debbie Patire, Frances Barto, James Van Goor, Alysson Wesner, and Matthew Bandelt
Professional Staff: Christopher Martin, Esq., Board Attorney; Christopher J. Rutishauser, Village Engineer; Brigette Bogart, Planner; Michael Cafarelli, Board Secretary
So you have this guy, Jeff Voigt. He came sort of out of nowhere and he seemed like a reasonable guy. And he went up against Aronsohn and company at a council meeting, losing his temper with them about attending that fundraiser for Chris Cristie. Wow, he really seemed like a reasonable guy. So people got on board with him and spent money and sweat equity to help him get elected. There were a couple of hints along the campaign route that might have tipped us that he is unstable, but not enough to be noticeable. He tried to commandeer the League of Women Voters candidates night, being somewhat heavy handed. But no one took him to task for this. He even joined in the campaign to stop the big garage, collecting signatures along with the commoners. And so he got elected along with Hache and Walsh. And then at the reorganization meeting, the very first meeting of the “new” council, Voigt got really aggressive and tried to run the meeting. Tried to over-run the meeting, actually. This continued, with him being large and in charge and downright obnoxious at the council meetings. And it got worse. He screamed at Heather Mailander one night in a meeting, shouting as he stood over her “I”M F@#*ING PISSED.” Wow, that was scary. Some suggested that Heather should press charges against him, but she declined. Then he was seen yelling at various citizens who disagreed. with him. Then he started in with taking citizens to court for filing OPRA requests. This has happened FIVE times that we know of, yes FIVE times he has taken someone to court in Hackensack because he did not like the fact that they filed LEGAL Open Public Records Act requests. Tying up the courts, taxpayer money, citizens’ time. All for no reason, simply because he does not like anyone looking at his business communications. He has been told by a judge at least FIVE times that there is nothing illegal or harassing about a citizen filing a records request. Then he spoke loudly into the microphone one night at a public meeting and referred to someone as a DOUCHEBAG, for all to hear. Then he was heard calling a citizen a FAT #$%@. And there is word that he got into a road-rage incident with a citizen, and there are rumblings of various other really inappropriate actions. So he is in a questionable relationship with the local paper? No surprise at all. He is constantly head to head with the reporter from The Record, feeding him his own line of BS, which the reporter is happy to take because, let’s face it, it is easier for the reporter to have material spoon-fed to him (even if it is totally slanted crap) than to actually research an article himself. Jeff Voigt is a major failure as an elected official. Major, major failure. If the rumors of a recall action are true, there will be a few thousand supportive signatures within a week.
file photo by Boyd Loving
June 8,2018
by the staff of The Ridgewood Blog
Ridgewood NJ, As best as we can determine, the photos that COUNCILMAN Voigt is providing of late to The Ridgewood News are appearing in their hard copy newspaper only. That is, none seem to have ever been posted on the affiliated northjersey.com website. That in and of itself is very unusual as their practice typically is to use material on line prior to it being used in the hard copy newspaper. We wonder why The Ridgewood News has established this special procedure for COUNCILMAN Voigt’s photographs?
In his role as COUNCILMAN, Jeff Voigt is provided physical access to areas & events that may be off limits to members of the general public. No doubt, this may be one reason why the newspaper is so happy to be connected with COUNCILMAN Voigt. However, this “business relationship” also affords COUNCILMAN Voigt the opportunity to exclude individuals from his photographs whom he may view as political opponents, and include those whom he may view as political allies.
As taxpayers, many of our staff members take issue with this “business relationship” based on both points noted above and wonder if this “business relationship” constitutes an ethics violation of some sort on the COUNCILMAN’S part?
Hmm.
Harwin has shown she doesn’t have a grasp of the issues in the village. She shows by her alliance with Paul Aronsohn and her subsequent Facebook ads she is no more than a partisan extension of Paul’s betrayal of Ridgewood and the village taxpayers. That she embraces the actions of supporters Rurik Halaby and Jeff Voigt and their allergy to facts and decorum shows she supports their style, tactics, and deception. That her supporter Al Pucciarelli advocates a chilling proposal to ban video coverage of public meetings shows she is unqualified to preserve the rights of taxpayers. Her support and contradictory position on the money-losing garage proposal shows she has no comprehension of municipal budgets, fiscal planning, and tax burdens. That she proudly carries the loud support of ethically disgraced Roberta Sonnenfeld tells voters she is willing to break the rules when it serves her best.
April 12,2018
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, the continued bogus nepotism attacks on the Mayors sons are doing nothing but undermining the authority of both the Ridgewood Police Department and Ridgewood Fire Department . Ridgewood is a state of New Jersey Civil Service municipality, candidates are ranked based on standardized test results ,dispersions to the contrary are nothing more than attacks on members of Ridgewood PBA Local 20 and Ridgewood Professional Firefighters FMBA Local 47.
According to the “Bergen Record” Councilman Jeff Voigt wondered how a fire chief or police chief would be able to properly supervise the mayor’s kids, even if she is not directly involved in overseeing the department. It raises thorny issues, he said. And again letting Voigt make fallacious assertions , “That puts them in an uncomfortable situation,” he said. “They [the kids] may even get preferential treatment.”
So Jeff Voigt , Rurik Halaby, Don Delzio, Janice Willett, Alexandra Harwin and the rest of their band of misfits followers all think the Ridgewood Police and the Ridgewood Fire Department are failing to adequately protect the public?
And In effect saying that the Chief of Police Jacqueline Luthcke and Fire Chief James Van Goor can not properly supervise their staff?
PLANNING BOARD PUBLIC MEETING AGENDA
Tuesday, February 6, 2018
Village Hall Court Room – 7:30 P.M.
(all timeframes and the order of agenda items below are approximate and subject to change)
7:30 p.m. – Call to Order, Statement of Compliance, Flag Salute, Roll Call – In accordance with the provisions of Section 10:4-8d of the Open Public Meetings Act, the date, location, and time of the commencement of this meeting is reflected in a meeting notice, a copy of which schedule has been filed with the Village Manager and the Village Clerk, The Ridgewood News and The Record newspapers, and posted on the bulletin board in the entry lobby of the Village municipal offices at 131 North Maple Avenue, and on the Village website, all in accordance with the provisions of the Open Public Meetings Act.
Roll call: Knudsen, Voigt, Joel, Patire, Scheibner, Torielli, McWilliams, Barto, Van Goor
2. 7:30 p.m. – 7:35 p.m. – Public Comments on Topics not Pending Before the Board
3. 7:35 p.m. – 7:40 p.m. – Committee/Commission/Professional Updates for Non Agenda Topics, Correspondence Received by the Board
4. 7:40 p.m. – 7:45 p.m. – 200/210 South Broad Avenue, LLC, Preliminary and Final Major Site Plan and C Variance, Block 3905, Lot 6 and 7 – Pubic Hearing continued from November 7, 2017 – continued from January 16, 2018. To be carried to March 6, 2018 without prejudice to the Board
5. 7:45 p.m. – 8:05 p.m. – 257 Ridgewood Avenue, LLC, Block 3703, Lot 4, 6, & 8.01, Preliminary and Final Major Site Plan. Adoption of Memorializing Resolution of Approval – continued from January 16, 2018 without further notice and without prejudice to the Board
6. 8:05 p.m. – 8:25 p.m. – KS Broad Street II, Preliminary and Final Major Site Plan, 76 & 80 Chestnut Street and 25-27 Franklin Avenue, Block 2005, Lots 11,12,13,14. Adoption of Memorializing Resolution of Approval – continued from January 16, 2018 without further notice and without prejudice to the Board
7. 8:25 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. – Ridgewood Water, Informal Review, 205 East Glen Avenue, Block 3107, Lot 33.01. Adoption of Memorializing Resolution of Approval
8. 8:30 p.m. – 8:35 p.m. – Ridgewood Water, Informal Review, Dead End of Salem Lane, Block 4805, Lot 4. Adoption of Memorializing Resolution of Approval
9. 8:35 p.m. – 8:40 p.m. – Robert Jennee, Minor Subdivision and C Variance, 246 Mountain Road, Block 2509, Lot 13.01. Adoption of Memorializing Resolution of Denial
10. 8:40 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. – Ordinance #3625, which amends Chapter 190, Land Use and Development to permit certain illuminated signs in the B-1, B-2, and C Districts
11. 9:00 p.m. – 10:30 p.m. – Calbi, Minor Subdivision and Permit for not Abutting Street, 315 East Glen Avenue, Block 2106, Lot 20. Public Hearing continued from December 19, 2017 without further notice and without prejudice to the Board
12. 10:30 p.m. – 10:35 p.m. – Adoption of Minutes: March 7, 2017
13. 10:35 p.m. – Executive Session (if necessary)
14. Adjournment – In accordance with the Open Public Meetings Act, all meetings of the Ridgewood Planning Board (i.e., official public meetings, work sessions, pre-meeting assemblies and special meetings) are public meetings, which are always open to members of the general public.
Professional Staff: Christopher Martin, Esq., Board Attorney; Christopher J. Rutishauser, Village Engineer; Brigette Bogart, Village Planner; Michael Cafarelli, Board SecretaryMembers: Susan Knudsen, Jeff Voigt, Joel Torielli, Melanie McWilliams, David Scheibner, Richard Joel, Debbie Patire, Frances Barto, James Van Goor
CRAB has long outlived its usefulness and veered off into personal politics. This is hardly a group to objectively advise the council. Sometimes a group’s having been in existence for a long time is a reason to end it, not continue it blindly. There is no good reason now for Ridgewood and Glen Rock to be united in this one way and only this way. It’s dumb.
January 13,2018
From a concerned reader of The Blog:
Ridgewood NJ, Aronsohn and his little puppet Voigt are sending stupid letter after stupid letter to the Ridgewood News. Let’s sing the praises of Tim Cronin. Let’s applaud the CRAB. Let’s slam a citizen for speaking his mind at a Council meeting. Let’s slam another citizen. Let’s just keep getting our names in print week after week after week. They criticize The Blog even though they post on in themselves, anonymously of course. They have the same “MO” – which is “let’s meet for coffee, so I can talk to you off the record where no one can hear what I am saying and I will pressure, harass, or humiliate you, or will attempt to coerce you into doing something to benefit ME.”
Good Lord, Aronsohn has an ethics violation against him along with the fact that he is PRIME SUSPECT #1 in the killing of Mike Sedon’s job with the Staten Island Advance, he lost his cool at countless VC meetings, he lambasted fellow council members relentlessly, he interfered with citizens’ letters to the editor, he manipulated the Ridgewood News stories, he blocked citizens from seeking signatures on a petition, he publicly humiliated citizens who spoke at meetings, he pushed the high density housing through, he lies and he lies and he lies . . . . .
And then we have his disciple Voigt who has gone wild at many public meetings, screaming at fellow council members and at the Village Manager, who publicly claimed he knows more about the law than Matt Rogers, who had charges pressed against him for harassing citizens, who himself pressed charges against one of the council members, who regularly gets his shills to come to meetings and read scripts that he has authored, who feels that a citizen has no right to conduct and Open Public Records Act request (even though he conducts them relentlessly himself), he lies and he lies and he lies . . . .
Haven’t we had ENOUGH of these two???? Neither is any good for Ridgewood. Never were. Never will be.
January 11,2018
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, in the what many residents describe as the ultimate irony Councilmen Jeff Voigt when to the defense of the CRAB or Community Relations Advisory Board in a letter to the editor .In Defending CRAB meetings in Ridgewood ( https://www.northjersey.com/story/opinion/readers/2018/01/09/letter-defending-crab-meetings-ridgewood/1017985001/ ) Councilmen Jeff Voigt attempted to lend his support to an organization and its leader that is not without controversy .
While I am not going to argue the merits of the organization , Voigt went on to complement its leader Jan Phillips , saying “Jan Philips has done over the years in making CRAB inclusive; as a vehicle for educating residents; and in pushing forward issues that make us consider what is right and wrong in how we treat others. We need more “Jans” in Ridgewood “., yea mean like calling residents “grandstanders ” in a Village Council meeting or dismissing Mayor Susan Knudsen by telling people Paul Aronsohn still runs this town? No we defiantly don’t need more “Jans” and of coarse attempting to bully the mayor and the Village council over the “gay pride” flag.
Voigt wasted no time going to the time honored track of attacking “anonymous posters” on the Ridgewood blog . Perhaps if he read posts more carefully and he would see that most of the “nasty” comments are from his and Paul Aronsohn’s supporters, and former members of the FAC . While I am not going to rattle off names at this time , a quick peek at some comments and they read surprisingly similar to things said on several Facebook group pages and of coarse said at Village Council meetings . I also seem to remember several incidents where the councilmen himself used some “nasty comments” , toward several residents ,several council members and the current mayor.