Reader says Ridgewood is actually the perfect place to screw the taxpayers. Why? Because Ridgewood types are completely oblivious to matters of local government
The impression I get out of all of this, is that Rica was the only person who was flat-out stealing in the pure sense of the word. Although still stealing by definition, the other shrinkage was probably all down to a sense of entitlement by certain other employees who felt it was perfectly acceptable for the Village to pay for their coffees, lunches, etc. I believe that this was an ingrained practice, going back years, probably unofficially sanctioned by certain senior officials. I believe it was this aspect that made the prosecution of Rica very tricky.
You know, I came to Ridgewood almost 20 years ago, and I naively thought that it was probably above all this kind of crap that so often affects municipalities of a lower class standing. I admit that this was naive. I thought the Village was somehow a reflection of the general high levels of sophistication of its residents. Please stop laughing. I really did. Coin Boy and its wider story is just the latest chapter in my utter disgust at municipal government. Who remembers the on-duty cop who was busted for having sex with an under-age girl at the back of Starbucks? Not only did he not go to jail, but he kept his job! That was real am-I-living-in-an-alternate-universe result.
The more I study New Jersey’s enormous history of municipal government issues of corruption, nepotism, laziness, cronyism, etc., it makes for extremely depressing reading. I now think that I had Ridgewood completely the wrong way around, and that it’s actually the perfect place to screw the taxpayers. Why? Because Ridgewood types are completely oblivious to matters of local government, being caught up in their stressful Wall St jobs, their busy social lives, and best of all, the transient nature in which they live here just for the school years.
For those who don’t easily sport sarcasm, the last bit is just that.
You know folks, let’s just laugh it off at our next cocktail party. Just one bad apple, right? This is a great town. You know, they actually come round the back and pick up my garbage. What a town!
