Tag: Open space

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Mayor Aronsohn Calls a concerned resident a liar

Schedler Park

Thank you Marcia. Great letter. Last night our mayor went after Ms. Jacqueline Hone in this matter, deliberately and nastily. She was great, she calmly came right back at him and stated that she has emails from Robert Abbatomarco stating all of this, she held up a notebook with all the information she has carefully collected and collated. Aronsohn said he talked to Robert Abbatomarco and everything Ms. Hone said was completely untrue. He called a concerned resident a liar. REALLY? This is how you conduct business? Instead of meeting with Ms. Hone, as she has requested on numerous occasions, and going over the facts together, he just calmly “says” that her information is wrong.

Ms. Hone was not the only resident they went after last night. Clearly their nerves are frayed.

Keep up the good work everyone.

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Where the Bergen County candidates stand: open space

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Where the Bergen County candidates stand: open space

SEPTEMBER 16, 2014, 12:34 PM    LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2014, 12:44 PM
BY JOHN ENSSLIN
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

There are 49 days left until Election Day. We continue our series on how the candidates for Bergen County Executive and Freeholder stand on the issues with the question of Open Space.

From The Bergen Beat Blog on NorthJersey.com

In May 2013, the Freeholders rejected the advice of an advisory panel that wanted the county to double its open space tax.

Panel members argued that the amount of funds generated by the tax is insufficient and noted that Bergen ranked last among the 21 New Jersey counties that have an open space tax.

They contend the competition for those funds will be increased now that Open Space funds can be used for so-called “Blue Acres” projects that acquire and demolish flood-prone properties.

This year, Bergen County was able to add $16.8 million to the fund by diverting Open Space funds for about 100 project where there was money left over or unspent.

Here’s the question posed to this year’s candidates:

Open Space advocates contend the county’s current fund is small compared to the number of competing projects, especially now that so-called “Blue Acres” projects are an approved use. What is your view on raising the county’s open space tax?

And here is what they had to say:

Freeholder and County Executive candidate James Tedesco (Democrat):

“While having the Open Space Tax set to at least one half cent would allow us to qualify for matching grants, it does place a greater burden on our residents.

“I feel that the voters deserve a say just as they had in the past and trust that they will vote to fund worthwhile projects.

“The open space program provides grants to every town in Bergen County that applies and gives municipalities the ability to pursue preservation and recreation projects they might not otherwise be able to fund.”

County Executive Kathleen Donovan (Republican)

“The focus on my administration has been doing more with less.

“While I feel that open space is important I felt raising the open space tax was not the prudent thing to do. Another factor that went into my decision was the fact that we will be collecting unspent and leftover funds from previous open space projects.

“This money will then go back into the general open space fund for use on new projects. While we will not be raising the open space tax the fund will have an injection of money.

“On a side note with regarding the Blue Acres money, the county DPW has partnered with municipalities such as Westwood in order to make their Blue Acres money go further.

“The county has come in as a shared service using our heavy equipment to tear down the homes purchased by the town. This allows the municipality to then use the money saved on the demolition to purchase more property.”

Freeholder candidate Bernadette Walsh (Republican):

“The Blue Acres funding is only relevant in select areas of the county that are negatively impacted by flooding. However, all of the 70 municipalities use the County Parks and Open Space areas.

“Working with the Municipalities to explore Federal granting opportunities to bring their individual open space plans to fruition is something I’d like to champion.”

Freeholder candidate Robert Avery (Republican):

“I am not in favor of raising the tax. As we know, our current rate is .25% of a penny and the state permits up to a one full penny rate. Something worth exploring here is that it may be time for the State to consider new legislation on the rate process, especially since Hurricane Sandy and Blue Acres.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/where-the-bergen-county-candidates-stand-open-space-1.1088995?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Wake%20Up%20Call%20NJ&utm_campaign=Wake%20Up%20Call#sthash.DnziTwyS.dpuf

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‘Open Space’ Travesty Says It All

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‘Open Space’ Travesty Says It All
Aug. 11
By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog

Everything that drives me crazy about Trenton played out in last week’s passage of a new “Open Space” measure, Save Jerseyans, setting up a ballot question for the November election and another expenditure which we can ill-afford.

Bad logic. Reckless spending. And a little good old fashioned horse trading?

In case you’re not aware of the background information, SCR-84 results in a proposed constitutional amendment on New Jersey’s next general election ballot which, if approved by the voters, dedicates $150 million per year for open space conservation over 30 years.  That’s a roughly $4 billion investment at a time when our government just declined to make an additional, pre-planned $2.4 billion payment towards our chronically underfunded pension system.

And it doesn’t make much sense, does it? At least not right now regardless of how you feel about open space land preservation. But it’s part of a disturbing trend where our legislators shirk their responsibility to make tough decisions by passing reckless constitutional amendment proposals that are designed, at least in part, to boost Election Day turnout. Last year’s minimum wage question and 2012′s higher education Big Labor stimulus package were apparently just the beginning.

Set aside for a moment your conceptions of what government should do or what you know it can afford. Personally, I think open space is great idea as a general concept. Government should use smart zoning and general funds to create parks and prevent our entire state from resembling that planet-sized capital city from the Star Wars movies.

What you may not know is that New Jersey taxpayers have already preserved an area of land, inside our state’ boundaries, that’s approximately the same size as Delaware – almost 2,000 square miles.

– See more at: https://savejersey.com/2014/08/open-space-bail-reform-new-jersey/#sthash.zCmy7klW.dpuf

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Reader says the Ridgewood Council still considering plans for Schedler property

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Reader says the Ridgewood Council still considering plans for Schedler property 

Its has been 2 1/2 years now that the “Dream Team Council ” of  ARONSOHN ,PUCCIARELL and HAUCK have been in charge of Ridgewood via their “Block Voting” and still no decision on the Shedler Property. What are they waiting for. Are they caught up with taking care of their friends at  The Chamber of Commerce and the Developers. Is the Mayor to busy with his Wellness Campaign? Is the Deputy Mayor to busy starting up his grass roots committee to help in the development of the CBD? Is Councilwoman Hauck to busy throwing luncheons for the Senior Citizens?  There the house sits rotting away while the Three Amigos promote their own personal agenda. The residents or “Folks ” should be applaud by the actions or rather non action of these three. After all didn’t our Mayor when running for reelection promise action on the Schedler  house and property. Didn’t he encourage “Folks” in the area of the property to also support his running mates. So now what?  

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