Tag: Open Spaces

Posted on

Reader says What happened to peace and quiet? You can’t even just sit on a park bench any more without acres of concrete?

Village of Ridgewood

Park is SMALL. Stop filling everything up. A stage when not in use (i.e., 99% of the time) would co-opt open space. We need more of it, not less. Everybody seems to think their kids are future Broadway stars. Get with the program–amateur performances are for the performers. Noise in the middle of town would just drive people away. What happened to peace and quiet? You can’t even just sit on a park bench any more without acres of concrete? Even sitting in the dark on a summer night is nice. No need for Klieg lights. How about Strobes?

Posted on

Just like what is about to happen at Habernickel park in Ridgewood

Habernickel Park Gate House

The Record: Letters, Monday, Jan. 4

JANUARY 4, 2016    LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, JANUARY 4, 2016, 1:20 AM
THE RECORD

Keep school out of county park

Why do the Hudson County freeholders believe giving away part of Braddock Park to North Bergen for a school is a good idea? Many residents want to save this park for what it was intended: open space and recreation, not development.

Soon the decision will be up to the state, as the freeholders have applied to the state Green Acres program for a diversion that would allow this school to remain in the park.

This school was moved into the park 15 years ago in violation of Green Acres regulations, and it has remained there even though, in my opinion as a retired safety investigator, the public’s health has been jeopardized. A recent traffic engineering safety study at the school’s location recommended widening the school’s too-narrow roadway and installing a sidewalk.

Why was this study never conducted before the school was moved into the park? And why were the school trailers never tested for formaldehyde (a cancer-causing chemical used in trailer construction), when it was well known after Hurricane Katrina that this is an important safety concern? After Katrina came Sandy, which caused two of the trailers to be destroyed by fire after trees fell onto electric wires during the storm.

New Jersey officials should enforce state regulations and safeguard the public. This school should be moved out of the park and into the community, where it belongs. Affordable alternative sites are available. If the state rewards North Bergen and Hudson County with this diversion, no park is safe from similar municipal expansion. For 15 years North Bergen has disregarded state regulations, and it should not be rewarded by a loophole in the same regulations.

Robert Walden

North Bergen, Dec. 29

https://www.northjersey.com/opinion/opinion-letters-to-the-editor/the-record-letters-monday-jan-4-1.1484674

Posted on

Bergen County Open Space official : numerous discrepancies and missing information related to the Schedler grant application

Schedler field (1)

Dear Village Council:

As I stated during the public comment period at the end of the October 14 council meeting, the process for completing grant applications leaves much to be desired. I particularly noted the casual ease with which the checkbox indicating that the Ridgewood population at large desires whatever is being applied for is checked. This happened with the grant for the Graydon wheelchair ramp, which after two full seasons, as I predicted for the three years in which I fought it, has never been used for its intended purpose. It was also done in the grant to level Schedler.

Let’s put it this way. We know what three of you have been doing and it is unlawful and unacceptable.

Today I learned that Bergen County Open Space official Robert Abbatomarco had written to Village employees noting numerous discrepancies and missing information related to the Schedler grant application. The county considers the October 14, 2015, public hearing on the grant application to be the only official meeting of record regarding the development of Schedler. Once again the Council has “put the cart before the horse” and proceeded as a few insistent people wished before inviting public comment in the proper way.

The county now demands a new resolution that incorporates and represents the public comments made on October 14. Reports and public comments from 2012 and earlier shall not apply. We all know what happened on October 14. I got home from that meeting at 2:45 AM. (In the future, for everyone’s sake, it would be most helpful for topics of wide general interest to be given discrete meetings and not be crammed into general meeting agendas. Trying to exhaust people into not speaking obviously does not work.)

An honest summary of the comments made that night would reveal without question that the neighbors of Schedler and many of their fellow Village residents living elsewhere in town are adamantly opposed to a 90-foot field and other issues, such as clear-cutting the trees that are their only defense against the noise, traffic, and pollution of nearby Route 17.
It is clear from the county’s notification that the pending council resolution was passed in violation of Open Space guidelines and must be revoked and revisited. I hope that will happen tonight, to clear your names.
Inexplicably and unforgivably, although the county’s notification was sent to the Village last month, Village staff clearly ignored it and proceeded to present resolutions and schematic drawings in spite of it. The public was shamefully disinformed. All staff members involved should be reprimanded and ideally terminated.

Please revoke Resolution 15-257 this evening and START OVER.

Sincerely,

Marcia Ringel

Posted on

Another Front Has Opened Up against Over Development in Ridgewood

DSCF6481

photo by Boyd Loving

Another Front Has Opened Up against Over Development in Ridgewood

October 11,2015
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, Another Front Has Opened Up against in what the majority of residents perceive as the over development and urbanization of Ridgewood .Last week signs began to appear the Zabriskie Schedler House, more commonly now called Schedler Park or Schedler field  .

DSCF3490

The Schedler property boarders Route 17 north in a very quite residential neighborhood cornered between Route 17 and Saddle river.The most notable feature, of the property is the 1830s-style Dutch wood frame home, which historians have dated the construction of the home’s main section to the 1830s, though the existing kitchen wing might have predated 1825. The four separate parcels at the Schedler tract were also the site to a Revolutionary War battle and have yielded artifacts from that time.

The RBSA has been pushing for a baseball field in the location since before the property was purchased by the Village in 2009. In 2014 the RBSA sponsored candidate Residents James Albano ran for Village Council with the express purpose of pushing a baseball field in the location . Albano was crushed by a landslide loss in a council election that featured a “mysterious” email to Candidate Michael Sedon employer at the time in an attempt to pressure Sendon to drop out.

386780 373501929386933 1672937995 n

L- R: Isabella Altano from Ridgewood Eastside Development (RED) shows the map of the proposed sports field to Freeholder John Mitchell. Aug 15 2012

In 2012 after another historic home was torn down in Paramus , the site caught the eye of Bergen County Freeholder Maura DeNicola, and Bergen County Freeholder John Mitchell who met with then Ridgewood Village Manager Ken Gabbert, Village Historian Joseph Suplicki and Freeholder Robert Hermansen to discuss the Zabriskie/Schedler house .

A grassroots organization was formed called Ridgewood Eastside Development (RED) in an attempt to protect the neighborhood and preserve the area with some alternative modest development , but mostly the focus at the time was on land making the property and preserving the trees and open space .

The council majority Paul Aronsohn, Albert Pucciarelli ,Gwenn Hauck aka the 3 amigos have as usual ignored the wishes of the vast majority of Ridgewood residents and sided with developers and special interests . https://theridgewoodblog.net/ridgewood-s-schedler-park-maps-and-information/

Posted on

Fight erupts on use of NJ open space money

maple+field1-300x19911

maple+field1-300x19911

Fight erupts on use of NJ open space money

Just four months after voters in New Jersey overwhelmingly decided to put tens of millions of dollars into the state’s open space program, conservationists are accusing the governor of raiding the fund. (Fallon/The Bergen Record)

https://www.northjersey.com/news/fight-erupts-on-use-of-nj-open-space-money-1.1289600

Posted on

Assemblyman Robert Auth offers and answer to open space issues in New Jersey

1422339_272668209599377_6254981189329883969_n

Saratoga Race Course.
Assemblyman Robert Auth offers and answer to open space issues in New Jersey

Assemblyman Robert Auth offers and answer to open space issues in New Jersey. New Jersey needs to reinvigorate its horse breeding industry in combination with a robust investment vis-a-vis tax credits to vineyards and New Jersey’s grape growers who currently make award winning Chardonnay. Additionally, our Garden State Farmers are capable of growing hops to expand our beer brewing industry. This is the perfect answer to open space, land preserved, jobs created, revenues produced…private dollars for public solutions.