police departments - THE RIDGEWOOD BLOG.

July 8,2017

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, Below is a link to an Op Ed piece Assemblywomen Holly Schepisi wrote in today’s Bergen Record regarding affordable housing.

” Housing isn’t affordable because residents pay property taxes that are often as much as their mortgage payments. Onerous court mandates on towns only drive property taxes higher, creating a never-ending cycle of un-affordability.”

“…we must define reasonable need. The costs associated with mandated affordable housing, like $15.25 billion more to fund education, aren’t taken into consideration by the court. The COAH should take into account current population size; infrastructure, water and sewer capacities; school class sizes and school services; and the impact of municipal services such as volunteer and staffed ambulatory services, fire departments, police departments, public transportation and traffic.

We must fix this issue before it is too late. Please join me in saving our beloved state while we still can.”

https://www.northjersey.com/…/how-we-fix-affordab…/455023001/

file photo by Boyd Loving

I don’t think that the police department touches the lives of residents the same way that our teachers and administrators do. A regional board of ed could lead to our children traveling further to school, no more local control and less parental input.

I do not feel the same about RPD. the officer patrolling does not know me and I do not know him/her. It really does not matter. When I visit other towns and cities their school system does not matter to me. They have police departments protecting and serving. As in Ridgewood, I do not know the oficers and it does not matter when they do their job.

Regionalization would allow a more efficient use of police officers and less administration.would save money. New Jersey has hundreds of towns and police departments.

A regional school system would save money too. Education is personal, teachers touch the lives of every child. Once a successful merger of police departments is achieved we could look to see what practices could be applied to schools.