Posted on

“Climate Change ” Can No Longer Be and Excuse for Poor Planning in Bergen County

IMG 8891 scaled

photo by Boyd Loving

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, there is nothing more ridiculous than claiming “climate change” as a reason for poor planning  . Forced over development, including turf fields in floodplains  is a function of greed , and stupidity . Everyone, living or dead, knew the Ridgewood high school field flooded every time it rained . This has been documented since the school was built in 1895.

Continue reading “Climate Change ” Can No Longer Be and Excuse for Poor Planning in Bergen County

Posted on

Reader says Water supply does not seem to be decreasing due to any climate change, but rather due to poor planning and management of existing infrastructure

RidgewoodWaterLogo_061912_rn_tif_

Water supply does not seem to be decreasing due to any climate change, but rather due to poor planning and management of existing infrastructure.
From the State of NJ DEP at https://www.nj.gov/dep/dsr/trends/pdfs/climate-change.pdf:
“Total annual precipitation data are also available from the State Climatologist (see
Figure 4). Analysis of the data shows a statistically significant increasing trend (Kendall
Tau = 0.16; p<0.05) since 1895 in total annual precipitation and the departure from
normal with pronounced year-to-year variation. To date, 2011 was the wettest year
on record. In August of 2011, Tropical Storm Irene dropped more than 17” of
precipitation over the State.
Although increased precipitation is projected for New Jersey’s future climate, there is
considerable uncertainty with respect to the magnitude of change from the baseline
as well as the seasonality of the change, which remain active areas of research.”

Posted on

Reader says The facts are ; there is no shortage of water, the issue is the lack of pumping and storage due to poor planning and management.

water_meter_theridgewoodblog

Some of the posts are making a different point. My suggestion is that a some point the village has become a place where neighbors blindly follow a restriction, call out neighbors for trying to maintain their properties, and never seem to push for understanding of how to address the issue or correcting it. The facts are interesting; there is no shortage of water, the issue is the lack of pumping and storage due to poor planning and management. Claims that we hit Stage 4 due to disregard for previous stages shows a complete lack of understanding of how the water systems work, there is no linkage. We expect our neighborhoods to have maintained houses with landscaping, etc and then call out those who invest to do so. When I was young I remember the local police pulling into a school event and participating, now the village has them shutting it down. Imagine how much goodwill would have been realized had the police car been ‘washed’ by the kids. Isnt that the relationships we should foster as a Village.

This weekend I traveled to another town in eastern Bergen, where I noticed the local fire department was sponsoring a ‘wash’ seemed odd that less them 12 miles away they had enough rain to avoid water issues.

The village needs to reset a bit and ask the right questons to the right authorities, when we are the point where the police are shutting down fund raising events we all should be concerned.