Ridgewood NJ, Word on the street is that former Village Council member Gwenn Hauck paid the bill from Tim Hillman (the video promoting a “yes” vote on the parking garage funding) out of her own pocket, and then submitted a request for reimbursement to the Village (which was subsequently approved by an unnamed employee).
The Ridgewood Blog wonders if Council members paying bills and then requesting reimbursement is an accepted financial practice in NJ municipal government?
Seems to us as if someone was trying to pull a fast one on taxpayers.
Thanks for listening to your Residents last night and for engaging in thoughtful, open dialogue about the issues facing our town. All kidding in the subject line above aside, I wanted to share
My list of key points from last night. You all have been thrown very quickly into a fire that has been burning in RW for years. The way out that is best for RW will NOT be comfortable or easy. You are clearly already taking some steps to mitigate future problems from the prior Council’s mess. But to really help us, and to do the job really right, it is going to be somewhat uncomfortable for a while. As I stated, for the past four years your Residents have really been the ones dealing with much of the uncomfortable stuff (along with Mayor Knudsen and Deputy Mayor Sedon) – rallying the troops, writing endless letters, filing lawsuits, being verbally abused by developers agents as well as prior Council members, Planning Board Members and their attorney, being physically threatened, being shut up, ignored, derided, etc., etc.
So, please don’t be afraid of the uncomfortable. We’re not. To truly lead, whether in business, in our own families, or in Ridgewood, we all have to face the uncomfortable to get to what makes things work better.
Here’s my list.
#1. PLEASE SET YOUR OWN AGENDA: For the past for years the developer and their compatriots in our village governance have asserted their agendas, forcing us to follow, react and defend. It’s time to be as strong as them and SET THE AGENDA. Let them react and defend for once, even if some of that has to happen in the courts.
#2. 3066: Continue your work to undo Ordinance 3066. Keep this momentum going.
#3. RESOLVE PARKING QUICKLY AND SMARTLY: Continue to solve Ridgewood’s parking issues in a sensible and comprehensive way. If the Zabriske Lot Closed Session discussion is regarding a lease for parking, that is fantastic! Keep working to get a garage size and location right. Regarding angled parking and removal of the parallel spot buffers, please review this with Mr. Jahr, subsequent to Chris Rutishauser’s comments. AND PLEASE GET SOME SIGNAGE DIRECTING DRIVERS TO THE PARKING LOTS!
#4. REPEAL HIGH DENSITY ORDINANCES: Repeal the three high-density ordinances now. We appreciated this discussion last night. Kudos. There is no reason for these laws to remain on the Village’s books as an inspiration to neighboring owners or other land speculators who might buy up Village properties and seek variances or new ordinances for more high density housing.
#5. TAKE A CREATIVE LOOK AT MEETING AFFORDABLE HOUSING NEEDS: Take a real and creative look at ways to plan properly to meet our affordable housing needs. Perhaps you can amend some of the village property zoning on Chestnut St to allow for potential future Sr. Affordable Housing developments, a need clearly defined but not honestly met by the current developers. Look at other places where this can be done and include zoning for special needs.
#6. REDO THE MASTER PLAN REVIEW: Budget for a REAL Master Plan Review NOW and demand that the Planning Board replace the improper review done this year – where they even forgot to perform the necessary polling of residents for our views of Ridgewood’s future. Replace it with a real Master Plan Review, done by an unbiased 3rd party professional firm. I know you know we need this. We need a really planning bible, not a fake one. Please put the money aside now and start the RFQs.
#7. SETTLE LAWSUITS WITH YOUR RESIDENTS QUICKLY: Initiate discussions to Settle the lawsuits brought by your fellow citizens on the High Density and Valley matters. This is your decision to make, not the decision of the Council Attorney, or the Planning Board attorney. Regarding High Density, you can tell Matt now, that you want him to initiate settlement discussions this week with your fellow citizens. It is fully within your power to set that agenda. And don’t fear objection or intervention by the applicants. That’s great as it will bring the parties together. Be strong and bring them to the table too. Right now, nobody’s talking. If needed, ask Matt to have the court to appoint a mediator to oversee a settlement. But let’s get this done now. Let’s stop the need for citizen groups to continue to litigate the preservation of our Village. And please note that #8 below will help you settle these negotiations more quickly, because so much was wrong with the process.
#8. INVESTIGATE THE DEFECTIVE PROCESS THAT LED TO BAD ORDINANCES: Take Councilman Voigt’s Investigative Committee proposal very seriously… and please do it. The Village of Ridgewood, through its Council owes Residents clarity on the matter of how these very unpopular and defective high-density ordinances got passed. You don’t have to make this a witch hunt. Just as your Residents have done in their legal filings, take a look at the most serious issues, while also reviewing some aspects of the aggressive politicking and keep it short and sweet. But don’t avoid it because it is uncomfortable. For the past four years, your Residents have not avoided anything uncomfortable in our efforts to save Ridgewood. We will do our part to help by supporting you and providing you with a list of questions we have regarding the concerns, conflicts and issues with the defective and oft abusive process that led to passing of the high density ordinances. Again… we support a focused investigation towards clarity and eventual closure.
And last, please have Roberta and the Village’s tech staff get all the planning board minutes and transcripts back up on the website in a manner that can be found.
Thanks again for doing the right thing for Residents.
Ridgewood NJ, It was a long night and long agenda at last night council meeting. Yes , some readers suspect the Honeymoon is over. It also seems that after spending in excess of six hundred thousand dollars on plans, study and test for the Hudson Street garage some council members seem to want to build it somewhere else. Perhaps the Walnut St lot and the Town Garage property. We wonder if the expense of purchasing the Town Garage and the environmental clean up of that property will cost the Village tax payers.
However we can not blame the new council for trying to clean up the mess of the former council after all the “3 amigos” were voted in by residents so the residents are in essence cleaning up the mess they created .And this mess is a very big mess !
The Board of Trustees of the Library are back with force. We now have council members talking about a performing arts center next to the library. What will be the cost to the taxpayers to build, staff and maintenance for this building. Maybe this new council should complete on thing before moving on to other projects and they should remember that they have a fiduciary responsible to ALL residence .
As NJPAC’s total expenses grew, so did its state funding. The annual grant from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts increased from $750,000 in 1999 to a peak of $1.7 million in 2005, before falling back to $1.1 million this year.In contrast, NJPAC’s expenses for artistic programming have remained flat. In 1999, the arts center spent $10.6 million on concerts and other events, and according to its tax returns it recently spent $10.9 million..
In the past shade tree and project pride were committees that performed a real service. HSA work with the schools and offer support.
Now we invent committees that invite input and look for solutions to self-interests and perceived problems.
We know that the CBD wants development of parking and high density housing (and turfing of Schindler, from the softball days). A 6 person committee with 3 business owners will undoubtedly find a list of demands from business owners. Now the village will be expected to come up with solutions for their business problems. I would love it if the committee questioned the sidewalk encroachment of some restaurants and requested that the brick wall at GTM be removed. And no signs in planters in the CBD. Those planters are maintained by the Project Pride Committee – a group of selfless volunteers working to make the town look better for all of us.
How about a Green Village committee. 6 residents who want to maintain the character of the village while evolving over time. Invite Artists, Architects, parents, commuters, over 55 and others to join. Let’s see what they propose.
The main industry that was the lifeline of a place like Ridgewood – Wall Street – is hemorrhaging jobs left, right and center. People no longer have the ability to sustain the on-going costs of homeownership while also saving for retirement.
In the past, people may have still swallowed the running cost as you were at least sitting on an asset (the home) that would increase in value, making for nice savings into retirement. That is done – home prices are going nowhere.
So unless there is a compelling reason, people are not going to sit around paying those high property taxes and maintenance costs, on top of ever increasing state and federal taxes.
The agressive code enforcement is sowing the seeds of discontent. We now have a way to get back at those who annoy us.Thank you Roberta.
August 2,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood bog
Ridgewood NJ, Readers continue to feel that the agressive code enforcement is an attempt by some Village officials for taking such a beating in the last election. It is clearly a vestage of machine politics to threaten and haress anyone who raises objections with policy. Its also a way to undermine the new council.
Readers say…………..
The Breath of Fresh Air Manager hired a Code Enforcement officer last year to issue tickets for violation. This officer wrote a couple of hundred tickets but I wonder if the other towns also hired their own Code Enforcement Officer to write water violation? ( I DONT THINK SO) So there you have it Ridgewood tax payers. Your getting screwed again.
I can’t believe that we have strict code enforcement for residents and business owners get away with this -except for Tito,s Burritos.
But she did manage to hire a code enforcement person to ticket village residents.
The ever changable leaf schedule is her doing. The way that they ticketed people 4 months after the fact is just irresponsible. What the heck was she doing with the tickets all winter? Common criminals are entitled to a speedy trial. Residents have no way to prove that their leaves were not there or that the village manager changed the schedule – again.
For the summons – the village manager will blame the neighbors. Hey your neighbor reported you, so we had to issue a summons – we did not want to issue it. Nasty thing to cause issues between neighbors to pay the salary of newly appointed white elephants and code enforcement officer. I am pretty sure 600 neighbors in Ridgewood are not going to report their neighbors.
Our Village Manager hire a new Code Enforcement Office to ride around and issue tickets. Don’t try to put it on neighbors vs neighbor. Maybe where you came from that the way it happens. Now that the leaves are gone the newly hired Code Enforcement has to find something else to justify the job Roberta gave her.
They are having committees to study why people over 55 are leaving. Shiela Brogan is on the committee. The survey showed that moving is a financial decision. She needs to pay attention.
Complete agreement with all of the above. Taxes are out of control. And as for the moving truck option, don’t think for a minute that Ridgewood taxes will make the town and your home desirable to young families. Nice towns with lower taxes and higher rated schools surround us. Pay for your own pre-K and Ridgewood teachers need to get a grip on reality when it comes to their demands.
Driving out seniors is not going to help the school population or tax base. Add-ons like this may be the last straw for many who already get nothing from approximately 2/3 of their enormous property tax bite. Tired of hearing that good schools help property values, etc. The fact is that this school system has been going down the tubes for years and the world at large is finally starting to realize it. Throwing more millions at it won’t help. Eliminate half the jobs at the Ed Center and resolve the teachers’ contract dispute before coming to taxpayers for more and more.
As for property values: People will just look at other towns – Allendale, Wyckoff, HoHoKus Upper Saddle River, Ramsey, Montvale, Woodcliff Lake all have lower taxes and comparable if not better schools. Yes, Ridgewood may have a certain status and reputation in its favor but times are different now. The town has changed and more changes are could be on their way. BOE needs to keep a strong position that considers taxpayers. Our teachers are already higher paid than most and pre-school should be the parents’ responsibility.
Schools used to be top class in the entire country 25 years ago. Now it’s all on fumes of past reputation. Current teachers care more about their health benefits than they do about our students, which is sad.
As a 20 year resident who had three children go through the schools I offer the following thoughts. Ridgewood is not an easy town to live in and is getting more difficult every year. The school system and performance has steadily declined while the costs are out of control, $100M budget today will be how much in 10 years? The teachers are nasty, do not help the kids at all, and many of us require multiple tutors to get the kids good SAT and college test scores. How many of us had to use tutors? The town in-fights on everything from a sports field to housing to development to traffic. We spend money to improve the train station, but many residents cant park after 7:00am, there is also no way to pick-up or discharge passengers. We add a bike lane in the busiest section of town and back up traffic in all directions for untold miles. Anyone ever able to get a new stop sign or police enforcement on a road that supports speeding, have to wait for something awful to happen before getting attention? Every spring people plant lawns and gardens and every summer, Ridgewood (only Ridgewood) sends out the ‘deputies’ to fine those who water their lawns.
The taxes on my home have almost doubled in 12 years, value has not risen (in fact may have fallen) while services, roads, parking, etc have all remained stagnant.
After 20 years and with a sense of regret we will fold the tents here and move on. I am sure someone will move in a be very happy as we were, but I do suggest we all understand that times are changed and not for the better
I am very concerned that newly formed committees/boards/councils etc. (arts, access, more) will consider part of their mandate to come up with countless expensive projects to propose to the council, who should bravely but firmly deflect like mad and say NO to all of them. We do NOT need a performing arts center, etc.–like many things, that was another Aronsohn plan to get his picture in the paper. It didn’t happen in time for that, so let’s scrap it. Even if partial grants can be applied for, such things always involve big bucks from property taxes. We have to stop working so hard to attract more people to visit and move here, because that just creates more problems. We cannot absorb more traffic, for one thing.
Ridgewood Water Consumer Forum Tuesday, August 2 at 7:00 pm in
the Youth Center of Ridgewood Village Hall. Village Hall is located at 131 N. Maple Ave.,
Ridgewood. Space is limited, so please register by contacting Donna Omelianuk,
Ridgewood Water, at 201-670-5500 ext. 271 or by email at [email protected]
Water Questions!
by Linda McNamara
After talking to many people and watching council meetings when the issues of Ridgewood Water have been discussed ( planning to attend tomorrow night’s meeting!) I was wondering if a card could go out to all the residents in the village as well as to the other towns who use Ridgewood Water with a list of things a home owner can/ should do in order to achieve the best quality of water for home use. I have talked to the water department directly and have received good in formation but a lot of us are still uncertain about what we should be doing. The following are concerns/ questions that have been brought to my attention:
1. How do I find out if my pipes are in need of replacement? I have heard that
there are still many houses with intake pipes that are targeted for replacement
but many of these people are unaware of this. Who pays for this?
2. Better advertisement of how you can get your water tested and the ability to
buy a kit at Village Hall with directions about how to complete the process.
3. I have read in the paper that charcoal filters are recommended for everyone
and if this is the case, what does that involve and what is it removing?
4. How long are we supposed to run our water before use? I have heard
any where from 30 seconds up to 20 minutes. An employee at the water
department suggested filling one’s bath tub and turning on the outside
faucet for several minutes.
5. Many residents are purchasing reverse osmosis units. Is this recommended
and what is this protecting us from?
6. Many residents are concerned about the high levels of chlorine in the water.
Can this be explained and is it permanent?
My biggest concern is that while the town is good about getting information out, unless it is sent to every resident and user of Ridgewood Water, there are many who will never see this information. I have heard concerns from people who actually are the most informed and they are unsure. Quality water is so important to every individual and a simple fact sheet( possibly something we could put on our refrigerator door!) would be of great service to all users of Ridgewood Water. Thank you so much for your attention to this important matter.
A common theme I keep hearing from my neighbors who call to question a policy or problem with the town departments is that when they question a policy which creates a hardship for issues like overnight parking code enforcement on several large home expansions the Village depts employees often say that it’s the neighbors are grinding old axes against other neighbors complaining about barking dogs,cars In the streets…unkept lots..this nanny nation mentality further foster the local government to create so many rules and codes on simple issues of common sense..if a hedge or a new addition to a back or side yard create a hazard the town should talk to them and seek a compromise rather than those codes and expanding mandates that take away too many rights like parking a legally owned car in front of the taxpayers House if expanded family number of cars exceeds the capacity of their garages and small driveways..common sense..overnight call in to the police if limited when you have no options and your children drive to school or work from their home too .A simple residents pass on back window would take care of this entire issue.I want the police doing other important things at night for the town and their administration than parking monitoring.
The village is becoming a flip model of graduations then For Sales signs as TAXES ,financial pressure ON JOB holders and families impacted by corporate downsizing and then college costs ,drive midlife families and seniors who have paid dearly for decades .We all loose unless we work to change this Tax and Spend model.Cost of money finding can only go up from current low interest rate and low energy costs environment ..more risks ahead..taxes likely to rise to meet
Inflation and general funding requirements.FEEL GOOD PROJECTS SHOULD BE derailed.Health Barn,full day Kindergarden. Ideas about performing arts and other build outs should be shelved.Ridgewood is worth the Fight. Versus the moving truck solution..
Too much regulation steals our freedoms in Ridgewood.
The cost of maintaining this over regulation is boundless.example
Overnight parking limitations call in requirement is another freedom taken away
from homeowners of small houses.Kids have cars now to get to colleges and jobs.a simple VOR car rear window sticker would solve the concerns of police on identifying any loiterers or stalkers late at nights.
Meantime the large houses on the heights have endless driveways.
There has to be a point where homeowners taxpayers say enough is enough,12 13000 dollars a year taxes for a postage stamp house in the average ridgewood home district like Somerville or BF DISTRICTS is too much already ..111 per year will be 10000 dollars more in Ten years.
Is not 102 million a year plus taxes for schools and pensions enough..have you no ends to the reaching into my bank accounts ..red flag ..enough is enough,Private options are available for those who look for me and you to pay for
an additional three to four hours of K afternoon class and lunch time,While parents are at yoga or starbucks with errands or at Daddy or Mommy time .
A friendly village with coffee and ice cream hangouts, a bustling downtown with great restaurants that is a cycling and a tourist destination. Sounds like Nyack — but that description also fits Ridgewood, NJ, too. Nyack native and recent NHS graduate Peter Henry offers this ‘compare & contrast’ of these two suburban NYC villages.
by Peter Henry
Nyack is special. Or, at least, so I think. I’ve grown up in Nyack, and ever since I can remember – perhaps because of some combination of the village’s diversity, its proximity to New York City, and its vibrant arts scene – Nyack has felt sui generis. Recently, though, I’ve been wondering whether Nyack is one of a kind, or if, perhaps, there are other towns and villages, far or near, that offer a similar package, and to which residents have similar feelings. So, I went to Ridgewood, a quaint, charming village in Bergen County, New Jersey.
I was first introduced to Ridgewood three years ago by Kelly, a friend who lives there. Recently, she took me around again.
