Ridgewood’s Valley Hospital sues over rejection of expansion project
OCTOBER 3, 2014, 11:53 PM LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2014, 11:56 PM BY MARY JO LAYTON STAFF WRITER THE RECORD
The Valley Hospital filed suit Friday against the Ridgewood Planning Board for rejecting its proposal to nearly double in size, arguing the board illegally sided with neighborhood opponents rather than permitting an upgrade for “an inherently beneficial regional hospital.”
For Valley, the lawsuit filed in state Superior Court in Hackensack is an attempt to end a protracted and costly stalemate with the village — its expansion plans have been defeated two times in the last four years.
Photo credit: Boyd A. Loving Quick action by Ridgewood PD saves house from major fire
September 4,2014
Boyd A. Loving
2:13 PM
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood PD Uniformed Patrol Officers Raymond Tarino and John Ward, Jr. were in the right place at the right time on Thursday afternoon, 09/04, just two (2) blocks away from the 200 block of Circle Avenue when they heard dispatchers broadcast a report of an “unknown type fire” inside of a home located within that block. Tarino and Ward raced to the scene and were informed of a small fire located in the 3rd floor attic, reportedly ignited by a young child who was playing with a lighter. After ensuring that all occupants of the home had been safely evacuated, the officers entered the structure with a fire extinguisher from one of their patrol cars and snuffed the fire out. A full complement of Ridgewood FD personnel arrived shortly thereafter with more extinguishers to wrap things up completely. The home was then ventilated of accumulated smoke and turned back over to the owner within 30 minutes. Damage was limited to a rug and sub flooring on the 3rd floor. No injures were reported.
file photo of Ridgewood Fire department in action Boyd Loving
Ridgewood firefighters cook up camaraderie
AUGUST 19, 2014 LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, AUGUST 19, 2014, 10:43 AM BY JODI WEINBERGER STAFF WRITER
Firefighters are notoriously resistant to change, according to Ridgewood Fire Capt. Christopher DuFlocq.
He gives a few historical anecdotes to back up that claim: “The horses don’t know where they’re going,” the men protested when animals were brought in to replace carrying gear on foot.
It was another battle when automobiles took over. “We can depend on the horses to start up every time,” they balked.
Now younger generations of firefighters are attempting to cross another frontier of doubt with the older crowd: healthier food for dinner. Yet somewhat surprisingly, most say the shift is easier to swallow.
“I eat dinner here that I normally wouldn’t eat at home,” admits DuFlocq, a 28-year career firefighter. “They’re always trying something new and most of the time I like it.”
He gives examples, “turkey burgers, different kinds of rice…”
From the kitchen of the East Glen Avenue firehouse, Firefighter Tom Shortway rolls his eyes. They can’t tell the difference, he insists, on whether beef or the lower-fat turkey goes into the meatloaf that he makes.
Ridgewood council weighs costs of turf versus grass
AUGUST 14, 2014 LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, AUGUST 14, 2014, 3:48 PM BY LAURA HERZOG STAFF WRITER
Artificial turf appears to cost less to maintain than grass, at least on Maple Field.
According to Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld, an estimated $121,500 was spent maintaining the turf on Maple Field during an eight-year period from 2006 to 2014.
Turf king endorses Aronsohn, Hauck and Puciarell criticizes police and firemen, attacking salary and benefits
TAKEN FROM THE RIDGEWOOD BLOG (Archived ) You should read the whole article.
From 2009-2010 Brian Abdoo repeatedly endorsed the multi-million dollar controversial turf projects at Stadium and Stevens fields. As we all know the turf has been an unmitigated disaster resulting in Ridgewood Taxpayers incurring the burden of costly repairs
Turf king endorses Aronsohn, Hauck and Puciarell criticizes police and firemen, attacking salary and benefits
Moments ago, after a long day at work I sat down to review my personal emails, check school info and sports emails, kids schedule, etc. In the mix was an email from Brian Abdoo who I know from a number of sports programs my kids are involved in. I began reading the Abdoo’s endorsement of candidates, Aronsohn, Hauck and Puciarelli. The more I read the sicker I became. Abdoo has thoroughly disgusted me with his hypocritical rhetoric.
From 2009-2010 Brian Abdoo repeatedly endorsed the multi-million dollar controversial turf projects at Stadium and Stevens fields. As we all know the turf has been an unmitigated disaster resulting in Ridgewood Taxpayers incurring the burden of costly repairs.
Now, this same Brian Abdoo wants to express concern over taxes? He attempts to peddle Paul Aronsohn’s gimmicky zero based budgeting. Even my 6th grader understands built-in inherent cost increases. Abdoo states he wants more transparency and Village Council should “open the books”. The fact that Brian Abdoo is ignorant should not persuade anyone to his argument. Brian, the books are open. They are a matter of public record and are available for anyone to review. Brian, feel free to visit APP DataUniverse if there is anything you need to know. However, Mr. Abdoo, while doing your research you likely will not find the value of your candidate Aronsohn’s health care costs, at village taxpayer expense, for the past four years. Mr. Abdoo, while Mr. Aronsohn is busy telling you he wants to help Ridgewood Taxpayers, he has been busy helping himself for four years . Brian Abdoo proceeds to attack our police and firemen, attacking their salary and benefits. If this is such a concern why on earth would he support Aronsohn who voted for each and every raise, and contract , pertaining to the police & fire department. Maybe he prefers regionalized police and fire departments like Hauck and Puciarelli. Hauck announced the savings for each village taxpayer during the debate: a whopping $ 285 each! For that money I will sleep better at night with Village police and firemen.
Abdoo professes the revitalization of Ridgewood downtown and how committed each of his threesome is to this goal. Mr. Abdoo, Paul Aronsohn is the Council liaison to the Chamber of Commerce. What has he been doing for the past four years? Shopping at the mall? And Hauck and Puciarelli prefer a more urbanized Ridgewood. If they want urbanization let them move to Hoboken.
Best for last, Abdoo states each of these candidates is committed to helping Valley and residents to negotiate a compromise to allow for expansion. For goodness sake, Brian, where has Al Puciarelli been? He has been a member of the planning board forever. Hauck didn’t speak of compromise when she endorsed the massive expansion, as is, over and over again. Valley Hospital is not interested in compromise. The only time that was suggested by Valley was at the last Village Council hearing. Audrey Meyers, seeing the writing on the wall, begged council to hold off their vote so Valley could develop a compromise. Seriously, where was the compromise for six years?
Mr. Abdoo, reconsider and bullet for Killion and Shinizuka before we are in another turf-like drowning mess attributable to the likes of you.
Reader says it only fair that the Sports Groups step up and contribute to maintenance and depreciation of the turf fields
If the sports clubs have gotten so much value out of the fields, I would think it only fair that they step up and contribute to maintenance and depreciation. It shouldn’t always be the VC or BOE (the rest of us). Given that maintenance seems to be running about $100K year and depreciation another $200K for $1.5M to replace the carpets after a flood-shortened 7 year life, the sports clubs should be contributing on the order of $100K.
Raise dues if you have to — it’s part of the true cost of doing business.
And did they ever contribute everything they had promised for the lights?
Photo credit: Boyd A. Loving Chain reaction Route 17 crash injures 1 August 5th ,2014 Boyd A. Loving 6:58 PM
RIdgewood police, fire, and EMS personnel all responded to a multi-vehicle chain reaction crash in the left lane of Route 17 southbound, just south of Paramus Road at approximately 5:30 PM on Tuesday, 08/05. The driver of a red 4-door Mercedes was transported to The Valley Hospital with non-life threatening injuries resultant from air bag deployment in his vehicle. Two vehicles involved in the crash were heavily damaged and had to be removed from the scene by flatbed tow truck. A Bergen County Sheriff’s Office unit assisted with traffic control at the scene. As a result of crash there were very heavy traffic delays on Route 17 south extending back to at least Hollywood Avenue in HoHoKus. There were no rubbernecking delays northbound.
Readers Say Turf Fields Exacerbate Village Flooding
Is seems ever time it rans now , significance damage is done to our playing fields and Village property .
We were told the turf fie;ds would drain faster , well yes they sure do but the water still needs some place to go like the Village Hall , the Ridgewood library .
Since the Village Hall Rebuilding Fiasco , and the addition of turf fields along the Ho Ho Kus brook the 50 year flood has now become an almost yearly event .
Is it time to recognize the damage to the environment all this turf is doing ?
The problem is not just the fields at Stevens ,Maple and the RHS Stadium but the many turf fields all along the banks of our rivers all over Bergen County . Again the water needs some place to go .
Maple Park flooded over into Meadowbrook on Aug. 1.
Police had to direct traffic. I was part of the directed traffic on my way home from the library. It was scary and dangerous driving through the flooded street. That’s why the police had to be called out.
I was coming home from the library where my shoes and socks and pants had gotten soaking wet as I had to wade to my car, in leg deep water. Note: Not ankle deep; leg deep, above the ankles.
Before Maple Field was turned artificial, REAC had done a report stating that artificial turf is safe for Maple field and good for the environment.
If the rains had continued the new village hall and new library would have been flooded.
Flooding was not supposed to occur there. Supposedly Ridgewood engineering experts had designed the buildings to prevent flooding.
You know what, the members of REAC should pay to have the artificial truf (grass) removed from Maple Field and real, mother nature’s grass replanted.
Trust me as they say: The kids will profit by playing on real grass.
Readers Question the wisdom of reducing traffic lanes at Garber Square
Would be interested in knowing how much additional funds were needed to make Wilsey and Garber Squares into one lanes vs. repaving existing setup. Not completely sure what they are trying to achieve at this location with the narrow roadways — is speeding/pedestrian safety a major issue around that stretch?
Starting Wednesday, May 7th, paving construction work will begin on the West Side at Wilsey and Garber Squares from Godwin Avenue to under the train trestle on Franklin Avenue. Expect traffic congestion in this area for the next 3 months during construction. To avoid delays, we suggest the use of alternate streets to get across the train tracks – Ackerman Avenue or W. Glen Avenue.
Photo credit: Boyd A. Loving Kitchen fire fills Ridgewood home with smoke April 28,2014 Boyd A. Loving 6:50 PM
Ridgewood NJ, A fire that originated in the kitchen of a home located at 511 North Monroe Street in Ridgewood did little damage beyond destroying a microwave oven and adjacent cabinet, but filled the entire house with smoke. The homeowner and her child had safely evacuated the structure prior to arrival of fire department personnel; no injuries to first responders were reported. Ridgewood FD, EMS, and Emergency Services personnel all rushed to the blaze, which was reported via a 911 telephone call shortly before 6 PM on Monday. North Monroe Street was closed between Morningside and Fairmount Roads while the blaze was extinguished.
“Sprinklers should be in our schools, in all of them,” Sweeney said today at James Monroe Elementary School’s temporary location on the Middlesex County College campus. “You can retrofit schools to put sprinklers in them.”
The New Jersey Schools Development Authority hasn’t done a good enough job keeping up with modern technology, Sweeney said. And with Gov. Chris Christie proposing a longer school year, there are a number of upgrades that schools need, including air conditioning on sweltering summer days, Sweeney said.
But the most important thing is safety, Sweeney said, standing in a school corridor as a class of youngsters passed. (Amaral/Star-Ledger)
Reader says No question having one of the top eleven Fire Departments in NJ is a great benefit – but it is a luxury?
No question having one of the top eleven Fire Departments in NJ is a great benefit – but it is a luxury. Only 4 municipalities in Bergen County have career fire suppression depts. Less than 3% of the total incident calls between 2010-12 were fires vs. +35% for rescue & emergency service calls, and 22% for alarm activations. The operating cost is reasonable and helps to make Ridgewood an attractive community to live in, no question. But the operating budget ignores the long-term cost for new equipment & buildings, as well as annual salary, step wage and longevity increases well in excess of both private sector wage growth and inflation for the last 15 years. Add in very generous defined benefit pension & healthcare benefits for life vs. an average retirement age of 52, and the fixed, long-term costs to taxpayers escalate rapidly. Is it redundant to have 27 EMTs at RFD when Valley’s EMS department has 80 staff members including Paramedics, Registered Nurses and EMTs providing 24/7/365 paramedic services including Advanced Life Support (ALS) units ? Does it make sense to have a three person crew on duty 24 hours a day at Engine 31 in response to resident concerns about serious fires in the mid 1940s ? This blog post is about living within our means, so we need to ask these questions of all taxpayer funded entities, including the BoE.
Ridgewood NJ, April 9, 2014 – The Ridgewood blog was founded in March of 2006 by James J Foytlin aka PJ Blogger .[1] Mr. Foytlin was born and raised in Ridgewood ,New Jersey and is a graduate of Ridgewood High School .[2] [3]
After many years living in New York City[4] Mr Foytlin returned to Ridgewood after a divorce and the tragic events of 9/11 . Once he settled in he noticed a lack of sufficient news coverage of local events . One day a friend from Brazil[5] showed him her home town on the internet and to Mr. Foytlin’s great surprise when he tried to reciprocate he was utterly dismayed at the absolute lake coverage of his home town. After all Ridgewood is only 18 miles from midtown Manhattan[6] the media capitol of world and there was not a single picture of Ridgewood to be found . How could this be? Ridgewood is a picturesque upper middle class village of around 25,000 located in Bergen county in northern New Jersey[7] . Founded by Dutch settlers before it became an English colony[8] . The town or village as its called is steeped in rich history and tradition .Known for a large amount of Victorian era housing , a quality school system and a family friendly atmosphere.
Though busy getting reacquainted with his home town the fact that the Village of Ridgewood was so under represented on the internet continued to disturb Mr. Foytlin. Mr. Foytlin had been writing news letters for his job in financial services since the mid 1990’s . The popular flip, off beat investment strategy news letters had become email blasts with the advent of readily accessible internet.[9] By 2004 the email blasts were converted into blog format for the One Small Voice blog (https://onesmallvoice.blogspot.com/ ). [10]
Around that time the Village of Ridgewood had finally completed it’s much anticipated and long delayed renovation of the Village hall which has been flooded out due to Hurricane Floyd.[11] The renovation was marred by huge cost over runs and lengthy delays. In 2005 it opened with great fan fare , was once again flooded with the very first rain . Mr. Foytlin was more shocked by the abject lack of responsibility taken by elected officials than the fact that the $9 million dollar renovation had to some extent been a failure . That was the breaking point and Mr. Foytlin had had enough so he decided to give , citizen journalism a go and created the Ridgewood blog in March of 2006. [12]
The birth of PJ Blogger .By this time Blogging its seems had become quite the rage and mainstream news anchors such as Dan Rather had questioned the validity of information from non professionals sitting around in their Pajama’s blogging.[13] Mr. Foytlin not a fan of Dan Rather or any of the mainstream media decided to blog under the name PJ Blogger as a play on words and to plant himself firmly in the camp of the new digital media.
Innovations by the Ridgewood blog to citizen journalism.
“The Fly” is a column on the Ridgewood blog the originates from the expression ,”I’d like to be a fly on the wall “ . The idea is that every citizen has both a unique perspective and experience and these two factors can be used to gather news and opinions about local issues. Originally only of handful of people in town participated but with time the Ridgewood blog can now count on 30–50 semi regular contributors. These post are both anonymous and signed and are largely opinion as well a breaking news.[14]
The Ridgewood blog brings a free market lassie fare point of view to local issues . Mr. Foytlin aka PJ Blogger has stated that for local issues there are only two kinds of people ;the ones who say spend what every you want because I will not be around to pay the bill and the second group which are more focused on the ,”be careful this is my money your spending” . The Ridgewood blog is dedicated to the interplay of there two groups.[15]
[1][12] the Ridgewood blog website https://theridgewoodblog.blogspot.com/
[2] Birth Certificate born in Valley Hospital , Ridgewood 04/09/1962
[3] Ridgewood High School Class 1980
[4] 444 East 86th street ,530 East 72nd
[5] Monica Rocha
[6] Mapquest
[7] United States 2000 Census, the village population was 24,936.
[8] https://www.americantowns.com/nj/ridgewood/organization/vi…
[9] Fahnestock & Co. now Oppenheimer & Co.
[10] https://onesmallvoice.blogspot.com/
[11] https://www.ridgewoodlibrary.org/localhistory/lh_vh_pease.htm
[13] https://www.opinionjournal.com/diary/?id=110005611
[14] [15] James J Foytlin
