Ridgewood NJ, is it only the Ridgewood blog that concerned a committee the FAC is peering into all town finances, without minutes, public meetings ,bylaws or agendas?
And while we welcome volunteers, the financial background of many on the committee seems a bit thin.
Do the residents of Ridgewood really want town finances discussed in this matter? By people who so clearly have their own agenda?
One reader said , “I was concerned over Richard Brooks statement about the importance of running”all things parks” through them. It indicated a level of importance that simply isn’t their role. I think this is one of the reasons the Mayor is focusing on bylaws for the village committees.”
Another was even more disturbed, “I agree big time. Richard Brooks was extraordinarily nasty and condescending in his tone and presentation. Excuse me, sir, but you are a volunteer (thank you, we appreciate it) but you are not an elected official (not even close, by the way, you were voted down by a huge margin, you were the lowest vote getter). So get off your high horse and stop telling the elected officials what they can and cannot do. They can discuss Schedler and Graydon and any other park they want to. Yes, they will listen to recommendations or suggestions from you and your committee (again, thank you for volunteering) but they are in charge and wild decide what they will and will not do.. Not you. Got it? Get it. Now sit the hell down.”
file photo by Boyd Loving HealthBarn® USA Teaches Local Heroes How to Stay Heart Healthy On and Off the Job
January 25, 2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood Nj, The Village of Ridgewood Fire Department is partnering with HealthBarn USA to boost their nutrition literacy and to cook heart healthy variations of some firehouse favorite dinners during interactive workshops. Registered dietitian, Stacey Antine, founder of HealthBarn® USA will educate the local heroes on how to prepare meals that are simple, healthy, delicious and suitable for life at the station and at home from her book, Appetite for Life. The workshops are funded through a FEMA Wellness & Fitness Grant awarded to the Ridgewood Fire Department.
According to a systemic review published in Cardiology Review, cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of on-duty death among firefighters (45% of on-duty fatalities) and a major cause of morbidity. These findings suggest that preventive measures with proven benefits be applied aggressively to firefighters. “Getting our team eating better and living healthier overall is a priority,” said James Van Goor, Chief of Ridgewood Fire Department. “Through the FEMA grant we have increased the Department’s level of physical fitness, and now we are focusing on nutrition through a special heart healthy cooking program designed by Stacey and the team at HealthBarn USA.”
“We are excited about the opportunity to share our nutrition and culinary expertise to support the firefighters who do so much for the community,” said Stacey Antine, MS, RDN, founder of HealthBarn USA and author of Appetite for Life. “Through the cooking workshops, the firefighters will be able to meal plan for weekly shifts as well as be able to easily prepare nutritious and hearty recipes for their long-term health.”
The workshops for 35 firefighters will be held in the HealthBarn USA teaching kitchen located at 1057 Hillcrest Road, Ridgewood on January 25, 26, 27, February 16, 28 and March 3, 2017.
Given the population decrease in NJ due to people seeking greener pastures (or just a job or lower property taxes) elsewhere, perhaps the answer is not to build additional housing units in Ridgewood to help us meet our COACH obligations, but to find some way to force the price or market valuation of the entire existing housing stock in Ridgewood down far enough in value as that a sufficient number of previously built single family homes in Ridgewood end up falling into the affordable housing category. Why try to build up (because there is no actual room to build out) when you can simply drag down? Perhaps there would be some difficulty in forcing the unfortunate existing owners to sell but, hey, this is New Jersey…we’ll just intimidate them, Soprano’s style, until they see the wisdom of the policy. /s
Ridgewood NJ, The Village Council met on January 25 and there was zero animosity, no explosions from a certain councilman…..it was all pleasant and friendly. Way to go!
A few highlights:
1. Parking space allocations are being changed in order to provide more for commuters/general and fewer for shoppers/diners. Also there will be fewer for CBD employees. The Council is being very responsive to comments and complaints from citizens, and is also responding to direct observation that their initial allocation maps needed to be adjusted.
2. Nancy Green gave a presentation about plans for remodeling the library. Basically she presented a wish-and-hope plan, which included some architectural drawings. She stated that they will work within the existing footprint……although there was a quick mention of “squaring off” the empty space on the northwest corner of the building along the walkway from Maple Avenue (behind the auditorium). Tiered seating in the auditorium was discussed as a possibility. Nothing will happen without approval from the Council. She says this is all very preliminary, but clearly a lot of work has gone into this very preliminary presentation.
3. The Hudson Street lot was discussed. Old plans for garages that fit on the space are being revisited. Maybe two retail stores could be added along S. Broad Street, providing income while just losing 10 spaces. It was emphasized that meter rates would have to go up to maybe $1 an hour in order to help finance any kind of garage. The question was raised as to whether this would discourage people from coming to town. Along this line of discussion, Tony Damiano had announced that several businesses recently closed and he placed full blame on the lack of a garage for the demise of these stores. Really Tony? And one might wonder…..stores are closing, spaces galore are available in Cottage and Walnut…..so why build a garage and add two more stores? Much to consider.
4. Schedler was on the agenda. There is a grant that will enable the removal of the dilapidated shed and garage as well as the removal of trees that are already dead. Failure to use this grant money will result in loss of the grant. A sound study will be conducted prior to the removal of these things, to provide a baseline for sound studies moving forward. Schedler residents urged caution at the microphone, and implored the council to make sure that no live trees are taken down.
5. Speaking of trees, a tree nursery is being planned with trees donated by the State. These will be very tiny saplings that will be potted, and can be planted throughout town as they grow. This is a Girl Scout project.
6. The recently passed short-term rental law was discussed by one or two residents. This “Air-BNB” ruling prohibits the rental of any house or rooms for less than one month. One citizen who spoke has been operating an Air-BNB in her home. She stated that she is a very nice and responsible person, that her tenants are very nice and responsible, and she may not be able to stay in her home now that her income has been cut by 20%. Another citizen stated that this ordinance came “out of the blue.” Mayor Knudsen explained that this issue came up first through the Zoning Board several months ago…..and then some residents made specific complaints about such goings-on in their neighborhoods. The Council looked at the situation, studied what other municipalities are doing, and enacted the ordinance after several public meetings and discussions that were announced and published (you snooze, you lose). Do homeowners have the right to do whatever they please with their own properties? No, they do not.
7. The bylaws review project is getting going. Bylaws of all committees and boards will be reviewed and revised. Some have no bylaws while others have extensive ones. All will now have to follow a set template. Some committees might be eliminated. Council liaisons are to get their respective committee bylaws to their council colleagues by mid-March, and then the review will commence.
8. One resident applauded the new facebook website of the Mayor, as it provides much valuable and timely news. The Mayor stated that soon all five council colleagues will become co-administrators of the page and can add updates from their various committees, etc.
9. An ad-hoc committee worked with Councilmen Sedon and Hache to look at Graydon hours and fees for 2017. A couple of highlights included recommending a family rate (a maximum fee for families of four or maybe five) and a pro-rated discount for buying membership in August. Council members will study the recommendations and discuss at the next meeting.
10. Uber was discussed as was valet parking. These are all mechanisms to help reduce the number of cars occupying parking spots in the heartbeat of the CBD.
11. Councilman Sedon and his son Hunter will both be celebrating birthdays this week, as announced by Mayor Knudsen. Happy Birthday to two fine men!
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood Water and the Ridgewood League of Women Voters will host a public water forum on Thursday, January 26th, 2017 from 7:30 – 9:30 p.m. Youth Center, Village Hall, 131 N. Maple Ave., Ridgewood
Find out:
• How drought affects supply and demand
• What we do to control contaminants ?
• Why conservation is important
Featured presenters: Richard Calbi, Ridgewood Water Director
David Scheibner, Business Manager
Ridgewood Water customers in Glen Rock, Midland Park, Wyckoff and Ridgewood are welcome.
An open letter to the Village Council re tonight’s VC Meeting. I cannot attend as I am on a business trip, but have written an open letter to the members of the Council. Please attend if you can, whether you agree with me or not. The key thing is for the Ridgewood Residents to be aware of all that is going on at the Council level and for their views to become known.
Dear VC Members:
I am traveling on business and so cannot attend. If there I would have made the following points:
1. Schedler: I would not spend a red cent on the Schedler house until you have some idea as to what we will be doing with it long-term. At what cost and for what use? What cost of operation and maintenance? As I have mentioned on numerous occasions, put together a committee of people knowledgeable about house restorations to advise if the house is worth saving. All this talk of a nationally recognized historic home is nonsense. What is the age of the house and what will it be restored as? Plus since Mayor Knudsen’s father lives across the street from the house, she should recuse herself from any consideration.
2. Parking garage: Has the VC no shame or sense of intellectual integrity? When will you get going on the Hudson St. Parking Deck? The idea of Mr. Sedon leading another study is laughable. Has he read the 10’s of thousands of pages of studies already undertaken, or are you using this as an excuse to do nothing? Shameful political cowardice!
3. Mayor Susan Knudsen’s new FB Page. Is this an official Village of Ridgewood page or the start of the Knudsen/Sedon 2018 reelection campaign. I would appreciate Mr. Matt Rogers’ input since the page uses the Village of Ridgewood logo.
This is being copied to the press and to Facebook. Let the sun shine in!
Proposal would expand use of an evidence-based screening and referral program now in place at some healthcare clinics to all public and private high schools statewide
New Jersey’s high school students would receive annual addiction-risk assessments under a new proposal designed to reduce substance-use disorders among young people and improve their chances for a healthy, productive life as adults.
Sen. Joseph Vitale (D-Middlesex), a longtime champion of efforts to curb addiction and limit the harm associated with drug use, introduced a bill Monday that would expand the use of an evidence-based screening and referral program now in place at some healthcare clinics to all public and private high schools statewide. The process is already used in several other states including Massachusetts, staff said.
Hours later, Vitale announced he would also partner with Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-Gloucester) and Sen. Tom Kean (R-Union) to craft legislation to advance several plans Gov. Chris Christie outlined recently to address the growing opioid epidemic. Christie devoted some two-thirds of his State of the State address earlier this month to New Jersey’s addiction crisis.
By Christopher Baxter and Matthew Stanmyre | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on January 24, 2017 at 5:07 PM, updated January 24, 2017 at 5:11 PM
A state Senate panel will hold a hearing Monday on a report that the leading maker of artificial sports fields in the U.S., FieldTurf, for years sold a popular line of turf to taxpayers across the country after knowing it was falling apart.
The hearing, scheduled for 1 p.m. in Trenton before the Senate Commerce Committee, comes in response to an NJ Advance Media investigation published in December that called into question whether the company had committed fraud.
“This is a first step in our effort to determine exactly what happened and to take the action necessary at the state level to ensure that taxpayers are protected,” the chairwoman of the committee, Sen. Nellie Pou (D-Passaic), said in a statement.
She called the findings of the investigation “incredibly concerning.” The company has denied any wrongdoing.
The committee will hear testimony from FieldTurf executives, school officials and others who have been invited to testify, the statement said.
RIDGEWOOD VILLAGE 2016 avg: $17,181 2015 avg: $16,798 Change: 2.30%
By Michael Symons January 24, 2017 7:26 PM
Property taxes increased by more than $700 million across New Jersey in 2016, the most in six years, according to a New Jersey 101.5 compilation of tax data.
That added $196 to the average residential property tax bill, a 2.35 percent jump to $8,549. That’s the same percentage increase as in 2015, which was the most since 2011.
The tax levy increased by 2.54 percent statewide, or nearly $703 million. The levy last rose by that percentage in 2011, and the last time it grew by that many dollars or more was in 2010.
The levy can increase by more than Gov. Chris Christie’s signature 2 percent cap because of exceptions for pensions, health benefits, debt, construction and emergencies. Also, governments that are under the cap one year can “bank” that increase to use in any of the next three years.
Christie spokesman Brian Murray said the governor didn’t want the exemptions. Murray said rising property values largely triggered the slight tax increase and that annual increases in property taxes have averaged 2.04 percent since 2010.
“The annual increase would have been lower had the Legislature not incorporated exceptions to the 2 percent caps, exemptions the governor advocated against,” Murray said. “But more importantly, the rate of increase is far below the astounding 7 percent-per-year tax growth New Jersey averaged during the decade preceding the governor’s arrival in office.”
THE RIDGEWOOD VILLAGE COUNCIL’S
PUBLIC WORKSHOP AGENDA
JANUARY 25, 2017
REVISED
1. 7:30 pm – Call to Order – Mayor
2. Statement of Compliance with Open Public Meeting Act
Mayor: “Adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by a posting on the bulletin board in Village Hall, by mail to the Ridgewood News, The Record, and by submission to all persons entitled to same as provided by law of a schedule including the date and time of this meeting.”
3. Roll Call – Village Clerk
4. Flag Salute/Moment of Silence
5. Public Comments (Not to Exceed 3 Minutes per Person – 40 Minutes in Total)
6. Discussion:
d. Policy
1. Municipal Aid Grant Application – Resurface North Pleasant Avenue
2. Municipal Aid Grant Application – Safe Street to Transit
7. Motion to Suspend Work Session and Convene Special Public Meeting
Special Public Meeting Agenda:https://www.ridgewoodnj.net/…/1209-village-council-special-p…
8. Motion to Adjourn Special Public Meeting and Reconvene Work Session
9. Special Public Meeting – See Attached Agenda
10. Presentation
a. Ridgewood Public Library – Preliminary Presentation on Renovation Plans
11. Discussion
a. Ridgewood Water
1. Award Second Year of Contract – Landscaping Services
2. Award of Contract – Cold Water Meters and Accessories
3. Award Second Year of Contract – Pipes, Appurtenances and Service Materials
b. Parking
1. CBD Parking – Parking Garage Discussion
2. Sherman Place Discussion
3. Authorize Ordinance to Assist Drivers with Disabilities
4. Chestnut Street and North Walnut Street – Change in Parking Allocations
c. Budget
1. Award of Contract – Purchase of Vacuum Tank Unit
2. Award of Contract – Purchase of Sludge Hauling Tanker Truck Chassis
3. Award of Contract – Professional Services – Upgrade Traffic Signals
4. Award of Contract – Professional Services – Tax Assessment Map
5. Graydon Pool Fees
6. Authorize Designation of an Acting Municipal Court Administrator
7. Liquid Waste Acceptance Program
d. Policy
1. Removed from Agenda
2. Schedler Property – Next Steps
3. Committee By-Laws Timeline Discussion
4. Uber Discussion
e. Operations
1. Authorize Membership Agreement with PVSC and NJWCPS
2. Authorize Girl Scout Project – Tree Nursery at Parks in Flood Plain
3. Authorize Bus Stop Ordinance – NJ Transit
12. Manager’s Report
13. Council Reports
14. Public Comments (Not to Exceed 5 Minutes per Person)
15. Resolution to go into Closed Session
16. Closed Session
a. Legal – Contract for Parking; Town Garage
Ridgewood Nj, despite prophecies of doom from the national weather service, Ridgewood like much of Bergen County got through the Noreaster relatively unscathed. Reports of high winds are always a danger in the Village with so many older trees.
PSE&G even sent out a reminder courtesy of the Village Website, “that it was preparing for the approaching storm system that could bring heavy rain and gale-force winds. ”
Fortunately for residents, while winds were high and rain was heavy little damage is being reported this morning.
I thought the Facebook comments about renting a house for a golf tournament or Super Bowl type event were also illuminating.
The reason NYC or Los Angeles are against Air B&B is because it kills hotel tax revenues. They lose millions yet even they cant actually ban short term rentals. There is no way this law holds up but it will cost some homeowner and all of us taxpayers to work it through the system.
These knee jerk reactions to public comment has to be tempered. The mess with that parking near Whole Foods is a similar situation (from the past council). It is great to listen to the public and to try to find solutions but elected officials cannot just react. They are elected to be a deliberative body that analyzes both sides of an issue and finds solutions. These mistakes are costly in time and tax payer money.
Those who attended the hearings could easily reach the opinion that Arohnson sold the Village out to the developers. He pushed for a a formula where the Village allowed land speculators and developers to build 85 regular market units for every 15 coah compliant units. Do the math – – under the Aronson Plan, if the Village was ordered by the Courts to build 150 units, then the developers would be allowed to build 1000 apartments in town. And because the Village may need to build as many as 500 coah units (or even 1,000 according to some attorneys) then under the Arohnson formula, the town would have to let the developers build 5,000 to 10,000 units in total. Think about it, that’s 5,000 to 10,000 new families moving into town. The developers were licking their chops over the stupidity of the Aronson formula and the opportunity to start to apply it to properties throughout the town.
The new council quickly moved to kill some of the enabling legislation behind the Aronson plan. But, frankly, its not clear they have done enough to prevent developers from continuing to buy up property and make the argument that they need to build, build, build in order to enable Ridgewood to meet its coah requirements. Our Council needs to take bold action to meet coah requirements while not allowing developers to re-make the Village.
A lot needs to be done and the process needs to be started quickly. The Council cannot ignore this issue. They need to starting acting now.
Ridgewood NJ, Monday 10.45 employee parking lots aside Town Garage extremely underutilized. These same spots held train pass holders who were moved into center crowded area of this same lot.
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, With 31 percent of all nonretired adults having no retirement savings or pension because many simply cannot afford to contribute to any type of plan, the personal-finance website WalletHub conducted an in-depth analysis identifying 2017’s Best & Worst States to Retire.
Over the past year and a half, the group Age-Friendly Ridgewood has taken steps to learn what the village can do to better serve its oldest population. Those 65 and older make up 12.5 percent of the village’s population, according to the 2010 census.
To help retirees find a retirement- and wallet-friendly place to call home, WalletHub’s analysts compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 31 key metrics. The data set ranges from “adjusted cost of living” to “weather” to “quality of public hospitals.”
Best States to Retire
Worst States to Retire
1
Florida
42
Arkansas
2
Wyoming
43
Kentucky
3
South Dakota
44
Vermont
4
Iowa
45
New Mexico
5
Colorado
46
New Jersey
6
Idaho
47
Hawaii
7
South Carolina
48
Connecticut
8
Nevada
49
District of Columbia
9
Delaware
50
Alaska
10
Wisconsin
51
Rhode Island
Some of the finding included :
Mississippi has the lowest adjusted cost-of-living index for retirees, 85.6, which is 1.9 times lower than in Hawaii, where it is highest at 165.3.
Louisiana has the lowest annual cost of in-home services, $34,892, which is 1.8 times lower than in North Dakota, where it is highest at $63,972.
Alaska has the highest share of the population aged 65 and older working, 22.34 percent, which is 1.8 times higher than in West Virginia, where it is lowest at 12.32 percent.
Florida has the highest share of the population aged 65 and older, 18.6 percent, which is 2.1 times higher than in Alaska, where it is lowest at 9.0 percent.
Vermont has the lowest property-crime rate per 1,000 residents, 14.07, which is 3.3 times lower than in the District of Columbia, where it is highest at 46.76.
