>Ridgewood Taxi: No License to Operate For The Past 2 Years
Ridgewood Taxi: No License to Operate Since 2008 – Failure to Provide Village Officials With Certificate of Liability Insurance
During Wednesday evening’s Village Council Work Session, it was revealed that Ridgewood Taxi has been operating in direct violation of a Village ordinance related to “taxi service” requirements since November of 2008. The company has been either unable or unwilling to obtain liability insurance for its vehicle fleet as required by Village ordinance.
Currently, Ridgewood Taxi’s co-owner claims to have liability insurance for her vehicles in the amount of $50K or $100K per vehicle, depending upon which vehicle. Village ordinance requires liability insurance of $1 million per vehicle notwithstanding.
Ridgewood Mayor Keith D. Killion has directed Ridgewood Taxi to immediately provide Village officials with proof that their entire fleet is covered by liability insurance, or risk shut down of their operation within the Village.
The Fly asks, would you operate a taxi fleet with liability insurance that didn’t exceed $100K per vehicle?
>It’s a shame that today it takes a NIMBY issue for people to get to the polls.
The race was again won on Districts 12 and 15 — Travell and BF neighborhoods. Ridgewood residents need to wake up and realize that decisions on all town issues are being controlled by the people that live near Valley. Let’s also not forget that now 4 out of 5 council members live in that same neighborhood — that’s an unprecedented imbalance.
Less than a third of registered voters turned out. It’s a shame that today it takes a NIMBY issue for people to get to the polls.
You are the one who is out of touch. Our nation is at risk because we are not turning out enough scientist and engineers to maintain the technological leadership that we have enjoyed for the past 100 years.
Lacrosse players didn’t invent or discover semiconductors, computers, transistors, lasers, atomic energy, and genetic sequencing. Scientists and engineers did.
Our priorities are backwards. We should be spending more time on math and science education and less time on travel sports teams. This isn’t an inner city school system where sports are the few ways out.
We need closure on Valley — it needs to either curtail its plans or move down the road to route 17 or somewhere else sensible.
Graydon needs to be made more attractive while staying true to what it is — the local swiming hole where the community can gather.
Village Hall needs cleaning. Get rid of Brancheau, Merlino, Rutishauser and the other do nothing department heads. Its too top heavy.
Address the pension and retirement issues that can drag us down to bankruptcy. We can’t renege on existing contracts and obligations (and remain true to the principles of a free market) but we sure as hell can put an end to the gravy train going forward.
Look closely at the people we outsource to — the attorneys, vendors, etc. Are we really getting value?
Work with the Board of Education –don’t listen to the morons who say the budgets are separate and nothing can be done. I pay out of one check book and one pocket, and I want my money spent wisely.
Cut taxes — but only if you can. We are still reeling from years of the pfree spending administration. Village halls and public toilets that came in three or four times over budget took a chunk out our pocket books when we had the money to spend. Now we don’t, but we can’t make up for it with budget reductions that cut off our noses to spite our faces. We need to remain a first class town.
In that vein, keep up our Village services. Cutting the waste at the top is a first start. But, what else can we do? Be creative. Is there a way, say, to charge people for the services they use, like charging per can garbage pick ups? I dn’t know, but I bet collectively we can find all sorts of creative solutions to our issues.
Open space — perhaps the one area where we can’t cut spending even though we may like to. No one is building more land, so when it comes on the market, we need to buy. Perhaps that means things like the schendler property sit vacant for a couple of years while we get the money to do something with it.
Downtown — we need to be careful. Yes, we need more parking and we more stores, but lets not lower standards. And, we need to do somethig about traffic is horrendus. Again, creativity: can we make Ridgewood avenue and other major streets one way with diagonal parking? I don’t think we need to rush to put up another major structure, particularly a mixed use structure that guarantees as many new cars as it does new spaces.
COAH — perhaps its going away, but unless it does, our prior councils, planning board and board of adjustment have let things get way out of hand by allowing the massive overbuilding we have seen in the past few years. This is Ridgewood, not Long Island. We don’t need to keep expanding. Escpecially when the relaxed building standards mean we have to bring in even more housing structures to satisfy COAH.
New Jersey transit — many of us conspiracy theory folks have wondered just why all the changes to our station? Are there plans to make our local station a hub for buses and trains? Stay on top of this one and fight hard.
In closing, I direct this to the other council people as well. Please, let’s get moving. You made promises and frankly, I am not sure they have been kept. What happened to “lets get moving, we’re burning daylight”? Step aside if its gotten to be too much.
>Congrats to Steve and all who care about Ridgewood!
I think those who voted for Forenza should think again about why the MAJORITY voted for Wellinghorst. Let me help you the majority knows the blight and strain that Valley would cause every taxpayer! Not just the people who live near Valley.
It’s not East vs West either. We can not allow our town fall into ValleyWood. Don’t become aware when it’s too late.
I believe Valley is ready to take legal action and show us they care for only themselves not what expense this will cost the rest of us. Wake up and help CRR and all taxpayers fight this situation. CRR needs donations to properly defend OUR TOWN
Hi, Jim. People on the blog are wondering about the Council vote breakdown by district. Here is a picture I took of the board with the final tally at Village Hall last night.
>Stephen Wellinghorst wins a decisive and clear victory in Village council race
It is always great to see new faces on the Village council, congratulations to all the candidates .
Once again like it or not the Valley Renewal played a key roll in how people voted.
Readers summed it up best : Steve Wellinghorst won by about 700 vote. Sanity prevails. So much for the so called “minority” who were against the Valley expansion
“Wellinghorst had a solid showing in all districts. I don’t live near the hospital and I voted for Steve.”
“Bottom line is Valley put a ton of money into Forenza’s effort but in the end the people spoke.YES Ridgewood, YES Wellinghorst, NO VALLEY!”
>The League of Women Voters of Ridgewood Reminds YOU: Don’t forget to Vote Today, November 2. Polls open from 6AM-8PM. Your polling location is listed on the sample ballot that was mailed to every registered voter.
Please read the sample ballot carefully. There are three sections: General Election; Public Question; and NonPartisan Municipal.
Ridgewood’s municipal election candidates are listed on the very bottom of the ballot.
>CNN POLL: 75 % of Americans who say things are going badly in the country
CNN Poll: Those who say things going poorly higher than 1994 or 2006 Washington (CNN) — The number of Americans who say things are going badly in the country, at 75 percent, is higher than it has been on the eve of any midterm election since the question was first asked in the mid-1970s, according to a new national poll.
A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Monday also indicates that the economy remains, by far, the top issue on the minds of Americans. Fifty-two percent of people questioned say the economy’s the most important issue facing the country.
“That’s more than the deficit, education, health care, terrorism, energy, illegal immigration and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq combined,” says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. “No other issue was named as the country’s top problem by more than 8 percent.”
>Fed-up small-business owners may use their votes to vent
Leslie Kwoh/The Star-Ledger
Most small-business owners are leaning Republican going into next month’s midterm elections, a sign of their growing frustration with the status quo, according to a study scheduled for release today.
Fifty-one percent of small employers across the nation said a Republican-controlled Congress would be better for the economy, compared to 37 percent who leaned Democrat and 12 percent who said they were unsure, according to the Discover Small Business Watch for October.
The results indicate that small-business owners have a growing desire for change that goes beyond party allegiances, said Jon Drummond, a spokesman for the study. When asked which party best understood the needs of small businesses, for example, 45 percent responded Republican, 30 percent said Democrat and 20 percent chose neither. Five percent said they were unsure.
“It’s not traditionally a very political group,” Drummond said. “These people are economically frustrated, so they’re not so much leaning toward Republican as they are toward change.”
In a compelling sign that the Republican tide on Tuesday will produce a historic sweep in the House, the final pre-election poll by the Gallup Organization gave the GOP a 55 percent to 40 percent lead over Democrats among likely voters in its generic congressional ballot test. (Cohen, Politico)
