I remember when VM Roberta Sonenfeld advocated for a modest tax increase Ashe at the time was worried about depleting or lowering the emergency funds account. The extremely low tax rates in the past were well below the current rate of inflation. Many feel that this approach was in the long run ,did not make good financial sense. People who were not involved during Paul’s reign will not understand how truly awful he could be to his own colleagues on the bench and to citizens. The appointment of Ms, Sonenfeld was very political in nature. He got a 4th vote for his side when she became VM. The current council got rid of an un needed and not so nice Human Resource appointee saving us tax dollars and our sanity. They appointed a truly qualified individual as VM when they hired Heather Mailander.They are working overboard to address the parking issues and allowing for all opinions except the one from the Financial Committee that addressed the old garage design! I don’t expect that I will agree with anyone all the time but it sure is nice when you’re elected officials are at least nice people!
I agree about what one gets for one’s taxes now versus then. Mortgage and taxes were never low but they did not take giant bites out of one’s life and the schools were terrific. They actually stink now. I don’t like paying so much for so little. I believe we have not begun to see what will happen to our property taxes when the apartments are built. During construction the CBD will be unbearable, so there go the businesses and restaurants (and garage). The water dept. has already found that the pipe system can’t handle it and plans to bill residents for the pleasure of expanding it for hundreds of residents who should not be moving here because there isn’t room. All the water to be used by all those buildings and renters and lawns is going to take another bite out of our limited water supply. Will we be allowed ONE day a week to water? And will everybody water throughout all the limited hours permitted? Will water start costing more and more? On a personal note, the prospect of losing all the plantings that I could finally afford to have done and make it look nice is unbearable. If I liked cacti I would live in the Southwest.
Roberta is, was and will always be Paul Aronsohn’s puppet. This move is part of a much larger scheme to discredit Susan Knudsen. Why? Because they are gearing up for the next election. The dark side has to win the two opening spots so they can regain the voting block. Jeff Voight is holding their third spot. Salivating for 2018. They have a lot of shady agendas waiting to push through.
Everyone should have equal rights. Nice statement. Is Citizen’s Park going to look like the front of the United Nations building? It is physically impossible to fly all the flags that will demand equal rights. Flying one flag that is neither national nor state will lead to an overwhelming demand by all groups–sports, college, Women’s rights, etc.etc.. The council is opening up a hornet’s nest. No matter how we feel about any specific group’s “rights”, all groups are free to fly any flag at their home, but we should not use public spaces for such flags. It is one thing if a specific group is celebrating a specific day at Citizens. Then a special flag “might” lead to consideration for that day only. Even then, that will lead to multi requests by other groups for “Their day”. The council should not yield to the demands of a single group (of any kind) without seriously considering future consequences.
VILLAGE OF RIDGEWOOD VILLAGE COUNCIL REGULAR PUBLIC MEETING
MAY 10, 2017
8:00 P.M.
Call to Order – Mayor
Statement of Compliance with the Open Public Meetings Act
Roll Call – Village Clerk
Flag Salute and Moment of Silence
Acceptance of Financial Reports
Approval of Minutes
Proclamations
National Cancer Survivors Day
Emergency Medical Services Week
Proclaim May as Mental Health Month
Proclaim May as Older Americans Month
Proclaim June as Gay Pride Month
Proclaim June 2nd as National Gun Violence Awareness Day
Comments from the Public (Not to exceed 3 minutes per person – 40 minutes in total)
Scoping Hearing – Green Acres Diversion on South
Broad Street
Adoption of Ordinance 3592 – Establish a CAP Bank
2017 Budget Hearing
Overview of 2017 Budget
Village Council’s Comments
Public Hearing on 2017 Budget
Resolution 17-126 Adopt 2017 Budget
Village Manager’s Report
Village Council Reports
ORDINANCES – INTRODUCTION – RIDGEWOOD WATER-NONE
ORDINANCES – PUBLIC HEARING – RIDGEWOOD WATER-NONE
RESOLUTIONS – RIDGEWOOD WATER
THE FOLLOWING RESOLUTION, NUMBERED 17-127, WILL BE ADOPTED BY A CONSENT AGENDA, WITH ONE VOTE BY THE VILLAGE COUNCIL. THERE IS A BRIEF DESCRIPTION BESIDE THE RESOLUTION TO BE CONSIDERED ON THE CONSENT AGENDA. THE RESOLUTION WILL BE READ BY TITLE ONLY:
17-127 Award Professional Services Contract – Engineering Services for Suez Corrosion Control (NTE $15,000) – Awards a Professional Services Contract to Mott MacDonald, 111 Wood Avenue South, Iselin, NJ
ORDINANCES – INTRODUCTION
3599 – Amend Chapter 260 – Trees and Shrubs – Establishes rules and regulations for the planting and removal of trees on both public and private properties
3600 – Amend Chapter 212 – Parks and Recreation Areas – Prohibition of Dogs Off-Leash in Certain Parks – Prohibits dogs who are off-leash in both the Irene Habernickel Family Park and the Schedler Park Property
ORDINANCES – PUBLIC HEARING
3593 – General Capital Ordinance ($6,241,000)
3594 – Water Utility Capital Ordinance ($5,745,500) 3595 – Parking Utility Capital Ordinance ($210,000)
3596 – Amend Chapter 265 – Vehicles and Traffic – Parking Restrictions – Bogert Avenue and Cambridge Road
3597 – Amend Chapter 265 – Vehicles and Traffic – Parking Restrictions – Pomander Walk
3598 – Construction of Handicapped Ramp at Irene Habernickel Family Park ($70,000)
RESOLUTIONS
THE FOLLOWING RESOLUTIONS, NUMBERED 17-128 THROUGH
17-139 ARE TO BE ADOPTED BY A CONSENT AGENDA, WITH ONE VOTE BY THE VILLAGE COUNCIL. THERE IS A BRIEF DESCRIPTION BESIDE EACH RESOLUTION TO BE CONSIDERED ON THE CONSENT AGENDA. EACH RESOLUTION WILL BE READ BY TITLE ONLY:
17-128 Title 59 Approval- Replacement of Firehouse Roof – Approves the plans and specifications for Roof Replacement at the Main Fire House, 201 East Glen Avenue in the Village of Ridgewood prepared by the Engineering Division, pursuant to Title 59
17-129 Award Contract – Replacement of Firehouse Roof (NTE $126,760) – Awards a contract to the lowest responsible bidder, NDP Construction, LLC, 200 White Road, Suite 207, Little Silver, NJ
17-130 Title 59 Approval – School Bus Transportation Services – Approves the plans and specifications for School Bus Transportation Services prepared by the Parks and Recreation Department, pursuant to Title 59
17-131 Award Contract – Rebid of School Bus Transportation Services – Day Camp (NTE $21,000) – Awards a contract to the lowest responsible bidder, Durham School Services, 248 Goffle Road, Hawthorne, NJ
17-132 Award Contract Under County Contract – Rock Salt (NTE $56.86/ton) – Awards a contract under County Contract to Mid-American Salt, LLC, 4528 Hillegas Road, Fort Wayne, IN
17-133 Authorize Additional Funding for Special Attorney for RCRD Lawsuit (NTE $15,000) – Awards an additional $15,000 for the Special Attorney in the RCRD Lawsuit, Peter Scandariato of Eastwood, Scandariato, & Steinberg, 336 President Street, Saddle Brook, NJ
17-134 Authorize Application – Designate Graydon Park – Historic Designation – Authorizing application to Historic Preservation Office of the State of New Jersey to add Graydon Park to the State and National Registers of Historic Places
17-135 Authorize Shared Services Agreement – Borrowing of County Equipment (Bergen County) – Authorizes a Shared Services agreement with Bergen County for the sharing of emergency and non-emergency equipment
17-136 Suspension of Ordinance for Certain Illuminated Signs – Suspends the ordinance for certain illuminated signs in the Central Business District until December 31, 2017
17-137 Approve Encroachment Agreement – The Office Restaurant – 32-34 Chestnut Street – Approves an Encroachment Agreement for a canopy over the doorway of The Office Restaurant which extends over the Village’s sidewalk and is minor in nature. Also authorizes the Mayor and Village Manager to sign the Encroachment Agreement.
17-138 Authorize Addition of World War I Ridgewood Resident Veteran Killed in Action to Memorial Plaque – Authorizes the addition of the name of Anthonie J. Wendels, a Ridgewood resident, who was an Army Veteran killed in action in World War I, to the plaque at Memorial Park at Van Neste Square. Also authorizes the Village to pay the cost of doing so.
17-139 Recognize the Designated Public Forum Space in Memorial Park at Van Nest Square – Display of the Gay Pride Flag – Designating the Public Forum space in Memorial Park at Van Neste Square, resolving to display the Gay Pride Flag for all of June 2017 in recognition of Gay Pride Month.
Comments from the Public (Not to Exceed 5 minutes per person)
Resolution to go into Closed Session
Closed Session
A. Legal – COAH, Valley Hospital
B. Personnel – Appointments to Boards and Committees; Appointments of Professionals
C. Contract Negotiations – Consideration of Purchase of Property 24. Adjournment
Truly Amazing to see any official defend this type of budget. If my company performance mirrored that of our schools with the never ending costs I would be fired in a moment. Ridgewood you win.
Reluctantly After 20 years in Ridgewood, we have changed our plans and will be joining others who are leaving. Our children are gone and although we planned to stay and the village should also want us to stay as we have no longer have kids in the system, we have lost the fight. Our property taxes are almost $50,000. The taxes have gone up almost 8x in 20 years while my home value has been stagnant or reduced. The schools do not excel despite the spin, I can’t water my lawn, can’t park at the station to get to work, can’t get through town with all the traffic, very hard to live here now. The mayor is able to get her family village jobs, sell us her property for millions, Spend money on a old house and then fight to protect it, guess the list goes on.
Funny thing. We have a house in another part of NJ with a higher value, half the taxes, higher ranked schools, and much easier commute to NYC.
#18. Ridgewood High School Location: Ridgewood, Bergen County Overall Niche Grade: A+
By Matthew Stanmyre | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Sports programs from school districts in Passaic, Ocean, Bergen and Essex counties have been ranked the best in New Jersey and among the most highly rated in the nation, according to the latest Niche best schools rankings.
The study rated school district athletics as a whole, considering parent and student opinions, number of interscholastic sports offered, percentages of girls and boys participating in sports and the average athletic expense per student, among other factors.
Scroll down to see the full rankings for New Jersey.
* Note: The rankings do not include private schools. Click here to see the full Niche rankings.
Ridgewood NJ, What’s better than a summer cocktail utilizing the freshest ingredients? As the summer season rapidly approaches, Kings Food Markets has crafted the perfect summer-time cocktails fit for any occasion, including:
Sunset Mimosa– Everything gets hotter when the sun goes down.
At Kings, we offer a wide variety of Kings Sparkling Lemonades, including Original, Pink, Orange and Pomberry, that are bright, refreshing beverages with a light effervescence and smooth, citrus taste, imported directly from France.
We also offer a nice selection of Kings Sparkling Natural Mineral Waters to concoct the above cocktails, or even to enjoy on the patio on that hot summer day. Our Sparkling Waters are produced in the heart of the Italian Alps, naturally filtered for an exceptional crisp and clean tasting water.
Looking for garnishes? Kings Organic Fresh Herbs add nuance and complexity to any cocktail. Whether you are looking for Fresh Sage, Rosemary, Mint or Bay Leaves, Kings offers more than 16 fresh herbs to top off your perfect cocktail.
And if you need a place to pick up your favorite bottle, your neighborhood store along with our Ridgewood, location offers Fine Wine and Spirits- a truly one stop shopping experience.
Photo by Terry Wittmaack Gold Medalists Girls Varsity 2x Claire Callaghan, Jordan Wittmaack Coaches: Bob O’Conner ,Boris Roque Alvarez
May 9,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood Crew had another great weekend of racing as the boys and girls traveled down to Philadelpihia for the City Championship, a regional championship that includes high school teams from the mid-Atlantic region. Against a competitive field, Ridgewood was able to come away with many excellent results in this two day event.
The first day served as a qualifying round for crews to advance to semi-finals and finals on Sunday. 11 of the 15 entries advanced to Sunday’s racing.
Sunday featured racing that matched the intensity of the rapidly changing weather. Ridgewood rowers battled both the other crews and gusting winds down the race course.
Sunday morning, the boys junior varsity doubles rowed by Drew Johnson and Alex Melarti; and Sebastian Rivero and Walter Friedrich qualified for their finals by finishing in the top three in their respective semi-final heats.
Sunday afternoon the finals started and Ridgewood did not disappoint regardless of the conditions. Ridgewood carried 11 crews into finals in 10 events. Of the crews in finals, 8 came away with medals; 4 crews came away with bronze medals, 3 crews received silver medals, and the varsity girls double of Claire Callaghan and Jordan Wittmaack came away with gold.
Photo by Claus Melarti Bronze Medalists Boys JV 2x Drew Johnson, Alex Melarti, Coach Boris Roque Alvarez
Bronze
Girls Freshman 4x (Nicole Kye, Holly Sisco, Khushi Patel, and Anna Soderlund)
Boys Junior Varsity 2x (Drew Johnson and Alex Melarti)
Girls Varsity Lightweight 2x (Maddy Phillips and Emily Gilman)
Boys Varsity Lightweight 2x (Sam Daspin and Spencer Campbell)
Silver
Girls Junior Varsity 2x (Alexandra Walton Roth and Maddie Gibson)
Boys Junior Varsity 4x (Edward Hida, Alex Saladucha, Joe O’Keefe, and Henry Koontz)
Girls Varsity 2x (Claire Callaghan and Jordan Wittmaack)
In the girls varsity double, the crew had to fight back from behind to secure the victory. According to Senior gold medalist Claire Callaghan, “the other crews went out quickly in the first 500 meters” of the 1500 meter competition, but the double “stuck to and executed our race plan and were able to move through the competition.”
“I have great memories from racing at City’s and have won 3 golds and a silver in my four years of competing here,” says Callaghan.
Select crews will travel to Lake Mercer next weekend for the USRowing Mid-Atlantic Youth Championship. There, crews will attempt to qualify for the USRowing Youth National Championship Regatta held in Sarasota, Florida this June.
Ridgewood NJ, Daniel Fishbein, Ed.D. Superintendent of Schools comments on the Ridgewood Board of Education $105 million budget :
Spring is a time of abundance, with buckets of rain, sprouts of new foliage and flowers and pollen, and oh yes, the realities of tax returns and in the case of school districts, budgets. Each year the Ridgewood Board of Education works hard to develop a budget for the following school year that provides for our exceptional instructional and co-curricular programs, as well as the maintenance and operations of our facilities. The budget for the 2017-18 school year, which was approved on May 1 by the Board of Education, allots approximately $105 million to maintain our excellent staff, uphold our rigorous academic offerings, and support new initiatives. Next year’s budget will allow us to add new staff, maintain and upgrade instructional technology equipment, implement a new K-5 Science curriculum and other new or revised courses at the middle and high school levels, launch full-day Kindergarten and undertake a variety of renovation projects around the district. The numbers tell the story. The excellence of our academic, athletic, arts and social/emotional programs in our elementary, middle and high schools is regularly proven by the consistent high reach that our students achieve in nationally recognized programs and tests. Statistics from Ridgewood High School – high ranking by US News and World Report – exemplify how we excel as a district. Our students perform very well on all measures, having for example, seven finalists, nine semi-finalists and 70 commended students in the National Merit Scholarship program over the last two years. In the SAT and ACT, our class of 2016 performed at a very high level. SAT ACT RHS 1759 26 NJ 1520 23.1 USA 1490 21 On the AP exams, over 80 percent of our students scored 3 or higher and 134 students were named AP Scholars by the College Boards. Over 95 percent of our Class of 2016 pursued a college or university education this past fall, with 84 percent of their chosen schools classified as competitive, more competitive, or most competitive. And while academics are extremely important, excellence requires breadth in programming. We also provide a very full range of co-curricular and extra-curricular programs that includes fantastic fine and performing arts programs, 29 very successful sports programs and over 100 clubs and activities. Excellence has a price. Simply stated, our ability to offer the variety and depth of services and programs and make an impact in our students’ lives requires a budget of $105 million dollars. The standard of excellence for Ridgewood students is a costly endeavor, yet an excellent investment in their future. In fact, the State of New Jersey has determined that the 2016-2017 per-pupil cost of a Ridgewood education is $15,119, which is a relatively low per-pupil expenditure when compared to our neighboring districts and others across the state. Let’s take a look:
Bergen Academies: 27,852 Northern Valley — Old Tappan / Demarest:19,964 Princeton: 19,964 Ramapo/Indian Hills: 19,479 Teaneck: 9,922 Tenafly: 17,049 State of New Jersey: 15,714 We couldn’t do it without you. Especially as the majority of the budget is funded by our resident taxpayers, you might want to know that next year’s cost to homeowners is an additional yearly increase of $11 per $100,000 assessed home value. As a reference point, the average assessed Ridgewood home of $696,093 will see a tax increase of $76.56. It is important for me to say thank you for your continued support of our schools, programs and students. The Ridgewood community is a critical partner in our mission of excellence, from the budget that you support through taxes, to the co-curricular and extra-curricular programs that cannot exist without the additional funds that you regularly raise through parent organizations such as HSAs, Booster clubs, individuals and organizations. We are also particularly fortunate and grateful to our large organizational donors such as The Foundation and The Valley Hospital, hose large gifts supplement the budget and help ensure our ability to enhance our schools and the educational experience of every Ridgewood student. We want to hear from you. It’s great that I often receive emails or phone calls from residents who have questions, suggestions and, yes, even criticisms on day-to-day and larger issues affecting the Ridgewood Public Schools. I always welcome that one-on-one dialogue. This year, we are also seeking more formal feedback from our parents and guardians, who’ll be e-mailed our biennial satisfaction survey on May 8. We do this survey every two years to gather data on how we are doing in our schools and as a district. Our last survey in 2015 received a 35.6% response rate, and while this number is very good, we want to beat it this year. Please know that your input is important and valued, so I do hope you will take a few minutes to complete the survey when it arrives in your inbox. Soon the rains will stop, the flowers will be in full bloom and we’ll be relaxing in our yards and enjoying the green spaces in our beautiful village. However, the grass isn’t growing under our feet! We are already planning for the 2017-2018 school year, when will welcome the inaugural full-day kindergarten class… the future RHS Class of 2030! Ouch… that number hurts! As always, please feel free to contact me with your questions or concerns
Flying the flag at any cost goes hand in hand with extreme liberals fury against republicans. These people will stop at nothing to forcefully push and fulfill their agenda. If you just simply say you are against any flag other than the national flag flying in public property they will mercilessly attack you. It is impossible to express the simplest, most honest opinion on this very ordinary issue on any social media forum for you have to be really strong and respond in kind or be subdued and avoid conflict. To me it is simply stupid but also offending to the rest of the village community to ask so persistently about flying a flag because you are proud of leading a certain way of life. Fly your pride flag anywhere in your property be it your car, home, yard, bedroom, bathroom but do not touch public spaces which belong to all residents. If you feel excluded and not represented by the American flag then this is the wrong country for you. Stop trying to force people to like the way you live. I do not care what flag you fly, what life you lead, what you do at home etc. To me you are fellow residents whom I respect just like everybody else but you are inviting rejection by using these ugly tactics to impose your will to the rest of town’s population. I hope VC regardless of the immense pressure will not bend to satisfy this flag request.
This is straight out of the DNCC playbook. When they could not get Scott Garrett any other way, they painted him as a homophobe and won.
Likewise, they are trying to get at this Village Council through the homophobe route, given that their other attempts have failed. It is a tried and tested strategy. The village is increasingly populated by ‘progressives’ who are ready to ignore all other issues as long as you somehow accuse one side of ‘homophobia’ – not matter how absurd the premise.
This entire move is very well choreographed by Hackensack. Expect accusations of homophobia and bigotry (with reference to the referenced article) to feature prominently in the next council election.
And expect the unthinking sheep to fall in line. Council robbing the taxpayers blind and selling the village to developers – who cares? They will fly the rainbow flag!!!!
Ridgewood NJ, the Village council responds to erroneous assertions made by former Village Manager Roberta Sonenfled.
IMPORTANT: In response to a recent Ridgewood News letter to the editor written by Roberta Sonenfled: Residents should be cautious relying on the content due to errors, omissions and misrepresentations.
• Sonenfeld’s suggestion that the process wasn’t transparent is remarkable! The process follewed is the same shwas required to follow as former Village Manager. AS REQUIRED BY LAW, once the budget is introduced it must be reviewed by the Village auditor and afterwards, again as required by law, must be submitted to the State in THEIR BUDGET FORMAT for review with the completion of check list and all required documentation. This process is no different than any other year – even during those she was village manager. When the budget is advertised, it advises the public to contact the Village CFO with the appropriate phone number and extension. No phone calls have been received to date.
• Sonenfeld’s feigned surprise about the use of “rainy day” funds is curious since Sonenfeld utilized the surplus over and over again. She need only review her use of $3.032mil in 2015 and $3.3mil in 2016. The 2017 use of surplus, at approximately 10% more, is well within the amounts stipulated by the guidelines of the resolution recommended by Sonenfeld and adopted by Village Council last year for the utilization of “rainy day” reserves.
• Sonenfeld writes, “the budget proposes $7.4 million in authorized general debt for 2017 – an 88 percent increase over last year.” If she had provided the actual 2016 amount of $6.021 million ( authorized general debt) readers would have recognized her math error…. The increase in 21% NOT 88% – the difference is for possible property acquisition. Remember this is not incurred debt, IT IS AUTHORIZED BUT NOT ISSUED
• Too many error, omissions and misrepresentations to list!!!
Again readers should consider the source. Email if you have any questions: [email protected]
New Jersey Transit, one of the nation’s busiest commuter railroads, has been flogged by riders who have suffered through a brutal stretch of travel upheavals. The railroad’s safety record is under scrutiny after a fatal derailment last year.
Now, questions are being raised about how it handles a basic task: ensuring riders pay their fares.
More than 240,000 fares were not collected on New Jersey Transit last year because trains were crowded and understaffed, according to a letter sent in March to the railroad’s executive director from the union representing conductors. The letter, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times, said uncollected fares could represent more than $5.5 million in lost revenue.
