Tag: Rurik Halaby

Posted on

Developer John Saraceno behind Progress Ridgewood

progress ridgewood

June 21,2016

by Jacqueline Hone

Ridgewood NJ, Who is behind PROGRESS RIDGEWOOD and the massive Hudson Street Garage “VOTE YES” campaign? Here is the answer.

Progress Ridgewood ad placed in the Ridgewood News, April 29. The number listed for Progress Ridgewood belongs to Onyx Equities LLC, whose co-founder and managing principal is John Saraceno. The exact same developer looking to build high density housing in downtown Ridgewood. You might recognize him as the guy always seen with Mayor Aronsohn, around town, lobbying for the parking garage.

What the ballot doesn’t reveal and what  residents face, if the referendum passes, is an open gateway to massive housing and overdevelopment. Don’t be fooled it’s not about parking.

Tuesday, June 21. VOTE NO!

Posted on

Reader says Progress Ridgewood the same old group of liars, and propagandists

Village Council election signs

I hope everyone realizes the Progress Ridgewood postcard in the mail is the same old group of liars, and their propaganda….like, do I even need to point out that the quotes were taken out of context and distorted to make the point look like it was agreed upon??? I hope not.

Don’t be fooled by the flyer/mailer from Progress Ridgewood which claims that the new council elect wants you to vote yes. That’s simply not true.

Bernies quote was from 2011 or so when a CONCEPT was being discussed.
This new council is in support of parking solutions. Including a garage that fits the lot, and is appropriate to the neighborhood.

Let THEM decide the funding and look at all of the facts. Ridgewood voters came out in RECORD numbers in May to elect them. Now let them be responsible for what happens next. And do NOT be fooled, the outgoing lot of fibbers and thieves will do anything at all that they can to stick it to the village and to have their way.
Vote NO on Tuesday and let the new council decide. We can have the problems fixed by honest people with the villages best interest at heart. Not greedy developers and sneaky politicians. VOTE NO JUNE 21!!!! .

Posted on

Rurik Halaby Pontificates on Ridgewood Council Election

Rurik Halaby

file photo by Boyd  Loving

I enjoyed reading Ms. McWilliams’ letter. I applaud her courage in expressing her views openly and not hiding anonymously behind James’s apron strings. I also think she writes well, which makes me think she should be hired to edit the Ridgewood Pravda, I mean Blog, with its 5th Grade English.
Having said that I disagree with most of the opinions she expressed. Let’s start out with the three candidates she is supporting:
Bernadette Walsh: I like Bernadette and I think she is sincere. But let us not forget the 7% tax increase happened under her watch. As did the disappearance of $500,000 in quarters from the town coffers. She also supported keeping the part time Village Manager who ran the most inefficient Village Hall in Ridgewood history. Compare that to where we stand with Roberta’s capable management.
Ramon Hache: Kennedy once said beauty is grace under pressure and here Ramon buckled under pressure. His braggadocio in wanting to take Valley to the mat legally is pandering at its worst. Ramon, face reality, the courts will not let Valley not renew. You are burning our money on a useless legal crusade.
Jeff Voigt: A very bright person who can do a lot for Ridgewood if he was wasn’t out to out-Trump with his Trumpian appeal to the basest of people’s instincts. What miserable pandering.
Yes, I support Rich Brooks, Evan Weitz, and Janice Willett. As I mentioned in a letter to the editor, they represent the decent Ridgewood we moved to 47 years ago.. They also have the integrity, intelligence, capability, and courage to move us with confidence into the future. Yes, let us think Ridgewood 2020 and not just fight these rear guard actions. That does no one any good.
Regarding Ms. McWilliams comments re Valley, the apartments, the garage, etc., I think they ring hollow. I don’t see how these issues could have been discussed more openly allowing EVERYONE an opportunity to express their views. Face it, the Vocalantis are against any change and they think they can preserve Camelot by soaking it in formaldehyde. Believe me that is the best way to ensure killing it. To preserve you have to renew, and renewal and adjusting to change can be painful. But then a painless society is a dead society. Read America’s history. We are not where we are because we have avoided painful choices.

Posted on

Rurik Halaby For the Record Plants a Tree in Ridgewood

Rurik Halaby

file photo by Boyd Loving

by Rurik Halaby

Amazing scoop, worthy of Woodward and Bernstein. A Pulitzer in the offing?
For the record, I am personally supporting Rich Brooks, Evan Weitz, and Janice Willett. Rich I have known since he and Cynthia were active in the Red Cross. Evan and Janice I have only met recently.
For the record, I have not contributed a red cent to their campaign, and I have no plans to do so.
For the record I never interviewed them before I endorsed them and so I don’t know their positions on Valley, the Apartments, the Garage or Schedler.
For the record I am supporting them because they are people of the highest integrity, who embody the decent Ridgewood we moved to 47 years ago. People with vision and intelligence to help us meet the challenges of the future.
For the record, I don’t have a foggy idea who Valley is supporting if they are supporting anyone. I support Valley’s Renewal because the interests of Ridgewood’s Residents are best served with a world class hospital keeping up to date. And yes, wake up and smell the coffee, the courts will no BUT support Valley, Ridgewood’s Crown Jewel. And No, Valley does not pay me. It does not pay my wife either. She is a long-term volunteer who would be rich if she got paid minimum wage for every hour she spent volunteering there.
For the record, for you miscreants who criticize my wife: Ask the 1,000 people who enjoyed yesterday’s Daffodil Festival what they thought of the event which she organized. If every one of you misfits would spend a minute volunteering for every hour you spend belly aching, Ridgewood would be the proverbial Camelot you think you live in.
For the record for you ignorami who criticized my wife for planting daffodils and day lilies in the CBD, the topic of the Festival was to protect the pollinators. She was able to obtain a large supply of milkweed seed which grade school kids are planting at Twinney’s and elsewhere.
For Anon 1:16:
Rurik Halaby is a long-term resident who cares about the future of Ridgewood. Identify yourself and I will be pleased to discuss what Ridgewood is going through.
Rurik Halaby is the person who paid out of his own pocket for two mailers to go out to every household in Ridgewood encouraging people to vote. And to vote for whoever. But to vote.
Rurik Halaby, 75 years old, believes in the old Greek proverb: “A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.”

Posted on

Rurik Halaby says the Blog represents, to a great extent, the filthy, stinking, underbelly of Ridgewood

big belly of a fat man

I have always maintained the Blog represents, to a great extent, the filthy, stinking, underbelly of Ridgewood and you are Exhibit A, 3:28 pm. Plus you are a coward to boot making these awful accusations hiding behind Anonymous. You should be ashamed of yourself, if shame is something you know anything about. What a great day it will be if James is forced to release the identity of his commentators. What fun it will be seeing awful people like you scurrying into your rat holes.

Exhibit A, 3:28 pm. : Rurik you are absolutely pitiful with your schoolboy crush on Ms. Hauck. All your big words and pompous posturing do not conceal the fact that you are basically drooling over her and hanging on her every word. Please try to get past the fact that she gives full-frontal hugs to every senior citizen man she meets, yourself included. Please try to focus on the issues, and the issue here is that Ms. Hauck is completely incompetent as well as disrespectful. She attacks anyone who gets in her way. She is as nasty as Maleficent. . She reads, yes READS, most of her comments when she is at meetings. It seems that someone is sending texts or emails to her because if you watch her on the USTREAM you will see that she is reading rather than speaking extemporaneously. And….on the few occasions when she does say something unscripted, it is rambling and nonsensical. James quoted her exactly from her own email, one that she either wrote herself or someone wrote for her. How in the world can you criticize James for this? Take a cold shower, Rurik, you will feel better after your hormones calm down.