

Ridgewood should have State of the Village address
January 30, 2015 Last updated: Friday, January 30, 2015, 9:37 AM
The Ridgewood News
Start work today; think of tomorrow
Rurik Halaby
Ridgewood
To the Editor:
This month’s State of the Union address made me think, why not start a new tradition in Ridgewood where the mayor delivers an annual State of the Village address?
The speech would review all the important issues that affect our lives as residents of Ridgewood. It will encourage the political process to be proactive and focused on the long-term. Most importantly, it will hopefully attract a wider cross section of Ridgewood residents to become more involved in the affairs of our hometown.
As an example, one of the major issues that will need to be addressed is the village’s infrastructure, where we all have to think long-term, let’s say Ridgewood in 2025, and where the solutions are complex, intractable, and dependent on bureaucracies that are beyond our control. What do we need to think long-term? Maybe a “touch” of Napoleon.
It is said that the beautiful allées lining the old national highways in France go back to his time. Napoleon came up with an idea of planting trees to provide shade for his soldiers. The official who he gave the order to agreed that it would be a good idea but pointed out that it would take 20 years for the trees to grow large enough to provide shade. To which Napoleon supposedly responded, “I agree, so start today and don’t wait until tomorrow.”
So many of our infrastructure challenges, such as the urgent need to bury our utilities, are dependent upon super bureaucracies like PSE&G and will take years to fix, but that only means we have to start working on the fix today and not wait until tomorrow..
This topic along with many others that affect the quality of life in Ridgewood can be addressed in the speech. And with some luck, maybe this will be the catalyst for a spirited but civil debate on what needs to be done.
https://www.northjersey.com/opinion/opinion-letters-to-the-editor/letter-to-the-editor-ridgewood-should-have-state-of-the-village-address-1.1261791