Tag: trees

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Readers say Leaf My Trees Alone

streetscape_theridgwoodblog

To Mike Sedon: You are a nice guy BUT leave me and my trees alone! I don’t need more government telling me what trees I can and cannot take down on MY property. AND, if the village needs to plant more of their own trees then they should start planting the trees that were never planted and died at the recycling center!

“village to examine trees on private property and if a tree had a diameter larger than 6 inches, it could not be taken down unless it was deemed diseased, dead or a hazard.” Hey Deputy Mayor Mike Sedon your going to tell taxpayer that they cannot take down a tree on their own property “village to examine trees on private property” are you kidding me? We pay taxes on or land and if we the taxpayers want to take down tree on our property because we want more sunlight or plant a garden who the hell do you and the village think you are to tell us what to do. You are really get out there on this one .

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TONIGHTS RIDGEWOOD VILLAGE COUNCIL’S PUBLIC WORKSHOP AGENDA

village Council

October 5,2016

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, tonights Village Council agenda features ; parking,Kings pond, lighting in public parks ,Airbnb,tree preservation and updates to the “Open Space Master plan”.

THE RIDGEWOOD VILLAGE COUNCIL’S PUBLIC WORKSHOP AGENDA

OCTOBER 5, 2016

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 5 Minutes per Person – 30 Minutes in Total)

6.         Public Hearing – Bergen County Open Space Grant – Kings/Gypsy Pond

7.         Presentation

  1. TAP Grant Opportunity8.         Discussion
  1. Ridgewood Water
  1. Award Contract – Ridgewood Press
  2. Award Contract – Professional Engineering Services – Various Improvements to Booster/Transfer Stations
  3. Award Contract – Professional Services for the Feasibility Study for Removing PFCs at the Carr Treatment Facility
  4. Award Contract – Control Valves at Various Locations
  5. Award Contract – EUS – SCADA Software, Hardware & Support b.         Parking
  1. Tiered Parking Meter Prices and Parking Permit Pricing
  2. Parking Reallocation at Parking Lots
  3. NJ Transit Parking Garagec.         Budget
  1. Update of Open Space Master Plan – Survey
  2. Kings/Gypsy Pond Grant
  3. Award Contract – Rebid of Furnishing and Delivering of Polymer – Water Pollution Control Facility
  4. Award Partial Contract – Street Paving
  5. Renew Lease on Chestnut Street Lot Garbage Pad
  6. Update of Health Department Retail License Fees 

    d.         Policy

  1. Stigma-Free Task Force Advisory Committee
  2. Tree Preservation Ordinance
  3. Amend Chapter 190 – Land Use – Zoning Regulations for Religious Land Use and Zoning Regulations for Houses of Worship and Public Utilities Different in Nature with Different Standards
  4. Encroachment Agreement for Titos Burritos
  5. Lighting Policy in Parks
  6. Regulations for Airbnb
  7. Best Practices Inventory and Resolutions to Affirm Current Procedures
  8. Human Resources Manual 

    e.         Operations

  1. Traffic Calming Proposal – Bogert Avenue and Cambridge Road
  2. Sherman Road and Stanley Place Safety Improvements
  3. County Shared Services Road Resurfacing 

    9.         Review of October 12, 2016 Regular Public Meeting Agenda

    10.       Manager’s Report

    11.       Council Reports

    12.       Public Comments (Not to Exceed 5 Minutes per Person)

    13.       Resolution to go into Closed Session

    14.       Closed Session

    a.         Personnel – Police Department

    b.         Contractual – Shared Services Agreement – Washington Township

    c.         Legal – Legal Bills

    15.       Adjournment

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Bulldozers and tears end 14-year fight to save a tract of N.J. woods

Musquapsink Brook

By Myles Ma | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on August 16, 2016 at 7:30 AM, updated August 16, 2016 at 10:40 AM

HILLSDALE — Terri Pendergast used to enjoy walking her dog in the woods behind her house every day. She’d take a meandering path through the timber, her childhood stomping grounds, to trails leading to the Musquapsink Brook.

For Pendergast, it was a quiet sanctuary she shared with the deer, owls and other animals that made these woods their home. The woods butted up to the back of about 15 homes on Ell Road, turning yards into country oases just 25 miles from New York City.

But in June, those woods were suddenly gone, replaced by a 12-acre bald patch crisscrossed with muddy tire tracks to make way for a housing development.

https://www.nj.com/bergen/index.ssf/2016/08/a_14-year_fight_to_save_these_woods_ended_with_bulldozers_and_tears.html?ath=9c46bfc08d76232bb5a5e00eeaf0bfa2#cmpid=nsltr_stryheadline

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Ridgewood many tree lined parks to beat the heat

Twinney Pond Park

July 29,2016
the staff  of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, a park is also a nice place to beat the heat and Ridgewood many tree lined parks . Take advantage there are more parks than your realize ; the mission statement of the Ridgewood Department of Parks and Recreation is to preserve open space and provide facilities and year round recreational activities that meet the needs of all residents.

Parks
The Division of Parks is responsible for the maintenance of all Village owned parkland, athletic facilities, planting of flowerbeds (in cooperation with Project Pride) and landscaping throughout the community. In addition, the division is responsible for the preparation and maintenance of the Graydon Pool facility and grounds as well as all departmental special events throughout the year.

Shade Tree
The Shade Tree Division is responsible for the maintenance and care of approximately 15, 000 Village owned street trees on 100 miles of public ways, as well as additional trees and shrubs in parks and on other public grounds. This includes all aspects, such as removal, planting, and pruning. The Shade Tree Division does a tree planting for Arbor Day, which is usually the last Friday in April. The division currently offers a memorial tree/bench program to honor the memory of a friend or family member.

Citizen’s Park
Located at the corner of Godwin Avenue and North Monroe Street. Citizen’s Park includes a softball field, multipurpose field, a small sided softball field, an open play area, benches and gardens.

Dunham Trail
Located between Grove Street and Spring Avenue along the Ho Ho Kus brook and the public service right-of-way. Dunham Trail is one of the Village wildscape areas.

On Dunham trail look for:

Sycamores and a wild cherry tree with shiny gray bark.
Triassic Sandstone, like that used to build Manhattan’s brownstones.
A linden tree wrapped in Poison Ivy rope.
Springtime Dogtooth Violets, False Solomon’s Seal, Spring Beauties, Yellow Primroses, Pink Japanese Knotweed, and the biggest patch of Canadian Mayflowers in Ridgewood.

Graydon Park
Located on the corner of North Maple Avenue and Linwood Avenue. Graydon Park offers a hockey court, skateboard park, basketball courts, swimming, ice-skating, picnic area, shuffleboard, children’s playground, shelter, and restrooms. Click on the following link to find all that Graydon Pool has to offer – Graydon Pool website.

Grove Park
Located on the south side of Grove Street, just west of the Saddle River. This is one of Ridgewood’s wildscape areas, which include nature trails for walking.

In the 32 acres of beech forest and field that make up Grove Park, you will find:

Spring flowers that bloom between April and May before they disappear when the shade thickens.
The tulip poplars are the tallest and straightest trees in the wooded area.
You can look for the honeycombs located on top of the bee tree.
Turkey Tails and fungi can be found on fallen logs.

Kings Pond Park
Located off Lakeview Drive by the Midland Park border. Kings Pond Park offers a natural wildlife area, ice-skating, when permitted, and nature trails for walking. Kings Pond and Gypsy Pond offer a great variety of birds and mammal life.

In the parks you can also find:

Large glacial rocks at Park entrance are Canadian Shield Boulders.
Along the railroad track, wild azalea (pinxter) bloom.
Bracket fern and fiddleheads abound in the woods.
Ducks, Canada Geese and over 40 species of birds live here.
Wild garlic and mustard are abundant.
The general depth of the ponds is about 3 feet.

Leuning Park
Located on the corner of Northern Parkway and Meadowbrook Avenue. Leuning Parks offers an open play area.

Irene Habernickel Family Park
Located at 1037 Hillcrest Road in the northern most corner of the Village, this ten-acre park property has an abundance of mature trees. These trees help to define various areas of the property.

This special park property offers an opportunity for both passive and active recreation through the balance of wide open space, ball fields, natural areas, and a one-acre pond.
In the development stage; plans are to revive the dam and bridge area, install a children’s playground, multi-purpose fields, several walking trails and an arboretum complete with gardens.

This new park is soon to include nature programs as well as other passive opportunities as wildlife prevail such as mammals, reptiles and assorted birds.

Maple Park
Located on the corner of Meadowbrook Avenue and Northern Parkway. Maple Park offers one of Ridgewood wildscape areas as well as a community garden (Link to community garden page), part of the fitness trail (link to the parcourse fitness circuit page), benches, flowers, and nature trails. A regulation turf field hosts soccer, lacross and softball year round.
On the west and east banks of the Ho-Ho-Kus brook between Graydon Pool and Meadowbrook Avenue.

In Maple Park, look for:

A 70-year-old wisteria tree.
One of the largest stands of red cedar in this part of New Jersey.
A Porcupine (Sweet Gum) Tree.
A half dozen of different varieties of fern.
Fig-leaf magnolias with thin graceful leaves.
An herb garden.
On the east side of the brook, delicate grasses, berry bushes, and wild flowers that attract butterflies and birds of many descriptions.

North Road Park
Located on North Road, off of Glen Avenue east of Route 17. This is a natural wildlife area.

Pleasant Park
Located at the end of Stevens Avenue, behind Hawes School. Pleasant Park also offers one of the Village’s wildscape areas.

Pleasant Park offers a natural wildlife area, which includes:

Fallen “nurse” logs, nourishing many insects, lichens, ferns and fungi.
Green beggar ticks, jewelweed, ragweed, and purple loosestrife, all in the late summer.
Quaking aspen trees, with flat leaf stems (petioles) that quiver in the breeze.
New York ferns and lady ferns.
Grape vines.
Sassafras or “mitten” trees, whose name comes from the shape of the leaf.
A tree trunk shaped like a giraffe.
A wide variety of birds reside in this wooded community, which makes for excellent bird watching.

Schedler Property
This recent open space purchase is located between Route 17 and West Saddle River Road with development plans yet to be determined.

Twinney Pond Park
Located at the north end of Red Birch Court. Twinney pond offers a wildlife area, nature trails and ice-skating.

At Twinney Pond Park, this three foot deep kettle pond created by glaciers, you can see the following:

Sunfish as they sweep clean spots on the pond floor to make nests.
Shaggy Birches, Pin Oaks, and Locust Trees.
Veronica, they look like tiny orchids on the ground.
Button Bushes that will produce white pompoms this summer.
Dragonflies, with clear wings outspread, and Damsel Flies, with wings swept back and colored.
The life cycle of a tadpole.
Ice skating when the weather and ice permits.

Memorial Park at Van Neste Square
Located at East Ridgewood Avenue between Walnut Street and Oak Street. Van Neste offers a relaxing location in the center of town. Located in the park are the War Memorial Monument, benches, and gardens.

Veteran’s Field
Located at the corner of Linwood Avenue and Northern and Parkway. Veteran’s field is home to softball fields, hardball fields, multipurpose fields, running track, fitness circuit, amphitheater, open play area, and restrooms.

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Many Ridgewood Residents Feel they are Being Harassed by the Village over Sidewalk Repairs

shade_trees_theridgewoodblog
July 14,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, for the second year in a row residents report being harassed by the Village of Ridgewood about their sidewalks. This is less than one year the requested repairs were already made.

While some residents contend the Village is just looking for the permit fee others like Barb Ehret Crowe on the “It takes a Village of Ridgewood Facebook page ,”The thing that is crazy to me is in most cases damage is caused by trees planted and maintained by the village yet the cost for the damage they create becomes the burden of the homeowner. Makes no sense”

Amended 9-16-2015 by Ord. No. 3498

A.
It shall be the duty of any owner of real property abutting any public street or sidewalk in the Village of Ridgewood, at the owner’s sole cost and expense, to install, construct, repair, alter, relay, reconstruct and maintain the sidewalks in front of or abutting such property whenever such sidewalks are required as hereinafter provided or, being already installed, shall be in such state of deterioration or disrepair as to constitute a hazard to the general public using said sidewalks unless they are repaired, altered, relaid or reconstructed. In addition to the foregoing, it shall also be the duty of the owner, at the owner’s sole cost and expense, to install, construct, repair, alter, relay, or reconstruct curbs where the deterioration or damage to the same has been caused by the actions of such owner.
B.
It shall be the duty of any owner of real property abutting any public street or sidewalk in the Village of Ridgewood, at the owner’s sole cost and expense, to maintain the interior of the tree wells located in/on the sidewalk in front of or abutting such property each year by weeding, removing debris and maintain the overall clean appearance of the tree wells and the interior of same.

Many residents claim to have already done the repairs .

Maggie Borkowski Neilson ,”It takes a Village of Ridgewood Facebook page,” I replaced last year were due to-their trees. Now they’re back saying they see another. No trees near it, no different than last year. Wasn’t a problem then but is now. Guess they missed it last year while marking up the rest of my sidewalks.”

She went on to say , “We are on Fairfield. Our entire street was done last year this time. I’m angry because I fixed all the ones they marked, plus an extra just to be sure, and now they’re coming back looking for more! Trying to double dip on the permit fees when they haven’t even completed the rest of the town once yet.”

Many felt a call to Village manager Roberta Sonenfeld would end up hearing 30 minutes lecture that how everything she has been doing is great with zero defect rate and ‘you’ the resident must be wrong?

Maggie Borkowski Neilson said after a visit to the engineering department claimed ,” They are blaming the fact that they used temps last year as to why they didn’t catch this one slab. Also said yes, my contractor had a blanket permit to do work but didn’t notify them that they worked at my specific address so that is why they are back at my property one year later.”

Many long time readers remember that following a citizen complaint registered with the Village, all sidewalks on South Irving Street were inspected in late 2010 or early 2011.  Notices of violation were subsequently mailed to many property owners and several contractors began work on repairs in the summer of 2011.

 

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Tree Limb blocks West Glen Intersection in Ridgewood

Ridgewood shade tree

photos courtesy of Boyd Loving’s Facebook page

May 26,2016

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, Personnel from the Village of Ridgewood’s Parks Department Shade Tree Division work to remove a large limb that fell at 7:00 AM on Thursday, 05/26 and blocked the intersection of West End Avenue and Grandview Circle. A RIdgewood PD patrol officer had cordoned off the roadway with caution tape prior to the arrival of tree workers.

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The Best Time To Plant A Tree in Ridgewood

Ridgewood-shade_tree_theridgewoodblog

APRIL 22, 2016

PAUL ROSENGREN, DIRECTOR, CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS – PSEG

Ridgewood NJ, Several years ago, I was at my first meeting of the Glen Rock Shade Tree Advisory Committee. There had been a delay in awarding the contract for the annual town planting of trees along the streets and two committee members were debating whether to still plant, or wait until after winter.

One of the long time members of the committee leaned over and asked me, “Paul do you know when is the best time to plant a tree?’ I said I didn’t. He responded, “30 years ago.”

When you think about it, this is so true. When you plant a small tree in the ground it is really an act of faith. That it will grow — despite dangers from deer, landscapers or changing climate — into a glorious tree.

And in some way, the planting of that tree is an ultimate act of paying it forward. Every day, each of us benefits from trees that were planted 30, 50 even 100 years ago by others.

PSE&G and PSEG Long Island often get a bad rap as anti-tree because of regulations that require aggressive tree trimming. The tree trimming is designed to increase reliability and decrease local outages (the requirements stem from the great blackout of 2003 – caused by a tree). The company is instead encouraging towns to plant the right tree in the right place. For instance, in my hometown of Glen Rock, they gave us a grant to pilot the planting of smaller trees under wires.

We all know that trees are beneficial – and an almost reverence for trees has made it into our collective culture – books like The Giving Tree, the poem by Joyce Kilmer or movies like the Lorax have built on one of the country’s early tales, that of Johnny Appleseed.

It has been engrained in us that that trees are good — but I ask that you take a minute and think about the benefits of trees.

To start, trees can reduce your carbon footprint. You can plant an evergreen on the northern side of your property. When grown, it will block winter winds and lower your winter heating bills as much as 10 to 12 %.

You can plant a leaf-bearing tree on the southern side. It will provide shade in summer and cool your house reducing the need for air conditioning. When it has lost its leaves, it will let the sun through, warming your house. The US Forest Service estimates that properly placed trees reduce air conditioning needs by a third.

Trees also help with heat islands. Urban areas can be 5 to 10 degrees warmer than surrounding areas. Planting of trees has been shown to have an impact – both through the providing of shade but also as water is evaporated from leaves, they act as small air conditioners for nature.

From our early science classes, we all know that trees take in CO2 and give off oxygen. So planting of trees can also offset our carbon-spewing ways. It takes seven mature trees to remove the CO2 produced from driving 10,000 miles – assuming you get 40 miles per gallon of gas. (If you drive a car that only gets 20 miles per gallon – instead of seven, it will take 20 trees) The Department of Agriculture estimates that one acre of trees absorbs six tons of CO2 annually and provides enough oxygen to meet the needs of 18 people.

But trees clean the air in other ways as well. They remove particulates and dust from the air and pollutant gasses such as nitrogen oxides, ammonia, sulfur dioxide and ozone — providing real benefit in terms of cleaner air in the proximity of the tree. One study has preliminarily indicated that heart disease and pulmonary disease increase as areas are devoid of trees.

They have also been shown by a study at Texas A & M to reduce stress. Not surprising since trees can enhance every human sense – they provide fragrance, stunning beauty, sounds of harbored birds, and of course the taste from their fruit.

Trees can also transform space. You can see this if you visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Holmdel NJ – tucked away next to the PNC Bank Arts Center. It is a circular stone wall memorial listing the names of those who died in that war from New Jersey. The center of the circle is terraced down to a concrete floor with a statue of fallen soldiers on one side. At the center of the circle is a large tree. With or without the tree, this scene would be moving, it would be solemn, but with the tree there is another aspect – hope.

There was more to the story I started with. After telling me that the best time to plant a tree was 30 years ago, the man sat back. A few minutes later he leaned forward again and said, “Paul, do you know the second best time to plant a tree? “ I shook my head no. He said, “Today.”

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Despite deforestation, the world is getting greener – scientists

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20140930_122807_resized

Despite deforestation, the world is getting greener – scientists

By By Alisa Tang | Reuters – 5 hours ago

BANGKOK – The world’s vegetation has expanded, adding nearly 4 billion tonnes of carbon to plants above ground in the decade since 2003, thanks to tree-planting in China, forest regrowth in former Soviet states and more lush savannas due to higher rainfall.

Scientists analysed 20 years of satellite data and found the increase in carbon, despite ongoing large-scale tropical deforestation in Brazil and Indonesia, according to research published on Monday in Nature Climate Change.

Carbon flows between the world’s oceans, air and land. It is present in the atmosphere primarily as carbon dioxide (CO2) – the main climate-changing gas – and stored as carbon in trees.

Through photosynthesis, trees convert carbon dioxide into the food they need to grow, locking the carbon in their wood.

The 4-billion-tonne increase is minuscule compared to the 60 billion tonnes of carbon released into the atmosphere by fossil fuel burning and cement production over the same period, said Yi Liu, the study’s lead author and a scientist at the University of New South Wales.

“From this research, we can see these plants can help absorb some carbon dioxide, but there’s still a lot of carbon dioxide staying in the atmosphere,” Liu said by telephone from Sydney.

“If we want to stabilise the current level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere – and avoid the consequent impacts – it still requires us to reduce fossil fuel emissions.”

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/despite-deforestation-world-getting-greener-scientists-150214323.html

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Storm damage, Willard School area, Ridgewood

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Photo credit:Boyd A. Loving
Storm damage, Willard School area, Ridgewood
Boyd A. Loving
7:37 PM 

Ridgewood NJ, A late Friday afternoon thunderstorm felled dozens of trees that blocked streets and cut electric power to many homes in the Willard School area of Ridgewood.  Similar conditions/damage were also reported in sections of Midland Park and Wyckoff.

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Photo credit:Boyd A. Loving