The Ridgewood Blog Brings a Free Market Laissez-faire Point of View to Local, New Jersey State and National Issues.
Continue reading Could this be Why the “normal” Ridgewood Council is Revisiting Schedler Plans?
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood’s Historic Schedler Property is unique and unlike any other Village Parcel. This historical Revolutionary War site is a full ecosystem of wildlife and vegetation (protected, state-threatened and endangered). Additionally, located along Route 17 North (a major transportation corridor), the tree/green-filled parcel filters out light, noise, visual, airborne particulates, gaseous pollutants, and air toxins emitted by diesel trucks and cars.
The new Village Council moved to replace the Schedler Park plan (approved by Resolution 18-236), adding a full-sized regulation turf field. The approved plan, now in jeopardy, balanced the needs of the impacted neighborhood, sports groups, conservationists, historians, and taxpayers and included a 75×50 multi-use field. With required oversight from the State of NJ Historic Preservation, the plan was moving forward with expected completion by late spring 2023.
file photo by Boyd Loving
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Ridgewood NJ, the national Weather Service has issued a FLASH FLOOD WATCH. A FLASH FLOOD WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH
FRIDAY MORNING.
Continue reading FLASH FLOOD WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH FRIDAY MORNING
photo by Boyd Loving
the staff of The Ridgewood Blog
Ridgewood NJ, cost estimates to clean-up the flood damaged artificial turf at Maple Field (owned by the Village of Ridgewood) have not yet been submitted to the Village Council for review and approval. It is believed Village Council members will discuss this issue during their scheduled October 6 Public Work Session, and formally approve clean-up expenses at their scheduled October 13 Public Meeting.
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood Nj, readers made plenty of suggestions as to what to do with the nearly empty Hudson Garage . Some readers including the Ridgewood blog suggested some sort of tourist attraction on the top deck , overs suggested a turf field, pickleball courts , a rooftop food court and moving the farmers market to the roof top of the Hudson garage .
photos courtesy of Anne Loving
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, a reader commented ,”They are in the process of ripping out the old turf at Stevens after a questionable process that Dr. Fishbein orchestrated. As a result of his misinformation to Board members, they went with a product that is inferior to other products offered at a competitive price with a firm with multiple law suits filed against them in New Jersey alone. I would have settled for the recent turf replacement which was installed at Maple Field as it was an improvement over RHS Stadium and now Stevens. I am not disappointed in Dr. Fishbein because I expected his poor behavior. I just don’t know why except it is a bad case of administrative obstinance: my way or the High way.”
Continue reading Ridgewood Board of Education Ignores Residents Goes Rogue with Steven Field
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Ridgewood NJ, The Ridgewood Board of Education will hold its next Regular Public Meeting on Monday, June 3, 2019. The Board meets at the Education Center, 49 Cottage Place, Floor 3 at 7:30 p.m.
The public is welcome to attend the meeting, or to watch from home on Fios channel 33 or Optimum channel 77. Meetings are also streamed via the “BOE Webcast” tab on the district website at www.ridgewood.k12.nj.us.
Meeting webcasts are immediately available on the district website.
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, There is a closely related story in the community that requires investigation and exposure.
Area schools, towns and public agencies have spent millions of dollars installing synthetic turf fields in recent years. A number of important class-action lawsuits have just been launched against the main supplier of synthetic turf fields in the suburbs of New Jersey.
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, last night the Ridgewood Board of Education voted tonight 5 to 0 to replace the artificial turf at RHS with the same rubber based turf that was installed in 2011 by the same company, Field Turf USA.
There was a small discussion in which Dr. Fishbein never mentioned that the field is in an active flood plain and because of that factor needs to be replaced earlier than anticipated by the promotional material. There was no mention of the recent Maple Field installation using “geofill” and no mention that because the field abuts a brook, the crumb rubber infill ends up in the brooks and streams .
Continue reading Board of Education Decides Turf is “Settled Science” Votes 5-0 to Re-turf flood Plain at Ridgewood High School
photo courtesy of Ridgewood Parks & Recreation
June 18,2018
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Ridgewood NJ, A Ribbon Cutting Ceremony was held on Friday afternoon for the new Maple Turf Field! Village Council, Village Management, Director of Parks and Recreation, Assistant Superintendent of Parks, representatives from the Fields Committee, PRC Board and sports groups were there to join in on the celebration!
June 22,2017
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Ridgewood NJ, in a letter to the editor former Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld, Tree tax is a bad idea https://www.northjersey.com/story/opinion/readers/2017/06/20/letter-tree-tax-bad-idea/412244001/ . Is it just us or does anyone else find in both ironic and ridiculous that one of the people who pushed the “clear cutting” several acres of trees at Schedler Property ,in order to build a new turf baseball field has issues with the new tree ordinance ?
The ordinance regulating tree removals on private property requires a permit to remove any tree larger than 8 inches in diameter. Any healthy tree removed must be replaced, or a payment made in lieu of replacement. Key provisions of the new ordinance are outlined below.
The ordinance was specifically established to protect the Village of Ridgewood from people like Roberta Sonenfeld and Paul Aronsohn who were looking to ‘clear cut” and turf down every inch in the Village of Ridgewood . As they say “round up the usual suspects “, we bet most readers can add a litany of names to this list.
By Christopher Baxter and Matthew Stanmyre | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on January 30, 2017 at 4:34 PM, updated January 30, 2017 at 8:00 PM
TRENTON — A leading state senator said Monday she will formally urge the state Attorney General’s Office to investigate the top U.S. maker of artificial sports fields, FieldTurf, after the company failed to answer key questions about its sales practices.
During a hearing, Sen. Nellie Pou (D-Passaic) led more than 90 minutes of questioning of the Canadian-based FieldTurf’s CEO, Eric Daliere, focusing on why company officials did not notify all customers of problems with its turf after they became apparent to executives.
“If it was clear that it happened to enough customers throughout the country, early enough, why weren’t actions, the appropriate actions taken?” said Pou, the chairwoman of the Senate Commerce Committee.
Daliere offered a spirited defense of the company, noting that nearly all of the fields in question in New Jersey made it through their eight-year warranty period and emphasizing that the problems with its Duraspine turf did not create a safety hazard for those who used the field.
New grass blends are water retentive and need much less pesticide treatments. Grass does not need to be treated with antibacterial solutions and temperatures on the field NEVER reach the temperatures that artificial turf does when exposed to direct sunlight. But the biggest problem is that Maple Field is in an active flood plain. The extensive damage to the field was predictable and as we knew in 2004-2005 , it would be costly. Recent articles on the subject state that grass is financially responsible and is less toxic to the environment.
June 2,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, the major news from last nights council meeting was that Schedler Park has been put on hold until 2017 and only under the direction of the new Village Council with the use of expert studies.
This is a huge victory for the neighborhood who has been fighting to preserve both the natural environment at Schedler but also preserve the historic significance of the sight .
Neighbors felt the sight was unsuitable for a baseball field for many reasons including the noise from Route 17, parking issues and the lack of road infrastructure ,which they felt would overwhelm the neighborhood.
There was also fears that wildlife habitat would be lost when it was discovered eagles used the area as a food source.
Ridgewood NJ, The folks who live on the other side of town really need your help. Please watch this video and see what I learned from going over there.
Let’s do what neighbors do: stand up for one another in times of crisis. In this case, it means:
a) sharing this video
b) joining the Friends of Schedler FB grouphttps://www.facebook.com/groups/185935935083937/
c) writing to our Village Council
After watching this video, if you agree that having our tax money spent on converting the Schedler property to a baseball field is a dumb idea, please let our Village Council know by email:
Here are the email addresses for our VC:
Mayor Paul Aronsohn paronsohn@ridgewoodnj.net
Deputy Mayor Albert Pucciarelli apucciarelli@ridgewoodnj.net
Councilwoman Gwenn Hauck ghauck@ridgewoodnj.net
Councilwoman Susan Knudsen sknudsen@ridgewoodnj.net
Councilman Mike Sedon msedon@ridgewoodnj.net
Thanks for being a good neighbor!