The Ridgewood Blog Brings a Free Market Laissez-faire Point of View to Local, New Jersey State and National Issues.
photos courtesy of the Ridgewood School System
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, as previously reported by the Ridgewood blog, the Ridgewood School district has undertaken 3 major Summer Facilities Projects ; Orchard School Soil Remediation, RHS Gym 3 Floor Remediation and Replacement and Stevens Field Turf Replacement . All three appear to be making good progress .
Continue reading Ridgewood School District Facilities Projects Continue to Move Forward
“No resident uses all of the features of this town. Some residents don’t even use the school system. Some use the parks, some don’t. Some play tennis, some don’t. Some use the communal garden, some don’t. Some go to concerts at the band shell, some don’t. For those who enjoy using Graydon, it’s a wonderful thing that the VC went ahead and opened it up this year. It’s kind of shocking to me that there was even a dispute about it. Nancy Bigos and Heather Mayländer pushed back so hard against this that it was shocking. Spoke to me of complete abject laziness on their part.”
To the members of the Ridgewood Board of Education,
I am writing to implore you to change the decision you made last night, authorizing the installation of crumb rubber on Stevens Field.
I am completely supportive of the remediation of this heavily used field. I do not object to using artificial materials for this field (although in a perfect world I would prefer grass). But I am asking you to please use a product that is safer for the health of the children and the environment.
Continue reading Time to Rethink “Crumb Rubber” Turf at Stevens Field
March 15, 2020
Dear Ridgewood Public School Community,
It is critical that everyone in the community sign up for the Village of Ridgewood E-Notice System at https://www.ridgewoodnj.net/village-info/enotices-and-alerts-registration. Please do this immediately so that you can get vital notifications and information about the Village as it pertains to this public health crisis. Information about our schools as it relates to this emergency will come directly from me. Instructional information will be sent from the teachers and your child’s school. Additionally, I will be sending daily email notices to keep you up-to-date and informed. I ask that you also follow the district on twitter @RwdPub Schools and @RWDSupt, and please follow your schools. We send a lot of important information through our twitter accounts, as well as the district Facebook page @RidgewoodPublicSchools.
Continue reading Daniel Fishbein, Ed.D Superintendent of Schools , “Simply do not congregate “
“There are better choices for our fields than artificial turf made of plastic and crumb rubber. 90 percent of pro players in all sports prefer grass to turf for a variety of reasons. Our fields are in active flood plains. We can’t get warranties on the stuff because of that fact. There are new grass blends that are pest and drought resistant and when the fields flood on an artificial turf field like the ones the BOE has installed and now again at Stevens, the toxins go into our water ways, the fields harden , often need extensive repairs and the cost of disposing of it is around 100,000 dollars per field and it sits in the land fills for ever as it is not biodegradable.”
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, flash flood across the county , in the Village and in neighboring Glen Rock which closed Maple avenue last night due to flooding .
No surprise in Ridgewood there are reports of the usual flooding in turf field zones .
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
‘Ridgewood NJ, in 2015 and 20016 Three federal agencies are teaming up to investigate the safety of crumb rubber artificial turf used in playing fields and playground all across the country,the investigation was the subject of a series on NBC News .NBC reported that the “The Environmental Protection Agency, the Centers for Disease Control and the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced an “action plan” on Friday to answer questions raised about synthetic turf made from recycled tires and possible risks for young athletes.”
Continue reading CDC says Study on Safety of “Crumb Rubber” Could Take Two More Years
photo by Boyd Loving
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, on April 29 meeting, the Ridgewood Board of Education voted to again install a rubber crumb based field turf at RHS Field Stadium . In the usual method the Board made its decision without open discussions with residents, vendors ,students and healthcare and environmental professionals.Crumb Rubber fill is basically ground up car tires .
Continue reading Turf Town 2.0
“So grass is unrealistic? We played on it for years and something upwards of 90 percent of professional players [soccer,baseball, football ] prefer grass to artificial turf. We have a bigger problem in Ridgewood. We put turf in active floodplains. It was not made for that. Environmentally it is a disaster. Financially, it is more costly to install and to maintain. It needs to be sanitized which they left out of the scenario when they decided to sell us on it. “
“Multi use is not a benefit of artificial turf. More playing time was considered the benefit. However, not in an active flood plain. It is environmentally unfriendly, needs much maintenance, is not ideal for children’s health and safety,etc. Today’s hearty grass blends that are drought and pest resistant also make it the fiscally responsible thing to do. In addition, all pro teams when asked what surface they prefer to play on, choose grass.”
” We’re talking about what was some of the most exclusive real estate in the village, which from August through December was restricted for use solely by the RHS football team and the marching band, and when the grass was damp, even the marching band was kicked off (while the football team and its opponent enthusiastically chewed up the field to within an inch of its life). After Christmas and New Year’s, during the late winter and early spring, literally everyone was banned from using the field so that it could recover from the yearly fall trampling. Of course, this allowed the field to be re-seeded, fertilized, watered, and otherwise expensively pampered in preparation for the famous RHS graduation ceremony. By late June, the grass was admittedly beautiful, and certainly soft beneath the feet of girl graduates in their flowing white dresses who, in accordance with decades of tradition, tended to take off their shoes during the ceremony. That said, net-net, making the RHS football field a multi-use field by turfing it was a good decision. So many more students and other people have now had the benefit of its use, it’s not even a close question. “
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Rutherford NJ, according to Matthew Gibson, this referendum was not to “fix schools” it was to make superficial changes like a taxpayer funded turf field for lacrosse and do things which would not affect education at all.
Gibson commented ,”They wanted to spend $53 million, of which about approximately $0 was for education. $5 million to literally bulldoze the high school poll, another $5 million to replace it with a new cafeteria. $2.5 million to turf some open space behind the HS, $3+ million to remove a playground and my personal favorite building new chemistry labs without windows which is totally safe”
Referendum Rejected
Dear Parents, Students, Faculty, and Staff,
The Rutherford community has voted to reject the proposed $53M referendum to improve our school facilities. While this is a disappointing result, we still need to provide adequate space for our growing enrollment and create environments to support our students academically. We will examine our plan to determine if there is a less encompassing alternative that could still give us more classroom space and make the district compliant with federal and state mandates, even if it does not fulfill all of our needs.
Thank you to all of the voters who became informed and supported the proposal.
Sincerely,
Jack Hurley, Superintendent of Schools
photos courtesy of Boyd Loving
August 5,2018
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, RHS athletic field and Stevens Field closed until further notice!
VILLAGE PARKLANDS
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. The walking track is 0.452 miles around.
September 8th 2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ. the Maple Park turf field is in need of a major update , the Village will apply to Bergen County Open Space funding for the 50/50 matching grant to replace the turf at Maple Field. The Village plans to use Bergen County Open space funds, Village open space funds and money from the capital budget . The decision has been made to replace the 12 year old field due to is heavy use and deteriorated condition.
Resident Boyd Loving asked if the Village expected to receive any money from the class action suite filed against the manufacturing over the fields not living up to their expected life span? Village Attorney Matt Rogers explained that there were on going talks with Field Turf to defray costs of a replacement field and will be made public when negotiations are concluded .
Village Council Summer Highlights
1. VILLAGE OF RIDGEWOOD MASTER PLAN – Planning Board Master Plan update: funding for the Village Master Plan is in place and the Planning Board advanced the undertaking at the annual reorganization meeting on July 18. A Master Plan Committee was appointed to assist the Planning Board, the Ridgewood Village Council and the public with the Master Plan process including, but not limited to: project education, scheduling, milestones, budgeting, public engagement and participation, and to ensure an open and transparent process. Committee members include Mayor Susan Knudsen, PB Vice-chairman Joel Torielli, Planning Board members Debbie Patire and Melanie McWilliams. **Chairman Richard Joel will be substituting on an interim basis as needed. The Master Plan Committee is a preliminary step prior to formally advancing the Master Plan process.
2. As one of the most used sports fields the turf at Maple Park is now in need of replacement. Installed more than decade ago, the replacement will allow the field to continue to facilitate a variety of sports programs throughout the year. The Maple Park Turf Replacement is subject to a public hearing scheduled for August 9, 2017.
3. Purchasing the Elks Club Property allows for future planning ensuring a more efficient utility benefiting Ridgewood Water customers. The Water Capital Ordinance for $1,600,000 includes the purchase price of $1.1 mil for the property and $500,000 to renovate the building from the Water Utility Capital Fund.
4. Summer “School” ordinances: Amending Chapter 265 will prohibit stopping on portions of West Ridgewood Avenue allowing a safer approach to vehicular traffic around the Ridge School. Additionally, Enacting Title 39 on All Public School Properties authorizes the Ridgewood Police Department to enforce traffic and parking regulations on Board of Education property. Ordinance 3612 protects Ridgewood taxpayers from the unlawful enrollment of students in Ridgewood Public Schools through the Village Municipal Court.
5. Direct Village Planner to conduct a study for Redevelopment of the Hudson Street Municipal Parking Lot, allowing the Village more options moving forward with garage construction plans that could potentially save significant taxpayer dollars and build time.
