OCTOBER 17, 2014 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2014, 12:31 AM THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS Print
Valley is beyond its original intent by Laurence O’Donnell
To The Editor:
Valley Hospital has disappointed us, to say the least. In its relentless campaign to nearly double its size on the same 15-acre site, it is turning to the court in Hackensack. It apparently finds no message in the facts it was turned down by the Village Council in 2010 by a resounding vote of 5-0 and on resubmission of a substantially similar plan to the Planning Board, by a vote last May of 5-2 against the expansion.
The case against the massive expansion is simple: It is too much for a site surrounded by homes with a major middle school at one end. Valley doesn’t seem to accept this.
Seventy-five years ago, before the hospital was built, the 15-acre site was occupied by a horse farm — probably acceptable to the neighbors. The original intent of the hospital was to serve the community — also acceptable to the neighbors and the community.
Actually, Valley started to tread in troubled waters three or four decades ago when it changed its mission from a community hospital to a regional one. Many Ridgewood residents wondered if the hospital and the community could handle big increases in patients, visitors and traffic. Their concerns proved to be valid.
Panel discusses ways to energize Bergen County downtowns
OCTOBER 16, 2014 LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2014, 1:48 PM BY LAURA HERZOG STAFF WRITER | THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Ridgewood, Fairview, Hackensack and Paramus may have very different community identities, but they do have one thing in common: They all care about the development of their economic centers.
This was clear when officials representing each of these communities spoke on a Bergen Community College panel on Oct. 7 about the challenges and triumphs they have encountered during ongoing efforts to support their economic centers.
The discussion, titled “Reviving and Refocusing Suburban Downtowns and Regional Economic Centers,” attracted about 40 attendees, many from the Bergen LEADS leadership course.
On the panel were retired Fairview Police Chief Frank Del Vecchio, a Ridgewood resident and Fairview Chamber of Commerce member; Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce President Paul Vagianos; Paramus Regional Chamber of Commerce President Fred Rohdieck; and Hackensack Chamber of Commerce member Francis Reiner, the community’s urban design, planning and redevelopment consultant.
The forum was meant to explore how changing demographics are affecting distinct Bergen County municipalities’ economic centers, and in turn, their “community identities,” which are often shaped by these economic hubs.
Next Village of Ridgewood CBD Discussion Meeting – October 29 at 7PM
Wednesday, October 29th the Village Hall Court Room, 131 N. Maple Ave, from 7PM to 9PM – the conversation will continue regarding the Ridgewood CBD. There will an opportunity for comments from attendees and at 7:30PM a Panel will discuss the role of arts in the Central Business District.
From left: Gynecologic-Oncologist William Burke, M.D.; Robert Silverman, M.D., Co-Medical Director, The Valley Institute for Pain; Audrey Meyers, President and CEO, The Valley Hospital and Valley Health System; Alexander Zapolanski, M.D., Director of Cardiac Surgery, The Valley Hospital; and Joseph Pizzurro, M.D., Director of Orthopedic Surgery, The Valley Hospital.
Valley Hospital’s President’s Council Reception
On June 21st, The Valley Hospital hosted its annual President’s Council Reception at The Ridgewood Country Club. The President’s Council is a group of community and business leaders who learn about the work of The Valley Hospital and its affiliates and serve as liaisons to The Valley Hospital community. Throughout the year, the President’s Council Members attend presentations given by members of the Medical Staff and Administration about Valley’s programs and services.
From left: John Williams (Franklin Lakes) with President’s Council Member Eric Epstein and his wife, Julie, Valley Hospital Foundation Trustee (Wyckoff), with President’s Council Member Kathie Williams (Franklin Lakes)
From left: Alexander Zapolanski, M.D., Director of Cardiac Surgery, The Valley Hospital; joined by President’s Council Member Stephen Borg (Tenafly) and Chris Farrell, Director of Philanthropy, The Valley Hospital Foundation.
David Bolger (Ridgewood), President’s Council Member, with Ann Swenson, President, The Valley Hospital Foundation.
From left: The Valley Hospital Foundation Chairman and President’s Council Co-Chair, Denis Sullivan (Wyckoff) and Scott Schroeder (Ridgewood), Valley Hospital Foundation Trustee and President’s Council Co-Chair.
From left: Sally Jones, Director of Gift Planning, The Valley Hospital Foundation; with Vicki Bruni, President’s Council Member (Ridgewood): and Paula and Ned Lipes, President’s Council Member (Mahwah).
Sandy Carapezza, (left) Director of Donor Development, The Valley Hospital Foundation; with Beverly and Howard Klein, President’s Council Member (Fair Lawn).
From left: Alexander Zapolanski, M.D., Director of Cardiac Surgery, The Valley Hospital; with Laurel Mengarelli, and Lenni and Robert Puritz, President’s Council Member (Glen Rock).
Robert Gutenstein (left), The Valley Hospital Foundation Trustee and President’s Council Member (Ridgewood) with fellow President’s Council Member Harry Plonskier, (Mahwah).
From left: Robert Silverman, M.D., Co-Medical Director, The Valley Institute for Pain; President’s Council Member, Joseph Fiorenzo and his wife, Susan (Wyckoff); Gynecologic-Oncologist William Burke, M.D. and Denis Sullivan (Wyckoff), Chairman, The Valley Hospital Foundation Board of Trustees and President’ Council Co-Chair.
From left: Gynecologic-Oncologist William Burke, M.D.; Robert Silverman, M.D., Co-Medical Director, The Valley Institute for Pain; Audrey Meyers, President and CEO, The Valley Hospital and Valley Health System; Alexander Zapolanski, M.D., Director of Cardiac Surgery, The Valley Hospital; and Joseph Pizzurro, M.D., Director of Orthopedic Surgery, The Valley Hospital.
Readers target their Ire toward Valley Fund Raising
I am a supporter of some sort of modernization, without doubling size.
A reasonable discussion should have led to a compromise size.
Suing the Village because the legal process didn’t work in your favor is a bunch of bullshit. (and if my taxes go up Valley won’t get my donation$)
All of my doctors are at Valley, and I intend to voice my opinions on the lawsuit.
I do not like the idea of a ‘tax exempt status’ when the CEO is reportedly paid $3m dollars (as I read here-please correct if inaccurate) AND having Doctors that do not ‘participate’with any insurance (= anesthesiolgists) . Or billing patients for what insurance doesn’t cover… THEN paying the big salaries reported.What is the point of ” donating” ANYTHING to a business that is going out of it’s way to screw an entire town ? As a matter of principle, I shelved the idea of becoming a volunteer. Let them hire someone, since the people who do a highly questionable job of running the place can push some of that money down to those who are really doing the work.I loved the advertisement for the Valley Ball. As Valley sues the Village threatening to raise our taxes and destroy the community, it advertises for the Valley Ball in the middle of the Ridgewood News real estate section. Didn’t have my reading glasses on, but I think it said: “Party like you are on the Titanic. Throw on a dinner jacket and come donate so Valley can devote its dollars to paying lawyers to bring a lawsuit that devalues your property.”Valley’s gall is only surpassed by the gullibility of those who continue to support Valley.I would love to see the list of corporate sponsors for the Ball so I know what stores and restaurants to avoid. What self-respecting Villager (who isn’t on Valley’s social or monetary payroll) is going to attend?
Readers says The best defense against heart disease is a very healthy lifestyle.
Valley can build separate buildings. That’s what I thought it was doing. Buying up all that land.
It can use its present location for Maternity for example and other buildings for other things.
Don’t kid yourself no. 2. Cancer has NOT advanced very much since the 1950s. Get it and find out for yourself.
The best defense against heart disease is a very healthy lifestyle.
Life style is 80 percent of health which includes a healthy environment. No traffic pollution no poison on lawn that gets into water spoils ecology causes nerve damage and CANCER !!We should be discouraging traffic from CBD. POLLUTION. YIKES!!
There are many hospitals around this area that have the same wonderful!! easy cancer cures as Valley. We don’t need Valley here at all. Growing up I was 15 miles from a hospital and survived to tell about it.
Are you aware of what was on News Hour a few days ago, channel 13 with Judy Woodruff, and in the Atlantic magazine this past Sept.
A proposal, written by a bioethiscist that people age 75 refuse all medication because statistics of millions of people PROVE that after that age health declines very precipitously and painfully and the cost of prolonging life not worth it emotionally, physically. It’s very painful for most people. We’re talkin fancy western countries. Not to mention financial and using resources that would be best used to save young people. Very much antibiotics that are becoming and are ineffective now from overuse.
Now that would put Valley out of business so very fast. They are counting on sickies 80 years and over for their survival. They said so at meetings.
But UP UNITL ABout age 75 it’s mostly in our control. Very much so. If we keep the lifestyle and environment clean. If we don’t live the correct lifestyle Valley, can’t really do anything significant for us despite their hype. Valley should spread out. with multiple buildings. Why are they such pigs.
Reader says time for Valley Trustees to Show their faces
During the Planning Board process Valley demanded a list of all members of the CRR to, among other things, establish their legitimacy as an organization and to limit the individuals’ ability to comment publicly. The CRR complied.
Now it’s time to out Valley’s Ridgewood-based supporters starting with Councilwoman Hauck. She was elected by Ridgewood tax payers who are now clearly the target of the organization she supports. She should renounce her support of Valley to fight the lawsuit or resign the Council. Now.
It’s also time to publish the list of attendees at the various Valley fundraisers. Let’s call these people out when you see them in town. Ask anyone still sporting an “I support the Valley Renewal” bumper sticker how they feel about Valley now. Valley is using the money you contributed to raise our taxes. Is this what you guys had in mind?
Readers says Valley’s Board of Trustees needs to be accountable for this adversarial action.
The Valley Board of Trustees/Directors has not only allowed but financially rewarded the mismanagement of this now disgraced entity for it wrongful and failed attempts to bully the entire region.
The names of Valley directors should be made public so they can directly hear the wide annoyance at the poor decisions of its management team including the latest slap in the face to our village who has hosted and subsidized their tax free entity which is a farce to be discussed in detail another day.
First there was the Pascack Valley fiasco where Valley tried to sue to close that hospital agaisnt the wishes of that region instead of capitalizing on a golden opportunity to cheaply purchase a properly situated location that would have expanded their regional scope and market share while appeasing two communities. Valley’s lack of vision and their unethical legal maneuvering failed causing much lost of respect and goodwill and likely much business from that area , now Valley and its Board are repeating the same error that will further tarnish their standings in our community and the legacies of their predecessors.
The management and Board of Hackensack Hospital showed itself to be more attuned to the marketplace and prepared and likely will be again when other opportunities arise. Valley’s embarrassing doubletalk and repeated attempt to blatantly overdevelop a limited site despite knowing past rulings and objections reveals arrogance, incompetence and their over reliance on past back room brokering instead of sound management . To try to force something so sizeable and detrimental upon this town against its wishes was a Valley blunder and PR disaster and this high handed suit just tops off their list of errors.
There needs to be accountability for this adversarial action. Again, who are the Board of Trustees/ Directors? Time for them to be identified and properly addressed in good form for wearing blinders and showing disregard. I fully support and stand with the rightful decisions of our planning board and council and will gladly pay more taxes if that is what is required to fend off an hypocritical entity that argues positions without merit solely out of self interests and employs distasteful tactics to boot.
Our town reps were recognized by our residents for their thoroughness and integrity in this wasteful fiasco and my hope is that they wont feel pressure to succumb to the pressure tactics of a bully. Valley and its loud lawyers can scream like petulant children who don’t get their way to an absurd request . They can rant and threaten all they want but the resolve of this community to stand up for itself and its future generations will remain . High time for the Valley’s Board of Trustees to step up and stop the nonsense once and for all or face the music from the community
Reader says Obamacare Architect Ezekiel J. Emanuel says Let Nature Take its Course and refuse all medical treatment after 75
Valley can build separate buildings. That’s what I thought it was doing. Buying up all that land.
It can use its present location for Maternity for example and other buildings for other things.
Don’t kid yourself no. 2. Cancer has NOT advanced very much since the 1950s. Get it and find out for yourself.
The best defense against heart disease is a very healthy lifestyle.
Life style is 80 percent of health which includes a healthy environment. No traffic pollution no poison on lawn that gets into water spoils ecology causes nerve damage and CANCER !!We should be discouraging traffic from CBD. POLLUTION. YIKES!!
There are many hospitals around this area that have the same wonderful!! easy cancer cures as Valley. We don’t need Valley here at all. Growing up I was 15 miles from a hospital and survived to tell about it.
Are you aware of what was on News Hour a few days ago, channel 13 with Judy Woodruff, and in the Atlantic magazine this past Sept.
A proposal, written by a bioethiscist that people age 75 refuse all medication because statistics of millions of people PROVE that after that age health declines very precipitously and painfully and the cost of prolonging life not worth it emotionally, physically. It’s very painful for most people. We’re talkin fancy western countries. Not to mention financial and using resources that would be best used to save young people. Very much antibiotics that are becoming and are ineffective now from overuse.
Now that would put Valley out of business so very fast. They are counting on sickies 80 years and over for their survival. They said so at meetings.
But UP UNITL ABout age 75 it’s mostly in our control. Very much so. If we keep the lifestyle and environment clean. If we don’t live the correct lifestyle Valley, can’t really do anything significant for us despite their hype. Valley should spread out. with multiple buildings. Why are they such pigs.
Ridgewood tables housing proposal to receive public input
OCTOBER 11, 2014 LAST UPDATED: SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2014, 1:21 AM BY CHRIS HARRIS STAFF WRITER THE RECORD
RIDGEWOOD — The Planning Board tabled discussion on a possible master plan amendment permitting multifamily housing downtown until next month, when residents will get their first chance to weigh in on the proposal.
Talks will resume at the board’s meeting on Nov. 3, when the village’s planner, Blais Brancheau, is expected to present his own analysis on the potential master plan changes.
The proposed amendment is being sought by three developers, who want to build multifamily housing complexes in Ridgewood.
Brancheau will likely face questions from the public after giving his report next month, and almost certainly will face cross-examination by attorneys for the developers, who all have active applications pending before the board.
OCTOBER 9, 2014 LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2014, 5:06 PM BY LAURA HERZOG STAFF WRITER THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Planning Board hearings on multifamily housing will continue moving forward as they have been.
The board announced on Tuesday that it would not be taking the mayor’s suggestion to bifurcate a proposed amendment that would allow for multifamily housing in four downtown zones.
Creating multiple amendments out of the one currently proposed amendment – to allow the board to vote to approve or reject multifamily housing in some but not necessarily all zones – is not totally off the table, but the idea is set aside, since it could have rendered some already-delivered testimony unusable.
The board will again consider amendment modifications, like bifurcation and other ways to split the amendment, once the current process comes to a close, following the village planner’s testimony at the next hearing.
The suggestion that the Planning Board should split the amendment into two – one that would consider housing in the Central Business District’s (CBD) “core” (East Ridgewood Avenue and Franklin Avenue) and another that would consider housing in the CBD’s “periphery” (south of East Ridgewood Avenue and north of Franklin Avenue) – was raised by Mayor Paul Aronsohn at a board meeting last month.
Aronsohn also suggested that the board reduce the proposed allowable density.
Valley Hospital’s suit over rejected expansion plan could prove costly for Ridgewood
OCTOBER 10, 2014 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2014, 1:21 AM BY MARY JO LAYTON STAFF WRITER THE RECORD
The Valley Hospital’s lawsuit against the Ridgewood Planning Board and Village Council is sparking fears of a costly, protracted legal battle and even some talk of a boycott of the hospital and its physicians.
The hospital, whose proposal to nearly double in size was rejected by the Planning Board in June, has turned to the courts to push the expansion through.
Mayor Paul Aronsohn said the board’s decision should stand. As a member of the Planning Board, he voted against the proposal to change the village master plan to allow the project.
“I fear this lawsuit will not only be divisive, but also expensive,” Aronsohn said Thursday. “By forcing the village to spend scarce tax dollars on a legal defense, this lawsuit runs the risk of undermining important village services and programs.”
Rutherford industrial tract getting 2 hotels, 500 apartments, retail space
OCTOBER 7, 2014, 7:26 PM LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2014, 10:46 PM BY LINDA MOSS STAFF WRITER THE RECORD
North Jersey’s Meadowlands, once home mainly to warehouses and industrial sites, will be getting a new mixed-use redevelopment with two hotels, 500 apartments and retail space in Rutherford.
The New Jersey Meadowlands Commission has approved amendments that Lincoln Equities Group LLC sought to the roughly decade-old redevelopment plan for its Highland Cross project.
Lincoln Equities is ready to proceed with the project, set for 26 acres near the intersection of Routes 17 and 3, said Joel Bergstein, president of the East Rutherford-based real estate firm. The property, a former “brownfield” site, fronts on Veterans Boulevard and is behind the Meadows office complex on Route 17.
Construction is likely to start in about 18 months, Bergstein said.
OCTOBER 8, 2014 LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2014, 1:21 AM THE RECORD
RIDGEWOOD — Residents, officials and business leaders all seem to agree on one thing when it comes to the village: parking is scarce.
On Tuesday afternoon, Freeholder Chairman David Ganz took a quick tour of the downtown area, to survey the village’s parking situation.
Village officials have spent the last year talking with representatives from the Bergen County Improvement Authority about the possibility of the county financing, building and operating a parking deck in Ridgewood.
First, the freeholders would need to authorize the expenditure of $100,000 on a comprehensive study of the village’s current parking situation.
“We recently included Chairman Ganz in that conversation,” said Mayor Paul Aronsohn, “because the freeholders would have to approve BCIA’s use of transit funding for such a study.”
The funding issue could be discussed at the freeholders’ next meeting on Oct. 22.
(all timeframes and the order of agenda items below are approximate and subject to change)
1. 7:30 p.m. – Call to Order, Statement of Compliance, Flag Salute, Roll Call – In accordance with the provisions of Section 10:4-8d of the Open Public Meetings Act, the date, location, and time of the commencement of this meeting is reflected in a meeting notice, a copy of which schedule has been filed with the Village Manager and the Village Clerk, The Ridgewood News and The Record newspapers, and posted on the bulletin board in the entry lobby of the Village municipal offices at 131 North Maple Avenue, and on the Village website, all in accordance with the provisions of the Open Public Meetings Act.
3. 8:00 p.m. – 8:10 p.m. – Public Comments on Topics not Pending Before the Board
4. 8:10p.m. – 8:15 p.m. – Committee/Commission/Professional Updates for Non Agenda Topics
5. 8:15 p.m. – 8:20 p.m. – Correspondence Received by the Board
6. 8:20 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. – Public hearing Land Use Plan Element of the Master Plan AH-2, B-3-R, C-R and C Zone Districts
7. 9:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. – Discussion re: Legal overview regarding Open Public Meetings Act requirements and Board obligations as per the Municipal Land Use Law
8. 10:00 p.m.-10:30 p.m. – Housing Element of the Master Plan – Discussion re: Preparation and Schedule for Adoption
9. Adjournment
In accordance with the Open Public Meetings Act, all meetings of the Ridgewood Planning Board (i.e., official public meetings, work sessions, pre-meeting assemblies and special meetings) are public meetings, which are always open to members of the general public.
Members: Mayor Paul Aronsohn, Nancy Bigos, Councilwoman Susan Knudsen, Charles Nalbantian, Richard Joel, Kevin Reilly, Wendy Dockray, Michele Peters, David Thurston, Isabella Altano, Khidir Abdalla
Professional Staff: Blais L. Brancheau, Planner; Gail L. Price, Esq., Board Attorney; Christopher J. Rutishauser, Village Engineer; Michael Cafarelli, Board Secretary
Financial Advisory Committee – October 13 Meeting Cancelled
The Financial Advisory Committee (FAC) holds its meetings the second Monday of each month. The October 13th Meeting is cancelled due to the holiday on that date. The November Meeting is scheduled for Monday, November 10th.
Valley conveys a clear message to the Village of Ridgewood ” they want what they want
feel that the lawsuit of Valley conveys a clear message to the Village of Ridgewood ” they want what they want” and will use their power and money to get it. The residents of this town have been go to meetings and spending their valuable time and money for 8 years.
Valley has presented their plans twice to the Village and they were both rejected. The process was followed and people presented their views for 8 years about how they have felt about this expansion. It has been 8 years of peoples time!! Enough is enough. Valley has not made much of a compromise on their site plans. And as a result, it has been voted against both times because at the end of the day the hospitals proposal is too BIG for this site surrounded by residential homes and a school.
For those who are claiming people do not want it in their backyard I ask you to take a good look at the Valley plans because I do not think you would want it in yours either!! If your neighbor wanted to rebuild their home to be double its current size and it was going to take years of construction, I think you would be against it as well. If I wanted to double the size of my house on my property, I would be told my lot is too small for the site and to come up with a plan that works in the space or find a new space.
This Valley renewal is not a expansion. Look at the plans… it is a rebuild of a hospital. Can anyone really say that a 94 foot building belongs in the middle of a residential area? It does not fit in the space. People seem to forget that the houses surrounding the hospital were here before the hospital! The hospital was built in a residential area. I truly believe that the people against the expansion are not against the hospital updating but this plan is ridiculous. 10 years of construction and more than doubling it current size! If Valley really cared about Ridgewood and its neighbors they would have come up for alternative plan to address the size of the buildings and set backs from the homes. It is sad that this will never be over until Valley gets their way!
