The state takeover of Atlantic City is only an Assembly vote away, with Governor Chris Christie saying that he will veto any version of the bill and its accompanying PILOT agreement for the city’s casinos that differ from the versions passed in the Senate. Assemblyman Ralph Caputo (D-28) has been the most vocal of the PILOT bill’s last-minute Senate amendment allowing casinos to opt out of the PILOT program if casino gaming expands into North Jersey. JT Aregood, PolitickerNJ Read more
March 31,2016
Ridgewood NJ, Village Council Candidate Ramon Hache shared some of thoughts on the Valley Hospital Expansion issue. Ramon said,” I would be willing to work with Valley on a moderate expansion. I understand the needs of Valley Hospital have changed significantly. But the current expansion plan is way too aggressive:
Size from 400k square feet to 1.4mm sq feet
Height from 48′ to 80′
The setbacks are reduced significantly, within 30 feet from the property line, which would make the new structure appear even larger, dwarfing the surrounding residences. I cannot support it. It is too large and not consistent with the character of our village. I also cannot support all of the phases of construction happening all at once. Proceeding with all phases of construction simultaneously is inconsiderate to the nearby residents. I am also concerned by the traffic safety issues for the kids at BF.
I was hoping that the negotiations with Valley would have yielded a greater mutual compromise.”
March 31,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Council Candidate Jeff Voigt shared his thoughts on the “Whispering Woods hearing” last night . According to Jeff , “It was disappointing not many people showed up to the Whispering Woods hearing. This is a huge issue for our Village – with the hospital and its environs effectively doubling in size. My guess is that many people think this is a fait accompli and that Valley will get what they want. It is not. I also think many of the Villagers are likely tired of having to address one huge issue after another in our Village – parking, high density and now this. This is very draining. It was however, nice to see those Villagers who have spent a significant amount of time on this at the meeting – most importantly Pete McKenna for the Concerned Citizens of Ridgewood and Megan Fraser from Valley Hospital.”
Jeff continued , “If I was a betting man, my guess is that the planning board more than likely will vote in favor of the mediated agreement. It will then become a draft ordinance which the Village council votes on. Again there will be more hearings on this at the Council level. If this draft ordinance is heard/evaluated by the current council, Albert Pucciarelli (one of the council members) has recused himself – leaving only 4 council members to vote. Conceivably, this could result in a 2-2 vote. My understanding is that a 2-2 tie means the ordinance would not pass. We are therefore back to where we started with Valley possibly continuing with its lawsuit. Another possible scenario is that the evaluation of the draft ordinance does not occur until the new council comes in, in July. My guess is that if the NJ Supreme Court judge who mediated this, understands the 2-2 conundrum, she will request it goes before the new council – so that a majority would result. My thought/suggestion is that we need an educated community on this issue to help provide insights/inputs to the existing and 3 new council members. Therefore it would be great if more of the Villagers could attend to present their comments and understand this. Personally I am going to be at every one of these hearings in order to talk with others, listen and understand the issues, and ultimately figure out how best to move forward for the Village.”
the Ridgewood also asked Jeff about Councilwomen Gwen Hauck perceived conflict of interest with Valley Hospital Jeff said , “My guess is the Gwen’s conflict of interest (even though I think there is one) ultimately will not matter in this.” Jeff then emphasized, ” I may have mentioned this to you previously, as it relates to my tenure with the Zoning board, if there is even a “whiff” of a conflict of interest, the board member will recuse themselves. A perfect example of this is when our Chairman, Joel Torielli, recused himself a couple of years ago from one applicant hearing because his children and the applicant’s had several play dates – even though he did not know the applicant. Additionally even if we live within a certain radius of an applicant and; we do not know them, we recuse ourselves (I have done this). It just seems to me that the Council should be setting the example on how best to govern – and not have a “lesser” board showing the Council how to do so.”
PLANNING BOARD SPECIAL PUBLIC MEETINGS – VALLEY HOSPITAL
Planning Board Amendent to Meeting Schedule – Special Public Meetings – March 30, 31 and April 4,5,7
For complete details for the meeting schedule – Click Here
H Zone Proposed 2016 Master Plan – Click Here for Document
H Zone Proposed 2016 Master Plan –Click Here for Redline Document
Please view this video message from VC candidate Jeff Voigt and come out for the Valley Hospital Settlement hearings.
-Tonight at 7:30pm; Village Hall courtroom
· Thursday, March 31, 2016; 7:30pm, Student Center Ridgewood High School
· Monday, April 4, 2016; Village Hall Courtroom
· Tuesday, April 5, 2016; Village Hall Courtroom
· Thursday, April 7, 2016; Student Center Ridgewood High School
For more information or how to get involved please email No2ValleySettlement@gmail.com or visit www.https://stop94.com/
the staff of the Rjidgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Look in the sky its a bird no its a plane and the new flight path to Teterboro Airport, intended to reduce noise around Hackensack University Medical Center, could take jets over Valley Hospital and Benjamin Franklin Middle School in Ridgewood . This according to a map of the new flight procedure published by a navigational aid company ahead of a six-month trial of the route, which is due to begin on Monday.
The Bergen Record is reporting that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has emphasized that its new they call it the “quiet visual” approach for Teterboro Airport shifts aircraft west of their current route to track Route 17 south from Mahwah to Rochelle Park. The idea is to minimize noise pollution by keeping aircraft over or close to the highway, itself a source of noise.
But the new flight procedure, published by Jeppesen, a Boeing company, shows that a significant portion of the approach takes pilots west of Route 17, particularly between Waldwick and Paramus.
The new flight path according to Jeppesen’s chart has jets approaching Teterboro dropping to a minimum of 3,000 feet around Mahwah, passing over Mahwah and Ramsey high schools. The next descend brings flights to about 2,000 feet, as they approach Julia A Traphagen Elementary School in Waldwick. Then planes would continue south, passing Ho-Ho-Kus Elementary School and, in Ridgewood, Benjamin Franklin Middle School and The Valley Hospital.
As flights continue over Paramus, jets will fly over Stony Lane School and Midland Elementary School as well as close by Bergen Community College, before coming in to land over the top of IKEA and the Westfield Garden State Plaza, while staying more than 1 mile west of Hackensack University Medical Center.
March 30,2016
Linda McNamara
Ridgewood Nj, We are talking about 10 years of construction at one of the busiest intersections in Ridgewood. Most hospitals don’t build next to schools. Homes were there before Valley.
We like having a hospital in town but like everyone else, it needs to conform and we should demand that they abide by the current Master Plan. Valley is looking to become a noted regional facility. They can do it but not all of it at the current site. They have purchased many properties in the surrounding area.
Most of us prefer going to satellite locations for many of our medical needs. valley sued Ridgewood for “arbitrary and capricious” deliberstions. The town held numerous forums and the Planning Board voted 5-2 against the expansion plan. They keep coming back because they have tons of money and paying lawyers poses no difficulties. We need a strong defense and I am not sure the powers that be are up to the task.
March 27,2016
Dana Glazer
Ridgewood NJ, As a follow up to yesterday’s Valley Hospital video: please read and share p.31 from the American Lung Association’s State of the Air address to better understand the potential respiratory impact on BF students, as well as nearby residents, who will be subjected to such a prolonged construction of Valley Hospital’s expansion.
EPA Concludes Fine Particle Pollution Poses Serious
Health Threats
■■ Causes early death (both short-term and long-term exposure)
■■ Causes cardiovascular harm (e.g. heart attacks, strokes, heart
disease, congestive heart failure)
■■ Likely to cause respiratory harm (e.g. worsened asthma, wors-
ened COPD, inflammation)
■■ May cause cancer
■■ May cause reproductive and developmental harm
—U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Integrated
Matter, December 2009. EPA 600/R-08/139F.
Here is the full document: https://www.stateoftheair.org/…/ALA_State_of_the_Air_2015.pdf
Lastly, “The Whispering Woods” public hearings on the Valley Settlement are to take place at the following locations:
· Wednesday, March 30, 2016; 7:30pm; Village Hall courtroom
· Thursday, March 31, 2016; 7:30pm, Student Center Ridgewood High School
· Monday, April 4, 2016; Village Hall Courtroom
· Tuesday, April 5, 2016; Village Hall Courtroom
· Thursday, April 7, 2016; Student Center Ridgewood High School
For more information or how to get involved please email No2ValleySettlement@gmail.com or visit www.https://stop94.com/
PLANNING BOARD SPECIAL PUBLIC MEETINGS – VALLEY HOSPITAL
Planning Board Amendent to Meeting Schedule – Special Public Meetings – March 30, 31 and April 4,5,7
For complete details for the meeting schedule – Click Here
March 26,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood
Ridgewood NJ, Resident Dana H. Glazer a video on the the Valley ‘Settlement.’ For more information about the Valley Hospital settlement, please email: No2ValleySettlement@gmail.com . Please attend the following Public Hearings:
BY MARY DIDUCH AND LINDY WASHBURN
STAFF WRITERS |
THE RECORD
Both Teaneck and Englewood are challenging the tax-exempt status of their local hospitals, joining a growing list of municipalities who want non-profit hospitals to pay property taxes.
The councils of the two municipalities voted to file tax appeals against Englewood Hospital and Medical Center and Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck. Of 62 non-profit hospitals in the state, 17 others now face similar lawsuits.
BY MARY DIDUCH AND LINDY WASHBURN
STAFF WRITERS |
THE RECORD
Teaneck’s township council voted Tuesday to file suit against Holy Name Medical Center’s exemption from local property taxes, as municipal governments around the state take aim at non-profit hospitals for potential tax revenues.
The council voted, 5-1, to authorize the action after two Holy Name executives spoke against the resolution.
“We can avoid all those legal expenses,” said Ryan Kennedy, the hospital’s chief financial officer, appealing to the council to work with the hospital to find a solution.
“It’s a silly route to go,” Michael Maron, the hospital’s president and CEO, said before the meeting. “We’ve had a reasonable relationship over the course of time. We should sit down and talk.” Once a tax appeal is filed, both sides have to hire lawyers and litigation takes years.
The town should wait and negotiate with the hospital, he said. “Worst case scenario, another year goes by,” he said. “Is that the end of the world?”
“We support the town, and we’re willing to consider supporting the town even more,” he said.
Emboldened by a recent state tax court decision, the council took action to “preserve its rights” to potential tax revenues as an Apr. 1 deadline for 2016 tax appeals looms.
Under the current tax rate, if Holy Name’s entire 20-acre property were to be taxed, the liability would be about $2 million. But Maron said the hospital already pays taxes on various smaller properties it owns. It provides free flu vaccines to borough employees, supplies to the ambulance corps, and funds to support special township initiatives, he said.
Ridgewood NJ, A reader says that , “Valley has utilized deplorable tactics in its fight against Ridgewood to expand – and those tactics have failed miserably. Their “all or nothing” expansion plan hasn’t even broken ground yet and Hackensack has already beaten them. Valley spent all of this time fighting a rag-tag bunch of community activists and still haven’t prevailed despite having millions of dollars to spend on the fight and 2 insiders on the Village Council. They may ultimately get their way with Ridgewood but it will be far too little and way too late. A Hackensack takeover would be better for Ridgewood if it meant getting rid of the current Valley leadership team.”
But some praised the Hospitals financial IQ , “On an executive level, Valley is well run and very strong financially. A lot of that is due to Ms Meyers. The way they celebrated victory before the dust settled implied that there was an inside track to get this done. That was evident when she showed up at one meeting at the 11th hour in a panic. Fortunately they also fell under the svengali like influence of PR hacks who figured the village for a bunch of sheeple who would roll over. Remember the ads and the “poll” results? That tone-deafness is a characteristic of many successful executives in all fields of operations. Arrogant and tone deaf? absolutely. But that does not take away from the hospital’s successful track record.”
Guardian Asks for Assembly Support for PILOT Bill
Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian spoke at Monday’s meeting of the Assembly Budget Committee in Trenton to voice his opposition to the state takeover effort. The Assembly will be the determining factor now that the takeover package from Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-3) has cleared the Senate. Assembly Speaker Vince Prieto (D-32) has said that he objects to allowing the state broad powers in altering collective bargaining agreements and may not put the bill to a vote. JT Aregood, PolitickerNJ Read more
Lets face it the Valley expansion like it or not has wasted a huge amount of time for the hospital while its competitors have better positioned themselves through strategic acquisitions . Valley has floundered in self indulgent arrogance and still has not been able to expand in Ridgewood . Audrey Meyers strategy of “my way or no way” has so far failed to make head way in the Village . While other major project like NJ Transit’s massive renovation on the Ridgewood Train station , trestle and elevated tracks is just a distant memory Audrey has made little to no head way despite devastation public relations reversals .
March 21,2016
What is the ‘Pac-Man Defense’ ;The Pac-Man defense is a defensive tactic used by a targeted firm in a hostile takeover situation. In a Pac-Man defense, the target firm turns around and tries to acquire the other company that has made the hostile takeover attempt. This term has been accredited to Bruce Wasserstein, chairman of Wasserstein & Co.Read more: Pac-Man Defense Definition | Investopedia https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/pac-man-defense.asp#ixzz43TAEGdAC
As The Valley Hospital has struggled for years to expand its campus in Ridgewood, it has been quietly buying real estate in Bergen County, assembling a portfolio that includes a string of properties on North Maple Avenue in Ridgewood and the building that houses the New Jersey Children’s Museum in Paramus.
Over the past two years, the hospital, in some cases through holding companies, has spent at least $54 million to acquire roughly a half-dozen sites in the village and neighboring Paramus as potential future locations for doctors’ offices, along with outpatient and other services that would be moved from its main campus. Some of these newly acquired properties are already operating as off-site hospital facilities.
But the hospital’s plans for some of its other new properties remain unclear, and Valley’s real estate shopping doesn’t appear to be over. Recently, it has been in talks to purchase buildings that the global parcel deliverer UPS will be vacating on Winters Avenue in Paramus, as reported by The Record. If that deal closes, it would add another property to a medical-services cluster that the hospital has been creating in Paramus, near the Fashion Center mall.
Valley’s push to expand comes on the heels of a bitter, losing battle in which it joined with Englewood Hospital and Medical Center to keep Hackensack University Medical Center from opening the former Pascack Valley Hospital in Westwood. Now, Valley, Englewood and Hackensack are fiercely competing for the aging and affluent Bergen County population, offering hotel-like amenities combined with top-notch expertise and technology in a rapidly changing health care terrain influenced by Obamacare.
The Valley Hospital, which has not commented on the UPS negotiations beyond saying it has not purchased the property, describes its recent real estate buys as “strategic property acquisitions to ensure its ability to develop outpatient and ambulatory programs and services needed by the community.”
Megan Fraser, the hospital’s vice president for communications and marketing, said in an email that the hospital will share its plans for properties it has acquired “as they are finalized.” She said plans may include a health and wellness center and new facilities for Valley Medical Group, a group of family and urgent-care centers with seven sites in North Jersey.
Among properties already being used by the hospital is Parkview Plaza, a three-story office building at 1200 E. Ridgewood Ave. — near the hospital’s main campus — where it is expanding its cardiac center. The building was purchased last November for $28 million
In 2012, the hospital paid $4.8 million for a building at 970 Linwood Ave. in Paramus that in one section currently houses a regional blood center that will be moving out in March. Valley has established a research program there, in what is now the Bolger Medical Arts Building.
Moving outpatient services off campus to reduce traffic to and from the hospital was among the promises Valley made to village residents during contentious expansion hearings that date back to 2002. Valley has been trying nearly to double the square footage on its main campus, nestled on North Van Dien Avenue in the middle of a residential neighborhood. Its first proposal was rejected by the Ridgewood Village Council and a slightly scaled-back project totaling 995,000 square feet has been before the Village Planning Board almost a year. https://www.northjersey.com/news/valley-hospital-buying-up-string-of-properties-near-its-ridgewood-site-1.671045
Valley is looking to bulk up on assents making any unsolicited take over bid of the hospital by local competitors too expensive.
Rumors have been floated in the past of a imminent take over attempt by Hackensack University Medical Center but so far have never materialized.
