Dear Mayor, Council Members, Village Manager and Village Attorney,
Last night’s meeting was upsetting to watch but also violated many aspects of Roberts Rules of Order. The purpose of these guidelines is to provide ” for fair and orderly meetings and conventions”. A point of order can be used amongst many other things to call attention to” infraction of the rules or improper decorum in speaking”.
The Mayor had to listen to old charges of supposed misconduct by members of the public as well as a council member. She had every right to defend herself and to ask the village attorney to state the chain of events and facts. To have a point of order called in the middle of Ms. Knudsen’s response to Mr. Lehman which on his part was an attack ( speaking directly to a council member in a personal and accusatory manner and also not allowed) seemed an attempt to silence and/or curtail the mayor’s right to speak on her behalf. Fortunately, she was not silenced.
I would also like to add that according to Roberts Rules ” the agenda and all committee reports are merely recommendations” and liaisons to committees are to report back to the governing body and do not have independent powers.
Mr. Voigt’s continued stance that the mayor had done something illegal after this allegation was addressed by Mr. Rogers back in November has taken away from all the positives that have been accomplished by the current council. I don’t understand it but I do know it is not in the town’s best interest and it is not the way to treat a colleague.
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE : THURSDAY JANUARY 5TH to FRIDAY MORNING JANUARY 6th.THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHERN
CONNECTICUT…NORTHEAST NEW JERSEY AND SOUTHEAST NEW YORK.
.DAY ONE…THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT.
UP TO 2 INCHES OF SNOW IS POSSIBLE LATE TONIGHT, WITH A POSSIBLE
IMPACT TO THE FRIDAY MORNING COMMUTE.
.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN…FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY.
NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME THAT WOULD MEET
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WARNING CRITERIA.
THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK PROVIDES A SUMMARY OF POTENTIAL
WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER EVENTS THAT MAY REACH NWS WARNING
CRITERIA. MOST LONG FUSED NWS WATCHES…WARNINGS AND ADVISORIES IN
EFFECT ARE HIGHLIGHTED.
Ridgewood Nj, Girls Lacrosse Coach Karla Mixon received the William Corcoran Service to Youth Award at the 51st Annual Greater Bergen County YMCA Sports Award Banquet held in November. Karla is pictured here with YMCA CEO Glenn MacAfee. Karla teaches science at BFMS.
If the her name sounds familiar Ridgewood girls lacrosse was named state Team of the Year and Karla Mixon was named state Coach of the Year for 2011 by the Star-Ledger.
Ridgewood NJ, Bergen Record posts a misleading article on the Ridgewood Board of Education. The article claims in the article, New year, new leadership on Ridgewood BOE https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/bergen/ridgewood/2017/01/03/new-year-new-leadership-ridgewood-boe/96111336/, The puff piece claims , “The new year brought significant change to the Ridgewood Board of Education.” , significant changes when board members run unopposed and have run unopposed for several terms. Does anyone remember a Ridgewood BOE without Shiela Brogan? While this is not to pass judgment on the quality or competence of the Ridgewood BOE members there clearly is NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGE in the Ridgewood BOE nor has there been for years.
According to the BOE eblast , James A. Morgan and Jeanette S. Wilson were sworn in as Board members and Vincent Loncto was nominated and elected Board President. James Morgan and Jennie Smith Wilson were nominated for Vice President; James Morgan was elected.
The next Regular Public Meeting of the Ridgewood Board of Education will be held on Monday, January 23, 2017 at the Education Center, 49 Cottage Place, Floor 3 at 7:30 p.m. The meeting will be aired live on television, FiOS channel 33 and Optimum channel 77, and streamed via the “Link in Live” tab on the district website at www.ridgewood.k12.nj.us. Meeting webcasts are generally posted to the district website within 48 hours.
2017 Supplemental School Tax Billing – As per the Village residents’ November 2016 affirmative vote to approve a permanent $929,800 school tax Levy increase to support a full day kindergarten program for the school district, supplemental tax bills are required to reflect this increase. Questions can be directed to Dr. Alfredo Aguilar, the school district’s Business Manager at [email protected]
or 201/670-2700 x10503.
Both the supplemental school tax bills and the current tax bills are due on February 1st & May 1st 2017.
Groundhog Day, with apologies to Bill Murray
January 5,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, At the January 4 Village Council Work Session, members of the public who attended, and those who watched from the comfort of their homes, were treated to a real groundhog-day experience. You remember that movie, where the same thing happens over and over and over. And if you missed it, you can always watch it on youtube from the village website, watch it over and over and over.
For example:
1. Although he has known since November that Mayor Knudsen did not violate the Faulkner Act, Councilman Voigt went after her publicly AGAIN. He did it twice in December, and now he did it again. Three times he has publicly accused the Mayor of illegal action after knowing that she did not break any law. Three times. This time he spiced it up by having a member of the public “innocently” lob a question about the alleged violation…….which then enabled Councilman Voigt to read (yes read) a lengthy (very lengthy) sermon that he had typed and prepared for just this moment. Interestingly, but not surprisingly, Councilman Voigt did NOT address the question about how Mayor Knudsen allegedly broke the law (because she did NOT break any law). Instead he sang the praises of the Financial Advisory Committee and various members and all that they have accomplished. Matt Rogers explained that he had given a legal opinion that no law was broken, no violation of the Faulkner Act occurred…..and he clarified that Councilman Voigt knew this in November. Jeff flippantly said something along the lines of Matt Rogers’ legal opinion being exactly that, just an opinion. Come on Jeff, do you think if you keep throwing this lie around it will eventually stick? Guess what Jeff, it is bouncing back and sticking all over you. You look ridiculous. Worse than ridiculous, you look sneaky, nasty, and downright evil. Mayor Knudsen, meanwhile, was the essence of grace, calm, and civility.
2. Rurik Halaby went to the microphone and accused the Mayor of evicting Roberta Sonenfeld from office, suggested that she violated the Open Public Meetings Act, and that she should be investigated for this. Again……groundhog day……again it had to be explained to Mr. Halaby by Matt Rogers that no laws were broken, that in fact a letter of resignation was received, and the procedure for accepting the resignation was correct. Sigh . . . . .
3. And Mr. Halaby continues to call Mayor Knudsen “Mayor Kah-nudsen.” It has been explained to him that the “K” is silent, he knows it full well, but apparently he thinks it is clever to be disrespectful in such a manner. And he still loves his little catch phrases like “pandering to your base” and “vocalantis,” really, over and over and over.
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A few new things happened, too. We learned that a motorcycle may be donated to our police force, a female firefighter’s hire will necessitate the construction of a women’s locker room at the firehouse, and Graydon Park annual passes will remain the same price (although day passes might go up). Bylaws for every board and committee will need to follow a standard format, will need to be synced with the resolution that created them in the first place, and will need to be approved by the Village Council. Some items that have the 1 and 2 recycle numbers can no longer be recycled – such as salad and bakery containers.
And we also learned that sometime last year Councilman Voigt asked a member of the public to have coffee. Over coffee, Mr. Voigt asked Mr. Saurabh Dani to come to a public meeting and ask specific questions so that Jeff could then have the entree to give scripted answers. Mr. Dani refused to play such an unethical game……but he spoke up about it tonight after witnessing the exact same scenario playing out between Jeff Voigt and Hans Lehmann. He also called for the resignation of Councilman Voigt.
We could hear someone shouting from the audience toward the end of the meeting, but not exactly what they were saying. He was shushed by the Mayor because he was out of order.
Wow, I wish I had gotten a babysitter tonight so I could have been there in person, but it was exciting enough from the comfort of my couch.
EDISON – New Jersey ranks No. 1 on the list of the most moved-from states in 2016, according to a study by the moving company United Van Lines released Tuesday.
It’s the fifth consecutive year the state ranks first.
The study found that 63 percent of moves in New Jersey were moves out of the state.
Ridgewood NJ, The Village pf Ridgewood Christmas tree pickup has begun on the west side this week. They will be on the east side next week, and will continue until they have collected all the trees. We are asking that residents get all Christmas trees to the curb by January 13th.
Ridgewood NJ, The Curriculum, Instruction & Assessment Department is again offering free presentations for parents and guardians throughout the 2016-2017 school year on the topic of children’s well-being. Next up on Tuesday, January 10 is “Just Talk About It: A Suicide Prevention Program” by the Minding Your Mind organization. This interactive program will be held at the George Washington Middle School Auditorium, from 7-9 p.m. Click here for more information on this program.Click here for the full list of programs in the series, which is co-sponsored by The Valley Hospital with support from The Foundation and the Home and School Associations.
“The Committee shall meet once per month and/or on an as-needed basis. Decisions shall be made by consensus and if necessary, by majority vote. The minutes for regular monthly meetings shall be kept, transcribed, and made available to the Village and Council and such other Village officials as the Village Manager shall direct. Public comment will be requested at the beginning of a meeting and will be capped at 3 minutes per person; public comment will not exceed 15 minutes”
Does this mean that we are not entitled to the agendas in advance and the minutes of the FAC Committee? Thet get to operate in secret?
If it weren’t for the guidance and extensive knowledge of Renee Steinhagen, Executive Director of NJ Appleseed, we would be dealing with a massive parking garage, encroaching halfway into Hudson Street, being funded, built and run by the BCIA. Renee and her staff gave us the tools we needed to defeat the massive garage proposals. They have extensive knowledge of referendum petitioning, and were incredibly supportive.
When asked to send to send a bill, Renee said she will not, but rather requested our group contribute to NJ Appleseed, so that they can continue their mission:
“New Jersey Appleseed Public Interest Law Center is a non-partisan, not-for-profit 501(c)(3) corporation. For over 10 years, we’ve striven to correct systemic problems that are at the root of injustice in our state.”
Ridgewood NJ, As I was leaving the Ridge School playground area with my grandchildren this morning, I noticed that the school’s large trash dumpster was overflowing with materials despite the school having been closed during the past week.
Upon closer examination, it became apparent that the materials dumped within were not generated by school employees – several empty liquor/wine boxes, household trash, a cardboard crate from an electric wine cooler, black plastic trash bags containing ?, and a box from a medical supply company.
So the question is: What individual and/or company is using the Ridge School dumpster (paid for by Ridgewood’s taxpayers) as their personal garbage disposal area, and are they dumping materials.
Has anyone who lives in the area of Ridge seen anyone backing a car or truck into the dumpster area recently?
Ridgewood NJ, Its that time again for the New Year’s resolutions, it is a tradition, most common in the Western Hemisphere but also found in the Eastern Hemisphere, in which a person resolves to change an undesired trait or behavior.So here are our final thoughts on resolutions for 2017.
In a 2009 article for the Wall Street Journal Jonah Lehrer said, Willpower, like a bicep, can only exert itself so long before it gives out; it’s an extremely limited mental resource.Given its limitations, New Year’s resolutions are exactly the wrong way to change our behavior. It makes no sense to try to quit smoking and lose weight at the same time, or to clean the apartment and give up wine in the same month. Instead, we should respect the feebleness of self-control, and spread our resolutions out over the entire year. Human routines are stubborn things, which helps explain why 88% of all resolutions end in failure, according to a 2007 survey of over 3,000 people conducted by the British psychologist Richard Wiseman. Bad habits are hard to break—and they’re impossible to break if we try to break them all at once.
I prefer a more measured approach simple small steps to improve your life, no big grand gestures just those little things that make life incrementally better. I also stay away from giving things up instead, I focus on replacements I dont need to lose weight, just eat better or exercise more.
I also remind myself that what happens on New Year’s Eve often follows you the whole year. So it is never good idea to over do anything like food or alcohol or lose your temper, or become impatient. It’s always best to go into the new year with a pocket full of money, a good cigar a job and little to no unfinished business or unresolved issues. Not an easy task in a complicated world but that’s what resolutions are for after all. Happy New Year to all!
Ridgewood Nj, Doug Bunza, a 22-year-old village resident who set up a go fund me page to help when his favorite Pizza place La Bella Pizza when it burned down. Doug’s actions inspired us to call for 2017 to be the year of the neighbor and a return to neighborliness.
While disagreements and passion are sure to remain strong in the Village we hope 2017 will usher in a new found respect to neighborliness. A simple smile and a “good morning” at the train station are all it would take. Ridgewood like most of the USA suffers often from a disease know as “the rules only apply to everyone else” syndrome. This “holier than thou” attitude has brought public discourse to a close. So for 2017 let’s all try to treat people with respect, the same respect we all feel we are entitled too, however you can be sure there are those in town who will continue to feel smug in their own superiorness and for them the Ridgewood blog will be here to remind them that manners are not an option but a necessity in a civilized society.
Ridgewood Nj, while consumer confidence set a 13 high , Ridgewood blog readers remain cautious with their spending.In the latest Ridgewood blog poll only 16.2% of respondents said they would spend more than last year . While 37.8% said they would spend the same and a whopping 45.9% said they would spend more . Will You Be Spending More of Less Money For the Holidays this year? More 16.2 % Less 45.9 % Same 37.8 %
