Reader says the Council Only Loves Free Speech when you agree with them
Oh, this is hilarious. Je suis Paulie, Je suis Pooch, Je suis the Hawk. Yeah, they all advocate free speech unless the person at the microphone is saying something they do not want to hear. Then that person is interrupted or yelled at or given the brush off. Remember the woman who was so determined about Graydon and they started screaming at her? Remember when the hotheaded DM went nuts on Ellie Gruber? You are not allowed to ask any direct questions of any member of the council, yep this is free speech.
Je suis Paulie. Whoever coined that deserves and award.<br
Village of Ridgewood 2015 Meeting Schedule What ,Where and When
Parking Changes in Ridgewood – January 1, 2015
Effective January 1, 2015 there will be Parking Changes in Ridgewood – including metered street and lot parking; Ridgewood Parking Permits and Central Business District Employee Parking.
Click Here
We are making a major effort to share this important information with all who park in Ridgewood on a regular basis. Please share these facts with your friends, neighbors and co-workers. ***Parking Program DETAILS can be found by clicking the PARKING button section at the top of the Ridgewood Homepage
01/06/15 7:30PM Planning Board Public Meeting 01/07/15 7:30PM Village Council Public Work Session 01/13/15 7:30PM Board of Adjustment Public Meeting 01/14/15 8:00PM Village Council Public Meeting 01/20/15 7:30PM Planning Board Pubblic Meeting 01/27/15 7:30PM Board of Adjustment Work Session 01/28/15 7:30PM Village Council Public Work Session
Planning Board Meetings – January 6, 13, 29, 2015
PLANNING BOARD
AMENDMENT TO MEETING SCHEDULE
Special Public Meeting: January 6, 2015, January 13, 2015, January 29, 2015
Change of Date and Location
In accordance with the provisions of the “Open Public Meetings Act,” please be advised that the Planning Board has scheduled a special public meeting and work session for:
• TUESDAY, JANUARY 6, 2015, in the RIDGEWOOD HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT CENTER, 627 E. RIDGEWOOD AVENUE, RIDGEWOOD, NJ beginning AT 7:30 p.m.
• TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2015, in the RIDGEWOOD HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT CENTER, 627 E. RIDGEWOOD AVENUE, RIDGEWOOD, NJ beginning AT 7:30 p.m.
• THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 2015, in the RIDGEWOOD HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT CENTER, 627 E. RIDGEWOOD AVENUE, RIDGEWOOD, NJ beginning AT 7:30 p.m.
The Board may take official action during this Special Public Meeting at which time the Board will continue the public hearing concerning a proposed amendment to the Land Use Plan Element of the Master Plan which would recommend changes in zone district classifications and boundaries within the Central Business District and surrounding area, creating the AH-2, B-3-R, and C-R Zone Districts and amending the existing C Zone District.
All meetings of the Ridgewood Planning Board (i.e., official public meetings, work session meetings, pre-meeting assemblies and special meetings) are public meetings which are always open to members of the general public.
Civility Roundtable – January 20th – All are Welcome!
Mayor Paul Aronsohn will be holding a Roundtable meeting to discuss related to more civility in our public discourse. The meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 20th at 7:30pm in the Senior Lounge at Village Hall.
Rev. Jan Phillips will lead the discussion. We will drill down on ways to take the civility conversation forward.
Readers look to rename Village as council sells out to developers
Absolutely dead on regarding the Village ( https://theridgewoodblog.net/ridgewood-will-pay-the-price-if-zoning-changes-are-approved/ ) — our so-called planner sat on the witness stand dithering about how the “devil is in the details” but how conceptually this is great for some undefined state goals about putting housing on rail road tracks. Its appalling and pathetic that we have a council in place that will allow the Village’s demise.
Perhaps we should have contest for the new name of the Village once our master plan is ditched because council members don’t have the back bone to stand up to the developers, or they are being guided by their own self-interest to sell out the Village.
01/06/15 7:30PM Planning Board Public Meeting 01/07/15 7:30PM Village Council Public Work Session 01/13/15 7:30PM Board of Adjustment Public Meeting 01/14/15 8:00PM Village Council Public Meeting 01/20/15 7:30PM Planning Board Public Meeting 01/27/15 7:30PM Board of Adjustment Work Session 01/28/15 7:30PM Village Council Public Work Session
Reader says Please post on the blog blaming anyone who has displeasured me
Alert Alert Alert. This is a message from you leader to all my apologist and reelect committee members.
It seems that some poster on The Ridgewood Bog are not as stupid as we had anticipated and are starting to catch on to what I and my colleagues are doing. Therefor I am asking you to use a tried and true method to distract them . This method has be used by our President many times with success. Please post on the blog blaming anyone who has displeasured me . You know who they are. If you are not sure just review the Council tapes. If all else fail I will contact THE END. I will follow this up with a robo call . You should alway use the term “Moving Forward” unless you want to go back and blame someone .
Reader says The Mike Sedon incident casts a long dark shadow over the august council chambers
The Mike Sedon incident casts a long dark shadow over the august council chambers. Civil behavior will not make it go away.
I am still wondering who wrote the letter or email to Mike Sedon’s former employer saying Mike shouldn’t be allowed to run for Ridgewood council because he is news reporter in Staten Island.
I am sure it wasn’t his wife or mother. That was an uncivil act if I ever saw one. But wait, are we talking about courtesy and politeness only, the veneer of civility. Because in the dictionary that’s what civility means, acting polite and courteous. Or are we talking about ethical and moral behavior too.
DECEMBER 5, 2014 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2014, 12:31 AM
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
To the Editor:
On Nov. 24, the mayor held a meeting on civility. It appears that attendance was by invitation only, but because we are a small village, the word got out rather quickly. I wonder what the true purpose of this meeting was.
It seems the first thing that one would do if there was a perceived problem is to hold a public meeting so that all interested parties could attend and that all our council members would be included. Transparency is at the heart of all public discourse. If conduct at sporting events is an issue, then where were all the participants? As long as I have lived, there has always been an occasional out-of-control parent and/or coach, but I don’t see it as a new issue or one particular to Ridgewood.
To another point, I have attended and ran many meetings and hardly ever has civility been a problem. Where I have seen a breakdown of civility is at the council level, when at the dais personal attacks have been directed at other council members. We have guidelines to prevent this, Robert’s Rules of Order and the Open Public Meetings Act, but they were not always followed, and some meetings became very contentious.
Also, as a citizen coming to the microphone, it is an intimidating experience. It is very difficult to express a contrary opinion in such a setting. On rare occasions, a speaker may get personal, but the chairperson can properly silence that with a reminder of meeting protocol. But how do we stop it when it is coming the other way?
Last, while I have never observed a lack of civility at the Board of Education meetings, I believe its policy of not responding in any way to speakers at the microphone is incredibly rude. As one speaker recently said, it is like talking in a vacuum and the silence is deafening.
We elect our council and board members. We believe in a representative government. Public meetings need to be open and inclusive. As tax-paying residents of the village, we need to feel that are voices are being heard. Respectful behavior goes both ways.
December 1, 2014 Last updated: Monday, December 1, 2014, 10:44 AM
By Jodi Weinberger
Staff Writer |
The Ridgewood New
The village’s Complete Streets policy and the wishes of Clinton Avenue residents are at odds.
Last month, the Citizens Safety Advisory Committee (CSAC) recommended that the village not install sidewalks on Clinton Avenue. Police and the village engineer, however, expressed concerns with the recommendation.
The council decided to pull its vote on the decision from the Nov. 12 agenda, which would have determined whether to include sidewalks with a project to repave the road in 2015.
The council instead decided to send the issue back to CSAC for further study because not installing sidewalks would be at odds with the village’s Complete Streets policy, said Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld.
Currently, Clinton Avenue is one of three village roadways adjacent to a school that is partially closed during school hours to accommodate the influx of students.
Reader says the Council is uncivil and obnoxious as ever
Great photo! That is at the Jul 1 reorg meeting.m Lorraine Reynolds is at the podium asking them in very strong terms to make Susan Knudsen the Deputy Mayor, per a long standing tradition that the highest vote getter have this position. Nope, no way. They did not even respond to Lorraine, and of course the Deputy Ego went on to maintain his title with a scratchy unintelligible vote skyped in from a safari with the duke. The people had spoken loudly, they wanted Sedon and Knudsen. And our elected morons ignored us swiftly.
The choice of photo is ironic, it is the Council being as uncivil and obnoxious as ever.
Reader says Mr. Aronsohn’s, Mr. Pucciarelli’s and Mrs. Hauck’s continue to behave as though “rules are for others”.
This is only the latest example of Mr. Aronsohn’s, Mr. Pucciarelli’s and Mrs. Hauck’s behaving as though “rules are for others”. They all accepted free tickets to Gov. Christie’s fundraiser from Mr. Saraceno in violation of the Council’s own gift acceptance policy. The 3 have also been caught meeting with developers in violation of the Sunshine Laws. Twice. Mrs. Hauck was allowed to cast her vote for Mayor from vacation but Mrs. Knudson was not able to vote remotely on another issue.
Just ask Mr. Richie, who these 3 tarred and feathered over the “perception of a conflict” when Mrs. Hauck publicly advocates for Valley Hospital’s expansion. Just ask our former Village Manager who was publicly ridiculed and dismissed over what these 3 considered to be his failure to follow the rules.
Never have I seen such blatant double standards. None of these 3 would ever have a shot at maintaining standards to which they hold their critics
In response to concerns voiced by several residents regarding Village Council members’ adherence to provisions of the Open Public Meetings Act, the council unanimously adopted Resolution 13-87, “Village Council Meetings and Communications Protocol,” in April of 2013. This document, which was developed by the council with the very best of intentions, is a list of “dos and don’ts” for the five elected council members to follow when discussing, investigating, or preparing for deliberation of municipal business.
Item No. 4 in this list reads as follows: “Telephonic or electronic communication between or among Council members or between a Council member and a member of the public during public meetings is prohibited.” In the 2013 public work sessions at which this document was edited, the clause prohibiting contact with members of the public was specifically inserted.
At both the Oct. 22 and Nov. 5, 2014, Village Council meetings, it was revealed that some members have their telephones and/or tablets on during meetings, and receive and reply to messages from family members. Resolution 13-87.4 does not allow for any exceptions to the prohibition, and family members are certainly members of the public. Both Mayor Aronsohn and Deputy Mayor Pucciarelli have clearly indicated that they have no problem breaking this rule in order to communicate with their families. As one resident stated on Nov. 5, this does not meet the high standards they set for themselves.
Our Village Council members put in long hours conducting business for Ridgewood, so one can imagine their temptation to be in touch with family during an evening meeting. Unfortunately, when their own rule is being broken, with private communications occurring during public meetings, members of the community are left with no way of knowing whether electronic exchanges might be taking place regarding substantive matters on the council agenda. If such interactions were to take place, this would seem to contradict the principles of the Open Public Meetings Act.
It is my hope that, moving forward, the Village Council will start following this document to the letter of their own law. Having telephones and tablets turned off and out of reach during these public meetings would completely eliminate any hint of impropriety.
Clinton Avenue update – Council postpones formal vote on sidewalks November 13,2014 Boyd A. Loving 10:11 PM
Ridgewood NJ, The Ridgewood Village Council postponed their formal vote on authorizing the resurfacing of Clinton Avenue, which was scheduled to take place at Wednesday’s (11/12) Public Meeting. The resurfacing plan scheduled for vote excluded the installation of sidewalks. Sidewalk installation was strongly recommended by the Village’s police and engineering departments, however property owners on Clinton have vehemently opposed their installation.
Two (2) Clinton Avenue residents spoke during Wednesday evening’s meeting. Both expressed concerns over drops in property values and increased traffic/parking that would likely accompany installation of sidewalks. One (1) resident stated that in her opinion, the street is much safer without sidewalks, despite the fact that groups of children walking to and from the nearby Ridge Elementary School must now walk in the street there (Clinton is closed, by local ordinance, to through traffic on school days between 8 AM and 3:45 PM – portable “Do Not Enter” signs are placed at both ends of the street to discourage through traffic flow).
Mayor Paul Aronsohn stated that the Council was postponing their formal vote because Councilwoman Susan Knudsen was absent during the Work Session at which the plan was discussed, and the issue wasn’t time sensitive. Councilwoman Knudsen said she wanted a further review of the situation by Citizens Safety Advisory Committee members as well as additional input from members of the Village’s professional staff.
No date was established for the rescheduled formal vote.
“I can assure you that this Council takes safety very seriously . . . “*
November 10,2014
Ridgewood NJ, Well why then Mr. Mayor would you and your fellow Council members vote to approve a plan to resurface Clinton Avenue that would require children to continue walking to and from the Ridge Elementary School in the middle of a street blocked only by two (2) portable “Do Not Enter” signs?
*Above quote by Ridgewood Mayor Paul Aronsohn on Wednesday, November 5, 2014 in response to a resident expressing disappointment with the Village Council’s decision to resurface Clinton Avenue without constructing sidewalks.
Habernickel horse barn renovation scrapped for now – prefab building maybe October 22,2014 Boyd A. Loving 12:45 AM
Ridgewood NJ, Based on the recommendation of Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld, Village Council members have seemingly nixed plans to undertake an expensive renovation of the Irene Habernickel Family Park’s horse barn. The renovation project was being considered to satisfy a need for permanent restrooms and shelter from inclement weather at the expansive park located on Hillcrest Road.
Sonenfeld suggested that a prefabricated restroom may be a less expensive alternative, with preliminary estimates in the $60K – $90K price range. A $60K grant may help offset costs.
Many of you may remember that the restroom project at Vets Field wound up costing taxpayers almost $400K, and those commodes were constructed in an existing building.
