We, at Village Hall, have been closely monitoring the weather forecasts over the last several days. While not definitive as yet, there does appear to be a growing consensus that we will experience a significant snow event from Saturday morning into Sundaymorning with accumulations between 4-8 inches. The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm watch.
It’s been a while since our last snow event, so I wanted to take this opportunity to not just assure you that we are on top of this, but also to provide some information that will help us work together to safely handle this event.
First of all, safety of our residents is the primary concern – so please stay off of the roads and drive only if absolutely necessary; this storm may not just be a snow event – there is a likelihood of high winds so blowing and drifting snow may be an issue.
To stay informed, please check our Village website (www.ridgewoodnj.net), our information phone number 201-444-1776, Channels 34 or 77…….. and if you are not already signed up for Emergency Notifications please do so on our website.
Residents should call 911 only for life threatening emergencies. Please call our Police Line (201-652-3900) to report downed power lines, trees, etc. Please call PSE&G directly(800-436-7734) to report loss of power.
Please keep fire hydrants free of debris and do not deposit snow into the streets. Additionally, vehicles should not be parked on the streets as it affects our ability to clear the street of snow. As a reminder, snow must be cleared off of the sidewalks within 24 hours of the storm’s end.
We are starting our brining operation (liquid solution of water and salt) today and will work through tomorrow to coat all of our streets. Depending upon the amount and texture of the snow as well as the temperature, brining can be an effective snow accumulation deterrent that also can reduce the amount of salt we apply and the amount of plowing we need to do.
Please be reminded that our snow removal is prioritized according to emergency routes, main roads, hills and Central Business District. After these areas are cleared, plowing begins on secondary roads. Please use caution when approaching Village vehicles that are salting and plowing.
Thanks to everyone for their cooperation and stay safe,
Roberta Sonenfeld
Village Manager
201-670-5500, ext. 203
Village Hall and The Stable will be closed on Monday, January 18, 2016 in observance of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. There will be no garbage or recycling pickup on that day, and the Recycling Center will also be closed. Village Hall and The Stable will reopen on Tuesday, January 19, 2016
Ridgewood NJ , A resident who recently spoke out at a Village Council meeting in opposition to a plan being promoted by the “Council majority” reported to me that within a few days of making those comments, a Village of Ridgewood employee visited his/her home, conducted an unannounced property maintenance inspection, and issued a summons to the resident.
Wondering if the timing of the inspection was in any way related to the comments he/she made at the recent Village Council meeting, or just a coincidence, the resident informally checked with several other people who had publicly voiced opposition to a “Council majority” plan and found, surprisingly, that a few others had also recently received summonses for property maintenance related issues.
The staff of The Ridgewood Blog wonders how many of you out there received a summons in connection with a property maintenance related issue shortly after speaking at a Village Council meeting?
We’d love to hear from you with as many specifics as you’d care to share.
Ridgewood NJ, For those of us who have lived many years in Ridgewood, we sit and wonder what has happened to the Village we once loved. The walls of the courtroom in Village hall are covered with the photos of those man and women who cared for the Village’s business. Some were great, some were good and some not so. To a great extent most of them thought only of their Village and guided Village government on a course set by those who came before them. They were selfless, caring and kind to the residents who duly elected them and place their trust in them. Today we have a sad situation where Paul, Al and Gwenn clearly are only interested in what THEY want and dismiss the concerns of residents as they would swat away a fly. They are self-serving, nasty, untruthful and full of venom for those who disagree with them. For those who have served with and around them and have disagreed with them, they attack, belittle and create personal and economic hardship. The walls in Village hall that will eventually hold their photos will be stained with their disgusting legacy. Many of those who voted for them now understand that they were taken in by their smooth talk and promises of a better Village. What they got was a Village with employee morale at its lowest, diminished services and a management staff who writes their own rules to fit their personal needs. Residents have always expected and deserve better. As does our country, Ridgewood needs and feels change coming. We will need to wipe the slate clean in the upcoming May election and rid the Village of this angry, nasty belittling trio and the minions they have surrounded themselves with.
RIDGEWOOD NJ ,Yesterday more than 500 PSE&G customers in the Village of Ridgewood lost power on Sunday due to an outage.
The outage was first reported by PSE&G at 11 a.m. The area effected was around Linwood Avenue and Oak Street . The Village website reported that
“Between 10 am & 12 pm there was a localized power outage that effected small areas by Linwood Ave. Village Hall was effected and lost communications for Website/Email. All system where back online by 2pm.”
Questions remain as to why the Village failed to use the emergency generators . The emergency generator would provide lights and some power to the computers. So why isn’t it used to supply the website ? If they are going to use the excuse that their e mail was down because of the power outage what would have happened if it were a real emergency ?
JANUARY 1, 2016 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, JANUARY 1, 2016, 12:31 AM
BY MATTHEW SCHNEIDER
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
The village will launch a redesigned website to go along with the New Year, with the site set to go live on Jan. 1.
The website (ridgewoodnj.net) contains features that make the former one look ancient by comparison, according to officials.
“We are very excited about our new website, because it is more user-friendly, better organized and allows for quicker, easier access to timely information,” Mayor Paul Aronsohn said.
The new website features a search bar, so viewers can find an article or event by simply typing a phrase into the search. This makes locating services or events easier than it was on the old website, where users needed to look around manually until they found what they were seeking.
“Our past website, there was no search feature,” said Dylan Hansen, the village’s network administrator. “You pretty much had to know where something was to find anything. On our new website, you can just type something in, and it should auto-fill … with some of the top articles.”
Another inclusion in the new website is more accessibility. With the click of a button, a person can increase or decrease the text size, change the contrast of the screen’s colors and enable any highlighted text to be read out loud. This feature is aimed at assisting those with poor eyesight, colorblindness or standard blindness.
“One of the things I go onto many websites and don’t see is accessibility features,” Hansen said, noting that most people need to use programs to get these features.
He added that having these features makes the website compliant with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
I just wanted to provide you with a status of where we are with leaves at this point in the season. As of last Friday, we collected 20,295 yards or 58% of the total yardage typically collected for the entire season. Compared to last year at this time, we have collected 6,300 yards or 18% more. This is directly related to the heavy dropping of leaves we had about 1 ½ weeks ago after the rain storm.
As a result of the above, it has been taking us a little longer (about two extra days) to finish up in an area and begin the next area. In previous communications, I have mentioned that we have had some operational issues with the new contractor we are using in Area B – although we are still monitoring him closely, he has picked up double the amount at this point in the season than last year’s contractor. Another interesting factoid is that Area B is responsible for about 35% of the total leaves that have been picked up this season.
Net-net this makes collection more cumbersome for the present time, but bodes well for the remainder of the season as the bulk of the leaves are down or have been collected; therefore the last weeks of collection should be easier. Please bear with us, as we do our best to clean up as much volume as possible before the Thanksgiving holiday. As a reminder, we will be doing a last go through after your final collection date, weather permitting. For residents who like to bag their leaves, free bags are still available for pick up at the Recycling Center.
On to another topic: violations of the leaf collection policy. As you know, we listened to you last year when you reported that your biggest issue was neighbors placing leaves out on the street outside of the permitted schedule. This is just not a safety issue and a violation of our ordinance but it is also a violation of NJ State regulations that mandate leaves cannot be put out more than 7 days prior to the scheduled collection date.
As a result, this season we started active compliance monitoring of the various areas. I think I mentioned in an earlier E-Notice that we saw a large number of violations the first weeks of the season supporting the views that you have been sharing with me. On my own block, I witnessed leaves being placed in the street two days after the collection period! We made a decision not to write summonses at that point but to issue warnings. This was also due to the fact that this violation required an in court appearance, a burden we did not want to place on our residents.
Now that we are almost through the second cycle of leaf collection, we are issuing summonses and there will unfortunately be many of them. The only fortunate news is that the Court Administrator successfully petitioned to remove the requirement for an in-court appearance.
Ridgewood is a very leafy town – we collect between 32,000-35,000 yards of leaves across 95 miles of roads – a real challenge when coupled with the vagaries of weather. I would like to continue to hear your input on enforcement as well as any other suggestions that you may have for better service. Some of you may have seen our new claw which we just introduced and which seems to be working very well – we plan on adding a second one for next leaf season. Also next season, we will also be getting a new leaf vacuum that is significantly better than the ones we are using. We did a post mortem of last season and we will do one this season – we do bring your suggestions and thoughts to those forums.
Ridgewood Residents Voice Concerns over administrative increases in the expenditures at Village Hall
November 20,2015
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, residents continue to voice concern over administrative staff increases at Village hall, specifically the hiring of a full time HR manager. As many remember rightfully or wrongfully that one of the reasons, Gwenn and Albert were elected was because many were unhappy with the compensation package offered to Ken Gabbert, our former Village Manager.
But now with the addition of a full time HR manager we are spending much more money surprise ,surprise. In addition the 95K we are paying, there is also the cost of benefits. Councilman Sedon asked this question in a public meeting. He questioned whether the salary of the Village Manager would be reduced accordingly to compensate for the addition of a new position that encompases what was, previously, part of the Village Manager’s job. The response to Councilman Sedon was pretty much a reprimand for having asked this in the first place.
Its being going to look more and more like the whole “Gabbert” hulabaloo was a well staged coup to replace their guy with your guy .
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood Restaurants! We want your restaurant’s favorite recipe for the culinary arts section of Ridgewood Art Council’s exciting new installation:
“Ridgewood Art at Village Hall”
More than 70 wonderful paintings, photographs and pieces of sculpture have already been generously donated by Ridgewood artists in support of this effort. The Ridgewood Arts Council (RAC) additionally wants to insure that the Culinary Arts, which are so important to our community, are represented in the Ridgewood Art at Village Hall collection as well.
So…we are asking all Ridgewood eateries to provide a framed recipe of one of your signature dishes. We ask that the recipe (and photo of dish if you wish) fit on a single 8×10 page, and be submitted in a frame ready to hang. The choice of paper, font and type of frame is at your discretion. Be sure to include restaurant name, name of chef or proprietor, and name of dish as well.
Please acknowledge your participation by emailing [email protected] and we will advise of drop information by return email. Or call 917-734-0756 with any questions. We will accept framed recipes until December 15, 2015.
To honor this wonderful celebration of the arts in Ridgewood, our entire community will be invited to a ribbon-cutting gala for the Ridgewood Arts Council, featuring the Ridgewood Art at Village Hall installation, in January 2016. We will hope to see you there!
Sign, sign, everywhere a sign Blockin’ out the scenery, breakin’ my mind Do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the sign?
Ridgewood Information Forums – Hudson St. Parking Deck – October 21 & November 2
Ridgewood NJ, Two important forums scheduled in Village Hall – 4th Floor Court Room – to discuss the proposed Hudson Street Parking Deck: Wednesday, October 21 and Monday, November 2 from 7:30pm to 9:30pm. Village professionals as well as the design team from Desman Associates will be on hand to discuss all aspects of the proposed parking deck, including the design and financials. All are welcome to attend. All questions are welcome!
Vote “Yes for parking garage” signs have basically over run the downtown appearing ,often appearing with Vagianos & Ordway political signage.
So who is posting them , some folks are saying the Chamber of Commerce, but the posters have village website on them so who knows?
Special Public Hearing – Schedler Property – October 14, 2015
The Village Council of the Village of Ridgewood shall conduct a Public Hearing in the Sydney V. Stoldt, Jr. Court Room on the fourth floor of the Ridgewood Village Hall, 131 North Maple Ave., Ridgewood, NJ at its October 14, 2015 Regular Public Meeting, which meeting begins at 8:00 p.m.
The purpose of this Public Hearing is for the Village Council to receive comments and suggestions from the public for the Village of Ridgewood’s 2015 Bergen County Open Space Trust Fund Municipal Park Improvement and Development Grant application. The Village has applied for this grant for Phase 1 work on the Schedler Park property, located at 460 West Saddle River Road, Ridgewood, NJ. Phase 1 would encompass basic infrastructure improvements to include: installation of underground utilities (water, electric, sewer); demolition of two-car garage, small shed; capping of inoperable well; selective removal of down, dead, diseased trees; site clean-up; and cut in proposed parking lot driveway entrance.
Heather A. Mailander
Village Clerk
Another Front Has Opened Up against Over Development in Ridgewood
Village Hall & The Stable Will be Closed Oct 12th – In observance of Columbus Day
Village Hall, the Stable, and the Recycling Center are closed on 10/12/15 in observance of Columbus Day and there will be no garbage or recycling pickup on that day.
Statement required by the Open Public Meeting Act “Adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by a posting on the bulletin board in the Village Hall, by mail to the Ridgewood News, The Record and by submission to all persons entitled to same as provided by law of a schedule including date and time of this meeting”.
Please note: A curfew of 11:00 PM is strictly adhered to by the Zoning Board of Adjustment of the Village of Ridgewood. No new matter involving an Applicant will be started after 10:30 PM. At 10:00 PM the Chairman will make a determination and advise Applicants as to whether they will be heard. I f an Applicant cannot be heard because of the lateness of the hour, the matter will be carried over to a future meeting to be determined by the Board at 10:00 PM.
Roll call
Approval of minutes: January 13, 2015; February 10, 2015; February 24, 2015
Non-agenda items:
Board member comments
Members of the public comments
Public hearings
Old Business:
NEW YORK SMSA LIMITED PARTNERSHIP D/B/A VERIZON WIRELESS – An application requesting a D1 Use variance, and minor site plan approval with other variances and waivers, interpretations, and/or approvals as are necessary to permit the installation of a wireless telecommunications facility to be located at 6 South Monroe Street, Block 2404 Lot 3 in an R-110 zone. (A continuation from July 14, 2015 meeting)
AGENDA – CONTINUATION SEPTEMBER 8, 2015
New Business:
JOSEPH PANICO – An application for the construction of a one story addition, the enclosure of an existing porch, and the construction of a rear porch landing which will result in a front yard setback of 45.2 feet where 50 feet is the minimum required, a side yard setback of four feet to a wing wall attached to the garage, and eight feet to the garage addition where 10 feet is the minimum required for both, and a rear yard setback to the rear landing of 13.5 feet where 30 feet is the minimum required. The proposed will result in a total lot coverage of 21.3% where 20% is the maximum
permitted and a Gross Building Area of 36.3% where 34 % is the maximum permitted at 152 Valley View Avenue, Block 1816, Lot 2, in an R-2 zone. (Carried from July 14, 2015)
OLGA CHAIKOVSKY – An application for the construction of a detached garage which will result in side yard and rear yard setbacks of four feet where five feet is the minimum required for each at 170 Oak Street, Block 200, Lot 11, in an R-2 zone. (Carried from July 14, 2015)
XIOMARA OLIVO – An application for the construction of a two story, and second story addition and covered patio which will result in a front yard setback of 35.19 feet where 40 feet is the minimum required and a side yard setback to the second story addition of 7.97 feet where 10 feet is the minimum required. The construction will result in a total lot coverage of 27% and lot coverage within 140 feet of the front lot line of 27.4% where 20% is the maximum permitted for each at 525 Laurel Road, Block 4306, Lot 22, in an R-2 zone.
CLAIRE BENNETT – An application for the construction of a second story addition which will result in front yard setback of 34.42 feet where 40 feet is the minimum required at 345 Crest Road, Block 1909, Lot 26, in an R-1 zone.
Resolution memorialization: Ridgewood Park SG, LLC – 30 Oak St.
Lisa Danias – 32 Pomander Walk
Barry and Lisa Sands – 339 Spring Ave. Keith and Lisa Grace – 154 N. Pleasant Ave.
Dr. Patrick Higgins – 33 N. Pleasant Ave.
Keyvan and Lindsey Pourreza – 155 Beechwood Rd.
Discussion
Adjournment
VILLAGE OF RIDGEWOOD VILLAGE COUNCIL SPECIAL PUBLIC MEETING SEPTEMBER 8, 2015 7:30 P.M.
1. Call to Order – Mayor
2. Statement of Compliance with the Open Public Meetings Act
3. Roll Call – Village Clerk
4. Flag Salute and Moment of Silence
5. Comments from the Public (Not to exceed 5 minutes per person – 30 minutes total)
6. Presentations by Vendors
a. Clark Caton Hintz
b. Desman Design Management
c. SNS Architects & Engineers, PC
d. Timothy Haahs & Associates, Inc.
7. Synopsis by Parking Steering Committee
8. Village Council Comments
9. Comments from the Public (Not to Exceed 5
minutes per person – 30 minutes total)
10. Adjournment
09/08/157:30PMBoard of Adjustment Public Meeting 09/08/157:30PMVillage Coucil Special Public Meeting – Village Hall Community Center 09/09/157:30PMVillage Council Special Public Meeting 09/09/157:30PMVillage Council Public Work Session 09/15/157:30PMPlanning Board Public Meeting 09/16/158:00PMVillage Council Public Meeting 09/22/157:30PMBoard of Adjustment Public Work Session 09/29/157:30PMBoard of Adjustment Public Meeting 09/30/157:30PMVillage Council Public Work Session
How hard can this investigation be. The gate is locked during none operating hour. There is no way for large trucks to get in because of the berms and trees. Here is a start.
1 Inspect the concrete for any indication of where it came from such cut off street sign post, concrete stamps, paint
2 Interview all people that have the keys to the gate
3 interview all contractors doing concrete work in the Village
4 interview resident on Lakeview Drive to see if they saw anything ( name on trucks)
5 Apply Definition of OCCAM’S RAZOR
: a scientific and philosophic rule that entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily which is interpreted as requiring that the simplest of competing theories be preferred to the more complex or that explanations of unknown phenomena be sought first in terms of known quantities
