Ridgewood NJ, as previously reported on the Ridgewood blog ,in October 2015 Resident Jacqueline Hone raised several issues pertaining to the Schedler Park Project including the allegation that the applications for Open Space Funds were fraudulent .
Ms Hone basically received the blow off from the Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld and she sent a second email exclaiming ,”A citizen’s complaint should not be viewed as a threat, but rather an opportunity to dismiss wrong doing and restore/gain public trust. As public servants, Village Manager and Council, have a fiduciary obligation to investigate citizen’s complaints and afford the complainant due process. The complainant has a right to receive a panel decision, with detailed explanation, as to whether allegations are sustained, not sustained, deemed unfounded or exonerated.”
Jacqueline Hone continues to push for clarity on the issue and says there is much confusion with County letter of intent.
“The intent only happened because residents attended a VC meeting and complained. Without any notice to VC or residents, Roberta introduced the idea/grant and pushed for an immediate approval.
Roberta’s usual “oh by the way” management style failed. Mayor Susan Knudsen stepped in and saved the day. Our mayor stressed that things have to be done in a correct manner and the process has to be followed to include residents. Prior to that, Roberta wanted to put the cart in front of the horse (as always). Residents would have been excluded and procedure would have been ignored. Listen to the meeting minutes.
Her email is not looking for VC support of the plan. Her email is “TELLING” VC to cover what she tried to do and publicly come down on residents that blew the whistle and complained.
All is documented and recorded. My heart breaks for residents that have no idea what is truly happening in our village. I urge everyone to seek first to understand.
Replace opinions with facts. There is a reason why thousands of residents petitioned (twice) and won. Our Village Manger is entangled in state ethics violations, citizen complaints and lawsuits. Did you know?
Residents are unaware, if they are moving forward with the grant, the Public Hearing must be appropriately advertised and scheduled for September 14, 2016. I haven’t seen a single thing.
Why isn’t Roberta gone yet? She’s a runaway train, taking out everything in her way, plowing down residents and our quaint village.”
Park is SMALL. Stop filling everything up. A stage when not in use (i.e., 99% of the time) would co-opt open space. We need more of it, not less. Everybody seems to think their kids are future Broadway stars. Get with the program–amateur performances are for the performers. Noise in the middle of town would just drive people away. What happened to peace and quiet? You can’t even just sit on a park bench any more without acres of concrete? Even sitting in the dark on a summer night is nice. No need for Klieg lights. How about Strobes?
It was Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld’s excitement in describing this horrific and unnecessary new construction that gave me pause. She sounded just the same when talking about creating the H.R. job (which quickly and quietly segued from part time to full time) for her friend and essentially giving Habernickel Park to her other friend who runs the now-hated Health Barn. The Village Manager should not be so happy about these projects and in each case she had a personal stake in them (not financially, presumably). More and more and more expensive and disruptive construction, partly subsidized by grants to take the sting off (but not nearly enough, if you study the final numbers), was the theme under the Aronsohn years. She remains under his thumb and must be removed, as must Health Barn and the H.R. position, if we are to return to any level of benign stasis.
They lost the election ..we voted for change..time to take control over these boondoggle projects..leave that park surface alone..clean up the benches and spend some money on fall minor tree trimming and some
light cleaning of the monument areas and any grass refurbishment,leave the bricks alone,
Roberta will be telling us it is a CRISIS, Van Neste is falling apart I tell you it is a CRISIS.Follow the money. Someone stands to make big money. Who is doing the ugly concrete sidewalks? Who is doing the $40,000 cheesy fence? Who will build the Vagiannos Pavilion aka the gazebo?Roberta is all wound up about the is project because promises were made. Follow the money!
Fixing things that need fixing is a great idea. This park however looks beautiful. Paver bricks might have a limited life span, but based on the appearance of these bricks they still have plenty of life. Why change them out for ugly concrete “decorative” paver blocks? How ridiculous.
Fix the things that need fixing. Don’t waste taxpayer money on demolishing perfectly nice things to make something else. So ridiculous. This is not like a living room that you feel like redecorating. This is a park with many commemorative markers. The fact that YOU don’t know any of these people commemorated on them does not make them meaningless.
A grant for bike lanes under the Complete Streets program led to the Garber Square fiasco and cost us 5 times the amount that the grant was for,. Now we have another grant and we’re using it to fix Van Neste Park which everyone seems to feel is in great shape! What happened to the old adage, ” If it isn’t broke,don’t fix it” ?
Ridgewood NJ, Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld said the council was given packets about the 2015 Schedler grant, which includes information from the October and November meetings, updated and complete grant application and responses from the county.
The village submitted a request for a $59,200 grant for Memorial Park and Van Neste Square, which would be used to replace brick pavers with decorative concrete sidewalk, remove aerial electric fixtures with underground electric, install new fencing, among other ideas. Sonenfeld said a finalized plan will be made public closer to the Sept. 14 public meeting.
Is there no tradition left in Ridgewood. When will it stop?
Now they want to remove the decorative brick many of which have names of family (Grandparents, parents children and in memorial of deceased family members any yes and maybe beloved pets) Why? Because we can apply for a grant? At last night meeting the VM said we would relocate them. Where? I know that the VM stated that a plan will be made public at the Sept. 14 meeting but will this be another case that it a done deal before the public has a chance to voice the opinion. They want to use concrete. We all know what happens to concrete that is put down around trees. Just look at the CBD sidewalk cracks not to mention that digging around the trees may kill them. Try going to the engineering dept to get a permit for a brick patio. They will tell you that anything over 12 x 12 feet will need a seepage pit. More digging. So will we hear next that the monument need to be moved? Just upgrade the electric put in a new fence and reset the brick and leave them alone.
I am still not clear as to where the hundreds of commemorative bricks will be moved to following the proposed “revival” of Van Neste Memorial Park.
If, as the Village Manager stated on August 3, “all of the the existing brick pavers will be removed and replaced with decorative concrete sidewalks,” what area will be left to install the displaced commemorative bricks without having to disturb grass or shrubbery?
Also, what will happen to the large commemorative markers associated with the 1995 restoration project? And what about the thousands (literally) of unmarked bricks; what will become of them?
The walking paths within the park currently appear to be in excellent shape. Therefore, I question the need to spend money (grant money still comes from taxes) to fix something that is not broken, and displace history in the process.
The agressive code enforcement is sowing the seeds of discontent. We now have a way to get back at those who annoy us.Thank you Roberta.
August 2,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood bog
Ridgewood NJ, Readers continue to feel that the agressive code enforcement is an attempt by some Village officials for taking such a beating in the last election. It is clearly a vestage of machine politics to threaten and haress anyone who raises objections with policy. Its also a way to undermine the new council.
Readers say…………..
The Breath of Fresh Air Manager hired a Code Enforcement officer last year to issue tickets for violation. This officer wrote a couple of hundred tickets but I wonder if the other towns also hired their own Code Enforcement Officer to write water violation? ( I DONT THINK SO) So there you have it Ridgewood tax payers. Your getting screwed again.
I can’t believe that we have strict code enforcement for residents and business owners get away with this -except for Tito,s Burritos.
But she did manage to hire a code enforcement person to ticket village residents.
The ever changable leaf schedule is her doing. The way that they ticketed people 4 months after the fact is just irresponsible. What the heck was she doing with the tickets all winter? Common criminals are entitled to a speedy trial. Residents have no way to prove that their leaves were not there or that the village manager changed the schedule – again.
For the summons – the village manager will blame the neighbors. Hey your neighbor reported you, so we had to issue a summons – we did not want to issue it. Nasty thing to cause issues between neighbors to pay the salary of newly appointed white elephants and code enforcement officer. I am pretty sure 600 neighbors in Ridgewood are not going to report their neighbors.
Our Village Manager hire a new Code Enforcement Office to ride around and issue tickets. Don’t try to put it on neighbors vs neighbor. Maybe where you came from that the way it happens. Now that the leaves are gone the newly hired Code Enforcement has to find something else to justify the job Roberta gave her.
RE: “We need smart people to solve our problrms not idiots who have no idea what they are doing.”
You don’t understand, they know EXACTLY what they are doing… this is what ideologues do.
They DO NOT care to solve the problems of their constituents nor do they strive to make the lives of their constituents better in a direct measurable way – such as making it EASIER (better, faster, cheaper, etc.) for their constituents to do that which they have already CHOSEN to do (i.e. drive their cars)
INSTEAD, ideologues strive to CHANGE the behavior of their constituents and try to MOLD them (aka force them) into doing something that meets the ideologues ideal of perfection – which usually results in a lower quality of life with less diversity and a “sameness” reduced to the LCD of minimal happiness and misery.
The ideologues thinking in implementing the bike lane is to make driving in town more miserable so that people will be forced to abandon their (evil) cars out of frustration and convert to (good) cycling. In reality, the net result is wasted resources, angry constituents, reduction in happiness and productivity and rerouting of traffic onto more residential streets causing more safety issues and more gasoline usage (aka pollution). But don’t worry, these failures will not dissuade the ideologue. they WILL NOT see the error nor folly of their ways – instead they will redouble their efforts to try to find a new way to achieve their goals – usually by inflicting more pain and suffering on their constituents (ex: tripling the gasoline tax) in an attempt to force people to do not what they themselves want to do but what the ideologues want them to do.
The irony of it all is that if the ideologues ultimate utopia is reached the resulting world will be a miserable place with little to no innovation and no ecstasy (nor misery), but instead just the flat mediocre sameness of being… might as well be a plant.
Speaking for only myself, I agree about the improper use of the town website to promote a yes vote, especially since the Village Council is not in agreement and since, as you state, no info is given about the project or the alternatives. It is clearly a political use of public resources. Sending this type of political message via email using the village alert system or via regular mail on village letterhead or at public expense would also be wrong.
This seems unethical to me. It may also improperly interfere with a fair election. As to what can be done, I’m not sure, short of the dissenting Council members demanding the website post be taken down. This raises the question about what the process is for review and approval before anything is posted to the village website. Perhaps the Village attorney should be notified of the incident and can direct the webmaster to take down the post. Perhaps you should copy the State Local Finance Board (which reviews ethics complaints) and ELEC (Re the election faux pas).
Just throwing some thoughts out there, and maybe others copied can add more. NJFOG administrators are copied as well as a few other board members who may be knowledgeable about this matter.
Here’s one other thought, if you have no luck. My understanding is that elected council members have equal access to a town’s public information officer and may issue press releases via that route. Perhaps the dissenting council members can utilize that route to get their own message out. Of course, they would have to be careful to provide information and alternatives rather than to just say ‘Vote this way or that’.
This vote is completely tainted. The Board of Elections needs to come to Ridgewood and shut down the process. No vote on June 21. The vote should not take place. How do we make this happen?
The election needs to be stopped. This is grossly illegal that government money was used to finance a campaign telling residents how to vote. That website is paid for by all of us. Those employees who were busy being videotaped should have been working instead of making a propaganda tape. Mayor Aronsohn may be walked out of Village Hall in handcuffs before this is over. Well, wouldn’t that make a fun video for Dana’s go-pro!!!
Ridgewood NJ, “Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld will be available for her monthly ‘Meet the Manager’ session in the Village Hall Court Room on Saturday, May 14th from 9am to 12 Noon. You may make an appointment by calling 201/670-5500 x203.”
Anybody who works in H.R. could give her some tips on job hunting. Is it too soon for a farewell party?
Ridgewood NJ, Why is the Mayor and his 3 Candidates fighting so hard to keep the Village Manager. Why are they getting so involved with this when the entire council Majority is not running for reelection. . Reminds me of the following definition :
“The lady doth protest too much, methinks” is a quotation from the 1599/ 1600 play Hamlet by William Shakespeare. It has been used as a figure of speech, in various phrasings, to describe someone’s too frequent and vehement attempts to convince others of some matter of which the opposite is true, thereby making themselves appear defensive, and insincere.
In rhetorical terms, the phrase can be thought of as indicating an unintentional apophasis—where the speaker who “protests too much” in favor of some assertion puts into others’ minds the idea that the assertion is false, something that they may not have considered before.
The Village Manager has no contact and serves at the pleasure of the Council. If the 3 amigos wanted to keep her so bad then maybe they should have run for re election.
In the Village Hall it was observed Roberta proudly displaying the full page advertisement that appears on page A-11 (about retaining her) of Fridays Ridgewood News to staff members gathered in the waiting area outside of her office.
How inappropriate was it of her to conduct a forced discussion about politics with her people who report to her.
By the way, that ad was paid for by the following families:
Richard & Carla Fels, 227 Sunset
Michael & Amy Greenstone, 122 Sunset
Sommer (first names & address unknown)
Taylor (first names & address unknown)
Peter & Allison Von Halle, 48 Clinton
Sent: Tuesday, October 06, 2015 2:49 PM To: Matt Rogers; Heather Mailander; Donna Jackson Cc: Roberta Sonenfeld; Janet Fricke Subject: Re: Notice of Complaint Village of Ridgewood
Sent from my iPhone
On Oct 6, 2015, at 2:45 PM, Matthew Rogers <msr@mrogerslaw.com> wrote:
This should be shared with Heather/Donna because of the allegations of improper notice of the meetings.
From: Paul Aronsohn [mailto:paronsohn@ridgewoodnj.net] Sent: Tuesday, October 6, 2015 1:52 PM To: Roberta Sonenfeld; Matt Rogers; Janet Fricke Subject: FW: Notice of Complaint Village of Ridgewood
Roberta, Janet, Matt —
FYI
Paul
Paul S. Aronsohn, Mayor
Village of Ridgewood
@paularonsohn
From: Jacqueline Hone <jhone201@yahoo.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 6, 2015 1:48 PM
To: Gwenn Hauck; Paul Aronsohn; Susan Knudsen; Michael Sedon; Albert Pucciarelli
Subject: Notice of Complaint Village of Ridgewood
Mayor and Council Members:
In regards to the Schedler Park Project, I would like to file a complaint and draw your attention to the following for scrutiny and disciplinary action.
On 9/8/15 and 9/16/15 it was brought to your attention, that the applications used to obtain approximately $2 million in Open Space grants, were completed with intentional omission, false and misleading information, without municipal endorsement, and without public notification as required.
Village Manager and Counsel quickly diverted attention and dismissed the matter saying submissions of incomplete applications, to Bergen County, is acceptable and common practice. This is not a matter of submitting incomplete applications. The applications are fraudulent and were submitted with the intent to receive funds. If the facts were known, the site plan for Schedler would be in violation of County and State provisions. Thus, the Village should not proceed with the Schedler plan as is.
1) Village Manager, Roberta Sonenfeld, submitted an application, on or about 9/1/15, seeking $100,000 of Bergen County Open Space Funds. This application was submitted with blatant, intentional, false and misleading information, without Council endorsement and public notification as mandated. The application shows the Village Manager committed $100k of municipal funds (tax payer’s money) without Council approval. What authority, if any, does the Village Manager have to authorize and commit tax payer’s money without Council approval? Under what authority was this done?
When confronted about the allocation of municipal funds, Village Manager stated the 100k would eventually come from the Ridgewood Baseball Association (RBSA) via gift donation. However, since the RBSA money was yet to be received, municipal funds were allocated in its place. Once the gift is received, it will be moved into the municipal funds account. What authority does the Village Manager have to front tax payer’s money and act as a temporary lender to the RBSA? This accounting practice is suspect and I believe also constitutes commingling of funds, which is prohibited. If this was done for the RBSA, why wasn’t this preferential treatment extended to the Friends of the Historic Zabriskie House.
2) Land Use Restriction: The State and County have strict provisions regarding Open Space, Green Space, Historic Preservation and full disclosure of threatened wildlife, vegetation and environmental impacts. As such, development at Schedler would have strict limitations, regulated land use and mandated historic, wildlife and vegetation preservation.
-Site Plan: The initial Open Space application, used to acquire the Schedler property, stated the land would be used for 60/40 active/recreation use and no lights. It was under this plan that the Village was granted Open Space funds. Violating the County Deed of Conservation Easement, the Village of Ridgewood revised and adopted a new plan showing 70/30 active/passive recreation area, lights, and a two-story concession building with recreation hall.
-Revenue/Profit: This park will generate a substantial amount of money…concession stand, hall rental, field time, uniforms, player enrollment fees, membership fees, field rentals etc. Additionally, site plan includes two-story building. Full second floor to be used as meeting room or rented for sports related functions (possible discrimination). RBSA involvement is an arguable breach of contract with the County and in violation of Open Space and Green Space guidelines.
-Historic Structure/Features /Elements:Historic house, features and elements were not fully disclosed to County. In some circumstances they were completely omitted. The preservation of the home and parcel was abandoned by the Village. Proper disclosure would mean strict preservation and limitations of park development and use. (See attached NJ DEP National Register of Historic Places, 2009, 2015 grant application).
– Environmental/Wildlife/Vegetation: Adverse environmental factors, threatened wildlife and threatened vegetation were not disclosed on applications. Full disclosure would mandate preservation and impose strict site limitations. This omission is how the Village is proceeding with Phase 1, demolition and clear-cutting of the last green acre parcel in our area (7 acres), which will expose hundreds of residents and wildlife to noise, pollution, Route 17, high volume traffic, dangerous conditions and irreversible damage.
– State and County Clearance: This property, directly on Rt. 17. North, within feet of an interstate commuter Park & Ride, is the last green space in the area. All this is being done without expert studies and without notification to or clearance from Bergen County, New Jersey Department of Transportation and Environmental Protection Historic Preservation.
3) Public Meeting Notifications: The Village has demonstrated a pattern of questionable omission and secrecy (see attached). Now, out of the blue, a meeting has been scheduled (10/7) to accept a second 100k donation form the RBSA and to present another revision of the Schedler Park plan. The agenda was just posted to the Village website. The general public has not been notified these matters will be discussed on this date. As such, again residents are being robbed of their right to participate, review the process, verify gifts and prepare for public comments/questions prior to the meeting. This matter must be tabled until all of the above is addressed. County Open Space Guidelines States:
As part of the application submission, the municipality shall hold a Public Hearing on a proposed park development project before it submits its application. The applicant shall publish a notice of the public hearing in the official newspaper of the municipality. The hearing must be advertised as a display ad at least 15 days before the hearing. The hearing notice must specifically reference the proposed Bergen County Open Space Trust Fund Municipal Program Park Improvement application. The public hearing must be held in the evening, and may be held as part of a public meeting, as long as the hearing is properly advertised.
Council has a fiduciary obligation to cease and desist the Schedler Park Project, until this matter is investigated and cleared of wrong doing. Continued dismissal of the above, is gross negligence and an act against public good. TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE. Failure to act and proceeding with Phase 1, intentionally permits irreversible damage to public health, safety, general welfare, public land and historic/vegetation preservation.
I believe State/County provisions and the Deed of Conservation Easement prohibits most of everything the Village is proposing at Schedler. We want due process, expert studies and a park which represents the true needs and desires of our neighborhood residents. Please allow us to present the facts before it’s too late.
We look forward to hearing from you and moving forward in the right direction. In the meantime, thank you so much for your attention.
Ridgewood NJ, the Ridgewood blog has learned that the Village of Ridgewood was put on notice regarding Schedler historic preservation of both parcel and house, wildlife and migratory act despite claims to the contrary .
According to the County the house must be registered historically and the parcel must be inspected for historical elements . The New Jersey DEP identified two species of protected or endangered species with in the property .Including as previously reported on this blog the American Bald Eagle and the Heron. Its seems the Village manager lied on record dismissing the claims .
Council Members:
As stated during public comment, attached are the County public meeting minutes ofMarch 28. The Village was put on notice regarding Schedler historic preservation of both parcel and house, wildlife and migratory act.
As such, the Village must move forward with historic registry of the Schedler house, historic eligibility of parcel and enforce wildlife preservation. Additionally, nothing can be done on this parcel, NO clean up/Phase 1, until after July 31 and only after historic and wildlife preservation/eligibility/registry is complete.
I have all the supporting documentation if you need them as well.
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