RIDGEWOOD NJ, On Saturday, December 22, U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5) wrapped holiday gifts for North Jersey families at Bookends bookstore in Ridgewood.
“The holidays are such an important time for small businesses across the country and here in New Jersey, ” said Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5). “I am so proud that there are so many great businesses in my district, like Bookends here in Ridgewood. I want to thank Walter Boyer for having me at his store and I encourage everyone to go check Bookends out, whether for the book selection or the author events they regularly host.”
Congressman Gottheimer went on to say, “Small businesses play a vital role in our economy in the Fifth District and neighborhoods across the country, especially during this key retail season. The federal government shutdown hurt small businesses, because it impacts small business loan applications. We can prevent that by getting folks to the table to finalize a deal to reopen the government, just like business owners do every day.”
According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, New Jersey boasts 1.7 million small business employees working for over 820,000 small businesses. 98.3% of the state’s businesses are small businesses and they employ more than half of New Jersey’s workers.
Bookends in Ridgewood has been a staple in the community and a renowned bookstore for more than thirty years. They have hosted over 1,000 authors in the last fifteen years from politics, pop culture, and fiction. During the holiday season, they wrap gifts in their store free of charge.
James, re housing:
Ok, cant disagree with the recommendation on who to vote for. But why does Ridgewood seem to be taking it on the chin? Why aren’t we fighting? Why isn’t our council actively supporting those representatives trying to undo this housing madness? Why does our legal representation seem so weak? Why did the council fold like a cheap suit when Village residents sued to stop the development and why did the council side with the developers over the residents? Why doesn’t the Village come up with some other proposal rather than agreeing to do a percentage of the squalid housing now being constructed?
So, it seems to me that the Council just agreed to plant hundreds if not thousands of new units throughout the Village.
Ridgewood NJ, Kings Pond Park, including the associated Gypsy Pond Park, is a public, municipal park spanning close to the entire length of Goffle Brook through the village of Ridgewood in Bergen County, New Jersey. It is the second largest wildscape in the village of Ridgewood and one of the larger wooded areas along the lower Bergen-Passaic border.
Ridgewood NJ, Several schools in Bergen and Union counties have recently been vandalized with graffiti containing hateful messages and symbols. In Bergen County, a student at Ridgewood High School alerted officials on December 4 of a swastika alongside a Star of David carved into a bathroom stall.
On November 30, swastikas and racial slurs were found on a bathroom wall at Pascack Hills High School in Montvale. That incident follows several others since September in which anti-Semitic and racist graffiti had been drawn at nearby Pascack Valley High School in Hillside. In Union County, students reported on November 30 that swastikas had been scrawled inside bathrooms at Summit High School.
The symbol and other offensive drawings had been discovered a day earlier on bathroom walls at Lawton C. Johnson Summit Middle School. Superintendent of Summit Public Schools June Chang told parents that swastikas were also seen at the middle school before the Thanksgiving holiday break.
On November 29, Edison Intermediate School Principal Matthew Bolton told families a student at the Westfield school “defaced school property with messages of hate directed at various groups.” Similar incidents in the area occurred over the past two months, as a swastika was drawn in a bathroom at Franklin Elementary School and misogynistic, racist, and anti-Semitic graffiti was discovered on exterior walls of Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School.
The Village of Ridgewood, NJ is working towards preparing its next Master Plan. One of the first steps is to engage the community to think about and share its vision for current and future generations to love and appreciate. Our Village, Our Future is the name given to this visioning process.
2. What are the goals of Our Village, Our Future?
The primary goal of Our Village, Our Future is to implement a community visioning process that reaches out to a broad range of Village residents and other stakeholders (e.g., businesses, institutions, etc.) and encourages them to think about and discuss the values, principles, goals, and priorities that should shape the future of the Village. This community visioning process represents the one of the first steps toward creating a new Master Plan for the Village.
3. What will be the final outcome or product of Our Village, Our Future? When will the Master Plan be prepared?
The final outcome/product of this visioning process will be a Vision Plan. This document will summarize the community engagement process and synthesize the results of this process in terms of identifying and explaining the values, principles, goals, and priorities that should shape the Village’s next Master Plan. The process of creating the next Master Plan will start after the visioning process is complete.
4. What is a Master Plan and how is it relevant to my life in the Village?
A Master Plan, sometimes referred to as a Comprehensive Plan, is a guidance document that sets goals, policies, and priorities for investing in the physical, economic, environmental, and social future of a community. A master plan can address a wide range of topics and/or geographic areas of importance to residents and other stakeholders. It can provide an overall vision for a place and identify key priorities and strategies toward achieving the vision. It can provide direction in terms of investing in transportation improvements and public facilities, changing zoning regulations, protecting ecologically-sensitive areas, or becoming more environmentally sustainable. Concept plans and other visuals within a master plan can demonstrate ideas and hoped-for outcomes.
The master plan is also the basis for a municipality’s zoning regulations. In New Jersey, all municipalities are required to have a master plan and to “reexamine” it at least every 10 years. The reexamination process can represent a stepping stone for updating or creating a new master plan. However, the resulting Reexamination Report itself does not constitute the actual updated or new master plan.
5. Why does the Village need to prepare a new Master Plan? Has the Village “reexamined” its Master Plan yet?
Although there are certain parts of the Village’s Master Plan that have been updated more recently (for example, the section pertaining to housing, which was updated in 2016), the core sections of the Master Plan date back to 1983. A lot has changed since that time. The Village did “reexamine” its master plan in 2016, and the resulting Master Plan Reexamination Report can be downloaded and viewed from the Plans & Studies page.
6. Will the Our Village, Our Future process involve the whole Village, geographically speaking?
Yes, the whole Village is the subject of this visioning process. It is not limited to a specific part or aspect of the Village; we expect and welcome feedback on any part or aspect of the Village.
7. How can I stay informed about this process? How will I be able to contribute my vision for the future of Ridgewood?
First, visit www.visionridgewood.org. This website will be the central public portal of information for this initiative. Next, make sure to sign up to receive updates when a new post is added to the page. Look for the phrase “Receive E-mail Updates” on the site and follow the instructions.
Press releases will be drafted and distributed so that local newsletters and newspapers can publish timely information for their readers during the course of the initiative. We anticipate utilizing various methods to get input from residents and other stakeholders. These might include surveys, workshops, focus groups, etc.
The Village’s website and social media outlets (Facebook and Twitter) will also feature important dates and milestones in the visioning process, providing links to more details at this website.
8. What if I have questions or already have input about my vision for Ridgewood?
An online form is available on the Contact page at www.visionridgewood.org for residents and other interested members of the community to ask additional questions about or offer suggestions for this visioning process. If you have already been thinking about your vision for Ridgewood and would like to share it with us, visit the Your Vision page. As the visioning process moves ahead, there will be more formal opportunities to participate in the visioning process through workshops, surveys, and other methods.
9. What if I or one of my neighbors is unable to access information or provide input through online means?
You or your neighbor can provide input in writing and mail or drop it off in a sealed envelope to Master Plan Subcommittee, Planning Board of the Village of Ridgewood, 131 North Maple Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ 07450. Furthermore, any important announcements will be posted in the main lobby of Village Hall.
10. Is there anything I can do to help with this process?
Yes! We can always use help getting the word out to people in the Village. If you are or know the point-person responsible for sending e-mail communications for a church, school, civic association, or other type of community-based organization, please include a link to the Our Village, Our Future website. We may have other opportunities for volunteers, which can include high school students (with parents’ permission), to assist in promoting Our Village, Our Future. We will post these opportunities to this website when they arise.
11. What is the timeline for completing this process?
We anticipate that the visioning process will take approximately seven months to complete.
12. Who is leading this initiative?
This initiative is being guided by the Master Plan Subcommittee of the Planning Board, with support from the Village Council. Through a request for proposals and interview process, the Master Plan Subcommittee and the Planning Board recommended the firm NV5, Inc., based in Parsippany, NJ, to lead this process and develop the resulting vision plan. The Village Council subsequently approved the recommendation. NV5’s Community Planning & Urban Design group has experience throughout the Northeast and in New Jersey with projects like Our Village, Our Future.
Ridgewood NJ, The Village’s Parks Department employees are cutting up the trees which they take down into logs, andoffering them to Ridgewood residents for free at the Recycling Center, on a first come, first served basis. We ask that you be please becourteous to fellow residents by leaving some for their use.
This saves the Village money, because we don’t have to pay to dispose of the trees which are cut down, and it also provides residents with freefirewood for their homes. You may pick up the logs at the Recycling Center, during their regular business hours.
Ridgewood NJ , its that time of the year again and we have already had one serious snow storm ,so the Village sent out a reminder on garbage pickup and snow removal.
REMINDER ABOUT GARBAGE PICKUP DURING SNOW AND ICE EVENTS We have already experienced our first snow and ice event. As a reminder, if it is snowing when you leave your home in the morning or if it is icy, please place your garbage cans at the end of your driveway for collection. The Village will resume rear yard garbage collection as quickly as possible after the snowstorm, but please continue to put your garbage cans at the end of your driveway until you have a clear path to them. We appreciate your cooperation in keeping our Village employees safe.
REMINDERS ABOUT SNOW REMOVAL If it is snowing or going to snow overnight, please do not park your vehicles on the streets, in order to allow our plows to do their work in clearing the snow. All sidewalks in residential districts must be cleared within 24 hours of the snow falling. Please do not place snow into the street; instead, place it back onto your own property. In addition, if you have a fire hydrant on your property, please clear it of any snow accumulation.
Rome is Burning and we are writing story books about a leantoo shed close to not having any heat nor light , a filthy facility that the NJ Transit should rebuild in brick and
offer some protection from the elements ; that can be cleaned ,then locked at night like a real town.We need to check the water in this town..it’s getting a bit to wobbly intellect
wise. They keep shifting the happy together talk to avoid dealing with the real issues that are hard to address manage and take intelligent approach to.Happy Holidays Ridgewood a town worth fighting for …2019 needs a more realistic plan on cost containment and cancelation of massive Hudson st garage plans in order to cut our longer term losses .
Ridgewood NJ, after the recent flap at the Winterfest over cutting in line by “VIP’s “, the Ridgewood blog suggests the Village of Ridgewood set up a database and establish a list of Ridgewood “VIP’s ” .
Since the Village seems to be the home for so many “VIP’s” , the list could contain the names and the reasons for the VIP status . After all most of the public is often unaware as to the importance of many of the so called “VIP’s ” and a documented with explanation with foot notes would be extremely helpful .
The list could be called the ” Village of Ridgewood :Legend in your own mind ” , a commission could be convened to create the list and those that make the cut could be given a letter of recommendation signed by the Village Council and a medal or crown to wear so as not to confuse the common folk.
This would entitle the “VIP’s” to cut in line ,drive 50 mph over the speed limit ,get in car accidents and not have their picture taken , make money off of taxpayer grants, get below market rents for high density housing , hang out with the 3 Amigos ,philander, be a bigot, and get to call other residents derogatory names from the dais .
The public would also be asked to defend the VIP’s no matter how rude , stupid or abusive their behavior maybe. The public would also be called on to make excessive excuses for the VIP’s who the rules no longer apply to.
If the public does not comply the VIP’s can act belligerent and attack anyone the calls out their bad behavior .
People used to feel privileged in a humble sort of way. They respected the Village and were thankful to live here. Sadly, to many residents feel they are owed something rather than the other way around.
No one should ever ever let someone else step on them. Dehumanize them even in a small way like going in front of them in a line.
We’ve had enough of dehumanization in America with racism, with women non equality in many ways including pay scale, the #Me Too Movement, with religion and with rich folks stepping on and crushing the poor. It is vital to not let anyone else treat you unjustly and it is MANDATORY that it be reported in places like this wonderful BLOG. That is the AMERICAN WAY
“How is this the town I have lived in for 35 years? It’s unspeakable, the way we are treating each other and it has to stop.” –
I have news for you. I have lived here much longer than 35 years. And way back when I was a child we did not like people who butted and bullied their way in front of lines and acted more important than everyone else. This behavior was not tolerated then and it should not be tolerated now and I agree with everyone who has expressed disgust with the self-appointed VIP’s.
Ridgewood NJ, In Great Britain the word “holiday” has the same meaning as vacation. Many Americans would find this comparison laughable. For most of us, the holidays come with our own “to-do” lists. The Ridgewood Health Department and The Cleveland Clinic offer these helpful tips.
Too often we take holiday stress for granted. What’s worse, we often have higher expectations for this season than for any other time of the year. Planning for the holidays can leave us feeling impatient, cranky, and — in some cases — depressed. When the realities of day-to-day life conflict with our efforts to make the holiday season perfect, stress results.
