Ridgewood NJ, take ways from last nights meeting ;
The parking garage design presented last night; was for 255 cars, with a $11,000,000 maximum guaranteed price (currently estimated around $10,000,000).
The garage does not encroach on the street and fits the current lot ,unlike the previous Garagezilla versions .
The construction company recommended was Epic Construction. The full council still has to vote on the project.
A new Park Mobile contract goes in effect shortly and when it does the revised contract removes the 15 cents per transaction and 3% fee, which the former Village Manager signed off on .
Word is the suicide bike lane may be on the way out finally !
And as expected neither Ms.Willett or Ms Harwin were present at the council meeting .
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood Public Schools launches mobile app: Download the new RPS mobile app by searching for Ridgewood Village School Dist. in your App/Play store! Features staff directory, calendar, news, sports, Skyward and more!
The Central Business District Advisory Committee
invite you to attend the second
Central Business District Community Forum
Ridgewood Village Hall
131 North Maple Ave
Anne Zusy Youth Center
Monday, May 14, 2018, 6-8pm
RSVP [email protected]
Bring your ideas how to make the CBD better.
see you there!
May 14th, 2018
Ridgewood NJ, both Mr. Halaby and Mr. Lehmann used public comment to again attack Mayor and make unproven and spurious accusation. The Mayor for the “umpteenth time ” refuted the false claims called out those who made them “liars, and morally bankrupt and ethically challenged” . Lehmann through his antics once again demonstrated why he should be immediately removed as Chair of the Board of Adjustment .
Village council Attorney Matthew Rogers, read a statement concerning “nepotism ” and Village of Ridgewood hiring practices . Rogers first read a statement outlining his job and reiterating that he represents the Village of Ridgewood not any one particular member of the council. Rogers went on addressing civil service laws of New Jersey and how they foster “merit based hiring” . Specifically Rogers referred to the fact that qualitied candidates for civil service positions can not be bypassed .All civil service appointments must be made by the civil service test.
Councilmen Voigt attempted again to misrepresent the Village of Ridgewood and how the Civil Service system in New Jersey works . The councilmen as well as Mr. Halaby and Lehmann seem to have no understanding of the civil service system . Councilmen Walsh summed it up ,”the state test is the state test ” end of story ,there is no way around it.
We formally request that you vote AGAINST the 2018-2019 budget proposed by the Ridgewood Board of Education. The budget amounting to $110,167,997 represents an egregious increase of 4.36% from the year prior, resulting in a tax increase of 3.62%. This above-inflation, above-cap pace cannot be sustained, and we refuse to accept it as a solution.
According to the Board Vice President James Morgan and Member Christina Krauss, who have abstained from voting on the budget, “options to ameliorate budgetary pressures have been discussed.” We believe these options should be presented to the residents of Ridgewood and the Village collectively should decide on a more budget-friendly course of action.
The spotlight is on the three members who have indicated to vote for the proposed budget: Mr. B. Vincent Loncto ([email protected]), Ms. Sheila Brogan ([email protected]) and Ms. Jennie Smith Wilson ([email protected]). They, along with the Superintendent Dr. Daniel Fishbein ([email protected]), need understand that tax dollars should be used judiciously.
VILLAGE COUNCIL SPECIAL PUBLIC MEETING
APRIL 25, 2018
7:30 P.M.
1. Call to Order – Mayor
2. Statement of Compliance with the Open Public Meeting Act
MAYOR: “Adequate notice of this meeting has been provided
by a posting on the bulletin board in 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 the date and time of this meeting.”
3. Roll Call
4. Approval of Minutes
5. RESOLUTIONS
THE FOLLOWING RESOLUTIONS, NUMBERED 18-140 THROUGH 18-143 ARE TO BE ADOPTED BY A CONSENT AGENDA, WITH ONE VOTE BY THE VILLAGE COUNCIL. THERE IS A BRIEF DESCRIPTION BESIDE EACH RESOLUTION TO BE CONSIDERED ON THE CONSENT AGENDA. EACH RESOLUTION WILL BE READ BY TITLE ONLY:
18-140 Title 59 Approval – Approves the plans and specifications for Tree Trimming Ridgewood Parkland Crest Road at the View in the Village of Ridgewood, prepared by the Engineering Division, pursuant to Title 59
18-141 Award Contract – Tree Trimming on Crest Road at The View (NTE $17,450) – Awards a contract to the vendor providing the sole quote, Downes Tree Service, Inc.,
65 Royal Avenue, Hawthorne, NJ
18-142 Award Professional Services Contract – Financial Advisory Services for Hudson Street Parking Garage Project (NTE $25,000) – Awards a Professional Services Contract to Acacia Financial Group, 6000 Midlantic Drive, Suite 410 North, Marlton, NJ
18-143 Award Professional Services Contract – Green Acres Certified Appraisal – Block 3905, Lot 19 – South Broad Street (NTE $3,000) – Awards a Professional Services Contract to a Green Acres Certified Appraiser, Mark E. Hendricks, Hendricks Appraisal Company, LLC, 7 Hutton Avenue, West Orange, NJ
Village Council Work Session
THE RIDGEWOOD VILLAGE COUNCIL’S PUBLIC WORKSHOP AGENDA
APRIL 25, 2018
7:30 P.M.
1. 7:30 pm – Call to Order – Mayor
2. Statement of Compliance with Open Public Meeting Act
Mayor: “Adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by a posting on the bulletin board in 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 the date and time of this meeting.”
3. Roll Call – Village Clerk
4. Flag Salute/Moment of Silence
5. Public Comments (Not to Exceed 3 Minutes per Person – 40 Minutes in Total)
6. Discussion – Budget
a. Award Contract – Tree Trimming
b. Award Contract – Financial Advisor – Hudson Street Parking Garage
c. Award Professional Services Contract – Green Acres Diversion Property – South Broad Street
7. Motion to Suspend Work Session and Convene Special Public Meeting
8. Special Public Meeting – See Attached Agenda
9. Motion to Adjourn Special Public Meeting and Reconvene Work Session
10. Presentation
a. Hudson Street Parking Garage – Epic Management
11. Discussion
a. Ridgewood Water
1. Award Contract – Year One of Two Year Contract – Landscaping Services
2. Award Change Order #2 – Water Main Stream Crossings
3. Award Change Order #2 – Installation of Backup Power at Critical Facilities
4. Award Contract – Water Smart
b. Parking
1. Payment for Parking Transactions Using Mobile Technology and Other
Related Services
c. Budget
1. Award Contract – Year Two of Two Year Contract – Disposal of Recyclable Materials
2. Award Contract – Eradication of Bicycle Lane Markings – Portion of Westbound Garber Square
3. Award Contract – Crossing Guard Services
4. Award State Contract – Replacement of Carpeting – Police Department
5. Discuss Contract for Professional Planner – Affordable Housing Planning Consultant
6. New Five Year Lease – Pease Upper Levels
d. Policy
1. Blade Sign Ordinance
2. Amendment to Village Code – Backyards – Bands and Music
e. Operation – None
12. Manager’s Report
13. Council Reports
14. Public Comments (Not to Exceed 5 Minutes per Person)
15. Resolution to go into Closed Session
16. Closed Session
A. Personnel – Faulkner Act; Dept. of Public Works; Fire Department; Boards and Committees; Anti-Nepotism
B. Contract Negotiations – Property Acquisition – Green Acres Diversion
C. Legal – Affordable Housing
17. Adjournment
Ridgewood NJ, Board of Education trustees have announced the following winners of the 2017-2018 Teacher Recognition Program:
Educational Services Professional: Maria Obregon
Hawes School: Julieanna Berry
Orchard School: Mary Saglimbeni
Ridge School: Meghan McDermott
Somerville School: Nancy Kaplan
Travell School: Nicole Graziano
Willard School: Robert Krokus
Benjamin Franklin Middle School: Kerriann Reilly
George Washington Middle School: Brittany Daidone
Ridgewood High School: Sean Turkington
The Ridgewood Teacher Recognition Award reception will be held at the Education Center on Tuesday, May 8 at 7 p.m. for the award recipients, their families, school parents, teachers and friends. Each of the award recipients will receive a stipend of $500 ($250 awarded by the individual Home and School Association and $250 by the Board).
Utility to replace additional 875 miles of cast iron and unprotected steel gas pipes over five years
April 25,2021
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G) today announced a $1.875 billion settlement with the Staff of the New Jersey Board of Public utilities (BPU), the New Jersey Division of Rate Counsel and other parties to continue the accelerated replacement of aging gas pipes, supporting a safe, clean and reliable gas system well into the future. The settlement agreement is pending approval by the BPU.
In a filing with the BPU in July 2017, PSE&G sought approval to continue to accelerate the replacement of the cast iron and unprotected steel gas mains line throughout its service territory. The settlement will enable the utility to replace 875 miles of gas mains and make other improvements to its gas system over the five-year period.
“By year end, we expect to have replaced hundreds of miles of aging gas pipes under the first phase of our Gas System Modernization Program,” said David Daly, PSE&G president and COO. “This agreement means we can continue the next phase of this important work, which will result in improved safety and reliability of gas service and reduced methane emissions. It will also ensure we have the critical infrastructure needed to grow New Jersey’s economy for years to come.
“Together with our contractors, we have demonstrated we can manage a larger-scale, longer-duration program safely and cost-effectively,” Daly added. “We thank all of the parties involved for their thoughtful participation and review in this matter.”
In addition to PSE&G, the BPU staff and NJ Rate Counsel, parties supporting the settlement include: the Environmental Defense Fund, Local Union 94 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 855 of the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the plumbing and Pipefitting Industry, the Engineers Labor-Employment Cooperative, New Jersey Laborers – Employers Cooperation and Education Trust, Ferreira Construction, and Creamer-Sanzari Joint Venture.
In 2017, the BPU approved new rules that support longer-term infrastructure programs of up to five years. This agreement culminates nearly nine months of formal discovery, review and discussions, including public hearings before the BPU.
The mains and service lines will be replaced with strong, durable plastic piping, which is much less likely to have leaks and release methane gas. The new elevated pressure systems also enable the installation of excess flow valves that automatically shut off gas flow if a service line is damaged, and better support the use of high-efficiency appliances. The five-year program is also expected to create about 3,200 sustained jobs.
Since 2009, residential gas heating bills are down about 50 percent because of the lower cost of natural gas supply. Continued low gas prices make this the ideal time to accelerate this work.
Under the settlement, PSE&G’s return on equity on the investment will be determined as part of the utility’s base distribution rate review currently under way. The average annual bill impact for a typical residential customer is expected to be less than a 2 percent increase, or about $17, per year over the five-year program.
PSE&G has just under 4,000 miles of cast-iron gas pipes, which is more than any other utility in the nation. At this new pace, the utility lines can replace its cast-iron and unprotected steel pipes with modern ones in 25 years. Pipes installed before 1960 are the most leak-prone. They make up 25 percent of PSE&G’s network, yet account for 65 percent of leaks, excluding third-party damages. The five-year pipe replacement program would reduce greenhouse gas emissions equal to taking 30,000 vehicles off the road.
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood Crew had a remarkably good start to the 2018 season. Several of our boats consistently took first, second and third place slots in numerous categories during the 3rd, 4th and 5th Manny Flicks at the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia.
The Manny Flicks act as brush ups for Ridgewood and many of the teams in the mid-Atlantic region before the championship season begins April 28.
Coach Boris Roque-Alvarez said the coaching staff was “extremely happy with the performance and results.” Weather conditions leading up to the Flicks proved frustrating. Snow and wind prevented rowers from getting in the water to hone their technique but strength training land practices proved successful.
The Girls Varsity 2x with Senior, Amanda Perez, and Junior, Alexandra Walton Roth held first place in all three regattas. The Boys JV 4x with Juniors, Alexander Melarti, Drew Johnson, Sebastian Rivero and Sophomore, Tommy Montgomery and the Boys Ltwt 2x with Seniors, Joe O’Keefe, and Spencer Campbell also hit the trifecta 1st place mark. The crew heads to the Cooper River for the Garden State Championships this weekend.
Ridgewood NJ, At the 2018 Earth Day celebration, Ridgewood Recycling announced an exciting new addition to the curbside recycling program. Residents may now recycle food and beverage cartons (juice, milk, soy milk, soup, broth, wine, beans, cream, liquid eggs) with their plastic, glass, and metal bottles & cans. Residents will receive an informational postcard (pictured below) in the coming days.
Ridgewood NJ, PSE&G was digging on the side of the street near Whole Foods. (Not the middle of the street)The street was completely closed off from the square to the block past Whole Foods. 3 cops seem to be standing around and doing nothing , not sure what they were focusing on , they could have directed some traffic. This picture shows an empty parking lot in front of the store as well as the bank.
This ridiculous condition upset many stores on the street and they all lost tons of business since their customers had no place to even get to any stores since anything close to park, all meters were taken.
This post is not appropriate for a public forum. We can disagree without name calling and snarky remarks about our neighbors. The level of anger and nastiness in all debates in Ridgewood is over the top. Our current council election is a disgrace. I feel terrible for Mayor Knudsen and will definitely not be voting for her opponents given the sleazy and dishonest statements that they are circulating about her.
As for the school board – newcomers to the school budget woes need to take a step back and educate themselves about how we got here. It is not the fault of the the 5 volunteers who have run unopposed for the last few elections because no one wants that thankless job. You should be thanking them – not abusing them.
If you really want to know how we got here go back 2 years to the last teacher contract negotiation. This board held the line against unreasonable teacher demands as long as they could. Over a year, and in the face of destructive job actions that impacted kids in the schools every day. In the end the dispute went to a state mediator who pretty much gave the teachers what they wanted.
So if you really want to stop this from happening again, stop wasting your time beating up on these people and educate yourself on the state contract resolution process. Take your concerns to your state legislators. Because the teachers’ current contract is almost up. I would expect job actions to begin sometime next year in anticipation of a new round of negotiations.
Candidate Alexandra Harwin Asked Me to Send You All This Note
Earlier this evening (April 23rd) I attended a meet and greet Alexandra Harwin held at a Downtown business. At the end of the evening she said that municipal election turnout is frequently light and because “people have a hard time processing information” that it would be helpful if we contacted our friends and neighbors and shared our impressions of the evening’s session.
Ok, not my idea but I always try to be helpful when someone asks me to do something for him or her.
My overall impression of Candidate Harwin was one of insufficient substance and a lack of familiarity with the issues to such a degree that I do not understand what she offers to the Village.
The candidate is clearly bright, but anyone who has been to more than 1 Village Council Meeting (a category that may not include Ms. Harwin) knows these are not Mensa conventions.
The platform consisted of only 4 planks, 3 of which came across as pure platitudes:
Lower taxes
Better Services
A revitalized downtown
These were presented as if the incumbent candidates support higher taxes, worse services and have downtown decay as a goal. Luckily they don’t, and they have the added benefit of an extensive command of the facts and a demonstrated willingness to do what’s right in a professional and civil way despite being relentlessly bullied and subjected to slanderous attacks.
Stylistically, there was a large amount of talking at people about the theoretical components of a problem like parking (eg it is because there is a multi-year “overall shift toward more a more parking intensive set of service oriented businesses like restaurants and nail salons”- mystery solved) but not much substance on solutions, nor any demonstrated familiarity with the history that preceded this moment in time. There was also a fair amount of ungracious Monday morning quarterbacking about things the Council had done to try and solve various issues (eg “the downtown valet experiment was ill conceived”). Those who cannot do teach; those who have not even tried commentate.
The one area in which Ms. Harwin spoke more passionately was about inclusion. I agree with her overall conclusion that the Council’s handling of the Pride Flag display was not good. I completely disagree with her theory as to the cause. There is no evidence in the record that the Mayor, Deputy Mayor or any other Council member was unsympathetic to the issues represented by the LGBTQ community. In prior years the Council authorized display of the flag but in this case the request got bogged down. If you have spent any time watching the Council work, the overall style was consistent with their usual methodical and process oriented mindset. But that missed the boat on the empathy and emotional side. In direct conversation with the Mayor, I know she feels similarly and she has expressed a resolve to do better this time around.
In summary, I was left with the impression of a candidate who has much less to offer the Village than the Village needs. We have capable and dedicated candidates in Susan Knudsen and Mike Sedon, who while human and imperfect, are the most engaged, capable and collaborative people on the ballot. I hope this helps you all if you are having trouble processing all the available information ☺.
I moved in 30 years ago, years before I had kids. I’m still here after my kids have left RPS. My taxes have quadrupled but I’m still paying. I worked full time when my kids were young. and I paid good money for kindergarten enrichment. My kids are successful despite not having full day kindergarten . . . why did people think free kindergarten baby sitting was the way to go. There’s no reason to have full day K in our socioeconomic cohort. Just because I want to dump my brats and go to yoga and lunch is not a good reason for full day kindergarten (and no, I don’t hink our real estate value was in jeopardy because we didnt have full day K. No self respecting Mommy around here works). Lots of waste. at the BoE and I just want some form of reasonable increases directed at quality education (BTW . . . RPS has gone down the toilet since I move in and yet, I pay more and more each year) . I can well afford to live here but really don’t want to continue to allow the BoE to spend foolishly. Very little of the proposed increase are going toward classroom and education goals; have you looked at the budget or is your smarmy ass head stuck in the sand?
Ridgewood NJ, form the Facebook page Take Back Ridgewood , After the council elections are over, we will have to take back board of education from Brogan, Lancto and Wilson.
Here is a post from resident Dan Creed.
I am told that the BOE has decided to not spend $755k on windows after all. I guess the windows weren’t as dangerous as once thought.
Unfortunately, instead of staying under the state cap of 2%, the BOE is planning on keeping the $755k in the budget and do other projects with the money.
So let’s be crystal clear here- we are not going over the state cap because of benefit costs, we are going over the cap because the BOE wants to stick pork in the budget for projects.
In November, the BOE will come to the voters with somewhere between a $60-90 million bond referendum for more projects. My rough math is this will add another $6-7 million per year onto the BOE budget for decades to come.
Bottom line is that if you like our 4% increase this year, get ready for another 5-8% next year. My math might not be exact, but it is not too far off.
Let’s remember, there is a 1% increase for regular education…that’s right, 1%. There is precious little in the budget that adds incremental resources to educational outcomes.
The BOE and the Trustees Brogan, Loncto, and Wilson currently support the budget as presented. Please see the link below if you wish to email them.
