Tag: Vill;age Of Ridgewood

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Reader says ,Sorry Charlie ……

BOE_theridgewoodblog

>Charlie, you’re perspectives are reasonably well stated, but are unfortunately hopelessly outdated. I rarely derive much insight from your comments. Usually, you just come off sounding like a sycophant.

Years of stone-faced neglect and brainless posturing on the part of the Ridgewood district’s BOE have led us to the current curriculum crisis. In no small part, this is due to people, like yourself, who fail to take seriously the role a BOE trustee fills in seeing to it that the school district serves the interests of its residents and taxpayers, and those interests only.

The Ridgewood district does not exist to provide Assistant Superintendent Botsford with a big-budget playground to conduct her constructivist experiments, or to curry favor with Pearson Publishing, or to scoop up a fancy doctorate degree from Montclair State University, or to hold great sway when she jets down to the Big Easy to provide lectures to like-minded curriculum development administrators, as she plans to do next month.

There’s no question you have a right to speak your mind. And the fact that you tend to do so in complete sentences places you a cut above many who frequent this board. But for once, could you take a breather from your single minded support of the current BOE trustees? Even if they are comfortable having you as their sole defender in the Village of Ridgewood, which I tend to doubt, you should let them speak for themselves. In consideration of the upcoming election involving the seats currently held by Ms. Brogan and Mr. Bombace, I would much rather hear a straightforward defense/explanation of the BOE’s recent actions/inactions coming from the respective mouths of these two incumbents, or even from Ms. Brogan’s buddy Laurie Goodman, than to continue to be lectured by you.

1-800-FLOWERS.COMshow?id=mjvuF8ceKoQ&bids=100462

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Reader defends Ridgewood News

>byclcye
A friend suggested that I get the inside dope on what was happening in Ridgewood by perusing the blogs. I was honestly shocked by the narrowmindedness of some of the posts – particularly with regard to the editorial standards of our local newspaper.

Hindsight shows that the reporter was doing his job – reporting – not passing judgment on what was being exchanged, just reporting what was taking place. Isn’t that what he was supposed to do? Remain objective? And didn’t the editor simply back up the editorial integrity of the newspaper by not yielding to public criticism and printing the news as news? Spare me the conspiracy theories, would ya!

Now as for the math controversy. Sure, I knew people were up in arms, and yes, I’ll admit that some of the protocols for teaching left me baffled, but I saw my kids NJASK and Terra Nova test scores and, well…can kids get higher than 99th percentile? Something must be going right in the school system.

No question that all the bloggers love Ridgewood and that discourse is healthy. But, informed and objective discourse is healthier still.

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Reader says, "All you "fiscally responsible" folks — artificial turf, like that at Maple, is the way to go"

>You are sadly misinformed. The flooding in Maple Field this spring left that field far better off than it would have been if it had still been natural grass. Where do you get your info, anyway? Didn’t mommy teach you not to listen to rumors? Get the facts, jack!

Let’s go back a few months, to a very informative post on April 19, 2007, on this blog:

“Last weekend NJ had the highest recorded rainfall over 48 hours in over 120 years…more than hurricane Floyd. The RFD has pumped out 180 basements and has 100 to go. Apparently there has only been one heavier rainfall in a 48 hour period since records have been kept on such things.The result was that every field in Ridgewood’s flood plain (Maple, Stevens, RHS, Stevens, Vets and Brookside) was heavily flooded. In some cases, like at Stevens, the newly deposited clay on the baseball diamonds was completely washed away. As happened in hurricane Floyd, large amounts of debris and a heavy layer of silt/mud was deposited on the fields, particularly Maple, Stevens and Vets. If not for the debris and silt, Maple was dry enough for play on Tuesday. Brookside may not be dry enough to play on for 2-3 weeks. Stevens, Vets and RHS will probably not be dry enough until sometime next week. The bigger problem is the silt that was deposited on the fields. After hurricane Floyd, the mud on the fields could not be removed and it killed the grass. In the case of Maple, the field was scraped down below the roots and resodded at the expense of approximately $25,000 (just for Maple). The field was then closed for several months to allow the sod to take root, thus eliminating a full season of play. Reportedly, this is exactly what is being considered for parts of Vets and Stevens. It would also have been considered at Maple, if the field was still grass.Fortunately, this time the mud can be removed from Maple because of the synthetic surface. The rubber and sand infill did not wash away in the storm. However, in the worst case scenario, a small amount of the infill may be removed with the mud and silt. If this is the happens, the infill is inexpensive and can easily be replaced in a day or two of grooming. Thus, while this storm was as bad as it could have been and will require some clean up, it did not result in any permanent damage to Maple Field. Nor was any of the landscaping around the park damaged. Maple field will be back in use weeks before the other fields affected.”

As another poster said on that day,
“…it is becoming more and more clear that we need more turf fields in town.” Hear hear. All you “fiscally responsible” folks — artificial turf, like that at Maple, is the way to go. What a success that field renovation has been!

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The Now Infamous Letter ?

>This is NOT PJ’s comment, but MY comment, which you can see posted under the headline “Pro BOE reader…”I DID NOT address the comment as “Hello Everyone” – this intro was inserted by PJ.MY intro was “Hey, bbwool,” responding to bbwool’s accusation. So my “basically” pokes fun at his use of the word “basically.” And, of course,the “lie” refers to what bbwool claimed and the liar is, of course, bbwool.thanks a bunch, pj, for making it look like i was calling “everyone” a liar.

*My mistake PJ

Hello Everybody .

I found that letter from Frances to Brooks and she DID NOT tell him not to come. so what YOU said was…ummm…”basically” a lie. which makes you “basically” a liar.

in fact, she gave him a heads up on the math discussion in our district. furthermore, her polite communication enabled Brooks to respond in kind. it gave him a chance to publicly explain his position and i must say, he did it well and graciously.

bbwool, why did you say the Ridgewood Blog “proudly” posted her letter but not tell us the whole truth, that it also posted Brooks’ response??

but hey, everyone, you don’t have to take MY word for it because here is the parent’s letter and Brooks’ response from the May 9, 2007 blog:

“Dr. Mr. Brooks,

I am a Ridgewood parent of three children in our public schools and I, like many others here, have been made aware of your pending position as our new superintendent. Our Board may not have advised you of this, but you should be aware of the present climate in our district with regard to the “Investigation” math curriculum. Several articles and ‘letters to the editor’ have appeared in our local paper over recent weeks. If the Board kept you in the dark with regard to this protracted circumstance, there may be little left for you to do but to give it your deepest contemplation. The link below is but a sample of the present discussion underway.

Respectfully,
Frances”

https://www.lindamoran.net/blog_teen/2007/04/the_disaster_at_plainview_old.html

“Dear Ms. Edwards:

Thanks for this note. I’d like to make a few comments about the link you attached. The math wars, like the whole language wars of the past decade, are based on a false dichotomy: traditional education v. progressive education. Good instruction focuses on the needs of the child – every child, one by one – and no one approach meets the needs of all children.

The math issue is interesting in that the battle seems to be pitched around algorithmic fluency v. conceptual understanding. They are not mutually exclusive. Both are essential for mathematically literacy. Students who learn algorithms procedurally without conceptual understanding aren’t truly fluent because although they are able to answer questions correctly on tests (when the questions are posed in the precise format the students are used to seeing), they often have difficulty knowing whether to (and how to) apply that algorithm to new and different situations. Teaching for conceptual understanding helps children develop efficient strategies for computing. Understanding the concept that underlies the algorithm helps students know how and when to apply it, helping them to become more proficient in solving new, differently presented problems and/or more complex problems.

Programs don’t teach children, teachers do. Good teachers vary their instruction – and their materials – based on student response.

Respectfully,
Marty Brooks”

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Meet Dr. Marty Brooks – June 11, 2007 @ 7:30pm Ed. Center

>The Board of Education is inviting the public to a welcome reception for Dr. Martin Brooks, the incoming Superintendent of Schools at the Ed Center, third floor, 49 Cottage Place, on Monday, June 11, 2007, from 7:30-8:30 PM. The informal occasion is the first opportunity for residents to meet Dr. Brooks who was appointed to the position at the May 14, 2007, Board meeting. He takes over the Ridgewood post on July 1, 2007.

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Is the former Town Garage property for sale, again?

Village Council members met behind closed doors on Wednesday evening to
discuss possible options for acquiring 120 Franklin Avenue, formerly home of
the Town Garage. Acquisition of this property is key to the planned
construction of a municipal parking garage at the northwest corner of North
Walnut Street and Franklin Avenue.

It is now rumored that Ridgewood 120 LLC, the site’s current owners, have
offered the property for sale to Village officials at a price much higher
than the $1.265 million paid in November of 2006. Scuttlebutt is that
Ridgewood 120 LLC’s asking price is at least $1.865 million, and possibly as
high as $2.265 million. The current owners have made no improvements to the
property since purchasing it from the Agnello family late last year.

Council members must decide whether to: 1) pay the asking price, or 2) enact
the right of eminent domain, or 3) revise parking garage building plans to
eliminate the need for that parcel. Still unanswered is the question: “How
did Village Council members manage to get themselves in such an expensive
jam? In other words, how was a real estate investment group able to acquire
the Town Garage property from right under the Council’s noses?”

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Ridgewood News Purposeful Misrepresentations ?

>Submitted to The Ridgewood News

To the editor:

While it is fair to say that most editors save their opinion for the
editorial pages, clearly some do not. Your article on a recently
filed civil rights lawsuit to stem the purposeful discrimination that
was proliferated against our then 12-year old daughter lacked
credibility. It provided far too many errors, of omission and
commission, which, despite efforts to suppress them, nonetheless rose
to the surface as misrepresented facts collided uncomfortably with
uninformed opinion.

This begs the question: how many times is the editor of the Ridgewood
News allowed to bend the truth without having her credibility broken?
One, five, nine? In the above mentioned article, no less than seven
errors emanated from the first few paragraphs of a hate-filled rant
against our efforts to protect rights to which all are entitled.

Some of these falsehoods even prompted one letter writer to shrill
shamelessly that we should “move” out of town, a town to which I first
moved in 1969. Since when is defending a civil right the source of
such pointed venom? Or are the “rules” just different in Ridgewood?

What concerns me, however, is that the nature and subjectivity of
these errors appear designed to be purposefully mean-spirited. One is
left to wonder at the editor’s true purpose in making them. Take for
instance the following (for clarification, I use italics for what was
stated in the original article):

“…Caitlin Alvaro had asked to play on her brother’s fifth and sixth
grade recreation-league team..”

Our daughter never asked to be on her brother’s team. She asked to be
included in the draft of boys for her grade’s recreation basketball
league, to be drafted for any team like any other player. Though she
completed the evaluation, she was later denied participation and was
removed from the draft by the Biddy organization. After the New
Jersey Division of Civil Rights became involved, Biddy eventually
assigned her to the team on which our son also played, though they
continued to deny her permission to play.

“Despite what her father said was a skillful performance in her
evaluation…”

Caitlin’s father never said such a thing. It was merely noted in the
complaint that she had successfully sunk all five of the required
baskets during that particular evaluation. It is solely the editor’s
opinion that this constituted a “skillful performance.”

“…two sides reached a settlement requiring Ridgewood Biddy
Basketball…”

There was not a settlement, monetary or otherwise, but an agreement by
Biddy to obey the law. This took place between the NJDCR and the
Ridgewood Biddy Inc. The Alvaro’s were neither present nor asked to
participate in this conference. The Ridgewood School district, a
party to the complaint, did not attend, thereby maintaining an active complaint
against them with the NJDCR. Biddy honored this agreement and so is not
a party named in this lawsuit. They allowed Caitlin to play in the
boy’s league the next two years. Her team reached the championship
game the first year, and she was honored by her teammates with the
selection to play on the all-star team this year. Teammates and other
players were always exemplary in their manner towards her.

“…Alvaro is seeking unspecified monetary compensation…pain and
suffering, while watching those games from the bench.”

Having a player sit on the bench is not against the law, nor is it a
reason for seeking compensation. That the editor would make such a
statement is totally ludicrous and misleading.

“…a history of adversarial relations with the school district.”

This characterization by the editor is selectively pejorative. It is
possible to disagree and not be adversarial; only the ignorant to presume
otherwise. District and Village officials have always and continue to
extend the utmost courtesy to our family. We return this treatment
likewise.

“…taking legal action against the board for sponsoring what they
felt was an invasive survey.”

Though later “clarified” by the editor, the purpose of this knowingly
false statement was reprehensible. Seven parents filed complaints
against the school board for the survey and three filed a federal lawsuit. Were
they also “adversarial?” My contribution was to work tirelessly toward
getting a law passed in New Jersey to prevent such an encroachment on
parental rights. The far superior and more appropriate “norms” survey
recently given in the High School was a welcome result of such
efforts.

“…include resistance to renovations at Orchard Elementary School.”

Also knowingly untrue. Our disagreement was not with renovations,
which we welcomed, but with the building of a new addition on top of
the basketball courts which parents had recently provided for our
children with money from their own pockets. What the editor did not
reveal to her readers was that I sat in her office and she looked over
our 200 signatures from parents who signed a petition asking to change
the addition’s location. She knew this was a majority position– two hundred
signatures from a population of fewer than 350 students. Her efforts to
mislead and characterize this as “adversarial” by means of singular
intent are shockingly dishonest.

So, how many times may an editor bend the truth before her
credibility is broken? Only her publisher knows.

Frances Edwards
Ridgewood

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Happy Saint Patrick’s Day

>IMG 0429

IMG 0430IMG 0426
ABOUT SAINT PATRICKSaint Patrick is believed to have been born in the late fourth century, and is often confused with Palladius, a bishop who was sent by Pope Celestine in 431 to be the first bishop to the Irish believers in Christ.Saint Patrick was the patron saint and national apostle of Ireland who is credited with bringing christianity to Ireland. Most of what is known about him comes from his two works, the Confessio, a spiritual autobiography, and his Epistola, a denunciation of British mistreatment of Irish christians. Saint Patrick described himself as a “most humble-minded man, pouring forth a continuous paean of thanks to his Maker for having chosen him as the instrument whereby multitudes who had worshipped idols and unclean things had become the people of God.”

Saint Patrick is most known for driving the snakes from Ireland. It is true there are no snakes in Ireland, but there probably never have been – the island was separated from the rest of the continent at the end of the Ice Age. As in many old pagan religions, serpent symbols were common and often worshipped. Driving the snakes from Ireland was probably symbolic of putting an end to that pagan practice. While not the first to bring christianity to Ireland, it is Patrick who is said to have encountered the Druids at Tara and abolished their pagan rites. The story holds that he converted the warrior chiefs and princes, baptizing them and thousands of their subjects in the “Holy Wells” that still bear this name.

There are several accounts of Saint Patrick’s death. One says that Patrick died at Saul, Downpatrick, Ireland, on March 17, 460 A.D. His jawbone was preserved in a silver shrine and was often requested in times of childbirth, epileptic fits, and as a preservative against the “evil eye.” Another account says that St. Patrick ended his days at Glastonbury, England and was buried there. The Chapel of St. Patrick still exists as part of Glastonbury Abbey. Today, many Catholic places of worship all around the world are named after St. Patrick, including cathedrals in New York and Dublin city

Why Saint Patrick’s Day?
Saint Patrick’s Day has come to be associated with everything Irish: anything green and gold, shamrocks and luck. Most importantly, to those who celebrate its intended meaning, St. Patrick’s Day is a traditional day for spiritual renewal and offering prayers for missionaries worldwide.

So, why is it celebrated on March 17th? One theory is that that is the day that St. Patrick died. Since the holiday began in Ireland, it is believed that as the Irish spread out around the world, they took with them their history and celebrations. The biggest observance of all is, of course, in Ireland. With the exception of restaurants and pubs, almost all businesses close on March 17th. Being a religious holiday as well, many Irish attend mass, where March 17th is the traditional day for offering prayers for missionaries worldwide before the serious celebrating begins.

In American cities with a large Irish population, St. Patrick’s Day is a very big deal. Big cities and small towns alike celebrate with parades, “wearing of the green,” music and songs, Irish food and drink, and activities for kids such as crafts, coloring and games. Some communities even go so far as to dye rivers or streams green! ( https://www.st-patricks-day.com/about_saintpatrick.asp )

photo’s by ArtChick Photo’s shot at Irish Eyes on Ridgewood Ave

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The Town Garage, 120 Franklin Avenue; the eye of the storm . . .

>Town%20Garage
The current hot discussion topic among those who monitor Village Hall happenings is how an out of town firm was able purchase the Town Garage property from right out under the noses of Village Council members. Village ownership of the subject property (see posted photo) is seen as key to the successful construction of a municipal parking garage.

Reportedly, Village officials had offered previous owner Richard Agnello more than the $1.265 million sale price. However, it is being reported that Mr. Agnello refused to sell until the Village found a suitable location nearby for him to relocate his motor vehicle repair facility.

So the fly would like to know: 1) How was the Wells partnership able to buy the property for less than what Village officials had offered Mr. Agnello? 2) Will Mr. Agnello be closing up shop, or has the Wells partnership found a location for him to move his operation to? And, 3) What prompted the Wells partnership to purchase a piece of property destined for involvement in eminent domain proceedings?

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More Vox populi :Ridgewood is starting to look like NYC in the 1970’s

Ridgewood is starting to look like NYC in the 1970’s. Out of control spending, rogue employees and elected officials, failing education system and lack of maintenance in the town.

NYC cut police officers and firefighters also in a effort to cut spending. The results of that remains in the minds of those who had to travel to NYC to work during those frightening years. Crime rose 60% in just 2 years. Burned buildings were everywhere. Even today the city still hasn’t recovered from the population loss from those years. It took a good 15 years and federal help for the city to control its spending. They realized the problem lied in poor spending habits, non-working employees and outside political influences.

Im not saying Ridgewood is going be as bad as NYC was, but it could very well be a smaller version of it. Do the residents a favor, instead of cutting essential services such as Police, Fire, EMS, Sanitation and other quality of life services, look at things that we either don’t need or need to cut back on. Example: Rear yard garbage pickup. We also need to stop several projects that we CANT afford. Example: Parking Garage, Bank Ban. I would much rather have a second firehouse instead, i like my house not charred.

If you look at how the finical collapse of NYC started, you will see a smaller but similar problem that Ridgewood has today. But lets not make the same mistakes they made when stabilizing the budget.

GigaGolf, Inc.

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Mayor David T. Pfund and the Village council have decided against endorsing the design proposals submitted by NJ Transit for the Train Station

During the 8/9/06 Village Council Public Meeting, Mayor David T. Pfund
announced that Council members have now decided NOT to endorse any of the
design proposals submitted by NJ Transit for a proposed ADA compliant
renovation of Ridgewood’s train station.

In his public statement, Mayor Pfund cited the following concerns relative
to the three potential design schemes: 1) emergency access to the westbound
platform, 2) the proposed station’s proximity to existing senior citizen
housing, 3) potential changes in motor vehicle traffic patterns in the
vicinity of Ridge Road, and 4) increased walking distances for commuters.

So, it would seem as though we’re back to square one again. Only time will
tell if NJ Transit gets annoyed enough to take legal action.

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The RRC Blog rides to my rescue

>https://www.ridgewoodrepublicanclub.org/weblog/index.php

The Ridgewood News, a smaller, less important rag of the leftist North Jersey Media Group, declared war on the Ridgewood Blog (www.theRidgewoodBlog.blogspot.com) today. Dismissing the proprietor of that website and it’s posters as a bunch of anti government grumblers, the Ridgewood News promoted its own version of a blog. The promotion of their own blog underlines the real reason for the attack. The Ridgewood News is losing circulation to the bloggers and ad dollars are very dependent on circulation numbers. And another problem that is worrisome to the Ridgewood News is the fact that the Ridgewood Blog scooped them on a number of issues. The blog uses the input of the entire community instead of a small set of reporters looking for a story (and usually missing the elephant in the room). Having those types of resources is priceless and the paper knows it.The Ridgewood News editorial writer delighted in the fact that the Ridgewood Blog was banned from the computers of village hall. They pointed out that this did not surprise them as the blog used “anonymous” postings from people. Sadly, the paper missed the point again. Anonymous or not, a lot of people are upset with the way the village is being handled. Dismissing the posters as a bunch of anonymous crack pots misses the real story. Oh and by the way, the editorial in the Ridgewood News was unsigned.So the battle is joined. On the one hand is old media, with an ever shrinking stream of revenue and readers on one side, and new media emerging and engaging the public in a way that the news papers could never do. The real issue here is control of information. The Ridgewood News is no longer the only game in town. And if it keeps this attitude up, it won’t be in town much longer.