the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, at the July 12, 2023 Village Council meeting, a presentation by a so-called “expert” talked about how he plans to get the historic designation of the Schedler Park property reversed. As if this whole charade wasn’t bad enough, the man droned on and ON for close to an hour and a half. The Mayor, who is the presiding officer, did nothing to make the guy bring his excruciating monologue to a conclusion. And the Mayor himself has publicly stated that he wants presentations, such as this, not to exceed 15 minutes.
At about 11:08 PM the second public comments session was set to commence, and Vagianos announced that there would be exactly 12 minutes of public comments and the meeting would end at 11:20. He said they have an 11:00 “curfew” (what the heck? Cinderella?) and acted like the 12 minutes would be a huge favor. Such largesse, geeeeez. There was a small number of people who had stayed for the entire meeting and wanted to speak; in addition there were a couple of residents on the phone who were waiting to be heard. Three people were able to speak and then the Mayor rudely and heavy-handedly said it was over. Councilwoman Lorraine Reynolds tried to state that she wanted the council to hear what the remaining residents had to say – she “tried to,” but was loudly cut off by the Mayor. Such disrespect from a man who goes on and on about civil discourse. Two or maybe three residents still wanted to speak in person, as well as those on the phone. “MAY I HAVE A MOTION TO ADJOURN?” shouted the Mayor. All in favor – Reynolds called out NO but Perron and Winograd said AYE. (Weitz was not at this meeting). Sorry, concerned citizens, your voices do not matter.
What do we see here:
1. Before every public comments session the Mayor chastizes everyone – in advance – telling them they have to be respectful. Then he is ruder than rude to council colleague Reynolds.
2. The Mayor lets a presenter who is doing the Mayor’s bidding regarding Schedler (at the citizens’ expense) talk endlessly – and then basically blames the late hour on the citizens who simply wanted to state their opinions, offer suggestions, etc.
3. The Mayor brags about how he created hybrid meetings – but then he only allows a few in-person people to speak and in some cases (most recently Wednesday night) does not let people who are at home weigh in. Hybrid meetings? No – censored meetings.
4. Perron and Winograd will say YES to anything Vagianos wants – even though both of them claim that they want to hear what the residents are saying, they never jump in and tell the Mayor to let everyone speak.
5. Lorraine Reynolds is the only – THE ONLY – elected official who consistently listens to what the residents are saying (except when the Mayor shuts her down).
Ridgewood is no longer a democracy. We are now governed by a dictatorship.
the dictatorship of uninformed agenda driven voters
Can a Mayor be recalled?
Putin part II.
RECALL PAUL AND CAN PAM NOW!
He pushed, and pushed, and pushed the pedestrian plaza this year. But when it came time to basically admit the concept was a failure in the post pandemic environment, he handed the “We have bad news” assignment off to his brandy new Village Manager. What a loser.
He wants to hear from the public only when it is convenient for him to do so.
Cinderfella, not Cinderella.
He is SO RUDE
Clown Show
When he chose to run for local office, was he unaware that meetings most often extend into the late evening hours? What a selfish, self-centered, egotistical moron.
Why does Pam constantly bat her eyes at him?
I just timed it. Mr. Primavera’s speech, and it was a speech more so than a presentation, lasted 92 minutes.
Con man….we have trouble right here in River City !
For what he said nothing new did not bring any unique information spoke to no one and as he said, just read everyone else’s report fake news
Peter Primavera’s “assignment” was to get that field. 100% no doubt about it, so when they came up with creative solutions that Pam Perron alluded to way back when (things other councils had not considered) like moving the house or reducing the importance of the historical significance (despite SHPO saying that every rock and every blade of grass was historic) it was clear that they will push this through at all costs, and there will be many costs. We will pay Mr. Primavera more money, we will pay to move a house, will pay over $600 K for a new property, etc, and the list goes on. The Mayor and I would say Pam and Siobahn did not want to hear what anyone had to say, so it is easier to cut off the public comments, that way it doesn’t go on record. Not nice, not a smart move, probably a tad illegal. But they DO NOT CARE. They will pull off their scheme to cater to only one group of people who play sports. Evan wasn’t there, but I wouldn’t expect much sympathy for speakers from him as he generally agrees with the other majority block members 100$ of the time.
This is Turf(Glen Rock) Envy…plain and simple.
Climate change is the most existential thing to our survival, therefore leveling acres of trees for a sports complex is unconscionable. The supposed historic preservation (laughable title) has only one goal which is to ensure that he comes up with creative solutions to make sure the field can go on that property, so moving a house and leveling all of the trees (yes, you watch they will do it), is going to be detrimental to people’s health. Do they care, nope. Not one bit. Paul has said to people in town “I’ve gotta get this done, I don’t have a choice” Hmmm. Interesting choice of words. But no one else’s words matter. Not one bit. If you cut off comments, people do not have a chance to object to the lunacy of their latest plot to ensure that a field or sports complex is built on the Schedler property. This plan has probably been in the works since last November with Primavera assuring them with all of his great relationships, people he has known for years whose palms he may be greasing. Who knows. But everyone sees right through this awful scheme that is going to be very detrimental to a neighborhood and to Ridgewood. If they don’t bankrupt the Village, it will be a surprise. They talk about having no money, but seem to be finding money to fund each and every step of this scheme.
4700 Village Idiots
The Mayor is literally censoring meetings by cutting off the public comments. This is not fair. How can we lobby to get this changed. How can we lobby to get rid of this horrible majority block of council members. We need to Recall Paul and Can Pam who is an awful Deputy Mayor rubber stamp. Evan is useless and isn’t paying attention most of the time and Siobahn is up to plenty (yes, Siobahn we know all about your sneaky schemes) and the fact that she showed deliberate favoritism to Peter Primavera by picking him up at the train station and driving all throughout Ridgewood with him, while providing supposed historical context to him and telling him the property, the sword, etc isn’t really historically significant is collusion. How is any of this ethical or legal?
The tell tale is that primavera believed her historic context. This goes to show what a fake he is a clueless historian
This is the playbook, people. They will make it look like this historic consultant sheister or con man or whatever else we call him is legit, he thinks he is special, but he is just the one they need to help them push this through. Once they build the field, people will play on it for a while, maybe a year, it won’t be ideal because it is noisy, hopefully everyone will move away from that neighborhood while they can still get money for their homes, Paul can drive by to see all of the for sale signs on the lawns and it hat side of town will look like Flint Michigan after the GM plant closed. This is all very sad Paul. Ridgewood might even have to revisit the furloughs for staff workers again or go the Village could be beyond bonded. This is gonna be expensive. Maybe Siobahn can put a big check mark next to what a collosal nightmare this will end up being and maybe she won’t be able to show her face in public anymore being shunned for her stupidity, along with Evan and Pam.
I live in the neighborhood, only a few homes from the Schedler house, and I do not believe that a ballfield is the right choice for a lot of reasons, safety (Route 17) primarily. Some child will be killed sooner-or-later.
However, Kingsbridge, Queens Court, Terhune and others will not suffer, no one will move and if some do, it will not be like Flint MI. Focus on WHY this should not happen and stop the nonsense. It will remain a beautiful, family-friendly neighborhood, bruised but not beaten.
Handcuff all those who they violate any law at any level and march them to the booking desk – preferably at a meeting!
Good idea. The police are only 2 floors down!
Dear Mr. Village Manager, please get your broom out and start sweeping. Start with the incompetent and corrupt Village Engineer.
The new VM is part of the team…..he’s on-board with this scam…
Oh he is part of the team alright, he was hired before Paul took office, he is his former campaign Mgr
Yes, he is a former campaign manager or something for Paul back in the day. That is how he ended up with the job as VM Ridgewood! He will be a rubber stamp for sure.
The consultant droned on for over 90 minutes and his assignment was to find a way to build an “Athletic field” next to the historic house. He talks in circles and is hard to follow. Brags about everyone he knows (meanwhile has terrible references and many people who do not respect and would not work with or hire him in addition to purjering himself many years ago), but brags about all of the key important people he knows. His relationships extend to directly knowing for many years, the current “Keeper of National Register of Historic Places” and also the former keeper in Washington, D.C. and goes on to say he is “close friends” with Richard Hunter from Hunter Research for the better part of 40 years as well as James Lee, who he knows extremely well and that James Lee got his job through Peter Primavera in the field of Archaeology and trained with Peter’s senior staff for several years. I say any and all communications between Peter Primavera and any one of his contacts must be provided as part of his research. He claims that none of his communications (verbal or written) speak about delisting or de-registering the property or the house but yet this council received a document suggesting that they “modify” 6 acres so they can build the giant field (back in November of 2022 before Paul was Mayor). I smell a big rat and the truth will come out, hopefully sooner rather than later.
His job was to waste time. That’s how it’s done. Prolong the meeting until folks give up or the time limit is reached, and then do what you want.
Let’s face it, This will not get done anytime soon, this will be tied up in Red tape and Law suites for YEARS to come.. The Village Pompous A$$ mayor and clueless 3 will spend Millions of dollars, for what, nothing!
Con Man Pasta Primavera will keep asking for more $$$$ and he will get all he wants.
This property will set Ridgewood back Decades
Yes, but on a lighter note, Councilwoman Winograd was actually trying to save Ridgewood taxpayers from an unnecessary expense by picking up Peter at the train station all while saving him hours of research with her treasure trove of knowledge. We should be grateful :), LOL.
Cant imagine being trapped in a car with her wout my ear plugs
If he doesn’t let you talk then it doesn’t go on record. He is no dumby. He figured, that no one can then dispute the nonsense going on at that meeting!
He admitted that we didn’t get a complete report for $6800 right? Or am I missing something. He just did a summary without any factual references and just read documents.
Next step – If he limits speech at VOR meetings then go somewhere else public to speak. This is still America. Picket signs in RW would definitely be picked up by local news organizations….. How about picketing up and down the pedestrian plaza? Is is illegal to walk up and down RW ave with a sign? Hang the sign around your neck so it’s not officially a picket sign. Don’t bunch up so it looks like a protest, just regular old Americans expressing their thoughts independently .
People wandering up and down RW ave is exactly what he wants.
Get a bunch of people to wear white t-shirts with messages written on them. Why not speak at BOE meetings…. they let everyone speak and don’t end the meeting until everyone has spoken, this affects the kids and our overall taxes so I’d say it’s relevant.
Just some ideas — we can work around his curfew
I’d suggest calling The Record but that organization is on life support.
There is a person who puts up signs at every meeting.
Oh wow, love it. Genius idea literally. How about a soap box in Van Neste Park like they did in the old days!!
Right! If “Belly-Boy” can lead his parade down Ridgewood Ave for his BLM “cause”, then tax-paying citizens should be able to do the same, right?
Belly Boy – no doubt his parents are “proud”!
https://theridgewoodblog.net/another-ridgewood-4-black-liberation-protest-is-planned-for-this-saturday-july-18th-at-400-p-m/
Mayor, a simple man one told me. “Be Nice to People on Your Way Up. You’ll Meet Them On Your Way Down”
After recommending that 6 acres either be de-listed from historical significance OR to move the house, the consultant thanked Ms. Winograd for giving him “An encyclopedic recitation about what she knew, who she knew, what she had been told about this, that and the other” his words verbatim, to which Councilwoman Reynolds commented “that is just hearsay”. Haha, he then goes on to agree “this was just hearsay, and therefore not interesting to me” He said that hearsay can be viewed as folklore that provides valuable details and felt that the he, as the lead investigator of the project, should have been contacted by anyone with any historical context. Of all of the unmitigated gall of this BS artist. We don’t work for you Mr. Primavera, you are getting paid to conduct research and perform the due diligence you were hired to perform.
Can you say toxic! The village is a mess. What a joke for the taxes we all pay. I’m he town is dirty.
The consultant is very good at ratting off all of the credentials of other people, what are his?
Why don’t they put a turf field behind Ridge School?
Plenty of room and not in a flood zone.
Somerville would be fine too
Peter begins his presentation and rambles a total of 92 minutes.
At 2:17:32 of the video, Lorraine Reynolds calls out Primavera for getting off topic after much rambling.
Lorraine: “Can I ask, did you speak with Margaret Hickey”? (Connolly and Hickey Historical Architects responsible for the Zabriskie-Schedler House);
Peter: “No, I didn’t have to”
Lorraine: “Did you speak with James Lee (historical architect who wrote the Hunter Research paper on the house);
Peter: “No, I didn’t have to his report was very thorough”;
Lorraine: “In his report, I believe he says that there should be a 2nd archaelogical study done on the property”
Peter: “Yes, he does” “He recommends, and there is an oval shaped diagram Northeast of the house where archaeological investigations could be done” “But we don’t need to exacavate…”
This guy, who is not an archaeologist or an architect has not contacted two key people as part of the investigation where he is suggesting that the house get moved or to declassify the acres to the North of the house. He is trying and is in fact, circumventing the process. This is Willful blindness.
Good going to Lorraine for catching this BS artist in his tracks.
This is one nugget of proof that this guy is a bad actor (along with the other bad actors on the council) and will basically say anything and hope no one disputes it. He is lazy and we cannot count on him to perform the proper due diligence required with regard to a historic property and house. Why because Paul states how impressed he is (about what?) and therefore this con artist thinks he can get away with it.
Peter and Paul-we are on to you. Please stay tuned for more!
Lorraine being the only intelligent one on the council asked some very important questions and at the end said the entire property should remain historic and the house should not be moved. Her questions were the fate of the 7 acres which would she believes will be 100% used for “activity”, and that they (Parks and Rec?) would use every square inch of those acres, therefore taking down every tree on both the Schedler property and if acquired, the adjacent property. She said it would be such a destruction of the neighborhood and that she was completely flabergasted. Peter stated that after speaking with the “township Engineer” Chris Rutishauser, told him that the giant sugar maple tree right next to the house “has to come down” and Paul agreed that it didn’t have much life it it but tree lover that she is, Siobahn Winograd then said that the Sugar Maple was treated and Declan has trying to save it (fast forward into the future, the tree will be cut IMO) she also said that 3 and a half acres have already had trees removed, so there is only three and a half to go. Paul said on the record he would not put in that space a 60 x 90 diamond but we know they will move the house and cut the tree down, then voila their problem will be solved.
What ever happened to the brewhaha over the use of his personal email in communication with the shady consultant? Anybody OPRA that?
Bad actors come up with diabolical plots just like this one. Logistically all of they care about is the field not the neighborhood. or the health, safety and environmental concerns that residents have been speaking about at each meeting since this council devised this scheme. They are all so happy with themselves but Lorraine is truly the only one who is sane.
So how much money does a village having reserve funds.
Hummmm
Just saying
Clearly Pee Wee is the bag man for the sports groups.
The question is why are Perron and Weitz willing accomplices..? What’s in it for them ?
How many seats are up for grabs in November..? It may not matter anyways. I tend to lean towards some kind of secret WASP society in town that votes in large numbers for the candidate of their choice.
There’s no other explanation for some of these selections…
TRY THIS! Knowing that their 5 minutes is not enough time to present all they have to say, Senators and Congressmen, when given their turn to speak at a hearing, – often say, ” I would like (whatever document) entered into the record.”
If all those denied their right to speak at a Council meeting on one side of the issue gathered together well before the meeting and produced a document stating their objections, the FIRST ONE of this group to speak could present the document and make the same statement as Congressmen and Senators do.
Just crazy enough that it might work!
I urge everyone who commented on this thread to show up at the next meeting in support and not suppression of residents voices. And if you are as livid and disappointed as I share your name, share your frustration, and support the community who’s lives are being turned upside down.
Just sell this stupid property to a commercial developer and make some money for the town and get some future tax revenue