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Up Coming Events around the Village

>May 25 2006 – Ridgewood Tax Payers Association meeting at the Stable on Maple Ave. 7:30 to 9:30. Guest Speaker US Senate Candidate and Ridgewood Taxpayer’s Association member John Ginty. All are welcome!

Ridgewood to Start RevaluationThe Village of Ridgewood has recently been ordered by the Bergen County Board of Taxation to perform a revaluation for the year 2008.

$7 Million Referendum to expand Ridge and Willard – The Ridgewood BOE has tentatively approved the development of a proposal to expand the Ridge and Willard schools if funding is authorized by a referendum in either September or December of 2006.

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Not as Much Praise as you are lead to believe…

>Because of storm water regulations recently enacted by the NJ Department of
Environmental Protection, the Village is no longer able to legally dispose
of grass clippings at the Village of Ridgewood owned and operated compost
facility on Lakeview Drive.

The Village will still continue to collect grass clippings from homeowners
on a weekly basis at curbside. However, disposing of these clippings
outside of the Village will cost taxpayers $80k in dumping fees for calendar
year 2006. Additional expense above and beyond the $80k will be incurred
for employee travel time to and from the dumping location, and diesel fuel.
Should the Village encourage mulching by discontinuing the pickup of grass
clipping, thus saving $80k? Or perhaps charge those who want their
clippings picked up curbside instead of burdening the taxpayer base as a
whole?

What do you think? Please sound off with a comment. Thanks.

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>Village Fuel Costs Increase Over $500k During 2005

>During Wednesday night’s 2006 Municipal Budget Hearing, Dorothy Stikna, the
Village’s Chief Financial Officer, revealed that costs for diesel fuel and
gasoline used to power official Ridgewood vehicles jumped 35.4% during 2005.

Unattended and idling vehicles get zero miles per gallon. Although the
Village Manager has issued a memo which prohibits official vehicles,
including police cars, from being left idling while unattended, reports are
that this practice is still widespread.

Taxpayers should report the license plate number of any official Ridgewood
vehicle seen idling while unattended to the Village Manager’s office at
201-670-5500, x202 or x203.

Even more of your tax dollars will go up in exhaust fumes during 2006 unless
we all get involved in cracking down on this very detectable form of
official misconduct.

For the record, here’s a partial listing of taxpayer provided vehicles currently assigned to Village officials on a full time basis.

Perhaps this explains to a certain extent why fuel expenses are so out of control.

Village Manager, James Ten Hoeve – Dodge Durango (24 hour use) Village Engineer, Christopher Rutishauser – Dodge Durango (24 hour use) Emergency Services Director, Paul Gilard – Ford Explorer (24 hour use) Fire Chief, James Bombace – Ford Explorer (24 hour use) Fire Prevention Officer, Kevin McGuire – Chevrolet Blazer Fire Prevention Officer, John Young – Chevrolet Blazer Fire Capitan, Rotating – Chevrolet Blazer Parks and Recreation Director, Timothy Cronin – Mercury Mountaineer Police Chief, William Corcoran – Ford LTD Crown Victoria (24 hour use) Streets Supervisor, John Spano – Chevrolet Blazer S10 (24 hour use) Operations Director, Frank Moritz – Ford Explorer (24 hour use)

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>No More Banks ?

>A Village Council Special Work Session will be held on Wednesday, May 17, in the Village Hall Court Room, immediately following the scheduled 7:30 PM Budget Hearing. The purpose of the Special Work Session is to discuss the following: AMENDING THE LAND — USE ORDINANCE OF THE VILLAGE OF RIDGEWOOD IN ORDER TO REQUIRE SITE PLAN APPROVAL FOR DEVELOPMENTS INVOLVING A CHANGE OF — USE. All owners of property in the Central Business District should attend this meeting. It is believed this amendment is being proposed as a method to limit the number of financial institutions in the Central Business District.

I hate to blow against the wind but the Ridgewood Blog is still having a hard time trying to figure out weather this idea has any merit ,we just dont think it is going to do much . More effort should be used to promote the down town inorder to get quality merchants in our down town .When I came back to Ridgewood 5 years ago there was not even a picture of the down town on the internet ? I found this shocking and it was one of the factors that led to the formation of the Ridgewood Blog .

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>2006 Community Survey for Ridgewood Public Schools

>If you have not done so yet, please spend a few moments to take the 2006 Community Survey from the Ridgewood Public Schools. Your input is invaluable. Just follow the link https://websurveyor.net/wsb.dll/12243/RPS2006survey.htm If the hyperlink is not active, please copy/paste in the URL line on your browser. Or, see the link under Highlights (right-hand menu) on the district website: www.ridgewood.k12.nj.us <https://www.ridgewood.k12.nj.us/> .

Thank you for your participation. Resuts will be assembled and reported on the BOE website and in the BOE’s rps.eNews.

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>May 17th Budget Hearing

>Village of Ridgewood 2006 Municipal Budget – May 17th Budget Hearing This Wednesday, May 17th at 7:30 PM in the Court Room there will be a Public Hearing on the Municipal Budget. The public is invited to comment on the budget at this time. The budget newsletter, Ridgewood Reports, which explains each aspect of the budget was mailed to each Ridgewood resident the first week in May.The 2006 Municipal Budget was introduced at the Village Council Public Meeting on April 19, 2006. Click he …

<https://www.ridgewoodnj.net/pdf/budget/VilC2006Budget.pdf>more

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>What is a blog?

>Since so many people keep asking me:

What’s a blog?
A blog is a personal diary. A daily pulpit. A collaborative space. A political soapbox. A breaking-news outlet. A collection of links. Your own private thoughts. Memos to the world.
Your blog is whatever you want it to be. There are millions of them, in all shapes and sizes, and there are no real rules.

In simple terms, a blog is a web site, where you write stuff on an ongoing basis. New stuff shows up at the top, so your visitors can read what’s new. Then they comment on it or link to it or email you. Or not.

Since Blogger was launched, almost five years ago, blogs have reshaped the web, impacted politics, shaken up journalism, and enabled millions of people to have a voice and connect with others. (blogspot.com)