Reader says its time for strict enforcement of the Village maintenance code
I’m glad to see that this has come to the attention of our council.
If the owners do not respond, paper them with daily fines, and if appropriate, force a tax sale/auction if the property is in arrears.
I’d also like to see strict enforcement of the maintenance code that includes:
Bushes blocking the view at many corners in town.
Non-political signs on properties (from the dummies who live on the ‘cut through streets’= your lawn signs that are actually on Village property make this place look like shit. “Drive like your kids live here’ signs look like Hopper ave in waldwick’. Go ask the signal bureau to make a ‘slow children’ permanent sign. (your signs are illegal as they are not political)
Lots of sidewalks that need to be replaced.
Peeling paint on many homes.
The lazy residents that put their recyclables and yard waste cans out 4 days before pickup, and leave the stuff out there 3 days after.
And since the RPD does NOTHING about the cars parked on the street all night , the street sweepers cannot do their job in the morning and there is always crap on the streets blowing around.-hence the reason for this ordinance.
Do something about the barking dogs.( too many of you newbies think its ‘fashionable’ to ‘rescue’ a pitbull or junkyard dog mutt. I hope your homeowner’s insurance company is aware of it because sooner than later you will have a claim.
Every one of the lazy residents that gets a dog and puts up an invisible fence creates a territorial animal that barks and growls. Learn how to take care of an animal that needs social interaction. Its not a plant.
The company that writes your homeowner’s insurance policy usually asks 4 things, in addition to the usual value, date of construction, square footage, construction details, etc.
1. Do you have an oil tank
2. Do you have a pool
3. Do you have a trampoline
4. Do you have a dog
If the answers to #1,2,3 are yes, you will likely pay a higher premium.
If the answer to #4 is yes, the followup question is ‘what is the breed’.
If your answer is Pit bull, german shepherd, rotweiller, and certain others, most insurance companies will not be interested in your business, based on the past history of these breeds and dog bite litigation.
Omitting or lying on the policy application is grounds for refusing to pay a claim.
There are no “junk yard” dogs; there are many junk yard people.
But I agree, it is cruel to electrocute a dog with an invisible fence. I wonder if those people do it to their children in the house. You know those fold fences that block the kitchen and stair steps from toddlers.
I wonder if they are invisible and give electric shocks to their kids.
I wonder if those junk yard people do it to their children outside.
There are abandoned dogs just as there are abandoned people.
There are junk yard people; but no junk yard dogs.
All dogs including pit bulls are sweet by nature until they come into contact with junk yard people.
Take it from an oldie but goodie who knows a dog when she sees one.
Correction: Take it from an oldie but goodie who knows a dog when she reads one.
The original writer has a lot of valid issues but comes across as being old and crotchety. Much of what he/she writes about is already part of the village code but only needs enforcement. Trouble is that we have police write more parking tickets than ones for offenses that involve driver and pedestrian safety. We also do not have a code enforcement official who is regularly checking on violations and Ridgewood relies on neighbors to snitch on each other instead of having a civil discussion. (Just heard from a realtor was fined $80 for a sign without a permit while a resident was fined $40 for growing pot in her garden – selective justice?) As for peeling paint and sidewalks, there are many neighbors that have not been the same since the recession 6-7 years ago. I’d give them a pass until things got better if the rest of the property was maintained. Let’s keep from becoming a total police/nanny state. Communicate with your neighbors – they may be facing issues you have no idea about.
#5 is right on the money especially about the police dept.
I’d like to see enforcement of the light intrustion code that prohibits excessive light from crossing property lines. Thanks to my new neighbor installing excessive lighting on their home, I no longer need lighting inside or outside of my house (it’s on all of the time and the literally intrudesTHROUGH my entire house. I can no longer sit on my couch as the light is blinding). When the Village electrical inspector came to inspect the mega-watt monsters sitting 10′ from the property line, why didn’t he inform the homeowners that they would exceed code and then NOT approve them?
Judging by the comments here of those who do not want to comply with the rules, why bother trying to ‘communicate’ with the offender who already believes the rules don’t apply to them.
Its unfortunate that you folks of the ‘Jerry Springer generation’ would have the disrespect for the original poster who simply states that the rules need to be followed (and makes legit observations about the nasty dogs and disrespectful inconsiderate residents in the neighborhood)
Apparently you are clueless as to the history of pit bulls. They are NOTORIOUS for ‘turning on their owners’ and biting them. It just happened to an employee of mine. They are not ‘sweet by nature’. They were bred to fight and kill other dogs. That’s why they are a favorite of the drug dealers in Paterson.
#8 – Amen !
High school graduation sighs? Does the grouch go thumbs up or down on them?
Why would anyone want to own a pit bull? There’s lots of other less risky breeds out there for you to own. Can someone explain why they own on of these animals. And don’t tell me “they’re big mushes” because that applies to most dogs. Why not get another breed?
A friend reported their neighbor to the town about violations and what happened? The person reported on was told who did the reporting. It was a mess for weeks dealing with these people feuding all because confidential info was shared.
If people can’t keep up with following the laws then they should be fined. And the town should keep that info confidential for public safety’s sake.
This is a perfect example of the disrespectful residents who don’t give a shit about their neighbors. I’m sorry you live next to these folks.
If you have a dialogue with the abutter and get along with them, then perhaps advise them of their intrusion on your space.
If they act like a jerk, tell them its a violation.
If they don’t correct it, make whatever notification is necessary for the building dept to force them to remediate the violation.
Or give the local kids sling shots since BB guns aren’t allowed anymore.
.
Thumbs down on douchbags like you that have nothing to add to a conversation other than trying to ‘bait’ other posters.
If you have nothing to add on topic, hit the road loser.
#14 -Thanks. I’ve been in Ridgewood 25+ years and this is the first neighbor issued I’ve ever had. But our new neighbors have made it clear that they don’t care about anyone but themselves. The first time I spoke with them they told me they didn’t care about any neighbors. To anyone even slightly less self-absorbed, it would be painfully obvious that each and every one of their “improvements” has negatively impacted the quality of our life, some quite significantly. But they just don’t care. And talking to them would be pointless. I think complaining to the Village would only make matters worse and they are not going to make them change the lighting . . . they’ll put in smaller bulbs for a day or two and then put the mega-watt monsters back in. I had planned on staying in my house for a very long time but I will be selling in the near future. It’s so sad.
I, too, have a friend who reported a neighbor for outrageously bad, and repeated, construction work without a permit. What did the town official do? Give the guy a copy of the email that contained the sender’s personal details. You can only imagine how this turned out. These nimrods in the Village Hall don’t see people like my friend as a concerned citizen, someone who hates to see people effectively cheating of their taxes and putting surrounding houses in danger of fire. They simply see people like my friend as nuisances and people that are creating work for them.
Properly positioned outdoor spotlights on residential houses and garages should follow Code. Most of these spotlights have high illiumination, not shielded and lighting up next door neighbors yards and houses like daylite. Its like looking at car headlights high beams! Security or Blinding! Worse yet, is when those spotlights turn on automatically from any kind of movement that passes by. Why isn’t the code upheld? It is a nuisance.
from the Village web Codes:
LAND — USE AND DEVELOPMENT > Design Guidelines, Standards and Construction Specifications
Code 190- 85 Lighting
C. Shielding of fixtures. All lighting fixtures shall be directed downward and shall be equipped with the necessary shielding so as to prevent the direct source of light from being visible from any point beyond the property lines of the premises upon which the lighting structure is located.
Code 194- 2 Nuisance Prohibited; Shielding of Light
[Amended 10-13-1992 by Ord. No. 2375]
No artificial source of light shall be constructed or utilized within the residential districts of the Village of Ridgewood[1] as to create a nuisance across property lot lines. All such exposed sources of light shall be shielded so that the illumination of any kind therefrom, whether from interior or exterior sources, shall not exceed one footcandle at any point along any property lot line in the residential zones of the Village.
Wow, so sad to see how curmudgeonly the original poster and quite a few others are. Yes, people need to keep their property from becoming violations such as the homes in the news recently. But I would say that this is a pretty rare occurrence and I have not seen too many such cases in my life. As for the litany of complaints laid at the police to be unyielding and super strict in enforcing other things. These seem to be complaints about things that are quite unusual and petty. Bushes? Non-political signs? (Congratulations, welcome home, Go Ridgewood, children playing) Recycling? I have never seen people leave recycling out 4 days before and if it did happen, maybe it was a mistake instead of the presumption of laziness? Overnight parking? I have seen cars ticketed for this. Should the police comb the streets flawlessly enforcing overnight parking? I think this is not a problem, as I can tell the difference as soon as I drive into Waldwick were it is permitted. Do something about barking dogs???? This is not a problem in my opinion and how do pit-bulls get sucked into that? Firstly, I was not aware we have a growing amount of barking dog problems. Secondly, I have not noticed a plethora of mean pit-bulls and fighting dogs roaming the streets of Ridgewood. Also smaller breeds (like Beagles) are more commonly the barkers. Pealing paint? Really? We suddenly have hundreds of homes with pealing paint that need ticketing for violations? The post seems to reveal quite a bit about the personality of the poster, and it is not a warm, cuddly, neighbor that just wants to get along with everybody.
( Fine ’em all, take their homes and sell them! All those young people ruining my town with their damn congratulations signs and kids playing in the street with barking pit-bulls and bushes that need trimming and paint pealing, leaving their recycling out and having visitors park in the street overnight. That kind of stuff never happened in the 60’s. The police would never stand for it.)
In my opinion the police are doing a great job. Especially when they have to deal with people that are by nature complainers that don’t get along with anybody, especially their neighbors.
The original post hits the nail right on! It’s a shame but true to have noticed over few decades, of the change in attitude of many new residents moving in. May superficially appear nice, tho mostly aloof and inconsiderate of other neighbors by doing whatever they feel like doing from where they came from.
Can see changes in neighborhoods with the 10 year turn around, when the last one graduates high school, they flee. New ones move in with their own ideas and set of rules. General ‘run-down’. Cans left at the curbs – why? we have side yard, rear yard pick up, it does Not look good having cans at the curbs, Period. Lawns, shrubs unkept with weeds or overgrown. Front yards with toys strewn about laying around for months.
Notice lots of new dogs around. People used to walk their dogs in the Street, then ‘curb your dog’ was enacted. Now law is ‘pick up your dog waste’ whether on public or your own private property. With that change, noticed more people walking their dogs on the sidewalks, and they let their dogs ‘pee’ on peoples lawns and the grass strip to curb. Who do you think takes care of that grass? The owners of that property do. Dog ‘pee’ or urine is acidic and kills the grass, yellow spots on lawns and the grass dies. Don’t dog owners who allow their dogs to pee on others grass, have any common sense at all? or just don’t care? Let their dogs pee on their own property grass! or trees or t-poles. My grass is not your dogs urinal toilet.
Its a new attitude of ‘I don’t care’.
Curmudgeonly posters? Is that your excuse for being an inconsiderate jerk?
I guess since you ‘haven’t seen it’ the problem doesn’t exist?
Who the hell do you think you are to tell someone who has a neighbor with a barking dog that it doesn’t happen? Or that a neighbor’s spotlight doesn’t shine into their house? Or that a car that has been parked overnight for 3 months without a ticket isn’t there?
I guess since it isn’t in your face it doesn’t matter to you.
You are a stereotypical inconsiderate clueless new arrival in town.
We used to get along here quite well without all the laws, but they are necessary due to inconsiderate self-centered residents.
Thankfully you are not one of my neighbors.
My advice to the new arrivals in town (most of you temporary residents):
If you like to park in the street overnight and…..
If you like to leave your garbage cans at the curb and…..
If you like to let your dog bark incessantly and…
If you like to let your dog poop without picking it up and…
If you like to let your property fall into disrepair and….
If you like to leave your recyclable containers out all week and….
If you like to put stupid signs on your property and….
If you like to have your outdoor lights intrude on your neighbors and…
If you have no consideration for others….. I have a solution!!!!!!!!!!!
MOVE.
LEAVE.
GO BACK to wherever you got these bad inconsiderate habits.
The considerate respectful residents in town are entitled to their ‘quiet enjoyment’ of their property.
I suggest you ask your attorney what that definition entails and implies, along with the remedies for the breach thereof.
RIP good old Ridgewood.
#19. You are so right.
I think that there is one really irritated person posting nasty things and complaining about residents. Anyone who disagrees with him is called names. This person applies labels to anyone who disagrees with him, as if name calling validated his point of view.
I can tell that he is not one of my neighbors. We talk to each other.
Society has undergone a huge shift and we see mass-assholeness today on our roads, our workplaces, the internet, on planes, etc. We are all residents now of the new FU society.
what about the people who put cans in the road when it’s leaf pick up and snow storms, wake up. some of my next door friends think they are in n y city. you would think the town would put out some sort of a letter. and not on the web.
These are all first world problems (complaints). Life is good when whining about lawn signs is the most active post on this blog.
#21 ha ha, sorry but I think you are the jerk and I am not inconsiderate. I just don’t think we need to have the police step up enforcement for all the issues raised in the post. The current level of police service on these matters is sufficient in my opinion. For the record I have been here my entire life, as have my parents and grandparents.
You actually ‘think’? Your post indicates otherwise.
If in fact you are telling the truth about living here for generations, you must be one of the trust fund babies all zoned out on pot & booze that wouldn’t know what day it is.
And yes you are a jerk and inconsiderate.
Why would you presume I am inconsiderate? I have never done any of the things you are complaining about. I merely think the police do a fine job enforcing those rules and they do not need to step up their efforts. I think Ridgewood has been a great place and continues to be great. Also I have no idea why you began attacking me because I do not share your opinion about the police enforcement of overnight parking, barking dogs, lawn signs, shrubs, house paint and house lights. I continue to think the town looks great, the neighborhoods are all pretty nice and the RPD does a great job. I am also not a “trust fund baby” and not I’m sure how disagreeing with your discontent would make me a rich, drunk, pot head.
The people who have been complaining the most can’t go to a council meeting because we would be able to easily identify them. After foul language and name calling it will be hard for these individuals to step up for this cause that they care so deeply about.