file photo by Boyd Loving
Many changes during my 28 years as a neighbor of the Habernickel Horse Farm. The once bucolic setting transformed into a chaotic mix of nonstop Health barn business activities and recreation programs. Hillcrest Road is a mess and wildlife is disappearing.Fear of retaliation keeps neighbors quiet.
Stacy Antine stalks the neighbors. She takes photos of them walking their dogs in the park and she instructs her employees to do the same. She has a timeline in a few of them and they are NOT afraid to share it or speak out. This business destroyed a park and the owner made it personal and took neighbors to court. Ramon was aware of this situation and now as Mayor is promoting it. What a disappointment .
Be careful in that park. Antine keeps a list of all who enter even-neighborhood kids with backpacks what out. Unless you pay to go you get written up It is NO longer a friendly neighborhood park thanks to healthbarn and the village for still allowing it.
I heard that Antine was accusing neighbors of being racist, and now that I remember those hearings was back when Aronsohn and Sonenfeld ruled the dais that was the case then. People who spoke up against using a public park for a private enterprise were accused of not wanting children from Newark to come to lily white Ridgewood. Whenever the racism card is put down on the table all bets are off. She is despicable.
the neighbors are willing to let everyone know what Stacy Antine owner of healthbarn did to them in their own neighborhood where they must pay a ton of taxes to live Ramon should be ashamed to promote this business after the owner pulled a stunt like the one she did. Everyone should know and be aware that the village is choosing to support a business over the quality of life of tax payers
The sky is also falling.
Sorry but all that is true!!! This is a business in a home in a neighborhood!!! You might not live near it but at least understand how disruptive it must be for those living near it!!!! It should of never been allowed but it came so the Village needs to pay more attention to how disruptive it is & not so much about getting free zucchini’s
Those poor neighbors they were dealt a rough hand from the start now to have such a mean neighbor taking them to court with false accusations. What is the village doing about it?
This town is going in the dumper.
It all started with Aronsohn … or more accurately, the new world order residents who supported Aronsohn and voted him into office.
This was a HUGE mistake from past council. Now do something about it!
Those poor poor neighbors to have to live thru such hostility from a business not fair to any and all tax payers
11:04 your right. Where are those people now. Yo don’t hear a word from them. Some of them even try to say they didn’t vote for him and his team even after they threw the 3 Amigos coffees.
How can anybody feel betrayed by Hache? He is realtor for God’s sake. Why would he care about your quality of life? I never expected much from him even though I gave him my vote. But it’s not only him. I’ve heard so many stories about VC from other towns across NJ. NOBODY cares about current residents. It is all about outsiders be it developers or businesses or low income families. NJ is a state of crooks where you can be bought and sold for very little. Honesty and decency are foreign terms. You have no say over the place you live, you’re a stranger in your own village/town. If you try to protect your way of life you’re biased and racist. The worst is that everybody is scared to stand up to these allegations. I would like to stand up to Antine and tell her in the face that “yes, I am against Newark kids coming to play in Ridgewood because before we provide for outsiders we need to take care of our kids first so shut the hell up and get lost. You stink of hypocrisy” but can’t do it because I know I will be crucified and the first to condemn me would be my own VC members let alone the majority of hypocrite lefties that are swarming everywhere. Until I can afford moving I will just shut my mouth and try clear my mind of this ugliness.
The healthbarn …is a wonderful addition to the community and the children and is gaining national attention and winning awards. Can’t you people ever be happy for others. …is the ball field being used by children. Yes. We should be happy they are doing something else than texting. …is the health barn generating revenues for the village, yes this is a good thing. …is.it dog friendly yes. Ok another plus.
Is there a noise ordinance during the day. No
For those neighbors that moved in knowing health barn and field were approved. Sorry, maybe you should not have moved there.
The mayor is doing a great job promoting a great cause that differentiates our town from others. Kudos
This place has gone way over whatever was permitted in their contract. Open at nights for dinner parties with wine? Does she carry insurance that covers that? Anyone from the council actually look at her so-called contract to see if it permits tour busses to take up a public street? Did anyone from the council send a man with a paint brush to mark her allowed spaces? As of now she uses them all. Does her contract allow her to self police the area and send neighborhood children home from the play ground because “paying kids are using it”? Has an occupancy count been stated by the fire department? It’s no longer a private house and businesses have capacity limits. Has anyone counted all the people there in one day when they are presumably outside? When it rains, they all go inside, undoubtedly over the capacity limits. And how is she still there? Did the council give her a 25 year lease? No matter how long a lease she has, she has broken it hundreds of times with all her new activities. The town is losing money hand-over-fist so the council can’t say they are a profitable lease for the town. But I guess that most of her actual costs to the town is not shown against the wee bit of money they actually get. Lights were put in and run late–at her request. She is a business but these, including the electricity, are town costs. Sprinklers were put in and a garden tilled, at town cost, but she doesn’t even pay a water bill. Other neighborhoods in town have been begging for lights in their (town owned) school parking lots, field parking lots, etc.etc. The answer to them is always “NO!!” Like Trump with Russia, what is she holding over the town to make the council let her get by with anything she wants, and then the town pays for it? She certainly does not have such a winning personality that she merely sweet talked the council into ignoring all her illegal (not in her lease) actions. Being Roberta’s best buddy could have swung the prior council, but what is she offering this council as they continue to suck up to her. And for the grand finale, most of Ridgewood and the surrounding area were without power after a storm but SHE had activities going on so the Council made sure that generators were rushed to her and of course installed by town workers also for free. I can’t believe she has that in her lease, and if she did, “we gave away the farm” literally. Susan and Bernie had the right to have a lawyer review the contract before Roberta hurried up and signed it. We pay a town lawyer a good bit of money to check out these details, leases, contracts, etc. If he saw and agreed to all she is doing, this council should have fired him immediately. And our Public Works guys are always over there fixing things, adding things, etc, etc. This is all lumped into town hours and town costs. This probably means that it would take weeks to break out all she has cost the town as it all has been lumped into the work provided the rest of the town. And all she asked for was a place to teach town and other kids how to create healthy food. Needless to say, if you are a child actually from Ridgewood, you’re paying her hefty fees. And for the people who were worried about racism, she does NOTHING FOR FREE (except giving away one poor zucchini!). If poor children of different races are actually there, they have to have had their fees paid and transportation provided. I’d love to see how she can claim a non-profit tax return. Maybe she adds in all her unpaid services from Ridgewood as being paid by her. That would be fraud of course, but I assume her almighty protector who keeps the town from taking her to task is also scaring the tax guys away.
@6:42. Seriously get the facts she does nothing for free. She actually is costing the town money due to all the services they provide for her. That business could be ANYWHERE it does NOT have to be in a HOUSE on Hillcrest rd. Don’t speak 6:42 until you actually know what you are talking about! This is a Private business making money off of a neighborhood park and trying her best to keep neighbors out including tweens and teens with backpacks. I wonder what that insinuation is about????
@6:42 who cares about healthbarn awards. You have to pay the big $$$ to get to go to healthbarn and the only one gaining from the awards is the same nasty owner who tried and FAIlED to charge neighbors falsely.
Yep, she took us for an absolute ride. Thanks Paulie. Thanks Albie.
And now, i guess, i have to say thanks Ramonie.
Mr. Hache was not a realtor when he ran for council in 2016. I feel duped. I would not have voted for a realtor (or developer) on any village board. We are giving it all away. Antine should be reimbursed for whatever improvements she has made and the contract terminated. OUT. Roberta Sonenfeld did her friend an enormous and unseemly favor, but she is gone and Antine needs to be gone as well. NOT another four years. It is unconscionable to allow a business to overtake a neighborhood that was so nice about letting the town turn private property into a public park.
It can’t be said enough Healthbarn doesn’t share profits with the Village!!! It is a privately owned business run by Stacey Antine. A big problem is that she has Nancy Bigos on speed dial & everything Stacey doesn’t like or wants Nancy makes happen. That’s why & how the generators were allowed & maintained on the weekend by employees of the Village. Our tax payers suffered in the cold so we can watch Healthbarn make money how sick is that!!! Village claimed they neede to so pipes didn’t freeze everyone else’s pipes survived I am sure the gatehouses would of too. The council needs to look at how this hostile owner treated neighbors & take a bigger look at who is more important to this town. So far it looks like they feel Healthbarn is. Stacey needs to understand the word harassment too walking on sidewalks in the park not talking to anyone isn’t harassment because it’s a public park in a village. If Stacey doesn’t like it then pack your bags because people will continue to walk in the park. Stacey can’t pick & chose who she wants to walk in the park.
In order to hold Stacey to her lease that would require tax $$ which is crazy. Since she is unable to follow what she presented in Nov 2015 & what’s in the lease the lease should be terminated. On top of taking neighbors to court she is the hostile one that needs to go. Anyone who thinks she does good things for the village must be getting free zucchini’s too. What should be noted is everyone entering the park is under surveillance because of Stacey. Blinding lights in the parking lot also the result of having this business in a park. Tim said all Parks & fields would have the same lights installed has that happened yet? Maple was redone did that part of the parking lot get the same intensity lights? If I owned a business in CBD I would be mad that I didn’t get the same perks as Healthbarn free advertising on Parks & rec website special events that are held at Healthbarn its favoritism at its worst. On top of all that Stacey still feels the need to falsely charge neighbors of harassment. Supporting Healthbarn is supporting this kind of behavior from the village who stands by her & Stacey who is doing it.
New Mayor is entirely too palsy with this business owner. Kids can have parties elsewhere. Having sworn on a Bible to do what was best for the village, he should back off and nullify the contract.
Not everybody who complains about something is a racist, anti-disabled (whatever that means), etc. That is pure hogwash but unfortunately, becoming fairly common–too common to be true. The claim that residents who fought the new apartments are prejudiced, for example, is similarly flawed. It’s the number of new people, not who they are, that’s the problem. In fact, we don’t know who they will be. But we hate them anyway–even if they are white and able bodied and all went to Harvard!
Responding to complaints with accusations of bias is deeply offensive and demonstrates that the speaker has no better argument. In fact, most people would rather do anything than get embroiled in these things. They don’t speak out until the problem has become untenable. Then they’re accused of awful intentions. It’s a ploy used by bullies to silence their opponents and prevent others from joining them. Won’t work.