the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Money pit Part II (the Hudson Street Garage was Part I) here we come!
Don’t miss the mind boggling explanation of what a “fully funded“ project (Schedler athletic field) really means.
And what exactly is the Village planning to remediate? Was there contamination found that the public has not been made aware of?
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It’s bond money. Evan thinks that’s free.
Hilarious!
Reminds me of “Lord of the Flies”.
If a councilperson says it’s fully funded, doesn’t that mean they have funds available? When praytell did the Village realize that additional funds would be required.. Didn’t the 2024 budget season just wrap? Why should taxpayers dig into their pockets again when another field is not needed. When does mismanagement of government funds become an issue that needs to be flagged by a higher office?
Amazing, keep on spending money that we do not have. This was a corporation it would be bankrupt. This is getting to be ridiculous. That taxpayers just keep on paying is going to afford to live in Ridgewood in another three years.
Kinda like whats happening in the White House these days!! Spend, Spend, Spend
My worst nightmare. Hearing Siobhan drone on and on about this. God help us all.
I thought Siobhan said everything was fully funded? Then why are we bonding $350,000? What say you Siobhan?
Site remediation. Oh here’s a new one! This notice states that the Village appropriates $350,000. This word can have several meanings but in this case the verb seems to fit. /əˈprōprēˌāt/ take (something) for one’s own use, typically without the owner’s permission.
What is really going on with this crazy project and this village and the never ending appropriation of money. Please someone stop this nightmare now. I doubt answers will come from our Mayor or council, but manager Kazmark needs to buckle in and start explaining.
Kazmark will only say what Pee Wee tells him to say.. That is the reason he was hired in the first place, he’s a puppet who seems to have connections in Trenton
Taxes keep growing in this town.
Borrow the money and spend the money that you don’t have.
Last night at the board of education meeting it was revealed that Sheila Brogan had signed as a board president a memorandum of understanding with the Union without agreement from her fellow board members for a 3.5% deal over four years, with no federal or state grants expected.
So taxpayers are now on the hook for 3.5% increase for next four years and it was also revealed that this agreement will require reduction in services and job cuts!!
She’s Bidenesque!
Wow – that’s 14% over the next four years. That will make me move out of Ridgewood for sure. Can’t afford a tax increase of 14% in four years!
Ummm yeah no.
Oh wow, Brogan is right up there with Kazmark. What gives either of them the right to act without consent. Doing things, agreeing to things without the public knowledge is bad enough as in this case where an article was published. They will say “we don’t have to tell you, check the agenda”. So it is obvious, that Kazmark fits right in with this bunch. Telling the public what is going to go down is just the formality. The handshakes have already taken place and those preferred vendors (wink, wink, nod, nod) certainly know it and have their meaty little hooks into Ridgewood for the never ending cycle of reckless spending.
Is this another ethics violation that will cost taxpayers more money. This woman knows no bounds.
We don’t have 350k, that’s an embarrassment and true sign of financial crisis. Get this administration out of here!
Don’t build the pavilion for healthbarn!!! The business has NO right to profit off of tax payers money.
To solve this supposed funding issue even in light of a special council person touting that money was available, why not take the money from a over priced pavillion that is going to Habernickel and put this towards the remediation for Schedler. The pavililion does not seem as urgent as this must be and a simple lightning shelter with a pavillion down the road sounds acceptable. Why put ourselves into more debt when last year we had no money and almost had to have a temporary unpaid time for village staff for essential services which is now way acceptable. Why are we digging ourselves into a huge whole and I predict this is only a small fraction of the money grab this council is planning and we haen’t even heard about the Town Garage remediation yet. I am sure there will be a request coming shortly to bond for that too. Please stop the madness and go back to a practical approach to local government that doesn’t have people quesitoning whether our village is trustworthy.
I suggest we immediately stop BOTH projects, pause, and take a breath.
We have the money that is what is nuts. Take it from the Habernickel pavillion budget. that pavillion was the brainchild of who exactly? It was plucked right outta the clear blue sky for a selected location. Citizens need to revolt against this political machine and say NO! or, at some point, the whistles you will hear blowing won’t be from the sports teams, but will be for the AG to hear what is happening in Ridgewood.
I bet they are wishing they had stuck to the original plan.
They have been scheming about the giant field for a long time now. Paul wanted to be Mr Go big or go home for the sports groups. So he is placing all bets on this going through to help him get re-elected. He needs the field to be relavant in this village.
They can’t afford $350,000 but claim they have enough money to build the complex and maintenance of the same in perpetuity. Mismanagement, misappropriation of funds and borderline criminal.
The town should sell the property so it can be a car dealership like it was originally going to be. Get some tax dollars out of it
You’re a moron. Property was zoned for residential. Worst case would have been townhouses.
this argument is getting a little old now?
Boy oh boy, she looks like she could be Spicoli ‘s sister from the movie fast times .
😂
Post of the day !
Post of the day! she could 100% be Spicoli’s sister from Fasts Times. However, unlike Spicoli, the fun loving harmless stoned surfer dude, this isn’t a movie, it is real life and unfortuantely this character is playing her game with your money and apparently can’t get the facts straight about the project funding, past, present, period.
Kazmark, is getting paid close to this amount, when you include retirement and benefits.
We do not need him. Fire him and save the money.
The guy is spending too much time in Photo Ops and community meetings – THAT’s the job of ELECTED OFFICIALS. He’s getting paid to supervise street cleaning and road paving. He needs to focus on that and leave the photo opps to elected council members who are NOT getting paid.
Yes, Kan Kazmarak, Recall Paul, Wipeout Weitz and Winograd too.
I think Ridgewood residents need to be shown a project breakdown of what fully funded actually means, what has been spent to date, what money is still remaining before going to bond for more. If there are still funds avaiable that are just sitting there, then why bond and pay interest on more money if the project has not even been approved by the required state agency. Wwhen you listen to people talk about, even brag about having a project that has the funds, then there is a secret bond ordinance being drafted, you have to know that these guys don’t know what they are doing. This seems to be highly unprofessional and seems to now be the standard way things are being done in Ridgewood. We need a mayor, council and a village manager who understands fiscal responsibility and not favoritism.
Where is CBS when you need them. We should see if any of the field reporters are busy tomorrow night. It may add a little extra flair to the crisp presentation of information and BS that this group of posers will be delivering up to residents to con them into to buying their latest sorry excuse for reckless spending.
Good lord! I’ll never be able to unsee that photo!
my eyes! my eyes!
No self awareness at all.
All for a field that will not be used. One fiscally irresponsible decision after another. Residents have had enough.
Keith Kazmark, “Village Manager” response to this post on Facebook. 🤦🏻♂️
“The funding is being requested for the soil testing which was not part of any prior Schedler funding initiative. All funding for Schedler was approved prior to the soil testing being required by NJ DEP. We do not have testing results back as of yet, however DEP has widened the test area and the Village will need to consider an additional $58,000 expense to take on that work effort. There is no remediation needed at this time (hence the word possible) and we will not know if anything is required until the results are back and analyzed by DEP. However, we are setting up funding to be prepared for all scenarios. The public is aware of what we know and has been updated at each VC meeting.”
So they are bonding 350k (with interest) when all they really need is 58k. 292k is for just in case. 🐂💩👨🏻🎨
This is horrific if you ask me! I don’t comment much on FB but I can certainly see that if this is the way people find things out, especially a bond ordinance for that much “just in case money” than something is really wrong with the financial goings on in Ridgewood. The public I would assume who doesn’t read the paper was probably completely unaware of this ridiculous scheme to futher this project as nothing was previously discussed or posted until the last day or so. Very convenient. This seems like a very large amount of money to be used as a placeholder “just in case”. It is concerning that this village is still forging ahead with plastic grass known to have PFAS especially in light of the fact that residents have stated that they are on private well water right near the property. Why doesn’t Ridgewood follow in the footsteps of other more progressive towns in NJ that realize the turf is toxic and should be banned. Take those funds put aside for the plastic field because if anyone on private well water gets sick from PFAS contamination from the field leakage/drain off of those chemicals into groundwater, you may actually need a whole lot more money to “remediate” that situation if it arises.
The village of Ridgewood is aware of the health hazards of forever chemicals as is evident in their lawsuit, and it states:
PFOA and PFOS are toxic, not easily biodegradable, persistent in the environment, and pose a significant risk to human health and safety. PFOA and PFOS are associated with a variety of illnesses, including cancer, and considered particularly dangerous to pregnant women and young children.
Defendants knew or should have known that PFOA and PFOS are highly soluble in water; extremely mobile; persistent; very likely to contaminate surface and groundwater, including drinking supplies; and present significant risks to human health and welfare if released
to the environment.
Nonetheless, Defendants manufactured, marketed, sold, and/or promoted PFOA and/or PFOS; products containing PFOA and/or PFOS; and/or products that products that would degrade to PFOA and/or PFOS upon release to the environment…
seems like there are several instances where this could apply aside from Schedler which is obvious. Hohokus brook may have a downstream touch on wells and HS turf would probably leach there too.
Village Manager is a Boob
I suggest we immediately stop BOTH projects, pause, and take a breath.
It is an absolute disgraceful that Vagianos , majority council of consistent in line voters Perron, Winograd and Weitz and VM Kazmark think that this is the right approach given the huge “what ifs” related to this project. Where are the soil test results? Why would you not wait until you got them back to figure out the approach plus there is no project approval yet. If you need the soil tested due to an expanded scope, then that certainly isn’t going to amount to $350K. You’ve allocated money to plenty of items, why bond when you have expendable capital. I am guessing, like everyone else in Ridgewood, that important details are once again being ommitted from public view. This village has taken to telling bigger, and in their opinion, better lies. But it has to stop. This sounds unethical and slightly illegal although I am sure the village legal eagle has told them that they can get away with it.
Looks like we are in deep with the Suburban Consulting Engineering company on this project, will they be part of this “remediation”? and maybe the remediation of the Town Garage too. Ridgewood likes to keep all of their eggs in one basket with certain vendors so I guess time will tell what direction the wind is blowing.
Hmmmm, okay who owns Suburban and how many times a week does he go to Peewee’s diner..?
VOR insurgent staff got the year old Village Manager, Keith Kazmark, to drink the Kool Aid.
Logged in to see the RHS kids present the bike lane proposal. Stayed to watch the residents run circles around the dais clowns. This stuff is better than TV.