but what about the books ?
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, resident Steve Kim turned up some interesting information thru a series of OPRA requests on the Alan Gray’s open public sessions as well as focus groups and individual interviews with community stakeholders going back to 2012 on the needs and wants for the Ridgewood Public Library .
Kim’s OPRA requests seem to point to a predetermined design , based not on the unique character of Ridgewood but of a standard favored by Liberian’s nation wide.
As previously reported critics have been assailed by various ‘Library Trustees”, who claim the architects have build hundreds of library’s and “know best” . Really ,how many have you built for Ridgewood and how many books do you read?
Mr. Kim discovered what many have suspected from the beginning which is how such big decisions are made on such little input from taxpayers .
While we must admit ,if residents don’t participate you have to make do .
“Ridgewood residents, please join us this Saturday, September 21 from 10-11am in the Auditorium for a slideshow, tour and coffee about the library renovation concept. Please register at www.ridgewoodlibrary.org. Questions: reimaginerpl@ridgewoodlibrary.org “
In a post on the Facebook group , “it takes a Ridgewood Village” , Kim pointed out , “Socioeconomic profile is a key determinant in terms of which town is likely to get grants from the NJ Library Construction Act. What happens if Ridgewood doesn’t get the $4 million that Ridgewood Library says we should receive? Why is there no plan B? “Public libraries provide an economic lift for residents, particularly in communities in which education, support services, and the social safety net are less robust. Measures of the socioeconomic need of the community should be included and cited.”
Comparing demographics of Paterson to Ridgewood and while it has appeared over the last 20 years that many in the Village are attempting to turn Ridgewood into Paterson the town is not their just yet.
Attempts to silence Mr.Kim have failed , and Mr Kim is now being attacked as #fakenews for asking what used to know as simple math questions about bonding and pointing out issues with the NJ Library Construction Act ,as well as noticing that the Library project like much of what is going on in the Village in recent years is better suited for Paterson than for Ridgewood.
And of coarse the absolute lack of discussion of books still has most blog contributors scratching our heads .
Ultra-successful people all have in thing in common they read a lot.Warren Buffett was once asked about the key to success, he pointed to a stack of nearby books and said, “Read 500 pages like this every day. That’s how knowledge works. It builds up, like compound interest. All of you can do it, but I guarantee not many of you will do it.”
Buffett is not alone. Here are just a few top business leaders and entrepreneurs who make reading a major part of their daily lifestyle:
Bill Gates reads about 50 books per year, which breaks down to 1 per week.
Mark Cuban reads more than 3 hours every day.
Elon Musk is an avid reader and when asked how he learned to build rockets, he said “I read books.”
Mark Zuckerberg resolved to read a book every 2 weeks throughout 2015.
Oprah Winfrey selects one of her favorite books every month for her Book Club members to read and discuss.
I think Ridgewood has a “club” of folks who share board memberships on different board and favor each other’s organization.
Corruption at its peak.
These boards and foundations generate less than 2$ per resident per year in fundraising and they control the narrative on how taxpayers taxes should be increased.
Is that Nancy Greene in the picture, floating down the steps?
I guess we’re all left to wonder if Mr. Kim and Mr. Dani attended the public session in 2012. After all it sounds like exactly the kind of session to gather input from taxpayers that they are advocating.