TESTIMONY GIVEN BY SHEILA BROGAN REGARDING THE VILLAGE OF RIDGEWOOD MASTER PLAN AND VALLEY HOSPITAL’S REQUEST TO AMEND IT
click here to view testimony given by Sheila Brogan, Board President, on October 29, 2013 regarding the Village of Ridgewood Master Plan and Valley Hospital’s request to amend it.
BOE MEETS MONDAY, NOVEMBER 4
The Board will hold a Regular Public Meeting on Monday, November 4 at 7:30 p.m.
The public is invited to attend the meeting at the Ed Center, 49 Cottage Place, Floor 3. The meeting will be aired live on FiOS channel 33 and Optimum channel 77. Or it may be viewed live via the district website at www.ridgewood.k12.nj.us using the “Link in Live” tab.
Click here to view the agenda for the October 21, 2013 Regular Public Meeting.
Click here to view the webcast of the October 21, 2013 Regular Public Meeting.
How dare the hospital request the BOE amend their testimony! Outrageous!
Valley Hospital – a place where patient care and treatment are supposedly second to none in regards to other hospital facilities in the State of New Jersey. The treatment offered to patients is excellent and a wide variety of treatments are offered at Valley and it satellite centers throughout the Ridgewood/Paramus area. We read constantly about the awards in various categories of healthcare that Valley wins, ranging from cardiovascular to oncology. My daughter was born there and I can honestly say that we could not have chosen a better hospital. Most of the new parents that we met at Valley had come from all over Northern Jersey with some even coming from New York. Over all the experience was great, the staff very professional and highly competent and after the two day stay, we brought our little baby girl home.
Every time we would drive past Valley, we would tell our little girl that was the hospital where she was born, her first home. We took pride in it because they delivered our beautiful little girl without any issues.
As I am sure, there are others that have had similar experiences to us and look fondly at Valley Hospital for the care and attention that they gave our families.
So where did it all go wrong? Well, Valley is a business!!! It exists to make money and to make money, it must provide excellent patient care – they only treat patients with insurance. We may read that they do treat the poorer sections of our community without the patients incurring costs but that is not true. Somebody pays for all this – a business, which Valley is, will never give anything away for free or will never do anything for free.
While Valley may have won awards for excellence in patient care, the neighborhood in which it is a guest, has been shown anything but care!!! Valley has set out to destroy the Village of Ridgewood in the fact that it wants to double in size from its current structure and if it doesn’t get its way, it will pursue its way through the legal system. How can a “supposed” not-for-profit afford to undertake such action? The board of Valley Hospital is very aware that it is ripping apart the fabric of a great village and pitting neighbor against neighbor and it has been involved in numerous activities in which an outsider would consider corrupt. “Donating” funds to various groups in the village and to various local government bodies – so how can the BOE maintain an objective view when it is currently in receipt of a $500,000 donation from Valley Hospital? The mafia is not as open when it comes to corruption as Valley appears to be. I personally believe that the whole Valley debacle requires a State, or even Federal inquiry as there are members of local government, that have very solid relationships with Valley, regardless of what they say they use to do, such as fundraising or other bullshit, and these relationships will put the Village council, the Planning Board, the BOE, etc., in a very dangerous situation if certain people do not recuse themselves from any activity as those activities relate to Valley Hospital.
I know we are all concerned about our children and the effects Valley’s plans, if they are successful, will have on them, but it is not only the children that we should be concerned about. It is the whole fabric of our little Village.
Valley has the capacity to build any building that it requires in Paramus or at any location it owns, other than its current location in Ridgewood. It is time for a major call for state and/or federal involvement in this issue as our local representatives have proven that they are not capable of dealing with the Valley issue in a non-conflict way.
As everybody has said in previous posts, the town council of the Village of Ridgewood, represents the combined residents of the village, not a bullying corporate entity such as Valley Hospital and it is time that pressure was brought to bear on the local politicians to recognize this face.
“So where did it all go wrong? Well, Valley is a business!!! It exists to make money…”
Too bad Valley is (listed as) a “non-profit” hospital
(ranked 11th in NJ out of 59 – Hackensak UMC is ranked #1, Holy Name is 6th)
URL: https://hospitals.findthebest.com/d/o/Non-.-profit/New-Jersey
This is more of the same Brogan BS. How did we ever vote her into this position? Let’s remember this at the next BOE election
Let’s hope the folks on the PB have guts, not to mention common sense.
Although it would certainly rank right up there with The Real Housewives of New Jersey in content, why are the PB meetings not televised ?
As for Ms. Brogan’s statements regarding the quality of eduction matter, if my credibility took a hit like that I certainly would not be waiting around for an election. Based on the length of time she took to answer the question, the really sad part is she may actually believe it !
She didn’t even seem to know what ADHD is—what?? I’m sure this disorder affects more kids than asthma does, sadly. In any case, an 10+ year construction project will just about kill the school experience for all BF students, especially those with special needs.
And,along with that, one of the reasons people decide to move here will be gone.
It is truly amazing to watch a town become undone because of a few greedy people. At one time, ethics and values counted here, but not anymore. Pretty pathetic, and embarrassing to the residents of this town.
I’m glad I didn’t vote for her…
Since the BOE let us down, the best chance we have is to support CRR. They are the only rational people with a seat at the table, and the 3 people that spoke at that meeting said it all really well! Go to stopvalley.com and make a donation.