March 10,2016
Linda McNamara
Ridgewood NJ, Last night’s meeting has truly changed the conversation or at least it should. Roberta is holding on to a 100,000 dollar check from the RBSA that has” Strings Attached” re: not to be used unless a 90 foot baseball diamond is to be built. My mini financial transactions with the village advised me to deposit all checks and cash within 48 hours of receipt. But even more disturbing is that we also heard last night that there is an additional $100,000 in Open Space accounts available for approved projects. How is it that when Isabella Altano came before the council with 45,000 dollars for the purpose of a matching grant to stabilize the Schedler/ Zabriskie House, she was told that there wasn’t a single penny available for grant purposes and that no staff could be used to help her with other grant opportunities. Obviously, this wasn’t true and the only thing that one can surmise is that the council majority along with Roberta had no intention of doing anything to help Friends of Schedler in their quest to save the house and develop the property in a fitting manor.
But this wasn’t the worst revelation that occurred last night. Ridgewood Water is in trouble. Sludge pipes disintegrating releasing toxic sludge into the streets that was diverted into the streams and Kings Pond! And the on going problem of toxic contaminants seeping into the ground water at the Town Garage and municipally owned sites for many years! Now it is reported in The Record that Ridgewood is one of 5 towns in the Bergen/ Passaic area with PFOA toxins in the water at high levels. Why isn’t this a top priority at the municipal level? We should be investigating filters for the wells and immediately remediate the situation at the Town Garage and abutting municipal sites. Use eminent domain to gain control of the site we don’t own, fix the huge problem there and then develop it in a manner that is best suited for Ridgewood. I hope I hear back because at this moment in time I believe it is my civic duty to contact the DEP and ask them to revisit their recommendations for cleanup that have been ignored for the last 8 years. We are currently looking to bond approx. 11 million dollars for a garage and while this is important it is not nearly as important as our water.
As of two days ago I thought Gwenn was running for council. Someone posted a column or comment with a listing of those running and her name was on it. This is confusing.
Quote from Record on Ridgewood’s water. Dated Feb. 14, 2016
Richard Calbi Jr., director of operations at Ridgewood Water, said that if a state standard lower than 0.04 parts per billion is adopted, the utility would likely have to develop a treatment plan for each of its affected wells. “It would be a big project,” he said. “It would be much more complex for us than for a big surface water treatment facility.”
He said no obvious source of PFOA has been identified so far near Ridgewood Water’s wells. “PFOA is everywhere — on clothes, in kitchens, on carpets — and I imagine that’s how it got into the drinking water supply,” he said. “It’s in a lot of stuff.”
He said the utility does not have any plans to treat its water because, while PFOA is present, it is not currently at levels above the state’s health advisory level. “These are unregulated contaminants and the [DEP] is determining whether they should be regulated,” Calbi said. “We’ll have to rely on their expertise.”
10:25 Holy Moly. So, he knows its bad for our health, but not treating it because it’s not mandated “yet”, and he even knows that the mandate may be coming?
Linda, I’m not sure how “save the house and develop the property in a fitting manor” has any relevance to the majority of Ridgewood residents? Apparently “fitting manor” can only be defined by your cabal including Ms. Knudsen who has a very clear conflict on Schedler – her parents own a
Drop garage and clean the place up or our grandchildren will pay the price. Costs for these things only get higher and higher. “Just do it.”
Look at the RBSA..quid pro quo…their true colors have been revealed.
Thank you Linda, as always, for your clear and insightful report. 10:56 can be ignored, the list of suspects is quite small for that stupid posting.
How do we know specifically if the contaminants underneath the Town Garage are PFOAs?
Dod she drop out?
Anonymous 10:56 am:
So you are accepting that Schedler changes will tank the values of home in that neighborhood.
Watched the Historic Preservation Meeting from last night. Thank you Dana.
Since they are supposed to be (in the words of an attendee) respectful of the neighbors, how can they approve a building that literally encroaches on the road?
The head of the committee is rather prickly. Maybe people should rotate off the committee when they are burned out.
Ken Schier’s assistant was pretty snippy too.
Questions were pointed and civil. Thank you to the dedicsted residents who attend these meetings and speak for us.
Gwenn dropped Out. Wednesday morning. It’s not a secret.
As the article notes PFOA is everywhere. if you cook with Teflon pans, your exposure to PFOA is many times what you might drink in the water. PFOA has been found in low concentrations in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, It is described as a probable carcinogenic but as far as I understand, there is no meaningful data to support safe or hazardous limits. The risk is in the concentration. there are people with thousands of ppb in their blood. Given its widespread use, it would be surprising to NOT find any PFOA in Ridgewood water. The question of what a safe limit may be is very unsettled due to lack of data so it is hardly something to panic over. If you say you want your PFOA exposure to be zero you will probably need to leave this planet.
Scandalous that all three people constituting the Three Amigo Village Council Majority, including the sitting Mayor and Deputy Mayor, are simultaneously vanishing from public office in Ridgewood. One wonders what shocking information will leak out once they are gone for good.
Yes; Gwenn dropped out on Wednesday, 3/9.
Its a miracle! All three saw the writing on the wall.
So, there are only six candidates? Two from the financial advisory committee (rubber stamps) and the lacrosse coach.
And Walsh , Hache and Voight. Looks like we have three winners.
Was Gwenn running because Pucch forgot to tell her that the group was breaking up?
Yes she did. She could hang on to her friend coattails to get elected . Our soon to be ex Mayor could not help her this time. Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Her Goodbye
Halaby will be posting soon right after he get over his 5 day self imposed mourning period. The 3 Amigos have a abandon him.
Gwennie – Go on now GO, walk out the DOOR, just turn around now, you’re not welcome any more!
I hear Big Al the Developers Friend had to drop out because he has a new day job. He is going to be one of those pilots that fly the planes down the shore with the banners
6:46 I needed that laugh. Thank you. He is such an arrogant guy – he THINKS he is presenting a very good argument, but most of his arguments are hollow.
these three are done. in the spring we will have a clean house. some of the top dog,s will be gone.
Once bitten, twice shy.
something that you say which means when you have had an unpleasant experience you are much more careful to avoid similar experiences in the future
who own’s this building. and why is the town not going after them to clean it up. it looks like a shit hole.