
The Ridgewood blog was founded in March of 2006 by James J Foytlin aka PJ Blogger . Mr. Foytlin was born and raised in Ridgewood ,New Jersey and is a graduate of Ridgewood High School .
Ridgewood NJ, – Oct. 26, 2009 – RIDGEWOOD, N.J. — The Ridgewood blog ( https://theridgewoodblog.blogspot.com/ Originally ) (www.theridgewoodblog.net) was founded in March of 2006 by James J Foytlin aka PJ Blogger .[1] Mr. Foytlin was born and raised in Ridgewood ,New Jersey and is a graduate of Ridgewood High School .[2] [3]
After many years living in New York City[4] Mr Foytlin returned to Ridgewood after a divorce and the tragic events of 9/11 . Once he settled in he noticed a lack of sufficient news coverage of local events . One day a friend from Brazil[5] showed him her home town on the internet and to Mr. Foytlin’s great surprise when he tried to reciprocate he was utterly dismayed at the absolute lake coverage of his home town. After all Ridgewood is only 18 miles from midtown Manhattan[6] the media capitol of world and there was not a single picture of Ridgewood to be found . How could this be? Ridgewood is a picturesque upper middle class village of around 25,000 located in Bergen county in northern New Jersey[7] . Founded by Dutch settlers before it became an English colony[8] . The town or village as its called is steeped in rich history and tradition .Known for a large amount of Victorian era housing , a quality school system and a family friendly atmosphere.
Though busy getting reacquainted with his home town the fact that the Village of Ridgewood was so under represented on the internet continued to disturb Mr. Foytlin. Mr. Foytlin had been writing news letters for his job in financial services since the mid 1990’s . The popular flip, off beat investment strategy news letters had become email blasts with the advent of readily accessible internet.[9] By 2004 the email blasts were converted into blog format for the One Small Voice blog (https://onesmallvoice.blogspot.com/ ). [10]
Around that time the Village of Ridgewood had finally completed it’s much anticipated and long delayed renovation of the Village hall which has been flooded out due to Hurricane Floyd.[11] The renovation was marred by huge cost over runs and lengthy delays. In 2005 it opened with great fan fare , was once again flooded with the very first rain . Mr. Foytlin was more shocked by the abject lack of responsibility taken by elected officials than the fact that the $9 million dollar renovation had to some extent been a failure . That was the breaking point and Mr. Foytlin had had enough so he decided to give , citizen journalism a go and created the Ridgewood blog in March of 2006. [12]
The birth of PJ Blogger .By this time Blogging its seems had become quite the rage and mainstream news anchors such as Dan Rather had questioned the validity of information from non professionals sitting around in their Pajama’s blogging.[13] Mr. Foytlin not a fan of Dan Rather or any of the mainstream media decided to blog under the name PJ Blogger as a play on words and to plant himself firmly in the camp of the new digital media.
Innovations by the Ridgewood blog to citizen journalism.
“The Fly” is a column on the Ridgewood blog the originates from the expression ,”I’d like to be a fly on the wall “ . The idea is that every citizen has both a unique perspective and experience and these two factors can be used to gather news and opinions about local issues. Originally only of handful of people in town participated but with time the Ridgewood blog can now count on 20–40 semi regular contributors. These post are both anonymous and signed and are largely opinion as well a breaking news.[14]
The Ridgewood blog brings a free market lassie fare point of view to local issues . Mr. Foytlin aka PJ Blogger has stated that for local issues there are only two kinds of people ;the ones who say spend what every you want because I will not be around to pay the bill and the second group which are more focused on the ,”be careful this is my money your spending” . The Ridgewood blog is dedicated to the interplay of there two groups.[15]
[1][12] the Ridgewood blog website https://theridgewoodblog.blogspot.com/
[2] Birth Certificate born in Valley Hospital , Ridgewood 04/09/1962
[3] Ridgewood High School Class 1980
[4] 444 East 86th street ,530 East 72nd
[5] Monica Rocha
[6] Mapquest
[7] United States 2000 Census, the village population was 24,936.
[8] https://www.americantowns.com/nj/ridgewood/organization/vi…
[9] Fahnestock & Co. now Oppenheimer & Co.
[10] https://onesmallvoice.blogspot.com/
[11] https://www.ridgewoodlibrary.org/localhistory/lh_vh_pease.htm
[13] https://www.opinionjournal.com/diary/?id=110005611
[14] [15] James J Foytlin
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Thanks for keeping important matters out there. I don’t care where you live, this blog has contributed more the the community than serving on any committe or paying property taxes.
I’ve lived here since 1969 and get more information from the blog than anywhere else. (including the crappy village website)
thank you !
Don’t agree with everything written, but think you’re doing a good job!
Congrats 🍾
Annual thanks, James!
Happy Birthday, James..!
And take some of the birthday cash you got a buy a new bicycle…!!
A big congratulations to you. Keep up the great work, and we will keep informing you what’s going on.
We all thank you very much.
Congrats!!! Many years of service to the community by a 1980 RHS grad who rents locally so that he can remain in touch with the community he writes about.
It’s great to see a local guy contribute. Good background bio and I guess you don’t need to graduate from Harvard or any university to have your opinion reported and shared at large to the community. Keep it going!!!
So happy to see this non university graduate do so much good for our community. Sometimes, good guys are just street smart.
you omitted the fact you retired in 2008 ,not bad for punk rocker gone wall street
Pj ,your like the sheriff in Blazing saddles
Love the college degree comments ,you mean like Bill Gates or Steve Jobs
Yea tell em you rogue trader
Well let’s see, you don’t have a “degree”, don’t pay Ridgewood taxes but are here to explain how you view things. I can’t complain with that line of reasoning. Good luck in the future!!
According to the comments you need a college degree to pay taxes in Ridgewood ?
Jeff Voigt singing the praises of the BLOG in 2016. Made my day. I am cracking up.
to anon above,
No you don’t need a degree from any college or university to pay taxes , all you need to do is save enough money in order to buy property in town and by definition, you then pay taxes, and by the way , very hefty taxes to this wonderful town of ours. People can disagree on whether non tax payers should have an opinion on how and for what purpose our tax dollars are spent, but after all, at least we live in a free society where all voices can be heard.
Wait so people who gave away their right to vote on the school budget are now playing it’s our taxes not yours crap
Funny the Ridgewood News editor lived in Glen Rock and now some other state ……
Looking at how far the Village has fallen in the last 20 ,a lot of should get refunds on your degree
Unfortunatly the town has turned into a joke and sad to see its decline
Did you ever shop at McHuges ?
I love that people get so pissed off about this blog
For you “college degree ” snobs plumbers in Bergen make more than most MBAs
What is this message that pops up on the RW Blog?
“Would you like to receive notifications on latest updates?
NOT YET YES ”
Keep it up James.
If the Ridgewood blog started a newspaper, and came out with press once a week they would definitely sell out.
What is amazing that we the people get more information for the Ridgewood blog , then we would ever get from Village hall . Some of us wonder why.
Congrats James. Still remember the start so many years ago. Even though I have moved out west, it’s nice to keep up with what is going on back I. Ridgewood. Keep up the good work.
thanks Buddy !
Thank you James for digging deep
And uncovering misdeeds; an earlier poster said some don’t always agree with you but I am sure you get more readership than our local newspaper.
Keep it up, and keep your sense of humor.
thanks . i get more info here than the crappy village website
Keep Pee Wee honest!
Yes, congratulations to the blog staff, can you imagine if we didn’t have the blog. 95% of the business being conducted in the village would be swept under the carpet. Great job once again, we all thank you.
Thank you so much for keeping things real and always having your finger on the pulse of what is going on. I feel that I learn so much from doing a daily check in on the RB to see what is developing in and around Ridgewood. The honesty and forthright nature of the articles is awesome!
I wish we had something as active as this site for Glen Rock……..
Congratulations and thank you for the great work!
The Ridgewood blog is here to stay. If it was a newspaper, it would be the number one seller in the area. Let’s keep pressure on these sneaky bastards. they need to give us more info. From the mayor and council.
1-who is receiving paid stipends
2-how much are they receiving in that stipend,
3-why are they receiving that stipend,
4-and are they certified to receive that stipend.
5-why are we spending ridiculous amount of money, face-to-face for supervisors to be running around in.
6- all village vehicles need to be lettered and numbered.
We the taxpayers just get understand why they hiding these items from us. Time to lift that carpet up in Village Hall.
How about all supervision should be working with working with crews. They all are working (foreman.) they are not superintendents , they got rid of all those positions. Some Formans work, some just ride around.
???????? Yeah you.
Why would somebody want to put the thumbs down on supervision / Forman working . all supervision are working foreman. Oh yes. You must be one fat ass lazy hot dog eating hypocrite. It’s amazing how you need to grow up.
We the people will be watching and checking on what is happening in this village. Get out there and fill potholes , sweep the streets, clean the fleet. Clean up around the yard on Chestnut Street. These things that are going on a ridiculous to mayor council meeting obviously take a look what the hell is going on. Because what we say we are not impressed. At all. Maybe it’s time for a new foreman.
Yes, the mayor council want new supervision across-the-board
James, if you’re still using this as your current dating profile picture, that’s called catfishing.
A big congratulations to you. We the people will always keep the blog informed.