
September 29,2016
the staffof the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewooood NJ, Once again, much was accomplished with this new and improved council! Of course somethings never change ,Rurik Halaby came to the mic twice to insinuate that Ms. Knudsen( pronounced once correctly, second time with a hard k!) should be transparent about her raffle win and her sons becoming Ridgewood police officers. Thankfully Susan called for a point of order and Bernie Walsh made reference to Roberts Rules and that personal comments made to a council member from the floor are not allowed. It probably won’t stop future rants.
Richard Calbi from the Water Department gave a good report on the chromium 6 that has been in the news. According to Ridgewood Water Ridgewood is below the level considered dangerous even though the EPA has made no formal recommendations or issued guidelines.Currently Ridgewood Water is below the California guidelines and those issued by The World Health Organization.
Matt Rogers reported on the status of Affordable Housing, the water suit filed by Glen Rock, Midland Park and Wyckoff and the Valley Hospital appeal.
Affordable Housing: a status conference is scheduled for October, otherwise all is quiet on that front.
Ridgewood Water: a possible trial in November if a scheduled mediation in October is not successful.
Valley Hospital: Appeals Court Agrees to hear Ridgewood against Valley Hospital Expansion Case. It sounds too good to be true but after a long battle it another opportunity for the new council to make their mark. What happens next is any bodies guess.
The status of suit filed against the Planning Board was not mentioned.
A discussion about parking at the council level was very productive as they are looking at immediate remedies to improve parking before any construction is initiated.
Ramon Hache gave a Field’s Committee update and possible solutions to remediate Maple Field. One suggestion is to infuse the current field with millions of rubber pellets or replace the current field.Another idea was to build berm to protect the field better from floods . What was not mentioned is that these pellets will go into the drains, the brook and on the kids! As we all know Maple Field is in an active flood plain. Perhaps an analysis as to what would be the cost of replacing it with natural grass vs. new artificial turf and or its remediation? No easy solution for this one .
Discussion on the placement of art in the village. The Library might be making a presentation soon on their plans to build a performing arts center, approx. cost , 5 million dollars! They are seeking help from the Village to bond this amount .Not sure how that will be received. Love the library but other issues may be higher on the agenda.
$5 million for the library is insane. They are not in the entertainment business and there is no one qualified to oversee this.
Like the garage, the taxpayers should not be on the hook for their Broadway dreams. Get real.
Who evaluated the true need for a performing arts center? Was it more “Wouldn’t it be nice to have an arts center?” or there is a real shortage of performance space in Bergen county?
Most important, how can this partnership e self-funding? This should be a private, non profit venture, not a publically funded boondoggle. Shoeone with experience should put together private f ding and give it a whirl.
Exactly where will the patrons of the “performing arts center” park? Or, does the estimated $5 million in construction costs include a parking deck.
The Library is another boondogle brought to you by a member of the previous Council majority and a local developer. Watch out. Great news about Valley.
More pellets for Maple Field is a dumb idea…rip the band-aid off and buy a new field. The RBSA has $100K in their war chest perhaps they could help with the funding.
Maple Field is primarily used by soccer and LAX. Little to no baseball/softball gets played on that field.
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Time for the soccer mom’s and LAX dad’s to pony up some dough
Great news on Valley. Performing Arts Center is a great idea. It is going to be so appealing for Jay-z, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Justin Bieber to ditch MSG for the beauty and diversity of our village. Whoever came up with this idea should be kicked out of Bergen County altogether. The only way this Arts Center would be useful is if Rurik performed his monologues on the stage. I would pay 50 cents for that.
Turf was an enormous mistake that keeps on taking. DEP should never have allowed it. Rip it out, plant grass, and stop overscheduling the poor thing.
I am new in the village , little more than 1 yr. During this period and by closely following the events with VC etc I have heard about so many costly mistakes that reach millions of dollars in public works. Who can be so irresponsible and throw this money away? Isn’t there a checking mechanism that makes sure projects fulfill a need and are successful as opposed to just let’s try it, maybe it works!!! People get fired in a business environment for such mistakes.
Spend that money to improve auditoriums of the schools – those can be rented. We don’t need to be in the business of performing arts center.
Is the contract of 5 Million already hard wired?
How much would it cost to build a bulkhead around Village hall so it will be dry the next time the Ho Ho Kis brook overflows?
Sounds like the library wants the Elks Lodge for the performing arts center.
@12:33PM. High School is so outdated. I saw a classroom during back to school night that was just like a 3rd world country. TRhis HS has such beautiful look from the outside but it is bad inside. Invest in school.
Sorry to hear about your arrival 12 PM…Welcome to our nightmare. Your questions are laughable but your a newbie so we’ll let it slide. You have absolutely no idea what you bought into. As far as the library is concerned if they have the dough they can buy the Elks. It will be available after the Grand Lodge rubber stamps the charter revocation currently in place and that should be by the end of November. Let’s not forget they have a pour license for the booze! That will be up also!
Bernadette called for point of order. Not Susan.
Make Maple field grass again, stop wasting monies on all the artificial junk.
Perf Arts Center screams vanity project. The Comment above about school auditoriums is a good one. HS has a theater. BF has a terrific auditorium. No need to spend money on a monument to someone’s vanity.
Tell us more on Valley–it deserves an entry onto itself as the news of the day!!!!
Hey 1:43…you are condescending as usual. I have been here a year too and was the recipient of your acerbic response back then. You’re annoying!
It’s really nasty to undermine newcomers by implying we have made a big mistake based on your own frustrations with the town. This is a new beginning for many families and your negative and “I told ya so” tone is not welcome here—I don’t care how many years you’ve “owned” this town. We can look forward to a Ridgewood that has a future for us and will be a great place to raise our children. Onward!
Welcome to Ridgewood , Gigi glad to have you here you are going to fit in just fine
Can anyone direct to a site with the CV’s/bios of current mayor and council?