February 26,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewoood NJ, Leaf summon issue resolved for now , while it does seem troubling as to the percentage of homes who were issued summonses. Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld reported that 404 out of 414 leaf summons were paid , 3 were heard by a judge , others were dismissed for various reasons.
https://www.tubechop.com/watch/7730477 courtesy of Saurabh Dani
Suggestion: Someone should OPRA copies of all summonses that were dismissed to see if there’s a pattern of any sort. For example, members of Council, members of Village boards or committees, friends of those in power, etc. I suspect there may be one or two eye opening revelations.
So let me ask for comments on this puzzling question – Every hand held photographic device I’ve ever owned, including my cell phone, gives the operator complete control over date & time settings. So if someone in power doesn’t like you, whose to say that they wouldn’t take a photo of your leaf pile and then change the date & time to reflect a violation situation? How is this entire “proof of violation” holding up in court?
They have to pay for the garage some how. Ever little bit counts.
Well, from what I see on facebook it seems that there are some who got their tickets reduced and some who got their tickets dismissed. And when you listen to the tape and see where Susan questions her, Roberta gets all stuttery. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm…were some favors granted? Did Roberta decide to stop enforcing the fines because she is tired of being battered on this matter? What about all the people who paid their fines – could they have gotten theirs dismissed depending on which way the wind was blowing on any certain day? Roberta herself has the authority to dismiss a summons? Very many questions.
600 or 444 or 414? she used all three numbers.
The problem is actually that the tickets were issued months after the violation. I have no problem fining leaf and snow violators. But the ticket MUST be written right then and presented to the homeowner or left on front door.
I spoke to plenty of people who got summonses and what they have in common is that they lived on a street that was targeted on a specific day. everything is not a conspiracy.
HOWEVER, it is not fair for the homeowner to be notified months later when they have no chance to take his/her own photos. In cases where costs might be passed back to a landscaper or if a neighbor might have had their leaves in front of the house, then the person has a chance to speak to the other parties. 3 months later there is no way to recreate the evidence.
1:08! I heard the same thing.
that’s Roberta’s Sig Sigma.
The Manager needs to put beter procedures in place.
It is outrageous that a summons can appear 2-3 months after the event. The residents are at a disadvantage because they will not remember if it was the regular schedule or one of the poorly communicated revised schedules.
Roberta has plenty of time to make this right. Treat is like a parking ticket and place a copy in the mailbox. She just wants the money.
who cares, the top managers are out in 2016, can u say vote.
This crew are out of control
Roberta keeps saying in meetings that “residents suggested / residents support me .. blah blah blah… “in my meeting with them in leaf forum”.
If you rewind the tape to when she talks about leaf forum, she said “couple of people attended my leaf forum”. So 2 people = “residents” supporting her decisions?
They should spend the same amount of energy & resources getting the leaves picked up..we are not the enemy..two years back there were CHRISTMAS TRees in frozen blocks on curbs through EASTER..did we fine the town no..stuff happens. Landscapers are people too paying taxes making jobs for hard working young people..
yes so true. the manager is in the clouds. she has john spano bull shit,in her every chance he get,s.
Blame it on the manager and spano for bringing in people that don’t know what the hell they are doing. Spano screwed this hole town up.
I’m a broken record…Vag and Fast Eddie run the town….Pooch and Gwen will get re-elected…
up top is one big scam.
That,s funny , fast eddie for mr, spano.
This is what happens when you don’t replace workers when they retire , they hire out side venders . And we get problems. the village is not in power like they once were in the past. IN THE END IT,S NOT CHEPER. so don’t all the talk about savings is real.
why in the past we never had no problems with the leaf pick up. what had happen .