January 7,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, For those of us who have lived many years in Ridgewood, we sit and wonder what has happened to the Village we once loved. The walls of the courtroom in Village hall are covered with the photos of those man and women who cared for the Village’s business. Some were great, some were good and some not so. To a great extent most of them thought only of their Village and guided Village government on a course set by those who came before them. They were selfless, caring and kind to the residents who duly elected them and place their trust in them. Today we have a sad situation where Paul, Al and Gwenn clearly are only interested in what THEY want and dismiss the concerns of residents as they would swat away a fly. They are self-serving, nasty, untruthful and full of venom for those who disagree with them. For those who have served with and around them and have disagreed with them, they attack, belittle and create personal and economic hardship. The walls in Village hall that will eventually hold their photos will be stained with their disgusting legacy. Many of those who voted for them now understand that they were taken in by their smooth talk and promises of a better Village. What they got was a Village with employee morale at its lowest, diminished services and a management staff who writes their own rules to fit their personal needs. Residents have always expected and deserve better. As does our country, Ridgewood needs and feels change coming. We will need to wipe the slate clean in the upcoming May election and rid the Village of this angry, nasty belittling trio and the minions they have surrounded themselves with.
BAMM
Well said.
Very petty. A small group of complainers need to be unhappy. Other two on counsel are way over their heads. Their positions don’t even make sense.
can u say a mess,
7:02, oh yes, a SMALL group of complainers. Who are you, Jan Phillips???? This was a HUGE group of very concerned citizens.
Yes, I want it to be the old way… 70 cents a gallon gas with Luddites holding sway… the hated Newbies are finally asserting control… GOOD
Dear 7:02, You might be right if it was just a few complainers but it is 100s of people coming to meetings to speak out on a variety of topics. Susan an Mike are not in over their heads. They are respectful of public opinion and both are accomplished individuals in their own right. I have been an a server of meetings for over 30 years and I have never seen such participation from the public.. They wait around for hours to speak. I admire them enormously. They are making a difference and for the most part they are seeking compromise in order to preserve the integrity of the village they live in. A drmocracy works best when we have active citizen participation. The most important part of meetings to me is the public comment portion. It is where you hear the concerns of the people. I wish the council majority felt that way.
That small group includes 4,000 families of mt carmel who are (sadly) just now realizing the scope of this project. The whole room was filled with people against, barring the business owners and two blowhards that are ALWAYS with the council majority. They are of course entitled to their opinions and I respect them for it…but that was by far the minority voice on Wednesday.
7:02 you are totally wrong on this it has become a town wide issue with a lot of complainers.
Well we have certainly turned a corner when a group starts calling themselves the complainers.
For all those that think this is something new, it’s not. It’s not this council, it’s been every council. We saw it with Graydon where plans for improvement were attacked, contributors to that process were demonized personally and professionally. We certainly saw it with the current long, not yet complete, process with Valley (which duplicated the process Valley went through here in the 80’s — I was there for that too), village hall construction, the original parking proposal that the Mayor’s 2008 web page was about, the train station renovation, giant telephone poles, you name it. We’ll see it on whatever comes next. When a small percentage of the population — c’mon people no matter your definition, a few hundred at a council meeting is a small percentage of the population of 25,000 — can block potential solutions to big problems, then you will have zero progress. Zero. You get no change and no change equals no improvement. And in the long run no change equals slow, grinding, decline. You want to know what’s not Ridgewood? Slow, grinding decline, That’s not Ridgewood but that’s exactly what we have at Graydon (in-town membership totals don’t lie), at Valley (Hackensack is cleaning their clock) and in the CBD (we heard it straight from the CBD on Wednesday) and maybe you haven’t noticed but there are two giant dilapidated car dealerships and a run down toxic site in the middle of our quaint picturesque village.
It’s a lot of fun to cheer for your neighbors at council meetings, find that latest gotcha entry in the donor list or some 7 year old web page, and post on Facebook about what a hero of the common people you are but unless you are working for realistic pragmatic answers to real problems that exist in the village you are participating in its inexorable demise. Complaining feels good. Working for solutions takes hard work. From my chair we have far too much of the first and not nearly enough, on any side, of the second. The path forward isn’t cheering at council meetings when saying no to things. It’s figuring our the answer that all sides are a little unhappy with. And before I leave this here: 1] Yes I volunteer in a number of positions to try to help already 2] You couldn’t pay me enough to sit on the dais in that council room on Wednesday nights so this is not some kind of announcement and 3] I have zero relationship with any of the entities mentioned and the only stake I have in the conversation is the value of my home and my sense for what it means to be an active informed citizen. And finally,I didn’t call anyone a complainer here, 7:35 did that and they agree with you.
9:13. How simple things sound by your judgement. I wish things were so black and white to me, but the difference with this council compared with others is real. They are the ones with the oversized, overbuilt, my way or the highway thinking causing gridlock.