Why you should vote next week for Ridgewood Council

Please vote on Tuesday, May 10, for:

ROW 1            Jeffrey VOIGT

ROW 4            Bernadette COGHLAN-WALSH

ROW 6            Ramon M. HACHE

For many decades, busy Ridgewood residents could safely ignore municipal elections, if they chose (and many always have), confident that whoever won would govern appropriately and benignly. Too many elections; why bother?

But “politics as usual” has been redefined over the past four years.

Our direction has been forcefully pushed toward overdevelopment and fundamental changes that would forever alter our landscape and quality of life. Developers are gaining an increasingly strong foothold, as they push projects through, encouraged by a specific ordinance introduced by former mayor (now municipal judge, appointed by the current mayor) David Pfund, a willing “council majority,” and board, committee, and commission members appointed to promulgate their views. We are watching the results of a carefully orchestrated long-term plan come to fruition, and we are appalled.

What happens to the voices of residents when a majority platform follows a clearly articulated mandate to vote in tandem on every issue, especially on downtown housing and other building, regardless of increasingly vocal citizen alarm? In a democracy, with citizen participation, consensus moves government forward. In contrast, predetermined, preemptive voting blocs such as the outgoing council trio’s can destroy towns like ours. They have already turned neighbor against neighbor, perhaps part of the grand plan, while fomenting an unprecedentedly toxic atmosphere.

Unless three independent voices join the two continuing council members’, next Tuesdaycould mark our last chance to redeem our village. That may sound hyperbolic, but it’s not. We are on a precipice.

The stakes in this election are higher than ever because of the potential tremendous financial gain of developers who support the trio bloc and their would-be replacements at the ultimate expense of and detriment to Ridgewood and its residents. Our opportunity to protect the value of our town and our votes is waning. If we fail to act now, we will face higher taxes, overcrowded schools, endless construction with accompanying disruption, and a condensed high-rise downtown with worsened traffic and loss of our village context.

With a dearth of buildable space, developers here and throughout the state are pressing for higher density in towns such as Ridgewood. The benefit would accrue to them, not to the taxpayer, who would provide their clients with the amenities of a lovely low-scale village (as long as it lasts). This is “progress”?

We must consider the consequences of development on every aspect of our community, not focus on retailers who understandably crave more sales and diners. Our economy is downsizing, not expanding; retail malls are waning; online retail is growing. All this makes our small-town feel all the more appealing and rare. We are lucky to have it; why destroy it now?

If you are among the countless residents who feel powerful affection for the Village and wish to retain its small-town atmosphere, please make your voice heard by voting in next week’s municipal election.

As council members Paul Aronsohn, Albert Pucciarelli, and Gwenn Hauck step down, three candidates are being groomed to take their place as the new “council majority.” The sponsored candidates are openly running as a team, with a shared group name and branding created by a professional campaign consultant.

They are supported by developers and by outgoing council members, two of whom published separate signed letters of endorsement in last Friday’s Ridgewood News. They are not supported by any grassroots groups in town.

Do we want another four years of watching three council members make almost every decision, elbowing out the other two?

Some residents feel fatalistic and burned out. They assume we’re doomed to face a Valley Hospital nearly doubled in size…an enormous parking garage and rampant high-density housing that exacerbate congestion in our streets and crowding in our schools…and more.

These things may happen, but they are not inevitable—depending in part on who wins the council election next Tuesday.

Valley Hospital:
The Planning Board recently agreed to a reduction by only 3% in Valley Hospital’s proposed expansion. But as many do not realize, Valley sued not only the Planning Board, but also the Village Council, in a separate lawsuit. (One of the two council members appointed to a mediation team by Mayor Paul Aronsohn was former Valley Auxiliary Vice President Gwenn Hauck.) The next council will make many decisions related to this. They could rescind the legal appeal, for example, and revert to Valley’s previous (2010), larger expansion plan, or resist and demand more concessions. Which would you prefer?

We must remain vigilant for Graydon:
Comments on Facebook and elsewhere suggest that keeping Graydon natural is never a “given.” The park must not be used for new building, such as apartments or a school, because of underlying natural springs, severe area flooding, and many other reasons. But LET’S JUST NOT GO THERE. Coghlan-Walsh, Hache, and Voigt would not argue “fiscal responsibility” to harm Graydon.

GarageMahal:
The group supporting the other three candidates has made support for a specific parking garage design their rallying cry. It should not be such a big deal, but they’re making it one. What’s neglected is that “our” candidates all support building a garage at Hudson and Broad. They just don’t want it to be so enormous and expensive.

On Monday, those promoting the new voting bloc held a “rally” for their chosen candidates in the room of a local restaurant in a building partly owned by a developer. This get-together was originally called a “candidates forum.” The terminology shifted when only the three developer-/council-majority-sanctioned candidates signed up to attend.

Reason: The quid pro quo for attendance was to sign a pledge to approve, “immediately,” a certain version of the parking garage and its funding, even though the garage will be the subject of a referendum in a special election on June 21. Click here for details about the “pledge.”   Among the email invitations to the renamed “rally” were those issued on Saturday by our deputy mayor over his law firm’s logo.

The three candidates endorsed by us and by Concerned Residents of Ridgewood, Citizens for a Better Ridgewood, Friends of Schedler, and (new!) the Ridgewood Chinese American Association and the Ridgewood Blog had no intention of running together, and are not a “team.” Coghlan-Walsh, Hache, and Voigt retain their independent views and share no logo, tag line, or predetermined plan or alliances. 30-second video by resident Dana Glazer

To preserve and protect Ridgewood, moving forward cautiously and thoughtfully toward a well-planned short-term and long-term future, please vote on Tuesday, May 10, for:

ROW 1            Jeffrey VOIGT

ROW 4            Bernadette COGHLAN-WALSH

ROW 6            Ramon M. HACHE

Polls will be open from 6 AM to 8 PM.

MEMORY JOGGER: Vote for the 3 candidates with tiny slogans in three languages above their names on the ballot. You can vote to protect Ridgewood’s future even if you can’t remember their names!

https://tinyurl.com/may10election