Folks —
I generally don’t respond to anonymous personal attacks, but this issue hits particularly close to home. Like so many others, I have a long, personal history with disability issues.
If you’re interested, I hope you will attend tomorrow’s meeting or contact me directly, so that we can discuss it one-on-one.
Disability is a reality that cuts across all socio-economic lines, all political lines, and all racial/ethnic/religious lines. And so rather than use the discussion of disability as a means for attacking me or anyone else, I would invite you to instead join the discussion in a constructive way and help enhance the quality of life for all those — our sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers, children, spouses, friends, etc — who face daily challenges due to some form of disability.
Thanks.
Paul Aronsohn
The Ridgewood Blog 
i think the problem is that ridgewood has a history of setting up these silly committes that always recomend the most expensive solutions known to man to fix any problem,,,,,
G.H.W. Bush’s “Americans with Disability Act” is a huge waste of money both private and public.
Too few of those who are truly handicapped benefit and the cost is enormous to businesses and society at large.
Sometimes, the best of intentions are wrongheaded and unnecessarily counter productive.
9:13 — I can certainly appreciate that concern and would suggest that your involvement in this effort could help prevent that from happening.
Big ups to P. Aronsohn for taking the bull by the horns by using this blog as a resource. Not sure I would have expected this from someone with his political background, but give the devil his due.
Here’s hoping he hangs in there long enough to demonstrate he’s sincere in facilitating a dialogue between people holding divergent views, cogently stated and at least somewhat reasonable, whether from an anonymous source (prevalent on blogs), or not (i.e., in person at a public meeting).
The fondest wish, then, would be for Mr. Aronsohn and the other Council members to adopt a conclusion that reflects true consideration of all valid points raised during the debate (and not just the ones he was drawn to at the outset).
IMHO, such process would be the best in terms of maintaining the non-partisan form of government we still have here in Ridgewood. Otherwise, we may as well have partisan elections, and let the chips fall where they may.
So Paul, are you saying that if the committee decides that Ridgewood is already addressing the needs and concerns of the disabled community sufficiently then you will go along with that decision and no further action is necessary or have you already decided that Ridgewood is not providing enough goods and services for this community?
Also, other than your personal situation (and your “sense”), just exactly what places this as a Day 1 priority for the Village Council to address? A personal priority sure, but a Village priority? Remember, you are not advocating for your self interests (no matter how noble they are); you are an elected representative of ALL Ridgewood residents and need to address the needs and concerns of all of them. Are the disabled being so poorly serviced in town that this is the most urgent matter to attend to? (Apparently you, yourself don’t think this is a problem as you stated that “…Ridgewood has done a good job…”(addressing the needs and concerns of the disabled community.))
Ridgewood is a very caring community and has (and will continue) to service all of its residents including its residents with disabilities. If something needs to be done or a service needs to be improved, then the Council will address that specific situation as it has done in the past.
Your idea to establish a panel (and please let me know if this was not your idea) is more to raise your profile or advance a cause that is near to your heart rather than to address the needs of Ridgewood residents with disabilities that are not being met.
I have no doubt that you care about those of us who are disabled. I also have no doubt that there ALWAYS is more that can be done to address the needs of residents with disabilities. But that can be said for ANY resident or group of residents. The question here really is in relation to all of the needs of Ridgewood residents and all of the services provided by the village and on balance, where should the efforts of the council be placed and in what priority order and on what scale?
To me this just smells like political posturing (and very safe political posturing at that). I mean who can be against helping the disabled… who would be that cruel and uncaring? Rather than putting this in context of what is already being done and if the need to improve these services rises to the top of the priority queue of all of the services to be provided within a finite budget, you jump to forming a committee and inviting the County Disability Services Director having already decided that you want Ridgewood to “…go beyond ADA [the Americans with Disabilities Act]…”. What exactly did you see or hear that makes you want to form a committee to address (what?) problem? You yourself state that “your sense” is that Ridgewood is doing a good job. This tells me that you DO NOT even KNOW whether or not Ridgewood is doing a good job and that you DO NOT KNOW of any specific complaints or areas that need improvement.
This smells like a political play where you can champion a feel good cause that will raise your profile. It has all of the right elements. You have a personal connection with someone who is disabled. You honestly care about and want to champion people in that situation. It is a cause which nobody is against. But it also raises your profile — why else would you need a committee and why would you need to bring in the director of the county’s Division of Disability Services at this point? Wouldn’t it be better to talk with him after you have determined that there is a problem with the services being provided by Ridgewood to its residents with disabilities? Or better yet, why not just address those issues directly and without fanfare? This looks more like using Ridgewood’s stature and financing to push forward a personal agenda and raise your political profile rather than being a responsible Councilmember.
And let’s not get into all of the opportunities for sweetheart deals with building contractors, transportation service organizations, health care providers (I’m sure Valley would support a nice fat village contract to provide in-home health care services for Village residents with disabilities funded by the taxpayers), food service providers and of course the BOE so that we can educate the young ones to mention a few.
Also, nice touch, telling 9:13 to attend the meeting and get involved… invite your opponent to provide “input” (which you will largely ignore or only superficially incorporate) so that they can be either held up as the “bad guy” or can at worst be limited to just reducing the increase in spending. Then you can say that they were involved with the process so they ultimately agreed with the outcome. Nice.
Look, I’m all for providing services to ALL village residents, especially those of us who have disabilities, but what I do not like is this attempt to solve a problem which you yourself admit that you don’t even know if it exists, just to raise your political profile and advance your own personal agenda. It’s a shameless selfish political act wrapped in a feel good personal cause under the guise of addressing a problem which you yourself admit may not even exist.
11:20,
If after reading your post, Paul failed to get your point and does not cancel his silly meeting, then you have, for sure, hit the nail on the head.
But we were warned about Paul’s opportunism before the election.
After all, when Aronsohn, then press secretary for Gov. McGreevey, was asked point blank by the press, knowingly denied that his boss was “…a gay American.”
Let’s hope that Paul does not fail at his next attempt for a meaningful political position. The quicker he is off the council the better for Ridgewood.
Pandering Paulie….
“Look, I’m all for providing services to ALL village residents”
Yeah, sure you are. You just spit out 9 paragraphs explaining why the Village Council shouldn’t form a committee to find out whether and to what extent we have a problem with disabilities services.
If you don’t try to discover whether and to what extent a problem exists, how on earth do you hope to solve it?
Teenager drowns in Graydon Pool
WABC Eywitness News – Boy Drowns in New Jersey Pool
There is an awful lot of Bergen County Honchos showing up in town lately. It reminds me of vultures when they smell prey.
Is it just me or when a blog is signed “annonymous” doesn’t the voracity of the blogger(s) come into question?
It makes me wonder why, in a simple discussion, one can’t stand up and be recognized for one’s opinions. Did they lose the election? Did they have an issue with the buildings depatment? Are they just perpetual grumps?!
For all the salient (and and not so salient) points made they lose their validity, for me, when someone can’t simply claim ownership of them.
Regards to all and may you be inspired to enter into political debate with enthusiasm, integrity and honor rather than with derision, divisiveness and disdain.
Jim Horton
“Are they just perpetual grumps?!”
Apparently, yes.
And they’re desperate enough to use McGreevey’s sexual preference as an excuse not to help disabled people in Ridgewood.
Shameful. Just shameful.
922 mac creepy was a SCUM BAG CROOK before he was a homo! One has nothing to do with the other
yes mcgrippy is a low live the gay thing was a scam that all you suckers fell for ….
yes mac creepy seal 6.4 billion dollars form the school construction authority now he teaches pre school
7:25, your sentiments are valid in the abstract, but only weakly applicable given the town’s current political environment. For example, there is a well-known pro-district ideologue who posts comments regularly on this site (often identifying himself, but more recently anonymously, though you can usually tell its him). A real equal opportunity bully who uses his vociferous support for BOE policies as a shield, all the while reveling in publicly targeting individual residents with ridicule and embarrasment should their negative opinions of school district actions/inactions gain the least bit of traction. If you ask me, it is smart and understandable for people to do what they need to do to avoid ending up on his short list.
This forum is the only one available to those of us who wish to keep a low profile, but are nevertheless ready and willing to contribute our ideas to the local debate. IMHO, refusing to consider these ideas unless such people identify themselves is short-sighted.
7:25/Jim Horton:
Given the tenor of the comment left by 9:22, I would hazard a guess that this is the very person I referred to in my prior comment (see 10:22 AM).
He is particularly keen on portraying those with dissenting opinions as outliers of one sort or the other, and at least implying, if not declaring as “obvious”, that his contrary opinion is held by all normal, right-thinking folk in Ridgewood.
He continually begs the question as to who, in fact, actually is the ‘outlier’, and assiduously avoids any sensible, substantive debate on the issues. He relies on partisan attacks to diminish others and boost the size of his own (self) image by comparison. This would all be a minor annoyance if not for his rich recent history of direct action against his political opponents, taken from positions of power he thought nothing of abusing if the spirit moved him.
Pass on some advice as to how to effectively deal with the likes of 10:22, and you may have some success in enticing more Ridgewood residents to ‘come out of the shadows’ and self-identify.
Ugh…does it get any uglier than homophobia of that hurts the disabled too?
Hopefully, 10:15/10:16/10:18 is the same person. I’d hate to think that 3 different adults in the Village could be so twisted.
131 so mac creepy steals for school childern and i am disgusting ?
so 139 stealing from kids is ok if you come out of the closet ? Mac Creepy must have baby sat you when you were a kid…lol
sorry the facts are mac creepy was a dirt bag that stole money from school kids and he and his defenders are total cowards playing the gay card to get out of prosecution
And we all thought Bill was slick. Clinton’s got nothin’ on McGreevey. using his sexual preference as a shield from prosecution. Shameful.
Paul can’t say he didn’t know the governor’s sexual proclivities. Any one with knowledge of NJ politics, knew Jim McGreevey was gay long before he became governor.
So, the fact remains, Paul Aronsohn lied to the NJ press corps for his boss. His denials are in the public record.
Why should we believe anything the man has to say?
i think ManGreevy played the ‘gay card’ so the press would back off. it worked. hes a typical political hack who never held a real job. the taxpayers of NJ will be paying for his excesses and mistakes for generations. it makes no difference to most nj citizens what he does in private and with whom. the ‘gay american’ speech was just a way to block the press, who are afraid of being accused of ‘gay bashing’ if they asked him the real questions. as a person, he is a peice of garbage, if you simply watch his public divorce trial..he was making hundreds of thousands a year..but as any cunning lawyer would..he quit..and attends seminary school so he can claim he is broke. I feel sorry for his children after their scumbag father had to write a book about his anonymous sexual trysts at highway rest areas.
He Paul, when you sleep with dogs, you get fleas.
& the gay-bashing continues by the "ManGreevy" haters…
Mac greevey is a piece of garbage and on of the reason this state has become the laughing stock of the whole country . He happen to a “gay” piece of crap as opposed to “hetro” piece of crap,but he is still the lowest piece of crap you can find .Stop hiding behind the gay flag to steal money from children .It is a discrace and an insultt to gay people …..Oh that’s right kids don’t vote so screw them !
can you say pay for play ,yes image all the overpriced contracts
a paul dont bring any bull shit into this town.we like the services in this town so no out siders will work.town workers will do all the jobs.