Ridgewood Grassroots Group Endorses 3 Council Candidates

RIDGEWOOD, N.J. — A municipal grassroots organization that has lobbied hard against The Valley Hospital expansion project has endorsed three candidates in the May 10 village election.

The Concerned Residents of Ridgewood has endorsed Jeff Voigt, Bernie Coughlan-Walsh, and Ramon Hache.

“We think Jeff, Bernie, and Ramon will challenge a recent trend in Ridgewood government where bigger is always presumed to be better and where applications for changes in land use are treated as higher authorities than our own residents,” said Peter McKenna, the organization’s president. “We chose to endorse these three independent candidates because we feel they each will listen to residents on matters of village governance before reaching a conclusion.”

The Planning Board approved Valley hospital’s controversial expansion plan earlier this month. The hospital will expand to 961,000 square feet, a little less than the nearly 1 million and 1.2 million plans it presented to the board in 2014 and 2010, respectively. The board approved the 2010 proposal, but the council subsequently rejected it. The board voted down the 2014 application. Valley sued both entities. The hospital and Planning Board recently settled the matter out of court.

This year’s election, McKenna said, is about “residents regaining control over big decision in our town, rather than falling in line behind applicants and institutions like Valley Hospital.”

Incumbent Councilwoman Gwenn Hauck received enough petition signatures to appear on the ballot, but chose not to run. Mayor Paul Aronsohn previously said he would not seek re-election. Deputy Mayor Albert Pucciarelli is the other incumbent not seeking re-election.

The group met with each candidate individually before announcing the endorsements.

The organization “[feels] that Voigt, Walsh, and Hache are best suited to restore a positive vision of the Village of Ridgewood’s future,” McKenna said.

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