20210506 - Green Ridgewood-Green Team Virtual Meeting Minutes
Green Ridgewood-Green Team Virtual Meeting Minutes 20210506
Attendance:
Green Ridgewood: Bob Upton, George Wolfson, Ellie Gruber, Christine Amundsen, Yvone Nava, Mary Mogerley (Parks & Recreation Rep),Saurabh Dani (School Board Rep), Jill Fasano (Village Staff Rep), Pam Perron (Village Council Liaison). (Absent: Beth Creller).
Green Team: Justin Manger, George Wolfson, Ellie Gruber, Bob Upton, Anthea Zito, Mike Faherty, Mike Sedon (Village Council Liaison). (Absent: Tony Mauriello, Diala Pharaon, Abby Clothier, Chris Rutishauser).
Additional: Miles Luo (RHS).
1. Welcome/Introductions:
Apologies had been received from Diala, for being unable to attend and Beth, Abby and Mike S for expecting to arrive late or being unable to attend. Diala has advised that she has an ongoing conflict on Thursdays but for several reasons it was agreed it is impractical to reschedule our meeting date to accommodate one member.
Again, we extend thanks to Dylan Hansen for hosting us on Zoom.
2. Approve April meeting minutes:
The “2nd draft” minutes from the April meeting had been e-mailed to members on 5/1 but revision of wording in paragraph 6(d) Creative Bergen was requested. A new draft will be distributed for approval at the next meeting.
3. Membership/Recruitment:
We welcomed Mike Faherty to the Green Team following his appointment by the Village council on April 14th and he introduced himself to the members. He is a 20 year resident of Ridgewood and his career, mainly in the food industry, has included roles in sustainability. He rounds out the Green Team whose membership now officially includes the above listed residents of Ridgewood.
4. Communications: Website, Social Media, Sustainable Ridgewood, etc:
Bob & Beth attended the ANJEC webinar “Social Media Engagement for Environmental Commissions” on April 8th. One suggestion from it was to adopt a Social Media Policy which may be discussed at a future meeting.
5. Green Team/Sustainable Jersey
Silver Recertification: Mike has submitted to the Village Council all resolutions that require renewal. Justin is compiling documents from owners of Actions for incorporation into the recertification application.
Some questions were addressed about Cut It and Leave It and the Village’s use of sustainably sourced electricity.
Justin asked about accessibility to the Tree Inventory and Mike thought he could provide a copy of the summary document.
6. Sustainable Bergen Hub:
(a) Allendale hosted a Zoom meeting on April 5th which included a presentation on the plastics problem and sub-committee updates. About 18 people attended including Bob & Pam. There was interest to learn about the Ridgewood Food Waste Pilot and the Earth Day Multimedia project was reviewed. Upper Saddle River hosted a short Zoom meeting May 5th mainly to discuss scheduling of future meetings. For now, we will try for the 4th Monday each month. USR will host on 5/24 and maybe Ridgewood 6/28. Bob suggested invite speaker from Green Waste Energy and sent their info out via Basecamp for review.
(b) The Single Use Plastics sub-committee has not met.
(c) The Hub Styrofoam Sub-Committee has not met but has had meetings for planning & review of the Ridgewood collection. See 7. below. Grant funds are now exhausted but Oakland’s Boy Scouts will hold a county-wide collection May 16th funded by a local business. More towns are planning collections for their town only.
(d) Creative Bergen – Plans for the Ridgewood events on June 11th have developed further. Following the "Secret Life of Gardens" dance performance by Art of Motion the art exhibit at the James Rose Center will include the "Earth" exhibit by mid- and late-career artists and “Project Hope: Art for Change”, the Creative Bergen for Youth's Exhibit and contest. Artists will now not be charged a fee to exhibit, instead the event will rely on private donations to fund the brochure ad and the artist reception. Green Ridgewood has applied to Parks Dept for use of the Village venues and approval is granted pending documented insurance from Art of Motion for which they were quoted a high price. The committee declined the suggestion to increase our contribution to the event but it is hoped they can shop for a better price. Saurabh suggested eventhelper.com.
(e) EV Sub-Committee –14 people have joined this group. Beth had sent a report that representatives from Wyckoff, Glen Rock and Upper Saddle River are interested in holding, with Green Ridgewood, an EV car show at Mac Murphy’s parking lot, perhaps on a Farmers’ Market day. There was no objection to exploring this concept.
7. Green Ridgewood Styrofoam Sub-Committee:
Ridgewood/Bergen Hub Styrofoam collection at Graydon on April 17th was a huge success. Thanks to all the volunteers who helped at the event. Special thanks were expressed to Yvone and also Christine Key from Wyckoff/Bergen Hub for planning, the students from Ramapo HS, Sean Hamlin from the Recycling Dept for his support and Bob for trucking. Also to Ray for bringing and delivering with the Suez truck. We counted 244 cars from 26 different towns and collected 144 bags which filled the equivalent of 2½ 26ft trucks. Cost of truck rentals and gas totaled about $390 of which the Hub grant will cover perhaps about $290, to be verified.
8. Library Events:
(a) Geothermal Energy Demystified, April 21st: This webinar in the Library’s Sustainability Series in partnership with Sustainable Ridgewood was reviewed by Pam who was a panel member representing Green Ridgewood’s support of the event. The basic technology and use in residential applications were described.
(b) RGEA Town Hall, April 29th: See paragraph 9 below. Video available on YouTube – see Recorded Programs on the Library website.
9. RGEA (Renewable Government Energy Aggregation) sub-committee:
As noted above, Pam, Christine, Beth and George together with Ken Jones from Glen Rock EC participated in a Zoom panel discussion hosted by Larissa Brookes of the Ridgewood Library who reported record attendance of 34 people. It was very well prepared and presented and thanks and congratulations were expressed to the team. Next the presentation will be made to the League of Women Voters.
10. Earth Day Projects
Under Diala’s leadership her Youth & Community Engagement Committee of the United Nations Association of the United States, Northern New Jersey Chapter, assembled segments from 6 Bergen County towns in a multimedia presentation to mark Earth Day virtually in place of live events. Thanks to Diala and her students for making that happen.
Mike S and George reported that their Youth Environmental Council held an event at Habernickel Park on April 24th which included demonstrations about transplanting plants and composting, a trash clean-up and swap party – swapping re-usable products for single-use products. The YEC will meet soon to plan their next activity.
Justin suggested we give thought to a grand Earth Day celebration next year following the two year’s events lost to the pandemic.
11. Planning Board:
The Planning Board has met several times since our last meeting. Applications before the board did not include environmental issues of concern. It was noted that the Master Plan subcommittee had met but details not reported. These subcommittee meetings are not open to the public. Mike S remarked that the development of the Master Plan sections will be a lengthy process.
12. Community Supported Agriculture (CSA):
Nancy Bigos had forwarded to us information about a number of farms offering CSA programs, Abma’s Farm in Wyckoff being the closest, and the possibility of creating a local drop-off point. Mary agreed to investigate. It was noted that Flocktown Farm offers delivery to residents so in that case a drop-off point is not needed.
13. 5G Service in Ridgewood:
Pam shared information that was presented to the Village Council that 5G cell phone service will be established in Ridgewood requiring mandatory installation of about 100 new utility poles plus additional equipment on existing poles and increased servicing activity. This issue is expected to come before the Council at their May 12th Public Meeting.
14. Adopt-a-Drain:
At our last meeting it was suggested someone might create an Adopt-a-Drain program in Ridgewood perhaps using Ramsey’s new program as a model. Bob had asked Miles if the RHS Green Club could help us with this and he will explore it with them.
15. CBD Baloons:
The Village Council has been asked by the CBD Advisory Committee to temporarily waive the ban on balloons in order to promote activity at retail locations. Bob suggested that the widely recognized concerns around the harmful effects of single-use plastics including balloons, especially helium filled, should require us to oppose even a temporary waiver as a matter of principal. Alternatives must be found. The committee agreed to support comment to the Village Council to this effect.
16. NJ Green Amendment:
Bob had forwarded a suggestion from Ellie that Green Ridgewood propose to the Village Council the adoption of a resolution supporting the proposed NJ Assembly and Senate Bills ACR80 and SCR30 known as Green Amendment Bills. Since some members had not seen the proposed resolution or the actual bills Ellie will distribute them for future discussion.
17. Grants:
A brief discussion clarified that a resolution must be passed before applying for a grant.
18. Events:
Pam drew attention to upcoming walking tours May 8th 10 am of Citizen’s Park (meet at the rock) and 5/16 of King’s Pond.
17. Next Joint Meeting will be Thursday June 3rd at 7:00 PM, venue to be advised.
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