January 20, 2010 THE VILLADOM TIMES II • Page 15 Ridgewood League of Women Voters: Save Schedler House by John Koster The Ridgewood League of Woman Voters has supported the initiative to save the abandoned house on the Schedler property from demolition and to investigate its possible restoration and use by the village for some practical purpose. Linda McNamara, a member of the league, read a statement forward by Ellie Gruber asking that the house not be razed until a thorough investigation had been conducted. “We understand that the council has been informed that the house on the recently purchased Schedler Property was considered unsafe and not worth preserving,” Gruber wrote. “It has been brought to our attention that the house is one of the oldest in the area, (and) being a ‘Zabriskie’ house, considered noteworthy. We would ask the council to postpone any demolition of this house until a second assessment of the property is obtained, as well as inquiries to the New Jersey Historic Commission as to possibility of including the house on the Register of Historic Properties. “There is no rush to demolish this house. If vandalism is a concern we request the same protection be taken as was given to the (Lester) Stable, years ago. “We are pleased that the property was purchased as open space, which is a top priority for the league, but there might be other uses for the house, if moved to a different part of the property, for example, as a small parks/recreation building. We will not be developing the Schedler property for some time, there should be no rush to demolish this house until all options are considered.” Deputy Mayor Keith Killion told McNamara there are no immediate plans to demolish the house and that restoration would at least be considered. Roger Wiehand, a resident who frequently speaks at council meetings, toured the house with Killion several weeks ago and had also urged that the house be seriously considered for restoration. The roof, Wiegand and Killion agreed, was in bad repair, but Wiegand said – with some cautious concurrence by Killion – that the rest of the house was salvageable. They differed on how advisable restoration might be, but Killion reiterated that the Schedler House would not be razed until other options had been explored. Taxes cited as factor in fiscal flight Peter Sedler was so eager to escape from East Germany in 1964 that he swam to West Germany through the Baltic Sea, knowing he would be executed if he were caught. Now the Ridgewood property owner says he is eager to leave the village because high property taxes have collapsed his own version of the American dream by pushing him toward bankruptcy. A swimmer in the German Democratic Republic’s renowned high school athletics program, Sedler made use of his prowess to swim the choppy Baltic in the days when East Germans were being shot trying to clamber over the Berlin Wall. Two couples escaped over the German DMZ in a homemade balloon and others dug tunnels. “The penalty for what I did was the death penalty if I were captured,” Sedler told the Ridgewood Council last week. “The penalty I face from Ridgewood isn’t as severe. It is a better life somewhere else, and also beautiful.” Sedler said at the meeting, and in a short interview afterwards, that he had turned his trade skills into rehabilitating dilapidated houses, bringing a number of older buildings up to code and renting or selling them. Sedler reportedly prospered until drastic increases in property taxes drove the rental prices in Ridgewood so high that nobody could afford to live in the units he retained. The final blow came when the assessment of one rental property was increased by 75 percent in one increment, with an 18 percent surcharge added when Sedler could not cover the tax increase the first year. He now faces a tax sale if he cannot catch up in two years, and he does not see how that might be possible. “If I was going to make my tenants pay for it, it would be empty in six months,” he said. “I made Ridgewood a better town…I created jobs…President Obama should love me,” Sedler said. “Now there’s a tax lien on the property and the sheriff wants to foreclose. “I’m asking you people to take off and eliminate the 18 percent penalty you put on, because I didn’t make this mess: You did...If 50 percent of the public servants either go away, quit their jobs, or find a job in the private sector…then we could reduce the taxes to the Ridgewood residents by 50 percent.” The council members -- save Paul Aronsohn, who was not present – did not comment on the resident’s suggestion that the village cut staff to reduce taxes. J. 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