Page 8 THE VILLADOM TIMES II • August 7, 2013 Ridgewood Meeting format takes protesters by surprise by John Koster Ridgewood residents who attended a village-sponsored information session on July 31 were surprised by the format they discovered when they walked into the court- room last week and found many tables, but no chairs. The management of Public Service Electric & Gas, now in the delayed process of installing 65-foot utility poles through Ridgewood between Glen Rock and Para- mus, had arranged a number of tables where individuals or small groups of people could speak to engineers and other experts about what the utility company says is the need for taller, stronger poles and more powerful current. Bill Labos, an engineer at one of the tables, displayed a segment of the new cable being installed high on the 65- foot poles. He said that the poles are designated Class 1, or top grade, and that they penetrate 10 feet into the ground -- twice as deep as the older 50-foot poles they will even- tually replace. The cables, Labos said, are designed to be so strong that they will hold up a shredded pole in case of wind damage or collision preventing wholesale power outages like those that took place in 2011 and 2012. The installation of the 65-foot poles along a line of march from Glen Rock through Ridgewood and into Para- mus, where the lines will join a substation, was denounced as dangerous at a council session. Residents of Hope Street, in particular, asked why they had not been notified in advance when the towering poles started to appear. Ridgewood Council members said they had not been forewarned of the exact nature of the project when they approved the related street-opening permits. Work within Ridgewood has now stopped until further clarification can be obtained at the Aug. 7 work session of the Ridgewood Village Council. Mayor Paul Aronsohn asked the utility company to provide information as to why advice notification was inadequate and to provide evidence that the new poles and Left: Bill Labos showed how sturdy the new 69,500 volt cable is with a one-foot sample.Right: Ashton Murray and Jane Wang came out to urge a fair minimum wage for all American workers. power cables are safe. Last week’s free-form information session also attracted Ashton Murray and Jane Wang, organizers for the Service Employees International Union, who said that part-time security personnel hired by the utility are not paid adequately. In Glen Rock, where PSE&G resumed installation of poles after they were balked in Ridgewood, there has been no concerted opposition and work crews say most resi- dents simply accept the poles as an improvement. Large sections of both Glen Rock and Ridgewood suf- fered power outages of five to seven days in the aftermath of both the Oct. 29 snowstorm of 2011 and Hurricane Sandy in 2012, when fallen trees and large limbs snapped power lines in dozens of places. The new 65-foot poles completed feature power lines visibly higher than most -- though not all -- of the neighborhood trees. The only suggested alternative -- power lines under the streets -- would have been more aesthetically pleasing, but would have cost an estimated $1 million per street mile besides disrupting other subterranean utilities such as water lines and gas lines.