July 24, 2013 THE VILLADOM TIMES II • Page 3 Ridgewood Bolger urges council members to pay for tickets by John Koster Ridgewood Philanthropist David Bolger says the Ridgewood Village Council members should either drop their anti-gift ordinance or pay for their $1,000 tickets to a recent fundraiser for New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. The fact that the council members and Ridgewood Vil- lage Manager Ken Gabbert all received complimentary tickets that cost other people $1,000 raised some hackles among Ridgewood residents, who said that the food and entertainment violated Ridgewood’s ordinance against accepting gifts from anyone who has an application before the Ridgewood Planning Board. Developer John Saraceno, who hosted the event, has such an application pending, as does JT Bolger, David Bolger’s son. Tom Wells, David Bolger’s attorney, expressed the multi-millionaire benefactor’s position in a statement last week. “The gift ordinance as originally written and as amended misses the mark,” Wells said. “It should be aimed only at making any gifts made locally public and transparent. Pre- venting someone who makes a gift to the village before a board is counterproductive and assumes the worst of every- one. Does the council honestly believe that any member of the planning board, board of adjustment, or council itself would vote differently because an applicant or related entity to the applicant has made a gift to the village? How is it that such an ordinance exists in no other municipality?” A Bolger family entity, Two-Forty Associates, run by JT Bolger...has had a rezoning application pending since June 2011 for the 52- unit Chestnut Village multi-family housing project. “Ostensibly because of this, the mayor and council turned down a proposed gift of $250,000 from the Bolger Foundation to remodel Lester Stable to add bathrooms and other additional room,” Wells added. “David Bolger remains disturbed and offended by the loss to the village that such a decision creates. The Bolger Foundation has contributed millions to the village, and many non-profits within the village, most recently the renovation of the Pease Library. The foundation is currently doing a $3.5 million project in Midland Park. Bolger asks for and gets nothing in return for these gifts. The rezoning matter has been pend- ing for two-and-a-half years, being joined by more recent applications by the station and the Enclave, if anything receiving very slow action from the board. “We would respectfully suggest that a developer pro- viding complimentary tickets to individuals who sit on the council and/or boards, although seemingly covered in the same ordinance which we believe takes the ‘appearance of Preschoolers may take swim lessons The YWCA Early Learning Center is offering Ameri- can Red Cross swim lessons to children enrolled in its pre- school and pre-K programs this summer. Children swim with certified instructors three days a week at the YWCA’s 112 Oak Street facility in Ridgewood, and transportation is provided from the center’s campus in Upper Saddle River. The YWCA Early Learning Center fosters early child- hood development through imagination, exploration, and self-expression. The center provides full and part time infant and toddler care, nursery school, preschool and pre-K for children ages six weeks to six years, and is open weekdays and most holidays from 6:15 a.m. to 7 p.m. To schedule a tour, call Diane Eide at (201) 236-3126. For more information, visit www.ywcabergencounty.org. impropriety’ argument too far, is really a whole different problem created by this ill-conceived ordinance. In this case, the fix is simple enough. Since the developer who ‘comped’ the tickets will not want to withdraw his applica- tion, those who accepted the invitation and sit on a board that will hear a matter for this developer will then have to pay for the tickets.” He concluded, “This is actually unfortunate and why this ordinance does not work. To me, it is inconceivable that any one of these people would be in any way affected in their votes by virtue of this gift. Some would likely have been only too happy to miss the event in question.” Village Manager Gabbert said David Bolger had been very generous in his help to community activities in Ridgewood.