Page 14 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • August 13, 2014 The drowning of suburbia The other day, I sadly noted another dead rabbit by the roadside a few blocks from my house. When I opened my e- mail, I noted that the parking lot of the Ridgewood Library had once again gone under water. No human beings were killed in either case, but many people who love animals are saddened by the sight of any road kill, and the people who owned the five cars that were in the flooded parking lot were significantly inconvenienced. Arguably, both events were preventable. On checking out the rabbit, I was relieved to discover that it was not one of “ours.” My wife, who is an award-win- ning children’s author, once started a story called “Bobby the Rabbit” where she sensibly observed that the rabbits had returned to our yard after the traumatic death of our family dog. She put that story aside to finish “Hachi-Ko: The Samurai Dog,” which, as she dryly notes, has gotten better reviews that either of my own two most recent books -- though mine have gotten more reviews, some of the one- star variety (probably from racist fanatics or retired Soviet agents). Bobbett the rabbit, a descendant of the original Bobby; and Iris, who lives in the irises, seem to be good at road avoidance because they have ample foliage in which to forage. My wife and I prefer flowering or non-flowering shrubs and ferns to the blunt and blatant this-is-a-rental look of houses with nothing but lawns where the trees have all been leveled due to the sad lack of ordinances to prevent clear-cutting. Rabbits who have to depend on mowed lawns and asphalt are very much at risk. Also at risk is the parking lot that serves the northwest Bergen County library that is most likely to be open at any given time over the summer, has the longest hours, and has the widest selection of research material. The last deluge struck on Aug. 1 and inundated the lot near Veterans Field when the Ho-Ho-Kus Brook once again overflowed its banks and covered several acres of grass, several acres of asphalt, and several acres of artificial turf with the kind of water that isn’t fit for swimmers. The turf field at Ridge- wood High School was bubbled up and will -- once again -- probably need to be repaired. Maple Park and Stevens Field were also compromised by large amounts of muddy water. Five privately owned cars that were in the lot were substantially damaged. Flooding at the Ridgewood Library parking lot is a pre- dictable event. This rainstorm on Aug. 1 was not Tropical Storm Floyd. However, it has never taken Tropical Storm Floyd to flood the municipal parking lot, or, in recent years, the town hall itself. Tropical Storm Floyd wiped out the police station and forced a general reconstruction due to mold damage, and succeeding storms including Irene and Sandy made it obvious that the whole ground floor was a write-off. The Village of Ridgewood now begins at the second floor of Ridgewood Village Hall. The first floor is a flood zone waiting for the next heavy rain. Causative factors include the fact that Ho-Ho-Kus Brook is about 20 feet from Veterans Field. Uphill, we have the library parking lot, Maple Avenue, the parking lot for the shopping center that accommodates Kings Super Market and a number of other stores, and still farther up the hill, the apartments on Oak Street with their own parking lot and the Ridgewood YM-YWCA with yet another park- ing lot. The three artificial turf fields did not create the problem of too many impermeable surfaces around the Ho-Ho-Kus Brook all by themselves. The artificial turf merely exacerbated a problem that became impossible to solve once it became political. Recreational sports groups that are NOT part of the high school sports world insist in Ridgewood, as they do in Glen Rock, that they cannot schedule games without artificial turf. New targets include the Schedler Property, where pop flies may soon be popping along Route 17; and Faber Field, where a petition forced the Glen Rock Bor- ough Council to put artificial turf on the ballot instead of approving by fiat. The sports groups generously donate some of the money needed for some of this construction, but above all they tend to be bloc voters, a fact to be considered by people who desperately want to get elected. The natural world is not a democracy, but it is ruled by natural law. Asphalt and artificial turf direct water into streams that cannot handle that water, cars get flooded, and public employees are called to clean up messes that better planning 50 years ago could have avoided when those laws are violated. First step: Any place where artificial turf is routinely flooded is a place that is not suitable for artificial turf. Do not replace it -- except with real grass that absorbs water and generates oxygen. Second step: Re-think “lawns.” Most towns around here have laws against raising sheep, goats, and cattle. Horses, sadly enough, are pretty much out of the question now that Ridgewood’s Habernickel property is getting - - you guessed it -- another sports field and another uphill parking lot that will almost certainly drain into Ho-Ho- Kus Brook, though the trees left on the rest of the property will probably take up a lot of the slack. Domestic animals that crop the grass and turn it into fertilizer you might not want to step on are part of the natural cycle, and these tracts of land are approximately neutral, and nowhere near as good as forested terrain at soaking up water. Anybody who replants his or her lawn with smaller trees, shrubs, or even flower gardens is help- ing to prevent seasonal flooding, since the heavy rains take place while the trees and shrubs may still be thirsty. Those who plant trees and shrubs instead of grass will also shelter native species of animals that contribute to the lifecycle of regional species. Predation is a fact of life, but road kill is a waste of life. The carelessness involved to driving too fast to stop for a rabbit, squirrel, or chipmunk may suggest that pets and children are also at risk. Even the dirt the natural plantings grow from is healthier for the environment than asphalt or artificial turf. I personally did not invent the flooding problem, but I expect to be blamed for pointing out that the region as a whole and the center of Ridgewood in particular now have far too much asphalt and far too many artificial turf fields. The problem is not just regional, but global. The Romans expected that cheering at spectator sports would go on forever. Letters to the Editor Urges support for Family Collaborative Law Act Dear Editor: I am writing to advise you about an important bill that has passed before both houses of the New Jersey State Legislature and is awaiting Governor Christie’s signature. Bill S-1224/A-1477 will change the way divorce is handled in New Jersey. S-122/A-1477, the New Jersey Family Collaborative Law Act, provides divorcing couples with the opportunity to resolve divorce issues outside the court in a non-adver- sarial environment. Geared toward providing privacy, dignity, durability of the divorce agreement, and control to the divorcing couple, collaborative law is being used throughout the United States and throughout the world to help parties dissolve a marriage with civility and fairness. As a member of the New Jersey Council of Collabora- tive Practice Groups, I urge you to support this bill, which is soon to become a new law, and to help us spread the word about collaborative law. The council’s website, www- collaboratenj.org, contains more information about the col- laborative approach to resolving divorce cases. We, at the council, believe this is an option that is good for divorcing couples, good for families and good for New Jersey. Chili contest earns cool cash Joan Skudera Midland Park The Wyckoff Chamber of Commerce recently donated $1,300 in Wyckoff Day Chili Contest proceeds to the fire department and ambulance corps. Pictured are Jay Vidockler, Chamber president; Charlie Bellucci, captain, Wyckoff Ambulance Corps; Lou Graglia, chief of Wyckoff Fire Department; and Lee Parker, Wyckoff Day chair and Wyckoff YMCA board member.