WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES SEPTEMBER 3, 2020 15
Our 48 year Adventure
It was the summer of 1972 , Carl Clemens, the Publisher of the Ridgewood Times, believed it was time
for bringing some new blood into his organization. He added Paul Kerzner, just out of Fordham, and
Maureen Walthers, a Ridgewood housewife who wanted to be more than a housewife.
For the next 48 years, Paul and Maureen worked as volunteers, on all the major community projects in
Ridgewood, that successfully reversed this community’s downward spiral, instead of the problems of
Bushwick tearing down Ridgewood, Ridgewood’s community improvements spilled over into
Bushwick, completely turning around that neighboring community.
Here are but a few of those highlighted accomplishments:
• The “discovery” of the Onderdonk House during the demolition of an
old factory on Flushing Ave, which precipitated the formation of
the Greater Ridgewood Historical Society, and the renovation
of the Vande Eden Onderdonk House and its environs at the
corner of Flushing & Onderdonk Avenues in Ridgewood;
• The rebirth of the Ridgewood Property Owners & Civic
Assn (RPOCA) into a 1,200 family member civic
powerhouse, now in its 89 year of “still building a
reputation, and not resting on one”.
• The planting of over 15,000 new street trees in
Ridgewood, the air quality results, of which are all
around us, this very day;
• The landmarking of 2,982 historic buildings in
Ridgewood, making our community one of the
largest Federal Historic Districts in the nation;
• The formation and growth of the Greater
Ridgewood Restoration Corp (GRRC) to take
care of our aging housing stock’s needs;
• The establishment of the Myrtle Ave Local
Development Corp and the Business
Improvement District;
• Now in its 30th year, the GRRC Anti-Graffiti
cleaning program, using hot high water
pressure, to keep clean over 300 buildings
yearly.
Not bad for a couple of volunteers! Thanks for the
memories Maureen. We did good. In fact we did
more than good! Could not have done all of this,
without you.
Now you can rest. But only for a while. When I get to
hopefully, join you again, we’ll pick up where we left
off. I’m sure even in heaven, there is a small pocket or
two, that needs some attention and improvement.
Until then,
Paul
RPOCA/GRRC/RLDC/CB5Q
/WWW.QNS.COM
