What next?

Put him jail and see how he likes the "view". Andy I agree I hope it goes to a jury and they SLAM him hard. He should be a shamed of doing such an act. We don't need people like this in Mahwah.

I lived in Rio Vista for over 16 years--and these are the kind of people moving in there now--ARROGANT narcissistic bastards. The area has changed (and not for the better) since '94. Hitting this Patel with a fine won't hurt him--he neeeds to be jailed!

I LIVE on Tudor Rose Terrace, and have to look at that disgrace every day. He should be jailed!!! How dare he!! It wasn't even his property! The gall of this guy!!!

I live in the same neighborhood with an empty lot next to our home. With every storm trees fall from that lot breaking our fence. We've tried to get in touch with the owner but to no avail and yet you don't see us going and cutting down any trees. This guy needs to be taught a lesson that you can't just go and do what you want because it doesn't suit you. Throw the book at him.

when did he clear the land?

Give me a break, the way HUMANS are destroying the planet your going to give this guy a hard time about a few trees. I say thin the heard; get rid of HUMANS, save the planet from the virus HUMANS are to it.

With regard to the contractor, my undeunderstanding is that an out of state contractor was brought in to do the work. Perhaps this was done purposefully, but that is only speculation. As such, this contractor might not have been familiar with permit requirements. Heck, when I speak with friends in upstate NY, they laugh about our permit requirements. It is foreign to them. The contractor has not been charged.

The requirement to get a permit is that of the homeowner which is why they are cited and not the contractor.

A sad situation indeed. Let's hope that justice is served.

Some of the very reason we love and live in Mahwah has once again been destroyed
by people who could not care less about it's beauty. People who live around such an
incident should be more aware and report these things. We are a community!

As usual, and without any serious thought, many people presume to know the truth just because the media said it was so. I don't beleive we have heard any comments from the home owner or his representatives. No one should make any judgement until you have heard both sides of a story and you are confident that what has been told to you is in fact the truth. If you truely beleive that justice should be served, then you must be willing to hear the entire story before making a comment and rushing to judgement.

Patel knew what he was doing when he hired an out-of-state contractor; this was planned. Although I hate to see the trees cut, it was bound to happen sooner or later. The Record says the Cantows were holding onto the land to either build on it or sell it, so eventually those trees would have been cut.

This is how we live now.

Jim & DJ, name one good thing HUMANS have done for the planet.

DJ, and as far as thinning the heard goes, what I meant was like in nature, the strong survive, the old, sick and weak get destroyed.

Think about fuel or electric just disappearing, no more delivers to the stores, after people run out of food in their homes, 4 or 5 days without food, the list of things people would not do would get smaller and smaller to survive, just like in nature like life is meant to be, the strong survive the old and weak don’t, that is thinning the heard.

Rent the movie “The Road” that movie shows of what true survival means and what you have to do in order to survive, it is not a pretty movie, but it is what it is and how every other species lives and survives except HUMANS. .

Check out this link as well “it is from a movie, but the statement could not be more true.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Na9-jV_OJI

I read in The Record today about this story and another similar to it happening in Alpine. In that case, a very wealthy man cut down 600 trees on Bergen County parkland. Now that is arrogant. He wanted the extra land for his private tennis courts. I guess he thought no one would notice if he took another 5 or 6 acres. And for 3 years no one did notice. That is crazy. What is with this super rich people who think they can just do and take whatever they want.
I have 4 trees in my front yard that look like they may fall with every storm we have. I have been in contact with the town about it and have not been able to get permission to remove them. So this story just boggles my mind. This man should not get away with this lawlessness.

I live on Forest Road which is a well traveled road in Mahwah. I cannot tell you how many times I have been doing improvements to my property over the years and have been greeted by a police officer or code enforcement officer because SOMEONE called to "report" me. Heck, I remember cutting down a broken tree limb and having a police officer pull into my driveway to inquire. I remember putting up a fence I had taken permits out for and having the enforcement officer pull up while I was in the middle of it.

Of course, in all cases I had followed the law and nothing was wrong. If I have folks calling about me cutting down a single tree limb, I can only imagine what would happen if I sought to clear all the trees from the back of my property. I suspect a SWAT team might have showed up.

No one in Mahwah is above the law. We all must respect one another and the laws which govern us. We must respect our neighbors.

This is a wanton act of vandalism and environmental destruction. $1million is laughable for the damage caused. He & his lawyer probably calculated that the amount would be worth it for the improved view. So, throw a chainsaw into their calculation - instead of just paying compensation , Patel should be made to replace the trees like-for-like i.e. ship in and TRANSPLANT similar MATURE trees (not just saplings). It is entirely feasible, and the cost should teach him a valuable lesson.

I guess we all should be concerned as to what we will find on our properties if we go
on an extended vacation. Thank God my neighbors would probably check to see
who is cutting trees when I'm not home.

It's a shame this happened. It takes decades to grow trees that big. Forget about a million dollars, trees are priceless. I agree that whatever company he hired to cut them down should also be libel for the damage.

Maybe Karma will prevail and someone will build a house to block his view again.

I live in Rio Vista and every time you want to take a tree down you have make sure the town knows about it and approves it. You also have to replace what you take down somewhere else on the property. What gets me is that he said he did it to get a better view of the Ramapo Mts., well unfortunately the back of this home faces all of Mahwah and the Crossroads. Its the front that faces the Mountains so Mr. Patel cut them down for nothing. If we all have to follow the rules so should he. Mr Patel, you are not above the rest of us.

BTW, what's the rules on taking down large DEAD tress on your property?

JP: I believe that dead or diseased trees do not count for purposes of the numbers you can take down yearly. Similarly, I believe "weed trees" also do not count.

I agree with suzy q ,patel saved the cantows a lot of money because when they do decide to build these would all come down anyway,they should pay patel ,they did not by this land to have it sit with trees forever out of the kindness of their heart.

How do we know whether these trees would or would not eventually be taken down? Many people like to have a buffer at the back of their property between them and their neighbors. That is all gone now. You are looking right at the defendant's home.

Further, many people may choose to thin the trees out by taking down certain ones and leaving others. This allows the ones left to grow better. I did something similar on the back of my property. We brought a tree specialist in to help us assess all the trees. We determined which were healthy or diseased. We determined which were weed or hardwood trees. We determined what the tree types were, etc. We then formed a carefully thought out planplan as to which trees might go or stay. In some cases trees were simply trimmed to make them healthy.

These are all options that a landowner should have. In this case, the landowner has zero options as his trees were stolen from him.

most people dont go through all that trouble you went to,trust me the next owner was taking them all down

Jn: That may be the case. However, we can never know that and Patel's crime leaves them with little options now. If I want to cut my own tree down, I should have that choice. My neighbor should not make that choice for me. I also disagree that they would have done this anyway. While clearly they would need to clear the lot to build on it, we are talking about an almost 2 acre parcel. I doubt they would clear the whole lot of every tree. I suspect the trees they would be most likely to actually keep are the ones at the back of the lot which provide a buffer to the neighbors. Those are the trees Patel took down. If they now develop the lot, odds are that they would have to plant all new trees to form such buffer.

BTW j.n, Patel didn't save the owners one dime. He didn't have them remove 221 tree stumps also... did he? Can't build on top of tree stumps.

Patel should be charged with Vandalism which is the willful destruction or damage of public or private property. When you cut down 200+ trees, at best you better make sure they are on your property.

dj my area also has undeveloped land. Oh well......

Vandalism is a lesser included offense. It is a petty crime compared to the more serious charges Patel is facing.

Not that I want to get into an argument, but I fail to see what Patel's ethnic background, nationality or religious beliefs have to do with this discussion. I think it is inappropriate to take the discussion in such a direction.

The public lynching of Mr. Patel should be stopped. Consider his family. I think it is time for Patch to remove this article.

Unless one is a Native American, we are all from immigrant roots in this country. This country was founded and has prospered on the backs of immigrants and their progeny.

It is foolish to let an ignorant individual take an otherwise lively conversation in a downward direction.

Since when is ignorance of the laws an acceptable defense?

If the Cantows are reading this I hope you have a very good lawyer and nail this guy. The town is behind you.

Murphy,you have much baggage to keep up this stupid nonsense

Patel had PREVIOUSLY been cited by the township for cutting down trees without a permit.
HE KNEW EXACTLY WHAT HE WAS DOING. Also, to top it all off he hired an out of state contractor. He thinks he is slick but justice will prevail.

I'm all for a substantial tax increase on the rich if Patel has pleanty of money to take down 221 trees that are not even his. Increase tax on rich on every level. Just on the local level Mahwah could use help for the ambulance service maybe instead of Patel using his wealth cutting down someone else's trees to make a perfect view for himself he should donate to the Mahwah ambulance, fire or police do something productive for the town and not destroy it. Patel might have caused a safety issue with rock and mud slides being trees and the roots hold the soil together. Without those trees the soil and rocks will find it's way on to route 202 and maybe down into the Ramapo river and causing even more flooding up stream. Tho it would be nice to see those nasty looking mansions down the embankment just like in California. All these new people moving in destroying the town. I'm here all my 50 years. Put Patel in a windowless jail for 10 years and heavy fines also any future rock and mudslide problems along U.S. route 202 he would be responsible for not the town, county, or state tax dollars.

Jim, never ASSUME anything. Patel's neighbors assumed he had a permit and look what happened.

OMG. YOU ALL NEED TO STOP THROWING THE BOOKS AT Mr PATEL. AS JESUS ONCE SAID."LET WHO WITHOUT A SIN CASTS THE FIRST STONE"

This really needs to end. He is not murderer...let the court decide...innocent until proven guilty yet some want him jailed and deported. Boycott Dunkin Donuts..and on and on. Mr. Murphy's comments need to be removed. He is beyond inappropriate. V

HUMANS are a strange spices indeed. Countless acres are destroyed everyday in order to build homes, roads, and so on, nothing is said. One cuts down 200 trees which is a grain of sand on a beach compared to what HUMANS have destroyed and continues to destroy on this planet, but this 200 trees is the real problem. People get over it, take the blinders off, there are so many more issues going on with what HUMANS are doing to this planet I for one look forward to the day when society crumbles and money means nothing, the only thing that matters is tomorrow, nothing else, then we will see who has the real stones to survive and who will curl in a ball and cry themselves to death. A wonderful life of no rules, no laws just whatever it takes to see tomorrow, When that happens I am sure no one is going to be talking about the 200 trees anymore.

HUMANS are a very cruel spices, not only to ourselves but to every spices on this planet, all you have to do is watch the news and see what happens on a day to day basics, take away laws and rules, HUMANS will make every other spices on this planet look tame. Think about the day when someone is breaking down your door to take what last bit of food you have and there is no 911 to call, no one to come to your rescue, no judge, no jury & no police, what are you going to do then? I for one get a kick out of the people that run to the supermarket just because it might snow to stock up, I am sure those people are going to fair well when society crumbles. They are not going to have a clue what to do, or the stones to do it. So people stop worrying about a few trees and look at the big picture, HUMANS are destroying the planet and one day mother mature is going to get sick and tired of HUMANS and shake us off like a dog shaking off water coming out of a lake.

really? this many comments? #crazy

If a tree falls in Mahwah you can then hear the crazy people.

Hey Murphy knock off the crap,or somebody might start posting the facts about you

Well, I live in an even more affluent area in Upper Saddle River and I've had my issues with taking down trees. I went through the normal approval process and was still denied the ability to take down trees on my own property that were a danger to my family. Some "tree huger a*@" decided that the risk was not "great enough". Although Patel should've gone through the correct approval process, he probably would've been denied anyway. Rightfully so since it wasn't his property. But all of these towns have gotten out of control with the $35,000/yr power hunger losers that run them. I say let all wealthy republicans run everything! The world would be a much better place...or at least a wealthier place :) Okay, Okay...relax...I'm just playing. All you socialist, Obama lovers calm down. Hopefully he'll be out soon :)

I cannot believe Mr, Murphy's comments have not been flagged inappropriate.

Several of them have been deleted if you scroll back.

CS, I grew up in Upper Saddle River, my father had every tool under the sun including chain saws. I can’t even begin to tell you how many trees my father cut down, some for trails for my brother and I to ride our dirt bikes and others for firewood. You guys and your permits, my father never paid for a permit in his life and that is how I would be, my property I’ll do what I want with it or if the town has a problem they can pay my taxes.

CS, I guess what I am trying to say is the normal approval process if you own the land is go into your garage and get your chain saw start it up and cut down the tree, give me a break, I could not even imagine my father not cutting a tree down because he was not approved by the town. Do you honestly think the town is going to come to your house every few months and count your trees, the point being if you don’t ask for permission (which I think is a joke anyway) they are not going to know you are cutting down trees. Besides who the hell is the town in the first place telling you that you can’t cut the tree down, especially if it is indeed a danger for your family, so in other words you will put your family at risk because the town told you no. See where I am going with this, don’t beg for permission just cut the dam tree down.

Charlie, trust me I'm with you on your idea! That how my problem started. I took 4 dead trees down without permission and it turns out that USR has a borough ordinance guy that drives around all day looking for unregistered work being done. Well he saw my trees coming down and I got 5 summons in the mail 2 week later. I was fined $1000 per tree! Total BS!!! Anyway, when I had 2 more trees that needed to come down, I went for a permit first. Denied!!!! What is wrong with this!! I guess I better gas up my chainsaw and work in the middle of the night!

So the latest thing is 54 trees were ordered instead of 221 trees. In other words= if
your house is robbed of say== 5 things instead of 10 it's all right? Wow!

The bigger question is the length of time between the cutting of the trees and the filing of charges. Sadly it is well known that the Mahwah Police Chief as allegiances to the Bergen Republican Party and the elected officals of Mahwah are ALL Republican or at least leaning Republican, with NOT one Demcorat. Mahwah is well known for inside deals. Another example is the building and expansion of DIAL AMERICA and the large poltical contributions the owners have given Republicans over the years... and of course right in the middle of this is Mahwahs Freeholder Hermansen and his desire for political contrubutions.. Perhaps that is why this tree cutting has been not revealed until now.

CS, I am sorry this is happening to you. Who the hell is the town to tell you that you can’t cut the trees down, and then to charge you $1000.00 per tree you already cut down. All I have to say is you are a better man then I would have been, I don’t know exactly what I would of done of I received summons but I can tell you this if I had to pay them, they would have had a nice payment plan going, like $5.00 a month, screw them. As far as this guy driving around looking for people working on their own yard, well I can think of a couple of things right off the top of my head that would ruin his day, or month for that matter. Driving around looking for people working on their own yards, go chase some drug dealers you piece of crap.

Were the logs hauled away? or left on the property? If hauled away, I would think it may qualify as 'grand theft' because of their value? Whatever the case, I hope the court/s throw the book at him.

Glen Murphy should be removed from Patch completely.

All you people that are complaining about a few trees give me a break. All the damage the human species has done to the planet in less then 300 years, and you people are worried about a few trees. Open your eyes people, humans are a virus to this planet, humans are the only species to make other species go extinct, all due to greed. Every other species kills to survive, the human species puts a price on other species furs, tusks and the list goes on and on, all for the all mighty dollar. The trees are down, just like countless acres destroyed every day. Humans, a very strange species indeed. What are you humans going to do when something really happens?

Think about this scenario. Imagine how the human species would deal with an alien from another planet stumbling on earth, captured a human and liked the way the human’s teeth looked, killed the human and ripped the lower jaw to get easer access to the upper teeth and pull the teeth right out of the lower jaw that was ripped from the humans face, and brought back to the aliens planet the teeth from a human. All of sudden the aliens from this planet liked the human teeth, would pay top dollar or what ever form of trade that is used from these aliens for human teeth and then set off hunting parties from the alien’s planet to come to earth, kill humans, rip off their lower jaws and remove the humans teeth and leave the rest of the humans body just to rot due to the fact that our teeth the aliens put a value on.

Is this scenario any different then what the human species does to elephants for their tusks, skins from animals and the list goes on and on that human species put a value on other species tusks and furs? Somehow humans would have a problem with that, saying something stupid like yes but we are humans this is not right, it is ok if we kill other animals for profit, but it is not ok for aliens to kill humans. Humans would say, it is ok to kill animals for their tusks and skins because we have the ability to kill them and get away with it. But if the aliens have the technology to get to earth, most likely the aliens would be more advanced then the human species and the aliens would kill as many humans as they wanted, take as much human teeth as the aliens could carry back to their planet uncaring on how many humans were destroyed in the process.

Which by the way is what humans do and have always done, kill it, cut off the tuck, take off the fur, and leave the rest to rot, see the pattern here. So the only reason you people are so worried about these few trees that were cut down, is not because the trees were cut down, is because the trees were on a piece of property a human owned and no other reason, so again, I say give me a break.

beldar Primat, I agree with you 100%, the habitat destruction has to come to an end. You, my friend are too focused on this so very small issue of a very few trees in the whole scheme of things. I watched a show last night on America before Christopher Columbus, this was based on a very short 500 years ago. It was said that a squirrel in a tree could go from one point and cross America without ever touching the ground, this was only 500 short years ago, look at it now. The only real way to save America and the world is too thin the heard of one very cruel and destructive species, and I am sure you know what species I am referring too.

You guessed it HUMANS; humans are a virus to this planet, so in my mind all the people worrying about a few trees is crazy. Everyone is looking for justice to one man for cutting down a few trees when all of us, when I say us every HUMAN on this earth is guilty of this outlandish crime of destroying this planet with myself included. If you own a home you are guilty of destroying the land, if you own a car you are guilty of making our air filthy and running over other species as if running over a stone, no regard what so ever, if you throw away plastic you are destroying the land and the list goes on and on. If you use it, you create a demand, which is greed driven.

So to get upset with one man, all one needs to do is look in the mirror and see the most evil and cruel species on the planet, a species that is greed driven and has no regard for any other species on this planet. HUMANS have been on the planet for such a very short time, and because we have a brain that is advanced to other species, can stand upright, speak and have a thumb we have become the bullies of planet earth, destroying the natural habitat of other species all over the face of this planet.

The world is 4.5 billion years old and in the short time HUMANS have been on earth is the ONLY species that changed any natural habitat. So if you want to end the destruction to habitat as you stated, HUMANS must be shaken from earth so earth can heal the wounds left by the most evil and cruel species that ever set foot on earth. It is a harsh statement I know, many will disagree, but the truth is the truth and what humans have done to this beautiful planet based on greed, well the truth speaks for itself

JP, In response to your curiosity, I will briefly say that in 1987 my husband found himself unemployed. He had the courage with my support to make the high risk decision to leverage all of our personal assets and start a small business of our own. After years of hard work, much sacrifice and making difficult business decisions we are now living the American dream and have something to pass on to our children. Most times where there is risk there is reward, that is the way our forefathers meant it to be. Socialism DOES NOT WORK !!!!!!!

Where you are today is a direct result of all of the choices and decisions you've made all of your life since you were able to make your first choice. Put them all together one after another and TA-DA here you are.

I love it, "RISK AND REWARD" sometimes you win and sometimes you loose.

I just put my acre of trees on Craigs list. I am going to be rich!

Hi JP, I am not trying to be king of the world as you stated and I understand your humor. I just really get a kick out of all the people here making such a big deal out of a few trees. Who’s up in arms because the trees were cut down because it was somebody else’s property, the damage the rain will do now because the trees are down, who made money on the trees. Would all these people be that pissed off if the owner of the property cut the trees down, of course not, it was his property it would be ok, I think you see my point here, the real issue is, the people complaining could not care less about the trees, they are just pissed because a person that did not own the property cut them down. ,

I mean come on, these people act like the trees that were destroyed to put up their homes have no effect on the environment, are they really that blind. We are destroying the planet at an alarming rate and 99% of the people have blinders on. The human species population is getting out of control, not to mention people live longer due to medical advances then ever before so now you have 2 and 3 generations living at the same time. Every species on this planet has a natural balance except humans; there fore we need more and more space, taking other species land away.

Everything humans do has a direct effect on every single species including people, we pollute the water, land and air, we have managed to do this in less then 250 years, I mean really, think how crazy is that. That is not even a blink of an eye on how old earth is, it is said if you made a clock on how old the earth is, and the clock was based on 24 hours, humans have only been on earth for 30 seconds and look at what we have done in that short period of time. If humans are not the perfect destroying machine, I don’t know what is. We have a brain that is advanced to other species, can stand upright, speak and have a thumb, the perfect destroying being. There is no other species on this planet that can change its habitat except for humans, so are humans just a freak of nature. If there is a God, (which I am not saying there is) why would God wait for the earth to be 4.5 billion years old to put humans on it. It is almost like humans were dropped off on this planet. I mean really if we evolved from apes and monkeys, why are they still the same, why can’t they talk yet. Anyway I think you get my point. .

JP, you say you are a "tree hugger".......don't you care about all the trees and wildlife that will get destroyed and be displaced from this "mall"???????????????????????

What trees and wildlife?

Parking lots with grass growing through the cracks. Snakes...some dead deer that tried to make it acrossed the highway.

You are wrong. Like I said, go check it out for yourself.

JP, I am not ok with the trees that were cut down, my point is all of what humans has done to and continues to do our planet is overlooked. Everyone is up in arms about a few trees cut down in Mahwah, when the world as we know it is changing at alarming rates and that does not seem to be problem. When it comes to nature, humans have no regard what so ever for it.

I agree with you, it takes decades to grow trees and minutes to cut it down, it is a shame, but again humans are the only species that is so very wasteful and destructive to nature and on such large scales. Now that I am older and my life has slowed down a bit, I have time to think, watch more shows like discovery, nat geo wild and realize what humans have done to earth in such a very short time. It is really something how we all work so hard and base our success on what we make a year, kill ourselves with the hours we put in, just to have money to pay doctors to keep us alive when we get older. Is that what life is really all about? No other species lives like this except mankind, nor do other species have habits like smoking, drinking, drugs, feel sorry for them selves so pop pills to feel better, need laws to protect ourselves from each other. The reason we have jails is because just because we are so call civilized, which I find to be a real joke “humans civilized” the instinct to survive is in all of us, some act out on it, just like in nature, the strong survive.

Look at the male lion, once it defeats the male lion of it’s pride, the first thin it does is kill the young from the former male lion to get rig of it’s genes, then mates with the female lions, in our eyes it is ok if lions do this but it is illegal if humans do this. When in fact the lions are ensuring the next lions to be born will be stronger and healthier. Now I am not saying if a women remarries, her new husband should destroy her kids, but if you look at nature, the strongest males mate with the females, with humans somehow emotion got involved and now you have 2 unhealthy people having kids and are shocked when the kid is not healthy. We have hospitals full of sick kids from birth, that will be sick their whole lives, how does that make any sense what so ever, nature will have the mother abandon the young and just mate again, nature knows the young will not survive and the mother will just leave the young to die.

What I find amazing is we will put our pets to sleep because we as humans feel it is cruel to watch our pet suffer, but we will do anything to keep our family alive for as long as possible, regardless of the pain and suffering the person is in, how does that make any sense. I will say one thing, regardless of what age I am, once my body starts failing due to natural break down, weather it is cancer or any other disease I pray I either die in my sleep or die on the way to the hospital, in order not to just live 10 or 15 more years in pain or having to go to doctor to doctor popping pills to keep me alive and make me feel better, yeah that is something to look forward too. Anyway JP, I hope this clears up how I feel about the trees cut down in Mahwah, and I hope you understand I am not happy that it happened.