Village to honor Roger Wiegand
to the Editor:
So many times growing up my brother and I would hear people say, “Rog – you should run for Mayor!” But that wasn’t Rog. He didn’t like the limelight. He preferred to be off to the side, watching, listening, educating and DOING.
He silently – and with no desire for thanks or praise — attended to things most of us assume others will address in our own communities. He would ride around town on his beloved bike, painting fire boxes so they would remain visible to the public. He reported to the Village Hall locations of non-functioning street lights. If he knew of someone in need, he would always take the time to offer them assistance or to just simply lend an ear.
Most importantly he was a fixture at every council meeting along with his longtime friend, Boyd Loving. He used to tell us that his goal was to keep the council “honest” on behalf of all the village residents.
To commemorate his lifelong dedication to Ridgewood and its citizens, there will be a plaque installed on the Village Council chamber podium on Friday, Sept. 5. We would like to invite the public to attend this event at Village Hall from 5:30 to 7 p.m. to help us celebrate such a unique and wonderful man. Our Uncle, friend to many, village champion.
Kerry, Mike and MaryAnn Daley
Middletown, R.I.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/opinion/opinion-letters-to-the-editor/letter-ridgewood-to-honor-roger-wiegand-1.1077815#sthash.9o9wHYi8.dpuf
Month: August 2014
Foreclosures prompt lawsuits against debt collectors
Foreclosures prompt lawsuits against debt collectors
AUGUST 31, 2014 LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, AUGUST 31, 2014, 1:21 AM
BY RICHARD NEWMAN
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
* Homeowners challenging lenders’ right to collect
Seven years after the meltdown of the subprime mortgage market, New Jersey continues to be a hotbed of home repossessions by lenders, resulting in reams of foreclosure-fraud and improper-debt-collection complaints that mainly target intermediaries known as mortgage servicers.
Fort Lee homeowner Eun Ju Song, who was notified last year that he was in default on his loan and is facing foreclosure, claims mortgage companies botched transfers of ownership rights to the mortgage he signed in 2006 and forged documents to try to fix the problem. In a federal lawsuit filed in Newark in May against Bank of America and the mortgage servicer Green Tree Servicing, he claimed that they haven’t shown they have any legal right to collect.
“With no properly recorded owner of the plaintiff’s mortgage, there is no one or entity entitled to enforce the conditions of the mortgage obligation,” the complaint says.
Jerry K. Wong of Clifton filed a lawsuit in May against Green Tree, which for the past couple of years has been one the most prolific foreclosure filers in the state. Wong accuses Green Tree, based in St. Paul, Minn., and one of its subcontractors of misrepresenting themselves as creditors when trying to collect on his loan, which went into default in late 2012. Such practices are a violation of the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, according to the lawsuit, which seeks $500,000 in statutory and other damages.
Green Tree did not respond to requests for comment.
In West Milford, homeowner Paul Onder has been in a stand-off with the Utah-based debt collector Select Portfolio Services for four years over the same question: Who owns the mortgage? He said he hasn’t made a payment on his $450,000 debt consolidation loan since 2010.
“They want me to pay money? Where is that money going?” he said Wednesday in an interview.
SPS could not be reached for comment.
Disputes like these could multiply in the months ahead as the numbers of new residential foreclosure filings continue to rise. New filings in New Jersey in the 12 months ended June 30 climbed 38 percent, to 47,534 filings from 34,347 the previous 12 months, according to the New Jersey Administrative Office of the Courts in Trenton.
In the year ended June 30, 2012, there were 12,341 foreclosures filed.
Foreclosure filings have implications for borrowers’ credit history. Realtor.com says a foreclosure will reduce a credit score 100 to 300 points and will remain on the borrower’s record for seven years.
Statistics from the state Department of Banking and Insurance show that loan servicers Wells Fargo, Green Tree, Seterus and Nationstar Mortgage have racked up the biggest numbers of foreclosure filings. Wells Fargo and its affiliates made the most filings by far, with a combined 1,770 new foreclosure filings in the second quarter.
“The trend we are seeing with regard to foreclosure filings in New Jersey is consistent with what the Mortgage Bankers Association reported in their latest National Delinquency Survey,” Kevin Friedlander, a Wells Fargo spokesman, said in an email.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/business/foreclosures-go-on-trial-1.1078579#sthash.aNagXVsZ.dpuf
Road Warrior: How to make your teen a near-perfect driver
Paris Hilton getting a DUI
Road Warrior: How to make your teen a near-perfect driver
AUGUST 31, 2014 LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, AUGUST 31, 2014, 1:21 AM
BY JOHN CICHOWSKI
THE RECORD
If you’re a parent who pounds your foot on an imaginary brake while teaching your teen to drive, you might be happy to know that your frantic mentoring will likely pay huge personal dividends — assuming you’re a good role model behind the wheel.
With schools getting ready to open any day, that was the message delivered last week when a New Jersey highway safety official presented preliminary findings in a slide show that detailed near-perfect road records for teens whose parents learn about Graduated Driver License laws, then follow up by closely monitoring their kids’ driving behavior.
When parents got involved in their training, 98 percent of these young people didn’t get traffic tickets and 92 percent didn’t crash their cars in their first year behind the wheel, said Violet Marrero of the state Division of Highway Traffic Safety. Past national studies have suggested that parental involvement can cut teen crash risk in half — not by 92 percent, a figure Marrero called “phenomenal.”
“We lost about 800 teens in car crashes in New Jersey over the last 10 years,” she told a crowd at Westfield High School on Tuesday. “Imagine the impact on the community if all parents got involved and we could spare the grief of at least half that number of families.”
The audience, composed of more than 100 high school driver-education instructors, gave the division’s special project manager a warm hand. For more than a decade, many of New Jersey’s 3,000 instructors have been complaining about steadily eroding resources for equipment like the driving simulators that are needed to train young people for an activity that takes the lives of more 16-to-20-year-olds than any disease.
The teachers are familiar with the grisly statistics: Although young drivers represent only 6 percent of the state’s population, they accounted for 14 percent of all road deaths from 2003 to 2012, mainly due to inexperience.
Teachers also know of an effective treatment: Graduated Driver License mandates that protect novices for at least one year while they learn the road’s hard lessons. Under New Jersey’s 13-year-old program, that means an 11 p.m. driving curfew, a limit of one teen passenger if a licensed adult is not in the car, a ban on plea-bargaining when sentenced for driving offenses, and a ban on all wireless devices in the car. New Jersey is also the only state to require display of a tiny red license-plate decal to identify permit holders and first-year probationary licensees.
“We’re finally seeing some meaningful change,” said Maureen Nussman, a former Kinnelon High School teacher who organized the event with the New Jersey Teen Safe Driving Coalition, New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance and the New Jersey Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (njahperd.org).
Statistically, New Jersey’s Graduated Driver License requirements appear to be working, especially after the decal, curfew and passenger requirements were tightened in a law that took effect in 2010. Fatalities involving drivers 20 years old or younger have fallen every year but two in the last 10 years — from 103 in 2004, to 46 in 2013, according to a Highway Traffic Safety Division analysis. This 55 percent drop is three times greater than the decline for all other age groups combined.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/nj-state-news/parents-are-key-to-safe-teen-driving-1.1078605#sthash.d4LTH5yP.dpuf
Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce presents” Annual Fall Car Show!!
Annual Car Show
Friday , September 05, 2014
6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Location: Memorial Park at Van Neste Square, Ridgewood NJ
Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce presents”
Annual Fall Car Show!!
FREE to the public.
For Cars:
Pre-Registration fee by August 15th is $17.00
August 18th-September 5th Registration fee is $20.00
The Car Show will be held around Memorial Park at Van Neste Square
and along E. Ridgewood Avenue.
Non Pre-Registered cars will begin registration at 5:00pm. Parking will be on a first come, first served basis. Registration fees are not refundable.
Music will keep the evening lively and there will be trophies for many categories.
1. The Ridgewood Police Department wishes to remind all participants there is no consumption of alcohol allowed at this event. Summons will be issued to violators.
2. Due to pedestrain safety, cars will not be allowed to leave the event until the
Police Depart. opens up the road.
Please print out the attached registration form
and make your reservation early.
We will fax or email your Window Registration Certificate.
Make checks payable and send to:
Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce
27 Chestnut Street
Ridgewood, NJ 07450
info@ridgewoodchamber.com
www.experienceridgewood.com
MC, Visa, AmExp accepted.
Northern NJ Choral Group: The Ridgewood Singers welcome new members
On Monday, September 8th at 7:00pm there will be a Wine and Cheese Social, followed by our first rehearsal at 7:30pm and auditions at the Unitarian Society of Ridgewood. Two additional open rehearsals will be held on Monday, September 15th and Monday, September 22ed at 7:30pm. All voice parts are encouraged to audition. We especially need basses and tenors. Auditions are casual and no need for prepared music.
Regular rehearsals are held on Monday evenings from 7:30pm-9:30pm at The Unitarian Society of Ridgewood on 113 Cottage Place, Ridgewood NJ 07450. The Ridgewood Singers preform a Winter and Spring Concert each calendar year. The Winter Concert will be preformed on Sunday, December 7th 2014 at 3:00pm at The Ridgewood United Methodist Church.
For more information
Call: Cynthia at 201-207-3105
email: theridgewoodsingers@yahoo.com
website: theridgewoodsingers.com
YWCA Hosts Fall into Balance
YWCA Hosts Fall into Balance
Thu, September 04, 2014
Time: 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
YWCA Bergan County, 112 Oak Street, Ridgewood, NJ 07450
Fall into Balance is a unique 8-week group program designed to offer women core foundation in mind-body balance. This dynamic series provides an eye-opening group experience aimed to help you incorporate the principles of holistic nutrition, mindfulness and stress management into your everyday life. The program is led by Lauren Debiak and Rachel Polan, co-founders of ENODIA Center for Balance in collaboration with Health Coach Rebecca Kittle.
Class topics will include: Learning healthy food options, managing stress, prevent feeling overwhelmed, maintaining a balanced life and more.
For more information visit www.ywcabergencounty.org or call Alysse at 201-444-5600 ext. 349
Ridgewood Knights Fifth Annual Stickball Tournament
Ridgewood Knights Fifth Annual Stickball Tournament
August 27,2014
Richard Hrvatin
10:38 PM
Ridgewood-NJ-August 26, 2014: The Ridgewood Knights of Columbus Council #1736 is once again proud to be hosting their annual stickball tournament, now in its fifth year, on Saturday September 27th beginning at11:00 a.m. on Passaic Street in Ridgewood. The entrance fee is $100 for a team of four. There will be trophies for first place for seniors and juniors. Refreshments, hotdogs, and hamburgers will be served at the Hall after the games. This year, the Knights honor one of Ridgewood’s Bravest, Fireman Steven Lawrence Misel and his Family. Proceeds from the event will go toward a 529 fund for the children’s education.
“Since the inaugural event in 2010, this has grown every year and is a huge success, and we expect this year to be just as lively”, said event coordinator Rich Paliotta. “Last year the Knights went head-to-head with Ridgewood’s Finest and Bravest. We encourage other local organizations sign up and join in the activities this year.”
For an application or questions, email:
richpal@optonline.net or tony.lupo@ymail.com.
The Ridgewood Knights are celebrating their 100-year anniversary, and the stickball tournament will kick off the start of the fraternal year. Many activities are being planned throughout the year to commemorate the anniversary.
NJ Senate Candidate Jeff Bell to Keynote RealShare NEW JERSEY, State’s Premier Commercial Real Estate Conference, Sept. 11 in New Brunswick
NJ Senate Candidate Jeff Bell to Keynote RealShare NEW JERSEY, State’s Premier Commercial Real Estate Conference, Sept. 11 in New Brunswick
NEW YORK, Aug. 18, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Bell will keynote RealShare NEW JERSEY, the annual conference for New Jersey’s commercial real estate movers and shakers, at New Brunswick’s Hyatt Regency on Sept. 11 from 7:45 a.m. until 12:25 p.m. The industry’s premier educational and networking conference is hosted by ALM’s Real Estate Media Group, publishers of GlobeSt.com and Real Estate Forum.
Mr. Bell will present his perspective on the Federal Reserve’s current policies, what he believes needs to be done to have a course correction in monetary policy, and how this produces prosperity on Main Street and impacts the commercial real estate industry.
“What’s hot, what’s new, and where to look for your next big deal, across all the property sectors, will be the focus of our 13th annual RealShare NEW JERSEY conference,” said Michael Desiato, vice president and group publisher of ALM’s Real Estate Media Group. “Besides the formal sessions, this is a venue where old business relationships are renewed and valuable new ones are forged.”
Conference panels include:
Town Hall: Economic Growth Update. Economic growth in the Garden State and the future of the commercial real estate market will be examined. Participants include: Meryl Gonchar, Esq.; Co-Chair, Redevelopment & Land Use Department; Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith & Davis LLP. Tracye McDaniel; President and Chief Executive Officer; Choose: New Jersey Inc. Fred Schmidt; President & Chief Operating Officer; Coldwell Banker Commercial Affiliates.
New Development, Redevelopment and Repositioning: The Full Update. Topics include the redevelopment of suburban office campuses, repositioned retail, and new multifamily and industrial development. What factors are creating opportunities across the state? Participants include: Nicholas Racioppi, Jr.; Partner; Riker Danzig Scherer Hyland & Perretti LLP. Carl Goldberg; Co-President; Roseland. Ronald Ladell; Senior Vice President, New Jersey; AvalonBay Communities, Inc. Constantino (Gus) T. Milano; Managing Director; Hartz Mountain Industries, Inc. Ken Sisk; National Client Manager; Partner Engineering & Science, Inc.
Transactions: Getting the Deals Done. Gain insight from New Jersey’s biggest players on the art of the deal. Participants include: Alex Cohen; CEO; Liberty SBF. Jose Cruz; Senior Managing Director; HFF. Nat Gambuzza; Vice President of Investments; Marcus & Millichap. David Simon; Executive Managing Director; Massey Knakal Realty Services.
Industrial Leaders in the Garden State. How have e-commerce, distribution and port-related activity caused increased user demand and how does this effect rental rates? Why has the overall industrial vacancy rate continued to improve for three consecutive years? Participants include: David B. Wolfe, Esq.; Partner; Skoloff & Wolfe, P.C. Marc Petrella; Senior Director; Cushman & Wakefield of NJ, Inc.
For more information or to register, go to https://www.globest.com/conferences/1_38/.
ALM is a global leader in specialized business news and information. Trusted reporting delivered through innovative technology is the hallmark of ALM’s award-winning media properties, which include Law.com (www.law.com), The American Lawyer, Corporate Counsel, The National Law Journal and The New York Law Journal. Headquartered in New York City with 16 offices worldwide, ALM brands have been serving their markets since 1843. For more information, visit www.alm.com.
Re: Garber Square Complete Streets Projects
file photo Boyd Loving
Re: Garber Square Complete Streets Projects
Dear Residents and Businesses,
On Monday, August 25th, work restarted at Garber Square. The center divider has been prepared for the installation of curbs and the center island surface for Belgian block finish.
Following the holiday weekend, the contractor will resume work on Tuesday, September 2nd and work daily from 7:30am to 5:00pm. Eastbound traffic will be closed for this work phase of the project. Alternate routes using Ackerman or W. Glen Avenues are encouraged to avoid traffic delays.
Thank you for your patience. Additional updates will be forthcoming.
Best,
Roberta Sonenfeld
Village Manage
Many Native Americans do not find the Redskins name offensive, and instead are more concerned with other issues facing their community
GRAND OPENING in Ridgewood – Beauty Plus Salon
GRAND OPENING in Ridgewood – Beauty Plus Salon
Wed, September 03, 2014
Time: 10:00 AM – 9:00 PM
Location: Beauty Plus Salon, 25 E. Ridgewood Ave., Ridgewood, NJ 07450
All invited to attend the Grand Opening of
Beauty Plus Salon
25 E. Ridgewood Ave.
Ridgewood, NJ 07450
Ribbon Cutting at 5:30pm
food and beverages served
All who attend will receive 40% off on beauty supplies, nail poliss, appliances and much more,
plus everyone will receive a 20% off card for one year…Wednesday-Sunday. Join in on the celebration.
YWCA Judo – Open House Tuesday, Sept 2
Actress and Director Jennifer Linch shows off her moves
YWCA Judo – Open House Tuesday, Sept 2
Instruction For All Ages
YWCA Judo to hold Open House on Tuesday, September 2nd International Judo Champion Offers Instruction for All Ages at YWCA Bergen County YWCA Bergen County’s judo programs, taught by International Medalist and 5th Degree Black Belt Christine Maurer, to hold open house and free trail class (new students only) on Tuesday, September 2, 2014 from 5:45 – 6:45pm (Lil’ Dragons) and 6:45 – 7:15pm (U.S.J.A. Judo). Lil’ Dragons Judo and Life Skills (ages 4 to 7 years) combines Judo and life-skills training in a fun, exciting and enriching environment. Children learn basic judo tumbling and grappling, 911 skills, stranger danger, bully busting and personal safety. U.S.J.A. Judo (ages 5 years to adult) teaches Judo “the gentle way,” focusing on self-defense as well as building self-confidence and discipline through Judo’s throwing techniques and mat work. Belt rank promotions are certified through U.S. Judo Association and a Junior Judo Team is available for competition. Enrollment is going on now for the YWCA Bergen County’s judo programs. Classes begin on Tuesday, September 2, 2014. Sign up by August 28 to receive $5 off the original price of Lil’ Dragons or U.S.J.A. Judo classes. Join both Lil’ Dragons and U.S.J.A. Judo and save $10 off your total class fees. YWCA Bergen County’s “Family Special” offers $10 off the original class price when additional family members join. All classes run in 8-week sessions and are held at the YWCA’s 112 Oak Street, Ridgewood facility. Register online (www.ywcabergencounty.org) or call Colleen Fontes at 201-444-5600 ext. 351 for details and class schedules
Actress and Director Jennifer Linch shows off her moves
Obama’s Naive Belief in Predetermined History
Obama’s Naive Belief in Predetermined History
By Dave the Sage on August 29, 2014 • ( 1 )
– By Victor Davis Hanson –
In his therapeutic 2009 Cairo speech, Obama outlined all sorts of Islamic intellectual and technological pedigrees, several of which were undeserved. He exaggerated Muslim contributions to printing and medicine, for example, and was flat-out wrong about the catalysts for the European Renaissance and Enlightenment.
He also believes history follows some predetermined course, as if things always get better on their own. Obama often praises those he pronounces to be on the “right side of history.” He also chastises others for being on the “wrong side of history” – as if evil is vanished and the good thrives on autopilot.
When in 2009 millions of Iranians took to the streets to protest the thuggish theocracy, they wanted immediate U.S. support. Instead, Obama belatedly offered them banalities suggesting that in the end, they would end up “on the right side of history.” Iranian reformers may indeed end up there, but it will not be because of some righteous inanimate force of history, or the prognostications of Barack Obama.
Obama often parrots Martin Luther King Jr.’s phrase about the arc of the moral universe bending toward justice. But King used that metaphor as an incentive to act, not as reassurance that matters will follow an inevitably positive course.
Another of Obama’s historical refrains is his frequent sermon about behavior that doesn’t belong in the 21st century. At various times he has lectured that the barbarous aggression of Vladimir Putin or ISIS has no place in our century and will “ultimately fail” – as if we are all now sophisticates of an age that has at last transcended retrograde brutality and savagery. …
If Obama believes that evil should be absent in the 21st century, or that the arc of the moral universe must always bend toward justice, or that being on the wrong side of history has consequences, then he may think inanimate forces can take care of things as we need merely watch.
In truth, history is messier. Unfortunately, only force will stop seventh-century monsters like ISIS from killing thousands more innocents.
https://theconservativecitizen.com/2014/08/29/obamas-naive-belief-in-predetermined-history/
United Water plans hydro plant at Dundee Dam
United Water plans hydro plant at Dundee Dam
AUGUST 30, 2014 LAST UPDATED: SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2014, 1:21 AM
BY JAMES M. O’NEILL
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
After more than a year of study, United Water has decided to develop a small hydroelectric power plant at the Dundee Dam to produce enough power to supply 1,000 homes.
The company will seek bids from hydropower developers to build turbines and run the facility at the dam, which stretches across the Passaic River from Garfield to Clifton.
United Water, a co-owner of the dam, would sign a multiyear lease with the winning hydropower company. The hydropower company would then collect the revenue generated by selling the electricity to the regional grid. The company could also receive financial clean energy credits from the state.
“This is a great environmental sustainability story,” said Steve Goudsmith, a United Water spokesman. “We believe this is not only an untapped renewable resource but attractive to hydro developers,” said Goudsmith.
The facility would become one of only a handful of hydroelectric facilities in New Jersey and mesh with Governor Christie’s goal of generating 70 percent of the state’s electricity through clean sources — such as wind, solar and hydro — by 2050.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/environment/harnessing-the-power-of-the-passaic-river-1.1078344
One giant leap: Whale sightings off Jersey Shore up dramatically
One giant leap: Whale sightings off Jersey Shore up dramatically
AUGUST 29, 2014, 7:26 PM LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, AUGUST 29, 2014, 10:34 PM
BY SCOTT FALLON
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
While it hasn’t become Cape Cod just yet, the number of whale sightings around New Jersey has increased substantially this year, suggesting that the state’s coastal waters are now clean enough to sustain humpbacks, finbacks and other species during their feeding season.
Since April, dozens of whales have been spotted from Sandy Hook to Cape May chasing down schools of small fish sometimes within a mile of New Jersey’s shoreline.
“They seem to be staying in the same area all season long, which is something we haven’t really seen before,” said Amy Bergeron, a marine biologist with the Cape May Whale Watch and Research Center, which runs tours along New Jersey’s southern coast. “Some are not even a mile out. We know they come here for the food, and you’re seeing huge batches of bait fish close to the shore.”
As of last week, the Cape May center had 37 whale sightings, compared with 15 through October last year. And Gotham Whale Watch, a group of “citizen scientists” who catalog marine mammals in New York and as far south as Monmouth County, has reported 57 whale sightings so far up from 43 in 2013.
The news has drawn thousands onto whale-watching boats hoping to see the majestic mammals gliding through the ocean and perhaps even glimpse a humpback leaping out of the water. It has also prompted authorities to issue alerts to boaters fearing whales are coming too close to shore.
Academics are treating the reports cautiously, since most of the sightings come from groups associated with local whale-watching boats. But some environmental officials and marine biologists say the reports should be taken seriously.
“It’s tough to definitively say there are more whales in an area without more baseline information,” said Jackie Toth Sullivan, a marine mammal scientist and adjunct professor at Richard Stockton College. “That being said, an increase certainly seems plausible given the amount of anecdotal reports coming in from boaters, whale-watching boats and beachgoers alike this season.”
Beginning in April, thousands of humpback whales usually pass New Jersey dozens of miles off the coast during their annual migration up the East Coast from their winter mating and birthing grounds in the West Indies. Many congregate around Cape Cod to feed on the abundant sea life near a large underwater plateau in Massachusetts Bay or head farther into the North Atlantic for food.
Cleaner waters affect the bottom of the food chain allowing plankton to flourish closer to shore. That in turn provides a food source for small bait fish like menhaden. And whales like nothing more than to scoop a school of menhaden into their mouths for lunch.
Even though an estimated 23 billion gallons of raw sewage spills from hundreds of outfall pipes into New Jersey’s rivers and bays each year, the state’s coastal waters are considered the cleanest they have been in decades.
New Jersey ranked third in best water quality out of 30 states last year with 3 percent of water samples exceeding pollution standards, according to a report by the National Resource Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/one-giant-leap-whale-sightings-off-jersey-shore-up-dramatically-1.1078310#sthash.SJTBWb7q.dpuf