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3 Alarm Fire in Oradell Tuesday Leaves at least one Victim Hospitalized with Serious Burns

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photo by Jim Arakelian

June 14,2018

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Oradell NJ, a multi-story house 3 alarm fire at 240 Kinderkamack Road became engulfed Tuesday evening. There were no fatalities reported, at least one victim was hospitalized with serious burn injuries after being pulled out by an Oradell police officer and an off-duty firefighter in the fast-moving Tuesday night house blaze.

Firefighters from Oradell, Haworth, Westwood, Paramus, Bergenfield, New Milford, River Edge, and Dumont responded.

Jim Arakelian , “It’s my understanding that the members of Company One in River Edge Fire went far and beyond the call of duty at yesterday’s horrific fire in Oradell. Congratulations and thank you for your bravery.”

 

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Ridgewood Ranked #1 Place to Live in Bergen County by NICHE

Ridgewoodrealestate55_theridgewoodbliog

April 12,2018

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, NICHE ranked Ridgewood the number one place to live in Bergen County and 6th over all in New Jersey . Ridgewood Placed just a head of Haworth #8,Ho Ho Kus #11,Tenafly #17,Glen Rock #19, Allendale #20, and Leonia #24.

The NICHE 2018 Best Places to Live ranking provides a comprehensive assessment of the overall livability of an area. This grade takes into account several key factors of a location, including the quality of local schools, crime rates, housing trends, employment statistics, and access to amenities in an attempt to measure the overall quality of an area.

Ridgewood placed 3 of 412 Best Suburbs to Live in New Jersey , 5 of 410 Suburbs with the Best Public Schools in New Jersey and 6 of 573 Best Places to Live in New Jersey . The Median Household Income is $144,734 . The Median Home Value is $724,400 and the Median Rent $1,960 .

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Ridgewood Schools Score a 5.4% Increase in State Aid thats a $2,586,693 Increase

RHS Marching band

March 17,2018

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, New Jersey school districts got a first look at their state aid figures for the coming school year on Thursday, jut two days after Gov. Phil Murphy unveiled his tax gouging $37.4 billion spending plan.

Every singe school district in Bergen county will get extra aid under the plan, which boosts aid to schools state wide by $283 million, up 3.5 percent from a year earlier.

The rate of increase ranged significantly in districts, with Haworth, Paramus, Franklin Lakes getting boosts larger than 15 percent. Others, like, Leonia and Englewood got increases less than 2 percent.

In the Murphy Budget Ridgewood would get an increase of $2,586,693 a 5.4% increase , Ho-Ho-Kus $556,782 or a 7.9% increase , Midland Park $742,564 a huge 14.7% increase ,Glen Rock $1,335,305 an 11.6% and Paramus $2,542,3741 or an even larger 15.3% increase .

Ridgewood nest regular public meeting of the Board of Education will be on March 19 2018 7:30 PM to 10:00 PM at the Board Room, 3rd Floor, in Education Center on Cottage place.

There is also Coffee and Conversation on March 26 with members of the Ridgewood Board of Education and Superintendent of Schools Dr. Daniel Fishbein will host residents for coffee and casual conversation on Wednesday, March 26 from 7-8:30 p.m. Please join them at the Education Center, 49 Cottage Place, Ridgewood. Residents are welcome to drop in and share their thoughts, questions, suggestions and concerns.

 

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8 towns in Bergen County that lowered property taxes form 2016 to 2017

bergen county

February 9,2018

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, surprisingly there were actually 66 towns in NJ where property taxes actually went DOWN. According to NJ105 radio , while the Village of Ridgewood had a 2.80% property tax increase from 2016 to 2017.The were however 8 towns in Bergen County that lowered property taxes , none of them bordering Ridgewood.

RIDGEWOOD VILLAGE
2017 avg: $17,667
2016 avg:$17,181
Change: 2.80%

Towns that border Ridgewood :

PARAMUS BORO
2017 avg: $9,440
2016 avg:$9,098
Change: 3.80%

MIDLAND PARK BORO
2017 avg: $11,571
2016 avg:$11,272
Change: 2.70%

HO-HO-KUS BORO
2017 avg: $15,957
2016 avg:$15,583
Change: 2.40%

GLEN ROCK BORO
2017 avg: $15,805
2016 avg:$15,462
Change: 2.20%

WYCKOFF TWP
2017 avg: $13,778
2016 avg:$13,481
Change: 2.20%

HAWTHORNE BORO
2017 avg: $10,481
2016 avg:$10,331
Change: 1.50%

WASHINGTON TWP – Bergen
2017 avg: $10,777
2016 avg:$10,693
Change: 0.80%

7 towns in Bergen county had property tax decreases :

ROCKLEIGH — Bergen County
2017 average: $14,315
Cut from ’16: -8.%

NORTH ARLINGTON — Bergen County
2017 average: $9,631
Cut from ’16: -2.2%

CARLSTADT — Bergen County
2017 average: $6,886
Cut from ’16: -2.%

WOODCLIFF LAKE — Bergen County
2017 average: $15,467
Cut from ’16: -0.6%

HAWORTH — Bergen County
2017 average: $17,696
Cut from ’16: -0.4%

SADDLE RIVER — Bergen County
2017 average: $17,172
Cut from ’16: -0.3%

HASBROUCK HEIGHTS — Bergen County
2017 average: $10,707
Cut from ’16: -0.2%

LODI — Bergen County
2017 average: $10,275
Cut from ’16: -0.1%

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America’s Mayor Rudy Giuliani helping out on the New Jersey Campaign Trail

Rudy Giuliani

November 5,2017

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Glen Rock NJ, the campaign seemed to finally heat up this weekend with America’s Mayor Rudy Giuliani  endorsing the GOP  District 39 ticket, Senator Cardinale, Assemblyman Auth and Holly Schepisi and helping us raise additional money last night.

District 39 – (Bergen and Passaic)  Bloomingdale, Closter, Demarest, Dumont, Emerson, Harrington Park, Haworth, Hillsdale, Mahwah, Montvale, Norwood, Oakland, Old Tappan, Park Ridge, Ramsey, Ringwood, River Vale, Saddle River, Upper Saddle River, Wanaque, Washington (Bergen), Westwood, Woodcliff Lake.

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Giuliani  also endorsed and campaigned with Kelly Greco Langschultz for NJ Senate. Kelly Landschultz of New Milford is the Republican candidate for Senate, with William Leonard of Glen Rock and Christopher B. Wolf of Saddle Brook the GOP Assembly candidates

District 38 – (Bergen and Passaic)  Bergenfield, Fair Lawn, Glen Rock, Hasbrouck Heights, Hawthorne, Lodi, Maywood, New Milford, Oradell, Paramus, River Edge, Rochelle Park, Saddle Brook .

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District 39 Campaign Heats Up As Assemblywomen Schepisi’s Attorney Sends Democrats a Cease and Desist Letter

Holly Schepisi and Bob Auth

November 2,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

River Vale, NJ , Assemblywomen Holly Schepisi  has had enough ,on Facebook she says , “Sometimes you have to fight back. When you have no platform, positions or plans, you lie about pretty much everything. This isn’t “politics” as usual. It’s intentionally and maliciously defaming someone in an effort to destroy a person’s reputation.”

Schepisi Attorney Gibbons PC Director Thomas J. Cafferty fired off a letter on behalf of the incumbent Republican Assemblywoman to the Committee to Elect Linda Schwager, Jannie Chung and Annie Hausmann.

Cafferty stated in the letter that  the Democrats have published, or have caused to be published, various political advertisements containing false and defamatory statements about Schepisi, including: (1) an advertisement dated October 13, 2017, which contains fictitious quotes regarding the Sandy Hook shooting that are falsely attributed to his client; and (2) an advertisement dated October 27, 2017, which depicts images of men with machine guns and includes the statement “Auth and Schepisi have headlined events hosted by the head of a domestic terrorist militia.”

“On behalf of Ms. Schepisi, I hereby demand that you and any and all of your employees, representatives and/or agents, immediately cease and desist the publication of the above-referenced advertisements and any and all other false and defamatory statements about Ms. Schepisi,” Cafferty wrote. “I also insist that you retract the above-referenced advertisements and any and all other false and defamatory statements that you have published about Ms. Schepisi in at least as prominent a location and in the same manner as the original advertisements were published, with a copy to me.”

The attorney also warned about the sanctioning of an unprivileged, false and a defamatory statement concerning his plaintiff, communicated to a third party with the requisite level of fault and which causes damage.  See Govito v. W. Jersey Health System, Inc., 332 N.J. Super. 293, 305-06 (App. Div. 2000).

“he level of fault when the statement concerns a public official or public figure, like Ms. Schepisi, is actual malice, which is the knowledge of falsity or reckless disregard for the truth,” Cafferty said. “Durando v. Nutley Sun, 209 N.J. 235, 249 (2012).  In other words, the actual malice standard is satisfied when the publisher of the statement entertained serious doubts as to the truth of that statement.  St. Amant v. Thompson, 390 U.S. 727, 731 (1968).”

The attorney noted that Schepisi advised the Democrats on multiple occasions that the statements contained in their advertisements are false.

“You have, however, ignored Ms. Schepisi.  Consequently, you have published these advertisements with reckless disregard for the truth of the statements contained therein and with the requisite knowledge of falsity,” Cafferty wrote. “If you do not cease publication of any and all false and defamatory statements about Ms. Schepisi, I will have no choice but to advise my client of all legal remedies available to her including, without limitation, instituting a lawsuit against you.”

District 39 is Bergen and Passaic counties;   Bloomingdale, Closter, Demarest, Dumont, Emerson, Harrington Park, Haworth, Hillsdale, Mahwah, Montvale, Norwood, Oakland, Old Tappan, Park Ridge, Ramsey, Ringwood, River Vale, Saddle River, Upper Saddle River, Wanaque, Washington (Bergen), Westwood, Woodcliff Lake  .

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Assemblywomen Offers Straight talk on Tax Reform

Holly Schepisi and Bob Auth

photo of Holly Schepisi and Bob Auth

October 22,2017

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

River Vale NJ, assemblywomen Holly Schepisi  reiterates our thoughts on tax reform and the poor position New Jersey is in being one of the highest taxed states in the nation. ”  Thinking about property taxes, New Jersey and the federal property tax deduction. New Jersey residents pretty much get hosed in every way possible when it comes to taxes. Residents in the communities I represent and the other residents of Bergen County currently pay about 30 percent of the entire NJ State Budget and receive back less than 3 percent of that money. At the federal level New Jersey only gets back 74 cents for each $1 it sends to Washington, making it the lowes…t reimbursement in the country.”

“As a result of ridiculously unfair school funding formulas, our residents pay the highest property taxes in the nation. The ONLY tax relief our residents have had is the ability to deduct our property taxes from our federal tax returns. Now the US Senate has voted to eliminate this deduction. I wholeheartedly disagree with the Senate Republicans on this issue. However I also put blame at the feet of the NJ Democrats who have controlled the New Jersey legislature for 16 years and our US Senators who have been controlled by the Democrats since 1982 (other than a short several month stint by Jeff Chiesa). How and why do we have the highest property taxes in the nation? Why do we receive the least amount of funding back from the federal government? Why won’t my Bergen County colleagues on the other side of the aisle fight alongside me for fairer funding of OUR residents? We cannot continue doing things the same way in this State. It is reaching a breaking point for our working middle class and our seniors. I hear campaign slogans about suburbs having to “pay their fair share.” We pay well beyond our “fair share” and we all must stand up together and fight back while we still can.”

District 39 – (Bergen and Passaic)  Bloomingdale, Closter, Demarest, Dumont, Emerson, Harrington Park, Haworth, Hillsdale, Mahwah, Montvale, Norwood, Oakland, Old Tappan, Park Ridge, Ramsey, Ringwood, River Vale, Saddle River, Upper Saddle River, Wanaque, Washington (Bergen), Westwood, Woodcliff Lake  .

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Assemblyman Robert Auth never forgets he is a small business owner

Assemblyman Robert Auth

October 13,2017

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Old Tappan NJ, Bob is an old friend of the Ridgewood blog and he is running for Assembly in District 39. Bob never forgets he is a small business owner . Bob is somone who can fight to set the balance right against ANTI-Business , ANTI-jobs Trenton.

District 39 is (Bergen and Passaic Conties)  Bloomingdale, Closter, Demarest, Dumont, Emerson, Harrington Park, Haworth, Hillsdale, Mahwah, Montvale, Norwood, Oakland, Old Tappan, Park Ridge, Ramsey, Ringwood, River Vale, Saddle River, Upper Saddle River, Wanaque, Washington (Bergen), Westwood, Woodcliff

Unlike most modern day politicians Bob entered into politics to help the everyday people of New Jersey, like himself. After graduating from New York University, Bob opened a small insurance company with my wife, Elsa. While it was prosperous at first, the state of New Jersey began to pass heavy regulations that placed a burden on insurance companies like his. After all but six of my competitors went out of business because of these new laws I realized that it was very possible that I might also lose everything I had worked so hard for. It was at that point that I decided to reach out to my friend Senator Cardinale to see if there was any way that he could help me. With a little negotiation Senator Cardinale was able to get Allstate Insurance to work with me which stopped me from having to go out of business. Through this experience, I witnessed firsthand the power of the government to both destroy and to aid.

After Senator Cardinale had helped him Bob decided to try and return the favor. Little by little, Bob started to do additional work for him until finally he became an unpaid volunteer aide for him in Trenton. After working for Senator Cardinale for 25 years a seat in the Assembly opened up; and while Bob was hesitant at first to run for office, he realized that this was my opportunity to help people, just as Senator Cardinale had helped him.

So in 2014, against all odds and very tough competition, I won a seat in the assembly. Even after all his time in the New Jersey Legislature I have kept one rule; before Bob votes on anything he must ask himself how would I feel as a taxpayer seeing my own vote? Bob is an Assemblyman because he has witnessed firsthand the power of the government to both impede and to aid, and Bob wants to ensure it will not impede again.

https://www.electrobertauth.com/

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Assemblywomen Holly Schepisi Forum Focuses On Overdevelopement and Affordable Housing in Bergen County

bergen county housing forum

June 18,2017

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Paramus NJ, Assemblywomen Holly Schepisi hosted a meeting on June 15th at Bergen Community College to talk about OVERDEVELOPMENT, affordable housing and the biggest issues affecting Bergen County local communities.

The event was packed with legislators, mayors, engineers, planners, environmental experts, school superintendents, non-profit housing groups and others who joined Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi at the Thursday night legislative hearing to address New Jersey’s affordable housing crisis.

The hearing will provided the first significant legislative discussion addressing New Jersey’s affordable housing crisis in 5 years.

The meeting was very well attended given how little publicity from New Jersey main stream press .Senator Gerald Cardinale, Assemblymen Robert Auth and Kevin J. Rooney and the several hundred people took time to talk about overdevelopment and affordable housing.

The Speakers included Mayors and former Mayors from Closter, Haworth, Demarest, Dumont, Upper Saddle River and Montvale. Council members from Park Ridge, Ramsey and Dumont. Elected officials and representatives were also present from communities including Westwood, Mahwah, New Milford, Old Tappan, Emerson, Paramus, Allendale, Mountain Lakes, Montville, Hillsdale and Woodcliff Lake. Tom Toronto and Lynn Bartlett, the heads of non-profit affordable housing agencies United Way and the Bergen County Housing Authority, along with Bruce Young, the President of the Bergen County School Boards all provided great testimony.

Captain Bill Sheehan from Hackensack Riverkeepers for discussing environmental concerns. I was disappointed that none of our other Bergen County legislators chose to attend. This is an issue that every municipality is struggling with regardless of political party lines. We must work together to assist the communities we represent.

Joanne Minichetti, mayor of Upper Saddle River, told Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi and other state officials that the analysis leading to the obligations was “ridiculous” and “stupid.” The obligations were created by the Cherry Hill-based Fair Share Housing Center.

Derek Michalski also from Upper Saddle River recounted to the Ridgewood blog ,” in the case of USR two developers father and son “forced” rezoning Apple Ridge property on USR mayor and Council and after obtaining the “rezoning signature” re-sold the same property to Toll Brothers for $20-30milion quick gain. if the town did this deal for its own benefit(residents) we wouldn’t have to raise taxes for decades to come. Thus such chaos is creating enormous benefit to developers and leaving communities in fear.”

Schepisi has recently introduced two bills to freeze municipal affordable housing obligations through the end of the year, and establish a commission to study the issue and determine each town’s obligations. Over fifty municipalities throughout the state of New Jersey have passed a resolution urging action on Schepisi’s bills.

However NJ Housing and Development Chairman Jerry Green (D) is not going to release those two bill to the floor for vote (IMHO). They will die waiting…..in the meantime the town in fear of loosing this issue in court are marketing (horrible deals with developers). For instance in the case of USR two developers father and son “forced” rezoning Apple Ridge property on USR mayor and Council and after obtaining the “rezoning signature” re-sold the same property to Toll Brothers for $20-30milion quick gain. if the town did this deal for its own benefit(residents) we wouldn’t have to raise taxes for decades to come. Thus such chaos is creating enormous benefit to developers and leaving communities in fear.

And you guessed it Green is a major fund raiser for Murphy (he told me that himself in his office) so this issue is almoeast a dead issue.

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Ridgewood,Glen Rock and Ho Ho Kus all Make the NICHE 2017 100 Best Places to Buy a House list

Ridgewood Realestate

file photo

June 7,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood ,Glen Rock and Ho Ho Kus all Make the NICHE 2017 100 Best Places to Buy a House list.

The NICHE 2017 Best Places to Buy a House ranking provides a comprehensive assessment of the housing and community of an area. This grade takes into account key factors of a location’s housing market, including home values, taxes, crime rates, and quality of local schools, in an attempt to measure the quality and stability of an area’s real estate market.

In Bergen County  Ridgewood neighbor Glen Rock fared best with a rating of 17, Ho Ho Kus  a 55, Ridgewood  66, and Fairlawn 87. Other Bergen County towns who ranked well Haworth 24, Demarest 29, Ramsey 32, Mahwah 42, Oradell 66 , and Allendale 93.

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Assemblywomen Holly Schepisi Continues to Push for A Sensible Housing Policy for Bergen County

CBD high density housing

May 7,2017
by Assemblywomen Holly Schepisi

Rivervale NJ, I have been on the front lines fighting for the legislature to do its job and provide a legislative solution to recent Court opinions on affordable housing in the State. Even the NJ Supreme Court agrees that the legislature should do something, anything, on this issue.

As a result of recent court opinions, I drafted bills to stop the costly litigations currently taking place in every municipality so that all interested parties, including the NJ League of Municipalities, the Executive Director of the NJ Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, the Executive Director of Fair Share Housing, professional planners and members of the legislature can sit together and develop a better way to ensure affordability in this State for all people regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation or gender. The current plan to have over 280,000 new affordable units or 1.5 million additional total units in a state that is already the most densely populated with a population growth rate of less than 0.3 percent, along with being one of the States that most people are fleeing, is irrational at best.

My bills have received support from Democratic mayors and councils, Republican mayors and councils and communities that are split between political parties. This is not a Republican or Democratic issue, this is one of the most important issues affecting every community in the State and if we, as legislators refuse to address it, we do not deserve to be legislators.

Unfortunately, many times elected officials are unwilling to step up to the plate to address the more difficult issues for fear of the backlash. It is exceptionally unfortunate that in today’s political climate, the immediate “go to” for those who disagree on an issue is to insinuate the other person is a racist or a bigot or a whole host of other items. Today I found myself just in that place. As a result of my trying to bring all parties to the table to properly address an incredibly complicated and difficult topic, the head of the Bergen County NAACP, provided a letter to the Bergen Record today accusing me of “fear mongering”, “trying to advance my political profile” and alleging that I am affirmatively trying to keep minorities out of our communities. Anyone who knows me knows how totally off base his letter is with respect to how I operate or what I believe. I have reached out to the State NAACP President to request a sit down to openly discuss this issue. If we want our State to succeed we better start having the tough conversations now, while we still can. Wanting to figure out a better way to govern this State is a quality we want in everyone who represents us.

Please call your Mayors and your legislators and ask them to protect our State from ridiculous affordable housing court mandates (which may result in over 1.5 MILLION new units of housing in NJ) by supporting A-4666 and A-4667 to stop the Court actions and study the issue while we still can. If you don’t see your town below ask your elected officials why they aren’t fighting for your community.

Here is a current list of towns that have passed resolutions in support of my legislation to provide relief to our communities in the fight against the threat of over 1.5 MILLION new units of housing in NJ. If you don’t see your town on here ASK WHY. Many of our NJ residents are unaware that their communities will be forced to DOUBLE their housing population in just the next 9 years, destroying all existing housing prices.

Closter
Demarest
Dumont
Emerson
Franklin Lakes
Harrington Park
Haworth
Hillsdale
Mahwah
Montvale
Norwood
Old Tappan
Park Ridge
River Vale
Upper Saddle River
Westwood
Woodcliff Lake
Bloomingdale
Wanaque
Wayne
Saddle Brook
Fair Lawn
Oradell
Rochelle Park
Hackensack
Lincoln Park

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Don’t get caught texting while driving through these small NJ towns

ridgewood police
file photo by Boyd loving
By Adam Hochron April 17, 2017 5:58 PM
Courtesy of United States Department of TransportationIf last year is any indication, police in some of New Jersey’s smallest municipalities will be giving out the largest number of distracted driving tickets during the month-long crackdown that ends April 21.

Bergen County 

Fairview: 114 tickets

Allendale 2
Alpine 2
Carlstadt 19
Demarest 5
Glen Rock 1
Hackensack 4
Hasbrouck Heights 13
Haworth 5
Leonia 4
Lyndhurst 19
Midland Park 4
North Arlington 19
Northvale 9
Norwood 2
Ramsey 1
River Vale 1
Upper Saddle River 19
Westwood 9
Wood-Ridge 4

Read More: Don’t get caught texting while driving through these small NJ towns | https://nj1015.com/dont-get-caught-texting-while-driving-through-these-small-nj-towns/?trackback=tsmclip

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New Jersey Native Nominated to take the Helm of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Screenshot 2017-03-16 at 12
March 16,2017

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Washington DC, President Donald Trump this week nominated New Jersey native J. Christopher Giancarlo to serve as chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission .The commission regulates the derivatives market, a part of Wall Street that has been criticized for helping spur the financial crisis of 2008.

Giancarlo, who grew up in north Jersey and lives in Haworth in Bergen County, has served as a commissioner on the board since 2014 an acting commissioner since January.

Giancarlo was born in Jersey City, New Jersey. He attended Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa with Government Department Honors.  Mr. Giancarlo received his law degree from the Vanderbilt University School of Law where he was an associate research editor at the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law and President of the Law School’s International Law Society. Mr. Giancarlo has been a member of the Bar of the State of New York since 1985

He was nominated by President Obama on August 1, 2013 and confirmed by unanimous consent of the U.S. Senate on June 3, 2014.  On June 16, 2014, he was sworn in as a CFTC Commissioner for a term expiring in April 2019.  Mr. Giancarlo was designated per seriatim as Acting Chairman of the Commission on January 20, 2017.

Before entering public service, Mr. Giancarlo served as the Executive Vice President of GFI Group Inc., a financial services firm. Prior to joining GFI, Mr. Giancarlo was Executive Vice President and U.S. Legal Counsel of Fenics Software and was a corporate partner in the New York law firm of Brown Raysman Millstein Felder & Steiner. Mr. Giancarlo joined Brown Raysman from Giancarlo & Gleiberman, a law practice founded by Mr. Giancarlo in 1992 following his return from several years in London with the international law firm of Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle.

Mr. Giancarlo was also a founding Co-Editor-in-Chief of eSecurities, Trading and Regulation on the Internet (Leader Publications).  In addition, Mr. Giancarlo has testified three times before Congress regarding the implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act, and has written and spoken extensively on public policy, legal and other matters involving technology and the financial markets.

Fresh on the heels of being nominated by the White House Tuesday to be Chairman of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, J. Christopher Giancarlo spelled out plans to reorganize the agency and “right-size” its regulatory footprint.

“The overly prescriptive regulation of American derivative markets is a part and parcel of the over-regulation of the US economy that thwarts revival of American prosperity,” he said in a speech prepared for delivery at the International Futures Industry conference in Boca Raton, Florida, Wednesday.

To carry out one of President Donald Trump’s executive orders of regulatory reform, Giancarlo announced the launch of an agency-wide review of CFTC regulations and practices “to make them simpler, less burdensome and less costly,” and said the CFTC will seek public comment on that effort.

The regulatory reform initiative, dubbed Project KISS for “Keep It Simple Stupid” will be led by Mike Gill, Giancarlo’s chief of staff, who will serve as the “regulatory reform officer.”

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HOLD ONTO YOUR WALLETS: PROPERTY TAXES IN NEW JERSEY INCREASED BY THEIR FASTEST RATE IN FOUR YEARS IN 2015.

for sale Ridgewood_Real_Estate_theRodgewopodblog

Average Property taxes paid

Alpine $20,880.00
Tenafly $18,787.00
Demarest $17,937.00
Upper Saddle River $17,112.00
Haworth $16,940.00
Ridgewood $16,798.00
Saddle River $16,670.00
Franklin Lks $16,635.00
Old Tappan $15,765.00
Glen Rock $15,157.00
Woodcliff lake $15,139.00
HoHoKus $15,045.00
Allendale $14,551.00
Oradell $13,796.00
Wyckoff  $13,280.00
Midland Park $11,020.00
Waldwick $10,396.00
Washington Twp 10,157.00
Fair Lawn $10,012.00
Mahwah $8,154.00

file photo by Boyd Loving

EXCLUSIVE: Property taxes up $537 million

HOLD ONTO YOUR WALLETS: PROPERTY TAXES IN NEW JERSEY INCREASED BY THEIR FASTEST RATE IN FOUR YEARS IN 2015.

Michael Symons,

Hold onto your wallets: Property taxes in New Jersey increased by their fastest rate in four years in 2015, with landowners shelling out an extra $537 million.

The hike pushed the average local tax bill to $8,354 for homeowners, up $193 from the prior year, according to data compiled exclusively by the Asbury Park Press. That’s an increase of 2.4 percent, despite a supposed 2 percent cap enacted in 2010.

The jump marks the second straight year New Jersey’s property tax hike has gotten bigger, after three years of slowing growth in Gov. Chris Christie’s first term. Monmouth and Ocean counties fared worse most of the state with tax boosts of 2.6 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively.

The trend undercuts one of Christie’s selling points as he touts his gubernatorial record on the GOP presidential campaign trail. On his campaign website, Christie says property taxes are rising at their slowest pace “in more than two decades.” Growth has grown since dipping to 1.3 percent in 2013.

The new accounting tells a costly different story — in a state where homeowners already pay the highest-in-the-nation property taxes. That burden helped drive nearly 14,000 to sign an Asbury Park Press petition urging elected officials to cut property taxes. The petition came in tandem with Asbury Park Press’s investigation of the tax crisis last fall.

Stay or leave?

Adrienne DiPietro’s property taxes have tripled in the 20 years she has lived in Eatontown. She remains optimistic elected officials will do something about the problem but says “I’m not holding my breath.” She is considering whether she and her husband, Paul, will stay in New Jersey. Both are retirees.

“All of our retirement income, we have to start thinking about this in the next five years or so: Do we want to stay here and keep coughing up that much taxes?” DiPietro said. “Do we want to stay here, because the taxes are only going up and up?”

https://www.app.com/story/insider/2016/01/08/nj-property-tax-increases/78504096/

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Rep. Garrett Continues his Push for Rail Car Safety

Rep Scott Garrett rail car safety
Rep. Garrett tours key railroad tracks and infrastructure carrying crude oil through NJ-05 in Haworth (left) and Harrington Park (right) with local officials.

Nov 10, 2015
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Harrington Park NJ,  Rep. Scott Garrett (NJ-05) toured key railroad tracks and infrastructure carrying crude oil through NJ-05 in Haworth and Harrington Park with local officials. The tour allowed Congressman Garrett to see first-hand the measures being taken to prevent an environmental disaster and listen to the concerns of local elected officials about rail safety.

“The safety and security of northern New Jersey is my top priority, and it’s important that everyone knows that my office is a resource for the towns in my district,” said Garrett. “We need to ensure an open line of communication exists between local officials, the rail industry, federal officials, and New Jersey residents, and that’s why I’ve demanded answers from federal agencies such as the FRA, the DOT, and the OMB. I will continue to work with the mayors to guarantee the safety of our communities.”

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Background:

With an increased number of trains carrying crude oil throughout the country, the safety and reliability of the train tracks and infrastructure carrying this oil through New Jersey is a top priority for Congressman Garrett. This year, he has called on the Department of Transportation (DOT) and OMB to finalize a rule about the safety of DOT-111 tank cars that carry crude oil, introduced an amendment to increase funding to rail safety and operations, and requested information from the Federal Railroad Administration about safety reports.