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>Bergen executive sets up new office to probe spending for waste, fraud
MONDAY, JULY 11, 2011
BY ERIK SHILLING
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
Bergen County Executive Kathleen Donovan has ordered establishment of an Office of Asset Recovery, a new arm of her administration that she said would further root out waste and fraud in county government.
The office’s primary goals are to review private consultancy fees, file lawsuits to reclaim improperly paid money, and investigate other “questionable” payments, Donovan said.
The office will be headed by current County Counsel Jeffrey Ziegelheim, who, in addition to his $121,350 yearly salary, will receive a $53,000 stipend to run the asset recovery office, officials said in April. Ziegelheim will have no staff, and any outside law firms hired by the office will be paid only a percentage of the funds they help to recover, said Jeanne Baratta, a spokeswoman for Donovan.
>Goldman Sachs Took Biggest Loan From Undisclosed 2008 Fed Crisis Program
By Bob Ivry and Bradley Keoun – Jul 6, 2011 5:50 PM ET
Goldman Sachs & Co., a unit of the most profitable bank in Wall Street history, took $15 billion from the U.S. Federal Reserve on Dec. 9, 2008, the biggest single loan from a lending program whose details have been secret until today.
The program, which peaked at $80 billion in loans outstanding, was known as the Fed’s single-tranche open-market operations, or ST OMO. It made 28-day loans to units of 19 banks between March 7, 2008, and Dec. 30, 2008. Bloomberg reported on ST OMO in May, after the Fed released incomplete records on the program. In response to a subsequent Freedom of Information Act request for details, the central bank disclosed borrower names, amounts borrowed and interest rates.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-06/goldman-took-biggest-loan-in-fed-program.html
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Gwendolen Gross Wednesday, July 13th @7:00pm
Critcally-acclaimed author will lead a free workshop for writers at all levels.
She has won grants and awards for her workshops. Bring a Notebook and a pen/pencil.
Appearing authors will only autograph books purchased at Bookends and must have valid Bookends Receipt.
Availability & pricing for all autographed books subject to change.
Bookends cannot guarantee that the books that are Autographed will always be First Printings.
Autographed books purchased at Bookends are non-returnable.
Please call the store for details.
Bookends, 211 E. Ridgewood Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ 07450 201-445-0726
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Ridgewood Knights of Columbus Continue 4th of July Tradition by Sponsoring Drum and Bugle Corp.
Ridgewood-NJ-July 11, 2011: When the annual Ridgewood 4th of July parade ended in 2005, after the crowds dispersed and headed home to barbecue with friends and neighbors, Ridgewood resident and Knights of Columbus member Tim Bradley came upon a group of youths in the Graydon Pool parking lot that had marched in the parade. With nowhere to go, he invited them back to his home. What he was not prepared for was a bus carrying the entire Spirit of Newark Drum and Bugle Corps rolling up to his house.
Bradley and his neighbors had to scramble to gather enough hot dogs, hamburgers, and sodas to handle the deluge. The Corps was so appreciative of the warm reception they received, they gave the entire block a private performance. And so began an annual tradition and alliance between the Ridgewood Knights and the Spirit of Newark. Over the years, the post-parade celebration eventually worked its way from Bradley’s house to the Knights of Columbus Hall on South Broad Street.
The Spirit of Newark is part of Drum Corps International (DCI), a non-profit organization dedicated to junior drum corps activity. The Spirit of Newark is the only touring corps that hails from the inner city. A big part of the daily mission of the Spirit of Newark is to foster and encourage at-risk youth to stay in school and do well. However, because of the high rates of crime and poverty, there are more obstacles they must overcome.
“The art of drum and bugle corps is not only a unique and effective deterrent to gangs, violence, and juvenile delinquency for minority youth, but also an attractive and successful way to show them the outside / real world”, said Glenn Eng, Executive Director. “In addition, the college level training and performance demanded by drum and bugle corps competition further increases an inner city youngster’s appetite for success and better things”.
Pictured below, Tim Bradley presents a donation to Executive Director Glenn Eng to help support their activities. For more information, go to https://www.spiritofnewark.org/spirit_fund.php.
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The very fact that the fields are in the flood plain is why they should be turf.
“Turf fields that need replacement and continuous maintenance (b/c they were idiotically built in a flood zone) does not represent wise spending. The return on investment does come close to breaking even as not nearly enough of the student population benefits.”
We had an unusually severe spring storm season this year. So, here is a question for you…how much would we have spent to maintain/repair the old grass fields after the floods this spring? Or, would we have just left the fields closed for 3-4 weeks until they were playable, like we did at Brookside Field this March/April? You need to compare what the costs would have been and what the impact of lost field access would have been.
No one said that the turf fields are maintenance free (particularly in the flood plain). However, the very fact that the fields are in the flood plain is why they should be turf. There are maintenance costs. But, they are different costs from grass field maintenance and are a lower expense to taxpayers
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>New Jersey wineries ‘waiting for the ax to fall’
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Vibrant Ridgewood Keeps Buzzing Along
By MELANIE LEFKOWITZ
The village of Ridgewood, in New Jersey’s Bergen County, was an agricultural community before the mid-19th century arrival of the railroad began drawing wealthy New Yorkers to its bucolic fields. The area quickly grew into a vibrant suburb, and today many of its historic streets, buildings and landmarks can trace their history back a century or more.
Easy access to New York City remains central to the appeal of Ridgewood, a village of about 25,000 people that is also prized for its large stock of architecturally varied prewar homes on spacious lots, well-regarded public school system and bustling and picturesque downtown.
“Ridgewood just has a buzz—there’s a very active volunteer community, and people really are what makes it go,” says Roy Tarvin, of Tarvin Realtors, who grew up in Ridgewood and whose five grown children have all bought homes in the village. “It’s a great family town.”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303544604576433791479599226.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
>Geithner says hard times to continue for many
WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner (GYT’-nur) says many Americans will face hard times for a long time to come.
He says President Barack Obama rescued the United States from a second Great Depression and will keep working to strengthen the economy. But Geithner says will be some time before many people feel like the country is recovering.
Geithner tells NBC’s “Meet the Press” that it’s a very tough economy. He says that for a lot of people “it’s going to feel very hard, harder than anything they’ve experienced in their lifetime now, for a long time to come.”
https://news.yahoo.com/geithner-says-hard-times-continue-many-150523958.html
>Senate Democrats draft debt-reduction plan
By Lori Montgomery, Published: July 8
Senate Democrats have drafted a sweeping debt-reduction plan that would slice $4 trillion from projected borrowing over the next decade without touching the expensive health and retirement programs targeted by President Obama.
Instead, Senate Democrats are proposing to stabilize borrowing through sharp cuts at the Pentagon and other government agencies, as well as $2 trillion in new taxes, primarily on families earning more than $1 million year, according to a copy of the plan obtained by The Washington Post.
With debt-reduction talks under way between Obama and congressional leaders, Senate Democrats are unlikely to adopt the blueprint. However, it has gained broad support among those eager to chart a path to solving the nation’s budget problems without making politically painful cuts to Social Security and Medicare.
