Month: December 2012

Weather experts contradict NJ Transit chief on Sandy flooding forecast for rail yards
By Stephen Stirling/The Star-Ledger
on December 12, 2012 at 6:00 AM, updated December 12, 2012 at 1:38 PM

Each time James Weinstein explains how NJ Transit left 300 rail cars exposed to the floodwaters of Hurricane Sandy, he becomes a little more stern, more resolute.

“I can tell you unequivocally: The decisions on where to keep and move our rail cars and locomotives were sound, based on the best weather models and forecasts, historical experience and other information we had at the time, mid-day Sunday, when we had to launch the railroad shutdown,” the NJ Transit executive director told the Assembly Transportation Committee Monday. “The facts are, the weather models we used at the time indicated an 80- to 90-percent chance that the Meadows Maintenance Complex in Kearny and the western portion of the Hoboken rail yards would stay dry.”

The problem wasn’t when the decision was made, it was the information used to make it.

A Star-Ledger examination based on interviews, analysis of scores of forecasts and computer models found that on Oct. 28, the Sunday before the storm hit, only one forecast map showed a 10- to 20-percent chance of the Kearny yard flooding on Monday. Most other guidance was far more dire. Additionally, forecasters say NJ Transit never contacted them for help in interpreting the data, and had they, they would have been told Sunday morning the yard had a high to near certain likelihood of taking on water from the storm surge.

https://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/12/questions_surface_over_nj_tran.html

Saturday trunk show. at Levato & Gaudiomonte Opticians

Don Axelband, Owner
Don Axelband’s curiosity of the optical industry peaked early in his childhood. At the age of 12, he was fitted with his first pair of prescription eyeglasses. As a young child, he always inquired how his eyeglasses were made. As a full time eyeglass wearer, his curiosity peaked to the point he wanted to dedicate his future career to answering these questions. In 1978, Don graduated New York City College in Brooklyn, and received his Degree as a Licensed Optician. After working for 2 years at the Optometry School at the State University of New York, he taught students to dispense and manufacture eyewear. He later traveled to Georgia and Florida to manage and operate several well established optical businesses. In the years to follow, he missed his hometown and moved back to New york where he met and married his wife Tammy, and went on to have 4 beautiful children while setting down their roots in Northern New Jersey. He worked as a well respected optician in Bergen County for 15 years until he realized the pride of ownership was his next step. He jumped at the opportunity of purchasing Levato & Gaudiomonte Opticians in Ridgewood, NJ when he heard it was for sale. Levato & Gaudiomonte had a long established town heritage of first rate style and service. He knew this is where he had to be. He acquired the business in the year 2000. Continuing the legacy of Levato & Gaudiomonte, which originated in the 1950’s, Don, along with Doris Calautti, worked together as a team to continue the finest level of service and selection the local and surrounding areas had grown to love and expect. His dream had come true.

Doris Calautti
As a 1986 graduate of UMASS at Amherst, Doris took a part-time job in an exclusive optical shop in her junior year of college. She was fascinated by the choices, decisions and knowledge necessary to sell and select the correct pair of frames and lenses to a prospective customer. Doris absolutely loved transforming a person’s appearance to highlight their best features. She created the approach that eyewear should not look like a “medical device” but as a “fashion accessory”. With an unknown natural instinct to provide this service, her passion for the industry blossomed. Now, twenty five years later, Doris has never left the industry. She found her “true love”. She had become a sales representative for several prestigious eyewear manufacturers during those years to broaden her understanding and experience of the optical industry. In the year 2000, Doris Calautti joined Don Axelband when he purchased the well established optical store, Levato & Gaudiomonte Opticians in Ridgewood, NJ. Don, a well respected optician with 30 years of his own experience and a tremendous following knew he and Doris would make the perfect team. Ten years later, and still going strong, the rest is history!

Levato And Gaudiomonte Opticians
21 Oak St
Ridgewood, NJ 07450
(201) 445-3189
https://www.levatoandgaudiomonte.com/

Village Council and Village Board Meetings

12/18/12 7:30PM Planning Board Public Meeting
01/07/13 7:30PM Board of Adjustment Public Meeting
01/09/13 7:30PM Village Council Public Work Session
01/15/13 7:30PM Planning Board Public Meeting
01/16/13 8:00PM Village Council Public Meeting
01/22/13 7:30PM Board of Adjustment Public Meeting
01/30/13 7:30PM Village Council Public Work Session

Eyewitness News Meteorologis Bill Evans Saturday, December 15st @ 1:00pm
Eyewitness News Meteorologist, Bill Evans, will sign: It’s Raining Fish and Spiders

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.

While we try to insure that all customers coming to Bookends’ signings will meet authors and get their books signed, we cannot guarantee that all attendees will meet the author or that all books will be signed. We cannot control inclement weather, author travel schedules or authors who leave prematurely.

Bookends, 211 E. Ridgewood Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ 07450 201-445-0726

The More things change the More things stay the same:  Aronsohn backs “incentive raises” ?
December 13,2012
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, After running an entire election campaign against  “incentive raises”  and grabbing the support of virtually every local media outlet except the Ridgewood blog , Mayor Aronsohn and his new regime vote for the “incentive raise ‘ for non union workers they vehemently opposed .

The council voted 4-1 on Wednesday night with Tom Riche the lone dissenter, to introduce an ordnance that establishes zero percent salary raises for non-union employees and department heads but provides “incentive increases” between 0 and 1.9 percent over 2012 and 2013 . “Incentive raises” were the major point of contention during the campaign , with the current Mayor opposed to them as did municipal unions who felt”Incentive raises” undermined their collective bargaining position. Local union also viewed the “Incentive raises” as and effort by Village Manager Ken Gabbert to rid the Village of those unions .

Gabbert was on the forefront of introducing incentives into the municipal work place and was widely criticized locally for doing so . The system was viewed as a threat to “good old boy” network that seems to often permeate the Village workforce . One look at all the last names of Village employees or a little research  into  who is related to who and you have the whole story.

Aronsohn was quick to tell the Glen Rock Patch “It seeks to establish a new standard – one that balances the needs of employees with the economic reality faced by the village,” Mayor Paul Aronsohn said in reference to the proposed ordinances. “Gone are the days of four percent salary increases.” https://ridgewood.patch.com/articles/village-may-issue-incentive-raises-to-managers-non-union-staff.

Yes Mayor times have certainly changed .

Sen. Menendez employed intern who was illegal immigrant, sex offender, AP reports
By NBC News staff and wire service reports

Sen. Robert Menendez confirmed to msnbc TV’s Tamron Hall on NewsNation on Wednesday an AP report that an unpaid intern working in his office had been arrested by immigration authorities for being in the country illegally. The Associated Press reported that the 18-year-old from Peru was also a registered sex offender.

The Homeland Security Department instructed federal agents not to arrest him until after Election Day, a U.S. official involved in the case told the AP. Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, told Hall he knew nothing about that allegation and did not learn of the arrest until just before appearing on msnbc Tuesday. He said his staff learned of the arrest Monday.

Luis Abrahan Sanchez Zavaleta was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in front of his home in New Jersey on Dec. 6, two federal officials told the AP. Sanchez, who entered the country on a now-expired visitor visa from Peru, is facing deportation and remains in custody, the officials told the AP. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details of Sanchez’s immigration case.

https://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/12/15868303-sen-menendez-employed-intern-who-was-illegal-immigrant-sex-offender-ap-reports?lite

Readers Questions Resumes for RHS Year Book

What’s up with the RHS yearbook? They sent out an email telling students that they can submit their resume! How boring would that be?

Now the overly competitive students/parents will leave a legacy to themselves. Having your photo in the yearbook wasn’t enough, now they need to list the reasons that they think that they are great.

More narcissism. Isn’t Facebook a big enough of a brag book for you?

Democrats Ask for Delay to Obamacare Med Device Tax They Voted for in the First Place

Medical Device Tax is just one of 20 Obamacare Taxes.

Maybe Congress should have read it before they signed it ?

In a letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid, 18 Democrat senators and senators-elect have asked for “a delay in the implementation” of the Obamacare medical device tax.  Like most of the significant tax increases in Obamacare, the medical device tax is scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, 2013, conveniently after the 2012 presidential election.

Each of the 18 Democrat signatories voted for or supported Obamacare in the first place.  And now they want a sweetheart exemption from one of its most onerous provisions. Even in Washington DC, that shows a lot of gall.

The signatories to the letter are as follows:

Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.)

Kay Hagan (D-N.C.)

Al Franken (D-Minn.)

Herb Kohl (D-Wis.)

Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.)

John Kerry (D-Mass.)

Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.)

Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.)

Robert Casey (D-Pa.)

Ben Nelson (D-Neb.)

Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.)

Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.)

Dick Durbin (D-Ill.)

Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.)

Patty Murray (D-Wash.)

Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)

Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.)

Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) – (Voted for Obamacare in the House)

Read more: https://atr.org/dems-delay-obamacare-med-device-tax-a7380#ixzz2Ero8YkrA
Follow us: @taxreformer on Twitter

Obamacare just raised your health care premium by $63
posted at 12:41 pm on December 11, 2012
by Mary Katharine Ham

If you’re a member of the mainstream media, you’re “surprised” by this in the same way that every bad jobs report is “unexpected.”

Among the regulations being rushed out the door by the Department of Health and Human Services 32 months after Obamacare passed is a requirement that every plan in America be subject to a $63 fee. That $63 is part of a fund to subsidize people with pre-existing conditions, who are more expensive to cover but whose costs must be transferred to healthier individuals in the new system.

Reporting suggests the costs could hit 190 million health care plans held by individuals or provided by employers. The AP:

The charge, buried in a recent regulation, works out to tens of millions of dollars for the largest companies, employers say. Most of that is likely to be passed on to workers.

Do tell. Who could have predicted this? More on the fund we’re creating:

Most of the money will go into a fund administered by the Health and Human Services Department. It will be used to cushion health insurance companies from the initial hard-to-predict costs of covering uninsured people with medical problems. Under the law, insurers will be forbidden from turning away the sick as of Jan. 1, 2014.

The program “is intended to help millions of Americans purchase affordable health insurance, reduce unreimbursed usage of hospital and other medical facilities by the uninsured and thereby lower medical expenses and premiums for all,” the Obama administration says in the regulation. An accompanying media fact sheet issued Nov. 30 referred to “contributions” without detailing the total cost and scope of the program.

Of the total pot, $5 billion will go directly to the U.S. Treasury, apparently to offset the cost of shoring up employer-sponsored coverage for early retirees.

The $25 billion fee is part of a bigger package of taxes and fees to finance Mr. Obama’s expansion of coverage to the uninsured.

You see, we’re “lowering medical expenses and premiums for all” by…raising them for pretty much everyone. This is such a sweet deal.

https://hotair.com/archives/2012/12/11/obamacare-just-raised-your-health-care-premium-by-63/

NJ health premiums surge  53% in 8 years
December 12, 2012
the Staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, The Bergen Record is reporting that the cost of health insurance rose much faster than income over the last eight years in New Jersey, and we are sure that is no surprise to anyone. . A new study by the Commonwealth Fund found. that despite paying an ever greater share of the cost, employees received less coverage another no braner. ( https://www.northjersey.com/news/183113891_NJ_health_premiums_up_53__in_8_years__report_says.html )

The study goes on to say that premiums for a family coverage in Ridgewood New Jersey rose a huge 53 percent from 2003 through 2011, to $15,589, on average. For single coverage, premiums rose by 49 percent to $5,673, according to the report. If growth continues at this pace, the cost of family coverage in the state will reach nearly $20,000 a year by 2015 and exceed $25,000 a year by 2020, the report said.

While the jury is still out on the reforms put in place by the Presidents “Affordable Care Act” are able to slow the pace of growth ,employees’ share of the premium for single coverage rose significantly in New Jersey between 2003 and 2011, from $611, or 16 percent of the total premium in 2003, to $1,209, or 21.3 percent, in 2011.

Deductibles have also been risen, leading to the obvious conclusion that  “coverage is buying less protection” .

Irish American Unity Conference Chapter 5th and 9th
Today, Wednesday, Dec 12 7:30pm at Christ Episcopal Church, Ridgewood, NJ ,Phone: (201) 384-7911

Ridgewood NJ , Christ Episcopal Church will host the Irish American Unity Conference 5th and 9th Chapter will meet Wed., December 12, at 7:30 p.m. at Christ Church, 105 Cottage Pl., Ridgewood. Henry McNally, well-known Irish historian and teacher at the Institute for Learning in Retirement at BCC, will speak on “Gaelic Society and the Introduction of Christianity”–how they intermeshed, from St. Patrick through 800 A.D. All are welcome. The IAUC is a human rights group working for peace with justice in a reunited Ireland.

Abrakadoodle Architecture Art Camp at Ridgewood Recreation December 26 27

On Wednesday, December 26th and Thursday, December 27th, Ridgewood Parks & Recreation will present a special art program by Abrakadoodle – Architecture Art Camp. This special enrichment class is for children in Grades 1-4 and will take place at The Stable, 259 N. Maple Ave., Ridgewood, NJ.

This art camp is scheduled from 9:30 a.m. to 12 noon each day and will offer children a fun and exciting opportunity to discover the world of architecture. Children will build balancing towers, sculpt Greek columns, plus draw and design whimsical skyscrapers inspired by Brooklyn, New York native and Pop artist, James Rizzi.

The cost for this enrichment program is $95. Registration can be made online- www.ridgewoodnj.net/communitypass or in person/by mail to The Stable, 259 N. Maple Avenue. Locate the registration form on the Recreation homepage at www.ridgewoodnj.net. For more information or assistance, please contact the Recreation Office at 201-670-5560.

YWCA Registration for 2013 Classes Begins December 17th

December 4, 2012—Registration for the next session of YWCA Bergen County programs starts Monday, December 17 at 8:30 a.m. Classes run from January 2 through February 23, 2013, and members can register at www.ywcabergencounty.org, by phone, or in person.

New for Adults: Bollywood Hustle combines belly dancing, traditional Indian dance, and jazz, for a class that takes dance workouts to new heights. Restorative Yoga offers physical, mental and emotional relaxation to help eliminate stress and fatigue.

New for Kids & Teens: Zumbatomic (ages 7-12 yrs.) lets kids crank up the music and have a blast with their friends while boosting coordination, energy levels, and self confidence. Lil’ Dragons Judo (ages 4-7 yrs.) and U.S.J.A. Judo (ages 5 to adult) teach self-defense as well as important life skills like self-confidence and discipline.

The YWCA offers dozens of other fitness, wellness, and enrichment programs for kids, teens, adults, and seniors, as well as American Red Cross certified swim classes for swimmers at every age and level. Drop-in child care is also available at the 112 Oak Street, Ridgewood facility. Visit www.ywcabergencounty.org or call 201-444-5600 for a free brochure

and the new stores just keep coming

Business expansions bring new optimism to Ridgewood

TUESDAY DECEMBER 11, 2012, 9:39 AM
BY LAURA HERZOG
STAFF WRITER
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

They’re moving on up.

Gypsy Warrior, formerly a small boutique on North Hudson Street, moved last Friday into its new, larger location on East Ridgewood Avenue, in the former Ecco Shoes space next to Hillmann Lighting.

According to shop owners Michel Bezoza and Nicla DiCosmo, the move out of their smaller location, which they opened about a year ago, was about accommodating their customers, some of whom have come from as far as Europe to see their online inventory in person.

“With the boom of the store, we wanted to continue to accommodate our customers in this much larger space,” said Bezoza, who, like her business partner, is “a Bergen-raised Rutgers University graduate who used to shop “at some of Ridgewood’s bygone boutiques.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/182980211_Business_expansions_bring_new_optimism_to_Ridgewood.html