Posted on Leave a comment

>NJ Transit promises Port Authority toll increases will not mean higher fares

>

NJ Transit promises Port Authority toll increases will not mean higher fares

NJ Transit officials said they have no plans to increase bus fares, even though the toll that the agency will pay for buses to cross the Hudson River will increase by $6 per bus starting Sunday.

Executive Director James Weinstein said Wednesday that the increased cost, estimated at an $4.6 million, would be absorbed by the agency by putting off doing “other things.”

Academy Bus officials notified customers Tuesday that a fare increase could be in the works because of the increase in Hudson River crossing tolls at Port Authority facilities. The toll for commuter buses is set to increase from $4 to $10 per bus on Sept. 18, the same date that all Port Authority tolls and PATH fares are scheduled to rise.

Some commuter advocates called on the Port Authority to waive the toll increase for commuter buses. A Port Authority spokesman said they’ve received no requests for a waiver so far.  (Higgs, Gannett)

Posted on Leave a comment

>NJ Public Schools: parents and other visitors here may soon have to pass background checks

>

NJ Public Schools: parents and other visitors here may soon have to pass background checks

Staff members may not be the only ones who have to submit to background checks in Marlboro Public Schools – parents and other visitors here may soon have to pass them, too.

The U.S. Department of Justice has awarded the township a $37,500 Community Oriented Policing Services-Secure Our Schools grant, district officials and legislators said. The approval came on the heels of recent board talks about purchasing a security system that would check visitor backgrounds at all eight district schools.

Marlboro was one of seven communities, including Bayonne and Berkeley Heights Township, to apply for and receive the federal funds, which totaled $530,000. The funds may be used for metal detectors, locks, security systems and other safety measures.

“New Jersey’s students and teachers should never have to worry about their safety in our schools,” said U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), a member of the Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations Subcommittee that funds the grant program.  (Williams Boyd, Gannett)

Posted on Leave a comment

>Taking the first steps toward a New Jersey healthcare exchange

>

Taking the first steps toward a New Jersey healthcare exchange

The law — at least on this point– is clear. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) mandates that healthcare insurance exchanges — virtual marketplaces that let individuals and small businesses comparison shop for health coverage — must be established in all states by January 2014.

Defining the details of an exchange, however, is left up to individual states. That task brought analysts, advocates and researchers to Trenton yesterday, to a stakeholder forum co-hosted by NJ for Health Care and the NJ Citizen Action Education Fund.

Discussion among panelists and findings from a report released by Rutgers University last month reveal that there is general agreement that New Jersey should create its own exchange — streamlined and simple to use.
Panelist Ray Castro, senior policy analyst with research organization New Jersey Policy Perspective, said that while New Jersey is already ahead of other states in terms of health policies, “by having our own exchange we’re going to be able to tailor the exchange to meet the needs in our state.  (Roman, NJ Spotlight)

Posted on Leave a comment

>With Rising Property Taxes, Should Non-Profits Now Pay Their “Fair Share”?

>With Rising Property Taxes, Should Non-Profits Now Pay Their “Fair Share”?
( its a little old  but it still seemed very relevant, the staff of the Ridgewood blog ) 
Posted by Matthew Brian Hersh on August 4, 2008

It’s tight here in New Jersey.

And it’s because it’s crowded. With 8.7 million people, we are 11th in the country in population, but first in population density in the Union with over 1,100 people per square mile. We’re also wealthy—2nd in the country—but you wouldn’t necessarily know it by looking at those areas that make us the most densely-populated state in the country.

The Garden State, as it so happens, also as the highest imbalance of any state in the country in terms of what it gives and receives to and from the federal government. According the the New Jersey State League of Municipalities, the Garden State gets back just less than two-thirds of every dollar it sends to Washington.

So there are demands here. There are spatial demands, housing demands, demands for resources, infrastructure, you name it. As such, New Jersey is often at the vanguard in dealing with all kinds of issues facing the nation. The state hits a major stumbling block, however, when it comes to property taxes.

In New Jersey, where we rely on a property-tax-based system to largely fund our public schools and governments, rising municipal costs are taxing people out of towns. The state has mandated a four percent cap on municipal budget increases, and as home values are reassessed and towns are revaluated, property tax rates will adjust—either up or down. But obviously the worst-case scenario is an increase, so that’s what we’ll examine.

https://www.rooflines.org/1061/with_rising_property_taxes_should_non_profits_now_pay_their_fair_share/

Posted on Leave a comment

>VOTE for the Best Pizza in Ridgewood 2011

>

ridgewood+01252006+013

VOTE for the Best Pizza in Ridgewood 2011 

Due to the hotly contested nature of the contest and technical problems with the voting in the past there is a limit of 1 vote per IP . This year we are adding 5 secret reviewers who will taste a slice of pizza from each participant .We will then compare their selection with the Votes and see if they come to the same conclusions.  PJ will do a special taste test to break any ties should they occur . 


Past Winners include :


Pizza fusion (2010 Winner)

A Mano (2009 Winner)

Puzo’s (2008 Winner)


the POLL : https://micropoll.com/t/KEiOrZCVrV

Posted on Leave a comment

>White House pressed on $500 million loan to solar company now under investigation

>White House pressed on $500 million loan to solar company now under investigation

By Joe Stephens and Carol D. Leonnig, Published: September 13

The Obama White House tried to rush federal reviewers for a decision on a nearly half-billion-dollar loan to the solar-panel manufacturer Solyndra so Vice President Biden could announce the approval at a September 2009 groundbreaking for the company’s factory, newly obtained e-mails show.

The Silicon Valley company, a centerpiece in President Obama’s initiative to develop clean energy technologies, had been tentatively approved for the loan by the Energy Department but was awaiting a final financial review by the Office of Management and Budget.

The August 2009 e-mails, released to The Washington Post, show White House officials repeatedly asking OMB reviewers when they would be able to decide on the federal loan and noting a looming press event at which they planned to announce the deal. In response, OMB officials expressed concern that they were being rushed to approve the company’s project without adequate time to assess the risk to taxpayers, according to information provided by Republican congressional investigators.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/white-house-pushed-500-million-loan-to-solar-company-now-under-investigation/2011/09/13/gIQAr3WbQK_print.html

Posted on Leave a comment

>Valley Renewal : building a new facility, not renewal

>
Valley Renewal : building a new facility, not renewal 

I didn’t realize that the current building is about 540,000 square feet and that the proposed “renewal” is somewhere between 1.1 and 1.44 million square feet. I think this doesn’t qualify as a renewal, renovation or even an expansion.

When you increase something from it’s current size to twice or maybe 2.67 times it’s size i’d say you are building a new facility. Imagine if you went down to the building department in Ridgewood and wanted to put in a giant underground parking garage, expand your house to the boundaries, raise the height of your home substantially, and tell them construction will at best last 10 years. After they finished laughing, they would politely throw you out.

This project is way beyond the scope of a renewal. Imagine Paramus Park Mall on that property. I’m sure Valley can come up with revised plans with lower room counts, a smaller footprint, less digging, less height, better setbacks so it keeps more within our community. p.s. i don’t live anywhere near Valley.

Monthly Coupon Offer 1show?id=mjvuF8ceKoQ&bids=60066

Posted on Leave a comment

>A Sign of things to come :Credit ratings agency downgrades Collingswood to junk status

>

A Sign of things to come : Credit ratings agency downgrades Collingswood to junk status

The credit ratings agency Moody’s has downgraded the borough of Collingswood to junk status, a drop tied to taxpayer underwriting of the LumberYard development on Haddon Avenue.

Collingswood dropped six notches, from A1 to Ba1. By contrast, the state of New Jersey was downgraded one notch by three credit ratings agencies this year.

Alan Schankel, managing director of Philadelphia-based Janney Capital Markets, called the downgrade “huge.”

As a practical matter, it’s a real black spot on their image and could make it difficult for them to borrow,” Schankel said. “I don’t think they’re necessarily going to default, but I can’t see a clear path to how they’re going to pay off their debt.”

According to the Moody’s assessment, the borough is a guarantor for a 2006, $8.5 million loan by LumberYard Redevelopment LLC, the residential and business development located off Haddon Avenue.  (Roh, Gannett)

Posted on Leave a comment

>Ridgewood-based record label steps it up

>
Ridgewood-based record label steps it up

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2011  
BY KELLY EBBELS
STAFF WRITER
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

An ardent music scene around the Ridgewood area has long flourished, with the ascent of musicians from basement shows to Internet notoriety and world tours.

Alongside the emergence of the area’s indie musicians has been a local record label that has nourished that talent and allowed a springboard to release their music.

Underwater Peoples, the record label created by Ridgewood resident Evan Brody and three of his college friends from George Washington University, had gained already significant clout from the Internet’s music communities. Their mainstream recognition is now slowly growing, this time from Billboard, which last month named Underwater Peoples the eighth-best indie music label on a list of 50. It’s a recognition Brody says he is humbled by, if a little unsure what to do with.

https://www.northjersey.com/community/129509568_Local_record_label_steps_it_up_Underwater_Peoples_named_near_top_of_Billboard_ranking.html

Posted on Leave a comment

>Jobs: New Jersey should invest in horseshoe crabs, biologist says

>

Jobs: New Jersey should invest in horseshoe crabs, biologist says

It sounds like ghoulish business, but drawing blood from horseshoe crabs is worth at least $200 million a year, with steadily growing demand — and increasing worries that the supply could diminish.

So one prominent biologist who studies the relationship between horseshoe crabs and shorebirds is proposing that New Jersey and Delaware launch a public-private partnership to produce lysate — a critical medical testing compound made from crab blood — with help from Delaware Bay commercial fishermen who used to catch crabs for bait.

“There’s a huge value being lost here. … We really have to create wealth for the people in the area,” said Larry Niles, chief scientist for the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey, after state advisers met Tuesday to hear reports on the status of the crabs and red knot shorebirds that feed on the crabs’ eggs.  (Moore, Gannett)

Posted on Leave a comment

Ridgewood school board estimates Irene’s cleanup costs at $118K

>
Ridgewood school board estimates Irene’s cleanup costs at $118K

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2011
BY JOSEPH CRAMER
STAFF WRITER
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

Cleaning and repair costs to Ridgewood High School (RHS) fields following the damage that occurred during Hurricane Irene will total around $118,000, Superintendent Daniel Fishbein reported at Monday’s Board of Education (BOE) meeting

The figures will be submitted to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in the hopes of receiving disaster assistance funds to alleviate the cost to the district.

During his “opening of school” report, Fishbein outlined the various damages at school facilities during the late August storm, including folds, tears and sediment deposits on the turf surfaces on Stadium and Stevens fields, which both spent the better part of the storm submerged under the overflowing waters of the Ho-Ho-Kus Brook.

Fishbein estimated the cost of cleaning and repair to Stadium Field – involving the removal of debris, correction of the folds and repair of the tears – would be about $58,175. The corresponding cost to neighboring Stevens Field is about $32,585, he said. In addition, about $16,300 will need to be spent on landscaping repairs to the areas surrounding the fields.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/129736353_Ridgewood_school_board_estimates_Irene_s_cleanup_costs_at__118K.html

Posted on Leave a comment

>NJ’s participation in common academic core standards sees early test

>NJ’s participation in common academic core standards sees early test


As New Jersey and dozens of other states join a national effort to redefine academic standards for public schools, Cherry Hill’s Joseph D. Sharp Elementary School is a good place to see those new standards taking shape.


In Sarah Anderson’s first-grade classroom, for instance, her students are already seeing the number bar raised.

“We’ve never gone above 100 in first grade in the state of New Jersey before, and now we’re 120,” said the veteran teacher yesterday. “It’s a whole paradigm shift.”

Cherry Hill started revamping its curriculum in anticipation of the Common Core State Standards, a national project to clarify and increase expectations for students from kindergarten to 12th grade.

Gov. Christie was at Sharp Elementary yesterday to promote the state’s participation, the second leg of his latest campaign to push his education reform agenda.  (Mooney, NJ Spotlight)

Posted on Leave a comment

>Gov. Christie goes off to school to highlight state’s new math standards

>

Gov. Christie goes off to school to highlight state’s new math standards

As part of what has become a back-to-school period push of his proposals to improve public education Gov. Chris Christie, joined by state Education Commissioner Chris Cerf, on Tuesday met with the teachers at Sharp Elementary School in Cherry Hill who are implementing new math standards for grades K-2.
The meeting is part of Christie’s move to improve academic standards and ensure students receive the skills they need to be ready for college and a career. Under the supervision of the Department of Education, school districts are implementing the first round of what are called the new Common Core State Standards.
Setting standards that center around college and career readiness is one of Christie’s so-called four Building Blocks for Success in New Jersey’s Schools – accountability and performance, academics, talent, and innovation.  (Hester, New Jersey Newsroom)

Posted on Leave a comment

>AT&T Expands Mobile Broadband Wireless Capacity in Bergen and Essex Counties

>AT&T Expands Mobile Broadband Wireless Capacity in Bergen and Essex Counties

Additional Spectrum Expected to Improve Connectivity and Performance of Mobile Broadband Data and Voice Connectivity

MAHWAH, N.J. and NEWARK, N.J., Sept. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Customers in Bergen and Essex Counties are expected to experience improved mobile broadband coverage and voice performance as a result of continued investment and innovation by AT&T*. The company announced today that it has completed another key initiative in its ongoing efforts to enhance the wireless capacity and performance of its mobile broadband network.

New areas of enhanced network capacity in Bergen County include Allendale, Bergenfield, Emerson, Fairlawn, Franklin Lakes, Glen Rock, Mahwah, Midland Park, Oakland, Old Tappan, Park Ridge, Ramsey, Ridgewood, River Edge, Tenafly, Upper Saddle River and Westwood and also along the Garden State Parkway, Routes 287, 17, 208, and Franklin Turnpike.

New areas of expanded capacity in Essex County include Belleville, Bloomfield, Glen Ridge, Harrison, Irvington, Maplewood, Montclair, Newark, Nutley, and the Oranges. The network was also enhanced in these areas along the Garden State Parkway, Routes 280 and 21, and Springfield Avenue.
AT&T invested more than $400 million in its New Jersey wireless and wireline networks in the first half of 2011.

“Delivering dependable wireless coverage for consumers and businesses needing to stay connected is our ultimate objective,” said J. Michael Schweder, AT&T President New Jersey. “In addition, our recently announced agreement to acquire T-Mobile USA will strengthen and expand our network across New Jersey. If approved, this deal means that we’ll be able to expand the next generation of mobile broadband – 4G LTE – from our current plan of 80 percent of the U.S. population to more than 97 percent.”

The network enhancement adds new layers of frequency, also known as “carriers,” to 124 cell sites in Bergen and Essex Counties to more efficiently manage available spectrum and increase mobile broadband capacity. The expansion helps manage ever-growing demand for mobile broadband services by allocating more network resources for AT&T’s mobile broadband network.

“Our goal is for our customers across the Garden State to have an extraordinary experience. As part of the communities in Bergen and Essex Counties, we’re always looking for new opportunities to provide an enhanced customer experience and our investment in the local wireless network is just one way we’re accomplishing that,” said Tom DeVito, vice president and general manager for AT&T in New Jersey and New York.

AT&T’s mobile broadband network is based on the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) family of technologies that includes GSM and UMTS, the most widely used wireless network platforms in the world. AT&T has the best international coverage of any U.S. wireless provider, providing access to voice service in more than 220 countries and data service in more than 200 countries.

AT&T also operates the nation’s largest Wi-Fi network** with nearly 27,000 hotspots in the U.S. and provides access to nearly 190,000 hotspots globally through roaming agreements. Most AT&T smartphone customers get access to our entire national Wi-Fi network at no additional cost, and Wi-Fi usage doesn’t count against customers’ monthly wireless data plans.

For more information about AT&T’s coverage in New Jersey or anywhere in the United States, consumers can visit the  AT&T Coverage Viewer.

Posted on Leave a comment

>In Major Upset Republican wins former Anthony Weiner’s New York House seat

>In Major Upset Republican wins former Anthony Weiner’s New York House seat
By Paul Kane, Wednesday, September 14, 12:22 AM

With the outcome of his own reelection effort 14 difficult months away, President Obama suffered a sharp rebuke Tuesday when voters in New York elected a conservative Republican to represent a Democratic district that has not been in GOP hands since the 1920s.

Bob Turner, the winner, cast the election as a referendum on Obama’s stewardship of the economy and, in the state’s Ninth Congressional District, which has a large population of Orthodox Jewish voters, the president’s position on Israel.

With 75 percent of the precincts reporting at press time, Turner had a commanding lead, with 53 percent of the vote, compared with 47 percent for Weprin.

Turner, 70, a retired cable TV executive who has never served in elective office, defeated Democratic State Assemblyman David Weprin, 55, who has two decades of experience in public service, to fill the seat left vacant when Anthony Weiner (D) resigned in disgrace in June after more than 12 years in the House.

The defeat came as Republicans trounced Democrats in another special House election Tuesday, in northern Nevada, where Republican Mark Amodei led Democrat Kate Marshall, 56 percent to 39 percent almost from the start.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/republican-wins-democratic-new-york-house-seat/2011/09/13/gIQAoos5QK_print.html