Author: James

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Who’s more entitled — baby boomers or millennials? Finally, an answer…

millenials

Published: May 17, 2017 9:43 p.m. ET

Young Americans are constantly told by the media — and, sometimes, their own parents — that they think the world owes them a favor. Bad news for baby boomers: It may be the exact opposite.

Millennials say people should be able to pay for their own housing at 22 years of age, pay for their own car at 20.5 years of age and be responsible for their own cell phone plan at 18.5 years of age, according to a new study from personal-finance site Bankrate.com.

In all three cases, the younger cohort’s average response is about a year and a half earlier than when baby boomers feel these three landmarks of financial independence should happen.

“Millennials are often stereotyped as being entitled,” Sarah Berger, a columnist and analyst at Bankrate.com, said in a statement on the survey released Wednesday. “It’s refreshing to see that millennials really do have high expectations of gaining financial independence and getting off their parents’ payroll.”

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/baby-boomers-are-more-entitled-than-millennials-and-this-research-proves-it-2017-05-17

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Reader says it’s tough to end local rule

Village Council Meeting

file photo by Boyd Loving

511 municipalities. Home rule isn’t cheap. Delayering administration and management would yield tons. How many police chiefs in NJ vs. NYC, which have about the same population? How many superintendents? rationalize pay scales too. Unfortunately, it’s all aspirational…if you look at some of the school regionalizations that did not take place, a big reason was proportionate representation and cost allocation. It’s easy to sloganeer, it’s tough to end local rule.

Posted on by — 1 Comment

Reader says Number of houses in Ridgewood hasn’t changed in a long time , What happened in the meantime?

B3HXXR

Number of houses in Ridgewood hasn’t changed in a long time. How come now the company can’t keep up with the needs? A few years ago there were no issues with irrigating, right? What happened in the meantime? You cannot blame this situation to automatic sprinklers. After all most of them work very early morning when people are asleep. We are getting more restricted every year. In a couple of years showerheads will probably be declared illegal in Ridgewood. What I smell is a collaboration between Rwg Water and VC to make this situation as tough as possible in order to convince people that the only alternative it to block the sun with some huge deposits in the middle of the village. It always works this way.

Posted on by — 7 Comments

Reader says the village is currently undergoing a $42 million capital investment to address the various infrastructure issues

Village Council

Yes, Ridgewood Water was mismanaged for many years. After the new director took over, the problems are being addressed. Thanks to the current council, the village is currently undergoing a $42 million capital investment to address the various infrastructure issues. Selling to a private supplier isn’t a good idea. The wáter will still come from the same source, might actually taste worse, and it will be much more expensive. Have you tasted the wáter supplied by Suez?? Eeewwww

Posted on by — 2 Comments

Reader says Don’t Rock the Boat Ridgewood , Shut Up and Pay

village-hall-theridgewoodblog

I have absolutely no idea why you people don’t understand what goes on around here…connotating that just because their residents and they sit on the board this gives them the option of refusal is a joke. You really don’t get it do you? You can step up to the mic and blather all you like and petition for redress but we all know at the end of the day the decisions were made long ago and you were not and never will be a part of that process. Your job is pay the patently absurd taxes that we scam you with under the pretext of wonderful schools, over paid municipal workers ( Et Al) and to not complain. It’s how it’s done around here. We’ve been doing it for years. And getting away with it. SO DONT ROCK THE BOAT

Posted on by — 3 Comments

Reader says The fix for Ridgewood Water is a little more complicated

RidgewoodWaterLogo_061912_rn_tif_

“Facts are important.” Indeed. So where are the facts to support the allegations of mismanagement in this post? All we get are rainfall data which suggest a fundamental lack of appreciation for the difference between groundwater and surface water supplies. Yes, drought conditions impact an aquifer, but up to a point, excess rainfall simply runs off. The problems Ridgewood faces are not unique and have been decades in the making. In a nutshell: too much lawn irrigation (especially automated lawn sprinkling that has proliferated in the last 20 years) and increase in impervious surfacing which increases runoff and diminishes aquifer replenishment.

The fix is a little more complicated other than the obvious idea of preventing people from over-watering their lawns. More tank capacity would help but not solve the problem. You also will face enormous NIMBY resistance to locating such tanks where they are needed in residential areas. Partnering with a surface water supplier? Expensive, but an option if we want to underwrite the lavish lawn irrigation that we seem addicted to. Selling to a private supplier? A nightmare option of increased rates and unresponsive profit-motivated management.

Is RW management perfect? Or even good? Maybe not, but the infrastructure issues here come down to over-development and over-sprinkling of lawns. I see the water restrictions as inevitable and entirely reasonable. Get used to them.

Posted on by — 5 Comments

The media might have revealed more intel than Trump

domestic-spying

By Post Editorial Board

May 17, 2017 | 12:59am

For all the outrage over what President Trump might have told the Russian ambassador last week, aggressive journalism — and ambitious leaks — may have done the worst harm on Tuesday.

Monday’s stories on what Trump told his Russian guests noted that he’d given details that might help them figure out how Washington had gotten the intel.

Trump’s intel disclosure to Russia put spy in danger: report

But the New York Times reported Tuesday that Israel was the source.

And then ABC disclosed even more sensitive specifics: An Israeli spy inside ISIS had uncovered the active plot to bring down a US-bound jet with a laptop bomb able to evade airport security.

This info is said to have been provided on condition that Washington not reveal who came up with the goods. And we’d like to hope that the leaks to the Times and ABC are disinformation to obscure the true source.

https://nypost.com/2017/05/17/the-media-might-have-revealed-more-intel-than-trump/

Posted on by — 1 Comment

How many members of the opposition party did the previous administration surveil?

Obama-Golf

By
James Freeman
Updated May 12, 2017 5:42 p.m. ET

Another day brings another series of tweets from President Trump that have his opponents—and even some of his allies—expressing shock and outrage. In one particularly incendiary missive this morning Mr. Trump wrote, “James Comey better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!” It’s no surprise that Mr. Trump is once again dominating the news via Twitter, but reporters might also want to pay attention to presidential use of a much more powerful set of electronic tools.

.https://www.wsj.com/articles/obama-trump-and-surveillance-1494624812.

Posted on by — 4 Comments

Why Don’t Reporters Care Who Killed The DNC’s Seth Rich?

DNC's Seth Rich

5/16/2017

Scandal: Here’s a story that would seem ripe for media bloodhounds to pursue. A disgruntled insider may have leaked damaging information about his employers, and was later murdered on his way home by two unidentified assailants.

Put President Trump’s name somewhere in the mix and it would be the latest scandal-to-end-all-scandals, capturing wall-to-wall coverage, eliciting new calls for independent prosecutors and impeachment, and probably making Jimmy Kimmel cry again.

But since the person involved worked for the Democratic National Committee, it’s being ignored by everyone in the press except a cadre of conservative reporters.

The story involves Seth Rich, a DNC staffer who was gunned down near his home in Washington, D.C., last July — shot twice in the back by two assailants seen following him on a security camera, in what has been described by police as a botched robbery, although the killers didn’t take anything from Rich. His murder remains unsolved.

https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/why-dont-reporters-care-who-killed-the-dncs-seth-rich/

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Small plane carrying family vanishes in Bermuda Triangle

tidal-wave

By David K. Li and Kate Sheehy

May 16, 2017 | 12:49pm | Updated

A Tribeca event planner, her ­pilot boyfriend and her two young sons disappeared in a plane in the Bermuda Triangle, and authorities said Tuesday they found a “debris field” near where the aircraft was last heard from.

The group had just spent Mother’s Day in Puerto Rico and was flying to Florida when the small twin-engine plane disappeared at about 2:10 p.m. Monday, according to officials.

On board were 40-year-old Skylight CEO Jennifer Blumin, her 4- and 3-year-old sons and her boyfriend, Nathan Ulrich, 52, of Lee, NH, authorities and family members said.

Ulrich, an Ivy-League-educated former Coast Guard auxiliarist, is the ex-husband of actress Rae Dawn Chong.

https://nypost.com/2017/05/16/small-plane-carrying-four-new-yorkers-goes-missing-near-bahamas/

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Ridgewood Restaurant hit by “Eat and Run ” diners

ridgewood police

file photo by Boyd Loving

May 18,2017

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, the Ridgewood Police report that on May 12, a business located on Chestnut Street reported a theft of services. The restaurant reported two males ordered and consumed about $60 worth of food and then left without making payment. The Ridgewood Detective bureau is investigating the incident.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Travel Elementary School in Ridgewood Hit by Sign Thief

street signs

file photo Ridgewood Police

ief is at it again May 18,2017

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, the Ridgewood Police report the sign thief is at it again . On May 13, Ptl. Jack Knudsen responded to the Travel Elementary School located on a report of criminal mischief. Upon arrival a school staff member reported signs affixed to the fencing of the school property were removed between 5/12/17 and 5/13/17. The signs were apparently maliciously cut and removed from the fencing. If anyone has any information about this incident, please contact the Ridgewood Police Detective Bureau at 201-251-4535.

 

Posted on by — 3 Comments

Reader says social norms survey is an attempt to push RHS drug/alcohol problems under the rug

fast-times-at-ridgemont-high

As an RHS student- these numbers are completely false. This survey was given on a volunteer-only basis, and to participate, your parent needed to sign a consent form. I didn’t take this survey, and I have never met a single student who did. I believe it was also administered in the RHS campus center with teachers all around. This year, the student editors of the RHS High Times gave their own version of the survey that had much more accurate results (these were only published in print and are not on the website). Every student in RHS and many teachers make fun of the social norms survey and the attempts by the school to push all of the drug/alcohol problems under the rug.

Posted on by — 8 Comments

Reader says its not a Drought it’s Mismanagement of Ridgewood Water

RidgewoodWaterLogo_061912_rn_tif_

Facts are important. This problem is wholly and entirely a mismanagement issue by the village and RW Water. Rainfall and water supplies are not impacting this issue. This is a poor infrastructure, lack of planning, and foolish government decisions. Real leaders would solve the issues. From the US site

Heavy rainfall caused widespread flooding: Record precipitation was observed in parts of the Northwest, Northeast, Southern Plains and Mid-Atlantic. North Carolina had its wettest April on record. Rains caused widespread flooding in the Mid-Mississippi River Valley and contributed to numerous landslides in the West.

Drought shrunk to lowest extent since 2000: On May 2, 5 percent of the contiguous U.S. was in drought. This was the smallest drought footprint since the Drought Monitor began in 2000. Despite improvement in many areas, drought worsened in the Southwest and across parts of the Southeast where several large wildfires burned in Florida and southern Georgia.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Reader says I’m not investing my money in a tree that I may or may not be “allowed” to water

shade_trees_theridgewoodblog

You’ve all fallen for the spin put out by Ridgewood Water!
We are not in a drought!
Ridgewood Water can’t pump the water fast enough, this has nothing to do with supply but with transmission!

And, please don’t tell me that I need to replant a tree for every dead tree I take down on my property.

I’m not investing my money in a tree that I may or may not be “allowed” to water.