Clinton biographer struggled against ‘horrible feelings that [the Clintons] might have a hollow marriage’
BY: Alana Goodman
January 6, 2016 5:00 am
Bill Clinton dismissed Paula Jones in the 1990s as a “floozy” and a “nobody” who was only suing him for sexual harassment in order to have her “moment in the sun,” according to an audio diary recorded at the time by one of his closest confidantes.
Clinton’s friend and biographer, Taylor Branch, took notes on a late-night conversation he had with the president on Oct. 2, 1997, and immediately recorded them into an audio diary. The recordings were recently obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
According to Branch’s diary, Clinton discussed the pending sexual harassment lawsuit brought against him by former Arkansas government employee Paula Jones, who claimed he unzipped his pants and asked her to perform a sex act on him in a Little Rock hotel room in 1991.
“[Clinton] said they had now changed Paula Jones’s hair style, made her look less like a floozy, and that she didn’t seem to have any visible income but was always driving a new car,” said Branch, a historian who drew from many of his diary entries to write his 2010 Clinton biography The Clinton Tapes.
As many of you have likely read, Mayor Aronsohn yesterday proposed that the traffic garage be altered to the smallest of the three options.
On the surface, this seems like a generous compromise and that he is listening to the needs of Mount Carmel and the rest of us in town but I am concerned that he is still not hearing us.
Let me explain:
1) The footprint for the smallest proposed garage is the same as the biggest. More than anything, this is the most unseen problem. The proposed garage will in essence extend nearly to the center mark on the center line of Hudson street. As resident Rob Kotch put it today, “It’s like trying to fit an elephant into a VW bug.” So, the width is of equal concern as the height. This will affect traffic in that area in a major way, particularly with regard to the parishioners of Mount Carmel.
2) The only traffic study already commissioned by the town was conducted between 7-9am and 3-6pm on the same day in October. The study itself states: “We recommend that an analysis be performed to incorporate the intersections of South Broad Street & East Ridgewood Avenue and North Broad Street & Franklin Avenue into our traffic model as these intersections are already operating at capacity and may affect access to the surrounding land uses. We recommend that a study be performed to include Passaic Street as Hudson Street and Passaic Street operate as a pair within the roadway network…It is also our opinion that the study should include the intersections of South Broad Street & East Ridgewood Avenue and North Broad Street & Franklin Avenue as these intersections are operating near capacity and have a noticeable effect upon traffic.”
In other words, more study is needed to do this properly, which of course brings us to–
3) On September 30th, the Village Council voted in favor of doing a comprehensive traffic study that specifically includes the parking garage. It is essential we make sure the council follows through with this particular study and do so before anything further is done with the proposed garage.
JANUARY 5, 2016 LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2016, 11:51 AM
BY KIMBERLY REDMOND
EDITOR |
TOWN JOURNAL
Based upon information provided by libraries in Allendale, Ho-Ho-Kus, Ridgewood and Upper Saddle River, 2015’s most popular books closely reflect the titles that appeared on national bestseller lists over the last year.
The most borrowed book from those four libraries was Paula Hawkins’ “The Girl on the Train,” a thriller that has sold 6.5 million copies since its January 2015 release and is being developed into a feature film starring Emily Blunt. Hawkins’ debut novel also ranked as one of the most checked-item items from the New York Public Library System in 2015.
Molly McKenney, Upper Saddle River’s adult services librarian, said there are generally two reasons as to why a book becomes popular with patrons – either they were written by an already famous author or it gets great word of mouth and “essentially becomes viral like a YouTube video.”
“People start hearing that other people liked it and they want to see what all the fuss is about. ‘The Girl on the Train’ definitely falls into that category. It followed in the footsteps of Gillian Flynn’s extremely popular ‘Gone Girl.’ Both are thrillers which center around female anti-heroes, a sub-genre which has exploded with popularity in recent years,” McKenney said.
At the Ridgewood Library, hold lists “were in the hundreds” despite there being multiple copies of Hawkins’ book, circulation librarian Lorri Steinbacher said.
“The Girl on the Train,” along with Ridgewood’s other top checkouts last year – Anthony Doerr’s “All the Light We Cannot See” and Kristin Hannah’s “The Nightingale” – all “captured the imaginations of book groups and casual readers alike,” Steinbacher said.
Ridgewood NJ, Registration for the Winter 2016 session will be held on Tuesday, January 19th, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., at the Community Center, Village Hall, 131 North Maple Avenue, Ridgewood
This program, for boys and girls age 5 to 15, is designed to enhance self-esteem, self-discipline and safety awareness! Students are placed into classes according to age and ability. This is an ongoing program.
Classes will be held at Community Center, Village Hall, 131 North Maple Avenue on Tuesdays after school for a 10-week session, January 26 through April 5 (no class Feb 16). The cost is $100.00. Uniforms are highly recommended and are not included in the registration fee. Click on details below. Call KidSafe at 973-284-5650 for more information.
Next November, New Jerseyans will be asked to vote on a constitutional amendment to require the state government to make regular quarterly pension payments, which would put the state’s pension system — and the state of New Jersey itself — on the road to fiscal solvency within six years.
DECEMBER 31, 2015 LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2015, 10:51 AM
BY CAITLYN BAHRENBURG AND ROBERT CHRISTIE
STAFF WRITER |
NORTHERN VALLEY SUBURBANITE
Teachers were tired of being insulted, Old Tappan Education Association President Matt Capilli said.
So, residents, students and faculty members gathered up their signs and congregated outside of the Charles De Wolf Middle School to picket in act of solidarity with the union.
The Old Tappan teachers’ union, like many others across the state, entered the new academic year without a contract.
According to statistics provided by the New Jersey School Boards Association, which “provides training, advocacy and support to advance public education and the achievement of all students through effective governance” according to its website, almost one-third of the 579 public school districts in New Jersey started the year in the same position as Old Tappan. In Bergen County, 12 district started the year without a contract.
“Negotiations are difficult everywhere right now, so I think it’s really important to show support for our brother and sister school districts,” said Jim McGuire, president of the Northern Valley Education Association, the union that represents the educators at the regional high schools in Demarest and Old Tappan.
McGuire was one of many supporters at an Old Tappan Rally Nov. 17 to show support for the teachers and urge the local board of education to reach a deal with its unionized staff.
But, McGuire’s comment was visible in several districts in the region that did not have contracts for its unionized teachers.
Before reaching an agreement in November, the Tenafly Education Association boycotted the district’s annual Back to School Nights in September.
The nights give parents a chance to meet wit their children’s teachers.
Tenafly Education Association president, Jackie Wellman, said the boycott was meant to send a message to the district.
“A program is rendered useless when quality staff is missing,” said Wellman, who is a teacher at the Stillman Elementary School in Tenafly, in a previous interview with the Northern Valley Suburbanite explaining the reasons behind the boycotts.
Unions took other steps to highlight its memberships’ displeasure with not having a contract.
These job action tactics, said Ridgewood Education Association President Michael Yannone, are the result of a change in options teachers or districts have to reach a new deal when working under an expired contract.
“Back in the day, the threat of a strike for both sides was a good thing,” Yannone said.
Strikes by public employees, including teachers, have been illegal in New Jersey since the 1960s, though, private employees can strike, with the understanding that their actions remain legal.
MY ESSAY ON WHY WE NEED YOU AT THE PARKING GARAGE MEETING ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT, 1/6.
By Dave Slomin.
Dear Supporters of Citizens for a Better Ridgewood,
This Wednesday night, 1/6, our Village Council is meeting (7:30 at Village Hall) to vote on a $12 million dollar bond to fund the biggest garage possible on the Hudson Street lot, near Sook and Mt. Carmel. We need Residents to attend… to be seen and be heard, to share your thoughts and concerns. The current plan is approximately 270’ long by 50+’ high… almost the size of a football field. Even if they opt for the smallest current option, it only shrinks by 10 feet in height. Once built, Hudson Street will be narrowed by 10’, street parking will be lost, neighboring buildings will be dwarfed, Mt. Carmel will be impacted and it will set a size and scale precedent which will be used by developers to argue for bigger, taller and denser multi-family buildings throughout our historic downtown.
That said, personally, I don’t think a parking deck, fittingly sized, is necessarily a bad idea at all… just like I don’t think that multifamily developments, fittingly-sized, are a bad idea at all. I just think the proposals we’ve seen on both are way too big, too dense, and too out of character to preserve the small-town feel of our beloved Village. For parking, in addition to a revised garage plan, the council should better review and advise on other options that spread new parking throughout our CBD, while also making drivers better aware of current parking options through signage.
I’d also like to hear more about possibly creating a Business Improvement District (BID) downtown, to get the landlords who will directly profit from this garage to chip in some more to help pay for it. That’s needed, because financing the garage is too tentative at present. The language of the actual referendum didn’t point out that much of the funding for the garage will come from increasing current meter rates in other key areas of downtown by up to 300-400% and increasing paid parking hours from 6pm to 9pm. The garage does not pay for itself. That’s pretty important stuff to know… or at least test out before you start writing checks that bank on its success. The last time Ridgewood increased parking hours to raise revenue, the Chamber of Commerce themselves complained and asked to have the hours paired back to 6pm. So before we spend $12MM, we should have a firmer idea how it’ll be paid back. Last time, some of these “givens” didn’t work so well.
Regarding size, in a November email, one Councilmember supported the notion that “quaint” is in the eye of the beholder. I’m not sure I know of any ‘beholders’ that would think the current garage plan is quaint. It’s not. As is, it’s massive. At a recent Council Meeting, the former Chairman of Ridgewood’s Historical Preservation Committee said he feared if we build this thing, we’ll look at it afterwards and think, “My, that’s a really big building.”
Backstory is… in November, our Council put forth a parking referendum, asking: “Do you support a proposal to finance and build a downtown parking garage on the Hudson Street lot… by bonding up to $15 million in public funds, which will be paid for principally, if not entirely, with parking revenues.” 65% voters voted “Yes.” However, even in voting “Yes,” many folks asked indicated they really voted more for “parking in general” than a singular giant garage. No one had any real idea how big the garage would be, as it was not determined. Yet, several Councilmembers are using this vote as if it were a ‘blank check’ in support of building the biggest edifice possible, or something close to it. That’s not right.
At the time of the referendum, Residents were essentially promised that we could vote “Yes,” and then negotiate the garage’s size later. Despite this promise, the Council so curtailed the subsequent public garage discussions that concerned residents could not give full voice to their opinions. At the main post-referendum garage meeting, initial public comment was limited to 30 minutes total (at five minutes per speaker) and then to a maximum of 3 minutes per speaker later, with no repeat speakers allowed (even though the meeting was not running late and some folks, myself included, could not finish their presentations within the 3 minute limit). I was actually asked to sit down and not speak again by a Village staffer. As such, there was no real negotiation on anything. The post-referendum garage selection process felt frustratingly preordained… like so much of what we are seeing happen in Ridgewood lately.
At the end of that meeting the Council polled 3-2 to bond for the largest garage option. This all-too-quick and ‘non-negotiated’ selection, which also wrongly occurred before the comprehensive traffic and parking study promised on 9/30/15 has been performed, raises further concerns with the “process” by which things are happening in Ridgewood.
So, in short, while we should use the opportunity of this referendum to make some smart and truly fitting decisions regarding parking, we should not rush into construction of the current over-sized garage options. Bigger for Ridgewood is not better.
Ridgewood Nj, Are increased meter rates killing down town Ridgewood more than the precised lack of parking ? Both Glen Rock ,Westwood both have lower parking rates Ridgewood and similar down town shopping districts or Central Business districts ( CBD’s ) .
The funny thing was given all the metered parking in the USA there is very little written on the effect of parking fees on shopping behaviors . We did find a pretty in depth study done in Massachusetts by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) which we will refer to in this article.
First it obvious to us that parking fees are only one of many variables in attracting shoppers to a CBD and creating a successful climate for merchants.
Rents, resident demographics , types of retail, destination locations and infrastructure all play a part.
The MAPC makes to interesting points about parking fees :
If free on-street parking means there are never any spaces available, charging for parking can improve business. The inability to find a parking space can be at least as much of a deterrent as the need to pay for one, so if charging a nominal fee for parking means that there are usually a few spaces available rather than there rarely being any spaces available, this may make the area more attractive to customers.( https://www.mapc.org/resources/parking-toolkit/strategies-topic/charging-parking )
In order for charging for parking to be effective, it must free up some parking spaces, which means it must impact travel behavior and reduce demand for parking. The question is whether discouraging people from parking discourages them from visiting the area, or simply encourages them to get there another way. Some possible impacts of charging for parking are given below. Whether potential shoppers who might be deterred by the price of parking are driven away or whether they simply find other ways to get there will depend in part on the availability and appeal of alternate ways to get to the area. ( https://www.mapc.org/resources/parking-toolkit/strategies-topic/charging-parking )
Again the key finding :
A large part of whether charging for parking will negatively impact businesses depends on how attractive the district is relative to other options. If there is a popular mall a short drive away providing many of the same goods and services with free parking, that can increase the likelihood that people will go elsewhere. On the other hand, if the downtown provides enough amenities and attractions – such as restaurants, bars, and appealing outdoor spaces – that cannot be replaced by a mall or isolated shopping center, the downtown is more likely to succeed.( https://www.mapc.org/resources/parking-toolkit/strategies-topic/charging-parking )
But an even more interesting conclusion about garage vs street parking :
Many people prefer to park in on-street parking rather than an off-street lot or garage because of the convenience. If off-street parking is limited or is primarily available as pay lots or garages while on-street parking is free, drivers will tend to circle blocks repeatedly looking for an open space on the street rather than paying to park. This congests streets with unnecessary traffic and pollutes the air with unnecessary emissions. It also means that expensive garages in which the municipality may have invested a significant amount of money may be underutilized and generate less revenue than expected. In this type of situation, implementing charges for on-street parking is critical to free up on-street spaces, encourage drivers to use pay lots or garages, and reduce “cruising” for parking. If off-street parking is priced, on-street parking should be priced as well, and should ideally be priced higher than structured parking. If off-street parking is mostly free surface lots and there is rarely a shortage of spaces available, low prices may be effective in encouraging people to use off-street options where available if convenience is not a top priority. ( https://www.mapc.org/resources/parking-toolkit/strategies-topic/charging-parking )
By Scott Whitlock | January 5, 2016 | 12:59 PM EST
The View’s Joy Behar on Tuesday insisted that, regardless of whether Bill Clinton raped a woman or Ted Kennedy drowned someone, she would vote for these liberal politicians. Behar and her fellow co-hosts were discussing how Clinton’s past would impact his wife. She justified, “Republicans have voted against the Violence Against Women Act. Now, that to me, is more important than anything that Bill Clinton did or didn’t do because it’s what [Hillary’s] going to vote for.”
This came after co-host Paula Faris reminded, “Juanita Broaddrick, Kathleen Willey. They say that he [Clinton] either exposed himself to them, raped them or groped them.” Behar conceded, “He is a dog. Let’s face it.” She later declared, “But I still will vote for Bill Clinton because he votes in my favor.”
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA Invites all American Muslims to endorse campaign
January 6,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA, the nation’s single largest Muslim organization, is launching an unprecedented and comprehensive campaign to separate True Islam from extremism. The True Islam and the Extremists campaign educates Americans and Muslim Americans on the peaceful, anti-extremist teachings of Islam by clarifying 11 of the most common misconceptions extremists use to radicalize youth.
With President Obama making a renewed call to root out extremist ideology by partnering with American Muslims, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community responds by further elevating our century-long efforts. To that end, the Community has extended invitations to over 2,100 Muslim American Imams and thought leaders to endorse the Campaign to demonstrate True Islam and advance this proven model to combat extremism.
Our most recent scientific survey conducted in Fall 2015 by YouGov indicates an urgent need to educate Muslim Americans on true Islam. For example, while true Islam backs free speech, 52% of Muslim Americans believe the state or someone from society should punish those who blaspheme against or insult Prophet Muhammad. Likewise, while Prophet Muhammad taught that loyalty to one’s nation of residence is part of a Muslim’s faith, only 52% of Muslim Americans believe Islam always requires loyalty to your country of residence. Moreover, while true Islam teaches separation of mosque and state, only about one in three Muslim Americans or 32% believe Islam supports separation of mosque and state. In contrast, 40% said it does not while 28% were unsure. Perhaps most concerning, 18% of Muslim Americans did not agree or declined to answer when asked whether true Islam condemns every form of terrorism. (7% and 12%, respectively).
Meanwhile, Muslim Americans express frustration at inconsistent Muslim leadership in the ideological fight against terrorism. A 2011 Pew survey reports that only 34 percent of Muslim Americans felt Muslim leaders have done enough to speak out against extremism. The same survey found that nearly half or 48 percent of Muslim Americans feel Muslim American leadership has not adequately addressed terrorism.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA believes that education of all Americans—Muslims and non-Muslims alike—is the solution to remedy this misinformation about true Islam and in the best interest of our national security. Since 1920, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA has worked with local, state, and national governments, with interfaith organizations, and with other Muslim organizations with a proven model to combat radicalization and terrorism in America.
“The Muslim American community is a diverse and vibrant community, and we may not necessarily agree on certain dogmatic beliefs,” said Dr. Nasim Rehmatullah, Senior Vice President of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA. “Our purpose here is not to debate dogma, but to recognize the common enemy of ignorance, fear, and extremism that harms all Americans regardless of belief. Our purpose is to stand united against extremism for the sake of peace and true Islam. On this tenet of justice, we look forward to working with all Muslim Americans and indeed all Americans to win this ideological war against extremism.”
The True Islam campaign rejects the notion that the “original” Islam is a violent ideology, and that reconciling Islam with modern values requires an “Islam 2.0.” Through the True Islam campaign, we seek to inform Americans (particular the youth) of the correct Islamic understanding—as taught by the Holy Qur’an and the
Prophet Muhammad—of the following eleven points:
True Islam wholly rejects all forms of terrorism.
True Islam believes in nonviolent Jihad of the self and of the pen.
True Islam believes in the equality, education, and empowerment of women.
True Islam advocates freedom of conscience, religion, and speech.
True Islam advocates for the separation of mosque and state.
True Islam believes in loyalty to your country of residence.
True Islam encompasses the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
True Islam believes in all verses of the Qur’an and forbids lying.
True Islam recognizes that no religion can monopolize salvation.
True Islam believes in the need for unified Muslim leadership.
True Islam rejects the concept of a bloody Messiah.
The True Islam campaign demonstrates with action and a proven model that no conflict exists between American and Islamic values. It educates the public and combats radicalization in both Muslim and non-Muslim Americans, which strengthens national security. The Campaign will be publicized through press conferences, flyer distributions, meetings with members of local, state, and federal government, opinion editorials, television and radio interviews, interfaith dialogues, public lectures, university hosted debates, and the public invitation to all Americans and Muslim Americans to join us.
Today, the Muslim American community stands at a crossroads, and the question before us is simple, stark, and clear: will we allow extremists to define Islam as a violent ideology or will we counter their narrative by demonstrating the peaceful, pluralistic teachings of True Islam? We hope you will join us in agreeing that the latter is the only rightly guided path, and look forward to hearing from you. Please find details on how to register your organization at www.trueislam.com and on social media @TrueIslamUSA.
By Karen Tumulty and Jenna Johnson January 4 at 9:53 PM
Cathy Cuthbertson once worked at what might be thought of as a command post of political correctness — the campus of a prestigious liberal arts college in Ohio.
“You know, I couldn’t say ‘Merry Christmas.’ And when we wrote things, we couldn’t even say ‘he’ or ‘she,’ because we had transgender. People of color. I mean, we had to watch every word that came out of our mouth, because we were afraid of offending someone, but nobody’s afraid of offending me,” the former administrator said.
All of which helps explain why the 63-year-old grandmother showed up at a recent Donald Trump rally in Hilton Head Island, S.C., where she moved when she retired a year ago.
The Republican front-runner is “saying what a lot of Americans are thinking but are afraid to say because they don’t think that it’s politically correct,” she said. “But we’re tired of just standing back and letting everyone else dictate what we’re supposed to think and do.”
In the 2016 Republican presidential primary season, “political correctness” has become the all-purpose enemy. The candidates have suggested that it is the explanation for seemingly every threat that confronts the country: terrorism, illegal immigration, an economic recovery that is leaving many behind, to name just a few.
In exclusive Salon interview, the cultural critic finds parallels between Cosby and Clinton, takes down modern p.c.
DAVID DALEY
Over the next two days, she’ll hold forth on the GOP presidential field in devastating ways, and offer surprising thoughts on how she thinks Clinton vs Sanders will end. We start today with thoughts on Bill Cosby, Bill Clinton, campus political correctness and modern feminism.
The banner on the Drudge Report this morning is that Kathleen Willey is starting a site to collect harassment claims against Bill Clinton. New York magazine, meanwhile, has the stories of 35 women who say they were raped or assaulted by Bill Cosby. I wonder if you see a connection between the two stories: Would Bill Clinton’s exploits be viewed more like Cosby’s if he was in the White House now, instead of in the 1990s?
Right from the start, when the Bill Cosby scandal surfaced, I knew it was not going to bode well for Hillary’s campaign, because young women today have a much lower threshold for tolerance of these matters. The horrible truth is that the feminist establishment in the U.S., led by Gloria Steinem, did in fact apply a double standard to Bill Clinton’s behavior because he was a Democrat. The Democratic president and administration supported abortion rights, and therefore it didn’t matter what his personal behavior was.
But we’re living in a different time right now, and young women have absolutely no memory of Bill Clinton. It’s like ancient history for them; there’s no reservoir of accumulated good will. And the actual facts of the matter are that Bill Clinton was a serial abuser of working-class women–he had exploited that power differential even in Arkansas. And then in the case of Monica Lewinsky–I mean, the failure on the part of Gloria Steinem and company to protect her was an absolute disgrace in feminist history! What bigger power differential could there be than between the president of the United States and this poor innocent girl? Not only an intern but clearly a girl who had a kind.
Triple Five, the operator of the American Dream Meadowlands shopping and entertainment project, would be eager to submit its own proposal for a North Jersey casino should the opportunity arise, state Senate President Stephen Sweeney saidMonday. John Brennan, The Record Read more
Two major mainstream media reporters pulled out of previous plans to work with a booming small business when they learned its founder backs GOP frontrunner Donald Trump for president, emails obtained exclusively by Breitbart News show.
The emails are exchanges between the two MSM reporters—one a freelancer who writes for business magazine Inc. who’s also written for the New York Times Magazine, Time, Fortune, Esquire, GQ and more, and the other a writer for Forbes Magazine—and executives at 25K Startups, a small business on Long Island that serves as an incubator for innovative business ideas.
The emails, in which the two separate writers are extraordinarily explicit, offer what may be the clearest look at bias in favor of liberalism against conservatism ever seen—and are basically proof that there are people in the media infrastructure who are deliberately wielding their positions of influence to support political candidates and causes they admire while harming those they oppose.
The story began in early December when, as the emails show, 25K Startups’ Founder and Managing Partner Michael Sherman reached out to Paul Keegan—the freelancer who’s written for Inc. and many other major magazines—about asking him to consult on media strategy for his company.
Ridgewood NJ, Frigid weather is here, and heating systems are working extra hard. With three months of bill credits this winter, PSE&G residential customers will pay about 30 percent less for gas this season. But there are simple ways to lower bills even more:
Lower your thermostat by just one degree, which may reduce your heating bill by up to 3 percent. Save even more by lowering your thermostat 2 degrees during the day when you are home, and 5 to 10 degrees when you are away and at bedtime, if health conditions permit. Close fireplace dampers when not in use. Close and latch your windows. Set your hot water heater to no more than 120 degrees. Move furniture and drapes away from heating registers, radiators, and baseboard element covers. Open any register or baseboard dampers. Remove or cover window air conditioners to reduce drafts. Install insulated or lined drapes on your windows. Open your curtains and blinds that face the sun on sunny days to warm your home, and close them at night to keep the warm air inside. Use weather stripping or caulk to seal up cracks and prevent drafts in windows and doorframes. Beneath doors, install draft guards available at hardware stores. Use a shrink film insulation kit, commonly available at home improvement centers, on drafty windows or make one yourself from plastic sheeting and double-faced tape. Seal wall switches and electrical outlets on exterior walls of your home with small foam gaskets available from home improvement centers and hardware stores. Remove the cover plate, insert the gasket, and screw the cover plate back in place. Keep your garage door closed if the garage is attached to the house. If your budget permits, install (or have installed) a programmable thermostat that you can set to automatically lower room temperatures when rooms are not in use and at bedtime, if health conditions permit. Check for sufficient water levels in the sight glass for steam heating systems to ensure maximum efficiency. Clean or replace the furnace filter on hot air heating systems.
Visit PSE&G’s Home Energy Toolkit at www.pseg.com/toolkit. You can calculate the energy efficiency of your home and find out how to save energy and money on appliances and heating systems.
When making home improvements, always wear the appropriate safety equipment such as eye protection, gloves and a mask to protect against dust; and remember to check your carbon monoxide and smoke detectors for proper operation and replace their batteries at least once every year.
