James - THE RIDGEWOOD BLOG. - Page 2868 of 3743

Posted on July 7, 2015July 7, 2015 by James — Leave a comment

Twitter feed glorifies fights featuring North Jersey teens, cops say

JULY 6, 2015, 6:46 AM LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, JULY 6, 2015, 6:51 AM
BY STEPHANIE AKIN
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

The kids in the videos punch each other in the face. They pull each other’s hair. They roll on the ground while crowds egg them on. And it all allegedly happened in North Jersey, posted on a new Twitter feed that compiles apparent cellphone videos of young people fighting in New Jersey, with most of the altercations in Bergen and Passaic counties.

The fights shown on @BCountyFights take place in a high school chemistry laboratory, on a street lined with carefully manicured lawns, on the deck of a swimming pool. They are labeled by the location where the brawl allegedly occurred.

The feed’s reach – more than 2,000 followers – is expanding, with high school and middle school students saying they watch it in groups and talk about the latest video to post. And the catalog of fights is growing, with a collection of more than 75 videos posted since the feed went live on June 13.

“It’s like watching a boxing match, but with people you know,” said Brian Heredia, a 16-year-old rising junior at Hackensack High School.

Local school administrators and law enforcement officials, however, said the videos glorify violence and misrepresent their communities.

The feed doesn’t mention that in many cases the people involved faced criminal charges for their behavior. It also provides fodder for future prosecution: Several local police departments have assigned officers to monitor the feed. Although it is not illegal to film or post videos from public places, and Twitter doesn’t have any restrictions on content that viewers may find offensive, people in the videos can be liable for the actions documented in them.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/education/twitter-feed-glorifies-fights-featuring-north-jersey-teens-cops-say-1.1369273

Posted on July 7, 2015July 7, 2015 by James — 2 Comments

Proposed reform of No Child Left Behind spurs concern in North Jersey

JULY 6, 2015, 8:55 PM LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, JULY 7, 2015, 7:55 AM
BY HANNAN ADELY
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

North Jersey schools have made strides to improve graduation rates and narrow the performance gap among student groups of different races and income levels, state and national reports have shown.

Now concerns are being raised about how proposed changes to federal education law could impact progress in states like New Jersey. Officials and educators largely agree that the federal No Child Left Behind Act needs to be reformed, but they disagree on what a new law should look like.

Federal officials said Monday that proposed bills to overhaul the law lack the accountability needed to make sure struggling students get the help and investments they need, especially in the lowest-performing 5 percent of schools. The officials released a report showing that wide gaps still exist across states, despite improvements in graduation rates and achievement gaps.

“We have to make sure every state develops a structure to identify and help the lowest-performing schools,” Cecilia Munoz, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, said in a phone call with reporters.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/proposed-reform-of-no-child-left-behind-spurs-concern-in-north-jersey-1.1369581

Posted on July 7, 2015July 7, 2015 by James — 4 Comments

Reader says the Morristown case is a clear precedent for Valley, USE IT

Reader says the Morristown case is a clear precedent for Valley, USE IT

Why the Council hasn’t been protecting Village taxpayers is just stunning in the failure to uphold their fiduciary responsibility. Now they have a court ruling that establishes CLEAR precedent to go after Valley’s not-for-profit tax status and force them to pay the +$4.3 million they should be paying annually based on assessed value of their properties in Ridgewood, and yet they’d rather argue about an HR hiring and a parking garage that should be paid for in a public private partnership with the business owners in the CBD. Wake up and go after Valley, and stop pandering to biz owners. Taxpayers deserve your immediate attention to these issues, which can bring in millions in new revenue. Otherwise they’re not doing their job to protect the interests of tax paying Villagers.

Morristown just put in the effort for us, all you need to do is cut & paste and change the name of the defendant from “Morristown” to “Valley”. The Morristown ruling establishes clear precedent, it’s a lay-up tailor made for Ridgewood vs. Valley. They pay their supposedly “not-for-profit” CEO $2 mm a year but pay no Village taxes. But our Council has a bunch of people trying to start knife fights while our house is on fire. Very, very damning of the current five.

It would be great to see Ms. Hauck use her relationships and actually stand up against Valley Hospital and ask them to 1) drop their lawsuit; and 2) pay for the municipal services they consume like police, fire and snow removal. Or suggest that we use the Morristown Medical Center court ruling that it should pay property taxes on virtually all of its property in town, and go after Valley to pay property taxes in Ridgewood on ALL of their property. How can they argue they are a NOT-for-profit when they are paying their CEO $2 million a year and expanding in an arms race to become a “hospital system” with other regional hospitals? I would have a much stronger view of Ms. Hauck’s independence if she supported either of the above ideas without any form of quid pro quo on Valley’s expansion plans in Ridgewood .

If anything, Ms. Hauck is probably advising them on how to make sure it doesn’t happen. With no background or interest in public service except raising money for Valley, and no knowledge of how it works or most of the issues, she agreed (not decided–agreed–was invited–I know this) to run for council solely to help Valley–I would be a lot on that–in exchange for being the third vote for anything Aronsohn wanted. And she had to agree not to attend the social functions she had enjoyed for many years. This is conjecture, not inside information. It just makes sense.

When 2 of the 3 Council majority members are publicly pro-Valley? Where the 3 council bosom buddies always vote in a block (hmm, how do they do that without meeting illegally?)? When the Council majority doesn’t even allow discussion on an issue if they already have the votes to get their way?

Valley is not only going to continue to get a free pass from this Council – wait until they cut a deal on the Valley lawsuit that lets them double in size and still pay no taxes. We are going to be paying for the damage these 3 Council members have done for a generation.

Posted on July 7, 2015July 6, 2015 by James — 38 Comments

Rurik Halaby says the Blog represents, to a great extent, the filthy, stinking, underbelly of Ridgewood

I have always maintained the Blog represents, to a great extent, the filthy, stinking, underbelly of Ridgewood and you are Exhibit A, 3:28 pm. Plus you are a coward to boot making these awful accusations hiding behind Anonymous. You should be ashamed of yourself, if shame is something you know anything about. What a great day it will be if James is forced to release the identity of his commentators. What fun it will be seeing awful people like you scurrying into your rat holes.

Exhibit A, 3:28 pm. : Rurik you are absolutely pitiful with your schoolboy crush on Ms. Hauck. All your big words and pompous posturing do not conceal the fact that you are basically drooling over her and hanging on her every word. Please try to get past the fact that she gives full-frontal hugs to every senior citizen man she meets, yourself included. Please try to focus on the issues, and the issue here is that Ms. Hauck is completely incompetent as well as disrespectful. She attacks anyone who gets in her way. She is as nasty as Maleficent. . She reads, yes READS, most of her comments when she is at meetings. It seems that someone is sending texts or emails to her because if you watch her on the USTREAM you will see that she is reading rather than speaking extemporaneously. And….on the few occasions when she does say something unscripted, it is rambling and nonsensical. James quoted her exactly from her own email, one that she either wrote herself or someone wrote for her. How in the world can you criticize James for this? Take a cold shower, Rurik, you will feel better after your hormones calm down.

Posted on July 7, 2015July 6, 2015 by James — Leave a comment

TRUMP ON CRIMINAL ILLEGALS: ‘BOTH SIDES NEED TO GROW UP AND PUT AMERICA’S INTERESTS FIRST’

-donald-trump-candidacy-speech-thridgewoodblog

by ALEXANDER MARLOW6 Jul 20153186

Univision and NBC may claim to be distancing themselves from Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump over his recently stated opposition to criminal illegal aliens, but Trump’s strong stance against criminal illegals has been well established for years and buttressed by governmental data.

In his 2011 bestselling book, Time to Get Tough, Trump held both Republicans and Democrats responsible for the nation’s failed immigration policies and cited Government Accountability Office (GAO) data revealing the economic costs the nation’s 351,000 criminal aliens imposed on U.S. taxpayers at the time.

“Both sides need to grow up and put America’s interests first—and that means doing what’s right for our economy, our national security, and our public safety,” wrote Trump. “According to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) 2011 report, America’s prisons house 351,000 criminal aliens who committed a crime after having already broken the law by entering America illegally.”

Trump added, “Making taxpayers pay for 351,000 criminals who should never have been here in the first place is ridiculous.”

https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/07/06/trump-on-criminal-illegals-both-sides-need-to-grow-up-and-put-americas-interests-first/

Posted on July 7, 2015July 6, 2015 by James — Leave a comment

Greece votes No: The European Union is dying before our eyes

By Nigel Farage

8:57AM BST 06 Jul 2015

It’s not just disaffected pensioners: young Greeks have worked out that they don’t need the bloated EU

Despite the scaremongering and bullying from those in Brussels, we are waking today with Greece having delivered a resounding No.

That comes despite EU bosses saying that it would mean a Greek exit from the Euro, not to mention the heavy economic pressure placed on the Greek people to go along with the wishes of Brussels. It is a crushing defeat for those Eurocrats who believe that you can simply bulldoze public opinion.

Chief bully-boy Martin Schulz, President of the European Parliament, and other supposed leaders of the European Union did their best to terrify the Greek people into submitting to the wishes of the European Union. But they utterly failed. The fear espoused by the Yes campaign was rejected. Opinion polls that put the Yes side ahead just days before were way out, as thousands upon thousands of Greek citizens lined the streets chanting “Oxi”.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/greece/11720081/Greece-votes-No-The-European-Union-is-dying-before-our-eyes.html

Posted on July 7, 2015July 6, 2015 by James — 1 Comment

Good Luck Finding a Place to Hide as Global Markets Crumble

by Lisa Abramowicz

Investors tend to respond to impending doom by selling risky stuff and hiding out in safer assets — namely, bonds in places such as Germany and the U.S.

There’s a problem with that formula this time around: Traders aren’t so sure they can find anything that’s truly safe right now. So, instead of piling into sovereign debt of developed nations, traders are pulling their money out of those places as the Greekeconomy teeters on the brink of collapse, Puerto Rico talks about delaying some debt payments and China’s stock market suffers its biggest selloff since 1992.

Investors yanked $2.9 billion from European government bond funds last week, more than ever before, and pulled $699 million from short-term investment-grade U.S. bond funds, Bank of America Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co. data show. While these assets have traditionally been havens during rocky periods, they look less appealing now after more than six years of unprecedented monetary stimulus that pushed yields to record lows.

Why is that a problem? Well, the European Central Bank’s bond-purchasing program this year sent yields so low (negative, in fact) that investors revolted, selling German debt in the face of some signs of economic growth and causing unprecedented volatility. In the U.S., the economy has improved enough that the Federal Reserve is planning to raise interest rates this year from virtually zero, where they’ve been since 2008.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-06/good-luck-finding-a-place-to-hide-as-global-markets-crumble

Posted on July 6, 2015June 27, 2021 by James — Leave a comment

Council and Board Meetings Village of Ridgewood

file photo Boyd Loving

07/07/157:30PM Planning Board Public Meeting
07/08/157:30PM Village Council Public Work Session Available
07/14/157:30PM Board of Adjustment Public Meeting
07/15/158:00PM Village Council Public Meeting
07/21/157:30PM Planning Board Public Meeting
07/28/157:30PM Board of Adjustment Public Meeting

The Ridgewood Board of Education will hold a Regular Public Meeting on Monday, July 20, 2015 at 4 p.m.

The public is invited to attend the meeting at the Ed Center, 49 Cottage Place, Floor 3. The meeting will be aired live on FiOS channel 33 and Optimum channel 77. Or it may be viewed live via the district website at www.ridgewood.k12.nj.us using the “Link in Live” tab.

Click here to view the agenda and addendum for the June 22, 2015 Regular Public Meeting.

Posted on July 6, 2015July 6, 2015 by James — Leave a comment

Corey Taylor will be appearing at Bookends in Ridgewood tonight

Tonight Monday, July 6th @ 6:00pm , Founding Member of Slipknot and Stone Sour: Corey Taylor will sign his new book: You’re Making Me Hate You

Each Person attending must purchase one or more books.Books available July 6th

Appearing authors will only autograph books purchased at Bookends and must have valid Bookends Receipt.

Availability & pricing for all autographed books subject to change.
First In Line Certificate use is the the discretion of Bookends. Blackout dates may apply.
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 ensure 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

Posted on July 6, 2015July 6, 2015 by James — 1 Comment

Puerto Rican debt crisis hits Congress

By Peter Schroeder – 07/05/15 12:09 PM EDT

Advocates of the change say it would resolve a technical oversight from a decades-old bankruptcy law, while skeptics warn that it could throw into question billions of dollars in debt now owned by investors across the country.

Earlier this week, Puerto Rico’s governor declared that the nation’s $72 billion pile of debt was too much for it to handle. To avoid a “death spiral,” Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla said the commonwealth would have to break its promise to pay back some money owed.

But a quirk in the nation’s bankruptcy code is throwing Congress into the middle of the matter, as lawmakers will need to quickly pass a new law if Puerto Rico is going to gain access to the nation’s bankruptcy courts.

Puerto Rico’s nonvoting representative, Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierlusi (D) is working to build support for legislation that has simmered in Congress for months, but has taken on new urgency following the governor’s declarations.

Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) are working to build support for similar legislation in the Senate.

A 1984 update to the nation’s bankruptcy laws left Puerto Rico out of the picture, apparently by accident. Chapter 9 of the bankruptcy code gives states the power to allow agencies or municipalities to declare bankruptcy, as happened most recently in Detroit. But the law is silent on territories like Puerto Rico, leaving it on the outside looking in when it comes to public bankruptcies.

“As best we can tell, it’s a typographical error in the bankruptcy code,” said John Pottow, a bankruptcy expert and legal professor at the University of Michigan. “It should be noncontroversial.”

Giving that power to Puerto Rico would allow some of its subsidiaries, like a debt-laden power utility, to enter into bankruptcy court, giving the territory some breathing room on its finances.

Lawmakers pushing to address that change say it was a simple oversight, and Puerto Rico was always supposed to have the same ability as the states.

https://thehill.com/policy/finance/246820-puerto-rican-debt-crisis-hits-congress

Posted on July 6, 2015July 6, 2015 by James — Leave a comment

Screen Addiction Is Taking a Toll on Children

By JANE E. BRODY JULY 6, 2015 6:00 AM July 6, 2015 6:00 am

Excessive use of computer games among young people in China appears to be taking an alarming turn and may have particular relevance for American parents whose children spend many hours a day focused on electronic screens. The documentary “Web Junkie,” to be shown next Monday on PBS, highlights the tragic effects on teenagers who become hooked on video games, playing for dozens of hours at a time often without breaks to eat, sleep or even use the bathroom. Many come to view the real world as fake.

Chinese doctors consider this phenomenon a clinical disorder and have established rehabilitation centers where afflicted youngsters are confined for months of sometimes draconian therapy, completely isolated from all media, the effectiveness of which remains to be demonstrated.

While Internet addiction is not yet considered a clinical diagnosis here, there’s no question that American youths are plugged in and tuned out of “live” action for many more hours of the day than experts consider healthy for normal development. And it starts early, often with preverbal toddlers handed their parents’ cellphones and tablets to entertain themselves when they should be observing the world around them and interacting with their caregivers.

https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/07/06/screen-addiction-is-taking-a-toll-on-children/?_r=0

Posted on July 6, 2015July 6, 2015 by James — 12 Comments

Ridgewood Director of Operations Frank Moritz retires

JULY 6, 2015 LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, JULY 6, 2015, 10:27 AM
BY MARK KRULISH
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

A longtime public employee has said goodbye to the Village of Ridgewood. Director of Operations Frank Moritz left his post last week for retirement.

A native of Hoboken and a graduate of the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Moritz worked for the village for 23-and-a-half years at the Ridgewood Water utility and began in his current role in 2005. He previously spent 19 years working for United Water.

In addition to his work in the village, Moritz has been a member of New Jersey’s chapter of the American Water Works Association (AWWA) for 25 years, where he has served on the Board of Directors as well as chairman for the State of New Jersey. In 2004, he received the highest award given out by the AWWA, the George Warren Fuller Award.

During his time in Ridgewood, Moritz was responsible for the water utility and oversaw the Division of Solid Waste, Division of Recycling and Division of Public Works.

One of the biggest challenges he faced during his tenure was to simply keep the water utility evolving along with technological advances. Over the past few years, the utility’s 20,000 water meters were automated. Moritz also had to make sure the utility consistently met regulatory standards and that the village’s facilities continued to improve.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/longtime-ops-director-retires-from-post-1.1369307

Posted on July 6, 2015July 6, 2015 by James — Leave a comment

Parents struggle to decide when to set their kids free

file photo by Boyd Loving

JULY 5, 2015 LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, JULY 5, 2015, 4:48 PM
BY KARA YORIO
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

Go outside and play.

Those four words sent generations of elementary school kids out the door on their own each summer. The instruction was typically followed by another four-word directive: Be home before dinner.

These days, you’d be hard-pressed to find neighborhoods full of 6- and 7-year-olds in yards or streets, parks or playgrounds without adult supervision.

One of the most difficult and debated parental decisions is when to let kids be on their own — walk to school or the park with friends, go into town or even stay at the house without an adult. Some adamantly believe there’s only one choice: Never allow children out of sight until middle school and beyond or send an 8-year-old off on a solo bike ride around the neighborhood without a second thought. Most of us, though, sit somewhere in the middle.

We want to instill independence and a sense of adventure, but can’t quite bring ourselves to do it most of the time. The what-ifs overwhelm. Accidents can happen, but it’s the abductions that haunt us, the high-profile missing children cases whose names echo in our minds: Joan D’Alessandro, Etan Patz, Adam Walsh, Polly Klaas, Megan Kanka.

Sure, the abduction of a child by a stranger is statistically rare, but if it’s my daughter does it matter how rare it is? If it’s my kid that disappears on that first day I let her ride her bike around the block to her friend’s house then does it matter how many other kids do it without incident every single day? But why can’t I put those fears aside and give my daughter the same freedom I enjoyed?

https://www.northjersey.com/community-news/2.4225/parents-struggle-to-decide-when-to-set-their-kids-free-1.1368809

Posted on July 6, 2015July 6, 2015 by James — 11 Comments

Reader says given the recent court rulings on non profit hospitals maybe its time to visit a PILOT program for Valley Hospital

A PILOT program has been discussed and quickly pushed under the table several times. Perhaps a lawsuit directed at Valley would do the trick?
I am not anti-Valley (I prefer a modified, reasonable expansion, including locations on Rte 17NS). I believe Valley is an important part of our community. But I have never quite understood how they can be classified as a non-profit. To be fair, I think to expect them to pay +$4mio in taxes is aggressive. But clearly they are a consumer of Village services? Clearly “we” subsidize their activities through our own taxes. So there must be a compromise somewhere, i.e. the PILOT program.

I don’t like the idea of another lawsuit. It’s not productive. But the fact that Valley is suing the Village absolutely dips into our pockets, as the VOR has to pay legal fees. So where does it end? Regardless of where you stand on the Valley Expansion, I think it is reasonable to expect Valley to pay its fair share for the use of Village services.

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