Author: James

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Readers debate latest RBSA Door to Door Fund Raiser

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Readers debate latest RBSA Door to Door Fund Raiser 

Ridgewood Baseball is going door to door just plain asking for money. This is to finance their trip to Myrtle Beach. I would like someone to finance a trip to Myrtle Beach for my family.

They can’t even be bothered to think of a fundraising idea. Who allows this? It is outrageous that these pampered students should knock on doors expecting residents to hand them money. Who will keep track of this cash?

OK, what RBSA adult thought that going door to door and just asking for money was a good idea?

Fundraising is hard, asking for money is lazy. It is not as if they needed money for uniforms, they are going to Myrtle Beach. Isn’t that the parent’s job to get their kids to the tournament?

Travel teams are expensive. An article in today’s Record pointed out that few families ever recoup the money that they spend on travel teams with college scholarships.

I agree with the work for money idea. Door to door asking for money is strange. What is to stop a charity (is RBSA a charity now?) from going door to door asking for cash?

I also think that allowing kids to walk into a busy intersection (like a homeless person) asking for money is an accident waiting to happen.

As I drove by the High School and was accosted for $ at the red light, I thought to myself, I would be thrilled to give a kid $20 to mow my lawn or do some other chores around my yard. These are 13 year old boys. They can do plenty of useful chores. They should stop teaching them to beg for money and teach them to work.

In this age of the internet, you can even avoid going door to door. Setup a web page where we can post odd jobs and kids can accept. It would be a win-win for the entire community.

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Revolution in the Air? Glen Rock grassroots group fights turf plan there

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Revolution in the Air? Glen Rock grassroots group fights turf plan there
Interested Observer
June 22,2014
2:50 PM 

Just south of The Wood, yet another grassroots group is fighting yet another multimillion-dollar bonded turf project.

It’s happening all over. (Just saw this; was away last week.) I had a feeling that the huge number of people in Glen Rock who were against that turf project from the start weren’t going to accept their council’s decision not only to let it go through but also, adding financial insult to bad-politics injury, to pay for 90% of the $3 million with tax money instead of 0%, as the sports groups once promised–while promising to raise the funds, which they failed to do.

Green Up Glen Rock  
NEWSLETTER   ·     JUNE 2014   

Last Chance to Fight Turf Field

Sign the petition tonight, June 17 at Starbucks 

Many Glen Rock citizens are dismayed with the Mayor and Council’s recent decision to pass a $3,000,000 bond ordinance–without a citizen-wide vote–to fund the synthetic turf athletic field project and accompanying commercial sports complex at Faber Field (which is to include restrictive fencing, unsightly billboards and lighting and revenue-producing commercial concessions and non-resident field rentals).  If you are concerned about the preservation of Glen Rock’s peaceful parkland, cooling green open space, and natural grass fields that are available to all Glen Rockers, please consider signing our Citizen Petition.  You can read a copy of the petition below, and if you are both a Glen Rock resident and registered voter, you may join us in this challenge by signing a hard copy of this document at the following locations both today and tomorrow:
 
Tuesday June 17th at the Starbuck’s Glen Rock from 6:30 to 8:30 pm

Thank you.

**************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************CITIZEN PETITION  


“We the undersigned wish to challenge the adoption of Borough of Glen Rock 

May 28, 2014 Ordinance # 1701 — 

BOND ORDINANCE TO AUTHORIZE THE FABER FIELD SYNTHETIC TURF ATHLETIC FIELD PROJECT IN, BY AND FOR THE BOROUGH OF GLEN ROCK, IN THE COUNTY OF BERGEN, STATE OF NEW JERSEY, TO APPROPRIATE THE SUM OF $3,000,000 TO PAY THE COST THEREOF, TO MAKE A DOWN PAYMENT, TO AUTHORIZE THE ISSUANCE OF BONDS TO FINANCE SUCH APPROPRIATION AND TO PROVIDE FOR THE ISSUANCE OF BOND ANTICIPATION NOTES IN ANTICIPATION OF THE ISSUANCE OF SUCH BONDS.

and wish to submit the question to the voters of Glen Rock by referendum.

 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Green-Up-Glen-Rock/140345582620

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Somerville Neighbors press Village hall to end weekend baseball at school

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Somerville Neighbors press Village hall to end weekend baseball at school

…the fly has learned that a well organized effort is underway by a group of neighbors to shame the Council into forbidding use of fields at Somerville fields . Lots of unsubstantiated charges are being thrown around including one that players and umpires have been peeing in the bushes.Neighbors even told the BOE and Mayor that people shouldn’t park on her street if they have games at Somerville.

Attacks have been particularly harsh on the Church League  that plays on Sundays .
and while many sympathize with the homeowners their expectation do seem a bit out of line given the fact that they purchased property adjacent a school and to public sports field . 

Is it just a case of a small band of neighbors looking enforce their will and bully other taxpayers Or is there something far more sinister at play against the Church League? Or maybe a secret plot to ad turf fields west of 17?  Lawyers are suiting up  and port a potties have been dispatched .
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Bergen County teams take honors at Comcast NBCUniversal Hackathon

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Bergen County teams take honors at Comcast NBCUniversal Hackathon

JUNE 22, 2014, 8:52 PM    LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, JUNE 22, 2014, 9:11 PM
BY LINDA MOSS
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

NEW YORK — Studio 8H, the iconic venue of “Saturday Night Live,” was unusually busy for a Sunday, with a full house and a lot of people trooping onstage.

But it was computer programmers and coders, not comedians, who were addressing the packed room at 30 Rockefeller Center, putting a cap to the first but not last Comcast NBCUniversal Hackathon.

About 150 people participated in the overnight two-day competition that started Saturday in Englewood Cliffs, and several Bergen County residents came away winners, including Michael Hurley, 53, of Ridgewood, His group, Team Thumbnail, won the grand prize at the event, and will get $6,500 in cash, as well as other gifts.

But Hurley, associate creative director at the Manhattan ad agency RAPP, said that he was excited because part of the prize is a chance for his team to pitch its idea to officials at Comcast Corp. and its NBCU unit.

His team’s Thumbnail app uses an algorithm to track a person’s news interests, and then offers them related news items based on the time of day or activity they are engaged in. For example, if a user tapped the breakfast icon, he or she would get content related to the morning.

Hackathons are events where computer programmers collaborate on software projects, and in this case media-entertainment giant Comcast Corp. and its new NBCU Technology Media Center’s Media Labs unit was soliciting ideas for ways consumers can use the company’s content – from its TV networks to its movie studio — across various digital platforms, including phone apps. The hackathon’s theme was “Help Shape the Future of Media and Technology.”

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/bergen-county-teams-take-honors-at-comcast-nbcuniversal-hackathon-1.1039631#sthash.FIEXxfVW.dpuf

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Bergen executive assails Democrats’ budget plan

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Bergen executive assails Democrats’ budget plan

JUNE 23, 2014    LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, JUNE 23, 2014, 1:21 AM
BY JOHN C. ENSSLIN
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

Bergen County Executive Kathleen Donovan delivered a blistering critique of the freeholders’ proposed 2014 budget, contending it will leave the county up to $3 million in the red starting early next year.

But Freeholder Chairman David Ganz disputed Donovan’s numbers and contended the board’s $507.6 million budget will deliver real relief in the form of a slightly less than zero tax increase.

The debate signals the extent to which the normally humdrum budget — scheduled for a final vote on July 9 — has become a hot topic during this year’s election, in which control of both the Freeholder Board and the County Executive’s Office is at stake.

Donovan, a Republican running for a second term, contends that in order to slice $6.8 million from the budget she proposed in March, the freeholders are tapping into funds that can’t be replenished next year.

“They’re raiding all the funds and taking the money out, which is very imprudent because next year, even if you’ve got the money in, you can’t spend it,” Donovan said during a Record Talk Radio interview on Friday.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/donovan-assails-proposed-budget-1.1039779

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NSA critics hail votes to limit surveillance as game-changers

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NSA critics hail votes to limit surveillance as game-changers
By Kate Tummarello – 06/22/14 03:00 PM EDT

Lawmakers and privacy advocates who are fighting to restrain the National Security Agency (NSA) say the tide is turning in their favor.

Votes in the House last week limiting government surveillance “will change the trajectory” of the debate as the Senate takes up surveillance reform legislation, according to Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), a vocal NSA critic.

On Thursday, the House passed two amendments to the 2015 Defense Appropriations bill that would keep the NSA from using its funding from Congress to spy.

The first amendment from Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), Lofgren and Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) would require the NSA to obtain a warrant to search for information about people in the U.S. when searching collections of communications involving foreigners.

The provision would also keep the NSA from requiring tech companies to build “backdoor” security vulnerabilities into their products and services.

That amendment passed 293-123.

A second amendment, offered by Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Calif.), would keep the NSA form working with the Commerce Department’s digital security agency to create faulty cryptography standards.

That amendment passed by voice vote.

Supporters of the NSA amendments say the are aimed at restoring some of the surveillance reforms that were stripped out of the USA Freedom Act, which passed the House last month.

The original bill — introduced by Sensenbrenner, original author of the Patriot Act, and Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) — had multiple provisions aimed at reining in the NSA and ending sweeping “bulk” surveillance activities, such as the program that collected information about U.S. phone calls.

Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/technology/210138-nsa-critics-hail-votes-as-game-changer#ixzz35PV5Baud

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Bergen County Farm saved

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Bergen County Farm saved

JUNE 22, 2014    LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, JUNE 22, 2014, 1:21 AM
THE RECORD

CONSIDERING how congested Bergen County is, the idea of preserving whatever open space remains always sounds good in theory. Sometimes, though, the details can prove difficult.

It’s nice to see that the Demarest Farms in Saddle River and Hillsdale will be preserved. Seeing other farm properties in the area close and redeveloped as retail or housing shows that this outcome can’t happen in every instance.

The Bergen County Freeholders voted unanimously last week to spend about $2.6 million in open-space money for the development rights to a 17-acre section of the Saddle River property. The money came from the county’s share of a state farmland preservation program, with an additional $1.15 million from the Garden State Trust Fund.

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The owner, Peter Demarest, said he and his family, who have owned the farm property since 1886, probably could have made up to $1.5 million more if they sold it to a developer.

But they instead chose to sell the county the development rights, which allows two of the farm’s longtime employees to take over the operations going forward. The Demarest family sold development rights to a 10-acre portion in 2004 and will move on from the area after selling the rights to the remaining section.

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The new portion of Demarest Farms is Bergen County’s eighth successful farm preservation project, with a total amount of about 331 acres in permanently preserved farmland.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/opinion/opinion-editorials/farm-saved-1.1039448#sthash.kMVZMwiE.dpuf

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The Ridgewood Guild Movies in the Park Presents Alfred Hitchcock’s Classic the Birds

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The Ridgewood Guild Movies in the Park Presents Alfred Hitchcock’s Classic the Birds

Movies in the Park returns for the summer season. Memorial Park at Van Neste Square at 9PM – Bring a blanket or chair and enjoy this free movie presented by the Ridgewood Guild!

the Birds : A wealthy San Francisco socialite pursues a potential boyfriend to a small Northern California town that slowly takes a turn for the bizarre when birds of all kinds suddenly begin to attack people there in increasing numbers and with increasing viciousness

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Writers:Daphne Du Maurier (from the story by), Evan Hunter (screenplay)

Stars: Rod Taylor, Tippi Hedren, Suzanne Pleshette 

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This Week at the Kasschau Memorial Shell

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This Week at the  Kasschau Memorial Shell

Free Summer Entertainment Under the Stars


June 24, 2014 Bobby Byrne Show – Ireland to Broadway
8:30PM at Vets Field Bring a blanket or chair Sponsored by: Boiling Springs Savings Bank and Kings Food Markets RAIN location – GW Middle School


June 26, 2014 Lou Gallo and the Very Hungrey Baand Children’s Evening
8PM on Vets Field Bring a blanket or chair Sponsored by: Clemente Orthodontics and Ridgewood Dentistry – Warren Boardman DMD Rain site – BF Middle School

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YWCA Nutritional Workshop with Health Coach Rebecca Kittle

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YWCA Nutritional Workshop with Health Coach Rebecca Kittle

Ridgewood NJ, YWCA Bergen County and Rebecca Kittle Host “The Sugar Blues” Workshop Increase Your Energy and Permanently Change Your Relationship to Sugar YWCA Bergen County is partnering with Health Coach Rebecca Kittle to present “The Sugar Blues” nutritional workshop, on Wednesday, June 25, 2014 from 11:00 am to 12:00 pm. This workshop shows the top ways sugar is negatively affecting your health and happiness, tips to eat foods you enjoy and not deprive yourself, and how your lifestyle affects your cravings. Constantly crave sweets and are not sure why? Tired of always being tired and having low energy? Want to gain control over your cravings and not deprive yourself? If you are ready to have more energy, fewer cravings, and take back control of your life, then you don’t want to miss this event. For more information, please contact Noelle Walker at 201-444-5600 x400 or [email protected].
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Reader says Valley’s management has no one to blame but themselves

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Reader says Valley’s management has no one to blame but themselves 

Valley’s management has no one to blame but themselves and their Board should start reflecting on the blatant errors made by its management in forward planning .They knew the zone, they knew the burdens that further expansion would bring, they knew of past decisions rendered yet they still tried to cram an overexpansion down this town’s throat with little regard to the host community. They had a golden opportunity to appease , serve and corner two rich areas by buying Pascack Valley for a song.. Instead they tried to shut it down . Embarrassing arrogance and incompetence and some should be held accountable for their lack of foresight. Time for some fresh thinkers at that institution that understand the need to explore other options.

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“The dog ate Lois Lerner’s emails” geez ..

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“The dog ate Lois Lerner’s emails” geez ...

Laughable.

Local Desktop computer crashes and “all email is gone”

Really? This is the excuse provided by the “tech savvy” Obama

Are these people so technically ignorant that they think email is stored locally?
Are they saying that the email servers also crashed and the daily (if not more frequent) server backups are lost?
And the offsite storage facility where long term backups are stored has been destroyed?
And the recipients of the emails (and the people that they forwarded the emails to have also had their computers crash and their emails were lost?
And nobody printed off ANY email ever? There would be paper copies as well as email logs and (possibly) email images stored by the networked printers.

AND… IF ALL OF THE ABOVE WAS TRUE (100% unlikely) – then the entire government IT organization should be fired immediately and we have a much bigger problem – that the government’s IT is incompetent and critical data is not being secured and protected – a major, major national security issue as well as a major, major scandal.

Really – this is beyond insulting and laughable.

They might as well have said that “The dog ate Lois Lerner’s emails” – that would be more believable.

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Reader says we are in some serious trouble if this generation, the Millennial Generation, is our future

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Reader says  we are in some serious trouble if this generation, the Millennial Generation, is our future.

Folks, we are in some serious trouble if this generation, the Millennial Generation, is our future. Yes, they are lovely, bright kids. However, they are just not like any previous generation of young adults who needed a little prodding into adulthood. There’s plenty of blame to go around as to why they are the way they are. You can blame growing up in the era of decadence, social media, everyone-gets-a-prize education, celebrity culture, helicopter parents, etc. Bottom line, they are narcissistic, entitled, lazy, and see absolutely nothing wrong with continuing their childhoods into their late 20s living off mom and dad. Yes, they’ll tell you that they are looking for work, but their concept of looking for work is a little web searching, emailing copies of their resumes, and then getting on with far more serious projects like updating their social media status. They aren’t really looking for work because they don’t want/need to. They don’t have the scary crap to deal with that real grown ups have when dealing with unemployment. Don’t you know that they are special? In college, they were convinced that they were going to graduate and get rich running their own blog, or starting up the equivalent of Google. For God’s sake, you really don’t expect them to get up at 6am like the rest of us and get a bus into NYC to work all day in an office do you? Having gotten into bed at 3am, such a daily schedule would simply not be a good fit.

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Farmer’s Market Opens Today Sunday, June 22, 2014

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Farmer’s Market Opens Today Sunday, June 22, 2014

Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce sponsors the Farmer’s Market, held every Sunday from June 22 to November 2, 2014 from 9AM to 3PM. Rain or Shine.
West Side of NJ Transit Train Station, Ridgewood NJ

14 years of great NJ Farm fresh food.Everyone is back for another great year.

Two NJ Farmers delicious baker, pickles, jams, mozzarella

Enjoy New Jersey’s own corn, tomatoes, blueberries, strawberries and baked goods! Further information from the Ridgewood Chamber – 201/445- 2600

Fresh every week. Join us every Sunday, 9-3pm on the westside of the NJ Transit Ridgewood train station.

see you there…bring the family.