Author: James

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Reader hopes the next 2 years will be an open, honest dialog and a good working relationship on the Village council

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Reader hopes the next 2 years will be an open, honest dialog and a good working relationship on the Village council.

Al Puciarelli has recused himself from these hearings
Morgan Hurley resigned
Cyril Grant resigned
Trisha Connors resigned

The remaining 7 members will be voting on Tuesday, June 17th

Ridgewood council is suppose to have 2 members and therefor 2 votes on the planning board. Al Pucciarelli has correctly recused himself from the Valley hearings as well as the downtown hearings. This has left Ridgewood with only 1 elected representative from council for approximately 90% of the planning board meetings. When the council has it’s reorganization on July 1st, I sincerely hope Al Pucciarelli does the right thing and does not remain on the planning board. The residents of Ridgewood have been denied their representation for far too long. It’s time to have 2 members from council on the planning board that do not need to recuse themselves for the majority of the issues.

I also sincerely hope the remaining council members (Paul Aronsohn, Al Pucciarelli and Gwenn Hauck) will welcome the newly elected members with open arms, fresh minds, and a new beginning, and end the last 2 years of fighting on the council. It has been very disturbing to read and see the way the 5 of them treated each other. The best way to do this is to follow protocol and have the newly elected member with the most votes be sworn in as deputy mayor. This will show everyone their willingness to work with each other. The person with the most votes would be Susan Knudsen. If Ms Knudsen declines, it would then go to Mike Sedon. I hope the Village of Ridgewood can breathe a sigh of relief after the reorganization meeting on July 1st, knowing that the next 2 years will be an open, honest dialog and a good working relationship on the council.

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Reader says The future of our village rests in the hands of our neighbors on the Planning Board

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Reader says The future of our village rests in the hands of our neighbors on the Planning Board

Planning Board, please don’t do this to our neighborhood, our children and our town. Tell Valley “no”. Even if you think there will be no harm in the short term or long term (which I don’t understand how you could think that) there are always unintended consequences. Giving Valley what it wants is not worth the risk. The future of our village rests in the hands of our neighbors on the Planning Board:

Charles Nalbantian – Chairman
Richard Joel – Vice Chairman
Paul Aronsohn – Mayor
Albert J. Pucciarelli – Councilman
Morgan Hurley
Nancy Bigos
Kevin Reilly
Cyril Grant
Wendy Dockray
Michele Peters – Alt.1
Trisha Connors – Alt. 2

Please do the right thing.

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Reader says This time around Ms. Price has been bent on “sticking it” to Valley’s opposition

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Reader says This time around Ms. Price has been bent on “sticking it” to Valley’s opposition

Unfortunately, Valley is going to get its way with this Planning Board since it appears that they will be given two choices to vote on – both of which have been proposed by Valley.

Previous writers have neglected to mention the very personal bias that Gail Price has brought to this proceedings. Remember that the CRR lawsuit was based on the last Planning Board’s failure to follow proper legal procedure. In other words, Ms. Price failed to do her job. This time around Ms. Price has been bent on “sticking it” to Valley’s opposition. As the attorney, she is supposed to advise the Board on procedural issues yet she has acted both as emcee and Valley’s mouthpiece for the past 18 months. She has allowed Valley’s attorney to disrupt, interrupt, shout down and otherwise muzzle everyone from little old ladies to expert witnesses to members of the Planning Board itself.

Just about the only tolerable aspect of these most recent hearings has been watching Ms. Fraser squirm as her employer commits one PR disaster after another. Valley has exposed itself for what is truly is – an organization that has nothing but contempt for our Village. Think about how disingenuous they have been with us since 2006. Their experts and representatives have committed perjury, their management has lied to us repeatedly and their supporters (including one Councilwoman) have turned a blind eye because they can’t bear to even watch the behavior of their beloved Valley.

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Reader says Almost 30 years ago Valley was told that they had reached their max on their current site

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Reader says Almost 30 years ago Valley was told that they had reached their max on their current site

Almost 30 years ago Valley was told that they had reached their max on their current site. They have chosen to ignore that and have had Two more expansions. They, have had ample time to develop a business plan that would allow them to modernize this facility while expanding in other areas. Yet, they chose to develop their Renewal plan and then when that got derailed by the Village Council and CRR this current plan is their attempt at compromise without taking a foot off the bulk of the building. Who is kidding who? They have shown contempt for the residents of this town without paying a dime in taxes. Yet, there are people in This town that still think the residents are the unreasonable ones. The residents have spent countless hours siting in boring meetings, being ridiculed and told to keep silent and also they have spent more than $100,000 fighting this. It is time for the planning board to do the right thing and finally turn Valley down.

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Seemingly, what is good for the goose is NOT good for the gander with regard to Ridgewood Village Council members

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Seemingly, what is good for the goose is NOT good for the gander with regard to Ridgewood Village Council members

During the May 28, 2014 Village Council meeting at which a formal vote was taken on the Village’s 2014 Municipal Budget, Village Clerk Heather Mailander informed those present that Councilman Thomas M, Riche would be marked as “absent” in connection with the vote because he was not physically present at the meeting. Mr. Riche was marked as “absent” despite his issuance of a signed statement, which was read aloud by Ms. Mailander, indicating his objection to the budget. This blogger wonders if Mr. Riche was informed that he could legally cast his vote on the budget via telephone or internet?

Fast forward – Sources within Village Hall are reporting that Councilwoman Gwenn Hauck will not be physically present during the Village Council’s July 1, 2014 Reorganization Meeting. Instead, Ms. Hauck will be vacationing overseas with members of her family. But, she will be permitted to cast several official votes related to Village Council matters that day via Skype. Perfectly legal? Yes. Despicable? Yes. Disgraceful? Yes. Yet another slap in the faces of Ridgewood taxpayers? Yes again. Will the 3 Amigos ever stop? Obviously not. And the band played on . . .

2016 can’t come fast enough for this blogger.

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Paul Martin: The Bill Clinton of Canada, Only Much Better

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Paul Martin: The Bill Clinton of Canada, Only Much Better
JUNE 13, 2014 4:18PM
By DANIEL J. MITCHELL
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Imagine how weird it would be if the Cato Institute and Americans for Tax Reform praised Barack Obama for fiscal responsibility. And think how inconceivable it would be for the Heritage Foundation and the National Taxpayers Union to applaud Tim Geithner for economic stewardship.

The Canadian version of that happened while I was at the conference of the World Taxpayers Association in Vancouver two weeks ago.

The event was organized by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and the main speaker was Paul Martin of the Liberal Party, who served as finance minister from 1993 to 2002, and then as prime minister from 2003 to 2006. I should add, for context, that the Liberal Party in Canada is not a classical liberal party with a track record of free markets and small government.

But Paul Martin was honored because he was responsible, while finance minister, for one of the best records of fiscal restraint of any policymaker in recent history (click here for international comparisons).

I’ve pointed out that the burden of spending fell under Bill Clinton, and I’ve even acknowledged that the federal budget hasn’t grown much under Obama, at least once you get past his first couple of years. But Paul Martin was far more frugal. And since Canada has a parliamentary system, there’s no ambiguity about who deserves credit. He restrained spending when his party had control.

https://www.cato.org/blog/paul-martin-bill-clinton-canada-only-much-better?utm_content=buffer678ac&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

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Who’s to blame for Iraq crisis

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Who’s to blame for Iraq crisis
By Derek Harvey and Michael Pregent
updated 2:12 PM EDT, Thu June 12, 2014

Editor’s note: Derek Harvey is a former senior intelligence official who worked on Iraq from 2003-2009, including numerous assignments in Baghdad. Michael Pregent is a former U.S. Army officer and former senior intelligence analyst who worked on Iraq from 2003-2011, including in Mosul 2005-2006 and Baghdad in 2007-2010. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the authors.

(CNN) — Observers around the world are stunned by the speed and scope of this week’s assaults on every major city in the upper Tigris River Valley — including Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city — by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS. But they shouldn’t be. The collapse of the Iraqi government’s troops in Mosul and other northern cities in the face of Sunni militant resistance has been the predictable culmination of a long deterioration, brought on by the government’s politicization of its security forces.

The politicization of the Iraqi military

For more than five years, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and his ministers have presided over the packing of the Iraqi military and police with Shiite loyalists — in both the general officer ranks and the rank and file — while sidelining many effective commanders who led Iraqi troops in the battlefield gains of 2007-2010, a period during which al Qaeda in Iraq (the forerunner of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) was brought to the brink of extinction.

Al-Maliki’s “Shiafication” of the Iraqi security forces has been less about the security of Iraq than the security of Baghdad and his regime. Even before the end of the U.S.-led “surge” in 2008, al-Maliki began a concerted effort to replace effective Sunni and Kurdish commanders and intelligence officers in the key mixed-sect areas of Baghdad, Diyala and Salaheddin provinces to ensure that Iraqi units focused on fighting Sunni insurgents while leaving loyal Shiite militias alone — and to alleviate al-Maliki’s irrational fears of a military coup against his government.

In 2008, al-Maliki began replacing effective Kurdish commanders and soldiers in Mosul and Tal Afar with Shiite loyalists from Baghdad and the Prime Minister’s Dawa Party, and even Shiite militia members from the south. A number of nonloyalist commanders were forced to resign in the face of trumped up charges or reassigned to desk jobs and replaced with al-Maliki loyalists. The moves were made to marginalize Sunnis and Kurds in the north and entrench al-Maliki’s regime and the Dawa Party ahead of provincial and national elections in 2009, 2010 and 2013.

https://www.cnn.com/2014/06/12/opinion/pregent-harvey-northern-iraq-collapse/

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The good school-expensive home dilemma

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The good school-expensive home dilemma
June 13, 2014, 10:00 a.m. EDT

Peter and Megan Dale of San Francisco say their two-bedroom condominium in Cole Valley, just south of the Haight-Ashbury District, is starting to feel cramped; their two school-aged children share a single room. But they have no plans to leave the condo, which they bought for $990,000 in 2007. The reason: The nearby public school is rated a “9” out of 10 by GreatSchools.org, an Oakland, Calif.-based education-advice website.

A good local school can be one of the biggest drivers of home prices in a community. And parents hoping to get their children the best education possible are often willing to stretch their finances for a pricey home in a good school district, sometimes taking out ambitious loans. When the Dales bought their condo, they took out an interest-only jumbo mortgage that allowed them to put down just 3% instead of the usual 20%. When the market fell, they briefly found themselves underwater on the home. And they face hefty payments ahead when their loan resets to a principal and interest payment. Mr. Dale, a 42-year-old software designer, says the headaches are worth it for the great school and a short commute to his Montgomery Street office: “Some things are just more important than money,” he said.

In the past year, relatively low rates for jumbo loans have made buying in expensive school districts a little easier for some borrowers. Even so, some jumbo borrowers say they have trouble competing in markets where cash-only deals are commonplace. Anna Sikha, who lives in San Francisco with her husband, needed jumbo financing when they shopped for a home in the same neighborhood as the Dales in the hope of getting their 3-year-old son into same school. They lost out on several homes to all-cash buyers. “We were constantly getting outbid. It was so depressing that we thought about renting,” Mrs. Sikha, who works for a biotechnology company, said. Ultimately, they bought a condo in the neighborhood for $1.25 million, with the help of a jumbo loan.

Mark Livingstone, president of Cornerstone First Financial, a mortgage broker in Washington, D.C’s Georgetown neighborhood says he often needs to write aggressive preapproval letters for his jumbo-loan clients that waive appraisals and financing contingencies in neighborhoods such as Bethesda, Md., that have highly rated public schools. “Families are willing to pay more for a home to get into a well-rated public school. They see themselves saving $10,000 to $20,000 year in private-school tuition,” Mr. Livingstone said.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-good-school-expensive-home-dilemma-2014-06-13?mod=latestnewssocialflow&link=sfmw

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Public pensions: The big bill

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file photo Boyd Loving

Public pensions: The big bill

Jun 10th 2014, 16:25 by Buttonwood

STOCKMARKETS may be close to all-time highs but that hasn’t eliminated final salary pension deficits. In the corporate sector, Mercer says US schemes are just 84% funded, while in Britain, the Pension Protection Fund estimates the number at 91%. Assets may have risen, but so have liabilities, thanks to low interest rates.*

The remarkably-productive folks at the Centre for Retirement Research in Boston havererun the numbers for state and local pension schemes. They find that the average scheme is just 72% funded, despite buoyant equity markets in 2013; back in 2001, the average scheme was 103% funded. On the plus side, the ratio may go up a bit. Up until last year, asset prices were smoothed over five years, which means 2009 is still dragging down the numbers; as it drops out, the funding ratio may rise.

But that is small comfort, because the liabilities are calculated by discounting future pension promises at the assumed rate of return, currently 7.7%. Even if one accepted the argument that this is the right way to discount a bill (the riskier your portfolio, the lower your pension bill appears to be, so the problem disappears if you put all your money in Venezuelan bonds), this seems a bit odd. In a world where 10-year treasuries yield 2.6%, 7.7% is a stretch.

The CRR calculates that the pension shortfall, on the states’ assumptions, is $1.1 trillion. A more realistic 5% discount rate pushes that up to $3 trillion, and 4% would make it $3.8 trillion. One could, of course, use a Treasury bond yield as the discount rate on the grounds that the liabilities are guaranteed but as the CRR has shown elsewhere, that doesn’t seem to be the case; states have been cutting benefits, mainly though skimping on inflation-linking.

Assuming too high a return eventually catches up with you. Returns fall short of assumptions so the deficit grows, and schemes must put in more money. The CRR shows that the required contribution rate has more than doubled from 6.7% of payroll in 2001 to 17.6% this year. Even then, the average state is only paying around four-fifths of the required rate sot the bill is merely being postponed.

https://www.economist.com/blogs/buttonwood/2014/06/public-pensions?fsrc=scn/tw/te/bl/thebigbill

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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 17, 2014 Harmony Celebration Chorus – Sweet Adelines
8:30PM Vets Field Rain location at GW Middle School Bring a chair or blanket Sponsored by Coldwell Banker Residential and Hudson City Savings Bank

June 19, 2014  Greg Caldarone – Pop Standards
8:30PM on Vets Field Bring a chair or blanket – Sponsored by Ulrich, Inc. and Ridgewood AM Rotary Rain location – BF Middle School

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West Side Presbyterian Church Ridgewood, NJ Summer Choir School is open for registration for children who completed 2nd grade through 8th grade

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West Side Presbyterian Church Ridgewood, NJ Summer Choir School is open for registration for children who completed 2nd grade through 8th grade

The West Side Presbyterian Church 42nd Annual Summer Choir School will be held August 18-22, 2014, 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. daily at West Side Presbyterian
Church, Six South Monroe Street, Ridgewood. The program is open to all children who will have completed grades two through eight, regardless of church affiliaton. An excellent staff, some of whom were once Summer Choir School choristers, will lead the program under the direc+on of Director Emeritus and Visi+ng Clinician Joanne Harris Rodland and
Deborah Holden-Holloway, Minister of Music at West Side Church. All students must be present for the closing service, given for the public on Friday evening, August 22, at 7:30 p.m. at West Side Presbyterian Church.Summer Choir School is open for registration for children who completed 2nd grade through 8th grade. Program includes singing, Bible study, and an elective. Joyful Noise Ensemble program for instrumentalists is also available and rehearses at the end of each session.

https://www.westside.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/2014-Summer-Choir-School-Brochure-rev-051214.pdf

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Ridgewood Veterinary Hospital’s Guess the Name of the Weather Vane Contest!!!

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Ridgewood Veterinary Hospital’s Guess the Name of the Weather Vane Contest!!!

To celebrate our Grand Re-Opening of our newly renovated state of the art facility in Midland Park, we are having a contest! You could win $500 in Veterinary Services! All you need to do is guess the name of the weather vane! This dog shown in the picture is now atop our Midland Park location. If you guess its name, you could win! One entry per person please! Please share, like and have fun! The contest ends on June 30th at 3PM EST, so start guessing! If more than one person guesses the name, the first correct answer wins.

Rules, Regulations and Instructions:

a. You must be 18 or older to participate, and live within the Continental United States of America.

b. By entering and participating in this contest, you agree to release Facebook.

c. The contest is in is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook.

d. To enter the contest, simply post your guess of the name of Midland Park’s Weather Vane Dog in the comments section underneath the photo for this contest on our Facebook page. One guess per Facebook account and per person. Whomever correctly guesses the name first, will win.

e. If you win the contest you will be contacted via a private Facebook message, so please check your “Other” inbox, and/or check back on our Facebook page, where we will announce the winner as well. Please also “Like” our Facebook page, so we can tag you and notify you of your win.

f. Contest ends on June 30, 2014 at 3pm EST.  Winners will be notified by July 8, 2014.

g. Winner will be determined by whichever person guesses the correct name of Midland Park’s Weather Vane Dog on Facebook by June 30, 2014 at 3pm EST. If more than one person guesses the name, the first correct answer wins.

h. There will be 1 Grand Prize Winner. The Grand Prize winner will win: $500 in Veterinary Services for Ridgewood Veterinary Hospital, to be used at either our Ridgewood or Midland Park location.

i. Any questions? Please direct all queries to [email protected].

To learn more about our hospital as well as past and future events, please visit our website: WWW.RIDGEWOODVET.COM

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Graydon Pool Memberships

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Graydon Pool Memberships 

The Village Council and the Ridgewood Department of Parks and Recreation are excited to announce memberships are now on sale for the upcoming summer season and all are invited to join the Graydon Pool facility as season members for the 2014 summer season. Come enjoy fun in the sun so close to home! Opening day is Saturday, May 31st. 

Pool features include a shaded playground, water play fountains, shade kites, Adirondack chairs, picnic area, sheltered pavilion, charcoal grills, and The Water’s Edge Café. Additional amenities include a lending library of reading books, volleyball, basketball, ping-pong tables, shuffleboard, four-squares and hop-scotch. Special programs include “Storytime Under a Tree” for the little ones and swim instruction for children and adults, as well as an adaptive swim class. The Graydon Swim Team welcomes youth members, ages 8 to 14. 

Resident fees are $120 per adult, $110 per child (ages 2 through 15) and $30 for seniors. Non-resident adults will be charged $200 and children, ages 2 through 15, will be charged $175 for the13 week season. 

Badges are now on sale and can be purchased from the comfort of home on Community Pass at www.ridgewoodnj.net/communitypass (Visa and MasterCard are accepted). In person registration assistance will be available Saturdays, May 10 and May 17, 10:00 am to 12 noon, at the Graydon Pool Badge Office (onsite at the pool), 259 North Maple Avenue. Badges may be purchased daily throughout the operating season, May 31st through Septemer 1st. 

Details are available at www.ridgewoodnj.net/graydon or you may call the Recreation Office at 201-670-5560 with any questions or if special accommodations are needed.

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American Red Cross Blood Drive Monday June 16th

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American Red Cross Blood Drive
Ridgewood – 74 Godwin Avenue
Give Life – Give Blood Event – Blood Drive – Monday, June 16; 3 to 8pm Call to schedule – 201/652-3210

It feels great to donate!

You get free juice and delicious Keebler® cookies.
It’s something you can spare – most people have blood to spare… yet, there is still not enough to go around.
You will help ensure blood is on the shelf when needed – most people don’t think they’ll ever need blood, but many do.
You will be someone’s hero – in fact, you could help save more than one life with just one donation.

To get ready for your donation:

It always helps us to know in advance when you are coming in to make a donation.

Hydrate

Be sure to drink plenty of fluids on the day of your donation.

Wear Something Comfortable

Wear clothing with sleeves that can easily be rolled up above the elbow.

Maintain a Healthy Level of Iron in Your Diet Before Donating

If possible, include iron-rich foods in your diet, especially in the weeks before your donation.

Bring a List of Medications You Are Taking

We will need to know about any prescription and/or over the counter medications that may be in your system.

Bring an ID

Please bring either your donor card, driver’s license or two other forms of identification.

Bring a Friend

Bring along a friend, so that you may both enjoy the benefits of giving blood.

Relax!

Blood donation is a simple and very safe procedure so there is nothing to worry about.

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Happy Father’s Day and a bit of History

Father Knows Best
Happy Father’s Day and a bit of History 

In June of every year, we honor fathers. The first Mother’s Day was celebrated in 1914, but a holiday honoring fathers did not become official until 1966, when President Lyndon Johnson declared that the third Sunday in June would be Father’s Day. President Richard Nixon made this proclamation permanent in 1972. But this doesn’t mean that the holiday was not celebrated before this time.

The idea for Father’s Day is attributed to Sonora Dodd, who was raised by her father after her mother’s death during childbirth. While listening to a sermon at church on Mother’s Day, she thought about all her father had done for her and her siblings and decided fathers should have a day, too. Because Dodd’s father was born in June, she encouraged churches in her area, Spokane, Wash., to honor fathers that month. The first Father’s Day was celebrated in Spokane in 1910.

Over the years, the idea spread, and people lobbied Congress to establish the holiday. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson, who had signed a proclamation establishingMother’s Day, approved the idea, but never signed a proclamation for it. In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge made it a national event to “establish more intimate relations between fathers and their children and to impress upon fathers the full measure of their obligations.”

https://www.loc.gov/wiseguide/jun03/father.html