James - THE RIDGEWOOD BLOG. - Page 3224 of 3730

Posted on March 14, 2014March 14, 2014 by James — 2 Comments

E-ZPass : Driver charged with $6,000 in tolls on 495 Express Lanes

E-ZPass : Driver charged with $6,000 in tolls on 495 Express Lanes
Thursday – 3/13/2014, 6:45am ET
By Ari Ashe

MCLEAN, Va. — A Fairfax County, Va. man who commutes on the 495 Express Lanes each day was sent a court summons and told he’d have to pay $6,000 in tolls, penalties and fees, WTOP Ticketbuster has learned.

Todd Metheny commutes from Springfield to McLean. He says the trip often took more than an hour on the Capital Beltway, but now takes less than 20 minutes on the 495 Express Lanes. But in January 2013, a problem with his E-ZPass account caused an overdraft in his account.

“I got a letter in the mail saying, ‘We weren’t able to charge you for the toll, shame on you. Take care of it immediately. Future violations will result in administrative penalties.’ But by the time I got it, the future already happened,” says Metheny.

He says he called Transurban in late January, in February and in April of 2013. Each time, he sent documents from his E-ZPass account to Transurban, the private company that operates the 495 Express Lanes in a public-private partnership with the Commonwealth of Virginia.

But in mid-April, Metheny received a collections letter from Transurban. He called Transurban again on April 24.

“When I got the collections letter, I realized that about $11 now turned into nearly $800 in fines. I came unglued. Pick a word and I probably used it,” says Metheny.

Transurban agreed to research his case and call him back. But the agency never did. Metheny continued to use the 495 Express Lanes in 2013 and early 2014 without a problem. He says he didn’t hear anything from Transurban and assumed the agency just took the money out of his E-ZPass account.

https://www.wtop.com/1319/3580187/Driver-charged-with-6000-in-tolls

Posted on March 14, 2014March 14, 2014 by James — Leave a comment

COUNTY COMMITTEE PETITIONS AVAILABLE

COUNTY COMMITTEE PETITIONS AVAILABLE

Petitions for County Committee are available in the Village Clerk’s Office. County Committee members represent their political party in each voting district, and they vote at the convention for the County Officials. There are two County Committee members for the Democratic party and two County Committee members for the Republican party from each voting district, one male and one female. The candidates running for County Committee must run to represent the voting district in which they reside. The petitions must be signed by voters in the same voting district and be of the same political party as the candidates. County Committee members are voted on in the Primary Election. The deadline to submit completed County Committee petitions to the Village Clerk’s Office is March 31, 2014 at 4:00 P.M.

Posted on March 14, 2014March 14, 2014 by James — 3 Comments

New study shows NSA phone metadata can reveal EVERYTHING about your life

New study shows NSA phone metadata can reveal EVERYTHING about your life

New research published by Stanford Univeristy Wednesday reveal phone and Internet metadata collected by the NSA can expose far more information about an individual than the agency admits, including, “medical conditions, financial and legal connections, and even whether they own a gun.”

Two of the school’s computer science graduate students were able to uncover the sensitive personal details of individuals from phone data details, like the numbers of callers and recipients, the location of callers, phone serial numbers and the length of conversations — all of which are data the signals intelligence agency collects in bulk both domestically and internationally.

Of the 33,688 unique numbers called by the study’s 546 study volunteers, students were able to positively identify a specific individual in 18 percent of those calls. They were also able to discern 57 percent made at least one medical call and 40 percent made a financial services call.

Computer scientists Jonathan Mayer and Patrick Mutchler, the doctoral students that authored the study, say metadata are “extremely sensitive and revealing,” and “can yield a wealth of detail about family, political, professional, religious and sexual associations.”

“It would be no technical challenge to scale these identifications to a larger population,” Mayer told Stanford News, referencing similar metadata analysis the NSA is almost certainly already engaged in.

Posted on March 14, 2014March 14, 2014 by James — Leave a comment

Obamacare is definitely NOT as cheap as your cellphone bill

Obamacare is definitely NOT as cheap as your cellphone bill

President Barack Obama’s favorite new Obamacare sign-up pitches is that young enrollees, which the law banks on for sustainability, can get health insurance for the price of a monthly cellphone bill. But in reality, premiums are more than a little pricier.

“HealthCare.gov works great now,” Obama told Zack Galifianakis Tuesday in a Funny or Die “Between Two Ferns” video. “And millions of Americans have already gotten health insurance plans, and what we want is for people to know that you can get affordable health care — and most young Americans right now, they’re not covered.”

“And the truth is that they can get coverage all for what it costs you to pay your cell phone bill,” Obama said.

As competition heats up in the wireless war between the nation’s biggest carriers, prices and options for cellphone plans are spread across a wide range, depending on phone type, data limits, upgrade terms, etc. For comparison’s sake, we’ll define an average middle-of-the-road plan as consisting of a smartphone, two-year upgrade, unlimited calls, unlimited texts and an average of two gigs of downloadable Internet data per month.

Discounting taxes nationwide, that plan costs about $90 on Verizon, $80 on AT&T, $70 on Sprint, and $60 on T-Mobile every month. Both Sprint and T-Mobile offer the same plans with unlimited monthly data for $80. All pricing is relevant as of January 2014.

Posted on March 14, 2014March 14, 2014 by James — 11 Comments

Ridgewood Village Council; take a lesson from Little Falls were officials give up salaries

Ridgewood Village Council; take a lesson from Little Falls were officials give up salaries

MARCH 13, 2014, 2:02 AM LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014, 2:02 AM
BY JEFF GREEN
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

LITTLE FALLS – In a gesture of solidarity with frustrated taxpayers, Mayor Darlene Post and the Township Council are forgoing their $2,000-a-year salaries in a lean 2014 budget that all but cuts essential government services.

The $15.7 million budget, introduced by the council Monday night, calls for a $97 property tax increase for the owner of home valued at the township average of $302,000. It scales back new initiatives, reins in legal expenses, and for the second year in a row withholds raises for non-contractual employees.

The flood-prone township’s finances are so tight, officials say, that it can’t afford a new truck for the public works superintendent so his old one can be passed on to the emergency management coordinator for use in extreme weather. The coordinator has no vehicle.

“There were cuts made and there were requests that weren’t made so we could keep [taxes] flat,” Post said. She said under the circumstances, the budget is “as good as it gets, as bitter as it is.”

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/in-view-of-tax-hike-little-falls-officials-give-up-salaries-1.739382#sthash.oMn8UwpL.dpuf

Posted on March 14, 2014March 14, 2014 by James — Leave a comment

Seeking Village Resident Volunteers to Serve : PLANNING BOARD AND FINANCIAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Seeking Village Resident Volunteers to Serve :

PLANNING BOARD AND FINANCIAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE

The Village Council is looking for residents who are interested in volunteering to serve on the Planning Board and the Financial Advisory Committee.

The Planning Board reviews site plans and subdivision applications; prepares, adopts, and amends the Master Plan; makes recommendations to the Village Council regarding amendments to developmental regulations and the official map.

The Financial Advisory Committee assists in the review and understanding of the financial considerations necessary to the operation of the Village and the Village’s preparation of the Annual and Capital Budgets; provides review, advice and recommendations to the Village Council on Village financial and budgetary matters; and prepares an annual report for the Village Council to assist the Councilmembers in their budget preparation. Members will preferably have strong finance, accounting, government and/or business backgrounds.

All interested residents should fill out a Citizen Volunteer Leadership form (found on the Village website under “Forms”), and send it along with a cover letter indicating on which board/committee the resident wishes to serve, and a biography or resume to:

Heather Mailander
Village Clerk
Village of Ridgewood
131 North Maple Ave.
Ridgewood, NJ 07451

Deadline for submissions is March 28, 2014.

Posted on March 14, 2014March 14, 2014 by James — 5 Comments

Readers continue to voice concern over use of police time by outside vendors

file photo by Boyd Loving

Readers continue to voice concern over use of police time by outside vendors

Has the Council done a cost/benefit analysis showing the true net cost to taxpayers and rate payers of this extra duty work for outside vendors and the impact on public safety ? Seems like it’s in the PBA contracts so the RPD argues it’s contractual and cannot be changed, but how did it get in there in the first place ? Maybe we should recall the CBA ?

Today I saw a PSEG truck doing a pole replacement on north Monroe. Orange cones around it. Police car parked PAST the truck. duhhhhh. In this particular case the unmarked car with lites flashing inside was not even doing the job they were supposed to since it was parked after the truck..not before it. A few blocks away a marked police patrol car was visible behind the cones (that had the detour sign).

There was another truck in front of the unmarked car that just left. the unmarked hadn’t left yet. Any time the police are on the street they are available in an emergency cops on side jobs have responded to emergency calls for people in need , on guy who’s retired caught a perp wanted for bank robbery while he was working a side job. It’s good for the town to have extra cops available at non-taxpayers expense. Oh and don’t give me that song about higher power rates, If pseg hired flag men in stead of cops the cost per kilowatt hr. wouldn’t come down at all. The utility profit margin would go up increasing the stock price as it is a publicly traded company. Don’t be jealous of what some one else has, improve what you have and if you have more than the cops + firemen be happy you do, Jealousy and envy will eat you alive from the inside out.

Posted on March 14, 2014June 27, 2021 by James — 14 Comments

Reader says “Save Ridgewood” group should focus on solutions

Reader says “Save Ridgewood” group should focus on solutions

Has anyone in the “Save Ridgewood” group thought about the impact of doing nothing. Three of the four proposed residential development sites are currently vacant. At the recent Planning Board meeting in which the Brogan site was discussed one genius suggested that the site be developed for Retail use. This would produce far more traffic, noise and clutter than any residential use. It is time for the Save Ridgewood group to stop complaining and come forth with some well reasoned suggestions for the long term use of what are becoming increasingly blighted properties.

Posted on March 14, 2014March 14, 2014 by James — 24 Comments

Ridgewood Council, in 3-2 vote, makes manager’s appointment official

Ridgewood Council, in 3-2 vote, makes manager’s appointment official

MARCH 13, 2014, 1:16 PM
BY DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

Ridgewood has a new village manager.

In a 3-2 vote Wednesday night, the Ridgewood Council approved the appointment of 17-year resident Roberta Sonenfeld to the village’s top administration position, a seat that has been vacant since late last August.

Sonenfeld will start her new job March 31, at which time she will begin receiving an annual salary of $155,000. She has already informed the village that she intends to waive any health benefits and stipends for travel expenses.

“This is my dream job,” Sonenfeld said after a line of about 10 residents spoke in support of her and her appointment.

With many family members in attendance, Sonenfeld, 59, said the combination of three decades in senior management roles and her desire to improve her hometown “brought me to this place.”

“I’m passionate about this town,” she said.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/ridgewood-council-in-3-2-vote-makes-manager-s-appointment-official-1.740095#sthash.GVGfZbJ3.dpuf

Posted on March 14, 2014April 11, 2020 by James — Leave a comment

Russian Troops Mass at Border With Ukraine

Charge of the Light Brigade, an engagement that took place on October 25, 1854, during the Battle of Balaklava in the Crimean War

Russian Troops Mass at Border With Ukraine

By STEVEN LEE MYERS and ALISON SMALEMARCH 13, 2014

MOSCOW — With a referendum on secession looming in Crimea, Russia massed troops and armored vehicles in at least three regions along Ukraine’s eastern border on Thursday, alarming the interim Ukraine government about a possible invasion and significantly escalating tensions in the crisis between the Kremlin and the West.

The announcement of the troop buildup by Russia’s Defense Ministry was met with an unusually sharp rebuke from Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, who warned that the Russian government must abandon what she called the politics of the 19th and 20th centuries or face diplomatic and economic retaliation from a united Europe.

“Ladies and gentlemen, if Russia continues on its course of the past weeks, it will not only be a catastrophe for Ukraine,” she said in a speech to the German Parliament. “We, also as neighbors of Russia, would not only see it as a threat. And it would not only change the European Union’s relationship with Russia. No, this would also cause massive damage to Russia, economically and politically.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/14/world/europe/ukraine.html?_r=0

Posted on March 14, 2014March 14, 2014 by James — 3 Comments

John Kerry: Russia has until Monday to reverse course in Ukraine

John Kerry: Russia has until Monday to reverse course in Ukraine

BY SUSAN CRABTREE | MARCH 13, 2014 AT 1:11 PM
TOPICS: JOHN KERRY RUSSIA PENNAVE FOREIGN POLICY EUROPE UKRAINE EU CRIMEA
Secretary of State John Kerry pauses while testifying on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday,…

Secretary of State John Kerry warned of serious repercussions forRussia on Monday if last-ditch talks over the weekend to resolve the crisis in Ukraine failed to persuade Moscow to soften its stance.

Kerry will travel to London for a Friday meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov ahead of a Sunday referendum vote in theCrimea region to secede from Ukraine and join the Russian Federation.

U.S. and European officials argue that Moscow is orchestrating the referendum and waging an intimidation campaign with thousands of Russian troops controlling the region. If Russian-backed lawmakers in Crimea go through with the Sunday referendum, Kerry said the U.S. and its European allies will not recognize it as legitimate under international law.

https://washingtonexaminer.com/john-kerry-russia-has-until-monday-to-reverse-course-in-ukraine/article/2545610

Posted on March 13, 2014June 27, 2021 by James — 1 Comment

BOE MEETS MONDAY, MARCH 17, 2014

BOE MEETS MONDAY, MARCH 17, 2014

The next Regular Public Meeting of the Ridgewood Board of Education will be held on Monday, March 17, 2014 at 7:30 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 atwww.ridgewood.k12.nj.us using the “Link in Live” tab.

Click here to view the agenda for the March 3, 2014 Regular Public Meeting.

Click here to view the webcast of the March 3, 2014 Regular Public Meeting.

2014-2015 Budget Information

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Daniel Fishbein has announced three public presentations on the 2014-2015 school budget. The presentations will offer residents the opportunity to hear the budget details and ask questions of the superintendent, business administrator and Board of Education members.

The 2014-2015 school budget presentations will be offered as follows: Thursday, April 10 at 1 p.m. at the Education Center, 49 Cottage Place, Floor 3; Thursday, April 10 at 7 p.m. at Benjamin Franklin Middle School Auditorium, 335 North Van Dien Avenue; and Wednesday, April 23 at 7 p.m. at George Washington Middle School Auditorium, 155 Washington Place.

Taking effect this year, the Ridgewood Board of Education has opted to move the annual school board elections from April to November, thereby eliminating the public vote on the proposed general tax levy if it is at or below the statutory tax levy cap. Since next year’s proposed budget falls within the mandated cap, it will not be put to public vote.

The Board will continue to discuss the proposed budget at upcoming regular public meetings on March 17, April 7 and April 28. Residents are welcome to attend these meetings and speak at the public comment portion of the agenda. The Board is expected to approve the final budget at its Regular Public Meeting on Monday, April 28.

Click here to view the Preliminary 2014-2015 Budget Presentation presented at the March 3, 2014 Regular Public Meeting.

Posted on March 13, 2014March 13, 2014 by James — Leave a comment

Ridgewood Concert Band March Winds

March Winds
Friday, March 21, 2014
8:00 PM
West Side Presbyterian Church
Ridgewood, New Jersey

Meet The Soloist: Richard Summers

Richard Summers is a music educator, performer, arranger, conductor, and composer. He grew up in Wheeling WV, became interested in a musical career, and attended the University of Kentucky for two years under a full scholarship. He moved to the NY/NJ area when he was accepted as a clarinetist and saxophonist of the United States Military Academy Band at West Point from 1972-1975. Following his military career, he attended Juilliard, where he received his BM and MM degrees in music performance on clarinet under Leon Russianoff and Joseph Allard.

Newly retired from NJ public schools, Mr. Summers taught instrumental music for 32 years in Kinnelon and Pequannock, NJ and served as adjunct professor for concert band, clarinet, and woodwinds at William Paterson University, where he established the Summer Honors Band.

As a performer on clarinet, saxophone, and other woodwind instruments, Mr. Summers has performed as a member of the New Jersey Pops Orchestra, The Orchestra at William Paterson, The New Music Ensemble, The Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, Adelphi Chamber Orchestra, North Jersey Philharmonic, and has been principal clarinetist, soloist, assistant conductor, personnel manager, and arranger with the Ridgewood Concert Band for over 25 years. Throughout his career, he has been a featured performer both locally and internationally, playing solo works across the US and Europe.

Mr. Summers has recently arranged and composed music that has been published for Bandworks Publications, and Carl Fisher Publications, and is hoping to write and publish more music in the future. Mr. Summers resides in West Milford, NJ and has a musical family of his own. His wife Karen and his son Stephen are also clarinetists and perform together in area music ensembles like the Ridgewood Concert Band.

Posted on March 13, 2014March 13, 2014 by James — Leave a comment

Delaying Obamacare’s Individual Mandate Due to ‘Hardship’ — Caused by Obamacare

Delaying Obamacare’s Individual Mandate Due to ‘Hardship’ — Caused by Obamacare

How many times do you have to delay something to realize it’s just a really bad idea?

Amy Payne
March 13, 2014 at 6:30 am

It’s getting difficult to take any part of Obamacare seriously.

The Obama administration has altered or delayed it so many times—who can be sure what the law is at this point?

The individual mandate stating that every American has to purchase government-approved health coverage or pay a fine is supposed to kick in on March 31. That’s the deadline to sign up for coverage, supposedly to avoid this year’s penalty.

But Obamacare is never “settled law,” as the president and others have called it, because Health and Human Services (HHS) keeps writing more regulations.

Most recently, the administration extended the “hardship exemption” from the individual mandate for those who had their previous policies canceled because of Obamacare until October 2016.

To qualify, your plan must have been canceled because it wasn’t compliant with Obamacare, and you just have to tell the government you “believe” that other insurance policies are unaffordable.

The exemption means people who meet these criteria are free from the individual mandate. But if they want to buy coverage, they are given the special option to buy a “catastrophic” health insurance plan, which is not eligible for subsidies and typically would be available only to those under age 30.

When the exemption was first announced in December, Heritage experts Alyene Senger and Robert Moffit said this “is not going to simplify anything. Rest assured it is going to create even greater confusion for health insurers trying to sell these products. Also, don’t expect the unhappy consumers who’ve just lost their previous coverage to understand clearly which plan they can pick and be legally qualified to pick it.”

Due to the utter confusion and the underperforming signups on HealthCare.gov, reporters asked HHS this week whether the agency would simply extend the deadline for people to buy coverage. An HHS official responded that, “In fact, we don’t actually have the statutory authority to extend the open enrollment period in 2014.”

This administration hasn’t let a detail like legal authority stop it from overstepping its boundsmultiple times. And as Heritage’s Senger and Moffit put it, “issuing more government rules to correct the consequences of their unworkable government rules is the only thing they seem to know how to do.”

https://blog.heritage.org/2014/03/13/delaying-obamacares-individual-mandate-due-hardship/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social

Posted on March 13, 2014March 26, 2021 by James — 7 Comments

Lincoln Park teen who sued parents returns home; family issues will be settled in private

Lincoln Park teen who sued parents returns home; family issues will be settled in private

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2014 LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY MARCH 12, 2014, 11:27 PM
BY CHRISTOPHER MAAG AND STEFANIE DAZIO
STAFF WRITERS
THE RECORD

It was a case that struck fear in the hearts of parents around the world. If a teenager does not like her parents’ rules, can she move out of their house and then sue them for hundreds of thousands of dollars in financial support?

Rachel Canning, the 18-year-old senior at Morris Catholic High School, may never know for sure. She’s moved back into her family’s home in Lincoln Park, a lawyer for her parents announced at a news conference Wednesday, possibly ending a lawsuit that landed her troubled family in the middle of a global media firestorm.

“The bottom line is it’s over. She’s home,” said Angelo Sarno, the lawyer for Rachel’s parents, Sean and Elizabeth Canning. “You can’t address family grievances in a courtroom.”

Family law experts around North Jersey agreed.

“There really was no need for this family’s situation to become a public matter in the first place,” said Bari Weinberger, a family law attorney in Paramus. “These are parents with a child in need of counseling and help behind closed doors, not a legal battle in open court. It’s a relief to see that cooler heads prevailed.”

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/Lincoln_Park_student_who_sued_parents_returns_home.html#sthash.mebrmiCw.dpuf

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