Upgrade to Ridgewood’s police fleet sought
Tuesday December 3, 2013, 10:03 AM
BY DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER
The Ridgewood News
A longtime consumer debate has trickled into the ranks of the Ridgewood Police Department: Is it better to buy or lease a vehicle?
Police officials believe they have zeroed in on a leasing concept that could yield thousands of dollars in savings while reducing the department’s annual operating expenses and general vehicle wear and tear. The proposal would downgrade three vehicles currently used by the top brass, specifically the chief’s sport utility vehicle (SUV) and two detective cars.
According to Sgt. John Chuck, the department is considering a mid-sized sedan model to replace the aging full-sized detective vehicles. The smaller cars are equipped with six-cylinder engines, which generate a better miles-per-gallon efficiency rating than the presently active eight-cylinder vehicles.
Reader says the town engineer should be concerned the property which will require clearing and substantial fill at an enormous cost to taxpayers
The town engineer has made comments that are pro ball field. His renditions for the use of the property is predisposed for the inclusion of a 90 foot ball field.
Town engineer should be concerned with the elevation of the property which will require clearing and substantial fill at an enormous cost to taxpayers and to the detriment of the homeowners who will be subjected to the flooding changing the topography will cause.
He should also take into consideration and advise elected officials and taxpayers the long term cost of maintainng this ball field. Especially at a time when we are laying off borough employees.
The double whammy to this cost is the devaluation of properties causing lower tax rates.
Keep it the way it is. Give the kids in the neighborhood a small playground and some walking trails. No reason to chage the topography for this.
Reader says People have been complaining about sudden huge water bills for years at council meetings.
People have been complaining about sudden huge water bills for years at council meetings. The answer was always that the water dept. was catching up for years of estimates. Well, why are the estimates so far off? Most people haven’t suddenly quadrupled the number of people living in the house. If the “estimate” consisted of charging the same amount as in 2006, whose fault is that?
Anyone hit with a bill like that ought to be allowed to work out a payment system. Many years ago I received a whopping bill from PSE&G after a very cold winter month. I called and learned about their averaging plan, which I have used ever since, paying the same amount every month, then paying a little extra or getting a credit every July, when they recalculate my monthly amount for the following year. Works fine. Meanwhile they readily agreed to a payment plan whereby I paid an agreed-upon amount extra every month until I caught up. For monster catch-up water bills based on 7 years of underpayments (their own fault), the water dept. ought to permit the same.
My recent quarterly water bill (still through my Verizon land line) was for $211.38–which seemed high, but it included the summer watering. Not high compared to yours! My bill says “Actual Read”–just checked. If they try to tell me later that they’re catching up since 2006, I’m not buying it.
Months ago I called the water dept. to try to find out when their contract with Verizon was going to expire. It was impossible to get through. I kept calling different people in the same department. I can’t remember if I left a message–it was too frustrating and I gave up. I would still like to know.
Has anyone figured out whether the new meters are “smart meters,” banned in some states and counties because they emit radiation and even subject to possible hacking for information about the household (not sure what; that no one is home?). I’d rather keep my old meter but I understand that eventually it won’t be readable.
Incredible turnout today from our brothers and sisters in blue to honor our Honorary Police Chief Michael Feeney. Thank you from the Ridgewood Police Department
Police Funeral Given To Ridgewood Boy Who Died Of Cancer
Michael Feeney Died After 4-Year Battle With Cancer
December 3, 2013 6:49 PM
RIDGEWOOD, N.J. (CBSNewYork) – A 10-year-old boy from Ridgewood who had been named an honorary police chief was given full police honors at his funeral Tuesday after losing his battle with cancer last week.
Bagpipes played and dozens of police officers from across New Jersey stood at attention as Michael Feeney’s flag-draped casket arrived at Mount Carmel Church.
“I lost a partner today,” said police Chief John Ward, fighting back tears.
Earlier this year, the Hawes Elementary School fifth-grader was named Ridgewood’s honorary police chief for 2013, but he died Friday after a four-year battle with cancer.
Expert Testifies to Congress that Obama’s ‘Ignoring Laws’ Could Lead to Overthrow of Government
by Noah Rothman | 12:34 pm, December 3rd, 2013
During a congressional committee hearing about the constitutional limits imposed on the presidency and the implications of President Barack Obama’s disregard for implementing the Affordable Care Act as written, one expert testified that the consequences of the president’s behavior were potentially grave. He said that the precedent set by Obama could eventually lead to an armed revolt against the federal government.
On Tuesday, Michael Cannon, Cato Institute’s Director of Health Policy Studies, testified before a congressional committee about the dangers of the president’s legal behavior.
“There is one last thing to which the people can resort if the government does not respect the restrains that the constitution places on the government,” Cannon said. “Abraham Lincoln talked about our right to alter our government or our revolutionary right to overthrow it.”
Rogers: WH Won’t Even Give Classified Briefings on HealthCare.Gov Security Problems
By Andrew Johnson
December 3, 2013 11:06 AM
The Obama administration has avoided informing lawmakers of HealthCare.gov’s security problems and this is just another incidence of the White House’s incompetence we’ve seen since the health-care law’s rollout, according to House Intelligence chair Mike Rogers (R., Mich.).
“They could not even provide someone — CMS and HHS, the two folks responsible for the HealthCare.gov website — in a classified setting to come up and talk about the breaches that they know have happened,” Rogers said on Fox News on Monday. “That’s just unconscionable.”
No security ever built into Obamacare site: Hacker
Published: Monday, 25 Nov 2013 | 9:54 AM ET
By: Matthew J. Belvedere | Producer, CNBC’s “Squawk Box”
It could take a year to secure the risk of “high exposures” of personal information on the federal Obamacare online exchange, a cybersecurity expert told CNBC on Monday.
“When you develop a website, you develop it with security in mind. And it doesn’t appear to have happened this time,” said David Kennedy, a so-called “white hat” hacker who tests online security by breaching websites. He testified on Capitol Hill about the flaws of HealthCare.gov last week.
“It’s really hard to go back and fix the security around it because security wasn’t built into it,” said Kennedy, chief executive of TrustedSec. “We’re talking multiple months to over a year to at least address some of the critical-to-high exposures on the website itself.”
According to the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversaw the implementation of the website, the components used to build the site are compliant with standards set by Federal security authorities.
Obama spends $600 million on rail projects that benefit private companies
By Curtis Tate
McClatchy Washington BureauDecember 2, 2013 Updated 11 hours ago
WASHINGTON — The railroad industry brags in its national publicity campaign that it spends billions of dollars improving its infrastructure “so taxpayers don’t have to.”
But the ads don’t tell everything. The nation’s freight rail network has been the quiet recipient of more than $600 million in federal investment during the Obama administration.
According to Federal Railroad Administration numbers, at least half that amount has gone to projects that benefit the nation’s four largest railroads, the same companies at the heart of the industry’s ubiquitous “Freight Rail Works” campaign.
That doesn’t even include tens of millions more that states have contributed for additional investment in ports and high-speed passenger trains that’s boosted the nation’s freight railroads.
Village Boards and Council Meetings
Financial Advisory Committee – Meeting Monday, December 9
The Financial Advisory Committee will be holding monthly public meetings on the second Monday of each month at 7:30 P.M. in the Garden Room, on the first floor of Village Hall.
12/03/13 7:30PM Planning Board Public Meeting – Ben Franklin Middle School
12/04/13 7:30PM Village Council Public Work Session
12/10/13 7:30PM Board of Adjustment Public Meeting
12/11/13 8:00PM Village Council Public Meeting
12/17/13 7:30PM Planning Board Public Meeting
01/07/14 7:30PM Planning Board Public Meeting
01/08/14 7:30PM Village Council Public Work Session
01/15/14 8:00PM Village Council Public Meeting
2014 Unlimited Parking Permits will be available December 16
2014 Unlimited Parking Permits will be on sale at Village Hall Receptionist Desk starting Monday, December 16th. The UP3 Permit allows unlimited parking at meters in Ridgewood Parking Lots Monday through Saturday from 6AM to 6PM. The annual fee for the permit is $650. The cost of the permit is reduced if purchased later in the calender year. For questions, please call 201/670-5500 x200.
Media attacks Obama’s ‘Soviet-style’ publicity policy
Major media organisations protest against being shut out of president’s events in favour of official photographer
Barack Obama’s White House has been accused of producing Soviet-style propaganda by press photographers who are furious at being denied access to the US president.
Mr Obama’s aides routinely block independent photographers from capturing him at work, before distributing flattering pictures shot by Pete Souza, his official photographer.
During a tense meeting at the White House, the practice was described by Doug Mills, a veteran photographer for The New York Times, as “just like TASS,” the Soviet Union state news agency.
More than 30 major US media organisations and the leading US press photographers’ union have protested against being barred from covering Mr Obama in an open letter to his press secretary.
“Journalists are routinely being denied the right to photograph or videotape the president while he is performing his official duties,” said the letter, which was delivered to Jay Carney.
Donor sought for former Ridgewood athlete
Monday December 2, 2013, 1:33 PM
BY LAURA HERZOG
STAFF WRITER
The Ridgewood News
Anthony Daniels, a Fordham University student and former Ridgewood High School (RHS) hockey player, took up boxing a few years ago and goes to the gym every day to lift weights.
He also cracks jokes about having “chemo brain” and laughs about how terrible hospital food is.
“I haven’t really sat in my bed and cried at all,” said Anthony, a 2009 RHS graduate who has a rare, stubborn case of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma that is not responding well to treatments. “I also don’t think that I could die, to be honest with you. I don’t think of that as a possibility.”
Anthony is the definition of a fighter, but now he needs an angel. Residents are encouraged to attend a local donor registration drive on Saturday, Dec. 21 to learn if they can be his “angel donor” of white blood cells – among less than 1 percent of the population that could be his perfect match.
Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, according to the National Cancer Institute, is a cancer of the immune system that affected about 9,000 new Americans this year, with about a 90 to 95 percent cure rate among children.
At the drive, taking place in Village Hall from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., healthy people ages 18 to 44 will get the inside of their cheek swabbed. Anyone who is a match for Anthony or others in need will be contacted later to undergo a process similar to blood donation.
Michael Feeney with Chris Christie 4th of July photo Ridgewood PD
Ridgewood plans full police funeral for 10-year old boy
New Jersey news from Eyewitness News
RIDGEWOOD, N.J. — A town in northern New Jersey is planning a full police funeral for a 10-year-old boy.
Michael Feeney was named Ridgewood’s honorary police chief for 2013 before succumbing to cancer on Friday.
The Hawes Elementary School fifth-grader had Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare, aggressive and often fatal bone cancer that usually develops in children and young adults.
I’m wondering if any of you received an insanely high water bill this quarter.
Ours was over $1,200 this quarter
I called Ridgewood water this morning to inform them of the obvious billing error. I was informed that the additional money owed was due to under billings since 2006. The water co apparently used estimated billings since 2006.
They finally did an actual reading this nov. They did the reading when they came out to change the meter. They are now trying to back bill for services since 2006
They explained that they have always done remote readings. But the phone lines have not been reporting the data correctly since 2006. They exclaimed that they don’t have employees who do actual readings. The Ridgewood water employee on the phone said that they have been inundated this morning with calls regarding this issue.
