Author: James

Guidelines set for housing hearings in Ridgewood
Thursday November 7, 2013, 5:13 PM
BY  DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER
The Ridgewood News

The public hearing for a master plan amendment to create new development zones in and around Ridgewood’s Central Business District (CBD) will follow the same procedures currently in use for The Valley Hospital’s Planning Board application.

Board members met Tuesday night and established protocol for the upcoming hearing on four developers’ request to change the village master plan, essentially permitting the construction of high-density, multi-family housing in the downtown area. The hearing will officially begin at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 3 at Benjamin Franklin Middle School (BF).

A copy of the draft master plan amendment, which is being prepared by municipal planner Blais Brancheau, will be available on the Village of Ridgewood website by Nov. 22. Similar to the hospital’s board proceedings, all public documents, exhibits and meeting transcripts will be posted on a special page on the website.

The upcoming process will resemble typical public hearings at the Planning Board level, Chairman Charles Nalbantian said. Statements by the applicants’ attorneys will be followed by testimony presented by their individual experts – planners, architects and traffic engineers, for example. Experts will be questioned by board members following their testimony, and members of the public will also have an opportunity to question those witnesses.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/231055821_Guidelines_set_for_housing_hearings_in_Ridgewood.html#sthash.ldN0e4Zi.dpuf

Are you sure it’s going to be fixed within weeks, Mr. President? This is Obamacare website riddled with garbled messages today

By David Martosko, U.s. Political Editor

PUBLISHED: 18:12 EST, 7 November 2013 | UPDATED: 20:11 EST, 7 November 2013

Healthcare.gov ‘is not firing effectively on all pistons,’ White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters on Thursday, in what may be the understatement of the week.

When MailOnline visited the website shortly after Carney’s daily briefing, the Obamacare portal spewed a nonsensical mixture of computer code instead of a typical login screen.

Gone were words like ‘Username’ and ‘Password.’

In their place were jumbled programming strings like ‘???ffe.ee.myAccount.login.username???’ and ‘???ffe.ee.myAccount.login.password???’

Read more: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2491576/Obamacare-website-spews-garbled-messages-despite-fixed-end-November.html#ixzz2k2qr3A00

The Asperger’s Services Department at West Bergen Mental Healthcare will present a series of monthly workshops for parents of children and adults on the spectrum. The support group will have a two-part focus. First, to explore the challenges of parenting individuals with Asperger’s and related disorders and second, to allow participants to share and process their own experiences within their families. The co-facilitators are West Bergen professionals who are Masters and Doctoral level clinicians. The fee is $20.00 for one or both parents per session. Parents are encouraged to attend sessions together. Participation is limited and pre-registration is required for each session.

Session dates and topics: November 11 – Preparing for the Holidays; December 2 – Tools for Success. (The November session has been re-scheduled from the 4th to the 11th due to a conflict with A Fall Night of Fine Dining.) Additional sessions will be added in 2014.

All workshops will be held from 7:30 to 8:30 PM and will be held at West Bergen Counseling Group, 615 Franklin Turnpike, 2nd Floor, Ridgewood, NJ. Please contact Kelly Doyle at [email protected] or (201) 857-0080 to register or receive further information.

West Bergen is a non-profit organization providing a wide range of psychiatric and counseling services for all age groups with various levels of need. West Bergen is committed to meeting the psychological needs of each of its clients with sensitivity and responsive, innovative services of the highest quality. West Bergen strives to improve the quality of life in Bergen County and beyond – one life at a time. For further information on West Bergen and the services it provides please call (201) 444-3550.

Sebelius: Possible for convicted felons to become Obamacare navigators

WASHINGTON — Health and Human Services Sec. Kathleen Sebelius acknowledged Wednesday that it would be possible for a convicted felon to become an Obamacare navigator — one of the workers responsible for helping people deal with the ins and outs of the healthcare law.

“Isn’t it true there is no federal requirement for navigators to undergo a criminal background check, even though they will receive personal information from the individuals they help to sign-up up for the Affordable Care Act?”

Read more: https://dailycaller.com/2013/11/06/sebelius-possible-for-convicted-felons-to-become-obamacare-navigators-video/#ixzz2jx5Hfh85

file photo by Boyd Loving

Village of Ridgewood : In Celebration of Veteran’s

List of Programs in November

A reminder, Saturday, November 9th at the Ridgewood Public Library at 2 pm. Their is a joint presentation Called “Escape from Behind Enemy Lines”. The Shelburn Line was a WW11 escape network operating in occupied France which returned 136 allied servicemen to England. Rick Feingold recounts the story of how his father Lt, Louis Feingold escaped Nazi capture.. The presentation begins at 2 pm.

Monday, November 11th the American Legion Post 53 will conduct the Veterans Day service starting at 11 am. at Ridgewoods Veterans Field located at Linwood and Maple Aves by the flagpole. Please join us.

Saturday, November 16th at 9 am. the American Legion will recover the American flags placed at veterans gravesites in May. The community is invited to help us. The more hands the easier the task. Bring your children and grandchildren. The event will take place rain or shine at Valleau cemetery.

Veterans Day Ceremony – November 11

Veterans day is Monday, November 11th. American Legion Post 53, Ridgewood is inviting the whole community to attend our service to be held at Veterans Field at 11 am. The ceremony will take place at the flagpole located at Maple and Linwood Ave. Please join us as we thank all veterans but especially Korean War era military.

Readers debate Retiring in Ridgewood

55+ communities have amenities, pools, club houses, jogging paths and activities. They try to be like resorts.

The developments in Ridgewood will have the NYC trains. There are no amenities. Cramped housing alongside a train track. What will the taxes be for a two bedroom unit?

If it costs $14,000 to educate a child in the RPS then it will cost the schools $42,000 to 56,000 to educate my replacement’s kids. If school taxes are 65% of my bill then I am paying $19,500 in school taxes. If I stay the town comes out way ahead.

If the town remains rigid then I will buy a beautiful home somewhere else. I would like to stay in Ridgewood but it is just silly to stay and pay the high taxes and receive little in return.

I cannot afford to live in Ridgewood in my senior years. I am not sure that NJ will be my home. I pay 30k in taxes in the Wood. Kids are out of school, I will probably sell my house to a family with 3+ Kids. I am not looking for a handout but I have paid my “fair share”.Don’t tell me how I can contribute to the community in my retirement, my community priced me out.

I will downsize and you can have three or more kids in the school. Consider the cost to the town for three more students.I love my house. Once I sell I can move anywhere, I don’t need to be in Ridgewood. I can’t afford to stay but I am not sure that the district can afford to have me move. I will be the one who comes out ahead financially.

My parents last child in school was 1977. They have stayed here and like the town, effectively subsidizing all of the new familes for over 36 years. They also would like to stay, but unless there is some end to the never-ending real estate tax increases, they will be selling, most likely to a family that will fill all 4 bedrooms with students.I moved back here 16 years ago to help take care of my old folks (I never had any kids in these schools) so my subsidy check towards the students has been for 16 years.Just a simple example of 2 homes that, when sold, will equate to at least 5-10 new students enrolled.

The best way to control taxes for all is to encourage those of us who do not use the schools to stay in town. Every time there is a sale, its to a young couple with a baby carriage from NYC or hoboken with new students for the schools. You rarely see retired folks moving here. (if we buy in a 55+ community its going to be in a low tax are, not in downtown ridgewood-not all of us want to live in apartments)

Many towns freeze taxes for people over a certain age (whether 62, 65, or whatever). This would help a lot and pay off for the town.

Twitter prices IPO at $26 per share
By Aaron Pressman | YahooFinance – 14 hours ago

Twitter, the quirky 140 character messaging service that’s become a global phenomenon, priced its initial public offering at $26 per share, valuing the seven-year-old company at over $18 billion.

Twitter (TWTR) will raise $1.8 billion to fund future expansion by selling 70 million shares, which will open for trading on Thursday morning on the New York Stock Exchange. Some analysts say the shares are worth $50 or more, so the price could explode higher once trading begins.

Started in 2006 as a simple way to share short messages and status updates among friends, Twitter has grown to 232 million active users who post 500 million tweets per day about everything from personal thoughts to celebrity gossip and breaking news.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/twitter-raises–xx-billion-in-ipo-190114410.html

Caption: Shown at Valley’s Diabetes Awareness and Screening Event are (left to right): Colette Cummings, Director of Community Health and Community Benefit; Elizabeth Lucas, Manager, Community Health and Community Benefit; Megan Fraser, Vice President of Communications & Marketing; and Bergen County Freeholder Tracy Zur.

More than 150 Attend Valley’s Diabetes Awareness and Screening Event

November 4, 2013 — In recognition of National Diabetes Awareness Month, The Valley Hospital – in partnership with the Diabetes Foundation and the Ridgewood YWCA – hosted a Diabetes Awareness and Screening event on Saturday, November 2, at the hospital’s Luckow Pavilion in Paramus.

Valley welcomed special guest Bergen County Freeholder Tracy Zur, chairwoman of county health services, to the event, which included free health screenings, diabetes education, lectures, and a range of health and wellness information.  Of the 114 attendees who took advantage of a free blood screening, 65 of them – or 57 percent – were flagged as pre-diabetic or diabetic.

According to the American Diabetes Association more than 25 million people in the United States — 8.3 percent of the population — have diabetes.  And these numbers are expected to rise as a result of many factors, including this country’s obesity epidemic.  Today the estimated lifetime risk of developing diabetes for an individual born in the U.S. in the year 2000 is an astounding 30 to 40 percent.  Fortunately, diabetes can be treated very well, and with the right combination of diet, exercise and medications, individuals with diabetes who maintain a healthy lifestyle can expect a long and healthy life.

For information about diabetes support services offered through Valley Home Care, please call 201-291-6000, ext. 7080.

The minimum wage law requires employers to discriminate against persons with low skills

from pages 237-238 of Milton & Rose Friedman’s 1980 book, Free To Choose:

Another set of government measures enforcing wage rates are minimum wage laws. These laws are defended as a way to help low-income people. In fact, they hurt low-income people. The source of pressure for them is demonstrated by the people who testify before Congress in favor of a higher minimum wage. They are not representatives of the poor people. They are mostly representatives of organized labor, of the AFL-CIO and other labor organizations. No member of their unions works for a wage anywhere close to the legal minimum. Despite all the rhetoric about helping the poor, they favor an ever higher minimum wage as a way to protect the members of their unions from competition.

The minimum wage law requires employers to discriminate against persons with low skills. No one describes it that way, but that is in fact what it is. Take a poorly educated teenager with little skill whose services are worth, say, only $2.00 an hour. He or she might be eager to work for that wage in order to acquire greater skills that would permit a better job. The law says that such a person may be hired only if the employer is willing to pay him or her (in 1979) $2.90 an hour. Unless an employer is willing to add 90 cents in charity to the $2.00 that the person’s services are worth, the teenager will not be employed. It has always been a mystery to us why a young person is better off unemployed from a job that would pay $2.90 an hour than employed at a job that does pay $2.00 an hour.

The high rate of unemployment among teenagers, and especially black teenagers, is both a scandal and a serious source of social unrest. Yet it is largely a result of minimum wage laws.

Nothing has changed to disprove this analysis