Author: James

COME ALIVE OUTSIDE – Bike, Hike and Discover Family Event – September 28

“COME ALIVE OUTSIDE” – Bike, Hike and Discover A Village of Ridgewood Community Adventure

Saturday, September 28th, 3 p.m. (raindate 9/29)

Sponsored by Jacobsen Landscape Design and Construction, Ridgewood Parks and Recreation, Ridgewood Police Department, Ridgewood Wildscape Association and Ridgewood Cycle Shop, all Village families are invited to set out for this community afternoon adventure. Gather together, have bikes inspected, learn about bicycle safety, and then ride to discover and explore some of our local wildscape park areas. A live animal program and nature scavenger hunt are included as part of the festivities. No fee, but pre-registration is required, ending Sept 27th.

Saturday, Sept 28th (raindate 9/29)

Schedule of Events

Bike Route #1

Ben Franklin School, Twinney Pond, South Pleasant Park

Bike Route #2

Willard School,

Habernickel Park,

Citizen’s Park

3:00 p.m. Bike and meet at either Ben Franklin Middle School (335 N. Van Dien Ave) or Willard Elementary School (601 Morningside Rd).

• Bicycle Inspection

• Review of Bike Safety Rules – youth helmets required, adults encouraged

• Overview of Come Alive Outside and Program Details

3:30 p.m. Bike to either Twinney Pond Park or Habernickel Park following rules of the road and good bike safety.

3:45 p.m. Hike through parks to explore and discover nature. Light refreshments will be available.

4:15 p.m. Presentation – “NJ Native Wildlife” Certified naturalists will introduce animals native to northern NJ and explain their habitat behaviors.

4:45 p.m. Bike to either South Pleasant Park or Citizen’s Park and explore some, then work together to solve the clues and find items for the nature scavenger hunt.

We hope you will join us! Register online at www.ridgewoodnj.net/communitypass or in person/by mail: The Stable, 259 N. Maple Avenue, weekdays, 8:30 am to 4:30 pm. Locate the registration flyer on the Recreation homepage at www.ridgewoodnj.net/recreation. Call the Recreation Office at 201-670-5560 if more information is needed.

Seymour Hersh on Obama, NSA and the ‘pathetic’ American media

Pulitzer Prize winner explains how to fix journalism, saying press should ‘fire 90% of editors and promote ones you can’t control’
Seymour Hersh exposed the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam war, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize. Photograph: Wally McNamee/Corbis

Seymour Hersh has got some extreme ideas on how to fix journalism – close down the news bureaus of NBC and ABC, sack 90% of editors in publishing and get back to the fundamental job of journalists which, he says, is to be an outsider.

It doesn’t take much to fire up Hersh, the investigative journalist who has been the nemesis of US presidents since the 1960s and who was once described by the Republican party as “the closest thing American journalism has to a terrorist”.

He is angry about the timidity of journalists in America, their failure to challenge the White House and be an unpopular messenger of truth.

Don’t even get him started on the New York Times which, he says, spends “so much more time carrying water for Obama than I ever thought they would” – or the death of Osama bin Laden. “Nothing’s been done about that story, it’s one big lie, not one word of it is true,” he says of the dramatic US Navy Seals raid in 2011.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/media-blog/2013/sep/27/seymour-hersh-obama-nsa-american-media

What if a typical family spent like the federal government? It’d be a very weird family.
By Brad Plumer, Published: September 11 at 12:08 pm

The idea here seems to be that the U.S. government is taking on a lot of debt. True, the typical American family also takes on lots of debt through mortgages and the like — the median debt burden is about $70,000 — but U.S. government borrowing is even more massive than that.

Fair enough. This analogy seems incomplete, though. We should take it further. If the typical family — let’s call them the Smiths — really did spend like the federal government, a few other things would also be true:

— The Smiths would spend 20 percent of their budget, or $12,800 each year, on an arsenal of guns, tanks and drones to defend their house against threats or to invade the occasional neighbor over lawn-pesticide disputes and access to the gas station.

— The Smiths would spend another third of their income financing retirement and health care for Grandma and Grandpa. Part of that would have been prepaid by money that Grandma and Grandpa socked away while they were working, but some of it would be paid for by the parents and kids who are chipping in.

— Actually, come to think of it, the Smiths spend nearly half their money — 43 percent — operating a massive insurance conglomerate whose main beneficiaries are family members.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/09/11/what-if-a-typical-family-spent-like-the-federal-government-itd-be-a-very-weird-family/

photo by Boyd Loving

Readers call North Broad Street and Franklin Avenue By far, the most dangerous crossing in town

This intersection and Ridgewood Ave. and Broad are the two worst in the village and it strikes me that the village police really do not care,same goes for our lousy politicians.

By far, the most dangerous crossing in town. I do it every evening.The new train station made that corner a bottleneck for anyone who lives east of the tracks and walks (Thanks NJT for thinking that one through!). We typically can’t cross when the light is red, an when the light is green, there are people coming under the bridge and making a right turn around a blind corner.

The problem, ironically, is the No Turn on Red rule. It encourages drivers to beat the yellow or get stuck at a light. That is often when commuters are also trying to cross the street or get stuck in the rain. If a turn on red were possible, my theory is that drivers wouldn’t worry about the light as much and be more careful.

 

 

Ridgewood Garage, Yard, Estate and Moving Sales

Garage sale 443 Hillcrest Rd;   Sat & Sun, Sept 28, 29;  9 −4

Charming Vintage Decor, Furniture, Queen Anne Chairs, Depression Glass, Chenille, More.. Also Housewares, Kitchen, Books, Clothing

yard sale/moving sale 28-29 Sept (466 Sheffield Rd Ridgewood, NJ)

Sheffield Rd at East Glen
Sale will go from 10AM – 4PM both Saturday and Sunday (28-29 Sept 2013)
Sporting equipment
Desk set
Video games
Kitchenette set
Book shelf
Household items
Sleeping Bags (military style)
Plus much more….

Come and look you will certainly find some great deals and reasonable prices.

THE BIGGEST ESTATE SALE EVER (Ridgewood )

129 Undercliff Ct
A must see. Check this out! We have everything at the lowest prices!!! Come to this location Saturday, 9/28 between 9 and 5 and Sunday, 9/29 between 9 and 5

Yard Sale – One Day Sat.9/28 (Ridgewood)

Yard Sale from 9 to 1 on Saturday, 9/28 Only. Fine & Costume Jewelry, a very Large Gold Framed Mirror, Art, Lamps, Handbags – lots of Vera Bradley, Crystal, Other Glassware and More!
155 Mountain Avenue, Ridgewood.

HUGE MULTI FAMILY SALE! TONS OF GREAT STUFF! OLD & NEW SATURDAY 9/28 (Ridgewood)

Kenilworth Rd. at Spring Ave.
HUGE MULTI FAMILY SALE! TONS OF GREAT STUFF! OLD & NEW!

SATURDAY 9/28 9am to 4pm (Rain Date Sunday 9/29)
208 & 212 KENIWLORTH ROAD, RIDGEWOOD
(off Ridgewood Ave. & Grove Street – near Spring Ave.)

Amazing sale chock full of fabulous items! Loads and loads of HH, glassware, china, pottery, serving pieces, decorative items, fabric. Antique furniture; bookcase, table, chairs, etc. Small furniture. Lots of clothing, books, games, mini-fridge, and tons more!!!

How Tax Reform Can Boost Investment and Economic Growth

International Comparisons Show U.S. Falling Behind

Washington, D.C., September 23, 2013—In a new study by the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, Chief Economist William McBride, Ph.D. explains how U.S. tax policy is stifling economic growth and domestic investment, and details five tax reform measures that will strengthen the country’s economic outlook in the competitive global market.

The United States’ low investment and slow economic growth stands in sharp contrast to the high investment and rapid economic growth of China and India, and even the more moderate progress of countries like South Korea, Slovakia, and Estonia.

“Since the 1960s, the higher investment rate of many of our trading partners has shown a strong correlation with economic growth,” said McBride. “This means that in the long run, a growing economy is largely determined by investment. Furthermore, it indicates that if the U.S. increased investment by about 50 percent, growth would likely double.”

“While the rest of the world has been competing for capital, the U.S. remains trapped in a debate over how best to boost consumption,” added McBride. “Perhaps officials are unaware that the U.S. has one of the highest rates of consumption in the world and one of the lowest rates of investment and economic growth.”

In fact, Americans consume about 72 percent of GDP—higher than any developed country except Greece. Meanwhile, Americans invest about 15 percent of GDP—lower than any developed country except the UK. If the U.S. is to achieve even the average economic growth rate among developed countries, it will require boosting investment significantly above current levels.

Tax reform can address these problems. First, corporate investment can be increased by reducing the statutory corporate tax rate, currently the highest in the developed world. Second, improved capital allowances would boost both corporate and non-corporate investment. Third, most business income is taxed under the individual code, so reducing the top marginal tax rate on individual income would also boost business investment. Fourth, reducing relatively high shareholder taxes would reduce the double taxation of corporate investment. Finally, moving to a territorial tax system like that of our major trading partners would allow U.S. multinational corporations to invest more at home and abroad.

Tax Foundation Fiscal Fact No. 395 “How Tax Reform Can Address America’s Diminishing Investment and Economic Growth,” by William McBride is available online. To schedule an interview, please contact Tax Foundation Communications Associate Richard Borean at 202-464-5120 or [email protected].

The Tax Foundation is a nonpartisan research organization that has monitored fiscal policy at the federal, state, and local levels since 1937.

Steve’s press conference on Obamacare today.

Lonegan focuses on economy in forum at Rider
By Andrew Seidman, Inquirer Staff Writer

Posted: September 26, 2013

LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. For almost four months, Republican Steve Lonegan has relentlessly attacked Newark Mayor Cory Booker on any number of issues: his record on crime, his support of President Obama’s health-care overhaul, his position on U.S. involvement in Syria.

Striking a different tone Tuesday night at a forum hosted by the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University, Lonegan mentioned his Democratic rival’s name just once and discussed Obamacare only when asked about it.

Instead, in front of an audience of mostly college students, he spoke mainly about the economy and the threat he said it posed to America’s youth. And for one of the first times in the U.S. Senate race in New Jersey, Lonegan spoke in deeply personal terms about his life as a blind man who was “destined for a life in the entitlement state” but instead built a successful business and become mayor of Bogota, Bergen County.

Lonegan blasted the Federal Reserve for its policies that are keeping interest rates low, a move he criticized as “the biggest problem we’re facing right now.”

“This government is printing $85 billion a month in new cash to sustain an economy that is only sustained by the fact we’re printing cash out of nowhere,” he said. “The value of the dollar as we know it is being destroyed.”

He called the Fed’s policies an “all-out assault on the libertarian, conservative values on which this nation was built.”

https://articles.philly.com/2013-09-26/news/42396179_1_newark-mayor-cory-booker-college-democrats-student-loans#FKGgQjuq63sU56sA.99

NJ ordered to strengthen affordable-housing rules
Thursday, September 26, 2013    Last updated: Thursday September 26, 2013, 7:40 PM
BY  JOHN REITMEYER AND KAREN SUDOL
STAFF WRITERS
The Record

New Jersey is not doing enough to foster affordable housing in every community, the state Supreme Court said Thursday in a major decision that gives the Christie administration five months to draft new housing rules.

The 3-2 ruling is a victory for advocates of affordable housing,  who have long argued the state’s latest affordable-housing rules made it too easy for towns, including many in North Jersey, to exclude low- and moderate-income residents through zoning policies.

Though the rules at issue before the court had their roots in the administration of former Gov. Jon Corzine, Governor Christie, a Republican, has been an outspoken critic of the state’s affordable-housing policies which were drafted before he took office, in response to a series of court decisions referred to generally as the Mount Laurel doctrine after the town outside Philadelphia  where zoning rules were initially challenged decades ago. The governor has called those policies heavy-handed.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/NJ_Supreme_Court_State_needs_new_affordable_housing_rules.html#sthash.iX26g2vQ.dpuf

Booker downplays Twitter chat with stripper fan
Thursday, September 26, 2013    Last updated: Friday September 27, 2013, 12:30 AM
BY  MICHAEL LINHORST
STATE HO– USE BUREAU
The Record

Cory Booker’s national profile is built in part on his reputation as a Twitter celebrity, a politician with over a million followers who is willing to communicate with anyone about almost anything.

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Newark Mayor and Senate candidate Cory Booker meeting with reporters Thursday in Newark. Much of the questioning focused on his Twitter chat with a Portland, Ore., stripper.

One of those people, it turns out, is Lynsie Lee, a stripper in Portland, Ore., who works in a “vegan strip club.” The politician and the performer shared a brief, private chat in February.

But that once-private exchange is now public and buzzing around the Internet that helped make Booker famous.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/state/Booker_campaign_downplays_messages_with_stripper.html#sthash.GlDNYmMT.dpuf

Ridgewood charges dropped against ‘Real Housewives’ cast members
Thursday, September 26, 2013    Last updated: Thursday September 26, 2013, 6:58 PM
BY  CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER
The Record

RIDGEWOOD — Assault and terroristic threat charges against three of the stars of Bravo’s “Real Housewives of New Jersey” were dropped Thursday by a municipal judge.

Over the last week, a deal was brokered between lawyers for “Housewives” star Jacqueline Laurita, her husband Christopher, and Joe Gorga — all of Franklin Lakes — and the attorney representing John Karagiorgis to have the charges dismissed.

Judge David T. Pfund approved the deal Thursday afternoon, settling the matter once and for all.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/crime_courts/Real_Housewives_stars_in_Ridgewood_court_today_in_brawl_dispute.html#sthash.w0SaGMka.dpuf

photo by ArtChick

Pay-by-smartphone parking option is explored in Ridgewood
Thursday September 26, 2013, 3:13 PM
BY  DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER
The Ridgewood News
Print | E-mail

The convenience of a cell phone might one day eliminate the inconvenience of carrying quarters to pay Ridgewood’s downtown parking meters.

Ridgewood Council members are considering a parking meter update, which would outfit existing mechanisms to work with Parkmobile, a smartphone application that allows registered users to pay fees by scanning a QR (quick response) code. The Borough of Glen Rock currently uses the system.

According to municipal engineer Chris Rutishauser, implementing Parkmobile in Ridgewood will come with little cost to the village and its taxpayers. The system requires the placement of a sticker bearing a QR code on each of Ridgewood’s numbered meters. Interested users must register with Parkmobile and download the app to their smartphone.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/225386312_Pay-by-smartphone_parking_option_is_explored_in_Ridgewood.html#sthash.PhU8yEoT.dpuf

Ridgewood planners ready for residents’ review of proposed developments
Thursday September 26, 2013, 3:10 PM
BY  DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER
The Ridgewood News

Planning Board members are hopeful that a draft of the master plan amendment allowing high-density, multi-family housing in downtown Ridgewood will be ready for review in October. Their thinking, shared by several board members Monday night, is to give residents the opportunity to formally address the controversial proposal as soon as possible.

MARION BROWN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
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Village Planner Blais Brancheau will present next month a draft of a master plan amendment to allow multi-family housing in the Central Business District.

Four separate developers are seeking changes to the village’s master plan that would fundamentally permit the construction of luxury-style apartment complexes in and around the Central Business District (CBD). That specific type of development is not allowed under the provisions of the current master plan.

During recent meetings, the Planning Board has discussed various criteria to “build parameters” for the proposed master plan amendment, which would call for the creation of a new zone in the CBD. A subcommittee of the board was specifically tasked with determining recommended variables, such as housing density and building heights. The subcommittee presented its findings last week.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/225385812_Ridgewood_planners_ready_for_residents__review_of_proposed_developments.html#sthash.jLAJP5gL.dpuf