Photo is courtesy of Ridgewood Tax Assessor’s Offfice
Council will accept “secret” bids for Gilsenan/Gap property
August 31,2013
Boyd A. Loving
12:40 AM
Excerpted verbatim from the RFP for development of property on East Ridgewood Avenue between Gilsenan Insurance/Real Estate and The Gap:
“As all elements of proposals are considered negotiable, the Village does not expect to disclose the identity of competing parties or details about their respective proposals until such time as the public purpose for doing so no longer exists, i.e., when contract negotiations are concluded and Village Council approves of proposed award of lease. Thereafter, all proposals and a joint report of the Village Manager and Village Engineer will be available for public inspection.”
It has been common practice to make bid submissions available for public inspection immediately following the advertised bid opening. Why not in this case? Who is bidding on this project; the CIA and NSA? Is this even legal?
Set Back by Recession, and Shut Out of Rebound
By MICHAEL WINERIP
Published: August 26, 2013 577 Comments
RIDGEWOOD, N.J. — In September 2012, it appeared that the world was John Fugazzie’s frozen oyster. He was in charge of dairy and frozen foods for the A.&P. supermarket chain, making $125,000 a year.
e was also a guest that month at a White House forum on joblessness, in recognition of his work creating Neighbors-helping-Neighbors U.S.A., a volunteer networking organization with 28 chapters in New Jersey serving 1,200 unemployed, mainly white-collar, baby boomers. “John has one of the best volunteer organizations out there,” said Ben Seigel, a deputy director at the Labor Department. “He’s tireless and always upbeat.”
Lately Mr. Fugazzie has been feeling a little weary and beat down. One morning last October, just before his 57th birthday, he was laid off and, carrying a box of belongings from his office, driven home in a car service hired by the company. In the 10 months since, he has applied for more than 400 positions and had 10 interviews, but still has no job.
He and his family are living in his 88-year-old mother’s home, and last month he awoke at 4:30 a.m., sweating profusely, in the midst of a heart attack.
As happens to many Americans, when he lost his job, he lost his health insurance. He now owes $171,569.44 for the six nights he spent at the hospital.
And so on the evening of Aug. 15, at a meeting of the job club he himself started here two years ago, he told the others he was just like them. “I need a job,” he said. “I need to make money now.”
Ridgewood couple creates teaching app
August 30,2013
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood couple Andy and Ellen Raupp creates app for teachers to implement “best practice” methodologies in their classroom.
Powerhouse Education was founded by husband and wife teachers, each having approximately ten years of teaching experience, Andy and Ellen are board certified teachers working in a nationally top-ranked school district in New Jersey. Holding undergraduate and graduate degrees, both have been awarded the prestigious title of “Teacher of the Year”.
Understanding the increasing demands and expectations placed on teachers, Andy and Ellen created Powerhouse Education with the vision of providing teachers with the tools to effectively and more easily implement educational best practices, knowing that empowered teachers will yield stronger, more successful students.
Chronicle is an iOS application that enables teachers to easily implement “best practice” methodologies in their classroom. Using all the features of the iOS platform, Chronicle is a transformative device that empowers teachers by equipping them with an app designed to efficiently inform instruction and chronicle student growth.
Obama’s Affordable Care Act Looking a Bit Unaffordable
Independent National Journal analysis finds premiums higher under Obamacare as employers weigh dropping coverage.
By Clara Ritger
epublicans have long blamed President Obama’s signature health care initiative for increasing insurance costs, dubbing it the “Unaffordable Care Act.”
Turns out, they might be right.
For the vast majority of Americans, premium prices will be higher in the individual exchange than what they’re currently paying for employer-sponsored benefits, according to a National Journal analysis of new coverage and cost data. Adding even more out-of-pocket expenses to consumers’ monthly insurance bills is a swell in deductibles under the Affordable Care Act.
Health law proponents have excused the rate hikes by saying the prices in the exchange won’t apply to the millions receiving coverage from their employers. But that’s only if employers continue to offer that coverage–something that’s looking increasingly uncertain. Already, UPS, for example, cited Obamacare as its reason for nixing spousal coverage. And while a Kaiser Family Foundation report found that 49 percent of the U.S. population now receives employer-sponsored coverage, more companies are debating whether they will continue to be in the business of providing such benefits at all.
Economists largely agree there won’t be a sea change among employers offering coverage. But they’re also saying small businesses are still in play.
FreeRepublic blocks Ted Cruz Eligibility Issue story re-posted from the Ridgewood blog
On Tuesday morning, I reposted your article entitled “Mark Levin Addresses Ted Cruz Eligibility Issue posed by Ridgewood Resident at Bookends Book Signing” to the conservative website FreeRepublic.Com. In order to do this, I had to register with FreeRepublic.Com. I gave my email address, and picked a screen name: ‘one guy in new jersey’.
The post was a hit. The reposted article has since garnered nearly 500 comments from Freepers in just two days! Most other posts are not getting more than 20-30 hits in that kind of time, so the topic definitely hit a nerve, particularly during a slow news week with plenty of people on vacation.
Many of the comments were submitted directly to me (‘one guy in new jersey’) as the original poster of the article, some of which expressed support for Cruz’s presidential aspiration, and some of which stated he was ineligible. I was busy responding to comment after comment on Tuesday afternoon and Tuesday evening, until something strange happened late Tuesday night as the total number of comments reached about 300. All of a sudden, I was prevented from responding to comments, or even posting any comments at all.
The reason given for this prohibition by the system? One word: “Troll”.
I responded to the webmaster, and to James Robinson, who runs the site, via email, thinking some mistake must have been made, and that it was just some strange automatic feature I got caught up in. I asked to have my capacity to enter comments and respond to comments sent to me. It’s been nearly two days now, and I’m still shut out. The comments to my reposted article have increased by two hundred since I was ‘banished’, so they must be wondering what happened to me!
Curious, I looked back through the thread comments, fifty at a time, and found they were salted throughout with comments from the site owner, James Robinson. Based on his personal comments, it is clear to me that Mr. Robinson has had it up to **here** with talk that Cruz is not eligible for the U.S. presidency. As I was answering the comments made to me, I steadily revealed myself to be an individual who strongly questions Ted Cruz’s POTUS eligibility. In fact, the ‘axe’ fell just while I was in the middle of diligently answering my many well-spoken interlocutors. What is the problem here? Is Mr. Robinson willing to silence fellow constitutional conservatives simply because they disagree with him on this one issue?
I understand Mark Levin is an active freeper (I can’t remember his screen name). I wonder whether he dropped dime on me to Mr. Robinson…
The Bolger Heritage Center remains open all the hours that the library is open (see www.ridgewoodlibrary.org), but for the summer, reference hours are by appointment (email [email protected]) and during the following hours: Tuesdays, 10 am – 2 pm, Wednesdays, 9 am – 12 pm and 1 pm – 5 pm, Thursdays, 10 am – 2pm. Call the Reference Desk to verify hours (201-670-5600, x 130). Happy researching!
Come to GRAYDON POOL for the Final Weekend in 2013 Season
Graydon Pool facility is open from 10:00AM to 7:30PM through Labor Day. The Pool will close for the 2013 Season at 7:30PM on Monday, September 2. Come enjoy fun in the sun so close to home!
Those residents who do not have a seasonal membership may purchase a Day Badge at the Pool.
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.
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.
Glen Rock Police Department : There were an additional 9 car burglaries reported last night. Please LOCK ALL VEHICLES.
CAR BURGLARIES ALERT: There were an additional NINE car burglaries reported to the GRPD last night, in addition to the multiple burglaries reported the previous two nights. In all cases but one, the vehicles were unlocked. In one case, a window was smashed because of items visible inside the vehicle. The GRPD urges all residents to please LOCK ALL VEHICLES and make sure that valuables are secured out of sight. Report suspicious persons and activity to police immediately. If anyone has any information regarding these incidents, please contact Det. James Calaski or Sgt. Eric Reamy at the GRPD Detective Bureau: 201-670-3948 or 201-670-3947.
Additionally, patrols have encountered juveniles on the streets between the hours of 2 am and 4 am. The GRPD encourages parents to know where their children are during the overnight hours. Thank you for your cooperation in advance as we are being proactive to stem this surge of criminal activity.
Instructions:
Please LOCK and secure all vehicles and valuables.
Seeking a sound reason for Gabbert’s ouster
Friday, August 30, 2013
The Ridgewood News
Seeking a sound reason for Gabbert’s ouster
Martin Cohen
To the editor:
Mayor Aronsohn is reported to have said that he led the ouster of Village Manager Gabbert because it is time for new blood in that office.
My understanding is that Mr. Gabbert has been in office for four years, which to me doesn’t sound like a long tenure, in fact I would call it brief, especially in Ridgewood where deliberations seem to move at thumbnail-growth speed.
Maybe I just don’t understand how things go, but I thought it was the village manager’s job to tend to the day to day running of the village, leaving it to the council for the creative vision. Since, despite a significantly curtailed municipal budget, things seem to go pretty well in the everyday operation of the village, I would have guessed that Mr. Gabbert was doing his job (I wasn’t too happy about his extraordinary $12,000 raise in a time of austerity, but the council who did that is now history).
Ridgewood must retain ‘small town character’
Friday, August 30, 2013
The Ridgewood News
Ridgewood must retain ‘small-town character’
Diane Bogush
To the editor:
My family and I were on vacation recently, and I finally made some time to write.
My husband and I work long hours and we are just too tired to attend town meetings in the evenings. We are residents of the village for over 25 years. We moved here as a young couple raising our family. We love the village and as you know pay very high taxes to live here. What attracted us to Ridgewood was and is its small-town character; therefore, an expansion of the local hospital to the degree that it’s proposed is a complete disconnect.
Repairs to sewer line could cost Village of Ridgewood
Thursday August 29, 2013, 3:48 PM
BY DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER
The Ridgewood News
Ridgewood is moving ahead with the purchase of more than $71,000 worth of wetlands credits to meet requirements set forth by the state Department of Environmental Protection.
A resolution adopted by the Village Council authorized the mayor to enter into a purchase agreement with Pequannock Properties Developers for the acquisition of 0.11 acres of wetlands credits, which are needed following the completion of the Saddle River Bank Erosion and Sanitary Sewer Restoration Project.
The DEP recently identified a shortage of wetlands in the village as a result of the project, further ruling that Ridgewood either purchase credit or create a mitigation plan. Ridgewood’s overall lack of wetlands, however, eliminates the latter option, village engineers have said.
Michael Symons, Asbury Park (N.J.) Press 10:45 a.m. EDT August 29, 2013
‘I want to challenge people on their homophobia,’ Booker says.
RENTON, N.J. — Cory Booker says he’s straight but doesn’t mind questions about his sexuality because it challenges people’s prejudices about gay people — a stance the scotch-drinking, cigar-smoking Steve Lonegan deems “kind of weird.”
Speculation about Booker’s sexuality — specifically, that the Newark, N.J., mayor is gay but keeping that a secret — took center stage in the Senate campaign this week. In a series of interviews with national media outlets, Booker and Lonegan raised the temperature in the special-election campaign with comments about an issue that has trailed Booker, who is single, since he first ran for office in Newark.
Booker, a Democrat, generally doesn’t answer when asked about his sexuality, but in interviews has referred to former girlfriends and dating women. In a July 22 interview with Gannett New Jersey newspapers’ editorial boards, he noted he is “a voice for marriage equality that had me the national speaker in Washington, as a straight male, the national speaker for the Human Rights Campaign.”
Gay Spouses in All States Now Married Under U.S. Tax Law
By Richard Rubin & Margaret Collins – Aug 29, 2013 5:19 PM ET
Gay spouses in all U.S. states will be treated as married under federal tax law even if local authorities don’t recognize their marriages, in what gay-rights advocates are calling a victory.
The decision by the Treasury Department today implements the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in June to overturn part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which had forbidden the Internal Revenue Service from letting married homosexual couples file joint tax returns.
The U.S. government’s decision is a win for same-sex couples who were married in one of the 13 states, the District of Columbia or foreign countries that recognize such relationships and now live in one of the 37 states that don’t.
“This is a very positive development,” said Derek Dorn, a partner at Davis & Harman LLP in Washington and outside counsel to the Human Rights Campaign, which advocates for lesbian and gay Americans. “Additional details need to be worked out in more nuanced areas of the tax law.”
Ridgewood Retail Week – Fall Into Fashion
Sun, September 22, 2013 – Sat, September 28, 2013
Time: 10:00 AM – 9:00 PM
Ridgewood, East Ridgewood Avenue
Come out to – Retail Week in Ridgewood – and see what its all about!!
We have a different theme planned for each day during the week. (see flyer)
We want you to come and experience the variety of retail and fun Ridgewood has to offer.
Starting the week off with a “Professional Day” on Monday that will focus around salons, spas, and fitness and ending the week with a “Family Day” in the park complete with games and a scavenger hunt.
And a special FREE event Thursday Night: Ladies Night Out (all are welcomed) starts Thursday Night 6pm at 54 E. Ridgewood Ave, the old Bank of America building, there will be a fashion show, wine tasting, food and beverages, and a DJ. Various businesses will be there for you to enjoy some shopping and great deals!
***SPECIAL DEALS!!!: (keep checking back, more will be added!)***
Allergy Free & More Natural Health Center
555 Goffle Road – St 216
Ridgewood, NJ 07450
201-857-4401
***FREE non invasive allergy screening- no needles, no scratch test ($25 value) for anyone who calls on MONDAY SEPTEMBER 23RD, and schedules an appointment within 2 weeks.
P. Smith & Company
65 E. Ridgewood Ave
Ridgewood, NJ 07450
201-670-3500
***15% off all home and fashion accessory orders OVER $100 during retail week.
Just Our Shoes & Mephisto
16 N Walnut St
Ridgewood, NJ 07450
(201) 447-3408
***10% off regular priced shoes, boots, or accessories. Offer valid in-store only between 9/23 – 9/28. May not be combined with any other offer or promotion. Prior purchases excluded.
Lotem Website Design
www.lotemdesign.com [email protected]
201-450-1483
***20% off full website design, website re-design, website maintenance, logo design, and much more.
Direct Factory Picture Framing
2 South Maple Ave
Ridgewood, NJ 07450
201-857-0361
***50-70% discounts
Participating Businesses: (watch for the updates)
Arthur Groom, Bookends, Leaping Lizards, Fox’s, YWCA of Bergen County, Pink Bungalow, Ethos Fitness & Spa, From Pencils to Pointers, The Wine Seller, Hillmann Lighting, Shoe Inn, Interior Distinctions, Double Take Consignment, Duxiana, Pompanoosuc Mills, Creare Marketing, The Pearl Restaurant, Art of Motion, Savvy Chic Consignment, Femmebot Clothing, Suite 201, Hypnosis Center of Ridgewood, Biltmore Tuxedo, Park West Tavern, Araya Rebirth, Chestnut Deli, Porch Light Productions, Northeast Vein Institute, Ridgewood News, Itsg82bMe, Shoe Inn, Family Promise, Arthur Murray Dance Studio, New York Life Financial, Ridgewood Fare, The Courter Baby
For more information or to RSVP to the
Fashion Show contact the Chamber at
201-445-2600 or [email protected],
keep checking the Chamber website for updates
