Author: James

Mothers mourn loss of Paramus Park mall’s iconic carousel
Tuesday, August 20, 2013    Last updated: Wednesday August 21, 2013, 12:17 PM
BY  EVONNE COUTROS AND JOAN VERDON
STAFF WRITERS
The Record

At the Paramus Park mall, it seems, if the moms are happy, everyone is happy. On Tuesday, however, the moms were unhappy about the news that an old-fashioned carousel that has kept generations of children amused for nearly 40 years has twirled its last tot.

BOYD A. LOVING / SPECIAL TO THE RECORD
The carousel at Paramus Park mall has closed.

“‘Meet me at the carousel’ cannot be said anymore,” said Caren Fassbender, the mother of a 2-year-old and a frequent visitor to the mall, which has carved out a niche as Bergen County’s mom-friendly shopping center. “It was a Bergen County icon.”

The small, 18-seat ride – the Golden Horse Carousel — was shut down Tuesday, and will be removed from the mall within the next two weeks, said Minnie Adams, the mall’s manager. She said Paramus Park did not renew carousel’s lease, and the mall plans to temporarily use the space it occupied for its Santa Claus station during the holidays.

The ride’s operators began telling customers last week that the carousel was leaving Paramus Park.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/community/Mothers_mourn_loss_of_Paramus_Park_malls_old_fashioned_carousel.html#sthash.ooXSubxe.dpuf

Companies sweating Obamacare tax—and acting on it: Study
Published: Wednesday, 21 Aug 2013 | 11:53 AM ET
By: Dan Mangan | Health Care Reporter

Mid- and large-sized companies overwhelmingly expect health-care costs to increase under Obamacare—and most are eyeing possible changes to their health insurance offerings because of a looming excise tax for pricier plans under the health-care reform law, a new survey of employers finds.

In fact, 40 percent of 420 companies surveyed by Towers Watson said they will be changing their insurance plans’ designs in 2014 in light of the coming excise tax as well as to control employee-related health costs.

And nearly 60 percent of the companies view private health insurance exchanges as a possible way to control their health-care and administrative costs by shifting the work of insuring their workers off to those exchanges in the future.

But most of those companies—which collectively employ 8.7 million people—don’t have firm near-term plans to do so.

The study also found those same companies are increasingly unlikely to offer their employer-sponsored plan for retirees older than age 65 as Obamacare state insurance exchanges go into effect, and as Medicare remains available to those people.

The number of employers either very or somewhat likely to discontinue such plans for those retirees grows from 25 percent in 2014 to 44 percent in 2015, according to Towers Watson, the global professional services company, which released its study Wednesday.

https://www.cnbc.com/id/100975973

Reader says the $100K NJ state pension club is up 50% in two years to 1,474 members

Wow, the $100K NJ state pension club is up 50% in two years to 1,474 members ? How is that sustainable growth ? 43% of those in the $100K club draw their pension from the PFRS, and 92% of those took a “special retirement” at relatively young ages, which is a privilege only afforded to those in public safety and the judiciary.

Only 30% were teachers, 19% were judges, and only 8% were members of PERS. I’m sure this rapid growth has something to do with the fact that anyone who retired or had 25+ years of service time as of Jan 1, 2012 (which grandfathered them), only has to pay 1.5% of their healthcare premium with no changes to contributions for current retirees at this time.

Under Chapter 78 PL 2011. younger union employees and new union hires will have to pay up to 35% (pretax basis) of their healthcare premiums after a four year phase in whenever they come under a new CBA after this date.

Interim Village Manager Appointed
August 21,2013
Boyd A. Loving
10:58 AM

Long time Ridgewood Village Clerk Heather A. Mailander was unofficially appointed Interim Village Manager during a Special Public Meeting of the Village Council last night.

Ms. Mailander will begin her interim assignment after the departure of Village Manager Ken Gabbert on August 31.  Gabbert’s employment with the Village was terminated by a 3-2 vote of the Village Council last week.

Compensation details, most likely in the form of a stipend, for Mailander’s temporary assignment are still being worked out.

Ms. Mailander previously served as Interim Village Manager in 2009 following the retirement of James Ten Hoeve and prior to the appointment of Ken Gabbert.  That interim period lasted approximately 5 months.

file photo by Boyd Loving

Ridgewood Council discusses interim manager
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
The Record

RIDGEWOOD — The council met behind closed doors Tuesday night to discuss appointing an interim administrator — the next step following a recent vote seeking to oust Village Manager Ken Gabbert.

No formal action was taken at the special meeting.

Last week, the council voted 3-2 to suspend Gabbert, starting Aug. 31 — some four years after he was hired. Council members Thomas Riche and Bernadette Walsh provided the two dissenting votes.

That vote — on a preliminary resolution of removal — declares the council’s majority has “lost confidence” in Gabbert’s leadership.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/220461631_Ridgewood_Council_discusses_interim_manager.html#sthash.ACNyoRLa.dpuf

Reader says real news here. Valley’s attorney Drill objected to his own clients legal position and reasoning on PVH reopening.

The crowd overfilled the room and fire and police had no choice to address the situation. PB Chairman and Aronsohn tried very hard to come up with a solution for 45 minutes. There are legal issues here and the right decision was made. Gail Price was not even there. I agree Valley representatives and attorney are smart a***s.

Please don’t overlook the real news here. Valley’s attorney, Jonathan shrill drill, was forcefully objecting to CRR standing and forcefully objecting to CRR using Valley’s own documents to support opposition to the huge expansion. Preposterous as it is, Drill objected to his own clients legal position and reasoning on PVH reopening.

Pete McKenna presented himself as a true gentleman. I hope the board took to heart his words about the seven year nightmare, the burden this has placed on their fellow residents, the turmoil and uncertainty suffered through daily. Residents like McKenna should be able to find comfort and peace at home in Ridgewood not a 2,651 day nightmare.

What was that 1983 PB quote? 30 years ago “valley needs to find another solution other than expansion”?

Ridgewood Planning Board Meeting Ordered adjourned 

The Ridgewood Village Planning Board meeting which was held at the Sydney Stolt Courtroom at Village Hall on August 20′ was ordered into adjournment by the Ridgewood Fire  and Police Departments. The audience packed the room. The Chairman interrupted the residents’ attorney while he was making his opening statement. For the next 45 minutes chaos reigned. Mayor Aronsohn was seen trying to manage the situation as was Charles Nalbanthian and Gail Price. The residents were pretty much ignored and the Valley officials smirked. After all, why wouldn’t they? The meeting was postponed to September 30.

Why was this meeting not held at BF? Was this another Valley ploy to delay, delay, delay? The mayor and the planning board officials demonstrated their incompetence or was the “fix” in?

Many North Jersey colleges moving ahead on expansions backed by state bond
TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2013    LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY AUGUST 20, 2013, 7:04 PM
BY  PATRICIA ALEX
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

Area colleges and universities are champing at the bit as they await state allocations from a $750-million bond for construction approved by voters last fall.

Bergen Community College on Tuesday held a ceremonial groundbreaking for its $26-million health professions building at the Paramus campus. Construction contracts also have been awarded for new science and business buildings at Montclair State University, and at William Paterson University in Wayne crews are clearing the site of a new health professions building.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/Bergen_Community_College_breaks_ground_on_26M_health_center.html#sthash.LtglOgO9.dpuf

Surveillance concerns bring an end to crusading site Groklaw

A legally informed Web site critical of lawsuits from the SCO Group, Apple, Oracle, and patent trolls shuts down because its founder says e-mail can’t be protected from government scrutiny.

by Stephen Shankland
August 20, 2013 4:11 AM PDT

Citing concerns about privacy and government surveillance, Pamela Jones is shutting down her siteGroklaw, which for years took on what she and vocal fans saw as wrongheaded legal action in the tech domain.

“There is now no shield from forced exposure,” Jones said in final blog post Tuesday. Groklaw depended on collaboration over e-mail, “and there is now no private way, evidently, to collaborate.”

Jones, a paralegal, started her site a decade ago taking on the SCO Group’s legal attack on IBM and others involving Linux and Unix intellectual property. She rebutted the company’s position, detailed the arcana of the lawsuit proceedings, and shared legal filings on which the case rested. Volunteers attended some hearings in person, and collaborative efforts found just any hole that could be poked in SCO’s case. The site archives show hundreds of posts since its start in May 2003.

As SCO’s case fizzled, Groklaw directed its righteous indignation toward other legal cases, including the storm of patent infringement cases in the tech world, digital rights management, open-source licensing, and Psystar’s Mac clones.

In an e-mail, Jones said Groklaw won’t disappear, though activity on the site will.

https://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57599288-38/surveillance-concerns-bring-an-end-to-crusading-site-groklaw/

Lorraine Lonegan Talks to Oprah Winfrey

“Ms. Winfrey, I have a story for you. A personal story. I would like to meet with you to discuss the biography of my husband, Steven Lonegan. You may have heard his name as he is presently running for United States Senate against your candidate, Cory Booker. I would like the opportunity to bring my two adult daughters, Katharine and Brooke, with me to speak with you about sides of this family man that you should get to know.”

Lorraine Lonegan wrote:

“Dear Ms. Winfrey,

The stories you have spotlighted on your show have given hope and inspiration to many people. People who are having difficulties come to you for advice and guidance. The public receives your guests, and follows them long after they appear to check on their stories. Successes are celebrated, and failures endured by an entire nation.

Ms. Winfrey, I have a story for you. A personal story. I would like to meet with you to discuss the biography of my husband, Steven Lonegan. You may have heard his name as he is presently running for United States Senate against your candidate, Cory Booker. I would like the opportunity to bring my two adult daughters, Katharine and Brooke, with me to speak with you about sides of this family man that you should get to know. I feel that this is in keeping with the way you have proven yourself to be a media professional who can exhibit two sides to a story. This does not need to be in a public forum, although it can be. It is a woman to woman chat that would provide an intelligent exchange of ideas between people who care enough to step up and want to make a difference for people.

If something is not tried, it is 100% failed. I hope you respect our effort in this election enough to meet with me.”

Hillary’s Racial Politics

She makes a polarizing pitch that ignores trends in voter turnout.

Hillary Clinton began her 2016 march to the White House last week, and it wasn’t a promising debut. The former first lady and Senator used her first big policy speech since leaving the State Department to portray American election laws as fundamentally racist. The speech was longer on anecdotes than statistics, so allow us to fill in some of the holes.

“In 2013, so far, more than 80 bills restricting voting rights have been introduced in 31 states,” Mrs. Clinton told her political base of lawyers at the American Bar Association. She portrayed these laws as part of an effort reaching back years to “disproportionately impact African-Americans, Latino and young voters.” And she threw the Supreme Court in as part of this racist conspiracy, assailing its recent decision finding the “preclearance” section of the Voting Rights Act to be unconstitutional.

She claimed the High Court had “struck at the heart” of the law, though all it did was eliminate a section that had forced such states as Mississippi to meet higher legal burdens for election laws than other states with a worse current record of minority voter participation. “Now not every obstacle is related to race,” Mrs. Clinton added, “but anyone who says that racial discrimination is no longer a problem in American elections must not be paying attention.”

https://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324139404579013144182779468.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_opinion