NJ Transit didn’t pay for Super Bowl tickets
Agency defends sending 4 employees as planning for Super Bowl XLVIII
Feb 16, 2013
NEWARK — NJ Transit defended spending $14,505 to send four employees to the recent Super Bowl in New Orleans, saying they were there to learn in preparation for Super Bowl XLVIII and that the agency did not pay for game tickets.
The news that NJ Transit paid to send the four employees, two from its police department and two from rail operations was first reported by the Record of Bergen County. A Middlesex County lawmaker criticized the agency for exhibiting “poor judgment” for sending employees on the trip while it still is recovering from superstorm Sandy.
An Oct. 25 NJ Transit memo said that the governor’s office signed off on the request to travel to New Orleans from Jan. 31 to Feb. 4 “to observe Super Bowl transportation, security, stadium and event operations in preparation for Super Bowl XLVIII at MetLife stadium.”
NJ Transit has also “been in discussion” with officials in Dallas and Indianapolis, which have hosted past Super Bowls “to learn from their experience” said agency spokesman John Durso Jr.
“NJ Transit did not cover the cost of any tickets to the Super Bowl,” Durso said. “This was a trip designed for employees to learn and bring back best lessons in public transportation and safety planning.”
NJTPC: Special Guest Speaker Sheriff Michael Saudino
Sheriff Michael Saudino is a 51-year resident of Bergen County and a 38-year veteran of law enforcement. He spent the last nine years of his career as Chief of Police in the Borough of Emerson. Under his watch, Emerson has stayed a safe and prosperous town to live and work in. Sheriff Saudino has always made it a priority to be responsible with public money – he has done so by keeping his operating budgets low while still providing the highest levels of service to the community.
REMINDER: February 19, 2013 (Tuesday)
NJTPC General Meeting – 7:00 pm
124 Essex Street, Rochelle Park, NJ – Harley Davidson Building
(Go to the back, through the gate and up the stairs to the second floor meeting room)
Those who can, please bring snacks, cookies or brownies to share. Bring a friend!
Starters: Lisa’s Mediterranean Cuisine in Ridgewood
Monday, February 4, 2013 Last updated: Monday February 4, 2013, 2:53 PM
BY JOYCE VENEZIA SUSS
SPECIAL TO THE RECORD
After seven years doing business as Lisa’s Turkish Kitchen on Chestnut Street in Ridgewood, Lisa Mayisoglu closed that location in July and reopened in December on Oak Street with a new name: Lisa’s Mediterranean Cuisine.
The days of belly dancing events are over (although Mayisoglu will provide them for private events if requested), with a new focus on an expanded menu and making her customers feel like they are in her own home.
A new pizza oven added to the kitchen lets Mayisoglu bake Turkish breads daily. She has several new dishes on the menu, including beef kebabs to supplement the many lamb and chicken specialties.
The sequel to Joel’s Malibu Kitchen
Sunday, February 17, 2013
By ELISA UNG
RESTAURANT REVIEWER
Joel Scheinzeit, the former owner of Joel’s Malibu Kitchen in Ridgewood, talks with Carol Bishop of Saddle River as he teaches a Valentine’s Day cooking class.
Joel Scheinzeit has discovered that there is life after restaurants.
That there is life after his restaurant, the spirited Joel’s Malibu Kitchen in Ridgewood. Exhausted and wrung-out, he closed it in 2008 after almost 13 years.
“I’ve lived with this impression that you have to kill yourself in order to survive,” he says. “And being a chef and working in the restaurant business, that’s the norm. If you’re not working and not killing yourself, then you’re not going to last.
“But I don’t want to live with that philosophy anymore. Now I want something different.”
We are lunching at a familiar address, 14 Oak St. in downtown Ridgewood, where all hints of the Malibu Kitchen’s purple-splashed hippie decor (and its basement drum set) are long gone, replaced by an elegant panini cafe.
Young Professionals Networking in Ridgewood
Thu, February 21, 2013
Time: 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Pompanoosc Mills – furniture store*, 257 E. Ridgewood Avenue
RYPE – Ridgewood Young Professionals Exchange
Want to create new business realtionships with Young Professionals?
RYPE is offering a 40 and under networking sub- chapter of Chamber Networking..this will give younger individuals an opportunity to get involved with like-minded professionals and to help create business for you!
Details to follow asap –
*Pompanoosu Mills offers a relaxed atmosphere for meeting and greeting.
For more details call – 201-445-2600.
“potentially dangerous” dogs at the Ridgewood 4th of July Parade
Dog Owners still waiting for a list of “potentially dangerous” dogs
February 16,2012
Tracy Frasche
I tried to find the list of court determined “potentially dangerous” dogs, but couldn’t find a listing by specific breed.
That said, couldn’t all dogs be considered, “potentially dangerous”. The behavior of one’s dog is still prompted by instinct, no matter how well behaved and domesticated we believe they are. I don’t think anyone could say, with absolute certainty, that their dog would never bite. A frightened, ill or injured animal may act unpredictably, often before we ever realize there’s a problem.
If I were to take a guess, I would say that the “potentially dangerous” list includes breeds such as Rottweilers, Pitt Bull Terriers, German Shepherds, Dobermans, etc. Yet aren’t these some of the same breeds used as rescue dogs? The same breeds used in law enforcement? Commended for their heroism during the 9/11 attacks?
A Pomeranian could be just as “potentially dangerous” as a Pitt Bull under the right circumstances. Are these breeds really more dangerous or are these the breeds most favored by the media when an attack on a human or another animal occurs?
Open Houses Sunday February 17
February 15, 2013 By Michael Shetler Leave a Comment
Open Houses
Open Houses in Ridgewood, NJ
Starts: 02/17/2013 01:00 pm
Duration: 3 hours:
Ridgewood, NJ
07450
Michael Shetler is a local resident and NJAR Circle of Excellence recipient (2009, 2011) who is happy to serve you in this area. For more information about any of these local homes for sale please call Michael at 201.421.0506 cell or 201.445.4300 office.
Valley Hospital to offer new plan for expansion with dismissal of suit
Saturday, February 16, 2013 Last updated: Saturday February 16, 2013, 11:36 PM
BY MARY JO LAYTON
STAFF WRITER
The Record
Hearings on new plans to expand The Valley Hospital are expected to start next month, now that a lawsuit filed by a citizens’ group against the hospital and the Ridgewood Planning Board has been settled.
Hospital officials are expected to appear before the Planning Board beginning March 11 with a new design for the 451-bed facility — likely a scaled-down version of the $750 million Renewal plan under which Valley would have doubled in size.
That proposal had sharply divided the community for years, played a major role in municipal elections and even resulted in Ridgewood police calling for backup from several other towns during a heated meeting that left hundreds of residents shouting outside a packed middle school auditorium.
Hospital officials had said the expansion was critical to its staying competitive, and opponents of the expansion had said its size would seriously harm the quality of life in the residential neighborhood.
Mayor Paul Aronsohn was hopeful that the sides could find common ground with a new start. “My hope and expectation is that everyone involved learned lessons from the last go-around,” he said Saturday.
NYC beckons new parents as North Jersey suburbs no longer seen as only place to raise kids
Sunday February 17, 2013, 12:35 AM
BY DAVE SHEINGOLD
STAFF WRITER
The Record
In a striking reversal, growing numbers of young parents are choosing the bustle of New York City over the calm of suburban life as a place to live, a trend that is already changing the face of some neighborhoods across North Jersey and could have long-term implications for schools, the housing market and beyond.
The number of children under the age of 5 has fallen 20 to 40 percent in many wealthy communities, with an overall drop of 12 percent across Bergen and Passaic counties since 2000, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. At the same time, middle- and upper-income areas of Manhattan and Brooklyn have seen virtually the opposite shift in both the number of young adults as well as preschool children, an analysis of the data by The Record found.
The trend, a break in a pattern that has held since before World War II, has left Bergen County with 6,000 fewer children younger than 5 years old than it had in 2000. Passaic’s figure, meanwhile, has slid by about 6,000 since 2005. Similar declines have appeared in suburban Westchester and Nassau counties in New York, the analysis found.
Valley Uses New LARIAT™ Procedure to Reduce Stroke Risk in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation
February 13, 2013
Ridgewood NJ, The Valley Hospital is among the first hospitals in the area to perform a new catheter-based procedure that reduces the risk of stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation who cannot take blood-thinning medications.
An estimated 2 million Americans suffer from atrial fibrillation, or AFib, the most common form of heart rhythm abnormality. This abnormal heart rhythm causes the upper parts of the heart to quiver, or fibrillate, which hinders blood from moving efficiently from the upper chambers to the lower chambers of the heart. Because the blood that pools in the upper chambers of the heart is not moving well, it can form a clot. The clot typically forms in the left atrial appendage (LAA). If the clot then travels from the heart to the brain, it can cause a stroke.
Part of the treatment plan for patients with AFib may include taking an anticoagulant medication to help prevent blood clots from forming. But not all patients can take blood thinning medication due to bleeding complications.
Cardiac electrophysiologists at Valley’s Arrhythmia Institute are now using a new procedure called the Lariat to block blood clots from traveling from the LAA to the brain. Just as the name implies, the Lariat procedure uses a lasso-like stitch to tie off the LAA — a muscular pouch connected to the left atrium of the heart that is the major source of blood clots in atrial fibrillation.
“This nonsurgical lasso procedure could provide long-term protection against stroke in patients with AFib who are unable to tolerate blood thinners,” said Suneet Mittal, M.D., Director of the Eletrophysiology Laboratory at Valley. “Patients who qualify won’t have to endure open-heart surgery, and they can often go home in a day or two with just a band aid on their chest.”
Edward F. Horvath at the Stable Art Gallery in Ridgewood
February 15,2013
Ridgewood NJ ,Artist Edward F. Horvath will be the featured at the Stable Art Gallery in Ridgewood in and exhibition that includes 34 still life and landscape paintings.
Edward F. Horvath went to the School of Visual Arts in New York, to pursue a career in the art of illustration. After leaving school he worked for companies and ad agencies as an art director/illustrator. He decided to go back to oil painting because he thought of the medium as “using the entire orchestra”. He decided to study with John Osborne, who is a uniquely gifted artist and teacher.
Edward F. Horvath is also a member of the Ridgewood Art Institute and is also a RAI board of directors member.
The exhibit can be seen at the Stable Art Gallery at 259 N. Maple Ave. in Ridgewood. Hours are weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. or by appointment. Call 201-670-5560.
Obama’s Minimum Wage Plan
ByChris Edwards
February 13,2013
Economic research has only a tenuous relationship to economic policymaking in Washington. President Obama’s new proposal to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $9.00 is a case in point. It would bad for workers and the economy, but the administration seems to be ignoring the large body of theory and evidence on the issue.
Labor economist Mark Wilson discusses the economics of the minimum wage in an essay on Downsizing Government. Here are a few highlights:
There is no free lunch when the government mandates a minimum wage. If the government requires that certain workers be paid higher wages, then businesses make adjustments to pay for the added costs, such as reducing hiring, cutting employee work hours, reducing benefits, and charging higher prices.
…
The main finding of economic theory and empirical research over the past 70 years is that minimum wage increases tend to reduce employment. The higher the minimum wage relative to competitive-market wage levels, the greater the employment loss that occurs. While minimum wages ostensibly aim to improve the economic well-being of the working poor, the disemployment effects of a minimum wages have been found to fall disproportionately on the least skilled and on the most disadvantaged individuals, including the disabled, youth, lower-skilled workers, immigrants, and ethnic minorities.
…
Nobel laureate economist Milton Friedman observed: ‘The real tragedy of minimum wage laws is that they are supported by well-meaning groups who want to reduce poverty. But the people who are hurt most by higher minimums are the most poverty stricken.’
…
In the American economy, low wages are usually paid to entry-level workers, but those workers usually do not earn these wages for extended periods of time. Indeed, research indicates that nearly two-thirds of minimum wage workers move above that wage within one year.
…
While they are often low-paid, entry-level jobs are vitally important for young and low-skill workers because they allow people to establish a track record, to learn skills, and to advance over time to a better-paying job. Thus, in trying to fix a perceived problem with minimum wage laws, policymakers cause collateral damage by reducing the number of entry-level jobs.
As Milton Friedman noted, ‘The minimum wage law is most properly described as a law saying employers must discriminate against people who have low skills.’
Porch Light Productions Presents “Fat Pig” Opens March 1
Get Your Tickets Now!
Porch Light Productions Presents a 2012-13 Main Stage Production
“Fat Pig” The play with a really good personality.
Cow. Slob. Pig. How many insults can you hear before you have to stand up and defend the woman you love? Tom faces just that question when he falls for Helen, a bright, funny, sexy young woman who happens to be plus-sized – and then some. Forced to explain his new relationship to his shallow (although shockingly funny) friends, he finally comes to terms with his own preconceptions of the importance of conventional good looks. Neil LaBute’s sharply drawn play not only critiques our slavish adherence to Hollywood ideals of beauty but also boldly questions our own ability to
change what we dislike about ourselves.
$22 ADULTS / $19 STUDENTS & SENIORS
Friday, March 1 @ 8PM
Saturday, March 2 @ 8PM
Sunday, March 3 @ 2PM
Friday, March 8 @ 8PM
Saturday, March 9 @ 8PM
Sunday, March 10 @ 2PM
Enjoy A Perfect date or night out with friends! BYOB!
For more information and to purchase tickets for any of the above shows visit their website at porchlightproductions.org or call at 201-857-3520
Concerned Residents of Ridgewood, Valley Hospital And Ridgewood Planning Board Agree To Dismiss Lawsuit With Agreement
That 2010 Master Plan Amendment Will Require Revision
February 15, 2013 – Ridgewood, New Jersey. Judge Alexander H. Carver, III, of the New Jersey Superior Court accepted Concerned Residents of Ridgewood, Inc. (CRR) agreement to dismiss its lawsuit against the Planning Board of the Village of Ridgewood and Valley Hospital related to the Master Plan Amendment approved by the Planning Board in June 2010.
The lawsuit was initiated in 2010 after the Planning Board approved a Master Plan amendment that would permit 1.2 million square feet of hospital buildings and a 195,000 square foot parking garage on the 15 acre site that currently houses 570,000 square feet of hospital and no above
grade parking. The Village Council unanimously rejected the supporting ordinance in November 2011, stopping forward progress on the original proposal. In court-ordered discussions between CRR, Valley and the Planning Board it became apparent that the substantive concerns voiced by the Village Council will necessitate a revision of the 2010 Master Plan Amendment that was the subject of the lawsuit.
CRR reluctantly initiated the lawsuit in 2010 as the Planning Board’s process failed to address significant issues with the hospital’s proposed expansion. The Village Council called the same expert witnesses the Planning Board had called, but reached the conclusion that the expansion the Planning Board had approved was too much for the site. The concerns raised by the Village Council, and the significant revisions to Valley’s proposal that will be required, both point to a need for the Planning Board to conduct new hearings on amending the Master Plan for the Hospital Zone.
“All parties agree that the original Master Plan Amendment that was the subject of our lawsuit is no longer valid and will need to be revised. The objective of our lawsuit was to remove the 2010 amendment from Ridgewood’s Master Plan, and with the Planning Board’s
acknowledgment that new hearings need to be conducted, there was no point in continuing the lawsuit,” said Mr. McKenna, president of the Concerned Residents of Ridgewood,” a grassroots organization in Ridgewood that has opposed the 1.2 million square foot expansion plan for Valley Hospital, known as Renewal.
“The lawsuit was costing taxpayers’ money on both sides as CRR’s donations funded our position and our taxes were funding the Village Planning Board’s defense of its actions. The marginal value of prevailing in court did not seem worth the costs since our objective has already been met. We only initiated the lawsuit when it was clear that many concerns raised by taxpayers were not addressed in the Planning Board’s process to create the original Master Plan Amendment”.
“CRR stands by its previously stated assertion that the three and one half year planning board process was lengthy without being thorough and a number of significant planning issues were not adequately addressed.”
“We understand that Valley Hospital is in the process of creating an alternative plan for this site and that they will request the Planning Board to schedule hearings to review those plans once completed. We look forward to working with Chairman Nalbantian to make those Planning Board hearings efficient and effective in understanding the impact that the new proposal will have on the surrounding community.” Mr. McKenna added.
“We are a grassroots organization, doing what we believe to be in the best interests of Ridgewood’s long-term future. We look forward to working with the Planning Board to adjust and improve any reasonable plan for the site that Valley puts forward”.
“Concerned Residents of Ridgewood as an organization, its leadership as individuals do not have an issue with Valley Hospital and we are grateful for their presence in the Village. Our issue is with the massive expansion that was previously proposed and the unintended impacts that an expansion of this size and scale could have on the residential character of the Village we love so much.” said Mr. McKenna
Readers Debate Shared Services and County Fire Department Consolidation
County FD sounds good. And since we have the sixth lowest crime rate, maybe we don’t need so many police officers. Parse out the work that police do that an assistant could manage. Maybe have Traffic enforcement (call it community enforcement) be non-police. they could do the meters, construction sites and non essential tasks. To get a full cop salary they should be doing only police work.
Hospitals segmented jobs years ago. Most staff positions are defined by certifications. They do not have their highly paid employees doing things that another lesser-paid employee can do.
The problem with a county fire department is there aren’t enough paid dept’s around to draw from. Are the towns with volunteers going to make them paid so they can contribute manpower? That is a similar problem with police mergers, Ridgewood is a busier town than most around it except Paramus, why would an adjoining town want to merge with Ridgewood. The meters are repaired by civilians, and enforced by civilians already, construction site are staffed by cops but paid for by the contractor, the town budget they billed 150000 dollars in fees to contractors. Not bad. School crossings are already staffed by civilians
