Author: James

Ridgewood requests bids for removal of 140 trees

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 18, 2012, 10:57 AM
BY DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

Ridgewood officials are seeking a private vendor to help trim the list of more than 140 trees in the village that have been targeted for removal.

Members of the Village Council approved the request for proposal (RFP) to tackle the specific task, a move that buys more time as the village continues to explore hiring options for its tree maintenance department.

With two workers scheduled to retire in coming weeks, the village’s tree staff will dwindle to one full-time employee to supervise the division’s operations, which include tree removal, pruning and planting, among other duties.

Following a discussion during last week’s work session, council members opted to immediately address the tree removal list while eventually replacing the retiring workers. The number of trees identified by village staff for removal peaked at 159 earlier this summer, but work over the past month has reduced the count into the 140s.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/170179346_Ridgewood_requests_bids_for_tree_removal.html

NJ received less stimulus than national average

Squeezed by the recession, New Jersey received slightly less in federal stimulus money per capita than the national average, and the largest proportion of it went to fund unemployment insurance, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said.

The state received $1,377 per capita in funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, according to a report released by the bank Monday.

That compared with $1,500 per capita nationwide and $1,614 per capita in New York.

The National Bureau of Economic Research, the federal body that determines when a recession starts and ends, said the recession began in December 2007 and concluded in June 2009, a few months after the stimulus law was passed.  (Morley, The Record)

https://www.northjersey.com/news/170134856_NJ_received_less_stimulus_than_national_average.html

TORNADO WATCH REMAINS VALID UNTIL 7 PM TONIGHT

WATCH COUNTY NOTIFICATION FOR WATCHES 643/646
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW YORK NY
339 PM EDT TUE SEP 18 2012

TORNADO WATCH 643 REMAINS VALID UNTIL 7 PM EDT THIS EVENING FOR
THE FOLLOWING AREAS

IN NEW JERSEY THIS WATCH INCLUDES 5 COUNTIES

IN NORTHEAST NEW JERSEY

BERGEN ESSEX HUDSON
PASSAIC UNION

IN NEW YORK THIS WATCH INCLUDES 7 COUNTIES

IN SOUTHEAST NEW YORK

BRONX KINGS (BROOKLYN) NEW YORK (MANHATTAN)
ORANGE QUEENS
RICHMOND (STATEN ISLAND) ROCKLAND

General Motors pushing U.S. to sell stake: report
Sept. 17, 2012, 11:34 a.m. EDT
By William Spain

CHICAGO (MarketWatch) — The Treasury Department is resisting General Motors’ push for the government to sell off its stake in the automobile maker, The Wall Street Journal reports. Following a $50 billion bailout in 2009, the U.S. taxpayers now own almost 27% of the company. But the newspaper said GM executives are now chafing at that, saying it hurts the company’s reputation and its ability to attract top talent due to pay restrictions. Earlier this year, GM GM -1.41% presented a plan to repurchase 200 million of the 500 million shares the U.S. holds with the balance being sold via a public offering. But officials at the Treasury Department were not interested, as selling now would lead to a multibillion-dollar loss for the government, the newspaper noted.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/general-motors-pushing-us-to-sell-stake-report-2012-09-17

Bobby Richardson , Wednesday, September 19th @ 7:00pm at Bookends
Former New York Yankees Second Baseman, Bobby Richardson, will sign his new book: Impact Player. Books available Sept. 1st.

Appearing authors will only autograph books purchased at Bookends and must have valid Bookends Receipt.Availability & pricing for all autographed books subject to change.Bookends cannot guarantee that the books that are Autographed will always be First Printings.
Autographed books purchased at Bookends are non-returnable.

While we try to insure that all customers coming to Bookends’ signings will meet authors and get their books signed, we cannot guarantee that all attendees will meet the author or that all books will be signed. We cannot control inclement weather, author travel schedules or authors who leave prematurely.

Bookends, 211 E. Ridgewood Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ 07450 201-445-0726

Photo Credit: Boyd A. Loving

Tree falls Into House 1060 Hillcrest Road, Ridgewood
September 18,2012
Boyd A. Loving
9:23 AM

Ridgewood Nj, A single family home located at 1060 Hillcrest Road was severely damaged when a large tree limb fell onto its roof early Tuesday morning. No one was injured by the falling limb, however fire department officials on the scene believed that the home would be declared inhabitable due to the damage. Tony Merlino, Ridgewood’s chief construction code official, had not yet arrived on the scene at the time these photos were taken.

Photo Credit: Boyd A. Loving

photo by www.artchick.biz

Ridgewood may start raking in leaf collection fines
MONDAY SEPTEMBER 17, 2012, 11:40 AM
BY DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

Residents are advised to abide by all ordinances that regulate the removal of leaves and other yard waste, otherwise they will be subject to penalties introduced by the Village Council.

The decision by Ridgewood’s governing body to heavily enforce the current regulations comes after a brief period in which the council tinkered with the idea of asking homeowners to bag their own leaves and grass clippings for pickup. The notion was met with public opposition, and most council members spoke against the use of bags.

photo by www.artchick.biz

Despite seeing the need to change the village’s collection policies, the council ultimately scrapped the bag idea in July.

During last week’s work session, council members reopened the discussion and selected a path that would give existing ordinances more bite.

“We would just be strictly enforcing [the ordinances on the books] to make sure that we don’t have the leaf/branch issue in 2012,” Village Manager Ken Gabbert said last week.

Gabbert worked with other village officials, including Streets Division officers Frank Moritz and John Spano, as well as Village Engineer Chris Rutishauser, in drafting the beefed-up enforcement plans.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/170036096_Ridgewood_may_start_raking_in_leaf_collection_fines.html

North Jersey’s Economy in irreversible decline?
September 18,2012
PJ Blogger

Ridgewood Nj, Over the last 5 years the Ridgewood blog has argued to no a vale that North Jersey’s economy had become solely dependent on huge Wall Street earners , who not only paid the enormous state and local taxes ,but also propped up the economy with their personal spending .

Now that the regulator environment has stifled Wall Street job growth perhaps permanently and New York City has lost its top stop as the words chief financial center there seems little or no reason to believe that there is any chance of a comeback for Northern New Jersey’s economy for some time to come .

With Wall Street money all but dried up higher and higher taxes and massive over regulation impinging on the quality of life will continue to drive more and more people out of this area . 

Yes folks the politicians in DC, and on both sides of the river have perhaps killed the golden goose once and for all . 

Barring big Wall Street comeback, N.J. economic recovery will be slow

New Jersey’s economic recovery will continue to lag the rest of the nation’s, complicating efforts by the Christie administration to hit its ambitious revenue targets this year, a Wall Street ratings agency warns.

Gov. Chris Christie is banking on nearly 8 percent growth in revenue for the state budget he signed in June — among the highest jumps in the nation and nearly triple last year’s growth.
Moody’s Investors Service said in a report released Friday that the revenue projections appear optimistic given historical trends and the state’s slower than expected economic recovery. The ten-year average growth rate has been 3.8 percent and revenues only grew 2.6 percent in the fiscal year that ended in June. (Renshaw, The Star-Ledger)

https://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/09/barring_big_wall_street_comeba.html

Few parents opt to leave Ridgewood school bus service
TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 18, 2012, 10:54 AM
BY LAURA HERZOG
STAFF WRITER
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

A new law that offers parents whose children do not take the school bus the ability to opt out of the service will not likely be saving Ridgewood taxpayers any money. Few parents notified this summer decided to waive the school bus service.

Accordingly, the district will not be able to consolidate any of its seven largely empty buses, as it had hoped.

On a daily basis, buses in Ridgewood are less than half full, said Assistant Superintendent for Business Angelo DeSimone.

“I hoped we would receive enough opt-out students to be able to reconfigure routes and eliminate one bus,” said DeSimone, who noted that each school bus costs the district $35,000 to $40,000 a year.

“We thought this would be good,” said Superintendent Dan Fishbein. “They are fully subscribed but under-utilized … [But] it doesn’t allow us to opt out of a route at all.”

https://www.northjersey.com/news/170178996_Few_parents_opt_to_leave_Ridgewood_school_bus_service.html

Romney Talks Bluntly of Those Dependent on Government
By MICHAEL D. SHEAR

Mitt Romney described almost half of Americans as “dependent upon government” during a private reception with donors this year and said those voters were likely to support President Obama because they believe they are “entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it.”

The blunt political and cultural assessment by the Republican presidential candidate offers a rare glimpse into Mr. Romney’s personal views as the campaign enters its final 50 days. Liberals quickly condemned the remarks as insensitive, and Mr. Obama’s campaign accused him of having “disdainfully written off half the nation.”

https://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/17/romney-faults-those-dependent-on-government/