>Owner of Charlie Brown’s steakhouses to sell Office Beer Bar & Grill chain for $4.7 million Published: Friday, January 21, 2011, 8:04 PM Leslie Kwoh/The Star-Ledger
MOUNTAINSIDE: The company that owns Charlie Brown’s steakhouse chain said today it is selling its seven Office Beer Bar & Grill restaurants for $4.7 million.
CB Holding said it received approval from the U.S. bankruptcy court in Delaware to sell all seven of its Office eateries to Villa Enterprises, the highest bidder in an auction earlier this month for the casual dining chain.
The locations are in Bridgewater, Cranford, Morristown, Montclair, Ridgewood, Summit and Westfield.
The sale comes after the Mountainside-based company abruptly shuttered nearly half of its Charlie Brown’s restaurants in November and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The next step is to unload the company’s remaining 32 Charlie Brown’s and Bugaboo Creek locations along the East Coast, said Michael Freitag, a spokesman for CB Holding.
>Ridgewood library to charge fees for conducting business in public areas Friday, January 21, 2011 LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY JANUARY 20, 2011, 7:22 PM BY EVONNE COUTROS THE RECORD STAFF WRITER
The Ridgewood Public Library is among the first in North Jersey to start imposing fees on tutors, agencies or other organizations that conduct business in the public areas of the library.
Fees range from $40 for the first two hours to more than $200 depending on the size of the space needed and the type of business using the space. For instance, a Ridgewood-based non-profit would pay $50 for a conference room for the first two hours, but an out-of-town non-profit would pay $75.
Fees for private tutors have not yet been set. However, the library has started asking tutors to register with the reference desk. The move is intended to provide more space for other library patrons and simultaneously help make up for cuts in municipal funding.
>Home sales hit 13-year low; slow recovery ahead By MARTIN CRUTSINGER
WASHINGTON (AP) – The number of people who bought previously owned homes last year fell to the lowest level in 13 years, and economists say it will be years before the housing market fully recovers.
High unemployment and a record number of foreclosures are deterring potential buyers who fear home prices haven’t reached the bottom. Job growth is expected to pick up this year, but not enough to raise home sales to healthier levels.
“We built too many houses during the boom, and now after the crash, it will take us a long time to get back to normal,” said David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor’s in New York. The National Association of Realtors reported Thursday that sales dropped 4.8 percent to 4.91 million units in 2010. That was slightly fewer than in 2008, which had been the weakest year since 1997
>Steep cuts in state aid may force townships to start collecting local tax
Many municipal governments will struggle with their budgets this year, but only a few will have the unfortunate historic distinction of introducing their first local tax in decades. (Procida, Press of Atlantic City)
>N.J. Assembly panel approves stricter rules on steroid use
An Assembly committee unanimously advanced legislation yesterday calling for tighter monitoring of human growth hormone amid growing evidence the drug is widely abused, particularly in the ranks of law enforcement. (Brittain, The Star-Ledger)
>Nanny State: Assembly panel OKs ski helmet use bill
Anyone under the age of 18 would be required to wear a helmet while skiing or snowboarding under a proposal that won Assembly committee approval Thursday. (New Jersey Press Media)
>Judge: Pension changes for new workers will remain
A Superior Court judge has rejected an attempt by the public employee unions to overturn pension changes for new government employees enacted early last year. (Method, Asbury Park Press)
>*Every* NJ teacher that I know (in Ridgewood & elsewhere) feels the way 12:31 feels. When Gov Christie talks about public education, he often belittles teachers as professionals.
You say that “*Every* NJ teacher that I know (in Ridgewood & elsewhere) feels a war on them personally”
I say that you need to broaden your social circle.
Many NJ teachers that I know (in Ridgewood & elsewhere) do not feel personally attacked by Governor Christie. They agree with what he is trying to do. They do not like that their union dues are used to support candidates and causes that they do not personally support. They do not like that unqualified teachers are allowed to continue teaching. They do not like that some teachers are allowed to push their political or cause driven agendas upon young children. They also really like their benefit package and realize that it is extraordinarily good and do not want to lose it. They also realize that it is well above the normal benefit package that their spouses and friends get (even those who work for companies that have very good benefits packages) They also believe that in a competitive environment, they would be able to work for a school system that has an attractive benefits package (good, but not as good as what they now have). They all like having the security of tenure and do not want to lose it, but all are confident that in a performance based teacher environment, they would do very well.They are all very qualified academically focused professionals.
I also know other teachers (in Ridgewood & elsewhere) who feel as you do. Some of these teachers are very qualified academically focused professionals; some are qualified but are agenda driven professionals, some are qualified but not driven to do more than the minimum required of them and some are just plain unqualified.
I have direct experience with many teachers and this is my observation. FWIW, almost all of the teachers I speak of are grammar school (K-8) teachers with varying backgrounds and years of experience. A very few are HS teachers.
I do not find it surprising that the unqualified, lazy or agenda driven teachers see this as a personal war. I expect them to be selfish, defensive and have a feeling of entitlement. I do find it disappointing that some of the very qualified academically focused professionals prefer group-think entitlements rather than competing on their own merits – where they would probably do as well if not better than they are currently doing and not be treated the same as an unqualified peer.
Whenever defending the teachers union, ALWAYS throw in with the Firefighters and Police.
*REMEMBER*
It is important to link up with these brave, fine individuals WHO PUT THEIR LIVES ON THE LINE EVERY TIME THEY GO TO WORK (unlike us teachers).
It is important to portray a false sense of shared experience with these brave, fine individuals EVEN THOUGH THEY DO NOT HAVE ANYWHERE NEAR THE COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS PACKAGES THAT WE TEACHERS HAVE.
** AND NEVER… **
mention teachers union, NJEA, NEA or your local “EA”. Do remember to mention how much the mean people HATE TEACHERS (‘cuz they’re stupid and mean) and DO NOT REMIND EVERYONE THAT THE TEACHERS UNIONS ARE BLEEDING THE TAXPAYERS DRY.
>Five (5) Firms Vie For Village of Ridgewood (VOR) Taxi Concession
FIve (5) firms submitted bids today for the Village of Ridgewood (VOR) Taxi Concession. The successful bidder will be granted exclusive rights to operate their business of the Village owned taxi stand on North Broad Street (at the NJ Transit Railroad Station).
The five (5) bidders were:
Bergen Transportation Services of Hackensack – offered VOR $850 per month for concession rights
G.W. Taxi of Fort Lee – offered VOR $1000 per month for concession rights
Ridgewood Taxi of Ridgewood – offered VOR $1500 per month for concession rights
Lime Line Cab of Fort Lee – offered VOR $1750 per month for concession rights
E&K Car Service of Hawthorne – offered VOR $2700 per month for concession rights
Each bidder submitted their proposed business model and subscriber rate structure.
Subscriber rates differed widely; The Fly is not sure exactly how the Village Council is going to make a decision.
>Christie pushes school choice, eliminating teacher tenure during pro-charter school film screening
Gov. Chris Christie’s recent charge to fix the state’s failing schools continued today at a screening of pro-charter documentary “Waiting for ‘Superman,’” where he and the state’s top education official delivered remarks about his reform agenda. (Sebastian, The Star-Ledger)
>Christie announces pilot education program in Paterson
In his continued effort to remake public schools in New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie’s office announced that a famous private education organization would open a pilot project in Paterson, one of New Jersey’s poorest cities. (Method, Home News Tribune)
>Reshuffling the deck: 13 districts in need of change as redistricting unfolds
As the reapportionment committee prepares for its first public hearing later this month, the big question looming in political circles is which districts will change and what legislators could find themselves without a chair when the music stops. (Isherwood, PolitickerNJ)
>Appeals court order Christie administration to get cracking on COAH rules
A state appeals court has ordered Gov. Chris Christie’s administration to immediately comply with its October directive to adopt revised affordable housing rules by March. (Symons, Daily Record)
>Bergen freeholders vote to overturn lame-duck appointments Wednesday, January 19, 2011 BY MICHAEL GARTLAND NORTHJERSEY.COM STAFF WRITER
The Bergen County Freeholder Board voted Wednesday night to overturn and review several appointments and policy initiatives that were approved late last year by the outgoing county executive, Dennis McNerney, and the lame-duck Democratic freeholder board.
The board, which is now controlled by Republicans, voted 4-2, with one abstention, to rescind the appointment of its clerk, Jennifer Holdsworth Kleinman, and replace her with Karen Mastriano.
It also passed resolutions calling for the review of dozens of other appointments and contracts, as well as the nullification of a $2.6 million bailout of the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood. The appointments, contracts and the bailout were all enacted during the freeholder board’s lame-duck session in November and December.
