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Category: Village of Ridgewood
>9/11 a Day to Remember
>9/11 a Day to Remember
take a minute today to remember our community’s huge loss
>Village Council Elections : Oliver Train : "this is not a one-issue election"
>Village Council Elections : Oliver Train : “this is not a one-issue election”
I completely agree that this is not a one-issue election. I am not a one issue candidate.
Unlike Mr. Wellinghorst, both my home and place of business are in Ridgewood. I am in town three days a week.
I will be very active and vocal in making this town a better place with affordable taxes.
Before deciding who to vote for I think each person should at least hear what all the candidates have to say. I know that my campaign will have numerous opportunities to do so…please come to a coffee or get in touch with me. Dates and locations will be posted here as well as other outlets.
Thanks!
Oliver Train
[email protected]
>Kathleen Donovan Won’t Play in Desperate Democrats’ Show Trial
>Kathleen Donovan Won’t Play in Desperate Democrats’ Show Trial
September 8, 2010
James Carroll, Chairman
Bergen County Board of Chosen Freeholders
One Bergen County Plaza
Hackensack, NJ 07601
Dear Chairman Carroll,
I have been made aware of your “invitation” to appear at today’s Freeholder work session. Please be advised that I do not accept your invitation nor will I be appearing at what amounts to a “show” for the remainder of this campaign.
Your invitation is unique and without merit. I have been County Clerk for 21+ years and, until I filed to run for Bergen County Executive this year, I was never “invited” to Freeholder meetings. Your purpose is clearly political and reflects the lowest form of political abuse. It’s a pattern that has been followed since I announced my candidacy for County Executive. It is a prime example of why voters are turned off by corrupt government officials. Yes, this is an example of corruption in the truest sense.
Did you “invite” County Executive McNerney to “visit” after numerous instances of corruption and questionable practices at a number of County agencies under his control including the Bergen Academies and Bergen County Improvement Authority?
Have you made any effort whatsoever to address hundreds if not tens of millions of cost overruns identified by the Record in the construction of Overpeck Park?
The answer to these and other egregious politically inspired activities is a resounding “no”.
I understand that you have also invited Acting County Police Chief Malakas to presumably conduct or should I say once again attempt to re-ignite the witch hunt which was in fact the County’s failure to conclude audits of the County Clerk’s office for a number of years. You and the McNerney administration have attempted to paint your failures as mine. Your clumsy effort was a feeble attempt to denigrate the hardworking employees of the Clerk’s office which has earned its reputation for efficiency and customer friendliness.
Here are the facts that would never be presented during your political set-up. First, the County Clerk’s office is so well managed that we have been able to save each Bergen County family roughly $300.00 — the amount of revenue over expense that your office has taken in under my leadership. Much of those savings is turned over to you for County uses. Has that money been identified through audit?
During the past two years I have reduced my workforce and lowered by budget. Can the same be said for the County and its questionable patronage hiring practices?
To set the record straight, a police escort comes every day to our office to accompany our staff person making the daily deposits. Without an escort the deposit does not go. I do not allow my staff to go to the bank unless they go with the police. This has been the policy in place for at least twenty years, which I implemented. The Sheriff’s Officers escorted my staff when we were in the Court House, as they were in charge of security there, and the BCPD has provided escorts for my office ever since we moved into the new administration building some ten years ago.
Acting Chief Malakas received a letter from my office last Friday, requesting a meeting with him to work out a schedule. I was not in the office when he called on Tuesday. I expect we will be meeting shortly.
So there it is. There will not be a “Show Trial” in the tradition of Mao’s China or Stalin’s Soviet Union. Instead of trying to sully my record and the record of the Clerk’s office, you will have to run on your own – as will County Executive McNerney.
You will have to explain your stewardship of our of control agencies like the BCIA where the debt alone has escalated from $10 million to $450 million under your control. That’s more that $500 for every man, woman and child in Bergen County! You will have to explain why county debt and spending have grown out of control under your watch with last year’s spending increased by $85 million or $100 for every county resident.
You will have to explain why, while attempting to smear me, you blatantly appropriated some $70,000 so that the County Executive could attempt to paint over the scandal of Overpeck Park using taxpayer money to pay for what amounts to pure, inaccurate political campaign TV commercials.
You will have to explain a lot to the voters between now and November 2nd. And I can promise you that the questions that you fail to answer now will be asked again in a more formal manner next January.
Very truly yours
Kathleen A. Donovan
>Obamacare: Health Insurers’ Tie Proposed Rate Hikes to Health Care Reform
> Obamacare: Health Insurers’ Tie Proposed Rate Hikes to Health Care Reform
Health Insurers’ Tie Proposed Rate Hikes to Health Care Reform
Posted by Stephanie Condon
https://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20015859-503544.html
Health insurers across the country are planning to raise premiums for some of their customers in the coming weeks, the Wall Street Journal reports, and they are in part blaming President Obama’s health care reform package for the rate hikes.
On the surface, at least, the news boosts Republicans’ arguments against the Democrats’ reforms ahead of this year’s midterm elections. But the White House and other supporters of the reform package say they are skeptical of the health insurance companies’ rationale.
Aetna Inc., some BlueCross BlueShield plans and other smaller carriers have asked regulators to approve premium increases of between one percent and nine percent to pay for the bill’s early benefits, the Journal reports. The rate increases would largely apply to individual plans (9 percent of Americans have individual plans) and those offered for small businesses (about 20 percent of Americans get coverage from small employers).
The early benefits cited by insurers for the rate increase include allowing children up to 26 years old to stay on their parents’ health care plans, eliminating co-payments for preventive care and prohibiting insurers from denying coverage to children with pre-existing conditions. These benefits apply to all plans, not just individual and small business policies.
The insurers are also reportedly asking for further rate increases they are not tying to the health care overhaul that they say are needed to cover rising medical costs. Some customers could see their premiums increase by more than 20 percent.
yes there is more:
https://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20015859-503544.html
>Gov. Christie pushes reform agenda for N.J. ethics rules, pension and health benefits
>Gov. Christie pushes reform agenda for N.J. ethics rules, pension and health benefits
As lawmakers in Trenton held a hearing at the Statehouse on his administration’s mistake that cost New Jersey $400 million in federal “Race to the Top” education aid, Gov. Chris Christie Tuesday stood before a more friendly crowd 67 miles away to push for changes in state ethics laws, pension and health benefits, education and New Jersey’s business climate. (Friedman, The Star Ledger)
https://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/09/gov_christie_pushes_reform_age.html
>12 N.J. communities to receive WTC steel pieces for memorials
>12 N.J. communities to receive WTC steel pieces for memorials
Twelve New Jersey communities are receiving pieces of steel from the World Trade Center for inclusion in public memorials to honor victims of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. (The Associated Press)
https://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/09/12_nj_communities_to_receive_w.html
>As Stadiums Vanish, Their Debt Lives On
>As Stadiums Vanish, Their Debt Lives On
It’s the gift that keeps on taking. The old Giants Stadium, demolished to make way for New Meadowlands Stadium, still carries about $110 million in debt, or nearly $13 for every New Jersey resident, even though it is now a parking lot. (Belson, The New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/08/sports/08stadium.html?_r=1&ref=sports
>RGGI : What Does New Jersey’s Cap & Trade Program Mean for You?
>What Does New Jersey’s Cap & Trade Program Mean for You?
https://nonjcapandtrade.com/?p=19
For the past year and a half the left has been moving relentlessly to pass a Cap & Trade bill on the federal level. And the Obama administration has continued its push by circumventing the legislative process and imposing heavy-handed regulations through the EPA, led by former head of the DEP in New Jersey Lisa Jackson.
The President, not wanting to let a “good crisis go to waste,” has used the tragic accident in the Gulf of Mexico to push for a moratorium on drilling and lay the groundwork for passing cap-and-trade legislation.
Yet, right under our noses in New Jersey, Cap & Trade has already become law and is in full effect. The Cap & Trade program is called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a cooperative among ten northeastern states.
RGGI became law in 2008 under then Governor Corzine. To date, seven auctions of carbon allowances have subsequently taken place. Over $662M has been generated by these auctions – cost that energy producers will pass along to consumers in the way of higher energy costs.
While RGGI couches itself in free market rhetoric, the reality is it will distort the market and result in significant harm to the economy of New Jersey and the nation.
What are those costs?
According to The Heritage Foundation, legislation being pushed in Congress – the Kerry-Lieberman bill in the Senate and the Waxman-Markey bill in the House — would have the following disastrous consequences for our economy:
* Trillions of dollars more government debt (after adjusting for inflation, Kerry–Boxer would add $2.7 trillion to the national debt by 2035—putting a family of four on the hook for an additional $27,000)
* Fewer jobs (employment under Kerry–Boxer would track 1.4 million jobs below business as usual, on average, for the years 2012–2035, and peak job losses would exceed 2.5 million)
* Higher energy prices (by 2035 Kerry–Boxer would add 45 percent to gasoline prices and 72 percent to electricity prices)
* Lower income (Kerry–Boxer would chop $9.9 trillion from GDP between 2012 and 2035—an average loss of over $4,500 per year per family of four).
Read the Americans for Prosperity fact sheet on Kerry-Lieberman here.
In New Jersey, the Waxman-Markey bill would mean an estimated 65,000 lost jobs. By 2020, New Jerseyans could expect gas prices to spike an astounding 58% and electricity rates to increase a staggering 90%.
That means if you fill up your car for $30 today, it would be over $47 in 2020. And if your utility bill currently averages $150 a month, in 2020 it would be $285 a month — or another $1620 a year!
That is money that could be saved for a new car, or a down payment on a new home, or on your child’s education.
All of this economic ruin while doing next to nothing to global temperatures.
https://nonjcapandtrade.com/?p=19
>Ridgewood Public Library : "Ridgewood Remembers Our Friends and Neighbors."
>Ridgewood Public Library : “Ridgewood Remembers Our Friends and Neighbors.”
Portraits of the 12 village residents lost on 9/11 will be on display in the Belcher Auditorium at the Ridgewood Public Library, 125 N. Maple Ave., through September. The exhibit is titled “Ridgewood Remembers Our Friends and Neighbors.”
>Gov. Chris Christie is kicking off a series of town halls to unveil his reform agenda
>Gov. Chris Christie is kicking off a series of town halls to unveil his reform agenda
The Christie Reform Agenda: The Clock Starts Now
Gov. Christie to kick off reform agenda appearances on MSNBC, Fox
TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie is kicking off a series of town halls to unveil his reform agenda. The governor will start off with a series of television appearances this morning, including appearances on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Imus in the morning and Fox Business News. (AP)
https://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/09/gov_christie_to_kick_off_refor.html
The Christie Reform Agenda: The Clock Starts Now
>Ridgewood Schools: Tony Orsini has more parenting tips for us
>Ridgewood Schools: Tony Orsini has more parenting tips for us
Mr Orsini has more parenting tips for us. Apparently, he thinks that without him Ridgewood families would not function. We now have dinner prompts to help move the conversation along.
“We had grade level assemblies today and I gave the students some homework.
Last year our student council leaders went to a conference and hear Keith
Hawkins speak.
He challenged students to change the dynamic of communication about school
with their parents, and gave them three questions to ask their parents.
I have asked them to ask you the following:
1. Who did you help today? (An easy question to answer for parent, not
always as easy for Tony Orsini to answer)
2. How did you work hard today? (Another slam dunk for parents to answer)
3. How did you have fun today? (An easy question for the kids to answer, and
I hope all our adults as well)
I am hoping that these three questions can become part of the regular
rhetoric at home, replacing what I usually ask my own daughter, which is
simply “how was your day?” or “what did you learn today?”
I hope everyone has a great school year!
– Tony Orsini
>Graydon Pool : Membership was way up this summer. The pool sold 3,691 season badges in 2010, compared with 2,426 in 2009.
>Graydon Pool : Membership was way up this summer. The pool sold 3,691 season badges in 2010, compared with 2,426 in 2009.
Ridgewood’s Graydon Pool like ‘being at the beach’
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Last updated: Sunday September 5, 2010, 10:51 AM
BY MIKE KERWICK
The Record
STAFF WRITER
Read More: https://www.northjersey.com/news/102243124_Graydon_like__being_at_the_beach_.html
RIDGEWOOD — His son is playing in the water. His daughter is playing in the sand. And Chris Burns is leaning back on his arms, sitting on Graydon Pool’s sand-covered bottom, enjoying one more day before the gates close for the summer.
Burns and his wife, Debra, live in Ridgewood. The commute is easy. The kids love it. But if something changed.…
“If this went concrete,” Chris said Saturday, “I think we’d probably move.”
This village-run summer hot spot has endured its share of controversy over the past two years. It landed on Preservation New Jersey’s list of Top 10 endangered historic sites this summer.
In 2009, fearful that the pool could lead to health risks, the Ridgewood Pool Project urged the Village Council to go concrete. The Preserve Graydon Coalition lobbied to keep Graydon just the way it is.
“People started to understand we had a treasure that had to be taken care of and preserved,” Marcia Ringel, co-chairwoman of the Preserve Graydon Coalition, said Friday. “The group that was fighting against us has been very quiet. Their website is down, which in the 21st century is the equivalent of standing over someone with the sword in their chest.”
“Unfortunately Graydon was turned into a divisive issue, one that became personal and turned neighbor against neighbor,” said Councilman Paul Aronsohn, a former proponent of the concrete proposal. “This is really a shame, because most people involved in the issue love this community and just want to do the right thing — regardless of their position on the matter.”
In July, Mayor Keith Killion told The Record he was “waiting to see the results of the membership” before making any decisions. Aronsohn said from the council’s perspective, “the Graydon issue has been put on hold.”
Membership was way up this summer. The pool sold 3,691 season badges in 2010, compared with 2,426 in 2009. Steve Diamond, the pool’s waterfront manager, said he thinks people stopped in and realized “it was a nice complete package for a good price.” The weather didn’t hurt: 2010 brought one sweltering hot day after another.
Read more:
https://www.northjersey.com/news/102243124_Graydon_like__being_at_the_beach_.html
>the Ridgewood blog : Run Ads or Get in Touch
>If your looking to run ads or get in touch with the Ridgewood Blog please send all correspondence to [email protected]
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>Beloved Story Time at Graydon is back
>
Story time needs volunteers
Beloved Story Time at Graydon is back, thanks to the Coalition! Suzanne is organizing readers and helpers for Thursdays, 2 PM, from July 8 through August 29. No teaching experience necessary.
If you are interested, please write to [email protected]
or call 201-632-1436. Audience: ages 4–8.
Try: https://www.preservegraydon.org/newsletters/17june2010-story-time-gifts
