>At the insistence of Deputy Mayor Keith D. Killion, Village Council members effectively killed a proposal to increase Graydon Pool membership fees for the 2010 season.
Village Parks and Recreation Director Timothy Cronin and Village Manager Kenneth Gabbert had proposed the following changes:
a) $10.00 increase in seasonal membership (from $75.00 to $85.00)
b) Senior citizens (now free) would have been charged $15.00 for the season
c) Elimination of coupon books
Citing a continued poor economy, and a desire to encourage as many residents as possible to use the controversial facility, Council members agreed with Killion that fees should be held in place for the entire 2010 season.
Following the public decision last night, resident Roger Wiegand proposed to Killion that fees actually be lowered to draw more users to the pool. Killion indicated that he would take Wiegand’s suggestion under consideration.
A proposal to modify The Valley Hospital’s expansion plan by putting parking and other facilities underground is doable, but handling groundwater during construction would be a problem, a geology expert told the Ridgewood Planning Board.
“It’s technically feasible” to build parking for 2,000 cars and locate hospital mechanicals underground, said Larry Keller, director of geotechnical engineering for Whitestone Associates of Warren. But he said excavation would involve discharging “lots of groundwater” as well as digging through bedrock.
The proposal to go underground – suggested by a consultant to the planning board — is favored by residents who strongly oppose Valley’s original expansion plan.
The original Valley plan calls for replacing two buildings with three new ones and erecting a parking deck — increasing the hospital’s size by 67 percent. But nearby residents worry that those buildings would overshadow their neighborhood. The modified proposal would set the buildings farther back from the residential streets.
Keller was hired by the Planning Board to study whether the modified building plan would work. “Part of this plan is an assessment of the groundwater, and it would be worthwhile to know now, rather than during construction,” how to pump it out and what to do with it, Keller told the Planning Board late Tuesday night.
Another concern would be how to support structures during excavation which, depending on how far buildings are set back, might encroach on property along Steilen Avenue, to the east, he said….
“I understand the village typically wouldn’t want blasting,” Keller said. The blasting charges are small, and might make for a shorter construction schedule, but would create vibration of nearby property that would have to be monitored, he said.
Raymond Skorupa, the medical planning consultant who last fall recommended the underground parking plan, said Keller’s report hadn’t changed his mind, “but I have a better understanding of the impediments.”
“We’d like to see more of the hospital space below grade,” Skorupa said. But it’s up to Valley to decide how much to spend on the project and to the surrounding community to decide on “the trade-off of going deeper, but having to endure the construction, and maybe more trucks,” he said.
Keller and Skorupa were hired by the Planning Board, and paid with escrow funds from Valley. Board Chairman David Nicholson asked Skorupa to return in three weeks with more options. …
Valley officials are concerned that underground construction would disrupt the neighborhood and make the hospital vulnerable to Hurricane Katrina-like flooding.
Paul Gould, spokesman for Concerned Residents of Ridgewood, said that argument was “bogus,” because there are no bodies of water near Valley to flood the hospital.
Moody’s Investors Service fired off a warning on Wednesday that the triple A sovereign credit rating of the US would come under pressure unless economic growth was more robust than expected or tougher actions were taken to tackle the country’s budget deficit.
In a move that follows intensifying concern among investors over the US deficit, Moody’s said the country faced a trajectory of debt growth that was “clearly continuously upward”.
“Unless further measures are taken to reduce the budget deficit further or the economy rebounds more vigorously than expected, the federal financial picture as presented in the projections for the next decade will at some point put pressure on the triple A government bond rating,” the rating agency added in an issuer note.
This week, the White House forecast a $1,565bn budget deficit for 2010, which represents 10.6 per cent of gross domestic product and is the highest such ratio of debt to GDP since the second world war.
>Major cable network is searching for a large, extended and multi-generational family to be the stars of their own comedy reality show. We’re looking for funny families that BREAK THE MOLD and BREAK THE MOLD of your typical ho-hum American household. This show will document their lives and explore the family’s complexity while witnessing the craziness, chaos and love that makes their family special.
• At your annual Thanksgiving dinner, do you look around and think your family should have a reality show because no one would believe it otherwise?
• Do you find yourself having to explain your family dynamic to those unfamiliar with how things work in your non-traditional household?
• Do your siblings, parents, in-laws or hired help bring a new element that pushes the envelope? Maybe someone is in a May/Dec relationship or has taken on responsibilities or roles that might deviate from the norm? Perhaps one of them is gay or was adopted from a far-flung exotic locale? Is there someone of a different race or ethnicity that’s mixing things up in your previously homogenous family?
If your family puts the FUN in dysFUNctional, then this is the show for you!!!
Tell us about you and your family. The good, the bad and the ugly.
Please include: All Family Names, ages and occupations. A brief bio about your immediate and extended family. Include a family photo(s). Contact Phone numbers for the main contact in each family. Email info to: michele@citizencasting.com
*This is a feel good show where at the end of the day LOVE CONQUERS ALL. * All family members involved must live in close proximity to one another. *Characters welcome.
>We offer the best breakfast in Ridgewood and we want you to try us.
Scramblers Egg Benny’s Omelettes Pancakes French Toast Homemade Muffins and Pastries Fresh Fruit and Yogurt! your coffee with breakfast is on us!
Plenty of parking and it’s always free on sundays
Natalie’s Uptown Restaurant at 24 S. Broad Street will be closed for lunch on saturday’s but will be available primarily for private parties and functions. Call on us to host your next shower, christening, engagement, birthday, meeting or special event. We can provide a buffet or complete table service. Also, we are availbale for off premise catering. Bartenders, waitresses, clean-up is no problem either. Talk to us about your next function.
Restaurant Week Continues!
We will continue to offer the Ridgewood Restuarant Menu from Monday to Thursday for lunch or dinner! 3 course dinner for $20.10 offering Pecan Crusted Chicken, Sesame Crusted Salmon, Chicken Parmigiana, Marsala or Picatta and Pasta Natalie plus a homemade cupcake for dessert. All for $20.10 to celebrate the New Year. We will continue to offer this until the unemployment rate drops to 8.5 %. How about that? Great for small get togethers, business dinners and birthday groups. Save as much as 25% off our regular menu. Please call for reservations for 4 or more.
free parking after 6 PM and weekends!
Natalie’s Bakery and Pasta House 17 South Broad Street open for breakfast, lunch and dinner from 8:30 AM to 9:00 PM sun-tues-wed-thurs. and till 10 friday & saturday with complete menu with great blackboard specials to choose everyday. Unbelievable Soups! come on in for retail pick up of homemade cookies, muffins, scones, biscotti or Our Homemade Cupcakes made on premise 201 444 9020
Natalie’s Uptown across the street at 24 South Broad Street
opens from 11:30 AM to 9:00 PM mon-thurs and til 10:00 on fri and saturdays. We offer a more upscale dining experience with a full lunch and dinner menu to satisfy every customer. We are sure our eclectic style of cooking will surpass your expectation. We are closed for lunch on saturdays but available for for private parties up to 45 people.
Lunch/Dinner Reservations for 4 or more are recommended.
201 444 7887 full menu and specials at www.nataliscafe.com since 1993
Your Servers Robyn-Erich-Kristy-Thomas- Matt-Ryan-Alex-Mark
Your Hostess Stephanie
Your Hosts Natalie and Frank Trent
Save as much as 25% Offer Expires: when the unemployment rate drops to 8.5%.
>Meet with Teachers & Volunteers to create Your Science Project!
Tuesday, February 9th, 23rd, March 2 from 3:30 to 5:30pm in the Ridgewood Community Center, Village Hall, 131 N. Maple Ave. A 3- week afterschool program to help you create your projects for SUPER SCIENCE SATURDAY! Sign Up for classes by calling Mel Powers at 201/394-2408 or email at mel@supersciencesaturday.org by February 6th. Cost: $20 – so sign up quickly before all spots are gone! www.supersciencesaturday.org
>RIDGEWOOD, NJ—Despite celebrating their 100th anniversary this month, the Boys Scouts of America have come on hard times here in Ridgewood. With six cub scouts packs and only two Boy Scout troops, many young scouts are falling by the wayside. However, recently, a group of Eagle Scouts have come together to help revive the traditions and values that formed the foundations of their lives and are in the midst of reorganizing and rebuilding Troop 4.
On Wednesday February 10th from 7:00p.m. to 8:00p.m., at the West Side Presbyterian Church on 6 South Monroe Street, Troop 4 will hold an open house for cub scouts looking to continue in scouting.
Under new leadership from experienced Eagle Scouts, Troop 4 hopes to set a new standard of excellence within the scouting community.
“With the other Troops in Ridgewood meeting Tuesday’s and Thursday’s, there are many kids that are looking to join scouting but can’t make those meeting nights,” said Anthony Chirdo, District Executive for Northern New Jersey Council of the Boys Scouts of America. “It’s good to see Troop 4 reorganizing with new, young leaders, all in their mid-twenties, who are willing to meet on Wednesday nights to take in some those kids.”
Between 2001 and 2002, six scouts from Troop 56 in Elmwood Park achieved the monumental Eagle Scout rank. After several ceremonies attended by local congressmen and women, mayors, chiefs of police, and numerous community members, these scouts went off into the world where they received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in such fields as Engineering, Political Science, Accounting, History, Writing and Information Systems.
Now these eagles have flown home.
“We all started as Tiger Scouts with Pack 8 in Elmwood Park and just kept going,” said Anthony Scotelaro, one of the new leaders of Troop 4. “Through scouting we created this great bond and friendship that helped us push through those tough times when we wanted to quit because of sports or one of us got a car or whatever.”
“If it wasn’t for that bond maybe half of us or none of us would have become Eagles and maybe none of us would have even graduated college.”
For scouts who sign up with Troop 4 at Wednesday’s open house they will receive a free copy of the Boy Scout handbook. They will also get to meet and talk with several members of the troop’s new leadership, view an Eagle Scout memorabilia display, and learn more about the goals of the new troop.
“We definitely encourage parents to get involved with the troop,” said Scotellaro. “We want parents and family to realize that everyone is invited to get involved to help these young scouts advance toward Eagle and become self sufficient young men.”
“I know for sure that identifying animal prints and tying knots have not been helpful in the rest of my life,” he continued. “But the discipline, the values, the teamwork skills and all those things you gain by doing these activities I know for a fact has been a part or my life and certainly the other guys as well.”
The Boy Scouts of America is one of the nation’s foremost youth programs of character development and values-based leadership training. To learn more about Troop 4’s open house on February 10, please contact: Dan Cappello at 201-458-2955 or drcappello@yahoo.com
>Secretary Janet Napolitano Department of Homeland Security U.S. Department of Homeland Security Washington, DC 20528
Dear Secretary Napolitano:
I’m writing to you today to express deep concerns with the direction of the nation’s homeland security response, especially in regards to the handling of terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallad in the months prior to – and days since – his Christmas Day attack on a Northwest Airlines Flight 253 landing in Detroit.
Based on the handling of this entire affair, I think it’s time for you to consider stepping down and making room for an individual with more law enforcement and counterterrorism experience to take the reins at the Office of Homeland Security.
The entire episode was handled poorly, from start to finish. Indications that Mr. Abdulmutallad may pose a danger to the nation’s security were not acted upon, despite the existence of intelligence suggesting that he may be dangerous, and working alongside Al-Quaeda operatives in Yemen. His name was put into a database with other suspected terrorists, but he was still allowed to fly freely and enter and exit the U.S. on a nonrevoked, multiple-entry U.S. visa.
After the Christmas Day near-miss, your public statements seemed more focused on public relations than closing the gaps in our nation’s security safety net that allowed a terrorist to board an international flight for the United States. You said on ABC’s “This Week” program on Sunday, “I think the important thing to recognize here is that once this incident occurred, everything happened that should have. We trained for this. We planned for this.” On CNN’s “State of the Union” program, you said, “One thing I’d like to point out is that the system worked.”
Public relations spin to the contrary, I believe there are 300 airline passengers who were onboard Flight 253 and would disagree with your assessment on how well the system “worked.” It was by sheer luck and mechanical malfunction of the bomber’s equipment that the United States was able to avoid tragedy, not through homeland security training and planning.
We live in dangerous times, when enemies foreign and domestic are planning attacks that will cost American lives. One mistake is too many, and while we were lucky to evade tragedy in this instance, without an experienced person in charge of the Office of Homeland Security, we may not be so lucky the next time.
While I recognize that you are a dedicated and well-meaning public servant, I believe that you simply do not have the proper law enforcement qualifications and counterterrorism background to head the nation’s very delicate homeland security operations. It’s time that the United States move away from political appointees and former governors, and put the Office of Homeland Security in the hands of individuals with real law-enforcement and counterterrorism experience.
I know you are committed to protecting Americans, and I hope that you will recognize that the responsible thing to do at this point would be to resign, in order to allow President Obama an opportunity to appoint a more qualified individual to the position of Secretary of Homeland Security. We cannot rely on dumb luck and mechanical malfunctions to keep our fellow Americans safe from terrorist threats and attempted attacks.
I thank you very much for your consideration.
Sincerely, Richard J. Codey New Jersey Acting Governor
CC: President Barack Obama The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500
Early this morning, The Fly observed ALL curbside placed recyclables (newspapers, high quality paper, bottles, cans, cardboard, etc.) in his neighborhood being dumped together into a Village sanitation vehicle that was not equipped with content dividers.
This prompts The Fly to ask a simple question: “Is Ridgewood’s recycling program for real, or is it just another Village Hall perpetuated sham?”
Can anyone at Village Hall explain to The Fly why taxpayers are mandated by ordinance to segregate recyclable materials for curbside pickup, only to have everything mixed together in the same refuse removal vehicle and taken to a landfill?
Mr. Frank Moritz, Director of Operations; are you asleep at the switch?
In the winter of 1776, General George Washington and his ragged army had experienced only defeat and despair. The War for Independence was going badly, with failure following failure. In the preceding months, Washington’s campaign in New York had not gone well; the Battle of Long Island ended in a loss when the British troops managed to out-maneuver the Continental Army. A series of defeats settled around Washington as he was forced to retreat across New Jersey to Pennsylvania on December 7th and 8th.
As the harsh Pennsylvania winter set in, the morale of the American troops was at an all time low. The soldiers were forced to deal with a lack of both food and warm clothing , while Washington watched his army shrink due to desertions and expiring enlistments. Now, more than ever, a victory was desperately needed.
The original plan called for the three divisions to cross the river under the cover of darkness. The boats to be used for the crossing were gathered earlier in the month in compliance with General Washington’s orders, primarily as a defensive measure. Various types of boats were collected; most notable were the large, heavy Durham boats used to carry pig iron down the Delaware.
Fully expecting to be supported by two divisions south of Trenton, Washington assembled his own troops near McConkey’s Ferry in preparation for the crossing. By 6 PM. 2,400 troops had begun crossing the ice-choked river. The operation was slow and difficult due to the condition of the river. There was an abrupt change in the weather forcing the men to fight their way through sleet and a blinding snowstorm. These obstacles proved to be too much for the supporting divisions led by Generals Cadwalader and Ewing, ultimately preventing their crossing at southern points along the Delaware.
Against all odds, Washington and his men successfully completed the crossing and marched into Trenton on the morning of December 26, achieving a resounding victory over the Hessians.
By moving ahead with his bold and daring plan, General George Washington re-ignited the cause of freedom and gave new life to the American Revolution.
Washington Crossing Historic Park was founded in 1917 to perpetuate and preserve the site from which the Continental Army crossed the Delaware River. This purpose is achieved by interpreting the historical significance of this site for thousands of Park visitors each year through tours, exhibits and various special events. The spirit of the 1776 Crossing is recreated every year on Christmas Day when the annual reenactment of Washington Crossing the Delaware takes place on December 25. In this annual reenactment the visitor can see reenactors in Continental military dress cross the river in the replica Durham boats.
But that isn’t all! Washington Crossing Historic Park also preserves and interprets the early 19th century history of Taylorsville, the area in which the crossing of the Delaware occurred. This small ferry crossing of the 18th century developed into a quintessential village of the next era, reflecting progress, American ideals and the new industrial age. As the Delaware Canal came through, a fully fleshed out community bravely looked to the future while remembering its past.
This is a high quality music video of Blondie performing the holiday classic We Three Kings! If you like it, you can go over to www.Blondie.net and download the song for free! New Blondie in 2010!!!
Are you tired of being constantly on the defensive? It’s time to bring the fight to them!
This news is just breaking. As many of you are aware there is a movement in NJ to Recall Senator Menendez. The New Jersey Secretary of State has failed to legally comply with our Notice of Intention. A civil action has been filed in the Essex County Superior Court of New Jersey on behalf of the “Committee to Recall U.S. Senator Robert Menendez,” sponsored by the Sussex County Tea Party, a fellow member of, and supported by, NJ Tea Parties United.
The full press release is attached in PDF format. It will also be posted later this evening on our website: www.njteapartycoalition.org
WE NEED YOUR HELP!
Take time to enjoy the Christmas holiday, then beginning on Monday, please call and pressure the Secretary of State and the Director of the Division of Elections to respond immediately to the Committee’s Notice of Intention citing that to date, the Secretary of State has ignored the Notice and Complaint in violation of state law…they are servants of the people, not of the Senators.
Please disseminate this information to as many interested parties as possible. It is important that the Secretary of State is aware that the “We the People” know she is in non-compliance with the law. At some point in the future, we will need all of you to help as we collect signatures, but first we must overcome these legal hurdles.
Contact information is below:
Nina Mitchell Wells Secretary of State State House 125 West State Street, P.O. Box 300 Trenton, New Jersey 08625-0300 URL https://www.state.nj.us/state/ 609/984-1900 FAX 609/777-1764
Robert F. Giles, Director Division of Elections 225 West State Street, 3rd Floor P.O. Box 304 Trenton, New Jersey 08625-0304 URL https://www.njelections.org/ E-Mail: njelections@sos.state.nj.us 609/292-3760 FAX 609/777-1280 TTY 1-800/292-0039
On behalf of our Committee, Tim, Michele, Rae and myself, Brian
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