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Do you watch Glee? Have what it takes to be the next Rachel or Finn? Join From The Top Music Studio’s Show Choirs! The Studio is currently auditioning students for these dynamic groups. All vocalists ages seven to 18 are eligible. Auditions will be held during the months of July and August. Call (201) 445-8780 if you’re interested and become a part of all of the fun today!
While you’re at it, you can even register for music lessons this fall! From The Top Music Studio provides first-rate music instruction. They offer vocal and instrumental lessons on all instruments, and their teachers are highly qualified with extensive performance experience. Call (201) 445-8780 now to set up your lessons!
I agree with 7:16, it is a slippery slope to be accepting gifts from people/companies whose business is coming before the town for decisions.
Building and fire inspectors have long been prohibited from accepting even the very smallest of gifts from merchants whose businesses they inspect, so that they can’t be accused of accepting something in exchange for a favor, even when such a favor isn’t asked or expected.
Mr. Bolger has done a great deal for this town and it is clearly appreciated. This ordinance has nothing to do with him personally, it is to protect in general.
>Bolger Foundation may sever donations to Ridgewood Thursday, August 26, 2010 Last updated: Thursday August 26, 2010, 1:04 PM BY MICHAEL SEDON The Ridgewood News Staff Writer
The Village of Ridgewood may have lost the support of one of its major benefactors due to its current regulation structure regarding gifting.
Local philanthropist David F. Bolger, president of the Bolger Foundation and president of the former Marion and Silfred DePhillips Foundation, has indicated that he may settle his outstanding gift obligations to the Ridgewood Public Library and then stop making charitable donations to the Village of Ridgewood.
“As the president of The Bolger Foundation, I hereby notify The Village of Ridgewood that, under the existing rules and regulations and other than the outstanding commitments to the Ridgewood Public Library to fund the extension of the security system at a cost of about $3,500, The Bolger Foundation will no longer make any gifts to The Village of Ridgewood or any organization which is connected to the Village including, but not limited, to The Ridgewood Police Department and The Ridgewood Fire Department which have also been major beneficiaries of The Bolger Foundation’s giving in the past,” wrote Bolger in an Aug. 19 letter addressed to the mayor, council and village manager.
The council briefly discussed gifts and how the village goes about accepting them at the Aug. 4 work session in light of a gift offered by Wyckoff-based Terraclean Power Washing, which it did not accept, to power wash the sidewalks on East Ridgewood Avenue. The company paid a $100 ticket plus court costs in Ridgewood’s municipal court a few days before making the gift offer. Several gift offers from The Bolger Foundation were included on that same agenda.
The discussion took place because of Ordinance 3132, adopted Aug. 13, 2008, which prohibits anyone with business currently before any of the village’s boards or agencies from offering a gift or donation for 90 days until final action has been taken. A person or business cannot make a gift or donation offer to the village until 90 days after final action on a request for relief or application is finalized.
The council agreed at the Aug. 4 meeting to “tighten up” some of the language in the ordinance, which would be discussed further. The council will revisit the ordinance and hold a “general” discussion at its Sept. 1 meeting, said Village Manager Ken Gabbert in an e-mail. He also expressed the village’s appreciation for Bolger’s generosity.
>I actually saw the same thing. Not to state the obvious, but it’s been raining nearly nonstop for days. Why would anyone, Valley or otherwise need to water. Seems rather wasteful.
That said, I want to commend the Village workers for the prompt and wonderful job they did removing the huge branch from in front of our house. I had called the Ridgewood Police when it occurred, but was told that if it fell from a tree on our property, it was our responsibility. Not so much.
We did call a tree service, but before they even returned our call, the Village had already sent someone over to take care of it!
RIDGEWOOD – Newly appointed Police Chief John Ward will continue at his current 2009 salary of $160,623 until a new salary is approved by the governing body, likely by October, according to Village Manager Kenneth Gabbert.
The 27-year veteran of the department will start Sept. 1.
Ward, 49, has been serving as the senior officer in charge since last month, when Chief John LiPuma announced he was retiring.
Ward joined the department as a patrolman in 1983 and was promoted to sergeant in 1998. He became a lieutenant five years later and a detective captain in 2009.
Police Chief John LiPuma is receiving a terminal leave payout of $15,882 for 2010 and compensation for unused sick time at a 50 percent rate. That amount of $96,223 will be paid out over three years, bringing the total received by LiPuma to $112,105, according to Gabbert.
LiPuma, 50, who was appointed chief in January 2009, is a 1978 graduate of Ridgewood High School and a 1983 graduate of John Jay College of Criminal Justice. State records show he received a pensionable salary of $165,059 in 2009.
Ward, the married father of two grown boys and a teenage son, serves as an adjunct teacher at Bergen Community College teaching police administration, criminal justice, crime prevention and public administration. He has commanded every position in the Ridgewood Police Department.
The Planning Board heard a conceptual idea at its last meeting that would require re-zoning a portion of the village’s property that abuts Route 17 for commercial use.
No formal application has been submitted to the board, but Attorney Thomas Wells discussed the possibility of re-zoning block 4807, lot 1 to allow a variety of possible commercial uses on the property and add ratables to the village’s tax rolls.
Wells requested a meeting with the Planning Board attorney and the village planner to discuss the next steps in this process, said Planning Board Secretary Barbara Carlton.
“He [Wells] may want to know that this is not inconsistent with Blais’ [Brancheau village planner] contemplated proposal for the redevelopment corridor, but he wasn’t that explicit,” said Planning Board Vice Chairman Albert Pucciarelli. “Route 17 is almost unrelenting retail from Suffern to Lyndhurst but for this stretch, which seems to be a green break in that unrelenting retail, to which Mr. Wells replied that his client should not be required to dedicate his land to green space.”
A broader discussion took place at the Planning Board months ago to re-zone Ridgewood’s portion of the Route 17 corridor to allow commercial development, but those discussions were “preliminary,” Pucciarelli said. That discussion will have to basically “start over,” since the makeup of the board has changed, he added.
Board members at the meeting had concerns about the topography of the property and how the steepness of the slopes would affect rain water runoff, and buffers between this property and its neighbors, Pucciarelli said.
Some commercial uses that would be considered are offices, a hotel, self storage, car wash, cell towers, retail and many other possibilities, according to information from the Planning Board. This particular property has been in the news previously as one of the lots considered for re-zoning in the plan was the site of the controversial Baker Residential townhouses, according to conceptual drawings and the village’s tax map.
>yes. originally the NJEA was dead set against the Race for the Top application
yes. originally the NJEA was dead set against the Race for the Top application, but there was a backlash because they looked obstructionist to the public. so they went to bret schundler (christie’s education head) and tried to get schundler to agree to submit an app with some key changes, and then the NJEA would support it.
christie was pissed that schundler was going to give in to the demands of the union (i.e. the union was dead set against merit pay for good teachers, which christie supports). so christie said no giving in to the union.
the union pulled their “support”, and NJ was dinged (union support counts for something in the scoring process).
the union never supported the race to the top. they were only going to support it if NJ didn’t propose to change things the NJEA didn’t like.
and now the NJEA’s d’bag head Barbara Keshishian had the balls to say Christie “….owes students and taxpayers an apology for undermining a process that could have brought much-needed resources and genuine reform to our state’s public schools”. That’s a laugh!
if you listened to the NJEA in the past (including up to the application for the race to the top), everything’s fine. No need for reform!
11:50 am Wednesday. When its been pouring for 4 days now Valley has its sprinklers firing away. Not sure if the water restriction is over, if not, they’re flouting the law, but even if it is over – its been raining for 4 days now!!! I just had to pull over to take this picture. Ridiculous.
>“Grow Your Business” Luncheon Networking for July Thu, July 22, 2010 – Thu, July 22, 2010 Time: 11:15 AM – 1:00 PM Location: The Office Beer Bar & Grill, 32 Chestnut St., Ridgewood Cost: $20 per person
Event Description
The Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce presents “Grow Your Business” Networking Luncheon at The Office Beer Bar & Grill. Learn about new marketing ideas from Constant Contact representative Wendi Caplan to always stay in front of your customers. Today, it’s all about communicating with your customers regularly, reminding them of your value and setting yourself apart from the competition. Constant Contact is committed to the success of small businesses like yours and will make it easy for you to get an effective e-mail marketing up and running. They will help you start, grow and maintain your list of contacts, all at a price that makes sense for your business.
Please RSVP by July 20th to the Chamber Office at 201-445-2600 or info@ridgewoodchamber.com. There is a parking lot located on Chestnut Street that offers metered parking. Respond early as seating will be limited. We hope to see you there!
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Adults shows 75% say the unwillingness of politicians to reduce government spending is more to blame for current state budget crises than the unwillingness of taxpayers to pay more in taxes.
Only 13% take the opposing view and blame taxpayers’ unwillingness to pay more to the government. Another 12% are undecided.
Americans have expressed this level of skepticism toward their elected officials for some time now. In February, 83% blamed the federal budget deficit on politicians’ unwillingness to cut spending. In May of last year, 77% said politicians’ unwillingness to cut spending is the bigger problem in America today.
The majority of adults of all political affiliations blame politicians’ lack of spending cuts for state budget problems. But Democrats are slightly more inclined to criticize taxpayers for their unwillingness to pay more.
One-in-three government employees (33%) say taxpayers are to blame more than politicians.
Recent job reports show that government hiring is up, while layoffs are more common than hirings in the private sector. Many Americans believe government workers make more money than their counterparts in the private sector, and they don’t like the idea of the government hiring more workers.
Steven Adler Wednesday, July 28 @ 12:00 noon. Former drummer of Guns N’ Roses, Steven Adler will sign his new book: My Appetite for Destruction
Tony Dungy Tuesday, August 3rd @ 6:00pm Former Indianapolis Colts Head Coach, Tony Dungy will sign his new book: Mentor Leader.
Forrest Griffin Wednesday, August 4th @ 7:00pm Former UFC Lightweight Champion, Forrest Griffin, will be signing his new book:Be Ready When the Sh*t Goes Down.
Dave Mustaine Tuesday, August 10th @ 7:00pm Guitarist and founding member of Megadeth, Dave Mustaine, will sign his new book:Mustaine.
Leonard Marshall Wednesday, August 25th @ 6:00pm Former Defensive End for the New York Giants, Leonard Marshall, will sign his new book:When the Cheering Stops
Don Maynard Tuesday, September 14 @ 6:00pm Former Super Bowl III Champion New York Jets Wide Receiver, Don Maynard, will sign his new book: You Can’t Catch Sunshine.
BOOKENDS 232 East Ridgewood Avenue Ridgewood, NJ 07450-3816 (201) 445-0726
>Christie Takes Aim at School Administration Salaries : this kind of micro-management is PRECISELY what gave us the unfunded retirement issues
I would think that this blog, and the group of people that read it would react negatively to the government dictating what we can and can’t as a community decide to pay our superintendent.
I would like to continue to have the choice — whether it be more or less — about what we pay.
AND this kind of micro-management is PRECISELY what gave us the unfunded retirement issues we have today. By keeping published salaries artifically low, fringe benefits are jacked up artifically high. Creating the budget busting that we see today as the costs of the fringe benefits escalate wildly.
This is not my favorite idea from my favorite Governor.
I can’t wait to see the NJEA try to argue against this plan, Save Jerseyans!
Governor Christie visited a Spotswood (Middlesex County) classroom today and announced plans for an administrative salary cap covering all of New Jersey’s school districts. Pegging pay increases to district size would remove some of the arbitrariness from the administrative pay process and save the taxpayers plenty of dough going forward. Superintendents can get an additional $5,000 for each district they cover, but school boards will not be permitted to go beyond the cap. Assemblymen Rible (R-Monmouth) and DiCiccio (R-Gloucester) have been tapped to introduce the legislation.
According to the Governor, 366 superintendents would see their salaries reduced with this cap in place. I’m looking at you, Dave Verducci.
More background:
Under the proposal, the maximum base salary that a district could pay a superintendent would rise with the size of the school district. The top salary for the superintendent of a K-8 district with fewer than 250 students would be $120,000. From there, salary maximums would gradually step up with the size of the school district to the point that the superintendent of a district with up to 10,000 students could be paid a maximum of $175,000. A superintendent in one of New Jersey’s 16 districts with more than 10,000 students could earn a higher base salary.
In addition, administrator compensation would be restructured to provide the opportunity for non-pensionable, individual year merit stipends if superintendents achieve significant, state-defined improvements in student learning from the year before.
This is the change teachers deserve, too.
It’s not fair to let promising young educators lose their jobs when fat cat administrators collude with their union reps and local school boards to maintain astronomically high salaries. Of course teachers need to start paying for their bennies and pensions at normal private sector levels. That’s clear, but school superintendent salaries, if you can believe it, have actually risen 46% since 2001… a $100 million kick in the ass for state taxpayers. Not a bad gig, huh? I’m going to be a superintendent in my next life, Save Jerseyans.
Example? My favorite Bergen superintendent, David Verducci, earns almost $190,000 annually. Laying him off would’ve freed up enough cash to save 247 teaching jobs in 2010. An extraordinary amount of public money is tied up in salaries for paper pushers!
What will be VERY interesting to see, as I mentioned at the beginning of my post, is how the NJEA responds to this latest toolkit proposal. Will they side with administrators who earn more than the Governor? Or will they support a measure that will save teaching jobs a free up additional funds for classrooms? In essence, it’s their last chance to be something other than a transparently partisan organization. Just don’t hold your breath waiting for a cathartic moment.
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