Executive Order No. 2017-01, officially making Bergen County the first county in the state of New Jersey to adopt a $15 minimum wage for its full time county workers.
What a disgraceful use of a taxpayer supported political stance. Sure, everyone wishes better pay for all. Thanks to this type of thievery of robbing Peter to pay Paul makes virtually all the private unskilled jobs that much less attractive. Hard to believe that these freeholders can just dip into the taxpayer base like this. Why not make it $50-$75 /hr? Maybe the freeholders could kick in their salaries minus $15/hr to help offset what is more than likely a huge arbitrary increase in the county tax bill.
photos courtesy of Boyd Loving’s Facebook page and Paramus Police
November 23,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Paramus NJ, Paramus OEM mobile command post deployed at Paramus Park, Paramus in connection with a missing person on Wednesday evening, 11/22.
Paramus Police is requesting the public’s assistance in locating a missing person Dennis Meeman, a 56 yo white male. He left Paramus Park Mall around 415 pm on Wednesday, November 22, 2017. He was last seen by the west entrance by Urban Coal. He is wearing wearing blue jeans, black shoes, blue hooded jacket and maybe wearing a black safely helmet. Any information on this missing person please contact Paramus Police Dept 201-262-3400
As off 11/23/2017: Paramus PD continues the search near Paramus Park, Paramus for a 56-year old male missing since 1615 hours on Wednesday, 11/22. A NJSP helicopter with thermal imaging equipment is being used as of 0900 hours.
Hackensack NJ, Bergen County Executive Jim Tedesco , “This afternoon I was joined by my colleagues on the Bergen County Board of Chosen Freeholders, along with representatives from USUW 755, USUW 655, and the Executive Director of New Jersey Working Families Analilia Mejia, to announce and sign Executive Order No. 2017-01, officially making Bergen County the first county in the state of New Jersey to adopt a $15 minimum wage for its full time county workers.
Good people are essential to good government, and good managers understand that their employees need to be valued. County employees who put in 40 hours or more every week, in service to their friends and neighbors throughout Bergen County, deserve and have earned a $15 minimum wage. It is important to me that we do this for our workers in time for holidays.”
While the reality is most employers cannot simply raise prices to cover the higher minimum wage, particularly in the competitive services sector. … But a preponderance of evidence has shown that there are no positive effects on employment of low-skilled workers that offset the negative effects from an increase in the minimum wage.
Look for more automation , layoffs , business closings ,less full time work and even less opportunities for starter jobs in Bergen county.
Fair Share Housing will bully their way as they know nobody will bother to fight them. It takes balls to stand up and this VC and the village in general is full of lightweights who are more concerned with leaf collection than the long term livability in this place. I would rather see us risk a lawsuit than just crawl under a rock and be inundated with hundreds of apartments who will basically spell the end for Ridgewood and the birth of New Hackensack.
Wyckoff NJ, No injuries were reported by the occupants of a 4-door passenger sedan that overshot the exit ramp and crashed into a wooded area while exiting Route 208 southbound at Cedar Hill Avenue in Wyckoff on Monday evening, 11/20. Wyckoff Police and Fire Department personnel responded to the incident. The wrecked vehicle was removed from the scene by a flatbed tow truck. Entrance and exit ramps to/from Route 208 southbound at Cedar Hill Avenue, Wyckoff were temporarily closed while emergency crews worked at the scene.
Oradell NJ,The Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office and the Bergen County SPCA are requesting information from the public regarding a wounded Akita-mix dog that was left at Oradell Animal Hospital on November 3, 2017 and subsequently euthanized due to its injuries.
At approximately 4:30 p.m. on Friday, November 3, 2017, the Bergen County SPCA and the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office received information that a two-year-old Akita-mix dog was left at Oradell Animal Hospital by two men who travelled in a black Lincoln Navigator with New York license plates. The dog appeared neglected and had suffered injuries, which included a swollen hind leg, suggesting it had been trapped or otherwise tethered. The men provided differing accounts, one claiming they found the dog in the woods in Mahwah and another that it was found at a construction site in Bergen or Rockland County. The two men then left without entering the animal hospital or providing identification. It is unclear if the two men are good Samaritans.
Anyone with information regarding this investigation is encouraged to contact the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Animal Cruelty Task Force at 201-226-5632, or the Bergen County SPCA at 201-573-8900.
Glen Rock NJ, Glen Rock Mayor Bruce Packer is encouraging residents to attend what he sees as an opportunity for Glen Rock rate payers , ” I strongly urge people to try to attend the presentation on Glen Rock DEAL on November 30th. If you are cynical, please assure that you have all of the facts before allowing your cynicism lead you to the accepting and spreading of misinformation on social media or elsewhere. You can find some info right here:
The Environmental Commission is currently evaluating an opportunity to enroll PSE&G customers into a community energy aggregation program that would provide cheaper electricity while adding more clean sources of energy.
Participation in the program is voluntary. Residents are automatically enrolled, unless they “opt-out” before the program starts. They can also opt-out anytime and for any reason during the entire duration of the contract and revert back to PSE&G with NO termination fees, by notifying PSEG by phone or email (see FAQ below).
It is important to note that this change can only happen with the passing of an ordinance which will include, as always, an opportunity for a public hearing. This will happen in early 2018.
Teaneck NJ, the NJTPC will host speaker, blogger and political commentator Matt Rooney . He will enlighten us on what to expect after the NJ election, what can be done and what you can do to be a change maker. We’ve experienced disappointment with previous elections on various levels, but the tax base in Bergen County is correspondingly high in the metropolitan NY/NJ area.
Matt Rooney is a lifelong NJ resident who earned his Juris Doctorate in 2010 from the Rutgers University School of Law and is currently is a practicing attorney with a NJ based law firm in Haddon Heights Camden County.
Save Jersey is New Jersey’s #1 source for conservative news, commentary, and humor. Matt Rooney founded the well respected and widely-read Blog in May 2008 when he was a law student. He began to write about both trending and under-the-radar topics in New Jersey politics and recognized a critical need for an independent, pro-taxpayer voice in the New Jersey media. Save Jersey has been repeatedly recognized in recent years as a force in New Jersey politics.
Matt was named a “Rising Star” in state politics by Gannett’s New Jersey newspapers, as a top politics and policy tweeter for his work at Save Jersey. It has been nationally-recognized as an invaluable resource for in-state political coverage, warranting mentions from various national online publications such as National Review Online, MichelleMalkin.com, The Weekly Standard, BigGovernment.com, FoxNation.com and The Washington Post.
“One person working tirelessly is a blessing,
when we all work together miracles happen”
REMINDER:
November 21, 2017 (Tuesday)
Speaker: Matt Rooney, Founder and Chief Blogger, Save Jersey Blog.
650 American Legion Drive, Teaneck NJ – 7PM
(Don’t forget to bring a pantry item for the American Legion food drive-support our veterans’ good works)
This affordability thing is one of the most perverted things I have come across.. How can an organization such as Fair Share housing have so much leverage in dictating their agenda. How can they play as they wish with the quality of life of so many towns, villages and people who have worked hard to make it where they are living now. Affordable housing can be beneficial to a handful of people but can be devastating to so many more. Yet there is no public outrage when they impose totally unrealistic numbers to nice towns without giving a sh!t in how people in these places feel about this. Local governments feel so powerless even though they represent the will of of local population.There are plenty of affordable places in NJ. Whoever can’t afford Ridgewood, HoHoKus, Montvale etc. can move to Paterson, Clifton etc. This has nothing to do with humanism, this is total abuse.
Trenton NJ, Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino announced today that New Jersey residents who were deceived into sending payments to scammers using Western Union’s wire transfer service can now apply for compensation from a $586 million fund related to a multi-state settlement with Western Union in which New Jersey participated.
According to Porrino, New Jersey residents may be eligible to receive compensation if they were the victim of a fraud-induced money transfer using Western Union services between January 1, 2004 and January 19, 2017.
New Jerseyans who reported to Western Union, or to the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office, that they were the victim of such a scam may soon receive a claim form in the mail. The claim form will be sent from the Settlement Administrator of a related federal settlement within the next two weeks.
The form will contain instructions explaining how consumers may file their claim to receive compensation. Consumers who do not receive a claim form in the mail but believe they may have an eligible claim can visit www.westernunionremission.com or call 1-844-319-2124 for more information on how to file a claim.
Filing a claim is free, so consumers should not pay anyone to file a claim on their behalf.
No one associated with the claims process will call to ask for consumers’ bank account or credit card number. All completed claims forms must be mailed back to the Settlement Administrator by February 12, 2018.
“Unfortunately, con artists use all types of ruses and tall tales to convince people to wire them money – and they sometimes succeed. Some of these ‘send money’ scams may appeal to the target’s humanitarianism or love of family, while others may suggest the would-be victim needs to wire money in order to claim a big sweepstakes prize,” Porrino said.
“The position of the states in this matter was that Western Union must be more vigilant going forward,” Porrino said, “but consumers can protect themselves, too, by exercising great caution in the face of overtures asking that they send money. If a person is being told a loved one is in need or in danger, we urge that he or she proceed with deliberation and make every effort to authenticate the story independently. And if a supposed ‘bargain’ or ‘contest prize’ sounds too good to be true, it probably is. We recommend that they not take the bait.”
Announced by Attorney General Porrino in January 2017, a multi-state settlement with Western Union Company resolved an investigation by the participating states focused on fraud-induced money transfers – specifically, the wiring of money by unwitting consumers to third-party con artists using Western Union’s wire transfer service.
Under the settlement, Colorado-based Western Union was required to develop and put into action a comprehensive anti-fraud program designed to help detect and prevent future incidents in which consumers who are the victims of fraud utilize Western Union to wire money to those defrauding them.
New Jersey was a member of the multi-state Executive Committee that spearheaded the Western Union investigation. Deputy Attorney General Cathleen O’Donnell, assigned to the Division of Law’s Consumer Fraud Prosecution Section, and Division of Consumer Affairs Chief Investigator Laurie Goodman, as well as Investigator/Team Leader Aziza Salikov, handled the Western Union matter on behalf of the State.
Hillsdale NJ, Ballot questions were overwhelmingly approved in four Bergen County towns, Residents in Hillsdale, Park Ridge and River Vale voted this month in support of non-binding questions that called for the towns to stop issuing permits for large-scale housing projects until statewide affordable-housing rules are established. Dumont voters also approved a question that asked if the state Legislature should make appointments to the Council on Affordable Housing board and amend the Fair Housing Act. In each case residents voted against forced overdevelopment, did not want high-density apartments in their towns, and they particularly reject high-density apartments built because of builder’s remedy lawsuits.
In 2015, the state Supreme Court ruled that municipalities should bypass the non-functioning Council on Affordable Housing and go directly to trial court judges to determine their affordable-housing obligations. Since then, many towns have been involved in costly litigation involving the Fair Share Housing Center, an affordable-housing advocacy group, to determine how many units of low- to moderate-income housing they constitutionally must provide.
Fair Share Housing has been accused of setting affordable-housing numbers that are unrealistic in relation to the ability of the town to absorb such significant housing levels. The fact is with housing comes infrastructure, police, fire, schools, sewage and water . Many politicians have referred to the Fair Housing Act as the “developers full employment act”
Local lawmakers are hoping Trenton is listening . Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi, drafted the questions passed in Hillsdale, Park Ridge and River Vale. Schepisi, R-River Vale, has been at the forefront of efforts to come up with a statewide affordable-housing solution. She believes there is a more responsible way to meet obligations to provide low- to moderate-income housing and has been covered on this blog extensively .
Mahwah NJ, Superior Court judge Roy F. McGeady ruled on Friday that the Ramapough Lenape Nation had violated local zoning laws when they erected tepees on its Mahwah property. In his decision the judge rejected the tribe’s arguments that they had a constitutional right to the tepees, which are used in religious ceremonies. While the judge issued his ruling supporters of the Ramapough Lenape Nation wore red in solidarity .
Judge Roy F. McGeady explained ,“There’s a big difference between praying on the property or conducting religious ceremonies, and creating a structure to do a religious ceremony – a church, a cathedral,”
McGeady ordered the tribe to pay more than $13,000 in fines for summonses issued on the tepee violations. However, he threw out additional summonses accusing the tribe of moving soil and erecting a renewable energy system without permission. The ruling ends a year-long Mahwah Indian War saga that began with a small colony of tepees placed on the tribe’s Halifax Road property last fall.
Split Rock Sweetwater Prayer Camp was formed in October of 2016 in solidarity with the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. Led by Ramapough Lenape Nation, the camp was erected to educate the public on the impending crises of the AIM and Pilgrim pipelines that threaten the local water supply in our region. Pipeline ruptures cause severe damage to our sacred waters and endanger our families and wildlife. Even with these dangers, Spectra Company is still pushing for the AIM and Pilgrim pipelines to be completed.
Hawthorne NJ, A 20-year old female who allegedly kicked in the front door of a home on Rock Road in Hawthorne, violating a temporary restraining order (TRO) the the process, was apprehended and taken into custody by Hawthorne Police on Goffle Road, Hawthorne just moments after the incident was reported via a 911 telephone call. No injuries were reported by the home’s occupants, nor any of the uniformed patrol officers who affected the arrest. The vehicle the alleged perpetrator used to flee the incident was impounded by Hawthorne Police and towed from the arrest location. NOTE: All persons shall be presumed innocent until found guilty by a final decision of the court
Ridgewood NJ, U.S. District Court Judge Williams Walls, the judge presiding over the corruption and bribery case against Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) has declared a mistrial after the jury said that it was deadlocked and unable to make a decision.
Washington Twp NJ, No injuries were reported by the lone occupant of a passenger vehicle that careened off of East Glen Avenue in Washington Township on Wednesday evening, 11/15, across the lawns of two (2) homes, through a picket fence, and into the back yard of a house located on nearby Madeline Court. The vehicle was winched out of its predicament and removed from the scene by a flatbed tow truck. Washington Township Police responded to the incident.
