If Casinos didn’t help Atlantic City what makes you think they can help North Jersey ?
No one should look to the gambling industry to revive cities, “because that’s not what casinos do.”
Baltimore is a troubled city, as you know from The Wire. Like many troubled cities, Baltimore has turned to casino gambling as its solution. On August 26, a new Caesar’s casino will open on the site of an old chemical factory, a little more than 2 miles from the famous Inner Harbor and Camden Yards baseball stadium. Yet there’s already reason to expect the casino to disappoint everyone involved: the city looking for tax revenues, the workers hoping for jobs, the investors expecting hefty returns.
Outside of Las Vegas—now home to only 20 percent of the nation’s casino industry—casino gambling has evolved into a downscale business. Affluent and educated people visit casinos less often than poorer people do for the same reasons that they smoke less and drink less and weigh less.
Unfortunately for the casino industry’s growth hopes, downscale America has less money to spend today than it did before 2007. Nor is downscale America sharing much in the post-2009 recovery. From a news report on the troubles of a recently opened Ohio casino:
Ameet Patel, general manager of the property, says the softness in casino revenue that he and other operators have seen has been driven by a key demographic: women older than 50 who used to bet $50 to $75 per visit. The weak recovery has squeezed their gambling budgets, and their trips to casinos are fewer, he says.
What’s true in Ohio applies nationwide. Casino revenues had still not recovered their 2007 peaks as of the spring of 2014, when again they went into reverse in most jurisdictions. Moody’s now projects that casino revenues will drop through the rest of 2014 and all of 2015, slicing industry earnings by as much as 7.5 percent.
JUNE 14, 2015, 11:52 PM LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, JUNE 15, 2015, 12:14 AM
BY LINDA MOSS
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
Six towns have been waiting a month for their shares of nearly $2.5 million in revenue from a new hotel-room surcharge, which replaced a controversial tax-sharing arrangement when Governor Christie signed a bill overhauling oversight of the Meadowlands District this year.
The overdue money is contributing to an atmosphere of confusion in the Meadowlands four months after the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority absorbed the state Meadowlands Commission, the agency that had controlled planning and development in the 30-square-mile district for nearly half a century.
The law, which Christie signed in early February, ushered in the most sweeping changes to the region’s power structure in decades. The governor said it would give the Meadowlands a much-needed economic boost, while opponents worried that it would result in overdevelopment of an environmentally sensitive area of the state.
But the absorption of the Meadowlands Commission’s functions by the sports authority is having unexpected financial repercussions for the 14 Bergen and Hudson county municipalities that have territory within the district.
JUNE 15, 2015 LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, JUNE 15, 2015, 1:21 AM
BY LAURAN NEERGAARD
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS |
WIRE SERVICE
Lyme disease makes the headlines but there are plenty of additional reasons to avoid tick bites. New research highlights the latest in a growing list of tick-borne threats — a distant relative of Lyme that’s easy to confuse with other illnesses.
A study released recently suggests a kind of bacteria with an unwieldy name — Borrelia miyamotoi — should be on the radar when people in Lyme-endemic areas get otherwise unexplained summertime fevers. It’s one of several diseases discovered to have links to ticks in different parts of the country — a reminder to become tick-savvy no matter where you live.
“People need to be aware of what tick-borne diseases are in their area,” says Dr. Peter J. Krause of Yale University, who reviewed the research. “And they should know how to avoid ticks.”
JUNE 13, 2015, 3:34 PM LAST UPDATED: SATURDAY, JUNE 13, 2015, 11:59 PM
BY KIBRET MARKOS
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
With three fatal shootings involving police in Bergen County within the past month, attention has turned again to stun guns as an alternative to the use of deadly force by officers. But the devices, which incapacitate suspects with a temporary electronic pulse, remain unavailable to most police agencies in the county, and in the state as a whole.
New Jersey, the final state in the country to approve the use of stun guns by police, has guidelines and procedures that stun-gun advocates say have become less rigid but are still more stringent than those of other states.
As a result, the process of rolling the devices out to law enforcement agencies across the state is progressing, but slowly, officials say.
After a series of revisions since it first introduced a guideline for stun guns, the state has gradually eliminated several hurdles for police departments to issue the devices to officers, said Steve Tuttle, a spokesman for Taser International, the company that manufactures the stun guns used by agencies in New Jersey.
Today, 168 departments in New Jersey — a state with more than 500 municipalities and 21 counties — have issued Tasers to officers, he said.
JUNE 14, 2015 LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, JUNE 14, 2015, 1:21 AM
BY DAVE SHEINGOLD
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
A proposal to raise gas rates more than 11 percent over five years to help pay for $1.6 billion worth of upgrades to the region’s power grid is scheduled for public review Monday in Hackensack.
At 3:30 and 6:30 p.m. in the Bergen County Administration Building, state regulators will take comments on a proposal by Public Service Electric and Gas Co. to raise residential natural gas rates 11.2 percent over five years to replace hundreds of miles of aging, leak-prone gas mains and tens of thousands of gas connections to homes and businesses in its northern and central New Jersey territory, including parts of Bergen and Passaic counties.
For PSE&G, the state’s largest utility, the project would be its second major improvement proposal in the past three years.
The increase would gradually raise the average residential bill by $8.60 a month from 2016 to 2021. Small businesses, such a pizza parlor or a laundry, would see increases of about 8.2 percent, or an average of $13.46 per month, although PSE&G said increases were likely to be offset by continuing drops in the price of natural gas, which makes up the majority of gas bills in New Jersey.
The project would mark the first phase of a 30-year plan, which includes possible additional rate increases beyond the first five years, to make gas distribution safer, more durable, and better able to serve modern residential and commercial needs.
The plan comes fresh on the heels of the state Board of Public Utilities’ approval in 2014 of PSE&G’s Energy Strong program, which uses annual rate increases to help fund $1.2 billion worth of upgrades, mostly to the company’s electric grid, over three years.
JUNE 12, 2015, 10:46 PM LAST UPDATED: SATURDAY, JUNE 13, 2015, 12:05 AM
BY STEFANIE DAZIO
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
When a police officer uses deadly force against a suspect, the questions from grieving — and often angry — relatives tend to be as predictable as they are wrenching: Why didn’t the officer aim for the suspect’s arm or leg? Did the officer have to fire so many shots? Couldn’t he have used a baton, pepper spray or a stun gun instead?
The answer in many cases, experts said, is that officers who fire at suspects in deadly force situations are following their training.
These questions and others were raised anew on Friday, a day after a police officer fatally shot a 22-year-old man on a Hackensack street corner. Authorities said he brandished a large knife at the officer, who had responded to an emergency call reporting a domestic violence incident. The fatal shooting was the third in three weeks involving police in Bergen County.
Several experts who agreed to speak generally about deadly force situations said no amount of training can fully prepare officers for the pounding adrenaline and the split-second, life-or-death decisions they must make when confronted with a dangerous suspect.
JUNE 12, 2015, 8:28 PM LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, JUNE 12, 2015, 8:44 PM
BY JOHN C. ENSSLIN
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
Bergen County Executive James Tedesco on Friday named 15 members to a task force that will study the future of Bergen Regional Medical Center.
Tedesco wants the panel to come up with recommendations on what should be done when the current 19-year lease with the private company running the county-owned hospital expires on March 1, 2017.
Borough of Ho-Ho-Kus OEM NJ Advisory: The bear cub has been sighted again in the area of Arbor Dr. Please use caution with children and small pets when outside.
file photo
JUNE 10, 2015, 8:46 AM LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10, 2015, 3:33 PM
BY CHRIS HARRIS AND STEFANIE DAZIO
STAFF WRITERS |
THE RECORD
HO-HO-KUS — A black bear cub was spotted in the borough on Wednesday morning but appeared to pose no threat to the public, police said.
Lt. Christopher Minchin, the officer in charge of the Ho-Ho-Kus Police Department, said the cub “exhibited normal behavior” and eventually moved on, heading south.
The cub was initially spotted on Sheridan Avenue around 7 a.m., close to the Waldwick line, Minchin said.
Police decided against intervening, but then the cub headed toward the Ho-Ho-Kus Public School on Lloyd Road. That’s when officers approached the cub, Minchin said, working together to direct the animal out of the borough.
JUNE 7, 2015, 10:19 PM LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015, 12:23 AM
BY JIM NORMAN AND JEFF GREEN
STAFF WRITERS |
THE RECORD
Some of the music fans at the Hot 97 Summer Jam clashed with law enforcement officers at MetLife Stadium on Sunday night, and State Police in riot gear called in two Bearcat armored personnel carriers and shot streams of pepper spray gas as angry concertgoers hurled bottles, according to reports from the scene.
State Police spokesman Sgt. Gregory Williams said he could confirm only that “additional troopers” had been dispatched to the stadium in East Rutherford, but he could not say how many. He said there were “multiple arrests” inside and outside the stadium, but that he could not give precise numbers.
The concert, with headliners Kendrick Lamar and Chris Brown, continued despite the unrest.
People at the scene said police used sound generators to produce a screeching, ear-pounding noise in an effort to disperse the crowd, only to see it regroup and attack with bottles at another site in the parking lot.
Hundreds of troopers and police officers called in from nearby communities pushed back against crowds of people angry that they could not get into the stadium, using clubs and riot shields, according to reports from the scene.
Ridgewood NJ , Assemblymen Robert Auth in February pushed for legislation to end county government in New Jersey now on Thursday, Connecticut and Rhode Island long ago abolished county government, while Massachusetts has eliminated most of its county governments.On March 26, 2015, Assemblyman Robert Auth made a motion to amend legislation, which grants Atlantic City as an Urban Enterprise Zone for 10 years (A-3920), to also extend the sales tax cut statewide.
Auth said we all live in districts that have lost jobs , which echoed what he said in February , “I’m watching businesses leave our state. A lot of it is in the district I represent,” said Auth. “I totaled up all the county budgets throughout the state. It’s like $6.5 billion a year in New Jersey. That’s a lot of money.” https://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/02/he_end_of_county_government_in_nj_bergen_county_la.html .
One of the most immediate and clear effects of sales tax on supply and demand involves an increase in the price of consumer goods. This occurs because businesses must pay more for the products they buy, including machinery, office furnishings and computer equipment. The higher cost of doing business translates into higher prices for new products. money.https://smallbusiness.chron.com/sales-tax-effect-supply-demand-20815.html
While sales tax affects supply directly, it only has an indirect effect on consumer demand. Besides altering the equilibrium price, which takes demand into account, sales tax also impacts consumers’ buying power. When sales tax rates are high, consumers spend more money on taxes and have less to spend on additional goods. This drives down general demand, or forces businesses to reduce prices to keep demand steady. This effect holds true even for items that are not subject to sales tax, such as grocery items and prescription drugs.https://smallbusiness.chron.com/sales-tax-effect-supply-demand-20815.html
American Pharoah became the first horse since 1978 to win the Triple Crown when he won the 147th Belmont Stakes on Saturday.
Jockey Victor Espinoza pushed Pharoah to the front soon after the race started, and Pharoah outclassed the field, pulling away down the stretch to make history. Frosted finished second, and Keen Ice rounded out the top three.
The Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes champion, American Pharoah began Saturday as a 3-to-5 favorite in the morning betting line, and those were the odds when the race began. He started from the fifth position in a field of eight.
Club awarded its fourth USGA championship, first since 1990 U.S. Senior Open
Paramus NJ, The Ridgewood Country Club home of the Barclay’s , has been selected by the United States Golf Association (USGA) as the host site for the 2016 U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship. The fourth USGA championship to be held at Ridgewood is scheduled for July 18-23, 2016.
“We are thrilled to announce Ridgewood Country Club as the host site of the 2016 U.S. Girls’ Junior and sincerely appreciate the club’s generosity in opening its long-celebrated facilities to this generation of female players,” said Diana Murphy, USGA vice president and Championship Committee chairman. “This historic club will surely provide an excellent stage for the world’s most talented teenage female golfers and an extraordinary experience for all.”
Located less than 30 miles northwest of New York City, Ridgewood’s three 9-hole courses – East, Center and West – were designed by A.W. Tillinghast and opened for play in 1929. The course routing for the Girls’ Junior will incorporate holes from all three nines.
“Ridgewood’s members enthusiastically support the USGA’s ambitious efforts to grow the game, especially for girls, and it is our honor to work together to provide the best championship experience possible,” said Bruce Bitzer, President of Ridgewood Country Club. “As proven throughout our storied history, Ridgewood is a place that identifies great champions, and we could not be more excited to host players who represent the future of women’s golf at the 68th U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship.”
Ridgewood’s most recent USGA championship was the 1990 U.S. Senior Open, in which Lee Trevino prevailed by two strokes over Jack Nicklaus on the Center and West courses. The club also hosted the 1974 U.S. Amateur, won by Jerry Pate, 2 and 1, over John P. Grace, and the 1957 U.S. Senior Amateur, won by J. Clark Espie, 4 and 3, over Frederick J. Wright.
Other notable events held at Ridgewood include the PGA Tour’s The Barclays in 2014, 2010 and 2008, won by Hunter Mahan, Matt Kuchar and Vijay Singh, respectively; the 2001 Senior PGA Championship, won by Tom Watson; the 1981 LPGA Coca-Cola Classic, won by Kathy Whitworth, a World Golf Hall of Fame member who won a record 88 LPGA events; and the 1935 Ryder Cup Matches, in which the USA defeated Great Britain, 9-3.
The 2016 U.S. Girls’ Junior will be the 60th USGA championship conducted in New Jersey. The Garden State will also host the 2015 U.S. Senior Amateur at Hidden Creek Golf Club in Egg Harbor Township, the 2017 U.S. Women’s Open at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster and the 2018 U.S. Junior Amateur at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield.
The U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship was first conducted in 1949 and is open to female amateurs who have not turned 18 on or before the final day of that year’s championship and have a Handicap Index® not exceeding 18.4.
Notable champions include three-time winner Hollis Stacy, Mickey Wright, Nancy Lopez, Amy Alcott, JoAnne Gunderson Carner, Pat Hurst, I.K. Kim, Inbee Park and Lexi Thompson. Princess Mary Superal won the 2014 U.S. Girls’ Junior on the Meadow Course at Forest Highlands Golf Club in Flagstaff, Ariz. The 2015 championship will be conducted July 20-25 at Tulsa (Okla.) Country Club.
About the USGA
The USGA conducts the U.S. Open, U.S. Women’s Open and U.S. Senior Open, as well as 10 national amateur championships, two state team championships and international matches, attracting players and fans from more than 160 countries. Together with The R&A, the USGA governs the game worldwide, jointly administering the Rules of Golf, Rules of Amateur Status, equipment standards and World Amateur Golf Rankings. The USGA’s reach is global with a working jurisdiction in the United States, its territories and Mexico, serving more than 25 million golfers and actively engaging 150 golf associations.
The USGA is one of the world’s foremost authorities on research, development and support of sustainable golf course management practices. It serves as a primary steward for the game’s history and invests in the development of the game through the delivery of its services and its ongoing “For the Good of the Game” grants program. Additionally, the USGA’s Course Rating and Handicap systems are used on six continents in more than 50 countries.
For more information about the USGA, visit https://www.usga.org.
Face it, Jersey pols, the people ain’t buyin’ what you’re sellin’.
Posted by Scott St Clair On June 05, 2015 1 Comment
By Scott St. Clair | The Save Jersey Blog
The 2015 New Jersey primary election came and went without me. That’s right: I didn’t vote, so sue me.
I live in the 29th Legislative District, which hasn’t supported anyone to the right of Henry Wallace or George McGovern since the Johnson administration – the ANDREW Johnson administration – so why bother? Additionally, there were no contested races – both the Republican and Democratic legislative nomination ballots featured candidates put up by the official party organizations and nobody else.
Since the last thing in the world I want to do is to further political party stranglehold control over the nominating process in New Jersey, I elected to pass. As P.J. O’Rourke entitled one of his books, “Don’t Vote It Only Encourages the Bastards.”
So then I get the lecture, this time from Max Pizarro at Thursday’s PolitickerNJ.com:
All right, don’t complain. You don’t like it? Fine. You think this state is a disaster area? Okay. But don’t complain. Just do not dare complain. Road rage? Suck it up. Violent crime? Suck it up. High property taxes? Suck it up.
Too much blood bled with the expectation – or at least the post-game public explanation – of that American-protected right to vote.
Last night, we didn’t earn the right to complain, as rain-bullied and civics-bothered “voters” allowed machine and independent expenditure PAC politics to blanket New Jersey in the absence of people power.
With all due respect, which means just the opposite whenever you hear it, put a sock in it, Max, because not voting is sometimes as much an expression of political will as voting. When you hold an election and nobody comes, what does that tell you about those who hold it?
I’m pretty sure my son did not do six deployments in Afghanistan, Iraq and Kuwait, or my great-grandfather crouch behind a low, stone wall on Little Round Top some 152 years ago shy one month to protect entrenched political parties and bosses and fertilize a political system that ignores the people, prevents over half of them from participating and is a joke.
And all those problems you mentioned, Max? When the people who created them are the same people who control access to and are pretty much exclusively on the ballot, what exactly is the point of it all?
In looking around at various counties throughout the state, most of the turnout figures I saw were single-digit in nature, which tells me more about the product than it does the consumer. Face it, Jersey pols, the people ain’t buyin’ what you’re sellin’.
June 3, 2015
First visual of the proposed Hard Rock Casino at the Meadowlands in northern New Jersey.
ORLANDO, Fla., Hard Rock International, owner of one of the world’s most iconic and recognized brands, announced today its plan to build a casino at the Meadowlands in New Jersey. The proposed entertainment destination would be ideally situated in northern New Jersey and is projected to generate $400 Million of new tax revenues a year.
“With its close proximity to an international airport, the new casino would be designed to attract visitors from not only the 14 million adults in northern New Jersey and New York City, but also international travelers, making it a premier entertainment destination,” said Jim Allen, Chairman of Hard Rock International. “The significant tax revenue brought into New Jersey could go directly to aid in the development and reconstruction of Atlantic City’s casino and hotel industry.”
Reports show a casino in northern New Jersey would help draw visitors from other states, creating competition with New York andPennsylvania, who have taken more than $13 billion in revenue from New Jersey in the past eight years since they’ve expanded their gaming options.
“We’re thrilled to bring this great offering to the New Meadowlands Racetrack,” said Jeff Gural, Chairman of New Meadowlands Racetrack LLC. “With its expertise in gaming, hotels, restaurants, live events, entertainment, and retail offerings, Hard Rock International is the ideal partner for New Meadowlands Racetrack, bringing the globally recognized brand to the racetrack elevates excitement surrounding the project.”
The Hard Rock Casino will feature 5,000 slot machines and 200 gaming tables. The project will also feature ten restaurants and four bars; a multi-purpose Hard Rock Live showroom; New Jersey Music Hall of Fame; and “The Vault,” a music memorabilia museum expertly curated by Hard Rock – owners of the world’s largest music memorabilia collection. The entertainment destination will also offer retail shops and a six-story parking garage conveniently located just steps away from the casino grounds. Due to the $120 millioninvestment that owner Jeff Gural made in the Meadowlands in 2012, Phase One could be open as soon as Summer of 2016.
Hard Rock International is awaiting approval from the New Jersey Legislature to move forward with this project. For more information or to book a stay at any of the Hard Rock Hotels & Casinos, please visit www.hardrockhotels.com.
JUNE 3, 2015, 11:16 PM LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3, 2015, 11:28 PM
BY SCOTT FALLON
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
A small bridge over the Oradell Reservoir used by trains hauling millions of gallons of crude oil has deteriorated to the point that the rail company will soon replace the 86-year-old span’s entire deck, according to a federal government inspection report.
While federal officials have said the bridge is structurally sound, the report by the Federal Railroad Administration indicates the bridge is in worse condition than its owner, CSX Corp., acknowledged shortly after it was inspected in March.
The 25-foot bridge crosses the northeast corner of the reservoir, which supplies drinking water to 800,000 people. As many as 30 trains — each carrying up to 3 million gallons of volatile Bakken crude — cross the bridge each week along the CSX River Line on the way to refineries on the East Coast, prompting concerns from local officials, firefighters and water company executives.
The bridge was inspected by the Federal Railroad Administration on March 31, just a few days after The Record reported that government officials had no current reports on the bridge’s condition.
At that time, government officials said the bridge passed inspection and CSX executives said some railroad ties would be replaced “as a matter of routine maintenance.”
But the one-page inspection report — released to the newspaper this week, almost two months after it was requested under the federal Freedom of Information Act – reveals the bridge required serious attention. It states that the bridge deck showed enough deterioration that CSX had already determined to replace it. CSX also ordered trains to reduce speed from 40 mph to 25 mph on the span to “protect the railroad as well as the public for safe passage of trains,” according to the inspection report.
The Federal Railroad Administration employee who inspected the bridge declined to comment.
