The Ridgewood Blog Brings a Free Market Laissez-faire Point of View to Local, New Jersey State and National Issues.
>NEW LOCATION FOR TREE LIGHTING is at Memorial Park at Van Neste Square.
6:45pm – Music: Band, Flag Salute, Harmony Chorus, Art of Motion Children, Official Greeting from Mayor
7:30pm – Tree Lighting
7:40pm – Musical Entertainment continues until 9pm
*** SANTA will be in his House in the Park on SATURDAY, Dec. 6th, 13th, 20th and Christmas Eve – 12/24 10am – 2pm
SPONSORED BY THE RIDGEWOOD CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
>Sunday, November 30, 2008
BY RYAN TRACY
https://www.nj.com/news/times/index.ssf?/base/news-5/12280215439560.xml&coll=5
Though health care may be a necessity even in trying times, local hospitals say they are not immune to the strains of the reeling economy.
In fact, Mercer County’s four major hospitals, which together account for more than 7,000 jobs, face worries similar to other businesses: As consumers tighten their wallets, they might spend less on elective surgeries or preventative medicine.
Meanwhile two health care organizations with ambitious plans for construction of new hospitals in Hopewell Township in Mercer County and Plainsboro in Middlesex County have expressed confidence that financial market upheavals will not disrupt those projects.
But as unemployment increases in New Jersey, hospitals also are facing another unique challenge: more and more people find themselves without health insurance while hospitals remain obligated to provide “charity care” to the uninsured.
Already, St. Francis Medical Center in Trenton is reporting a “small uptick” in charity care patients, according to president and CEO Gerard J. Jablonowski.
Meanwhile, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital at Hamilton recently cut 22 positions from its staff of over 1,800, citing economic challenges shared by other health care providers.
“Fewer patients are seeking elective procedures (and) more people are uninsured because of the increased work force reductions nationally,” Diane Grillo, chief spokeswoman at Robert Wood, said in an e-mailed statement.
Grillo said the staff cuts included “a few nurses who did not have direct patient care assignments” and came through a combination of layoffs and attrition. She did not attribute the work force reduction to any particular economic cause.
“Hospitals in New Jersey are beginning to see the effects of the economic downturn,” she said. “We are confident that these changes will not compromise the care and service our community has come to expect.”
Robert Wood is not the only hospital in New Jersey that has made staff cuts, according to Kerry McKean Kelly, spokesperson for the New Jersey Hospital Association.
“Even in the last couple months, we have seen the elimination of jobs (and) the elimination of some services,” Kelly said. Statewide, hospitals have announced “200 or more” job cuts in the past two months, she said.
Five New Jersey hospitals have closed this year, in addition to three last year, Kelly said. Before those closures, 15 hospitals had shut down in New Jersey in about the last 15 years, she said.
At local hospitals, officials said finances are strong.
“The last three or four months … we have been near capacity, in terms of inpatients that we are treating,” said Barry Rabner, president and CEO of Princeton HealthCare System, though he cautioned that it is “often impossible” to explain trends in such numbers.
Jablonowski said patient numbers are also strong at St. Francis, but noticed another change.
“Over the last year, we have started noticing a small uptick in the number of (charity care) patients” on the order of “a few percentage points of our volume,” said Jablonowski.
“We take care of every patient who needs us, and that’s part of our mission, but the mounting pressure to be able to continue that is what really is the biggest concern of the organization.”
New Jersey has lost 27,200 jobs so far this year, including 6,000 in October alone. The statewide unemployment rate rose to 6 percent in October, its highest level in more than five years.
Rutgers University economist James W. Hughes said that trend is likely to continue over the next 12 months.
Hospital officials fear that will bring more residents without employer-provided health coverage.
The state government, which mandates “charity care” for the uninsured, reimburses hospitals slightly less than 50 percent of the cost of treating each uninsured patient, said Kelly of NJHA.
While local hospitals would like to see that reimbursement rise, some officials fear it might fall once again.
The state’s budget for the fiscal year that began July 1 cut “charity care” funding by 15 percent, according to the NJHA website.
Less state reimbursement “would be potentially tragic news for the state because we already have hospitals struggling, laying off folks, (and) reducing services,” Kelly said.
“We’re also hearing from hospitals that they are delaying construction projects” due to high interest rates and difficulty borrowing, Kelly said.
Two major medical centers are under construction in central New Jersey — Princeton HealthCare System’s campus at Plainsboro and a new location for Capital Health System in Hopewell Township.
Rabner said Princeton HealthCare’s project has not been delayed, though the construction costs may rise.
“Fortunately we borrowed money to complete the project before the economy became so complicated,” Rabner said in an interview. “We do have money to do the work.”
Work toward demolishing existing buildings at the site off Route 1 is under way and “we’re in the process of bidding” other aspects of the project, Rabner said. “We’re just getting the bids back. (We) don’t know what impact the changes in the economy will have on the project budget.”
Capital Health spokesperson Jason Stacchini said the company had no comment for this report.
Last month, Capital Health spokesperson Jayne O’Connor expressed confidence in the financial condition of the company and its ability to finance its $530 million construction project.
O’Connor also said the company had not yet “even gotten to the stage where we’re going to market” for bonds that would fund the construction.
https://www.nj.com/news/times/index.ssf?/base/news-5/12280215439560.xml&coll=5
>A route to higher home values
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Jennifer V. Hughes
THE RECORD
And, yes, it is an oncoming train.
But in this real estate market — more than any other — that’s a good thing.
Homes in towns with rail stations at their heart or nearby fare much better than those in any other market, said real estate guru Jeffrey Otteau, who has been analyzing New Jersey real estate for 30 years.
“It’s not enough to have a rail station,” Otteau said. “But it’s a really good start.”
In an October report, Otteau found that nine of the top 10 New Jersey housing markets either have a train station or are less than a mile away from a rail stop. In Bergen County, Midland Park and Ridgewood made the list.
That top designation was determined by how long it would take to sell out the homes currently on the market, Otteau said. Statewide, the figure is 13 months; in rail-friendly towns it ranges from two to five months.
Homes near train stations are also worth more. In a 2005 survey of towns in Essex, Union, Somerset and Morris counties, Otteau found that homes within walking distance of a rail station sold for 5 percent more than those houses where residents would have to drive to the station.
Those increased values were even more evident in a slow market. This year Otteau revisited that survey, in central New Jersey, and found that homes within walking distance had values 10 percent higher than their counterparts’. Otteau said the findings would “certainly” hold true for Bergen County rail towns.
“This is true in the northern half of New Jersey,” he said. “The closer you get to Manhattan, the greater the effect.”
Martin Robins, senior fellow at the Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center at Rutgers University, said if not for a shaky financial climate, transit-oriented development “would be a runaway market.”
One thing slowing things down is that people who might want to downsize into smaller homes or condos near transit can’t sell their current homes.
“People want to sell and move now but they can’t,” Robins said.
As for demand, Robins cited an example of a new condo development that opened up two years ago on the Raritan Valley line at Cranford. More than 1,300 applications were put in for 80 units.
The center also studied the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Line, focusing on five stations in Hoboken, Jersey City and Bayonne. It found that the housing boom around those stations has added more than $5 billion in property value to the local tax base, said Jan Wells, an adjunct professor at the Rutgers center.
“For the most part, these were parking lots and brownfields,” said Wells. “You’re putting people there who will support your local businesses, buy new furniture, need groceries.”
There are also so-called Transit Villages, an official designation by the state Department of Transportation. There are 19 Transit Villages built or under construction statewide, including Rutherford, Morristown and Jersey City.
Transit Villages can apply for grants for landscaping, street lights, sidewalk projects and other improvements. In 2008 the DOT spent $1.2 million to fund a bikeway in Pleasantville and a river walk project in Belmar. The budget for 2009 is $2 million.
Transit hubs are thriving because of demographic changes, said Otteau. In the 1940s and 1950s, homebuyers moved westward from the city, creating suburbs bolstered by highway projects, cheap gas and an exodus of jobs from urban centers. Wealth and family size were on the rise, leading to a demand for larger homes.
Now, the two biggest demographic groups are baby boomers and Generation Y-ers — both of whom don’t have young children and crave walkable neighborhoods and transit into New York City.
In his surveys, Otteau has identified markets that have not hit yet, but could. These “investment” markets include several with rail stops, such as Hackensack and Glen Rock.
To encourage rail-friendly projects, towns need to rezone properties to welcome mixed-use development, Otteau said. Also, towns should reexamine whether it is a good idea to have ordinances that mandate a certain amount of parking in new developments. Today’s buyers in transit towns often have fewer cars and use them less often.
Additionally, Otteau said, planners need to realize children are not “toxic.” In the past, planners often shunned multi-unit developments because of a fear that they would attract families with children in numbers that would burden schools. But new demographics show families are having fewer children, or forgoing them altogether.
“What we need to understand is that all the old models don’t work in this new world,” he said.
In Wood-Ridge, construction is beginning on a $500 million project that will bring rental apartments, condos, shops, restaurants and an NJ Transit train station to the former site of Curtiss-Wright’s B-29 bomber factory.
The cost of the $37 million rail station on the Bergen County Line will be split by the developer, Somerset Development, and NJ Transit. It is expected to open in late 2010 or early 2011. The development, Westmont Station, is expected to have about 800 rental and condo units. Ralph Zucker, president of Somerset Development, said planning for the project began six years ago during a very different real estate market.
“We’ve definitely had some sleepless nights,” he said. Originally the company planned to open the project by offering condos. Now, rental apartments will come online first. Could the project have survived without the train station?
“I don’t think so,” Zucker said.
NJ Transit partnered with the developer to boost ridership, which is good for the agency and the state in the long run, said Jack Kanarek, NJ Transit’s senior director of project development.
Kanarek said a national study found that people who live in transit-oriented developments make 44 percent fewer car trips than in non-transit communities. That’s good for roadways and pocketbooks, he said.
Transit-oriented developments should also boom as the new trans-Hudson tunnel project progresses, said Kanarek.
Construction on the $8.7 billion project is expected to begin in 2009 and the tunnel will open in 2017. The rail tunnel is expected to double capacity from New Jersey to New York. It will also enable one-seat rides into Manhattan’s Penn Station on 10 of NJ Transit’s 11 commuter rail lines, including the Pascack Valley and Bergen County lines.
In addition, NJ Transit is considering providing passenger service on an existing freight rail line, offering nine stations from Hawthorne to Hackensack.
Towns with stations should act now to capitalize on demand for rail, Kanarek said.
“If towns plan for transit-oriented development, they can enhance their communities and bring not only a mix of uses but also more vibrancy to their community, because transit is such a permanent part,” he said.
So what does all of this mean for values and selling rates for homes that are not in transit-friendly towns? Otteau said prices there will rise more slowly in a good market and will fall faster in a bad one. His research found that the most expensive homes remained on the market the longest.
“It’s all about price,” said Rutgers’ Wells. “People may not get a price that reflects what they have in the house. You have to decide if you’re going to take the loss or sit there and make it more economic and efficient to get around in the suburban sprawl.”
Realtor Barry Colyer, of ReMax Traditions in Oakland said he thinks there will still always be some buyers who are not demanding homes near train stations. He estimates about 30 percent of his clients want transit as close as possible.
“Buyers who want train access will only look at places with train access,” he said. “If it’s on your list, it’s pretty high up there.”
>Letter to the Editor of the Ridgewood News
7 November 2008
Math Team Doesn’t Add Up
Why the lack of balance in the choice of external advisors to the Mathematics Planning Team charged with unifying K-5 math curricula in Ridgewood Public Schools (RPS)? Perhaps the outcome is pre-determined, since the controversial program ‘Connected Mathematics’ is already being implemented in our middle schools.
The four external advisors are Ms. Schultz of Montclair State, Dr. Rosenstein of Rutgers, Mr. Daro of Berkley, and Dr. Posamentier of City College. Schultz, Rosenstein, and Daro have made careers of promoting ‘reform math’ including TERC and Everyday Math. The resulting lack of mathematical skill and fluency has sent scores of Ridgewood parents to Kumon, tutors, and various other supplementary curricula.
Rosenstein is only advisor that can be considered a mathematician. However in the words of Prof. James Milgram of Stanford University, one of the country’s leading mathematicians who is also working on issues in math education, Rosenstein “hasn’t been active in mathematics since the 1970s. In view of his very strong preference for reform curricula, a view shared by far fewer than 1% of the professional mathematicians
in this country, it is inappropriate for him to be the only ‘mathematician.’”
Milgram continued “Daro has been central in at least two of the biggest failures out there, the 1992 California Math Standards that precipitated the math wars, and the current Georgia Math Standards. As far as I can tell he knows very little mathematics.”
There is reason to be hopeful that Posamentier will provide moderation. According to Milgram “Posamentier is very level headed. I trust his judgment.”
Reform math isn’t all bad – It has many good ideas that now supplement traditional math textbooks, consistent with recommendations of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel. However, it appears that the math-fad pendulum will remain nailed to the extreme in RPS unless Dr. Posamentier can moderate the others.
John G. Sheehan, Ph.D.
Ridgewood
>Eyewitness News NEW JERSEY (WABC) —
https://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local&id=6496356
Students on the Ridgewood High School basketball team are taking a test to protect their brains.
It’s called ‘impact’, a baseline test that measures cognitive skills.
The results will be used if they get a concussion on the court.
“Its a great program that reassures us and parents on when it’s okay for a child to return to play,” said The test is given to athletes who play contact sports.
When a girl or boy gets injured and a concussion is suspected, he or she takes the test again. If they’re performance changes the player’s sidelined.
“If I do get a concussion and I do get injured, I know I could risk my future, so I think it’s good we all take the test,” said Jack Simmons.
The test is endorsed by the Brain Injury Association of New Jersey which says it should also be combined with an education program for coaches, parents and players themselves about the dangers of brain injuries.
To better protect young athletes with concussions, another group, The Athletic Trainers Association recommends schools adopt a written policy on when kids should be taken out of a game, including medical clearance before an athlete can return to play.
At Ridgewood high, a doctor’s note is required and if they don’t return to their pre-injury status, they’re not allowed to return to play.
A tough policy but one the young athletes have come to understand and respect.
https://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local&id=6496356
>My wife and I have two small kids on the verge of entering the K-5 program in Ridgewood, and I am a Travell Tiger and Bejamin Franklin grad from 23 years ago, so we went to the Math Planning Team’s meeting tonight to see what was going on.
It started with the attendees breaking down into small groups of 5 – 8 people, facilitated by a member of the District Administration. We worked to answer the following four questions:
1. What is your passion when it comes to mathematics?
2. Reflecting on your own education in mathematics, what would you want that is different or the same for all children today in their mathematics education?
3. What do you think all students should know and be able to do in mathematics when they graduate?
4. What do you want to see in an elementary mathematics textbook or program?
After an interesting hour or so of discussing these questions, the large pages with our responses were grouped according to question and hung on the walls for a gallery walk/review that all could participate in and the meeting was ended.
I was quite pleased with the direction that things seemed to be headed, until I had a moment to speak with Regina Botsford, our Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment in Ridgewood.
I asked her why, if Benjamin Franklin Middle School had been ranked in the top 1% of all middle schools in NJ from 2000 – 2006, did the BOE change the middle school curriculum to “Connected Math?”
Her quick reply through a smile was, “Because they can be even better!”
So I asked her, “But if what we were doing was proven to work so well, why switch to a program that is still being developed?” I don’t even remember what her non-answer was to my question, but I do remember asking her “What was the program that was in place before ‘Connected Math’?”
This answer of Regina’s I remember: “There were various programs, various books.”
“Really?” I asked. “In just two schools (BF & GW) there were many programs and books? Do you mean there was one program at BF and another at GW? Or do you mean there were multiple books and programs within BF?”
To my last question in that list Regina seemed tense when she replied, “There may have been.”
That was an unclear answer so I asked for clarification, “You mean there were or there weren’t?”
This is where I was really shocked. Regina told me clearly, “I don’t have the answer to that and I am not going to research it.”
Whoah. “Ok,” I asked, “then can you help me understand what the core principle of ‘Connected Math’ is?” Here she said, “You can look it up on the website.”
I thanked her for talking with me and then left with my wife.
Here’s the thing: Regina Botsford is an intelligent, educated woman with strong credentials and experience. You can see her profile for youself on the Ridgwood web site. How could she NOT know what the prior middle school math program was before she went ahead and changed it? To change something as important as a successful math program without understanding what it is, seems like a terribly reckless decision, and Regina doesn’t strike me as a the reckless or irresponsible sort.
Further, if it is not true that she has no idea what the prior program consisted of (and I MUST assume that she had to know about the successful pre-existing program), then why would she put up such an offensive wall between herself and an interested and well educated young father who could have become an ally rather than an opponent?
I can only assume that she may have doubts or a lack of confidence about the “Connected Math” program that she shepherded in, otherwise why would she be so defensive right off the bat? If she had a very high level of confidence she might have said something like, “it’s a wonderful program with proven results. Why don’t you come by my office sometime during the week and I can show you in detail why we selected it over other competing programs?”
Instead I was directed to the internet which is FULL of web sites of parents and communities who are very angry that their kids are being taught the “Connected Math” program. I don’t think this is what Regina expected me to find when I followed her advice to look online. Just type “Connected Math” into Google. You can see what sites come up for yourself.
My question is still out there: Why on earth did we dump a successful math program in the Middle Schools for this? I want a serious answer, not passive aggressive retorts or sarcastic commentary from other aggravated moms and adads. A real explanation. I would accept this explanation here on the blog if it can’t be given in person.
Anyway, I am glad my wife and I still have time to see what happens here so we can track our kids into private school if we have to in order to secure a legitimate and competitive math education for them. It’s a shame that a Travell and Benjamin Franklin alumnus like myself wouldn’t want his own kids to go to the same school he went to. That really bums me out.
>
When Ridgewood Country Club moved to its current site off of Midland Avenue in Paramus in 1927, it wanted the finest course money could buy. For this task, there was only one man for the job. Albert Warren Tillinghast.
But perfection came at a price. Did the club want to deal with “Tillie the Terrible” — the whiskey-drinking, gun-brandishing, rough-as-sandpaper course designer? All golf clubs had heard the rumors of his tirades and behavior, but they also knew he was masterful at laying out a golf course. With high demands for its 27-hole plan, Ridgewood decided to roll the dice.
The result was a golfing masterpiece.
“He had a huge input, but so did the club,” said the club’s historian, Andrew Mutch, Ph.D. “The club steered him in the development of the course. They both rejected plans from each other and changed the layout quite a bit. But the needs of the club and his creative side were perfect for each other.”
While some of his other courses like Baltusrol, Bethpage Black and Winged Foot have instant name-brand recognition, Ridgewood has flown under the radar. But when the world’s 143 best golfers descend on its fairways this week for The Barclays, the first event of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, they’ll find out just how stern a test it is.
Because what makes Ridgewood great is what made all the courses Tillinghast designed great: their variety.
“The land was so ripe for design,” said Bob Trebus, president of the Tillinghast Association. “He used the land so well. He would look at the topography and build a golf hole from it.”
After he was commissioned by Ridgewood to design its new course, he sat under a tree on what is now the eighth hole of the West Course and envisioned the course he would soon create. He knew the area well, living only a few miles away in posh Harrington Park in a spectacular columned mansion.
So just like he did at Somerset Hills, Shackamaxon and Essex County before, he walked and scouted among the trees and the scrub, impeccably dressed, looking like an aristocratic Jungle Jim. Where other architects saw land to be moved, he saw land to be molded.
“Tillinghast was one of the most creative architects in the history of the game,” said Rees Jones who, as a young course architect, was inspired by Tillinghast’s work. “At Ridgewood, he really implemented the shot options, with the way he protected the greens with bunkers.”
After the course’s completion, Tillinghast visited numerous times and considered it one of his best works.
In fact, he used the opportunity to introduce a few personal ideas that he had wanted to try out on a job for some time. In addition to designing courses, Tillinghast also moonlighted as a writer and editor for Golf Illustrated, often floating ideas through the golf community through his columns.
One of these was a true practice area where players could warm up before a round, using all of the shots in their bag. In those days, practice consisted of chipping a few balls around the first tee while you waited to play your round. His plan for Ridgewood included the building of a driving range, which at the time, was a new concept.
“The plan which is illustrated provides for every shot in the bag, explosion and deft pitches from sand pits included,” he wrote in a 1929 issue of Golf Illustrated, “but it is best that the green be used only for approaches from the varying lengths. I am pleased to call this plan The Ridgewood.”
Tillinghast was an enigmatic figure in the history of golf. His genius was often overshadowed by stories from workers and clients about his drinking and carousing. However, those seem to be exaggerated a bit, as that would have made his two-year trek across the country on behalf of the PGA to examine golf courses nearly impossible.
Trebus estimates that Tillinghast independently designed more than 150 courses during his career and had at least a hand in nearly 200 more. He enjoyed tremendous success and wealth, yet near the end of his life he was forced into bankruptcy. And while his courses have hosted countless major championships, his legacy faded from golf’s consciousness for a number of decades.
“He was quite an interesting character,” Mutch said. “He wasn’t without his flaws.”
A little over a year ago, Mutch — the former head of the USGA Museum and now the president and CEO of Golf Curators, which keeps historical records for clubs — had plaques made for Ridgewood’s first tees. On it was Tillinghast’s signature and the 1929 date, when the course was finished.
This week as each player steps up to the first tee, they’ll see that plaque and know what a challenging course awaits them. “He needed a club that would be very patient with him and let him be creative,” Mutch said. “So I think they were a really good team in that respect and they ended up with a great product.”
Brendan Prunty may be reached
at bprunty@starledger.com
>
Great Britain sent the triumvirate of Whitcombe brothers — Charles, Ernest and Reg — but they did little to alter the home-course advantage for the Americans, who were boosted by the play of Walter Hagen and Gene Sarazen, Paul Runyan and Horton Smith, and the duo of Henry Picard and Johnny Revolta in the opening foursomes. Picard and Revolta turned in the “narrowest” victory for the three sets of U.S. stars, with a 6 and 5 conquest of Percy Alliss and Alf Padgham. Hagen, competing for the final time in his remarkable Ryder Cup career, joined Sarazen for a 7 and 6 romp past Alf Perry and Jack Busson. The heat wasn’t as stifling as it had been four years earlier in Columbus, Ohio, but there was clover on the fairways to distract some players. Britain’s Charles and Ernest Whitcombe combined for the only foursome victory, a 1-up decision over Olin Dutra and Ky Laffoon. However, Captain Charles Whitcombe elected to sit out the singles as he apparently felt all three Whitcombes in the Matches at the same time was unfair to other teammates. But, Hagen did the same and watched happily from the gallery as his team eased to a 6-2 domination of the singles. Hagen retired from competing in an event he had helped launch with a 7-1-1 record.
Great Britain United States
Foursomes
A Perry & J Busson 0 G Sarazen & W Hagen (7 & 6) 1
A H Padgham & P Alliss 0 H Picard & J Revolta (6 & 5) 1
W J Cox & E W Jarman 0 P Runyan & H Smith (9 & 8) 1
C A Whitcombe & E R Whitcombe (1 hole) 1 O Dutra & K Laffoon 0
Singles
J Busson 0 G Sarazen (3 & 2) 1
R Burton 0 P Runyan (5 & 3) 1
R Whitcombe 0 J Revolta (2 & 1) 1
A H Padgham 0 O Dutra (4 & 2) 1
P Alliss (1 hole) 1 C Wood 0
W J Cox (halved) ½ H Smith (halved) ½
E R Whitcombe 0 H Picard (3 & 2) 1
A Perry (halved) ½ S Parks (halved) ½
>Posted: Sunday August 17, 2008 11:11AM ET
In the beginning at Ridgewood Country Club, A.W. Tillinghast designed the short par- 4 known as the “five-and-dime” hole – and it was good. But it was also too long to reach the green with just one shot for players swinging the hickory- shafted clubs of the day at soft-as-oatmeal balls. But that was then and this is now, when 300-yard drives are the norm. The par-4 that now measures 291 yards and will play as The Barclays’ fifth hole (it’s No. 6 on the club’s Center nine) and earn entry into a growing PGA Tour trend: driveable par-4s. From the fans’ point of view, the decision to go for the green in one or lay up and wedge on in two prompts substantial debate (often out loud) and could make the “five-and-dime” (so named because players often used a 5-iron, then a 10-iron, now a wedge, to play it) the most fascinating Barclays hole to watch. There’s apparently far less debate among golf officials, players and architects, many of whom love the concept of driveable par-4s because of the “risk-reward” variables they present. Phil Mickelson agrees. Since becoming involved in course architecture, he said he’s noticed that with par-3s stretching to 250 yards and beyond, and some par-4s now exceeding 500, short-4s have gotten lost in the shuffle. So he loves the five-and-dime, which he tried to reach with both a driver and 3-wood during a June sponsor’s outing.
>
By Jessica Cejnar | Peninsula Clarion
His king may be 27 pounds shy of the world record, but after 27 years fishing the Kenai River Martin Quinn is one fish closer to his goal.
Quinn, a resident of Ridgewood, N. J., dreams of taking Les Anderson’s place as the person who caught the biggest king salmon on the Kenai. Every summer, Quinn spends about eight hours a day on the river and has reeled in fish weighing 65 pounds. But on the last Sunday of the king salmon fishery, at 6:32 in the morning, he found himself, with both hands on his rod, struggling to land a 71-pounder.
“I caught the fish right off the boat ramp at River Bend and when the fish hit he started running upstream,” he said.
Quinn’s king took him about 600 yards upstream to Big Eddy before he got the upper hand and hauled him down to the Pillars boat launch. Quinn fought his fish for about 30 minutes with both hands on the rod before he landed it with the help of his daughter Blair Quinn and son-in-law Ben Wullschlager.
“I think if I had a 50-pounder on I could handle the rod and net myself,” he said. “It really took two hands to hold onto the rod and my daughter’s netted many fish and she was right there on the net and did an excellent job.”
Quinn began fishing for salmon and steelhead trout in Portland, Ore. where he was president of the Tom McCall Chapter of Northwest Steelheaders and a member of the Oregon State Marine Board. Quinn’s introduction to the Kenai River began in 1981 and he’s been back ever since.
“In the early days I used to go out with guides and I remember the big jet engines on their boats and of course those things are all outlawed these days,” he said. “For the first maybe five or six years we would go out fishing with guides and then we started going to River Bend in Soldotna.”
When his 71-pound king salmon hit on July 27, Quinn said he wasn’t aware how big his fish was until it started swimming upstream.
“I’ve caught 50-pounders and 65-pounders on the Kenai and you always know you have a big fish if he starts the run upstream,” he said, adding that the biggest fish he ever caught up until then was 68 pounds. “Just about every big fish I’ve ever had continues his journey upstream.”
For the last 10 years Quinn, his wife, Ellen, and his daughter and son-in-law have fished for eight hours a day, but back in his Steelheader days Quinn would fish 18 hours a day.
His friends would take turns running the boat and on down times, they would find the time to sleep.
“Now that the ladies in my life are coming along with me I have to do everything,” he said. “I have to run the boat, bait the lures and do all the riggings and what have you. They help out with snacks on the boat, that’s about it.”
Because his fish was about four pounds shy of trophy status, Quinn said he filleted it and froze it.
The 71-pound king yielded 40 pounds of meat, he said, and he plans on serving it up to family and friends at dinner parties.
“You should have seen the fillets in this thing,” he said, “they were almost five inches thick.”
Quinn also has a long way to go toward beating Les Anderson’s record, but he’s confident he will some day.
“You always hear tell that the commercial guys are getting 100-pound salmon every year,” he said.
“I think there’s a lot of truth to that. The fish is out there, you just have to be lucky enough to get it on your line.”
Jessica Cejnar can be reached at jessica.cejnar@peninsulaclarion.com.
>By STEPHEN EDELSON
STAFF WRITER
It’s not often that the spotlight of the golfing universe focuses on New Jersey.
It used to happen every 13 years when the U.S. Open made its traditional stop at Baltusrol, which hosted the PGA Championship three years ago.
But with the arrival of the Barclays Classic at Ridgewood Country Club next week, the PGA Tour will kick off its four-event FedEx Cup playoff format in the Garden State. The Barclays, which had been at Westchester Country Club in Rye, N.Y. since 1967, will be held at Liberty National in Jersey City next year, and will likely be played in New Jersey regularly in the coming years.
And while Tiger Woods won’t be in the field, the Barclays affords area fans with a unique opportunity to see the finest players in the world compete in a lucrative, prestigious tournament on a classic A.W. Tillinghast design.
It should make for an incredible week.
The course will be played over a composite of the 27 holes at Ridgewood, seeking to provide the toughest challenge for the players and the best possible experience for the fans.
Defending champion Steve Stricker is probably the best story in the field. With his emotional victory at Westchester, he ended a six-year winless drought on the PGA Tour. Stricker has been the Comeback Player of the Year in each of the last two seasons, and is now looking for a strong finish to complete his rebirth by earning a spot on the U.S. Ryder Cup squad.
“It’ll be a little different coming to a place I’ve never seen before, a course where I didn’t win last year,” he said last week.
“From what I’ve understood from talking to people who live out there and have played Ridgewood, we’re going to a great facility, an old-time, classic course, with some tradition, too. (But) it’ll be kind of weird that it’s not the course (where) I won.”
No one turns up his game in the New York metropolitan area more than Phil Mickelson. His 72nd-hole meltdown at Winged Foot in the U.S. Open two years ago aside, Mickelson plays very well in the region and is embraced by the crowds. He won the PGA at Baltusrol, and was second behind Tiger Woods at the 2002 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black.
Mickelson got a look at Ridgewood last month when he played in a sponsors event at the club.
The hope is that the venue switch will help energize the tournament, which suffered from lackluster attendance and television ratings last year.
For fans heading up to Ridgewood, there are several spots on the course that will make for incredible viewing.
The 15th hole, a 155-yard, par-3, will be transformed into a “stadium hole,” much like the 16th hole at the TPC-Scottsdale, where fans spend much of the day cheering and booing shots. It could also end up being one of the decisive holes on Sunday.
Another is the fifth hole, a 291-yard, par-4 known as “five-and-dime,” which dates back to the days when players would hit a 5-iron off the tee and a 10-iron up the hill to the green. But players next week will be tempted to drive the ball onto the tiny putting surface, while seating will enable fans to watch the entire drama unfold.
On Tuesday at 1 p.m., PGA Tour player Jim McGovern from Oradell will join Nets guard Devin Harris to co-host a clinic for local youth.
Tickets for the Barclays will be available at the gate. General admission on Tuesday and Wednesday is $35 in advance and $45 at the gate. On the tournament dates, Thursday through Sunday, admission is $45 in advance and $55 at the gate. A weekly general advance ticket, good for the entire week and available in advance only, is $100.
For ticket information, call (800) 765-4742 or visit www.thebarclaysgolf.com.
>After passing an new ordinance that severely limits smoking within the Village Hall and Public Library complex, Village Council members agreed to consider extending the smoking restrictions to Graydon Pool and other Village owned properties. It is anticipated that this topic will be discussed during an upcoming Village Council Work Session.
>Because some of you still(?) read the NY Times….
By Sarah Rabil
Aug. 12 (Bloomberg) — New York Times Co. faces increased financial pressure to cut its dividend as credit quality deteriorates amid record advertising declines.
Bondholders are paying for the Sulzberger family’s decision last year to raise the quarterly dividend 31 percent to 23 cents a share. The extra yield investors demand to own New York Times bonds instead of U.S. Treasuries has more than doubled in 2008. The cost to protect the debt against default has climbed 27 basis points since the newspaper publisher posted earnings July 23, meaning investors are betting that credit quality will weaken further.
Moody’s Investors Service says one way for New York Times to save its rating, a step above junk and in danger of being cut, would be to reduce the dividend costing $132 million a year.
“They’d have potentially more cash available to fund investments and debt reduction,” Moody’s analyst John Puchalla in New York said in an interview. “Depending on how they use that cash that’s freed up, that could be beneficial to the rating.”
Shareholders also are losing out with a 39 percent drop in the stock since March 2007, when the New York-based company’s controlling Ochs-Sulzberger family raised the dividend the most in a decade to appease investors. The payout, coupled with an accelerated 16 percent drop in June ad sales, has contributed to higher borrowing costs while failing to support the stock. The Class A shares rose 6 cents to $14.15 at 6.33 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.
Like Junk
Credit-default swaps used to speculate on New York Times’ creditworthiness or to hedge against losses are trading as if the company already was rated junk, according to data from Moody’s credit strategy group.
The contracts, costing $397,000 a year to protect $10 million in debt for five years, trade as if the company had a Ba3 rating from Moody’s, three levels below its actual Baa3 rating, the data show. Moody’s on July 29 changed its credit- rating outlook to negative on concern the advertising slump will worsen.
Standard & Poor’s BBB- rating, on watch for a downgrade, already reflects the dividend’s cost, analyst Emile Courtney said in an interview. Faster print-ad declines in the industry’s worst slump on record could trigger a junk rating, the New York- based analyst said.
A rating cut to junk may increase the spread, or extra yield, on 5 percent New York Times bonds maturing in 2015 by at least 73 basis points to 551 basis points, according to the Merrill Lynch BB Bond Index. That indicates the bond’s price may fall 3.1 cents on the dollar to 80.3 cents.
Those bonds have fallen to 83.4 cents on the dollar from 94.2 cents in late 2007, according to Trace, the bond-price reporting system of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. The spread more than doubled to 478 basis points. The bondholders are primarily insurance companies, including State Farm Life Insurance Co. Bank lenders include Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Rivals Retreat
Competitors are abandoning the strategy of using the dividend to retain investors, said Ken Doctor, an analyst at Outsell Inc. in Burlingame, California.
In the past month, Miami Herald publisher McClatchy Co. put its dividend policy on review; GateHouse Media Inc., publisher of 97 dailies, suspended its payout; E.W. Scripps Co. declared a smaller dividend than it forecast before splitting off cable-TV channels; and Gannett Co., owner of USA Today, skipped its annual increase for the second time in 41 years.
Each saw a drop in newspaper advertising in the second quarter, following the industry’s 14 percent skid in the first.
New York Times’ dividend yields 6.5 percent, second-highest after Gannett among media companies in the S&P 500 Index, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The family’s 19 percent equity stake, according to filings, entitles members to about $25.1 million in payments this year. A family trust holds 89 percent of Class B shares that elect 70 percent of board members.
Newsroom Cuts
The family has historically sought to preserve New York Times’ access to cash and has limited its borrowing, said Fitch Ratings media analyst Mike Simonton in Chicago, who doesn’t rate the debt. “It’s possible that their risk-tolerance has increased,” which would lessen the chances of a dividend cut.
New York Times spokeswoman Catherine Mathis said the company and Chairman Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr. declined to comment. The company balances shareholder value with borrowing costs and expects to keep its investment-grade rating, Chief Financial Officer James Follo said on a July 23 conference call.
Chief Executive Officer Janet Robinson has accelerated cost cuts and projects annual savings will surpass a target of $230 million by the end of 2009. In May, the New York Times said it eliminated 100 newsroom jobs.
Reducing debt, stabilizing revenue and an improving advertising market could also help the company maintain its credit rating, Moody’s Puchalla said.
Cash Flow
The dividend this year will exceed New York Times’ cash flow from operations minus capital expenses, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analyst Peter Appert estimates. Next year it will eat up about 75 percent of estimated free cash flow as capital spending is reduced, he said.
“That’s probably too high,” said Appert, in San Francisco, who recommends selling the stock. “It doesn’t give them an awful lot of flexibility in terms of preserving cash for other uses.”
Chairman Sulzberger fended off shareholders last year who challenged the family’s voting control. The company’s largest investor is now Harbinger Capital Partners. The New York-based hedge fund placed two nominees on the board this year and raised its stake to almost 20 percent as of Aug. 1. Tripp Kyle, an outside spokesman for Harbinger, said the firm declined to comment.
The need to refinance a $400 million credit agreement, part of the company’s $1.1 billion in total debt, by May 2009 may force cash-freeing moves.
A downgrade “makes it potentially hard to refinance,” said Barclays Capital analyst Hale Holden in New York, who recommends a short credit position. “That’s complicated if you’re burning cash by paying the dividend.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah Rabil in New York at srabil@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: August 12, 2008 09:38 EDT
>
And now for the real story
>
Washington, D.C., August 7, 2008 — New Jersey taxpayers bear the heaviest state-local tax burden in 2008, and Alaskans have the lightest tax burden, according to a new report from the Tax Foundation.
In Tax Foundation Special Report, No. 163, “State-Local Tax Burdens Dip As Income Growth Outpaces Tax Growth,” senior economist Gerald Prante computes each state’s combined state-local tax burden, accounting for taxes paid out of state.
The nation as a whole paid 9.7% of its income in state-local taxes, down from 9.9% in 2007 primarily because income grew faster than tax collections between 2007 and 2008.
New Jersey residents paid 11.8%, topping the charts. New Yorkers were close behind, paying 11.7%, and Connecticut was third at 11.1%. The top ten were rounded out by Maryland (10.8%), Hawaii (10.6%), California (10.5%), Ohio (10.4%), Vermont (10.3%), Wisconsin (10.2%) and Rhode Island (10.2%).
Alaskans pay the least, 6.4 percent in 2008, but Nevada is close at 6.6 percent. In four states the residents pay between 7 and 8 percent of their income in state-local taxes: Wyoming (7.0%), Florida (7.4%), New Hampshire (7.6%) and South Dakota (7.9%). Four other states round out the bottom ten: Tennessee (8.3%), Texas (8.4%), Louisiana (8.4%) and Arizona (8.5%).
Tax Foundation rankings are sometimes confused with rankings based on Census Bureau’s tallies of state and local tax collections. The difference is out-of-state tax payments. When state and local governments collect large amounts from non-residents, whether as tourists, commuters, businesses or property owners, Census counts those payments in the collections of the taxing state; the Tax Foundation study counts them in the residential state of the taxpayer.
The most recent estimates are for fiscal year 2008 which ended June 30, and the historical burden data cover the 32 years starting with 1977.
Historical data and rankings, sorted by year and by state, are available at https://www.taxfoundation.org/taxdata/show/336.html and https://www.taxfoundation.org/taxdata/show/335.html.
Click here to read the new report, “State-Local Tax Burdens Dip As Income Growth Outpaces Tax Growth,” https://www.taxfoundation.org/publications/show/22320.html.
