Category: Tenafly NJ

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HOLD ONTO YOUR WALLETS: PROPERTY TAXES IN NEW JERSEY INCREASED BY THEIR FASTEST RATE IN FOUR YEARS IN 2015.

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Average Property taxes paid

Alpine $20,880.00
Tenafly $18,787.00
Demarest $17,937.00
Upper Saddle River $17,112.00
Haworth $16,940.00
Ridgewood $16,798.00
Saddle River $16,670.00
Franklin Lks $16,635.00
Old Tappan $15,765.00
Glen Rock $15,157.00
Woodcliff lake $15,139.00
HoHoKus $15,045.00
Allendale $14,551.00
Oradell $13,796.00
Wyckoff  $13,280.00
Midland Park $11,020.00
Waldwick $10,396.00
Washington Twp 10,157.00
Fair Lawn $10,012.00
Mahwah $8,154.00

file photo by Boyd Loving

EXCLUSIVE: Property taxes up $537 million

HOLD ONTO YOUR WALLETS: PROPERTY TAXES IN NEW JERSEY INCREASED BY THEIR FASTEST RATE IN FOUR YEARS IN 2015.

Michael Symons,

Hold onto your wallets: Property taxes in New Jersey increased by their fastest rate in four years in 2015, with landowners shelling out an extra $537 million.

The hike pushed the average local tax bill to $8,354 for homeowners, up $193 from the prior year, according to data compiled exclusively by the Asbury Park Press. That’s an increase of 2.4 percent, despite a supposed 2 percent cap enacted in 2010.

The jump marks the second straight year New Jersey’s property tax hike has gotten bigger, after three years of slowing growth in Gov. Chris Christie’s first term. Monmouth and Ocean counties fared worse most of the state with tax boosts of 2.6 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively.

The trend undercuts one of Christie’s selling points as he touts his gubernatorial record on the GOP presidential campaign trail. On his campaign website, Christie says property taxes are rising at their slowest pace “in more than two decades.” Growth has grown since dipping to 1.3 percent in 2013.

The new accounting tells a costly different story — in a state where homeowners already pay the highest-in-the-nation property taxes. That burden helped drive nearly 14,000 to sign an Asbury Park Press petition urging elected officials to cut property taxes. The petition came in tandem with Asbury Park Press’s investigation of the tax crisis last fall.

Stay or leave?

Adrienne DiPietro’s property taxes have tripled in the 20 years she has lived in Eatontown. She remains optimistic elected officials will do something about the problem but says “I’m not holding my breath.” She is considering whether she and her husband, Paul, will stay in New Jersey. Both are retirees.

“All of our retirement income, we have to start thinking about this in the next five years or so: Do we want to stay here and keep coughing up that much taxes?” DiPietro said. “Do we want to stay here, because the taxes are only going up and up?”

https://www.app.com/story/insider/2016/01/08/nj-property-tax-increases/78504096/

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A look at the methods used when it comes to new contracts for teachers in parts of Bergen County

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DECEMBER 31, 2015    LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2015, 10:51 AM
BY CAITLYN BAHRENBURG AND ROBERT CHRISTIE
STAFF WRITER |
NORTHERN VALLEY SUBURBANITE

Teachers were tired of being insulted, Old Tappan Education Association President Matt Capilli said.

So, residents, students and faculty members gathered up their signs and congregated outside of the Charles De Wolf Middle School to picket in act of solidarity with the union.

The Old Tappan teachers’ union, like many others across the state, entered the new academic year without a contract.

According to statistics provided by the New Jersey School Boards Association, which “provides training, advocacy and support to advance public education and the achievement of all students through effective governance” according to its website, almost one-third of the 579 public school districts in New Jersey started the year in the same position as Old Tappan. In Bergen County, 12 district started the year without a contract.

“Negotiations are difficult everywhere right now, so I think it’s really important to show support for our brother and sister school districts,” said Jim McGuire, president of the Northern Valley Education Association, the union that represents the educators at the regional high schools in Demarest and Old Tappan.

McGuire was one of many supporters at an Old Tappan Rally Nov. 17 to show support for the teachers and urge the local board of education to reach a deal with its unionized staff.

But, McGuire’s comment was visible in several districts in the region that did not have contracts for its unionized teachers.

Before reaching an agreement in November, the Tenafly Education Association boycotted the district’s annual Back to School Nights in September.

The nights give parents a chance to meet wit their children’s teachers.

Tenafly Education Association president, Jackie Wellman, said the boycott was meant to send a message to the district.

“A program is rendered useless when quality staff is missing,” said Wellman, who is a teacher at the Stillman Elementary School in Tenafly, in a previous interview with the Northern Valley Suburbanite explaining the reasons behind the boycotts.

Unions took other steps to highlight its memberships’ displeasure with not having a contract.

These job action tactics, said Ridgewood Education Association President Michael Yannone, are the result of a change in options teachers or districts have to reach a new deal when working under an expired contract.

“Back in the day, the threat of a strike for both sides was a good thing,” Yannone said.

Strikes by public employees, including teachers, have been illegal in New Jersey since the 1960s, though, private employees can strike, with the understanding that their actions remain legal.

 

https://www.northjersey.com/news/education/taking-the-message-to-the-public-1.1483315

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The five books local booksellers recommend for the holidays

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DECEMBER 21, 2015    LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2015, 1:21 AM
BY SOPHIA F. GOTTFRIED
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

Giving the gift of a book can expand the mind, transport the reader to a new place or another time, and won’t break the bank. How many other gifts can do that?

But how to choose just one book when there are more than 300,000 published every year? “That’s why independent bookstores exist,” says Walter Boyer, co-owner of Bookends in Ridgewood.

Bob Kutik, owner of Womrath’s Bookstore in Tenafly, agrees, saying that shopping for books online “just isn’t the same as discussing a book with somebody knowledgeable.”.

The Record asked local bookstore owners to offer their picks for holiday gifts this season.

https://www.northjersey.com/arts-and-entertainment/books/pick-of-the-crop-local-booksellers-gift-choices-1.1477442

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Mass Transit : Back to the Future ,old plans are new again

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file photo by Boyd Loving

A train delay for the ages; increasing service in Bergen County among several stalled plans

NOVEMBER 29, 2015    LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2015, 12:27 AM
BY CHRISTOPHER MAAG
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

In May 1928, a group of forward thinkers in New York City drew a map of North Jersey that envisioned passenger trains running from Englewood to Jersey City on an existing set of railroad tracks, part of a network they confidently named the “Ultimate Suburban Rapid Transit Plan.”

At 1 p.m. on a Thursday this month, 86 years later, three powerful New Jersey senators gathered in a conference room overlooking the same tracks to demand a return of passenger trains to the line.

“This is a project that should have happened years ago,” state Sen. Paul Sarlo, D-Wood-Ridge, said of the project, known as the “Northern Branch.”

Bringing more rail service to Bergen County may be North Jersey’s most stubborn transportation dream. Even now, depending on how one counts, there are between six and 11 efforts to return passenger service to historic train lines. And although passenger trains, bus lines and highways have spread across the region in the post-World War II era, people here have pushed, planned, schemed and begged for even more commuter rail, either to reduce traffic congestion or to connect places that are difficult to reach by mass transit. And the problem grows more acute the closer one gets to New York City. For densely populated towns in eastern Bergen County, like Englewood, Fort Lee and Tenafly, trains simply are not an option, as state Sen. Loretta Weinberg, D-Teaneck, often points out.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/a-train-delay-for-the-ages-increasing-service-in-bergen-county-among-several-stalled-plans-1.1464237

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Labor attorney negotiating new PBA contract, not Village of Ridgewood Manager

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file photo by Boyd Loving
November 27,2015
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

The Ridgewood Blog just received this information –

Ridgewood NJ, In a departure of past practice, Village Council members have hired Mark Ruderman, Esq. and the firm of Ruderman and Glickman to negotiate a contract between the Village of Ridgewood and members of Ridgewood Policeman’s Benevolent Assocation (PBA) Local 20.  Village Council members authorized the hiring of Mr. Ruderman and his firm under a no-bid contract, expiring on June 30, 2016, for an amount not to exceed $75,000; this was done via Resolution 15-182, passed on June 24, 2015.

For as many years as those who have been around for many years can remember, the PBA contract was always negotiated by the Village Manager, with labor attorney review only after the contract terms were accepted by both parties.  The staff of The Ridgewood Blog wondered why the sudden change, and why Mr. Ruderman.  Then we ran across this article:

https://www.northjersey.com/news/after-years-long-battle-tenafly-signs-police-contract-with-no-raises-for-three-years-1.1427309

So in a nutshell, Mr. Ruderman was successful in forcing the Tenafly PBA into arbitration, which resulted in a 3-year no raise contract, and a scaled back pay system that forces their members to work longer before reaching maximum pay.  What the news article didn’t say was that Mr. Ruderman charged Tenafly $225,000 for his legal/negotiation services.  Although the Ridgewood contract has a cap of $75,000, the cap expires on June 30, 2016.  If terms are not reached by then, an opportunity may exist for Mr. Ruderman to either achieve or exceed his Tenafly payout.

The hiring of Mr. Ruderman begs the staff of The Ridgewood Blog to ask what role, if any, Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld and Director of Human Resources Sharyn Matthews are playing in the PBA negotiations, particularly since each of their roles include labor negotiations as a responsibility.

Bottom line – Why are taxpayers shelling out $92,000 a year in salary plus benefits for an HR Director who can’t negotiate?  And then another $75,000 for someone who can?  Good grief Charlie Brown!

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Ridgewood High School Ranked 28th best in the State

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2016 Best Public High Schools Ranking

November 24,2015
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, Niche put out its 2016 Best Public High Schools ranking providing a comprehensive assessment of the overall experience of a public high school. This grade takes into account key factors such as the strength of academics, quality of teachers, school resources, the quality of student life, as well as student and parent reviews, in an attempt to measure the overall excellence of the school.

Factors considered were, Academics Grade, Health & Safety Grade, Parent/Student Surveys on Overall Experience , Student Culture & Diversity Grade, Teachers Grade, Resources & Facilities Grade , Extracurriculars & Activities Grade, Sports & Fitness Grade.

Ridgewood Placed 28th in the state of New Jersey and some of our neighbors ; Tenafly High School came in 33rd, Pascack Valley High School 36th, Cresskill High School 42nd,Glen Rock High School 43, Ramapo High School 54 and River Dell Regional High School 67th .

the List : https://k12.niche.com/rankings/public-high-schools/best-overall/s/new-jersey/

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Advanced Placement courses surge, but so does debate about worth and stress

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NOVEMBER 16, 2015    LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2015, 1:21 AM
BY DEENA YELLIN
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

Advanced Placement courses are all the rage in New Jersey this school year, with many high schools having added more of the college-level courses to meet surging demand.

Students and advocates of the courses cite their value as college preparation, and parents hope to save on the cost of college credits earned for free in high school.

But critical observers also are pointing to the amplified stress that AP courses put on already high-achieving students with packed schedules.

The courses, which lend cachet to a student’s résumé, have long been a staple across the nation. But now, many North Jersey schools, including those in Northern Valley Regional High School District and in Lodi, Bergenfield, Tenafly, Wayne, Emerson and Glen Rock, have launched additional AP courses.

The most popular have traditionally been AP English Literature and AP U.S. History, said staff of the College Board, which administers the AP tests and trains teachers. But school administrators cite a dramatic increase in the number of AP STEM courses added over the past few years, including at Northern Valley High School, which has launched AP physics, science, and computer science; Emerson, which added AP Physics I and II; and Glen Rock, which is adding AP computer science.

New Jersey students have done particularly well on the AP exams, with more than 72.8 percent scoring a 3 or higher — out of 5 — on AP exams in 2015, compared with the average of 60.5 percent internationally.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/education/students-load-up-on-tougher-courses-1.1456207

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‘Kitchen Cousins’ bankruptcy case pushed back

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SEPTEMBER 5, 2015    LAST UPDATED: SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2015, 1:21 AM
BY RICHARD NEWMAN
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

Creditors’ hearings for the “Kitchen Cousins” personal bankruptcy cases have been pushed back to Sept. 30, and a new court filing in Newark shows that the legal wrangling may soon get more complicated.

John Colaneri of Ramsey, who appears on several HGTV home-improvement shows with his cousin Anthony Carrino of Jersey City, has asked for court approval to retain Joseph B. Fiorenzo of the Newark law firm Sills Cummis & Gross PC to lead his challenge to a large debt they allegedly owe to a Tenafly couple.

The couple, Robert and Peng Avery, had sued Colaneri and Carrino for allegedly botching the renovation of their Engle Street home.

Fiorenzo, who did not respond Friday to requests for comment, leads the law firm’s complex business litigation group.

Both entertainers list in their court filings $857,894 in unsecured debt owed to the Averys, resulting from an arbitration award that included the tripling of certain damages, which involved state consumer-fraud law violations. The award amount was what prompted the HGTV stars to file separate personal Chapter 11 filings on July 27, according to Wayne bankruptcy lawyer David L. Stevens, who is representing the cousins.

The renovation of the Averys’ home was not featured on any of the cousins’ cable TV shows, which include “Kitchen Cousins,” “Cousins Undercover” and “America’s Most Desperate Kitchens.”

https://www.northjersey.com/news/business/kitchen-cousins-creditors-case-reset-1.1404297

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Pilot in Cresskill crash bypassed fields with kids to find safe spot to land

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SEPTEMBER 4, 2015, 10:07 AM    LAST UPDATED: SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2015, 12:26 AM
BY STEFANIE DAZIO
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

The pilot who crash-landed a small plane into a Cresskill recreational field desperately searched for a safe place to land, passing by two other fields because they were filled with people before he finally made a dead-engine touchdown behind a local swim club, authorities said.

The pilot, Jack Rosenberg of Spring Valley, N.Y., and Erik Pearson were on a routine patrol for the Coast Guard Auxiliary over the Hudson River when the engine faltered.

When Rosenberg couldn’t make it to Teterboro Airport with his sputtering engine, he tried to make an emergency landing in Tenafly but decided against that because the field was full of people, Cresskill Police Chief Ed Wrixon said.

After finding a Cresskill baseball field occupied, the pilot crashed near Regan Field behind the Cresskill Swim Club late Thursday afternoon just hours before youth sports teams were due to practice.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/ntsb-preliminary-investigation-blames-cresskill-plane-crash-on-mechanical-problems-1.1404010

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Ridgewood Makes New Jersey’s Top 10 Best Suburbs to Raise a Family

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Best Suburbs to Raise a Family in New Jersey

Explore the best suburbs to raise a family. Niche ranks US suburbs based on age demographics, school ratings, crime rates, and access to affordable housing, child care, libraries, and grocery stores. A high ranking indicates that a suburb attracts young families with good schools and a safe community.

https://local.niche.com/rankings/suburbs/best-places-for-families/methodology/
1 Pennington Mercer County, New Jersey

2 Mountain LakesMorris County, New Jersey

3 Chatham Morris County, New Jersey

4 Tenafly Bergen County, New Jersey

5 New Providence Union County, New Jersey

6 Ridgewood Bergen County, New Jersey

7 Glen Rock Bergen County, New Jersey

8 Bernards Township Somerset County, New Jersey

9 Allendale Bergen County, New Jersey

10 West Windsor Township Mercer County, New Jersey

11 Old Tappan Bergen County, New Jersey

12 River Vale Township Bergen County, New Jersey

13 Montvale Bergen County, New Jersey

14 North Caldwell Essex County, New Jersey

15 Summit Union County, New Jersey

16 Haworth Bergen County, New Jersey

17 Ho-Ho-Kus Bergen County, New Jersey

18 Millburn Township Essex County, New Jersey

19 Park Ridge Bergen County, New Jersey

20 Fair Haven Monmouth County, New Jersey

21 River Edge Bergen County, New Jersey

22 Hillsdale Bergen County, New Jersey

23 Wyckoff Township Bergen County, New Jersey

24 Madison Morris County, New Jersey

25 Fanwood Union County, New Jersey

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Tenafly, Ridgewood study late school start

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AUGUST 8, 2015    LAST UPDATED: SATURDAY, AUGUST 8, 2015, 1:21 AM
BY HANNAN ADELY
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

New Jersey middle and high schools start their day on average at 8 a.m. — on par with other schools in the nation but too early for students to get a good night’s sleep, according to medical experts.

And that, in turn, can contribute to a host of health problems for adolescents, those experts say.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a state-by-state analysis this week showing that school start times for 2012, the most recently available data, averaged 8:03 a.m.

The report came less than a year after the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended that middle and high schools begin their days no earlier than 8:30 a.m. Only 17.7 percent of schools — and 14.9 percent in New Jersey — started at 8:30 a.m. or later.

“Getting enough sleep is important for students’ health, safety, and academic performance,” said Anne Wheaton, lead author and epidemiologist in the CDC’s Division of Population Health. “Early school start times, however, are preventing many adolescents from getting the sleep they need.”

Students should get 8.5 to 9.5 hours of sleep, according to the CDC. Insufficient sleep is common among high school students and is associated with such health risks as being overweight, drinking alcohol, smoking tobacco, and using drugs — as well as poor grades, the agency said in its report.

In New Jersey, school start times have been debated for years, but the debate intensified after the pediatrics academy released its 2014 policy paper.

 

https://www.northjersey.com/news/education/is-lack-of-sleep-harming-kids-1.1389120

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Judge affirms Bergen schools’ right to withhold full security-drill reports from NBC-TV

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file photo by Boyd Loving

JUNE 19, 2015, 5:26 PM    LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, JUNE 19, 2015, 5:26 PM
BY STEVE JANOSKI
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

A state Superior Court judge has ruled that a dozen Bergen County school districts were within their rights to redact details of their school security drills before turning drill records over to a TV station probing alleged irregularities.

Superior Court Judge Robert P. Contillo wrote in the decision that the safety and security concerns voiced by the districts outweighed plaintiff WNBC-TV’s interest in receiving un-redacted records. The redactions, he wrote, which varied district-to-district but generally blacked out the date, time, and length of the drills, were “necessary to protect defendants’ interest in maintaining the safety and integrity of the school community.”

“Any other result would risk this information falling into the wrong hands and being of use in an effort to cause harm,” he wrote.

Donald Doherty, attorney for plaintiff WNBC-TV, was disappointed by the June 4 ruling, which he said didn’t make sense given that other districts freely gave the network the information.

“If it was such a security risk, you’d have thought everybody would have thought [so],” he said. “But I’m not the judge.”

Doherty said he doesn’t plan to appeal the decision, but that that “doesn’t mean we think the judge is right.”

Named in the station’s Feb. 20 suit were the boards of education in Allendale, Bergenfield, Englewood Cliffs, Hillsdale, Oakland, Old Tappan, Ramapo-Indian Hills, Ramsey, River Vale, and Tenafly, as well as the Bergen County Technical and Special Services districts. Also named were those districts’ business administrators, who serve as public records custodians.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/judge-affirms-bergen-schools-right-to-withhold-full-security-drill-reports-from-nbc-tv-1.1359734

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Kushner resigns as president of Alpine club; couple called coach anti-Semitic, report says

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MAY 12, 2015, 5:42 PM    LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015, 10:11 PM
BY MARINA VILLENEUVE
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

David Kushner has resigned as president of the Alpine Country Club, officials of the club in Demarest said Tuesday, days after Kushner and his wife, Nanci, pleaded not guilty to charges that they stalked and harassed the Cresskill High School basketball coach.

Investigators tied the Kushners, both 49, to anonymous emails sent to the coach by tracing the IP addresses of the emails, according to records obtained on Tuesday. The emails had come from the Kushners’ home in Cresskill and from the Manhattan offices of David Kushner’s company, Paradigm Capital Funding Group, the records said.

The Kushners also were charged with harassment last week in Tenafly, where police say they sent anonymous emails to a former friend.

Police are also investigating a house party Friday night at the Kushners’ home. A juvenile boy was taken to the hospital for evaluation after suspected alcohol consumption, and authorities seized alcohol, suspected marijuana and drug paraphernalia, officials said. David Kushner told police he was out of state at the time, records show.

The quick succession of events brought an abrupt shift for a family well-known over the years in Bergen County society and at high profile charity functions.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/kushner-resigns-as-president-of-alpine-club-couple-called-coach-anti-semitic-report-says-1.1332243

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Pair named in harassment cases allegedly behind emails in Tenafly, Cresskill

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MAY 12, 2015, 8:33 AM    LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015, 8:33 AM

BY ABBOTT KOLOFF AND STEFANIE DAZIO
STAFF WRITERS |
THE RECORD

Alpine Country Club President David Kushner and his wife, Nanci, allegedly sent anonymous, harassing emails to Tenafly resident Cory Hechler, according to court papers that were made public Monday.

Hechler, a longtime friend and golfing partner of David Kushner, filed a civil lawsuit last year alleging that Kushner persuaded him to invest in business deals that lost a substantial amount of money.

The Kushners have been charged with harassment in the Tenafly case, which was announced on Friday without the name of the alleged victim.

The Kushners also face charges, made public last week, that they stalked and harassed the Cresskill High School basketball coach by sending anonymous emails in an attempt to get him fired. The Kushners’ son played basketball at Cresskill High School.

Authorities also said Monday that they are investigating an incident Friday night at the Kushners’ home on Adams Drive in Cresskill.

Officers responding to a noise complaint reported that someone at the home was taken to a hospital, and that a quantity of alcohol was seized. Cresskill Deputy Police Chief James Domville said he did not know whether the couple was home at the time.

No charges have been filed in the matter, but the detective bureau is investigating to determine whether underage drinking took place at the home, Domville said. He said he did not know the age of the person taken to the hospital.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/pair-named-in-harassment-cases-allegedly-behind-emails-in-tenafly-cresskill-1.1332070

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Tenafly resident’s arrest meant to better ties between Koreas; statement met with suspicion

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Won Moon Joo in a photo from his 2012 Tenafly High School yearbook.

MAY 5, 2015, 4:28 PM    LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, MAY 5, 2015, 11:19 PM
BY HANNAN ADELY AND MINJAE PARK
STAFF WRITERS |
THE RECORD

The college student from Tenafly detained in North Korea sought to be arrested and hoped his arrest would lead to better relations between North Korea and South Korea, he said in an interview that aired Tuesday on CNN.

Speaking at a hotel room and appearing relaxed, even smiling at times, Won Moon Joo, 21, said he intended to cross into North Korea from China. To do so, he had to pass two barbed wire fences and a cross a river before he was stopped by soldiers.

Joo, a student at New York University, was vague about his motivations for entering the country.

Related:  Tenafly resident detained in North Korea says he crossed into country on purpose

“Once the thought of entering the DPRK seeped into my mind, I couldn’t really escape it. I guess I constantly thought about it,” he said, referring to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the name North Korea gives itself.

https://7online.com/pets/wyckoff-residents-protest-after-dog-shot-by-police-at-wrong-address/699290/