DECEMBER 7, 2014, 11:49 PM LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2014, 11:55 PM
BY JOAN VERDON
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
FAO Schwarz will leave its iconic Manhattan location for the Meadowlands, Saks Fifth Avenue and Lord & Taylor department stores will anchor a collection of luxury boutiques, and Cirque du Soleil will establish a permanent theater for Las Vegas-style shows at the American Dream project, according to information the developer of the long-delayed project is circulating as it holds meetings this week to woo retail tenants.
Triple Five, the developer of the project, is telling prospective tenants that more than 50 major retailers, including such mall mainstays as Victoria’s Secret and Gap, have committed to renting space at American Dream, which is scheduled to open in the fall of 2016. More than a dozen restaurants and a permanent Cirque du Soleil theater are also committed, according to a 67-page leasing brochure and the project’s monthly status update for November.
While a developer’s promotional materials about prospective tenants should be viewed skeptically until the project’s opening day, the list of tenants Triple Five has lined up shows that parts of the American Dream will compete directly with North Jersey’s existing malls for tenants.
A question of homework: tenafly parents protest the load, joining nationwide trend
DECEMBER 8, 2014 LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2014, 1:21 AM
BY DEENA YELLIN
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
TENAFLY — Pressured by parents, school district officials are considering lowering the stress of homework with such measures as homework-free nights and vacations, and giving students more information about the demands they will face in choosing courses.
The district also will organize workshops for parents on reducing children’s stress.
The measures are being taken after a group of high school parents confronted the school board, arguing that homework is wreaking havoc on their children’s lives.
Tenafly is just the latest of many districts nationwide trying new approaches amid the high-stakes competition for college that has fueled an intense schedule of testing and nightly homework in local districts.
The parents’ group, Rational Homework Review, says the heavy workload prevents their children from maintaining a healthy lifestyle and getting adequate sleep. They also argue that some assignments lack educational value.
Other school districts statewide, including Ridgewood and Glen Rock, have reexamined homework policies or changed them in recent years to help balance students’ lives. Nationally, an anti-homework backlash has been spurred in part by studies on sleep deprivation among teens, a plethora of books about the homework craze and a documentary called “Race to Nowhere” about students in a pressured educational environment.
Ridgewood reimbursed nearly $450,000 by FEMA for storm costs
DECEMBER 7, 2014, 6:26 PM LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2014, 6:27 PM
BY CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
RIDGEWOOD — The village recently received a pair of large checks from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, totaling nearly $450,000.
The checks reimburse Ridgewood for overtime costs and damage it sustained as a result of both Hurricane Irene and Superstorm Sandy.
Calling the infusion of cash “excellent” news, Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld said another check would be sent to the village before the end of the year for $382,900.
Getting the reimbursements from the federal agency has not been easy.
Village officials — working with representatives from Sen. Bob Menendez’s office — have been meeting in recent months with state and federal officials to ensure the money was recouped.
SLOW MOVING COASTAL STORM WILL AFFECT THE REGION MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW YORK NY
727 PM EST SUN DEC 7 2014
THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHERN
CONNECTICUT…NORTHEAST NEW JERSEY AND SOUTHEAST NEW YORK.
.DAY ONE…TONIGHT.
HAZARDOUS WEATHER NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.
.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN…MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY.
A SLOW MOVING COASTAL STORM WILL AFFECT THE REGION MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT WITH A BIT OF WINTRY PRECIP…BUT MAINLY HEAVY RAIN AND STRONG WINDS. ALTHOUGH THERE IS STILL SOME UNCERTAINTY ON TIMING…INTENSITY…AND TRACK OF THIS LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM…THERE IS A LOW POTENTIAL FOR FLASH FLOODING ON TUESDAY.
THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK PROVIDES A SUMMARY OF POTENTIAL WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER EVENTS THAT MAY REACH NWS WARNING CRITERIA. MOST LONG F– USED NWS WATCHES…WARNINGS AND ADVISORIES IN EFFECT ARE HIGHLIGHTED.
PLEASE REFER TO THE LATEST NWS FORECASTS FOR WEATHER NOT MEETING NWS WARNING CRITERIA.
The Best and Worst Run States in America: A Survey of All 50
By Alexander E.M. Hess, Thomas C. Frohlich, Alexander Kent and Ashley C. Allen December 3, 2014 6:20 pm EST
How well run is your state? Assessing a state’s management quality is hardly easy. The current economic climate and standard of living in any given state are not only the results of policy choices and developments that occurred in the last few years, but can also be affected by decisions made decades ago, and by forces outside a state’s control.
Each year, 24/7 Wall St. attempts to answer this question by surveying various aspects of each state. To determine how well states are managed, we examine key financial ratios, as well as social and economic outcomes. This year, North Dakota is the best-run state in the country for the third consecutive year, while Illinois replaced California as the worst-run state.
Fourth Port Authority Toll Hike in Four Years Takes Effect
Port Authority voting on proposed 2015 $7.8B budget after upcoming toll hike
December 8,2014
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
The Port Authority has unveiled a proposed $7.8 billion budget for 2015. The board of commissioners will vote on the plan Wednesday, days after the fourth toll hike in as many years. Cash tolls will increase by $1 to $14 this weekend, while E-ZPass goes up by 75 cents.The $7.8 billion combined spending plan includes: a $2.9 billion operating budget; $1.1 billion in debt service; and a very robust capital program of $3.6 billion highlighted by continuing work on the Bayonne Bridge roadway raising, replacement of the Goethals Bridge, overhauls of the George Washington Bridge and Lincoln Tunnel Helix, and completion of the transportation hub plus other work at the World Trade Center site, which makes up 45 percent of capital costs.
Ridgewood considers restoring sculpture by Paterson artist
DECEMBER 7, 2014 LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2014, 10:31 AM
BY CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
RIDGEWOOD – A sculpture that was crafted by the hands of renowned Paterson artist Gaetano Federici in 1927 could soon be back on display in the village – after being left forgotten for some 40 years.
Ridgewood officials are looking into how much it would cost to have some restoration done to the cast stone piece before having it displayed permanently and prominently outside Village Hall.
No official action was taken on the sculpture at the council’s meeting last week. But Councilwoman Susan Knudsen argued that the Federici piece was worth saving.
“It belongs to the people of Ridgewood,” Knudsen said. “It is priceless and deserves to be brought back and preserved.”
The statue depicts an earlier version of New Jersey’s state seal, with two female figures – Liberty and Ceres – and three plows, representing agriculture’s importance to the state.
As with the state seal, the head of a horse – New Jersey’s official animal – tops the sculpture.
Feeling Better at the Pump? Since 2008, America’s Oil Supply Has Grown by 50 Percent.
Ed Feulner / @EdFeulner / December 07, 2014
If you’re like most Americans, you haven’t been questioning the welcome drop in gasoline prices. You just fill ‘er up and feel grateful that you’re spending less.
Why has this remarkable drop come about? And what can we do to help keep prices lower?
Some of it, unfortunately, is beyond our control. Worldwide demand for oil is down now. That always causes the cost of gasoline to drop.
But the other side of the equation — the part that is under our control — has gone largely unheralded in many media accounts: the boom in U.S. energy production. Simply put, we’re producing much more energy domestically these days, and that is, predictably enough, pushing prices downward.
Since 2008, we’ve increased our domestic supply of oil by 50 percent. Thanks to technological breakthroughs such as hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) and horizontal drilling, we’re able to find and extract far more oil than we possibly could have years ago.
Oil production in states such as North Dakota, Texas and Oklahoma has doubled in the last six years. The United States is now the world’s No. 1 producer of oil and natural gas. Signs that read “No to fracking” might as well read, “Yes to higher prices,” and “no” to the more than 100,000 jobs created in the oil and gas extraction industry over the last few years.
It all comes down to supply and demand. It’s pretty simple. We can’t do much about worldwide demand, but we can do a lot about supply.
Here’s what not to do: subsidize “green” energy such as wind and solar (or any form of energy, for that matter). If green forms of energy show promise, believe me, the market will put resources behind them. The fact that wind and solar producers are so wholly dependent on government handouts (i.e., taxpayer money) is telling.
Yet the push to prop them up continues. Consider the $440 billion tax package lawmakers recently hammered out. It contains a provision that would have revived the wind tax credit that expired last year. Yet the wind industry already gets $56 in federal tax credits per energy unit produced.
Infographic by Kelsey Harris/The Daily Signal
What should we do? Stop impeding markets. Here are four steps policymakers should take, courtesy of Heritage Foundation energy expert Nicolas Loris:
First, lift the ban on crude oil exports. A recent IHS study found that removing the ban would lower gasoline prices by 8 cents per gallon, saving drivers $265 billion over 15 years and adding nearly 1 million jobs by 2018.
Second, lift the drilling bans and approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline. We need more exploration in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. We should also be conducting more lease sales off Alaska’s coasts. Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is another abundant source of oil, with an estimated 10.4 billion barrels of oil resting beneath a few thousand acres.
Third, repeal the ethanol mandate. This rule forces refineries to blend increasing amounts of ethanol into gasoline each year, reaching 36 billion gallons in 2022. It’s already driven up fuel and food prices, according to multiple federal-agency and government-backed studies.
Fourth, prohibit greenhouse gas regulations. The Department of the Interior has already suspended oil and gas leases because of their alleged impact on climate change. Coming greenhouse gas regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency will increase the cost of energy production — and producers will pass those costs on to consumers. Yet the regulations will have no meaningful impact on the climate, the EPA has acknowledged.
Notice the one thing these steps have in common? It’s government getting out of the way. The secret to extending the streak of lower energy prices, it turns out, is no secret at all: Let markets work.
Ayn Rand’s Early Novel ‘Ideal’ To Be Published After 80 Years
Ayn Rand fans, here’s something to whet your appetites: New American Library has released the cover image for “Ideal,” the first Ayn Rand novel to be published in more than 50 years.
Ayn Rand, author of “Atlas Shrugged” and “The Fountainhead,” invented the philosophy of Objectivism. More than 25 million copies of her novels have been sold around the world.
“Ideal” tells the story of a screen actress who is accused of murder and visits six of her most devoted fans to ask for help. In 1934, when she was in her late 20s, Rand first wrote “Ideal” as a work of fiction.
But Rand was dissatisfied with it and set it aside. The same year, she rewrote it as a play. The play didn’t have its New York premiere until 2010 – 66 years after she wrote it.
The original version was rediscovered in 2012 by Richard Ralston, publishing manager at the Ayn Rand Institute, while digitizing the Rand archives. (At 135 pages, it’s been called a novelette and a novella. The publisher is now billing it as a “short novel.”)
The new book, which contains both the novel and the play, is scheduled to be released on July 7 by Penguin Random House imprint New American Library, Rand’s longtime publisher.
“A Date Which Will Live in Infamy”: FDR Asks for a Declaration of War. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941, stunned virtually everyone in the United States military.
National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, is observed annually on December 7, is to remember and honor all those who died in the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
On August 23, 1994,United States Congress, designated December 7 of each year as National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day is also referred to as Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day or Pearl Harbor Day. It is a tradition to fly the Flag of the United States at half-staff until sunset in honor of dead patriots.
On Sunday morning, December 7, 1941 America’s naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was attacked by aircraft and submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy, killing 2,403 American military personnel and civilians and injuring 1,178 others. The attack sank four U.S. Navy battleships and damaged four more. It also damaged or sank three cruisers, three destroyers, and one minelayer. Aircraft losses were 188 destroyed and 159 damaged.
Couple drops downtown lifestyle for Glen Rock suburbia
DECEMBER 7, 2014 LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2014, 1:21 AM
BY DONNA ROLANDO
SPECIAL TO THE RECORD |
THE RECORD
New Glen Rock residents Nidhi Verma and Anant Aditya have the suburban home they wanted only because of the strategy they employed to break free from a life of convenience in Jersey City that had a powerful hold on them.
The first-time home buyers, in their early 30s, saw that their real estate search was getting nowhere, so they used a stopgap measure — a Secaucus rental — to toughen their resolve to buy in suburbia. It was what they needed at the time, the couple said, to leave their comfort zone at their Newport development in Jersey City with its 24-hour stores and easy commute.
“Newport is like 24/7 activity,” raved Aditya as his wife recalled the Rite Aid that was open all night right below their rental and the gym with a swimming pool right across the street, as well as the nearby parks.
“There was a lot we were leaving behind,” she said.
That’s when they decided on a short-term rental in Secaucus, knowing it would keep them focused on where they really wanted to raise their 3-year-old son — Bergen County suburbia — and that it could be a good first step in making the transition from, as Aditya described it, “downtown to suburban life.”
Their comfortable lifestyle included a dream commute to their jobs as software professionals. In fact, while Verma had to travel just 30 minutes to get to work, her husband could walk to the office.
PHOTO COURTESY OF BARRY HUBER
Bob Liwanag’s family is very supportive of his decision to become a deacon. From left: Amanda Liwanag, Bob, Tessie Liwanag, son-in-law Kenny Gershberg and Corinne Gershberg.
Ridgewood resident studies to become a Roman Catholic deacon
DECEMBER 5, 2014 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2014, 12:31 AM
BY GLORIA GEANNETTE
MANAGING EDITOR |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Ridgewood resident Bob Liwanag is a devout Roman Catholic, but he was a bit taken aback when his friends in town, Nick and Arlene DeLucca, suggested that he would be a great candidate to become a deacon.
“I didn’t feel worthy,” says the very humble Liwanag, who is now well on his way to achieving that lofty goal. Earlier this fall, he was one of 27 candidates who were blessed by the Archbishop of Newark, Bernard Hebda, in a an acolyte installation ceremony held at Mount Carmel Church in Ridgewood. More than 50 members of the clergy and about 350 guests were in attendance that evening.
The path Liwanag and his fellow candidates have accepted is not an easy one, especially now that a master’s degree in theology is one of the requirements. The goal is to be ordained as a deacon in the summer of 2016. At that point, Liwanag will be able to perform several duties that people usually associate with priests. For example, deacons can baptize babies, witness marriages and conduct funeral services. They will use their life experiences in the secular world to serve the church and the community at large. Although married men can become deacons, they cannot remarry if they become widowers, except by special dispensation.
“The apostles were the first deacons,” explained Liwanag. “They were instructed by Jesus to go out and serve the community.” That service to others is one of the ideals that drew Liwanag to his course of studies. “It may sound corny,” he said, “but everyone is called to serve God. It’s how you respond that makes the difference.”
VILLAGE BUILDING DEPARTMENT CONFERENCES – 12/16 from 5PM to 7PM
Building Department Conferences
Building Department Director Thomas Yotka will hold office hours for Ridgewood contractors and residents on Tuesday December 16, 2014 between the hours of 5:00pm to 7:00pm. This is an opportunity to meet Tom and share your thoughts and become aware of departmental initiatives for 2015. These sessions will be scheduled at 15 minute intervals and will be held in the Conference Room on the 3rd Floor of Ridgewood Village Hall. Please contact the Building Department at 201-670-5500, ext. 506 to make an appointment. Walk-ins are welcome but should realize that the schedule may already be booked.
We are aware that this is a busy time, if this date is inconvenient, other dates will be offered in the new year.
DECEMBER 7, 2014 LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2014, 12:10 AM
BY JOHN REITMEYER AND MELISSA HAYES
STATE HO– USE BUREAU |
THE RECORD
New calculations show that the pension fund covering retirement benefits for most of New Jersey’s public employees is projected to go broke in a decade, not the 30 years officials had estimated just months ago.
The fund that covers retirements for judges and court workers has less than 10 years.
And the largest of New Jersey’s pension funds, the one for teachers, will run out of money in 13 years.
The actual values of the pension funds have not changed, and the investments are still growing at rates much better than managers had predicted. What did change was the formula used to account for how much money will be needed to cover benefits for future retirees. When the impact of that change was made public in a Wall Street analysis last month, the differences were stark.
The new projections are not the most conservative, but experts say they are more realistic than those New Jersey had been making before it switched to the new accounting method. But they remain only estimates, and a number of factors could change the depletion dates, including how much money is deposited in the system in the future and whether investments can beat the anticipated |returns.
Oddly, both the Christie administration and the unions fighting in court to force the governor to restore billions in payments to those funds have embraced the new figures.
Deputy Mayor takes on Bergen Blue Laws
December 7th 2014
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Deputy Mayor Albert Pucciarelli has scheduled another CBD Panel Discussions – January 21, 2015 at 7:30PM.
One of the topics the Deputy Mayor has decided to tackle are Bergen County’s blue laws .
Deputy Mayor Albert Pucciarelli has scheduled another CBD Panel Discussion for January 21, 2015 from 7:30PM to 9PM. It will be held in the Village Hall Court Room. The two topics for discussion will be – CBD Parking and Blue Laws.
County Executive Elect Tedesco on Blue Laws referendum
A: “I believe that everyone has the right to express themselves. Do I
want to see the Blue Laws go? Emphatically not.
“As a matter of fact, your paper and many news organizations published
stories back in 2010 when the Republican governor wanted to eliminate
the Blue Laws and came up with some fuzzy math that said we’re going
to make all this money.
“And I went on TV and did a press conference along with my partners in
Maywood and told them, ‘Over my dead body Governor.’
