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Posted on April 8, 2014June 27, 2021 by James — 3 Comments

Reader says Calling Villagers crackpot laypeople is yond belief. Who was the alleged comment really directed to?

Reader says Calling Villagers crackpot laypeople is yond belief. Who was the alleged comment really directed to?

He must have meant the “laypeople” on the planning board — perhaps, those asking questions about the faulty premises in the reports of the developers so-called experts, or maybe those who dare to ask what the effect of 400 new families will be on schools, traffic and other aspects of village life. Shame on those planning board members who dare to ask questions of those who testify before the board!!

Could this really have been the developers’ response to the public or did the paper get the quote wrong. Is Saracino that much of a sniveling buffoon who thinks he can get away with destroying the town by insulting Villagers? I suspect there must have been a mistake. Surely, Mr. Saracino is not an ignorant bully who thinks he can insult and buy his way into re-making Ridgewood a city made in his image.

Posted on April 8, 2014June 27, 2021 by James — 3 Comments

Reader says The schools are going to have to become more efficient, and offer less.

Reader says The schools are going to have to become more efficient, and offer less.

Talk to the Prinipals at the various schools. They will tell you that the cap on the budget is starting to have real effects on what they can do. The BOE “budget” is already “subsidized” by hundreds of thousands of dollars a year (if not more) from individual, activity and sports related fund raising that goes on from the elementary, middle school, and high school levels. Fees for supplies, field trips, classroom upgrades, etc….all of which used to be “in the budget” are now additional costs. With a 2% maximum increase in the budget and something like annual 1.5% salary raises and continued rising costs in health care, the end effect is going to be “cuts.” And those cuts are going to have to come from a lot of different places. Cuts to administrators, cuts to teachers, cuts to programs, cuts to class offerings, cuts to drives ed, cuts to athletics, etc…. The schools are going to have to become more efficient, and offer less.

Posted on April 8, 2014June 27, 2021 by James — 27 Comments

Reader says As long as the employee remains employed, this astounding rate of increase is all but guaranteed

Reader says As long as the employee remains employed, this astounding rate of increase is all but guaranteed

Why have we made such generous promises on accumulated sick leave to municipal employees ? Ridgewood employees receive 15 sick days per year (vs. 3~5 for the average U.S. employee). Unused days may be accumulated at current pay levels until retirement, at which time retirees may elect to take half the accumulated days off with pay (up to 3-6 months, depending on department) or receive an equivalent lump sum payment at the much higher pre-retirement compensation level. The allowed sick days are in addition to generous vacations, with a starting vacation benefit for Ridgewood employees of 12-13 days, depending on department, which can grow up to a maximum of 31 days. This compares to median full-time U.S. workers receiving only 13 days of paid leave per year. The FAC recommended that the maximum number of permitted paid sick days be reduced from 15 to 7 days per calendar year, and that all sick days (up to a maximum of seven) must be used during the calendar year. Unused sick days should NOT be accumulated beyond December 31st of the same calendar year, in which they are permitted. Sick days should not be transferrable to another employee.

In practice it looks like unionized municipal workers automatically get their annual negotiated wage increases, PLUS annual step wage increases, cost of living adjustments, longetivity bonuses, etc. The STEP schedules rapidly accelerate employees’ base salaries every year, particularly in the first 10 years of employment. One Ridgewood Step Schedule for employees hired after 2010 starts at a base salary of $32,000 in the first year of employment. Under the schedule, the base salary increases to $81,971 by the end of the fifth year of employment. This represents an incredible 156% increase or a compounded annual rate of increase over 20%. This does not include the publicly disclosed 4.2% annual wage increase or a 2% bonus after year four. As long as the employee remains employed, this astounding rate of increase is all but guaranteed. Although the agreements state that the annual increases are “not automatic”, employees expect them and, in practice, it is rare that they are not approved.

Posted on April 8, 2014June 27, 2021 by James — 4 Comments

Ridgewood police seek man in assault on TD Bank employee

photo from Ridgewood PD

Ridgewood police seek man in assault on TD Bank employee

April 6 2014

Ridgewood NJ , On April 6 2014 at 3:05 PM patrol responded to TD Bank on Franklin Avenue on a report of an assault in progress. A bank employee had been assaulted by a Heavy Set black male that had attempted to pass a fraudulent check.

The employee had locked the door at closing time and when the accused person attempted to flee and found the door locked he punched the employee and took her keys to unlock the door.

The accused fled in a grey Volkswagen with possible Georgia license plates. The matter is under investigation by the Ridgewood Detective Bureau. Anyone with information please call the Ridgewood Police Detective Bureau 201-251-4537.
Below is a picture of the suspect.

Posted on April 8, 2014April 8, 2014 by James — Leave a comment

As Obama Spotlights Gender Gap in Wages, His Own Payroll Draws Scrutiny

As Obama Spotlights Gender Gap in Wages, His Own Payroll Draws Scrutiny

By MICHAEL D. SHEAR and ANNIE LOWREYAPRIL 7, 2014

WASHINGTON — President Obama on Tuesday will call attention to what he has said is an “embarrassment” in America: the fact that women make, on average, only 77 cents for every dollar that a man earns.

But critics of the administration are eager to turn the tables and note that Mr. Obama’s White House fares only slightly better. A study released in January showed that female White House staff members make on average 88 cents for every dollar a male staff member earns.

The dueling statistics reveal the political sensitivities around a set of gender-related issues that could be critical in the midterm elections this fall. Those include pay equity, family leave, preschool and child care.

Mr. Obama and his Democratic allies are trying to portray Republicans as insensitive to the concerns of women, in the hopes of capitalizing on the kind of lopsided female support that helped Mr. Obama win the White House in 2008 and 2012. On Tuesday, Mr. Obama is to sign an executive order barring federal contractors from penalizing employees who discuss their compensation.

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/08/us/politics/as-obama-spotlights-gender-gap-in-wages-his-own-payroll-draws-scrutiny.html?_r=0

Posted on April 8, 2014April 7, 2014 by James — 4 Comments

Al Sharpton’s Secret Work As FBI Informant

Al Sharpton’s Secret Work As FBI Informant

Untold story of how activist once aided probes of NYC wiseguys

APRIL 7–When friends and family members gathered recently at the White House for a private celebration of Michelle Obama’s 50th birthday, one of the invited partygoers was a former paid FBI Mafia informant.

That same man attended February’s state dinner in honor of French President Francois Hollande. He was seated with his girlfriend at a table adjacent to President Barack Obama, who is likely unaware that, according to federal agents, his guest once interacted with members of four of New York City’s five organized crime families. He even secretly taped some of those wiseguys using a briefcase that FBI technicians outfitted with a recording device.

The high-profile Obama supporter was also on the dais atop the U.S. Capitol steps last year when the president was sworn in for a second term. He was seated in front of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, two rows behind Beyonce and Jay Z, and about 20 feet from Eric Holder, the country’s top law enforcement officer. As head of the Department of Justice, Attorney General Holder leads an agency that once reported that Obama’s inauguration guest also had La Cosa Nostra contacts beyond Gotham, and engaged in “conversations with LCN members from other parts of the United States.

https://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/investigation/al-sharpton-764312

Posted on April 7, 2014June 27, 2021 by James — 4 Comments

NY Times: Mozilla CEO’s ‘Anti-Gay’ Stance ‘By Definition Disqualifying,’ He Needed ‘Rehabilitation’

The Soviet Gulag was a massive system of forced labor camps

NY Times: Mozilla CEO’s ‘Anti-Gay’ Stance ‘By Definition Disqualifying,’ He Needed ‘Rehabilitation’
By Tim Graham | April 5, 2014 | 18:59

Our web guru Steve Edwards passed along a tweet from Moe Lane that said “New York Times confirms: Open Source advocacy is for liberals/progressives only. ”

Lane linked to an obnoxious blog post by Farhad Manjoo in The New York Times titled “Why Mozilla’s Chief Had to Resign.” You see, “Mozilla is not a normal company. It is an activist organization.” And activists apparently find it very distasteful to be less than “militantly tolerant,” as Manjoo put it:

Is this an instance of political correctness run amok? Is it a sign that Silicon Valley has become militantly tolerant, unwilling to let executives express their personal viewpoints on issues unrelated to their jobs? I’ve seen many such worries expressed online; even supporters of same-sex marriage have been characterizing Mr. Eich’s ouster as an awful precedent for giving in to moralistic mob rule.

But it’s a mistake to draw any such conclusions in this case, for one simple reason: Mozilla is not a normal company. It is an activist organization. Mozilla’s primary mission isn’t to make money but to spread open-source code across the globe in the eventual hope of promoting “the development of the Internet as a public resource.”

As such, Mozilla operates according to a different calculus from most of the rest of corporate America.

Read more: https://newsbusters.org/blogs/tim-graham/2014/04/05/ny-times-mozilla-ceos-anti-gay-stance-definition-disqualifying-he-needed#ixzz2yBkFR1gD

Posted on April 7, 2014June 27, 2021 by James — Leave a comment

Village Council Public 2014 Budget Hearings – April 7, 10

Village Council Public 2014 Budget Hearings – April 7, 10

The Village Council has scheduled several Public Budget Hearings to take place in Village Hall, 131 N. Maple Avenue, Ridgewood.

Financial Advisory Committee Meeting – April 7

Notice: The Financial Advisory Committee (FAC) will meet on Monday, April 7 instead of their standard of the 2nd Monday of the month. The meeting will take place at 7:30PM in the Garden Room, Village Hall.

Wednesday, March 19 from 5 – 7PM in the Court Room;

Friday, March 21 from 5 – 7PM in the Court Room;

Thursday, March 27 from 5 – 9:30PM in the Senior Center;

Monday, April 7 from 5 – 7PM in the Court Room;

Thursday, April 10 from 5 to 10PM in the Senior Center

Departments Hearings:

March 19 – Overview of Budget, Community Services – Building Dept; Zoining, Health Dept, Tax Assessor.

March 21 – 5PM Police Department; 5:45PM Fire Department; 6:30PM MIS

March 27 – 5PM Village Council, 5:15 PM Insurance & Debt Service, 5:45PM Engineering, 7:30PM Traffic & Signal, W.P.C.F., Property Maintenance, Parking, Utilities, 7:30PM Municipal Clerk & Elections, 8PM NWBCD

April 7 – 5PM Municipal Court & Public Defender, 5:30PM Emergency Services, 5:45PM Emergency Management, 6PM Library, 6:45PM Village Manager

April 10 – 5PM Parks & Recreation, Project Pride, Graydon Pool, 6PM Streets, Fleet Services, Recycling, Yard Waste Recycling, Solid Waste, 7PM Water Dept., 7:45PM Finance, Tax Collection, Village Attorney

Schedule to TBD for other departments

Posted on April 7, 2014June 27, 2021 by James — 8 Comments

Lexus plows through fence onto railroad right-of-way

Lexus plows through fence onto railroad right-of-way
April 7th 2014
Boyd A. Loving
3:06 PM

Ridgewood NJ, The driver of a Lexus sedan wound up on the wrong side of a chain link fence on Monday afternoon while attempting to pull into a parking space in the rear of a medical office building located at 505 Goffle Road, Ridgewood. Ridgewood Police Department officers removed both uninjured occupants of the vehicle and safely escorted them away from an active railroad line. Ridgewood Fire Department personnel assisted in the removal of a portion of the fence to facilitate recovery of the Lexus. It is believed the driver may have mistaken the accelerator pedal for the brake pedal. A flatbed tow truck removed the car from the scene.

Photo credit: Boyd A. Loving

Posted on April 7, 2014January 20, 2019 by James — 7 Comments

North Jersey homeowners joining trend of raising chickens in the back yard

North Jersey homeowners joining trend of raising chickens in the back yard

April 6, 2014, 10:56 PM Last updated: Monday, April 7, 2014, 6:47 AM
By LINDA MOSS
Staff Writer
The Record

Victor Alfieri doesn’t mind ruffling a few feathers when it comes to chickens. For years he passionately battled with officials in Wayne to win the right to keep egg-laying hens in his back yard.

Alfieri, a 43-year-old Dumont native, said that he and his wife, Michele, 39, were early advocates of the sustainability and urban homesteading movement in North Jersey. They decided to start growing their own food in 2006 at their Wayne home, and later began to keep hens to produce eggs.

“We were kind of in on the beginning of it in this particular area,” Alfieri said. “We kind of opened a lot of eyes.”

Health-conscious American consumers are increasingly crying foul about the antibiotics, growth hormones, pesticides, herbicides, genetic engineering and the age of the fare they are eating. For people like Alfieri, who is known as The Chicken Man, the solution is to seize control and produce your own fruits and vegetables, and raise your own hens for all-natural, organic eggs.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/north-jersey-homeowners-joining-trend-of-raising-chickens-in-the-back-yard-1.842748#sthash.1yn5kwJJ.dpuf

Posted on April 7, 2014April 7, 2014 by James — Leave a comment

Legal showdown looms on cellphone privacy

Legal showdown looms on cellphone privacy

APRIL 6, 2014 LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, APRIL 6, 2014, 1:21 AM
BY KIBRET MARKOS
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

As new technology continues to collide with privacy rights, the U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear arguments this month in two cases involving police searches of cellphones that could have a major impact on the privacy of everyone who carries a mobile device.

The cases are being watched closely by the country’s top civil liberties groups, privacy advocates and constitutional scholars, many who’ve joined in with filings in defense of privacy. The high court’s stand will guide how courts across the country will apply constitutional privacy rights and the safeguards against unreasonable searches in the age of smartphones, tablets, phablets, Google Glass and “wearable” computers.

“Technology changes the nature of the game,” said Christopher Slobogin, a law professor at Vanderbilt University and author of “Privacy at Risk: The New Government Surveillance and the Fourth Amendment.”

“The justices would need to rethink what the Fourth Amendment is all about,” he said. The amendment protects against unreasonable searches.

It was discord between courts at opposite ends of the country that landed the issue before the justices. In one case, police arrested Brima Wurie of Boston in 2007 on suspicion of selling drugs, and, after taking him to a police station, they seized two cellphones and searched his call log.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/legal-showdown-looms-on-cellphone-privacy-1.842607#sthash.keVxwnli.dpuf

Posted on April 7, 2014April 7, 2014 by James — Leave a comment

GOP Backs Minor Change in Obamacare to help small business

GOP Backs Minor Change in Obamacare to help small business
Apr 6, 12:10 PM (ET)
By DAVID ESPO

WASHINGTON (AP) – At the prodding of business organizations, House Republicans quietly secured a recent change in President Barack Obama’s health law to expand coverage choices, a striking, one-of-a-kind departure from dozens of high-decibel attempts to repeal or dismember it.

Democrats describe the change involving small-business coverage options as a straightforward improvement of the type they are eager to make, and Obama signed it into law. Republicans are loath to agree, given the strong sentiment among the rank and file that the only fix the law deserves is a burial.

“Maybe you say it helps (Obamacare), but it really helps the small businessman,” said Rep. Phil Roe, R-Tenn., one of several physician-lawmakers among Republicans and an advocate of repeal.

No member of the House GOP leadership has publicly hailed the fix, which was tucked, at Republicans’ request, into legislation preventing a cut in payments to doctors who treat Medicare patients.

It is unclear how many members of the House rank and file knew of it because the legislation was passed by a highly unusual voice vote without debate.

https://apnews.myway.com/article/20140406/DAD0NOP00.html

Posted on April 7, 2014April 9, 2020 by James — 13 Comments

Reader says I don’t understand the poisonous anti-development sentiment

Reader says I don’t understand the poisonous anti-development sentiment

Is anyone thinking that, as detailed in this post, the inventory of apartments in Ridgewood is old with limited ability to modernize because of the types of buildings that were the style in 1915 and again in the 1950′s are not want people want today? Is anyone thinking that newer and more modern style apartment will attract young professionals who want to start a life in Ridgewood and empty nesters who want to stay in Ridgewood? That combination will bring a vibrancy to Ridgewood so this will not just be a village with parents of school age children who leave when the kids graduate.

As a parent, I find the box of kleenex on the back to school supply list offensive beyond words but I do it and for our children, we write cheeks all year long for teams, field trips, concerts, book fairs, etc., etc. It is called the cost of living in a Village with high expectations for the schools. It is the cost of living so close to NYC.

I don’t understand the poisonous anti-development sentiment and the yard signs that imply the end of the world as we know it if things change.

Posted on April 7, 2014April 6, 2014 by James — 2 Comments

Reader says Never before have the Ridgewood BOE and municipal budgets ever been stretched so thin

Reader says Never before have the Ridgewood BOE and municipal budgets ever been stretched so thin

Never before have the Ridgewood BOE and municipal budgets ever been stretched so thin. During each of those waves in Ridgewood’s growth you mention above the BOE was still able to maintain their buildings and absorb the growth that resulted from these apartments. That is no longer the case. Our budget cannot afford to repair our current buildings, hire more teachers or build more classrooms. Unless you are looking for another $48 million dollar bond referendum in less than 5 years.

As a parent, I am tired of paying taxes and then being told that I need to raise money to pay for an outdated and unsafe playground, or new risers to replace the unsafe 30 year old ones for my child’s vocal concert or buy non-fiction books to fill the classroom libraries. All of that was covered by our BOE budget before years and years of this gradual growth.
All this growth also occurred before our streets were so filled with cars that even the traffic experts say we can’t handle one more car on our streets. I’m not sure how many pedestrians were hit by cars back then, but I’m guessing it was less than half the number we have today.

The point is, what is being proposed is a change to the Master Plan which would allow for enormous and sudden growth. Nothing like what you outlined above.

Posted on April 7, 2014June 27, 2021 by James — 33 Comments

Reader says It’s simple math. The financial condition of the Village is such that new hires are completely out of the question

Reader says It’s simple math. The financial condition of the Village is such that new hires are completely out of the question

It’s simple math. The financial condition of the Village is such that new hires are completely out of the question. Unlike the Federal Government that can print money, the Village of Ridgewood can’t. We can all play the blame game of how we got here. Incompetence. Stolen quarters. Nepotism. Unsustainable pension schemes. We can also talk about raising extra revenue. The problem with raising taxes is that Ridgewood competes with other similar jurisdictions, and if you raise taxes here, that raises the incentive to move elsewhere.

Bottom line, guys. Just like the rest of us who work in the real world. You do more with less. I think I speak for many of us when I say that we all are doing jobs that were not very long ago, being done by more people. It sucks, and we go into work each day with an element of worry wondering if it’s our day to get called into HR

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