MARCH 26, 2014 LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2014, 1:28 PM
Ridgewood has signed an administrative consent order (ACO) handed down by the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), which cited the municipality last year for improperly discharging water from Graydon Pool into the Ho-Ho-Kus Brook. As part of the ACO, the village has agreed to pay the $25,000 fine linked to the infractions.
On two occasions last May, DEP representatives observed the village pumping water from the pool and into the nearby Ho-Ho-Kus Brook, a practice that Ridgewood employees said they have done for many years. Environmental officials noted that the discharge contained mud and other sediment, a violation of the Water Pollution Control Act.
Ridgewood engineering officials last fall explained that the first few minutes of flow from Graydon’s pumps are usually “quite turbid,” and that initial discharge was what led to the initial DEP citation. The DEP initially levied a $50,000 fine to the village, but appeals filed by Ridgewood cut the amount in half.
“We did try through various channels, but unfortunately they can’t reduce it more than 50 percent,” acting Village Manager Heather Mailander explained earlier this month.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/community-news/ridgewood-pays-25k-fine-issued-by-dep-1.751441#sthash.C22g5jXD.dpuf
Citigroup Fails Fed’s Stress Test as BofA Gets Dividend Boost
By Michael J. Moore and Elizabeth Dexheimer Mar 27, 2014 12:00 AM ET
Citigroup Inc.’s capital plan was among five that failed Federal Reserve stress tests, while Bank of America Corp. won approval for its first dividend increase since the financial crisis.
Lenders announced more than $60 billion of dividends and stock buybacks after the Fed approved capital plans for 25 of the 30 banks in its annual exam. Citigroup, as well as U.S. units of Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, HSBC Holdings Plc and Banco Santander SA, failed because of concerns about the quality of their processes, the central bank said yesterday in a statement. Zions Bancorporation failed after its capital fell below Fed minimums in a simulation of a severe economic slump.
The results show lenders may still face obstacles to boosting dividends and buybacks even as regulators say the firms have doubled their capital since the first public stress test in 2009. The Fed is increasing scrutiny of the industry’s controls and planning processes as concerns about capital levels wane.
‘Fragile’ Port Newark/Elizabeth weighs on N.J. economy
MARCH 27, 2014 LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, MARCH 27, 2014, 12:28 AM
BY CHRISTOPHER MAAG
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
When the movement of cargo through the shipping terminals in Port Newark/Elizabeth seized up this winter, causing long truck lines that nearly spilled onto the New Jersey Turnpike, people at the port started pointing fingers. Truckers said the longshoremen were lazy. Longshoremen accused the truckers of being disorganized.
And everyone blamed the weather. This past winter’s snowfall “is the root cause of the delays,” said John Nardi, president of the New York Shipping Association.
But a closer look shows that crises at Port Newark/Elizabeth, often called simply Port Newark, are increasingly common and stem from a complex mix of factors, including manpower problems, antiquated procedures and turf battles. The port has closed or nearly closed four times in the last 15 months, twice when the weather was not in play.
“This port is fragile,” said Rick Larrabee, director of port commerce for the Port Authority.
GWB scandal: Gee Wiz, There was a traffic jam but was there a crime?
MARCH 25, 2014, 10:44 PM LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, MARCH 25, 2014, 10:45 PM
BY STEPHANIE AKIN
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
It was a traffic jam apparently created for political retribution — not an allegation of bribery or kickbacks — that set off the chain of events that has enveloped Governor Christie’s administration in a scandal that has threatened to derail his presidential ambitions.
Almost from the beginning of the scandal, there has been speculation about what laws may have been broken or what charges could be brought as the circumstances did not mesh with statutes typically called upon for political corruption cases.
In addition, all of the key parties have denied or are staying quiet about involvement. Christie has repeatedly said he did not know about the order to close the Fort Lee approach lanes to the George Washington Bridge. And an internal report commissioned by Christie and expected to be released shortly reportedly clears the governor of any involvement.
Morning Coffee: Flo’s Market to Open inside Ridgewood train station
MARCH 25, 2014 LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, MARCH 25, 2014, 11:00 AM
In less than one month, rail commuters will have the chance to purchase their morning cup of java at the Ridgewood train station – a service that the busiest depot along New Jersey Transit’s Bergen and Main lines has operated without for nearly five years.
Last Wednesday, the Ridgewood Council awarded a two-year lease to Woodcliff Lake-based Be Power LLC, which will operate Flo’s Market inside the station building. The concession stand is an extension of Flo’s Market neighborhood store in Hawthorne.
According to acting Village Manager Heather Mailander, the company will pay the municipality $1,500 per month to use the recently renovated vending area. Mailander said the village requires that the operator open the business within 30 days of awarding the contract.
At an informal walk-through of the facility in January, six separate entities retrieved bid packages to run the coffee station from 5:30 to 10 a.m. during the weekday commute. Four bids were returned by the filing deadline, Mailander said.
Obama administration will allow more time to enroll in health care on federal marketplace
By Amy Goldstein, Published: March 25
The Obama administration has decided to give extra time to Americans who say that they are unable to enroll in health plans through the federal insurance marketplace by the March 31 deadline.
Federal officials confirmed Tuesday evening that all consumers who have begun to apply for coverage on HealthCare.gov, but who do not finish by Monday, will have until about mid-April to ask for an extension.
Under the new rules, people will be able to qualify for an extension by checking a blue box on HealthCare.gov to indicate that they tried to enroll before the deadline. This method will rely on an honor system; the government will not try to determine whether the person is telling the truth.
The rules, which will apply to the federal exchanges operating in three dozen states, will essentially create a large loophole even as White House officials have repeatedly said that the March 31 deadline was firm. The extra time will not technically alter the deadline but will create a broad new category of people eligible for what’s known as a special enrollment period.
The change, which the administration is scheduled to announce Wednesday, is supported by consumer advocates who want as many people as possible to gain insurance under the 2010 Affordable Care Act. But it’s likely to be criticized by Republicans who oppose the law and have denounced the way the administration is implementing it.
Administration officials said the accommodation is an attempt to prepare for a possible surge of people trying to sign up in the final days before the deadline. Such a flood could leave some people unable to get through the system.
“We are . . . making sure that we will be ready to help consumers who may be in line by the deadline to complete enrollment — either online or over the phone,” said Julie Bataille, director of the office of communications for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the agency overseeing the federal health-care exchange.
The extra time will not be restricted, though, to people who wait until the last minute to try to sign up. Although no one will be asked why they need an extension, the idea is to help people whose applications have been held up because of the Web site’s technical problems, or who haven’t been able to get the system to calculate subsidies to help them pay for coverage.
Follow the Money : Get to know the Common Core marketing overlords
By Michelle Malkin • March 21, 2014 07:33 AM
They’re everywhere. Turn on Fox News, local news, Animal Planet, HGTV, The Family Channel or talk radio. Pro-Common Core commercials have been airing ad nauseam in a desperate attempt to persuade American families to support the beleaguered federal education standards/testing/technology racket. Who’s funding these public relations pushes? D.C. lobbyists, entrenched politicians and Big Business interests.
The foundational myth of Common Core is that it’s a “state-led” initiative with grassroots support that was crafted by local educators for the good of all of our children. But the cash and power behind the new ad campaign tell you all you need to know. For parents in the know, this will be a refresher course. But repeated lies must be countered with redoubled truths.
The Bipartisan Policy Center is one of the leading Common Core adsponsors. It’s a self-described nonprofit “think tank” founded by a pantheon of Beltway barnacles: former Senate Majority Leaders Howard Baker, Tom Daschle, Bob Dole and George Mitchell.
“Lobbying tank” would be more accurate. The BPC’s “senior fellows” include K Street influence peddlers such as liberal Republican Robert Bennett, the big-spending Utah senator-turned-lobbyist booted from office by tea party conservatives; former Democratic Agriculture Secretary and House member-turned-lobbyist Dan Glickman; and liberal Democrat Byron Dorgan, the former North Dakota senator who crusaded as an anti-D.C. lobbying populist before retiring from office to work as, you guessed it, a D.C. lobbyist.
Jeb Bush’s “Foundation for Excellence in Education” is also saturatingthe airwaves with ads trying to salvage Common Core in the face of truly bipartisan, truly grassroots opposition in his own home state of Florida. As I’ve reported previously, the former GOP governor’s foundation is tied at the hip to the federally funded testing consortium called PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers), which pulled in $186 million through the Obama administration’s Race to the Top program to develop Common Core tests.
New Jersey’s veterans had an unemployment rate of 10.8 percent in 2013, the highest of all 50 states, according to new data released last week by the U.S. Department of Labor. (https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/vet.pdf)
New Jersey’s 10.8 percent veterans’ unemployment rate is a significant increase from 2012’s rate of 10 percent and far higher than the national rate of 6.6 percent, and much higher than the rates in neighboring states like Pennsylvania (7.7 percent) and New York (8.2 percent). It is also a much higher rate than New Jersey’s 2013 unemployment rate for non-veterans (7.8 percent).
“New Jersey is in the unenviable position of adding another ‘first in the nation’ milestone: first in foreclosures, first in its percentage of jobless out of work for more than six months, and, now, first in the rate of unemployed veterans,” said Gordon MacInnes, president of New Jersey Policy Perspective. “This should be enough to halt the administration’s boastful claims that its singular focus on tax cuts and incentives for large corporations is working for the rest of us.” (PolitickerNJ)
NJ lawmaker introducing bill to legalize marijuana
Adults in New Jersey would be able to buy up to an ounce of marijuana and grow their own plants all while the state takes its cut in taxes.
That’s the plan from a Democratic lawmaker who announced the details Monday.
Sen. Nicholas Scutari, D-Union, also said too many people were carrying around criminal convictions that carried permanent consequences because of petty marijuana laws.
The bill he introduced Monday would legalize marijuana possession and use for those who are at least 21 years old. If it does become lawn, and there is strong opposition to it from Governor Christie, New Jersey would be the first on the east coast and third state in the country to legalize the substance.
Individuals would be able to carry around less than an ounce of the substance, which would be distributed by legitimate businesses and taxed at a 7 percent rate. Taxes would go to road repairs, a drug enforcement fund and women’s health.
Christie has said he is against legalization. Currently, a limited number of strictly regulated medical marijuana distributors are operated in the state.
“It would bring marijuana out of the underground market,” Scutari said. “Just as alcohol has been for decades.” (Phillis/The Record)
Bergen County Exec’s race: Attempt to add two freeholders to county police merger lawsuits fans family ties flames
HACKENSACK – The ongoing legal battle related to the proposed merger of the Bergen County Police Department and the county’s Sheriff’s Office took another twist last week when County Executive Kathleen Donovan, the Republican incumbent seeking re-election in November, attempted to add an ethics complaint against two Democratic freeholders into the police merger lawsuit.
Donovan has struggled with the freeholder board over plans to merge the Bergen County Police Department and the county Sheriff’s Office. Donovan is opposed to the plan, while the majority of the freeholder board, now controlled by the Democrats by a 5-2 veto-proof margin, supports the move. The final decision depends on the outcome of ongoing legal battles related to the merger proposal.
As part of this wider struggle, Donovan has called on two Democratic freeholders, Steve Tanelli and David Ganz, whose son and daughter respectively are employed by the Sherriff”s Office, to recuse themselves from law enforcement issues.
Tanelli, whose son Dan is an investigator with the crime scene unit, and Ganz, whose daughter Pam works a a clerk for the sheriff, declined to do so. (Bonamo/PolitickerNJ)
Food Fight: Local Delis, Students Upset Over New Bergen Schools Rules On Food Deliveries
Officials: We Don’t Want Outsiders In Our Buildings; Bring Lunch Or Buy Here
March 24, 2014 6:34 PM
RIDGEWOOD, N.J. (CBSNewYork) — It’s a trend that is being stopped in its tracks.
Administrators in one New Jersey school district have put a stop to food deliveries during school hours. It had become a popular alternative to the school cafeteria.
For 5,900 students in Bergen County it’s a simple directive: either carry in your lunch or buy it at the cafeteria. No more delivery.
A local deli owner told CBS 2’s Lou Young the new rule is killing him.
“I used to do 150 lunches on a slow day, up to 250 a day. I was in eight schools, and now that’s down to zero,” said Roger Schmorrbusch, owner of the Park Wood Deli.
Village of Ridgewood leading Example of Sustainability Planning in New Jersey in Planning for Sustainable Communities Guide
Mar 24, 2014
Ridgewoood NJ, Natural Systems Utilities, LLC (NSU) announces a new publication, “Planning for Sustainable Communities: Master Plan Guidance for New Jersey Officials.” This publication, written and published by the New Jersey Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA-NJ), guides New Jersey municipalities through the process of planning for sustainability in their towns. This effort, led by NSU Senior Planner, Angela S. Clerico, PP/AICP, LEED AP and Co-chair of the APA-NJ’s Sustainability Committee, originated in response to the State’s legislation amending the Municipal Land Use Law to include the Green Building and Environmental Sustainability Plan as an integral part of the municipal master plan. Charles Latini, PP/AICP and APA-NJ Chapter President, comments that “land use planning saves towns money, creates new jobs, and protects natural resources. By doing this in a more sustainable manner we ensure a better future for generations to come.”
This guide deconstructs the traditional municipal master plan and offers new sustainability language to each of the master plan elements, with sound local and global examples that any NJ municipality can tailor to their needs. These changes are occurring at an opportune time, in light of recent extreme weather events and ongoing planning for future events. NJ communities realize that developing short-term resiliency actions and long-term sustainability goals can occur in concert with one another as part of a comprehensive triple bottom line (TBL) approach. TBL is measured by economic, ecological and societal value, and is being applied to municipal planning, ensuring strong ECONOMIC opportunities, preserving NATURAL resources, and creating healthier COMMUNITIES.
NSU’s newly appointed CEO, Chuck Gordon, commented that sustainability planning in New Jersey is very much “in line with how NSU operates its business and its facilities within communities in New Jersey and across the country. NSU takes a comprehensive approach to our operations management and when advising clients on the best solutions for their triple bottom line. We deploy strategies that are in line with the community’s social and environmental values and their financial capabilities.”
“This guide demonstrates how closely linked our economics are with our environment and the well-being of our communities. It gives NJ community’s sound examples for taking a proactive approach to achieving sustainability and developing action plans; similar to the approach taken by the Village of Ridgewood,” said Dennis Doll, CEO of Middlesex Water Company, a partner to NSU on an innovative renewable energy project in the Village of Ridgewood. The Village of Ridgewood’s Green Team, a volunteer-based committee, created a similar action plan for the community which resulted in the Village updating the wastewater treatment plant to incorporate more sustainable technologies. This program included higher efficiency operations, renewable energy production, and recycling of food wastes such as fats, oils, and grease (FOG) from local restaurants and food-related industries.
“It is our intention that communities will use this guide to review their current policies and programs and, like Ridgewood, enhance their practices to be more sustainable,” Ms. Clerico stated. Since the guide was released on February 28, 2014, it has reached over 7,500 individuals and organizations ranging from community environmental commission members to land use attorneys, elected officials, professional planners and engineers. The APA-NJ Sustainability Committee plans to hold educational programs on the topics covered in the guide and as new research and resources emerge the guide will be continually updated with new examples.
The Planning for Sustainable Communities: Master Plan Guidance for New Jersey Officials guide is available at: https://njplanning.org/news/apa-nj-releases-planning-for-sustainable-communities-master-plan-guidance-for-new-jersey-officials/.
For more information on Natural Systems Utilities, LLC, Sustainability Planning, please contact Ms. Clerico at [email protected].
Ridgewood school board sends spending plan to county
MARCH 24, 2014 LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, MARCH 24, 2014, 11:02 AM
BY LAURA HERZOG
STAFF WRITER
The Board of Education (BOE) has approved Ridgewood’s preliminary 2014-2015 school year budget.
The spending plan will now be submitted to and reviewed by the executive county superintendent of schools.
The proposed $86,223,037 local tax levy features a 1.908 percent property tax hike, amounting to $172.80 more in school taxes for the owner of an average assessed home in the village, valued at $688,358.
If the executive county superintendent approves the proposed budget, Ridgewood’s public hearing on the spending plan will take place at 7:30 p.m. on April 28 at the Education Center on Cottage Place. Additional budget presentations are planned for April (see page B3 for details).
There will be no public budget vote this year, in light of the board’s decision last year to forgo April school board elections.
Business Administrator Michael Falkowski’s updated 2014-2015 budget presentation, which he presented to the board on Monday, is now available online via a link on the district’s homepage.
During Monday’s presentation, Falkowski emphasized next year’s technology upgrades, building improvements and Ridgewood’s high educational ranking. Ridgewood High School is in the top 1 percent of the nation and No. 2 in New Jersey, excluding specialty high schools, based on a U.S. News & World Report 2013 ranking, he noted.
Reader feels a a bad Precedent has been set for Ridgewood coin thief
All I know is there should be people lining their pockets with municipal funds nationwide by now. Apparently, all you need to worry about is paying it back, and that’s only if you get caught. And, they’ll let you use your vacation and pension to do it! Precedent has been set.
I want to see a separate account established to receive his monthly payments, and I want to see it made public so that anyone who is interested can know the day he falls behind in payments. And when this gentlemen declares bankruptcy (which he will, trust me) to get the debt expunged, I want him in jail the next day. But that’s not how this is going to happen. He will file for bankruptcy, keep his house, and never have to pay a cent. You will see him at Raymonds with a BMW parked out front.
This is fucking bullshit, and I get angrier every time I read about it.
Readers divided over No-jail plea deal for Ridgewood coin thief
I suspect that during the course of the investigation, it became evident that others were helping themselves to the coins. Whether Rica himself provided this information or not, it might be a case of the prosecutor wanting to keep this additional thievery out of the public domain as it would certainly have surfaced had Rica gone to trial. This was probably the crux of the no-jailtime plea deal. Even if Rica was the only thief, a trial would have brought up a lot of information about supervisors not carrying out written control procedures.
and some think …
If he gets charged with a federal charge…say tax evasion, then if he is convicted, a judge could impose paying back the $480,000 as part of sentencing. If that happens, then filing bankruptcy does not allow him to discharge that debt.
I am not sure if the state statutes allow him to file a bankruptcy if part of his sentence is to pay back the money.
Also, if he had ‘info’ on others as the original post stated, then he wouldn’t be sentenced until AFTER he testifies so I’m thinking he doesn’t have anything on anyone else in the Village. He just got a great once-in-a-lifetime deal due to a very good lawyer.
