Readers say hospital planner DID NOT say Valley Expansion was a good idea for Ridgewood
While he acknowledged that they did a nice job designing a 454 bed modern hospital, he DID NOT say it was a good idea for Ridgewood. He said the Planning Board would have to decide if this is something they would want built in Ridgewood. He offered absolutely no expert testimony on what a construction project like this would do to the town, the surrounding area, the schools and the quality of life for the residents. He did not answer any of the questions pertinent to LIVING in Ridgewood. His company has built some very pretty hospitals. Not here, thank you.
He’s a hospital planner and this is the testimony you would expect from him. Of course it’s good planning for Valley and I’m sure it’s a great design but it’s not suitable for the corner of Linwood and Van Dien. Valley needs to put their proposed hospital on a larger lot in a non-residential neighborhood. Enough already.
Ex-Ridgewood inspector gets probation after stealing nearly half-million in quarters
MARCH 21, 2014, 7:35 PM LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, MARCH 21, 2014, 7:35 PM
BY CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
Veteran defense attorneys could only describe it as a sweetheart-like deal — a former town official being convicted of stealing nearly half a million dollars and walking away with a slap on the wrist instead of going to prison.
“It’s startling to see that type of plea bargain,” said Frank Lucianna, of the deal given to Thomas Rica. “I’ve never seen anything like that.”
Related: Ex-Ridgewood inspector admits to stealing $460,000 in quarters from village
The deal, which was orchestrated by the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office and Rica’s attorney, Robert Galantucci, calls for the former Ridgewood public works inspector to receive five years’ probation when he’s is sentenced June 6. Rica also will have to repay the $460,000 in parking meter quarters he stole over a two-year period.
The sentence also caught village officials off-guard.
In a statement, Mayor Paul Aronsohn said that “the Prosecutor’s Office was clear with us that this was their investigation and their decision, and that we had no say in the matter.”
Aronsohn added: “We were surprised and disappointed that he wasn’t going to get jail time, but I appreciate the prosecutor’s determination to recoup all of the money stolen from Ridgewood taxpayers.”
Rica has to pay at least $2,000 a month over the next five years to Ridgewood, with a lump sum of $69,000 due at sentencing. Rica’s pension with Ridgewood will also count towards his overall debt, as will his unpaid personal time from the village.
Still, it’s the kind of plea deal any defense attorney would be thrilled to get for their client, Luciana said, especially since mandatory sentencing guidelines instituted by the state’s Supreme Court in 1979 imposed five- to 10-year prison terms for theft of anything worth over $75,000.
Reviving Suburbia: Giving Aging Malls and Office Parks a New Lease on Life
Rather than standing empty, yesterday’s archetypes of suburban sprawl are being reinvented as vibrant places to work, play, and live.
Holmdel’s iconic Bell Labs Research complex — the site of at least one Nobel prize discovery — now has another distinction, one that residents and elected officials would sooner do without.
The circa 1962 complex is the largest empty office building in the nation.
Architecturally significant for its mirrored glass façade, the 2 million-square-foot facility has sat abandoned on its 473-acre campus since 2006.
The empty building exemplifies the deep trouble that New Jersey’s office parks and shopping centers face, victims of the recent trend that favors reinvesting in urban centers over continuing suburban and exurban sprawl — a trend taking hold across the state and the country.
This urban migration compounds the problem of an existing glut of retail space that real estate analyst Jeff Otteau predicts will meet the state’s needs for another 17 years. He also cites a surfeit of office space that won’t be used up until 2043. And because the state’s suburban corporate and commercial construction boomed more than 20 years ago, the New Jersey League of Municipalities Educational Foundation calls the current building stock not just aging but obsolete.
Some developers and municipalities are finding success creatively reusing these so-called stranded assets, converting them into mixed-use projects that offer a place to live and a place to work — vibrant daytime and nighttime activities.
But to do that, they first have to ensure cooperation from the public and loosen zoning restrictions that allow for corporate or commercial use only. Only then can they hope to reverse the tide and keep these structures relevant.
“Information technology, globalization, and demographics have changed the very internal functions of office buildings, and their preferred locations,” the foundation wrote last summer to promote a forum on redeveloping suburban office parks. (Nurin/NJSpotlight)
Christie administration outlines $700 million in mid-year cuts to balance budget
March 21, 2014, 10:49 AM Last updated: Friday, March 21, 2014, 1:04 PM
By JOHN REITMEYER
STATE HO– USE BUREAU
The Record
Nearly every state department will see some funding reduced in a series of spending cuts totaling nearly $700 million that Governor Christie says is needed now to help keep New Jersey’s $33 billion budget in balance.
Christie’s administration announced the midyear cuts — spending adjustments called “lapses” in state budget documents — in late February, but the administration did not detail at the time which departments and programs would see budget reductions.
In all, the administration is making cuts to 70 different programs spanning 12 different departments, as well as several accounts that are shared by state departments. The Department of Education will lose the most funding, with $223.1 million cut from its budget, followed by the Department of Human Services, which is losing $148.5 million.
The spending lapses, which total $694 million, were announced in late February as the $33 billion budget Christie signed in June was running a revenue shortfall estimated to be as high as $400 million.
The budget adjustments will also help offset two midyear changes to the spending plan Christie signed last year. Treasury reduced its revenue forecast by roughly $250 million in February, and it also reported $292 million in supplemental spending added the Christie’s original budget plan.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/christie-administration-outlines-700-million-in-mid-year-cuts-to-balance-budget-1.748079#sthash.kmmNa97W.dpuf
‘Antisocial network’ Cloak helps users avoid their friends
UPI 3/20/2014 8:10:00 PM
LOS ANGELES, March 20 (UPI) —
A pair of U.S. developers have created Cloak, an iPhone “antisocial network” to help users avoid running into their friends.
Cloak, created by programmer Brian Moore and former Buzzfeed creative director Chris Baker, is billed as the “antisocial network” and uses check-in data from Foursquare and Instagram to allow users to see the locations of their friends on a map, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.
“Avoid exes, co-workers, that guy who likes to stop and chat — anyone you’d rather not run into,” the app description in the iTunes store reads.
The app also allows users to “flag” certain friends and they will receive notifications when the flagged friends show up within a certain range.
The developers said they are planning to add more social networks to Cloak.
Sharyl Attkisson: There Is Coordination Between Reporters And Politicians
March 21, 2014 10:31 AM
By Chris Stigall
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Chris Stigall talked to former CBS News Reporter Sharyl Attkisson this morning on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT about the trouble reporters have to deal with while covering politicians and the government, as well as the current state of investigative reporting.
Responding to comments regarding a Phoenix television reporter yesterday who initially claimed that the White House pre-screens questions from reporters, Attkisson said, “I wouldn’t surprised if sometimes there is that level of cooperation with some questions. If I need something answered from the White House and they won’t tell me, I’ll call our White House Correspondent. They’re friendlier with the White House Correspondents in general. So the White House Correspondent may ask Jay Carney or one of his folks about an issue and they will be told ‘ask that at the briefing and we’ll answer it.’ They want to answer it in front of everybody. They do know it’s coming and they’ll call on you. There’s that kind of coordination sometimes. I wouldn’t be shocked if there’s sometimes more coordination. I don’t think it’s everybody on every briefing, every day. I’m pretty sure it’s not. But I think people would be surprised at the level of cooperation reporters have in general with politicians.”
Listen to full podcast here…
She also said it is more and more difficult for investigative reporters to get their stories published or on the air because of the trouble it may cause.
“Nobody was interested in the stories. It didn’t seem to matter what the topic was. There’s sort of a problem all over, I talk to my colleagues in different mediums. There’s just a lot of pressure. Investigative reporting gets a lot of backlash. They don’t quite know how to deal with it. Why not just put on stories that don’t draw that kind of response?”
Attkisson also confirmed she’s working on a book about how stories are reported in the media.
Ridgewood High school classroom mimics crime scene
MARCH 21, 2014 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, MARCH 21, 2014, 12:31 AM
BY LAURA HERZOG
STAFF WRITER
The classroom was a crime scene.
Caution tape was everywhere.
A dead body lay sprawled on the floor.
This, of course, wasn’t a real crime (or a real body), but it was there to help simulate a real investigation.
The fake, model body on the floor was part of a lesson in Karen Walters’ forensics class for Ridgewood High School (RHS) seniors. Now in its second year, the new interdisciplinary college-level course allows students to learn a variety of subjects while using hands-on techniques, sometimes to solve classroom crimes.
And it’s not just faux deaths that the class investigates.
Once, the students discovered that their classroom had – surprise – been the subject of a burglary.
That classroom burglary was executed before class by Walters, who said she “should have gotten an Emmy” for her acting performance that day.
RHS Softball Scoop Night Fundraiser is Tuesday, March 25
RHS Softball players will be scooping ice cream at the Ridgewood Ben & Jerry’s to raise funds for the softball program. Please come out and support the girls from 5-9 p.m.
Ridgewood RHS. boys indoor track : The Record Indoor Track Team of the Year
MARCH 21, 2014 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, MARCH 21, 2014, 1:21 AM
BY PAUL SCHWARTZ
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
There’s an old saying that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. That’s very true of the Ridgewood squad that was The Record Boys Indoor Track Team of the Year.
No individual Ridgewood athletes made All-North Jersey First Team or Second Team and nobody was selected All-Bergen First Team.
Yet the Maroons were the best team in North Jersey, with an overwhelming victory at the Big North Freedom meet and a seven-point win in the Bergen County Relays large school division. And despite losing by seven to West Orange in the Group 4 sectionals, the Maroons were still worthy of the honor.
“When some of our better athletes didn’t perform up to expectations, others stepped up,” Ridgewood coach Josh Saladino said. “Maybe our best performances came after a bad meet as our kids rebounded from meet to meet.”
NJ lawmakers introduce sweeping education reforms aimed at lowering college costs
MARCH 20, 2014, 11:28 AM LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, MARCH 20, 2014, 11:53 PM
BY PATRICIA ALEX
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
A package of bills that would dramatically change everything from how college students pay for their meals and textbooks to how quickly tuition could rise was introduced Thursday by Democratic lawmakers who want to force the state’s colleges to graduate more students and keep costs in check.
But the 20-bill initiative faces several political and practical hurdles in a state that is home to the most expensive higher education in the nation.
The New Jersey Statehouse.
The proposals include a four-year tuition freeze, a tax-credit for student loans and provisions to shut down schools with low-graduation rates. The concepts behind the bills — introduced in the Assembly on Thursday — have appeared elsewhere as states try to grapple with the national problem of escalating college costs, but the sweeping scope of the New Jersey package appears unique.
Assisted living may soon be allowable use in Ridgewood redevelopment area
MARCH 20, 2014 LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, MARCH 20, 2014, 4:39 PM
BY LAURA HERZOG
STAFF WRITER
The North Walnut Street Redevelopment Area, including the long-vacant Town Garage on Franklin Avenue and an adjoining parking lot, is a “dead zone” and the “back alley” of Ridgewood’s downtown, according to some Planning Board members. But Ridgewood may be one step closer to improving it.
The board on Tuesday approved Village Planner Blais Brancheau’s recommendations to update the North Walnut Street Redevelopment Plan.
The current plan was prepared in 2007, after the village formally adopted a resolution designating the area as “in need of redevelopment.” It includes several objectives for the area, including the establishment of a parking garage and retail space (which may be incorporated into the garage structure).
The Planning Board has now made new recommendations for the plan, partly in response to a developer’s proposal this past summer, which suggested that the area would be a good site for an assisted-living facility. That proposal piqued interest in the village, but the North Walnut Street Redevelopment Plan does not currently allow for an assisted-living use.
MARCH 20, 2014 LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, MARCH 20, 2014, 4:33 PM
BY DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER
Ridgewood finance and management officials are working toward a second straight year with a zero percent average tax increase, but they indicated this week that individual departments must seek additional spending cuts to realize that goal.
The Village Council held its first municipal budget public work session Wednesday night, and in traditional fashion, several department supervisors presented and explained their wish lists for 2014.
The department budgets have already gone through at least one round of scrutiny by municipal officials.
Supervisors and other department heads filed their 2014 budgets with the acting village manager and chief finance officer late last year for an initial review and a first set of cuts and recommendations.
Members of the Ridgewood Financial Advisory Committee (FAC) were also a part of that process, according to Heather Mailander, the acting village manager.
Bergen County Republicans have chosen Bob Avery and Bernie Walsh as candidates for Freeholder
March 20,2014
the staff of the Ridgewood blogThe Bergen County Republican convention voting :Bob Avery 456
Bernie Walsh 336
Diedra Paul 277
It was a three way race at BCRO headquarters in downtown Hackensack.
Ridgewood Councilwoman Bernadette Walsh; Robert Avery, a Ridgefield lawyer, and Dierdre Paul, an Englewood educator and author.
The pair of Walsh and Avery bested , Paul and will run on the line with incumbent Republican Executive Kathe Donovan,against Ganz and Voss who are running on the Bergen County Democratic Committee line with Freeholder James Tedesco, who is opposing Donovan.
Ridgewood Police Sixth report of an attempted luring of a child in northern New Jersey
March 19, 2014
There is now a sixth report of an attempted luring of a child in northern New Jersey. In the latest incident, a boy in Hackensack was walking to school on Monday morning when a man asked him if he’d help him find his lost dog. Police are also investigating reports of luring attempts in Leonia, Norwood and Ridgefield Park. Full story at this link:
Ridgewood Chief of Police John Ward has issued a safety message to parents and guardians about recent attempted luring incidents in Bergen County. Please click here to read the letter, which was distributed by Dr. Fishbein yesterday.
MARCH 20, 2014, 2:26 PM LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, MARCH 20, 2014, 10:29 PM
BY JOHN REITMEYER
STATE HO– USE BUREAU
THE RECORD
New Jersey’s average property tax bill grew just over 1 percent last year, to $7,988. But in Bergen County — where the bills already easily exceed the statewide average — property taxes increased to the highest in the state in 2013, according to new data released by the state Department of Community Affairs.
Factoring in all municipal, school and county taxes, bills in Bergen County jumped to an average of $10,642 in 2013, a 1.5 percent increase from the year before. That increase pushed Bergen County past Essex County as the costliest for homeowners in New Jersey in 2013.
In Passaic County, property tax bills went up 1.75 percent on average last year, to $9,368. Passaic County ranked fifth statewide behind Bergen; Essex, $10,590; Union County, $9,932; and Morris County, $9,547.
At the other end of the spectrum, the cheapest average property tax bills were the $3,706 paid by homeowners in Cumberland County, followed by Cape May, $4,557; Salem, $4,871; Ocean, $5,470; and Camden, $5,957.
