Savvy Chic Consignment Boutique is hosting a grand relocation shopping celebration event at their new location
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Time: 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Ridgewood, NJ 07450, 30 Cottage Place
Savvy Chic Consignment Boutique is hosting a grand relocation shopping celebration event at their new location. A portion of all sales to benefit Zoe’s Place, a program of Children’s Aid and Family Services. The mission of Zoe’s Place is to provide safe, supervised housing for pregnant teens and teen moms and their children, and to meet the need for critical
education, skills and support services that will enable the teens to become self-sufficient.
Evening features:
*Complimentary Food & Libations!
*Fashion Show Featuring Zoe’s Place Models! *Cupcakes Compliments of Zoe’s Cupcake Cafe! *Designer Hand Bag Give-Away!
*Cupcake Give-Away!
*Sale Racks as Low as $15!
*Gift Bags for All!
Ridgewood inspector admits to stealing $460,000 in quarters from village
As predicted by this blog
MARCH 19, 2014, 10:20 AM LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19, 2014, 12:00 PM
BY CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
HACKENSACK — A Hawthorne man long employed as Ridgewood’s public works inspector was in court this morning to admit he actually stole nearly half a million dollars in quarters from the village.
Thomas Rica, 43, of Hawthorne, lost his job with the village in January of 2013 following his arrest for taking $500 in coins from Ridgewood’s meter collection room.
But a year-long investigation into his crime by Bergen County authorities revealed Rica, in fact, stole a much larger chunk of change from the village than initially thought.
Instead of hundreds, he took hundreds of thousands of dollars from Ridgewood, in quarter form.
Authorities claim Rica stole $460,000 in quarters from the village.
Rica, authorities said, took the 1.8 million quarters over the course of 25 months, by entering a room in Village Hall where collected parking meter quarters are stored and walking out with full pockets. –
New signs to point shoppers to stores in Ridgewood
MARCH 18, 2014, 12:00 AM LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, MARCH 18, 2014, 11:03 AM
BY DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER
The village will soon install new destination signs at the main crossroads of the Central Business District (CBD), the next phase in the Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce’s effort to boost foot traffic and promote storefronts along the downtown’s side streets.
Nine metal placards, each bearing the name of participating Oak Street retailers, restaurants or other professional services, will be fixed at the northeast corner of the Oak and East Ridgewood Avenue intersection. Chamber members have focused this round of their project on the Oak Street corridor, but they anticipate extending the sign program to other roads, including Chestnut and Broad streets.
The project has taken nearly one year to implement. Officials at the Chamber of Commerce pitched their idea to the Ridgewood Council last March, when business owners Tom Hillmann and Paul Vagianos described the signs as a way to “clean up” the appearance of East Ridgewood Avenue, the main thoroughfare of the downtown area, and direct pedestrians to establishments on the secondary roadways.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/business/new-signs-to-point-shoppers-to-stores-in-ridgewood-1.745105#sthash.sMQokyVQ.dpuf
Councilwoman Gwenn Hauck was Vice President of the Valley Auxiliary and raised millions of dollars for Valley
Readers debate Conflicts of Interest in the Village
Under the Local Government Ethics Law, Financial Disclosure Statements must be filed by April 30th each year, or within 30 days of taking office.
Hopefully the Council changes the financial disclosure forms under N.J.S.A. 40A:9-22.6 to include whether or not an individuals sources of income conduct any business with an entity that is funded in whole or partially by the Village. The Local Government Ethics Law, set forth at N.J.S.A. 40A: 9-22.1 et seq., clearly states that it need not be the official’s own interest that is in conflict with his or her duty to the public. If a member of the official’s immediate family, defined as a spouse or dependant child living in the same household, or a business in which he or she has at least a 10 percent interest, has such a conflict, that conflict is attributed to the official.
Ridgewood planning board consultant favors Valley Hospital expansion
MARCH 19, 2014, 6:24 AM
BY BARBARA WILLIAMS
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
The Valley Hospital’s plan to modernize and completely renovate its campus is a good one, a hospital planning consultant hired by the Ridgewood Planning Board told the board and about 35 residents who attended Tuesday night’s meeting.
The proposal to nearly double in size, providing 454 private rooms with 12-feet high ceilings and space for family members to spend extended periods of time, and larger operating suites that soar 16-feet high, is what many other medical centers are doing now, said James May, an architect and managing principal of healthcare at Perkins Will in New York City.
“As I look as all the things Valley put together, what they are asking for is not unreasonable,” May said. “They are looking into the future. They have done a great job of keeping down the size within this proposal.”
Valley is requesting, for the second time, a master-plan amendment that must be approved by both the Planning Board and Village Council. It is hoping to mushroom from 562,000 square feet to 995,000 square feet, plus an additional 245,000 square-foot parking garage. The new main building would stand 94 feet tall, including rooftop mechanicals.
Hospital administrators say the complex needs to expand to remain competitive in an area known for providing top-notch medical care.
The Planning Board hired May to give his expertise as a hospital planning consultant on Valley’s proposal after a year of hearings where they mainly heard the hospital’s experts talk about the benefit the larger hospital will be to the community. Valley has assured the board and residents that the larger facility will reduce traffic because outpatient services will be moved off campus and the larger buildings will not negatively impact the neighborhood.
State Senator Mike Doherty has endorsed Bernie Walsh for Bergen County Freeholder
In a compelling endorsement NJ Senator Mike Doherty has endorsed Ridgewood Councilwomen Bernie Walsh for Bergen County Freeholder . Senator Doherty has know Bernie for over 30 years and called her an “individual with great intellect, vision , integrity and character” and “based on her outstanding performance as an elected official” he wholeheartedly endorses her .
Senator Michael J. Doherty is serving in his first term in the New Jersey State Senate as a representative of the 23rd Legislative District. On November 3, 2009, he was elected by the voters of the 23rd Legislative District to complete the four year term of Leonard Lance, who was elected to the United States Congress in 2008. Senator Doherty is a member of the Budget and Appropriations Committee, and the Labor Committee. Before entering the Senate, he served four terms in the New Jersey General Assembly, where he sat on various committees including the Appropriations Committee, the Labor Committee, the Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee, and the Housing and Local Government Committee. Senator Doherty was also a member of the State House Commission, the Teen Driver Study Commission, and the 9-1-1 Commission. In 2008, he served as Chairman of the Republican Assembly Task Force on Fiscal Accountability, which opposed Governor Corzine’s attempt to sell New Jersey’s toll roads to a private consortium.
Senator Doherty was the prime sponsor of a Constitutional Amendment to require voter approval on State contract bonding and the prime sponsor of a college credit transfer bill that provides for a seamless transfer of credits from New Jersey’s county colleges to its four year institutions. In 2008 and 2009, Senator Doherty led the fight to stop the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s attempt to eliminate the use of outdoor wood burning boiler units. He strongly opposes low-income housing mandates under COAH, as well as the Highlands Council. One of Doherty’s primary goals as a member of the Senate is to end the Highlands Council.
Based upon his record as a legislator, Doherty has been endorsed repeatedly by pro-business groups such as the New Jersey Business and Industry Association, the Commerce and Industry Association of New Jersey, the New Jersey Restaurant Association and the National Federation of Independent Business. He was awarded a perfect 100% voting record by the NFIB. His voting record is ranked A+ by the National Rifle Association, and has always been endorsed by New Jersey Right to Life. Doherty is an outspoken critic of judicial activism, and has introduced numerous pieces of legislation challenging court decisions and procedures. He was designated as “Legislator of the Year” in 2007 by the New Jersey Family Policy Council for his continued efforts to support pro-family legislation.
Before being elected to the General Assembly, Doherty served on the Warren County Board of Chosen Freeholders. In 2000, Doherty defeated the incumbent Freeholder Director, a Democrat, to capture control of the Freeholder Board for the Republican Party. In 2001, he served as Deputy Director of the Freeholder Board. He was elected to serve as the Director of the Freeholder Board in both 2002 and 2003. During his three years on the Freeholder Board, Doherty cut the county tax rate by 21\%. Doherty also began a program to reduce the county debt so that today Warren County has the lowest debt of any county in the state. He also prevailed in a showdown with a Superior Court judge who threatened to jail Doherty unless he issued $5 million in bonds to fund an expansion of the local county college. The showdown was eventually decided by the New Jersey Supreme Court, which sided with Doherty and held that the Freeholder Board was correct to ignore the judge’s order.
Does the Obamacare Deadline Apply to Me?
Amy Payne
March 18, 2014 at 6:30 am
In two weeks, Obamacare’s centerpiece—the individual mandate to purchase government-approved health insurance—kicks in.
Are you “covered,” as the White House keeps asking in its endless advertising? Because if you don’t have health insurance by March 31, you will have to pay a penalty on your income tax form next year.
For 2014, the penalty for not purchasing insurance will be either $95 or 1 percent of your annual income (whichever is greater). But as Heritage expert Alyene Senger explains, “Very few, if any, people will end up paying just $95, because individuals with an annual income of only $9,500 or less would likely qualify for Medicaid or a hardship exemption from the mandate.”
If you don’t make enough income to file a federal tax return, you’re already exempt. Do you think you qualify for a hardship exemption? Check out the application (subject to approval by Health and Human Services) here. For example, did you:
Receive “a shut-off notice from a utility company”?
Recently experience the death of a close family member?
Receive a notice that your health plan was being canceled, and “you consider the other plans available unaffordable”?
At the end of the list, the application form has the catch-all reason “You experienced another hardship in obtaining health insurance.” To prove it? “Please submit documentation if possible.”
Despite all these possible exemptions, The Fiscal Times reports, “A new study by Bankrate.com shows that about one-third of uninsured Americans are going to remain without coverage and opt to pay the penalty.” In fact, more than half of the uninsured are “unaware of the March 31 deadline.”
If you think the penalty is no big deal right now, Heritage’s Senger warns that “The mandate increases drastically in coming years, rising to $325 or 2 percent of income in 2015, and $695 or 2.5 percent of income in 2016—whichever is greater.”
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that from 2015 to 2024, the mandate penalty—which the Supreme Court ruled is essentially a tax—is expected to cost Americans $51 billion.
And that was after President Obama promised not to raise taxes on the middle class.
It’s worth mentioning the official name of this tax—because it just doesn’t get any more Orwellian. Really, it’s the left’s ideal name for all taxes: the “shared responsibility payment.”
Ridgewood’s Harlan Coben to release new novel, ‘Missing You’
Ridgewood’s Harlan Coben Tomorrow at March 19th 6:30pm
at Bookends Bookstore in Ridgewood, New Jersey . He will be signing copies of his new novel “Missing You”
MARCH 17, 2014, 12:00 AM LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, MARCH 17, 2014, 4:03 PM
BY DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER
The first character the reader meets in Harlan Coben’s new novel is none other than Kat Donovan.
A shout out, perhaps, to a well-known local politician?
Ridgewood resident Harlan Coben will release his new novel, “Missing You,” on Tuesday, March 18. Coben will sign copies of “Missing You” during an appearance at Bookends scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 19.
Keep reading.
Strike that thought.
Known for his penchant to include people and places from close to home, Coben insists that it is a mere coincidence the protagonist in “Missing You,” which officially hits bookstore shelves March 18, shares a similar name with the Bergen County executive. And as one proceeds deeper and deeper into the thriller, Coben’s assertion becomes strikingly true.
For starters, Kathleen Donovan is the head of Bergen’s executive branch of government. Kat Donovan, as the reader quickly discovers, is involved in law enforcement, a detective with the New York City Police Department who is haunted, almost equally, by the uncertain truths behind her father’s murder and the mysterious past and whereabouts of an ex-fiancé.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/arts-and-entertainment/books/ridgewood-s-harlan-coben-to-release-new-novel-missing-you-1.744544#sthash.dVW4qbmK.dpuf
When U.S. Steps Back, Will Russia and China Control the Internet?
Some fear foreign powers will fill the void.
The United States is planning to give up its last remaining authority over the technical management of the Internet.
The Commerce Department announced Friday that it will give the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), an international nonprofit group, control over the database of names and addresses that allows computers around the world to connect to each other.
Administration officials say U.S. authority over the Internet address system was always intended to be temporary and that ultimate power should rest with the “global Internet community.”
But some fear that the Obama administration is opening the door to an Internet takeover by Russia, China, or other countries that are eager to censor speech and limit the flow of ideas.
“If the Obama Administration gives away its oversight of the Internet, it will be gone forever,” wrote Daniel Castro, a senior analyst with the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation.
Castro argued that the world “could be faced with a splintered Internet that would stifle innovation, commerce, and the free flow and diversity of ideas that are bedrock tenets of world’s biggest economic engine.”
Telemarketers beware: Bill would create unit to investigate fraudulent calls
TRENTON — New Jersey would have a group of investigators tasked with looking into telemarketing fraud under a bill making its way through the Legislature.
The state Senate’s Community and Urban Affairs Committee today approved a bill (S247) to establish a “telemarketing fraud investigation unit” run by the state Division of Consumer Affairs.
The unit would investigate consumer complaints about calls from callers who ignore the do-not-call list, block their information from caller ID, call after permitted hours and “other such consumer complaints related to telemarketing practices as determined by the director.”
“The technology is more sophisticated, and the number of telemarketers who have been breaking the law has been growing,” said state Sen. Jeff Van Drew (D-Cape May), a sponsor. “There are two levels of fraud. One is they’re breaking the law by calling when they shouldn’t be… And then secondly, what they are doing at times is fraudulent. It’s a fraudulent product or fraudulent practice.”
Rob Nixon, a lobbyist who is director of government affairs for the New Jersey State Policemen’s Benevolent Association, said the organization does not make telemarketing calls, but is often blamed for “fraudulent” groups that do make calls and purport to support New Jersey police officers. (Friedman/Star-Ledger)
Ridgewood developer’s request to put distribution lines underground denied
MARCH 18, 2014, 12:00 AM LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, MARCH 18, 2014, 11:03 AM
BY LAURA HERZOG
STAFF WRITER
After former village resident Dean Cerf’s recent housing development experience, one fact has been illuminated: PSE&G will not bury distribution lines underground in many cases, even if an individual is willing to pay.
After Cerf embarked on a plan to build three homes on Farview Street in Ridgewood, he was told by the village to have PSE&G bury the distribution lines underground.
But, to the frustration of Cerf and the Planning Board, which required the underground utilities, he learned PSE&G will not do it.
“We said [to PSE&G], ‘You have to, because it’s in our plans, and the town’s requiring it,'” Cerf said. “We tried to discuss it every which way we can. They wouldn’t discuss it. They said ‘no.'”
Cerf, the director of the Ridgewood Veterinary Hospital, noted that he was happy to comply with the village’s request, and planned to pay any cost to put the wires underground for the sake of the village’s aesthetics and safety.
Teachers, Administrators Give Mixed Reviews to New Evaluations after Test Run
But survey of educators who took part in tryout of new system shows most not worried about impact on jobs, tenure.
For all the debate going on outside classroom walls, New Jersey schoolteachers who actually have been through the new state-mandated evaluation system have not found it to be as nerve-wracking as everyone thinks.
In a survey conducted by a team of Rutgers researchers, teachers and administrators who took part in the two-year pilot rollout of the evaluation system had mixed reactions to the new rules and the potential consequences for their careers.
On one hand, there was a wide range of opinion regarding whether the system was entirely fair and accurate, with administrators expressing much more faith than teachers — by a more than 2-to-1 margin.
Nevertheless, three-quarters of teachers surveyed by the Rutgers team said they were not worried that the new evaluations – including those newly tied to student performance — would have a negative impact on their tenure protections.
Even among teachers working to attain tenure, a majority said the new metrics would have little impact or might actually help them more than hurt in keeping their jobs. There were some pockets of anxiety over job security, to be sure, but the Rutgers researchers said it was not widespread – at least not yet. (Mooney/NJSpotlight)
The Village Council has scheduled the first of several Budget Hearings for 5PM on Wednesday, March 19th. The Hearing will take place in the Village Hall Court Room, 4th Level, 131 N. Maple Avenue, Ridgewood. Additional dates to follow.
