Analysis: Port Authority works under its own set of rules
MARCH 16, 2014, 12:01 AM
BY ABBOTT KOLOFF
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
Their bylaws allow spending millions of dollars of public money with just a quarter of their members voting. They almost always agree, but rarely say anything about their decisions in public. Even for people at their meetings, it’s sometimes impossible to know how they vote as individuals.
The Port Authority’s commissioners are under increased scrutiny as their board’s chairman, David Samson, has been the subject of a growing number of reports that he voted for projects that benefited his law firm’s clients. Agency officials recently said he meant to recuse himself two years ago from a vote to give a $1-a-year lease to one of those clients, NJ Transit, even though he was recorded as voting for it.
On Wednesday, sources have said, the Port Authority will put that lease up for another vote in an effort to quell controversies stirred when The Record reported on it last month.
Samson, an appointee of Governor Christie’s and a significant figure in the George Washington Bridge lane-closure scandal, has not denied some of the other reported votes, including the authorization of $2.8 billion for two bridge projects that reportedly benefited two of his firm’s clients. But he has maintained that all of his actions on the board are for the benefit of the region and not for personal gain.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/analysis-port-authority-works-under-its-own-set-of-rules-1.743343#sthash.5aqmhiOo.dpuf
N.Y. archbishop draws laughs at N.J. event with good-natured GWB jokes
MARCH 15, 2014, 12:59 PM LAST UPDATED: SATURDAY, MARCH 15, 2014, 12:59 PM
BY LESLIE BRODY
THE RECORD
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York, cracked New Jersey jokes at a Catholic men’s conference at Seton Hall University on Saturday, saying he “would have been here a little earlier but we got hung up on the George Washington Bridge.”
His good-natured reference to the lane-closure controversy confronting the Christie administration drew laughter and applause from the crowd of more than 2,000 who gathered in South Orange for the all-day conference. Dolan was the keynote speaker.
“What did you hold me up for?” Dolan asked. “I like the guy.”
Asked to elaborate in an interview later, Dolan said he didn’t like to comment on political views and had never met the governor, but he admired Christie’s “freshness, his openness, his moving around with people. That I find refreshing.”
He also declined to comment on recent news stories about Newark Archbishop John Myers’ plans for a $500,000 expansion of his Hunterdon County retreat, which some Catholics have called extravagant for a religious leader, especially at a time when Pope Francis has eschewed luxuries and preached the value of living modestly.
Dolan said he didn’t know details of the expansion and “I have enough headaches of my own to worry about.
E-cigarettes finding a North Jersey fan base in ex-tobacco users
MARCH 16, 2014, 12:00 AM LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, MARCH 16, 2014, 5:41 PM
BY KARA YORIO
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
As New Jersey mulls an e-cigarette tax and the medical community continues to stress the unknown health implications of so-called electronic vaping devices like e-cigarettes, a passionate community is growing in North Jersey – it’s a group of advocates largely made up of former smokers who say they quit traditional tobacco cigarettes when they started vaping.
“This completely changed my life,” said 28-year-old Adam Jankowski of Garfield, who credits vaping for quitting his six-year cigarette habit in a week last spring.
Tim Condron of Woodland Park smoked for 40 years and tried different cessation products without success. Last summer he picked up an e-cigarette just to see what it was like. Soon, the pack-a-day guy was down to a few traditional cigarettes a day. Within six months, he was done completely.
Gary Remert, who smoked for 30 years, said e-cigarettes were “the only thing on the market” that worked for him and his wife in their many attempts to quit. He estimates they now save more than $600 a month not buying cigarettes.
iPhone usage tips
March 15,2014
Marc A. Hirschinger
1:43 PM
Ridgewood NJ, Since many of us have iPhones I thought I would pass along a few tips which may help make using your phone easier and quicker to use. For starters delete all old phone and text messages. Close the web pages you have been browsing as keeping these pages open uses a lot of memory. Clear the browser cache. Choose the “Settings” icon on your “home” screen and look up the “Safari” and click. There you will have the ability to clear cache, history and cookies. Finally, go to “Settings,” “General,” “then “Spotlight Search” or “Search Results and turn off all of the features you do not use, such as “podcasts, audiobooks etc.,” I hope this helps! Here is another good tip. Have a great weekend folks.
MARCH 15, 2014, 10:13 PM
BY CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
RIDGEWOOD — The village once again finds itself at the center of a drama involving a youth soccer program and the behavior of the adults in charge. This time, however, it’s playing out in a courtroom.
In a lawsuit filed in a Manhattan court last week, Siobhan Winograd, the wife of a leader of a village-based soccer travel team, alleges that her husband is the victim of false complaints lodged by anonymous critics.
Winograd would not discuss the suit with The Record on Saturday. But according to a copy of the filing, anonymous complaints sent to the village soccer organization had falsely alleged that Michael Winograd had “fixed” tryouts for the team and “engaged in misconduct relating to sportsmanship during the season.”
In the suit, which identifies the defendants as “Ridgewood Soccer Mom” and “John Doe,” Siobhan Winograd alleges that the complaints made anonymously to the village soccer organization were designed to injure “her family’s reputation and standing with their small community.”
This is not the first time that youth soccer in Ridgewood has come under unwelcome scrutiny.
Village resident and independent film director Caytha Jentis released a film in 2012 called “Bad Parents,” which was based on a play — “It’s All About the Kids” — that she had written about her soccer-mom experiences in Ridgewood.
The film, a satire starring Janeane Garofalo and Christopher Titus, painted an unflattering portrait of the parental back story that at times pervades youth sports programs in suburbia.
In the lawsuit, Winograd argues that, since the summer of 2011, she and her family “have been subjected to a pattern of harassment and other tortious conduct.”
MARCH 16, 2014, 12:07 AM
BY JEAN RIMBACH AND DAVE SHEINGOLD
STAFF WRITERS
THE RECORD
Thousands of routine power outages in New Jersey — caused by everything from faulty equipment to brittle tree branches to wayward animals — are being tracked by state regulators for the first time as electric utilities provide an unprecedented look at their day-to-day operations.
The gathering of detailed reports reflects an effort by the state Board of Public Utilities to enhance its oversight of the state’s electric distribution companies.
The filings do not include data on such headline-grabbing events as Superstorm Sandy and other major disruptions, which are documented in other reports kept by the BPU. Rather, the newly released data give the public a first glimpse of smaller problems — where and why they start, how many customers are left in the dark and for how long — even when nothing extraordinary is happening. The nearly minute-by-minute catalogs provide some of the most detailed information yet of trouble on the electrical grid, even on problems that affect just one customer.
Stephanie Brand, director of the state Division of Rate Counsel, whose office advocates for consumers in utility matters, says this gives the BPU a way “to identify the poorest performing areas of the distribution system.”
The day before the Iowa caucuses in 2008, I wrote about the massive crowds of young people at Barack Obama rallies, noting that his candidacy would collapse “if they don’t show up.”
The next night, after Obama’s victory celebration in Des Moines, Obama strategist Steve Hildebrand spotted me in a crowd. “The kids showed up!” he said fiercely.
They did. But where are they now?
An army of 15 million voters under 30 swept Obama past Hillary Clinton and John McCain and to the presidency in 2008. More than 12 million helped him return in 2012. But now his presidency is on the line — and the Obama youth are abandoning him in his hour of need.
The administration announced last week that only 1.08 million people ages 18 to 34 had signed up for Obamacare by the end of February, or about 25 percent of total enrollees. If the proportion doesn’t improve significantly, the result likely will be fatal for the Affordable Care Act.
The administration had said it needed 40 percent of registrants in the health insurance exchanges to be young adults, or about 2.7 million of the expected 7 million total. Overall enrollment is also below target. But the alarming shortcoming is the number of young participants, which would make the insured population older and sicker and the program too expensive.
This week saw the release of Obama’s sit-down with comedian Zach Galifianakis, of “The Hangover” fame, to encourage the young to join the Obamacare exchanges. It was good comedy (the host, in the White House Diplomatic Reception Room, rolled up his sleeve to show Obama his “spider bites”), and according to the White House it had the desired result: a boost in traffic to HealthCare.gov. Yet the fact that Obama sought Galifianakis’s help was an indication of how much the president’s standing has slipped among young Americans. Six years earlier, he had been a demigod among that demographic.
What went wrong? The president and his aides failed to keep his youth movement engaged. But part of the problem also is the inability of the millennial generation to remain attached to a cause. The generation that brought Obama to power is connected online but has no loyalty to institutions — including, it turns out, the Obama White House.
In 2008, “the level of innovation and engagement in the election, especially the primaries, was amazing, but then the level of engaging them during the administration was extremely disappointing,” says Peter Levine, a Tufts University professor who specializes in youth civic involvement. “He had a potential army for legislative success and implementation, but the Obama administration did not do that. At a critical moment in the first term, they did not turn to them. . . . They got rapid youth demobilization.”
Young voters, after playing a big role in the campaign, became little more than an e-mail list for the White House and Obama’s Organizing for Action group. Then came health-care reform. The millennials, very liberal overall, saw Obama’s plan as too timid; they were disillusioned by his failure to fight for the “public option” of government-run health plans.
Reader Says Pitch forks and torches have their time and place. Cooler heads need to figure out a way to work out a solution that everyone can agree with
There is a bare minimum that the village can compel the property owners to do. Government can make them maintain their existing structures. Government can’t make them build something. That leaves two deteriorating vacant car dealerships in the middle of town.
The property owners could within current zoning make improvements that are far less desirable uses of that land. Uses that drive higher traffic than residential and exacerbate other problems our village has.
There is probably at least one solution that gets to middle ground. How do we get there? Demeaning the volunteer members of the Planning Board? Spreading rumors disguised as facts? Buying lawn signs? Writing internet posts with ALL CAPS? Probably not.
Pitch forks and torches have their time and place. Cooler heads need to figure out a way to work out a solution that everyone can agree with. Otherwise, get used to the look of those car dealerships.
‘far less desirable uses’, you mean far less profitable for the property owners. If they build something within the current zoning, and more traffic, etc. occurs, so be it.
A car dealership is retail, by the way. The only reason these blighted properties are in the condition they are in is because they are waiting for the chance to make the highest profit they can, its their jackpot – high density apartments. Period.
This has been the only time in Ridgewood’s history that this opportunity may come to fruition. Previously, we have always had Planning Board members and council members who appreciated our Master Plan for the power it beholds.
Bolstered by our mayor who is on the Planning Board and council and fully supportive of these high density buildings, these developers taste those profits. Its so close. That is why these properties sit, the potential in profits is worth the wait. If you support these developers, whats in it for you? I have met not one person who thinks they are good for the town. And its not just these 3 projects, amending the MP to allow this rezoning sets a precedent.
Establishing commuter parking at Ken Smith (with some kind of bridge to the train) is a rare opportunity–a no-brainer that if not taken advantage of now, will haunt the village forever. There is no reason the owner couldn’t make money on it.
Whats the up side for Ridgewood for more commuter parking ?
Who are these extra parking spots for, residents or out of towner s?
Some folks believe more commuters using the train station equates to more people patronizing shops and restaurants in the CBD, the theory being when they get off the train, they will not go directly to their cars and leave town. I’m not sure I buy into that theory though.
But most believe that commuters will get in their cars and drive home. After a long work day most are not looking for retail therapy.
N.J. fourth in nation in number of vacant foreclosures
MARCH 14, 2014, 12:00 AM
BY KATHLEEN LYNN
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
* February level doubles from year earlier
New Jersey continued to deal with a backlog of distressed properties in February, ranking fourth in the nation in both the number of vacant foreclosed homes and the number of foreclosure filings, a company that tracks the market reported on Thursday.
While the worst of the foreclosure crisis has passed in most of the nation, New Jersey foreclosure activity doubled from February 2013 to February 2014, according to California-based RealtyTrac. About one in every 739 housing units in the state faced a foreclosure filing during the month. At the same time, overall foreclosure activity dropped 27 percent in the U.S. overall.
And in New Jersey, 8,595 homes were vacant and in foreclosure, up 24 percent from the third quarter of 2013.
“The biggest threat from foreclosures going forward is properties that have been lingering in the foreclosure process for years, many of them vacant with neither the distressed homeowner or the foreclosing lender taking responsibility for maintenance and upkeep of the home,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president of RealtyTrac.
“These properties drag down home values in the surrounding neighborhood and contribute to a climate of uncertainty and low inventory in local housing markets.”
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/business/n-j-still-trails-nation-in-easing-foreclosures-1.740197#sthash.ExrVSQYA.dpuf
500+ Economists Sign Open Letter To Obama Opposing Minimum Wage Increase
More than 500 economists, including three Nobel laureates and several members of past administrations, have signed an open letter to the White House and Congress urging them to reject a federal minimum wage increase.
They warned that hiking the minimum wage would cause economic damage:
“One of the serious consequences of raising the minimum wage is that business owners saddled with a higher cost of labor will need to cut costs, or pass the increase to their consumers in order to make ends meet. Many of the businesses that pay their workers minimum wage operate on extremely tight profit margins, with any increase in the cost of labor threatening this delicate balance.”
For some reason, this has always been a hard concept for liberals to grasp. Whether it’s an increase in taxes, cost of materials or cost of labor, businesses will always – always — pass those increased costs along to the consumer; they always have, they always will. It’s called capitalism.
The economists cited the recent bipartisan Congressional Budget Office report which found that increasing the minimum wage would lead to job loss.
“The Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) most recent report underscores the damage that a federal minimum wage increase would have. According to CBO, raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 per hour would cost the economy 500,000 jobs by 2016.
Many of these jobs are held by entry-level workers with limited experience or vocational skills, the very employees meant to be helped.”
And therein lies the irony; while Obama trotting around the country espousing the virtue of raising the minimum wage may sound good to some, not only will many of those minimum wage employees be laid off; many more won’t be hired in the first place.
Today, it’s New Jersey that wants to ban auto manufacturers from selling cars directly to consumers, a move that appears aimed at Tesla and its no-dealership model.
The last time we reported from the Tesla wars, it was Ohio that was considering the same type of ban, with the statehouse under pressure from influential local dealerships to quash Tesla’s way of doing business. This week, while Tesla reps are in the Buckeye State working out a compromise, the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission is threatening to cut off the EV maker.
A spokesperson for New Jersey Governor Chris Christie told Bloomberg:
“Since Tesla first began operating in New Jersey one year ago, it was made clear that the company would need to engage the Legislature on a bill to establish their new direct-sales operations under New Jersey law. This administration does not find it appropriate to unilaterally change the way cars are sold in New Jersey without legislation and Tesla has been aware of this position since the beginning.”
Tesla’s response:
That’s exactly what we were doing, New Jersey. Elon Musk’s company responded with a blog post today saying that it was happy to work out a solution in the New Jersey legislature, but that Christie “has gone back on its word to delay a proposed anti-Tesla regulation so that the matter could be handled through a fair process in the Legislature.”
If you haven’t been following Tesla’s state-by-state legal maneuverings, the crux of the matter is that the company doesn’t want to sell its EVs through a locally owned dealership, the way you’d buy a Ford, Chevy, or just about any other new car. But those local dealerships have every incentive in the world to stop direct-to-consumer sales from spreading, which is why they’re flexing so much political muscle over a relatively tiny number of cars that Tesla sells. So far only Texas and Arizona have laws on the books to stop Tesla’s method, but several others have discussed it. New Jersey’s new rules would go into effect April 1.
Job Seekers Swarm Marijuana Job Fair As Colorado’s Green Rush Continues
March 14, 2014 9:37 AM
DENVER (CBS4) – If there was any doubt that the “green rush” is on in Colorado, the scene outside a marijuana industry career fair in Denver on Thursday looked like a throwback to the Great Recession.
Thousands of people waited for hours with resumes in hand in a line that stretched several blocks. TheO.penVAPE Cannabis Job Fair featured 15 different businesses associated with recreational marijuana sales, and it had turn people away by the day’s end.
St. Louis resident Shannon Irvin has been jobless for several months. He drove to Colorado for the fair with hopes of breaking into the state’s budding industry and wound up waiting in line for 2 hours.
