> BILL COSBY ANNOUNCES SUPPORT FOR NATIONAL SCHOOL CHOICE WEEK 2012 Published 01/13/2012 – 12:11 p.m. CST
NEW YORK, NY – Bill Cosby today announced his full support for National School Choice Week (January 22-28, 2012), organizers announced this morning.
“I strongly support National School Choice Week because all children in America should be able to access the best schools possible,” Cosby said. “We have a moral and societal obligation to give our children the opportunity to succeed in school, at work, and in life. We cannot meet that obligation unless parents are empowered to select the best schools of their children. I encourage everyone who wants to see a transformation of American education to get involved in National School Choice Week.”
>Let the debate continue if you wish but I fail to understand the negative comments about Keith Ed Sullivan
Let the debate continue if you wish but I fail to understand the negative comments about Keith. He is not party to this matter and to deride him is simply gratuitous and unwarranted. In my book Keith cares deeply about Ridgewood. Although we may not always agree on an issue, I have tremendous respect for the man and for the efforts he puts forth on behalf of our Village. Few people know the countless hours he spends in Village Hall dealing with matters that would drive most people up a wall. Unfortunately his tenure as Mayor occurred at time when we experienced the worst economy since the Great Depression. Everyone is unhappy with everything and he just happens to be a convenient whipping boy for woes not of his doing or choosing. If you feel he is wrong on an issue call him or come to a Council meeting and let him know, but do so professionally and with courtesy. The man deserves at least that much respect.
>Chamber of Commerce President Tom Hillmann says not true
Wow… I’m not a regular reader of this blog since I’ve heard you cannot believe some of the articles, and this article confirms that to me. The question brought up by a board member at our monthly meeting was… can the Chamber make any re-election or new endorsements? We reviewed the section in our bylaws forbidding political endorcements and we moved on. Hardly “heated discussion” and there was no absolutely no mention of Mr. Aronsohn or his performance as liason or council member. Seems like someone has an hidden agenda and is misinforming the public.
>December U.S. Budget Deficit Wider Than Expected Published January 12, 2012 Reuters
The monthly U.S. budget deficit climbed to $85.97 billion during December from $78.13 billion in the same month a year earlier, partly because some payments normally made in January were shifted to December, the Treasury Department said on Thursday.
Outlays rose to $325.93 billion from $315.01 billion in December 2010. Among the payment shifts to December was about $4 billion in military retirement pay that was sent early because Jan. 1 fell on a Sunday.
“I wanted to make it clear that this wasn’t your everyday, run-of-the-mill cupcake.” blogs TSA Blogger Bob Burns today, defending the TSA’s “Cupcate-Gate,” incident against critics.
According to the story that went viral during the Christmas holiday, a TSA agent confiscated the cupcake from Rebecca Hains, a teacher who planned to feed it to her son on the plane.
“The TSA at Logan Airport said the cupcakes looked delicious and told us to have a great trip. But in Las Vegas, they were dangerous. They shouldn’t be delicious in one part of the country and a security threat in the other.” Hains said at the time.
The Board of Ed has been looking for solutions to save money and over the summer they installed devices (at an unknown price to me) for every room that will turn off lights if there is no motion in a certain time. This must not have been enough because when students and teachers got back from over the break plastic boxes covered the thermostats in all of the class rooms which are designed to keep students and teachers using too much heat.
This seems like an IDIOT proof plan! NO ONE could possibly mess this one up, huh? Oh wait, they DID! As we all know, thermostats need air holes in order to survive (they need to breath too apparently) so whoever made this device was smart for doing it. The one slight (now keep in mind, this is a REALLY slight issue), is that ANYONE with half a brain can figure out within 10 seconds that a paper clip can be used to up the heaters to “warmest”. Essentially, you need to be smarter than a lab rat to use the heating system now.
Let’s think about how much this cost the BoE and our precious tax dollars. Assuming that each device was 20 dollars and that there are around 150 thermostats in the whole school that means that over $3000’s was spent on defective devices. We also have to look at the cost of the janitors who installed it, assuming it takes 12 minutes to install (and move to the next one) one and a janitor is paid $15 an hour to do this how much additional cost is it? Around $500’s was the cost of the janitor to install these devices. That means over $3500’s of tax payer money was spend on a defective device.
>Crisis : Payouts for unused sick days the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood – total obligation, $7,203,566.23; obligation per taxpayer, $861.41
(RIDGEWOOD-NJ) The Ridgewood blog to a look to see how we got here and how this problem can be fixed. The sick time is a contractual obligation . The contract can not be opened unless both parties agree and you know that’s not going to happen. I would suspect that when these contract run out the sick time with be brought into negations. This nothing new it has been in the contract for over 30 years.
Back in the day when a police officer only got paid $11,000. 00 per year it was a nice added perk. Even though the pay was low most public sector jobs were prized for the steady work ,,pension ,healthcare and benefits .But now when police are now earning in excess of $100,000 it has become a very different story and unsustainable. .
The story gets worse because the good cops who show up every day build up a ton of unused sick days . Unfortunately their conscientious work ethic is rewarded by only getting payed out a potion of there unused days when they retire .However the guys who use their sick days up regularly could often still qualify for a nice payout if they played their cards right .
Worse still is the officer who started out making $11,000 per years 30 years ago are now getting paid over $200,000 a year and when they retire the sick days are payed out not at the $11,000 a year rate or prorated but at the $200,000 a year rate.
So the guys who shows up everyday get punished ,but if you force everyone to use there sick days you end up raking up a lot of expensive over time.
It will be very difficult going back and take away this perk and it is no secret the Ridgewood blog is no fan of public service unions , but we do think the Village should live up to its promised obligations. The simple answer is to reset new hires by continuing to push down starting salaries and perks .Moving forward look for some opportunities to buyout some older expensive contracts. In this way the Village can deliver on its promises and new hires will get accustomed to less generous packages. .
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 4, 2012 BY RICHARD NEWMAN STAFF WRITER THE RECORD
* It was a good year for many dealers, but others weren’t so lucky.
New Jersey auto dealers sold an estimated 430,000 new cars and light trucks last year, an increase of 7.5 percent from 2010 and the highest volume since 2007, when the tally was 490,000, a statewide trade group said Wednesday.
The second straight year of improved sales was driven by pent-up demand, greater accessibility to credit and stronger consumer confidence, said James Appleton, president of the New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers. Sales had bottomed out in 2009 at 340,000.
“People don’t feel as though we’re back, but maybe they are a little tired of wearing sackcloth and ashes,” Appleton said.
>With all the debate going on over raises, bonus, incentives?
With all the debate going on over raises, bonus, incentives? I”m curious if anyone has information on the Not for Profit Hospital in Ridgewood. Did any in management receive raises last year and if so how much. From what I understand Audrey Meyers base compensation is $1,600,000.
With all the heartache that Ridgewood felt over the past several years, I wish more people would look a little more closely at Valley. And trust me the amount they spent this year alone on that survey and ads to the bias Ridgewood News would have covered Gabberts and all of the non-union employee raises. Talk about throwing our money, yes our money since they don’t pay taxes, away.
So please someone call Ridgewood News and find out what it cost for double full page foldout in color and full page in color for the back page. Lets talk some real numbers
>Another transplant says shared services lead to poor service and no cost savings
I am a transplant from high taxed Nassau County where my husband and I grew up and started our family. Our regional police force was the Nassau County PD. I can tell you first hand that none of us would be happy with a regional police service. They were great when you needed a helicopter search for a missing child and a SWAT team, but forget it for day to day problems such as parking, loud parties, vandalism or other quality of life issues. It took them 20-30 minutes to respond and half the time you would be told on the phone to go to the local precinct (two towns away) if you needed to file a simple police report.
Nassau has had a regional county force for decades and it does not translate to lower property taxes in any way shape or form.
Many of the towns on do Nassau pay the extra money to have there own local police because the service from the county is so bad. Even my brother, a captain and 22 year member of the Nassau County Police bought a house in a Nassau community with its own police department.
We have lived in Ridgewood for just over 11 years and the community based services, especially the police, are so much better. They are far more responsive and a part of the community, not an outside contractor who just wants to quickly take your information hurry then get to the next call in another town.
Our taxes in Nassau were no better then and my family there now is paying about the same that we are In Ridgewood. In Nassau they say the PD is the highest paid in the nation, in NJ we say that. What I do know is that the service here is much better. You might save on a few local Chiefs but you will have more Deputy Inspectors, Inspectors, Assistant Chiefs, Deputy Chiefs, Chief and a Commissioner with deputies and assistants. No savings and less cops in the street.
Follow Up to the November 26th Pedestrian Tagically Killed on Route 17 R. Marsal
The woman that was killed was my mother. She had never taken a bus in her life. I was waiting in the park and ride across the highway where i had dropped her off. There is NO place to park on the side she was dropped off.
If i had known that she was going to be dropped off on that side I would have been waiting on the bench for her. She was dropped off in the dark on the side of the highway and she was probably not given any instructions on how to get to the park and ride. She apparently was trying to get to the brightly lit gas station to ask questions.
People with rude and insensitive comments should re-examine their thoughts and hearts. She was a mother, grandmother, aunt, and a loving productive member of the community. She was healthy. She ran a successful business. She was going to a concert the next day. She was planning a vacation. Her death is a great loss to her family, friends and community. God bless all of you.
>Mayor Killion simply has the best interest of Ridgewood in the forefront of his mind
Mayor Killion is wonderful, he is dedicated and hard-working. He does not have his own agenda (unlike Aronsohn, who clearly is “me me me,” witness the stupid self-serving article in the Ridgewood News this week).
Keith simply has the best interest of Ridgewood in the forefront of his mind at all times and he most certainly does have backbone.
I do not think we have EVER had a mayor who works harder than Keith. As a retired man, he has the time to devote to the job, and he gives 110%. Previous mayors had full-time jobs and could not give as much as Keith does. I hope he runs again. I will definitely support.
>Obama’s Signing Statement on NDAA: I have the power to detain Americans… but I won’t Aaron Dykes Infowars.com January 1, 2012
As Americans look upon the treacherous legislation passed under NDAA 2012, it it should first be remembered that the very bill President Obama threatened to veto was controversial due to the language the Obama White House itself pressured Congress to add to the bill, according to Sen. Carl Levin.
Second, signing statements are not law, and are not a Constitutional power granted to the executive branch; any reassuring (or troubling) language within has no binding status– though it may shed light on the intent/character of the chief executive. However, the statement itself does not indicate any deviation of intent from the law as written and signed.
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