Bernadette Coghlan-Walsh : “I just don’t feel that the site that it’s on supports a further, major expansion,” Walsh said. “There are two schools within a block of Valley. If we have the construction going on for that amount of time, it’s going to disrupt everyone. It’s going to disrupt the traffic flow coming in and out of that area. It’s going to disrupt the children going to school … I just think it’s going to be a problem, and I don’t feel it warrants a zone change.”
Douglas Cronk : “We’ve got to understand that the neighbors aren’t just ‘not in my back yard’ people,” Cronk said. “They’re all for Valley being an improved facility, and focusing on its core competency. I think what they don’t want to see is Valley expand into all sorts of outpatient services that is going to increase traffic.”
Brian Dowd : I think certainly the hospital has to modernize, and I think we do have to be mindful of the immediate impact [in the neighborhood],” Dowd said. “We’re all going to benefit from a better hospital, but those people right there are going to have to put up with it in the interim.”
Thomas Riche : There is no formal plan in front of the board for an actual building, Riche said, but he did express a desire to “protect the overall neighborhood and the Village of Ridgewood,” while recognizing Valley Hospital as an asset, to arrive at a solution that is “good for all parties.”
> Using Children to Raise Revenue Where have I heard that before ?
They are just trying to give towns a revenue generating law. Now the towns can make up for lost state aid by ticketing residents. Profiling made easy.
This law does not add anything to safety. It is just a few state representatives trying to make a family feel that their daughter’s death will not be forgotten. Maybe an awareness campaign would have been just as good.
Looking forward to the repeal after the first court case.
The Cartel movie has been scheduled for a series of one-night-only screenings throughout New Jersey, all to be followed by a Q&A with Director Bob Bowdon. All tickets $15; includes both the screening & town hall meeting. These events will benefit distribution of the film.
Date Town Location Time April 19Westfield*, NJRialto Theatre, 250 East Broad Street7:30pm April 20Sparta*, NJSparta Theatre, 25 Centre Street7:30pm April 21Hoboken*, NJHoboken Clearview Cinema, 409 14th Street7pm, 9pm April 25Atlantic City*, NJResorts International Casino, Screening Room2pm April 26Mount Laurel*, NJBurlington Community College, Enterprise Center, 3331 Route 387:30pm April 27Red Bank*, NJRed Bank Clearview Cinema, 36 White Street7:30pm April 28Paramus*, NJBergen County Community College, Anna Maria Ciccone Theatre, 400 Paramus Road7:30pm April 29Trenton*, NJNJ State Museum Auditorium, 205 W. State Street7:30pm
The Trenton Screening on April 29 will be followed by the 2010 New Jersey School Choice Rally.
It’s clear now that many of the New Jersey screenings will sell out. Don’t delay getting tickets
>Election update: If you are a Ridgewood resident who loves Graydon, please vote in the Village Council election on Tuesday, May 11, for Tom Riche and Bernadette Walsh—the only candidates running for the two open Council seats who want to preserve Graydon.
The other two candidates: Doug Cronk is the husband of Melinda Cronk, co-chair of the Ridgewood Pool Project, with its concrete agenda. Brian Dowd, Cronk’s friend, has lived here for all of five years. Their theme: “change.”
Tell your friends that just because two candidates run as a team does not mean they must be voted for (or against) together.
If you do not live in Ridgewood but know people who do, please tell them that the pro-Graydon votes are for Riche and Walsh.
Ridgewood Council elections typically draw no more than 20% of registered voters to the polls. The $48 million school bond in December won by 62 votes. Do not doubt that your vote will make a difference.
Sign-up sheet to help Riche or call him: 201-652-1494 (home); 201-394-0951 (cell).
Sign-up sheet to help Walsh. Her web site: Walsh home page.
BOTH NEED MORE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR AND “MEET THE CANDIDATE” COFFEES. PLEASE CONTACT THEM NOW. The election is four weeks from Tuesday.
Absentee ballot: Might you be out of town on May 11, or simply prefer to vote by mail? Pick up an application to obtain a ballot in the Village Clerk’s office at Village Hall or call 201-670-5500 x201 and ask to have one mailed to you. You’ll mail this form to request a ballot. Caveat: your ballot must reach (actually get there, not just postmarked) Hackensack by May 4. May be hand-delivered.
Voter registration: Here is the Bergen County registration form. For further information, visit https://www.njelections.org/ or call toll free 1-877-NJVOTER (1-877-658-6837). Deadline to register to vote in Council election: Tuesday, April 20. Last shot: Village Hall lobby, 4:30-9 PM, April 20 (noted on that date in Village calendar). Anyone who will be 18 years old by the day of the election may register now. Encourage old-enough teens who love Graydon to vote to preserve it.
This election will be likely to determine Graydon’s future. Please do not miss this opportunity to help.
Need a ride to the polls? We have a list of willing drivers. Contact us—in advance, if possible.
>BJ. Penn Tuesday, April 13th @ 7:00pm Current UFC Lightweight Champion, B.J. Penn, will sign his new book: Why I Fight. Books available April 13th.
Kathie Lee Gifford Wednesday, April 14th @ 7:00pm Television personality on the TODAY SHOW, Kathie Lee Gifford, will sign her new book: Party Animals (Ages 4 to 8). Books available April 13th.
Mary Higgins Clark & Carol Higgins Clark Friday, April 16th @ 7:00pm New York Times bestselling Mother/Daughter Duo, Mary Higgins Clark & Carol Higgins Clark, will sign their new books: The Shadow of Your Smile & Wrecked. Books available April 13th
Bookends, 232 E. Ridgewood Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ 07450 201-445-0726
>Gov. Chris Christie pushes powerful NJEA teachers union into corner
Some of the state’s more powerful leaders have privately complained for years about the power of the state’s teachers union. Yet virtually none would voice those issues in public or even respond to reporters’ questions. (Method, Asbury Park Press)
Gov. Chris Christie pits teachers against one another with wage freeze offer
When the Hackettstown School District presented its $28.5 million 2010-11 budget April 1, the document lacked 18 full-time positions — seven of them classroom teachers — who are working this year. (Novak, Express Times)
The Hackensack Green – Corner of Main and Court Streets, Hackensack, NJ
Please call the Governor’s office today and insist that New Jersey join the 18 other States (so far) that are filing lawsuits against the Federal Government declaring the Health Care reform unconstitutional.
Believe it or not, the Governor still can’t decide whether or not to join in the lawsuit!
Call the Governor at 609-292-6000. If you are more comfortable faxing a written letter, you can fax your remarks to 609-292-3454. Get your family and friends to do so as well.
A new brochure provides residents and the public with general information about the Village Council and their meeting schedule. It explains the procedure for addressing the Council at meetings. It provides contact information for elected officials. Click Here for more information.
the History of the Ridgewood blog Monday, October 26, 2009
The Ridgewood blog ( https://theridgewoodblog.blogspot.com/ ) was founded in March of 2006 by James J Foytlin aka PJ Blogger .[1] Mr. Foytlin was born and raised in Ridgewood ,New Jersey and is a graduate of Ridgewood High School .[2] [3]
After many years living in New York City[4] Mr Foytlin returned to Ridgewood after a divorce and the tragic events of 9/11 . Once he settled in he noticed a lack of sufficient news coverage of local events . One day a friend from Brazil[5] showed him her home town on the internet and to Mr. Foytlin’s great surprise when he tried to reciprocate he was utterly dismayed at the absolute lack of coverage of his home town. After all Ridgewood is only 18 miles from midtown Manhattan[6] the media capital of world and there was not a single picture of Ridgewood to be found . How could this be? Ridgewood is a picturesque upper middle class village of around 25,000 located in Bergen county in northern New Jersey[7] . Founded by Dutch settlers before it became an English colony[8] . The town or village as its called is steeped in rich history and tradition .Known for a large amount of Victorian era housing , a quality school system and a family friendly atmosphere.
Though busy getting reacquainted with his home town the fact that the Village of Ridgewood was so under represented on the internet continued to disturb Mr. Foytlin. Mr. Foytlin had been writing news letters for his job in financial services since the mid 1990’s . The popular flip, off beat investment strategy news letters had become email blasts with the advent of readily accessible internet.[9] By 2004 the email blasts were converted into blog format for the One Small Voice blog ( https://onesmallvoice.blogspot.com/ ). [10]
Around that time the Village of Ridgewood had finally completed it’s much anticipated and long delayed renovation of the Village hall which has been flooded out due to Hurricane Floyd.[11] The renovation was marred by huge cost over runs and lengthy delays. In 2005 it opened with great fan fare , was once again flooded with the very first rain . Mr. Foytlin was more shocked by the abject lack of responsibility taken by elected officials than the fact that the $9 million dollar renovation had to some extent been a failure . That was the breaking point and Mr. Foytlin had had enough so he decided to give , citizen journalism a go and created the Ridgewood blog in March of 2006. [12]
The birth of PJ Blogger .By this time Blogging its seems had become quite the rage and mainstream news anchors such as Dan Rather had questioned the validity of information from non professionals sitting around in their Pajama’s blogging.[13] Mr. Foytlin not a fan of Dan Rather or any of the mainstream media decided to blog under the name PJ Blogger as a play on words and to plant himself firmly in the camp of the new digital media.
Innovations by the Ridgewood blog to citizen journalism.
“The Fly” is a column on the Ridgewood blog the originates from the expression ,”I’d like to be a fly on the wall “ . The idea is that every citizen has both a unique perspective and experience and these two factors can be used to gather news and opinions about local issues. Originally only of handful of people in town participated but with time the Ridgewood blog can now count on 20–40 semi regular contributors. These post are both anonymous and signed and are largely opinion as well a breaking news.[14]
The Ridgewood blog brings a free market lassie fare point of view to local issues . Mr. Foytlin aka PJ Blogger has stated that for local issues there are only two kinds of people ;the ones who say spend what every you want because I will not be around to pay the bill and the second group which are more focused on the ,”be careful this is my money your spending” . The Ridgewood blog is dedicated to the interplay of there two groups.[15]
[1][12] the Ridgewood blog website https://theridgewoodblog.blogspot.com/ [2] Birth Certificate born in Valley Hospital , Ridgewood 04/09/1962 [3] Ridgewood High School Class 1980 [4] 444 East 86th street ,530 East 72nd [5] Monica Rocha [6] Mapquest [7] United States 2000 Census, the village population was 24,936. [8] https://www.americantowns.com/nj/ridgewood/organization/village-of-ridgewood [9] Fahnestock & Co. now Oppenheimer & Co. [10] https://onesmallvoice.blogspot.com/ [11] https://www.ridgewoodlibrary.org/localhistory/lh_vh_pease.htm [13] https://www.opinionjournal.com/diary/?id=110005611 [14] [15] James J Foytlin
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New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie might have to sharpen his budget ax. A nonpartisan projection of the state’s revenue outlook shows tax collections could be slightly weaker than the governor’s office anticipated. The Office of Legislative Service is presenting the analysis to the Assembly Budget Committee on Wednesday. (Delli Santi, AP) https://www.app.com/article/20100407/NEWS03/100407045/1007/NJ-revenue-outlook-bleak
>Higher Taxes – Lower Tax Revenue – The Laffer Curve
In economics, the Laffer curve is a theoretical representation of the relationship between government revenue raised by taxation and all possible rates of taxation. It is used to illustrate the concept of Taxable Income Elasticity (that taxable income will change in response to changes in the rate of taxation). The curve is constructed by thought experiment. First, the amount of tax revenue raised at the extreme tax rates of 0% and 100% is considered. It is clear that a 0% tax rate raises no revenue, but the Laffer curve hypothesis is that a 100% tax rate will also generate no revenue because at such a rate there is no longer any incentive for a rational taxpayer to earn any income, thus the revenue raised will be 100% of nothing. If both a 0% rate and 100% rate of taxation generate no revenue, it follows that there must exist a rate in between where tax revenue would be a maximum . The Laffer curve is typically represented as a stylized graph which starts at 0% tax, zero revenue, rises to a maximum rate of revenue raised at an intermediate rate of taxation and then falls again to zero revenue at a 100% tax rate.
One potential result of the Laffer curve is that increasing tax rates beyond a certain point will become counterproductive for raising further tax revenue because of diminishing returns. A hypothetical Laffer curve for any given economy can only be estimated and such estimates are sometimes controversial. The Laffer curve is associated with supply side economics, where its use in debates over rates of taxation has also been controversial.
>April 6, 2010 8:15 AM PDT Court: FCC has no power to regulate Net neutrality by Declan McCullagh https://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-20001825-38.html?tag=mncol;title
The Federal Communications Commission does not have the legal authority to slap Net neutrality regulations on Internet providers, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.
A three-judge panel in Washington, D.C. unanimously tossed out the FCC’s August 2008 cease and desist order against Comcast, which had taken measures to slow BitTorrent transfers and had voluntarily ended them earlier that year.
Because the FCC “has failed to tie its assertion” of regulatory authority to any actual law enacted by Congress, the agency does not have the authority to regulate an Internet provider’s network management practices, wrote Judge David Tatel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Tuesday’s decision could doom one of the signature initiatives of FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, a Democrat. Last October, Genachowski announced plans to begin drafting a formal set of Net neutrality rules–even though Congress has not given the agency permission to begin. (Verizon Communications CEO Ivan Seidenberg has said that new regulations would stifle innovative technologies like telemedicine.)
Even though liberal advocacy groups had urged the FCC to take action against Comcast, the agency’s vote to proceed was a narrow 3-2, with the dissenting commissioners predicting at the time that it would not hold up in court. FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell, a Republican, said at the time that the FCC’s ruling was unlawful and the lack of legal authority “is sure to doom this order on appeal.”
Net neutrality proponents responded on Tuesday by saying the FCC should slap landline-style regulations on Internet providers, which could involve price regulation, service quality controls, and technological mandates. The agency “should immediately start a proceeding bringing Internet access service back under some common carrier regulation,” Public Knowledge’s Gigi Sohn said. The Media Access Project said, without mentioning common carrier regulations directly, that the FCC must have the “ability to protect the rights of Internet users to access lawful content and services of their choice.”
The ruling also is likely to shift the debate to whether Congress will choose to explicitly grant the FCC the authority to regulate companies’ network management practices. It will also likely revive lobbying coalitions that have been defunct for the last few years.
In 2006, Congress rejected five bills, backed by groups including Google, Amazon.com, Free Press, and Public Knowledge, that would have handed the FCC the power to police Net neutrality violations. Even though the Democrats have enjoyed a majority on Capitol Hill since 2007, the political leadership has shown little interest in resuscitating those proposals.
“We must decide whether the Federal Communications Commission has authority to regulate an Internet service provider’s network management practices,” Tatel wrote in his 36-page opinion. “The Commission may exercise this ‘ancillary’ authority only if it demonstrates that its action–here barring Comcast from interfering with its customers’ use of peer-to-peer networking applications–is ‘reasonably ancillary to the…effective performance of its statutorily mandated responsibilities.'”
In August 2005, the FCC adopted a set of principles saying “consumers are entitled to run applications and use services of their choice.” But the principles also permit providers’ “reasonable network management” and, confusingly, the FCC admitted on the day of their adoption that the guidelines “are not enforceable.”
The FCC’s 2008 vote to punish Comcast stems from a request from Free Press and its political allies, including some Yale, Harvard, and Stanford law school faculty.
This is not the first time that the FCC has been rebuked for enacting regulations without any actual legal authority to do so. In 2005, the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled the agency did not have the authority to draft its so-called broadcast flag rule. And a federal appeals court in Pennsylvania ruled in the Janet Jackson nipple exposure incident that the FCC’s sanctions against CBS–which publishes CNET News–amounted to an “arbitrary and capricious change of policy.” Update at 9:15 a.m. PDT: History and more details added.
CNET’s Marguerite Reardon contributed to this report https://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-20001825-38.html?tag=mncol;title
