Category: Village of Rdgewood

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The Fly wants to know why some residents and business owners refuse to comply with the Village’s law concerning ice & snow removal from sidewalks. Should the Village hire part-time employees to issue summonses post every major snowfall? What do you think? And what about those pesky contractors who plow driveway snow into the street? Shouldn’t they be issued summonses?

§ 249-1. Snow and ice removal. [Amended 7-8-1975 by Ord. No. 1582; 3-10-1987 by Ord. No. 2084; 11-9-1993 by Ord. No. 2435]

A. The owner of any land abutting upon the streets or public highways in the Village, if such land is owner-occupied or vacant, otherwise the tenant or occupant of such land situate in all zones of the Village of Ridgewood as shown on the 1990 Zoning Map, with the exception of the B-1, B-2, P and P-2 Zones of the Village, shall remove all snow and ice from the abutting sidewalks of such streets or highways within 24 hours after the same shall fall or be formed thereon. No snow or ice so removed, however, shall be deposited or placed in the street or highway in such a manner or location so as to impede the flow of traffic. For purposes of this section, such land shall be deemed owner-occupied if occupied by either the owner or owners of record or any agent, servant or employee thereof.

B. Owners, tenants and occupants of any land abutting the streets or highways of the Village situate in the B-1, B-2, P and P-2 Zones of the Village are subject to the following snow removal regulations. Special regulations are adopted for the business and office zones in order to maintain an attractive and safe environment in the business and professional office zones of the Village by assuring that the snow will be removed from the sidewalks in and around the central business district on a timely basis.

C. Snow is required to be removed in the B-1, B-2, P and P-2 Zone Districts from the sidewalks concurrently with its fall. To assure compliance with this section, more than one clearing may be required to keep the sidewalks as free of snow as is practical. The following specific regulations are hereby adopted. Snowfalls commencing during the evening, that is, after 6:00 p.m., will be cleared by no later than 9:00 a.m. the following morning, Sundays and holidays included. During weekday storms, Monday through Saturday, occurring during business hours, sidewalks shall be cleared to a five-foot minimum width to provide access from the storefront to the curb, between meters, if meters are installed. After 6:00 p.m. and on Sundays and holidays, sidewalks will be completely cleared into the street.

D. A court appearance will be required to answer any summons issued for a violation of this section occurring in the B-1, B-2, P and P-2 zones of the Village. A court appearance will be required to answer any summons issued for a second or subsequent violation of this section in all zones of the Village. [Amended 7-11-1995 by Ord. No. 2533]

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>Dear Trenton Legislators,

Please ignore Mrs. Brogan’s tacky form letter admonishing you for proposing a funding formula that does not deliver more money to Ridgewood.

Since in her mind (she is one of our 5 board members) Ridgewood is the only district in the State that is important, you can understand why she takes this proposed funding formula so personally as a slap in the face to Ridgewood.

Our Board uses money like a dripping faucet. We do not even have textbooks in our elementary schools, but we have lots of consultants to help our hapless administrators administrate.

We’ve recently instituted reform math, the worse possible form of math at great cost and absent any due diligence or input from parents. The board of ed just spent $9,000 on a consultant who left us a report that told us what we knew when she started: THAT MANY PARENTS WANT TRADITIONAL MATH IN THEIR SCHOOLS.

Our Board recently spent an entire year attempting to hire a superintendent. They chose to hire someone who wanted to commute from Long Island (at our expense!), who was a reform math constructivist in the face of intense parental opposition, and someone who had thrice bailed from the hiring process at other school districts.

I am but one parent, but I’ve seen enough of public school administration to determine the extent of wastefullness and single-mindedness that prevails. All one-party systems eventually fall to corruption.

The Ridgewood public school system, as currently run is but a one-party system for which corruption is systemic.

We do not need more money to be wasted in the public school system. I do not want to pay higher state taxes so that a little bit more comes back to Ridgewood.

That’s the game and I don’t want to play anymore.

Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely,

A Ridgewood parent

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ORDER FINE ART/ STOCK PRINTS ON-LINE

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>Dismissal times today will be:

RED Program – 11 A.M.
A.M. Kindergarten – 11:20 A.M.
P.M. Kindergarten – Cancelled
Grades 1-5 – 12:45 P.M.
Grades 6-8 – 12:15 P.M.
Grades 9-12 – 12:30 P.M.

Please refer to the RPS district website for general EMERGENCY CLOSING
INFORMATION

https://www.ridgewood.k12.nj.us/

>…Is it just me or do all contractors hate doing business in Ridgewood because of the hoops they have to go through and the delays that are encountered?This issues continues to be brought to the fly over and over .I have heard many people complaining about the ridiculous amount of time it takes to get approval .This is seriously impacting business in town. I’ve heard stories about how an application stays on the bottom because others get bumped to the top, due to inside contacts at the Village Hall. The staff in the Building Dept. all appears to have gone to the DMV school of customer service. I’m all for maintaining high standards of construction in Ridgewood, but the time it takes to get approvals is absurd.

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The Fly has just received word that several tow trucks were summoned by Ridgewood Police this morning to remove as many as ten illegally parked automobiles from posted no-parking zones around Ridgewood High School.

Reportedly, fire zone parking violations at RHS are becoming a common occurrence. If towing is the only way to resolve this safety issue, The Fly says: “hook ‘em!”

>TheStreet.com
What Happens When a Brokerage Fails
Monday December 10, 6:20 am ET
ByPhilip van Doorn, TheStreet.com Ratings Bank Analyst

When headlines were screaming about problems at E*Trade’s bank unit, depositors weren’t the only ones unnerved. Word of the S&L’s home-equity loan exposure and writedown of asset-backed securities also sparked a run on E*Trade’s discount brokerage accounts. E*Trade stated that investors pulled a net $7 billion from both bank and brokerage accounts month to date, through Nov. 27.
Judging from reader questions, there’s a lot of confusion about what the bank’s problems mean for E*Trade’s brokerage customers and the risks associated with the failure of a brokerage firm.

Bank Failures
If a broker-held bank were in danger of failing, its regulator would probably try to help avoid a failure by encouraging a sale to a larger, strongly capitalized institution. This would avoid a failure, so no depositors (insured or otherwise) would be hurt.

If the regulator were forced to close down the bank, the FDIC would then immediately pay off insured deposits, usually by transferring the balances to another bank overnight. Uninsured depositors would later be paid a “dividend” to recover a portion of their uninsured deposits.

For example, when NetBank failed, depositors were immediately paid a dividend of 50 cents on the dollar for their uninsured balances, with the possibility of additional dividends as the FDIC sold off NetBank’s remaining assets.

Brokerage Firm Failures and SIPC Coverage

If a brokerage firm fails and securities are missing from customer accounts, the Securities Investor Protection Corporation, or SIPC, will ask a federal judge to appoint a trustee to oversee the liquidation of the firm’s assets and orderly transfer of customer accounts to other brokerage companies. The day of the SIPC’s request is called the “filing date.”

Investors may simply have their accounts transferred to another broker with no loss. In the event that securities or cash are missing from a brokerage account, investors have some protection from SIPC.

There are major differences between SIPC protection and FDIC protection. Unlike the FDIC, SIPC does not provide blanket protection for losses. The purpose of SIPC protection is to replace securities that are missing when a brokerage firm fails. It does not make up missing value for securities that may have lost market value while missing or for investments that the customer may feel he or she was ill-advised to make.

If you are missing 100 shares of IBM when your brokerage firm fails, SIPC will simply replace the 100 missing shares, regardless of whether they have gone up or down in value since they went missing.

Eligibility and Coverage Limits
It is important to make sure that your broker is a member of SIPC. The words “Member Securities Investor Protection Corporation,” or “Member SIPC” will appear on signs at brokerage offices and on websites or advertisements for most brokers. If you are not sure, go to SIPC’s Web site to check.

Both cash and securities are covered, with a limit of $500,000 in value as of the filing date, including a $100,000 limit for missing cash. However, some types of investments are not covered, including commodity and currency futures contracts, unregistered investment contracts and annuity contracts.

Most investors are eligible for SIPC protection. Those that are ineligible include officers, general partners and directors of a failed brokerage firm, and brokers, dealers or banks acting on their own behalf, rather than for their customers. You should visit SIPC’s Web site for a full list of the rules on eligibility and coverage.

SIPC Coverage for Money Market Funds
This is an area that can easily cause confusion. Many investors consider money market balances held at brokerage accounts as “cash.” But a money market fund is actually a mutual fund that seeks to keep its share price fixed at $1.

The companies that manage these funds may or may not be affiliated with your brokerage. Money market funds hold short-term debt instruments, such as Treasury bills, commercial paper, certificates of deposit and other securities with maturities usually averaging about 90 days.

Because of the short maturities and generally liquid nature of these securities, it is very rare for a money market funds to “break the buck,” or fall below $1 a share, which could lead to investor losses. When this has happened, fund managers have usually stepped in and supported the $1 price with their own money, but this has not always been the case.

So while investors often think of money market funds as safe alternatives to bank accounts, they are not insured by the FDIC or any other entity.

For SIPC purposes, shares in a money market fund are considered securities. SIPC protection may or may not apply to investments in money market mutual funds within your brokerage account. Whether or not your money market shares are covered depends on how your relationship with the money market fund is set up. There are two possibilities:

While the broker helped place your money in a money market fund, you have a separate relationship with the money market fund manager. This means you have your own money market fund account number and probably a checkbook and separate statement for the money fund. The company managing the money market fund “knows you.” In this case, if your broker fails, SIPC coverage does not apply to your money market fund, and is not even necessary, as you can contact the money fund manager directly to access your shares.
The broker has placed your cash in the money market fund on your behalf. This means that the money market fund “does not know you,” and that the broker is supposed to keep track of each of its customers’ shares in the money fund. In this case, if any of your money market shares are missing from your account when the broker fails, SIPC covers the money market shares as part of your coverage for missing securities, up to $500,000.
Filing Claims

If your broker fails and securities are missing from customer accounts, the trustee will send you a claim form and instructions with a deadline for placing a claim, which is usually 30 to 60 days from the filing date. You will need to supply proof of what the broker owes you, which shows how important it is to save your statements. If you receive or have access to electronic statements, save the electronic files and maintain printed copies as well. Most customers receive their property back within one to three months.

Again, you should visit the SIPC Web site for further information. There’s a much more detailed summary of how SIPC protection works. Among the other highlights is the Investor Survival Quiz. Take it. You may be surprised at your score!