The upscale grocery chain is valued at almost $12bn, but six straight quarters of declining sales have led to speculation of a takeover bid. What went wrong?
Lunchtime customers at Whole Foods in Manhattan’s Union Square had little trouble expressing the shortcomings that have led the once high-flying, organic-focused retailer to become linked with a takeover.
“I love the sushi, but I wouldn’t shop here except maybe for a special ingredient,” said Argentinian software designer Benjamin Vinas. “People say Whole Foods is for pretentious people, and I can see why. It’s too expensive. I don’t have the budget.”
Vinas was not the only customer to express a similar point of view. Others said that for their groceries they went several blocks north and west to lower-cost rival Trader Joe’s, where products may not be so exquisitely selected but are, in general, more uniformly discounted.
Maria Johnson, a postgraduate student, said Whole Foods’ pricing, with some items marked competitively and other expensive, was inconvenient.
Mark Krulish , Staff Writer, @Mark_Krulish2:57 p.m. ET April 27, 2017
RIDGEWOOD — In an effort to add parking spaces at the train station, the council is weighing a plan to reduce the size of a grass median and create new spots for compact cars.
The design, presented by Village Engineer Chris Rutishauser to the council Wednesday, calls for narrowing the island on the western side of the train tracks by 4.5 feet to accomodate parking for compact cars on both sides of the median. The new layout would add 41 spots.
Ridgewood NJ, Calling all High school sophomores and juniors! We know how hard it is to find the right school! Join us for our first annual College night featuring catholic colleges and universities both near and far!
Our Lady of Mt. carmel Parish Center
(lower level of the church – please use passaic street entrance)
1 Passaic St., Ridgewood, NJ
May 11, 2017
6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Representatives from the following schools have agreed to be present to answer all your questions!
Assumption College
Boston College
Cabrini University
Caldwell University
Catholic University of America
College of Mount St. Vincent
College of St. Elizabeth
DeSales University
Dominican College
Felician University
Georgian Court University
Iona College
Kings College
Manhattan College
Misericordia University
Mount Saint Mary College
Neumann University
Providence College
Sacred Heart University
Salve Regina University
Seton Hall University
Siena College
St. Anselm College
St. Bonaventure University
St. Francis University
St. John’s University
St. Peter’s University
Santa Clara University
Stonehill College
University of Dayton
University of Scranton
Ridgewood NJ, Bergen County is sponsoring a free event – “A Historical Portrayal of Jackie Kennedy Onassis” presented by the American Historical Theatre – Tuesday, May 2 at 11 a.m. in Village Hall Court Room. All are welcome!
There were a lot of beautiful people from out of town in Ridgewood for some kind of Hollywood-style movie premiere (on a smaller scale) at the Warner Quad theater yesterday evening. Dollars to donuts the rainbow-flag dust-up at Village Hall was a pre-planned “astroturf” event brought to us courtesy of these glamorous visitors who doubtlessly regard Ridgewood as just another flyover town populated by provincial rubes in dire need of progressive enlightenment
I don’t think the point was merely that they spoke and left, but that they left as a group, confirming the impression that the entire display had been organized and orchestrated rather than representing a number of individuals who wished to make statements on the same issue. Yet they had previously been told that this issue would be on the agenda of the following council meeting, which would have been the time to discuss it. And if anybody does not recognize the Aronsohn touch, they have not been watching. And by the way, I am not very interested in hearing what somebody who lives in Elmwood Park (or wherever it was) thinks about which flags should fly in Ridgewood.
So, someone who is gay feels very proud of himself. Fair enough, it is his business. Now to express his pride he wants a flag flying in the middle of the village. Why? Can’t I also have a flag flying for myself? I am very proud of being a straight man. Where is the equality here? I claim I am being discriminated if a rainbow flag goes up and mine doesn’t. The only flag I want to see in the middle of the village is the flag of the USA which represents the pride of all Americans be it straight, gay, yellow, brown, black, white or whatever you want to be. In my opinion if you feel like the US flag doesn’t represent you you need to fly your own flag in your property.
The following info was taken from the 2010 “Open Space Committee Report to The Village Council”: The Village has been highly successful in securing state and county Green Acres Funds of approx. 5.1 million dollars toward the 10 million dollar acquisition cost of the three properties: Habernickel, Schedler and expansion of Citizens Park. We still remain eligible for additional grants in the amount of 2.1 million dollars for the properties. At a previous council meeting at the time, former VM James Ten Hove said the price of a large field at Schedler would be about 9 million dollars. The council dismissed any development there due to the cost and lack of funds. When I hear people say we paid over 7 million dollars of tax payers money for the Schedler property, I think they must be referring to ” alternative facts.”
you must be new in town if you think this is the worst council ever. This council is honest and is not in the pockets of the developers like Aronsohn and his crew were. Unlike the previous people, there are no ethics violations pending against any of them (Aronsohn and Sonenfeld). Unlike the previous group, no one on this council attempted to destroy a person’s career in order to keep them from running for office (Aronsohn). Unlike the previous council, no one on this council has conflicts of interest with developers and Valley (Hauck, Aronsohn, Pucciarelli). Unlike the previous council, this council engages in friendly dialog with people who come to meetings instead of calling them names like terrorist, stalker, etc (Hauck, Pucciarelli, Aronsohn, Sonenfeld). Unlike the previous council, this council does not have their spouses posting trash about their colleagues on social media (Hauck). Unlike the previous council, no one has signed a police complaint against any of them for their outrageous behaviour. Yep, you must be new in town if you think this is the worst council ever.
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood Police, EMS, and Fire Department personnel were dispatched to aid an adult male who reportedly fell off of a NJ Transit bus at the intersection of East Ridgewood and North Pleasant Avenues late Thursday afternoon, 04/27. Preliminary results of an on-scene evaluation conducted by EMTs determined that the victim was apparently uninjured from the fall, but likely highly intoxicated. He was transported by ambulance to The Valley Hospital for further evaluation/examination. The bus was released by Ridgewood PD and continued on its route.
Ridgewood NJ, at Wednesday nights council meet ,Jan Phillips once again attempted to strong arm the council in the name of civility by pushing them to hang a Gay Pride flag over Village Hall. Many will remember her as the one who called everyone “GRANDSTANDERS” who objected to Aronsohn’s giant garage fiasco.
If Susan and company do not put the flag up, Jan will make it her mission to brand all of them as anti-gay which is completely untrue.
A reader wrote us ….
So, Last night as I was watching the Village Council meeting from the comfort of my easy chair, I could hear what sounded like a rather large crowd and wondered what everyone might be there for. Could it be Schedler? Clinton Avenue? Parking? I was pretty surprised when people started going up to the microphone talking about hanging the Gay Pride flag over Village Hall. This was obviously an orchestrated demonstration of power and pride by people who fully support inclusion, welcoming, understanding, and civility toward non-heterosexuals. I am one of those people. I not only support LGBTQ, but I support all minorities, everyone who is marginalized, I support interracial and inter-religious marriage, immigrants’ rights, religious freedom, inclusion of all with physical handicaps, and every single nationality on our planet. I do not support, however, putting up one flag to indicate acceptance of one group that has most unfortunately been discriminated against. If the Village Council opts to do this, then what is to stop someone who wishes to have the Confederate flag hang over Village Hall for one month, or perhaps the newest addition to the lineup, the “Straight Flag.” We could wind up with the flag of the month, pretty much diluting the overall message of inclusion. I like to think that our Village welcomes everyone. It is not necessary to hang a flag to indicate that one group is accepted, when in fact all “groups” are accepted. I was about to get in my car and drive over to the meeting to say this, but I was afraid I would be branded as anti-gay. Sadly, a quick condemnation of someone for stating their feelings is all to common, and I would be devastated if I had to start defending myself. I hope that our elected officials will be able to say “no” to this request. Although the request is well-intended, hanging this one flag welcoming one group would be wrong.
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — The Centers for Disease Control says a deadly superbug fungus has hit hospitals in the United States, primarily in the Tri-State Area.
As CBS2’s Meg Baker reports, it’s an infection that can easily be misidentified and become deadly, and now health officials are on high alert.
“The organism can be spread patient to patient as well as environmental surfaces which make it unique in that regard,” Dr. Neil Gaffin said.
Gaffin is an infectious disease specialist at the Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, New Jersey — which has not had any cases of the dangerous superbug.
He explains it’s a yeast known as Candida auris that is being spread around hospitals, mainly around New York and New Jersey.
Washington DC, We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to do something big. President Trump has made tax reform a priority, and we have a Republican Congress that wants to get it done. This is something that Democrats should support too because it’s good for the American people.
The President is going to seize this opportunity by leading the most significant tax reform legislation since 1986 – and one of the biggest tax cuts in American history.
The President has focused on three things since his campaign: job creation, economic growth, and helping low and middle-income families who have been left behind by this economy. He understands that there are a lot of people in this country that feel like they work hard and still can’t get ahead. They are sick of turning their paychecks over to Washington and having no idea how their tax dollars are spent. They are frustrated by a tax code that is so complicated that they can’t even do their own taxes.
That’s why tax reform is such a big priority for this President. He cares about making the economy work better for the American people.
We are going to cut taxes for businesses to make them competitive, and we are going to cut taxes for the American people – especially low and middle-income families.
In 1935, we had a one-page tax form consisting of 34 lines and two pages of instructions. Today, the basic 1040 form has 79 lines and 211 pages of instructions. Instead of a single tax form, the IRS now has 199 tax forms on the individual side of the tax code alone. Taxpayers spend nearly 7 billion hours complying with the tax code each year, and nearly 90% of taxpayers need help filing their taxes.
We are going to cut taxes and simplify the tax code by taking the current 7 tax brackets we have today and reducing them to only three brackets: 10 percent, 25 percent, and 35 percent.
We are going to double the standard deduction so that a married couple won’t pay any taxes on the first $24,000 of income they earn. So in essence, we are creating a 0 percent tax rate for the first $24,000 that a couple earns.
The larger standard deduction also leads to simplification because far fewer taxpayers will need to itemize, which means their tax form can go back to that one simple page.
Families in this country will also benefit from tax relief to help them with child and dependent care expenses.
We are going to repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). The AMT creates significant complications and burdens by requiring taxpayers to do their taxes twice to see which is higher. That makes no sense; we should have one simple tax code.
Job creation and economic growth is the top priority for this Administration, and nothing drives economic growth like capital investment. Therefore, we are going to return the top tax rate on capital gains and dividends to 20 percent by repealing the harmful 3.8 percent Obamacare tax. That tax has been a direct hit on investment income and small business owners.
We are going to repeal the death tax. The threat of being hit by the death tax leads small business owners and farmers in this country to waste countless hours and resources on complicated estate planning to make sure their children aren’t hit with a huge tax when they die. No one wants their children to have to sell the family business to pay an unfair tax.
We are going to eliminate most of the tax breaks that mainly benefit high-income individuals. Home ownership, charitable giving, and retirement savings will be protected – but other tax benefits will be eliminated.
This is not going to be easy. Doing big things never is. But one thing is for certain: I would not bet against this President. He will get this done for the American people.
Gary Cohn is the chief economic advisor to President Donald J. Trump and Director of the National Economic Council.
URBAN FORESTRY EXPERT PRESENTS – SUSTAINABLE STREET TREE MGMT – MAY 9
April 27,2017
te staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, a New Jersey Urban Forestry Expert will Present ‘Sustainable Street Tree Management’ at Ridgewood Library.
Taking comfort under the shade of an oak tree is one of summer’s greatest pleasures. But, have you wondered how these mighty trees are maintained, or how the village ensures a healthy and diversified tree canopy will comfort residents for years to come?
The Ridgewood Shade Tree Commission will welcome New Jersey Certified Tree Expert Nick Polanin to address these very questions on Tuesday, May 9, 2017 at 7:30 pm at the Ridgewood Public Library.
Sustainable Tree Management
Mr. Polanin will discuss sustainable street tree management, the problems facing our urban trees, the challenges and even liabilities involved with the selection of our street trees, as well as issues with care and maintenance, including pest management intervention.
Robust and Healthy Tree Ecosystem
“We are so excited to have Nick Polanin speak at the Ridgewood Library,” said Monica Buesser, Chairperson of the Ridgewood Shade Tree Commission. “Village residents will have the unique opportunity to learn the complexities and importance of maintaining a robust and healthy tree ecosystem in our community.”
This lecture is free and open to the public. Continuing education credit is also available for attendees.
The Ridgewood Public Library is located at 125 N. Maple Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey.
Having over 30 years of experience in the municipal, residential, and academic sectors of arboriculture and urban forestry, Nick has taught countless professionals and volunteers on many aspects within urban forestry. He has been nationally recognized for his leadership and educational initiatives in training arborists and other tree care professionals on the selection and care of trees and pest intervention, as well as sustainable street tree management. He currently serves as statewide coordinator for the Rutgers NJAES Master Gardener Program. Nick holds an M.S. in Horticulture/Urban Forestry (1989), and a B.S. in Natural Resource Management/Forestry (1982), both from Rutgers University.
Protect, Preserve and Enhance Shade Trees
The Ridgewood Shade Tree Commission’s (STC) purpose is to protect, preserve and enhance the shade trees in the village. Shade Trees are defined as trees planted next to streets on the Village’s property. The STC’s goals are to foster public-private partnerships to 1) educate the community about the contribution shade trees make to the Village environment and, 2) increase the number of shade trees in the village by actively promoting community tree planting programs.
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood Police once again report an ID theft occurrence in Ridgewood . On April 20th, a Grove Street resident reported a fraudulent electronic check in the amount of $925.00 was cashed at a location in Nevada against his bank account. The matter is currently being investigated by the Detective Bureau.
They wanted to create something interactive that puts people’s “identity theft intelligence” to the test with a view to hopefully raising awareness for identity theft and helping more people protect themselves.
