((BOOM)) Burger MAHWAH ,180 Rt 17 S, Mahwah, NJ 07430
(201) 529-1806 & Rochelle Park 375 West Passaic Street Rochelle Park, NJ 07662
(201) 843-2666
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A Big Storm Requires Big Bird?
Necessary government doesn’t justify extravagant government.
By JAMES TARANTO
Some people prepare for natural disasters by stocking up on food, water and batteries. At the New York Times, they stockpile tendentious ideological arguments. Thus within hours, as other journalists were scrambling around the storm zone in search of facts, the Times was ready with a set-piece editorial that hit the Web just hours after the storm called Sandy made landfall in the Northeast.
The title was “A Big Storm Requires Big Government,” and here’s the nut: “Disaster coordination is one of the most vital functions of ‘big government,’ which is why Mitt Romney wants to eliminate it.” That’s a straw man, as the Times itself admits at the end of the editorial by linking to a Politico story reporting “Romney would not abolish the Federal Emergency Management Agency.”
“Gov. Romney believes that states should be in charge of emergency management in responding to storms and other natural disasters in their jurisdictions,” Politico quotes a Romney spokesman as saying. “As the first responders, states are in the best position to aid affected individuals and communities, and to direct resources and assistance to where they are needed most. This includes help from the federal government and FEMA.”
It’s not clear if the Times disagrees with Romney’s actual position, which more or less describes the status quo. If you spent hours yesterday watching local TV news in New York, as we did, you saw a lot of Govs. Andrew Cuomo and Chris Christie and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and you heard a lot about state and local policemen, firemen and other emergency personnel. The federal government’s role was largely invisible.
Storm Damage – 300 Block of South Irving Street, Ridgewood
October 31,2012
Boyd A. Loving
Ridgewood NJ, Personnel from PSE&G’s Gas Division investigate a natural gas leak associated with the fall of a shade tree in the 300 block of South Irving Street in Ridgewood on Tuesday morning. The downed tree also caused a localized power outage which currently affects over two dozen residents of South Irving Street and Arden Court in Ridgewood. Two homes sustained moderate damage when the tree fell.
Ridgewood Schools : the “good old days” ain’t comin’ back
Your references (Carin Cone, Doug Cook, Jeff Yearing, etc…) puts you at RHS in the 60’s an interesting time in our country’s history and much, much different than today. A couple of questions in regards to your comments about class sizes, turf, size of administration, etc….
How many classes were offered at RHS in 1965? How many electives? How many Honors classes? How many languages? There is no more wood shop or auto shop at RHS which had large class enrollments. Just the sheer size of varied class offerings at RHS requires more class rooms and teachers and leads directly to overall lower class sizes. In regards to turf and lights. How did the RHS Boys and Girls Soccer teams do back then? What about the girls softball team? Were the boys and girls lacrosse teams state and national powers in the 60’s? How many All-American girls track stars were there back then? Since the boys basketball program was so strong I would assume the girls team was pretty good as well? Did the girls cross country team run for State titles year in and year out in the 60’s? None of those teams even existed back then. Yet the size and number of our fields is almost exactly the same. That’s why we have turf.
You mention some legendary Principal’s and Administrators. How did they deal with the Federal Gov’t mandated “No Child Left Behind? Wiring the schools for internet and high speed telecommunications must have been much easier back then. I’m sure the NJ mandated “No Bullying” rules took up a lot of their time. What about the HESPA exams and all the other mandated testing that goes on, how did they deal with those responsibilities? With all of those sports teams, multiple bands, New Players, Clubs, activities, over involved parents and the such they must have been swamped.
Look, we all long for the “good old days” whatever they may be for each of us but we all have to realize they ain’t comin’ back. We can be as nostalgic as we want but it is impossible to turn the clock back. The taxes we pay in this town are ridiculous, we all know that. Yet we all choose to live here. The Ridgewood School system when compared against similar districts in similar towns of similar size and when compared against State averages has a cost per pupil far below our peers and the state averages. It is hard to believe that we pay the taxes we do and in some respects we’re getting decent value. There is not a lot of “administrative bloat.” Name some if you can. The problem we have is that with a $90 million dollar budget approx. 85% of it is salaries and benefits. That’s over $75 million bucks right there. $385,000 for a new science curriculum doesn’t really sound like a big deal to me when you look at it like that. If you want to try and roll back the clock then start eliminating electives and teachers and before you do that, freeze their salaries on the contract being negotiated.
>Christie administration threatens to withhold approval of Parsippany schools budget
The Christie administration delivered an ultimatum today to the Parsippany-Troy Hills Board of Education: rescind Superintendent LeRoy Seitz’s contract or the state will not approve the school district’s budget. (Friedman and Calefati, The Star-Ledger)
>Christie on Face the Nation: Unions make it impossible to fire bad teachers
During his interview Sunday morning with Face the Nation’s Bob Schieffer, Gov. Chris Christie said his stance on reigning in school spending has not demonized teachers. (Gladden, Asbury Park Press)
Chris Christie said Sunday that he believes in “fair, adversarial” collective bargaining for New Jersey, but that he’s confident Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is doing what’s best for his state. (Staff, Politico)
>N.J. public workers are in a hurry to retire By Jarrett Renshaw/Statehouse Bureau
TRENTON — More than 20,000 police officers, firefighters, teachers and other public employees put in their retirement papers last year as momentum was building for sweeping health and pension reform in Trenton, state figures show.
That is a 60 percent jump from 2009 retirements and the highest in at least a decade, according to the Division of Pension and Benefits.
Teachers whose contracts were criticized all year long by Gov. Chris Christie headed for the exits at the quickest pace, nearly doubling the number who retired in 2009.
A NEW TEACHER in a Bergen County public school found herself in an uncomfortable setting a few years ago.Her school district was facing budget cuts, she said. School officials offered a compromise: If teachers would accept a one-year wage freeze, no teachers would be laid off.
The union representing teachers in the district rejected the proposal, claiming that school administrators were trying to hurt teachers. The union even accused the district of lying about the true state of school finances. The salary freeze was rejected. This new teacher got a pink slip.
“The friends I worked with didn’t care about saving my job,” this teacher said. “They cared only about themselves.”
Sound familiar?
You won’t hear this kind of story from the teachers unions. Nor will you hear it from the union supporters who have flooded the state capitol building in Wisconsin and talk as though public employees with their $80,000-a-year salaries are the 21st century equivalent of abused, dollar-a-day coal miners of the late 1800s.
>FDR : “collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into public service” In the 1930s FDR explained very clearly why unions have no place un the public sector, given the fundamental distinctions between government employees and private sector employees. Here is what he said:
“All government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into public service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations when applied to public-personnel management. The very nature and purposes of government make it impossible for administrative officials to represent fully or to bind the employer in mutual discussions with government employee organizations. The employer is the whole people.”
This is not a Republican or Democratic issue. It is a common sense issue. Organized labor has misrepresented the merits of public sector unions and the members have willingly allowed themselves to be brainwashed, because they enjoy such a good deal. The fact that they have gotten away with it for several decades does not justify the continuation of the ability for government employees to employ collective bargaining.
Given the dire economic condition of many states, to which the public union health care and pension benefit plans have been a significant factor, the taxpayer can no longer be expected to fund these programs to the extent that they have in the past. Every public union member must be required to contribute dramatically more toward their health care and pension. On this point, there can be no negotiation!
As we are witnessing in Wisconsin, the public union leaders’ greed is leading to thousands of layoffs for public union members. When will the members wake up and realize that they have been led astray and that they have killed the “golden goose”? The trough is empty and the taxpayers in states like NJ have nothing left to fill it. When will public union employees begin to scrutinize how the dues (that they are required to pay) are spent? They should be as angry about this as anyone. Yet, they blindly follow the offensive and inaccurate talking points of their leadership. It is a disgrace and we cannot afford the public unions’ irresponsible behavior any longer.
>Pro Arte Chorale Guest Conductor Roger Nierenberg Returns!Friday, March 4th at 8PM; West Side Presbyterian Church, 6 S. Monroe St., Ridgewood. Performances of Britten’s “Canata Misericordium”; and Haydon’s “Lord Nelson Mass”. tickets: call 201/497-8400 or www.proartechorale.org
66th Annual Antiques Show & Sale
Christ Church 105 Cottage Place Ridgewood
Friday, March 4th at 11am – 8pm Saturday, March 5th 10am – 5pm Delicious Food served daily. Appraiser on site both days. FREE shuttle service from Christ Church entrance and nearby parking. Information: 201/652-2350
>Taxpayers go toe to toe with Public Union Bosses in Trenton the Staff of the Ridgewood blog
Trenton NJ- Today the forces of Big Labor and Big Government will be marching into Trenton because they know that their power is threatened by those of us who believe in economic freedom and limited government.
The union bosses who have enriched themselves on the backs of taxpayers think that they will be able to flex their muscle and keep the gravy train of our tax dollars flowing into their coffers.
Like this past week in Wisconsin, tomorrow here in New Jersey taxpayers will be standing up against the union thugs like never before. For the first time I can remember, taxpayers will rally toe-to-toe with the union bosses and let them know that their days of strong-arming politicians and soaking taxpayers are over.
