They are definitely Aronsohn cronies. You should have seen them at those civility meetings Aronshon held. Some of those education people, some of the well-known ones were there, who are now pushing for full-day kindergarten, and they really catered to Aronsohm treating him like he was a favored king. I never saw anything like that before, such sycophants; such ingratiation; remember he was the mayor at the time. Yup, they want you to vote “yes” to full-day kindergarten. Well, do you really think that is best for our little kids?
Ridgewood NJ, in a recent editorial in the Glen Rock Patch former Ridgewood Mayor Paul Aronsohn gave Congressmen Scott Garrett a Negative Endorsement .
What’s a Negative Endorsement you ask ? A Negative Endorsement is a when a disreputable person with dubious motives supports a candidate making the candidate they support even less desirable.
Aronsohn started with the usual, “On a whole range of issues, he has taken positions that are extreme and completely out-of-sync with the mainstream values of northern New Jersey. This was true when I ran against him in 2006. This is still true today. In fact, he often takes positions that are out-of-sync with the other 11 members of the New Jersey delegation — democrats as well as republicans.”
Garrett is “out-of-sync”,says the man who tried to sell out the whole Village of Ridgewood to hand full of developers .
Garrett is “out-of-sync”, says the man who every single candidate he supported in the last election lost in a massive landslide .
Garrett is “out-of-sync”, despite the fact he beat Aronsohn easily and has been reelected over and over by New Jersey Voters .
Garrett is “out-of-sync” , says the man who tried to blame PSEG Super Storm Sandy and pissed them off so much they cut power to the Village Hall .
Maybe Garrett is not “out-of-sync”, maybe Mr Ex Mayor , you are “out-of-sync” and a sore loser . To many in the Village of Ridgewood Aronsohn and his cronies represented the low water mark in Village history.
Former New York Mayor Ed Koch once said, “If you agree with me on nine out of 12 issues, vote for me. If you agree with me on 12 out of 12 issues, see a psychiatrist.”
I have always felt this was good advice and perhaps the Ex Mayor could seek some professional help.
Scott Garrett is a soft-spoken policy wonk , contrary to poor and biased coverage he receives from much of New Jersey’s Democratic and Union controlled media he is no “Right-wing firebrand”.
Garrett actually read Dodd-Frank all 2000 plus pages. I know not very glamorous , but what is glamorous is all the work Scott has done on making “CrowdFunding ” easier. Easy enough to have a Pizza Shop in Ridgewood rebuilt because of Indego. On a larger scale, many entrepreneurs can now raise capital independently on Wall Street Investment banks .
Scott has also pushed back on the “too big to fail” , which contrary to media coverage this has made him a target of Wall Street and a target of Real-estate interests . Do you really think all banks should be entitled to taxpayer bailouts and for that matter, Dodd-Frank makes many key industries in the US “too big to fail” creating a “bailout nation”.
To quote former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan , as a policy “too big to fail” creates a”moral hazard”. Meaning the risk in the USA is socialized while profits and concentrated on the politically favored.
Garrett has been attacked repeatedly on his supposed “anti-gay “comments , his offices have even been the target of media coordinated , media and Democrat orchestrated fake protests . No evidence has ever been offered as to these comments ,no tapes, video , pictures or transcripts ,nothing period.
While his Clintonista challenger Josh Gottheimer has accepted money from wife beaters , Saudi Arabia , disgraced ex-congressmen and every industry looking to get on the taxpayer bailout band wagon.
The reality is Garrett is conservative yes , and while he is the incumbent he is also a Washington outsider . He opposes wasteful spending ,no matter what the cost and most importantly he is what he is and makes no representation otherwise .
He proved right to be skeptical on Obamacare, and the Iranian Nuke deal, as well as the management of disaster aid .
This is why once again the Ridgewood blog endorses and will continue to endorse Scott Garrett .
Daylight savings just another excuse to work on your Golf Handicap
Ridgewood Distracted by the Election, Did you forget to Fall Back this morning at 2am
November 5,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, its official this morning the time moves back one hour at 2 a.m. local time Nov. 6; unless you are out and about or have a late night rendezvous you should have reset your clocks before going to bed so you won’t arrive at appointments an hour early today .
While many question whether anyone in New Jersey really knows what time it is , Arizona and Hawaii are now the only two states that do not observe daylight saving time. During daylight saving time, parts of Arizona matchup with Pacific Time instead of the Mountain time zone that the state is in. U.S. territories where time simply does not have the same meaning like Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Marianas also do not observe daylight saving time.
In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Uniform Time Act into law, making daylight savings time the law of the land . The U.S. Department of Transportation is the keeper of daylight saving time.
So why does it exist ; one argument for daylight saving time is that fewer accidents happen during daylight hours, so extending morning daylight in winter and evening daylight in summer results in a slight reduction in automobile accidents.
The idea behind daylight saving time is to take advantage of daylight hours and save energy. This theory has come under debate inn recent years ,with many “daylight deniers ” out there . In 2008 federal Department of Energy study, U.S. electricity use decreased by 0.5% for each day of extended daylight saving time, resulting in a savings of 0.03% for the year as a whole.
While the savings may seem small in percentage terms, in absolute terms, if the theory is true added up to 1.3 billion kilowatt-hours ,which is enough to power about 122,000 average U.S. homes for a year.
Others point to the time change is actually is rooted in an agricultural society. The idea of “extending” daylight was meant to provide more time to work in the fields.Remember humanity spent most of its pre-Edison existence siting around in the dark .
The staff of the Ridgewood blog would like to put forth one more theory , and that is golf . As we have witnessed through US modern history a good game of golf can not be under estimated by any administration with extended daylight adding much to handicaps .
Most pollsters will tell you that the majority finds it more a nuisance rather than a benefit but, they secretly take pleasure in their friends and coworkers who show up late or early the next day and we do too.
Ridgewood Nj, sometimes you just do not understand your millennial ? The main problem may be that words have different meaning to different generations .
Millennial vs Boomer Generation in 10 Words
1. Diversity – For Millennial’s: Blending of different backgrounds and perspectives within a team. Makes the team better verses Boomers: It’s like eating food at a buffet, getting to pick different things.. It’s just what it is, it defines people.
2. Acceptance – For Millennial’s: The want to blend in and be part of the team. Boomers: They have more confidence in their ability as an individual to change the circumstances, they don’t need to blend in.
3. Work – For Millennial’s: They don’t have confidence that working hard will give them what they want. Boomers: Through hard work you build your individuality. If you work hard you get what you want.
4. Communication -For Millennial’s: Use technology to verify who they are talking to, rather than face to face. Boomers: View it as networking, face to face interaction.
5. Inclusion – For Millennial’s: They believe in the “process” a collaborate participate environment. Boomers: Focus on the goal. They want to get the job done.
6. Career – For Millennial’s: Multiple tracks because they don’t feel confident in the system, so they like to keep their options wide spread Boomers: Would focus on the career goal and will do anything to conquer opticals to meet their goals with confidence.
7. Commitment – For Millennial’s: Idea of commitment doesn’t exist. They don’t have goal focus or feel confident in the process. Boomers: You have to put in an effort be it a relationship or career, and it takes time.
8. Global – For Millennial’s: View the whole world with its big issues such as global warming. If there is pain anywhere and everywhere. If one guy in India is hungry, then we are all hungry. It’s everyone’s problem. Boomers: “global” is a playground, an adventure. Is part of your journey. If there’s a problem in one place of the world it’s not in another, not my problem.
9. Language For Millennial’s: They don’t feel the need to articulate themselves fully. They use acronyms. They don’t assume anything will change. They take things as face value. What you see is what you get. Boomers: More expressive with language and express more of the grey area. Everything is not black and white.
10. Transparency For Millennial’s: There should be an openness all the time. All decisions are group decisions. Boomers: There are somethings better left unsaid. Just a requirement to fill the job.
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood Police report that on October 25 a Greenway Road resident reported a theft of property from the driveway. The victim reported an unknown person rifled through approximately fifteen bags filled with baby toys, clothing donations and furniture which were to be picked up by the Veterans. The value of the items removed was approximately $650.
Ridgewood NJ, How Hillary Clinton’s campaign chair John Podesta’s email got hacked, is a lesson for all of us and some ideas on how to not let it happen to you. It wasn’t technical,amazingly Podesta had an insecure gmail account .There wasn’t a big security breach on Google’s servers, someone simply tricked Podesta into giving them his password.
According to WikiLeaks on March 19, Podesta received an email from “[email protected]” — a user falsely posing as Google, notifying Podesta that his password had been compromised by someone in Ukraine. The email provided a bit.ly link to change the password.
Podesta forwarded the email to his chief of staff, who then passed along the email to the campaign’s IT team. This is where things go so painfully wrong: The campaign’s IT team incorrectly identified the email phishing for Podesta’s password as legitimate, instructing him to change his password; ouch no 007 needed.
This wasn’t an elaborately technical hack. Rather, this kind of hacking is incredibly common gmail, yahoo and AOL. Hackers often try to trick email users with seemingly familiar addresses — for example, a trusted email address with one character different — and send “poisoned” links. Click on the link, and it can take you to a page that can steal more information, running malicious software. Simpler yet give us your password and well you know the rest of the story.
The Ridgewood blog receives about 5 of these a day, second most to all the “the Prince of Nigeria ” emails looking for account numbers .
Once again the Ridgewood Police are reporting identity fraud on the crime blotter. On October 25 the Ridgewood Police reported that an Emmett Road resident reported a fraud in the past. The resident reported he received a notice from Verizon stating two new phone numbers had been added to his Verizon account. Verizon reported the additional phone lines were added at a Best Buy store in Clarksville, Indiana on October 17. The resident reported he contacted Verizon and the phone lines were canceled. The Verizon customer information could have been phished ,like Podesta or perhaps something even more basic like mail was stolen .
It pays to be extra cautious when responding to emails asking for information or verifying information .
Am I seeing things? Or did I just receive an email from my school essentially TELLING me to vote in favor of full day kindergarten?
My tax dollars PAID for an email influencing a vote? That I was already told at back to school night that if it does not pass, mandatory tuition based full day K would be implemented. Which is false last I checked.
Last I checked sending emails like this is actually a violation. It is unethical at LEAST. Our school administration should not have any influence, sway, or opinion on election matters and I will be bringing this to the attention of the state board of elections and any ethics board that could possibly be interested. And NOW I’ll be using my voice to make sure that anyone and everyone I can reach knows I will be voting NO to full day K, and I have a list of reasons why they should as well.
I unequivocally demand an follow-up email be sent to the parents informing them that this is a CHOICE and a tax increase is attached. And that we have already got one of the most expensive school budgets in the state. Find room in THAT budget, or take it off the table. Enough is enough.
This has gone far enough. When my high schooler can attend a full day of classes with all of his teachers in attendance and not one single “free period” because there is not a sub to be found, ask me for more money a school budget.
You all are educated, intelligent, well-paid individuals. I suspect you are qualified to implement and work within a budget. With all the free time you have now that the teacher contracts have been “settled”, go back to the drawing board, take a serious look at your astronomical budget, and find the solution you want.
Sincerely,
Melanie McWilliams
Re: “Planning Board lawsuit dismissed,” The Ridgewood News, October 28, Page A-2.
Former Ridgewood Mayor Paul Aronsohn’s contention that both his and former Deputy Mayor Albert Pucciarelli’s acceptance of gratis tickets to a political fundraiser, and subsequent attendance at the event, was entirely appropriate based on who else was in attendance, is simply preposterous.
Of those attendees referenced by Mr. Aronsohn (“all five Council members at that time,” “the Village Manager, County Executive, and multiple Freeholders”) only he and Mr. Pucciarelli were full voting members of the Planning Board at that time. As such, only he and Mr. Pucciarelli were in positions to cast votes on a then pending amendment to the Village’s Master Plan that could have favorably impacted the local real estate developer who provided the gratis tickets. Neither Mr. Aronsohn nor Mr. Pucciarelli should have set foot in that event venue for any reason whatsoever.
And with respect to Mr. Aronsohn’s claim that Village Attorney Matt Rogers previously advised that “it was both fine and appropriate that we attended as a courtesy to the visiting governor,” you and your reporter should have treated this statement as nothing more than hearsay unless Mr. Aronsohn was willing and able to produce a piece of correspondence or official transcript verifying its authenticity.
Following is an email I wrote tonight to the Village Council with commentary on the meeting of Wednesday 2 November.
Dear All:
To Bernie, I apologize profusely if my comment about Trump in any way reflected an intent to interfere in how various members may vote. You know how strongly I feel about the greatest of our rights as American citizens, and in no way would I ever do that. What I tried to say was how ironic it was with perhaps as many as three people on the VC being possibly Trump supporters and thus people speaking so loudly about how the country is being ruined with over regulations, here we have a VC that is regulating the town to death. Listening to your discourse on various matters, I could only think of a Soviet Politburo making plans.
To Jeff, you are one bright person, but unfortunately ,you continue to underestimate the intelligence of others. Including yours truly, with your answer about the garage. You made reference to the garage by itself not being a solution to the 1,000 space shortage. The garage with 350 spaces (?) would have made quite a dent, far more than whatever spaces you might achieve with your antics of repricing, Uber, etc.
To Susan, you would have made an unbelievably clever trial attorney. You are smart, articulate, and have an uncanny ability to come up with red herrings. You blame the lack of having a garage to the June elections, when in fact you did everything in your power to torpedo the garage from day zero. You seem to forget that if you had acted responsibly last year, the work on the garage would have started in November and it would have been done by now. The borrowing would have been at historically low interest rates, an opportunity we will not see for decades. History will not judge you well for that.
Lack of transparency in Village business. This opaqueness is reflective of the Mayor’s drive for total control of Village business. In 48 years of living here, I have not seen such a dictatorial attitude. Yes, welcome to the Soviet Republic of Ridgewood. I suggested you follow Mayor Aronsohn’s example of writing a monthly column on what is happening and why, but one of your enablers quickly came to your defense by stating this is unnecessary since the Ridgewood News reported on VC meetings. I don’t quite see that.
The Mayor’s style of governance is slowly beginning to impact our lives. Village Hall is closing on itself, after two years of a dynamic open operation under Roberta. Village employee morale is imploding! And it won’t be long before we go back to the bad old days of a bureaucratic non-responsive Village Hall. Also, many committee an board positions are going unfilled, as people get turned off with the Mayor’s antics. And to those misfits in the audience who cheered Roberta’s firing, just wait a few months.
Seeing the VC at work, I can only think of a puppet show of The Wizard of Oz. Easy to sort who’s who.
It is getting late. Cynthia comes to work with me tomorrow meaning we have to be at the station by 06:20. Otherwise no place to park.
It was brought to our attention that many landscapers operating in the Village are doing so without the requisite permits and vehicle decals required under Village of Ridgewood Code 186.
When we started asking some landscapers why they did not have Village of Ridgewood issued permits and decals, several told us that the Village has no authority to regulate their respective operations; the NJDEP is the sole authority with respect to regulating landscaper contractors.
We don’t know if this is true or not. Can anyone help us understand if Village Code 186 (excerpt noted below) is lawful or unlawful?
All landscapers and landscaping firms depositing yard waste in the street for customers within the Village of Ridgewood shall display an annual decal as evidence of a current annual permit as required by the provisions of this chapter. Proof of being permitted pursuant to this chapter shall be demonstrated by the display of a decal, which will be issued to each permit holder. The decal shall be displayed by the permit holder on each vehicle the permit holder owns or operates within the Village of Ridgewood in connection with the permit holder’s landscaping business.
The sole exception to the above permitting requirement will apply only to landscapers who do not utilize a motor vehicle to transport equipment used to provide landscaping services.
Ridgewood NJ, Shortly after 4 PM on Thursday, November 3, the North West Bergen Central Dispatch Center received a telephone call from a female requesting a police response to Ridgewood High School, located at 627 East Ridgewood Avenue, Ridgewood. The caller informed the dispatch center that she was either sexually assaulted, or was the victim of unwanted sexual contact at the high school (a language barrier hindered communication).
Two (2) Ridgewood PD uniformed Patrol Officers and a uniformed supervisor were immediately directed to the high school and all arrived on scene within 3-5 minutes of being dispatched. The officers and their supervisor were observed interviewing two (2) females and two (2) males outside of the school’s main entrance. It is not known whether the female caller was one of those being interviewed, nor is it known whether the alleged perpetrator was one of those being interviewed.
Within 15 minutes after the arrival of officers, the civilians who were being interviewed were all observed entering the same vehicle, leaving the parking lot, and driving westbound on East Ridgewood Avenue. They were followed by the Patrol Officers and their supervisor, who had arrived in 3 separate marked police vehicles. Their destination was unknown.
What we DO know:
What the caller reportedly told the 911 operator
That police were dispatched and responded immediately
That no ambulance was observed arriving at the scene or attending to a victim
That no one was observed being placed in handcuffs at the scene
What we DON’T know:
Exactly what the caller said to the 911 operator
What was said to arriving police officers by those being interviewed
Whether the victim or the alleged perpetrator(s) were among those being interviewed
Where the civilians and police officers were going after they left the RHS parking lot
Whether or not a crime of any sort was committed
Whether RHS administration was informed of the incident and what action, if any, was taken by them
As more details of this incident become available, if they are made public, The Ridgewood Blog will report them to you.
BY HANNAN ADELY AND DAVE SHEINGOLD
STAFF WRITERS |
THE RECORD
The majority of schools across North Jersey improved their scores in the second year of new state exams, according to state figures released Wednesday, a trend that officials expect to continue as more students take the tests and get used to them.
Of the 367 regular public schools in Passaic and Bergen counties, about 83 percent showed gains in the tests known as PARCC that were given in math and English in Grades 3 to 11.
Ridgewood NJ, We had the rare treat at last night’s council meeting , hearing from Rurik Halaby not once but twice in one evening. In opening comments he expressed dismay with all the legal fees this council is incurring (thank you Paul Aronsohn), the “secret” search for a new manager who will most likely be a friend of a current council member (as opposed to a friend of Paul Aronsohn ) and that too much is being done in closed session.
Cathy Quinn spoke in defense of maintaining the no parking on Pomander Walk. lo and behold she is an Episcopal minister at Gwenn Hauck’s church, St. Elizabeth in Ridgewood. Many remember that Gwenn pushed and pushed for the “no parking” zone on Pomander and now we know why.
Later in the evening, Mr Halaby was in fine form as he praised former mayor Paul Aronsohn for his lovely column in The Ridgewood News and then said that Susan should be doing the same as the “public” (the six people who still like Paul Aronsohn) is in the dark with this new council.
Thankfully, Anne Loving stepped up to the mic to say that Paul’s self-serving column gave little information and The Ridgewood News was doing a great job with weekly articles dedicated to the council meetings.
Rurik went on to make some muddled comments about a puppet council who in some ways was like or not like Donald Trump based on some notion of over regulation. He also blamed the recent vacancies on some of the boards and committees on the community’s dissatisfaction with the council ( not the removal of incompetent political hacks hired by Paul Aronsohn). Thankfully, his 5 minutes were up.
His wife, the acerbic Cynthia Halaby of daffodil fame, had admonished the council earlier for the condition of the trees and for making references to Summit, NJ in the Uber discussion when Summit is nothing like Ridgewood.
Mike Sedon gave a praise worthy report on the new Five Year Forestry Management Plan which will allow for numerous grant opportunities and training for village employees and Shade Tree Commission volunteers to address our dwindling stock.
The Uber discussion actually went quite well and it looks as though we will do a 6-month pilot program starting in January. A resolution is on the table for next week’s meeting and the village CFO will run some projections on expected revenues taking into consideration subsidies and the gain or loss of premium parking passes.
Ridgewood Guild president and town whiner, Tony Damiano spoke way too long on why isn’t he being informed on a regular basis about every project sanctioned by the village. Susan tried to address his concerns but he was too busy complaining to hear her.Perhaps the Ridgewood Guild needs better more informed leadership?
Boyd Loving once again was great addressing leaf issues with very good suggestions about how we should inform the landscapers of changes in our policies, Village regulation changes and pick up schedule . He also suggested a listing on the village website of the registered landscapers so that residents can make more informed choices , The registered list would also make enforcement easier.
Ridgewood NJ, according to the new smart phone website OMJ Ridgewood’s central business district (CBD) was ranked the number one best downtown in the entire state of New Jersey.
OMJ is a part of NJ Advance Media, the same company that brings you NJ.com, New Jersey’s most popular news-and-information site after the Ridgewood blog of course.OMJ is the first smartphone website devoted to celebrity, style and social media in New Jersey.
OMJ had no trouble parking , and called the CBD ,”walkable” and say,” everything you need in one small area.” . They go one to say ,” the post office, get a coffee, and grab lunch all while getting your car serviced. “They said the,” town is family friendly but also sophisticated and historic”.
Ridgewood NJ, An adult female driver lost control of her Toyota SUV while traveling southbound on East Saddle River Road in Ridgewood on Wednesday afternoon, 11/02, causing the vehicle to leave the roadway and mount a protective steel guardrail. The incident occurred near the intersection of Bingham Road. A hydraulic lift tow truck was summoned to recover the SUV from its predicament. Ridgewood FD personnel contained a crash related fluid spill. The driver was the sole vehicle occupant and she was uninjured. Ridgewood PD provided traffic control during the spill containment and vehicle recovery process, and also investigated the crash.
