The Ridgewood Blog Brings a Free Market Laissez-faire Point of View to Local, New Jersey State and National Issues.
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Trenton NJ, Senator Kristin Corrado called on Governor Phil Murphy to reopen State government offices, including unemployment walk-in centers, immediately.
Continue reading New Jersey’s Unemployment Offices Need to Open Immediately
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Lodi NJ, Senator Anthony M. Bucco and Senator Kristin Corrado said computer network outages at New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission agencies this morning have only added to the suffering of drivers who continue to wait on hours-long lines for basic services.
Continue reading Outrage Grows Over New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission Disfunction
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, The company that created the app is a startup named “Shadow”. It was created 5 months ago when it was spun out of a company called “Acronym” which was founded by veterans of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign for president and whos charter was to create social media tools for progressives.
Shadow was paid $60,000 for the app (a ridiculously small amount of money for software development) was created by a handful of developers, poorly tested and distributed to multiple diverse platforms (cell phones of different manufacturers, running different versions of different operating systems) and was distributed to end users with NO training.
Continue reading Iowa Caucus App Created by a Clinton Startup
April 15,2018
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood Water Customers, Stage II restrictions (2 days per week irrigation) were imposed in June 2016 and are still in effect in Glen Rock, Midland Park, Ridgewood and Wyckoff. Without these restrictions, the use of drinking water for irrigation will continue increasing toward levels that are unsustainable regardless of drought conditions. To reverse this trend, an ordinance was approved by the Village Council on April 12, 2017 to amend the provisions governing Watering and Water Emergencies in the Village of Ridgewood Code. Changes include:
Making 2 days per week irrigation permanent year round,
Restricting irrigation hours to limit losses to evaporation,
Restricting irrigation using private wells to 2 days a week,
Adding new exemptions, including drip irrigation and smart controllers.
This ordinance became effective on May 2, 2017 and applies only to Ridgewood, but it is expected that the Boroughs of Glen Rock and Midland Park, and the Township of Wyckoff will enact similar rules as they have in the past. Questions can be directed to Ridgewood Water at 201-670-5521 or cswater@ridgewoodnj.net.
*Exemptions will not be granted June 1st through September 20th, unless the work is required as part of new construction.
Dear nattering nabobs of negativism,
Recently you received in the mail our Consumer Confidence Report. We would like to have an opportunity to explain this report to you as well as to answer any of your questions regarding Ridgewood Water.
We have scheduled two forums – Wednesday July 27 at 9:00 A.M. in the Courtroom at Village Hall and Tuesday, August 2 at 7:00 P.M. in the Youth Center at Village Hall. We have sent mailers to each household announcing these forums but I thought that it would also be fitting to send an e-notice.
Space is limited so please register by contacting Donna Omelianuk at 201-670-5500 ext 271 or by email at domelianuk@ridgewoodnj.net.
I would also like to take this opportunity to provide you with an update on our collective water conservation efforts. In terms of usage, we have seen a significant drop on days we are not allowed to water to about 10 million gallons. Just for your information, water usage in months where we are not watering our lawns averages about 5 million gallons; this dramatically increases to about 15 million gallons per day in lawn watering season. If we can continue to keep this usage lower, we should be able to sustain Stage 2 for the remainder of the season unless we have continual hot/dry weather or a mechanical failure.
I want to thank each of you who have taken this seriously. We continue on heightened enforcement but I am really happy to see so many of our friends and neighbors doing their part for our community.
Best,
Roberta Sonenfeld
Village Manager
201-670-5500, ext. 203
P.S. There is a heat advisory in effect for today from noon to 7 P.M. with the heat index reaching 100 degrees. The forecast is for hot weather to continue throughout the weekend. Please look out for yourself and your neighbors. Please make sure your vehicles are locked so that children cannot climb in on their own. Please note that Bergen County has opened cooling centers with the closest being at NW Bergen Senior Center at 46 Center Street Midland Park (201-445-5690). Also remember that our library is available seven days per week (201-670-5600).
Obama calls for adding public option to ObamaCare
President Obama is calling on Congress to add a “public option” to ObamaCare to improve his signature health law.
The pitch from Obama comes after he abandoned pursuit of a government-run insurance plan to compete with private insurers during the long legislative battle over healthcare because of opposition from some Democrats in Congress.
“Public programs like Medicare often deliver care more cost-effectively by curtailing administrative overhead and securing better prices from providers,” Obama writes in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
“The public plan did not make it into the final legislation. Now, based on experience with the ACA, I think Congress should revisit a public plan to compete alongside private insurers in areas of the country where competition is limited,” writes the president.
The new embrace from the president also comes amid what appears to be a concerted push by the Democratic Party to rally around the public option.
It’s a shift that reflects how the party has tilted leftward during the Obama years.
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/287256-obama-calls-for-adding-public-option-to-obamacare
Who is the new watering czar? I want to know where to call to report a neighbor’s system that’s watering at illegal times and has done so for years. It has to be anonymous. Is there such a thing?
Water Dept. wants us to approach the neighbor in person. Not gonna happen.
I have suggested a “tip line” before with no result. They’d get a million calls from frustrated neighbors. Last year the schools were watering at the wrong times, it was reported on the blog. They can be fined, too, although they’d pay with our money! But they could get reprimanded.
I’d guess that in 99% of cases, the owners have no idea that there are restrictions (despite the robo-calls, which they either don’t listen to or figure are meant for other people) or don’t think they apply to them…and in addition, have no idea how to reconfigure their sprinkler systems, and won’t pay their suppliers for a house call. People must be told, firmly, that they MUST learn how to reprogram their systems to comply with rules quickly, as they change. Last night’s call had me dashing out to the garage to remove one day–today–from the cycle.
I would give a pass to anyone who was on vacation, until they got home.
Dear natter negnobs of negitivity,
Summer weather has finally arrived and with it comes increasing water usage for irrigating our lawns and gardens. This is a friendly reminder that Stage I irrigation restrictions are now in effect as they are every year between June 1 and August 31. If you have an odd-numbered address, you may irrigate at any time on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. If you have an even-numbered address, you may irrigate at any time on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. Irrigation using a hand held hose is allowed at any time. No irrigation is allowed on Mondays except for the use of a handheld hose. Ridgewood Water is already experiencing heavy demand on the system, even on Mondays, so it is clear that many residents are not following the rules. Fines for violators start at $50 for the first offense.
Many people water their lawns too frequently for healthy, drought resistant turf. Most experts agree that ½ inch of water twice a week will sustain an established lawn. Ridgewood Water technicians can help you reprogram your automatic sprinklers at no charge. Please call our Customer Service Center at201-670-5520 for more information.
Your cooperation with the Stage I restrictions and making sure your watering times are reasonable will help us avoid the need for more severe restrictions. You can always check our website for the current status of restrictions atwater.ridgewoodnj.net.
Best,
Roberta Sonenfeld
Village Manager
201-670-5500, ext. 203
U.S. concern grows over possible Venezuela meltdown: officials
WASHINGTON | BY MATT SPETALNICK
The United States is increasingly concerned about the potential for an economic and political meltdown in Venezuela, spurred by fears of a debt default, growing street protests and deterioration of its oil sector, U.S. intelligence officials said on Friday.
In a bleak assessment of Venezuela’s worsening crisis, the senior officials expressed doubt that unpopular leftist President Nicolas Maduro would allow a recall referendum this year, despite opposition-led protests demanding a vote to decide whether he stays in office.
But the two officials, briefing a small group of reporters in Washington, predicted that Maduro, who heads Latin America’s most ardently anti-U.S. government and a major U.S. oil supplier, was not likely to be able to complete his term, which is due to end after elections in late 2018.
They said one “plausible” scenario would be that Maduro’s own party or powerful political figures would force him out and would not rule out the possibility of a military coup. Still, they said there was no evidence of any active plotting or that he had lost support from the country’s generals.
The officials appeared to acknowledge that Washington has little leverage in how the situation unfolds in Venezuela, where any U.S. role draws government accusations of U.S.-aided conspiracies. Instead, the administration of President Barack Obama wants “regional” efforts to help keep the country from sliding into chaos.
“You can hear the ice cracking. You know there’s a crisis coming,” one U.S. official said. “Our pressure on this isn’t going to resolve this issue.”
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-usa-idUSKCN0Y42MT
Democrat Congressman: ‘We’ve Proved That Communism Works’
Democratic Florida Rep. Joe Garcia — fresh off being caught eating his own earwax on camera — was caught red-handed (or is it yellow-fingered?) in another gaffe this week, claiming that low crime rates in border cities with lots of federal immigration workers is proof that “Communism works.”
Garcia made the comment during a Google hangout he convened last week to talk about comprehensive immigration reform with supporters. The Democrat attempted to point out how, for all their talk about limited government, many Republicans are fine spending loads of government money on border security.
“Let me give you an example, the kind of money we’ve poured in,” he said. “So the most dangerous — sorry, the safest city in America is El Paso, Texas. It happens to be across the border from the most dangerous city in the Americas, which is Juarez. Right?”
“And two of the safest cities in America, two of them are on the border with Mexico,” Garcia continued. “And of course, the reason is we’ve proved that Communism works. If you give everybody a good government job, there’s no crime.”
Read more: https://dailycaller.com/2014/05/21/dem-congressman-weve-proved-that-communism-works/#ixzz32RdhMM24
