Tag: NYC

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New Jersey Posts a Better Than Expected Economic Growth Rate

trentonmakessign_theridgewoodblog

November 29,2017

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood Nj, The United States economy has been in a period of encouraging, consistent growth for several years now. According to 24/7 Wall Street ,the U.S. GDP has now increased uninterrupted for 14 straight quarters. The stock market continues to hit new all-time highs with yesterday marking the 61st closing high since Donald Trump became president , and the unemployment rate fell to 4.1% in October, the lowest it has been since the year 2000. Based on the most recent quarterly estimates from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the growth or lack there of, of American state economies over the past three years more or less the time since the last nationwide quarterly economic contraction. Nationwide, GDP grew by 2.2% over the three years ending in the second quarter of 2017.

Using data provided by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, 24/7 Wall St. ranked all 50 U.S. states based on percent changes in real GDP growth in all 50 states from the second quarter of 2014 through the second quarter of 2017. and the U.S. Figures provided are adjusted to account for yearly inflation. GDP figures published by the BEA are preliminary and subject to annual revision. Figures on poverty rate, median household income, and educational attainment came from the American Community Survey. Employment and unemployment metrics were provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics

New Jersey came in a better than expected 38th place while its neighbor to the north Connecticut came in 46th . New York came in 32nd and Pennsylvania came in a a respectable 27th.

38. New Jersey
> 3-year GDP growth: +0.9%
> Q2 2017 GDP growth: +2.3% (tied — 16th smallest increase)
> Fastest growing industry: Agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting
> Fastest shrinking industry: Utilities
> 3-year employment growth: +3.4% (17th smallest increase)

46. Connecticut
> 3-year GDP growth: +0.3%
> Q2 2017 GDP growth: +1.4% (6th smallest increase)
> Fastest growing industry: Mining
> Fastest shrinking industry: Nondurable goods manufacturing
> 3-year employment growth: +4.2% (23rd smallest increase)

32. New York
> 3-year GDP growth: +1.4%
> Q2 2017 GDP growth: +1.2% (tied — 4th smallest increase)
> Fastest growing industry: Information
> Fastest shrinking industry: Nondurable goods manufacturing
> 3-year employment growth: +2.7% (13th smallest increase)

27. Pennsylvania
> 3-year GDP growth: +1.6%
> Q2 2017 GDP growth: +2.5% (tied — 21st smallest increase)
> Fastest growing industry: Mining
> Fastest shrinking industry: Durable goods manufacturing
> 3-year employment growth: +2.5% (10th smallest increase)

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Lower manhattan Terror Suspect Rented Truck in New Jersey

terror nyc

October 31,2017

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Lower Manhattan , NYC Details about the suspect’s background were just unfolding as his name emerged, but it appears that he is a somewhat recent immigrant to the United States. Saipov “is an Uzbek national and came to the U.S. in 2010,” NBC News reported. According to online records from his traffic history, he has worked as a commercial truck driver.

Details are as follows :

The New York Police Department has identified the suspect in Tuesday’s Manhattan attack as 29-year-old Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov, an Uzbek national who has been in the United States on a green card since 2010.

The attack on Tuesday just north of the World Trade Center site left eight people dead and at least a dozen injured.

According to local media in New Jersey, Saipov has has only two run-ins with police in the tri-state area – a couple of traffic stops in Mount Holly Springs Borough, Pennsylvania, and Palmyra, Pennsylvania, in 2015 and 2012, respectively. Both times, Saipov gave police a Paterson, New Jersey, address. His most recent official address, however, is in Tampa, Florida.

Saipov’s religious affiliation is unconfirmed, though Uzbekistan is around 96 percent Muslim. It is also not clear whether Saipov had any concerning affiliations, or a history of mental illness, common among mass killers. More details are likely to emerge as New York and Federal officials investigate deeper into the incident.

Police say that Saipov drove a rented truck over a curb and onto a bike path near the World Trade Center. After mowing over several pedestrians, Saipov crashed his truck into a school bus, injuring at least two adults and two children inside. He then jumped from the truck, screamed “Allah Akbar!” and ran toward a group of children, brandishing two items that appeared to be firearms.

The truck was rented at a Home depot in Passaic, New Jersey and the Passaic Police and Passaic County Sheriffs Department  are on the seen with Federal agents looking over his Van he left parked in the Home Depot Parking lot.

The NYPD says they recovered a BB gun and a paintball gun at the scene.

Saipov confronted an armed NYPD officer who shot him in the stomach but some reports say the thigh. He is alive and receiving treatment at some speculate Bellevue hospital. He is, reportedly, awake and alert enough to undergo an interrogation.

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Rooney Introduces E-ZPass Bills to Protect New Jersey Drivers

1018EZPass

TRENTON, NJ. – Assemblyman Kevin J. Rooney (R) has introduced a package of pro-commuter bills protecting New Jersey’s E-ZPass customers who use New York’s bridges and tunnels from being overcharged.

The legislation is in response to a recent AAA study that found drivers who purchased E-ZPass tags from out of state agencies are being charged the cash rate instead of the discount rate at New York bridges and tunnels operated by the Metropolitan Transit Authority. Between 2012 and 2016, of the 92 million out-of-towners who didn’t receive the discount rate, 70 million were New Jersey drivers.

“One of the primary reasons E-ZPass was created was to offer drivers discounted rates,” said Rooney (R-Bergen). “We now find that certain drivers are given preferential treatment – the only reason for which is that their E-ZPass was issued by a New York agency. These bills are an effort to level the playing field for our commuters and ensure the integrity of the E-ZPass system.”

https://www.tapinto.net/towns/passaic-valley/articles/rooney-introduces-e-zpass-bills-to-protect-new-je

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Memo: New York Called For Face Recognition Cameras At Bridges, Tunnels

toll-booth

Proposal obtained by Vocativ asks for surveillance at nine NYC ‘crossing points’

By Kevin Collier
Jan 27, 2017 at 9:27 AM ET

The state of New York has privately asked surveillance companies to pitch a vast camera system that would scan and identify people who drive in and out of New York City, according to a December memo obtained by Vocativ.

The call for private companies to submit plans is part of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s major infrastructure package, which he introduced in October. Though much of the related proposals would be indisputably welcome to most New Yorkers — renovating airports and improving public transportation — a little-noticed detail included installing cameras to “test emerging facial recognition software and equipment.”

“This is a highly advanced system they’re asking for,” said Clare Garvie, an associate at Georgetown University’s Center for Privacy and Technology, and who specializes in police use of face recognition technologies. “This is going to be terabytes — if not petabytes — of data, and multiple cameras running 24 hours a day. In order to be face recognition compliant they probably have to be pretty high definition.”

https://www.vocativ.com/396745/memo-new-york-called-for-face-recognition-cameras-at-bridges-tunnels/

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Reader says the reason NYC or Los Angeles are against Air B&B is because it kills hotel tax revenues

teepees

I thought the Facebook comments about renting a house for a golf tournament or Super Bowl type event were also illuminating.

The reason NYC or Los Angeles are against Air B&B is because it kills hotel tax revenues. They lose millions yet even they cant actually ban short term rentals. There is no way this law holds up but it will cost some homeowner and all of us taxpayers to work it through the system.

These knee jerk reactions to public comment has to be tempered. The mess with that parking near Whole Foods is a similar situation (from the past council). It is great to listen to the public and to try to find solutions but elected officials cannot just react. They are elected to be a deliberative body that analyzes both sides of an issue and finds solutions. These mistakes are costly in time and tax payer money.

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Officials probe bombings, stabbings in three U.S. cities in a 12-hour span: NJT TRAVEL ALERT

jersey shore bomb

NJT Travel Alerts Sep 19, 2016 04:33:47 AM
Pascack Valley, Main/Bergen Line and Port Jervis line customers WILL NOT have connecting service at Secaucus into New York due to Northeast Corridor and North Jersey Coast Line service suspension. Customers should stay on board their trains into Hoboken for PATH or Ferry service.

 

Police believe the two devices that were detonated in New Jersey and New York were made by the same person, a law enforcement source told Fox News on Sunday, as authorities move forward with investigations into the incidents as well as the ISIS-backed stabbing rampage in Minnesota — separate incidents that have cemented fears the United States is still a prime terror target.

As of Sunday afternoon, officials have not said publicaly there was a common link between the two bombing incidents, according to New York City Police Commissioner James P. O’Neill.

“I am concerned,” O’Neill said during a news conference. “We have a bomb that detonated and no one apprehended.”

The trio of dangerous episodes began Saturday when a pipe bomb exploded inside a plastic garbage can in New Jersey’s Seaside Park at 9:30 a.m. Investigators eventually found several devices “wired together” that did not detonate in the same garbage can.

The blast location could have proven deadly. Officials said runners participating in a charity 5K race were expected to pass by the area around the time of the explosion – but the start of the race was delayed after an unattended backpack was discovered. As a result, no one was injured.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/09/18/officials-probe-bombings-stabbings-in-three-u-s-cities-in-12-hour-span.html

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‘There will be more’: Chilling 911 call after the Chelsea explosion

Chelsea bombing

By Larry Celona, Tina Moore and Shawn Cohen

September 18, 2016 | 1:05pm

A 911 caller warned of further explosions right afterthe blast that rocked Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood and injured 29 people, The Post has learned.

“I’m looking at the explosion down the block. There will be more,” the unidentified male said, claiming to be standing at 23rd Street and Seventh Avenue in the aftermath of the terrifying incident, according to law-enforcement sources Sunday.

Investigators believe the blast was the result of a home-made, pressure-cooker bomb similar to an unexploded device found later on 27th Street, sources said.

In another new wrinkle, a hand-written letter, a portion of which is in Arabic, was found inside a plastic bag that held the second device, sources said.

https://nypost.com/2016/09/18/there-will-be-more-chilling-911-call-after-the-chelsea-explosion/

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Dumpster bomb rocks Chelsea, injuring 29; second device found nearby

Chelsea bombing

By Larry Celona, Tom Wilson and Shawn Cohen

September 17, 2016 | 9:18pm | Updated

A “deafening’’ explosion rocked Chelsea Saturday night, injuring 29 people, blowing out scores of windows and forcing the evacuation of at least two buildings.

The blast went off in a 4-by-4-by-3-foot construction Dumpster outside the Townhouse Inn of Chelsea at 131 W. 23d St.

Mayor de Blasio called the explosion an “intentional act,’’ but not believed to be connected to terrorism.

Modal Trigger

But tensions only rose when, three hours after the blast, a second device was found four blocks away — a pressure cooker that an early investigation found was likely also a bomb.

“The bomb squad believes it’s real,” a police source with knowledge of the investigation told The Post of that second device,  found at 27th Street between Sixth and Seventh avenues. The cooker was safely removed from the scene by NYPD.

https://nypost.com/2016/09/17/explosion-rocks-chelsea-in-new-york-city/

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New York City’s Pension System in Danger of ‘Operational Failure,’ Report Says

look_4_the_Union_label_theridgewoodblog

By SUSANNE CRAIGJAN. 26, 2016

New York City’s pension system, which encompasses $160 billion in retirement funds, is rife with problems that leave it vulnerable to an “operational failure,” according to an independent report commissioned by the city comptroller’s office.

The report found that the city’s retirement system, the fourth largest in the country, needs additional resources, is understaffed and lacks many basic tools required to gain insight into the complicated risk embedded in its investments. Some managers rely on fax machines to send and receive vital information.

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Bridge and tunnel tolls to go up starting Sunday

Lincoln Tunnel

NOVEMBER 30, 2015, 7:02 PM    LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2015, 12:30 AM
BY CHRISTOPHER MAAG AND SHAWN BOBURG
STAFF WRITERS |
THE RECORD

No one likes a toll hike. And next week, a toll hike package approved in 2011 will reach its zenith — starting Sunday, cash-paying drivers will have to pay $15 to cross the George Washington Bridge, nearly double what it cost just a few years ago.

But there could be a small silver lining. Because after a series of back-to-back annual increases beginning in 2011, this may be the last toll hike North Jersey drivers will have to pay for at least a few years, according to a major credit agency’s prediction. The cash |toll currently is $14. Drivers with E-ZPass will see their tolls rise |75 cents during peak hours, to $12.50.

The toll increases were included in a controversial package approved by the Port Authority’s board in 2011. Two years later, The Record revealed that the increase was part of a coordinated plan by Governor Christie and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to subvert public input and advance an even higher increase, only to impose a slightly more modest hike to make themselves appear financially responsible.

The strategy may backfire on the Port Authority, according to Moody’s, a credit rating firm. The toll increase makes the PA more dependent than ever on money from its interstate bridges and tunnels, as revenue from airports has declined. But total vehicle traffic is down, and many people remain angry about the rising costs.

That could make future toll hikes politically difficult, good news for drivers but bad for the Port Authority.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/bridge-and-tunnel-tolls-to-go-up-starting-sunday-1.1464974

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N.J. Transit’s Homeless Brace for New Arrivals From New York

Ridgewood_Train_Statin_theridgewoodblog

November 16, 2015
Elise Young

As New York City cracks down on panhandling, towns served by New Jersey Transit’s busiest rail lines are in a homelessness crisis, with a surge of people taking shelter in train stations and other public places.

Total homelessness in New Jersey has dropped 27 percent since 2011, but an increasing number of people are avoiding shelters and sleeping in areas not intended as living quarters. In Bergen, Hudson and Essex counties, thick with Manhattan commuters, the unsheltered increase is 22 percent to 86 percent. In Mercer County, where Trenton’s bus and rail station is on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor, the number has more than doubled.

New York City’s homeless population, meanwhile, has soared, reaching a record of 60,670 staying in shelters in January, according to the Coalition for the Homeless, a Manhattan-based nonprofit service group. In recent weeks, Mayor Bill de Blasio has led breakups of encampments, discouraged passers-by from handing over spare change and deployed more outreach workers to push shelters.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-16/n-j-transit-s-homeless-brace-for-new-arrivals-from-new-york

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NYPD ROAD CLOSURES FOR THE PAPAL VISIT

popeselfies

Subject: Traffic closures from NYPD for Popes visit.  Detailed.  

https://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/html/pr/pr_2015_traffic_2015_09_11_papal_visit.shtml

PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT NOT ONLY WILL THE POPE BE VISITING NYC TOMORROW BUT SO WILL PRESIDENT OBAMA AND THE UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY WILL BE MEETING AND THERE IS A NY YANKEE HOME GAME AT 7PM

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Pope’s visit will produce largest security operation in U.S. history

Pope Francis 2

By David Nakamura and Peter Hermann September 18

Federal authorities are mobilizing one of the largest security operations in U.S. history ahead of Pope Francis’s arrival Tuesday, an effort that is straining law enforcement resources in Washington, New York and Philadelphia.

Hundreds of thousands of onlookers are expected to gather in all three cities for a glimpse of the Catholic Church leader, whose unrivaled global popularity and proclivity to wade into public crowds has added to security concerns. Thousands of federal and local personnel will be deployed to keep the pontiff and the public safe.

The challenges are immense.

The pope’s five-day tour, his first in the United States, will include appearances at the White House and Congress, a parade on Constitution Avenue in Washington, a Mass at Madison Square Garden, a procession through Central Park in New York, and an open air Mass with up to 1.5 million people in Philadelphia.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/popes-visit-will-produce-largest-security-operation-in-us-history/2015/09/18/642ca250-5d47-11e5-b38e-06883aacba64_story.html

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Four firms pitch plans for Ridgewood parking garage , NYC based Desman Design Picked

Hudson_street_parking_theridgewoodblog

SEPTEMBER 11, 2015    LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2015, 9:26 AM
BY MATTHEW SCHNEIDER
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

The Village Council held a special meeting Tuesday to continue the discussion on a parking garage for Hudson Street.

Six firms responded to the village’s request for proposal (RFP) for the garage; that number was narrowed down to four before the meeting began.

“We went through talking about each firm’s strengths, weaknesses and fees, and we’ve come down to four firms that are most qualified to serve the village,” said Deputy Mayor Albert Pucciarelli. “They’ll be presenting their concepts, their designs, their thought processes on what this parking garage will look like.”

The governing body will now deliberate on the proposals, and should narrow its choices by the next council meeting, officials said.

Here is a look at what the council will be discussing.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/four-firms-pitch-plans-for-ridgewood-garage-1.1408106

 

Ridgewood council moves to select firm to design downtown parking garage

SEPTEMBER 10, 2015, 5:53 PM    LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2015, 5:55 PM
BY CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

RIDGEWOOD — The village council moved Wednesday night to select a parking consulting firm that will design a large public garage downtown.

The Ridgewood council could adopt a resolution at its meeting Sept. 16 to hire Desman Design, a firm based in New York City.

The firm, once hired, will prepare architectural renderings for presentation to the council next month, officials said.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/ridgewood-council-moves-to-select-firm-to-design-downtown-parking-garage-1.1407408

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J.P. Morgan Chase Seeks to Move 2,150 Jobs From NYC to Jersey City

jamie dimon theridgewoodblog.net

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. is looking to move 2,150 jobs from New York City to Jersey City, the latest expansion of the financial institution across the Hudson River.

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority on Thursday is expected to consider an application by the New York City-based bank for a $19 million subsidy over 10 years, the second round of tax credits for the firm in about a year as the state seeks to create jobs in the Hudson County city.

New Jersey’s unemployment rate was 6.5% in May, compared with New York state’s 5.7% and 5.5% for the nation, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.  (Haddon/Wall Street Journal)

https://www.wsj.com/articles/j-p-morgan-chase-seeks-to-move-2-150-jobs-from-nyc-to-jersey-city-1436300285