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.
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.
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)
The city Department of Consumer Affairs is investigating Whole Foods for allegedly deceiving customers with incorrect weight-based pricing, the company disclosed Tuesday.
Whole Foods denied the allegations and said it would “refund any items found to have been incorrectly weighed or priced.”
Company spokesman Michael Sinatra said the upscale grocer would never resort to such sleazy tactics.
“Whole Foods Market has never intentionally used deceptive practices to incorrectly charge customers,” Sinatra said in a statement.
New York City Gay Men’s Chorus presents two opportunities to hear Tyler’s Suite, a new collection of songs honoring the life of Tyler Clementi, the Rutgers freshman whose 2010 suicide brought national attention to the issue of cyberbullying. Tickets to both concerts available below.
“TYLER’S SUITE” features new music from composers Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Pippin); John Bucchino (A Catered Affair); Ann Hampton Callaway (Swing!); Craig Carnelia (Sweet Smell of Success); John Corigliano (Academy Award winner for The Red Violin); Nolan Gasser; and Jake Heggie (Dead Man Walking); and lyricists Lance Horne and Pamela Stewart.
A Concert for Tyler
featuring the NJ premiere of Tyler’s Suite
Saturday, June 27 7:30pm
West Side Presbyterian Church
6 South Monroe Street
Ridgewood, NJ
Click here to purchase tickets
Murders are way up so far this year in Manhattan, The Post has learned.
Sixteen people were killed around the borough between the first of the year and Sunday. Over the same period last year, the figure was 11. That’s an increase of about 45 percent.
Shootings in the borough have also soared.
There have been 50 “shooting incidents’’ since Jan. 1, compared with 31 in the same time period in 2014 — an increase of about 38 percent. Some of these “incidents’’ involved more than one victim.
The number of shooting victims nearly doubled, from 33 to 61.
“City Hall better wake up soon,” a police source said. “When murders and shootings go up in Manhattan, everyone is affected,’’ he said, pointing out that crime impacts business, tourism and the city’s economy as a whole.
He said there are a variety of reasons, from the plummeting number of “stop-and-frisks’’ to the fact that the city needs more officers. “The cops’ hands are tied,’’ he said.
NJ TRANSIT ANNOUNCES EXPANSION OF MOBILE TICKETING TO BUS ROUTES BETWEEN NJ AND NYC
Convenient, Easy Monthly Pass Purchases Available through MyTix App on Interstate Bus Routes
January 28, 2015
NEWARK, NJ — As part of an ongoing effort to improve the overall customer experience, NJ TRANSIT today announced the expansion of its MyTixmobile ticketing app to interstate routes between New Jersey and New York City. Currently available on all rail lines and most South Jersey bus routes, beginning January 28 MyTix will enable bus customers on routes serving Port Authority Bus Terminal, Lower Manhattan and George Washington Bridge to purchase and display monthly interstate bus passes on their mobile devices.
“Following the successful rollout of this technology to our South Jersey bus customers last fall, we have been working to bring the MyTix app to bus customers riding between New Jersey and New York City as well, to make traveling on the NJ TRANSIT system even more convenient for them,” said Transportation Commissioner and NJ TRANSIT Board Chairman Jamie Fox.
The next phase of the rollout will include monthly passes via MyTix for intrastate (local) bus customers.
“With bus riders being our largest customer base, it’s critical that we roll this out gradually to ensure the technology keeps up with the demand, and we resolve any issues before taking the next step,” said NJ TRANSIT Executive Director Veronique “Ronnie” Hakim. “This expansion of the mobile ticketing app is another step toward giving all of our bus customers the ability to treat their smart phones as both a ticket vending machine and monthly bus pass all in one.”
MyTix is available for free download on any web-enabled iOS or Android device, via the App Store or Google Play. To purchase monthly bus passes via MyTix, customers must first install the app and then create an account, which will securely save customers’ profile information and purchase history for ease of use. Bus monthly passes self-activate at midnight on the first day of the calendar month for which they are valid and remain active throughout the entire month. Customers then simply display the monthly pass on their mobile device to the bus operator when boarding the bus.
NJ TRANSIT first introduced MyTix in April 2013 as a pilot program for rail customers on the Pascack Valley Line, as well as between Penn Station New York and the Meadowlands Rail Station for special events, to test the functionality of the app and determine the feasibility of expanding it to other rail lines. In September 2013, NJ TRANSIT expanded MyTix to the Main/Bergen County and Port Jervis lines, followed in October by the Montclair-Boonton and Morris & Essex lines, and in November to the North Jersey Coast and Raritan Valley lines. The rail systemwide rollout was completed in December 2013 with the inclusion of the Northeast Corridor and Atlantic City Rail Line. In September 2014, MyTix was first introduced to bus customers in South Jersey on 59 bus routes, serving communities throughout South Jersey, as well as Philadelphia.
Many improvements made to the agency’s MyTix app were the direct result of valuable feedback from customers using the app during the gradual rollout.
Since its 2013 introduction, MyTix has already become very popular among NJ TRANSIT customers. To date, customers have established nearly 400,000 accounts through MyTix and purchased over 3.7 million tickets.
For more information on MyTix, visit njtransit.com and go to “Ticket Options,” then click on “MyTix” from the drop-down menu.
AL SHARPTON LEADS MARCH IN DC AS NYC PROTESTERS CHANT: ‘WHAT DO WE WANT? DEAD COPS!’
WARNER TODD HUSTON 13 Dec 2014405
Joining the families of blacks killed by police, thousands marched toward the capitol and down New York streets on Saturday to protest what they called an epidemic of abuse at the hands of police.
But even though it was his event, many attendees didn’t want to hear from organizer Al Sharpton.
The march, organized by Sharpton’s National Action Network, once again chanted the oft-heard slogan, “No Justice, No Peace” with marchers demanding that federal laws be enacted to curb local and state police agencies use of force rules.
In an op-ed published on December 8, Sharpton noted that the “march against police violence” was needed to force Congress to “immediately start hearings to deal with laws that will change the jurisdiction threshold for federal cases and policing.”
Once the thousands of marchers reached the grounds outside the Capitol, Sharpton warned Congress that he and his supporters would not be ignored.
“You thought you’d sweep it under the rug. You thought there’d be no limelight,” Sharpton said. “We are going to keep the light on Michael Brown, on Eric Garner, on Tamir Rice, on all of these victims because the only way — I’m sorry, I come out of the ‘hood — the only way you make roaches run, you got to cut the light on.”
Sharpton was joined at the podium by felony armed robbery suspect Lesley McSpaddenand alleged riot-inciter Louis Head, the parents of Michael Brown, a strong-arm robbery suspect killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri in August.
Just say ‘no’ to apartments.Let the NYC people move back to manhattan
Bergen County’s suburbs embrace a touch of the city NOVEMBER 16, 2014 LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2014, 12:48 AMBY JOAN VERDON https://www.northjersey.com/news/bergen-county-s-suburbs-embrace-a-touch-of-the-city-1.1134517
Small movement in the right direction rather than a giant leap off a cliff – yes, that might be brilliant, or at least not stupid.
The full article (which I suggest you read) includes “Ridgewood’s downtown, which during the worst years of the recession had dozens of vacant stores, is one of the most successful in North Jersey. The occupancy rate for storefronts along Ridgewood Avenue, the downtown’s main thoroughfare, is over 90 percent, according to the Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce, and empty stores tend to be re-leased quickly.”
The Chamber of Commerce can’t have it both ways.
My favorite part of the article is:
“Bruce Meisel, who is developing the former Valley Ford car dealership site in Westwood as a mixed-use project with 14 apartments above retail stores, said residential projects should fit the character of the downtown.
Meisel, who owns 20 properties in Westwood and is one of the leading downtown landlords, said he doesn’t believe a high-density apartment building is right for Westwood. “Just like Westwood’s stores are boutiques, the residential developments in Westwood are boutique in nature,” said Meisel.”
I wish we had landlords like this in Ridgewood.
How about a unique idea. IF you want a city..MOVE THERE. The success and ‘draw’ of this place is a smaller town VILLAGE atmosphere, located close ENOUGH to the city for those who need to be there, but far enough away to not have the negative things that come along with large amounts of people crammed into living a foot from each other .
I could see allowing a current store size building to put one living unit upstairs (like the old shopkeeper living above his store)But to turn a nice place into Hackensack or Montclair..forget it.
PS. You are allowing speculators who bought property to have a winning lottery ticket if the change in zoning is allowed.
Ridgewood Officers Run in the NYC Marathon and raise money for charity.
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood PBA local 20 was proud to support Officer John Ward Jr and Sergeant Brian Pullman who ran the NYC Marathon on Sunday November 2nd 2014 raising money for the charity Racing to Register, an organization that’s main goal is to increase the number of potential donor’s available to patients of all races, ethnicities and ages, who are in need of a lifesaving bone marrow or stem cell transplants.
Officer ward competed the race in 4:24:44 and Sergeant Pullman in 5:2646. congratulations!
For more information on racing to register see the link below
Number of People Under “Active Monitoring” for Ebola in NYC Triples, City Officials Say
The number of people under “active monitoring” for Ebola symptoms has increased from 117 on Monday to 357 people Wednesday, health officials said.
The vast majority of those being monitored arrived in New York City within the past 21 days from the three Ebola-affected countries, the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation said in a statement.
Others being monitored are the staff caring for Dr. Craig Spencer, the physician being treated for Ebola at Bellevue Hospital, the lab workers who conducted his blood tests and the FDNY EMTs who transported the doctor.
All of those being monitored showed no symptoms but are being checked on out of “an abundance of caution,” the statement said.
Man Being Tested At Mount Sinai Hospital For Possible Ebola Virus
August 4, 2014 4:15 PM
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) – A patient at Mount Sinai Hospital was under treatment Monday afternoon, after being tested after traveling to a country where the Ebola virus is present, the hospital said in a statement.
The man arrived at the East Harlem medical center’s emergency room early Monday morning with high fever and gastrointestinal symptoms. The man told doctors he had recently traveled to a West African country where Ebola has been reported, the hospital said.
The man has been placed in “strict isolation” and is undergoing various tests to determine the cause of the symptoms, the hospital said.
“All necessary steps are being taken to ensure the safety of all patients, visitors and staff,” the hospital said in a statement. “We will continue to work closely with federal, state and city health officials to address and monitor this case, keep the community informed and provide the best quality care to all of our patients.”
New York City politicians—including Mayor Bill de Blasio—want to change the admissions system for the city’s nine highly-selective premiere public high schools, including nationally-renowned Stuyvesant High School. The schools currently use a single exam, the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test, to determine admittance. Less than three percent of applicants are admitted to Stuyvesant.
The problem, in the eyes of some, is that black and Latino students are increasingly underrepresented at the elite schools. So are white students. When a test score is the only criteria, it seems that Asian Americans are more likely than other racial groups to gain admission to Stuyvesant.
Is that a problem? A coalition that includes de Blasio and teachers unions says that it is, according to Bloomberg:
“I do not believe a single test should be determinative, particularly for something that is as life-changing for so many young people,” de Blasio, who would need to persuade the state Legislature to amend the law, said last week. “We have to determine what combination of measures will be fair.”
The mayor would like the schools to consider other factors—such as grades and extracurricular activities—that would theoretically give non-Asians a better chance.
Weinberg sets sights on Port Authority Bus Terminal in NYC
The last time state Sen. Loretta Weinberg began confronting Port Authority officials, she wanted answers about lane closings at the George Washington Bridge, a traffic-snarling debacle that is now the subject of state and federal investigations. Weinberg (D-Bergen), now the co-chairwoman of a joint legislative panel that brought much of the scandal to light, plans to press the agency at its monthly board meeting on what she says is the failure to address delays, discomfort, pollution, financial waste and other problems at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan. (Strunsky/The Star-Ledger)
Obesity up 25 percent in NYC
By Carl Campanile
September 30, 2013 | 3:40am
Reduce the obesity rate in New York City? Fat chance!
More New Yorkers than ever are living large, despite Nanny Bloomberg’s war on sugary drinks and fast foods, statistics obtained by The Post reveal.
The city’s obesity rate among adults has skyrocketed 25 percent since Mayor Bloomberg took office in 2002, city Health Department figures show.
That year, nearly one in five New Yorkers was considered obese. Now almost one in four is.
The figures are surprising given Gotham’s residents are doing better according to other health indicators.
For example, the percentage of adults who drink one or more sugar-sweetened beverages a day dropped to 28 percent last year from 36 percent in 2007, says the Health Department’s Take Care New York 2012 report.
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