Location: Ridgewood Art Institute, 12 East Glen Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ 07450
Ridgewood Nj, An Opening Reception and Awards Ceremony will be held at the Ridgewood Art Institute. Light refreshments will be served. Over $5,000 in awards and prizes, including a $1,000 grand prize, will be presented by the RAI President. Prize winners or representatives must be present at the awards ceremony.
Sunday, January 31st, 2 -4 pm is the “Opening Reception” for RAI 36th Annual Regional Juried Show – the show is a “must see” in the tri-state area. We are giving out over $5,000 in awards. Here is a sneak preview of some of our Award Winners.
JANUARY 30, 2016, 12:21 PM LAST UPDATED: SATURDAY, JANUARY 30, 2016, 1:13 PM
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SOUTH NYACK, N.Y. (AP) — The former women’s softball coach at a suburban New York Christian college charged with sexually harassing his players won’t have to register as a sex offender after pleading guilty to seven misdemeanor counts of forcible touching, his attorney said Saturday.
But former Nyack College coach Kurt Ludwigsen still faces a civil lawsuit from three members of his team who say he at one point also invited them to get life coaching from an adult film star.
Ludwigsen will serve three years of probation and complete community service following his guilty plea earlier this month, attorney David Goldstein said.
The Ridgewood Art Institute
12 East Glen Avenue,
Ridgewood, NJ 07450
(201) 652-9615
Opening Reception: Sunday, February 14th from 2-4pm
Exhibit on view February 14th-27th
10am-5pm Monday thru Thursday
10am-1pm Friday thru Sunday
After a decade of work in commercial design and advertising in New York City and Columbus, Ohio, Alban R. Albert turned his full attention to the area of fine arts. Born in Paramus, New Jersey and a graduate of the Mechanics and Tradesmen’s Institute (NY) with additional studies at Pratt, he enrolled at Ohio State University. In 1956, he graduated cum laude with a B.S. degree in art education. He was also elected to Delta Phi Delta, the national art honorary, while at Ohio State. After years of teaching, in the mid-70’s he obtained his M.A. with a focus on ceramics from Montclair State College.
Albert was first introduced to oil painting in his youth by Otto Benz of North Haledon. He pursued the study further with Frank Vincent Dumond and Arthur F. Maynard of Ridgewood, N.J. Albert believes strongly in the principles of light and that is reflected heavily in his work. Albert served as president of The Ridgewood Art Institute in 1962 – 1964 and was also an instructor for eight years.
For a major part of Albert’s career, he was the head of the art department at Ramapo Regional High School. Starting as one of the original faculty members in 1956, he retired in 1985 after almost 30 years. In addition to teaching at Ramapo, he also served as an instructor in both the Adult Education Program (run at Ramapo) and the Ridgewood Art Institute. He ended his formal participation in the Ridgewood Art Institute in 1965, when he opened his own studio. He acquired the Old Wortendyke R.R. Station in Midland Park and, along with his partner, Janis Schlenz, started the Albert & Schlenz Studio Gallery. John P . Osborne, recently retired instructor and board member of the Ridgewood Art Association, would later become a student of Albert’s and a partner in the Albert & Schlenz Studio Gallery. Besides extensive teaching, Albert served frequently as judge, lecturer and demonstrator for various art groups in the NY-NJ metro area as well as Pennsylvania.
Albert has won numerous awards in local, county and state-wide exhibitions in his native New Jersey. In addition, his oil paintings have been accepted by juries in national shows under the aegis of the American Artists Association (Spring-field, MA) and of the American Artists Professional League. Diverse distinctions included the Landscape Prize in the 7th Regional Show of the Ridgewood Art Institute.
Albert’s works hang in private collections around the world and are especially prevalent in the northeastern United States.
Albert currently resides in Wyckoff, with his wife Sue.
The Ridgewood Art Institute
12 East Glen Avenue,
Ridgewood, NJ 07450
(201) 652-9615
Ridgewood NJ, Helen Ellis, will be signing her new book at Bookends , American Housewife , This Sunday (January 31st) at 2:00pm
HELEN ELLIS will sign her new book: American Housewife ($24.00)
A sharp, funny, delightfully unhinged collection of stories set in the dark world of domesticity, American Housewife features murderous ladies who lunch, celebrity treasure hunters, and the best bra fitter south of the Mason Dixon line.
Meet the women of American Housewife: they wear lipstick, pearls, and sunscreen, even when it’s cloudy. They casserole. They pinwheel. They pump the salad spinner like it’s a CPR dummy. And then they kill a party crasher, carefully stepping around the body to pull cookies out of the oven. These twelve irresistible stories take us from a haunted prewar Manhattan apartment building to the set of a rigged reality television show, from the unique initiation ritual of a book club to the getaway car of a pageant princess on the lam, from the gallery opening of a tinfoil artist to the fitting room of a legendary lingerie shop. Vicious, fresh, and nutty as a poisoned Goo Goo Cluster, American Housewife is an uproarious, pointed commentary on womanhood.
Appearing authors will only autograph books purchased at Bookends and must have valid Bookends Receipt.
Availability & pricing for all autographed books subject to change.
First In Line Certificate use is the the discretion of Bookends. Blackout dates may apply.
Bookends cannot guarantee that the books that are Autographed will always be First Printings.
Autographed books purchased at Bookends are non-returnable.
While we try to ensure that all customers coming to Bookends’ signings will meet authors and get their books signed, we cannot guarantee that all attendees will meet the author or that all books will be signed. We cannot control inclement weather, author travel schedules or authors who leave prematurely.
Bookends, 211 E. Ridgewood Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ 07450 201-445-0726
New Jersey’s new standardized tests might not be popular, but they do produce more honest results than the prior exam, according to a new study by education reform groups. Adam Clark, NJ.com Read more
From the archives: Local towns paying heavily for Bergen County loan program meant to save time, money
DECEMBER 28, 2009, 8:47 PM LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, JULY 22, 2010, 2:41 PM
BY STEPHANIE AKIN AND CHRISTOPHER SCHNAARS
STAFF WRITERS |
THE RECORD
This story was originally published Dec. 28, 2009.
A Bergen County loan program touted as a quick and easy way for local governments to pay for big-ticket items has instead plunged some of them into long-term debt.
The five-year-old Municipal Banc was supposed to let cash-strapped towns bypass conventional borrowing methods and get county-backed loans for emergency services and public works projects. The program promised 24-hour loan approval with no red tape, backed by the county’s AAA credit rating.
Most towns and school districts that used the program borrowed only what they needed and spent the money quickly. Many praised the program for its convenience and low fees.
But some towns took out loans for items as inexpensive as rope and firefighter boots, borrowed money long before they intended to make purchases and paid interest on money they never spent. In some cases, their applications were approved even though they provided little information about how the money would be used.
From 2004 to 2008, Rutherford, Fair Lawn and Hackensack let a total of more than $1.6 million in loans sit idly in Commerce Bank accounts while taxpayers paid more than $200,000 in interest and fees. Fair Lawn, for example, waited four years to buy a $130,000 generator.
“That’s like saying, ‘I’m going to buy a house, I’m going to pay a mortgage and interest on the house, but I’m not going to move in for three or four years,’” said Joseph Tedeschi, a Fair Lawn councilman.
TD Bank took over the program after it bought Commerce in March 2008.
Five consultants that donated more than $450,000 to Bergen County Democrats from 2004 to the end of 2008 were paid at least $1.8 million for professional services by the Bergen County Improvement Authority — the agency that oversees the Municipal Banc — including more than $180,000 for services tied to the loans.
Those consultants included Dennis Oury, the former counsel for the BCIA and the Bergen County Democratic Organization. Oury, who pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges in September, collected more than $1.1 million from the BCIA during that period. Oury resigned from the BCIA in early September 2008 after federal officials accused him of fraud.
The program auditor, Ferraioli, Wielkotz, Cerullo & Cuva, also was the auditor in three of the towns that were the heaviest users of the program: Fair Lawn, Hackensack and Rutherford.
The Council Majority ie 3 amigos have decided that although the proposed bond was not approved by the super majority that they would do an end run and get the money from the BCIA.
Worse than the extra fees involved in getting money from these outside place (and no way is this extra cost netting out to $2,200) is the fact that Ridgewood will lose control and be forced to open up the garage to outside commuters.
Faulty and incomplete analysis on BCIA bond. Even if the Council assumptions are correct on the bond fees being offset by lower rate (BIG if), you complete disregard the lost revenue by going through the BCIA. Ridgewood would lose out on the additional $750/pass per year ($750 residents – $1500 non-residents). Even if you only assume that 10 out of town cars use the garage for commuting we lose out on $187,500 over the life of the bond. We take the risk, the BCIA gets the reward – foolish.
While I’m all for helping our neighboring towns, Ridgewood commuters must come first. If we have unused commuter spaces fine let others park here. Bergen County as well and NJ transit has it’s own agenda and that agenda isn’t in the best interest of Ridgewood. It is a major mistake to take any money from these outside agencies
Ridgewood NJ, Critical issues remain before the BCIA can be engaged on this new, unknown plan. The village and residents have much hard work still to do. The November vote, and the mandate to borrow applied to a plan that is no longer is on the table.
This garage will be operate under different circumstances due to the county funding, the out of town commuting load will likely be higher than the village has detailed. Our outdated and antiquated traffic signals cannot handle traffic as it is. Has the village shown any financial information to residents for this funding? The village and county will be asking us to be investors in this multi-million dollar project and we would like more information on all aspects. The village still has a ways to go on the items it has promised. The residents need time to make a smart investment decision with our tax money on this new and unknown plan.
Even though the council hasn’t answered the question, I understand that the additional cost by going through the BCIA rather than using our own AAA credit rating (the best available and higher than the US Govt at one point) will cost the town an additional 1.5-2%.
Everyone who has likely shopped their mortgage around when buying their home in order to eliminate .5 point. This council, who likely did the same for their own home purchase, is apparently willing to throw away 3-4x that amount of our money rather than have a discussion about a more appropriate solution. We could then finance ourselves and have no input from a county authority that would expect something in return for the privilege of using their inferior cost of capital!
I’m not sure how that qualifies as a rational decision in anyone’s book.
Ridgewood NJ, New process could enable anaerobic digestion facilities anywhere in the world to capture biogas and use it to produce
renewable energy.
BioHiTech America, a subsidiary of green technology company, BioHiTech Global Inc. (which provides an innovative data-driving solution for
the disposal of food waste), has partnered with Natural Systems Utilities to test a waste to energy process that will enable
BioHiTech’s food waste disposal system to digest, tank and deliver the effluent from its system to anaerobic digestion facilities around the
globe, reported Biomass Magazine.
BioHiTech’s energy from waste system converts foods waste to greywater.
The company’s food waste disposal system is known as the Eco-Safe Digester. It uses an anerobic digestion process to transform food
waste to greywater, which is also referred to as effluent. Usually, the effluent is safely released into the sewage system and individual
wastewater treatment plants, so it can be treated with other waste that is deemed sanitary.
The new process that is being tested will tank the unit’s effluent, which will allow for transportation to an anaerobic digestion plant
where biogas can be captured and utilized to create clean energy.
According to BioHiTech, what makes the Eco-Safe Digester unique is that it performs the hydrolysis stage of anaerobic digestion at the
point of origin. Due to the fact that the anaerobic digestion process starts with the breakdown of solid organics to a liquid slurry, the
effluent can be pumped and transported without problem, arriving at the anaerobic digestion facility in a “predigested” condition. This
makes feedstock transfer more efficient and removes the need for expensive processing at the facility.
Currently, the new waste to energy process is being tested in New Jersey.
Other partners involved in the energy from waste project includes the village of Ridgewood, New Jersey, and Ridgewood Green RME, the latter
of which owns a 240 kW digester biogas power plant and a 20,000 gallon-per-day liquid waste receiving facility.
A supermarket in New Jersey has been selected as a testing ground for the new process. Its waste is transported to an anaerobic digestion
plant that is operated by the village of Ridgewood at its water pollution control plant.
Additionally, in December, BioHiTech installed its Eco-Safe-Digester at a second Dunkin’ Donuts location in New Jersey. Its system is
helping the restaurant to save money on waste management while at the same time keeping its waste out of landfills.
Paul Knowles, director of technical operations of Natural Systems Utilities said that “Early trials to receive the material and feed it
to the digester have proven successful.” Knowles added that the company is “working with BioHiTech to expand the process so that they
can offer this solution to new and existing customers.”
CEO of BioHiTech Global, Fran E. Celli, also commented on the waste to energy project saying that BioHiTech has “developed a process for
those who want their food waste delivered to anaerobic digesters so that it can be converted to clean energy.”
JANUARY 26, 2016, 8:53 PM LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, JANUARY 26, 2016, 9:04 PM
BY STEVE JANOSKI
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
RIDGEWOOD — Local officials are looking to assuage public concerns about lead in drinking water after a letter from the local water utility recommended its customers take steps to avoid lead exposure.
The letter, sent to Ridgewood Water’s customers in Glen Rock, Midland Park, Wyckoff, and Ridgewood on Jan. 5, detailed lead’s health-damaging effects and advised customers to let water run to flush out lead that could’ve leached into the system from service lines and fixtures.
But David Scheibner, business manager for Ridgewood Water, said Monday night the letter is part of a public education campaign required by the state Department of Environmental Protection because of Ridgewood Water’s past history of elevated lead levels — not because of a new threat posed to the water supply.
Ridgewood Water’s pipes don’t have lead in them, he said, and the element is “undetectable” at the 52 wells in four communities that the utility operates. But those who live in homes built prior to 1930 might have lead service lines — water lines running from the house to the water main — and those homes built during 1982 –86 might have copper service lines soldered with lead, he said.
Only about 250 of the 20,000 service connections in Ridgewood Water’s territory have been identified as definitively having a line made of either lead or copper with lead soldering, said Scheibner — “The scope is minor, but we take it very seriously,” he said.
Ridgewood NJ, For years now we’ve heard the Aronsohn administration’s head cheerleader, Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld, go on at nauseam about the importance of improving parking opportunities in the Village. We’ve listened to Ms. Sonenfeld, Mayor Paul Aronsohn and current Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce Presidnet Paul Vagianos proclaim at meeting after meeting why the availability of downtown parking is so crutial to the existence of RIdgewood’s business community. Nothing, they say, is more important to keeping existing Ridgewood businesses alive, and attracting new businesses to the Village, than maximizing parking opportunities. All of us have been led to believe that unless more parking opportunities are created, downtown Ridgewood will eventually become a ghost town.
So I ask, if the availability of parking is indeed so critical to the success of business in Ridgewood, why wasn’t snow cleared from every available parking space in the Central Business District prior to the start of business on Monday? The snow stopped falling at approximately 8 PMon Saturday – Portions of several municipal lots were still snow covered as of 3 PMon Tuesday. Metered parking spaces on Godwin Avenue and on Franklin Avenue were still inaccessible as of 6 PMon Monday. Metered parking spaces on Oak Street were still being cleared on Tuesday morning.
It is certainly understandable that the Village’s first priority was to clear traveled roadways, especially those near schools and medical facilities, and to ensure the safe egress of emergency vehicles in and out of their garages/headquarters locations. I also understand that there are a limited number of Village employees and limited pieces of Village owned snow removal equipment. But why where there no contractors called in to work exclusively on the removal of snow to facilitate downtown business operations, with a target of getting everything cleared out prior to the start of Monday morning business operations? And why weren’t contractor resources directed to remove snow from the Route 17 Park & Ride? Governor Chrisie encouraged commuters to leave their vehicles at home and take mass transit – that’s not easily accomplished if you can’t park your vehicle at a mass transit departure point.
Clearly, someone dropped the ball here. Contractors should have been placed on standby in the event the snowfall was too much for our own employees to handle. And I hope that Ms. Sonenfeld doesn’t use the lame excuse that contractors cost money – we’re prepared to spend over $12 million to improve parking opportunities, but won’t spend peanuts to remove snow from parking places? Give me a break!
I strongly encourage Village officials to be prepared for the next “big one.” Their lack of attention with respect to clearing snow from existing parking spaces suggests to me that all the talk about needing more parking is nothing more than a bunch of rhetoric.
JANUARY 26, 2016 LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, JANUARY 26, 2016, 1:21 AM
BY JOHN CICHOWSKI
THE RECORD
You’ve no doubt heard about a sad winter phenomenon that recurs whenever snow and fire converge to cause panic, destruction and homelessness. It happens when firefighters arrive in time to quell a blaze, but they can’t hook up their equipment quickly enough — either because they’re unable to find a snow-covered hydrant, or when they do find one, they’re forced to waste precious minutes digging it out.
“And in a fire, everybody knows each minute counts,” said Ho-Ho-Kus Fire Chief Matt Menzel.
That’s why next Monday — nine days after Mother Nature covered nearly every hydrant from Mahwah to Cape May — a New Jersey law takes effect to make it easier for firefighters to find hydrants and quickly hook up their hoses. The legislation allows New Jersey’s 566 local governments to adopt ordinances requiring municipal installation of tall locator poles on all hydrants while encouraging each local governing body to require property owners to dig them out 24 hours after a snowfall or face a $75 fee if the municipality must do it.
Fire chiefs like Menzel aren’t taking sides, but the law has prompted considerable homeowner debate since Governor Christie signed it in July.
“I didn’t ask to have a fire hydrant on my lawn!” proclaimed Totowa’s Vincent D’Antonio Sr. “Will my taxes go down if I perform this municipal service? If not, I want the hydrant removed. This is absolutely a municipal function, 100 percent.”
Ridgewood NJ, With its close proximity to Ridgewood Hjigh School circle avenue was never plowed. It’s barely passable. The high school students are parked by the nursery school and essentially render that street one way. Some park their cars so close to Ridgewood ave that the tails of the car is sticking IN to RW ave. which also makes that turn ON to circle impossible.
Additionally, parents walking from all the way down the block to drop kids at this school-because heres no parking due to the students, are having to traverse some of the most poorly shoveled or deiced sidewalks I’ve seen. I saw a mother fall while holding her young daughter. She smacked her head in someone’s rock wall.
This street NEEDS to be addressed immediately. And the sidewalks that are so totally ice and snow covered, have got to have some code enforcement.
Ridgewood NJ, The town still has not cleared the parking lot at the Ridgewood Park & Ride on Route 17.
Walking from the parking spaces is now to the point of being brutal.The area froze last night and someone is going to get hurt.
Village residents get fined 24 hours after snow ends if not removed from the property.Commuters are now fining the town $200.00 a day for failure to clean the snow within 24 hours and compensation for dry cleaning.
