Tag: Ridgewood NJ

Attack on Gordon may be prelude to seeing more of Christie in Bergen

Sen. Bob Gordon of Fair Lawn has joined the ranks of his fellow Bergen County Democratic senators as a target of Governor Christie’s wrath.

“I have to tell you the truth, I am so tired of Bob Gordon, I can’t stand him,” Christie told a crowd at the Bergen County Republican Organization’s fundraiser at the Stony Hill Inn last Thursday night. (Stile/The Record)

https://www.northjersey.com/news/opinions/220977351_Attack_on_Gordon_may_be_prelude_to_seeing_more_of_Christie_in_Bergen.html

A too-quiet summer for some Jersey Shore towns
Sunday, August 25, 2013    Last updated: Monday August 26, 2013, 4:40 AM
BY  KAREN SUDOL AND KATHLEEN LYNN
STAFF WRITERS
The Record

Every time a new business reopens in the tiny Shore town of Sea Bright, Mayor Dina Long tweets about it, considering each a celebratory milestone for the borough that was wiped out by Superstorm Sandy.

“I do it so that people know that Sea Bright is coming back to life,” Long said of her tweets, which have included a July 24 note about the 7-Eleven convenience store’s grand reopening: “Oh, thank heaven. Welcome back 7-11!”

As businesses have steadily opened doors throughout the summer along the Jersey Shore, many shop owners — especially those in the towns hardest hit by the Oct. 29 storm — have characterized it as a very quiet summer with revenues that don’t come close to last year’s figures.

Their fervent — and last — hope is for a sunny and warm Labor Day weekend that will lure more visitors and consequently place more money in their pockets. Some are even planning to remain open into the fall. The Keansburg Amusement Park, for example, is hosting events like an Octoberfest to draw visitors during the off-season.

Real estate agents and tourism officials said that the summer was weaker than in 2012 for a combination of reasons, including rainy weather in May and June and a lingering heat wave in July, as well as the aftereffects of the storm, especially in the hardest-hit areas. Despite an aggressive statewide advertising campaign promoting the Shore as open for business, potential visitors stayed away somewhat because of the perception of widespread damage. – See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/A_too-quiet_summer_for_some_Jersey_Shore_towns.html#sthash.R3diNkJT.dpuf

20-somethings jump into super PACs
By ANDREA DRUSCH | 8/24/13 5:09 PM EDT

What’s cool for America’s youth this election cycle isn’t putting an Obama poster on your wall or tattooing the Romney R on your face. It’s starting your own super PAC.

In 2012, groups like Restore Our Future, American Crossroads and Priorities USA spent millions — reshaping the campaign landscape around the chase of big — often older and male — donors. Now, America’s youth are ready and eager to get in on the game.

In the past month alone, four super PACs were formed by people younger than 35 with the intention of advocating for young people. Often, the idea is to push back against political parties they say are drifting off course.

“When we’re talking about people our age, in their mid-20s to 30s, a lot of the candidates don’t represent exactly what we want,” said Sarah Ponn, 25, president of Pass the Torch PAC in Manchester, N.H.

Frustrated with what she sees as parties and politicians that are disinterested in the needs of young people, Ponn, 25, started a super PAC with two of her friends.

She says her group wants to rebrand the message of the Republican Party. They want to see the economy back on track, student loan rates fixed and politicians taking their focus off of social issues. “We’re trying to steer clear of issues like abortion and gay marriage,” she said. “With a lot of candidates … it’s hard to separate out what they really stand for and to get behind them for everything.

“That’s why we went with a super PAC,” Ponn added. “It gives us that ability to step outside the party lines.”

It’s a sentiment young super PACs from both parties share: National candidates either don’t align with their views, or they don’t prioritize the issues that matter to them.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2013/08/super-pacs-twenty-somethings-95860.html#ixzz2cy7JlLas

WELCOME TO THE 2013-2014 SCHOOL YEAR

Opening Day for Students:
Monday, September 9
Minimum Day Schedule

RIDGEWOOD BOE MEETS MONDAY, AUGUST 26

The Board will hold a Regular Public Meeting on Monday, August 26 at 5 p.m. The public is invited to attend the meeting at the Ed Center, 49 Cottage Place, Floor 3. The meeting will be aired live on FiOS channel 33 and Optimum channel 77. Or it may be viewed live via the district website at www.ridgewood.k12.nj.us using the “Link in Live” tab.

Click here to view the agenda for the June 25, 2013 Regular Public Meeting.
Click here to view the webcast of the July 22, 2013 Regular Public Meeting.

NJASK REPORTS UPDATE

State Testing Results

Please note that, based on the most current information from the New Jersey Department of Education, parents/guardians can expect to receive their child’s Individual Student Report for the Spring 2013 New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (NJASK) no later than September 27, 2013.Click here to view the agenda for the June 25, 2013 Regular Public Meeting.

 

 

A full moon at Valley hearing
Friday, August 23, 2013
The Ridgewood News

A full moon at Valley hearing
Jeanette LaRocco

To the editor:

After the Tuesday, Aug. 20 “non-meeting” with the Planning Board regarding Valley Hospital, a friend who had attended with me noted that there was a full moon that night. That was apropos considering the results.

Instead of hearing CRR’s lawyer and planner speak about their research regarding Valley Hospital’s expansion, the meeting was cancelled. It was because of the amazing support of Ridgewood residents who had come to hear the experts speak.

I truly want to thank all the residents who showed up in force, to the consternation of the Planning Board and Valley Hospital, especially those residents who had sporadically attended meetings or had never attended a meeting before. I believe that is why it was scheduled for Village Hall instead of a larger venue. There were an overflowing number of people, so much so that we exceeded the amount allowed and we could not have a meeting, whereby all residents could hear the information. As Mr. Drill expressed it, he was concerned that CRR would file an appeal because all the residents present would not be able to be in the room during the meeting to hear the presentation.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/opinions/220768691_Letter__A_full_moon_at_Valley_hearing.html#sthash.9UPz9seb.dpuf

Monclair state Unv nj

4 Problems with Federal College Scorecards
Lindsey Burke
August 23, 2013 at 6:50 am

Yesterday, President Obama announced his plan to make “college more affordable, tackle rising costs, and improve value for students and their families.”

But a big part of the President’s plan includes creating a college rating system—a federal scorecard—to evaluate colleges on measures such as graduation rates, the number of low-income students served (i.e., the percentage of Pell Grant recipients), graduate earnings, and affordability.

Scorecards are a seductive idea. But having the federal government issue scorecards to measure college output would be a mistake. Four problems with the President’s plan:

1. Government says what’s best. As we wrote yesterday in National Review Online, for one thing, a monopoly government scorecard would inevitably reflect what bureaucrats—rather than parents, students, and scholarly communities—determine is or is not important in education.

2. Special-interest institutions with more clout could shape the standards. Existing institutions that are comfortable within the cocoon of protectionist accreditation would lobby hard, and no doubt effectively, for output measures that define success in their own terms.

3. Standard-setters would also control college funding. Educational institutions’ lobbying becomes particularly problematic when considering the second part of President Obama’s proposal: to then tie federal student aid to the new rating system by giving larger Pell Grants and lower student loan interest rates to students who enroll in colleges that fare well on the federal scorecard.

The logical outcome is a system that has the federal government handing out subsidies based on a rating system designed by the people handing out the funding. What could possibly go wrong?

4. We already have scorecards. A competing range of private outcomes-based scorecards already exists, sponsored by such outlets as U.S. News & World Report, Forbes, ACTA, and Kiplinger’s. Each of these reflects the differing visions of quality held by different Americans, from post-graduation salary to the likelihood of a well-rounded education. A one-size-fits-all federal rating system is unnecessary and will likely trump these independent evaluators that parents and students have long trusted.

If the Obama Administration truly wants to “shake up” higher ed and bring down college costs, it would acknowledge that federal government intervention is the problem, not the solution.

Continuing to increase federal subsidies enables universities to raise tuition. Since 1982, the cost of attending college has increased 439 percent—more than four times the rate of inflation. Increases in college costs exceed increases in health care costs, which have risen more than 250 percent over the same time period. Economist Richard Vedder argues that “some of these financial aid programs have contributed mightily to the explosion in tuition and fees in modern times.”

The key in education reform is to do things that improve students’ learning. A federal college scorecard gets an F on all counts.

273 NJ Transit railcars, 70 engines destroyed in Sandy flooding after storm plan ignored

From ASSOCIATED PRESS
Last Updated: 9:56 AM, August 19, 2013
Posted: 9:55 AM, August 19, 2013

NEWARK, N.J. — New Jersey Transit had a hurricane plan to move its trains to higher ground before Hurricane Sandy hit.

But it’s not clear why the agency instead moved locomotives and rail cars to low-lying rail yards in Kearny and Hoboken. A third of the agency’s fleet – 70 locomotives and 273 rail cars – were damaged by flooding from the storm.

The Record newspaper obtained a copy of the 3 1/2-page plan that was prepared four months before Sandy after filing a public-records suit.

The plan calls for moving railcars and locomotives “from flood-prone areas to higher ground” and lists more than a half-dozen locations.

REUTERS
Water floods the complex at the Meadows Maintenance Complex in New Jersey in the aftermath of super storm Sandy in this October 31, 2012 handout photo obtained by Reuters November 1, 2012.

Kearny Yard and Hoboken were not listed.

An NJ Transit spokesman declined to answer questions about why the equipment was moved to those locations.

https://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/initial_instructs_transit_railcars_TMk6j72OSJTRadik7p0nIP