Wonder how much effort and money Valley spent on getting out their vote to no avail. Here’s a tidbit, when your elected officials fail to properly fullfill, protect and represent then they tend to get replaced. Funny how corporate lobbying for an over expansion is ok but the voices of parents of Ridgewood schools on east side arent. 2500 nimbys lol.
Someday soon the West Side will be encroached on and the integrity of zones will be breached despite local opposition. Im pretty confident at this point that our community as a whole will respond in kind regardless of location if it is wrong. Seen it happen in other towns when they realize that the checks and balances are being compromised.
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(CNSNews.com) – John Allison, who for two decades served as chairman and CEO of BB&T, the nation’s 10th largest bank, told CNSNews.com it is a “mathematical certainty” that the United States government will go bankrupt unless it dramatically changes its fiscal direction.
Allison likened what he sees as the predictable future bankruptcy of the United States to the problems at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, whose insolvency he also said was foreseeable to those who studied their business practices and financial situation.
“I think the first thing we have to realize is where we’re going and to face it objectively,” Allison told CNSNews.com, when asked about the trillion-dollar-plus deficits the federal government has run for three straight years, the more than $13 trillion in federal debt, and the $61.9 trillion long-term shortfall the government faces (according to the analysis of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation) if the government is to pay all the benefits it has promised through entitlement programs.
“If you run the numbers, on all those numbers that you just talked about, which I think are accurate, very accurate, in 20 or 25 years, the United States goes bankrupt,” said Allison. “It’s a mathematical certainty.
“It reminds me very much of that story I told you about Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae,” said Allison. “We were running the numbers, and Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae went bankrupt, and we got there. In 20 or 25 years, the United States goes bankrupt.
>Readers react to Russell Forenza’s wild accusations of Voter fraud in the village.
Try not go blind when you realize that he could have been on our new council person. I think he makes it pretty clear what he thinks…the election was stolen.
He has no credenials and consequently no qualificaions. He does not appear to understand what is an “under-vote”. He appears to have not reviewed the under-vote of prior elections in Ridgewood. Had he done so, he would not have raised any of this stink. He also made a similar presention to the council on Weds night.
I think his statements may be reflective of how he jumps to baseless, wild speculative conclusions and how he might have represented the citizens on council.
Specific review of the under vote suggests , its about the same as in prior years.
We dodged a close one and it is now time to move forward.
>COAH: The overhaul of New Jersey’s affordable housing system is going back to the drawing board.
What comes after COAH?
The overhaul of New Jersey’s affordable housing system is going back to the drawing board. The proposed law that abolishes the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) and creates an entirely new system in its place is undergoing revisions, according to Senator Raymond Lesniak (D-Union) and Assemblyman Jerry Green (D-Union), both of whom recently introduced similar versions of the legislation. McDermott, NJ Spotlight)
>Christie moves to block school districts from circumventing his cap
While Gov. Chris Christie has made noise about demanding new salary caps for school superintendents, Englewood is reportedly negotiating a salary for its new superintendent of around $200,000. Somerville hired a new one at $175,000. Both exceed the caps for comparably sized districts. (Mooney, NJ Spotlight)
Despite concerns from neighbors of Ridgewood High School (RHS) about their quality of life, the school district moved ahead this week to complete the installation of remaining flood lights above the school’s two athletics fields.
Seven remaining field lights between 70 and 80 feet tall were installed at Stevens Field earlier this week, despite a request from residents at last Wednesday’s Village Council meeting that a hearing be held on the installation and a stop-work order be issued. Four other light poles at Stadium Field were installed last month.
Superintendent Daniel Fishbein defended the installation, saying in an e-mail that the district has “a contract for installation in place and we are moving forward.”
Residents of the area were distressed by the news, saying that they had repeatedly reached out to the BOE to voice concerns about possible property devaluation due to the lights and increased traffic and parking in the area.
“I am very disappointed that the Board has proceeded to install these stadium-style lights for non-school teams without engaging in any discussion with its neighbors despite numerous attempts on our part to start the dialogue,” said Jim Morgan, a resident of Beverly Road and a founder of the Ridgewood High School Neighborhood Association (RHSNA), in an e-mail.
Cynthia Fitzgerald, a resident of North Irving Street, said that the decision to move ahead reflected an unwillingness of the BOE to engage with residents.
“It’s just in keeping with their attitude that they can do whatever they want to regarding the neighborhood,” she said. “As a lifelong resident of Ridgewood, I couldn’t imagine somebody would do something like this. & It looks like Giants Stadium right now.”
>If Valley is a ‘NIMBY’ issue, then the $48 million bond referendum was an ‘IMBY’ issue.
If Valley is a ‘NIMBY’ issue, then the $48 million bond referendum was an ‘IMBY’ issue. After all, it was the motivated Willard districts that put the bond over by a handful of votes?
I could go either way on Valley, but I want it done all above board – no backroom deals, no public lockout of residents at meetings.
I still voted.
I was against the bond ref because of its scope and size. I was upset with the elitist attitude of the BOE that we could keep floating what equates to home improvement loans to make repairs rather than maintain the buildings all along.
There is no ‘imbalance’ that you speak of because the voters are the great equalizer. You don’t like the way a BOE or VC member acts, speak up, attend meeting and VOTE. Bring a neighbor or two. This blog often mentions ‘HSA mommies’; if they are the most active it could be because of the convenience of the voting station being at the schools.
Another thing to be considered, writer: the municipal election was on the same day as the county, state and federal – making it even more worth the voter’s while. All this at stake and some didn’t come out on a beautiful day (no rain or excessive chill) with the polls open a full 14 hours.
It’s our right and civic duty to vote. Maybe they should start serving Starbucks?
>Wellinghorst Wins in a Landslide ! What controversy?
If you add togther all the votes cast for Russ, Oliver and Lou and compare that total to Wellinghorst’s votes, Wellinghorst still wins!
That’s called a “LANDSLIDE ELECTION”
I heard Wellinghorst even asked that the last few thousand votes not be counted so as not to embarras the other cadidates. He’s a real gentleman!
I think some folks have lost it here. This is the second election in a row where candidates who were endorsed by CRR won by landslides. In fact,if you go back three elections, you will find that candidates who were purportedly against massive over-expansion won.
Enough said. Move on. You can parse numbers any way you want, but the voters have spoken.
>Ridgewood Taxi: No License to Operate For The Past 2 Years
Ridgewood Taxi: No License to Operate Since 2008 – Failure to Provide Village Officials With Certificate of Liability Insurance
During Wednesday evening’s Village Council Work Session, it was revealed that Ridgewood Taxi has been operating in direct violation of a Village ordinance related to “taxi service” requirements since November of 2008. The company has been either unable or unwilling to obtain liability insurance for its vehicle fleet as required by Village ordinance.
Currently, Ridgewood Taxi’s co-owner claims to have liability insurance for her vehicles in the amount of $50K or $100K per vehicle, depending upon which vehicle. Village ordinance requires liability insurance of $1 million per vehicle notwithstanding.
Ridgewood Mayor Keith D. Killion has directed Ridgewood Taxi to immediately provide Village officials with proof that their entire fleet is covered by liability insurance, or risk shut down of their operation within the Village.
The Fly asks, would you operate a taxi fleet with liability insurance that didn’t exceed $100K per vehicle?
>It’s a shame that today it takes a NIMBY issue for people to get to the polls.
The race was again won on Districts 12 and 15 — Travell and BF neighborhoods. Ridgewood residents need to wake up and realize that decisions on all town issues are being controlled by the people that live near Valley. Let’s also not forget that now 4 out of 5 council members live in that same neighborhood — that’s an unprecedented imbalance.
Less than a third of registered voters turned out. It’s a shame that today it takes a NIMBY issue for people to get to the polls.
You are the one who is out of touch. Our nation is at risk because we are not turning out enough scientist and engineers to maintain the technological leadership that we have enjoyed for the past 100 years.
Lacrosse players didn’t invent or discover semiconductors, computers, transistors, lasers, atomic energy, and genetic sequencing. Scientists and engineers did.
Our priorities are backwards. We should be spending more time on math and science education and less time on travel sports teams. This isn’t an inner city school system where sports are the few ways out.
We need closure on Valley — it needs to either curtail its plans or move down the road to route 17 or somewhere else sensible.
Graydon needs to be made more attractive while staying true to what it is — the local swiming hole where the community can gather.
Village Hall needs cleaning. Get rid of Brancheau, Merlino, Rutishauser and the other do nothing department heads. Its too top heavy.
Address the pension and retirement issues that can drag us down to bankruptcy. We can’t renege on existing contracts and obligations (and remain true to the principles of a free market) but we sure as hell can put an end to the gravy train going forward.
Look closely at the people we outsource to — the attorneys, vendors, etc. Are we really getting value?
Work with the Board of Education –don’t listen to the morons who say the budgets are separate and nothing can be done. I pay out of one check book and one pocket, and I want my money spent wisely.
Cut taxes — but only if you can. We are still reeling from years of the pfree spending administration. Village halls and public toilets that came in three or four times over budget took a chunk out our pocket books when we had the money to spend. Now we don’t, but we can’t make up for it with budget reductions that cut off our noses to spite our faces. We need to remain a first class town.
In that vein, keep up our Village services. Cutting the waste at the top is a first start. But, what else can we do? Be creative. Is there a way, say, to charge people for the services they use, like charging per can garbage pick ups? I dn’t know, but I bet collectively we can find all sorts of creative solutions to our issues.
Open space — perhaps the one area where we can’t cut spending even though we may like to. No one is building more land, so when it comes on the market, we need to buy. Perhaps that means things like the schendler property sit vacant for a couple of years while we get the money to do something with it.
Downtown — we need to be careful. Yes, we need more parking and we more stores, but lets not lower standards. And, we need to do somethig about traffic is horrendus. Again, creativity: can we make Ridgewood avenue and other major streets one way with diagonal parking? I don’t think we need to rush to put up another major structure, particularly a mixed use structure that guarantees as many new cars as it does new spaces.
COAH — perhaps its going away, but unless it does, our prior councils, planning board and board of adjustment have let things get way out of hand by allowing the massive overbuilding we have seen in the past few years. This is Ridgewood, not Long Island. We don’t need to keep expanding. Escpecially when the relaxed building standards mean we have to bring in even more housing structures to satisfy COAH.
New Jersey transit — many of us conspiracy theory folks have wondered just why all the changes to our station? Are there plans to make our local station a hub for buses and trains? Stay on top of this one and fight hard.
In closing, I direct this to the other council people as well. Please, let’s get moving. You made promises and frankly, I am not sure they have been kept. What happened to “lets get moving, we’re burning daylight”? Step aside if its gotten to be too much.
