>Busy Overnight For Ridgewood’s Emergency Responders
Ridgewood’s career and volunteer emergency EMS and Fire responders were kept busy by several serious incidents from late Friday evening, through the wee hours of Saturday morning.
Incidents included a utility pole being struck by a motor vehicle near the Hawthorne border, a major house fire on East Glen Avenue, and one of Ridgewood’s own ambulances being involved in a serious collision with a Ridgewood Taxi owned vehicle at the intersection of Linwood Avenue and North Maple Avenue.
When things happen in Ridgewood, they seem to happen all at once!
>A WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM NOON SATURDAY TO 11 AM EST SUNDAY.
DEEPENING LOW PRESSURE OVER THE ATLANTIC SATURDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHT WILL RESULT IN THE A PERIOD OF MODERATE TO HEAVY SNOW AND GUSTY WINDS. SNOWFALL ACCUMULATIONS OF 8 TO 12 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE BEFORE THE SNOW ENDS SUNDAY MORNING.
ANY MINOR DEVIATION IN THE TRACK OF THIS STORM SYSTEM WILL HAVE A LARGE IMPACT ON SNOW AMOUNTS AND WIND STRENGTH. AT THIS TIME… THE BEST ESTIMATION IS FOR THE STORM TO TAKE A FAVORABLE TRACK TO PRODUCE THIS MODERATE TO HEAVY SNOW AND STRONG GUSTY WINDS. STAY TUNED.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…
A WINTER STORM WARNING MEANS SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW… SLEET… AND ICE ARE EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. STRONG WINDS ARE ALSO POSSIBLE. THIS WILL MAKE TRAVEL VERY HAZARDOUS OR IMPOSSIBLE.
>Sixty-six percent (66%) of U.S. voters prefer a smaller government with fewer services and lower taxes over a more active government with more services and higher taxes.
That’s the second highest finding of the year: In August at the height of the congressional town hall controversies over the health care plan, 70% felt that way.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 22% prefer a government with more services and higher taxes. Eleven percent (11%) aren’t sure which is best.
>There are hundreds of Stop the Valley Expansion signs on lawns all over Ridgewood. The home owners who display these signs overwhelming use Valley hospital and DO support the hospital’s need to modernize.
What they do NOT support is the details in the Renewal, saying that there are other more Ridgewood friendly ways to achieve the needed upgrade. This position has been supported recently by the Professional Hospital Expert that the Planning Board hired to review the plans. People who continue to say that there is only one alternative for the H-Zone (the Renewal), and who class anyone who questions this logic as anti-hospital are not only naïve but are not putting Ridgewood first. Remember Valley is part of Ridgewood; Ridgewood is NOT an just extension of the hospital.
> FREE PARKING IN RIDGEWOOD – Friday & Saturday in December
The Village Council has determined that on Fridays and Saturdays – December 4, 5, 11,12,18, 19 parking on the streets and in parking lots (Rt. 17 Park and Ride NOT included)will be free!
You are invited to come shop and dine without paying parking meters on East and West Ridgewood Avenue, Godwin Ave., Broad St., Chestnut, Oak, Walnut Streets, Cottage Place; Van Neste Sq., Dayton St. and Franklin Ave., Passaic St. and Hudson St.
The Tobacco Shop of Ridgewood 10 Chestnut Street Ridgewood, New Jersey 07450 Phone: 201-447-2204 Email: [email protected] Hours: Monday – Saturday 10:00AM – 5:30PM and Thursday Night 6:30PM – 8:30PM
As reported in the Ridgewood News by Michael Sedon and Kipp Clark , attorney Stuart J. Lieberman, of Princeton-based Lieberman & Blecher, who represents the Preserve Graydon Group contends that a Nov. 16 letter written by Village Clerk Heather Mailander failed to answer the group’s concerns about why the village is taking all the information gathered by the RPP “at face value without reviewing them,” as well as questions why municipal employees have been made available to help the group. With these questions yet unanswered, Lieberman contends the RFP should never have been issued.
Liberman went on , “In short, the basis for my client’s concern is that the municipality has clearly and extensively relied on the work product of the RPP in creating the draft RFP, apparently taking its conclusions at face value and without reviewing them thoroughly or perhaps at all,” Lieberman wrote. “For reasons more fully explained in my letter dated to you Nov. 30, 2009, we believe the draft RFP violates state law.”
Once again Village Government business seems to be driven by the price of a particular project and not the value of the improvements the project will bring to the quality of life in the Village .
Again this blog was proven correct in its objections to the original $13 million dollar proposal because as Ms. Mailander clearly points out in her statements that the Village Council only seems interested in hearing what it wants to hear.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with what an amazing town Ridgewood used to be ,in the olds days had you pulled a stunt like this you would have been quietly asked to leave town in no uncertain terms and your house would have been put on the market the next day. It really was a beautiful place to live and no one would have ever put up with this type of behavior or even known someone would have even tried to get away with it . It just wont happen in Ridgewood.
Oh well …
> Given the results of the recent school referendum the staff of the Ridgewood blog is wondering if there really is a West side (vs) East side mentality in Ridgewood ?
Our “East side” friends claim they only became aware of this gulf at RHS or if as kids we were involved in joint Village activities like Ridgewood Football or Ridgewood baseball /soft ball. There seemed to be a certain level of favoritism. However some of our “West side” friends have asserted that it is a “West side ” institution to assume that the “East side ” is the wrong side of the tracks sorta speak and if you want to test the waters just mention ‘school redistricting” at any “West side” cocktail party.
>Interestingly, reading from that report of Americas best high schools, is a school listed as #30 in Nashville, College readiness 87%. “where the roof leaks, kids eat lunch in the hallways, and rats sometimes raid the vending machines.” “That hasn’t stopped the students from learning or getting into Ivy League schools such as Harvard.”
One major challenge all of the nation’s best public high schools are facing is how to continue to challenge students despite budget pressures. Although the federal stimulus money has helped many school districts retain teachers who otherwise would have been laid off, many schools are finding it difficult to renovate—or even maintain—their older buildings. At Martin Luther King Academic Magnet High School in Nashville, No. 30 on the list, students and faculty have found ways to achieve in a 1930s-era building in which the roof leaks, kids eat lunch in the hallways because the cafeteria is too small, and rats sometimes raid the vending machines. “All of Nashville should be concerned that we are educating the best and brightest in a broken-down building,” says Shunn Turner, principal of MLK high school.
That hasn’t stopped the students from learning or getting into Ivy League schools such as Harvard. “With all the amazing teachers, students, counselors, and staff, there was no need to focus on why the lockers didn’t open half the time or why the soccer team changed outside,” says Jake Rudin, an ’09 MLK graduate who currently is a freshman at Cornell University. MLK schools College readiness 87%.
Can’t help but notice further on report – Ridgewood schools college readiness 56.0% not even in top 100list. Conclusion: one can’t put fault on the buildings from keeping kids from excelling in academics.
>Downtown shopping districts have changed dramatically over the decades. What was once known as the ‘hub’ of great shopping towns had gradually dispersed to the malls. The great seasonal sales with long lines of shoppers waiting for doors to open in downtown shop areas of Ridgewood, Hackensack and Paterson have disappeared. The department stores of the Meyer Brothers, Quackenbush, Sealfons, MacHugh, many jewelry stores and specialty shops are gone from the downtowns, and they’re not coming back. The retail trend has been the malls and highways, location and variety that draws foot traffic and free parking.
Heard a few shop owners moved out of CBD to nearby towns, because of the high rents in Ridgewood. Its well known, the rents drove out the smaller specialty merchants in the 70’s, in 80’s recession and 90’s even greater mall expansions. Its not just in the CBD, the retail sector in general has been hit hard with the current economy, some large chains closed locations and offer online shopping to cut overhead. With the closing of shops in small towns and also as malls struggle, small stores come and go there too, will our only option become the virtual online shopping? I hope not. The parking meters are a deterrent, people have to hope they have change in their pockets, if they keep them, roll back the meter fees, the increase was not the right thing to do.
>Fifty-six percent (56%) of U.S. voters now oppose the health care plan proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats. That’s the highest level of opposition found – reached three times before – in six months of polling.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 40% of voters favor the health care plan.
Perhaps more significantly, 46% now Strongly Oppose the plan, compared to 19% who Strongly Favor it.
Perfect Pita began as just as a kosher food take-out restaurant and expanded into a counter style sit in food eatery after their reputation for serving very good kosher food at reasonable prices. Perfect Pita is very popular kosher food restaurant for people who enjoy Middle Eastern dishes such as Moroccan pot roast and falafel as well as the Cholent which the traditional Sabbath stew of meat, beans, vegetables and potatoes.
About little over a year ago, the store front next door became available and Perfect Pita expanded into a sit down restaurant featuring a party room which can seat more people.
Perfect Pita’s kosher counter staff is extremely friendly and our service dependable as well as fast to please our customers “on-the-go” lifestyles.
Today people of all backgrounds are enjoying the middle eastern taste that Perfect Pita has to offer. From Hummus with falafel, to Beef shish kebab, Perfect Pita Restaurant will satisfy your middle eastern taste bud as well as your wallet!
https://perfectpitanj.com/index.html
Our Perfect Pita Hours: Sunday thru Thursday 11 AM to 9 PM Summer: Fri. 9 am to 3 pm Winter Fri. 9 am to 2 pm
Gov.-elect Chris Christie said he plans to cut expenses at every level of government and enact measures to make sure “we won’t be pushing problems downstream to local taxpayers.”
In an exclusive interview with the Asbury Park Press, Christie said he will use many of the ideas that came out of the 2006 special legislative session on property taxes as well as those laid out by the Press in its “Fighting New Jersey’s Tax Crush” series published in September and October.
“We need to reform the (tax) system from top to bottom,” Christie said.
High on the governor-elect’s list is eliminating loopholes in the 4 percent cap on annual increases in municipal government spending. The cap has been in place for years, but allows a number of exemptions for budget items ranging from health care costs to bond payments. The result has been annual property tax increases that exceed the rate of inflation.
Christie said he wants to enact reforms that will “make it a hard cap. Right now, we have a Swiss cheese cap.”
Christie said he also would:
Change the rules of binding interest arbitration in public employee contract negotiations to make sure arbitrators adhere to new cap standards.
Put the brakes on “teacher contracts that increase salaries by 4 to 5 percent and then, on top of it, layer on to it health benefit increases and pension expenses increases.”
Review mid-level management jobs at school boards statewide because “we no longer can have that plethora of mid-management … that are not necessarily bringing quality to the classroom.”
Should Christie find his reforms stalled, he said he would call for a constitutional convention. The Legislature and voters would have to approve such a convention, which would give elected delegates the power to reform the state’s tax system by presenting voters with amendments to the state constitution. The last convention was held in 1966 to increase the number of lawmakers.
“I want the voters to give me two years to fix it without a convention,” he said. “If we get to the mid-term (elections) in 2011 and I report to voters that, despite my best efforts, we haven’t been able to get this done because systemic forces are blocking us, then we have to change the system. And I will call for a constitutional convention.”
William G. Dressel Jr., executive director of the New Jersey State League of Municipalities, said that if the state is “going to be fair, then the most egregious driver of property taxes must be addressed — binding arbitration. That is a budget buster. And that is one area in which Governor-elect Christie won’t budge.”
>Senate Health Care Bill Would Force Some Middle Class Families to Pay $15,200 Yearly Insurance Fee, According to CBO Analysis Tuesday, December 15, 2009 By Terence P. Jeffrey, Editor-in-Chief
(CNSNews.com) – Forget the public option. Even without it, the health care bill presented in the Senate by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D.-Nev.) would make some middle-class American families pay what amounts to a $15,200 annual federally-mandated insurance fee, according to facts revealed in analyses published by the Congressional Budget Office.
The fee would result from the facts that the bill requires individuals—but not employers—to purchase health insurance plans and that families that earn up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level would be given government subsidies to purchase insurance in government-regulated insurance exchanges while families earning more than 400 percent of the federal poverty level would be denied government subsidies.
A family of four—two parents and two children—earning $88,200 would be at 400 percent of the poverty level this year, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. A family of four earning $88,201, therefore, would not be eligible for a federal subsidy to buy insurance under the Senate health-care bill. If the mother and father in such a family could not get employer-based health insurance—because their employers decided not to buy their workers insurance—the family would be required by law to purchase a policy with its own money that would cost an estimated $15,200 per year, according to the CBO.
The basic facts demonstrating that this would be the case if the Senate health care bill were to become law were presented in letters that the CBO sent to Sen. Harry Reid (D.-Nev.) on November 18 and to Sen. Evan Bayh (D.-Ind.) on November 30. The letters are available on the CBO Web site
The government takeover of health care will dramatically change the way we receive care and ultimately, the quality and access we expect today. More importantly, what is at stake is the relationship Americans have with their government – from one where we decide which insurance to buy and how to spend our own money to one where Washington bureaucrats mandate how and where you spend your own money.
But it’s not just about money. On a more fundamental level, our basic freedoms and beliefs are being attacked under what will be the largest expansion of government in the history of the United States. Bigger government will leave all Americans more dependent and less free to follow our own dreams. In short, the outcome of this battle will determine the trajectory of many more battles to come and we need your help to stop it.
Today, members of the NJ Tea Party Coalition will be joining Sen. Tom Coburn, M.D., Sen. Jim DeMint, Laura Ingraham, Americans For Prosperity, Tea Party Patriots, Freedom Works and other like-minded organizations as we tell the Senate: “Hands off our health care!” The Democratic leadership is trying to get to a final vote this week, so the timing couldn’t be better for us to take this stand.
If you were unable make it to Washington or to your local Senate office, please call your Senators’ offices at 1:30 p.m. You can find your Senator’s contact information on our website: Join Sen. Tom Coburn, M.D., Sen. Jim DeMint, Laura Ingraham, AFP President Tim Phillips and our 15 coalition partners as we tell the Senate: “Hands off our health care!” The Democratic leadership is trying to get to a final vote this week, so the timing couldn’t be better for us to take this stand.
If you cannot make it to Washington or to your local Senate office, please call your Senators’ offices at 1:30 p.m. You can find contact information for Senators Lautenberg and Menendez on our website: https://www.njteapartycoalition.org/Contact-Your-Senator.html
There are still several Senators who may be swayed NOT to vote for the Healthcare Bill now moving through the Senate. Their Washington phone and fax numbers are listed below.
Senator Ben Nelson (NE) – 202-224-6551 (Ph) / 202-228-0012 (F) Senator Blanche Lincoln (AR) – 202-224-4843 (Ph) / 202-228-1371(F) Senator Mary Landrieu (LA) – 202-224-5824 (Ph) / 202-224-9735 (F) Senator Joe Lieberman (CT) – 202-224-4041 (Ph) / 202-224-9750 (F) Senator Jim Webb (VA) – 202-224-4024 (Ph) / 202-228-6363 (F) Senator Bill Nelson (FL) – 202-224-5274 (Ph) / 202-228-2183 (F) Senator Evan Bayh (IN) – 202-224-5623 (Ph) / 202-228-1377(F)
Please keep our members in your thoughts and prayers as they make the trek to Washington in defense of Liberty. We also wish a Happy Hanukkah to all who are in the midst of celebrating the Festival of Lights.
On behalf of our Committee, Tim, Michele, Rae and myself, Brian
