Tag: Ridgewood Real estate

 President has “Tawana Brawley” moment 

Tawana Brawley rape allegations
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tawana Brawley (born 1972) is an African-American woman from Wappingers Falls, New York. In 1987, at the age of 15, she received national media attention in the United States for falsely accusing six white men, some of whom were police officers, of having raped her. The accusations soon earned her notoriety, which was inflamed by Brawley’s advisers (including the Reverend Al Sharpton and attorneys Alton H. Maddox and C. Vernon Mason), the statements of various public officials, and intense media attention.[1] After hearing evidence, a grand jury concluded in October 1988 that Brawley had not been the victim of a forcible sexual assault and that she herself may have created the appearance of an attack.[2] The New York prosecutor whom Brawley had accused as one of her alleged assailants successfully sued Brawley and her three advisers for defamation.[3]

Brawley initially received considerable support from the African-American community.[4] Some scholars suggested that Brawley was victimized by biased reporting that adhered to racial stereotypes.[5][6] The mainstream media’s coverage drew heated criticism from the African-American press and leaders for its treatment of the teenager.[7] The grand jury’s conclusions decreased support for Brawley and her advisers. Brawley’s family has maintained that the allegations were true.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tawana_Brawley_rape_allegations

https://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/06/03/al-sharpton-s-long-bill-of-goods-from-tawana-brawley-to-primetime.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/03/booming/revisiting-the-tawana-brawley-rape-scandal.html?_r=0

Obama urges nation to grapple with race
David Jackson, USA TODAY 5:12 p.m. EDT July 19, 2013

President Obama said Friday that all Americans should respect a jury’s acquittal of George Zimmerman in the killing of Trayvon Martin, but white Americans should also understand that African Americans are pained by Trayvon’s death and continue to face racial discrimination.

“Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago,” the nation’s first African-American president said during a surprise appearance in the White House briefing room.

Obama, who last year said the 17-year-old Florida shooting victim could just as easily have been his son, talked about how he has been subjected to casual prejudice. He also said African Americans need to address the problems of violence in their own communities.

African-American males know they are more likely to be both “victims and perpetrators of violence,” Obama said, and “somebody like Trayvon Martin was probably statistically more likely to be shot by a peer than he was by somebody else.”

The problem is that so many people paint with a “broad brush” and see all black young men as potential criminals, Obama said.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2013/07/19/obama-trayvon-marin-george-zimmerman/2568811/

Activist Lotte Diomede explains the virtues of Mobi-Chairs

Activist Lotte Diomede, mother of a disabled son and founder and president of the SMILE Mass Foundation. One goal of her foundation is to donate Mobi-Chairs to all the beaches on Cape Cod. A second group of 20 will be presented this month.

To Whom It May Concern:

My name is Lotte Diomede. I am the mother of a wheelchair bound child as well as the president of SMILE Mass. The mission of SMILE Mass is to provide happy, healthy memories to families living with children or adults with disabilities. Our first project is to place 100 Mobi-Chair floating beach wheelchairs to public beaches on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. In June of 2012 we placedthe first 20 chairs and on June 28, 2013,we will be placing the next 20 chairs.

Photo by Boyd Loving

As you can imagine, I am keenly aware of issues regarding beaches/pools and disabled persons. I am having trouble understanding why anyone would construct a ramp that leads into the deep end of a lake.Most disabled persons will need assistance getting from their chair into the water and if the ramp leads into the deep end, the person assist ing will not be able to stand—creating a dangerous situation for boththe disabled person and their assistant.*

SMILE Mass has done extensive research on beach wheelchairs, and we find the Mobi-Chair to be top-of-the-line. It goes seamlessly from the parking lot, over the sand and into the water where it floats. It needs no special ramp at a beach as you would push it into the water the same way an ambulatory person would walk into the water.

In 2012, SMIL E Mass worked with 12 different towns and their beach directors. The towns that received Mobi-Chairs are listed on our website at www.smilemass.org/beach-project.html. I’ m sure a call to any one of them would convince you of the safety and benefits of us ing the Mobi-Chair.

If you have further questions, I can be reached at 617-967-7755.

Thank you,
Lotte Diomede
Co-founder & president , SMILE Mass
[email protected]
www.smilemass.org

*Note from ThePreserve Graydon Coalition : Lotte says ther
e must always be an assistant. What ’s called“the deep end”
or“the 12-foot section ”is not 12 feet deep in all places, but may drop steeply to
that depth. In addition, as in most lakes, visibility at Graydon Pond does not usually
penetrate to the deepest areas of the water

https://www.preservegraydon.org/files/5/Lotte_Diomede_letter_SMILE_Mass_Graydon_ramp,_Mobi-Chair.pdf

the stone wall in front of “Its Greek To Me “

A plea for parking accessibility in Ridgewood
Friday, July 12, 2013
BY  CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER
The Record

RIDGEWOOD — At least one village resident thinks handicap parking is too hard to come by in Ridgewood.

Denise Lima this week asked Ridgewood’s council to look into supplying additional parking spots throughout town for handicapped motorists and passengers.

Such spots, Lima said, are needed in Ridgewood, near its numerous pharmacies, outside the village’s post office, and right next to the movie theater — areas, she noted, where handicap parking was particularly deficient in town.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/215191501_A_plea_for_parking_accessibility_in_Ridgewood_parking__accessibility.html#sthash.GZZesPvq.dpuf

‘Crackers,’ a ‘teenage mammy’ — the sorry truth about race and Zimmerman trial  
by Juan WilliamsPublished July 11, 2013
FoxNews.com

Read more: https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/07/11/white-hispanics-crackers-teenage-mammies-no-winners-in-martin-zimmerman-case/#ixzz2Yorofwg0

“White Hispanics,” “Creepy-Ass Crackers,” “Teenage Mammies,” and “Suspicious A–holes who always get away” — that is the vernacular of the George Zimmerman trial.

George Zimmerman faces life in jail as a jury considers second-degree murder charges against him for killing 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. But thanks to the media he is already sentenced to life in the American public’s mind as a racist.

NBC edited a tape of Zimmerman’s call to police as he was following Martin to make him appear to be focused on Martin’s race.

The New York Times has referred to him in unique racial terms as a “white Hispanic.” The terminology was necessary to have the story fit into a well-worn news narrative throughout American history from the Scottsboro Boys to Emmett Till to Rodney King – the black victim of white racism. Hispanic people can be as racist as black or white people in a country with a deep history of racism. But, apparently for the Times, Zimmerman’s whiteness was important. It fit their good versus evil tale of a white racist killing an innocent black man.

Read more: https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/07/11/white-hispanics-crackers-teenage-mammies-no-winners-in-martin-zimmerman-case/#ixzz2YorN1yik

54 Months: Record Stretch of 7.5%+ Unemployment Continues
July 5, 2013 – 12:16 PM

(CNSNews.com) – Since January 2009, when Barack Obama was inaugurated as president, the United States has seen 54 straight months with the unemployment rate at 7.5 percent or higher, which is the longest stretch of unemployment at or above that rate since 1948, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics started calculating the national unemployment rate.

Today, BLS reported that the seasonally adjusted national unemployment rate for June was 7.6 percent, the same it was in May.

In December 2008, the month after Obama was first elected and the month before he was inaugurated, unemployment was 7.3 percent. In January 2009, it climbed to 7.8 percent. In February, the month Obama signed what the Congressional Budget Office would later determine was an $830 billion economic stimulus law, the unemployment rate climbed to 8.3 percent.

In the Obama era, the unemployment rate peaked at 10.0 percent in October 2010. It did not dip below 9 percent until October 2011, when it hit 8.9 percent.  From August to September 2012, it dropped from 8.1 percent to 7.8 percent—the first time during Obama’s tenure it went under 8 percent.

– See more at: https://cnsnews.com/news/article/54-months-record-stretch-75-unemployment-continues#sthash.MlWZDiPm.dpuf

A special 4th of July Message from Chief John M. Ward

I would like to personally thank those from our community who attended this year’s parade for your show of support for Honorary Chief Michael Feeney. Moments like these are what define the character of a community.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie gets advice from Chief Michael Feeney 

Chief Feeney has done such an excellent job that we have asked him to stay on as our Honorary Chief for the year. Michael will be assisting with many other community policing activities including our new cookies with the chief program.

Once again thank you
Chief John M. Ward

Americans Still Embrace the Spirit of ’76

A Commentary By Scott Rasmussen

Friday, July 05, 2013

Our nation’s 237th birthday is being celebrated in many ways that have become familiar over the years. Fifteen percent of Americans will watch a parade; 29 percent will sing patriotic songs; 63 percent will enjoy a cookout with family and friends; 78 percent are likely to see fireworks.

Sixty-one percent consider Independence Day one of our nation’s most important holidays.

We celebrate July 4 with the enthusiasm of a loved one’s birthday because we love our country. Seventy-seven percent would live here even if they had the chance to live anywhere else on the planet.

But despite our love for America, we recognize that it’s not perfect. Only 47 percent believe ours is truly a land with liberty and justice for all. Fewer than half believe our economic system is fair to the middle class or fair to those willing to work hard. Only 34 percent believe our system of justice is fair to those who are poor.

That’s where the Declaration of Independence comes in. That document, one of the most cherished and important documents in the history of mankind, did more than found our nation. It defined our national ideals. Despite all the changes of the past two centuries, Americans still embrace those founding ideals.

Seventy-two percent continue to believe governments derive their only just authority from the consent of the governed.

Eighty-one percent believe all of us were created equal.

Ninety-two percent believe we have all been endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights, including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Put it all together, and what the Declaration of Independence proposed was then a radical concept — self-governance. Kings did not possess a divine right to rule. Individuals had divine rights, including the right to select their rulers. In fact, as our nation’s founding document described it, the whole purpose of a government was to protect individual rights.

What was radical then is deeply embedded in the cultural DNA of our nation today. We believe that we have the right to make our own decisions about our own lives so long as they don’t infringe on the rights of others. We use our freedom to solve problems by working together in communities.

This attitude was described by Thomas Jefferson and others as “the Spirit of ’76.” It continues to create problems for political elites today because 63 percent think there is more danger with a government that is too powerful than with one that is not powerful enough.

This concern is amplified by the fact that most voters view the government today as a threat to individual rights rather than a protector of those rights. Most Americans also now believe the federal government has become a special interest group that looks out primarily for its own interests.

Only one in four voters today thinks our government has the consent of the governed. That’s a clear call for our government to change its ways and re-earn the trust of those it is supposed to serve. Those are the kind of attitudes that make the Political Class nervous. The fact that we expect more comes from the fact that we as a nation still embrace the Spirit of ’76.

https://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/political_commentary/commentary_by_scott_rasmussen/americans_still_embrace_the_spirit_of_76

An Independence Day Message from Chairman Raia
 
Today, it is important to sit back and reflect on the precious liberties which unite us all, as we commemorate this beloved day of our independence.
 
As we celebrate, let’s remember that these precious freedoms have been defended for generations by the brave men and women of our armed services. We owe them our acknowledgment, support, and undying gratitude; as you and I both know, the price of freedom is not free. Let us all pause for a moment today, and say a prayer for those who have lost their lives so that you and I may raise our families in the peace and prosperity of the greatest nation on earth.
 
From everyone at the New Jersey Republican Party, we wish you and your family a Happy Independence Day.
 
God bless the United States of America,
 
Samuel S. Raia
Chairman
New Jersey Republican State Committee