PARAMUS – It has been nearly two years since the roars shook the ground near the 18th green at Ridgewood Country Club, and sent echoes reverberating through the trees and across the hills.
The 2008 edition of The Barclays at Ridgewood Country Club was a dazzling success by all accounts, capped off by the dramatic and noise-inducing playoff duel between Sergio Garcia and Vijay Singh.
Now, with the tournament fewer than three weeks away (Aug. 26-29), The Barclays at Ridgewood is hoping for an even better performance for an encore.
So why anonymity? First anonymity is the great equalizer whether you are a distinguished citizen or or just your basic Joe six pack anonymity gives everyone the chance to be heard and judged on the content and value of what they say and not who they are . Anonymity like voting in a voting both gives everyone the ability to voice their opinion without the fear of retribution.
Our view is that people ,politicians or institutions that malign anonymity are simply trying to get over , and squelch free speech end of story. It is very obvious when someone clueless or has an axe to grind like the village supported floggers posts a comment. Remember that sticks and stones may break our bones but names will never hurt us. If you don’t want people to complain either move to Cuba or find a more suitable vocation other than politics. Historically decent is a sign of open healthy society.
However anonymity is a privilege ,and we intend to preserve that privilege .Like so many things now a days it is very important to guard it, protect it , use it wisely and responsibly . Remember as a policy this blog allows every poster to decide for themselves weather they wish to remain anonymous or not .Those of you who attempt to skirt these guidelines may find your comments are blocked as SPAM.
As a reminder It is also important to note that all IP addresses are recorded . The policy is to not out the posters ,but it does happen from time to time. In a case where we would be asked by law enforcement to turn over an IP we would, there is no attorney client privilege or protecting of sources like in traditional journalism. Again legitimate law enforcement issues such as dealing with “threats” are not to be confused with anyone attempting to silence people,which is never going to happen.
The days of rampant unbridled criminality in State of New Jersey are rapidly nearing a close . The Ridgewood blog suggest that it is perhaps time to start listening to constituents and begin to abandon the “we know better than you mantra” before a desperate state treasury begins to search for monies that have been misappropriated ,ill spent ,wasted ,ill advised and other wise foolishly squandered.
Declining cigarette sales and disputes over how much tobacco companies owe to U.S. states may cause more than $12 billion of defaults on related bonds issued by California, New York City, New Jersey, Ohio and Virginia.
Defaults on securities that are backed only by the tobacco- company payments and were issued in 2006 and 2007 “could start occurring as early as 2030,” according a report by Richard Larkin, a senior vice-president at Herbert J. Sims & Co.
Payments in April by tobacco companies, owed under a 1997 settlement of state lawsuits claiming damages for health-care costs, fell 16 percent, according to the National Association of Attorneys General. Much of that decline stems from a 9 percent slide in cigarette sales last year, more than twice the 4 percent drop assumed in some bond sales, said Larkin, who is based in Iselin, New Jersey.
Tobacco bond defaults of $12 billion would be almost four times the $3 billion of bonds that Jefferson County, Alabama’s sewer authority defaulted on. Municipal issuers failed to pay on about $6.9 billion of bonds last year, according to the Distressed Debt Securities newsletter.
State and federal tax increases have helped push cigarette sales lower than were projected when the securities were issued. New York State raised its cigarette tax by $1.60 a pack last month, lifting the average price to about $10.80 in New York City and $8.92 in other parts of the state, according to Erik Kriss, a state Budget Division spokesman.
>Seeking Residents to Volunteer to Serve on the Planning Board
The Village Council is looking for residents who are interested in volunteering to serve as an Alternate Member for the Planning Board.
The Planning Board reviews site plans and subdivision applications; prepares, adopts, and amends the Master Plan; and makes recommendations to the Village Council regarding amendments to developmental regulations and the official map.
All interested residents should fill out a Citizen Volunteer Leadership form (found on the Village website, www.ridgewoodnj.net, under “Forms”), and send it along with a cover letter, and a biography or resume to:
>The opposition to Valley started as an argument about the impact on the property values of Valley’ neighbors. That group (the neighboring homeowners) then masterfully played on the emotions, fears, and paranoia of the Travell and BF parents to create broader opposition and paint Valley as the “evil Empire”.
The reality is that no kids were injured the last time Valley expanded in the 1980s. Dozens of current Ridgewood homeowners attended BF at the time, including some of my neighbors, and I have never heard anyone mention any way that that construction adversely impacted their education or that of their brothers and sisters. None have ever mentioned any long-term health problems related to dust from the last expansion. You must keep in mind that Valley will have a hospital full of patients while the expansion is occurring. They will have to mitigate dust and asbestos out of their own self-interest in order to not harm those patients and provoke litigation.
The traffic argument is lame. 90% of the traffic on Linwood has nothing to do with Valley. The expansion adds no additional rooms. The only additional traffic will be from additional outpatient business, which may increase traffic by 3-5%. Not a big deal. The Van Dien intersection will get expanded, but Valley already owns a couple of the homes involved.
I also am tired of the argument that an expansion of Valley will result in Ridgewood declining and turning into Hackensack or Engelwood. Hackensack hasn’t neen an upscale town for over 50 years, and has always been far more industrial than Ridgewood. The homes around Valley are zoned residential. You couldn’t turn one into a medical building if you wanted to.
I am a Travell parent, live within a few blocks of the hospital, and am in favor of Valley’s expansion. I think that the weak state of the downtown business district, our ridiculously high property taxes, and the current fiscal situation of the town and school system are much more important issues in Ridgewood.
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The haves are retirees who were once state or municipal workers. Their seemingly guaranteed and ever-escalating monthly pension benefits are breaking budgets nationwide.
The have-nots are taxpayers who don’t have generous pensions. Their 401(k)s or individual retirement accounts have taken a real beating in recent years and are not guaranteed. And soon, many of those people will be paying higher taxes or getting fewer state services as their states put more money aside to cover those pension checks.
At stake is at least $1 trillion. That’s trillion, with a “t,” as in titanic and terrifying.
The figure comes from a study by the Pew Center on the States that came out in February. Pew estimated a $1 trillion gap as of fiscal 2008 between what states had promised workers in the way of retiree pension, health care and other benefits and the money they currently had to pay for it all. And some economists say that Pew is too conservative and the problem is two or three times as large.
So a question of extraordinary financial, political, legal and moral complexity emerges, something that every one of us will be taking into town meetings and voting booths for years to come: Given how wrong past pension projections were, who should pay to fill the 13-figure financing gap?
Consider what’s going on in Colorado — and what is likely to unfold in other states and municipalities around the country.
Earlier this year, in an act of rare political courage, a bipartisan coalition of state legislators passed a pension overhaul bill. Among other things, the bill reduced the raise that people who are already retired get in their pension checks each year.
This sort of thing just isn’t done. States have asked current workers to contribute more, tweaked the formula for future hires or banned them from the pension plan altogether. But this was apparently the first time that state legislators had forced current retirees to share the pain.
Sharing the burden seems to be the obvious solution so we don’t continue to kick the problem into the future. “We have to take this on, if there is any way of bringing fiscal sanity to our children,” said former Gov. Richard Lamm of Colorado, a Democrat. “The New Deal is demographically obsolete. You can’t fund the dream of the 1960s on the economy of 2010.”
More than half of Americans are likely to have a new chief executive for their state come November
It must have been gloomy for Democrats when the nation’s governors met last month in Boston for their annual summer get-together. The reason: If congressional races look bad for Democrats, the 37 gubernatorial contests are even worse.
A quick survey of the political landscape shows six of the seven Democratic governors running for re-election are polling under 50% and in danger of losing, while all six GOP incumbents seeking re-election are expected to win. In the 24 open gubernatorial contests, Republicans lead in 15 and are tied in three others.
More than half of Americans are likely to have a new chief executive for their state come November. Democrats are burdened by President Barack Obama’s low approval ratings and, in some open races, by widespread public dissatisfaction with the state’s retiring Democratic incumbent.
>New Jersey fiscial crisis : Assembly committee to discuss $10.5B budget deficit
N.J. Assembly committee to discuss $10.5B budget deficit
This time last year Chris Christie said the Democratic governor should drop out of the 2009 election in shame because he allowed the state to rack up an $8 billion deficit.
>Colony Capital is expected to give up the $2 billion Xanadu project in New Jersey
Developers to Pass Xanadu Project On to Creditors
A group led by Colony Capital is expected to give up the $2 billion Xanadu project in New Jersey to its creditors in the collapse of one of the most high-profile retail developments of the real-estate boom, according to people familiar with the matter. (Pruitt, Wei, WSJ)
>you guys are missing the point…the unspoken long range plan is to get this built….then quietly buy up more properties around the hospital….then 15 years down the road after all the constuction is completed and they have again outgrown the buildings that they just finished…they will propose expanding the H zone, since they already own all the adjacent properties…
>There are and have been a bunch of obvious ways to save money that nobody wants to touch because they are too politically sensitive:
1. Increase class sizes by 10-20%. I had class sizes of 25-30 kids in the 60s and 70s.
2. Redistrict instead of expanding Ridge and Willard. It’s absurd tht we are spending a big chunk of the bond issue to expand those two schools when we just needed to shift the boundary lines a few blocks and put more kids into underutilized Orchard.
3. Take a hard line in the upcoming teacher negotiations. Demand higher teacher contributions for medical and other benefits. Initiate a differentiated wage scale under which we can pay lower-skilled positions, such as gym teachers, less than tougher-to-replace positions such as math and science teachers. Don’t cave when the teachers threaten to strike. The pain of a short strike will be worth the long-term savings generated for the taxpayers.
4. Figure out ways to save money on special ed, which is now over 20% of the BOE budget. It is an ultra-sensitive topic, but is the biggest line item in the budget after teacher wages and benefits.
>Ridgewood schools will receive close to $1 million from the federal government as part of the U.S. Department of Education’s Teaching American History Grants program. Ridgewood will receive the largest portion of the funding with a total of $999,479.
The five year program is to “fill in the gaps” in areas where teachers have had minimal exposure to historical content.
The federal funding assists Local Education Associations partners with relevant entities to help teachers develop a deeper understanding and appreciation of U.S. history, resulting in improved student comprehension.
Employer costs for employee compensation, September 2009
Total employer compensation costs for civilian workers, which include private industry and state and local government workers, averaged $29.40 per hour worked in September 2009.
Total employer compensation costs for private industry workers averaged $27.49 per hour worked in September 2009. State and local government employers spent an average of $39.83 per hour worked for total employee compensation in September 2009.
Health benefit employer costs were $4.43 per hour worked for state and local government and $2.01 in private industry.
Paid leave, including vacation, holiday, sick and personal leave, cost $3.05 per hour worked for state and local government and $1.86 in private industry.
Retirement and savings costs, which include both defined benefit and defined contribution plans, were $3.23 per hour worked for state and local government employers and 94 cents for private employers.
These data are from the National Compensation Survey’s Employment Cost Trends program. To learn more about employer costs for employee wages, salaries and benefits, see “Employer Costs for Employee Compensation — September 2009” (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL 09-1501.
