Ridgewood NJ, The Ridgewood Board of Education will hold a Regular Public Meeting tonight, Monday, April 2, 2018. The Board meets at the Education Center, 49 Cottage Place, Floor 3 at 7:30 p.m.
The public is welcome to attend the meeting, or to watch from home on Fios channel 33 or Optimum channel 77. Meetings are also streamed via the “BOE Webcast” tab on the district website at www.ridgewood.k12.nj.us.
Meeting webcasts are immediately available on the district website.
Ridgewood Nj, the Ridgewood Historical Society presents ,History Hunt booklets . Kids can enjoy visiting the Schoolhouse Museum with our new scavenger hunt for the current exhibits. Come by Saturdays from 1pm-3pm and Sundays from 2pm-4pm. They provide the pencils, you provide the little sleuths! See you there!
The Ridgewood Historical Society is housed in a one-room schoolhouse at 650 East Glen Avenue in Ridgewood, New Jersey. The schoolhouse was built in 1872 and was an operational school until 1905. It now serves as a museum of historic artifacts and is maintained by the Ridgewood Historical Society. Formerly District School No. 45, the Museum features exhibits that emphasize the historic Saddle River Valley area in the 18th and 19th centuries, an area that was primarily Dutch when first settled.
Please visit our website for more information and to donate:
Days/times open:
Thursday and Saturday.: 1pm to 3pm
Sunday: 2pm to 4pm
Ridgewood NJ, Senatorial candidate Bob Hugin reminds us of the anniversary of our ethically challenged senator ‘s indictment . There is no special schedule for New Jersey Transit or state holiday planned .
“New Jersey deserves a Senator who will represent them with honesty and integrity in Washington and fight for them every day—not one who spends his time trying to stay one step ahead of the law.” said Hugin Communications Director Megan Piwowar. “The more voters compare Menendez’s failed, corrupt track record with Bob Hugin’s background as a former Marine and job-creating business leader, we are confident that New Jersey voters will elect Bob Hugin and give our state a Senator we can be proud of again.”
Senator Menendez narrowly avoided federal prison, and still faces an investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee where his shady behavior will continue to embarrass New Jersey. It’s why the New York Times and Star Ledger both called on Menendez to resign from office. He refused to listen and announced his re-election plans last week.
“Our new :60 ad highlights Senator Menendez’s embarrassing tenure as Senator, where his biggest accomplishment was trying to bury an investigation into his best friend’s scheme to defraud Medicare, and becoming synonymous with federal investigations, private jets, fancy vacations and strong-arming people to get visas for his married best friends foreign girlfriends,” said Piwowar. “New Jersey is 50 out of 50—dead last—in what we get back from Washington for the amount of tax dollars we send down there. Instead of fixing that, Senator Menendez was too busy serving himself and his big donors. New Jersey deserves better. It’s time for a change.”
BACKGROUND
SEN. MENENDEZ ADMITTED HE ACCEPTED EXPENSIVE GIFTS, INCLUDING LAVISH VACATIONS, FROM CONVICTED FELON, DR. MELGEN.
THE NEW YORK TIMES AND STAR LEDGER CALLED FOR SENATOR MENENDEZ TO RESIGN.
UNDER SENATOR MENENDEZ NEW JERSEY IS BIGGEST LOSER—RANKS 50 OUT OF 50 IN MONEY SENT TO WASHINGTON THAT COMES BACK TO THE STATE
MENENDEZ ADMITTED HE ACCEPTED EXPENSIVE GIFTS, INCLUDING LAVISH VACATIONS, FROM CONVICTED FELON
ACCORDING TO THE INDICTMENT, SENATOR MENENDEZ WAS ACCUSED OF ACCEPTING PRIVATE PLANE FIGHTS AND OTHER GIFTS FROM MELGEN IN EXCHANGE FOR MENENDEZ’S ASSISTANCE. “In exchange, the former chair of the senate foreign relations committee is accused of accepting several private plane flights to a Caribbean resort, other gifts such as a luxury Paris hotel stay and a bounty of campaign donations, according to the indictment. The physician, who was also indicted, even contributed $40,000 to the politician’s legal defense fund involving a recall issue.” (Jay Weaver, “Sen. Robert Menendez, South Florida Eye Doctor Indicted In Federal Corruption Case; Corruption,” The Miami Herald, 4/1/15)
SEN. MENENDEZ VIOLATED SENATE ETHICS RULES BY FAILING TO REPORT OR PAY FOR TRIPS ON MELGEN’S PRIVATE PLANE OVER A PERIOD OF SEVERAL YEARS. “He conceded he had not paid for or properly reported four flights (two round-trips) on Melgen’s private jet and wrote a check to belatedly comply with Senate ethics rules. A year later, his campaign reimbursed Melgen for a third trip. Both times Menendez aides assured reporters that these were oversights and that the senator’s travel had been thoroughly reviewed. But a federal indictment charging Menendez with corruption has revealed free flights the senator never disclosed or paid for – nine others for him, sometimes with a guest – in apparent violation of Senate ethics rules.” (Jonathan Tamari, “Failure To Report Free Trips May Be Used As Evidence Against Menendez, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 4/12/15)
THE NEW YORK TIMES AND THE STAR-LEDGER CALLED FOR MENENDEZ TO RESIGN
THE NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL BOARD: “Mr. Menendez is evidently not in a hurry to get to the stage of contrition, having warned on Wednesday that he’s ‘not going anywhere.’ He would be doing a disservice to New Jersey by clinging to power as a disgraced politician. His colleagues in the Senate should demand that he step aside.” (Editorial, “Step Down, Senator Robert Menendez, The New York Times, 4/2/15)
THE STAR-LEDGER EDITORIAL BOARD: “U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez now begins a fight for his political life that could last for years. New Jersey would be better off if he would resign and conduct that battle on his own time. The state needs a respected senator who is focused on his job, not a tarnished defendant who spends his days fending off credible charges of corruption and raising money for his legal defense.” (Editorial, “Menendez: Resign And Spare Us the Drama, The Star Ledger, 4/1/15)
UNDER MENENDEZ NEW JERSEY IS BIGGEST LOSER WHEN IT COMES TO TAXES AND SPENDING
UNDER MENENDEZ, NEW JERSEY IS 50 OUT OF 50. “The biggest losers when it comes to taxes and spending are New Jersey, Wyoming and Connecticut. New Jersey gets back just 77 cents for every dollar it pays, while Wyoming gets back 81 cents and Connecticut gets 83 cents.” (“Tax Day 2017: Which State Sends Most Taxes to D.C.?”, The Associated Press, 4/16/17)
Ultimately Fishbein and Gorman are responsible. Their hefty salaries are funded by the taxpayers. If the rankings don’t improve in 2-3 years, then these two losers get FIRED. It’s that simple, folks.
What part of the budget (none?) is going towards improving the actual ACADEMIC QUALITY of Ridgewood schools?
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Are the feckless superintendent and RHS principal doing anything to improve these numbers?
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Ridgewood DID NOT make “The 50 highest scoring schools in NJ’s new school ranking system”
RHS is ranked 84 out of 386 in NJ High Schools (not even top 20%)
My God… we’re not even better than Bergenfield? Waldwick? etc…
Maybe we need a bigger budget. How about $125 million and a goal to break into the top 75…
Bergenfield, Dumont, Ramapo… Those towns must have massive budgets
The State of NJ ranks Ridgewood High School as 83 out of the 385 NJ high schools.
Apologies for being off by 1 in the original post (was counting the “header row” by mistake)
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Lets see how bad Ridgewood #83 ranking really is…
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Neighboring Glen Rock was ranked #13
(the top twelve are specialized “academies” and vocational schools which have academic standards for acceptance)
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Here’s some other (local) schools that are ranked higher than Ridgewood:
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#20 – Pascack Hills (Pascack Valley)
#25 – Northern Valley – Demarest
#28 – Tenafly
#29 – Mahwah
#45 – Northern Valley – Old Tappan
#46 – Pascack Valley
#48 – River Dell
#52 – Indian Hills
#55 – Emerson
#56 – Fair Lawn
#60 – Northern Highlands
#61 – Fort Lee
#72 – Waldwick
#73 – New Milford
#76 – Bergenfield
#82 – Ramapo
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Then Ridgewood at #83
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But at least we beat out Dumont (ranked #84)
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Embarassing.
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But let’s approve the $110 Million budget.
It’s money well spent.
We’ll keep deluding ourselves that we have great schools.
It’s all part of the “Tradition of Excellence”
What a dramatic decline. Fishbein and Gorman should take responsibility for this. Who holds their feet to the fire? In the meantime parents are oblivious as long as they feel good about “the new leaders (their kids)” being “vocal” about national issues
We should implement same rules as private organizations for salary, vacation time, benefits and pension.
Village employees now get salary that’s equivalent to private organizations, but vacation, benefits and pension is twice or more compared to what we ourselves are making at our private jobs.
We should not be forced to pay more than what we make ourselves to our village employees.
Ridgewood NJ, Saturdays Chamber of Commerce Annual Easter Egg Hunt is a favorite for young and old. Deputy Mayor Mike Sedon helped distribute candy to many little visitors who enjoyed a variety of fun activities.
Mayor Susan Knudsen and Deputy Mayor Mike Sedon made the rounds.
Peace & good ice cream with Ridgewood’s Ben and Jerry’s crew! A wonderful day in Ridgewood enjoying Chamber Annual Easter Egg Hunt!
Ridgewood NJ, well what do you know ,Anthony Damiano from the Ridgewood Guild on the Facebook page ,It Takes a Ridgewood Village
“Just for the record, I am in favor of a garage that fits comfortably on the lot. As for the current parking situation, currently you can find parking on the street because the town is not performing. If the merchants were all doing the business that they should be doing, you would not be able to find street parking. With the closing of Pink Bungalow, we now have over 20 vacancies in town. We have 5 locations that are 3000 feet and larger, most of which have remained vacant for guite a long time. No retail anchors in town because of lack of parking. The majority of cars on the street are employees. I watch them feed the meters all day.”
It appears that Mr. Damiano is reacting to public pressure due to the total lack of participation of local retailers in any attempt to alleviate the parking issue.
The brick and mortar retail environment is hurting due to online shopping. That’s not going to change if we build a garage. While Englewood and Montclair downtowns also have many empty storefronts and so do many local malls with plenty of parking.
Some are suggesting the De blasio approach of a ‘vacancy tax “.
A smaller garage may alleviate some issues when the Village hosts major events like the 4th of July parade ,the car show or even Saturday’s Easter event. The fact is its time for drastic action in the face of new realities .
Its time for Ridgewood to become a leader once again and get connected, plug in . Every store or restaurant in to must have a vital Ecommerce platform and the Village should blanket the Central business district in Wifi making it as easy as possible for retailers , restaurants and business to do business off of mobile devices .
Ridgewood NJ, of the City of Hackensack, NJ TRANSIT bus service in that city will have slight adjustments to bus routes and/or stops which take place effective April 7.
All NJ TRANSIT bus service will be moved off of Main Street between Court and Passaic streets and will no longer operate through that area. These changes are the result of the City of Hackensack’s implementation of the next phase of their Main Street streetscape and redevelopment project.
Certain NJ TRANSIT bus routes will see some adjustments to their routes in Hackensack as the city makes improvements to enhance pedestrian safety and improve traffic flow. Customers who normally board their bus along Main Street will now board their bus along State or River streets.
The bus routes that will have slight adjustments are: 83 (to Jersey City), 165 (to Westwood), 168 (to New York and to Paramus), 751/755 (to Paramus), 752/770 (to Ridgewood/Oakland/Paterson), 753 (to New Milford/Cresskill and to Paramus), 762 (to Paramus), 772 (to Meadowlands and to Paramus) and 780 to Passaic and to Englewood). The 76 and 712 bus routes will have slight changes to a few bus stops.
Northbound bus service currently operating along Main Street will be relocated to State Street and River Street.
The trip destination signs seen on the front of the bus will not be affected.
Fares and the frequency of service will not change.
Customers are encouraged to sign up for My Transit Alerts, which provide customized notifications via email or text messages based on a customer’s preferences. My Transit alerts can be accessed by creating a free account on njtransit.com. Real-time bus arrival information is available through MyBus, using the five-digit code at the bus stop.
A “Hackensack’s Main Street’’ brochure, which highlights individual route and bus stop locations, is available in printed form and for viewing at njtransit.com.
Ridgewood NJ, this is no April fools, the National Weather Service has issued a Winter Weather Advisory from 2am Monday April 2 to 2pm April 2nd.
…WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 2 AM TO 2 PM EDT MONDAY…
* WHAT…Snow expected. Total snow accumulations of 3 to 5 inches are expected, and amounts of 6 inches are possible in the
higher elevations of northeast New Jersey.
* WHERE…Northeast New Jersey, southeast New York, and southern Connecticut.
* WHEN…From 2 AM to 2 PM EDT Monday.
* ADDITIONAL DETAILS…Plan on slippery road conditions and reduced visibilities, including during the morning commute on Monday.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…
A Winter Weather Advisory for snow means periods of snow will cause primarily travel difficulties. Expect snow covered roads
and limited visibilities, and use caution while driving. Check local Department of Transportation information services for the
latest road conditions.
Ridgewood NJ, cooking a holiday meal is one of the top ways residents will be celebrating Easter and Passover this week. Kings Food Markets has put a twist on classic dishes to make Easter and Passover a big hit this year, and thought the recipes below would be of interest our readers.
Bacon Cheddar Deviled Eggs – Deviled eggs are great on their own, but add some bacon and cheese for a truly unique Easter treat.
Strawberry-Lemon Shortcakes – Update the classic strawberry shortcake with lemon juice and zest to create a dreamy dessert that’s the perfect ending to any meal.
Passover
Braised Brisket of Beef – Enjoy this tender, flavorful brisket with sweet marinara sauce that’s worthy to be the main course of any Passover feast.
Roasted Vegetables Tzimmes – This traditional side dish of roasted vegetables and dried fruits is packed with flavor and can’t be missed from the dinner table.
Apple Walnut Cake – Fresh apples, crunchy walnuts and matzo cake meal (instead of flour) make this the ultimate Passover dessert.
Ridgewood NJ, A full Blue Moon rises into the evening sky tonight (March 31). This will be the second and final Blue Moon of 2018.
Despite the name, the “Blue Moon” won’t actually be blue. In fact, it will look the same as any other full moon. According to the current definition, the term refers to the second full moon in a given calendar month. The traditional definition of a Blue Moon was reserved for the third full moon in a season that has four full moons, which happens in years that have 13 full moons instead of the usual 12.
The next seasonal Blue Moon will not happen until May 18, 2019. The last Blue Moon was an extra special one, as it coincided with a “supermoon” and a total lunar eclipse.
Today’s full moon, which is the first full moon of spring, is also known as a “Paschal Moon,” which is the full moon right before Easter Sunday. It has also been nicknamed the “Sap Moon” by Native American tribes “as it marks the time when maple sap begins to flow and the annual tapping of maple trees begins,” according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac.
Today, the moon will reach its fullest phase at 8:37 a.m. EDT (1237 GMT). That means for viewers in Ridgewood , the moon will be below the horizon at this time.
Let’s take a guess: the rankings are weighted in favor of radical progressive political priorities and how well the high school in question advances the same. If Ridgewood High School is slipping in the poll, that is because RHS is not revamping its culture and curriculum quickly enough to the liking of the radical progressives, and is therefore falling behind other schools. To be fair, the rankings may have been tabulated before the recent school walkout protest, during which Ridgewood High School’s Students Demand Action club and complicit Principal joined forces to maximize student body participation, achieving a number of 1000 students, as attested to by Principal Gorman personally to the assembled media, and arrived at by the use of sophisticated and proprietary Reform Math algorithms. So RHS’s student walkout performance this year is sure to boost its progressive poll ranking come next year.
Feigned outrage $110,000,000 budget to not place in the top 20% in the state , Ridgewood property values don’t come from rainbow flags and anti gun proclamations .
What a dramatic decline. Fishbein and Gorman should take responsibility for this. Who holds their feet to the fire? In the meantime parents are oblivious as long as they feel good about “the new leaders (their kids)” being “vocal” about national issues. On the path of self destruction.
Tradition of excellence was abandoned by Ridgewood’s school system years ago. Instead it’s all about the marvelous support staff that other schools are not “lucky?” enough to have. Compare the number of these currently compared to even 10 years ago.
Ugh. Sad day for Ridgewood but don’t tell anyone. We all have homes to sell and we want top dollar!! Brush it under the carpet like everything else
Ridgewood NJ, As responsible stewards of our tax dollars Mayor Susan Knudsen and Deputy Mayor Sedon, along with the Village Council, are looking at every penny spent by the municipality. Taking this approach we felt that the Village should examine its current energy bills to see if the energy sharing program we are in actually saves money verses using the local provider PSE&G for power and gas.
The Special Projects Task Force, reconstituted and renamed from the previous Financial Advisory Committee, has completed its first task focusing on this area and presented to the Village Council at its March 28 public work session.
The Village is a participant in the NJ Sustainable Energy Joint Meeting (SEM) program, which bundles towns to solicit bids from many energy providers in an attempt to achieve lower energy costs together, than a single town might be able to get on its own.
The task force went through two years of electric and gas bills for Village Hall as a representative sample of the program. This particular building was used because it represents 20 percent of the Village’s annual energy consumption and is serviced by a single meter.
Surprisingly, the results showed that the Village spent an additional 8.8 percent for gas over what it would have paid by using PSE&G and an additional 6.2 percent for electric. This equates to $6,669 throughout the two-year study period from 2016 to 2017. Extrapolated throughout the Village this is a significant amount.
In addition to the actual dollar amount there is more staff time required to reconcile the bills for the many different, and often changing energy providers.
Using this valuable study the council can make more informed decisions as to who we use to provide energy resulting in taxpayer savings going forwar
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