Tag: Ridgewood Schools

>Can NJ keep its pension promises? No way, many officials concede

Jack Curtis was driving with his wife to the grocery store recently when the 63-year-old elementary school principal from Morris County announced they needed to downsize their retirement dreams. Why? Because the state’s pension system is so far in arrears that Curtis doesn’t think he can count on it anymore. The reality of New Jersey’s pension system crisis is sinking in. (Method, Gannett)

https://www.app.com/article/20100725/NEWS03/7250330/Can-NJ-keep-its-pension-promises-No-way-many-officials-concede

>Healthcare Rationing something to look fiorward to in the USA

Axe falls on NHS services

NHS bosses have drawn up secret plans for sweeping cuts to services, with restrictions on the most basic treatments for the sick and injured.

Some of the most common operations — including hip replacements and cataract surgery — will be rationed as part of attempts to save billions of pounds, despite government promises that front-line services would be protected.

Patients’ groups have described the measures as “astonishingly brutal”.

An investigation by The Sunday Telegraph has uncovered widespread cuts planned across the NHS, many of which have already been agreed by senior health service officials. They include:

* Restrictions on some of the most basic and common operations, including hip and knee replacements, cataract surgery and orthodontic procedures.

* Plans to cut hundreds of thousands of pounds from budgets for the terminally ill, with dying cancer patients to be told to manage their own symptoms if their condition worsens at evenings or weekends.

* The closure of nursing homes for the elderly.

* A reduction in acute hospital beds, including those for the mentally ill, with targets to discourage GPs from sending patients to hospitals and reduce the number of people using accident and emergency departments.

* Tighter rationing of NHS funding for IVF treatment, and for surgery for obesity.

* Thousands of job losses at NHS hospitals, including 500 staff to go at a trust where cancer patients recently suffered delays in diagnosis and treatment because of staff shortages.

see full story : https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/7908742/Axe-falls-on-NHS-services.html

>Smart Girl New Jersey Summit

August 12, 2010

9:30am to 3:30pm

The Molly Pitcher Inn

Red Bank, NJ

The Smart Girl New Jersey Summit will bring together conservative activists along with some of the most prominent conservatives in the state of New Jersey. This event is being held in the beautiful historic Molly Pitcher Inn.

Join activists from around the region, for a day of socializing, training, and motivating speeches.

Debra Burlingame-Keep America Safe

Laura Drain-National Hispanic Republican Coalition

Steve Lonegan-American For Prosperity

Anna Little-Congressional Candidate District 6

Pastor Herbert Lusk-Former Faith Based Leader for George W. Bush

Betsy McCaughey-Healthcare Advocate and Former Lt.Governor of NY

Christine O’Donnell-Senatorial Candidate for Delaware

Katie O’Malley-Human Events Magazine

Grassroots Candidate Panel (Alan Bateman, Bruce Baker and David Corsi)

Constitutional Panel (Leigh-Ann Bellew and Bill Miller)

The Leadership Institute –Washington, DC

Ticket can be purchased at: https://www.eventbrite.com/event/526906993

Limited Seats available

Bagel reception and Lunch will be served

****proceeds from the events are designated for SGP

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Speak Your Mind ……………………..

>Like most residents I have had little interaction with the police. I suspect is not the case with the person who entered this post. No doubt there might be some other motive at work here.

None the less, I don’t see the problem with a 12 hour shift. Some quick math will most likely tell you that the police are still working the same number of hours a year. While I do not know the specifics as to how the RPD operate, I do know that many industries which maintain a 24/7 work staff do operate on 12 hours shifts. In my industry we support public utilities throughout the country and in Canada. It is very common for public utility line staffs to work 12 hour schedules. It has been seen as a benefit in that industry and I suspect the use of 12 hour schedules for police staffs were brought about due to the same line of reasoning. Perhaps larger departments like Paterson do the same thing, I am not sure. I doubt that the Ridgewood PD is the first and only police department to work this schedule.

What I am sure of is that any reduction in personnel will have little to do with an 8 hour schedule or a 12 hour schedule. Productivity will not be a key factor either. The police are not a revenue producing service, they are not out there to make money for a private for-profit corporation. As a citizen I do not see any benefit in a police department that is nothing more than a squad of uniformed revenue collectors.

Ridgewood does have a low crime rate, I feel safe walking the streets. If Ridgewood were Paterson I would not live here. A low crime rate does not just occur naturally, there are many factors that keep the crime rate low and the police are a key element. That is true anywhere, not just Ridgewood.

When I lived in a tree lined suburban community in California community 15 years ago that was not the case, gang related crime was a major concern. I did not live in the hood, I lived in a upper middle class suburb. You never saw an officer on patrol and they took 45 minutes to respond when you called (or so my fellow residents maintained in their letters to the editor). My small city refused to hire more officers due to the cost, yet my taxes were high there also.

Reducing the number of personnel means reduced service, plain and simple. If we want to contain costs then we are going to be forced to accept less service from all branches of government. The questions is what are we willing to give up and what will the true cost be in the long run? I suspect my answer to that question will be far different from that of the poster of this thread who appears to be motivated by some sort of a grudge.

I don’t see any big raises in the future for any public employees or increases in their numbers, the police included. However, I am very leery of any reduction in their numbers be it through attrition or layoffs. To do so would be in open invitation to the criminal element from within and outside or borders. A couple of soccer moms talking on their cell phones while driving and difficulty crossing the street will become the least of our problems.

>I walk to the train every morning regardless of the weather. At my age I need the exercise.

You cross the lane of traffic that stopped for you and make it safelty to the center of the street. You then wait for a clearing in the other lane and finish crossing the street. 7 out of 10 times cars going in the other direction stop. Other time you have to wait a second or two. Paying attention to what you are doing, which includes not talking or texting on your cell phone also helps.

Using a cross walk or crossing an an intersection also helps. Set out from between two parked cars in the center of the block and no motorist has to stop for you. They can’t run you over, but they have no legal obligation to stop for you either.

My source for this comment in both my life experence of 63 years and my last AAA newsletter which contained information on the new pedestrian law. But the best lesson on the subject was what my mother taught me as a little kid. Unfortunetly the little kids I have seen being tugged into the middle of the street while mom is talking on her cell phone are not learning that lesson! And KUDOS to the moms (and dads) who do take the time to teach their kids how to cross the street.

As for police enforcement, nice when it can happen. However, with what I am reading in the papers about police cuts state-wide I expect there will be less traffic enforcement in the coming years, not more.

>To all you “what until traffic stops” commentators here, would you like to take a shot at a question I posted previously about this. No-one yet has had a go. Here it is:

Traffic runs in both directions. Remember that. If I wait for traffic to stop, this often only means one lane of traffic stops. The other lane is still running. If I keep waiting, the driver of the stopped car, and the cars behind it, start getting pissed as I’m still standing there, waiting for the other side to stop. After a few seconds of horn honking and a look from the first car driver’s face as if I’m some kind of idiot, he then pulls away. I’m still standing there!

I get the impression that many of you drivers don’t get out and walk much.

I do not believe people march out into crosswalks. I don’t, and I don’t see others doing it. What I do see are drivers not paying attention, and walkers start crossing because they safely assume that cars, still some distance away, will stop. These drivers, who aren’t focused, see the pedestrians at the last moment, and have to brake sharply, come away with this impression that the pedestrian “marched into the crosswalk”.

Just like exessive speed, crosswalk violations are woefully under-enforced by the Ridgewood PD.

>75% Say Free Markets Better Than Government Management of Economy, Political Class Disagrees

Friday, July 23, 2010

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 75% of Likely Voters prefer free markets over a government managed economy. Just 14% think a government managed economy is better while 11% are not sure. These figures have changed little since December.

Polling released earlier this week showed that Americans overwhelmingly believe that more competition and less regulation is better for the economy than more regulation and less competition.

Not surprisingly, America’s Political Class is far less enamored with the virtues of a free market. In fact, Political Class voters narrowly prefer a government managed economy over free markets by a 44% to 37% margin. However, among Mainstream voters, 90% prefer the free market.

Outside of the Political Class, free markets are preferred across all demographic and partisan lines. This gap may be one reason that 68% of voters believe the Political Class doesn’t care what most Americans think. Fifty-nine percent (59%) are embarrassed by the behavior of the Political Class.

https://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/july_2010/75_say_free_markets_better_than_government_management_of_economy_political_class_disagrees