>now that’s community service !
Tag: Ridgewood Schools
>9/11 : some things you just don’t forget
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>Healthcare Reform :Lobbying groups have used the political process to push health reform for special-interests
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>Healthcare Reform : The debate is really what kind of reform is needed.
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>Agostinelli & Bombace Unveil Plan to Reform New Jersey’s Educational System
>Agostinelli & Bombace Unveil Plan to Reform New Jersey’s Educational System
‘Plan will reform how tax dollars are distributed and make public schools more efficient and effective’
Ridgewood, NJ – With schools across New Jersey beginning their new academic year, John Agostinelli and Mark Bombace today released their new educational model to bring about the change and accountability our families need. This new plan will reform our public school system to spend 40th District tax dollars more effectively and efficiently, while ensuring a better result for all our children.
“Providing our children with an education is the most important thing we can give to them the best chance to get ahead in life,” stated Bombace, a former President of the Ridgewood Board of Education. “However, simply throwing money at the problem is not the answer to reforming New Jersey’s public schools. We need to reshape our policy, and this white paper is a good first step to bringing new ideas to the table. We must rethink how we approach educating our children, and I will work to implement my plan as a way to save tax dollars and improve performance for all our students.”
The attached Education Policy Paper is authored by Mark Bombace. It will be the first in a series of policy proposals that the Agostinelli & Bombace campaign will unveil to let 40th District voters know exactly where they stand on the issues, as well as their plans on what they’ll do once the voters send this new team to Trenton.
“New Jersey’s educational system is intrinsically linked with how high our tax dollars have become, and the only way to lower taxes is to address how we spend money on our public schools,” said Agostinelli. “The biggest expenditure of property taxes is on education, and without a sound policy to address these costs, New Jersey’s property tax problem will never be addressed. Career Politicians Scott Rumana and Dave Russo have failed to offer any plans to reform our schools just as they’ve failed to provide the leadership we need in the State Assembly.”
“John Agostinelli and Mark Bombace are running a campaign on the issues, and with their education white paper they’re letting the voters know exactly the type of reform and new ideas they will champion when they are sent to Trenton.” stated Campaign Manager Jim Tighe. “On the other hand, Trenton Insiders Scott Rumana and Dave Russo have stonewalled their constituents with their lack of accountability. We hope the incumbents have enough respect for their constituents to engage John and Mark in the 6 debates we’ve challenged them to – so the voters can see a real dialogue on the issues.”
Election Day is Tuesday November 3rd, 2009. The 40th Legislative District encompasses parts of Bergen, Essex, and Passaic Counties, including the following towns: Cedar Grove Township, Franklin Lakes Borough, Little Falls Township, Mahwah Township, Midland Park Borough, Oakland Borough, Ridgewood Village, Ringwood Borough, Verona Township, Wanaque Borough, Wayne Township, and Wyckoff Township.
For more information, please visit www.40thDistrict.com
the Plan https://tinyurl.com/mx3axk
>The National Endowment for the Arts initiated a "call to action?"
>“The National Endowment for the Arts initiated a “call to action” earlier this month for members of the art community to push President Obama’s recovery agency through works that focus on health care, energy and the environment — a troubling sign, one artist said. “
I could not agree more
Triumph des Willens (Full movie – English subbed)
>Media Denied Full Access to Last Night’s Village Council Meeting
>Citing the need to avoid overcrowding because of fire code regulations, Village Council members directed police and fire personnel to deny selected representatives of local print media organizations access to the Sydney V. Stoldt, Jr. Courtroom during last night’s Village Council meeting.
One (1) reporter and one (1) photographer from The Ridgewood News who arrived prior to 6:30 PM were the only media representatives allowed into the courtroom to watch the proceedings “live and in person.”
Other reporters from The Record, Villadom Times, and The Ridgewood News were instead directed to view the session’s progress on closed circuit television monitors located in first floor meeting rooms at Village Hall.
The Fly wonders why the media was locked out when any Village Hall employees who wanted to wander in and out of the courtroom during the meeting were permitted to do so without regard to the supposed “room occupancy limit.”
Nice way to keep the media on your side ladies and gentlemen. Why didn’t you just suck it up and let the press in and keep the non-essential Village Hall employees out?
>New Jersey Governors Race : N.J. foreclosure risk rose in Aug.
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Since the both the Candidates and the local media are fixated on “driving records” and how “candidates payed off their mistresses” ,we have decided to outline the issues for the New Jersey Governors Race and perhaps by November someone; local media or Candidate may make some kind of an effort to address them.
the Ridgewood Blog
New Jersey Governors Race : Terrible State Business Climate
ISSUE # 2 Raising Forclosure Risk
N.J. foreclosure risk rose in Aug.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
BY KATHLEEN LYNN
The Record
STAFF WRITER
https://www.northjersey.com/news/58358012.html
The number of New Jersey households at risk of losing their homes rose last month, according to RealtyTrac, a California company that tracks the foreclosure market.
Foreclosure filings in New Jersey jumped 28 percent in August, compared with a year earlier, RealtyTrac said Wednesday. One in every 421 households in the state faced some sort of foreclosure filing during the month, ranging from a bank notice that they’re late on mortgage payments all the way up to sale at sheriff’s auction.
Earlier this year, foreclosure filings had slowed in New Jersey, apparently in response to state programs aimed at helping troubled homeowners. But it now appears that many of those efforts only delayed the foreclosures, rather than solve the underlying problems.
https://www.northjersey.com/news/58358012.html
>New Jersey Governors Race : Terrible State Business Climate
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Since the both the Candidates and the local media are fixated on “driving records” and how “candidates payed off their mistresses” ,we have decided to outline the issues for the New Jersey Governors Race and perhaps by November someone; local media or Candidate may make some kind of an effort to address them.
the Ridgewood Blog
ISSUE #1 Terrible State Business Climate
“The Washington, D.C.-based Tax Foundation ranked New Jersey last overall in a 2008 overview of state business climates. The state’s corporate tax rate ranked 39th, its individual income tax ranked 48th and its property taxes ranked 50th.”
“Taxes that drive businesses and residents out of state, regulations hampering companies that do locate here and salary and pension habits that block government cost cutting — those are some of the ingredients of an unaffordable cocktail New Jersey is serving its inhabitants, according to local business and government leaders.”
Assemblywoman Denise Coyle said she believes a turning point in the state’s affordability came in 2004 with the so-called Millionaire’s Tax. Implemented under then Gov. James McGreevey, that gross income tax of 8.97 percent applied to residents with a taxable income of $500,000 or more. Coyle added that the tax was supposed to help fund the Homestead Rebate Program, which has now been drastically cut.
“People are fleeing the state, businesses are fleeing the state,” Assemblywoman Denise Coyle, R-Bernards said.
Quotes from :
>Graydon: tomorrow’s Council meeting; petition
>We’re on TV! See our interview on News 12 (Cablevision) throughout the day. Subscribers can watch online at www.news12.com.
Come to our presentation at the Village Council meeting tomorrow, Wed., Sept. 9, 7:30PM, 4th-floor courtroom, Village Hall, 131 N. Maple Ave. To be in the 80-seat room itself, come very early. Overflow will be directed to another room with closed-circuit TV.
What to wear:
1. Anything not blue because “Fix Graydon Now” will be wearing blue. We’ll provide our beautiful stickers.
2. A Graydon badge if you have one (any year, any person).
Need a babysitter so you can come to the meeting? Write to The Preserve Graydon Babysitting Brigade! Usual rates.
Please sign our online petition if you haven’t already. For paper petitions, deliver to Irish Eyes, 1 Cottage Pl. (corner of E. Ridgewood Ave., across from the movie theater). Hours: 10-6. If you can’t make it during those hours, please call petition coordinator Pat Hensley, 201-280-1046.
Swimmingly,
Suzanne Kelly and Marcia Ringel
Co-Chairs, The Preserve Graydon Coalition
“It’s clear—we love Graydon!”
[email protected] www.PreserveGraydon.org
>Public Safety or Tax Collection :"Crackdown: 858 tickets in five hours"
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Police Motto “Protect and Serve ” by the tone of many of some of the emails we have received it seems many of you think it is just plain harassment by a state that is desperate for money ?
Crackdown: 858 tickets in five hours
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Last updated: Tuesday September 8, 2009, 8:05 AM
BY WILLIAM LAMB
The Record
STAFF WRITER
https://www.northjersey.com/news/Crackdown_858_tickets_in_five_hours.html
Police officers spent Labor Day weekend watching for bad behavior on the state’s highways, issuing hundreds of summonses to unbelted, speeding, texting and otherwise unsafe drivers, authorities said.
A five-county aggressive-driving enforcement crackdown resulted in 858 summonses issued between 9 p.m. Friday and 2 a.m. Saturday, 34 of them by the Passaic County Sheriff’s Department, according to the Passaic County Office of Highway Traffic Safety.
Nearly 80 officers from departments in Passaic, Bergen, Morris, Essex and Sussex counties participated in the crackdown, which, according to the latest figures available, resulted in 10 arrests, authorities said.
Lt. Paul Dring of the Wayne Police Department, which took part in the enforcement effort, said officers issued summonses but made no arrests. “Most people were heeding the warnings,” he said.
A state trooper participating in the statewide effort spotted a speeding Toyota Camry on the New Jersey Turnpike in East Rutherford on Monday morning. The car led police on a Route 80 chase through three counties before doubling back onto the turnpike. The driver, Giovanni Petrov, was taken into custody in Secaucus.
“Our primary goal for the holiday weekend is always to get everybody though the highways safely, and anything that could stop that is obviously going to be the focus of our attention,” said Sgt. Stephen Jones of the New Jersey State Police. “So we’re out there looking for people who have broken down, and then for misbehaving drivers, which would include the person that started this pursuit today.”
The state police have reported 396 deaths so far this year in car accidents in New Jersey, 21 more than had been killed just before Labor Day weekend in 2008. Statistics for the weekend were not available because the department’s speeding crackdown was scheduled to continue through Monday night.
Jones said he was not aware of any fatalities on the state’s highways over the weekend, save for that of a man who jumped to his death from a highway overpass after an accident on the Garden State Parkway in Cranford on Sunday night.
The Passaic County Sheriff’s Department continued a drunken-driving enforcement action this weekend that has led to the arrests of nine people for driving while intoxicated, said Bill Maer, a department spokesman. The effort, which began on Aug. 21., was funded with a $6,000 state grant.
The Teaneck Police Department conducted an enforcement effort of its own over the weekend, targeting people who use cellphones to make calls or send text messages while driving.
Officers participating in the crackdown issued 120 summonses, about 90 percent of them for cellphone violations, said Lt. Michael Falvey of the Teaneck police.
“It is the most glaring disregard of the law that we see,” Falvey said, adding that he was particularly perplexed by drivers who compose text messages while behind the wheel.
“We see it happen all the time,” he said. “I don’t understand how you can have your head down and look out the window of a car.”
E-mail: [email protected]
https://www.northjersey.com/news/Crackdown_858_tickets_in_five_hours.html
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>Graydon Pool: other swim clubs have lost substantial numbers of members this year.
>“This article on Declining enrollments strain finances, in many north Jersey swim clubs, shows how pools have lost memberships this year at accelerated rates due to the slumping economy. Even as the pro RPP tout they joined neighboring pools, those pools show declining membership percent losses also: Paramus 10% loss, Westwood 25% loss, Washington Twnshp 10% loss. Towns are holding off on expensive repairs. One would think, how can Ridgewood possibly think of a $10Million Bond?”
Swim clubs in deep
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Last updated: Sunday September 6, 2009, 9:39 AM
BY DEENA YELLIN
The Record
STAFF WRITER
https://www.northjersey.com/recreation/Swim_clubs_in_deep.html
In a slumping economy, many North Jersey swim clubs have just about managed to stay afloat.
With summer unofficially ending this weekend, swim clubs in Ridgewood, Paramus, Fairfield, Hasbrouck Heights, Bogota, Westwood, Ringwood and Washington Township report they have lost substantial numbers of members this year.
Many of the clubs are holding off on expensive repairs. Others are allowing residents of other towns to join as associate members or to use the pool for daily fees, an unthinkable concept in richer times.
One economist was not surprised.
“The consumer is retrenching sharply because of lost home equity, financial investment losses, excessive debt and job losses or fear of job losses,” said James Hughes, dean of the Edward Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University. “Discretionary spending has been curtailed as households try to rebuild their balance sheets. Swim clubs are a discretionary spending item.”
At the Highlands Natural Pool in Ringwood, Treasurer Helene Wittmershaus attributed the decline from 102 to 76 member families to this year’s inclement weather as well as the harsh economic climate. “We are trying to come up with ways to entice people to join,” she said.
Closter dropped the price of its membership. Demarest is considering merging its pool with Closter, and Haworth has allowed the town to take over the club’s operation. Several clubs said they advertised this year for the first time to appeal to a crowd that’s not buying.
“Up until this year, we’ve had a waiting list every year for the past 20 years,” said John Casella, president of the Hasbrouck Heights Swim Club. “The pool needs to upgrade some of its equipment, but its revenue stream has been lowered,” he said.
The Hasbrouck Heights Swim Club charter does not permit members from out of town, but this year, the club issued guest passes for families with friends and relatives in town on a one-time basis, said Casella. Several other North Jersey swim clubs also said they loosened their normally tight membership restrictions this year to make ends meet.
Bogota’s pool, for example, which lost about 30 member families this year, opened its membership to the public for the first time, said pool manager Jeff Clark. “We’re all pitching in to have special events to do fund-raising activities. We’re reaching out to neighboring communities. We hope to appeal to more people.”
Not all pools are suffering. Hillsdale, Wayne and Fair Lawn said their numbers are similar to last year’s. Cresskill gained members. “We’re getting more members because it’s cheaper to join the swim club than to go away on vacation,” said Matt Bickford, assistant manager at the Cresskill club.
Others are not as lucky. At Graydon Pool in Ridgewood, where membership is down 31 percent from last year, spokeswoman Nancy Bigos said, “This is the lowest membership we’ve had in years. It’s hard to pay expenses.”
Demarest’s pool has seen a lot of turnover, as has the town: Many high-powered executives who lost their jobs sold their homes and moved out. “We’re doing better than most of the other pools, but if we don’t get a surge in the next few years, it will be hard to keep up the pool,” said assistant manager Mike Pasciuto. “The costs of chlorine and cleaning supplies have gone up. There’s been talk about merging the Demarest and Closter pools together, but neither town wants to give up their facility.”
Some say that the declining membership has been a steady trend over the past few years. In Washington Township, membership has gone down every year for the past few years by about 15 families, while five to 10 new families join, said board Co-president Scott Davies. But this year was markedly worse because of the economy. The club lost 25 families this year, and no new families came in.
“A lot of swim clubs are having difficulties,” he said. “We had a greater number of people resign this year than in the past with the economy,” he said. “If residents lost their jobs, they will curtail in whatever way they can.”
In an effort to cut costs, the board members pitched in by volunteering at the club on weekends, maintaining the grounds and painting the pool. The club renegotiated insurance and landscaper contracts to save money. And now, the club is more aggressively seeking members, said Davies. “We’re reaching out to other communities. We’re advertising. It’s definitely tougher this year than in the past.”
Westwood has watched membership decline and expenses go up over the past few years. The club, which lost 30 families this year, had a potential buyer, but the board members wanted to hold on to their beloved club.
“We’ve had financial problems,” said Marge Guitella, the board president. “We had to take out a loan to replace a pump, but we are reluctant to raise dues. We don’t want to lose our club. We will advertise, we’re inviting other towns to come, we’re offering discounts, and we’re thinking of lowering our dues. High dues are driving out members in this economy. We are working hard to get through this season.”
E-mail: [email protected]
https://www.northjersey.com/recreation/Swim_clubs_in_deep.html
>Happy Labor Day
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Happy Labor Day
from the Ridgewood Blog
>RHS : Ahmad records the top lift mark in Junior Division
>Ahmad records the top lift mark in Junior Division
Friday, August 28, 2009
Last updated: Friday August 28, 2009, 1:03 PM
BY BRIAN FARRELL
The Ridgewood News
SPORTS EDITOR
RIDGEWOOD — Yama Ahmad, who will be a junior at Ridgewood High School, was the top weight presser in the Junior Division at head football coach Chuck Johnson’s 25th annual Ridgewood Bench-A-Thon, which is conducted the second Wednesday in June.
Johnson, who is entering his 26th season as RHS’ head football coach, designs his weightlifting contest to promote, mainly for his football players, overall team strength and competition. The bench-a-thon is open to any student at Ridgewood High School, and each competitor has two attempts to press his maximum weight.
The Junior Division is for freshmen and sophomores, and the Senior Division is for juniors and seniors. Each division has four weight classes.
Ahmad hoisted 305 pounds in the 181-Pound-and-Unlimited Weight Class, an improvement of 75 pounds over his third-place bench press of 230 pounds in the same weight class at the event in 2008. In second place behind Ahmad him was Zach Vinci, who will be a junior, and he had the event’s second-highest bench press for the Junior Division with a lift of 280 pounds.
No records were broken at the bench-a-thon this year, but Sam Combs, who graduated in June, tied his mark for the event’s fourth-highest bench press, 365 pounds, which he accomplished his sophomore year of 2007 and which was duplicated in 2008 by Ken Phillips. Last year, Combs became number two on the all-time list, bench pressing 400 pounds. His freshman year, Combs bench pressed 295 pounds.
Doug Sokolik’s benchmark of 430 pounds, lifted his senior year of 2001, is still the Ridgewood Bench-A-Thon’s gold standard. Ted Allard’s 1989 bench press of 375 pounds in the Senior Division ranks third all-time.
“Weight training has become such an integral part of what we do to prepare for a football season,” Johnson said. “It used to be thought that we [Ridgewood] had a definite edge because of our weightlifting program, but our league [Northern New Jersey Interscholastic League] has become so competitive and physical, and now there are other outstanding weight-training programs in our league. The day has come where you cannot play high school football in New Jersey if you’re not going to lift weights.”
“We have been stressing strength development in the off-season and the importance of strength and its ability to, number one, improve performance, and, number two, reduce injury,” Johnson said. “There is, of course, the confidence-building issue with weight training, but there is also the injury-prevention factor. Our injury rate has gone down steadily in the football program with increased participation in the off-season in the weight-training program.”
Johnson’s bench-a-thon has always been open to any Ridgewood High School athlete or non-athlete, but, in 2002, he enlisted the support of the school’s wrestling program in planning and conducting the event.
“A lot of the football players are also wrestlers, and they are very active in the weight room and have done a lot of weight training,” said Johnson, a 1970 Ridgewood High School graduate who has been the Maroons’ head football coach since the 1984 season.
Torre Watson, one of Johnson’s assistant football coaches and Ridgewood High School’s head wrestling coach, assisted Johnson at the bench-a-thon.
“This joint venture between the football and wrestling programs is a great idea from the fund-raising perspective, obviously, but moreover for the marriage of the two programs,” Watson said. “I think the better we are as wrestlers is going to obviously facilitate us being better as football players and vice versa. There are so many parallels between the two sports. If we can be on the same proverbial page with each other, then both of our programs can flourish, so I think it’s an absolutely great situation.”
“It’s good to see both the football and wrestling programs in a joint venture,” said Watson. “I think that’s something, unfortunately, that is not harbored in other school districts. It’s astonishing to me because there is so much carry-over between the two sports. There are so many things from leverage to footwork to quickness to agility to discipline that are present on the wrestling mat that are also employed on the football field, so it’s kind of perplexing to me why there’s not a connection between the two sports [at some schools]. But we’re doing the best we can to try to make sure that the two programs work closely together so both of them can move in a positive direction.”
The Ridgewood Bench-A-Thon serves as a major fundraiser for the football and wrestling programs. Each competitor in the bench-a-thon is asked to get as many sponsors as he feels comfortable with among parents, relatives, friends, neighbors, parental business associates, local businesses and companies for the purpose of fund-raising for the football program and, since 2002, the wrestling program at the high school as well.
For example, if someone sponsors a participant for ten cents per pound, and the individual bench presses 200 pounds as a maximum lift, that sponsor would donate $20. The money received is used for various athletic-related purposes over and above budgeted funds. Over the years, the money has been used to purchase weight-training equipment, football game jerseys, practice shorts, T-shirts, hats and a stereo system for the weight room at the high school.
At the bench-a-thon this year rooting the athletes on was Bill Grundy, an assistant football coach on Johnson’s staff, who is recovering from a stroke caused when a brain aneurysm burst in April of 2008 while at his job as a physical education teacher at Demarest Middle School.
E-mail: [email protected]
