The Ridgewood Blog Brings a Free Market Laissez-faire Point of View to Local, New Jersey State and National Issues.
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Ridgewood NJ, Mayor Vagianos and Village Manager Keith Kazmark speak about TRANSPARENCY incessantly. They act like they invented it and are the poster-people for open government. Mr Kazmark recently called a resident a HYPOCRITE, but in fact who is the hypocrite?
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Ridgewood NJ, as part of the town’s State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) application, a wetlands assessment is required for the Schedler property. While recent Village Council and Fields Committee meetings have noted on-the-record that wetlands might not exist at Schedler, the final determination lies with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP).
Continue reading Wetlands Assessment Needed for Schedler Property in Ridgewood
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Teaneck NJ, in a recent ruling, a Superior Court judge has determined that Teaneck’s Board of Education has yet to fully comply with an order issued in July regarding its public notice practices. On Monday, Judge Carol Novey Catuogno gave the school board an additional 50 days to retroactively amend its notices for meetings held on December 21, 2023, January 3, 2024, and August 21, 2024. However, the judge denied the plaintiff’s requests to nullify the actions taken in the August meeting or impose any penalties against the board members.
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Trenton NJ, the New Jersey Open Public Records Act (OPRA), once heralded as a national gold standard for providing open access to public data and government documents, has been drastically weakened. With a swift stroke of Governor Phil Murphy’s pen this week, OPRA and government transparency suffered a severe setback.
Continue reading Phil Murphy Guts New Jersey’s Open Public Records Act (OPRA)
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Ridgewood NJ, does the Village of Ridgewood selectively disclose information for their own sake rather than to help their citizens?
Continue reading Double Standard: Village of Ridgewood Selectively Discloses Information
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Ridgewood NJ, a conflict of interest refers to a situation in which an individual or entity has competing professional or personal interests that could potentially compromise their impartiality, objectivity, or judgment in making decisions or fulfilling their responsibilities. It arises when there is a clash between an individual’s personal interests and their professional obligations or fiduciary duties. When navigating real estate transactions, such as south carolina homes for sale myrtle beach, it is crucial to be vigilant about potential conflicts of interest to ensure transparency and fair dealings.
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Ridgewood NJ, the New Jersey Business and Industry Association is opposing a bill that would permanently eliminate a requirement for students to pass a standardized test to get their high school diploma.
Continue reading Don’t Eliminate Standardized Test Requirement for High School Diploma
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Trenton NJ, just days after Governor Phil Murphy compared those who choose not to get the COVID vaccination to drunk drivers, Senator Declan O’Scanlon (R-Monmouth) called for the Murphy administration to stop the scare tactics with their continued use of inaccurate, mysterious covid model predictions.
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Washington DC, on December 8th, the House Financial Services Committee held the first of undoubtedly many more hearings on the future of cryptocurrency and digital assets in America’s financial ecosystem.
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Glen Rock NJ, Glen Rock Mayor Bruce Packer , “Over my 3 1/2 years of being mayor, I have made transparency and openness my #1 priority. It was easy because my natural tendency is to be open and share info, even it may be more than people want to hear.
It is for this reason that I was so extremely bothered when, at the last council worksession, a resident stated that I see “transparency as a dirty word.”
file photo Scott Garrett sinking the crony driven Ex Im bank
Garrett Statement on SIFI Designation Struck Down by Courts
Ridgewood NJ, Rep. Scott Garrett (NJ-05), Chairman of the Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government-Sponsored Enterprises, issued the following statement after a federal judge struck down a systemically important financial institution (SIFI) designation by the Financial Stability Oversight Council for the first time ever today.
“FSOC’s ( Financial Stability Oversight Council ) perfect storm of secrecy and intimidation has created a shadow regulatory system that concentrates power in Washington at the expense of hardworking Americans, and I’m pleased to see the judicial branch took a stand for the Constitution with their decision. Now that the courts have spoken, it’s time for Congress to step in and pull back the curtain on FSOC so the American people can see what this secretive body is really up to.”
Garrett has led the call for much-needed transparency and accountability at the FSOC. He is the author of H.R. 3557, the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) Transparency and Accountability Act. This bill passed the Financial Services Committee in November.
H.R. 3557 would:
Garrett has made enemies by his unrelenting disapproval of Dodd-Frank which has codified the disastrous “too big to fail” policy and mega Wall Street bail outs . “Garrett says , “the Dodd-Frank Act has stifled economic growth, made it more difficult for Main Street businesses to obtain credit, and increased the likelihood that taxpayers will be on the hook for additional Wall Street bailouts. Most importantly, this law has and has made it harder for Americans to find a job, buy a home, and save money for their family’s future. ” Garrett went on , “Despite creating new bureaucracies that have imposed thousands of pages of rigid, invasive, and unworkable regulations, Dodd-Frank did nothing to reform the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, whose actions caused the 2008 financial crisis.
While Garrett’s Democrat challenger Josh Gottheimer is a champion of more big government , more corporate welfare ,and more wall street bailouts.
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Ridgewood NJ, as an observer of council meetings for well over 25 years, talk of transparency is missing the point. The problem is we don’t have transparency and that is why in this time of many issues( Valley, CBD Development, Habernickle, Schedler, Parking Garage, Garber Square, Coin Gate ,recent hirings and council majority treatment of the minority in the past several years) the public is frustrated and is demanding to be heard.While public comment is allowed , answers are not always forth coming and sometimes not at all. It is clear that separate meetings should be held when the topic of interest is so controversial. To try to hold a regular business meeting at the same time is really not possible. Everyone is short changed.
Certain council members have stated that the meetings do not begin until after the public comments have concluded . This suggests that public comments are not a valuable part of the meeting. This is extraordinarily disrespectful to those who come to speak.
At each of the recent very long meetings, both Council women Gwen Hauk and Council member Albert Puccarelli have made derogatory comments about the length of time that the public comments consumed. It is very clear to all of the residents that although you claim to love public input, in fact you find it to be a time-consuming annoyance that delays the start of the “real meeting.”The Fact that so many people are upset and speaking out should be an indicator that something is wrong with the process. Many residents have been trying to say this for months but to no avail.
And we all know village employees are not always in a position to speak freely to the public. They have concerns about their jobs. That is the case every where. I am deeply concerned about our village committees and feel they may be compromised because of the active participation of some of our professionals. It is beginning to feel like that some of the committees are extensions of the Village Council snd not necessarily representing public opinion.
“This complete lack of transparency and accountability is an affront to anyone who believes that government should operate as a fair and open servant to the American people “, Scott Garrett
Garrett Bill to Shed Light on FSOC Passes Committee Activities
Nov 4, 2015
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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Scott Garrett (NJ-05), Chairman of the Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government-Sponsored Enterprises, issued the following statement after the Financial Services Committee passed his bill, H.R. 3557, the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) Transparency and Accountability Act:
“The Financial Stability Oversight Council is a powerful government body created by Dodd-Frank that holds closed-door meetings, refuses to publish substantive transcripts, and stonewalls requests from Congress when we need more information about its operations. This complete lack of transparency and accountability is an affront to anyone who believes that government should operate as a fair and open servant to the American people. With the committee passage of my bill, the FSOC Transparency and Accountability Act, the American people are one step closer to seeing behind the shroud of this secretive and unaccountable government body.”
The FSOC Transparency and Accountability Act would: