MAY 18, 2015 LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, MAY 18, 2015, 10:55 AM
BY DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
The public hearing on Verizon Wireless’ application to install cellular communications equipment atop the cross at West Side Presbyterian Church will reopen in June, a decision that comes more than a month after the hearing was closed.
A request to return to a public hearing was made at a May 12 Board of Adjustment meeting by Verizon’s attorney, Warren Stilwell, who informed board members he “needed to notice a request of a prior condition.”
“We became aware of a prior resolution of the board that contained a condition that essentially didn’t allow renting the premise to outside entities,” said Stilwell.
The board had previously adopted a resolution for a prior church application that, among other conditions, prohibited it from renting space to others, such as telecom companies, zoning board secretary Tony Merlino told The Ridgewood News.
Merlino said Verizon officials discovered the resolution on Monday.
As a result, Verizon is required to re-advertise its application to include the existing restrictions placed on the church.
Verizon is seeking a use variance, minor site plan approval and other waivers from the zoning board for its project at the church, which calls for the installation of a cellular antenna with stealth screening, which measure roughly 2-feet wide.
If built, the antenna would bring the total church building height to 68.5 feet where 30 feet is allowed by Ridgewood zoning laws. Currently, the building stands at 65.5 feet when measured to the top of the cross.
A use variance is needed for the antenna, which is not permitted in the residentially-zoned church.
Telecom giant Verizon announced Tuesday it will be buying AOL for $50 per share, or about $4.4 billion. (Tweet This)
AOL’s stock was up more than 17 percent after the announcement. Verizon’s stock was down slightly.
AOL co-founder Steve Case tweeted his approval.
The transaction will be completed this summer and will take the form of a tender offer followed by a merger, after which AOL will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Verizon, the announcement said.
“Verizon’s vision is to provide customers with a premium digital experience based on a global multiscreen network platform. This acquisition supports our strategy to provide a cross-screen connection for consumers, creators and advertisers to deliver that premium customer experience,” said Lowell McAdam, Verizon’s chief executive.
Tim Armstrong, AOL’s chairman and CEO, will remain at his position once the deal is finalized.
“Verizon is a leader in mobile and OTT (over-the-top video) connected platforms, and the combination of Verizon and AOL creates a unique and scaled mobile and OTT media platform for creators, consumers and advertisers,” Armstrong said in the announcement.
Verizon said in a statement , originally released in Morse code the FCC’s move imposes 1930s rules on the Internet.
FCC Votes In Favor Of Rules Aimed At Enforcing ‘Net Neutrality’
February 26, 2015 2:30 PM
WASHINGTON (CBSDC/AP) — Internet service providers like Comcast, Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile now must act in the “public interest” when providing a mobile connection to your home or phone, under rules approved Thursday by a divided Federal Communications Commission.
The plan, which puts the Internet in the same regulatory camp as the telephone and bans business practices that are “unjust or unreasonable,” represents the biggest regulatory shakeup to the industry in almost two decades. The goal is to prevent providers from slowing or blocking web traffic, or creating paid fast lanes on the Internet, said FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler.
The 3-2 vote was expected to trigger industry lawsuits that could take several years to resolve. Still, consumer advocates cheered the regulations as a victory for smaller Internet-based companies which feared they would have to pay “tolls” to move their content.
Verizon said in a statement — which was originally released in Morse code — that the FCC’s move imposes 1930s rules on the Internet.
“The FCC’s move is especially regrettable because it is wholly unnecessary. The FCC had targeted tools available to preserve an open Internet, but instead chose to use this order as an excuse to adopt 300-plus pages of broad and open-ended regulatory arcana that will have unintended negative consequences for consumers and various parts of the Internet ecosystem for years to come,” Verizon said.
Net neutrality is the idea that websites or videos load at about the same speed. That means you won’t be more inclined to watch a particular show on Amazon Prime instead of on Netflix because Amazon has struck a deal with your service provider to load its data faster.
Opponents, including many congressional Republicans, said the FCC plan constitutes dangerous government overreach that would eventually drive up consumer costs and discourage industry investment.
House Speaker John Boehner denounced the vote in a statement.
“Overzealous government bureaucrats should keep their hands off the Internet. Today, three appointed by President Obama approved a secret plan to put the federal government in control of the Internet,” Boehner said in a statement. “The text of the proposal is being kept hidden from the American people and their elected representatives in Congress, and the FCC’s chairman has so far refused to testify about it. This total lack of transparency and accountability does not bode well for the future of a free and open Internet, not to mention the millions of Americans who use it every day.”
Republican FCC Commissioners Mike O’Rielly and Ajit Pai, who voted against the plan, alleged that President Barack Obama unfairly used his influence to push through the regulations, calling the plan a “half-baked, illogical, internally inconsistent and indefensible document.”
Michael Powell, a former Republican FCC chairman who now runs the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, warned that consumers would almost immediately “bear the burden of new taxes and increased costs, and they will likely wait longer for faster and more innovative networks since investment will slow in the face of bureaucratic oversight.”
Residents fighting plan to place antenna on top of Ridgewood church
NOVEMBER 24, 2014 LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2014, 12:18 AM
BY JODI WEINBERGER
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
About a dozen residents who live near the West Side Presbyterian Church are opposing a plan by Verizon Wireless to put a 3-foot cell antenna on the top of the cross, saying at a zoning board meeting Nov. 11 that it would change the character of the neighborhood.
The telecommunications company is asking for a use and height variance from the Zoning Board of Adjustment to build what they’re calling a “micro site” antenna at the location, 6 S. Monroe St., to help alleviate a significant gap in coverage.
The antenna, which is not permitted in a residential zone, would bring the total building height to 68.5 feet where 30 feet is permitted by law. Currently the building stands at 65.5 feet when measured to the top of the cross.
Initial plans from Verizon showed the building height with the antenna at 83 feet, which Verizon attorney Warren Stilwell said was caused by an error in measuring that has been fixed.
Because of the new, lower building height, radio frequency engineer Glenn Pierson said about 10 fewer houses would receive coverage from the previous estimate of a 700-home coverage area north of West Ridgewood Avenue on North Monroe Street, Beachwood Road, Monte Vista Avenue, Sheridan Terrace and other roadways. The coverage would not reach West Glen Avenue.
State’s Deal with Verizon on High-Speed Internet Services Finds Few Friends in NJ
Cities, towns, rural communities — as well as Division of Rate Counsel — all argue that telecom company reneged on agreement to provide broadband to entire state.
The so-called stipulation settlement will not take effect unless approved by the BPU commissioners, w
State’s Deal with Verizon on High-Speed Internet Services Finds Few Friends in NJ
Cities, towns, rural communities — as well as Division of Rate Counsel — all argue that telecom company reneged on agreement to provide broadband to entire state.
The so-called stipulation settlement will not take effect unless approved by the BPU commissioners, who have not decided yet when to take up the issue, a source of controversy for years.
Opponents argue Verizon has not complied with a 1993 law, requiring 100 percent of its territory to be upgraded to high-speed broadband service by 2010. That failure has left some rural towns and poorer communities without access to meaningful broadband service, according to critics.
Verizon responds that New Jersey is the most wired state in the nation, with 99 percent of it having access to broadband service. New Jersey is one of only five states where 81 percent to 97 percent of the rural population has access to high-speed Internet service, the company argued in briefs filed in the case.
“Verizon has satisfied its regulatory commitment under Opportunity New Jersey,’’ said Lee Gierczynski, a spokesman for Verizon New Jersey, referring to the 1993 law.
Division of Rate Counsel Stefanie Brand contested that view, acknowledging a substantial part of the state has been wired, but more remains to be done to meet the 100 percent commitment made 21 years ago.
“The last part of it is less profitable,’’ Brand said, adding “A deal is a deal. The board should not accept anything less that what was bargained for and paid for by New Jersey ratepayers.’’
Under Opportunity New Jersey, Verizon won approval to deregulate many of the phone services it offers to its customers in exchange for providing 100 percent of its customers access to fast broadband service. Just what form that service would entail remains a big source of dispute. (Johnson/NJSpotlight)
ho have not decided yet when to take up the issue, a source of controversy for years.
Opponents argue Verizon has not complied with a 1993 law, requiring 100 percent of its territory to be upgraded to high-speed broadband service by 2010. That failure has left some rural towns and poorer communities without access to meaningful broadband service, according to critics.
Verizon responds that New Jersey is the most wired state in the nation, with 99 percent of it having access to broadband service. New Jersey is one of only five states where 81 percent to 97 percent of the rural population has access to high-speed Internet service, the company argued in briefs filed in the case.
“Verizon has satisfied its regulatory commitment under Opportunity New Jersey,’’ said Lee Gierczynski, a spokesman for Verizon New Jersey, referring to the 1993 law.
Division of Rate Counsel Stefanie Brand contested that view, acknowledging a substantial part of the state has been wired, but more remains to be done to meet the 100 percent commitment made 21 years ago.
“The last part of it is less profitable,’’ Brand said, adding “A deal is a deal. The board should not accept anything less that what was bargained for and paid for by New Jersey ratepayers.’’
Under Opportunity New Jersey, Verizon won approval to deregulate many of the phone services it offers to its customers in exchange for providing 100 percent of its customers access to fast broadband service. Just what form that service would entail remains a big source of dispute. (Johnson/NJSpotlight)
MARCH 14, 2014, 11:44 PM
BY HUGH MORLEY
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
A battle over broadband Internet access is pitting Verizon New Jersey and the state Board of Public Utilities against town officials, a union and public interest groups that say the company hasn’t fulfilled its promise to provide statewide service despite millions of dollars in rate increases aimed at funding the project.
A deal struck between the state and Verizon more than 20 years ago — dubbed Opportunity New Jersey — was heralded as a plan to make the state one of the most wired in the nation, financed in part by a dollar-a-month surcharge on customers’ phone bills that some say has brought in billions. The deal, announced in 1993, also allowed the company looser regulatory oversight than it would otherwise have.
But 21 years later — four years beyond the project’s 2010 deadline — portions of the state remain unserved, and the Board of Public Utilities is about to sign off on an agreement that would modify some requirements of the original deal, including allowing the company to provide only high-speed wireless Internet in some areas.
The question of the company’s compliance with the deal came under scrutiny after officials in two towns, Greenwich and Stow Creek, in Cumberland County, complained to the state BPU about poor phone service and their lack of access to broadband.
Readers continue to voice concern over use of police time by outside vendors
Has the Council done a cost/benefit analysis showing the true net cost to taxpayers and rate payers of this extra duty work for outside vendors and the impact on public safety ? Seems like it’s in the PBA contracts so the RPD argues it’s contractual and cannot be changed, but how did it get in there in the first place ? Maybe we should recall the CBA ?
Today I saw a PSEG truck doing a pole replacement on north Monroe. Orange cones around it. Police car parked PAST the truck. duhhhhh. In this particular case the unmarked car with lites flashing inside was not even doing the job they were supposed to since it was parked after the truck..not before it. A few blocks away a marked police patrol car was visible behind the cones (that had the detour sign).
There was another truck in front of the unmarked car that just left. the unmarked hadn’t left yet. Any time the police are on the street they are available in an emergency cops on side jobs have responded to emergency calls for people in need , on guy who’s retired caught a perp wanted for bank robbery while he was working a side job. It’s good for the town to have extra cops available at non-taxpayers expense. Oh and don’t give me that song about higher power rates, If pseg hired flag men in stead of cops the cost per kilowatt hr. wouldn’t come down at all. The utility profit margin would go up increasing the stock price as it is a publicly traded company. Don’t be jealous of what some one else has, improve what you have and if you have more than the cops + firemen be happy you do, Jealousy and envy will eat you alive from the inside out.
Has the Council done a cost/benefit analysis showing the true net cost to taxpayers and rate payers of this extra duty work for outside vendors and the impact on public safety ? Seems like it’s in the PBA contracts so the RPD argues it’s contractual and cannot be changed, but how did it get in there in the first place ? Maybe we should recall the CBA ?
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