Completely tone deaf and out of touch with reality – Loncto and Fishbein wouldn’t even respond to a resident’s honest concern about these windows and their cost, just saying “We need them now”. Well maybe these out of touch redecorated aren’t up to the jobs they have, time to resign because we don’t need them now.
Water Main Replacements at Stream Crossings
April 6,2018
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Devens Construction has recently completed the fourth and final stream crossing as part of the 4-Stream Crossing Project for Ridgewood Water. All four stream crossings are now operational and in service.
Devens Construction will be moving equipment and materials off site followed up by restoration efforts. Due to muddy conditions and the inclement weather we have been experiencing, final restoration delays are to be expected until weather conditions improve. Final pavement restoration will be completed in the following months.
Ridgewood Water will provide updates as to upcoming traffic detours or road closures while the restoration phase is in progress
April 6,2018
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
file photo by Boyd Loving
April is National Safe Digging Month
April 6,2018
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Nearly 40 percent of Americans who plan home projects that require digging this year don’t plan on calling before they dig, according to a recent national survey conducted by Common Ground Alliance. Public Service Electric and Gas Co. (PSE&G), New Jersey’s largest utility, reminds customers, contractors and excavators to call 811 to request a mark-out before digging to avoid hitting underground pipelines, conduits, wires and cables. The service is free, and absolutely critical to avoiding injuries and disruptions to vital utility services.
“Each year, PSE&G responds to about 220 incidents because someone didn’t call before digging,” said Joe Forline, PSE&G vice president of gas operations. ”Summer and spring are the peak seasons for accidental damages to gas lines by contractors, construction workers or residents, so please put safety first and call us.”
PSE&G has more than 8,200 circuit miles of underground electric lines, and 35,000 miles of buried natural gas distribution lines. In addition to the electric and gas lines, there are other buried utility lines, including communications cables, and water and sewer lines.
When you call 811 or 1-800-272-1000, you are automatically connected to the One Call center, which collects information about your digging project. The center then provides the information to the utility companies, who send representatives to mark the locations of underground lines in the immediate vicinity of the planned work location with flags, paint or both. After lines have been marked and you receive confirmation, you are free to carefully dig around the marked areas. In New Jersey, the marks are valid for 45 business days. The call must be made whether you are hiring a professional or planning to do the job yourself, using shovels or other hand tools.
Important information to consider:
If you accidentally damage gas piping or smell gas when excavating, call 911 immediately from a safe area. Also notify PSE&G by calling 1-800-880-7734. Call before you dig is more than a good idea — it’s the law.
Click here to find out more about the importance of knowing what’s below before you start digging.
April 5 ,2018
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, With the turn of the new year, the competitive Taekwondo season has started anew. What has not changed is the impressive showing by the young athletes at Taekwondo All In, a school that teaches the Korean martial art. In two state championships – Maryland and New Jersey – the Taekwondo All In students earned 30 gold, 15 silver, 17 bronze, 62 in total. Moreover, all competing students earned spots to compete at the National Championship to occur in Salt Lake City Utah on July. The following 15 athletes won medals at the Maryland State Championship on February 24, 2018
3 Gold – Emily Kam,
2 Gold – Kaylin Lee, Tyler Minn
1 Gold and 1silver – Lianne Shin, Abraham Lee, Ricardo Merino
1 Gold and 1 Bronze – Jenna Slota, Lucas Woods, Timothy Lee
1 Gold – Liam Woods, Kate Minn
1 Silver and 1 Bronze – Riddhima Chandel
2 Bronze – Ryan Kam
1 Bronze – Audrey Kim, Jack Raines
At the New Jersey State Championship on March 25, the following seventeen gained medals:
2 Gold and 1 Bronze – Kaylin Lee, Emily Kam
2 Gold – Donghyun Kim
1 Gold and 2 Silver – Kate Minn
1 Gold and 1 Silver – Isaac Yi, Elliott Yi, Lianne Shin, Riddhima Chandel,
1 Gold and 1 Bronze – Lucas Woods, Sunghyun Kim, Taddeo Wang
1 Gold – Liam Woods
1 Silver and 1 Bonze – Tyler Minn, Ryan Kam, Jenna Slota
1 Silver – David Ahn, Elias Chi
1 Bronze – Maximilian Jimenez, Jack Raines
The owner and head instructor of Taekwondo All In Youngmin Kim commented, “This a great start to a new year. Our athletes have trained diligently all winter and it shows in how they performed at the competitions. I am very proud of all my students.”
Taekwondo All In, located at 33 Chestnut Street in Ridgewood, is a school that dedicates to teaching the Korean Martial Art, an Olympic sport. The benefit of learning the sport ranges from better physical conditioning to mental strength and discipline. For additional information, the school can be reached at (201) 857-0445.
file photo by Boyd Loving
Local Taxes are not exempt anymore, this makes taxes expensive for everyone, Higher Taxes do not make a community more inviting, balance need to be restored, We have high taxes and if Schools outperform, that’s the only win-win situation, dipping RHS ratings and Higher taxes will lead to less interest in Village of Ridgewood .
The SAT definitely has been dumbed down on the verbal side over the years (e.g., 1. hard vocabulary words have been eliminated, 2. analogy questions have been eliminated, 3. more context is now being given in the text of the text itself to allow the test-takers to figure out on the fly what hard or unfamiliar words mean, etc.). As a result, many students can score much higher on the verbal SAT than in years past without having worked hard over the years (or even in the months prior to the SAT test administration) to attain and maintain an excellent vocabulary. So those students with top vocabularies are finding this is not as much an advantage to them as it was for SAT test-takers two or three decades ago (i.e., less proficient students are readily getting the same or close to the same scores as they are getting). It doesn’t appear, however, that this is the case on the math SAT sections. The math SAT is still very challenging. Perhaps many of the Ridgewood High School students benefiting the most from SAT tutoring are making up for not working as hard as they should have in math from grade 6 or 7 onward, or for having had teachers or lower level classes during those grades that didn’t challenge them or that didn’t prepare them adequately to score very well on the math sections of the SAT.
Years ago at Back to School night we were greeted by a teacher who was only concerned that the parents hand over money for a workbook the students needed. When someone questioned what she was teaching, her answer floored me. “I don’t have to worry about my teaching and I could not teach at all and it would be legal. I have tenure and I’m really not interested in bonus money so I’m just going to sit and do nothing until I retire.” And she did. Daily assignments to that workbook to be done in class was just about all she accomplished. This, incidentally, was the required second year of a language class in which they learned nearly nothing. The most horrible thing about this story from years ago is that some teachers in the system still feel that way and nothing has been done about it.
Our rankings might improve if we fired a bunch of these entitled thugs and replaced them with educators interested in working with our kids. But we can’t because the teachers’ union protects incompetence with tenure. All they’re doing is trying to get more wages & benefits for their members. They have no interest in preparing our children for the workplace of tomorrow. Let’s try and get some younger teachers willing to raise their “give a crap” level than the current bunch of lazy thugs we’ve got.
photos courtesy of Boyd loving’s Facebook page
April 5 ,2018
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, High winds toppled at least two (2) utility poles along a PSE&G right of way in the rear of 131 North Maple Avenue, Ridgewood late Wednesday afternoon, 04/04. The right of way, which supports high tension electric lines running between sub stations in Fair Lawn and Waldwick, abuts a popular athletic field complex and running/walking track. Ridgewood Police, Fire Department, and Emergency Services personnel responded to make the area safe until PSE&G Electric Division crews could arrive to repair the damage.
US NEWS STATE of NJ RANK:
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Eleven (not even the TOP 11 BTW) of the top 25 on the list are magnet or Vocational schools (which is not “more than half the top 25” but I guess math is hard for you)
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Also these PUBLIC (non-magnet) Schools are ranked AHEAD of Ridgewood:
#5 – Elizabeth High School
#6 – Princeton High School
#7 – Chatham High School
#10 West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North
#11 – Livingston High School
#12 – Summit Senior High School
#13 – Millburn High School
#14 – Glen Ridge High School
#15 – Ridge High School, Basking Ridge
#18 – West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South
#19 – Mountain Lakes High School
#20 – Tenafly High School
#23 – Northern Highlands Regional High School
#25 – Montgomery High School
#26 – Ridgewood High School
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US NEWS NATIONAL RANK:
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RIDGEWOOD IS RANKED #583 (almost below 600) in NATIONAL Rank
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US NEWS COLLEGE READINESS (arguably the most important ranking)
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RIDGEWOOD HAS A 53.6% COLLEGE READINESS rating (barely half of the students graduate as ready for college).
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STATE OF NJ’s OWN SCHOOL RANKINGS
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You are also ignoring that THE STATE OF NJ ranked Ridgewood High School as 83 out of the 385 NJ high schools.
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Neighboring Glen Rock was ranked #13
(the top twelve on the NJ State list 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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No Matter how you look at the data, it IS NOT good news for Ridgewood.
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April 4,2018
by Anne LaGrange Loving on Facebook
Ridgewood NJ, Tonight during the Budget presentation, Dr. Fishbien spoke about the stellar SAT scores among Ridgewood High School students. When asked how many families pay for private SAT tutoring, he replied that about 40% of parents responded to a survey, and of those about 40% self-reported that they paid for private SAT prep for their children. I think that number is likely quite a lot higher. It seemed like everyone I knew (in the late 1990’s) was paying for Kaplan or Huntington or some private individual to help improve SAT scores. Depending on how high the numbers actually are, this could mean that the stellar SAT scores are more a reflection of wealth (or the decision to allocate funds toward this effort) than it is a reflection of the Ridgewood High School preparation of students for this standardized exam. Just wondering whether my thoughts on this are off base.
photos by Boyd Loving
Free talk: Graydon sycamore assessment and removal
Have you been wondering what led the village to remove the historic sycamore tree from the island in Graydon–and even whether it was really necessary?
The expert consultant himself, Wayne Cahilly, will describe his assessment procedure at next Tuesday’s meeting of the Ridgewood Shade Tree Commission.
The public is invited to attend and to ask questions. For those still mourning and perhaps questioning the loss, this presentation may promote closure. Anyone wishing to learn how tree professionals make such decisions would benefit as well.
o What: “Risk Assessment in Municipal Arboriculture: The Graydon Sycamore Case Study”
o Who: Wayne Cahilly, Cahilly’s Horticultural Services, LLC, Dumont, NJ
o When: Tuesday, April 10, 7 PM
o Where: Ridgewood Public Library auditorium, 125 N. Maple Ave., Ridgewood, NJ
Shade Tree Commission chair Andrew Lowry, quoted in a press release from the group, said, “The Graydon sycamore was an icon in our village. Many residents had strong feelings about its removal. We hope this presentation will help people understand what went into making this tough decision and the complexities of risk assessment more generally.”
Adapted from the Shade Tree Commission press release:
Speaker’s background
In 35 years of working with trees, Wayne Cahilly has assessed the structural condition and health of more than 60,000 trees in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and elsewhere. A graduate of the New York Botanical Garden School of Professional Horticulture, he has served the Garden as Forest Manager, Arborist, Manager of the Arboretum and Grounds, and Manager of the Mapping Department. He lives in Dumont, New Jersey.
About the Ridgewood Shade Tree Commission
The purpose of the Ridgewood Shade Tree Commission is to protect, preserve, and enhance the village’s shade trees, defined as trees planted next to streets on village property. Goals are to foster public-private partnerships to educate the community about the contribution to the Village environment made by shade trees and to increase the number of shade trees in the village by actively promoting community tree-planting programs.
We hope to see you there.
Swimmingly,
The Preserve Graydon Coalition, Inc., a nonprofit corporation
“It’s clear—we love Graydon!”
[email protected] PreserveGraydon.org
At this time, many of our teachers and other public workers are paid more than many of the residents who pay them. The long term teachers are in the high middle class and lower upper class, and are above the pay grade of many of the residents that pay them. When you add in the benefits and pension, the majority are well above the average Ridgewood residents. We all know that a certain percentage of our residents are “rolling in it” and receive some of the highest pay in the nation. We also know that the teachers, when striking, seem to be demanding to be in the pay range of these really highly paid individuals. We also know that the benefits and pensions that our teachers receive put them at such a high total income level that many of our residents only dream of obtaining. Many of our residents are also business owners or in business for themselves. These people have to pay even more for their employees insurance and the employees pay between 20-25% of that while having high co-pays and deductibles. A $10.00 co-pay is a joke in the real world. To top it off, Ridgewood’s quality is declining by a huge amount while the teachers who are apparently not teaching get higher annual raises. Many residents have not seen a raise or bonus in years. We really can’t cry for the “poor teachers”.
photos courtesy of Ridgewood Emergency Services
April 4,2018
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Stop the Bleed Day, a National Initiative program, held at Ridgewood Emergency Services drew an full house of interested citizens
to learn how they can be the first line of defense in helping to saving a life.
The Stop the Bleed program is a national awareness campaign and a call to action. Stop the Bleed is intended to cultivate grassroots efforts that
Ridgewood Emergency Services will actively participate in. No matter how rapid the arrival of professional emergency responders, bystanders will be
the first on the scene. Stop the Bleed trains and empowers the bystander to stop active, life threatening bleeding. Similar to how the public learns and
performs CPR, the public must learn proper bleeding control techniques, including how to use their hands, dressings and tourniquets. Victims can
quickly die from uncontrolled bleeding within 5 to 10 minutes from onset.
