School budget elections disappearing in New Jersey
April 12, 2014, 11:28 AM Last updated: Saturday, April 12, 2014, 11:28 AM
By GEOFF MULVIHILL
Associated Press
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Just a few years ago, April school elections were a key date on New Jersey’s political calendar, the time most of the state’s voters had — but ignored — the chance to say yes or no to property tax increases.
Now, the only-in-New Jersey votes hardly exist.
Just 26 of the state’s 585 school districts will hold elections April 23. That’s 15 fewer than last year.
The change is a result of a law that, starting in 2012, allowed schools to save money and duck public outrage by moving school board elections to November and scrap votes on the tax levy. School budgets are the biggest component of New Jersey property tax bills, which average more than $8,000, the highest in the nation.
The conversion has been faster than expected, and it has come without much complaint.
Frank Belluscio, a spokesman for the New Jersey School Boards Association, said his group doesn’t believe the school budgeting process has changed much because the direct vote on tax levies associated with school budgets is a thing of the past in most communities.
The budgets, he says, are still subject to a cap on how much administrative expenses can grow, still get reviewed by state education officials and are still subject to public hearing. And those that call for property tax increases of about 2 percent still must be voted on — unless the bigger increases are because of certain exceptions.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/school-budget-elections-disappearing-in-new-jersey-1.938920#sthash.zbWpmLqc.dpuf
Photo credit: Boyd A. Loving Ridgewood’s “Shred Day” brings out hundreds
April 13,14
Boyd A. Loving
11:07 AM
Ridgewood NJ, Hundreds of Ridgewood residents lined up in vehicles to take part in “Ridgewood Shred Day,” which was held Saturday at the Village’s Recycling Center on East Glen Avenue. Residents were able to watch their documents on a camera as they were securely shredded. The service was provided free to any Ridgewood resident.
Conservancy for Ridgewood Public Lands presents DAFFODIL FESTIVAL
Sun, April 27, 2014
Time: 12:30 PM – 3:00 PM
Location: Ridgewood Train Station Plaza, Ridgewood, NJ 07450
SAVE THIS DATE, April 27, 2014 at 12:30pm
A celebration to thank the community for planting 7,000 daffodil bulbs and to showcase the parkland along North Broad Street.
Rain or Shine
Ribbon Cutting 12:30pm
Plant Sale-Annuals & Perennials
Fine Arts Show and Sale
Antique Classic Car Display
Daffodil themed crafts for children
Dog Parade for your favorite pooch
Antique Appraisal Event Saturday, April 12, 1-4 PM Back by popular demand! Invite your friends and neighbors.
Do you watch Antiques Roadshow? Have you ever wondered about the value of an antique or collectible in your home? Here’s an opportunity to have it appraised! Jon Felz, certified as an appraiser by the New England Appraisers Association, will be present to speak about and appraise each of your treasured items. He has been featured on Antiques Roadshow.
A fee of $5 per item will be charged. The event will take place in the Education Building of Old Paramus Church, 660 East Glen Ave., Ridgewood. Please call the office at 201 444-5933 for more information, or visit the church website, www.oldparamus.org. The building is handicapped accessible. Parking is ample and free.
Candidates Coffee All Ridgewood senior citizens are welcome to join us on Tuesday April 15th at 10:30 am in the Community Room of the Ridgecrest Apartments (7 Ridge Road). Village Council candidates James Albano, Susan Knudsen and Michael Sedon will hear your concerns, ideas and points of view over light refreshments before sitting for a panel discussion led by our moderator.
This is a unique opportunity for both the candidates and you, our valued resident, to address the needs and expectations of Ridgewood’s growing senior citizen population. Don’t miss this chance to have your voice heard by our community leaders and hear their positions on the issues that are important to you. Call 201-248-2730 more information.
Readers respond to Councilwomen Gwen Hauck’s Ridiculous Ridgewood Library Comment
“It is an expensive department, but it’s not near as expensive as the police department and fire department. I would like it to be up there in that same echelon,” Hauck said
Really.
So you want the library budget in the same echelon as a 24/7 365 days a year department budget to include state and federal mandated training and equipment.
The library also benefits from private funding through the Friends of the Library organization and the Library Foundation, Councilwoman Gwenn Hauck said. But, according to Hauck, the library should be shouldered by the village.
“It is an expensive department, but it’s not near as expensive as the police department and fire department. I would like it to be up there in that same echelon,” Hauck said.
Duh? Are you friggin’ kidding me? Earth calling Gwenn, Earth calling Gwenn, come in please Gwenn! Police and fire operate 24/7/365 with specialized equipment and personnel. Including state and federal mandated training ?
Funny isn’t it. Loads of talk from Village Hall about shared services and using the County services when possible but no talk at all about combining municipal libraries and getting rid of some administrative overhead in the process. We could easily combine with HoHoKus, Midland Park, and Glen Rock, could we not?
Noble as libraries have been over the years, it’s hard to justify increasing public funding for Ridgewood’s. Such is the price we pay for past extravagances. As for Mrs. Hauck, she should probably keep her head down and steer clear of any other potential conflicts of interest at the taxpayers’ expense. In advance of the predictable counterpoint – I’ll concede that her advocating for another of her personal crusades is “legal” but it just continues to look bad.
Any of these name look familiar?
Library Board of Trustees John Johansen President
Elisa R. Legg Vice-President Arlene Sarappo Secretary
Gail Campbell Treasurer James Mazzo
John Saraceno Jayne Schroeder
Gwenn Hauck Village Council Paul Aronsohn Mayor
Linda Diorio Superintendent’s Delegate Dr. Daniel Fishbein Superintendent of Schools
2013 – 2014 Directors
Betsy Giordano, President
Shoshana Feiner, Vice-President/Sec
Stephen Petrick, Treasurer
Marie Bicks
Tony Damiano
Catherine Donnelly
Kathleen M. Entwistle
Janet Fricke
Kathleen Gatens
Paul Goldberg
Jeffrey Karpf
Helen Kim
Cara Murray
Anne Ramsey
Rahul Sharma
Melanie Stern
Associate Directors
Glenn F. Jorgensen, Founding President
Harlen Coben
Dan Cummings
Elia Desruisseaux
Thomas Dougherty
Josh Grunat
Jacque Harlow
Gwenn Hauck ****
Phyllis Heilborn
Teresa Hutchins
Michele Lenhard
William J. Meakem
Barbara Moreira
Ellen Quinn
Joan Popkin
Deborah Primiano
Albert Pucciarelli *****
Fred Strype
Ridgewood NJ, Amelia Ortiz had some extra pep in her step as she boarded her train Wednesday morning. It might have been the coffee.
Flo’s Depot at the Ridgewood train station officially opened for business Tuesday morning, exactly one week after its originally scheduled unveiling. No one, including Ortiz, seemed to mind the seven-day delay – after all, they have been waiting for almost five years for a coffee stand to re-open at the spot.
When New Jersey Transit began a multi-million dollar renovation project and forced the last coffee stand to permanently close its doors in 2009, morning rail riders were compelled to seek their caffeine jolts and breakfasts-on-the-go from other sources. For those residents opting against a travel mug of java from home, the extra stop at a nearby shop or bakery posed a minor inconvenience.
GM’s Barra got email in 2011 about steering problems
Paul A. Eisenstein | @DetroitBureau
10 Hours Ago
The Congressional committee investigating the long-delayed the recall of millions of vehicles equipped with a faulty ignition switch, released a flurry of internal General Motors documents Friday showing what it described as “failures within the system” that allowed critical safety issues to go unaddressed.
Exactly why the ignition switch problem went unresolved for as much as a decade has spurred a series of investigations by the Department of Justice, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and both houses of Congress. During two Capitol Hill hearings last week, GM CEO Mary Barra was repeatedly criticized for failing to offer clear answers about the ignition switch problem.
One of the documents released Friday showed that while in her previous job as GM’s global product development chief, Barra was kept clearly in the loop about a separate recall issue involving steering problems on the Saturn Ion and other GM products.
Showdown on the range: Nevada rancher, feds face off over cattle grazing rights
By Michael Martinez, CNN
updated 8:17 AM EDT, Fri April 11, 2014
(CNN) — A 20-year dispute between a Nevada rancher and federal rangers over illegal cattle grazing erupted into an Old West-style showdown on the open range this week, even prompting self-proclaimed members of militia groups from across the country to join the rancher in fighting what they say is U.S. “tyranny.”
What began as a legal fight between longtime rancher Cliven Bundy and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management has escalated as Bundy kept his cattle on the federal land, and the government has responded by beginning roundups of the livestock.
A confrontation teetered on violence Wednesday when Bundy family members and dozens of supporters angrily confronted a group of rangers holding Tasers and barking dogs on leashes near Bunkerville, about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas.
Federal officials say a police dog was kicked and officers were assaulted.
Photos: Showdown in Nevada
Bundy family members say they were thrown to the ground or jolted with a Taser.
In the end, the rangers got into their white SUVs and drove away, a YouTube video of the incident showed.
“Get out of our state!” the cheering protesters yelled at the rangers as they departed in several vehicles. “BLM go away! BLM go away!” they added, referring to the Bureau of Land Management.
The entire incident is now under investigation, Amy Lueders, the bureau’s director in Nevada, said Thursday.
Voters in NJ split on whether to legalize recreational marijuana, poll shows
TRENTON — A poll released today shows New Jersey voters are evenly divided in their support for legalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana for recreational use — although the results show wide gaps among different sexes, age groups, and political affiliations.
The Quinnipiac University survey found that 48 percent of registered voters backed the idea, while the same number were opposed.
But gaps emerged when the groups were broken down:
• Men back legalization 54 percent to 43 percent, while women are opposed 52 percent to 43 percent.
• Voters 18 to 29 support legalization 56 percent to 43 percent, while voters over 65 disapprove 63 percent to 33 percent.
• Democrats are for it 55 percent to 41 percent, Republicans are against it 61 percent to 34 percent, and independents are divided, 48 percent to 48 percent.
“There’s enormous interest in the proposal to legalize marijuana, but voters split down the middle,” Maurice Carroll, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll, said. “Republicans say no, Democrats say yes, and the highest support comes from younger voters.” (Johnson/Star-Ledger)
Ridgewood Library seeks return to 2009 funding level
APRIL 10, 2014 LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, APRIL 10, 2014, 2:55 PM
BY DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER
The Ridgewood Public Library is seeking a 1.9 percent increase over last year’s department budget, a sum that would return its municipal funding to 2009 levels. Library officials reviewed their proposed 2014 spending plan with Village Council members Monday afternoon, focusing their presentation on key elements of the $2.32 million budget.
Members of Ridgewood’s Emergency Services and Office of Emergency Management also detailed their respective spending proposals earlier this week, as the municipality inches closer to finalizing its 2014 budget. The village’s governing body is expected to introduce the municipal budget April 23, with a public hearing and vote to adopt scheduled for May 28.
Much of the library’s operating budget was dismantled about six years ago, when the global financial crisis rocked all levels of government. Since then, the library has attempted to do more with less, while trying annually to recoup its funding.
Director Nancy Greene provided several library highlights, such as a 10 percent increase in both attendance at library programs and the number of reference questions directed to staff members. Notable programs include English as a Second Language, special needs events, technology training and student-to-student homework help.
Village of Ridgewood Green RME Wins Biogas Project of the Year
April 10, 2014
(GLOBE NEWSWIRE)
Ridgewood NJ, The American Biogas Council today awarded Ridgewood Green RME the “Biogas Project of the Year Award” for a renewable energy project implemented at the wastewater treatment plant owned by the Village of Ridgewood, NJ.
The American Biogas Council selected the project in the Municipal category because of its excellence in all of its criteria: Innovation, Technology, Collaboration and Complexity. The goal of the project was to enhance anaerobic digestion at a municipal wastewater treatment plant so that enough biogas is produced through the Combined Heat & Power (CHP), meeting almost the entire plant’s energy needs to run the plant. A 50KW solar array was included to meet the goal along with a 240KW engine/generator.
The overall objective is to improve affordability, resiliency and sustainability of wastewater treatment operations for the Village of Ridgewood, New Jersey.
Ridgewood Village Project
A biogas production system was designed to optimize the production of electricity from methane, and was constructed through a retrofit at the existing Water Pollution Control facility. Ridgewood Green RME, an entity comprised of Natural Systems Utilities (NSU), Middlesex Water Company (MWC), and American Refining and Biochemical (ARB), through a 20-year public-private partnership with the Village of Ridgewood, made the up-front capital investment to retrofit the new equipment to optimize the anaerobic digestion process and convert methane gas to electricity. Bio-Organic Catalyst, Inc. (partner with NSU) also assisted in the development of the project and continues to provide an enzyme product that increases biogas production. In addition, the production of electricity is enhanced through co-digestion with food wastes such as brown grease to increase biogas production. The heat required for anaerobic digestion is also generated by heat recovery off the engine, further increasing plant efficiency and reducing emission of greenhouse gases. In turn this biogas conversion facility now eliminates the need to flare the methane to the atmosphere, as previously required.
“Our public-private partnership among NSU, Middlesex and ARB makes Ridgewood a national leader in sustainable municipal wastewater treatment,” said Village of Ridgewood Mayor Paul Aronsohn. “Producing energy at our facilities reduces cost while powering the facility with approximately 100% renewable energy, and provides environmental benefits for the community. To be able to accomplish this at no capital cost to the taxpayer, while realizing substantial environmental benefits for the Village, is something we can all take pride in,” added Aronsohn.
A total of four solar generation facilities were constructed on several properties throughout the Village of Ridgewood to provide renewable energy. Installations at Village Hall, the Fire Department, the EMS Building and the Water Pollution Control Facility, have been producing electricity since February 2013. The biogas engine, the workhorse of the project, has undergone energy optimization testing and has since been successfully integrated into the wastewater treatment process. The facilities are being operated by Village employees in concert with Ridgewood Green RME.
In addition to cost savings from the utility bill, additional income is generated by selling all the renewable energy certificates (RECs) to 3Degrees, a leader in the renewable energy marketplace. RECs produced by the biogas technology at Ridgewood and the related solar projects have a relatively high value because of their unique characteristics, compared to other Green-e Certified National RECs. 3Degrees is purchasing Ridgewood’s premium RECs and, in turn, supplying Ridgewood water pollution control plant with lower cost Green-e Certified National RECs, equivalent to almost the entire plant’s energy needs, thereby ensuring the plant is powered with renewable energy, while maximizing the return on investment in the project. The sale of these RECs is part of the overall economic package that allows for the supply of lower cost electricity, ultimately benefiting Ridgewood utility customers.
“Many municipalities are struggling with aging infrastructure, underperforming utility facilities and severely constrained municipal budgets. This project demonstrates how partnerships with municipal and industrial leaders can achieve a lower carbon footprint while converting wastes to valuable resources for use in the local community. By repurposing an existing facility in this way, everyone benefits — the environment, the Village residents and our renewable energy investors,” said Chuck Gordon, CEO Natural Systems Utilities.
“Optimizing energy production in this manner demonstrates the unique relationship between water, wastewater and renewable energy where the integration of these commodities has resulted in environmental and economic benefit for all parties,” said Dennis Doll, Middlesex Water President and CEO. “In addition to helping the Village realize cost savings, the project is improving air quality and lowering energy costs, truly helping the Village to become more sustainable,” added Doll.
NSU, MWC and ARB worked with several key partners on various components of the project including Bio-Organic Catalyst, Inc., HDR-HydroQual Engineers and Advanced Solar Products. Bio-Organic Catalyst, Inc., (partner with NSU) provides optimization of the anaerobic digestion process with addition of an enzyme product which increases biogas production. HDR-HydroQual Engineers provided engineering design services and construction assistance for the project. Advanced Solar Products provided turn-key installation of the solar panels at the four Village locations.
Photo credit: Boyd A. Loving Ridgewood crash sends driver to hospital with painful head injury
April 11,2014
Boyd A. Loving
1:27 PM
Ridgewood NJ ,The male driver of a Honda Accord was transported by ambulance to The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood following a collision in which his vehicle was rear ended on Linwood Avenue westbound over Route 17 in Ridgewood. Emergency responders on the scene reported that the victim was complaining of severe head pain resultant from his head striking an interior door post. Several Ridgewood PD, FD, and EMS units responded to assist the victim. The exit ramp from Route 17 northbound to Linwood Avenue westbound was closed for 30 minutes while the victim was attended to and the vehicle removed by flatbed tow truck. Police on the scene did not indicate if any summonses were issued in connection with the incident.
Charter School Applications Remain Strong, Despite Few Approvals by State
Administration’s reluctance to sign off on new charters doesn’t do much to discourage nearly 40 new applicants
Even as the Christie administration approves fewer new charter schools, interest in opening these facilities remains high, with nearly 40 applications coming in last week for the latest round of review.
Thirty-eight applications were received in all, although that number may be culled after preliminary reviews are conducted by the state Department of Education to determine if the proposals are complete.
The high number of applications reflects the enduring interest in operating these schools, even as the state throttles back on approvals. In the round of applications this past March, 38 proposals yielded just three approvals.
Overall, 14 of this year’s applications are repeat submissions; nearly a dozen come from the larger education management organizations that are coming to dominate New Jersey’s charter landscape. (Mooney/NJSpotlight)
North Jersey consumers and retailers have beef with rising meat prices
APRIL 11, 2014 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, APRIL 11, 2014, 1:21 AM
BY ANDREW WYRICH
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
* Higher feed costs, smaller herds driving costs
Backyard grillers can expect to get a strong case of heartburn this year because the cost of beef has soared.
For years, severe droughts in the western and southern United States have driven the price of feed such as corn and hay to record highs, causing ranchers to sell cattle they could no longer feed. The diminished herds are causing beef prices to swell to all-time highs for North Jersey butchers, delis and the customers seeking steaks and burgers.
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association said the years of drought in the big beef-producing states such as Texas and Nebraska pushed the production of beef down by 2 percent in 2013. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said the nation’s cattle population has fallen to 87.7 million, the lowest since 1951.
This has driven the retail price for round choice steak to $5.284 per pound in February, up from $4.899 per pound at the same time in 2013, according to the USDA. The prices have stayed over $5 a pound since November, according to the most recent available data.
The cattle crisis has put pricing pressure on North Jersey butchers, supermarkets, delis and restaurants.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/business/beef-prices-leaving-consumers-with-a-bad-taste-1.899171#sthash.BuaVQ1NN.dpuf
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