ELEC Analysis: top 25 NJ special interest groups spent $311 million on campaign contributions, lobbying and independent spending over 15 years
The top 25 special interest groups during the past 15 years spent a combined $311 million on campaign contributions, lobbying and independent spending, according to an analysis by the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC). (Politicker Staff)
9/11 anniversary remembered near new museum
By Lorena Mongelli and Post Wires
Heartbroken New Yorkers descended on Lower Manhattan on Thursday, solemnly marking the 13th anniversary of America’s darkest day and the murders of nearly 3,000 innocent souls.
Grieving relatives wore light blue ribbons and many brought pictures – from wallet-sized snapshots to framed portraits – to honor their loved ones at Thursday’s sad gathering near Ground Zero.
There were no speeches at the ceremony, only the reading of 2,983 names, which included victims of 9/11 and the 1993 World Trade Center bombings.
There was a moment silence at 8:46 a.m., marking the moment when American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower.
After opera star Alaysha Fox sang the national anthem, survivors began reading names.
One of the readers, Diane Massaroli, the widow of a Cantor Fitzgerald vice president killed on 9/11, said she thinks of her late hubby every day.
“My husband Michael Massaroli, we love you, we miss you and not a day goes by that we don’t think of you,” she said.
Another reader, James Gallagher, said he’s sure dad John Patrick Gallagher, heard him on Thursday.
“Dad, even though you’re not on this earth anymore I know you’re looking down at us and smiling,” Gallagher said of his dad, an electricity trader at Cantor Fitzgerald.
https://nypost.com/2014/09/11/911-anniversary-remembered-near-new-museum/
Dear Friends,
Every year on September 11, our country wakes up with a heavy heart. We relive our painful memories, and we come together to mourn the thousands of innocent lives we lost on that terrible day.
Like so many of you, I can remember exactly where I was when I heard the news of the attacks. My thoughts immediately turned to all those—family, friends, neighbors—who were working in New York City. Before long, I too was consumed by the enormous void that was left by the tragic loss of life. When I remember, I still feel the deep sadness, anger, and resolve I felt on that day and the days that followed.
As a nation, we must always remember that our freedom isn’t free. There are evil forces who wish to destroy our way of life. We must remain alert to all threats to our freedom wherever they arise. Thanks to our armed forces and our first responders, we will defend ourselves and bring to justice all those who seek to destroy us.
Today, I join you as we remember those we lost and pray for those who fight to protect our freedom. We will continue to recover, but we must never forget. May God continue to bless the United States of America.
Sincerely,
Scott Garrett
New Jersey Choral Society presents “Bel Canto,” a fundraising Gala
Bergen County – The New Jersey Choral Society will present its spectacular 5th annual fundraising gala “Bel Canto” on Sunday, October 5 at 3:00 pm at the Indian Trail Club, 830 Franklin Lake Road, Franklin Lakes..
The festive afternoon includes music from Broadway and the Silver Screen featuring members of the New Jersey Choral Society under the direction of conductor Eric Dale Knapp. Musical selections include hits from “Kiss Me Kate,” “Tarzan,” “Porgy and Bess” and “Memory” from the Broadway musical “Cats.” David Cryer (formerly of Broadway’s “Phantom of the Opera”) and his wife, actress Britt Cryer, will serve as the hosts. Linda Sweetman-Waters will accompany NJCS on the piano.
This elegant fundraising gala will also include a 50/50 raffle and silent auction as well as a cocktail hour on the patio followed by dinner and wine. 15% of the event’s silent auction proceeds will proudly be donated by NJCS to the Center for Food Action.
Celebrating its 35th anniversary, the New Jersey Choral Society is one of the state’s most prestigious choral groups well-known for presenting memorable and uplifting performances that engage audiences, involve youth, enable affordable access to the arts and support various outreach services of northern New Jersey. They perform three major concerts annually in Bergen and Essex counties and have also performed in Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, China, Australia, England and most recently in France..
Tickets for this special fundraising event are $100 and can be purchased by visiting www.njcs.org, via email [email protected] or by calling 201-379-7719.
Standard & Poor’s lowers New Jersey credit rating
SEPTEMBER 10, 2014, 12:15 PM LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2014, 6:00 PM
BY JOHN REITMEYER
STATE HO– USE BUREAU
THE RECORD
Another Wall Street ratings agency has downgraded New Jersey’s credit rating as a response to Governor Christie’s decision earlier this year to cut funding for the public employee pension system.
Standard & Poor’s said in an announcement released Wednesday that the lowering of New Jersey’s credit rating by one step to “A” is in response to recent contributions into the pension system that are well below what actuaries say is needed to keep the system solvent.
“The downgrade reflects our view that New Jersey will face increased long-term pressures in managing its long-term liabilities and that the revenue and expenditure misalignment will grow based on reduced funding for the state’s unfunded actuarial accrued liability,” said Standard & Poor’s credit analyst John Sugden.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/standard-poor-s-lowers-new-jersey-credit-rating-1.1084904#sthash.G3QRWVz7.dpuf
photo by Boyd Loving
Grease overflow reached Ridgewood stream
SEPTEMBER 9, 2014 LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2014, 12:20 AM
BY CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
RIDGEWOOD – A substantial cooking grease spill at the village’s wastewater treatment plant in Glen Rock two weeks ago reached a nearby stream – despite initial claims from Ridgewood officials that no contamination occurred.
Village workers on Friday vacuumed a stream that runs along the rear of the plant, adjacent to where storage trucks dispose of cooking oil grease.
On Aug. 26, a storage truck was bringing the grease to the plant for disposal when a transfer line burst. Ridgewood officials said this week they received instructions Friday from the state Department of Environmental Protection to clean the stream of some of the 200 gallons of fats, oils and greases that spilled.
A DEP spokesman, Larry Hajna, confirmed that an inspector was dispatched to the plant to investigate the stream Friday.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/environment/grease-overflow-reached-ridgewood-stream-1.1084047#sthash.QpujJUGx.dpuf
Village Of Ridgewood 2013 parking meter & permit revenues vs. expenses
September 10,2014
Boyd A. Loving
11:01 PM
Ridgewood NJ, Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld released a report entitled: “Village of Ridgewood Parking Utility – 2013 Revenue & Expense Summary” on 09/08/2014.
Here are the Cliff Notes:
Total revenues = $1,063,775.55
Total expenses = $902,243.45
Excess in operation (profit) = $161,532.10
The following line items were listed under “allocations/indirect expenses.” That is, a predetermined percentage of total 2013 parking revenues was allocated to each line item:
Municipal Court
Village Attorney
Group Health Insurance
Workers Compensation Insurance
General Liability Auto Insurance
Management Information Systems
Village Clerk
Finance (Accounts & Treasury, Audit Services, Collections)
Engineering
Street Services
Street Lighting
Traffic & Signal
Central Garage
Parks
Police
Gasoline & Diesel
Electricity and Gas
Telephone
Public Employees Retirement System
Social Security
Police & Fire Retirement System
Unemployment Insurance
Indirect expense allocation in 2013 was: $791,455.28
No information was provided regarding direct expenses other than they totaled $110,788.17 in 2013
All year end fund balances PRIOR to EOY 2013 were reduced to zero (yes, nothing left, zilch) because of theft/shortfalls in revenue.
The TOTAL BALANCE IN ACCRUED EXCESS PARKING REVENUES (profit) AS OF EOY 2013 is: $162,070.
Village’s plan to lease Gilsenan/Gap property falls flat
September 10 ,2014
#14-219: Reject Bids for Lot 12 – The Gap Parking Lot – Rejects the bids for this project due to the fact that revenues did not meet the Village’s financial expectations and there were too many zoning variances required for both bids that were received.
In a nutshell, there will be no building constructed on the Village owned property between Gilsenan Insurance/Realty and The Gap. Those who were interested in the lease proposed offering way too little in terms of annual rent, and wanted to build a structure(s) much larger than what the Village Council had envisioned.
Village Council members, and select Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce members, had hoped a real estate development firm would step forward and offer big bucks to construct a 2-story retail/office building on the property. The revenues would have been earmarked for the construction of a parking deck at the Hudson Street parking lot.
This is the second complete failure associated with this plan
Reader Gives a brief history of this money-pit debacle.
A brief history of this money-pit debacle.
1. The new Village manager, with the backing of her lefty base, thought it would be the right thing to do, to instal traffic-calming measures on a stretch of road that was badly in need to repair. No public discussion was invited.
2. A contractor was awarded the project and there does not appear to have been language in the contract regarding completion time.
3. Work starts and the public quickly learn of this major change to the Village’s one and only traffic link between the two sides of town. Outrage is the result and work is stopped.
4. Work eventually resumes, whereby much of the original work has to be put back the way it was and the project basically starts again.
5. The Village Manager issues a public statement regarding her displeasure at the length of time the project is taking, and talks of finding a new contractor.
Is it any wonder people don’t want the Government managing their health?
Glen Beck thinks your Government is dumb as a box of rocks
Glen Beck comes up with 11 ways you know you live in a country run by idiots
Wednesday, Sep 10, 2014 at 12:34 PM EDT
We had to laugh when we saw this because it could be more spot on , the only think Glen did not mention were all the excuse makers who allow the idiots to abdicate responsibility .
Again more and more would agree that clearly the country is run by idiots , so here is proof positive….
Glens list …
1. If you can get arrested for hunting or fishing without a license, but not for being in the country illegally, you live in a country run by idiots.
2. If you have to get your parents’ permission to go on a field trip or take an aspirin in school, but not to get an abortion, you live in a country run by idiots.
3. If you have to show identification to board an airplane, cash a check, buy liquor or check out a library book, but not to vote on who runs the government, you live in a country run by idiots.
4. If the government wants to ban stable, law-abiding citizens from owning gun magazines with more than ten rounds, but gives 20 F-16 fighter jets to the crazy leaders in Egypt, you live in a country run by idiots.
5. If, in the largest city, you can buy two 16-ounce sodas, but not a 24-ounce soda because 24-ounces of a sugary drink might make you fat, you live in a country run by idiots.
6. If an 80-year-old woman can be stripped searched by the TSA but a woman in a hijab is only subject to having her neck and head searched, you live in a country run by idiots.
7. If your government believes that the best way to eradicate trillions of dollars of debt is to spend trillions more, you live in a country run by idiots.
8. If a seven year old boy can be thrown out of grade school for saying his teacher’s “cute,” but hosting a sexual exploration or diversity class in grade school is perfectly acceptable, you live in a country run by idiots.
9. If hard work and success are met with higher taxes and more government intrusion, while not working is rewarded with EBT cards, WIC checks, Medicaid, subsidized housing and free cell phones,you live in a country run by idiots.
10. If the government’s plan for getting people back to work is to incentivize NOT working, with 99 weeks of unemployment checks and no requirement to prove they applied but can’t find work, you live in a country run by idiots.
11. If being stripped of the ability to defend yourself makes you more “safe” according to the government, you live in a country run by idiots.
https://www.glennbeck.com/2014/09/10/the-11-ways-you-know-you-are-run-by-a-country-of-idiots/
9-11 Remembrance
On Thursday, September 11th at 7PM -All are invited to attend a Remembrance Mass at Mt. Carmel at 7PM.
Al Franken Misrepresents the Censorship Power Democrats Are Demanding
Jacob Sullum|Sep. 9, 2014 7:26 pm
MSNBC During today’s debate about SJR 19, a proposed constitutional amendment that would restrict freedom of speech in the name of “democratic self-government and political equality,” Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.)claimed the measure would merely “restore the law to what it was before Citizens Unitedwas decided.” Not so. True, the amendment would allow Congress to re-enact the speech restrictions overturned in that case, which barred unions and corporations, including nonprofit advocacy groups, from criticizing federal politicians on TV or radio close to an election. But as I noted yesterday, the amendment would go a lot further than that.
The amendment would allow Congress and state legislatures to “regulate and set reasonable limits on the raising and spending of money by candidates and others to influence elections.” That means it would overturn Buckley v. Valeo, the 1976 decision in which the Supreme Court upheld limits on donations to candidates but rejected limits on spending by candidates, reasoning that such caps amount to restrictions on speech, since communicating with a mass audience requires money.
The amendment that Franken and at least 48 of his colleagues favor also would allow legislators to impose limits on independent spending by individuals, which the Court has never upheld. Section 2 says legislators “may distinguish between natural persons and corporations or other artificial entities created by law,” but there is no requirement that they do so. Congress might decide, in the interest of “political equality,” that opinionated billionaires such as George Soros, Michael Bloomberg, Sheldon Adelson, and the Koch Brothers should shut the hell up and let other people have a turn. It could even ban political ads featuring celebrities, on the theory that they have an unwarranted influence on voters.
Given the breadth of this authority, the examples of possible censorship listed by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) in a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed piece—including bans on the distribution of voter guides by the National Rifle Association, on pro-life or pro-choice advocacy close to an election, on get-out-the-vote efforts by churches or unions, and on documentaries critical of politicians running for office—are not at all fanciful. In fact, that last example is exactly what Citizens United involved. Under this amendment, such a documentary could be squelched even if it were the work of an independent filmmaker unaffiliated with any group organized as a corporation.
https://reason.com/blog/2014/09/09/al-franken-misrepresents-the-censorship
photo from the Ridgewood PD
Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce to host car show on Friday
SEPTEMBER 4, 2014 LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2014, 3:18 PM
BY LIZ WELLINGHORST
STAFF WRITER
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
The 21st annual Fall Car Show will rev up tonight on East Ridgewood Avenue and around Memorial Park at Van Neste Square.
The show’s sponsor, the Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce, is expecting more than 350 cars.
“They come from all over the tri-state area for the show, as far as Philadelphia to upstate New York,” said Tom Hillmann, owner of Hillmann Lighting and co-founder of the car show.
“What I can say is that we always have some very unusual cars, cars that no one else has ever seen at any of the car shows in the region,” he said.
Last year, there were more than 5,000 attendees.
“It’s an event for everyone, from families to car enthusiasts,” said Hillmann. “People really enjoy looking at the cars and talking to owners.”
Some of the cars registered for this year’s event range from a 1948 MG TC KRD5T, to a 1957 Ford Thunderbird to a 1958 Morris Minor 1000 convertible.
Prizes are awarded for first, second and third place in categories such as imports, hot rods, muscle cars and best motorcycle, and the mayor’s choice/best of show category.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/business/ridgewood-chamber-of-commerce-car-show-set-for-friday-1.1081312#sthash.0DVG4g0t.dpuf
Ridgewood-based filmmakers appear in New Jersey Film Festival
SEPTEMBER 8, 2014 LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2014, 1:21 AM
BY JIM BECKERMAN
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
FILM
WHAT: New Jersey Film Festival.
WHEN: Sept. 11 to Oct. 16. Programs begin at either 6 or 7 p.m., check listings. “She-Wolf” will be screened at 7 p.m. Oct. 5.
WHERE: Rutgers University (various locations), New Brunswick; 848-932-8482 or njfilmfest.com.
HOW MUCH: $10 general admission.
Ridgewood-based filmmakers Daniel Shapiro and Alex Topaller have made videos for Pharrell Williams and Michael Jackson. They’ve made commercials for Ford, Bloomberg and Beech-Nut.
Now they’re claiming the privilege familiar to all Christmas shoppers who’ve ever bought themselves a little present while in the store for others. “She Wolf,” their first narrative film, is a little something for themselves.
“We do a lot of music videos, we do a lot of commercials, and at some point we wanted to shoot something creative, something for ourselves,” says Shapiro, a Hawthorne resident, whose 18-minute film will be screened as part of the New Jersey Film Festival at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. The festival begins Sept. 11.
The 7 p.m. Oct. 5 screening of “She Wolf” will be at Voorhees Hall No. 105, 71 Hamilton St., New Brunswick: one of several locations where more than 30 films — shorts and features, from far-out experimental to near-mainstream — will be screened this fall. Shapiro and Topaller will both be present at the screening to answer questions.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/arts-and-entertainment/movies/ridgewood-filmmakers-pet-project-1.1083059#sthash.E3ZsmQZm.dpuf
Actor and comedian Steve Guttenberg will be at Bookends Wednesday, September 10th @ 7:00pm
Actor and comedian from Three Men and a Baby ,Police Academy
Steve Guttenberg, will sign his new childrens book;
The Kids from D.I.S.C.O.Books available Sept. 9th
Call Bookends at 201-445-0726 with additional questions.
Bookends is a legendary New Jersey Landmark! We are known for our incredible author events and have hosted well over 1,000 authors in the past 15 years!
All books MUST be purchased from BOOKENDS for any of our events and a valid Bookends receipt must be presented for entry.
Appearing authors will only autograph books purchased at Bookends and must have valid Bookends Receipt. Availability & pricing for all autographed books subject to change. Bookends cannot guarantee that the books that are Autographed will always be First Printings.Autographed books purchased at Bookends are non-returnable.
While we try to ensure that all customers coming to Bookends’ signings will meet authors and get their books signed, we cannot guarantee that all attendees will meet the author or that all books will be signed. We cannot control inclement weather, author travel schedules or authors who leave prematurely.
Bookends, 211 E. Ridgewood Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ 07450 201-445-0726
Missed one of our events? We have Signed Books from some of our recent signings. Call the store to order 201-445-0726.
See Website for details at www.book-ends.com
