NJ Tea Party Coalition will be celebrating the birth of our country by marching in the Ridgewood July 4th Parade

NJ Tea Party Coalition will be celebrating the birth of our country by marching in the Ridgewood July 4th Parade with a large float supported by American Patriots, members of NJTPC!

Any veteran who cannot walk can ride on the float.

The year’s theme is “Born in New Jersey”

North Jersey Regional Tea Party and the Jersey City Tea Party Alliance, great friends of ours will also be joining us for this event….they and NJTPC were all “BORN” in NJ! The counties of Bergen, Passaic and Hudson will all be represented by the marchers.

If you would like to march in this year’s parade, expect to arrive by 9:00 AM to queue up. We will meet on Monroe Street and West Ridgewood Avenue. Information will be posted on the website at www.njteapartycoalition.org

The parade should end around noon or shortly thereafter, and thus you will have time for family activities if you leave at that time. Should you choose to stay after the parade, a schedule of the Ridgewood activities AFTER the parade can be found: https://www.ridgewoodjuly4th.org

Tell your friends and bring them with you to march with us or cheer us on from the sidelines- get the word out……let’s all come together in support of this great day, July 4th!

Please wear your tea party shirt or a red, white or blue t-shirt, but no slogans or signs – thank you for your understanding of the parade guidelines.

Diesel Retrofit program fall short

“Ambitious” program to reduce diesel pollution racks up one retrofit

A much-touted pilot program to reduce harmful pollution from off-road construction vehicles only has retrofitted one of hundreds of pieces of equipment targeted for upgrades, according to the Office of the State Auditor.

The audit of a range of programs initiated by the state Department of Environmental Protection found, by and large, a diesel retrofit program targeting school buses, waste-hauling vehicles, and commercial buses was working reasonably well.

But the eight-page audit suggested improvements should be made to the verification of the retrofitted off-road equipment, which, according to the governor’s office, accounts for one-third of toxic mobile source diesel particulate emissions in New Jersey.  (Johnson, NJ Spotlight)

https://www.njspotlight.com/stories/12/0702/2108/

Gift card provider will return to N.J. market after change in law

A major gift card provider, InComm, announced Monday it would immediately return its gift cards, including Visa and MasterCard gift cards, to the Garden State.

“We plan to continue selling gift cards in New Jersey indefinitely as long as there is no requirement to collect consumer data at the point of sale,” said Brooks Smith, president and CEO of InComm, in the company’s announcement. “InComm intends to spend the next four years working to have any such data collection requirement permanently removed from the law.”  (Caliendo, NJBIZ)

https://www.njbiz.com/article/20120702/NJBIZ01/120709981/Gift-card-provider-will-return-to-NJ-market-after-change-in-law

Hospitals group offers ACA penalty calculator for employers

While the individual mandate received the most attention while the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 was under Supreme Court review, the clauses making up the “employer mandate” are forcing employers to make difficult decisions about benefits.

To help with these complex decisions about offering coverage to employees, the New Jersey Hospital Association launched a new tool on Monday called RIPE – Reform Insurance Penalty Estimator – to help employers determine if they are at risk for penalties.

Under the law, by 2014, employers with more than 50 employees who do not offer insurance will face a penalty. Employers who do provide insurance but not meet federal requirements of affordability and “essential” coverage can also face penalties.  (Caliendo, NJBIZ)

https://www.njbiz.com/article/20120702/NJBIZ01/120709980/Hospitals-group-offers-ACA-penalty-calculator-for-employers

Sen. Lesniak angry at Christie veto of state “land grab bill”

After building support among Realtors, developers, banks and housing advocates in New Jersey for legislation to transform foreclosed homes into affordable housing, Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Union) was angered — but not at all surprised — when Gov. Chris Christie took a veto pen to his measure on Friday.

“Foreclosed homes are a huge drag on economic development and job growth. Everybody knows that, but not (Christie),” Lesniak said. “We put in a lot of effort and had a lot of support behind this, and he just dismissed it with a stroke of a pen. He’s not coming up with any ideas. I’m gonna try to come up with something else, but it’s not gonna matter if the governor doesn’t care.”  (Eder, NJBIZ)

https://www.njbiz.com/article/20120702/NJBIZ01/120709979/Lesniak-angry-at-Christie-veto-of-affordable-housing-bill

Christie asks N.J. lawmakers to turn tax increase into cuts

Whether it takes a day, a week or months for New Jersey lawmakers to pass a tax cut, the outcome would be the same: no relief until at least 2013, if then.

Governor Chris Christie, a Republican, conditionally vetoed a measure backed by Democrats to raise the income-tax rate on those earning $1 million or more a year. He sent the bill back and convened a special legislative session yesterday with an appeal to produce a levy rollback.

“A bipartisan tax-cut plan is on all of your desks right now,” Christie said in remarks to lawmakers yesterday. “Let’s show our state we can work together and finish the job before we leave.” Tomorrow is a U.S. holiday, Independence Day.   (Dopp and Young, Bloomberg)

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-02/christie-prods-lawmakers-to-turn-tax-increase-into-cut.html

Reader says Time to privatize Ridgewood Water

It is time to privatize this or make into a public-private partnership, and let the other towns it serves have a stake in owning it (if they want to) as well as in sharing in all of the costs of running it if they become co-owners. There’s a lot of murk in Ridgewood Water, it sure does seem, and it’s been going on for ages, getting murkier all the time.

I bet that either United Water or Aqua America would have great interest in something like that. United currently charges much more than Rwd Water per m/gallons, but so does HHK for that matter. I don’t know Aqua’s current rates in the NJ markets it serves, but I think they are less than United’s.

Point is that it’s time to make the water utility fully supported only by its customers – the ratepayers – and nothing else. Village finances, bonding, and many other things should not be so intertwined with Rwd Water, since fact is the utility has always served many customers outside of the Village anyway.

If other towns it serves want to own a stake, they can put up the money and do so under such an arrangement. If not, they could continue to be just customers -but of a new entity that is fully financed, administered etc etc on its own – based totally on its ratepayers, just like many other utilities work.

Aren’t we already doing pub/priv partnership on wastewater? So why not on the water utility?

RECESSION : Manufacturing In U.S. “Unexpectedly” Contracted In June
By Shobhana Chandra – Jul 2, 2012 4:21 PM ET

Manufacturing in the U.S. unexpectedly shrank in June for the first time since the economy emerged from the recession three years ago, indicating a mainstay of the expansion may be faltering.

The Institute for Supply Management’s index fell to 49.7, worse than the most-pessimistic forecast in a Bloomberg News survey, from 53.5 in May, the Tempe, Arizona-based group’s report showed today. Figures less than 50 signal contraction. Measures of orders, production and export demand dropped to three-year lows.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-02/manufacturing-in-u-s-unexpectedly-contracted-in-june-economy.html

Financial Giants Are Moving Jobs Off Wall Street
By NELSON D. SCHWARTZ
Published: July 1, 2012

New York’s biggest investment houses are shifting jobs out of the area and expanding in cheaper locales in the United States, threatening the vast middle tier of positions that form the backbone of employment on Wall Street.

The shift comes even as banks consider deeper staff cuts here, which could undermine the state and city tax base long term.

“Places like New York or London will remain financial centers, but most of the players are taking a much harder look and asking whether they can move large numbers of jobs,” said James Malick, a partner at the Boston Consulting Group who advises banks on relocation. In addition to higher taxes in the New York region, employers face real estate and labor costs significantly above the national average.

Consultants say they have seen a sharp pickup in this trend, known as near-shoring, as opposed to offshoring overseas. Goldman Sachs, during a presentation to investors in late May, even boasted of the cost savings that relocating jobs can bring.

https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/02/business/finance-jobs-leave-wall-street-as-firms-cut-costs.html?pagewanted=all

Judge: Twitter Must Turn Over Occupy Wall Street Protester’s Tweets

Prosecutors say the messages could show whether Malcom Harris was aware of police orders he’s charged with disregarding
Monday, Jul 2, 2012

Twitter has been ordered to give a New York City judge almost three months’ worth of an Occupy Wall Street protester’s tweets despite the social-networking company’s efforts to fight prosecutors’ demand for the messages.

Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Matthew Sciarrino Jr. also ruled Monday that prosecutors would need a search warrant — not just a subpoena — to get the final day’s worth of tweets they seek from Malcolm Harris. That’s because of a time frame set by federal law.

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Occupy-Wall-Street-Protester-Malcolm-Harris-Tweet-Ruling-Judge-Subpoena-Prosecutor-161089825.html

As state ramps up reliance on solar, it looks at new ways to meet goals

With the state ramping up its reliance on solar energy, there is now a push to overhaul how New Jersey goes about meeting its aggressive goals to increase its dependence on renewable energy.

The proposal, first floated by the New Jersey Division of Rate Counsel, would no longer require power suppliers to meet mandates, known as Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS), in the electricity they supply to utilities in an annual auction conducted each February.  (Johnson, NJ Spotlight)

www.njspotlight.com/stories/12/0701/2020/

Norcross: Rutgers-Rowan partnership ‘most important thing’ for Camden in 50 years

When both houses of the Legislature passed a complex bit of legislation to merge parts of New Jersey’s three largest universities, it was a proud moment for George E. Norcross III, for whom the announcement represented the culmination of a decade’s worth of work.

“This is the most important thing to happen in the city of Camden for 50 years,” said Norcross, the influential power broker who runs Conner, Strong & Buckelew and chairs the board of Cooper University Hospital. “A lot of people came together and did the impossible by June 30, (which) every talking head predicted would never happen.”  (Waters, NJBIZ)

https://www.njbiz.com/article/20120629/NJBIZ01/120629794/Norcross:-Rutgers-Rowan-partnership-%27most-important-thing%27-for-Camden-in-50-years