Ridgewood Village Council authorizes another water rate increase
June 15,2912
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewod NJ, Ridgewood’s Village Council on Wednesday authorized a 2 percent rate increase for Ridgewood Water customers, boosting the total hike for this year to 5 percent. Ridgewood Water will now bill its customers in the Village of Ridgewood , Glen Rock, Midland Park and Wyckoff at a rate of $4.42 per 1,000 gallons ,up from the $4.33 per 1,000 gallons assessed since January 2012.
Village Manager Ken Gabbert. told the Ridgewood News that the new rate will go into effect “as rapidly as the billing company can process, anticipate within two weeks,”
Ridgewood officials continue maintain that the village utility’s rates are comparable and even cheaper than charges assessed by other water companies. According to Gabbert only Park Ridge and Hawthorne charge its customers at a rate less than Ridgewood and that operations in those towns are far smaller than Ridgewood’s distribution.
Ramsey Water Company charges a far higher rate for borough residents at $4.95 per 1,000 gallons for consumption more than 6,000 gallons. Ramsey Water provides service to Allendale, Mahwah and Upper Saddle River, charging residents in those towns $5.45 per 1,000 gallons for any use exceeding 6,000 gallons. United Water Resources , one of the largest water service providers in the country, charges its customers $5.30 per 1,000 gallons, according to the comparison chart provided by village officials.
According to Councilman Paul Aronsoh ,”Despite the increase, Ridgewood Water rates remain among the lowest in the state,” Resident of the Village do not feel so blessed , with skepticism over water quality growing and regular summer water restrictions reminding many of living in a third world country.One would wonder who long the Village will continue to play this charade trying to maintain a water utility it is ill equipped to run and unable to make the proper investments in ,the time seems long past for the Village to get out of the water business.
In the last three years, Ridgewood Water has raised its rates to its customers a shocking total of 31 percent. The increases between 2009 and 2011 are now the focus of the class-action lawsuit filed last year by Hackensack-based attorney Joseph Fiorenzo on behalf of Glen Rock, Midland Park and Wyckoff residents.
New Jersey has biggest monthly jobs gain in seven years
New Jersey added 17,600 jobs in May, its biggest employment gain in more than seven years, as governments filled seasonal positions and a new casino opened.
The unemployment rate rose to 9.2 percent, one percentage point above the U.S. level, as the state labor force expanded, Governor Chris Christie told reporters in Trenton. New Jersey accounted for one-fourth of all U.S. jobs added in May, he said.
Christie, a 49-year-old Republican who faces re-election in 2013, said the growth supports his “Jersey Comeback,” a turnaround that he said will allow the state to raise spending while reducing income taxes 10 percent over three years. Some Democratic lawmakers have questioned whether the state can afford a tax cut as revenue falls short of the projections in Christie’s $32.1 billion budget proposal. (Dopp, Bloomberg) https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-14/new-jersey-had-biggest-jobs-gain-in-7-years-christie-says-1-.html
This article appeared in The Wall Street Journal on June 13, 2012.
When the euro was created in 1999, Milton Friedman famously predicted its demise within a decade. He was wrong about the timing, but he may yet be proven right about the fact….If Europe had made the political decision for a federal state, a single currency would have been a natural outcome. When 17 states decided to adopt the euro first without political union, they got it backward.
The euro is the world’s first currency invented out of whole cloth. It is a currency without a country. The European Union is not a federal state, like the United States, but an agglomeration of sovereign states. European countries are plagued by rigidities, including those in labor markets—where language differences and the protection of trades and professions in many countries impede labor mobility. That makes it difficult for their economies to adjust to cyclical and structural economic shifts.
For such reasons, when the euro was created in 1999, Milton Friedman famously predicted its demise within a decade. He was wrong about the timing, but he may yet be proven right about the fact.
Greece is the epicenter of a currency and fiscal crisis in the euro zone. Markets fear a “Grexit,” or Greek exit from the euro. That exit is almost a foregone conclusion. The endgame for the euro will be played out in Spain.
But first to Greece, which is devolving from a money-using economy. Firms, households and even the government are short on cash. The government isn’t paying its suppliers and workers in a timely fashion, so households cannot pay their bills to businesses with whom they transact. Businesses, in turn, cannot pay their suppliers. There is a cascade of cash constraints.
The endgame for the euro will be played out in Spain.
Normally, credit supplements cash in economic transactions. But there is scant credit in Greece. Anyone who can is moving their money out of the country, either to banks in other euro-zone countries, such as Germany, or out of the euro to banks in Switzerland, the United Kingdom and U.S. (the franc, pound and dollar, respectively).
Five Things the Administration Forgot to Tell Women About Obamacare
Last week, the Obama Administration hosted a health care town hall that was intended to focus on Obamacare’s impact on women’s health.
The discussion was heavy on emotion and light on the details of Obamacare’s provisions. The Administration’s generic talking points may or may not resonate with American women, but surely the real impact of Obamacare will—and in ways that are not favorable to the Administration.
Here’s a summary of the adverse effects that some specific provisions will have on the women the Administration claims to be helping:
Decreased Choice. Obamacare mandates that insurers cover preventive services recommended by the United State Preventive Services Task Force with no cost-sharing. This has quickly turned the task force’s recommendations for doctors and patients into requirements on insurers and employers that could lead them to cover only services that are required of them.
Higher Premiums. Obamacare’s “free” preventive services will still be paid for by the consumer. Insurers and employers are not going to absorb those costs; they will simply pass them on to consumers through higher premiums.
Blatantly Unjust Premiums. Obamacare’s new age rating system causes insurers to charge unnaturally low premiums for older adults and higher premiums for younger adults. Actuaries estimate that this will increase premiums for ages 18–24 by 45 percent and ages 25–29 by 35 percent, regardless of gender.
Increased Dependence on Government and its Bureaucrats. Obamacare expands the role of government and gives extensive authority to the Secretary of HHS. As depicted in “The Life of Julia,” the Obama campaign envisions cradle-to-grave dependence on government for American women. Under Obamacare, more than half of all Americans will be dependent on the federal government for health care by 2020.
Violation of Religious Liberty. At the town hall, when discussing the women-specific preventive care mandate that requires insurers to cover contraception, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs without cost-sharing, the Administration failed to mention that while it exempts churches from this mandate, it does not waive religious hospitals, schools, or charities that find such products morally objectionable on religious grounds. That violates the First Amendment right to freedom of religion for all Americans—regardless of gender or faith.
American women don’t want to be dependent on failed government-run health care like “Julia” would be under Obamacare. To see what Julia’s life would be like with less government and more choice, check out Heritage’s version of Julia’s life with conservative health care reforms.
The American Spirit
Paul Gallagher
June 14, 2012 at 9:27 am
Many Americans proudly hang the Stars and Stripes on June 14 to celebrate Flag Day. On that day in 1777, the Second Continental Congress formally adopted the emblem under which generations of Americans have lived, fought and died. More than any other flag in the world, it symbolizes freedom and celebrates the optimism of our Founding Fathers.
Yet today we have voices suggesting that America’s best days are behind her. The experiment, they insist, is over.
“The American dream is a myth,” writes Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate in economics, in a recent op-ed. A new USA Today/Gallup poll shows that nearly six in 10 think that the next generation won’t live better than their parents do today.
Such pessimism, however, is unwarranted. More importantly, it’s counter-productive. Even if things were as bad as some people suggest, there is a solution, as Ed Feulner, president of The Heritage Foundation reminds us in his weekly column:
Negative thoughts like this are nothing new. It stands to reason that tough economic times will breed pessimism. Sometimes, though, we need to remind ourselves of the principles this country was founded on, and reconnect with the genius that created the United States of America, the only country founded not on identity, but on ideas.
Feulner, in fact, has just written a book designed to do just that. Co-authored with Heritage trustee Brian Tracy, “The American Spirit: Celebrating the Virtues and Values That Make Us Great“ is a wake-up call for those who may find themselves discouraged by the challenges we face as a nation at this critical moment in history.
Why would such a book be necessary? As Brian explains in the introduction: “Today, millions of Americans are not clear about why the United States is the greatest country on earth and in all human history.” They know they’re free. But they may have never reflected on why their nation is unique — not only in the world right now, but in human history.
As Feulner writes:
“Consider the phrase ‘the American Dream.’ The words themselves reveal something extraordinary. In all the history of man, there has been only one country with the word ‘dream’ attached to it. There is no French Dream or Russian Dream or Chinese Dream. There is only the American Dream, to which people worldwide aspire and have aspired since our founding. From 194 countries, people have come to America to pursue this dream.
“In America, people care very much who you are. They care little about your background. In America, you can start from anywhere, with or without benefits and advantages from your family, and make your own way and your own life. At any time, you can decide to change and do something completely different. Your life is yours to chart.
“In my opinion, this freedom to define your own destiny ultimately derives from the Judeo-Christian tradition. God created us in His own image, and just as God is free, so we are meant for freedom.”
The question, then, is what the relationship of government should be to man. Is man there to serve the government? No. In America, it is very much the other way around — despite the many attempts by liberals to change that relationship throughout our history.
Feulner continues:
“Government’s purpose is not to impose some elite-inspired vision of the good society on the rest of us, but to empower men and women to use their God-given freedom as they choose.
“This opportunity has its roots in our extraordinary founding in 1776. Having such freedom is more the exception than the rule throughout much of human history. The republican form of government had mostly been consigned to the history books since the fall of Rome. Monarchies had ruled the leading powers of the world for centuries.
“By choosing a republic, where the governed control the government — not the other way around — the Founding Fathers displayed faith in the individual’s ability to know better than any elected or appointed official what is best for himself and his family. That’s why they created a Constitution that protects our God-given rights from government. The government does not grant those rights to us as citizens.”
It’s all too easy, in the face of so many difficult problems, to throw up our hands in despair. One look at our flag, however, watered by the blood and sweat of patriots for more than 200 years, ought to cure that temptation. As Feulner’s book reminds us, the American Spirit is alive and well, provided we’re willing to believe in it and do our part to nurture our irreplaceable birthright of freedom.
Will new accounting rules force NJ to put billions more into pension payments?
The national Government Accounting Standards Board is poised to approve new rules requiring pension systems to calculate their return on investment more conservatively. The change will require New Jersey to more than double its current $44 billion net pension liability on official balance sheets and could force the state to increase pension contributions in future budgets.
“If New Jersey’s pension contributions have to comply with the new GASB standards, the state would have to put $5 billion into the system in Fiscal Year 2016, not $3 billion,” said Frank J. Abella Jr., chief executive officer of Investment Partners Asset Management Inc., indicated to state Treasury officials after last month’s State Investment Council meeting. (Magyar, NJ Spotlight)
Longer school days in the lesson plan for some N.J. districts?
More than two dozen school districts in New Jersey could have longer school days and school years under legislation the Assembly Education Committee is scheduled to take up today.
The bill (A1391) would create a three-year pilot program. Up to 25 districts could take part after applying to the state commissioner of education. Corporations would foot the bill for the extra time, then be reimbursed with tax credits from the state.
“I’m just hoping that we can get these kids that may be struggling an opportunity to have more time in that classroom with their teachers, to get whatever they’re learning across,” said Assemblyman Charles Mainor (D-Hudson), a sponsor along with Assemblyman Gilbert “Whip” Wilson. (Friedman, The Star-Ledger)
Father’s Day Opus X and More at Tobacco Shop of Ridgewood
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The Tobacco Shop of Ridgewood | 10 Chestnut Street | Ridgewood, New Jersey 07450
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Hours: Monday – Saturday 10:00AM – 5:30PM and Thursday Night 6:30PM – 8:30PM
Ridgewood High School graduate sings with ‘Glee Project’
FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 2012
BY LAURA HERZOG
STAFF WRITER
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Robert Ulrich – a Hollywood casting director of popular television shows such as “Glee,” “CSI,” “The Mentalist” and “Dexter” – knows stars. That’s why he cast Ridgewood High School (RHS) graduate Ali Stroker in one of his most recent projects.
Stroker is one of 14 contestants competing in the second season of “The Glee Project,” a reality competition show searching for a triple threat entertainer to cast on a seven-episode arc of the award-winning musical series “Glee.” Ulrich, who also stars as a mentor on the show, eagerly expressed his belief in Stroker.
New Ridgewood Police Car in action Photo by Boyd Loving
New Ridgewood police cars make debut
TUESDAY JUNE 12, 2012, 11:52 AM
BY DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
The Ridgewood Police Department (RPD) has moved two older cruisers out of primary use and slotted five new police cars into its patrol rotation. Several delays, including problems with purchase orders, postponed the unveiling of the new cars, but the black and white vehicles finally hit village streets in mid-May.
According to Police Chief John Ward, the new cars are equipped with emergency lights, sirens and radios and medical bags, but only three have been installed with proper computers and other advanced electronics. The department has received the computers and mounts for the remaining two cars, but installation of the equipment had not occurred as of Wednesday.
A delay in physically rolling out a new emergency vehicle is not uncommon for a police department, Ward said. A lot of lead time is involved, he said, suggesting that weeks can pass before equipment is installed.
Ridgewood trainer, athletes make video on concussion awareness
SUNDAY JUNE 10, 2012, 10:47 PM
BY JEFF ROBERTS
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
Her little white lies had fooled them all.
Kelci Smesko wore them like a disguise — one rooted in denial not deception — along with a disarming smile and happy façade.
The Ridgewood lacrosse and basketball player was desperate for everything to be fine. So the honors student faked it, no matter how depressed she had been left two years ago by post-concussion syndrome.
“I think I did a good job of acting like I was happy,” said Smesko, an All-American in lacrosse headed to Duke. “But it got to a point where I couldn’t do it anymore.
The Fourth of July was traditionally celebrated as America’s birthday, but the idea of an annual day specifically celebrating the Flag is believed to have first originated in 1885. BJ Cigrand, a schoolteacher, arranged for the pupils in the Fredonia, Wisconsin Public School, District 6, to observe June 14 (the 108th anniversary of the official adoption of The Stars and Stripes) as ‘Flag Birthday’. In numerous magazines and newspaper articles and public addresses over the following years, Cigrand continued to enthusiastically advocate the observance of June 14 as ‘Flag Birthday’, or ‘Flag Day’.
On June 14, 1889, George Balch, a kindergarten teacher in New York City, planned appropriate ceremonies for the children of his school, and his idea of observing Flag Day was later adopted by the State Board of Education of New York. On June 14, 1891, the Betsy Ross House in Philadelphia held a Flag Day celebration, and on June 14 of the following year, the New York Society of the Sons of the Revolution, celebrated Flag Day.
Following the suggestion of Colonel J Granville Leach (at the time historian of the Pennsylvania Society of the Sons of the Revolution), the Pennsylvania Society of Colonial Dames of America on April 25, 1893 adopted a resolution requesting the mayor of Philadelphia and all others in authority and all private citizens to display the Flag on June 14th. Leach went on to recommend that thereafter the day be known as ‘Flag Day’, and on that day, school children be assembled for appropriate exercises, with each child being given a small Flag.
Two weeks later on May 8th, the Board of Managers of the Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution unanimously endorsed the action of the Pennsylvania Society of Colonial Dames. As a result of the resolution, Dr. Edward Brooks, then Superintendent of Public Schools of Philadelphia, directed that Flag Day exercises be held on June 14, 1893 in Independence Square. School children were assembled, each carrying a small Flag, and patriotic songs were sung and addresses delivered.
In 1894, the governor of New York directed that on June 14 the Flag be displayed on all public buildings. With BJ Cigrand and Leroy Van Horn as the moving spirits, the Illinois organization, known as the American Flag Day Association, was organized for the purpose of promoting the holding of Flag Day exercises. On June 14th, 1894, under the auspices of this association, the first general public school children’s celebration of Flag Day in Chicago was held in Douglas, Garfield, Humboldt, Lincoln, and Washington Parks, with more than 300,000 children participating.
Adults, too, participated in patriotic programs. Franklin K. Lane, Secretary of the Interior, delivered a 1914 Flag Day address in which he repeated words he said the flag had spoken to him that morning: “I am what you make me; nothing more. I swing before your eyes as a bright gleam of color, a symbol of yourself.”
Inspired by these three decades of state and local celebrations, Flag Day – the anniversary of the Flag Resolution of 1777 – was officially established by the Proclamation of President Woodrow Wilson on May 30th, 1916. While Flag Day was celebrated in various communities for years after Wilson’s proclamation, it was not until August 3rd, 1949, that President Truman signed an Act of Congress designating June 14th of each year as National Flag Day.
First Soda, Now Milk: NYC Wants To Extend Ban to Popcorn, Milk Drinks…can the dolts in Trenton be far behind?
We warned you when they went after smoking , power mad politicians will always look to run your life
Wednesday, 13 Jun 2012 11:35 AM
By Andra Varin
First it was large, sugary soft drinks. Now, the New York City diet police want to take away moviegoers’ jumbo tubs of popcorn as well.
The city’s Board of Health plans to hold a public hearing on July 24 on Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s proposal to ban sales of 16-ounce soft drinks in restaurants, movie theaters, and sports arenas. Bloomberg says getting rid of the supersized, high-calorie beverages will help stem the obesity epidemic.
At a meeting Tuesday night, Board of Health members — who are all appointed by the mayor — expressed support for Bloomberg’s plan, and suggested broadening it to include other fattening snacks.
One member, Dr. Bruce Vladeck, said it would be a good idea to limit the sizes of buttery popcorn sold in movie theaters.
“Popcorn isn’t a whole lot better from the nutritional point of view than soda is, and may have even more calories,” Vladeck said.
Milk-based drinks are also coming under scrutiny.
“There are certainly milkshakes and milk-coffee beverages that have monstrous amounts of calories,” said board member Dr. Joel Forman. “I’m not so sure what the rationale is not to include those.”
Union aims to organize the unemployed
Published: 12:10 AM 06/13/2012
America’s jobless are unionizing, or at least furthering an agenda of one of the nation’s biggest unions.
An organization aimed at giving the unemployed more influence has announced it now has more than 100,000 jobless activists in their ranks.
The Union of Unemployed (UCubed) Activists is an Internet-centric “community service project” of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) — one of the country’s largest industrial trade unions
A man claiming to be aboard a yacht called the Blind Date triggered a massive search on Monday when he reported three people dead, nine injured and 21 abandoning ship after an explosion 20 miles off Sandy Hook
Wednesday, Jun 13, 2012 | Updated 2:05 PM EDT
The Coast Guard says it’s getting leads from the public about the fake distress call involving a boat explosion off the coast of New Jersey.
Spokesman Charles Rowe says they are investigating everything that comes in.
A man claiming to be aboard a yacht called the Blind Date triggered a massive search on Monday when he reported three people dead, nine injured and 21 abandoning ship after an explosion 20 miles off Sandy Hook.
The search took five hours and cost rescue agencies more than $300,000.
Officials believe the hoax originated on land in either New Jersey or Staten Island, N.Y.
The Coast Guard is offering a $3,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and prosecution.
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