>Valley makes one last “Hail Mary” tonight , Valley asked the council to put off the vote and reconsider a modified Renewal plan .
Know as the “IMMACULATE RECEPTION” on December 23rd, 1972, with just 20 seconds left in the AFC Championship Game, rookie Steelers’ rookie running back Franco Harris scooped up a deflected pass and galloped 40 yards for a touchdown – putting the Steelers ahead of the Oakland Raiders 13-7.
(RIDGEWOOD-NJ) Valley makes one last “Hail Mary” tonight as Hospital President Audrey Meyers asked the council once again to put off the vote and reconsider a modified Renewal plan .
Ridgewood Village Council members voted tonight against changing the master plan to permit the Valley Hospital to go forward with it “Renewal.”
Last week the Village Council unanimously objected to the $750 million project, that would double the current size of the Hospital citing objections over traffic, air quality and the safety of residents and their homes.
In an effort best described as too little too late Hospital President Audrey Meyers dropped a bombshell last week when she finally after 5 years said the Hospital was will to compromise on the project. This comes on the heels of The State Health Planning Board giving the go ahead for Hackensack University Hospital to buy the former Pascack Valley Hospital facility in Westwood.
>Obama’s Job Approval Drops Below Carter’s November 29, 2011
President Obama’s slow ride down Gallup’s daily presidential job approval index has finally passed below Jimmy Carter, earning Obama the worst job approval rating of any president at this stage of his term in modern political history.
Since March, Obama’s job approval rating has hovered above Carter’s, considered among the 20th century’s worst presidents, but today Obama’s punctured Carter’s dismal job approval line. On their comparison chart, Gallup put Obama’s job approval rating at 43 percent compared to Carter’s 51 percent.
>N.J. Sen. Weinberg introduces measure opposing federal Right-to-Carry bill proposal
Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen) announced Friday she has introduced a legislative resolution condemning the “National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act of 2011,” saying that the federal proposal would undermine New Jersey’s gun control laws and states’ traditional role in deciding the best gun control strategies for each individual state.
“Historically, states have been given the right of self-determination when it comes to gun control,” Weinberg said. “Regardless of how you feel about New Jersey’s gun control laws, the federal legislation which was recently passed by the House would set a terrible precedent, and opens the door for Second Amendment activists elsewhere in the country to override New Jersey’s own laws. Hopefully, Governor Christie and our Congressional leaders will stand up for our state and oppose this overreaching federal bill.” (Hester, New Jersey Newsroom)
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2011 BY LESLIE BRODY STAFF WRITER THE RECORD
Bergen Community College has been warned that its “accreditation may be in jeopardy,” according to an oversight group, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.
That body alerted the state’s largest community college that it failed to show evidence that assessments of student learning were used to strengthen teaching, allocate resources and make sure graduates had acquired necessary skills. The commission also sought more proof the college had spelled out strategies for meeting its goals and used data to judge its performance.
BCC interim President Jose Adames called an emergency faculty meeting for this afternoon to discuss the warning, and the faculty union planned to meet immediately afterward.
“We take all of this very seriously,” Adames said. “I feel very confident we will demonstrate we have all the information Middle States is looking for.”
Bergen Community College is one of three schools now under a warning among the 48 New Jersey colleges and universities accredited by the commission. Essex County College and Kean University got warnings for similar problems in June.
>Village statement: on Jury award of $10 million to family of boy who drowned at Ridgewood pool
As stated at the time of the tragedy in 2008, The Village of Ridgewood is sympathizes with the family of Soo Hyeon Park for the loss of their son and brother.
At this time the Joint Insurance Fund and the Reinsurer for the JIF are reviewing the events in the trial to consider if it is appropriate for an appeal of the decision. All elected officials and staff of the Village are advised by council that it would not be appropriate to make further comments.
>NJ board votes to recommend reopening Pascack Valley in Westwood
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2011 BY LINDY WASHBURN STAFF WRITER THE RECORD
The State Health Planning Board has voted to recommend that Pascack Valley Hospital in Westwood be allowed to reopen.
The board voted five to one in favor of sending a recommendation to the state Health Commissioner to approve the project. Mary O’Dowd, the commissioner, has 120 days to make her decision.
Hackensack University Medical Center wants to open a 128-bed hospital at the site. After the vote, Hackensack’s president and CEO, Robert Garrett, said he was “elated.” If the commissioner approves the reopening, he said he hopes Pascack open during the fourth quarter of 2012.
Representatives of Englewood and The Valley Hospital, who have opposed the proposal for years, say they plan to sue the state Health Commissioner for a stay if she approves the project. But Richard Freeman, who has already been named chief executive of the proposed new hospital, said the joint venture will proceed towards an opening next fall.
>Christie slow to eliminate part-time employees from troubled retirement system
The boards of elections in the state’s 21 counties have frequently been used as a coveted parking spot for the well-connected, attracting such political bosses as Ocean County Republican Chairman George Gilmore and the wife of Essex County power broker Stephen Adubato Sr.
The part-time gig wouldn’t make someone rich, but it often came with gold-plated health benefits that could extend into retirement. It also allowed people to build up valuable time in the retirement system or cobble the job together with another public position for a higher pension.
That decades-old practice was supposed to change after Gov. Chris Christie joined with Democrats in March 2010 to pass legislation that would ultimately eliminate part-timers from the financially troubled retirement system, cutting off their access to health benefits and steering them into 401(k)-style plans. (Renshaw, The Star-Ledger)
>Incident on November 26 the staff of the Ridgewood blog
In an interesting turn of events the Superintend of Schools Daniel Fishbein has sen out an email blast to parents on an incident unrelated to a student in the Ridgewood school system.
The Ridgewood Police Department has received a report ,that on Saturday November 26th a women jogging on North Pleasant Avenue near Wyndemere Avenue around 9:30 am , was stooped by a white male approximately 45-55 years old asking for directions to Route 17. The women said the male then made inappropriate comments to her of a sexual nature and drove off.
The Ridgewood Police Department investigation of the incident is still ongoing If you have any information on this incident plaese call the Ridgewood police department at (201) 652-3900.
>The Right to mooch , Cornel West: Ultimate Fight For Entitlements Will Be In “The Streets”
“I think the problem is that the poor children, keep in mind it’s 42% of poor children who live at or near poverty, it’s 25% in poverty. Our audience needs to keep that in mind.” Cornel West said on MSNBC this afternoon.
“Poor children need more than just a $1,000 for their family, they need a war against poverty to make it a major priority in the way which we have a priority for Afghanistan, and a priority to bail out banks, and a priority to defend corporate interests when it comes to environmental issues,” West said about more and new entitlements for the poor.
Professor West didn’t just call for another war on poverty (the first war was fought by Lyndon B. Johnson), but went on to say that the push for more entitlements “is going to be fought in the streets.” West showered the Occupy movement with praise for making people aware of the issue.
Vincent Loncto is sworn in as Ridgewood schools trustee
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2011
BY EVONNE COUTROS
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
RIDGEWOOD – A former chief financial officer for major corporations was sworn in Monday night as the school district’s newest trustee.
Vincent Loncto took his seat as a trustee at Monday’s school board meeting at the district’s Education Center on Cottage Place.
The certified public accountant was one of six candidates interviewed for the trustee post after Charles Reilly resigned earlier this year.
“The school budget is in the process of being developed, so I’m coming in at the right time,” said Loncto, who retired earlier this year from a 40-year career in financial management.
“It has to be done collaboratively,” he said. “What we are talking about here is enhancing the quality of the school system under budgetary constraints. It is detail-intensive work.”
>As Far as I know the sidewalks are your responsibility.
As Far as I know (here a long time) the sidewalks are your responsibility.
Yet over in HHK, we know many people who got new sidewalks and curbs a few years ago at no cost to them at all, the town paid for the work completely. I checked with many people we know and they confirmed that as fact.
Maybe they got a grant or something- or maybe their officials knew something ours didn’t (I don’t know).
Again, where most of the money seems to go is on paying many higher ups at VH signif. more than their counterparts are paid for same jobs in sim. size nearby towns (by pop.) like Mahwah and Paramus. And now.. even bonuses for many already highly paid VH top people, too. Yet the real work does not get done – no money.
It’s not just sidewalks, the Village has been pushing things back on the taxpayer for a while now. Other examples include the part of sewer pipe under the street that goes to your house (not just what’s under your yard).
Also, many trees that were orig. planted by the Village but on the house side of the sidewalk as opposed to between sidewalk and curb. Apparently these were made yours retroactively some years ago, even if you could prove the Village planted them in 1st place.
Yet we pay very high taxes- even the muni part. And obviously the town is still a real mess from last storm.
If we simply paid at levels more comparable to what other towns pay for the higher-ups, we’d sure save some serious money.
And the answer to most anything over at VH always seems to be “sorry, no money” – whether it’s curbs, walks, storm drains or most anything.
But the leaves in the streets, I really think it has become time to stop that whole thing. Even years when we did not have storms like this year, very often many streets around town have been dangerous from all the huge piles in them.
Few obey the “7days before” rule anyhow and it’s not enforced. Also, the pickup schedules get changed, like this year – often from necessity.
So, stop the leaves in the street altogether. People can bag them and put at the curb. Or you can gather them and take to Recycling if you want. Or you can compost in your yard. Or if you have a landscaper you can arrange whatever you want with them. All these are very simple and viable alternatives.
Putting leaves in the street just creates big hazards. Also in many spots they then just blow down the street into everyone’s yards – even if those folks spent hours picking theirs up, they now have yours to deal with, over and over.
As I’ve posted before, a long time ago it was “tradition” here to BURN your leaves. So many people were careless that many fires resulted, and so that got changed.
It’s time to change putting leaves in streets now, too.
Last week, we almost got hit by a car pulling onto Glen from a side street- it was a low sports car and apparently could not see around a huge leaf pile someone put at a corner. Our car was heading down Glen from M/Park at the time. Close call- nearly plowed right into us.
Just one example, you can experience many more on many streets here.
It’s a problem with a pretty simple solution– just stop the practice and enforce it — at least on the busier streets. Less cost to taxpayers, more time for what crews we do have to focus on the many other things needing work, too.
It would need to be enforced with fines with some teeth, not a wink or slap on the wrist.
And though I don’t like having to see that be done, if it isn’t, people will just keep on creating the problem, sadly to say. The fines would need to be substantial enough to encourage compliance. After all, people are creating a hazard in the street when they do this.
Plus, your neighbors will appreciate your not creating skyscrapers that just blow into their yards over and over again, too.
>Jury awards $10 million to family of boy who drowned at Ridgewood pool
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2011 BY KIBRET MARKOS STAFF WRITER THE RECORD
The Village of Ridgewood was hit with a $10 million verdict Monday evening after a jury found that negligent supervision at Graydon Pool led to the drowning of a 13-year-old boy three years ago.
Soo Hyeon Park, his sister and his parents were visiting from South Korea and staying with friends in Ridgewood at the time. The boy was swimming in the pool with friends on July 15, 2008, when he began struggling to stay afloat and went under, said Neil Weiner, the attorney who represented the Park family.
Weiner said there were nine lifeguards on the stands around the pool that day, plus several others who were on duty at the time.
I have asked about this before, but it would be great to see the budget for extracurricular activities. How much is spent on football and the DECA club? What do the various programs cost? Do sports cost more than academic, arts and leadership clubs?
Football has the biggest roster that I have ever seen. Everyone gets to suit up and stand on the sidelines. It is not a matter of how many scholarships students receive or even how well the teams do. Why does our BOE (and most schools) value sports over other achievements? This culture of sports gets us nowhere. We need to focus on programs that are open to all students; taxes are paid by all residents. A lot of money was spent creating a stadium – and repairing it – for whose benefit? The PE classes did just fine with the old field. Let’s not pretend that we have created some award-winning PE program. The money was spent for sports. RHS is a college prep high school and some residents and BOE members seem to have lost sight of that. We have limited funds and we need to remember that it is Ridgewood High School, not the Ridgewood Sports Bubble.
>More parents opting out of school shots for their kids Published: Monday, November 28, 2011, 11:33 AM The Associated Press
More parents are opting out of school shots for their kids. In eight states now, more than 1 in 20 public school kindergartners aren’t getting all the vaccines required for attendance, an Associated Press analysis found.
That growing trend among parents seeking vaccine exemptions has health officials worried about outbreaks of diseases that once were all but stamped out.
The AP analysis found more than half of states have seen at least a slight rise in the rate of exemptions over the past five years. States with the highest exemption rates are in the West and Upper Midwest.
It’s “really gotten much worse,” said Mary Selecky, secretary of health for Washington state, where 6 percent of public school parents have opted out.
Education expenditures are even worse than Christie stated
You may have noted that I am not the biggest fan of our governor. But I must come to his defense when he is unfairly attacked. That seems to be the case whenever the PolitiFact people take a shot at him.
Not long ago, for example, they gave a “pants on fire” rating to Chris Christie’s statement that Obamacare represents “a government takeover of health care.” That is a matter of opinion, not fact. To conservatives, Obamacare does indeed represent a government takeover. Liberals may feel otherwise, but that’s the sort of argument that cannot be settled by resorting to facts. (Mulshine, The Star-Ledger)
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