>SALUTE A CHAMPION: RHS PRINCIPAL RECEIVES AWARD

Hackensack, New Jersey – Bergen County Executive Kathleen A. Donovan and the Departmentof Human Services, Division on Disability Services announced that the 13th Annual “Salute toChampions” will take place October 28th 2011, from 10 – Noon in the Freeholders PublicMeeting Room.  “This event recognizes unique accomplishments of individuals with disabilities and those persons in the community who perform selfless acts of assistance and advocacy on behalf of persons with disabilities” said Donovan.
“We are extremely fortunate to have so many individuals from this area who demonstrate acommitment to the importance of inclusion and changing attitudes,” said Jim Thebery, M.A.,CSW, Division Director.  “We are extremely proud of all of our champions.  I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all of the 2011 award recipients who make a tremendous difference in the lives of so many individuals” he said.
The 2011 award recipients include Ridgewood High School Principal, John Lorenz, who helpeddevelop the “S.A.I.L.” Program (Strategic Actions and Innovations Program) designed toprovide students with special needs the ability to become independent learners. “The S.A.I.L program is a godsend,” said Ridgewood Councilman Paul Aronsohn.  “By keepingour special needs students in-district, the program is a win for them, a win for the other students and a win for our entire community.”
“Jack’s vision and passion have made it all possible,” explained Aronsohn.The Division on Disability Services provides such services as Meals-on-Wheels, PersonalAssistance Services, Respite Care, Information and Referral, Caregiver Education, Post Strokeand Disabled Adult Support Groups.

>Why money can be found NOW for this work at Habernickel , yet time and again the answer is “no money” from Village Hall when you ask about repairs to streets, curbs, walks, storm drains, sewers, and many other things?


Still would love to know why money can be found NOW for this work, yet time and again the answer is “no money” from Village Hall when you ask about repairs to streets, curbs, walks, storm drains, sewers, and many other things.

This has been the case for several years. Over and over you are told “no money” to fix badly decayed infrastructure or even to hook up some storm drains not connected to mains and which then back up and flood streets and some homes, even in moderate storms or less-than-blizzard snow.

Yet “no money” over and over on those things… but magically money is found to do this stuff now – and for retroactive raises and on and on.

And again, if projects like Habernickel are fully paid by grants specific to each site, then sure, go ahead now.

But they are not. Money is taken for doing them now that should be used for other things like the urgent infrastructure needs. Those problems have been waiting and getting much worse for years… yet the answer’s always “no money”. They- and lots of other muck– get swept under the rug.

Fields are nice, sure. But Village owned infrastructure that is falling apart and damaging many properties time and again should warrant a higher priority for spending tax dollars than finding money to demolish a house NOW which could be bringing in revenue, as indeed it had been doing.

I’m not against fields at all, but sure am against spending tax dollars for projects like that when there are so many other basic things long past their lifespan and falling apart. Fix those first, THEN use future dollars for the other stuff.

Next thing probably is that they’ll do what has been done with sewer lines, some former Village trees and much else–give the falling apart stuff to you the homeowner– retroactively of course.

And then tell you “oops, your part of the street is falling apart, you’ll have to fix that or we will assess you a zillion bucks and do it for you”.

Oh by the way, if you wanna do that newly mandated work yourself, you’ll have to meet all the Village specs and pay for a cop to watch if any street disruption is needed to fix your part of the street.

You’ll also have to pay for our engineering fees, permits and loads more on that little project we’ve just handed you.

Oh, and did we mention your share of the storm drain we built in the dark ages but never connected now must be connected, so we’re going to charge you extra for that too?

And no, you can’t charge US anything for all that runoff water we deposited on your property because of that unconnected drain that the Village used to own. Nor for any damage it might have caused.

It’s now yours– and so if any more water is discharged from it, we will be charging you for the cost of cleaning that up, too.

Can I put up a toll booth on what you now say is my part of the street to recoup these costs? Uh, no, you can’t do that, either. Oh, and we’re raising your taxes and will now charge you some more new fees, too. Have a nice day!

It’s obviously ridiculous of course, right? Yet with many things, retroactively, the Village has done that already – that’s a fact.

So.. isn’t it time to demand your tax dollars be used for these other urgently needed things first? THEN use what’s left for the other stuff.. or wait to do it until there’s money for it.

What a concept, huh?

>Certainly, drivers have a responsibility to yield to pedestrians crossing the street. But, regardless of local and state laws, pedestrians have a responsibility to exercise caution when stepping or riding into a roadway

On two different occasions this weekend, I was sitting at stop signs waiting to cross Ridgewood Ave (not in the heart of the CBD).

In one instance, as the traffic cleared and I prepared to pull forward, a high school age boy on a bike rode out in front of my car with one hand on the handle bars and one hand holding a cell phone to his ear. He didn’t slow down as he left the sidewalk and crossed in front of me. Nor did he even look to see if the cars waiting to cross the intersection were starting to move.

In the second instance, a group of teen age girls, engrossed in their conversation, stepped off the curve and crossed the street just as I began to pull forward, forcing me to stop again. They did not even look up to see if a car might be coming and just assumed that the traffic would stop for them.

These are not uncommon occurrences and lead me to question whether we are overlooking the responsibility of pedestrians to take responsibility for their own actions. It reminds me of people, who want to blame Wall Street for the financial crisis in 2008 and don’t hold accountable the millions of borrowers, who took out irresponsible mortgages that they could not afford.

Certainly, drivers have a responsibility to yield to pedestrians crossing the street. But, regardless of local and state laws, pedestrians have a responsibility to exercise caution when stepping or riding into a roadway. What ever happened to “looking both ways before crossing a busy street”? Let’s not be too quick to assume the rash of traffic accidents over the past few years are the sole fault of careless drivers. It seems that this is an extension of the “nanny state” mentality that our current political leaders seem to be embracing.