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“Parking Authority” vs. “Parking Utility”

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“Parking Authority” vs. “Parking Utility”
September 3rd 2014 

Boyd A. Loving
11:46 PM

What are the differences between Parking Authorities and Parking Utilities in the State of NJ, and why does Ridgewood choose to retain a Parking Utility?

Parking Authority

The Legislature of the State of New Jersey in 1948 adopted N.J.S.A. 40:11A et seq., commonly known as the “Parking Authority Law,” which authorized municipal governments to create an independent parking authority. A parking authority has the same geographic boundaries as the city that created it but is “a public body corporate and politic and a political subdivision of the State (of New Jersey).” ANew Jersey parking authority has five commissioners who are appointed by the governing body of the municipality (city council or city commissioners) for staggered five-year terms, or seven commissioners with two mayoral appointments and five governing body appointments. A parking authority may employ an executive director, attorney, engineer, accountant, and any other professionals and staff necessary to manage and deliver parking services to the city’s residents and the general public.

As noted elsewhere in this report, New Jersey parking authorities have extraordinary statutory authority. N.J.S.A. 40:11A-6 grants parking authorities the powers necessary to carry out and effectuate essential government purposes. Furthermore, parking authorities may buy, sell and/or lease property as a lessee or lessor; construct multiuse projects and parking facilities; borrow money; issue bonds; mortgage or otherwise encumber its assets; enter into contracts; and retain earnings.

Because parking authorities fund their operations from revenue derived from parking user fees rather than through real estate taxation, and board members traditionally are appointed from the business community, parking authorities tend to be operated like a business. Parking authorities are conscious of the fact that annual expenses should not exceed parking revenue. Surplus annual revenue is retained to pay for renewal and replacement repairs at existing parking facilities and to purchase real estate or build new facilities.

The strength of a parking authority is its independence. The parking authority’s commissioners are appointed, not elected, public officials. Consequently, a parking authority board of commissioners can make difficult planning decisions such as raising parking rates, installing parking meters, increasing parking enforcement, acquiring property by eminent domain, or selecting a location to construct a parking facility without regard to its immediate political consequence. A parking authority provides elected officials with a measure of political cover in that the authority’s decisions are the result of the actions of the authority’s board rather than the city’s governing council/commission.

Among the other advantages of a parking authority:

• Its debt is outside the municipalities bonding limit (Cap)

• Its sole purpose and function is to construct, maintain, and operate public parking

• It can retain earnings and accumulate surplus revenue for capital projects

• It can develop income-producing mixed-use projects exempt from real estate taxes, which are intended to subsidize the cost of providing public parking.

The negatives of a parking authority are the reverse side of its strengths. Parking authorities are independent and, on occasion, choose to raise parking fees or pursue goals, objectives, or projects that are not supported by a majority of the municipal governing body. Parking authorities are not directly controlled by the local governing body, which has the power only to appoint or reappoint one authority commissioner per year to the authority’s member board. Parking authorities traditionally have generated revenue surpluses at year end or have accumulated significant financial reserves through retained earnings that local municipal governments prefer be utilized for taxpayer relief or be transferred to the municipality’s general fund to offset the city’s operating budget expenses.

Based upon a review of Who’s Who in Parking 2005, published by the International Parking Institute (IPI), there are seven states—Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, New Jersey, Ohio, and Pennsylvania—that have parking authorities. However, it should be noted that Miami is the only parking authority in the state of Florida that was created by a special act of the legislature. The state of New Jersey has approximately thirty parking authorities, more than any other state in the nation.

Parking Utility

A municipality, as an alternative to a parking authority, may create a parking utility. A parking utility has a number of the strengths of a parking authority: executive director; operating budget and debt service separate from the municipality; ability to generate annual surplus revenue and retain earnings; ability to set its own rates and fees; and a function strictly limited to providing public parking.

Among the negatives associated with a parking utility: limited independence; the executive director usually reports through the city administrator/manager or CFO; the local governing body retains jurisdiction over rates, fees, capital projects, operating budget, and personnel; and parking revenues in excess of annual operating expenses generally are turned over to the city’s general fund.

The good news/bad news aspects of a parking utility are that the municipal governing body maintains virtual control of the parking entity. However, the hands-on control exercised by the municipal governing body places parking planning and decision making within the political process.

In municipal environments where control of the mayor’s office and governing body are continually contested, parking can become a political rather than a planning issue, which may affect a parking utility’s ability to aggressively pursue public parking improvements and objectives.

There are at least four parking utilities within the state of New Jersey: East Brunswick, Hoboken, Princeton, and Trenton.

The Answer:

Parking Utility revenues in excess of annual operating expenses are moved over to the Village’s general fund. If Ridgewood had a Parking Authority all these years, all revenues collected (and not stolen) would have been used exclusively to maintain and/or improve parking. There would be no parking problem now, because there would have been plenty of money to resolve it.

Proving once again ladies and gentlemen that you can’t have your cake and eat it too!

(Special thanks go to James Ten Hoeve, who revealed the answer publicly several years ago.)

Esurance

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Ridgewood Art Institute: Reminder to Pick Up Summer Show Paintings

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Ridgewood Art Institute: Reminder to Pick Up Summer Show Paintings
September 2, 2014
7:13 PM (19 hours ago)


Ridgewood NJ, With the ongoing construction, reduced storage and another show soon to take place, it would be very much appreciated if Summer Show exhibiting artists would retrieve all of their work during the scheduled pick up dates.
 
Summer Show Pickup: September 2nd-5th

Many Thanks for your Cooperation!

Esurance

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Sen. Mike Lee: ‘Common Core standards will be the ObamaCare of education’

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Sen. Mike Lee: ‘Common Core standards will be the ObamaCare of education’

September 2, 2014

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Mike Lee and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal have a message for Big Government: stop meddling in local education decisions.

“As a U.S. Senator, I’ve seen the federal government make a mess of everything it touches,” Lee, a Republican from Utah, wrote in a recent email sent to supporters through the free market group FreedomWorks.

“And if they’re allowed to stay, Common Core standards will be the ObamaCare of education,” Lee wrote, according toNewsmax. “Common Core is the DC takeover of our school system. It will dumb down standards and cheapen the education our children receive.”

Newsmax reports Lee’s comments come just days after Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal filed a lawsuit last week alleging the Obama administration “is using grant money and regulations to manipulate states into adopting the federal education standards.”

Obama, through his Race to the Top education initiative, convinced most states to adopt Common Core standards as a means of competing for billions in additional federal grant funding for education, though very few states actually received the funds.

The competitive Race to the Top grants, however, are only one of several ways the federal government is incentivizing states to implement the national learning standards. The U.S. Education Department has also awarded states a waiver from former president George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind education standards – and the penalties for not making the grade – if they agree to move forward with Common Core.

https://eagnews.org/sen-mike-lee-common-core-standards-will-be-the-obamacare-of-education/

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Concerns on Common Core presented to Ridgewood school board

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Concerns on Common Core presented to Ridgewood school board

SEPTEMBER 2, 2014    LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2014, 11:09 AM
BY BY JODI WEINBERGER
STAFF WRITER

An apple core that has become the sign for the opposition to new state standards for school curriculum was featured prominently on buttons of many of the two dozen parents who came to speak at the Ridgewood Board of Education (BOE) meeting Aug. 25.

The public outcry against the Common Core and standardized testing is growing in Ridgewood with the help of a group named Ridgewood Cares About Schools, which has formed online on Facebook and drawn many to in-person meetings this summer.

The parents (and many grandparents) raised issues of concern during the public comment portion of the meeting, including that the testing is done on computers, the lack of transparency of where and what test data is shared, and that there are too many instructional hours devoted to testing. They also said that the Common Core standards for math and other subjects are confusing and urged the BOE to reject them in fear that the standards and focus on test preparation will create bad curricula.

Anne Burton Walsh, one of the founders of Ridgewood Cares About Schools, said the increase in the use of technology in the younger grades is “unnecessarily expensive and potentially harmful.” Ridgewood is currently implementing its one-to-one initiative with Google Chromebooks at the high school and plans to give one to every student in Grades K-8 in the coming years, with one reason being that the students must take the new standardized tests on computers.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/education/concerns-on-common-core-presented-to-ridgewood-school-board-1.1079350#sthash.H53Rbqmb.dpuf

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Development of the North Walnut Street Redevelopment Area

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Bid Notice-RFP for N. Walnut St. Redevelopment Area

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

Proposals will be received by the Village of Ridgewood, in the Level 4 Courtroom, at the Village Hall, 131 North Maple Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey, and will be opened on Monday, December 1, 2014 at 10:00 a.m. prevailing time for: 

“Request for Proposals and Qualifications

for the 

Development of the North Walnut Street Redevelopment Area

Village of Ridgewood Bergen County, New Jersey”

The Village of Ridgewood is seeking proposals from qualified firms to redevelop certain parcels in the North Walnut Street Redevelopment Area in conformance with the Village’s adopted Redevelopment Plan. 

The RFP package may be obtained from the Office of the Village Manager, Level 5, Village Hall, 131 North Maple Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey 07450, (201) 670-5500, extension No. 203. Proposal packages may be examined or picked up in person between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., at 131 North Maple Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey 07450, Monday through Friday. Prospective respondents requesting that proposal documents be mailed to them shall be responsible for providing their own postage/delivery service remuneration. No proposal forms shall be given out after 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 26, 2014. 

Proposals may be submitted in person or by mail prior to the proposal opening, addressed to the Office of the Village Clerk. The Village assumes no responsibility for loss or non-delivery of any proposal sent to it prior to the date and time stated for receipt of proposals. 

Each proposal must be enclosed in a sealed envelope with the name of the respondent thereon and endorsed, “Request for Proposals and Qualifications for the Development of the North Walnut Street Redevelopment Area, Village of Ridgewood, Bergen County, New Jersey”. 

All respondents shall present satisfactory evidence of being authorized to do business in the State of New Jersey. All respondents shall also provide a copy of their New Jersey Business Registration Certificate with their proposal. Additional requirements for submittal are presented in the RFP. All respondents shall adhere to the requirements presented in the “Request for Proposals”. The Village of Ridgewood reserves the right to reject any or all proposals, to waive any informality or to accept a proposal, which in its judgment best serves the interest of the Village.

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Ridgewood resident brings family’s history to life

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Bolger Heritage Center, Ridgewood Public Library. Do you have an Arrow Yearbook looking for a new home? Is it from 1912, 1915, 1944, 1966, 1972, 1975, 1979, 1981, 1983, 1993, 1997, or 2011?

 

Ridgewood resident brings family’s history to life

AUGUST 25, 2014    LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, AUGUST 25, 2014, 3:22 PM
BY BY JODI WEINBERGER
STAFF WRITER

In 2012, John Dabney was newly retired and looking for a project to fill his time.

He began researching his family’s history with the goal of learning more about his past, but the personal exploration quickly grew to an “extended family investigation” that took him all over the country interviewing relatives.

Not long after his research began, he connected with a third cousin and award-winning author Joseph Dabney, who had also been collecting family history, and the two decided over a lunch in Georgia to combine their efforts into a book.

Called, “The Dabneys of South Carolina, A Family History in Stories and Pictures,” the book traces the family to 1795 with the birth of Alexander Dabney, who emigrated from Ireland to South Carolina.

From that start, John and Joseph Dabney were able to track down 2,500 Dabneys in 1,700 families and conducted more than 250 interviews with relatives in almost every state.

“I figured I would travel with my wife and do as much research as needed and ended up doing seven to 10 hours of work a day,” John Dabney said.

However, a lot of the research, as he discovered, could be done right in Ridgewood.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/community-news/ridgewood-resident-brings-family-s-history-to-life-1.1075742#sthash.hmkr7K6V.dpuf

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FALL PROGRAMS AT RIDGEWOOD RECREATION – Something for Everyone!

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FALL PROGRAMS AT RIDGEWOOD RECREATION – Something for Everyone!

FALL PROGRAMS WITH RIDGEWOOD RECREATION

Register now for fall offerings with Ridgewood Parks and Recreation. There is something for everyone!

Pre-school – Abrakadoodle’s My First Art and Mini Doodler, Happy Feet Dance Introduction, and US Sports Institute’s Sport Squirts and T-Ball.

Elementary – Education Explorer’s Dramatic Arts and Tech Titans, Explore Science’s Robots & Simple Machines, Acrylics, Drawing, Abrakadoodle “Scape” Artist and sports include Skateboarding, Golf, KidSafe Self Defense and Tennis.

Adults – Acrylics, Watercolors, Chinese Brush Painting, Tennis, Zumba, Toning, Silver Strength and Motion, Mindful Meditation, Men’s Fitness, Jazzercise, Chair Yoga, Yoga Fit, No Aches/No Pain – Arthritis Class, Bridge & Canasta and Learn to Crochet.

Dates, times, location, and cost details can all be found at www.ridgewoodnj.net/recreation. Registration forms may be printed and mailed or you will find a link for online registration if applicable.

Please call the Recreation Office at 201-670-5560 with questions or if special accommodations are needed

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History of Labor Day

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LABOR DAY: WHAT IT MEANS

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

LABOR DAY LEGISLATION

Through the years the nation gave increasing emphasis to Labor Day. The first governmental recognition came through municipal ordinances passed during 1885 and 1886. From these, a movement developed to secure state legislation. The first state bill was introduced into the New York legislature, but the first to become law was passed by Oregon on February 21, 1887. During the year four more states — Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York — created the Labor Day holiday by legislative enactment. By the end of the decade Connecticut, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania had followed suit. By 1894, 23 other states had adopted the holiday in honor of workers, and on June 28 of that year, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.

FOUNDER OF LABOR DAY

More than 100 years after the first Labor Day observance, there is still some doubt as to who first proposed the holiday for workers.

Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor those “who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold.”

But Peter McGuire’s place in Labor Day history has not gone unchallenged. Many believe that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter McGuire, founded the holiday. Recent research seems to support the contention that Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J., proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. What is clear is that the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.

“The Real Maguire – Who Actually Invented Labor Day?”

THE FIRST LABOR DAY

The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883.

In 1884 the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday, as originally proposed, and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a “workingmen’s holiday” on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country.

https://www.dol.gov/laborday/history.htm

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The Real Maguire – Who Actually Invented Labor Day?

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The Real Maguire – Who Actually Invented Labor Day?

While most sources, even the Department of Labor, credit Peter McGuire with the origination of Labor Day, recent evidence suggests that the true father of Labor Day may in fact be another famous union leader of the 19th Century, Matthew Maguire.

According to legend, Peter McGuire stood before the New York Central Labor Union on May 12, 1882, to suggest the idea of setting aside one day a year to honor labor. McGuire believed that Labor Day should “be celebrated by a street parade which would publicly show the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations.”

Peter McGuire was a young, though well-respected, union leader. A child of immigrants, he quit school at an early age to go to work. In 1881, he founded the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, which would become the largest trade union of the time. Later, McGuire would join with his friend, Samuel Gompers, to found the American Federation of Labor (AFL). Through the AFL and the Carpenters, McGuire led the great strikes of 1886 and 1890, which would eventually result in the adoption of the eight-hour workday on the nation’s agenda.

Recently, however, evidence uncovered at the New Jersey Historical Society in Newark reveals that another respected union figure of the day, Matthew Maguire, may quite possibly be the man behind the creation of Labor Day.

In the 1870s, Matthew Maguire led several strikes, most of which were intended to force the plight of manufacturing workers and their long hours into the public consciousness. By 1882, Maguire had become the secretary of and a leading figure in the Central Labor Union of New York.

According to the New Jersey Historical Society, after President Cleveland signed into law the creation of a national Labor Day, The Paterson (N.J.) Morning Call published an opinion piece entitled, “Honor to Whom Honor is Due,” which stated that “the souvenir pen should go to Alderman Matthew Maguire of this city, who is the undisputed author of Labor Day as a holiday.” This editorial also referred to Maguire as the “Father of the Labor Day holiday.”

So why has Matthew Maguire been overlooked as the “Father of Labor Day”?

According to The First Labor Day Parade, by Ted Watts, Maguire held some political beliefs that were considered fairly radical for the day and also for Samuel Gompers and his American Federation of Labor. Allegedly, Gompers did not want Labor Day to become associated with the sort of “radical” politics of Matthew Maguire, so in a 1897 interview, Gompers’ close friend Peter J. McGuire was assigned the credit for the origination of Labor Day.

https://www.dol.gov/laborday/history-maguire.htm

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Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce presents” Annual Fall Car Show!!

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Annual Car Show
Friday , September 05, 2014
6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Location: Memorial Park at Van Neste Square, Ridgewood NJ

Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce presents”
Annual Fall Car Show!!

FREE to the public.

For Cars:
Pre-Registration fee by August 15th is $17.00
August 18th-September 5th Registration fee is $20.00

The Car Show will be held around Memorial Park at Van Neste Square
and along E. Ridgewood Avenue.
Non Pre-Registered cars will begin registration at 5:00pm. Parking will be on a first come, first served basis. Registration fees are not refundable.

Music will keep the evening lively and there will be trophies for many categories.

1. The Ridgewood Police Department wishes to remind all participants there is no consumption of alcohol allowed at this event. Summons will be issued to violators.
2. Due to pedestrain safety, cars will not be allowed to leave the event until the
Police Depart. opens up the road.

Please print out the attached registration form
and make your reservation early.
We will fax or email your Window Registration Certificate.
Make checks payable and send to:
Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce
27 Chestnut Street
Ridgewood, NJ 07450
[email protected]
www.experienceridgewood.com
MC, Visa, AmExp accepted.

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YWCA Hosts Fall into Balance

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YWCA Hosts Fall into Balance
Thu, September 04, 2014
Time: 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
YWCA Bergan County, 112 Oak Street, Ridgewood, NJ 07450

Fall into Balance is a unique 8-week group program designed to offer women core foundation in mind-body balance. This dynamic series provides an eye-opening group experience aimed to help you incorporate the principles of holistic nutrition, mindfulness and stress management into your everyday life. The program is led by Lauren Debiak and Rachel Polan, co-founders of ENODIA Center for Balance in collaboration with Health Coach Rebecca Kittle.
Class topics will include: Learning healthy food options, managing stress, prevent feeling overwhelmed, maintaining a balanced life and more.
For more information visit www.ywcabergencounty.org or call Alysse at 201-444-5600 ext. 349

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GRAND OPENING in Ridgewood – Beauty Plus Salon

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GRAND OPENING in Ridgewood – Beauty Plus Salon
Wed, September 03, 2014
Time: 10:00 AM – 9:00 PM
Location: Beauty Plus Salon, 25 E. Ridgewood Ave., Ridgewood, NJ 07450

All invited to attend the Grand Opening of
Beauty Plus Salon
25 E. Ridgewood Ave.
Ridgewood, NJ 07450
Ribbon Cutting at 5:30pm
food and beverages served

All who attend will receive 40% off on beauty supplies, nail poliss, appliances and much more,
plus everyone will receive a 20% off card for one year…Wednesday-Sunday. Join in on the celebration.

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One giant leap: Whale sightings off Jersey Shore up dramatically

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One giant leap: Whale sightings off Jersey Shore up dramatically

AUGUST 29, 2014, 7:26 PM    LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, AUGUST 29, 2014, 10:34 PM
BY SCOTT FALLON
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

While it hasn’t become Cape Cod just yet, the number of whale sightings around New Jersey has increased substantially this year, suggesting that the state’s coastal waters are now clean enough to sustain humpbacks, finbacks and other species during their feeding season.

Since April, dozens of whales have been spotted from Sandy Hook to Cape May chasing down schools of small fish sometimes within a mile of New Jersey’s shoreline.

“They seem to be staying in the same area all season long, which is something we haven’t really seen before,” said Amy Bergeron, a marine biologist with the Cape May Whale Watch and Research Center, which runs tours along New Jersey’s southern coast. “Some are not even a mile out. We know they come here for the food, and you’re seeing huge batches of bait fish close to the shore.”

As of last week, the Cape May center had 37 whale sightings, compared with 15 through October last year. And Gotham Whale Watch, a group of “citizen scientists” who catalog marine mammals in New York and as far south as Monmouth County, has reported 57 whale sightings so far up from 43 in 2013.

The news has drawn thousands onto whale-watching boats hoping to see the majestic mammals gliding through the ocean and perhaps even glimpse a humpback leaping out of the water. It has also prompted authorities to issue alerts to boaters fearing whales are coming too close to shore.

Academics are treating the reports cautiously, since most of the sightings come from groups associated with local whale-watching boats. But some environmental officials and marine biologists say the reports should be taken seriously.

“It’s tough to definitively say there are more whales in an area without more baseline information,” said Jackie Toth Sullivan, a marine mammal scientist and adjunct professor at Richard Stockton College. “That being said, an increase certainly seems plausible given the amount of anecdotal reports coming in from boaters, whale-watching boats and beachgoers alike this season.”

Beginning in April, thousands of humpback whales usually pass New Jersey dozens of miles off the coast during their annual migration up the East Coast from their winter mating and birthing grounds in the West Indies. Many congregate around Cape Cod to feed on the abundant sea life near a large underwater plateau in Massachusetts Bay or head farther into the North Atlantic for food.

Cleaner waters affect the bottom of the food chain allowing plankton to flourish closer to shore. That in turn provides a food source for small bait fish like menhaden. And whales like nothing more than to scoop a school of menhaden into their mouths for lunch.

Even though an estimated 23 billion gallons of raw sewage spills from hundreds of outfall pipes into New Jersey’s rivers and bays each year, the state’s coastal waters are considered the cleanest they have been in decades.

New Jersey ranked third in best water quality out of 30 states last year with 3 percent of water samples exceeding pollution standards, according to a report by the National Resource Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/one-giant-leap-whale-sightings-off-jersey-shore-up-dramatically-1.1078310#sthash.SJTBWb7q.dpuf

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Fears grow that Americans fighting with extremists overseas could bring violence back home

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Fears grow that Americans fighting with extremists overseas could bring violence back home

Why I thought Bush made up the whole thing to fight wars so Haliburton could get rich ?

AUGUST 29, 2014, 11:23 PM    LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, AUGUST 29, 2014, 11:33 PM
BY KEN DILANIAN AND BRADLEY KLAPPER
ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — The case of Mehdi Nemmouche haunts U.S. intelligence officials.

Nemmouche is a Frenchman who authorities say spent 11 months fighting with the Islamic State group in Syria before returning to Europe to act out his rage. On May 24, prosecutors say, he methodically shot four people at the Jewish Museum in central Brussels. Three died instantly, one afterward. Nemmouche was arrested later, apparently by chance.

For U.S. and European counterterrorism officials, that 90-second spasm of violence is the kind of attack they fear from thousands of Europeans and up to 100 Americans who have gone to fight for extremist armies in Syria and now Iraq.

The Obama administration has offered a wide range of assessments of the threat to U.S. national security posed by the extremists who say they’ve established a caliphate, or Islamic state, in an area straddling eastern Syrian and northern and western Iraq, and whose actions include last week’s beheading of American journalist James Foley. Some officials say the group is more dangerous than al-Qaida. Yet intelligence assessments say it currently couldn’t pull off a complex, 9/11-style attack on the U.S. or Europe.

However, there is broad agreement across intelligence and law enforcement agencies of the immediate threat from radicalized Europeans and Americans who could come home to conduct lone-wolf operations.

Such plots are difficult to detect because they don’t require large conspiracies of people whose emails or phone calls can be intercepted.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/fears-grow-that-americans-fighting-with-extremists-overseas-could-bring-violence-back-home-1.1078326#sthash.44jaJXNL.dpuf

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BREIBART TEXAS VERIFIES ISIS BORDER THREAT WITH LEAKED DOC

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Increased Interest After O’Keefe Crossed in Bin Laden Mask…
BREIBART TEXAS VERIFIES ISIS BORDER THREAT WITH LEAKED DOC
by BRANDON DARBY 29 Aug 2014, 12:05 PM PDT

LUBBOCK, Texas — Breitbart Texas has exclusively obtained a leaked document warning federal agents about an ISIS-related terrorism threat across the entire US-Mexico border. Though the document focuses on the Texas-Mexico border, Breitbart Texas has confirmed that federal agents across the entire US-Mexico border have received the ISIS terror warning.

The document was released by the Texas Department of Public Safety and warned that ISIS was actively promoting and encouraging supporters to take advantage of the porous Texas-Mexico border to carry out terrorist attacks against US citizens.

The document attributed the increased interest by ISIS to a report done by journalist James O’Keefe. Though the report did not mention O’Keefe by name, it showed images of O’Keefe crossing the porous Texas-Mexico border while wearing an Osama bin Laden mask.

In addition to the report, U.S. Border Patrol Agents confirmed that the U.S. Border Patrol agency was indeed taking the threat seriously. A Border Patrol agent in the Laredo Sector told Breitbart Texas that they had credible information that ISIS was attempting to find individuals and groups in Nuevo-Laredo Mexico to assist in gaining entry into the united states.

A Border Patrol agent in the El Paso Sector would only tell Breitbart Texas that a warning was issued to agents pertaining to ISIS.

https://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-Texas/2014/08/29/Exclusive-Breitbart-Texas-Verifies-ISIS-Threat-With-Leaked-Doc

 Judicial Watch has just put out this statement:

Islamic terrorist groups are operating in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez and planning to attack the United States with car bombs or other vehicle born improvised explosive devices (VBIED). High-level federal law enforcement, intelligence and other sources have confirmed to Judicial Watch that a warning bulletin for an imminent terrorist attack on the border has been issued.  Agents across a number of Homeland Security, Justice and Defense agencies have all been placed on alert and instructed to aggressively work all possible leads and sources concerning this imminent terrorist threat.

Specifically, Judicial Watch sources reveal that the militant group Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) is confirmed to now be operating in Juarez, a famously crime-infested narcotics hotbed situated across from El Paso, Texas. Violent crimes are so rampant in Juarez that the U.S. State Department has issued a number of travel warnings for anyone planning to go there. The last one was issued just a few days ago.

Intelligence officials have picked up radio talk and chatter indicating that the terrorist groups are going to “carry out an attack on the border,” according to one JW source.  “It’s coming very soon,” according to this high-level source, who clearly identified the groups planning the plots as “ISIS and Al Qaeda.” An attack is so imminent that the commanding general at Ft. Bliss, the U.S. Army post in El Paso, is being briefed, another source confirms. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) did not respond to multiple inquiries from Judicial Watch, both telephonic and in writing, about this information.

The disturbing inside intelligence comes on the heels of news reports revealing that U.S. intelligence has picked up increased chatter among Islamist terror networks approaching the 13th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. While these terrorists reportedly plan their attack just outside the U.S., President Obama admits that “we don’t have a strategy yet” to combat ISIS. “I don’t want to put the cart before the horse,” the commander-in-chief said this week during a White House press briefing. “I think what I’ve seen in some of the news reports suggest that folks are getting a little further ahead of what we’re at than what we currently are.”

The administration has also covered up, or at the very least downplayed, a serious epidemic of crime along the Mexican border even as heavily armed drug cartels have taken over portions of the region. Judicial Watch has reported that the U.S. Border Patrol actually ordered officers to avoid the most crime-infested stretches because they’re “too dangerous” and patrolling them could result in an “international incident” of cross border shooting. In the meantime, who could forget the famous words of Obama’s first Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano; the southern border is “as secure as it has ever been.”

These new revelations are bound to impact the current debate about the border crisis and immigration policy.

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/386694/judicial-watch-feds-bulletin-describes-threat-imminent-terrorist-attack-southern