Obama grasps for climate legacy as second-term agenda crumbles
By Ben Geman
President Obama has a chance to craft a second-term legacy on climate change even as the rest of his agenda runs aground in Congress.
Gun control legislation is dead; immigration reform is on life support; and reaching a fiscal deal with Republicans appears to be a long shot.
To make matters worse, what was supposed to be his signature first-term achievement — ObamaCare — is suffering from a disastrous rollout.
But there’s one thing that’s going right for Obama: Executive action on climate change is moving full-speed ahead at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
“He may be able to do more through climate change [rules] because the EPA has the authority,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) told The Hill on Thursday.
The most far-reaching piece of Obama’s climate plan is carbon emission standards for the nation’s fleet of existing power plants, by far the largest single source of industrial carbon emissions. The EPA is also writing standards for new plants.
Ridgewood Chamber Board of Directors Meeting is held on the second Wednesday of every month.
The Chamber Board of Directors invite Chamber members to attend any of the
monthly meeting. Please call the office with the date that you plan to attend.
Call 201-445-2600 [email protected]
experienceridgewood.com
The Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce is a voluntary organization of individuals, businesses, professionals and organizations dedicated to advancing the commercial, professional, civic and general interests of our community.
Mission
The Chamber is organized for the purpose of advancing the commercial, professional, industrial and civic interest of the Village of Ridgewood; to promote integrity and good faith; equitable principles in business; uniformity in commercial usages; to acquire, preserve, and distribute industrial, commercial, and civic statistics and information of value; to discover and correct abuses; to prevent or adjudicate controversies; to cooperate with similar organizations in this or other communities; and to have a role in representing our Village in the consideration and decision-making of State and National organizations affecting our Village.
This Chamber in its activities shall be non-partisan, non-sectional, and non-sectarian and shall take no part in, or lead its influence to the election or appointment of any candidate for National, State, County, or Local Office.
Chamber’s History
Since the Chamber was incorporated in 1927, it has served Ridgewood continuously. It acts as a public relations counselor, a representative to local government, a problem solver, an information and resource center, and as a coordinator of business and professional programs and promotions. The Chamber promotes the maintenance of a dignified and successful business and professional district.
An unsalaried Board of Directors, comprised of five officers and nine directors, determines the Chamber’s policies. An executive director and administrator carry out board and committee policies. The Chamber works cooperatively with the NJ Chamber of Commerce, Commerce and Industry Association, The Village of Ridgewood Government, and other organizations and agencies that serve the residents.
Contacting the Chamber
The Chamber Office is now located in the heart of the Central Business District. Most members are able to walk to the office when in need of assistance, have a meeting in the Chamber Office, and/or be part of an event. Please stop by and visit our new office at 27 Chestnut Street (take elevator the 1st floor).
For more information about the Chamber, please call 201.445.2600 or email [email protected].
Former Ridgewood Art Institute teacher publishes book
Friday, November 8, 2013
BY EILEEN LA FORGIA
STAFF WRITER
The Ridgewood News
Katherine Lewis, a longtime member and former teacher at the Ridgewood Art Institute, has become an author with her recently published book, “Landscape Painting Comes to America: A World Journey from Classic through Plein Air – Apelles through Inness.”
The inspiration for this writing experience began more than 10 years ago when Lewis organized workshops in Constable Country in England for her Ridgewood Art Institute students.
She had visited an area in England known as East Anglia, which lies 60 miles north of London, and consists of four counties: Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire. In 1776, the artist John Constable was born in the area and never strayed far from it in his paintings.
Much of East Anglia has been declared by the National Trust as an “area of outstanding natural beauty” and remains much like it was in Constable’s era. Lewis discovered a 15th century farmhouse and studio barn in the village of Dedham that was located on the same path that the English artist took to his school – which still stands today. Lewis was inspired to share her enthusiasm for the painter and the beautiful bucolic landscape with her students.
“I knew that Constable had been responsible for the world of outdoor painting, and I wondered exactly how landscape painting reached the shores of America.”
NJ TRANSIT REACHES NEW HIGHS IN CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
Latest survey results show improvements in bus, rail, light rail and overall scores
November 8, 2013
NEWARK, NJ — NJ TRANSIT today published the results of its latest customer survey as part of Scorecard, posting an overall satisfaction rating of 6.4 for the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2014 (FY14), matching the corporation’s highest customer satisfaction rating that was achieved during the third quarter of the previous fiscal year. In addition to a strong overall satisfaction score, NJ TRANSIT also posted record highs on its bus, rail and light rail service during the same time period.
Through Scorecard, NJ TRANSIT continues to utilize feedback gathered through these surveys to target specific improvements in order to boost customer satisfaction, as well as to provide the public with a clear measurement of how the corporation is performing. The most recent survey, which was conducted online at njtransit.com between August 12 and September 3, was the first to be offered in both English and Spanish. It asked bus, rail, light rail and Access Link customers to rate NJ TRANSIT on a scale of 0 to 10, and as with previous surveys, customers considered 42 attributes of the system related to facilities, scheduling, vehicles, communications and the overall experience using NJ TRANSIT. Customers were also asked to identify the most important aspects of NJ TRANSIT service among the items they rated.
“This survey data continues to drive our strategic decisions with the goal of improving the overall experience for the people who use the NJ TRANSIT system each day,” said NJ TRANSIT Executive Director James Weinstein. “We remain committed to actively monitoring our customers’ feedback so that we can respond to meet their needs.”
Of the approximately 457,560 customers who used NJ TRANSIT service on a typical weekday in the first quarter of FY14, NJ TRANSIT received more than 19,000 responses to the survey, the highest number of responses to date. Regarding customer loyalty, 79 percent of the customers surveyed said they would recommend NJ TRANSIT to a friend or relative (above the 67 percent baseline rating). NJ TRANSIT established the baseline with the first customer survey conducted in advance of the launch of Scorecard in 2011.
Survey Results – First Quarter FY14
For the first quarter of FY14, customers rated their overall satisfaction with NJ TRANSIT service as above average with a score of 6.4, matching the survey high set during the third quarter of FY13 and nearly reaching the agency’s annual goal of 6.5
Current customer satisfaction ratings on NJ TRANSIT’s four service modes are as follows:
Bus customers rated their overall satisfaction with service at a 6.4, marking a record high, as well as a significant improvement above the baseline rating of 5.5. About 280,700 customers used NJ TRANSIT’s interstate and local bus system on a typical weekday during the first quarter of FY14, representing approximately 61 percent of all NJ TRANSIT customers.
Rail customers gave NJ TRANSIT an overall score of 6.0, matching the survey high set during the previous quarter, and showing a strong improvement over the baseline rating of 4.5. Approximately 135,525 customers rode NJ TRANSIT trains on a typical weekday throughout the first quarter of FY14, comprising 30 percent of all NJ TRANSIT customers.
Light Rail customers gave NJ TRANSIT an overall satisfaction rating of 7.4, reaching an all-time record high. About 37,525 customers used NJ TRANSIT’s three light rail lines on a typical weekday in the first quarter of FY14, making up approximately eight percent of total NJ TRANSIT customers.
Access Link, NJ TRANSIT’s paratransit service for customers with disabilities, was given an overall rating of 8.1, down slightly from the record high of 8.3, but still well above the baseline score of 7.5. Access Link serves approximately 3,810 customers on a typical weekday.
“The fact that four out of five NJ TRANSIT customers would recommend our service to a friend or relative speaks volumes to the work we are doing through Scorecard to improve customer satisfaction,” said Executive Director Weinstein. “We are encouraged by the strong marks we achieved in this latest survey, and we want our customers to know that we continue to rely on their valuable feedback to continue to meet their needs.”
NJ TRANSIT will conduct its next customer survey online starting on Monday, November 11, and continuing through Monday, December 2. NJ TRANSIT will again offer the online survey in both English and Spanish to encourage additional customer participation.
Obmanomics: Youth Unemployment at 15.9% in October
Generation Opportunity releases Millennial Jobs Report
Washington, DC – (11/8/13) – Generation Opportunity, a national, non-partisan youth advocacy organization, is announcing its Millennial Jobs Report for October 2013. The data is non-seasonally adjusted (NSA) and is specific to 18-29 year olds:
The effective (U6) unemployment rate for 18-29 year olds, which adjusts for labor force participation by including those who have given up looking for work, is 15.9 percent (NSA).
The declining labor force participation rate has created an additional 1.8 million young adults that are not counted as “unemployed” by the U.S. Department of Labor because they are not in the labor force, meaning that those young people have given up looking for work due to the lack of jobs.
The (U3) unemployment rate for 18-29 year olds is 10.9 percent (NSA). The (U3) unemployment rate for 18-29 year old African-Americans is 19.6 percent (NSA); the (U3) unemployment rate for 18-29 year old Hispanics is 11.5 percent (NSA); and the (U3) unemployment rate for 18–29 year old women is 9.9 percent (NSA).
Evan Feinberg, President of Generation Opportunity, issued the following statement:
“Looks like another month of lousy job creation and opportunity being stolen from my generation.
“Some will undoubtedly blame this lousy jobs report on the shutdown. The problem isn’t that the government shut down – it’s that when it reopened, it continued to spend away our future and regulate away our opportunity.
“Obamacare is a great example of government keeping its boot on the neck of small business owners, and my generation paying the price.”
Generation Opportunity is a national, non-partisan organization advocating for economic opportunity for young people through less government and more freedom.
Analysis: Tens of millions could be forced out of health insurance they had
Published: November 7, 2013 Updated 23 hours ago
By Kevin G. Hall and Anita Kumar — McClatchy Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — Even as President Barack Obama sold a new health care law in part by assuring Americans they would be able to keep their insurance plans, his administration knew that tens of millions of people actually could lose those their policies.
“If you like your private health insurance plan, you can keep your plan. Period,” Obama said as he pitched the plan, the unqualified promise he made repeatedly.
Yet advisers did say in 2010 that there were large caveats and that anyone whose insurance plan changed would lose the promised protection of being able to keep existing plans. And a report in 2010 said that as many as 69 percent of certain employer-based insurance plans would lose that protection, meaning as many as 41 million people could lose their plans even if they wanted to keep them and would be forced into other plans. Another 11 million who bought their own insurance also could lose their plans. Combined, as many as 52 million Americans could lose or have lost old insurance plans.
Ridgewood wastewater plant uses solar, biogas to produce 100 percent of its power
Thursday, November 7th 2013 5:18 PM
By GetSolar Staff.
A wastewater treatment plant in northern New Jersey that features a solar power installation recently became operational. The Ridgewood Wastewater Treatment Plant uses a combination of solar and biogas to produce 100 percent of its energy, Biomass Magazine reported.
The plant is being run through a 20-year partnership between Natural Systems Utilities, Middlesex Water Co., American Refining and Biochemical and the village of Ridgewood, N.J.
A total of four solar installations throughout the Village of Ridgewood power the water plant. Installations at village hall, the fire department, the EMX building and the village’s water control pollution facility all generate power for the wastewater treatment plant, Domestic Fuel reported.
“Many municipalities are struggling with aging infrastructure, underperforming utility facilities and severely constrained municipal budgets,” said Dominic Kulik, CEO and chairman of NSU. “This project demonstrates how partnerships with municipal and industrial leaders can achieve a lower carbon footprint while converting wastes to valuable resources for use in the local community. By repurposing an existing facility in this way, everyone benefits – the environment, the Village residents and our renewable energy investors.”
– See more at: https://www.getsolar.com/News/Solar-Energy-Facts/General/NJ-wastewater-plant-uses-solar-biogas-to-produce-100-percent-of-its-power-536287#sthash.V7P5JOKK.dpuf
West Bergen Asperger’s Related Services Presents “The Parent Forum”
The Asperger’s Services Department at West Bergen Mental Healthcare will present a series of monthly workshops for parents of children and adults on the spectrum. The support group will have a two-part focus. First, to explore the challenges of parenting individuals with Asperger’s and related disorders and second, to allow participants to share and process their own experiences within their families. The co-facilitators are West Bergen professionals who are Masters and Doctoral level clinicians. The fee is $20.00 for one or both parents per session. Parents are encouraged to attend sessions together. Participation is limited and pre-registration is required for each session.
Session dates and topics: November 11 – Preparing for the Holidays; December 2 – Tools for Success. (The November session has been re-scheduled from the 4th to the 11th due to a conflict with A Fall Night of Fine Dining.) Additional sessions will be added in 2014.
All workshops will be held from 7:30 to 8:30 PM and will be held at West Bergen Counseling Group, 615 Franklin Turnpike, 2nd Floor, Ridgewood, NJ. Please contact Kelly Doyle at [email protected] or (201) 857-0080 to register or receive further information.
West Bergen is a non-profit organization providing a wide range of psychiatric and counseling services for all age groups with various levels of need. West Bergen is committed to meeting the psychological needs of each of its clients with sensitivity and responsive, innovative services of the highest quality. West Bergen strives to improve the quality of life in Bergen County and beyond – one life at a time. For further information on West Bergen and the services it provides please call (201) 444-3550.
Westfield Garden State Plaza back to business with emphasis on safety
Wednesday, November 6, 2013 Last updated: Thursday November 7, 2013, 12:49 AM
BY JOAN VERDON
STAFF WRITER
The Record
Westfield Garden State Plaza resumed normal operations Wednesday, and for the foreseeable future, it will be a new brand of normal, with heightened security and assurances that New Jersey’s largest mall is safe.
Thirty-six hours after Richard Shoop’s six rifle shots led to an all-night, anxiety-filled lockdown, the mall reopened at 10 a.m. Uniformed security guards and police seemed to be everywhere. Maintenance workers replaced glass doors that had been broken by SWAT team members who were checking locked stores, and mall employees swapped tales of what they did during the lockdown.
Shoppers returned, though in what appeared to be fewer numbers than a typical Wednesday in November. Most seemed unconcerned about the Monday night incident.
“I would feel differently if shoppers had been killed. That would be a different story,” said a Bergenfield resident who was having lunch with her sister at the food court.
But the fact that Shoop was able to walk from a parking garage through a mall corridor carrying a large and visible weapon highlighted a reality that is both the biggest sales asset and primary security liability of shopping malls like the plaza: Anyone can enter them.
Shoop, 20, of Teaneck, fired the shots in the air before going to a remote section of the mall and killing himself.
“Apparatchik” is defined as as unquestioningly loyal subordinate: a subordinate who is unquestioningly loyal to a powerful political leader or organization. You can find a cadre of Obama apparatchiks here. They are known as the Editorial Board of the NY Times. It is claimed that this board operates independently of the regular “news operations” but if no one objects to it, well….
I was going to title this “The Devil Wears Pravda.”
Pravda is the Russian government information outlet, unflinchingly loyal to the leader of the Communist government. The NY Times editorial board has become the US version of Pravda. It has become a pathetic, apologetic, partisan, left wing shadow of itself. It is sodden with democrat bias. It is essentially an arm of the Obama Progressive Movement and the National Democratic Committee.
What it cannot do is tell the truth. The board is an Obama propaganda machine. Yesterday they posted an editorial entitled “Insurance Policies Not Worth Keeping”.
In it, they decide what’s worth keeping and what is not despite a complete absence of facts. But more importantly, they send a very important message- lying is acceptable to get what you want.
“He clearly misspoke.”
“Congressional Republicans have stoked consumer fears and confusion with charges that the health care reform law is causing insurers to cancel existing policies and will force many people to pay substantially higher premiums next year for coverage they don’t want. That, they say, violates President Obama’s pledge that if you like the insurance you have, you can keep it.
“Mr. Obama clearly misspoke when he said that. ”
Misspoke? This is astonishing – it is a lie in itself. Obama didn’t misspeak. He LIED.
It could be argued that Obama misspoke when he claimed that premiums would go down 3000% when he meant to say that premiums would go down an average of $2500 per year (and that was another lie). That’s closer to what one might call misspeaking.
Let’s revisit what Obama said one more time:
“No matter how we reform health care, we will keep this promise. If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period. If you like your health care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health care plan. Period. No one will take it away. No matter what.”
Obama probably said it hundreds of times and he knew it wasn’t true. He and his aides knew that the truth wouldn’t sell:
More from the NY Times today: “The former official added that in the midst of a hard-fought political debate “if you like your plan, you can probably keep it” isn’t a salable point.
They knew the truth wouldn’t sell. This wasn’t misspeaking. This was wholesale deceit and the point cannot be made too strenuously. The President of the United States and the democrat Congress sold America a lie.
The Times’ apparatchiks then spend the rest of their apologia defending Obama’s big lie:
“But insurers are not allowed to abandon enrollees. They must offer consumers options that do comply with the law, and they are scrambling to retain as many of their customers as possible with new policies that are almost certain to be more comprehensive than their old ones.”
And they spend the rest of the editorial defending the lie.
“Indeed, in all the furor, people forget how terrible many of the soon-to-be-abandoned policies were. Some had deductibles as high as $10,000 or $25,000 and required large co-pays after that, and some didn’t cover hospital care.
“This overblown controversy has also obscured the crux of what health care reform is trying to do, which is to guarantee that everyone can buy insurance without being turned away or charged exorbitant rates for pre-existing conditions and that everyone can receive benefits that really protect them against financial or medical disaster, not illusory benefits that prove inadequate when a crisis strikes.”
“What health care reform is trying to do.”
This is distraction. It is deflection. It is dishonest. What they needed to be was honest, but the Times doesn’t agree.
The NY Post sees Obama going from “Bullsh*t to dishonesty.”
“Obama denounced the individual mandate to purchase health insurance during the primaries to get to Hillary’s left, but his stated reason was that it wouldn’t be fair to force people to buy health insurance if they couldn’t afford it. You could argue he covered himself by including in the law large subsidies — your income can be four times the poverty line ($94,000) and you still qualify for aid.
“He said he would close Guantanamo but that was just campaign blather for suckers — an applause line, not a serious policy proposal. As any student of the matter knew, there wasn’t a better alternative, and nobody really cares about Guantanamo detainees anyway. It was just opportunistic Bush-bashing.
“This week was something new. It was the week Obama was revealed to be a stone-cold liar.”
Obama’s lies are so egregious that even WaPo gave Obama Four Pinocchios.
There are a number of ways one could summarize the NY Times position, but “the end justifies the means” is probably the most accurate.
Obama and the NY Times will decide. They know what’s best for you. You are too stupid to make your own choices.
You don’t even deserve the truth.
No, you can’t keep your plan and you can’t keep your doctor. For one woman, that could be fatal:
“Since March 2007 United Healthcare has paid $1.2 million to help keep me alive, and it has never once questioned any treatment or procedure recommended by my medical team. The company pays a fair price to the doctors and hospitals, on time, and is responsive to the emergency treatment requirements of late-stage cancer. Its caring people in the claims office have been readily available to talk to me and my providers.
“But in January, United Healthcare sent me a letter announcing that they were pulling out of the individual California market. The company suggested I look to Covered California starting in October.”
Should she lose her battle, would it be fair to say Obama killed her?
The Times go to great lengths to defend what is being done here but the truth remains- Obama lied and they are endorsing his lying so that he and the rest of his Progressives can force upon you what they and they alone decide is best.
Just like Stalin.
Just like Hitler.
Just like Mussolini.
Just like Gaddafi.
Just like Mubarak.
Just like Mugabe.
This is how it always begins. They impose their will on people. They knew what was best for you. Once you get past the need for the truth anything is possible.
Music lovers from many area congregations filled Ridgewood Christian Reformed Church Sunday evening November 3rd
RIDGEWOOD – Music lovers from many area congregations filled Ridgewood Christian Reformed Church Sunday evening [November 3] to celebrate and try out a brand-new hymnal jointly published by two denominations prominent in northern New Jersey, the Christian Reformed Church and Reformed Church in America.
The service moved through major themes in the life of Jesus Christ, sampling a variety of traditional hymns, contemporary music, spirituals, and songs from foreign lands from the new “Lift Up Your Hearts” hymnal.
Featured singers, instrumentalists and speakers came from the Ridgewood congregation and Cedar Hill Christian Reformed Church in Wyckoff, Covenant Christian Reformed Church in North Haledon, Faith Community Christian Reformed Church in Wyckoff, and Midland Park Christian Reformed Church, joined by participants from area Reformed Church in America congregations.
The Ridgewood church, led by the Rev. Mary Stegink since last year, is one of the first in the Northeast to adopt the new hymnal for regular Sunday use.
“Lift Up Your Hearts” has over 800 songs selected by a joint team of Christian Reformed and Reformed Church editors, including Claudia Godoy-Cortes, former Spanish teacher at Eastern Christian High School and co-leader of the worship team at Bridgeway Church in Haledon.
The hymnal is issued by Faith Alive Christian Resources, the publisher that has jointly served both denominations since 2004 in line with an ecumenical agreement “to find ways in which to work collaboratively.”
The “Rejoice in the Lord” hymnal, widely used in the Reformed Church, was published in 1989 and the current edition of the Christian Reformed “Psalter Hymnal” in 1987. Faith Alive explains that though the “gospel message doesn’t change,” the “desire for a new hymnal for a new generation fits with the reality that a hymnal has a lifespan of about 20 years.” In line with worship styles in increasing use, the hymnal is available in digital form for screen projection of the words and music notes.
For further information: The Rev. Mary Stegink, or administrator Joyce Monsma, Ridgewood Christian Reformed Church (201) 445-1832 or [email protected].
Also see: https://liftupyourheartshymnal.org
Senior Forum – Free Event for all Residents Community!
Free Transportation – Call 201/670-5500 x200 for reservation
Seniors in Suburbia – Setting New Goals
Thursday, November 7th from Noon to 2:30PM in the Ridgewood High School Campus Center, 627 E. Ridgewood Avenue – All are invited to attend. A Panel discussion will be held on how senior citizens in suburbia foster a positive view on aging by contributing their time, skills and experience to improve our community. The roles of different institutions and organizations play in helping senior citizens in suburbia redefine the meaning and purpose of their later years will be discussed. Panel members: Dr. Ilene Kieinman, Marshall Institute for Learning in Retirement, BCC; Sheila Brogan, Eldercare Coordinator, Children’s Aid and Family Services; Rev. James Knol, Christian Health Center; Robert Norelli, Hobbyists Unlimited; Janet Sharma, Executive Director, Volunteer Center of Bergen County. Program is free – Registration appreciated: 201/447-7756 or [email protected]
Ample parking at Campus Center at Ridgewood High School. School will be closed due to Teacher’s Convention Holiday.
Polling locations for the General Election on November 5, 2013 will be open 6:00 am until 8:00 pm.
1) CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT TO PERMIT MONEY FROM EXISTING GAMES OF CHANCE TO SUPPORT VETERANS’ ORGANIZATIONS QUESTION
Do you approve amending the Constitution to allow veterans’ organizations to
use money collected from existing games of chance to support their
organizations?
2) CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT TO SET A STATE MINIMUM WAGE WITH ANNUAL COST OF LIVING INCREASES QUESTION
Do you approve amending the State Constitution to set a State minimum wage rate of at least $8.25 per hour? The amendment also requires annual increases in that rate if there are annual increases in the cost of living.
Official Candidates for the November 5 General Election District 40
Governor
Barbara Buono
Party: Democratic
Current Job: State Senator, 18th District
Hometown: Nutley, NJ
Website:https://www.buonoforgovernor.com/
Education: B.A. in Political Science, Montclair State College
Chris Christie
Party: Republican
Current Job: Governor of New Jersey
Hometown: Livingston, NJ
Website: https://www.christiefornj.com/
Education: B.A. in Political Science, University of Delaware, J.D. Seton Hall University
William Araujo
Party: Peace and Freedom
Current Job: Carpenter
Hometown: Edison, NJ
Website: https://www.araujoforgovernor.com/
Jeff Boss
Party: NSA Did 9/11
Hometown: Gutenberg, NJ
Website: https://www.jeffbossfornjgovernor.com/
Kenneth R. Kaplan
Party: Libertarian
Current Job: President, KenKap Realty Corporation
Hometown: Parsippany, NJ
Website: www.kaplanforgovernor.com
Education: Brandeis University and NYU Law School
Diane W. Sare
Party: Glass-Steagall Now
Current Job: Political Organizer, Lyndon LaRouche
Hometown: Bogota, NJ
Website:www.dianesare.com
Education: Hamilton College and New England Conservatory
Hank Schroeder
Party: Independent
Hometown: Sea Girt, NJ
Steven Welzer
Party: Green
Current Job: Co-editor, Green Horizon Magazine
Hometown: East Windsor, NJ
Website: https://ww.welzerforgovernor.org
Education: M.A. in Economics, Rutgers University
State Senate District 40 (part of Bergen, Essex, Morris, passaic counties)
Democrat
William Meredith Ashley
Republican
Kevin J. O’Toole
NJ Assembly District 40 (parts of Bergen, Essex, Morris, and passaic counties)
Democrats
Anthony Galietti (bracketed with Arcuri)
Leo Arcuri (bracketed with Galietti)
Republicans
David C. Russo (bracketed with Rumana)
Scott T. Rumana (bracketed with Russo)
Village of Ridgewood : So much for the “gift ordinance”
November 4th 2013
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ , Well that didn’t take long . Looks like the Village Council is taking David Bolger’s money. Perhaps the council is being forced to take the donation after the Christie ticket fiasco or perhaps it signals a new way of doing business for the Village .
COUNCIL WORKSHOP AGENDA November 6, 2013
See attached meeting agenda, specifically item 6. a. 10)
Ridgewood NJ , the Village has 2008 ordinance barring Ridgewood officials or board members from accepting donations or gifts for 90 days after final action has been taken on an application and there is also a ordinance the prohibits the use of village equipment by private entities.
Here is the Village’s ordinance regarding gifts.
Prohibition; conditions for Council acceptance of gifts. Article I: Gifts to Village Council [Adopted 8-13-2008 by Ord. No. 3132] § 127-1
Prohibition; conditions for Council acceptance of gifts.
A. Definitions. As used in this article, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
CONTRIBUTIONS, GIFTS AND OTHER DONATIONS
The free and voluntary presentation by any person to the Village Council of any sum of money or other item of value, the acceptance of which requires a resolution.
PERSON
Any individual, partnership, joint venture, corporation, group, organization, association, government, governmental agency or any other entity, affiliate, subsidiary or related company of that entity.[Amended 12-8-2010 by Ord. No. 3273]
B. The Village Manager shall be authorized to establish rules and requirements for persons making, offering or presenting any contribution, gift and other donation to the Village, its agencies, departments, boards and/or employees, which rules shall require adoption by resolution by the Village Council to be effective. Said rules and requirements shall include, but are not limited to, the following:[Amended 12-8-2010 by Ord. No. 3273]
(1) Identification or determination of the value of said contribution, gift or other donation;
(2) Requirements for the reporting of the contribution, gift or other donation to Village Manager;
(3) Requirements for if and when Council approval is necessary for the acceptance of the contribution, gift or other donation by the Village.
C. Any person as defined in Subsection A above who wishes to make, offer or present a contribution, gift or other donation to the Village or its agencies, departments or boards must satisfy the rules and requirements as established by the Village Manager and adopted by resolution of the Village Council.[Amended 12-8-2010 by Ord. No. 3273]
D. Upon the acceptance of a gift, contribution or donation by the Village Council, the Village reserves the right to determine without qualification any process, conditions or other specifications on the gift and its utilization by the Village for the purpose for which said gift is intended and accepted.
I had great cancer doctors and health insurance.My plan was cancelled. Now I worry how long I’ll live.
By
Edie Littlefield Sundby
Nov. 3, 2013 6:37 p.m. ET
Everyone now is clamoring about Affordable Care Act winners and losers. I am one of the losers.
My grievance is not political; all my energies are directed to enjoying life and staying alive, and I have no time for politics. For almost seven years I have fought and survived stage-4 gallbladder cancer, with a five-year survival rate of less than 2% after diagnosis. I am a determined fighter and extremely lucky. But this luck may have just run out: My affordable, lifesaving medical insurance policy has been canceled effective Dec. 31.
My choice is to get coverage through the government health exchange and lose access to my cancer doctors, or pay much more for insurance outside the exchange (the quotes average 40% to 50% more) for the privilege of starting over with an unfamiliar insurance company and impaired benefits.
Countless hours searching for non-exchange plans have uncovered nothing that compares well with my existing coverage. But the greatest source of frustration is Covered California, the state’s Affordable Care Act health-insurance exchange and, by some reports, one of the best such exchanges in the country. After four weeks of researching plans on the website, talking directly to government exchange counselors, insurance companies and medical providers, my insurance broker and I are as confused as ever. Time is running out and we still don’t have a clue how to best proceed.
Two things have been essential in my fight to survive stage-4 cancer. The first are doctors and health teams in California and Texas: at the medical center of the University of California, San Diego, and its Moores Cancer Center; Stanford University’s Cancer Institute; and the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
The second element essential to my fight is a United Healthcare PPO (preferred provider organization) health-insurance policy.
