Ridgewood’s Got Talent 2013 Auditions
Sat, January 12, 2013
Time: 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Porch Light Productions, 555 Broad St., Glen Rock, NJ
The Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce is proud to present the Annual “Ridgewood’s Got Talent”.
This event is for the community of Ridgewood. We are searching for students in grades K-12, who would like an opportunity to showcase their special talent, i.e. singing, dancing and playing an instrument.
There will be auditions for all who are interested followed by the semi-final round and concluding with a final round leading to the grand prize – performing on stage at the 2013 Downtown for the Holidays Tree Lighting Celebration on December 6, 2013.
The Chamber of Commerce would like to invite any performers from Ridgewood* to participate in our first round of auditions on Saturday, January 12, 2013 from 9-12N at Porch Light Productions located at 555 Broad Street, Glen Rock, NJ
Semi Final round being held on Saturday, January 26, 2013 – 9:00am-11:00am at Porch Light Productions at 555 Broad Street, Glen Rock, NJ
Final Round being held on Saturday, February 9, 2012 – 9:00am-10:00am at Porch Light Productions at 555 Broad Street, Glen Rock, NJ.
Due to time constraints, each performance will be allotted a two minute time slot.
You will need to bring your own music and/or have your back ground music (CD if needed) prepared ahead of time and brought to Porch Light Productions the day before the first audition.
The day of time slots, are on a first come basis, and parents/teachers will be asked to wait in the lobby area until the child has finished there audition.
We ask that everyone be respectful of the person auditioning by remaining quiet and no phones.
The selection of judges will be from Porch Light Productions and From the Top Music Studio.
For applications call Joan Groome
Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce
201-445-2600 [email protected]
27 Chestnut St. (lst floor)
Tax Hikes to Start the New Year
Amy Payne
January 1, 2013 at 9:09 am
While you were sleeping—or ringing in 2013—the Senate voted to raise taxes.
After missing the midnight deadline, Congress and the President have technically sent the nation over the fiscal cliff, meaning higher tax rates are already in effect for all income tax brackets. But the Senate’s deal, brokered by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (KY) and Vice President Joe Biden, would target the tax increases on those making more than $250,000.
The Senate voted 89-8 to limit deductions for taxpayers making more than $250,000, which would raise their taxes, and to hike tax rates for those making more than $400,000.
As Heritage has pointed out, trying to tax the top income brackets to close the deficit is impossible. To overcome the massive federal deficit, top earners would have to be taxed at more than 100 percent. And J.D. Foster, Heritage’s Norman B. Ture Senior Fellow in the Economics of Fiscal Policy, reminds us that President Obama has already raised taxes on “the wealthy”:
Never mind that Obama already raised taxes on upper-income taxpayers through the 3.8 percent Medicare surtax imposed under Obamacare. Never mind that tax rate hikes would weaken an economy stumbling so badly the Federal Reserve doubled its risky efforts to keep the economy from recession. Never mind Obama’s approach would likely put the kibosh on any hopes for tax reform. Never mind the resulting revenues would be a small drop in a very big bucket compared to projected budget deficits. Never mind that the only justification for higher taxes is spite and envy to be exercised through the extortive power of the federal government.
Some of the key points in the Senate deal, which could go to the House as early as today:
Raises taxes on incomes over $400,000 for individuals and $450,000 for households
Raises taxes on investment income for those taxpayers as well
Limits tax deductions for incomes over $250,000—raising their taxes, too
Increases the death tax rate for estates over $5 million
Extends long-term unemployment benefits for one year
Postpones sequestration’s automatic spending cuts (including those to defense) by two months
Meanwhile, the United States also ran up against the debt ceiling yesterday. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said the Treasury would do some short-term creative accounting to make sure the country doesn’t default on its loans, which will buy two months before lawmakers have to fight it out again over increasing the debt limit.
The deal does nothing to address the reasons that the U.S. budget is out of control. Its focus on tax hikes rather than spending cuts is completely the opposite of what the country needs. As Heritage’s Romina Boccia explains:
Federal spending on entitlements and interest on the debt drives the federal budget crisis. Together the three major entitlements of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid (including Obamacare), as well as net interest, make up more than half of all spending in the federal budget today. Their share of the budget will grow to over two-thirds of all spending in 10 years. By 2025, the major entitlement programs and net interest together will eat up all tax revenues collected in that year.
Hiking taxes simply isn’t a solution. Until Congress and the President pursue serious spending cuts, the country and the budget will keep chugging in the same direction. And that’s certainly no cause for celebration.
Are We Helping Poor Americans?
Jennifer Marshall
December 31, 2012 at 8:38 am
At the end of the year, many people take time to make charitable donations. But caring for those in need is a year-round responsibility—and when it comes to public policy, conservatives have an important opportunity to articulate an effective response to poverty and social breakdown in America.
A half-century into the War on Poverty, liberals can hardly declare victory. But they can claim the dominant anti-poverty narrative: Fight poverty by spending more, by starting another federal program.
Americans seldom look to conservatives for policy answers to the problems of poverty.
That’s not to say we don’t have answers. To the contrary, we’ve had important policy successes. The 1996 welfare reform rises to the top. School choice, which allows low-income parents to get their children out of failing and often violent public schools, is another a vital example of a policy that can help lift those in poverty and give them a chance at a different future.
But we’ve made precious few attempts to string these single notes of success together into something larger. We have yet to popularize a competitor to the prevailing tune about how to meet the needs of our neighbors.
It’s time to change that—first and foremost in the interest of our neighbors.
A single mother on welfare may reflexively accept liberal policies. But if we believe that long-term government dependency doesn’t do justice to her dignity, we ought to be able to explain that in a way that taps into her aspirations for a better future — particularly for her children. Anyone who thinks that’s not possible should consider how low-income parents have clamored for school choice.
In 2012, The Heritage Foundation hosted an anti-poverty conference to bring leaders together from around the country. About 90 policymakers, policy implementers, researchers and program evaluators, service providers and ministry leaders, representatives of philanthropy networks, and communicators gathered. Fourteen leaders of state welfare agencies participated.
Our objective is to help more Americans escape poverty by promoting work, marriage, civil society, and welfare-spending restraints.
The many disciplines represented at that conference on Capitol Hill reflect the complexities of the human needs we seek to meet. But because we work in different disciplines, we might not often think of ourselves as a cohesive anti-poverty movement. And if we don’t, that means the public certainly doesn’t.
But we share a commitment to principles deeply related to the flourishing of all Americans. Evidence and experience testify to it. Marriage reduces the probability of child poverty by 80 percent. Work-based welfare recognizes that personal responsibility is essential to human dignity. If these realities are not yet widely understood, we owe it to all our neighbors to make that message clearer, appealing to their best intentions and their best interests.
In advancing a conservative agenda to fight poverty, we’ve got five Big C’s to conquer:
Communication. We are being defeated by straw men in the poverty debate. If we don’t talk in our own terms about overcoming poverty, our opponents will caricature our position. Conservatives need to go on offense, explaining why the welfare state has not done justice to the poor and pointing the way to upward mobility. That means communicating facts and stories in every possible venue — from op-eds to congressional hearings and town halls to state agency press releases.
Content. Conservatives need to offer a concrete description of our near-term objectives: We want to build on the success of the welfare reform of 1996, which reformed just one of 80 federal means-tested programs that in total are now funded to the tune of $1 trillion annually. We seek to secure the safety net for those truly in need — and to ensure that it encourages work and marriage rather than long-term government dependency. And we look to civil society to transform lives and communities and restore the path to upward mobility.
Courage. Policymakers need conviction, coupled with the confidence that comes from being equipped with the facts and seeing firsthand the life-changing alternatives to the status quo. They need to meet the former addicts restored through Jubal Garcia’s work at Victory Fellowship in San Antonio, or the couples who have built healthy marriages thanks to Bishop Shirley Holloway’s House of Help/City of Hope in Washington, D.C.
Credibility. Showing up, learning, and listening are top priorities. When the Republican Study Committee launched an anti-poverty initiative this fall, their first order of business was to hold a summit where they listened as neighborhood leaders from across the country — Jubal and Shirley among them — told of challenges and successes in exercising effective compassion.
Critical mass. We need others to join in to begin to change this tune. At The Heritage Foundation, we’re committed to linking arms with a growing coalition of leaders to build a conservative anti-poverty movement.
Our challenge is to sound the notes that ring true to human need, to arrange them in a way that reminds listeners of what human dignity demands, and to make the music compelling enough for others to join in.
That’s one of our resolutions for 2013 and beyond. Will you join us?
A version of this piece originally appeared in National Review Online.
In 2012, Many Felt the Market Was Rigged
By Michael Santoli | Yahoo! Finance – Mon, Dec 24, 2012 1:37 PM EST
In 2012, investors’ long-harbored suspicion that the stock market was a rigged game became something of a majority opinion.
This year, exasperation over the predominantly electronic mechanics of trading stocks, in which hyper-fast computer algorithms maneuver against one another for fractions of pennies collected over microseconds, boiled over. The level of disgust has gotten broad enough, in fact, that authorities might be prepared to rethink some of the basic rules and processes driving the system.
The opaque and complex structure for trading stocks electronically across dozens of exchanges and alternative networks has long been justified by industry leaders and regulators as the messy but logical result of investor-friendly reforms. Technology has enabled mind-melting speed, unfathomable communications capacity and brutal competition for order flow – all of which have made trading cheaper and faster than ever.
Yet by squeezing out traditional market makers who once collected low-risk, protected profits by mediating among buyers and sellers, rules and technology have tilted the power toward “high-frequency traders.” And in 2012, the fragility produced by so much layered complexity became too obvious, and produced too many market-jarring failures, to be considered merely the price of progress.
The Secret to Getting Your New Job in the New Year
Peter Guber
December 28, 2012 CEO, Mandalay Entertainment, Owner Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Dodgers, #1 NYT Bestselling Author, Tell to Win
If you think just the most impressive resume wins the job offer, think again.
While resumes may help you to the door, it’s the purposeful story you will tell that often gets you through the door and into a new office with your name on it.
Executive search guru Bill Simon told me that lack of preparation in order to tell a purposeful and compelling story about themselves is the number one reason why candidates fail to win over prospective employers in job interviews. Simon is a senior client partner and managing director of the media, entertainment and convergence sector at Korn/Ferry International, the behemoth search firm that specializes in high-level global recruitment and talent management. I’d engaged him on several occasions to headhunt top leadership candidates for my private and public companies, so I knew he only represents individuals who are supremely qualified and experienced.
That made his remark all the more alarming. If these folks haven’t prepared to get themselves hired, how will they be prepared to effectively lead organizations, persuade customers, manage employees, and sell products? According to Simon it’s because arrogance and self-righteousness can mislead potential candidates into thinking they don’t need to prepare. Doing the advance work helps shine the light on their attitude which every employer looks for. Aptitude is on the written word on the resume. Attitude is in the story and how they tell it to persuade others of their passion, purpose, and capability.
Failing to realize that the emotional resonance of the conversation is what HR execs, recruiters, managers, and every other decision-maker who you need to convince to hire you remembers, rather than the facts, data, and information on your resume will be the fatal flaw in your interview. It’s not that the facts, information and data aren’t important. They are critically important. But they’re already on the page and now you’re on the stage. When you tell a purposeful story demonstrating your attitude and passion, suddenly the data, facts and figures of your resume become memorable, resonant and actionable because your story has given your listeners something they can hold onto, remember, and tell forward.
Before your next interview, come armed! Not with resume bullets, but with the belief and conviction that the story you tell will hit your listeners’ hearts and stay top of mind long after you’ve left and the plethora of other candidates attempt to sell themselves on the backs of their resumes alone.
Cruising down main street, meeting friends at the local car hop, doing the Lindy and the Jive to the jukebox, going to the drive-in and barely watching the movie…these are some of the images invoked by the retro and automotive pop-art-flavored paintings of Jen Bissu. Strong composition, unique points of view, and striking color and contrast are hallmarks of her work. Driven by a passion for an era before her time, Jen Bissu’s paintings take the viewer back to the excitement-charged days when Elvis was King and a chrome-laden car was the coolest. “I can’t even explain what got me so interested in it,” Bissu says. “I just have this deep passion for the fifties embedded in me. There was a kind of magic to the era, a romance, that you can’t find anymore. Going to drive-ins in these gorgeous cars, sharing a Coke with two straws, going steady…it was so romantic! And the music of the era captures it perfectly. That’s what I strive for in my paintings, too…to capture the romance and excitement of the Fabulous Fifties.”
Born in a New Jersey town directly across the river from Manhattan, Jen Bissu had the art c
apital of America at arm’s reach during her formative years. Visiting museums and attending art classes in New York City schools added fuel to the creative fire burning inside her from her earliest days. By age six, Bissu could be found standing in the bustling corridors of NYC’s Chrysler Building, selling her drawings (both prints and originals). She began studying art formally by age nine, and knew right away it was to be her calling. She took art classes at several New York City schools including the United Nations International School, The Art Students League, the School of Visual Arts (SVA), and Pratt. Bissu went on to graduate Summa Cum Laude with a B.F.A. in Visual Communications/Illustration and M.A. in Fine Art Education from Kean University.
From childhood to now, Jen Bissu has delved into several art forms from drawing to watercolor to photography, and dabbled in several three-dimensional media as well. In a college Intro to Painting class, she discovered her medium of choice. Bissu immediately fell in love with the way the buttery acrylic and oil paints glide over the painting surface, and the rich colors they produce. Over the years, Bissu has flirted with many themes in painting: portraits, still life, landscape, even dilapidated buildings. But above all, her love for the roots of Rock’n’Roll and classic mid-century American culture has fostered a need to create art about classic cars, chrome, candy shoppe fountains, greasers, and pin-up cuties. Jen Bissu’s paintings embody the wholesomely sinful spirit of the 1950s and bring about a deliciously nostalgic feeling, even for those born too late to experience firsthand the magic of the Fabulous Fifties.
New Year’s Eve Singles Social / Dancing, Bibi’z Restaurant / Lounge, Westwood, NJ, Sat, Dec 31
Monday, Dec 31 9:30p
Bibi’z Restaurant & Lounge, Westwood
Mix and Mingle NYE in the Lounge reserved for PBSN and Dance into the New Year. Invite your friends. Meet many singles from the local area. Cash bar. The Kitchen will be open until after Midnight…
New Year’s Eve Singles Dinner Party / Dancing, Bibi’z Restaurant / Lounge, Westwood, NJ, Mon, Dec. 31
Monday, Dec 31 8:00p
Bibi’z Restaurant & Lounge, Westwood
Enjoy a 4 course NYE dinner, party and dancing. We will gather in the private dining area next to the dance floor. Sharp dressy attire. Champagne toast at Midnight! Cash bar…
New Years Eve 2013
Monday, Dec 31 6:00p
46 Lounge, Totowa
New Years Eve 2013: Monday December 31st at 46 Lounge Join in on this year’s balldrop at New Jersey’s hottest spot, 46 Lounge…
Bliss New Years Eve
Monday, Dec 31 8:00p
Bliss Lounge, Clifton
Countdown to 2013 NJ’s Only Latin NYE Celebration Music by DJ’s Luna Comotion VNyce Anythony Rey Jumpin Jay Mad Quest & More Surprise Guest DJ’s Hosted by AJ El Kallejero Bliss Packages: Basic $25/…
The Silver Ball: New Years Eve Edition
Monday, Dec 31 8:00p
((Boom)) / Double Tree Hotel, Mahwah New Jersey, Rutherford
 Here’s The Deal… And its the Best Deal Around… All inclusive… All included….
New Year’s Eve at New Jersey’s Hottest Club 46 Lounge
Monday, Dec 31 9:00p
46 Lounge, Totowa
Join in on this New Year’s Eve balldrop at New Jersey’s hottest spot, 46 Lounge. 46 Lounge is an ultra-chic lounge with flavors of Manhattan, Miami and Los Angeles packed into one exciting venue…
NYE 2013 with DJ Camilo at Studio 4
Monday, Dec 31 8:00p
Studio 4 Ultralounge/Megavenue, Fort Lee
Monday December 31st NYE 2013 Bring In The New Year In Style Tickets ONLY $30 Includes: 12am Champagne Toast,Noise Makers,Party Hats,Continental Breakfast,Guaranteed Entrance, NO WAITING ON LINE…
New Year’s Eve Raine Lounge NYC
Monday, Dec 31 9:00p
Raine, Bronx
www.Gametightny…
New Years 2013 at Hudson River Cafe
Monday, Dec 31 9:00p
Hudson River Cafe, New York
 New Years 2013 at Hudson River Cafe  Hudson River Cafe 697 West 133rd St New York, NY 10031  212-366-0752  Join us at New Years 2013 at Hudson River w/  jinx paul, LMP guys, D anny S, F irs…
The Long, Strange History of the Christmas Tree
December 23, 2012, 8:08 AM
Trees may bear blossoms, fruits, or pinecones, or the weight of birds and squirrels, or just plain snow. They are not normally found in houses, nor are they decorated with candles, straw stars, tinsel, or glass balls. And most trees have roots that stretch deep into the ground beneath. But the Christmas or Holiday tree as we know it today usually has only its crown and trunk – and its place is in the home. It has developed a life of its own, and there is an entire ritual surrounding it.
Is it really just a pagan remnant – as common mythology has it? What can account for the imaginative combination of natural and cultural elements, for our splendid Christmas tree? It seems like different traditions came together: Wood has been used for thousands of years in celebrations of the winter solstice in northern Europe. To honor the gods, it was set alight to scare away the spirits. And mid-winter greenery was thought to radiate and summon life force and fertility, to keep harm at bay. The custom of celebrating the changing year with greenery was already known among the Romans, who used bay branches. Some of the objects used as tree decorations have long been found in the context of Christmas. For instance, in the 10th century it was common in the German lands for children to give apples as presents at Christmas time – a custom that soon also included other foodstuffs such as bread and cheese.
The solstice evergreen, a freestanding tree usually found next to the village well, was much loved in Northern and Central Europe. It was freed of its bark and branches, while leaving the treetop. Sometimes this was later replaced by a new treetop and the tree was then decorated with string, small figures, and blown eggs. This tree had an established place in the life of the community – the girls of the village formed a round dance, singing and dancing around it.
Oliver Stone: ‘US has become an Orwellian state’
Published: 28 December, 2012, 20:19
Edited: 29 December, 2012, 00:14
Americans are living in an Orwellian state argue Academy Award-winning director Oliver Stone and historian Peter Kuznick, as they sit down with RT to discuss US foreign policy and the Obama administration’s disregard for the rule of law.
Both argue that Obama is a wolf in sheep’s clothing and that people have forgiven him a lot because of the “nightmare of the Bush presidency that preceded him.”
“He has taken all the Bush changes he basically put them into the establishment, he has codified them,” Stone told RT. “It is an Orwellian state. It might not be oppressive on the surface, but there is no place to hide. Some part of you is going to end up in the database somewhere.”
According to Kuznick, American citizens live in a fish tank where their government intercepts more than 1.7 billion messages a day. “That is email, telephone calls, other forms of communication.”
RT’s Abby Martin in the program Breaking the Set discusses the Showtime film series and book titled The Untold History of the United States co-authored by Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick.
Ridgewood Healthy Gourmet Lunch and Learn Series
Tue, January 08, 2013 – Tue, February 05, 2013
Time: 11:30 AM – 12:45 PM
The Stable Community Center, 259 N. Maple Ave. Ridgewood, NJ
Cost: $95 per person
$95 for 5 sessions: January 8, 15, 22, 29 and March 5, (Includes: 2 course lunches, recipes and supporting handouts)
Each session is from 11:30-12:45
To register, call 201.670.5560
Join Natural Foods Chef and Certified Holistic Health Coach, Christine Okezie, for a 5 week series of delicious and health-promoting culinary demonstrations and learn how proper eating can give you amazing, disease-proof your body, and help you achieve your ideal weight without sacrificing pleasure.
Realistic Resolutions 2013 – Health Fair!
Thu, January 17, 2013
Time: 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Ridgewood YMCA/YWCA of Bergen County, 112 Oak Street, Ridgewood, NJ
The Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce invites you to attend Realistic Resolutions 2013 Health Fair with featured guest and keynote speaker Joy Bauer, MS, RD, CDN.
Joy is one of the nation’s leading health authorities. As the nutrition and health expert for the TODAY Show, she shares reliable, practical and straightforward advice that helps millions of Americans eat better, lead healthier, and more fulfilling lives.
Joy hosts RLTV heartwarming show, Good Food, Good Deeds. She is a monthly columnist for Woman s Day magazine.
Joy recent releases include:
The Joy Fit Club –
Cookbook, Diet Plan & Inspiration,
Slim & Scrumptious.
Your Inner Skinny.
The #1 New York Times bestseller-Joy Bauer Food Cures: Completely revised & Updated.
For FREE – come early and visit all the Health Fair providers starting at 5:00pm and then listen to TV fame Joy Bauer who will answer your questions.
Snow date: January 24, 2013 – 5-8pm
If you are interested in being vendor, please click download for the sponsorship opportunities, print out and fax to 201-251-1958, email [email protected] or call 201-445-2600.
This will be the biggest Health Fair event in Bergen County. Start off 2013 with healthy thoughts.
For more information call the Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce 201-445-2600.
Sponsors of the 2013 Realistic Resolutions
Van Dyk Healthcare
Valley Hospital
201 Magazine
West Ridgewood Dental
Jewish Home at Home
Alexandrite Group
Allergey Free
A Little Lift
Adult Care Advisors
BLS Eldercare
Bolger Fitness Center
Bookends
Brentwood/Buckingham
Christian Health Care
Community Meals
Hypnosis by Cathy Savino
Dellridge Care Center
Distinctive Care
Duxiana
Esplanade
Hospices of NJ
Feeney Funeral Home
Home Helpers
ING Financial
Kings
Marriott Courtyard/Residence Inn
Massage Envy
Mill Gardens
Northeast Laser Vain Institute
Northwest Mutual
Precision Orthodontics
Professional Hearing Aide Center
Third Space Medical
Balance and Thrive
Ridgewood Chiropractic
Right at Home
Senior Resources of NJ
Sunrise Senior Living
Unicity Homecare
Walgreens
YMCA Ridgewood
YWCA of Bergen County
Yinsideout
10 of Stupidest and Worst Regulations of 2012
James Gattuso and Diane Katz
December 28, 2012 at 8:36 am
It seems that no aspect of American life can escape government regulation. In the past year, regulators drafted rules that addressed everything from caloric intake to dishwasher efficiency.
Most of these rules increase the cost of living, others hinder job creation, and many erode freedom. Not all regulations are unwarranted, of course, but increasingly, the rules imposed by the government have less to do with health and safety and more to do with whether government or individuals get to make basic pocketbook and lifestyle decisions that affect them. And it is not just the regulators who are to blame. Congress writes laws that give unelected bureaucrats the broad powers they wield.
Today we bring you 10 of the worst regulations from 2012:
1. HHS’s Contraception Mandate
The Department of Health and Human Services on February 15 finalized its mandate that all health insurance plans include coverage for abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization procedures, and contraceptives. To date, 42 cases with more than 110 plaintiffs are challenging this restriction on religious liberty.
2. EPA Emissions Standards
The EPA in February finalized strict new emissions standards for coal- and oil-fired electric utilities. The benefits are highly questionable, with the vast majority being unrelated to the emissions targeted by the regulation. The costs, however, are certain: an estimated $9.6 billion annually.
3. Fuel Efficiency Standards
In August, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in tandem with the Environmental Protection Agency, finalized fuel efficiency standards for cars and light trucks for model years 2017–2025. The rules require a whopping average fuel economy of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. Sticker prices will jump by hundreds of dollars.
4. New York’s 16-Ounce Soda Limit
Not all regulations come from Washington. On September 13, at the behest of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the New York City Board of Health banned the sale of soda and other sweetened drinks in containers larger than 16 ounces.
5. Dishwasher Efficiency Standards
Regulators admit that these Department of Energy rules will do little to improve the environment. Rather, proponents claim they will save consumers money. But they will also increase the price of dishwashers, and only about one in six consumers will keep his or her dishwasher long enough to recoup the cost.
6. School Lunch Standards
The U.S. Department of Agriculture in January published stringent nutrition standards for school lunch and breakfast programs. More than 98,000 elementary and secondary schools are affected—at a cost exceeding $3.4 billion over the next four years.
7. Quickie Union Election Rule
In April, the National Labor Relations Board issued new rules that shorten the time allowed for union-organizing elections to between 10 and 21 days. This leaves little time for employees to make a fully informed choice on unionizing, threatening to leave workers and management alike under unwanted union regimes.
8. Essential Benefits Rule
Under Obamacare, insurers in the individual and small group markets will be forced to cover services that the government deems to be essential. Published on November 26, the HHS list of very broad benefits has created enormous uncertainty about the extent of essential treatment.
9. Electronic Data Recorder Mandate
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on December 13 issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to mandate installation of electronic data recorders, popularly known as “black boxes,” in most light vehicles starting in 2014. The government mandate understandably spooks privacy advocates.
10. “Simplified” Mortgage Disclosure and Servicing Rules
In July, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released its proposal for a more “consumer friendly” mortgage process, with a stated goal of simplifying home loans. The rules run an astonishing 1,099 pages. Then, one month later, the bureau proposed more than 560 pages of rules for mortgage servicing.
No End in Sight
As busy as regulators were in 2012, do not look for them to slow down in the new year. We’ll continue to document the real-life impact with our ongoing Tales of the Red Tape series on The Foundry.
Christmas Trees can be brought to the Graydon Parking Lot at any time. Your cooperation with the disposal of your Christmas tree is requested as each tree dropped off allows for less street debris and for crews to keep on schedule.
You may drop your tree off in the designated area of the Graydon Pool Parking Lot (Linwood and Northern Parkway corner) seven days a week beginning immediately. Each tree is chipped and 100% recycled for use in the Village.
While we will begin the process of collection at the curb, we are asking for your continued assistance which everyone exhibited during the disposal of Sandy debris.
Bergen County Central dispatch
December 27.2012
Bergen County Executive Kathleen A. Donovan
As a general rule, we encourage local government to save money by consolidating services. So we like Bergen County’s plan to offer police and fire dispatch service to all 70 municipalities through the county’s new, but so far underused, dispatch center in Mahwah.
The idea sounds like a free service, but it really isn’t. The county’s plan is not to specifically charge municipalities, but county taxpayers would still support the system, not to mention maintaining what is officially called the Public Safety Operation Center. Ever since the $12.4 million center opened in 2010, the county has struggled to line up towns to use it.
Up until now, the county has been charging towns to use the system relevant to their needs. So far, 11 towns have signed up for complete dispatch services – police, fire and ambulance – and nine others use the county system for 911 calls only.
Rather than try to sign up new towns to use the system, the county now has a different idea. Forget about trying to enlist new users; just make the dispatch system available to every municipality in the county for no additional charge. The county administration theorizes that since property taxpayers already are paying for the operation center and its staff, making dispatch services available to all towns makes sense.
We agree.
It is often counterproductive for one local government entity to pay another local government entity for a service. All that accomplishes is transferring property taxes from one arm of government to another.
Still, there are hurdles to overcome before a centralized, county dispatching system becomes reality. The county would lose $1 million a year if it stops charging the towns that now pay. To offset that loss, the county has asked the state for a share of 911 fees annually generated by phone bill surcharges. It’s not known if that’s going to happen.
Some municipalities now paying for county dispatch may chafe at the idea that others may get the same service without paying. As the mayor of Northvale told The Record when apprised of the county plan, “That’s great, but what about the people that already paid?” Well, the easy answer to the mayor is that his town paid for a service it received, but that it may no longer have to do so. Notwithstanding that sentiment in Northvale, it’s hard to see mayors complaining about not having to pay for a service directly,
There also has been some griping about how the county’s proposal became known. David Ganz, the incoming freeholder chairman, said he was “embarrassed” to learn about the plan from a newspaper article. Perhaps the freeholder board should have been briefed in advance, but let’s not criticize a good idea because of how it became public.
When people need a cop, an ambulance or the fire department, they often pick up the phone. As long as the emergency service they need gets to their door quickly, they likely don’t care where the dispatcher is sitting. If Bergen County can assume emergency dispatch services for all 70 municipalities, it could be a pretty good deal for county taxpayers.
A Brief History of the New Years “Resolution”
December 27,2012
PJ Blogger
Ridgewood NJ , January gets its name from Janus, the two-faced Roman god who looks backwards into the old year and forwards into the new. Janus was the patron and protector of arches bridges, gates, doors, doorways, and of coarse endings and beginnings.
In Roman times the New Year was marked with feasting and parties where Romans would make “resolutions’ similar to what we do today ,but with more of a focus on being good citizens .as aposed to personal development.
Early Puritans in America looked to avoid the hedonistic celebrations that marked the being of the New Year during Roman times and the indulgences associated with those celebrations , even going as far
by the 18th century, of avoiding even naming Janus. Instead they called January the “First Month.”
Early Puritans urged their children to skip the revelry and instead spend their time reflecting on the year past and contemplating the year to come. In this way they adopted again the old custom of making resolutions.
Jonathan Edwards an American theologian brought up in the New England Puritan culture, began the practice of writing down resolutions ,turing the written resolution into an art form. Edwards did not write his resolutions on a single day , but rather, during a two-year period after he graduated form Yale. During the time he compiled some 70 resolutions on various aspects of his life, which he committed to reviewing each week , creating what would later become the modern “Self Help ” book.
