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>Hospitals ask state to dismiss bid

>https://www.northjersey.com/news/health/Hospitals_ask_state_to_dismiss_bid.html

Saturday, June 20, 2009
Last updated: Saturday June 20, 2009, 1:56 PM
BY LINDY WASHBURN
NorthJersey.com
STAFF WRITER

In the latest challenge to Hackensack University Medical Center’s bid to reopen Pascack Valley Hospital in Westwood, two Bergen County hospitals have demanded that the state health commissioner dismiss the application on legal grounds.

“The application fails to meet many significant and irrefutable requirements for the submission of a Certificate of Need application,” reads the 14-page letter, with voluminous attachments, from attorney Frank R. Ciesla to Health Commissioner Heather Howard. Ciesla wrote on behalf of The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood and Englewood Hospital and Medical Center.

“These requirements cannot be waived,” he wrote, “and we request that the application be dismissed at this time.”

Hackensack wants to reopen the hospital — which closed in November 2007 — as a 128-bed community hospital operated by a joint venture with Legacy Hospital Partners Inc. of Texas, a for-profit company.

A public hearing on the certificate of need application was held this month. The state Health Planning Board is to consider the application and recommend a decision to the health commissioner, who will then have 120 days to act.

Ciesla argued that “the State Health Planning Board’s review cannot continue at this time,” because it would violate state regulatory standards.

Not so, said Hackensack’s spokeswoman, Anne Marie Campbell. The application was “deemed complete” by the state Health Department, she said.

“We feel we have made a convincing case that a 128-bed hospital is needed in the Pascack and Northern Valley regions — a case that has received widespread public support,” she said. “We look forward to continuing the process.”

Ciesla’s letter said the application should be dismissed for several reasons, including:

* Under state law, a hospital’s license expires when the hospital ceases to function, he wrote. As a result, a letter from the previous state health commissioner “which purported to permit the license to remain valid for two years is void and of no force.”

* The application was signed by Hackensack’s chief executive officer and not by the joint venture that proposes to own and operate the hospital, as required, Ciesla wrote. Indeed, the joint venture agreement itself is still not final, but a letter of intent. The limited liability corporation that would own the hospital was registered as a business five months after the application was filed, he wrote.

* The applicant has to demonstrate it owns the site. Hackensack bought the property jointly with Touro University, which still retains its share even though it has decided not to open a medical school on the site. Touro did not endorse Hackensack’s application or sign off on the property, he wrote.

The health commissioner’s office said it would have no comment.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/health/Hospitals_ask_state_to_dismiss_bid.html

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Is the Conversion of Graydon A “Priority Project”?

>On Wednesday, July 1st, a village Council meeting will take place in which a final decision will be made whether or not to proceed with plans to convert Graydon to a cement swimming pool. The RPP has sent out emails urging supporters of the project to email council members and the Ridgewood News that this conversion should be a “priority project”.

According to the RPP, the majority of residents surveyed wanted Graydon to maintain its spacious, sandy, natural, lake like appearance, yet they felt the current facility is unclean and unsafe. Despite the RPP efforts to recommend a facility that would provide the sandy spacious environment that most residents wanted, their research indicated that the only feasible solution was to convert Graydon to a much smaller concrete facility. Unfortunately, this design can not provide residents with the sandy spaciousness of Graydon, but it can allow for the perceived feeling of a “cleaner” and “safer” swimming environment. Ironically, all public swimming facilities pose both health and safety risks, concrete or otherwise.

For example, public cement bottom pools in Arizona, Texas and Upstate New York (to name a few) had to be shut down last summer because patrons were getting ill from a parasite found in human/mammal fecal matter called cryptosporidium, that was discovered in the water. This is just one of many clorine resistant parasites and bacteria that plague public swimming pools (MedicineNet.com). In addition, public pools that exceed their swim load capacity are much more likely to experience transmission of water borne illnesses.

Concrete pools also have inherit safety risks. Head and spinal injuries from hard pool bottoms and slippery surfaces are common. Drownings also occur in crowded public swimming pools, while lifeguards are on duty, everyday in the US (National Center for Disease Control).

My question is this. Since the proposed concrete facility can not provide the same natural appearance and spaciousness of Graydon and it can not eliminate the health and safety risks of a public swimming facility, then why take on the enormous financial burdan of converting it?

The RPP often compares Graydon to the public pool in Westfield, because of the similarity in demographics. I urge our Council before making any decisions about Graydon’s conversion to take the 30 minute ride down the Garden Stare Parkway and observe this hidden from public view pool on a sunny Sunday afternoon. The noise level is deafening and the pool is overwhelmingly crowded. Not to mention the fact that Westfield’s facility does not have to share parking with those using two athletic fields. Remember, in order to make this new facility self-funding, it has an 8,000 member quota to fill. Even in Graydon’s hayday it didn’t have 8,000 members. If I lived on one of the streets near Graydon, Vets or the Maple Ave field, I’d be concerned.

Speaking of similar demographics. Allendale has a sand bottom pool and residents there don’t feel a need to covert it to a cement bottom pool. Why? Is their membership declining? Is their pool operating at a loss? Is Graydon supposed to be a business or is it an amenity like a public library, community center, park or athletic field? I am always hearing how Graydon is operating at a loss. With a $14 million dollar bond to pay off, in addition to annual operating costs, how many years will it be before the “new Graydon” turns a profit?

Although I do not support the RPP iniative to convert Graydon to a concrete facility, I do feel that their efforts have been a catalyst for the many improvements that have been made over the past 3 years. Since many of the RPP supporters have stopped using Graydon, they have not experienced the changes that have been made like I have. The aeration system installed last year made a tremendous difference in water quality. A second aerator was installed this year. I was swimming in Graydon on opening day. Standing in chest high water, I could see my feet. That’s clearer than the ocean at the Jersey shore! The sand bottom, is now thoroughly dredged and cleaned before Graydon is filled for the new season. The goose population has also improved dramatically, thanks to the deligent, daily efforts of animal control. These changes have certainly helped to keep both the grounds and water cleaner.

So let’s not stop there. First off, lifeguards could routinely skim the water at the end of their rotations. Additional safety measures can be taken. A fence separating the 4 ft section of Graydon from the 12 ft section can be installed to better monitor those entering the deeper water. A lifeguard station should also be installed in the center of Graydon to better observe those swimming there.

I realize that Graydon’s membership has been declining over the past several years, with this year’s membership being at an all time low. I fear that many who normally would have joined Graydon have deliberatly boycotted this year in order to benefit their cause. Still and all, if all of these cost effective steps and improvements do not increase membership at Graydon, than raising membership fees from $77.00 per person to $100-$125.00 per person is still a bargain. The proposed fee for the “new Graydon” is $150.00 per person, which, I fear, will increase annually in order to offset the enourmos debt this reconstuction will incur.

I have emailed our Council members, [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; as well as the Ridgewood News as a Letter to the Editor, [email protected]; including an email to Mike Sedon, who has been covering this topic for the paper at [email protected] and urge others to do the same.

With so many priority issues facing our community during these difficult economic times, it seems to me that the conversion of Graydon is not one of them.

Suzanne Kelly
Ridgewood

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>RSA Hosts Special Needs Program

>SN3
SN4













Folks this is the real thing …..

RSA Hosts Special Needs Program

The Ridgewood Soccer Association has openings in its special needs program for children ages 5-14 who desire the individualized attention available in a smaller group setting. Open to children in Ridgewood and neighboring towns, the program provides an enjoyable hour of soccer for players of all skill levels.

Volunteers from the Ridgewood High School Girls Soccer team serve as mentors for the players. The aim of the program is to develop skills, promote fitness, and emphasize the fun aspects of the sport. Clinics are run on Saturday afternoons in Ridgewood from early September through early November. The cost is $60 for 8 sessions. Each player receives an RSA team shirt and soccer ball.

Complete program details for all RSA programs and access to Community Pass, the RSA on-line registration system, are available at https://www.ridgewoodsoccer.org/ . Questions can be addressed to [email protected]
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SNGroup1

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>Economics 101: The Destruction of Capitalism (and Civilization)

>The Destruction of Capitalism (and Civilization)
Mises Daily by Art Carden Posted on 5/6/2009 12:00:00 AM

https://mises.org/story/3454

Unfortunately, the great libertarian polemics of the middle of the 20th century are taking on a newfound relevance as we trudge along the road to serfdom. Fortunately, the most important ideas in the classical-liberal tradition are crystallized in these works. One such work is Ludwig von Mises’s 1956 book The Anticapitalistic Mentality. He offers a psychological sociology of ideas in which he surveys and attempts to explain the rise of anticapitalist thought in the West.

In his first chapter, “The Social Characteristics of Capitalism and the Psychological Causes of Its Vilification,” he offers a contribution similar to Friedrich Hayek’s in Capitalism and the Historians in that he seeks to set the record straight. With characteristic clarity and verve, he points out how “[t]he characteristic feature of modern capitalism is mass production of goods destined for consumption by the masses” (p. 1) and notes that “[c]apitalism deproletarianizes the ‘common man’ and elevates him to the rank of a ‘bourgeois'” (p. 1). In much the same fashion, Hayek argued that the creation of the proletariat was not due to increasing immiseration but due to the fact that advances under capitalism allowed people on the margins of society to survive and to become members of the proletariat rather than entries into British mortality statistics. The creation of the proletariat was a demographic shift brought on by the success of capitalism, not by any inherent tendency for it to increase the exploitation of the workers.

For Mises, it was “obvious that man’s discretion to shape his fate can never trespass the limits drawn by what are called the laws of nature” (p. 2). We don’t have the option of assuming away the law of gravity or the laws of thermodynamics. One of the fundamental contributions of 19th- and 20th-century political economy was that it showed that we do not have the option of assuming away the laws of supply and demand or the law of comparative advantage.

One of the consequences of interventionism, according to Mises is “a return to barbarism.” While things have not gone so far as the generation of total chaos or barbarism, this has been evident in the experiments with totalitarianism and hyperpopulism in Asia, Europe, and Latin America in the 20th century.

I fear that we are seeing this in the United States. The change is slow, incremental, and difficult to notice, but we can trace some of the increasing divisions in the world to state action that pit brother against brother and friend against friend. Increasing global integration occurs in spite of state efforts to divide us. Rhetoric about “working together” and understanding our common responsibilities to one another is superficially appealing, but it is fundamentally divisive. Embedded in these statements are assumptions about who is to serve and who is to be served and assumptions about who is to produce and who is to consume. It necessarily assumes a class of predators and a class of prey — or perhaps a more apt metaphor would be a class of parasites and a class of hosts. It does not recognize the fundamental and ennobling effects of capitalism.

Is the entrepeneurial class a new plutocracy? Bourgeois riches come from customer service. Aristocratic riches are expropriated (p. 5). Aristocracy rests on intrinsic value whereas capitalism rests on the exchange of value for value. One’s relationship with the strongman under capitalism is of limited value. In medieval Europe, people attained ranks of privilege not by providing value but by attaching themselves to people who were victorious in war (Mises 1956 [1994]:6–7).

In a society based on caste and status, the individual can ascribe adverse fate to conditions beyond his own control. He is a slave because the superhuman powers that determine all becoming had assigned him this rank. It is not his doing, and there is no reason for him to be ashamed of his humbleness. … [In capitalism,] everybody’s station in life depends on his own doing. (p. 9)

Mises explains anticapitalism as an element of the psychology of envy:

Everybody’s self-reliance and moral equilibrium are undermined by the spectacle of those who have given proof of greater abilities and capacities. Everybody is aware of his own defeat and insufficiency. (p. 10)

This isn’t legitimately actionable. In the hyperjargon of welfare economics, it isn’t clear that we should weight envy in the social-welfare function.

Even beyond this, what do we do when we shackle those who can avoid hurting the feelings of those who cannot? Suppose Bob is a painter. Bob does not become a great painter if we prevent better painters from painting. All we do is destroy the output of those who can. As Ayn Rand pointed out, using force to thwart ability means using force to try to negate reality. Mises offers the following advice:

To the grumbler who complains about the unfairness of the market system only one piece of advice can be given: If you want to acquire wealth, then try to satisfy the public by offering them something that is cheaper or which they like better. Try to supersede Pinkapinka by mixing another beverage. Equality under the law gives you the power to challenge every millionaire. It is — in a market not sabotaged by government-imposed restrictions — exclusively your fault if you do not outstrip the chocolate king, the movie star and the boxing champion. (p. 8)

more
https://mises.org/story/3454

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>Balance Your LIFE…A Wellness GALA! Comes to Ridgewood Featuring Kung Fu Master, Karl Romain

>Balance Your LIFE…A Wellness GALA! Comes to Ridgewood Featuring Kung Fu Master, Karl Romain
By Wellness Gala
5/26/2009

https://www.thealternativepress.com/article.asp?news=3635

Kung Fu Master Karl Romain, seen on Oprah and featured in Dr. Oz’s video and book, You Staying Young, joins a select group of experts in the health, wellness and beauty fields at a unique wellness event to be held at the West Side Presbyterian Church, 6 South Monroe Street, Ridgewood, NJ, on Sunday, June 28, 2009, from 1:00 PM – 7:00 PM.

Experience and interact with specialists in the fields of holistic health concepts and modalities, rejuvenation and stress reduction techniques, and personal growth tools. Then join us at 3:30 pm for a Chi Kung session with Kung Fu Master, Karl Romain. Workshops, lectures and demonstrations will be offered beginning at 2 PM.

The Gala festivities also feature “Live” chamber music throughout the day, an espresso bar and desserts, and a “Live” performance of the music of Grammy Award Winning Producer/Sound Healer, Barry Goldstein, critically acclaimed singer, Elisa Brown, and internationally renowned classical guitarist, Virginia Luque. A renowned Sound Healer, Goldstein’s music has touched the audiences of Deepak Chopra, Wayne Dyer, James Van Praagh, Gregg Braden, and Shirley MacLaine. He won the Grammy for his work with Les Paul on the song “69 Freedom Special.” Ms. Brown has performed around the globe for The Zaraspe Foundation on behalf of the United Nations and the Vatican to raise awareness for the less fortunate. A student of legendary Spanish guitarist, Andres Segovia, and recording artist with Abbey Road Studios, Virginia Luque has captivated audiences around the world with her virtuosity “…played a concert…that was stunning both for its technical fireworks and its musical warmth.” The New York Times.

The General Admission Fee for this event is $20.00, and includes workshops, lectures, and demonstrations; desserts and espresso bar; all “Live” entertainment, plus a sampling of services offered by professionals in a variety of fields, including Borghese Spa Products, Nutritional Counseling, Acupuncture, Chiropractic, Massage, Anti-Aging Medicine, Reiki, Stress Reduction Techniques, Jewelry, Art, Weight Management Systems, Feng Shui, Energy Balancing, Makeup, Beauty Treatments of All Kinds, Alternative Healthcare Options, Essential Oils, Wellness Books and CDs, and much more.

The VIP Admission Fee for this event is $100.00, and entitles VIP Attendees to all of the above PLUS a gift bag of goods and services valued at $300.00, including a private lecture demonstration with Renowned Intuitive Energy Healer, Dr. Robert Kandarjian, and Going Beyond: a Two Hour Mediumship with Gifted Psychic, Shira. “…a group of graduate students at Pace University, studying unlikely business challenges…found that most of Shira’s clients came away satisfied…” The New York Times. VIP Admission is limited to 50 Attendees. Pre-registration is required to secure the space.

A portion of the proceeds of the Wellness GALA will benefit the Autism Research Institute (ARI) and The Tourette Syndrome Association of New Jersey, Inc. (TSA).

https://www.thealternativepress.com/article.asp?news=3635

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>the Village of Ridgewood : Man about Town

>
Ridgewoood Public Library Thursday, July 16 @ 7:00 pm: Create a Competitive Resume.Professional Career Counselor Elese Tonelli takes you step by step through the process of creating a professional resume for today’s competitive marketplace. She’ll show you how to communicate your accomplishments, competencies and skills to the audience that counts most – hiring managers and executive recruiters

Kasschau Memorial Shell – All Performances at 8:30pm
Tuesday, June 16 Harmony Celebration Chorus,Sweet Adelines Boiling Springs Svgs Bank, Ridgewood Corset Shop
Thursday, June 18 Greg Caldarone, Popular and Italian Standards Ridgewood AM Rotary Club, Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill
Tuesday, June 23 The Bobby Byrne Show, Broadway Showtunes The Ridgewood News
Thursday, June 25 Reminisce, Doo Wop Hudson City Bank
Tuesday, June 30 Lou Gallo and Friends, Childrens’ Evening Glenn Godart, D.M.D. & Warren Boardman, D.M.D., Michael & Nicole Clemente, D.M.D., Boiling Springs Savings Bank

Last Day of Instruction
The last day of instruction and RHS graduation will take place on Wednesday, June 24. Graduation is at 5 p.m.

June 28, 2009 Farmer’s Market Opens
Chamber of Commerce
9am to 3pm at the Train Station – every Sunday through October

July 4th Fireworks Tickets
Support the Tradition
The Ridgewood Fourth of July Celebration is organized by the Ridgewood Fourth of July Celebration Committee, an all-volunteer community group. The Committee is not part of the Village of Ridgewood government and receives no direct funding from the Village. All aspects of the Celebration including fireworks, parade bands, evening performers, insurance, police and fire personnel, are funded by the sale of fireworks tickets and more importantly by voluntary contributions from individuals and businesses. To make a donation to the celebration please send your check to Ridgewood Fourth of July Celebration, PO Box 140, Ridgewood, NJ 07451. Tickets for the evenings festivities are on sale now. The pre-event price is $5 (at the gate, tickets are $10 adults, $5 children 6-12, 5 & under free) They are available at the following volunteer vendors in Ridgewood Alice-Alice-Alice, Artventure Gallery, Backyard Living, Daily Treat Restaurant, Goffle Brook Farm, Harding Wine and Spirits, Hillmann Electric, Hoskins Propane, Irish Eyes Imports, Ridgewood Cycle Shop, The Wine Seller, and Town & Country Apothecary & Fine Cosmetics. In Glen Rock you may purchase tickets at Ridgewood Auto Wash & Herold‘s Farm and Garden Center. Ticket vendors in Midland Park are La Strada Delicatessen. J T’s Wine & Spirits in Ho-Ho-Kus also carry fireworks tickets. Ticket will also be available at the Ridgewood Library from June 26 through July 2. The Celebration Committee thanks HILT for volunteering to handle this sale. Volunteers from HILT will be at the library from 9:00AM until 3:00PM each day except Sunday June 28 when they will be there from 1:00 – 4:00PM. Tickets may also be purchased online for $7 which includes shipping and handling. For online ticket sales as well as more information on the celebration go to www.ridg Ridgewood Fireworks Tickets are a Bargain For the low price of $5, you can dance to the Dad’s Night Band, watch the amazing Illumination Twirlers, listen to the incomparable Ridgewood Concert Band, watch the ever popular skydivers all before the wonderful fireworks show you can only get in Ridgewood. How is this possible, you ask? Just buy your fireworks tickets at one of our volunteer vendors. (at the gate, tickets are $10 adults, $5 children 6-12, 5 & under free) The Ridgewood Fourth of July Celebration Committee is pleased to announce that it will sponsor its 99th annual celebration on Saturday, July 4, 2009. The theme of this year’s celebration is “50 States…One Nation.” The day’s events include the flag raising at Wilsey Square at 9am, parade, evening entertainment and fireworks. The parade is held rain or shine. The fireworks will be held Saturday evening, with an alternate date of Sunday, July 5.ridgewoodjuly4th.org.

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>The underworked American

>image001

Lexington

The underworked American
Jun 11th 2009
From The Economist print edition

Children are exceptions to the country’s work ethic

AMERICANS like to think of themselves as martyrs to work. They delight in telling stories about their punishing hours, snatched holidays and ever-intrusive BlackBerrys. At this time of the year they marvel at the laziness of their European cousins, particularly the French. Did you know that the French take the whole of August off to recover from their 35-hour work weeks? Have you heard that they are so addicted to their holidays that they leave the sick to die and the dead to moulder?
There is an element of exaggeration in this, of course, and not just about French burial habits; studies show that Americans are less Stakhanovite than they think. Still, the average American gets only four weeks of paid leave a year compared with seven for the French and eight for the Germans. In Paris many shops simply close down for August; in Washington, where the weather is sweltering, they remain open, some for 24 hours a day.

But when it comes to the young the situation is reversed. American children have it easier than most other children in the world, including the supposedly lazy Europeans. They have one of the shortest school years anywhere, a mere 180 days compared with an average of 195 for OECD countries and more than 200 for East Asian countries. German children spend 20 more days in school than American ones, and South Koreans over a month more. Over 12 years, a 15-day deficit means American children lose out on 180 days of school, equivalent to an entire year.
American children also have one of the shortest school days, six-and-a-half hours, adding up to 32 hours a week. By contrast, the school week is 37 hours in Luxembourg, 44 in Belgium, 53 in Denmark and 60 in Sweden. On top of that, American children do only about an hour’s-worth of homework a day, a figure that stuns the Japanese and Chinese.

Americans also divide up their school time oddly. They cram the school day into the morning and early afternoon, and close their schools for three months in the summer. The country that tut-tuts at Europe’s mega-holidays thinks nothing of giving its children such a lazy summer. But the long summer vacation acts like a mental eraser, with the average child reportedly forgetting about a month’s-worth of instruction in many subjects and almost three times that in mathematics. American academics have even invented a term for this phenomenon, “summer learning loss”. This pedagogical understretch is exacerbating social inequalities. Poorer children frequently have no one to look after them in the long hours between the end of the school day and the end of the average working day. They are also particularly prone to learning loss. They fall behind by an average of over two months in their reading. Richer children actually improve their performance.

The understretch is also leaving American children ill-equipped to compete. They usually perform poorly in international educational tests, coming behind Asian countries that spend less on education but work their children harder. California’s state universities have to send over a third of their entering class to take remedial courses in English and maths. At least a third of successful PhD students come from abroad.

A growing number of politicians from both sides of the aisle are waking up to the problem. Barack Obama has urged school administrators to “rethink the school day”, arguing that “we can no longer afford an academic calendar designed for when America was a nation of farmers who needed their children at home ploughing the land at the end of each day.” Newt Gingrich has trumpeted a documentary arguing that Chinese and Indian children are much more academic than American ones.

These politicians have no shortage of evidence that America’s poor educational performance is weakening its economy. A recent report from McKinsey, a management consultancy, argues that the lagging performance of the country’s school pupils, particularly its poor and minority children, has wreaked more devastation on the economy than the current recession.

Learning the lesson
A growing number of schools are already doing what Mr Obama urges, and experimenting with lengthening the school day. About 1,000 of the country’s 90,000 schools have broken the shackles of the regular school day. In particular, charter schools in the Knowledge is Power Programme (KIPP) start the school day at 7.30am and end at 5pm, hold classes on some Saturdays and teach for a couple of weeks in the summer. All in all, KIPP students get about 60% more class time than their peers and routinely score better in tests.

Still, American schoolchildren are unlikely to end up working as hard as the French, let alone the South Koreans, any time soon. There are institutional reasons for this. The federal government has only a limited influence over the school system. Powerful interest groups, most notably the teachers’ unions, but also the summer-camp industry, have a vested interest in the status quo. But reformers are also up against powerful cultural forces.

One is sentimentality; the archetypical American child is Huckleberry Finn, who had little taste for formal education. Another is complacency. American parents have led grass-root protests against attempts to extend the school year into August or July, or to increase the amount of homework their little darlings have to do. They still find it hard to believe that all those Chinese students, beavering away at their books, will steal their children’s jobs. But Huckleberry Finn was published in 1884. And brain work is going the way of manual work, to whoever will provide the best value for money. The next time Americans make a joke about the Europeans and their taste for la dolce vita, they ought to take a look a bit closer to home.

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>Swine Flu Update – June 6th 2009

>The Village of Ridgewood is monitoring the swine flu situation in the United States and State of New Jersey It is maintaining close ties with the health and emergency operations management at both the county and state level. The websites listed below provide the latest available information. State Joint Center for Information has a Hotline for Questions at 866/321-9571.

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>June 6, 1944: D-Day

>photo D Day
June 6, 1944, 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. General Dwight D. Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which “we will accept nothing less than full victory.” More than 5,000 Ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion, and by day’s end on June 6, the Allies gained a foot- hold in Normandy. The D-Day cost was high -more than 9,000 Allied Soldiers were killed or wounded — but more than 100,000 Soldiers began the march across Europe to defeat Hitler.

https://www.army.mil/d-day/

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>the Village of Ridgewood : Man about town …

>Graydon Pool Opening Day
Free Admission to All Ridgewood Residents
Opening Day Celebration – Pool patrons can welcome in the new summer swim season with an opening day celebration on Saturday, June 6th, beginning at noon (rain date will be Sunday, June 7th). It’s sure to be magical with children’s entertainment and gifts. This opening celebration offers free admission to all Ridgewood residents. Don’t miss out on the fun!

Farmer’s Market Opens 6/28
Chamber of Commerce
9am to 3pm at the Train Station – every Sunday through October

send us your event [email protected]

3balls Golfshow?id=mjvuF8ceKoQ&bids=172534

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>School funding upheld by state Supreme Court

>https://www.nj.com/gloucester/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1243575606177680.xml&coll=8&thispage=2

TRENTON The New Jersey Supreme Court on Thursday found Gov. Jon S. Corzine’s new school funding formula to be a “constitutionally adequate scheme,” signaling an end to the long-running case which for years required extra money for the state’s poorest districts.

In a unanimous ruling, the justices said the state no longer has to provide supplemental funding to the 31 so-called Abbott districts Ð which include Salem, Camden, Gloucester City and Bridgeton.

The state, however, must continue to fund schools to the level required by the new formula, which seeks to treat all districts the same. The formula will also be subject to review after three years, Justice Jaynee LaVecchia wrote in the 138-page ruling for the five participating justices.

The decision is a victory for the Corzine administration, which has held that school funding should be “based on children’s needs, not children’s ZIP codes.”

It also has an impact statewide, since funding for the so-called Abbotts has been largely subsidized by the state. Additionally, after years of flat funding, the new formula implemented this school year provided many suburban and other districts with additional money, since it bases funding partially on the number of poor students in a district, nearly half of whom attend non-Abbotts.

Corzine called the ruling “historic” and said it brings to a conclusion decades of conflict and litigation that many thought would never end.

“By agreeing that the new funding formula is constitutional and that the prior Abbott remedies are no longer necessary, the court has allowed us to focus in a unified and predictable way on meeting our obligation to all of our children while in no way prejudicing those who have benefited from the Abbott rulings in the past,” Corzine said.

The ruling is the 20th decision in the Abbott v. Burke case, filed in 1981, although the original school funding case Ð Robinson v. Cahill, which alleged the state’s funding method discriminated against urban districts Ð began in 1970.

In the Abbott rulings issued over the years, the court ordered that poor districts be funded to the same level as wealthy ones, in order to provide children in impoverished areas the same opportunity for a “thorough and efficient” education as guaranteed by the New Jersey Constitution. That funding method, long considered controversial since a significant portion of residents’ tax bills go toward funding local schools, was expected to stand until the state came up with a constitutional formula.

Corzine proposed the School Funding Reform Act (SFRA), which has been in place since July 2008, seeking to fund all districts in the same manner. The formula based funding on enrollment and then added money for each low-income student, or those receiving free or reduced lunch, each student with limited English proficiency and each student receiving special education.

Advocates for Abbott students have argued that the districts will be unable to maintain important programs under the new formula, which for the 2009-2010 school year would allocate $8 billion in direct aid to kindergarten-through-12th-grade districts statewide.

David Sciarra, who argued in court on behalf of the Abbott children, said the formula has already caused significant cutbacks in staff and programs.

“We are deeply concerned that the SFRA formula will quickly return New Jersey to the unequal school system we had in the past, and undo a decade of measurable educational improvements for our poorest children,” Sciarra, executive director of the Newark-based Education Law Center, said following the ruling.

Sciarra had hoped that the state would continue the supplemental funding without a time limit. There was also a chance that the court would accept a suggestion by a court-appointed special master, who found that the formula was constitutional, but said the state should continue extra funding three years.

But the justices rejected both, saying that Abbotts are expected to get $603 million in extra federal funding over the next two years and that the state has also budgeted emergency aid that is available for districts in need.

“The state has constructed a fair and equitable means designed to fund the costs of a thorough and efficient education,” Justice LaVecchia wrote. “The Legislature and Executive have made considerable efforts to confront the difficult questions of how to address the education needs of at-risk pupils, no matter where those children attend school.”

Senate Majority Leader Stephen Sweeney, who represents both Abbott and non-Abbott districts in Salem, Gloucester and Cumberland counties, hailed the decision, saying it was an enormous step forward for the state.

“The funding formula works and it’s fair,” said Sweeney, D-3, of West Deptford, who helped rally Senate votes for passage of the school funding legislation last year. “The money’s supposed to follow the child.”

The court said the constitutionality of the funding formula is based on the condition that the state continues providing the necessary amount of money required under the law.

Sciarra, of the Education Law Center, said he was “heartened” by that stipulation. He said his group “will take every action possible to hold the governor and Legislature accountable.”

Chief Justice Stuart Rabner, the state’s former attorney general, and Justice Virginia Long did not participate in the case.

https://www.nj.com/gloucester/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1243575606177680.xml&coll=8&thispage=2

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>Census 2010 Update for Ridgewood

>U.S. Census workers will be in Ridgewood during the next few weeks, conducting an Address Canvassing Operation in preparation for the 2010 Census.

Address canvassers will use new hand held computers equipped with GPS to increase geographic accuracy. In most cases, census workers will knock on residents’ doors to verify addresses and inquire about additional living quarters on the premises.

Census workers can be identified by the official Census Bureau badge they carry. 201 Census workers will never ask for bank or social security information. All census information collected, including addresses, are confidential and protected by law. The Census Bureau cannot share the information with any other government agency.

Monterey Bay Clothing Company (shop the bay.com)

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New Jersey’s Flat Tax Debate

Christie’s cheap shots can hurt everyone.

If ever a state were ripe for bold economic reform, it would be New Jersey, which is shedding jobs and is in perennial budget crisis despite one of the highest tax burdens in the land. So why is Chris Christie, the GOP front-runner in the state’s 2009 gubernatorial race, taking cheap shots at the flat tax?

Mr. Christie is a former U.S. attorney who did yeoman work putting away the state’s many political thieves. But he seems to be running scared in next month’s Republican primary, when he faces former Mayor of Bogota Steve Lonegan, who is proposing to scrap Jersey’s job-killing graduated income tax that has rates running from 1.4% to 8.97%. Mr. Lonegan wants to replace it with a 2.9% flat tax on the first dollar of income earned.

That’s a good idea that would give the Garden State the lowest tax rate in the Northeast after New Hampshire. Mr. Lonegan says this will ensure that when New Jersey incomes “move-up,” the residents “don’t move out.” Over the past decade, New Jersey has suffered the fourth highest rate of out-migration of all the states, with nearly half a million residents fleeing to the likes of Delaware, Florida and even New York.

Mr. Christie is assailing Mr. Lonegan’s proposal on TV, radio and the Internet as a tax hike on the poor. His TV ad claims the flat tax isn’t fair because it would raise taxes on “almost 70% of working families.” That sounds like he’s reading from President Obama’s teleprompter. Mr. Lonegan counters that only 40% would pay more — by an average of less than $300 for a family earning $20,000 — and their tax liability would still be lower than in New York and Pennsylvania. The average New Jersey family’s tax bill would fall by $1,000 a year.

Whether a flat tax that modestly raises the tax payments of some Americans will fly politically is hard to know. The state and federal tax code are so laced with tax credits and exemptions that any base-broadening, rate-cutting reform is bound to raise taxes on someone. Our friend Steve Forbes, a New Jersey resident, believes that a flat tax that “cuts taxes for everyone” is the way to go. Mr. Lonegan counters that every working New Jersey resident should pay something — on the principle that everyone should bear at least some of the cost of government.

The larger point is that either reform would be far better than the current tax code for New Jersey’s poor, who suffer the most from the state’s high rates that drive jobs and capital elsewhere. A flat tax would help all income groups by attracting those resources back to the state. Surely Mr. Christie realizes that.

Both GOP candidates agree that the 103 tax increases, including income and sales tax rate hikes, under current Governor Jon Corzine and his predecessor, the disgraced Jim McGreevey, have done great harm to their state. From 2001 to 2008, New Jersey lost a net 25,000 private-sector jobs even as public employment grew by 65,000 workers. The state’s finances are such a mess that in late 2007 Governor Corzine proposed the political “Hail Mary” of mortgaging New Jersey’s toll roads in return for a guaranteed revenue stream. He lost, thanks to opposition led by Mr. Lonegan.

If he wins the primary, Mr. Christie will need his own tax reform agenda, both to defeat Mr. Corzine and win a mandate for changing the corrupt mess that is Trenton. Mr. Christie should understand that a flatter tax is an economic and anticorruption strategy because it limits the opportunity for political mediation on behalf of special interests. Republicans can’t credibly be the candidates of growth if they echo liberal class-envy rhetoric to attack tax reform.

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>A History of Memorial Day

>462425589 152e35a275
https://www.usmemorialday.org/backgrnd.html

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation’s service. There are many stories as to its actual beginnings, with over two dozen cities and towns laying claim to being the birthplace of Memorial Day. There is also evidence that organized women’s groups in the South were decorating graves before the end of the Civil War: a hymn published in 1867, “Kneel Where Our Loves are Sleeping” by Nella L. Sweet carried the dedication “To The Ladies of the South who are Decorating the Graves of the Confederate Dead” (Source: Duke University’s Historic American Sheet Music, 1850-1920). While Waterloo N.Y. was officially declared the birthplace of Memorial Day by President Lyndon Johnson in May 1966, it’s difficult to prove conclusively the origins of the day. It is more likely that it had many separate beginnings; each of those towns and every planned or spontaneous gathering of people to honor the war dead in the 1860’s tapped into the general human need to honor our dead, each contributed honorably to the growing movement that culminated in Gen Logan giving his official proclamation in 1868. It is not important who was the very first, what is important is that Memorial Day was established. Memorial Day is not about division. It is about reconciliation; it is about coming together to honor those who gave their all.

General John A. Logan
Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, [LC-B8172- 6403 DLC (b&w film neg.)]

Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11, and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states. The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I (when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war). It is now celebrated in almost every State on the last Monday in May (passed by Congress with the National Holiday Act of 1971 (P.L. 90 – 363) to ensure a three day weekend for Federal holidays), though several southern states have an additional separate day for honoring the Confederate war dead: January 19 in Texas, April 26 in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi; May 10 in South Carolina; and June 3 (Jefferson Davis’ birthday) in Louisiana and Tennessee.

In 1915, inspired by the poem “In Flanders Fields,” Moina Michael replied with her own poem:

We cherish too, the Poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led,
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies.

She then conceived of an idea to wear red poppies on Memorial day in honor of those who died serving the nation during war. She was the first to wear one, and sold poppies to her friends and co-workers with the money going to benefit servicemen in need. Later a Madam Guerin from France was visiting the United States and learned of this new custom started by Ms.Michael and when she returned to France, made artificial red poppies to raise money for war orphaned children and widowed women. This tradition spread to other countries. In 1921, the Franco-American Children’s League sold poppies nationally to benefit war orphans of France and Belgium. The League disbanded a year later and Madam Guerin approached the VFW for help. Shortly before Memorial Day in 1922 the VFW became the first veterans’ organization to nationally sell poppies. Two years later their “Buddy” Poppy program was selling artificial poppies made by disabled veterans. In 1948 the US Post Office honored Ms Michael for her role in founding the National Poppy movement by issuing a red 3 cent postage stamp with her likeness on it.
Traditional observance of Memorial day has diminished over the years. Many Americans nowadays have forgotten the meaning and traditions of Memorial Day. At many cemeteries, the graves of the fallen are increasingly ignored, neglected. Most people no longer remember the proper flag etiquette for the day. While there are towns and cities that still hold Memorial Day parades, many have not held a parade in decades. Some people think the day is for honoring any and all dead, and not just those fallen in service to our country.

There are a few notable exceptions. Since the late 50’s on the Thursday before Memorial Day, the 1,200 soldiers of the 3d U.S. Infantry place small American flags at each of the more than 260,000 gravestones at Arlington National Cemetery. They then patrol 24 hours a day during the weekend to ensure that each flag remains standing. In 1951, the Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts of St. Louis began placing flags on the 150,000 graves at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery as an annual Good Turn, a practice that continues to this day. More recently, beginning in 1998, on the Saturday before the observed day for Memorial Day, the Boys Scouts and Girl Scouts place a candle at each of approximately 15,300 grave sites of soldiers buried at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park on Marye’s Heights (the Luminaria Program). And in 2004, Washington D.C. held its first Memorial Day parade in over 60 years.

To help re-educate and remind Americans of the true meaning of Memorial Day, the “National Moment of Remembrance” resolution was passed on Dec 2000 which asks that at 3 p.m. local time, for all Americans “To voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a Moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence or listening to ‘Taps.”

The Moment of Remembrance is a step in the right direction to returning the meaning back to the day. What is needed is a full return to the original day of observance. Set aside one day out of the year for the nation to get together to remember, reflect and honor those who have given their all in service to their country.

But what may be needed to return the solemn, and even sacred, spirit back to Memorial Day is for a return to its traditional day of observance. Many feel that when Congress made the day into a three-day weekend in with the National Holiday Act of 1971, it made it all the easier for people to be distracted from the spirit and meaning of the day. As the VFW stated in its 2002 Memorial Day address: “Changing the date merely to create three-day weekends has undermined the very meaning of the day. No doubt, this has contributed greatly to the general public’s nonchalant observance of Memorial Day.”

On January 19, 1999 Senator Inouye introduced bill S 189 to the Senate which proposes to restore the traditional day of observance of Memorial Day back to May 30th instead of “the last Monday in May”. On April 19, 1999 Representative Gibbons introduced the bill to the House (H.R. 1474). The bills were referred the Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on Government Reform.

https://www.usmemorialday.org/backgrnd.html

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>IS THE BOE WAIVING A PUBLIC INPUT BYLAW IN ORDER TO GO AGAINST PARENTS WISHES AND ATTEMPT TO AVIOD A LAWSUIT???

>***** PJ PLEASE POST THIS AS A NEW THREAD **** VER… ***** PJ PLEASE POST THIS AS A NEW THREAD **** VERY IMPORTANT – BEFORE BOE MEETING TONIGHT ****==============================
==============================

IS THE BOE WAIVING A PUBLIC INPUT BYLAW IN ORDER TO GO AGAINST PARENTS WISHES AND ATTEMPT TO AVIOD A LAWSUIT???TAKE A LOOK AT THE BOE Agenda for May 18, 2009.

Ridgewood BOE Agenda – May 18, 2009
Or cut and paste the following link:
https://schoolsite.capturepoint.com/assets/resources/post%205-18-09%20rpm2.pdf

LOOK At Agenda Item “Vi. CONSENT ITEMS”
Look at consent Item “B. ADMINISTRATION i. Approval: Waiver of Policy #6141”

It says:

i. Approval: Waiver of Policy #6141
Approval to waive Policy #6141, as listed on Attachment B, in
accordance with Policy #9314, as listed on Attachment C.
So what IS Policy #6141 and What IS Policy #9314?

Policy #6141 is a bylaw that states:
He/she (the Chief School Administrator) shall establish procedures for curriculum development
which ensure the effective participation of teaching staff members; pupils, as appropriate to their age
and grade; parents/guardians; the community; members of the Board; and the use of all available
resources.Policy #9314 basically is the right of the Board to waive bylaws

SO… WHY is the Board WAIVING THE BYLAW THAT REQUIRES PARTICIPATION BY TEACHERS PARENTS AND THE COMMUNITY ????PERHAPS BECA– USE THE BOARD IS AFRAID OF BEING SUED SINCE THEY ARE RAMMING IN A MATH PROGRAM THAT THE PARENTS DONT WANT?

Perhaps because of posts like this one on the Ridgewood Blog:

District boards of education shall encourage the active involvement of representatives from the community, business, industry, labor…Or Cut and Paste:
https://theridgewoodblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/district-boards-of-education-shall.html

OR Perhaps because of posts like this on Laurie Goodmans Blog?
Anonymous said…
Laurie,I’m glad you’re reading about the role of board members. Please explain why you would violate our Ridgewood BOE Bylaw # 6141 which says the following, verbatim:”…New programs and courses of study should not be acted upon by the Board until the meeting following their presentation, in order for Board members to have an opportunity to review the proposed program.”Why are you planning to participate in a vote of a program at the same meeting during which it is presented?If you care so much about doing what is right, then explain why you would do this when it is so wrong.
And Why Laurie, is the BOE WAIVING #6141 when you state this on your blog?
For those who may have heard that the Board is somehow “breaking the law” in the process to be followed in approving the textbook…don’t believe it. Here’s the thing: Those who are claiming “foul” are mistakenly using the wrong section of Board policy. Policy 6141 states that the superintendent shall “establish procedures for curriculum development which ensure the effective participation of… parents/guardians and the community…” etc etc. This policy pertains to curriculum, NOT textbooks. We’ve had this discussion before, as you may recall: curriculum is what the students will learn… textbooks are how it will be taught. We’re not voting on a new curriculum — the curriculum is elementary math and we already teach elementary math. The curriculum that we follow is not changing. Just the textbook is changing. (An example of a new curriculum would be the RAHP program…or the new SAIL (special ed) program at the high school.)Something stinks in the Ridgewood BOE.

IF THIS IS NOT THE REASON… Then can someone please tell my WHY the Board is WAIVING #6141 ??? ************
MORE DETAILS
************
GO TO BOE Agenda for May 18, 2009.
https://schoolsite.capturepoint.com/assets/resources/post%205-18-09%20rpm2.pdf

Go to Attachment B (Policy #6141) in the Agenda:

HERE IS ATTACHMENT B:
======================================================
MAY 18, 2009 ATTACHMENT B

6141

Instruction
Curriculum Design/Development

The Chief School Administrator shall be responsible to the Board of Education for the development of
curriculum to meet identified pupil needs. He/she shall establish procedures for curriculum development
which ensure the effective participation of teaching staff members; pupils, as appropriate to their age
and grade; parents/guardians; the community; members of the Board; and the use of all available
resources. Care shall be taken that certified staff shall not be assigned to teach material outside the
limits of their certification and endorsements.
The Chief School Administrator shall report to the Board the objectives, evaluative criteria and costs of
each proposed program before seeking Board adoption. New programs and courses of study should
not be acted upon by the Board until the meeting following their presentation, in order for Board
members to have an opportunity to review the proposed program.Legal References:
N.J.A.C. 6:8-4.5 Curriculum and instruction
N.J.A.C. 6:8-4.8 Teaching staff and professional development
Old Bridge Education Association v. Board of Education of the Township of Old Bridge,
Middlesex County
Manual for the Evaluation of Local School Districts (June 1993)
Adopted:

Ridgewood Board of Education

Regular Public Meeting

January 27, 2003
======================================================

HERE IS ATTACHMENT C: (Basically it is just the right to waive Bylaws)

MAY 18, 2009 ATTACHMENT C

9314

Bylaws of the Board
Suspension of Policy or Bylaw

The Ridgewood Board of Education has developed a careful and deliberate process of
formulating and adopting its policies and bylaws. Requests for suspension of any existing
policy or bylaw should receive the same careful consideration.
Therefore:
1. Any request for a waiver of policy or bylaw shall be considered in light of the
policy or bylaw itself, rather than any particular circumstances of the moment.
2. The Board shall decide whether the policy or bylaw still reflects the considered
intent of the policy or bylaw. If it does, the suspension will be denied, and the
policy or bylaw reaffirmed in the minutes.
3. If the policy or bylaw does not reflect the intent of the Board, then the policy shall
be waived by a majority vote of the full membership of the Board, and
development of a revised policy or bylaw shall become the Board’s prime policy
priority.
In the event of an emergency requiring immediate action, the Superintendent shall have the
power to waive policy or regulation in the single instance. In such cases, the Superintendent
shall report the instance to the Board President immediately, and, where appropriate, to each
Board member and will request reconsideration of the policy at the next regular meeting.
Legal References: N.J.S.A. 18A:11-1 General mandatory
powers and duties of
the Board

N.J.S.A. 18A:17-20 Superintendent; powers and duties
N.J.A.C. 6:3-1.12 Duties of the Superintendent
Adopted:
Ridgewood Board of Education
Regular Public Meeting
February 8, 1988
Reaffirmed:
======================================================
Publish Reject (

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