>The Governor Elect meet with Newark’s Mayor Cory Booker yesterday and repeated his commitment to charter schools and to improving public education, especially in urban areas. Mr. Christie also said his first executive order as promised in the campaign will be to freeze unfunded mandates and new regulations for ninety days. He also said he will ask the state comptroller to conduct an audit of government spending.Christie also took time to remind members of the Legislature that people have voted for change.
With the voters overwhelming rejection of the Corzine administration the Ridgewood blog would like Mr. Christie take a strong stance to assure the fairness of the electoral process and begin an investigation of the flood of absentee ballots received this past election . The state received a 180,000 absentee ballot requests and some 3,000 forms were submitted where signatures didn’t match the one on file with county clerks. New Jersey voters have a right to expect their votes are counted fairly without concerns that they the voters would not be disenfranchised.This would go a long way to assure the sanctity of the electoral process in the future.
Please join Congressman Scott Garrett for a live Web Townhall this Thursday night at 7 p.m. to discuss H.R. 3962, the health care legislation currently under consideration in the House of Representatives.
Our struggle to preserve Graydon has inspired a paper presented at a conference and summarized on a Psychology Today blog by University of Washington psychologist Peter H. Kahn, Jr., PhD. His book The Human relationship with Nature explores the deep significance of children’s interactions with nature and the unfortunate long-term consequences for both them and the environment when these are lost. Read his blog entry here or from a link on our home page. Click on Reader Comments (below the text of the blog entry) to check out Marcia’s exchanges with Dr. Kahn and the coauthor of his paper.
In the past few years an entire movement has grown around the precepts of similarly minded experts, such as Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder and six other books. Louv is chairman of the Children & Nature Network. The importance to children’s development of nature and unstructured play has been stressed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Public Health Association, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and many other organizations of high repute.
Louv writes in the book, for example: “A widening circle of researchers believes that the loss of natural habitat, or the disconnection from nature even when it is available, has enormous implications for human health and child development. They say the quality of exposure to nature affects our health at an almost cellular level.”
Among many fascinating studies on the Network’s website is a summary of a recent report from the University of Illinois. The researcher cites documentation, for example, that children with ADHD have fewer symptoms after outdoor activities in nature-filled environments and that college students achieve better results on cognitive tests when their dormitory windows view natural settings. This is clearly an already-rich area that is ripe for greater study.
Coalition supporter Diane Palacios, who spotted a link to Kahn’s article on the Ridgewood Blog, instantly recognized its importance and delivered or sent copies to all members of the Village Council and its Graydon Pool Committee. Awareness, initiative, communication—a fine way to get the message out.
We’ll be back soon with more autumn pictures of Graydon. If you’d like to share your best Graydon photos, taken in any season, send them to us in digital format. The park is so picturesque that we’re considering producing a 2011 Graydon calendar. It’s lovely throughout the year at the beach in our back yard.
Swimmingly,
Suzanne Kelly and Marcia Ringel, Co-Chairs The Preserve Graydon Coalition, Inc., a nonprofit corporation “It’s clear—we love Graydon!” [email protected] www.PreserveGraydon.org
More disturbing videos of young school children singing praises to President Obama, quite a shock. What seemed like an aberration now appears to be a troubling pattern. Maybe “epidemic” is a better word. Here is just a sample with each video creepier than the last.
ELEMENTARY EPIDEMIC: 11 Uncovered Videos Show School Children Performing Praises to Obama
“(Washington, DC) — Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it obtained more documents from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in response to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests related to the NEA’s controversial August 10 conference call encouraging artists to create work that promotes the Obama agenda. The documents consist of internal NEA emails indicating the idea for the NEA propaganda effort grew out the Obama campaign while also providing new details regarding White House involvement. The Corporation for National and Community Service, which runs the AmeriCorps program, was represented during the call. The agencies and the White House were supposedly promoting the administration’s United We Serve political initiative. The emails include the actual conference call invitation, which details the controversial policy agenda that was being promoted. (The controversial call was first uncovered by www.BigGovernment.com. Other documents about the call were first released last week by Judicial Watch.)
“The following are email excerpts:
July 28, 2009, 4:47 pm, Email from unknown Obama campaign activist to Yosi Sergant, former NEA Communications Director: “It was good to see you a few weeks ago in Washington. After our conversation, I thought it would be a really good idea to convene via a conference call some significant tastemakers/producers who can support United We Serve. As many of us contributed our services to the campaign, I would love to gather some of those folks to use their enthusiasm to get behind the President’s very important service initiative. Here are some people who I think should be part of the call. [Names redacted.] August 6, 2009, Conference Call Invitation sent via email by Yosi Sergant: “A call has come in to our generation. A call from the top. A call from a house that is White. A call that we must answer. And to answer it, we need you…United We Serve is President Obama’s call to service challenging all Americans to engage in sustained, meaningful community service. With the knowledge that ordinary people can achieve extraordinary things when given the proper tools, President Obama is asking us to come together to help lay a new foundation for growth, focusing on core areas of the recovery agenda – health care, energy and environment, safety and security, education, community renewal.” August 6, 2009, 9:46 pm, Email from Unknown to Yosi Sergeant: “How can I get down Yosi? I’m working with [redacted] doing brand consulting and event production for [redacted]. Love to see how we could collaborate our corporate funds with what you’re working on.” August 12, 2009, 3:30 pm, Follow-up Email from Unknown participant to Yosi Sergant. “As per a suggestion on the call, below is a list of action items that might be helpful to inspire an idea on how you can participate in the campaign…Ex) If you are a graphic designer tap into your professional network and organize other designers to create a series of United We Serve posters that can be featured in print, through social media and on serv.gov. Ex) If you are a DJ, tap into your professional network and organize other DJs to promote Serve.gov or a specific local opportunity on the radio or at a club.”
“The documents also detail the use of the 9/11 anniversary as a vehicle for this political effort.
“‘These new documents leave little doubt that the NEA conference call and the ongoing United We Serve effort are direct extensions of the Obama presidential campaign. Taxpayers should be outraged that their tax dollars were used to promote political ‘art’ for the Obama big government agenda,’ stated Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.
>Lively Meet and Eat Monday, November 23rd, 6:00-7:30 p.m., Hosted by Ridgewood’s Authentic Neapolitan Trattoria
A Mano the winner of the Ridgewood Blog 2009 best Pizza in Ridgewood Contest !
A Mano will be hosting a free Pappardelle pasta and Neapolitan pizza demonstration Monday, November 23rd from 6:00 – 7:30 p.m. to showcase the artisanal techniques involved in preparing these favorites. This event is open to the public; reservations are required and are limited to the first fifty respondents.
Pappardelle, a flat ribbon of pasta, comes from the Italian “pappare” which translates to “gobble up.” Prepared with flour, eggs, olive oil, and salt, pappardelle is usually served with rich, hearty sauces. A Mano’s acclaimed Neapolitan pizzas will also be prepared and sampled at the demonstration. A Mano, meaning by hand, is one of three U.S. pizza restaurants to receive prestigious certifications from both the Verace Pizza Napoletana and Associazone Pizzaiuoli Napoletani, the recognized authorities of Naples, Italy on traditional Neapolitan Pizza.
A Mano co-owner, Fred Mortati and A Mano’s pizzaiuoli
What: A free educational Pappardelle and Neapolitan Pizza preparation demonstration
When: Monday, November 23rd, 2009 from 6:00-7:30 p.m.
Where: A Mano, www.amanopizza.com 24 Franklin Avenue Ridgewood, NJ 07450
Phone: (201) 493-2000
Reservations Required: Space is limited to the first fifty people. RSVP to Heidi Raker, [email protected] at Raker Goldstein & Co., (201)784-1818.
>With only a few days left Voters of New Jersey must decide whether continue down the current disastrous path of failure or make a stand and look for some kind of a change . The current Governor Jon Corzine has failed in virtually every aspect of governance. Jon Corzines record or lack there of puts him and the State of New jersey at the very bottom of every reasonable measurement of health, environment, economic prosperity and happiness that exist.
While New Jersey ranks last in the nation with the worst business climate and has one of the largest state budget deficits . Voters are left holding the bag with the highest taxes of all kinds in the nation. With no place to go ,the state has seen a massive flight of tax payers leaving for lower tax less regulatory burden jurisdictions.
The slow decline of Wall Street as a financial center and the crisis driven collapse of the financial service sector has hit Northern New Jersey particularly hard, rocketing unemployment and depleting the already stretched thin tax base. While New Jersey and Wall Street have been in decline for some time whats remarkable is how the Corzine administration has managed to make things significantly worse so quickly .
Weather its building COAH housing in the middle of a collapsing real estate market or coercing more money from tax payers to fund the failed Abbott School district plan or failing to stand up to big labor Jon Corzine has simply not taken any of the big decisions necessary to manage the state.
While it took the New Jersey Media establishment until two weeks before the election to start talking about New Jersey’s shattered economy and get off the stupid coverage of bad driving records ,uncles in the “mafia” and enjoying over priced hotel rooms the fact of the matter is that above all else under the Corzine administration New Jersey has created almost NO private sector jobs. While there has been a huge increase of public sector jobs through political patronage ,when these employees retire they are the first to leave the state due to the states high level of taxation on pensions , another example of exporting capital out of the state.
Whats even more ridiculous is Corzine’s embracing of “Obamacare” which will levy huge health insurance taxes on the very union workers including Teachers “Cadillac” health plans that most support him. While Corzine simultaneously attacks his opponent Chris Christie for questioning all the onerous health insurance mandates that once again leave New Jersey with some of the highest costs and least choice in health insurance in the country.
We don’t buy the argument things cant get any worse after they have , but the first step to turing things around is to start by changing many of our elected officials and if they in turn fail then we can kick them out next time.
With all this in mind the Ridgewood blog endorses Chris Christie, yes the fat guy for Governor .
> “What is truly amazing is the lack of press coverage of Corzine’s “donations” to the various African-American church in Camden and Newark and high-powered leaders of each in order to secure endorsements and votes. This insidious bullshit went virtually uncovered in the major state newspapers. He bought thousands upon thousands of votes with these bribes.
And wait until the news emerges (after the election) that Corzine funneled campaign money to Chris Daggett in order to drain votes away from Christie, thereby securing his own victory. Undoubtedly, Daggett will be given some job in the next Corzine administration, because his own nascent political career will end on November 3.
The Record has the audacity to endorse Corzine because he’s carrying Weinberg with him on the ticket. Her recent claims to fame are that she was stupid enough to be one of Bernie Madoff’s pigeons and that she had a political bone to pick with future jailbird Joe Ferriero. She’s a worthless hack.
We can only hope that Christie can get to as many people in person in the next 10 days in order to tell his story. The half-truths and flat-out lies that Corzine has spread since September would be actionable in any other state. But not here, in The Soprano State. “
>I hate taxes as much as anyone. But, your logic is absurd. It sounds like what you are suggesting is that we should stop spending what is necessary to maintain our schools and allow our school system to deteriorate. Then young families won’t move here and the existing families can stay here after their kids move away, without fear of tax increases to pay for other people’s kids’ education, the way previous families did for their children. Is that about right?
So, what you want is for Ridgewood to gradually become a town with a run down school system full of elderly people with no kids, who pay low taxes. Sounds like you should move to Saddle River.
Besides, the whole reason that people move to Ridgewood is because it is such a family town. I never heard anyone say “let’s raise our family in Ridgewood…its a great retirement community.”
I have a little dose of reality for you. Families moving to town is not what forces the BOE to issue bonds, resulting in tax increases. There are two primary reasons for the need for bond issuance.
1) The BOE is not allowed to set aside funds for long-term planned maintenance or construction. Every dime in the school budget must be spend in that fiscal year. Therefore, when large unexpected expenses impact the budget, like $millions for a new roof, or large construction projects must be undertaken, like GW School, the only way to fund them is through a special bond issuance.
2) The reason the school budget is so tight and there is no wiggle room for unexpected expenses or large projects, is that 85% of the entire budget goes to teachers’ comp and benefits. The negotiated contract that the BOE has to deal with sucks all the money out of our $90mm budget. There is nothing left for the operation and maintenance of the school system. Don’t get me wrong, I think we should pay teachers well. But, they do not need to be over paid, given guranteed employment and automatic raises. Oh, and by the way, even though we’ve been in a deflationary environment for the past 18-24 months, you and I made less money last year and our friends got laid off, the teachers got their automatic maximum slaray increase in 2008 and they will get it again this year.
Aronsohn Brings Nearly Two Decades of Private and Public Sector Experience asFormer Pfizer Executive, Congressional Candidate, Member of Clinton andMcGreevey Administrations and Current Ridgewood Councilman
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J., Oct. 27 /PRNewswire/ — MWW Group (https://www.mww.com/), one ofthe nation’s top 10 public relations firms, announced today that Paul Aronsohnhas joined the company as a vice president. Aronsohn brings nearly 20 years ofexperience working directly with elected officials, legislators,administrators and corporate executives. His extensive communications andpublic affairs background spans across both the public and private sectors. As a result, Aronsohn will service roles in both MWW’s corporate and publicaffairs practice. Aronsohn’s experience includes senior public affairs positions at Pfizer Inc.and within the Clinton and McGreevey Administrations. Additionally, hecurrently serves as a Councilman in Ridgewood, N.J.
“Paul is an outstanding addition to our team. He brings extensive experienceand perspective to our team, gained from having worked in high level positionsin the private sector and in the top levels of federal and state government,”said Michael W. Kempner, president and CEO of MWW Group. “His insider’sknowledge and deep network of relationships will be a tremendous asset to ourteam and clients.”
Before joining MWW Group, Aronsohn served as a public affairs executive atPfizer Inc., where he led public affairs efforts to promote life enhancing,life saving medicines and handled issues management on international, nationaland regional levels. Previously, Aronsohn ran for Congress in New Jersey’s 5th CongressionalDistrict, receiving a higher percentage of the vote than any Democrat inrecent decades. Prior to that, he served for a year as communicationsdirector and spokesperson for then Governor James McGreevey. Aronsohn alsospent eight years working on foreign policy and national security issues as amember of the Clinton Administration. At the U.S. Department of State, hehandled a wide range of international security matters – fromnon-proliferation to arms control to peacekeeping to Middle East policy.Aronsohn also served three American Ambassadors to the United NationsMadeleine Albright, Bill Richardson, and Richard Holbrooke.
Aronsohn is currently a Councilman in Ridgewood, NJ where he works on issuesacross both the public and private sectors. He is also a member of RotaryInternational and a Board Member of the National Spinal Cord InjuryAssociation. He holds Bachelors and Masters Degrees from The GeorgeWashington University.
About MWW GroupMWW Group is one of the nation’s top ten public relations agencies and isknown for its results-driven approach to public relations and “Aim High.Deliver” commitment to client service. For four years in a row, MWW Group washonored with the #1 ranking in the Holmes Report agency client satisfactionsurvey. MWW Group achieved top rankings in the categories of accountleadership, strength of account team, creativity, strategy and planning, andprogram execution. In 2008, MWW Group was named PR Agency of the Year by TheAmerican Business Awards and Mid-size PR Firm of the Year by PR News, inrecognition of the firm’s growth, strategic account leadership andindustry-leading employee retention. MWW Group is part of the InterpublicGroup of Companies (NYSE: IPG).
In a New Jersey town, a controversy about a pool has pitted neighbor against neighbor. Here’s the issue, as reported in the New York Times (9/7/2009). There’s a natural swimming hole, called Graydon Pool. It’s 2.6 acres. For over 90 years, children in that town have grown up swimming in this pool. It has a sandy bottom. Cool spring currents flow into it. But many residents would like to plow under this natural pool and replace it with a blue, concrete pool with “thoroughly disinfected” chlorinated water. They call this a “real pool” – a “bona fide pool.”
My colleague, Dr. Pat Hasbach (a clinical psychologist in Eugene, Oregon) and I recently presented a paper at the North American Association for Environmental Education. In our presentation, we asked: What would be missed by future generations if the “bona fide pool” people win out? For one thing, kids and adults won’t feel the sand between their toes. They won’t sense the fluctuations of water temperature in places where the cool streams feed into the pool. They won’t experience the periodicity of usage due to the seasonal fluctuations, the presence of bugs that might land on the water and birds that might be on the shore, leading to a deeper connection to a natural ecosystem. They’ll lose a sense of healthy fear that emerges in unstructured bodies of water.
Children will lose these experiences and not even be aware they’ve lost them. This is the issue I’ve written about in other posts as the problem of Environmental General Amnesia [click here; and also here]. The problem is that as we lose the richness and depth of pervasiveness of interaction with nature, we shift the baseline of what is recognized as healthy nature experience. To counter the problem of Environmental Generational Amnesia, there’s a lot of work being done in connecting children to local, domestic nature. In his important book, Last Child in the Woods, Richard Louv develops this idea. My co-edited volume, Children and Nature, speaks to this issue, as well.
But what I’ve written about in an earlier post [click here] is that to flourish children need to interact not only with domestic nature, but wild nature.
If we’re brainstorming on a grand level, maybe there’s a new movement to start. Maybe we could call it – The Rewilding of the Child Movement. Or maybe that’s part of a larger movement: The Rewilding of the Human Species Movement! And likely enough, to rewild the species we need to rewild ourselves. How do we rewild ourselves? I’ve been wondering about that. I’ve been trying to feel a little of what that space might be like. With that in mind, here’s a brief personal reflection, which I used to conclude the conference presentation to environmental educators:
There’s a mountain pool that you find hiking up the wild river. The water emerges into it from porous volcanic rock. The water flows from the cold country. It’s too cold to plunge in. But you’re in. You’re in because your lover is nearby and you need to prove your manly-hood. But just as fast you’re out. Your mind can’t believe that mere water can be that cold. It would have been twenty strokes across. You give up that thought. You need to get warm fast. How? It’s easy. You move naked to your beloved and put your arms around each other. Other people say that that pool is too cold. You can’t swim in it. They say let’s make a better one. They do. It’s filled with chlorinated water that’s not too hot and not too cold. Every day of the year it’s that same temperature. It’s called the tepid pool. The pool-man comes once a week. He squeegees the sides and adds blue dye and oils the pump. The pool-man says you gotta love the tepid pool.
>The cost for the turf alone will be well below the total cost that the BOE has put in the proposal. Based on current prices, similar projects in the area and the cost of the turf for of Maple Park the cost of the turf alone should be in the $2.2 to $2.5 million dollar range. The BOE has include other items in the cost of the project including new bleachers, a press box, new fences, electrical upgrades, removal of the track at RHS, and construction of a new track at BF. There is no turf scheduled for BF.
The problem with the sound bite world we live in now is that the entire proposal gets boiled down “$50 million for Turf!” or “$6 million for Turf!” and neither one is true. With off sets from the State the total cost to taxpayers of the entire proposal is closer to $38 million (still A LOT of money) and the cost to the taxpayers of the athletic facility piece is closer to $3.2 million. ($5.4 minus the $2.2 from the state) That $5.4 million number includes a lot of things that may or may not get done depending on what the State says in regards to construction in the flood plain but I would expect the turf part of the project gets approved as Maple is very similar and the State approved that.
PJ… as you often do… please re-post the 6:58pm comments, if you deem them to be important enough. Breaking down the cost of this is important. I support the project, but only after I too checked the facts. We should all be smart enough to do so.
If someone can shoot holes in the above post… rational holes, based on facts and competitive market data.. IE, the cost of exisitng turf facilities in the area, lets hear all about it. New bleachers, new regulation sized track moved to BF… not much talk about that. Dont support it, fine.. but dont lump this all unto new Fieldturf facilities
Save the date. Come to our meeting on Monday, October 26, at 7:15 PM (doors open at 6:30), Education Building, Old Paramus Reformed Church. Meet environmental attorney Stuart Lieberman, who now represents us (see below). Print out our flyer and give copies to your friends and neighbors!
Our new attorney. Now representing and advising the Coalition is renowned environmental attorney Stuart Lieberman, who will speak at our October 26 meeting. Mr. Lieberman’s firm, Lieberman & Blecher, located in Princeton, represents citizens’ groups throughout New Jersey. A press release with more details will be issued shortly. On Thursday, Stuart sent a letter to the Council that we’d like to share.
Council committee. Although our repeated requests to the Village Council for transparency and to axe the dreaded Request for Proposals were not granted, the Coalition wants to share our research and perspective. Therefore, co-chair Suzanne Kelly will attend the Council’s new Graydon Pool Committee.
Donations welcome. Online or by check—which to choose? Please donate now! A donation button has been posted on the website home page, too. Admire and use it often!
See you on October 26.
Swimmingly, Suzanne Kelly and Marcia Ringel, Co-Chairs The Preserve Graydon Coalition, Inc., a nonprofit corporation “It’s clear—we love Graydon!” [email protected] www.PreserveGraydon.org
>Citing a need to consider the potential loss of parking revenue, Councilwoman Anne Zusy expressed her objection to the creation of an additional handicapped parking space in the newly redesigned Chestnut Street Municipal Parking Lot. Zusy’s comments were made openly during Wednesday evening’s Village Council Work Session.
The Fly is surprised that Ms. Zusy had the unmitigated gall to publicly admit that she’s more concerned about revenue generation than accommodating patrons with serious disabilities. Her comments come only four days after the Village hosted a successful disability awareness event in the Central Business District. Councilman Paul Aronsohn was the Council’s liaison to that event.
Way to go Annie; foot in mouth disease at its best!
