Late on Friday, with the US population embracing the upcoming holidays and oblivious of most news emerging from the administration, Obama quietly signed into law the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which authorizes $611 billion for the military in 2017.
In a statement, Obama said that:
Today, I have signed into law S. 2943, the “National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017.” This Act authorizes fiscal year 2017 appropriations principally for the Department of Defense and for Department of Energy national security programs, provides vital benefits for military personnel and their families, and includes authorities to facilitate ongoing operations around the globe. It continues many critical authorizations necessary to ensure that we are able to sustain our momentum in countering the threat posed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and to reassure our European allies, as well as many new authorizations that, among other things, provide the Departments of Defense and Energy more flexibility in countering cyber-attacks and our adversaries’ use of unmanned aerial vehicles.”
Much of the balance of Obama’s statement blamed the GOP for Guantanamo’s continued operation and warned that “unless the Congress changes course, it will be judged harshly by history,” Obama said. Obama also said Congress failed to use the bill to reduce wasteful overhead (like perhaps massive F-35 cost overruns?) or modernize military health care, which he said would exacerbate budget pressures facing the military in the years ahead.
RIDGEWOOD, NJ, The American Water Works Association New Jersey Section (AWWA NJ) has continued its mission as the authoritative resource on safe water by delivering testimony on two issues critical to New Jersey’s safe drinking water. On November 3, 2016, AWWA NJ Chair Michael Furrey provided written and oral testimony for the NJ Senate Environment and Energy Committee in Trenton regarding Hexavalent Chromium. Senator Bob Smith, Chair for the Committee, made a request to the drinking water industry for technical testimony on this emerging contaminant. Hexavalent Chromium (also known as ‘chromium-6’ or ‘Cr(VI)’) was the contaminant depicted in the film “Erin Brockovich.”
Cr(VI) is currently regulated under a US drinking water standard for total chromium of 0.1 mg/L, set in 1991. EPA is currently revising its risk assessment for Cr(VI). The AWWA NJ recommends that the NJ Water Quality Institute reconvene and examine a science-based strategy to address Hexavalent Chromium.
On November 30, 2016, members of the AWWA NJ Infrastructure Management Committee provided testimony to the Joint Task Force on Water Infrastructure in Trenton NJ. AWWA NJ leaders joined former Governor James Florio in providing critical testimony to the Committee for developing a comprehensive strategy to address water infrastructure and lead contamination issues. AWWA NJ will be partnering with NJDEP, USEPA, NJ Water Works, AEA (Public) and the NJUA (Private) to help the NJ legislature address this important issue.
AWWA published a report in 2014 called “Buried No Longer,” which concluded that restoring existing water systems as they reach the end of their useful lives and expanding them to serve a growing population will cost at least $1 trillion over the next 25 years, if we are to maintain current levels of water service.
On September 16, 2016, the U.S. Senate approved S. 2848, the Water Resources Development Act or WRDA. The House is still working on its own version of a WRDA bill. A key water infrastructure element in S. 2848 is a provision for $70 million so the new Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loan program, or WIFIA, can start making actual loans. In the two previous fiscal years, Congress has provided funds for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to set up WIFIA administration. Another important element is $100 million to the state revolving loan fund program to assist communities where there has been a drinking water emergency, such as Flint, Mich.
Information about Hexavalent Chromium and Water Infrastructure, along with copies of AWWA NJ’s written testimonies on these issues, are available at www.njawwa.org.
About AWWA NJ
AWWA New Jersey Section is part of the American Water Works Association (AWWA), the world’s largest association of water professionals with over 50,000 members. The AWWA New Jersey Section represents over 1,300 members united in a mission to provide New Jersey residents with a safe and reliable supply of drinking water. Members include most of New Jersey’s public and investor-owned water utilities along with engineering and environmental professionals and allied industry businesses. AWWA works to make advances in public health, safety and welfare by uniting the efforts of the full spectrum of drinking water professionals.
Ridgewood NJ, 2017 Annual Parking Permits – Annual Resident, Non-resident and CBD employee parking permits are available for purchase at Village Hall. Driver’s License and car registration are required to apply for all parking permits. The Annual Parking Permits for residents cost $750 or $1,000 annually, depending on which lots are chosen for parking.
Parking Permits
Ho Ho Kus $350
Glen Rock $150 and $80 for the second tag
Fair lawn $1 a day residents $4 a day non-residents
Allendale $50 for residents
Ramsey $15
Other towns including Allendale often pitch new residents; “Compared to Ridgewood it is great! One of the advantages of Allendale. You can get a parking space pretty easily anytime of day (unlike Ridgewood) The resident permit was $50”
Ridgewood NJ, President-elect Donald J. Trump today announced the formation of the White House National Trade Council (NTC) and his selection of Dr. Peter Navarro to serve as Assistant to the President and Director of Trade and Industrial Policy.
The formation of the National Trade Council further demonstrates the President-elect’s determination to make American manufacturing great again and to provide every American the opportunity to work in a decent job at a decent wage. Navarro is a visionary economist and will develop trade policies that shrink our trade deficit, expand our growth, and help stop the exodus of jobs from our shores.
The mission of the National Trade Council will be to advise the President on innovative strategies in trade negotiations, coordinate with other agencies to assess U.S. manufacturing capabilities and the defense industrial base, and help match unemployed American workers with new opportunities in the skilled manufacturing sector. The National Trade Council will also lead the Buy America, Hire America program to ensure the President-elect’s promise is fulfilled in government procurement and projects ranging from infrastructure to national defense.
The National Trade Council will work collaboratively and synergistically with the National Security Council, the National Economic Council, and the Domestic Policy Council to fulfill the President’s vision of peace and prosperity through military and economic strength. For the first time, there will be a council within the White House that puts American manufacturing and American workers first, and that thinks strategically about the health of America’s defense industrial base and the role of trade and manufacturing in national security.
As a Harvard Ph.D. economist and UC-Irvine professor, Navarro has been instrumental in challenging the prevailing Washington orthodoxy on so-called free trade.
“I read one of Peter’s books on America’s trade problems years ago and was impressed by the clarity of his arguments and thoroughness of his research,” said President-elect Trump. “He has presciently documented the harms inflicted by globalism on American workers, and laid out a path forward to restore our middle class. He will fulfill an essential role in my administration as a trade advisor.”
During the campaign, Navarro, together with Commerce Secretary-designee Wilbur Ross, worked to develop and communicate the trade and economic agenda of the President-elect and a new vision to bring back America’s manufacturing wealth.
“Peter Navarro is the best person President-elect Donald Trump could have chosen to head his National Trade Council,” said Ross. “We were a great team during the campaign, and we will be a great team during the Administration.”
“I am deeply honored for the opportunity to serve the President-elect and this nation and to advise on policies to rebalance our trade, rebuild our industrial base, and restore America’s comprehensive national power by making America great again,” said Navarro.
Ridgewood NJ, President-elect Donald J. Trump today announced his selection of Kellyanne Conway to serve as Counselor to the President. Conway has been serving as a senior member of the President-elect’s transition team and previously served as the campaign manager of his successful run for the presidency.
In her position, Conway will continue her role as a close advisor to the president and will work with senior leadership to effectively message and execute the Administration’s legislative priorities and actions.
“Kellyanne Conway has been a trusted advisor and strategist who played a crucial role in my victory. She is a tireless and tenacious advocate of my agenda and has amazing insights on how to effectively communicate our message. I am pleased that she will be part of my senior team in the West Wing,” said President-elect Trump.
President-elect Trump’s victory on November 8th also shattered the glass ceiling for women. Conway is the first female campaign manager of either major party to win a presidential general election.
“I want to thank the President-elect for this amazing opportunity. A Trump presidency will bring real change to Washington and to Americans across this great nation. I am humbled and honored to play a role in helping transform the movement he has led into a real agenda of action and results,’ said Conway.
Conway graduated magna cum laude from Trinity College (Washington, DC) and holds a J.D. with honors from George Washington University Law School. She is the founder and owner of The Polling Company, inc./WomanTrend, a polling and research firm that for 21 years has served leading political figures, nonprofits and companies.
Dear Friends at the Ridgewood blog ,
There are several year-end items to share with you…
1. Leaves… Earlier this week our leaf collection was slowed down by snow and freezing weather – We are now finishing up in Area D. We will be back with our vacuum truck to Area A and other areas requiring finishing touches. We ask that from this time forward you do not put any leaves in the street. Branches, plants and leaves can be brought to the Recycling Center or placed in paper biodegradable bags. Filled bags will be picked up at the curb if you call us at 201/670-5585. All yard waste must be brought to the recycling center or held until Yard Waste pickup begins in the spring. Please consult your 2017 calendar for spring pickup schedules.
2. 2017 Village Calendars will arrive in the mail the first week of January. The calendar for January 2017 is also found on the page after December in the 2016 Calendar.
3. Reminder – when there is snow and ice, please assist us by placing your garbage cans at the end of your driveway, by the curb. This will ensure that our employees are able to safely pick up your solid waste.
4. 2017 Annual Parking Permits – Annual Resident, Non-resident and CBD employee parking permits are available for purchase at Village Hall. Driver’s License and car registration are required to apply for all parking permits. The Annual Parking Permits for residents cost $750 or $1,000 annually, depending on which lots are chosen for parking.
5. New in 2017 – “Shopper/Diner” parking spots available in the Hudson, Prospect and Chestnut Lots. These parking spaces will be marked with arrows, and commuter parking will not be allowed in these parking spaces.
6. As a reminder, Village Hall offices will be closed December 23rd & 26th and January 2nd.
Best wishes for the holiday season and a happy and healthy New Year,
Ridgewood NJ, So much for the Library Board’s recent statement that the building renovation plans announced by Councilman Jeffrey Voigt: ” . . thus far have been merely speculative” and ” . . . should not have served as an announcement.”
From the official minutes of the Ridgewood Public Library Board of Trustees dated January 21, 2016:
“LIBRARY SCHEMATIC PRESENTATION”
Ms. Greene described the five-year planning process conducted by the Library, which included development of a Strategic Plan with consultant Alan Gray of Darien Library, and a Building Program with consultant Leslie Burger of Princeton Library.
Ms. Campbell welcomed Mr. Gisolfi, Ms. Abate and Mr. Mintzes (of Peter Gisolfi Associates, Architects) as participants on the Ridgewood Library schematics team.
Mr. Gisolfi explained his goal of developing transparency and further unifying the Library’s architectural styles from the 1950s and 1990s. He narrated a slide presentation which included these recommendations:
• Install a square clerestory in the center of the original roof to admit additional light.
• Create a 28′ x 28′ opening in the center of the original building, between the 1st and 2nd floors.
Mr. Gisolfi also showed an alternate location for the opening which had been considered earlier.
• Transform the Auditorium into a Performing Arts Center: expand the footprint and height, build tiered
seating, eliminate the raised stage and add backstage and storage areas.
• Create a large new meeting room against the 1st floor south wall, and a smaller new meeting room on
the northwest corner of the 2nd level (location of existing staff room.)
• Enlarge Young Adult Center on the 1st floor and move it against the building’s west wall.
• Enlarge Tech Training Center, encompassing existing Silent Study room and part of Heritage Archives.
• Enlarge 2nd floor Lobby to envelope elevator.
• Open east wall of Bolger Heritage Center toward Reference Center.
• Add Silent Study and 2 smaller study rooms to south wall of Mezzanine; add windows to solid walls.
• Reduce size of staff service desks and offices; add small staff “pods” in all public areas.
The estimated cost for construction and finishes is $5,252,126 to $6,374,583.
The following questions from members of the Board, Friends and Foundation were answered by Mr. Gisolfi.
(1) Will the parking issue be addressed? A: No, Parking was not in the Schematics proposal.
(2) Would the Young Adult area get larger? A: Yes, it would increase by almost 66%.
(3) How will the Performing Arts Center be different? A: The new space would allow for both fixed
seating and removable chairs, and could fit up to 260 seats all together.
(4) Will there be a new kitchen and ticket sale areas for accommodate entertainment and events?
A: The Lobby will feel larger due to the new layout of cafe counter. The larger kitchen area will be
on the 2nd level.
(5) Can the Auditorium open up to the outdoors? A: It’s possible with doors opening toward the patio.
The layout of the stage is also changed to encourage a more fluid flow of people.
(6) Is the total area of shelving changed? A: There is a slight reduction.
(7) To add versatility to the space, can you avoid using fixed table lamps? A. There can be mostly
ceiling lighting.
(8) How can we be sure the proposed budget is feasible? A: The owner’s architect contract would
include a clause requiring the architect to stay within proposed budget.
(9) Construction management? A: Construction supervision is included in the architect cost.
Mr. Fisher pointed out that from a taxpayers’ point of view, the library will be more multi-functional.
Ms. Campbell and the Board thanked Mr. Gisolfi and his team for the detailed presentation.
From the official minutes of the The Ridgewood Public Library Board of Trustees dated November 22, 2016:
“ARCHITECT PRESENTATION —Peter Gisoifi & Robert Mintzes”
Mr. Gisoifi presented revised floor plans and new hand-drawn renderings for the proposed library renovation.
Option A is the new plan which gives the Teen Center a prominent location with windows and an adjacent Makerspace Lab. Option B places a large Meeting Room in that location. Both versions show new meeting rooms of all sizes throughout the Library, and feature a circular central opening with spiral staircase that connects the 1st and 2nd floors under two new rooftop skylights. Phase 1 of the project would renovate all areas of the existing library, and Phase 2 would update the Auditorium into a Performing Arts Center, featuring tiered seating in a slightly larger footprint. From very early cost estimates, Phase 1 and Phase 2 are forecast to cost roughly $4 million and $1 million, respectively.
The plans were well received by all present. Mr. Gisoifi will firm up and verify the construction cost estimates, and will prepare a proposal for architectural design development.
Ms. Greene noted that the Library will need to develop a full Capital Budget Proposal to include all related costs – construction, site work, professional fees, furnishings, technology, moving and storage of all holdings and contingency. The Trustees discussed where to base the Library’s operations during the year or so of major construction. Ideas mentioned: Elks Club, Zusy Center at Village Hall, Brakeorama site, a storefront similar to the mini-mall space used by Wyckoff Library during their construction, or a temporary modular library in the parking lot, delivered by tractor trailer.
The terror group threatened “bloody celebrations in the Christian New Year”
By Gilad Shiloach
Dec 22, 2016 at 4:19 AM ET
The Islamic State published the names and addresses of thousands of churches in the United States and called on its adherents to attack them during the holiday season, according to a message posted late-night Wednesday in the group’s “Secrets of Jihadis” social media group.
A user going by the name of “Abu Marya al-Iraqi” posted an Arabic-language message calling “for bloody celebrations in the Christian New Year” and announced the group’s plans to utilize its network of lone wolf attackers to “turn the Christian New Year into a bloody horror movie.”
The series of messages appeared in a pro-ISIS group on Telegram, which also provides manuals for the use and preparations of weapons and explosives for aspiring assailants. The information, distributed in a number of posts, was all previously available online and includes a public directory of churches across all 50 states. (Vocativ does not publish specific information found in lists like these.)
In another group post, a member summoned “the sons of Islam” to target “churches, well-known hotels, crowded coffee shops, streets, markets and public places,” and shared a list of addresses in the United States, as well as in Canada, France and the Netherlands.
ISIS claimed responsibility for this week’s Christmas market attack in Berlin that killed 12 and injured 48. The group said that the assailant was a “soldier of the Islamic State,” who followed organizational orders “to target coalition countries.” The suspect was identified as Anis Amri, a Tunisian man in his 20s who reportedly had Salafi and jihadi connections in Tunisia and Germany. He is still the object of a massive manhunt in Germany.
The Islamic State has published such lists before — in June, Vocativ reported on a “kill list” that included more than 8,000 names and addresses, including that of police officers in the United States. The June list resulted in no known attacks.
Ridgewood NJ, President-elect Donald J. Trump today announced he intends to nominate former U.S. Army infantry officer and current Virtu Financial Founder and Executive Chairman Vincent “Vinnie” Viola as Secretary of the Army.
As Secretary of the Army, Viola will combine a deep background in national security affairs with an impressive track record of leading and managing high-performing teams within the military and the private sector. Viola is a West Point graduate and U.S. Army veteran. He was trained as an Airborne Ranger infantry officer and served in the 101st Airborne Division. Viola has long been engaged with national security issues even after his military service.
Following the terrorist attacks on September 11, Viola worked tirelessly to support the Army philanthropically in the areas of counterterrorism, cybersecurity and leadership development, including helping to found the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. He has also founded multiple high-value companies, including Virtu Financial, and chaired the New York Mercantile Exchange. Viola’s business experience makes him well positioned to help guide a Fortune 10-sized company, the U.S. Army, to accomplish its broad mission in the most innovative and efficient way possible.
“I am proud to have such an incredibly accomplished and selfless individual as Vincent Viola as our Secretary of the Army,” said President-elect Donald J. Trump. “Whether it is his distinguished military service or highly impressive track record in the world of business, Vinnie has proved throughout his life that he knows how to be a leader and deliver major results in the face of any challenge. He is a man of outstanding work ethic, integrity, and strategic vision, with an exceptional ability to motivate others. The American people, whether civilian or military, should have great confidence that Vinnie Viola has what it takes to keep America safe and oversee issues of concern to our troops in the Army.”
“It is an honor to be nominated to serve our country as President-elect Trump’s Secretary of the Army,” said Viola. “If confirmed, I will work tirelessly to provide our President with the land force he will need to accomplish any mission in support of his National Defense Strategy. A primary focus of my leadership will be ensuring that America’s soldiers have the ways and means to fight and win across the full spectrum of conflict. This great honor comes with great responsibility, and I will fight for the American people and their right to live free every day.”
Viola is living proof of the American dream. He was born and raised in an Italian immigrant family in Brooklyn, and his father worked a truck driver. Viola was inspired to join the military after witnessing his father’s service in the U.S. Army in World War II. Viola was the first member of his family to attend college, and after graduating from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1977, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army that same year. After graduating from the Infantry Officer Basic Course and Ranger School, Viola reported to duty with the 101st Airborne Division. Viola remained a member of the U.S. Army Reserve after the completion of his active duty service. In 1983, he received his J.D. from New York Law School.
In the 1980s, Viola worked as a trader on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and also founded the first of many business ventures, including Pioneer Futures and the Independent Bank Group. After a long and influential career, Viola was appointed Chairman of NYMEX in March 2001.
Viola’s leadership of NYMEX on and after 9/11 resulted in the board of Exchange recognizing his actions with a citation that included this statement: “His heroic leadership served as a beacon to thousands of Exchange members and staff, providing us with the fortitude to resume operations and preserve the efficiency of the American economy and global energy and metals markets in the face of this great tragedy.” In 2008, Viola founded Virtu Financial, a global leader in electronic market making, and took the company public in 2015.
Viola has also been deeply involved in a number of philanthropic causes. Viola has endowed the Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J. Chair in Catholic Theology at Fordham University and is a major supporter of the Catholic Leadership Institute and its mission to provide world-class leadership formation to bishops, priests and deacons. He is also the owner of the NHL’s Florida Panthers.
Viola lives in New York City with his wife Teresa. They have three adult sons.
Investigation claims Obama admin retaliated against scientists, politicized DoE
BY: Adam Kredo
December 20, 2016 3:00 pm
A new congressional investigation has determined that the Obama administration fired a top scientist and intimidated staff at the Department of Energy in order to further its climate change agenda, according to a new report that alleges the administration ordered top officials to obstruct Congress in order to forward this agenda.
Rep. Lamar Smith (R., Texas), chair of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, released a wide-ranging report on Tuesday that shows how senior Obama administration officials retaliated against a leading scientist and plotted ways to block a congressional inquiry surrounding key research into the impact of radiation.
A top DoE scientist who liaised with Congress on the matter was fired by the Obama administration for being too forthright with lawmakers, according to the report, which provides an in-depth look at the White House’s efforts to ensure senior staffers toe the administration’s line.
The report also provides evidence that the Obama administration worked to kill legislation in order to ensure that it could receive full funding for its own hotly contested climate change agenda.
The report additionally discovered efforts by the Obama administration to censor the information given to Congress, interfering with the body’s ability to perform critical oversight work.
Ridgewood NJ, This holiday season round out your table with rustic root vegetables and colorful produce – the side dishes and ingredients of the season. From savory to sweet, these sought after vegetables have a ton of natural sugars and are loaded with vitamins, bringing you and your guests a healthy and delicious dish to add to the table.
Kings Food Markets Nutritionist, Shari Bilt Boockvar, MS, RDN Nutritionist, works closely to select options from Kings that offer a variety of inspirational root vegetable recipes to round out your table this season, including:
Spiralized Butternut Squash (video): Spiralizing never seemed so fun especially in our Spiralized Butternut Squash with Italian Sausage Ragu video.
Shari explains, “This season has a bountiful array of colorful produce, which provides a wonderful source of beta-carotene, potassium, fiber, and other nutrients. Enjoy them simply roasted with olive oil, garlic and seasonings or in a beautiful crudité.” In addition to these inspirational recipes and simple basics from Shari, Kings offers a great assortment of classes to further inspire your meals this holiday season taught by some of the area’s top chefs:
Elegant Christmas Dinner: Chef Theresa Merges leads this interactive class as guests will learn to make the ultimate elegant Christmas dinner including Oysters Rockefeller, Tomato Mozzarella and Basil Stacks, Prime Rib with Garlic and Horseradish Crust.
Celebrate Chanukah with Family Kids/Teens with Parent: Make it a family affair and learn to make classics like Potato Latkes 3 ways – Traditional, Sweet Potato and Spaghetti Squash, Homemade Applesauce, Beef Barley Soup, Grandma’s Rugelach.
New Year’s Eve Party: Ring the New Year in the right way with a menu all guests will be sure to enjoy including Spiced Nuts, Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts, Creamy Crab and Artichoke Dip.
To complete your holiday table Kings offers fully catered meals in their Catering department, covering all of your bases, including root vegetables as well as holiday staples such as Mini Crab Cakes, Kings Apple Pie, Kings Classic Carrot Soufflé and even custom floral arrangements for all your holiday tablescaping needs.
How To: Spiralized Butternut Squash Ragu with Italian Sausage Ragu
Ridgewood NJ, Hailed as an emerging young talent, Maestro Steven Fox, the 38-year old Music Director of Bergen County’s acclaimed Pro Arte Chorale and other musical organizations has received critical praise in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe and more. Now, as Artistic Director of New York’s Clarion Music Society, he has been nominated for a 2017 Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance of the Year, for their recording of Maximilian Steinberg’s Passion Week.
Steven and The Clarion Choir recently travelled on a State Department sponsored tour to St. Petersburg and Moscow for the Russian premiere performances of Steinberg’s long-hidden 1920s liturgical masterwork.
The Pro Arte Chorale congratulates Steven on this significant musical achievement, and is honored to share his talent with our local communities in Bergen County and Northern New Jersey through our concert programs.
Founded in 1964, the Pro Arte Chorale is one of New Jersey’s foremost volunteer choruses and is considered one of the top-ranked regional choruses in America. The Chorale has appeared at such major concert venues as the New Jersey Performing Arts Center and Carnegie Hall, and has performed with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, and American Symphony Orchestra.
Pro Arte is committed to supporting local education endeavors and to enriching the lives of its audience and the broader community by exploring a variety of classic musical traditions over more than six centuries, up to and including Opera Choruses, American Spirituals and even Broadway Show Tunes.
To find out how you can become a supporter of Pro Arte or to learn more about its upcoming schedule of performances, visit www.ProArteChorale.org.
Pro Arte Chorale is a nonprofit volunteer chorus of about 50 auditioned members, committed to the public performance of classic choral music in Northern New Jersey and the New York Metropolitan Area. Now in its 53rd consecutive annual concert season, Pro Arte is supported by its operating income and by contributions from individuals, corporations, foundations, and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.
Rurik Posted: I took this on a trip to Paris in 1969.The Eiffel Tower is one of the most famous structures in the world and the symbol of Paris.Millions visit it every year.An interesting tale behind the building of the Tower.When the the plans were announced in the 1880‘s a committee of 300 leading citizens of Paris issued the following statement, per Wikepedia:“We, writers, painters, sculptors, architects and passionate devotees of the hitherto untouched beauty of Paris, protest with all our strength, with all our indignation in the name of slighted French taste, against the erection … of this useless and monstrous Eiffel Tower … To bring our arguments home, imagine for a moment a giddy, ridiculous tower dominating Paris like a gigantic black smokestack, crushing under its barbaric bulk Notre Dame, the Tour Saint-Jacques, the Louvre, the Dome of les Invalides, the Arc de Triomphe, all of our humiliated monuments will disappear in this ghastly dream. And for twenty years … we shall see stretching like a blot of ink the hateful shadow of the hateful column of bolted sheet metal.”Makes you think of their present day Ridgewood descendants, the Vocalantis, those self absorbed fools who are unable to see past the tip of their noses.
this was posted on Facebook in the “it take a Ridgewood Village ” group on Monday December 19th.
While Mr Halaby attempts to use the Eiffel Tower as a symbol of what the rejection of Aronsohn’s flawed vision of Ridgewood could mean we suggest the Nazi occupation of Paris a more fitting symbol.
Here is a small history lesson:
Germans attacked France and quickly defeated the French army in 1940. The French government departed Paris on June 10, and the Germans occupied the city on June 14. During the Occupation, the French Government moved to Vichy, and Paris was governed by the German military and by French officials approved by the Germans.
For the Parisians, the Occupation was a series of frustrations, shortages and humiliations. A curfew was in effect from nine in the evening until five in the morning; at night, the city went dark. Rationing of food, tobacco, coal and clothing was imposed from September 1940. Every year the supplies grew more scarce and the prices higher. A million Parisians left the city for the provinces, where there was more food and fewer Germans. The French press and radio contained only German propaganda.
Jews in Paris were forced to wear the yellow Star of David badge, and were barred from certain professions and public places. On 16–17 July 1942, 13,152 Jews, including 4,115 children and 5.919 women, were rounded up by the French police, on orders of the Germans, and were sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp.
The first demonstration against the Occupation, by Paris students, took place on 11 November 1940. As the war continued, anti-German clandestine groups and networks were created, some loyal to the French Communist Party, others to General Charles de Gaulle in London. They wrote slogans on walls, organized an underground press, and sometimes attacked German officers. Reprisals by the Germans were swift and harsh.
Following the Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944, the French Resistance in Paris launched an uprising on August 19, 1944, seizing the police headquarters and other government buildings. The city was liberated by French and American troops on August 25, and General Charles de Gaulle led a triumphant parade down the Champs-Élysées on August 26, and organized a new government. In the following months, ten thousand Parisians who had collaborated with the Germans were arrested and tried, eight thousand convicted, and 116 executed. On 29 April and 13 May 1945, the first post-war municipal elections were held, in which French women voted for the first time.
By James Oliphant and Emily Stephenson | WASHINGTON
With more than 20 nominees now selected, Donald Trump’s cabinet appears much like the president-elect himself: mostly older, white males, many of them wealthy, who see themselves as risk-takers and deal-makers and prize action over deliberation.
Trump, who says Washington is “broken” and controlled by special interests, has largely eschewed technocrats with long government experience. Instead, he has built a team of bosses.
Trump’s roster of agency heads and advisers conspicuously lacks intellectuals, lawyers, and academics of the sort sought by some past presidents. In their place are titans of business and finance from the likes of Exxon Mobil and Goldman Sachs and no fewer than three retired generals in key positions.
Remember when The NYT reported that its ad hoc campaign to boost revenue by selling subscriptions in response to the vicious back and forth with Donald Trump, was said to be a smashing success? Perhaps it was subscriptions for the crossword puzzle because it appears the monetary success was not smashing enough, and according to a just released note from executives Arthur Sulzberger and Mark Thompson, the newspaper will vacate at least eight floors in its iconic building, allowing it to “generate significant rental income” because it is “frankly, too expensive to occupy this many floors when we don’t truly need them.”
Maybe the lesson here is that when the newspaper business model no longer works, one can just pivot into a REIT?
The remaining staff will be consolidated on the remaining, redesigned floors in a “more dynamic, modern and open workplace, one that is better suited to the moment.”
Furthermore, the NYT publisher and CEO will lose their corner offices, which they call a “vestige from a different era” and will “introduce more team rooms and common spaces.”
It is unclear if NYT would distribute pink slips as part of the cost-cutting effort, however as the letter adds, “in the end, these changes will impact every employee at 620 Eighth Ave. In the near term, we will have to move about 400 employees out of the building to nearby office space while the first phase of work is completed. We expect that group, which includes parts of marketing, technology, the newsroom, news services, corporate finance and print products and services pre-press operations, to move in the first quarter and return by the end of 2017. Your manager will notify you if your position is affected by this temporary move. We understand and appreciate the disruption this will inevitably cause and we will do everything in our power to mitigate it.”
