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Parlance Chamber Concert Presents Pianist Richard Goode

Pianist Richard Goode

Sunday, October 4 at 3 p.m. at West Side Presbyterian Church

Ridgewood NJ, Welcome back pianist Richard Goode, one of the preeminent musicians of our time. This thrilling artist is universally hailed as a deeply insightful interpreter of the Viennese classics. His emotionally far reaching program will alternate between two of Mozart’s most dramatic sonatas and two late sets of Brahm’s warmhearted intermezzi, ballades, and romances.

The name Richard Goode inspires reverence and deep affection among music lovers world-wide: his music-making speaks of a sublime connection with the composers which inspires critics around the world to utter such praise as “you’d swear the composer himself was at the keyboard, expressing musical thoughts that had just come into his head.” The American pianist’s tremendous emotional power, depth and expressiveness can be heard in recitals, chamber and orchestral collaborations around the world, as well as in a series of highly acclaimed Nonesuch recordings. In an extensive profile in The New Yorker, David Blum wrote: “What one remembers most from Goode’s playing is not its beauty—exceptional as it is—but his way of coming to grips with the composer’s central thought, so that a work tends to make sense beyond one’s previous perception of it…. The spontaneous formulating process of the creator [becomes] tangible in the concert hall.” According to the New York Times, “It is virtually impossible to walk away from one of Mr. Goode’s recitals without the sense of having gained some new insight, subtly or otherwise, into the works he played or about pianism itself.”

View Mr. Goode’s full bio at www.jaykhoffman.com

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Citizens for a Better Ridgewood : Recap of Wednesday’s High Density Housing Meeting

Village Council Meeting

photo by Boyd Loving

Editors note : Great job to the Citizens for a Better Ridgewood but we would like to point out the it is an Elected Officials JOB to listen to their constituents concerns , council members do not need to be thanked because it took 500 screaming residents to show up to a Village Council meeting to pay attention to obvious short comings in their misguided efforts to transform Ridgewood into Hoboken .

Hello Friends and Neighbors!

We would like to thank each and every one of you!
Thank you for sending emails to Village Council members and for showing up at Wednesday night’s meeting.  Hundreds and hundreds of concerned residents came to Village Hall!  Many of you not only showed up, but you waited on line, spoke at the podium and stayed late into the night. Your comments were thoughtful and heartfelt.  We are grateful for your passion and support.

Council Tables The Vote and Orders New Studies
The meeting lasted 5.5 hours and 76 residents took to the podium, almost all in favor of housing but at a lower density level.  At 11:00 pm, council members began discussing whether or not to continue the public hearing to another date, as it was already late into the evening.   Councilman Michael Sedon made a motion to table the ordinances until a fiscal impact study could be done, which would help determine the effects the new apartment buildings would have on the tax base.  Councilwoman Susan Knudsen seconded the motion, and asked that a comprehensive traffic study and school impact study also be completed.

These are three important studies that were never conducted at the Planning Board level.  The Planning Board is not allowed to consider fiscal or educational impacts in decision-making. Although this seems unreasonable, it is common practice throughout municipalities everywhere.  The financial and school-related considerations are left to elected officials, who have the final word and who are presumably much more in touch with the public at large.

Some traffic studies were conducted at the Planning Board level. However, the studies were specific to each proposed development and only addressed the traffic effects at individual each site. The studies never addressed the cumulative effects that developing all of these sites at the same time, while also adding a parking garage and an assisted living facility, would have on traffic in downtown Ridgewood.  Similarly, the analyses that were done at the Planning Board level to estimate the number of school-aged children that may be added to our school district if hundreds of apartments were to be built, were based on data from other towns in the state of NJ, but not towns with school districts comparable to the Ridgewood Public School system.

Mayor Paul Aronsohn agreed with the need for further studies and voted yes with Sedon and Knudsen.  Councilwoman Gwen Hauck initially expressed concern about the additional cost and time needed to complete studies, but she ultimately went along and voted to approve the studies.  Deputy Mayor Pucciarelli was the only one to vote no at the time, because he was intent on finishing the process of public comment before taking any action.  Once public comment was finished, Mr. Pucciarelli appeared supportive of further studies.

Next Steps
The Public Hearings have been continued until Monday, November 9th, with the hope that the new studies will be completed in a timely manner.   We are thankful that our Village Council is moving forward with these additional studies, and it appears as if democracy has prevailed. Now it is up to you to continue to show up to the meetings.  As the process continues, residents will be able to listen to the experts and question them as well.  This is your opportunity to fully participate and have a stake in how our village moves forward.  Please continue to stay engaged!

Final Note
We encourage you to reach out to your council members to thank them for hearing us and for agreeing to continue the process with further studies.  We continue, as always, to encourage respectful and thoughtful dialogue!

If you know of any one who would like to receive CBR emails and notifications of upcoming meetings, please tell them to email us [email protected] and put “Add me to Email List” in the subject line.

Thank you again for all of your support!!

Citizens for a Better Ridgewood
[email protected]

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The “jig is up” on Ridgewood’s 3 Amigos

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October 2,2015
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, Finally, it has become abundantly clear, that the current Council majority totally disrespects the will and wishes of the taxpayers of Ridgewood. The Ridgewood “elite” has woken from their Pinot Noir induced stupor and seen and heard the arrogance of the three worst Council members of all time.

They are, by far, the most self-serving, small minded nit wits ever to grace the dais. The jig is up! Their back room dealing and campaign donor promises, at the expense and pain of the Ridgewood taxpayers, have come to light and people now have seen the three deceitful Council members as they truly are.

Let them know it’s time to pack their “carpet bags” and move on. Al can go back to his day job, Gwenn can get back to her regularly scheduled nail and hair appointments and Paul can move to Washington and help Hillary pack for prison.

By the way October 13  is the last day to Register to Vote in Nov. 3 Election. On Tuesday, October 13 from 8:30am to 4:30pm, voter registration forms are available in the Village Clerk’s Office on the 5th Floor of Village Hall.

On October 13 from 4:30pm to 9:00pm the Village Clerk will be in the Ridgewood Library Lobby with forms to assist residents with voter registration.

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New Jersey doesn’t need a gas tax hike

Route_17_Glen062_theridgewoodblog

file photo by Boyd Loving

SEPTEMBER 30, 2015    LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2015, 1:21 AM
BY ADRIAN MOORE
THE RECORD

THE New Jersey Legislature is working hard to figure out how to take more money from you, ostensibly for transportation. Both parties look willing to stick it to taxpayers once again with a gas tax hike of as much as 25 cents per gallon.

That tax hike will hit you directly in the wallet every time you fill up your tank — even if gas prices go down. And it will hit you again in the prices of everything you buy, since companies providing goods and services require transportation and pay fuel taxes as well.

State leaders keep talking about how New Jersey has a transportation funding crisis and the only way, they claim, to fix the roads is to raise taxes. That doesn’t pass the laugh test, though, let alone stand up to any real analysis.

State transportation spending is not falling, and lack of money is not the crisis. According to data that all states report to the federal government, transportation spending in New Jersey on state highways nearly doubled from 2007-2012. New Jersey spends more than $2 million per mile of state roads — more than 12 times the national average.

The real crisis is how transportation money is used. New Jersey spends nine times the national average per mile to build roads and bridges, almost six times the national average per mile to maintain its state highways, and four times the national average per mile on office and administration costs.

https://www.northjersey.com/opinion/opinion-guest-writers/new-jersey-doesn-t-need-a-gas-tax-hike-1.1421492

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What can you do to prepare for Hurricane Joaquin

Sandy theridgewoodblog.net

October 1,2015

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

What can you do to prepare?

Ridgewood NJ, PSE&G is making preparations for a possible landfall of Hurricane Joaquin. We are also closely monitoring the expected heavy rains and high winds over the next several days.

While it is too early to know with any certainty when and where Joaquin will make landfall – and the strength of the storm when it does – we take every storm with the potential for outages seriously. We are activating our emergency protocol and personnel, and performing system checks on critical transmission and distribution equipment. Also, we are requesting mutual aid from other utilities, securing additional tree crews and ensuring the availability of materials and supplies.

What can you do?

Generator Usage:

• If your facility has a generator, now is a good time to ensure the generator is in good working order and there is sufficient fuel for your operating needs.

• Review generator safety information found on our EnergeLink website.

Communicating with PSE&G:

• Register for our free MyAlerts service ahead of time to receive email or text notifications about an outage at pseg.com/myalerts.

• Sign up for My Account at pseg.com and bookmark the mobile-friendly homepage on your smart phone to report outages and check restoration progress.

• Compile a list of emergency phone numbers, including PSE&G’s dedicated, toll-free Business Solutions Center line at 1-855-249-7734 (1-855-BIZ-PSEG). “Like” PSEG on Facebook and follow PSEG on Twitter @PSEGdelivers for tips and information about storm progress.

• Be ready to report and track outages on PSE&G’s “Outage Center” at pseg.com/outagecenter.

Additional preparedness information can be found at www.ready.gov.

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Paul Aronsohn has closed their account and is no longer accepting donations…..but he sure did rack ’em up for awhile!

menendez_at_REORG_theridgewoodblog
file photo by Boyd Loving
October 1,2015
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Just a small town guy…ya know, one of “us”…Ridgewood NJ, I don’t believe any other mayoral candidate in the history of Ridgewood has received one cent from the Teamsters, United Auto Workers or SEIU…..especially those interested solely in “volunteering” for this “thanksless” job……that’s alot of “thanks” in my book…where’d it go when the coffers slammed shut on the dead campaign’s war chest?

from Paularonsohn.com….
Paul Aronsohn has closed their account and is no longer accepting donations…..but he sure did rack ’em up for awhile!

https://www.fec.gov/press/press2008/20080912murs.shtml
Paul Aronsohn for Congress and Paul Aronsohn acknowledge violation of “testing-the-waters” provisions
In MUR 5693, Paul Aronsohn for Congress, the principal campaign committee for Paul Aronsohn’s 2006 campaign in New Jersey’s 5th Congressional district, and Mr. Aronsohn entered into a conciliation agreement with the FEC regarding violations of reporting requirements in the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA). During 2005 Paul Aronsohn’s activities crossed the line from testing the waters into candidate status when he sent a solicitation letter indicating he had decided to run for federal office. However, Mr. Aronsohn and his campaign committee failed to register with the FEC and file a year-end financial report in 2005, as required by the FECA. In the conciliation agreement Mr. Aronsohn and the committee agreed to pay a civil penalty of $6,500.

https://www.heritage.org/research/commentary/2010/10/npr-political-donations-raise-questions
All of the donations supported Democrats. Besides Obama and Clinton, two other contributions supported Democrat Paul Aronsohn, who lost his race against Rep. Scott Garrett (R-N.J.) in 2006,

https://jhfowler.ucsd.edu/colbert_bump.pdf
Aronsohn, Paul S. NJ-5 9/21/06 68 $ 46,113

https://theridgewoodblog.net/readers-voice-concern-over-weakening-of-residency-requirements/

The Mayor received massive campaign contributions from unions  :

Paul Aronsohn (D)Political Action Committee Total Contributed
Teamsters Union $10,000.00
Intl Brotherhood of Electrical Workers $10,000.00
United Auto Workers $6,500.00
Carpenters & Joiners Union $5,000.00
American Fedn of St/Cnty/Munic Employees $5,000.00
National Air Traffic Controllers Assn $5,000.00
Sheet Metal Workers Union $5,000.00
Laborers Union $3,500.00
AFL-CIO $2,661.00
American Federation of Teachers $2,500.00
Operating Engineers Local 825 $2,500.00
NJ Plumbers/Pipefitters Union Local 475 $1,000.00
Service Employees International Union $1,000.00
Plumbers/Pipefitters Union Local 274 $1,000.00
Plumbers/Pipefitters Union Local 9 $500.00

https://www.bluejersey.com/tag/NJ5/10
According to an April 14th electronic filing with the FEC, Paul Aronsohn for Congress raised nearly $214,000 in the first quarter of 2006. The filing, which was signed by campaign manager Parisa Sabeti, makes official the contributions which had been rumored in excess of $200,000. After expenditures, the Aronsohn campaign had $135,125.31 cash on-hand.
Paul Aronsohn (D)
Raised: $214,005
Spent:  $78,879
Cash on hand:  $135,125
Last Report:  3/31/2006

Arohsohn uses JAMBOREE MAILING LIST for political purposes????
https://theridgewoodblog.net/reader-unloads-on-candidate-paul-aronsohn/

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Hurricane Joaquin better safe than sorry

Hurricane Joaquin

Octover 1st, 2015 – Hurricane Joaquin

Dear E-Notice Resident,

As many of you may know by now, Governor Chris Christie issued a State of Emergency this morning, alerting the public to be ready if Hurricane Joaquin’s trajectory brings it to N.J.

I am writing to you to let you know that we have been and will be on top of this situation. Your Village staff began preparations earlier this week, and we met this morning to continue our monitoring of this situation. Police, Fire and Emergency Services are all prepped and ready to go as is our DPW, Sewer & Water staff.

Currently one of Joaquin’s possible trajectories has it arriving Monday evening into Tuesday. We will keep you informed as more is known. So please take any storm preparedness steps that you normally would. Our Office of Emergency Management has a website page for tips and planning for hurricanes. Here is the link.

Hopefully the hurricane will take another track and we will not be impacted.

Our primary concern over the next couple of days is the possibility of high winds and significant rainfall possibly resulting in flooding and tree damage. The risk of tree damage has increased due to the drought conditions that we have been experiencing. The timeframe for this weather appears to be Friday evening through Saturday. We have staff and contractors on call in the event of downed trees or other emergency situations.

If you or anyone in your neighborhood has tree damage that results in a compromised street situation, please call (201) 652-3900: appropriate resources will be identified and deployed.

If your power goes out, please call PSE&G directly – 1(800) 436-PSEG; this will result in the most effective servicing.

Sign-ups for E-Notices as well as telephone notifications can be done on our website (www.ridgewoodnj.net). Please reach out to your neighbors who may not receive E-Notices or reverse 911 calls.

For anyone with special needs/disability related requirements, please email [email protected].

Best regards,

Roberta Sonenfeld

Village Manager

201-670-5500, ext. 203

-PLEASE SHARE THIS INFORMATION WITH YOUR NEIGHBORS-

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“Leave” no leaf behind! VILLAGE ISSUES IMPORTANT NOTICE – LEAF REMOVAL FOR 2015

leaf3_pickup_theridgewoodblog

file photo Boyd Loving

IMPORTANT NOTICE – LEAF REMOVAL FOR 2015

Every household will be receiving a flyer in the mail with 2015 leaf collection information. If you would like to print the flyer for your reference Click Here

LEAF COLLECTION BEGINS October 19, 2015.

Last year the Village of Ridgewood implemented a pilot program to outsource a portion of our leaf removal service. After reviewing and evaluating input that was provided by you regarding the success of this change, we again will be using the services of a third party contractor in Area B. The combined effort of the Village staff and this contractor will enforce our continuing commitment to improve your Village services.

In accordance with last years’ schedule, residents in Area B will remain the same with the exception of the following streets which will now be considered “Area D” for leaf season only.

Beechwood Rd. Unadilla Rd.

Carlton Terr. Valley View Ave.

Elm Ct. Waiku Rd.

Kemah Rd. Wastena Terr.

N. Monroe St. (house #108 – 412) Windsor Terr.

Palmer Ct. Woodland Ave. (house #116 – #223)

Sheridan Terr.

2015 DATES for collection are as follows:

Area A Area B Area C Area D

Oct. 19 – 22 Oct. 21 – 27 Oct. 23 – 28 Oct. 29 – Nov. 4

Nov. 5 – 10 Nov. 9 – 13 Nov. 12 – 18 Nov. 19 – 25

Nov. 30 – Dec. 3 Nov. 30 – Dec. 4 Dec. 7 – 11 Dec. 14 – 18

Dec. 14 – 18

Leaves must be placed directly in the street no more than 7 days prior to your scheduled pick up date. Please have your leaves in the street on the first day scheduled for collection. If you employ the services of a landscaper communicate these dates to them. No brush will be collected during leaf season. You may continue to bring leaves as well as brush to the Recycling Center. The hours of operation are Monday through Saturday, 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Leaves can also be placed in paper biodegradable bags. Bags will be available at the Recycling Center on a first come, first serve basis. When using bags please place them on the curb area and they will be collected separately.

The most vocal comment heard from residents last year was on properties who did not comply with the schedule. Therefore enforcement will be vital to the Village’s success to improve this service. An enforcement agent will issue a summons to those that violate these guidelines.

As weather is a key component to this operation, if changes become necessary it will be posted on the Village of Ridgewood website. In addition you are encouraged to sign up for e-mail notifications via the Village website and to share this information with your neighbors. As a reminder, use caution when our leaf removal crews are on your block. When possible please take an alternate route to ensure the safety of all. Should you have any questions, please call the Street Division at (201) 670-5585.

Our motto is – “Leave” no leaf behind!

Thank you for your continued cooperation.

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15 COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT ANTHROPOGENIC GLOBAL WARMING AND CLIMATE CHANGE

abominable-snowman-520169

Top 15 Climate Myths

MYTH 1: Global temperatures are rising at a rapid, unprecedented rate.

FACT: Accurate satellite, balloon and mountain top observations made over the last three decades have not shown any significant change in the long term rate of increase in global temperatures. Average ground station readings do show a mild warming of 0.6 to 0.8C over the last 100 years, which is well within the natural variations recorded in the last millennium. However, the ground station network suffers from an uneven distribution across the globe; the stations are preferentially located in growing urban and industrial areas (“heat islands”), which show substantially higher readings than adjacent rural areas (“land use effects”) i.e. local heat retention due to urban sprawl, not global warming…and it is these, ‘false high’ ground readings which are then programmed into the disreputable climate models used by your favourite enviro groups such as Greenpeace, which live up to the GIGO acronym — Garbage In, Garbage Out.

Looking at it from the long term, the planet has been gradually recovering from the Little Ice Age which ended in 1850. Our temps are in fact right where they should be. From a short term perspective, satellite measurements (which are far more accurate than land-based stations) are now showing a gradual decrease in global temperatures, and it is currently well accepted that temperatures have been slowly falling for over a decade now and cold records are being set far more often than warm records.

In summary, there has been no catastrophic warming recorded from either method whatsoever.

MYTH 2: It’s never been warmer in the past.

FACT: We are in a relatively cool period and it used to be much warmer over countless periods in the past. Even just a few hundred years ago, the Vikings used to live in parts of Greenland without snow, and vineyards flourished in the North of London! There is nothing apocalyptic about warmer temperatures, in fact it’s quite the opposite. In the UK, every mild winter saves 20,000 cold-related deaths, and scaled up over northern Europe mild winters save hundreds of thousands of lives each year. ALSO, data from ice core samples shows that in the past, temperatures have risen by ten times the current rise, and fallen again, in the space of a human lifetime. Nothing is happening “faster than normal” with today’s weather/climate change/temperature variations, etc.

MYTH 3: The “hockey stick” graph proves that the earth has experienced a steady, very gradual temperature decrease for 1000 years, then recently began a sudden increase.

FACT: The hockey stick graph seen in An Inconvenient Truth and elsewhere has been completely debunked and proven fraudulent. It has airbrushed out the significant changes in climate which have continually occurred throughout geologic time. For instance, the Medieval Warm Period, from around 1000 to1200 AD (when the Vikings farmed on Greenland) was followed by a period known as the Little Ice Age. Since the end of the 17thCentury the “average global temperature” has been rising at the low steady rate mentioned above; although from 1940 – 1970 temperatures actually dropped, leading to a Global Cooling scare. And now the temperatures are dropping once again, in fact they’ve been dropping since 1998.

The “hockey stick”, a former poster boy of both the UN’s IPCC and Canada’s Environment Department, ignores historical recorded climatic swings, and is proven to be flawed and statistically unreliable as well. It has now been quietly removed from the IPCC reports and thoroughly discredited throughout the scientific world and is well regarded as one of the biggest scientific hoaxes of our time, yet you can still find it being used today by organizations such as the Sierra Club, Greenpeace, etc. The chart is a computer construct and a very faulty one at that. But what else would you expect, seeing as it was created only to help perpetrate the climate change lie.

Speaking of computer generated scams, let’s not forget the drowning polar bears in Gore’s movie and the fraudulent claim that the bears are disappearing. In fact they are actually thriving. Polar bear populations are 500% larger than they were 50 years ago. Shame on you, Al Gore, for playing on people’s emotions to drive support for your enormous $45 trillion carbon tax hoax.

MYTH 4: Human produced carbon dioxide has increased over the last 100 years, adding to the Greenhouse effect, thus warming the earth.

FACT: Carbon dioxide levels have indeed changed for various reasons, human and otherwise, just as they have throughout geologic time. Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, the CO2 content of the atmosphere has increased. The RATE of growth during this period has also increased from about 0.2% per year to the present rate of about 0.4% per year,which growth rate has now been constant for the past 25 years. However, there is no proof that CO2 is a measurable driver of global warming, let alone the tiny amount released by humankind. As measured in ice cores dated over many thousands of years, CO2 levels move up and down AFTER the temperature has done so, and thus are the RESULT OF, NOT THE CAUSE of warming.

Effectively, the man-made global warming theorists have put effect before cause — this completely debunks the entire global warming theory and shows that reducing carbon dioxide emissions is a futile King Canute exercise! Geological field work in recent sediments confirms this causal relationship. There is solid evidence that, as temperatures move up and down naturally and cyclically through solar radiation, orbital and galactic influences, the warming surface layers of the earth’s oceans expel more CO2 as a result.

MYTH 5: CO2 is the most common greenhouse gas.

FACT: Greenhouse gases form about 3% of the atmosphere by volume. They consist of varying amounts, about 96.5% is water vapour and clouds, with the remainder being trace gases like CO2, CH4, Ozone and N2O. CO2 constitutes about 0.037% of the atmosphere. And then the human portion of that 0.037% is incredibly small.

But isn’t CO2 the most important of the greenhouse gases? Nope. Not even close. Most of the greenhouse effect is due to water vapor, which is about 100 times as abundant in the atmosphere as CO2 and thus has a much larger effect.

In summary, water vapour is by far the most important and overwhelming greenhouse gas. Those attributing climate change to CO2 rarely mention these important facts.

What’s next? A steam tax when you boil a kettle for your cup of tea?

MYTH 6: Computer models verify that CO2 increases will cause significant global warming.

FACT: The computer models assume that CO2 is the primary climate driver, when in fact CO2 does not drive climate, and they do not take into account the Sun, which has the most significant effect on climate. You cannot use the output of a model to verify or prove its initial assumption – that is circular reasoning and is illogical. Computer models can be made to roughly match the 20th century temperature rise by adjusting many input parameters and using strong positive feedbacks. They do not “prove” anything. Also, computer models predicting global warming are incapable of properly including the effects of the sun, cosmic rays and the clouds. The sun is a major cause of temperature variation on the earth surface as its received radiation changes all the time, This happens largely in cyclical fashion. The number and the lengths in time of sunspots can be correlated very closely with average temperatures on earth, e.g. the Little Ice Age and the Medieval Warm Period. Varying intensity of solar heat radiation affects the surface temperature of the oceans and the currents. Warmer ocean water expels gases, some of which are CO2. Solar radiation interferes with the cosmic ray flux, thus influencing the amount ionized nuclei which control cloud cover. Again, models are in essence: GARBAGE IN = GARBAGE OUT. (Maybe they should also take note that when the Earth warms, so do other planets in our solar system. Now please explain how CO2 can cause that?!)

MYTH 7: The UN proved that man–made CO2 causes global warming.

FACT: In a 1996 report by the UN on global warming, two statements were deleted from the final draft. Here they are:
1) “None of the studies cited above has shown clear evidence that we can attribute the observed climate changes to increases in greenhouse gases.”
2) “No study to date has positively attributed all or part of the climate change to man–made causes”

Scientists draft reports for the IPCC, but the IPCC are bureaucrats appointed by governments, in fact many scientists who contribute to the reports disagree with the ’spin’ that the IPCC and media put on their findings. The latest report suggests that the next 100 years might see a temperature change of 6 Celsius yet a Lead Author for the IPCC (Dr John Christy UAH/NASA) has pointed out that the scenarios with the fastest warming rates were added to the report at a late stage, at the request of a few governments (to create urgency) — in other words the scientists were told what to do by politicians and many of them strongly disagree. This is not science. It’s political propaganda.

To the present day there is still no scientific proof that man-made CO2 has any effect on global warming or can cause “climate change”. However, there is plenty of scientific proof that the Earth has been cooling while CO2 has risen, and that increased CO2 is very beneficial to our planet.

MYTH 8: Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is a pollutant.

FACT: This is absolutely not true. Nitrogen forms 80% of our atmosphere. We could not live in 100% nitrogen either. Carbon dioxide is no more a pollutant than nitrogen is. CO2 is essential to life on earth. It is necessary for plant growth since increased CO2 intake as a result of increased atmospheric concentration causes many trees and other plants to grow more vigorously. Unfortunately, the Canadian Government has included CO2 with a number of truly toxic and noxious substances listed by the Environmental Protection Act, only as their means to politically control it. In the US, president Obama is also trying to classify CO2 as a “pollutant” for the same political reasons. It’s really quite terrifying and is a slap in the face to science.

MYTH 9: Reducing car use will cut carbon dioxide levels and save the planet!

FACT: The planet does not need saving from this mythical problem of CO2 emissions from cars, but taking this on anyway, removing every car from every road in every country overnight would NOT produce any change in the carbon dioxide level of the atmosphere, and in any case it is pointless trying to alter climate by changing carbon dioxide levels as the cause and effect is the other way round! — It is changes in the activity of the Sun that cause temperature changes on earth, with any temperature rise causing carbon dioxide to de-gas from the oceans.

MYTH 10: Global warming will cause more storms and other weather extremes.

FACT: There is no scientific or statistical evidence whatsoever that supports such claims on a global scale. Regional variations may occur, and always do. Growing insurance and infrastructure repair costs, particularly in coastal areas, are sometimes claimed to be the result of increasing frequency and severity of storms, whereas in reality they are a function of increasing population density, escalating development value, and ever more media reporting. Weather records clearly show there has been adecrease in violent and extreme weather over the past century.

Extreme weather correlates with the cycle of solar activity, not carbon dioxide emissions or political elections. The recent heavy rainfall in winter and spring is a perfect example of this — it occurred at solar maximum at a time when solar maxima are very intense — this pattern may well repeat every 11 years until about 2045. Furthermore, the hottest and coldest days on record occurred more than 60 years ago (before industry) and the wackiest most extreme weather recorded over the last 100 years, including the strongest hurricanes, and devastating droughts/floods, all occurred in the 1940’s. And guess what? They will always happen, every year, with new records set daily. Normal.

Contrary to media hysteria claiming increasing storm severities, scientists have studied this issue and come to the opposite conclusion: extreme events are becoming LESS common. Atlantic hurricanes were much more numerous from 1950 to 1975 than from 1975 to present. Hailstorms in the US are 35% less common than they were fifty years ago. Extreme rainfall in the US at the end of the 20th century is comparable to what it was at the beginning of the 20th century. Also, there is much empirical evidence to suggest that when global warming does happen from time to time, more warmth generally leads to a more stable climate with less weather extremes. Once again, the greenies got it backwards.

MYTH 11: Carbon taxes, petrol duty, and workplace parking charges are justifiable environmental taxes.

FACT: As carbon dioxide emissions from cars and factories does not have any impact on climate, these taxes are ‘just another tax’ on enterprise and mobility, and have no real green credentials. None.

MYTH 12: Global warming must be real since governments are trying to cover it up and I see protests all the time!

FACT: It’s exactly the opposite. Governments everywhere are not only active supporters of the climate change lie, they are promoters of it and massively fund it. And they’ve done an absolutely brilliant job of it by easily convincing the world’s alarmists and Earth-conscientious citizens of an impending catastrophe, thereby utilizing the protesters and subsequent immense political pressure to push through the very policies they aspire to implement on all of us. Governments have learned the power of activism ever since the days of the revolution, and they’ve managed to use it to their advantage. Extremist environmentalists have been duped into becoming a tool for the very governments they believe they’re “fighting” against. A recent example of this was the declaration by Al Gore and James Hansen which encouraged activists to consider civil disobedience to stop the construction of new coal power plants.

In defense of many environmentalists and “cause-jumpers”, quite often they simply do not know any better but are actually well intentioned.

MYTH 13: Receding glaciers, the calving of ice shelves, and the shrinking of snow on Mt. Kilimanjaro are proof of global warming.

FACT: Glaciers have been receding and growing cyclically for hundreds of years. Recent glacier melting is a consequence of coming out of the very cool period of the Little Ice Age. Ice shelves have been breaking off for centuries. Scientists know of at least 33 periods of glaciers growing and then retreating. It’s normal. Besides, glacier’s health is dependent as much on precipitation as on temperature. What you see on your television newscasts are images of the annual summer melt off, which happens every single year and is nothing to worry about.

Global warming is not melting Mt. Kilimanjaro’s alpine glacier. Temperatures at Mt. Kilimanjaro have been slightly cooling since at least the middle of the twentieth century, and those temperatures virtually never rise above freezing. Scientists have long known that deforestation at the base of the mountain is causing the mountaintop glacier to shrink, by reducing the moisture and resultant precipitation in mountain updrafts.

MYTH 14: The earth’s poles are warming; polar ice caps are breaking up and melting and the sea level rising.

FACT: The earth is variable. The western Arctic may be gotten somewhat warmer last century, due to unrelated cyclic events in the Pacific Ocean, but the Eastern Arctic and Greenland are getting colder. And now the western Arctic is cooling again. The small Palmer Peninsula of Antarctica is getting warmer, while the main Antarctic continent is actually cooling. Ice thicknesses are increasing both on Greenland and in Antarctica.

Sea level monitoring in the Pacific (Tuvalu) and Indian Oceans (Maldives) has shown no sign of any sea level rise.

MYTH 15: There are only a tiny handful of maverick scientists who dispute that man-made global warming theory is true.

FACT: There are literally tens of thousands of signatures from scientists worldwide on many petitions, ranging from the Oregon Petition Project, the Manhattan Declaration, all the way to the Leipzig Declaration which all state that there is no evidence for the man-made global warming theory nor is there any impact from mankind’s activities on climate. Many scientists are now dissenting against Al Gore and the IPCC and strongly believe that the Kyoto agreement is a total waste of time, expensive, dangerous and one of the biggest political scams ever perpetrated on the public … as H L Mencken said “The fundamental aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed, and hence clamorous to be led to safety, by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary” … the desire to save the world usually fronts a desire to rule it. Of the scientists who support the climate change theory, many are on payrolls of government agencies and others are simply securing their funding. The consensus is clear: Man-made climate change is a hoax.

THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT

Over 95 percent of the Greenhouse Effect is the result of atmospheric water vapor in Earth’s atmosphere. But because water droplets held in suspension (clouds) make almost as good a reflector as they do a thermal insulator, there is little rise in daytime temperatures due to the Greenhouse Effect.

Any greenhouse warming, if it does occur, is limited to primarily increasing nighttime temperatures, which provides beneficial moderation of nighttime low temperatures, but no increase in daytime high temperatures.

Did you know…

Although the biggest source of greenhouse gas is our oceans, the world’s natural wetlands also produce more greenhouse gas contributions annually than all human sources combined. Furthermore, Animals and volcanoes produce so much CO2 that it completely dwarfs mankinds insignificantly tiny emissions.

To summarize what we have learned so far:

Climate changes are not driven by CO2.
Air pollution has nothing to do with CO2.
Human-produced CO2 is a miniscule fraction of a percentage of greenhouse gases.
96.5% of all greenhouse gases emit from the oceans, naturally.
The small amount of CO2 produced by humans is wholly beneficial to the planet.
Without CO2, vegetation dies, herbivores die, you die.
CO2 levels used to be much higher many times in the past.
Higher temperatures from the sun result in CO2 levels rising long afterwards.
Rising CO2 is an effect of global warming, not a cause.
Global warming and cooling is a purely natural phenomenon.
The higher the CO2 levels in the atmosphere, the greener our planet becomes.
Forests and plant life growth has increased by approx 40% over the last 50 years, thanks to CO2.
Increasing CO2 yields larger food crops. This is beneficial to a growing population.
The Earth is not currently warming, it is in fact cooling.
Temperatures in the past have often been much warmer than today.
Even if it were to happen, a warmer Earth is far better than a colder one, for all life.
Many scientists believe we are on the cuss of the next little ice age.
When the planet warms and cools it is due to the sun. Not your car.
Polar ice is now at record levels and still growing.
Climate changes happen all the time, and have occurred much faster than anything in modern times.
There has been no increase in extreme weather. In fact, records show the exact opposite.

So don’t panic. You’re NOT at fault!

“It is a blatant lie put forth in the media that makes it seem there is only a fringe of scientists who don’t buy into anthropogenic global warming.” – U.S. Atmospheric Scientist Stanley B. Goldenberg of the Hurricane Research Division of NOAA.

Former President Clinton, Al Gore, Obama and others have often cited a letter signed by 2600 scientists that global warming will have catastrophic effects on humanity. Thanks to Citizens for a Sound Economy, we know now that fewer than 10 percent of these “scientists” know anything about climate. Among the signers: a plastic surgeon, two landscape architects, a hotel administrator, a gynecologist, seven sociologists, a linguist, and a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine. We also now know that many of the few actual scientists on that panel are not asked whether they agree with the UN’s asessments, and many of them vehemently disagree and have thus asked to have their names removed from that fraudulent list. Global Warming Treaty is All Pain, NoGain — Malcom Wallop

https://www.iloveco2.com/2009/01/top-15-climate-myths.html

“When a bureaucracy’s reason for existence is threatened, it typically generates new missions.”Desperately Seeking Mission: Why the State Department’s Gone Green — Peter VanDoren

With the release of Al Gore’s propaganda movie An Inconvenient Truth and with the help of the media the public has been driven into a mass hysteria based not on science but lies. The movie has been completely debunkedand the junk science used by extremists is exactly that: junk.

You will learn that there is no empirical evidence that man-made CO2 is a cause of temperature increases. It is, in fact, an after effect of temperature increases. Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is not a pollutant, pollution has nothing to do with global warming, politicians who support such absurd notions are a fraud, there is no “consensus” on global warming, the Earth has been far warmer in the past than it is today, polar bears are not endangered or dying, they are thriving, droughts and hurricanes are not caused or made worse by global warming, extreme weather events are decreasing, and there is extensive evidence of the factual natural causes of global warming when it really happens from time to time, pointing squarely at increased solar activity and orbital variations.

Those who claim that skeptics are in bed with the oil companies or receive funding from questionable sources need to give their heads a shake and look at the facts. Funding and grants to PROMOTE the climate change myth are astronomical, while money for the skeptics is pocket change:

Debunkers of the global warming theory have received approx = $21M (Million).
Supporters of the global warming theory have received approx = $79B (BILLION!)

Many people want a piece of that $79 billion pie, and the figure will only get higher so long as these groups can continue to convince the populous that the end is near unless we all start paying to emit that evil CO2! Don’t you find it odd that nearly nobody ever accuses the giant Enviro groups of being in bed with the large Green Industry? Or that Al Gore has boatloads of his own cash on the line in these companies? Every environmental, political, and research group knows full well that in order to receive funding and grants they need to create urgency and panic. Money then flows in like a river, regardless of actual science. It’s a sad fact.

https://www.iloveco2.com/2009/01/top-15-climate-myths.html
It is better to trust scientists than politicans. Do not let fear ruin your day. Learn the Facts.

There are several motives for the media and politicians to lie to you about global warming, aside from money and control.

~The media sells more papers, magazines, and television ratings soar when their audience is scared of some imminent catastrophe that your respective service is reporting on. Although, they can’t decide whether we’re going to burn to death, freeze to death, or drown. https://epw.senate.gov/speechitem.cfm?party=rep&id=263759

~Environmental organizations and some scientists will lie to you because their funding depends on it. If theres no crisis to work through, then they start losing funding. This is well documented.
https://meteo.lcd.lu/globalwarming/von_Storch/staged_angst/a_climate_of_staged_angst.html

~Foreign countries are lying to us (by means of the IPCC) because they wish to throw a monkey wrench into the inner workings of western economies, which are the strongest in the world. If our economy slows down, the economic standing of other countries improves because we will no longer dominate the markets.

~Development and industrialization of third world countries will be stamped out, along with hundreds of millions of lives, all under the guise of “saving the planet from climate change”. It’s absolutely sickening. So, who’s really on the “immoral” side? Us or the alarmists?

~Wanna talk about new taxes and restricted freedoms? Try carbon taxes on everything and strict regulations for everyone….all coming soon by convincing you that CO2 & greenhouse gases are somehow evil and you must pay to emit them. Too bad they can’t tax the oceans since they are the cause of 96.5% of all greenhouse emissions, naturally, eh! Also too bad they can’t go back in time and tax the dinosaurs since CO2 levels were MUCH higher back then and it must have been their fault.

The motives for deception are there. Do your part to fight alarmism!

https://www.iloveco2.com/2009/01/top-15-climate-myths.html

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Resident Addresses Councilwomen Hauck’s misinformation on High Density Housing

gwenn hauck

Subject: letter to Hauck in response to her own misinformation

Dear Councilwoman Hauck,

As you and I have yet to formally meet, I’d like to start by introducing myself.  My name is Dave Slomin and I have lived at 36 Heights Road for since 2001.  My wife grew up in this town, as did her mother (who still lives here).  My two sons attend RW Public Schools (RHS and GW).  While I have not been a formal appointee or elected official, I have been very involved in working with the Village  –  whether my input is welcome or not  😉  –  on several recent matters, including as a key advocate for Citizens for a Better Ridgewood.  My main volunteer work is with the BSA, where I was Pack Leader of Ridge School’s Pack 44 (the largest Pack in North Jersey) for many years and am now Pack 44’s Executive Committee Chair and an Assistant Scoutmaster with Troop 7.  I mention these things, not to toot any horns, but so my opinions are not taken as those of an armchair complainer.   As with so many other Residents, I am out there caring about my community, putting in my time for Ridgewood and – having attended almost every planning board meeting for the past 2-3 years – I am well educated in the Multi-Family debate, process and ordinances.

I am also President of Andover Properties, a real estate company that specializes in multi-family properties.  We own and manage apartment complexes in 4 states, including New Jersey.  I know the benefits and difficulties of the multifamily business and I know how investors and developers work, think and act.  At many Planning Board (PB) meetings, I tried to pass along some of my experience and knowledge, given the gaps in data provided by developers.  Unfortunately, it fell on too many ears that, if not deaf, were wrongly “prematurely decided.”  Given the far too little amount of time the Council has relegated to multifamily discussion, I am hopeful that you will consider some key points, insights and corrections from an industry insider: and one who is a big fan of apartments… when properly planned and appropriately built.  I am for multifamily development, but at lower densities and scale that in the ordinances.

I write to you, as I am aware of some responses you have provided to emails from members of the Ridgewood (RW) Community.  As they were sent from your official RW email address, I am comfortable that you intended for your thoughts to be shared.  They were.  And unfortunately, your responses illustrate – to this real estate professional – that you and the council really do need more correct and unbiased information on the matter you are voting on.  Beyond that, some of your answers leaned more towards the influences of the developers PR firms, than to multifamily realities.  And unfortunately, some of your data and response were wrong.  I am writing to help… because this is so important.

I am also writing because of a statement you wrote to a fellow resident saying: “If only people understood the other facts and not the points which have become cocktail party innuendo.”  I hope to show, with knowledge of “the facts,” how such a statement is wrong and can appear to come from the developers’ PR Playbook.  Please know that I do know the facts.  As do so many residents.  And I’d like to clarify some and provide others you may not know.

So, some responses:

THE MALTBIE/FRANKLIN APARTMENTS ARE 19.5 UNITS PER ACRE, NOT 33.6

In one email, you incorrectly proffered that the apartment complex across from Ridge School (on Franklin and Maltbie) is a great example “for a comparison” as it represents “33.6 units per acre.”  I do agree with you that: (1) it is “attractive” and “quaint,” and (2) they “do not look like Fort Lee,” but a key reason for that is the fact that their density is only 19.5 UNIT PER ACRE.  The complex has 13 units and sits on .664 acres.  Some outdated records show the property to be .459 acres.  That was the case until the owner added an adjacent lot to provide parking when some additional units were built.  Nevertheless, the property is most definitely not 33.6 units/acre.  It is almost half that.  But it is an excellent example of a scale and density that would fit beautifully in RW’s CBD.  It is also only 2 stories, plus the roof peak.  Dramatically less than the 5 stories we may see downtown if you vote in favor of the current ordinances.  Maybe that’s why you like how it looks and fits.

YOU SAY THE OAK STREET APARTMENTS HAVE MORE CHILDREN BECAUSE THEY ARE LESS DENSE.  THAT IS AN INCORRECT ASSUMPTION.

In another email you note that the Oak Street Apartments, at 18 units/acres have “more school children in them than higher density apartments BECAUSE they are less dense.”  While I can understand how one might make this faulty assumption, it’s not accurate or that simple.  There are many other low to mid density complexes in town that have fewer children.  And there are many higher density properties in other towns that have lots of children.  That’s because there are so many factors that play into apartment demographics.  Some key factors are the management company policies and the historic “community” of the complexes themselves.  Firstly, management companies, while being required to adhere to law regarding renting vacant units often do have discretion as to how they wish to run their communities.  Some managers/owners are happy to have more occupants (including children) in units, if they know they can fill vacancies with paying renters.  Others would like to have fewer occupants, as fewer occupants results in less water consumption and often less wear and tear.  Furthermore, over time certain properties, like certain towns, gain a reputation, or a community culture.  For example, a senior will want to move to a complex known for having more seniors, while a family might skip that complex for one that has more kids… even if both are garden-style properties.  So, in sum, your assumption is wrong.  Lower densities do not automatically equal more kids.  If a manager wants kids or higher numbers of occupants to fill units, and prices units appropriately, there will be more school children.  The current ordinance cannot dictate this, so be careful.  You just don’t know the answer to this question.  And, right now, no one does.

YOU ALLEGE THAT FOLKS WHO WISH TO PUT HIGHER NUMBERS OF CHILDREN INTO UNITS ARE “SCAMMERS” AND/OR WOULD RENT HOUSES FIRST.

In another email you hold that “people who want to scam the schools would rent single or double family houses” before paying a premium for apartments.  There are several issues here.  Firstly, having high numbers of children in a unit is not a “scam.”  It is actual a “right” maintained by law.  Many NJ municipalities use occupancy guidelines stating that 150 square feet is required for the first occupant and only 75 additional s/f is needed for each additional occupant (not including kitchens and baths).  In a 1,000 S/F apartment, you could potentially, and legally have 6-9 occupants.  So again, folks who may wish to put more kids into a unit to benefit from our great schools (provided that the proper guardian is there) are not necessarily running a “scam.”  They are really just doing the right thing within the law for their children.  As these decisions on occupancy limits often come down to property management, RW needs to tread more carefully.  The ordinance cannot define this.  So limit the risk.  If a property is not leasing fast enough to singles or couples, I guarantee that we will see more families with greater school impacts and costs.  That’s just the way it works.

Regarding renters opting for house as a first choice, this again is something that you don’t and cannot know.  But you NEED to be right on these things.  Be advised that even though the developers are projecting rents in the $3,000-4,000 range, there is no way of guaranteeing that.  Nor can you guarantee the “luxury” status in design, and especially management, that the Mayor especially has said he desires.  If a property is underperforming – and with so many units coming onboard at once, that may happen – investors will need paying tenants, even if the rents have to come down.  Some money is better than no money, when the mortgage bank comes calling.

THESE APARTMENTS WILL NOT EFFECT OUR SCHOOLS.

On this, no true and full study has been done.  RW has not done a market study to more accurately determine who may move in.  While discussed ad nauseam, data to date has too predominantly been provided by the developers.  I am further concerned about the fact that (I believe) only one Council-member currently has children in the Schools.  The other members either have no children currently in the system or chose to send their children to private schools.  As such, we need all of you to know how current school-age parents are feeling.  How have our schools changed since you may have experienced them?  What are the current limitations and needs?  YOU NEED TO SPEND MORE TIME SPEAKING WITH US.  And, on this topic, a 3rd party study really still needs to be done.  The very fact that the developers used, and some PB members embraced, the now outdated “Rutgers Study” to determine numbers of school-children was a big data fault.  The Rutgers Study looked at no towns with schools anywhere near the quality of Ridgewood.  One PB resident speaker pointed out the she chose Ridgewood specifically due to the quality of educational services for her Special Needs child.  She said, she’d spoken to many “special needs parents” who are just as aggressive as her and feared that if options availed themselves via multi-family we might see more special needs children.  This would, she said, possibly diminish the current programs helping her child.  And at up to $100,000 per special needs child, could hit our schools and taxes hard.

So in sum, we have no real data on OUR OWN schools.  Lots of speculation from both sides.  And that’s dangerous.  You should ask for better.  Slow down and let’s get it right.  That’s why we voted for you!

THE BUILDINGS WITH 80+ UNITS/ACRE YOU NOTE AS “LOVELY” & “ICONIC” DON’T HAVE ENOUGH PARKING… OR ANY PARKING.

Too support a position for higher density, you noted several buildings as “iconic” and “lovely” with higher densities than 35.  While you are correct in quoting their densities, you failed to note that none of them have enough parking, and the largest, 263 Franklin, has no parking!  They couldn’t and shouldn’t be built today like that.  And I guarantee, if the land required for parking was added, their densities would plummet.  Please take that into account.  As our Representatives, the data you proffer needs to be unbiased and as accurate as possible.  Personally, I would argue that 263 Franklin isn’t so lovely or iconic.  It’s an example of something that doesn’t fit within its surroundings.  Its design and scale is seen more frequently in Hudson or Essex Counties than in northern Bergen… it’s just too “dense.”

RIDGEWOOD WILL BENEFIT FROM TAX INCOME DERIVED FROM MULTIFAMILY DEVELOPMENTS.

Working in the multifamily business for two decades, and having filed dozens of tax appeals, I can tell you that municipalities all agree on one thing:  residential development, including apartments, are almost always a tax drain.  Residential costs so much more in services… AND SCHOOLS than office or commercial.  So PLEASE GO IN WITH YOUR EYES OPEN ON TAXES, there will be a deficit.  I believe even Blais alluded to this in some PB testimony, but also noted that tax revenue and financials should not be used in the PB’s considerations.  They need to be considered by you and the Council.

APARTMENT COMPLEX OWNERS FILE TAX APPEALS, AND OFTEN WIN OR SETTLE.

I say this, because, anyone who owns properties of these sizes will assuredly be professionals.  And RE Professionals file tax appeals as part of the game.  Real Estate is not designed to be altruistic.  It’s designed to make the biggest profits.  Our firm files appeals on most of our properties every year.  If our financials are off, we expect to have our assessments lowered.  They often are and then we pay less taxes.  If the developers don’t get their $3-4K rents, you’ll see appeals very quickly.  You’ll see them even if they do!

OTHER OPTIONS FOR THE PROPERTIES ARE LESS OPTIMAL FOR RIDGEWOOD.

You state in one email, “the private owners… might build something worse than what is currently being proposed if we do not approve the amendments.”  Given that we started talking about 50 units per acre (500-700 total potential units, per Blais) and buildings sized like the new developments in Fairlawn on Route 208, in our constrained downtown, I’m not sure what could’ve been worse!  35 is certainly better, but is still not appropriately sized.  Those 208 properties are still not far off from the scale of what we will see.  Please note that.  To me, a Walgreens on either of the car dealer sites, would provide a great amount of ad hoc free parking, especially after hours.  They wouldn’t be so quick to tow, as they’d lose customers if they did.  Furthermore, by raising densities, we are also raising property values and making it more expensive to potentially provide much needed additional parking.  I’ve told Paul that it would be much more affordable for RW to buy pieces of land, pave and create new parking lots, than to build and maintain a $15,000,000 garage.  But if you raise multifamily densities so high, you will make potential land purchases for parking prohibitive.

“WHAT IF THE OWNERS TRY TO PUT UGLY, BUSY COMMERCIAL ENTITIES HERE?”

This is a comment you made to a resident.  Please know that nowhere in the ordinances are aesthetics fully defined.  RW can and will have some say, but there is no way to require that the apartments that get built will look anything like the pictures you’ve seen.  As you know, the new buildings will be near, but not in, a “Historic District.”  Apartments can be beautiful or ugly.  Commercial buildings can be beautiful or ugly.  It’s up to the property owner.  Both apartments and commercial are good options, when appropriately sized.  Take this down a notch.  Make it really and truly fit.  You said you like the Maltbie apartments.  Let’s zone for something like that!

“WE NEED OUR BUSINESSES TO SURVIVE…” (E.G. APARTMENTS ARE THE ONLY OPTION).

This has come up again and again: the need to save our business.  On this, you and the Council need much more real data.  Adding a few hundred apartments will not “save Ridgewood.”  There’s no guarantee they will shop in town.  What is guaranteed is that the current applicants do not fully provide enough parking for their tenants, guests, contractors, etc.  As such, business may very well be hurt if the 26,000 current residents find that traffic and parking worsen.  I know many West-siders who use the CBD less during peak hours (e.g. for dinner during rush hour, or coffee and breakfast in the a.m.) due to the longer waits at the underpass.  And my family is one of them!

Yogi Berra said of a restaurant, “Nobody goes there anymore, the line’s too long.”  Ridgewood has a similar issue.  It’s beautiful and special… and successful.  But we need more parking and better, safer traffic and pedestrian flow to handle the lines.  And, to boot, landlords (many who have a vested interested in keeping rents too high) may need to adjust rents overtime to keep businesses in business.  What we don’t need is these somewhat artificially created longer lines right now.  Especially until ALL the right work has been done to fully understand the impacts.  And from statements I’ve heard members of the Council make, yourself included, I don’t think you have all the information you need.

FINANCIAL IMPACTS

We haven’t even gotten to the subject of “financial impacts” which, while not a factor for the Planning Board, the Village Council MUST fully assess.  That just hasn’t been done properly yet either.  You need to.  You don’t really know the answer.  Too much “innuendo.”

I hope you will do the right thing and try to help convince some of the other Councilmembers to lower the density and scale, or Vote No as-is.  At the very least, put off the vote and plan for the much needed independent studies.  Real estate is a game.  And RE professionals are generally much better at it than municipalities.  It’s just the nature of the business.  So please be careful with our Village.

Respectfully,

Dave Slomin

CC:  Mayor P. Aronsohn, Councilmembers Pucciarelli, Knudson & Sedon, CBR, Residents of Ridgewood

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Pentagon: U.S.-Backed Syrian Rebels Surrender American Arms to Al Qaeda

Obama-Golf

Pentagon: ‘We can’t control every situation that these fighters encounter’

BY: Adam Kredo
September 28, 2015 12:50 pm

U.S. defense officials have confirmed that military equipment issued by the United States to Syrian rebel fighters has been funneled to an al Qaeda offshoot, raising new questions about the ways in which the Obama administration is safeguarding U.S. arms in the war-torn Middle Eastern country.

A commander in the New Syrian Forces (NSF), a group being trained and equipped by the United States, was found to have distributed at least 25 percent of the force’s U.S.-provided hardware to the Nusra Front, a terrorist organization affiliated with al Qaeda.

The equipment, which included U.S.-issued ammunition and pick-up trucks, was “surrendered” to a Nusra Front affiliate in order to ensure that the rebel fighters could pass freely through territories controlled by the terrorist group, the Pentagon said.

A Syrian opposition commander who was leading a group of NSF recruits “self-reported to coalition forces that under threat from al Nusra, they surrendered six trucks and ammunition to a suspected al Nusra Front intermediary to secure safe passage after being told that unless he surrendered some of his NSF equipment, his unit would be ambushed en route to their new location,” according to Col. Patrick Ryder, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, who provided the Washington Free Beacon on Monday with a timeline of what took place.

“We will look at what we can do to prevent such a situation in the future, but given the complexity of the battlefield it is not possible to eliminate all risk,” Ryder added. “We are using all means at our disposal to look into what exactly happened and determine the appropriate response.”

The arms exchange occurred after a group of around 70 NSF graduates crossed into Syria on the morning of Sept. 20, according to the Pentagon.

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Trump Releases his Tax Reform Plan

donald-trump-plane_boarder_trip6b

TAX REFORM THAT WILL MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN

The Goals Of Donald J. Trump’s Tax Plan

Too few Americans are working, too many jobs have been shipped overseas, and too many middle class families cannot make ends meet. This tax plan directly meets these challenges with four simple goals:

Tax relief for middle class Americans: In order to achieve the American dream, let people keep more money in their pockets and increase after-tax wages.
Simplify the tax code to reduce the headaches Americans face in preparing their taxes and let everyone keep more of their money.
Grow the American economy by discouraging corporate inversions, adding a huge number of new jobs, and making America globally competitive again.
Doesn’t add to our debt and deficit, which are already too large.

The Trump Tax Plan Achieves These Goals

If you are single and earn less than $25,000, or married and jointly earn less than $50,000, you will not owe any income tax. That removes nearly 75 million households – over 50% – from the income tax rolls. They get a new one page form to send the IRS saying, “I win,” those who would otherwise owe income taxes will save an average of nearly $1,000 each.
All other Americans will get a simpler tax code with four brackets – 0%, 10%, 20% and 25% – instead of the current seven. This new tax code eliminates the marriage penalty and the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) while providing the lowest tax rate since before World War II.
No business of any size, from a Fortune 500 to a mom and pop shop to a freelancer living job to job, will pay more than 15% of their business income in taxes. This lower rate makes corporate inversions unnecessary by making America’s tax rate one of the best in the world.
No family will have to pay the death tax. You earned and saved that money for your family, not the government. You paid taxes on it when you earned it.

The Trump Tax Plan Is Revenue Neutral

The Trump tax cuts are fully paid for by:

Reducing or eliminating most deductions and loopholes available to the very rich.
A one-time deemed repatriation of corporate cash held overseas at a significantly discounted 10% tax rate, followed by an end to the deferral of taxes on corporate income earned abroad.
Reducing or eliminating corporate loopholes that cater to special interests, as well as deductions made unnecessary or redundant by the new lower tax rate on corporations and business income. We will also phase in a reasonable cap on the deductibility of business interest expenses.

DETAILS OF DONALD J. TRUMP’S TAX PLAN

America needs a bold, simple and achievable plan based on conservative economic principles. This plan does that with needed tax relief for all Americans, especially the working poor and middle class, pro-growth tax reform for all sizes of businesses, and fiscally responsible steps to ensure this plan does not add to our enormous debt and deficit.

This plan simplifies the tax code by taking nearly 50% of current filers off the income tax rolls entirely and reducing the number of tax brackets from seven to four for everyone else. This plan also reduces or eliminates loopholes used by the very rich and special interests made unnecessary or redundant by the new lower tax rates on individuals and companies.

The Trump Tax Plan: A Simpler Tax Code For All Americans

When the income tax was first introduced, just one percent of Americans had to pay it. It was never intended as a tax most Americans would pay. The Trump plan eliminates the income tax for over 73 million households. 42 million households that currently file complex forms to determine they don’t owe any income taxes will now file a one page form saving them time, stress, uncertainty and an average of $110 in preparation costs. Over 31 million households get the same simplification and keep on average nearly $1,000 of their hard-earned money.

For those Americans who will still pay the income tax, the tax rates will go from the current seven brackets to four simpler, fairer brackets that eliminate the marriage penalty and the AMT while providing the lowest tax rate since before World War II:

Income Tax RateLong Term Cap Gains/ Dividends RateSingle FilersMarried FilersHeads of Household
0%0%$0 to $25,000$0 to $50,000$0 to $37,500
10%0%$25,001 to $50,000$50,001 to $100,000$37,501 to $75,000
20%15%$50,001 to $150,000$100,001 to $300,000$75,001 to $225,000
25%20%$150,001 and up$300,001 and up$225,001 and up

With this huge reduction in rates, many of the current exemptions and deductions will become unnecessary or redundant. Those within the 10% bracket will keep all or most of their current deductions. Those within the 20% bracket will keep more than half of their current deductions. Those within the 25% bracket will keep fewer deductions. Charitable giving and mortgage interest deductions will remain unchanged for all taxpayers.

Simplifying the tax code and cutting every American’s taxes will boost consumer spending, encourage savings and investment, and maximize economic growth.

Business Tax Reform To Encourage Jobs And Spur Economic Growth

Too many companies – from great American brands to innovative startups – are leaving America, either directly or through corporate inversions. The Democrats want to outlaw inversions, but that will never work. Companies leaving is not the disease, it is the symptom. Politicians in Washington have let America fall from the best corporate tax rate in the industrialized world in the 1980’s (thanks to Ronald Reagan) to the worst rate in the industrialized world. That is unacceptable. Under the Trump plan, America will compete with the world and win by cutting the corporate tax rate to 15%, taking our rate from one of the worst to one of the best.

This lower tax rate cannot be for big business alone; it needs to help the small businesses that are the true engine of our economy. Right now, freelancers, sole proprietors, unincorporated small businesses and pass-through entities are taxed at the high personal income tax rates. This treatment stifles small businesses. It also stifles tax reform because efforts to reduce loopholes and deductions available to the very rich and special interests end up hitting small businesses and job creators as well. The Trump plan addresses this challenge head on with a new business income tax rate within the personal income tax code that matches the 15% corporate tax rate to help these businesses, entrepreneurs and freelancers grow and prosper.

These lower rates will provide a tremendous stimulus for the economy – significant GDP growth, a huge number of new jobs and an increase in after-tax wages for workers.

The Trump Tax Plan Ends The Unfair Death Tax

The death tax punishes families for achieving the American dream. Therefore, the Trump plan eliminates the death tax.

The Trump Tax Plan Is Fiscally Responsible

The Trump tax cuts are fully paid for by:

Reducing or eliminating deductions and loopholes available to the very rich, starting by steepening the curve of the Personal Exemption Phaseout and the Pease Limitation on itemized deductions. The Trump plan also phases out the tax exemption on life insurance interest for high-income earners, ends the current tax treatment of carried interest for speculative partnerships that do not grow businesses or create jobs and are not risking their own capital, and reduces or eliminates other loopholes for the very rich and special interests. These reductions and eliminations will not harm the economy or hurt the middle class. Because the Trump plan introduces a new business income rate within the personal income tax code, they will not harm small businesses either.
A one-time deemed repatriation of corporate cash held overseas at a significantly discounted 10% tax rate. Since we are making America’s corporate tax rate globally competitive, it is only fair that corporations help make that move fiscally responsible. U.S.-owned corporations have as much as $2.5 trillion in cash sitting overseas. Some companies have been leaving cash overseas as a tax maneuver. Under this plan, they can bring their cash home and put it to work in America while benefitting from the newly-lowered corporate tax rate that is globally competitive and no longer requires parking cash overseas. Other companies have cash overseas for specific business units or activities. They can leave that cash overseas, but they will still have to pay the one-time repatriation fee.
An end to the deferral of taxes on corporate income earned abroad. Corporations will no longer be allowed to defer taxes on income earned abroad, but the foreign tax credit will remain in place because no company should face double taxation.

Reducing or eliminating some corporate loopholes that cater to special interests, as well as deductions made unnecessary or redundant by the new lower tax rate on corporations and business income. We will also phase in a reasonable cap on the deductibility of business interest expenses.


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Christ Episcopal Church Announces Blessing of the Animals on October 3

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photo by Boyd Loving

Christ Episcopal Church Announces Blessing of the Animals on October 3

September 28,2015
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Blessing of the Animals

All are Welcome!

Ridgewood Nj, Christ Episcopal Church Announces Blessing of the Animals on October 3 . Families and children of all ages are invited to a Blessing of the Animals and celebration of the life and ministry of St. Frances of Assisi on Saturday October 3, 2015 at 10:00 a.m. at Christ Episcopal Church in Ridgewood. Everyone is invited to bring their favorite pets: dogs, cats, goldfish, rabbits and even stuffed animals….any beloved creature, great or small.

A short service celebrating all animals will be followed by individual blessings of each animal. The service will be held at the outdoor altar, which is located by the entrance to the Nursery School on Franklin Avenue. In the event of rain, the service will take place inside the church. Refreshments will be served. There will also be some orphaned animals from the Ramapo-Bergen Animal Refuge who are eligible for adoption. Please consider bringing a donation from the RBARI wish list found on their website: www.rbari.org to this event. Contact the church office at 201.652.2350 with any questions or visit www.christchurchridgewood.org. The church is located at 105 Cottage Place, at the corner of Franklin Avenue, in Ridgewood, NJ.

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Firm details design of proposed parking garage in Ridgewood

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SEPTEMBER 28, 2015    LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2015, 1:30 PM
BY BY MARK KRULISH
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

The eighth Central Business District forum was held on Wednesday night with an emphasis on parking and concepts for a potential garage to be built at the Hudson Street lot.

The Village Council recently selected Desman Design Management to design a multi-level parking deck and present architectural renderings for a public review by residents and the governing body.

Desman will be working with S&L Architectural studio, which Desman Executive Vice President Tim Tracy said would help develop the “bones” of the garage, along with the aesthetics. Desman will also be working with Maser Consulting to assist with the site engineering and traffic studies. Tracy said Maser has previously been engaged with the village and is familiar with traffic flow and patterns.

Ideally, Tracy said, the new garage would bring a net increase of at least 300 spaces, giving the deck approximately 350-400 spaces in its final configuration.

The width of the Hudson Street lot is not ideal for a parking garage lot, but Desman is looking at other opportunities to “borrow” from existing infrastructure, such as building a cantilever over the sidewalk, to expand the footprint of the site. Although such a proposal could mean losing the on-street parking available on Hudson Street, it could potentially bump the total number of parking spots available even higher.

“We have a site that is somewhat geometrically challenged,” said Tracy. “We have properties adjoining three sides of this property and we need to respect those properties. Some of those properties rely on this current parking lot for access and egress and service vehicles. All of that will be considered.”

https://www.northjersey.com/news/firm-details-design-of-proposed-parking-garage-in-ridgewood-1.1420443

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Elections Have Consequences: Last Day to Register to Vote for November 3rd Election October 13th

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October 13 – Last Day to Register to Vote in Nov. 3 Election

On Tuesday, October 13 from 8:30am to 4:30pm, voter registration forms are available in the Village Clerk’s Office on the 5th Floor of Village Hall.

On October 13 from 4:30pm to 9:00pm the Village Clerk will be in the Ridgewood Library Lobby with forms to assist residents with voter registration.