Pressure builds for fresh look at N.J. building codes in wake of Edgewater fire
JANUARY 29, 2015, 5:39 PM LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 2015, 8:31 PM
BY JEAN RIMBACH AND LINH TAT
STAFF WRITERS |
THE RECORD
Pressure is mounting for a review of state building codes — and even a potential construction moratorium — in the aftermath of a fast-moving fire that destroyed more than half of an Edgewater apartment complex last week and left hundreds homeless.
Officials in Mercer County on Thursday called for an emergency review of state construction codes before a residential community planned by the same developer for Princeton gets evaluated by the state. And Assemblyman Scott Rumana, R-Wayne, said he is working on legislation that will put a moratorium of up to two years on the approval and construction of multi-family housing developments until the state’s building code is revised.
“The goal is not have any New Jersey residents’ lives at stake. But equally as important, it’s to not put our first responders into these buildings, which I would call fire traps,” said Rumana. “I have too much experience in seeing the failures of these types of facilities — if this fire happened seven or 10 hours later, who knows how many people could have died?”
A five-alarm blaze at the Avalon at Edgewater destroyed much of the 408-unit complex, shut schools and roadways, temporarily displaced nearby residents and brought to the surface long-standing issues in the firefighting community about lightweight wood construction — a cheaper, faster and legal style of building that is common in New Jersey and elsewhere.
5 INTERESTING ASPECTS OF GOV. CHRISTIE’S STATE OF THE STATE ADDRESS
JANUARY 13, 2015 1 COMMENT
By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog
“Between 2004 and 2008 the departure of wealth, investment, and income was staggering — some $70 billion left the state,” Christie explained, quite accurately. “We have begun a new direction and we need to go further, not reverse course.”
The only “news” in today’s well-delivered but substantively modest State of the State address involved an expansion of drug addiction treatment services (a pet issue for the Governor) and this:
And then he said it again, infused with a little characteristic humor, when the Democrats sat on their hands:
So there’s that.
And the Governor certainly said plenty about the future, including a very articulate demand for “the legislature today to open your eyes and ears to the lessons of Mercedes and to act now to lower taxes and prevent another such departure,” something I was hoping he’d discuss in the proper context. And he did. New Jersey’s affordability crisis should always should be priority #1.
He also pledged to veto any income tax increase:
A few other items of interest?
(1) Christie isn’t resigning for the primary… but maybe the general?
As one of our readers pointed out via social media, Chris Christie added the significant modifier “I will be here in one year…” to his prepared remarks, beginning “So that when we stand here in one year…”
So he may be running for president, Save Jerseyans, but he’s likely not resigning for the primary portion at least.
(2) Several favorite (and important) Christie topics got no attention.
He’s put a lot of work into some of these items, Save Jerseyans, but if you take a hard look at his remarks, you will notice some glaring omissions:
No mention of Atlantic City
No mention of the Transportation Trust Fund (or a gas tax – distinguishable from the income tax!)
No mention of Hurricane Sandy (one reference to the Shore, in passing, generally)
He only mentioned property taxes 5 times, and each reference referred back to the 2.0 cap and its success
His most-discussed topic? $54.8 million for mandatory drug treatment. My response: why not a pilot statewide voucher program? Trapped kids > drug addicts. And I’m sorry, but I still throw up a little bit in my mouth every single time I see Jim McGreevey. Always will.
Ron Paul: “Reality Is Now Setting In For America… It Was All Based On Lies & Ignorance”
Submitted by Ron Paul via The Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity,
If Americans were honest with themselves they would acknowledge that the Republic is no more. We now live in a police state. If we do not recognize and resist this development, freedom and prosperity for all Americans will continue to deteriorate. All liberties in America today are under siege.
It didn’t happen overnight. It took many years of neglect for our liberties to be given away so casually for a promise of security from the politicians. The tragic part is that the more security was promised — physical and economic — the less liberty was protected.
With cradle-to-grave welfare protecting all citizens from any mistakes and a perpetual global war on terrorism, which a majority of Americans were convinced was absolutely necessary for our survival, our security and prosperity has been sacrificed.
It was all based on lies and ignorance. Many came to believe that their best interests were served by giving up a little freedom now and then to gain a better life.
The trap was set. At the beginning of a cycle that systematically undermines liberty with delusions of easy prosperity, the change may actually seem to be beneficial to a few. But to me that’s like excusing embezzlement as a road to leisure and wealth — eventually payment and punishment always come due. One cannot escape the fact that a society’s wealth cannot be sustained or increased without work and productive effort. Yes, some criminal elements can benefit for a while, but reality always sets in.
Reality is now setting in for America and for that matter for most of the world.The piper will get his due even if “the children” have to suffer. The deception of promising “success” has lasted for quite a while. It was accomplished by ever-increasing taxes, deficits, borrowing, and printing press money. In the meantime the policing powers of the federal government were systematically and significantly expanded. No one cared much, as there seemed to be enough “gravy” for the rich, the poor, the politicians, and the bureaucrats.
Pope, on Christmas Eve, urges world to be open to God
By By Philip Pullella | Reuters
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Francis ushered the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics into Christmas on Wednesday, urging them to allow God to enter their lives to help combat darkness and corruption.
The 78-year-old Argentine pope led a solemn Christmas Eve Mass for thousands of people in St. Peter’s Basilica. It is the second Christmas season for the pope, who was elected last year as the first non-European pontiff in 1,300 years.
He has brought an air of simplicity to the Vatican, refusing many of the trappings of office, and has made plain his determination to reform the Vatican and bring the Church’s hierarchy closer to rank-and-file Catholics.
In his homily, Francis, wearing white vestments, said Christmas is a time to remember that God’s message of peace “is stronger than darkness and corruption”
“The question put to us simply by the infant’s presence is, ‘Do I allow God to love me?'” he said. “Do we have the courage to welcome with tenderness the difficulties and problems of those who are near to us …?”
Senate urged to approve $1.1 trillion spending bill to keep government running
DECEMBER 12, 2014, 4:03 PM LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2014, 11:48 PM
BY DAVID ESPO AND ANDREW TAYLOR
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — President Obama on Friday urged the Senate to ratify a $1.1 trillion, House-passed spending bill that has roiled his Democratic Party, judging it an imperfect measure that stems from “the divided government that the American people voted for.”
What’s in the bill
The $1.1 trillion, 1,603-page bill awaiting a Senate vote is mostly spending choices, such as adding $5.4 billion to fight the Ebola virus or trimming the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget by $60 million. But it’s also packed with a mishmash of “riders,” many of which couldn’t get through Congress on their own.
Here are some things the bill would affect:
SCHOOL LUNCHES: Eases rules requiring more whole grains in school lunches and suspends the lower sodium standards due to take effect in 2017, while keeping other healthy-eating rules. Some school nutrition directors — and some students complaining of yucky lunches — lobbied for a break from the standards championed by first lady Michelle Obama.
TRUCK SAFETY: Rolls back safety rules that were supposed to keep sleepy truckers from causing wrecks. The government’s rules had effectively shortened truckers’ maximum workweek from 82 hours to 70. The trucking industry fought back.
BANKING: Loosens rules imposed after the 2008 financial crisis. The change relaxes regulation of high-risk investments known as “derivatives” — rules that were imposed to reduce risk to depositors’ federally insured money and prevent more taxpayer bailouts. Banks said the crackdown stifled the competitiveness of the U.S. financial industry.
MARIJUANA: Offers a mixed bag for pot smokers. The bill blocks the Justice Department from raiding medical marijuana dispensaries in states that permit them. But it also blocks federal and local spending to legalize marijuana in Washington, D.C., where voters approved recreational use in a November referendum. It’s unclear what the practical effect of the spending ban will be.
PENSIONS: Allows some pension plans to cut benefits promised to current and future retirees. The change is designed to save some financially strapped plans from going broke. It applies to multiemployer plans, which cover more than 10 million people mostly at small, unionized employers, often in the construction business.
CAMPAIGN MONEY: Allows more money to flow into political parties. Under the new rules, each superrich donor could give almost $1.6 million per election cycle to political parties and their campaign committees. The comparable limit for 2014’s elections was $194,400.
THE SAGE GRO– USE: Says “no” to putting the greater sage grouse and three related birds on the endangered species list. Environmentalists say time to save them is running out as their sagebrush habitat disappears. But oil and gas companies and other businesses argued that protecting the chicken-sized birds on Western lands would hurt business and local economies.
LIGHT BULBS: Attempts to switch off federal rules that are making it harder to find old-fashioned incandescent bulbs. The bill extends a ban on the government spending money to enforce the ongoing phase-out of incandescent bulbs. It may not have much effect, since manufacturers and stores are already well-along in the switch to spiral bulbs and other energy-saving alternatives.
HUNTING AND FISHING: Prohibits the EPA from regulating lead in ammunition or fishing tackle. Lead in fishing sinkers and bullet fragments are being blamed for poisoning birds, such as loons and the endangered California condor. Republicans said EPA regulation would be overreach and just the threat of it was making it hard to find bullets in stores.
OFFICIAL PORTRAITS: Continues a ban on spending money on portraits of Cabinet secretaries, Congress members and other big shots, a Washington tradition that some lawmakers felt had gotten out of hand.
THE CAPITOL DOME: Spends $21 million to continue restoration of the leaky, cracked U.S. Capitol dome.
One day after House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi publicly chastised him for supporting the bill, the president said there were provisions “I really do not like.” At the same time, he said there were other portions that “fund health insurance, early childhood education, the fight against climate change, and expand manufacturing hubs to grow jobs.”
He offered his assessment as Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid also announced support for the legislation, further underscoring the split inside the party. The Democrats will lose control of the Senate in January because of heavy losses in midterm elections last month and will go deeper into a House minority than at any time since 1928.
Photo credit: Boyd A. Loving Two cats die in Ridgewood house fire
November 28,2014
Boyd A. Loving
Ridgewood NJ, Numerous 911 calls were received by Ridgewood FD shortly after 3:00 PM on Friday, 11/28 reporting a basement fire at 303 South Pleasant Avenue. First arriving units observed smoke coming from a second story window and the back door. All occupants of the home and a dog had safely evacuated the home prior to arrival of the fire department. However, two (2) cats were reportedly trapped inside; both succumbed to smoke inhalation despite the valiant efforts of Ridgewood Emergency Service members who performed CPR and administered oxygen. No injuries were sustained by humans. The fire was contained to the basement but there was smoke damage throughout the home. Origin of the fire is under investigation. Glen Rock PD assisted with traffic control. Glen Rock FD, Waldwick FD, Ridgewood EMS, and Ridgewood Emergency Services were all called to the scene. South Pleasant Avenue was closed between Spring Avenue and Grove Street while emergency personnel worked.
Still not buying this up beat assessment on the Port Authority Bus Terminal
Crisis helped to improve Port Authority bus terminal
November 16, 2014, 10:54 PM Last updated: Sunday, November 16, 2014, 10:57 PM
By CHRISTOPHER MAAG
This summer, thousands of New Jersey commuters who use the Port Authority Bus Terminal felt trapped, helpless and doomed. Delays at the terminal were growing to crisis proportions, and nobody at the Port Authority seemed to care. In fact, the agency’s leaders had announced in February that the cramped, deteriorating bus terminal wouldn’t receive an overhaul for at least another decade.
Then came Sept. 15. Officials at the Port Authority, which owns the building, and NJ Transit, which operates most buses using the terminal, unveiled an intensive campaign to slice through the bureaucratic gridlock and get buses moving. The plan worked. Long lines of commuters and buses were largely curtailed.
The success shows how a handful of people can make big change by capitalizing on crisis, and viewing an intractable problem from the perspective of a changed political landscape. It’s a story of people working in the bowels of big bureaucracies who know exactly how to fix big problems, but who are hamstrung until their bosses finally come around.
It’s the Culture, Stupid: Welfare Programs Can’t Solve Economic Gap Created by Marriage Decline
Stephen Moore / @StephenMoore / November 09, 2014
Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images
COMMENTARY BY
Stephen Moore@StephenMoore
Stephen Moore, who formerly wrote on the economy and public policy for The Wall Street Journal, is chief economist at The Heritage Foundation.Read his research.
This may be a surprising statement from a bleary-eyed, number-crunching economist, but the best anti-poverty program in America may not be tax cuts, debt reduction or regulatory relief, but rather that old-fashioned institution called marriage. It turns out that poverty rates are very low among intact families and prevalent among homes without a father. Children who grow up in single-parent households are much more likely to face economic trouble as adults.
Those who cheer divorce as a form of women’s liberation, or who say that stigmatizing out-of-wedlock births is just right-wing sermonizing, just don’t get this intertwined connection between two-parent households and economic success. Sociocultural factors like the decline of marriage are leading causes of the wealth gap and the stubborn poverty trap in many low-income neighborhoods. This isn’t to say that children who grow up in broken homes can’t succeed—millions heroically do. It doesn’t mean that every marriage was meant to be; many times, divorce is the only option.
Still, what is irrefutable is that marriage with a devoted husband and wife in the home is a far better social program than food stamps, Medicaid, public housing or even all of them combined. This conclusion is made clear by a new eye-opening and sometimes depressing report called the Index of Culture and Opportunity by my colleagues at the Heritage Foundation. It’s conclusion: We must reshape our culture before we can ever hope to make a big dent in the number of poor households.
Some of the cultural indicators are going in a positive direction. Violent crime is down. So is the number of abortions.
In some cities such as Detroit and Newark, N.J., two of every three children are born out of wedlock.
However, in other ways, we are ripping our families and our society apart. Consider these statistics on family breakup.
“From 2001 to 2011, the marriage rate dropped by 10.3 marriages per 1,000 unmarried women, or 22.8 percent. Since the 1960s, it has fallen by about 50 percent.”
According to one of the report’s scholars, W. Bradford Wilcox, “only about half of the nation’s adults are currently married, and about half of the nation’s children will spend some time outside an intact, married home.” Those numbers are much higher in low-income communities. In some cities such as Detroit and Newark, N.J., two of every three children are born out of wedlock. Name a government program that can take the place of a father.
This troubling trend appears to be a roadblock to the American Dream. One study by Harvard economist Raj Chetty and his colleagues finds that when it comes to what is preventing the economic upward mobility of poor children, “the strongest and most robust predictor is the fraction of children with single parents.”
It’s also true and often overlooked that family breakup creates a statistical illusion that we are making less economic progress than we actually are. For example, if a married couple earns $80,000, but then ends up in divorce, there are now two households earning $40,000 so it appears the economy is slipping and average household income is falling. In fact, what has slipped is the culture.
Meanwhile, birthrates are also falling. In only two of the past 40 years have birthrates exceeded replacement-level fertility of 2.1 children per couple. Who will take care of and finance the retirement of the 76 million baby boomers? Thank goodness for immigration. The population bomb that was once famously worried about by scholars such as Paul Ehrlich has become a population fizzle.
Many millennials have come to think that to pull them away from the TV, computer or Gameboy screen is an offense that is reportable to child-protective services.
Most economists agree that the sharp decline in the share of Americans between ages 18 and 64 who are working is a major economic hindrance. This isn’t just happening by chance—but rather as a result of policy and cultural shifts. The value of work is denigrated in our modern society—and welfare has been elevated. Millions of jobs are there for the taking if the unemployed and underemployed go out and obtain useful skills. But our culture too often frowns upon Americans doing what are regarded as grimy, blue-collar jobs—even though they can pay $60,000 to $100,000 a year. This may explain why it is so hard to get a NJ plumber or carpenter or any kind of handyman these days.
We also seem to disparage the idea of young people, especially teens, working. We parents spoil our children—and I’m no less guilty than others—with leisure and money, and many millennials have come to think that to pull them away from the TV, computer or Gameboy screen is an offense that is reportable to child-protective services. This new report reminds us of the obvious: There is dignity, character-building and self-sufficiency in all forms of labor.
The Obama administration now runs TV and radio ads assuring welfare recipients they should feel no shame whatsoever in taking a handout and even tells them that the more they live off the expense of someone else (taxpayers), the better it is for the economy. Liberals are trying to bend the culture in a subversive direction. Given that last year we had 47 million on food stamps, the left is succeeding.
We economists bury ourselves in the data and formulas to try to devise policy solutions to raise the living standards of workers and families. It’s humbling to realize how much of our nation’s economic success is based on a culture of virtue. Do the right thing, as Spike Lee would put it. To save our economy from a path of decline, we need to start with a personal and national commitment to sturdy families, strong parents and a re-emergence of the Protestant work ethic. That shouldn’t be so hard.
Jaw-Dropping Study Claims Large Numbers of Non-Citizens Vote in U.S. By Jim Geraghty October 24, 2014 5:45 PM
This study’s claim is pretty eye-opening…
Our data comes from the Cooperative Congressional Election Study (CCES). Its large number of observations (32,800 in 2008 and 55,400 in 2010) provide sufficient samples of the non-immigrant sub-population, with 339 non-citizen respondents in 2008 and 489 in 2010. For the 2008 CCES, we also attempted to match respondents to voter files so that we could verify whether they actually voted.
How many non-citizens participate in U.S. elections? More than 14 percent of non-citizens in both the 2008 and 2010 samples indicated that they were registered to vote. Furthermore, some of these non-citizens voted. Our best guess, based upon extrapolations from the portion of the sample with a verified vote, is that 6.4 percent of non-citizens voted in 2008 and 2.2 percent of non-citizens voted in 2010.
(Note that they keep using the term, “non-citizen,” without specifying whether they mean immigrants who have entered the country illegally or immigrants who are in the process of legally becoming citizens — lawful permanent residents, a.k.a. “green card” holders, or both. It’s a crime either way, but it’s easier to imagine a lawful permanent resident mistakenly thinking they have already earned the right to vote.)
If they mean 6.4 percent of 11 million illegal immigrants… we’re talking about roughly 700,000 votes being cast by non-citizens in 2008. Stunning. If true, it refutes my earlier contention that proven cases of voter fraud would only swing elections in races that come down to a few hundred votes.
Knocked out of private insurance, they are forced to settle for longer waits and worse care
Rep. Scott Garrett Take a minute to read this eyeopening article about ObamaCare written by Dr. Jeffrey Singer, a general surgeon in Phoenix, Ariz.
His take: “Even if my patients save money by no longer paying premiums, they suffer in the long run by being trapped in a subpar health-care system [Medicaid]… ObamaCare has shifted—and will continue to shift—people into substandard and often-delayed care, all in the name of increasing health-care “coverage.” That is the saddest irony of all.”
By JEFFREY A. SINGER
Oct. 20, 2014 7:12 p.m. ET
90 COMMENTS
Thirty years of experience in private medical practice uncovers many ironies. For example, recently several of my patients who had been paying for their own individual health insurance informed me that they were forced off private insurance and placed into Medicaid when they signed up for health care at Healthcare.gov. This unwanted change—built into ObamaCare with the intention of helping patients—has harmed them by taking away their freedom to choose a health-care plan that works best for them.
This is not an unusual phenomenon. A recent Boston University/Harvard Medical School study suggests that up to 80% of people participating in ObamaCare’s Medicaid expansion have been shifted off their private insurance. These patients’ plans—that they liked, and were told they could keep—did not meet Affordable Care Act requirements, and were wiped out. Healthcare.gov offered them Medicaid.
But the irony doesn’t stop there. Even if my patients save money by no longer paying premiums, they suffer in the long run by being trapped in a subpar health-care system. A Medicaid card does not translate into quality medical care. In some cases, it does not translate into medical care at all.
In North Jersey’s suburban jungle some animals thrive, others struggle near humans
SEPTEMBER 30, 2014, 6:49 AM BY JAMES M. O’NEILL STAFF WRITER NORTHJERSEY.COM
Canada geese get sucked into the engines of a jet, forcing it to make an emergency landing on the Hudson River. The carcasses of struck deer dot the shoulders of Bergen County roadways. A groundhog slashes the face of a family’s pit bull in Wayne. A black bear kills a hiker in West Milford.
For a variety of reasons, suburbia is growing more wild. Some species are learning to thrive in this human-engineered landscape, leading experts to warn that the number of conflicts between people and wildlife will only increase.
The issue is forcing officials to assess how best to manage these species in places where traditional methods of wildlife management – hunting and trapping – are unpalatable or impractical.
At the same time, as suburbia expands its footprint, other species – those that need specific habitat to survive – struggle to hang on. The bobwhite quail, once common, is virtually extinct in New Jersey, as its grassland habitat disappears. Another bird, the piping plover, crowded out by beachgoers, now numbers about 120 nesting pairs in the state.
“The suburban environment has changed the makeup of wildlife,” said Stewart Breck, a wildlife biologist at the National Wildlife Research Center in Fort Collins, Colo.
Researchers are still learning how suburban development alters ecosystems, and what the impacts could be.
FBI: Cuban Intelligence Aggressively Recruiting Leftist American Academics as Spies, Influence Agents
Sexual entrapment a common tactic
An automobile drives by the Capitol in Havana, Cuba / AP
BY: Bill Gertz
September 5, 2014 5:00 am
Cuba’s communist-led intelligence services are aggressively recruiting leftist American academics and university professors as spies and influence agents, according to an internal FBI report published this week.
Cuban intelligence services “have perfected the work of placing agents, that includes aggressively targeting U.S. universities under the assumption that a percentage of students will eventually move on to positions within the U.S. government that can provide access to information of use to the [Cuban intelligence service],” the five-page unclassified FBI report says. It notes that the Cubans “devote a significant amount of resources to targeting and exploiting U.S. academia.”
“Academia has been and remains a key target of foreign intelligence services, including the [Cuban intelligence service],” the report concludes.
One recruitment method used by the Cubans is to appeal to American leftists’ ideology. “For instance, someone who is allied with communist or leftist ideology may assist the [Cuban intelligence service] because of his/her personal beliefs,” the FBI report, dated Sept. 2, said.
photo by Boyd Loving hummmmm……….(Ridgewood Rogue Tower?
Rogue Cell Towers Could Be Intercepting Your Call Dave Lewis Contributor
It seems rather far fetched at first glance. There is news that came out last week that rogue cell phone towers around the US are forcing mobile devices to disable their encryption making it possible that someone might be able to listen in to your call. “That could never happen to me,” you think out loud. But, apparently it could.
In 2010 at the DEF CON in Las Vegas, security researcher Chris Paget did the unthinkable. He built a cell tower of his own so that he could spoof legitimate towers and intercept calls.The device would mimic the type used by law enforcement agencies to intercept phone calls. In this case, he was able to build it for roughly $1500 US. Paget’s device would only capture 2G GSM phone calls. Carriers such as AT&T T +0.37% and T-Mobile would be vulnerable as they use GSM, unlike Verizon which relies on CDMA technology.
I was in attendance for this particular presentation and I had a disposable phone with me at the time. During the presentation when the device was switched on my phone was more than happy to oblige and seamlessly associated with the contraption that was across the room. Had I not been aware that this was going on, it was quite conceivable that I could have not noticed the change to the rogue tower. The point of this presentation was to raise awareness of the security flaws that affect GSM related phones.
Police Militarization in Ferguson — and Your Town By WALTER OLSON
Why armored vehicles in a Midwestern inner suburb? Why would cops wear camouflage gear against a terrain patterned by convenience stores and beauty parlors? Why are the authorities in Ferguson, Mo. so given to quasi-martial crowd control methods (such asbans on walking on the street) and, per the reporting of Riverfront Times, the firing of tear gas at people in their own yards? (“ ‘This my property!’ he shouted, prompting police to fire a tear gas canister directly at his face.”) Why would someone identifying himself as an 82nd Airborne Army veteran, observing the Ferguson police scene, comment that “We rolled lighter than that in an actual warzone”?
As most readers have reason to know by now, the town of Ferguson, Mo. outside St. Louis, numbering around 21,000 residents, is the scene of an unfolding drama that will be cited for years to come as a what-not-to-do manual for police forces. After police shot and killed an unarmed black teenager on the street, then left his body on the pavement for four hours, rioters destroyed many local stores. Since then, police have refused to disclose either the name of the cop involved or the autopsy results on young Michael Brown; have not managed to interview a key eyewitness even as he has told his storyrepeatedly on camera to the national press; have revealed that dashcams for police cars were in the city’s possession but never installed; have obtained restrictions on journalists, including on news-gathering overflights of the area; and more.
The dominant visual aspect of the story, however, has been the sight of overpowering police forces confronting unarmed protesters who are seen waving signs or just their hands.
If you’re new to the issue of police militarization, which Overlawyered has covered occasionally over the past few years, the key book is Radley Balko’s, discussed at this Cato forum:
Federal grants drive police militarization. In 2012, as I was able to establish in moments through an online search, St. Louis County (of which Ferguson is a part) got a Bearcat armored vehicle and other goodies this way. The practice can serve to dispose of military surplus (though I’m told the Bearcat is not military surplus, but typically purchased new) and it sometimes wins the gratitude of local governments, even if they are too strapped for cash to afford more ordinary civic supplies (and even if they are soon destined to be surprised by the high cost of maintaining gear intended for armed combat).
As to the costs, some of those are visible in Ferguson, Mo. this week.
Ridgewood rat sightings prompt idea for pest control law at building sites
AUGUST 8, 2014 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, AUGUST 8, 2014, 1:21 AM THE RECORD Print
Excessive bird feeding could have drawn in some of the rats, Ridgewood’s health supervisor suggested.
RIDGEWOOD — A recent rise in rodent sightings has village officials exploring the feasibility of an ordinance that would require a pest control presence at future construction sites.
More than a dozen residents have reported seeing rats since Tuesday morning, when it was reported that rodents were being spotted behind homes on Bennington Terrace and Howard Road.
Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld told Ridgewood’s governing body at its meeting Wednesday evening that rats have also taken up residence in “14 other areas around town,” including North Pleasant Avenue.
One resident living on that street claims to have trapped more than 20 rats since early July, Sonenfeld said.
A resident in another part of the village said he found a dead rat at the bottom of his in-ground pool.
Ridgewood health officials spent the first half of the week inspecting several properties around where rat sightings were reported.
