This past Friday approximately twenty tents were torn down in the homeless camp on Cedarbridge Avenue. The reason for the removal of these tents was that they were built in defiance of a court order a few months back that stated there should be no more new arrivals settling in the camp. Officials said that if new ones are built, they too will be torn down.
“We will continue to do this as long as people keep moving in, People continue to come to Tent City from all over the Country, and it must stop – even the current residents of Tent City are not happy about some of the new arrivals.”

The irony did not escape many people. This week saw the passing of the "Smart Growth" plan that would allow over 3000 units to be built in the Cedarbridge area. The planning board could not grasp the concept that building for more residents to move into Lakewood is just not practical at this time. Lack of infrastructure, traffic, higher taxes and the need for services are an unfair burden to place upon the residents already living here, just so a few well connected builders and a man with a delusional vision of grandeur can get what they want. All of it done at the expense of the taxpayers, the schools, and the children of Lakewood.

So it seems that in Tent City you can take a bulldozer and knock down homes that current residents are not happy about. In the rest of Lakewood it is up to three people to decide the level of comfort we are allowed. They decided the great altruism we should have in allowing everyone to move to Lakewood for inexpensive housing at our own expense.

The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey filed a lawsuit today to stop the state from giving more than $11 million in construction funds to two religious colleges.

The money is slated to go to Beth Medrash Govoha, a Lakewood school that trains orthodox Jewish rabbis, and Princeton Theological Seminary, a school that trains Christian ministers. The private schools are among 46 New Jersey colleges and universities due to split $1.3 billion in taxpayer funds for campus construction and renovation projects.

The ACLU lawsuit petitions the court to block the state from awarding the grants to the two religious schools.

“We support freedom of religion; however the government has no business funding religious ministries,” said Ed Barocas, legal director of the ACLU of New Jersey. “Taxpayers should not foot the bill to train clergy or provide religious instruction, but the state is attempting to do exactly that.”

Beth Medrash Govoha and Princeton Theological Seminary officials did not immediately respond to requests to comment.

Beth Medrash Govoha, an all-male yeshiva, is scheduled to receive $10.6 million from the state to pay for a new library and academic center. Princeton Theological Seminary, a private school not linked with Princeton University, is scheduled to receive $645,323 from the state for technology upgrades.

“The state of New Jersey has an important role to play in providing financial support for institutions of higher learning in our state, but public money should not be used to fund schools that are not open and welcoming to all students in New Jersey ,” said Udi Ofer, executive director of the ACLU of New Jersey. “State funding of higher education should not be done at the expense of the separation of church and state.”

The ACLU filed its lawsuit in Superior Court in Trenton. In addition to the ACLU, the plaintiffs are the Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of New Jersey and Gloria Schor Andersen, speaker-at-large for the Delaware Valley Chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

The state legislature is currently considering the list 176 projects approved by Gov. Chris Christie's administration to receive the higher education bond money. Several lawmakers have expressed concern about the grants to Beth Medrash Govoha and Princeton Theological Seminary and the process state officials used to approve applications for the money.



Source NJ.com

APP

U.S. Census Bureau figures indicate the housing affordability issue is a particularly big issue for renters.
• More than 51 percent of renter-occupied households in New Jersey were spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing costs in 2011, compared with nearly 42 percent of owner-occupied households.
• Higher-than-average shares of overburdened owner-occupied households were mostly in northeast New Jersey counties near New York City, as well as in Atlantic and Ocean counties. For renters, every county south of Interstate 195 except Gloucester County had rates of overextended households above the state average, as did Essex, Monmouth, Passaic and Sussex counties.
• In Ocean, Passaic and Sussex counties, more than three of every five renter-occupied homes spent more than 30 percent of their income on housing, according to the Census Bureau.
• An annual, national report released in March said New Jersey is the fourth most expensive state in America for renting a two-bedroom apartment, behind Hawaii, New York and California. The fair-market rent for such a unit is nearly $1,300 a month, and a household would need income of nearly $52,000 a year to stay below the 30 percent affordability threshold.
Nearly half of New Jersey children, almost 1 million, live in households struggling with high housing cost burdens, a stress that has worsened over the last half-dozen years.

The annual Kids Count report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, released today, says 48 percent of children in New Jersey — 990,000 — live in households that spent more than 30 percent of their pretax income in 2011 on housing costs such as rent, mortgage, taxes and insurance. That compares with 40 percent nationally. Only California was higher, at 52 percent; Florida was tied with New Jersey.

Manchester resident Maria Romano knows the feeling. Though her family last year moved into a home with an interest-free mortgage constructed through Northern Ocean Habitat for Humanity, she said that keeping pace with expenses is not easy.

“Even with that, with all the bills that we have in the house, living, it’s just crazy,” Romano said.

New Jersey’s rate of 48 percent stayed stagnant over the past year, even while it declined a bit nationally. It is also higher than the 43 percent measured in 2005.

Nina Arce, media coordinator for the Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey, said the problem is a growing one that is not just isolated to pockets of the state. That is “disappointing and unacceptable,” given that New Jersey is among the nation’s wealthiest states.

“No parent should have to choose whether to pay the rent, keep the lights on or feed their kids,” Arce said. “Children know what is going on around them, and they are definitely impacted by the financial strains on their parents.”

A middle-class issue
Romano said shielding children from that financial stress is not easy — “especially when they’re older, they’re more than aware.” It was particularly difficult before she moved into her current home, when she, her husband, Arvi Lawson, and their three sons were living in a bedroom in her sister’s house.

“They were trying to figure out why we had to stay there. But we didn’t let them know, because we don’t want the stress on them, because they’re all young,” Romano said. “Especially my oldest, who’s 12, he sometimes will come up to us and wants something. I have to say ‘Not now’ — but not try to tell him we can’t afford it, we don’t have the money for it because we have to pay this, this and this. But we try not to let them know.”

Star Ledger

The engineering firm Birdsall Services Group was built of New Jersey steel, the kind forged in a fire of wheeling and dealing and political influence that made the company a titan in the brawl for millions of dollars worth of public contracts.

Now it's all melting down.

Birdsall, bankrupt and a shadow of its former self, admitted in state court this month to dumping loads of illegal campaign donations into the coffers of elected officials, a practice one former employee said "regularly won contracts" for the company.

It was classic Jersey: Banned by law from giving more than $300 to many politicians, Birdsall instead had its employees write personal checks to candidates and then later reimbursed the staffers with salary bonuses and lied to the state on disclosure forms.

The company had created the perfect political machine, one that could skirt laws and churn out checks like a printing press, all without raising a single suspicion because each donation was for such a small sum of money it did not have to be reported to the public.

The scheme went undetected for at least six years until one of Birdsall's employees was surreptitiously caught on tape discussing it, touching off an investigation that authorities say uncovered one of the most expansive and sophisticated criminal pay-to-play conspiracies in recent history.

But one major piece of the puzzle — who received Birdsall's money — has remained a mystery.

Until now.

A Catch-22 is a paradoxical situation caused by a contradiction of rules which causes one to be incapable of avoiding or solving a problem. Often these situations are such that solving one part of a problem only creates another problem, which ultimately leads back to the original problem.

Once again summer vacation begins and children are getting ready for various activities. Many girls are on their way to camp and as usual there will be many girls that will not be able to tell their friends what high school they will be going to next year. Some of us may think nothing of such a situation."So, they tell the other girls they don't know yet, big deal".
Well, it is a big deal. Ask any person that deals with troubled children and they will tell you that school rejection is one of the main reasons many children are "turned off" from yiddishkeit.
This year there are over 60 girls not yet accepted to any high school. Many are not accepted simply because of the elementary school they are coming from. Many are not accepted because some high schools are trying to limit how many girls they accept simply to impart an air of exclusivity to their school. An air of exclusivity that destroys the future mothers of our nation.
And there is the Catch-22 of school acceptance in Lakewood. In the zeal to make sure that they don't accept a bad influence into their institutions, they have created an entire army of bad influence.

If you knew that there was something that is a clear and present threat to the ruchnios of our children, wouldn't you stand up and scream? Why is nobody getting up and screaming about this?
Oh, you don't want to get rejected when your own child applies to a school? Of course, another Catch-22 to deal with.

The Rabbinical Council of America has released a statement saying that both the President and Executive Vice-President of the RCA met with Rabbi Yisrael Belsky to hear, first-hand, his views on the case of Yosef Kolko—-who recently pleaded guilty to molesting a young boy—-and that they were pleased to hear that, despite his personal feelings that Kolko is innocent, Rabbi Belsky “favors” the reporting of abuse cases to civil authorities without seeking prior rabbinical permission.


Released on the RCA website (http://bit.ly/10c6NK3), the RCA expresses its “appreciation” to Belsky for complying with their request that he state his views in a follow-up letter to be made public.

The RCA goes on to say that, while it disagrees with Belsky’s views on the Kolko case, Belsky’s “clarification” of his views will go a long way towards helping victims in the future.

A New York comedian known as “The Fat Jew” has taken it upon himself to tone the city’s homeless people, using the SoulCycle method and applying it to stationary CitiBikes.

Fabrizio Goldstein displays the workout in a hilarious video now making the rounds on YouTube.

The Citibike bike share program was recently implemented in New York and at an annual fee of $95 its cost is paltry compared to the $32-a-class SoulCycle workout.

In the video, “The Fat Jew” yells out spin class phrases like “this is a cardio party” and “you guys feelin the burn?”

Goldstein says the class has even attracted some serious inquiries.

“This is an unintended consequence,” he told the New York Daily News of the attention he is getting from interested exercise enthusiasts. “I got dozens of emails today from people saying, ‘If you put up a schedule, I will come.”‘

On Thursday he tweeted: “I’m teaching SoulCycle classes to homeless people in New York City using parked CitiBikes. I’M BEING SERIOUS.”

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The former U.S. Army Garrison headquarters building at Fort Monmouth is officially for sale, which means the building probably will not see a second life as Oceanport’s municipal building.

The Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority voted Wednesday to offer the 6.5-acre property for sale, with Oceanport Mayor Michael Mahon abstaining.

The Art Deco building, finished in 1936, is in the fort historic district, so whoever buys it will have to maintain its unique facade. But FMERA executive director Bruce Steadman said in his memo to the board that the building could be used for “a broad range of potential uses,” including residential, office/research or administration.

Steadman told the board that the property has garnered interest from several developers and could “facilitate the attraction or retention of of one or more local companies.”

Mahon said he abstained from voting because of the borough’s continued interest in the building, but acknowledged later that Oceanport may have to set its sights on another location if it decides to not restore its current municipal building, which was damaged by superstorm Sandy.

But even if Oceanport doesn’t get to use the building, the borough stands to gain from its sale, he said.

“The value of Russel Hall as a potential job creator and ratable to Oceanport is an important consideration,” Mahon said. “It’s one that I support and that the community will support.”

Mahon said the borough is seeking money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for possible renovation of the current borough hall or the purchase of property on Fort Monmouth.

“We’re getting our ducks lined up,” Mahon said.

He said there are several other locations located in the Oceanport section of the former Main Post that would be suitable, including Allison Hall, which was the fort’s first hospital.

Russel Hall was originally going to be transferred to FEMA, but the agency later decided it did not want the building. Oceanport then indicated its interest in the building to the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Planning Authority, FMERA’s predecessor.