Far Closure

Today's NY Times ran an interesting piece on the outsourcing of collection agents to India:

Collection veterans are seeing an unusual phenomena in this economic downturn. “People are walking away from their homes and hanging on to their credit cards, because that is their lifeline,” said Rajinder Singh, the head of global analytic services for Genpact.

Bloomfield Celebrates Earth Day April 19th

The Township of Bloomfield Recycling Committee is sponsoring a
town-wide cleanup as part of Earth Day activities around the nation
and the world - to call attention to the need to care for and save the
environment.

It will be headquartered in Brookside Park at the corner
of Broad St. and Bay Ave from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, April
19th. Participants will be given gloves, green vests and plastic
bags to collect trash and recyclables not only in Brookside Park but
in other parts of Bloomfield as well.

Families are encouraged to join in this effort with their
children.

Bloomfield High School students will focus on cleaning up
the JFK Drive area by Foley Field. All volunteers will go out in
teams to places of their choice to collect trash, newspapers and
commingled items (bottles and cans) in separate bags so that much of
what is collected can be recycled.

The Department of Public Works will have trucks available
to cart the material away. Used batteries can be brought to the park.

Earth Week will wind up upstream at Clark's Pond with a cleanup sponsored by Friends of Clark's Pond & Third River on Sunday the 27th from 11 a.m to 2 p.m.

Another Boring Lawsuit for Google

Those new street view maps have caught both people and property in their "net" that oppose the invasion of privacy.
A call to Google can usually get the individual photoshopped out or the property deleted. Some have chosen to sue the deep- pocketed pants off Google. The Aaron Boring family has put the Pittsburg's Oakridge Lane on the map by refusing to accept Google's apology. They may have a case, since Google's camera people seem to have inadvertantly crossed the line between public street and wide driveway. But the Boring's suit has made their home one of the most widely publicized properties on the web.

Meanwhile, down under, the Aussies are defending their turf from Google by turning the tables and digging up dirt in Google's yard.

Confidence Down? Call Aunt Fannie

The Fed has allowed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to ease capital requirements, allowing them to pump up to $200 billion into the distressed US mortgage market.

This was done by lowering to 20 percent from 30 percent the amount of extra capital the companies are required to hold.
The extra $200 billion would allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to purchase both existing mortgage-backed securities and new home loans originated by banks. It could also enable them to increase their business of guaranteeing mortgages, a key to helping pull the US housing market out of its fall.

Our mortgage guru, Freddie Torres, notes that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have morphed into the backbone of the mortgage market, as most private sources of financing have evaporated. Fannie, Freddie and the Federal Home Loan Banks, a network of bank co-operatives founded during the Great Depression, provided 90% of the financing for new mortgages at the end of 2007.

Grow Your Brain -- Grow the Grain

FreeRice.com is the ultimate feel good website.

It's basically an evolving vocabulary quiz(multiple choice).
For each word you get right, they donate 20 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program. The bowl can fill up surprisingly quickly.
If you get it right, you get a harder word. If wrong, you get an easier word.

Interest Rates Go Bipolar

Mortgage rates headed in two different directions this week, with fixed-rate instruments plunging and adjustable-rate mortgages soaring.

Bankrate.com reports that the average 30-year fixed rate fell 41 basis points from the previous week, to 5.98 percent.
The average 15-year fixed -- a popular option for refinancing -- fell 39 basis points, to 5.46 percent.
Meanwhile, adjustable-rate mortgages soared. The benchmark 5/1 ARM was up sharply for the second straight week, rising 23 basis points to 6.44 percent.

Rates have been extremely volatile in recent weeks, sometimes moving a half-percent in a single day. Overall, however, the trend has been higher.

Prices Are Not Right

So you're a reporter with the NY Times assigned to do a story on how inflation affects the average American shopper. Where would you go? Who do you talk to? To Bloomfield's Stop & Shop,of course, to interview three frustrated Bloomfielders. (Click on chart to enlarge)

Developer Led Plan to Skirt DEP Rules

The NJ Department of Community Affairs is planning an end run around new DEP environmental rules to protect waterways from rampant housing developments.

The report, obtained by The Star-Ledger, says current environmental rules are skewed against builders....But environmentalists say the advisory panel's proposals would eliminate safeguards that have kept housing sprawl in check, to some degree, for years.

DCA Commissioner Joseph Doria has called for relaxing environmental rules to build more affordable housing, but Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Lisa Jackson is strongly opposed.
"Affordable housing must be done in an environmentally sensitive manner," Jackson said. "I have heard a lot of people complain they can't build on flood plains. They tell me it is the only land left. Building affordable housing there would be morally wrong."

The findings are from one of six subcommittees that report to DCA's Housing Policy Task Force. Doria is expected to present Corzine a final affordable housing plan during the spring.

The report suggests requiring state and local governments decide quickly when developers seek to build -- and automatically to approve projects if no decision is made within 90 days.

It calls for rewriting DEP rules to make them "flexible" and giving the state Planning Commission the power to override DEP rules and local laws. It would also prevent DEP from stopping construction within 300 feet of a waterway if the area was developed in the past, and allow sewer line construction in environmentally sensitive areas.

Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, charged the process of developing housing policy has been hijacked by builders. There are no environmental activists on the six subcommittees.

"The DCA is trying to take over the DEP ... and is using the state Planning Commission as a weapon to weaken environmental protection and tell towns how to grow," he said. "This is a coup by the Builders Association to take over land use. Many of the recommendations violate federal law, overturn decades of New Jersey environmental law. Many are unconstitutional."

Jackson said her DEP must have a role in future discussions.

Passing the Bark

From Bloomfield to Verona, dog parks are on the run:

Suzanne Moyers weighs in on the extended Montclair Watercooler debate:

Re: Why Brookdale Dog Park is worth fighting for

Mr. DiVincenzo has told me (and others) on numerous occasions that he "want(s) a
dog run in every county park." There are many more places the dog park could
go, such as the other (Bloomfield) side of Brookdale (I saw the perfect location
just the other day!) or even Anderson Park, which is an Essex County park. And
one neighbor, who lives on Argyle Road but IS sympathetic to the noise problem
(he can hear it from his house!), suggested to Mr. DiVincenzo that the dog park
be relocated to the new park being built on the old site of
the hospital complex in Verona.

Hot Air on Global Warming On Broadway March 2-4

Leave it to Grist to shine the spot light on this Anti-Global Warming "Forum":

It's a meeting, starting Sunday, of hundreds of "scientists" and propagandists, convening to denounce the proposition that global warming is real.

It's like a gathering of the Flat Earth Society. Or, since this meeting literally is taking place on Broadway... under the aegis of the Heartland Institute, a corporate-funded outfit which, among other things, funnels "free-enterprise" propaganda to malleable state lawmakers.

Many of the organizing sponsors and speakers have financial history with big companies such as ExxonMobil. Even some of the "international" co-sponsors (such as the Alternate Solutions Institute of Pakistan) receive money from foundations that have received money from ExxonMobil.
So get ready for a celebration of hot air -- and see if they denounce Galileo while they are at it.

The Big Leap In Jumbo Loans

The less publicized second part of the recently signed Economic Stimulus Package includes a temporary jump(from July through December) in Jumbo home loan limits from from the current $417,000 to about $600,000 in the NY Metro area.
According to the NY Times:

...the Department of Housing and Urban Development will multiply the median sales price for the area by 125 percent. The National Association of Realtors says the area’s median is now $476,100. HUD could use a different source or a combination of sources to determine its median figure. In any case, the agency said it would announce its decision next month.

Record Jury Award for NNJ Asbestos Death

We've dealt with many buyers who've nearly walked away from their Dream Home because of asbestos issues that turned up during the home inspection. If "friable" or exposed in worn insulation, it usually becomes the responsibility of the seller to cure the issue.
In a job related death, it can take years to prove liability in the courts. On Wednesday, a Bergen County jury found two Industrial giants liable for 30.3 million in the death of a former Glen Ridge resident, Mark Buttotta in 2002. He had worked in GM warehouses in Bloomfield(where he grew up) and Englewood.
From AP and FoxBusiness.com:

The award is believed to be the largest in New Jersey for mesothelioma, an aggressive lung cancer.

However, Buttitta's father worked there, and his brother also spent summers at the warehouse, their lawyer said. The three men wore the same work clothes for several days "bringing home cancer-causing fibers every day from work, unknowingly letting the microscopic fibers fragments waft throughout their home and settle," said Moshe Maimon, who specializes in asbestos cases.

Railing on Transit

While PATH was celebrating its 80th anniversary with free rides for all today, NJ Transit was pooping at the party in Bloomfield with parking fees for it's popular Grove Street commuter lot. Starting March 1, the daily rate will be $2 or $40 monthly.
Adding insult to injury was the Sunday Times mostly glowing report on NJ Transit Village success stories that singled out Bloomfield lagging efforts. Since winning the designation in 2003, the township is still looking for the light at the end of its tunnelvision:

Nine years after it was officially created, the state's Transit Village program has been extended to 19 communities eligible for grants and aid to revitalize the deteriorated neighborhoods around train and bus stations.

In a number of those communities — notably Hoboken, Jersey City, New Brunswick and Cranford — the program has generated tangible success, with thriving shopping areas and new condominiums and rental apartments enlivening once empty streets.

In other towns, change is clearly in the works. In Montclair, for instance, new housing and retailing is in place beside the downtown train station, and a large mixed-use building is under construction. In a few communities, like Bloomfield and Hamilton, progress has mostly been stalled by local land-use debates.

Right now, though, even as the overall real estate market languishes, developers and analysts report that many Transit Village projects are proceeding and more communities are applying to the program.

Re-Listing Secrets Exposed

Tonight's ABC's Nightline highlighted Realtors' "dirty little secret" for refreshing stale listings featuring NJ's legendary whistleblower--:James Bednar
......[Relisting guru Niece]“So a buyer’s going to be way more positive as they look through a home that says 25 days versus 125 days.”

Niece believes that re-listing is an important marketing tool in tough periods like this, because first impressions are crucial.
…
But Bednar says re-listing is simply unethical. “As a buyer, it does make me angry,” he said. “I need to know how long a home’s been on the market or what the original price is.”

“Hiding that market information from consumers is wrong, and it’s got to stop,” he added.
Bednar started blogging in 2005 after growing aggravated with realtors during his own house-hunting search.

“The issue here is that when a re-listed home is sold, it skews the market transaction data,” he said. “When an agent typically says they can sell a home in 30 or 60 days, is that really true? If they’ve re-listed a home, that might not necessarily be true.” In an effort to gain access to market data, he actually got a real estate license and a membership with his local listing service. With a few key strokes he can find the true history of any listing in his northern New Jersey neighborhood.

“The most common outcome is probably that a buyer overpayss...."


We never let our buyers make an offer without first checking the property's MLS history.

Blogs R Us

The polls have closed and the results are in from Houseblogger.com

It seems over a quarter of us are writing web posts!

Simultaneous Media Survey (SIMM 11) studied15,727 participants on the subject of the blogosphere.

26% of all adults say they regularly or occasionally blog.

* Of those, 53.7% are male
* 44.7% are married.
* 28.4% hold a professional or managerial position
* 10.4% are students.

Average age of a blogger? 37.6

More blograta:

* 69.7% of Bloggers are White/Caucasian
* 12.2% are African American/Black
* 3.7% are Asian
* 20% are Hispanic

* 24.6% of registered voters say they regularly or occasionally blog.
* 37.6% of Libertarians regularly/occasionally blog
* Democrats (26.9%)
* Independents (25.7%)
* Republicans (22.9%)

Renting In the Heart of Rush Hour

From The Star Ledger:

When Catherine Valero tells people where she lives, some assume she's homeless. She and her mother, Karen, live in a train station.

But the pair aren't squatters -- they're renters. For seven years, they have called Montclair's Mountain Avenue Station home.

Theirs is the only home that doubles as an active NJ Transit station,

Packing It In -- To Save the Landfill

Fellow packrats of the world unite! In our own small way, we're all trying to save the planet.

from CNET.com:
Ari Derfel likes living with his garbage. He hasn't thrown anything away in more than a year, but he insists he doesn't suffer from any compulsive hoarding disorders.
Rather, Derfel views the bins of bottles, boxes, leaflets, cartons, and wrappers he's stacked in his Berkeley, Calif., home as fruits of a continued meditation about sustainability.

Derfel, 35, is joined by a handful of bloggers who are going to extremes to keep their trash out of the landfill. Motivated by global warming, they say they are fed up with promiscuously packaged, toxic products and other evils of conspicuous consumption they say are trashing the planet.

These pack rats are stashing their trash at home and then writing about, photographing, and even weighing it. They belong to a growing cadre of " lifestyle bloggers" who provide a personal angle to broader issues covered by big-name ecoblogs such as Treehugger.com.

To avoid packaging, Derfel and other trash bloggers tote reusable bags to the grocery store, carry reusable water canteens, and buy in bulk. They even count their nail clippings, rip off the paper tablecloths from chic restaurants, and fly home with waste from Hawaii vacations. Composting food scraps for garden fertilizer keeps them from dwelling with a vermin-infested stench. "Not In My Backyard" environmentalism it's not.

Housing Sales vs Inventory

From the North Jersey Real Estate Reports comes this revealing comparison of sales to inventory in recent years.(click to enlarge)

Shooting the Breeze in Wayne

There’s not much talk of property taxes, national politics or even the Giants on Wayne’s NJO forum these days. Topic A is the effect of wind mills on property values.

Wayne has recently won national attention for it’s
pioneering efforts to generate a measurable degree of energy
self-sufficiency with an experimental wind mill and turbine. State agencies and organizations have already taken notice of Wayne's plan. The Sierra Club, the state League of Municipalities and the New Jersey Public Interest Research Group have all praised it.

Robert Burke recently announced plans to add his own wind mill and turbines to his “eco-friendly “Auto Spa” on Wayne’s Hamburg Pike.
His proposal comes before the town’s zoning board Feb. 11, but most Wayne residents seem to already have a position on the issue.

Slowing Developers

If you're interested in what others have to say about the Slow Home movement check out this site.
Worldchanging.com is one of the best sites we've seen for resources and inspiration for sensible development and planning.

Slow Homes

[Hudson Valley home designed by Paul Cha]


John Brown is the editor of theslowhome.com and the founder of the Slow Home movement. He is a registered architect and a Professor of Architecture at the University of Calgary.
Slow Homes is an international movement devoted to bringing good design into real life. It takes its name from the slow food movement which arose as a reaction to the processed food industry. Browns belief is that "the sprawl of cookie cutter housing that surrounds us is like fast food - standardized, homogenous, and wasteful. It contributes to a too fast life that is bad for us, our cities, and the environment. In the same way that slow food raises awareness of the food we eat and how these choices affect our lives, Slow Home provides design focused information to empower each of us to take more control of our homes and improve the quality of where and how we live."

Power on a Shoestring

Looking for money saving energy sources that are less expensive than solar?
The folks at OtherPower.com can provide you with your own wind turbine kit for as little as $1800. They also market a wide range of low tech energy sources. "All of our houses and shops run on only solar, wind, water and generator power...not because we are trying to make some sort of political or environmental statement, but because these are the only options available. And we refuse to move to town."

30 Year Rates Approach 5%

From The Star Ledger:

The average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dipped Thursday to 5.25 percent, the lowest point since mid-2004, according to Bankrate.com. The average 15-year fixed-rate mortgage, a popular choice for refinancing, stood yesterday at 4.79 percent, also the lowest since mid-2004.

Four weeks ago, the average 30-year mortgage was 6.31 percent, while 15-year loans averaged 5.98 percent, Bankrate figures show.

Mortgage rates have fallen so fast, Princeton Mortgage in Pennington published four price changes during the day Wednesday as 30-year rates dipped near 5.1 percent before creeping up overnight to yesterday's level, said Brian Jennings, the company's chief operating officer.

"This is an unbelievable buying opportunity," Jennings said. "This is the first time in recent history you have near-historic-low mortgage rates at a time home prices are falling in New Jersey."

Rates have come down as New Jersey's inventory of existing homes for sale is growing and, for the first time in years, property values in some areas of the state are falling.

Nasty Game of Chicken With MSU's Weekly

Let the puns flow freely!
There are more than enough ruffled feathers to go around.
(We couldn't resist)
From The Star Ledger:

SGA President Ron Chicken halted publication of this week's edition of the college's Montclarion student newspaper in a dispute over the hiring of an attorney to advise the newspaper on issues that include coverage of the SGA's practice of holding closed meetings to discuss campus matters.

"We're enraged," Montclarion news editor Shayna Jacobs said of Chicken's decision to halt publication.
"I'm completely shocked that he would go to these measures," she said. "We feel violated as student journalists. I think they're bullying us."

The center's legal consultant, Michael Hiestand, said suspension of the newspaper's publication, is a blatant violation of its constitutional rights.
"It's very unusual," he said. "It's unusual not just because it doesn't happen very often, but because it's illegal. It's a complete violation of the First Amendment."

Hiestand said the SPLC receives just one or two complaints a year of student newspaper suspensions or threatened shut downs.
"Usually once you remind them of what the law is, the situation resolves itself very quickly," he said.

He said SGA President Chicken is ignoring the advice of Montclair State officials in the dispute.

Candle Power

This may not solve all your heating needs when the temps get down to the teens, but it's the cheapest low tech device we've seen to take the bite off this cold snap. From greenbuilding elements.com comes The Kandle Heeter Candle Holder

The aecret is the the terracotta pot topping the candle with a multi-core radiator, where the inner steel core can be driven to very high temperatures — 500-550 degrees Fahrenheit — by the burning candle flame and becomes a central radiating body. ityields an efficient 50BTUs an hour for an total of 1000 BTUs to cut the chill,
The ceramic — a high ‘thermal lag’ material — absorbs the heat rising from the candle, as it is dense and heavy with tile, concrete, water, thus, storing heat well. The pots actually concentrate the heat, and can focus on to where you need it to heat up. A 3-inch diameter by 3-inch dollar candle can get you about two days of heating, which amounts to 0.50/day! And if the winter days turn out to be wet, cold, it would cost you about $50 for a whole heating season.
Now, you can purchase this little energy saving candle-transformed radiator and considerably cut on to your heating bills. Giving the ambiance of a miniature “fireplace”, it will keep the cold out and coziness in. Normal fire precautions apply although a light bulb can be substistuted if the flame makes you nervous.

Catching Up At Home

If you're a homeowner who's falling behind on your mortgage payments, please -- ACT NOW! Here's what Fannie Mae recommends:
Call your lender or loan servicer today. The telephone number is listed on your mortgage bill and on the year-end tax statement you receive from your lender.

If you take action now, you improve your chances of working out your situation with your mortgage lender or loan servicer. For example, depending on your situation, you may be able to incorporate missed or late payments into future payments, re-work the terms of your loan, or refinance into a different loan with payments you can more readily handle. The important thing is to take action immediately.

Help is Available

Many homeowners are struggling to keep up with their payments, especially those with adjustable-rate loans that reset to a higher rate and those whose job or family situation has changed. Free information and counseling are available to help you.

Call the Homeownership Preservation Foundation at 1-888-995-HOPE to talk with an experienced counselor or visit the Foundation website at www.995hope.org.

A Belated New Years Wish

Watch your back!
I wish I could have watched mine.
Longest I’ve been offline since entering the cyberworld in late 90’s.
Staphacoccus Virens is not the rarest bug in the world. It drifts around the mouth and skin of most of us. It’s only when gets into the bloodstream that the fun begins. It seems to enjoy messing with your spine. In describing this Epedural Abscess, Back surgeon, Mark Drzala, kept reminding me that I won the lottery by catching one of the most common bugs in one of the trickiest areas to access, but surgically removed in time(on New Years Eve) to avoid significant bone loss.

Warmest gratitude and thanks to Madison’s A-1 EMT Mensch Eddie Schmeltz and many of the best Bloomfielder buddies anyone could wish for: Nick Joanow, Mary Shaughnessy, Paul Schneider. and, most of all, Rebecca Shaw

I'M BACK!

Brad Pitt's New Green Housing for New Orleans

Combining philanthropy with a genuine love of innovative home design,
the actor's interest in architecture and love of New Orleans has led him to commission 13 firms to design 150 homes for areas devastated by Katrina, with restraints: 1,200-square-foot, flood-height-friendly homes for $150,000, and they have to be green, reducing upkeep costs by 75%. He promised that each model will match what residents want to see with what engineers need to provide to protect against climate change and future floods. “Our goal is to bring green technology to the affordable level and not have it look like a Prius,” Pitt said.

Foreclosure Scam Alert Flap

It has been on YouTube less than a week, but this scam warning has already drawn complaint from a YouTuber that "This is typical heavy handed democrat propaganda. Pure Bullspit! To portray a perfectly good pre-forclosure sale transaction as a scam..." Most viewers are defending Freddie Mac.
From Newsday online:
To reach out to homeowners in trouble, Freddie Mac has produced a two-minute video on how con artists can prey on delinquent borrowers.

Though it may not win any Oscars, the video shows how scammers can get copies of foreclosure notices at city hall or a county courthouse and then persuade borrowers to hand over their deeds in exchange for solving their financial problems. The con artists then use the deeds to secure new loans for themselves but let the new loan go into foreclosure, leaving the distressed homeowner out on the street.

Freddie Mac, one of the nation's largest investors in residential mortgages, took its message to the Web after conducting a survey that found one in four borrowers go to the Internet before their lender when they fall behind in their payments.

How Green is Your Candidate

Grist has become a leading contender to be The NY Times of Environmental Web Sites. [We've just had honor of previewing their soon to be revamped site in a usability study.] Since today marked the conclusion of the pre-Primary debate season it seems like a good time to compare the candidates' green positions using their handy chart.You can also watch videos of some of the candidates speaking at the first-ever presidential candidate forum focused on climate change and energy policy, co-sponsored by Grist.

Grist also teamed up with Outside to interview the candidatesabout green issues. They've published Q&As with all of the Democrats and a number of the Republicans.

Seclusion

Want to get away from it all?
If you can find a home more secluded than these, let us know!
Dream on!

Sustainable Downsizing

If you're looking to downsize into an eco-friendly home, leave it to the Canadians to come up with an economical and stylish solution. Two years ago, they introduced the concept of the prefabricated MiniHome. Now the folks at Altius Architecture are expanding their living space with new production modelas of their DuoHome models(click on photo to enlarge) starting at 149K.

The new DUO model resolves this integration by marrying an ADD-ON room at the Loft portion of the SOLO, giving a full 12′ ceiling - and this gives us some very cool overlook spaces from the Loft!

Based in Toronto, they even provide their own financing plans.

NJ Subprime Woes Exceed US Averages

President Bush's latest attempt to ease financial pressures on subprime borrowers may be too little & too late for many NJ homeowners.

Late last week,The Federal Reserve Bank of New York released some sobering numbers that update the problems of subprime mortgages in New Jersey.

According to The Record:
Nine percent of more than 63,000 securitized adjustable rate subprime loans in the state were in foreclosure in August, according to the first-of-its kind report to track the condition of loans given to non-prime borrowers in New York and New Jersey.

Nine percent of 63,000 loans represents about 5,670 homes in foreclosure.

Payments on only 67 percent of the loans -- which totaled $16.5 billion in outstanding balances -- were up-to-date.

"More than 30 percent in arrears is a striking number," said Keith Gumbinger, vice president of HSH Associates in Pompton Plains, a publisher of financial information.

According to the report, the typical subprime adjustable rate borrower in New Jersey borrowed $262,000 and started out paying an interest rate of 8.12 percent. But after the rate adjusts over time they would pay about 11.42 percent on average over the life of the loan, the report said.

The foreclosure rate on subprime adjustable rate loans nationwide was 7 percent, compared with New Jersey's 9 percent.

For loans on homes in Newark, 14 percent were in foreclosure and 13 percent were 60 or more days past due.

Adjustable rate subprime loans are among the types of loans most likely to go bad because borrowers often have had trouble with debt in the past and because their monthly payments will rise over time. And in a real estate market where home prices are falling, it is often impossible for financially distressed borrowers to refinance or to sell at a price that would pay off the balance of the mortgage.

EPA Grant for River Studies Thru MSU

The Passaic River basin will acquire a new crop of environmental stewards thanks to an environmental education grant awarded today to Montclair State University. At a ceremony in Branch Brook Park, EPA Regional Administrator Alan J. Steinberg presented a $39,888 check to Dr. Susan A. Cole, President of Montclair State University, and Dr. Kirk Barrett, Director of Montclair State University’s Passaic River Institute. The Institute is training teachers and high school students to study the ecology and quality of the Passaic River waters.

Under the Montclair State Passaic River Institute’s program, local high school teachers and students in New Jersey's Passaic River basin will study and monitor river-bottom plants and animals and test water quality in the Passaic River. Students will acquire the knowledge and critical thinking skills necessary to understand how rivers are affected by urbanization, industrialization and other causes of pollution. The new river stewards will learn what can be done to protect river water quality and how they can protect the river’s ecosystems. The project will include teacher training, field trips to learn about and conduct water monitoring, a hands-on environmental education program, and a project web site that will serve as an information clearinghouse and repository, resource center, and virtual meeting place.

Clutter-Free Giving

VickyandJen.com is a unique podcast and family resource site about making life simple so you can enjoy what really matters.

In this episode of The Big O: Organization, Organizing Expert Monica Ricci, Vicky and Jen discuss seven categories of gifts that have meaning for both the giver and the getter. Clutter-Free Gifts is wrapped with ideas to make gift giving more memorable and meaningful all year around, with no dusting required!

NJ Blogger's "Truth Squad" Rights Defended

Although we're hardly anonymous here, we can understand why some need the protection of a pseudonym to be effective as whistleblowers or gadflys. One such Jersey Blogger who calls himself daTruthSquad has spent months skewering Manalapan area officials on his Web site.

From The Star Ledger:

Township leaders suspect the venomous blogger, who appears to have inside information about local politics, is Stuart Moskovitz, the former mayor and township attorney. Moskovitz has motive: He is being sued by Manalapan over a land deal gone bad.

But Moskovitz insists he has never blogged and doesn't know the identity of daTruthSquad. So lawyers for the Monmouth County township subpoenaed Google earlier this fall, insisting that the Internet giant reveal the name and computer behind daTruthSquad's blogging account.

Lawyers for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a California-based Internet rights group, are making the legal claim that daTruthSquad -- like all bloggers -- has the right to anonymity.

The foundation hopes to quash the Google subpoena and use the case to bring attention to the growing number of public officials using the courts to pry the names of their online critics from Internet providers.

"This is the government trying to silence or intimidate someone who says something they don't like," said Matt Zimmerman, a staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "It's important things like this don't get swept under the rug."

The blogger, writing as "daTruthSquad" on a site hosted on Google's Blogspot service, has criticized a controversial lawsuit filed by the township of Manalapan, as well as the officials who decided to pursue the case. The township subpoenaed Google for "daTruthSquad's" identity -- as well as for any emails, blog drafts, and other information Google has about the blogger -- claiming that the defendant in the case is actually writing the posts. The defendant, however, has already sworn under penalty of perjury that he is not "daTruthSquad."

"Bloggers, as well as everyone else, have a First Amendment right to speak anonymously," said EFF Staff Attorney Matt Zimmerman. "Litigants don't get a blank check to pry into the private lives of critics when they say things the litigants don't like. The fact that it is the government trying to abuse the discovery process makes this attempted invasion of privacy all the more repugnant."

daTruthSquad summed up his case in a recent post:

If this whole case is about a land deal, where are the many exhibits regarding da land deal? Why are page after page of these briefs discussing da internet blogger known as daTruthSquad?

Is this a legal case about a land deal gone bad? Or, is this a legal case where a governmental body has taken it upon themselves to use taxpayer dollars to divulge information about a blogger who lets da readers know what is really happening in one particular town?

While the fur is flying ON NJO's hyper-active Manalapan forum, some high profile local bloggers are weighing in.

MSU Students: We've Got Your Number

MSU students are all talking about a new requirement that students all purchase administration approved cell phones.

The first such program in the country, 'School Phone' -- as in a Sprint-operated cell -- is now mandatory for all students.

from wcbsnews:

The cost: $420 a year for a base plan which is bundled into the tuition bill.
It includes just 50 peak voice minutes a month, but unlimited text messaging to any carrier, unlimited campus-based data usage, and student activated emergency GPS tracking.

"What it does is allow students to have an extra pair or group of people watching over them when they're going from one location to another," Montclair Police Department Chief Paul Cell said.

There are various phone and call plan options, but the bottom line is you have to pick one. That could be a problem for someone with their own cell phone and their own monthly bill.

The program has another benefit -- students now have another way to call home and ask for money.

Over Priced or Under Valued?

According to Market Analyst, Barry Ritholtz, housing prices have to fall 25% or stay flat for 5 years for homes to be fairly valued. That is assuming, of course, incomes continue to grow at the current pace, no sure thing given a possible recession lurking in the near future.

Cat & Mouse

Thanksgiving

Garrison Kieler on Bottled Water

from treehugger.com:

I am sorry, Evian and San Pellegrino and Dasani and all the other bottled waters out there—Aqua Velva, Wells Fargo, Muddy Waters, Joan Rivers, Jerry Springer, whatever—but the current campaign against paying good money for bottled water when tap water is perfectly good (and very likely purer) is so sensible on the face of it that I am now done with you.

Fini. Kaput. Ausgeschlossen. No more designer water. Water is water. If you want lemon flavoring, add a slice of lemon. You want bubbles, stick a straw in it and blow.

In case your tap water flunks the tast e test, try the iStraw -- a lightweight polycarbonate straw fitted with a special membrane, which uses micro-filtration technology to clean your water. If you've tried chlorine tablets, you know how icky the taste can be, and with the iStraw there's no aftertaste.

Realtors Say 2007 will be the Fifth Best Year on Record

It's not all gloom and doom in our business.
From National Realty News:

“In some ways, the extended real estate boom from 2001 to 2005 created unrealistic expectations that housing is a short-term high-yield investment,” said National Association of Realtors Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “2007 will be the fifth best year for housing on record. Places like Houston, the Kansas City area, Indianapolis, and the vast middle section of the United States offer affordable prices and continued job growth. On either coast, Seattle and Raleigh, N.C., remain solid. And markets that experienced recent growth declines – like Boston, Denver, and Washington, D.C. – have already shown signs of recovery. In short, all real estate is local – conditions vary greatly from one city to the next.”

Yun explained that while the recent rise in foreclosures and delinquencies has dampened consumer confidence in real estate, these problems have been concentrated in the subprime market. “For buyers who qualify for conventional financing, mortgages are available at favorable rates,” said Yun. “Major FHA reform will also help first-time home buyers enter the market and will provide safer alternatives for many subprime buyers. FHA market share for home purchases is expected to triple over the next three years, from an estimated 4 percent in 2007 to an estimated 12 percent in 2009.”

Responding to recent questions about the current value of homeownership, Yun said, “Buying a home is not a quick-in, quick-out investment, like buying a stock. Homeownership builds wealth over the long-term.”

To illustrate his point, Yun explained that over 10 years, a $10,000 investment in the stock market at a normal 10 percent market rate of return would yield $23,600. The same investment as a down payment on a $200,000 home at a normal appreciation rate of 5 percent would return nearly 5 times the stock market return, at $110,300.

Meetup in the Park With Two Pro-Bush Environmentalists

Montclair's Pat Kenschaft and Bloomfield's Jane Califf have found a new cause.
They have serious issues with recent landscaping changes in Brookdale Park. We're talking about the leafy variety of bush here,among other things--like the new dog run. With a flurry of letter writing and phone calls, they've arranged a meeting with Park officials Friday at 3:30 near the tennis courts.

Califf makes her case:

Bruce Divita is the manager of special projects in Essex County parks. I did not mention in the letter that when I asked him what invasive species of plants he said were being cut down that he told me, "I don't know, and I am not going there in person to check because I have had Lyme Disease twice.. ."
Then he said they had to be cut because some people said there were individuals lurking in the bushes. My friends and I have been walking past this area for 9 years. We have never had any problem or seen anything suspicious....
How can we be sure that this is accomplished? A group of us are talking about why the community is not asked what they want in Brookdale Park. Things are done without any input from citizens.

In a lengthy open letter to County Executive Joe DiVincenzo, Daniel Salvante, and Bruce DeVita, Park planners, Kenschaft writes:

There are powerful forces wanting to "develop" ever more land and make lawns where nature now has its way. Last week a man with apparent knowledge of the county's imminent plans spoke scornfully of the "weeds" in Brookdale Park, whose removal he obviously expected me to approve of.... The cutting of innocent bushes pains my own emotions, my concern for preventing climate change, and my desire that young children have a wild place to play....
I worry about the amount of petroleum
used in recent park "improvements." The United States uses twice as much
energy per person as Germany and Japan, and neither our quality of life
nor our health statistics are better because of it... But there are many of us that want the absolute minimum of deviation from nature for both environmental and fiscal reasons. Can we become involved in the discussion before final decisions are made? How?
....think more deeply about the environmental and fiscal implications of your decisions. There are powerful forces pushing you -- and all of us -- toward extravagance.
However, if you want some friendly faces to push you in a more
life-preserving direction, please let me know.....

Open House

Driving down Ridgewood Ave, in Glen Ridge, enjoying the fall scene we heard a shrieking alarm that sounded like an ambulance or police car and promptly pulled over. Seeing nothing in the rearviews, we heard a voice repeatedly barking over a loud speaker: BURGLARY! BURGLARY! LEAVE THIS LOCATION RIGHT NOW! The funny thing was that the house had a for sale sign. A minute later, one of Glen Ridge's finest pulled up and cautiously walked up to the front door. Didn't hang around for the outcome but the alarm could still be heard 10 minutes later and five blocks away in Bloomfield. We've heard that talking houses can be a good marketing tool(it's a 6 BR just reduced to 899k) but this takes it to a new level! (click on picture for animation)

Ice Queen

Think it's getting cold here? If you caught NBC's Ann Curry's live broadcast from Antarctica ,a few days ago, you might have heard her reference the climatological research the current US research team including Sandra Passchier, PhD. Geo scientist and assistant professor at Montclair State University, Along with drilling 500 meter core samples thruough the ice pack, Dr. Passchier takes time out to add daily progress reports to her blog:

Snow is plastered on the walls of the buildings and the windows. There is a large cloud on Minna Bluff in the distance, which is a bad sign. Luckily a helicopter was able to make a trip to the drill site before the storm to get us some core, so we can work. Another perhaps comical fact is that Ann Curry of the Today Show is now stuck here with us. Her Live broadcast was yesterday in front of the Chalet with the flags. Last night at Midrats she was in the lobby and was talking very loudly and came obviously out of one of the bars. She seems to have a good time here. We have not seen the show, so we can only hope that the science we do here was featured to some extent. She called off a trip to our drill site...
So, yes what about the science? It is becoming increasingly more interesting. We are finding fossils every day now: yesterday a possible plant fossil, today a couple of shell beds with what look like large clam shells. There is still the intermittent presence of glaciers, so it looks like ice ages came and went, but there were some intervals of time with balmier climate conditions than today.

Bloomfield's Mayor and Council Celebrate Democratic Sweep

Caching In

Whether you're looking for a fun family activity, or a new outdoor singles scene, you might check out Geocaching. Geocaching is a trendy new adventure game for GPS users. Participating in a cache hunt is a good way to take advantage of the full capability of a GPS unit(if you don't have GPS, stay tuned). The basic idea is to have individuals and organizations set up caches all over the world and share the locations of these caches on the internet. GPS users can then use the location coordinates to find the caches. Once found, a cache may provide the visitor with a wide variety of rewards. If you take something out, you should try to leave something for the cache. What is usually in a cache? A cache can come in many forms but the key item will invariably be the logbook. The logbook contains information from the founder of the cache and notes from the cache's visitors. A logbook might contain information about nearby attractions, coordinates to other unpublished caches, and even jokes written by visitors. If you get some information from a logbook you should give some back. At the very least you can leave the date and time you visited the cache. Larger caches may consist of a waterproof plastic bucket placed tastefully within the local terrain. The bucket might contain any number of more or less valuable items. These items turn the cache into a true treasure hunt. Geocaching is really just the next evolution of the centuries old tradition of letterboxing with trails that can be found all over New Jersey -- even as close as Bloomfield & Montclair.

'Tis The Season ...

This has been a period of challenging changes and transitions -- particularly in the past 10 days. From political campaigning to car breakdowns, cold bugs and sewer backups. The last straw was the death of my poor little Mac Mini. A replacement is on the way along with the completion of a variety of new blog items.