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St. Patrick's Day celebration concert in Weehawken March 9

St. Patrick's Day celebration concert in Weehawken March 9

1-Mar-16, The Jersey Journal

By Lois DiTommaso

Mick Moloney and Friends will start the St. Patrick's Day celebration a week early with a special concert March 9 for the UBS Atrium Series in Weehawken.

Classic Irish and Celtic tunes music will be featured at the event, to be held at 12:30 p.m., in the Atrium at 1000 Harbor Boulevard in the Lincoln Harbor section of Weehawken.

Moloney will be joined at the concert by Athena Tergis, known for her featured work as principal violinist in Broadway's Riverdance; fiddler and vocalist Liz Hanley; button accordion master Billy McComiskey; uilleann piper Jerry O'Sullivan; and step dancer Niall O'Leary.

Moloney, a musician, folklorist, musical anthropologist, and educator, has recorded and produced over 40 albums of traditional music and acted as advisor for scores of festivals and concerts across America. He also has served as the artistic director for several major arts tours including The Green Fields of America, an ensemble of Irish musicians, singers and dancers which toured the United States on several occasions.

He has hosted three nationally syndicated series of folk music on American Public Television; was a consultant, performer and interviewee on the Irish Television special "Bringing It All Back Home"; a participant, consultant and music arranger of the PBS documentary film "Out of Ireland"; and a performer on the PBS special "The Irish in America: Long Journey Home."

In 1999 he was awarded the National Heritage Award from the National Endowment for the Arts — the highest official honor a traditional artist can receive in the United States. He also received the Presidential Distinguished Service Award from the President of Ireland in November of 2013.

The concert is free and open to the public and the venue is wheelchair accessible.  Free parking is available and public transportation options include NJ Transit Bus #158 as well as the Hudson Bergen Light Rail to Lincoln Harbor. 

For directions and more information, visit hrpac.org - or call the concert hotline at 201-716-4540. 

"Snow Angel" By WHS Students

8 N.J. Laws That Took Effect January 1

8 N.J. Laws That Took Effect January 1

NJ.com, 1-Jan-16

By Samantha Marcus

With the new year come some new laws in New Jersey.

Eight laws will take effect today, according to the state's nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services. Seven were signed into law 2015 and one in 2014.

1. Prohibiting unsolicited checks: This law bans companies from sending New Jersey residents unsolicited checks that, when redeemed, obligate the recipient to pay a fee or enrolls them in any service or plan.

State Assembyman Paul Moriarty (D-Gloucester) introduced the legislation after a constituent showed him an unsolicited check for $8.25 that upon being cashed would have enrolled him or her in an $15.99 a month automotive roadside assistance program, he said in a statement.

"These so-called free money offers are at their best deceptive and, at their worst, downright dishonest," Moriarty said after the bill was signed into tlaw. "Right now, consumers are at their most vulnerable to fall for a scheme that appears to offer them instant cash but would end up costing them much more in the long-run." 

Violators may be hit with a $500 fine on their first violation and $1,000 for each additional violation.

9 of the oddest bills of 2015

2. A new way to donate to veterans: This law gives New Jersey taxpayers the opportunity to donate a portion of their tax refund to the Fund for the Support of New Jersey Nonprofit Veterans Organizations. Taxpayers can indicate they'd like to make a contribution on their gross income tax return or enclose a donation. Those dollars will be distributed annually to private nonprofit organizations supporting veterans.

3. An email alert system for lowering the flag: The Secretary of State will operate an email notification system to alert people when the governor orders the U.S. and state flags flown at half-staff. 

4. New requirements for dispensing pharmaceutical drugs: This law establishes conditions for pharmacists dispensing bio-similar, or generic, drugs. Within five days of filling the prescription, he or she must alert whoever wrote the original prescription what product it was substituted for. They must also indicate there was a substitution on the prescription label.

5. New prescription drug disposal education: This law requires that pharmacies and prescribers dispensing controlled dangerous substances a notice advising patients of drug drop-off programs.

6. New application for applying for developmental disability services: This law streamlines the application process for people requesting services for individuals with developmental disabilities from the Department of Children and Families and Department of Human Services by developing a single application.

7. Revises the "Self-funded Multiple Employer Welfare Arrangement Regulation Act: The law provides incentives for employers to band together to offer health insurance through self-funded or partially self-funded Multiple Employer Welfare Arrangements, or pools.

8. Creating fishing buddy licenses: This law creates a fishing buddy license to encourage more recreational fishing. It offers half-price licenses to people 16 and older who purchase their license in conjunction with someone purchasing their first New Jersey fishing license since 2010.

"This is a great incentive for New Jersey residents and visitors to enjoy recreational fishing as they share great times with friends and family," Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D- Gloucester) said in a statement when it was signed into law. "Angling also supports our state's wildlife management efforts, conservation programs, and it helps boost economic activity."

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Weehawken ordered to complete new tax map by July 2016 in reval case

Weehawken ordered to complete new tax map by July 2016 in reval case

NJ.com, 10-Dec-15

By Steve Strunsky

A state judge has ordered Weehawken to complete a new tax map by July 2016, a necessary step in what would be the township's first revaluation in 23 years, the mayor and plaintiffs in a lawsuit confirmed.

The tax map deadline order is the latest update in a suit filed last year charging that Weehawken's failure to conduct a revaluation updating assessments on older properties while assessing new ones at market value has created an unfair tax burden on waterfront property owners.

While revaluations do often tilt local tax burdens toward owners of older properties, Weehawken Mayor Richard Turner has warned that values have risen so fast along the waterfront that even owners there could be in for an unwelcome surprise under a reval. 

The four named plaintiffs, who include retired New York Giants great Amani Toomer, are among 175 members of the Concerned Citizens of Weehawken, a group made up of property owners at the Bronwstones at Port Imperial, Henley on Hudson, Riva Point and Avenues waterfront developments.

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"Our expert and lawyer were able to successfully challenge the arguments for not completing the revaluation," the citizens group said in a statement. "Our lawyer was able to identify to the judge that there is essentially one person working on the revaluation project and the correct resources have not been allocated to getting it completed."

"The judge informed all parties that she would be signing an order that the tax maps must be completed by July 2016," the statement added. "As part of the same order, it dictates that the appraisal company must also be hired by June 2016 such that the revaluation can be completed effective for calendar year 2017."

The judge is Mary Siobhan Brennan of New Jersey Tax Court, who had already ruled that the revaluation itself must be completed by 2017. The Tax Court administrator in Trenton, Mary Ryan, declined to comment.

Turner confirmed that Brennan imposed the tax map deadline on Tuesday.

Brennan's order followed an unusual proceeding in the case that morning, when the township sponsored a bus tour of Weehawken's residential neighborhoods and commercial districts, hoping to demonstrate the complexity of drafting a new tax map and conducting a revaluation, and the impracticality of the judge's deadlines.

For example, Turner said many condominium buildings in Weehawken are now plotted as a single property on tax maps, either because they were industrial space or apartment complexes, but they would now have to be broken down and mapped as individual properties under current state rules.

"It's very complicated," said Turner. "You have to list each condo, not just the building."

In addition, Turner said about a third of Weehawken's total area, mainly along the waterfront, had been newly developed into townhouses or condominiums where there was once vacant land.

A spokesman for the citizen's group said the township had invited the judge to take the bus tour, but she declined.

Turner, who would not say whether Brennan took the tour, said the township would do its best to comply with the deadlines.