The Cellular Tree Off Route 4

With the new phone tower off Route 4 getting some media and blog coverage, I decided to take a look at how cellular coverage in the area differs among the major carriers.

The maps below were taken from the cellular carriers' websites.

The lighter areas are the areas with less than perfect service. The darker the shaded area, the better the service.

I could not copy the map on the MetroPCS website, but based on their map, their service in the area is not great.

T-Mobile Coverage (the lighter areas here ar parks, not poor coverage areas)

T-Mobile 3G Coverage (the light areas get only GPRS/Edge coverage)

Sprint Coverage

Nextel Coverage

Verizon Coverage

Verizon 3G Coverage

AT&T 3G Coverage

AT&T Coverage

Keep The Cuts Coming!

While the rest of the world has been struggling with the recession, our local government is finally catching up.

Here in Teaneck, this is what we have so far in the school system: 

More than a dozen teaching positions would be eliminated under the preliminary $93.9 million 2009-10 budget adopted by the school board Tuesday. The spending plan calls for cutting only five elementary teachers' jobs, however, rather than the 13 job cuts that had originally been proposed. Other proposed reductions include the high school's cross-country program, several middle and high school teachers, and other staff and program cuts.

The original proposal was to cut 13 teachers. Now we're told only 5 teachers will be cut. Why? Cut the other 8!

We spend more per student in Teaneck than all but three or four other districts in the entire state of New Jersey. Enough already! Half the kids in town don't even attend public schools, yet we have a budget over 90 million dollars.

We're told the tax levy will be 3% higher than last year. Why? People have less, homes are worth less; we should decrease the budget! We're dropping cross country at the high school. Big deal. How about dropping basketball, football, soccer and baseball. When you have no money, you keep the basics and drop the fat. Since when do sports qualify as the three R's?

On the township side:

70% of the town's budget is for salaries and wages, pensions, health care, disability, workers' compensation and other benefits.

Are we all nuts? Why do we even have a paid fire department when almost all other towns make do with volunteers. Remember, these are the same firefighters that are responsible for killing the Seidenfeld children in our town three years ago.

As for the five cops who would be laid off: Why don't we apportion taxes to pay the police based on crime rates in the areas where the cops are needed. Raise taxes on the folks in the northeast part of town and on FDU students. Leave the rest of us alone!

Don't Live In West Englewood? Then Screw You!

The dog park set to be erected on the southeast corner of Sagamore Park has met with opposition from neighbors on Belle Avenue.

Thye have no chance of prevailing. Why? They don't live in West Englewood. You'd never see a dog park in a residential area in the neighborhood of Teaneck's power population.

The council doesn't care that the park has a playground used by kids, complete with a wading pool. The fields are used for Teaneck's soccer and baseball leagues. The park is used for Shabbat afternnon "perek in the park" by the orthodox community (not the West Englewood fakers, the real orthodox).

Dog parks are great. My dog has been to many all over the northeast. Not one of them has been located in a residential neighborhood.  But what does Adam Gussen care; it's not his house or his community. Shaft the "regular folks." Make it nice for West Englewood. 

I Just Can't Afford It Anymore

To be an orthodox jew is to make sacrifices. No work on Saturdays, no eating in 99.9% of the restaurants in the world and exorbitant day school tuitions while still paying taxes for the rest of the town's kids to attend public school. High prices for kosher foods, high prices for synagogue membership and building funds for shuls and schools.

Recently, I decided to compare restaurant prices.

I started with fast food. I went to Kosher Experience on Cedar Lane. The world's smallest hamburger is $2.50. It's a medium sized bun with a two ounce patty that even the "Where's The Beef" lady from days gone by wouldn't believe. A chicken sandwich is a mere $8.50. Do you want fries with that? That'll be $2.75.

Then I drove up to Wendy's. For 99 cents each, you can have a chicken sandwich, a hamburger with a quarter pound of meat, a fries and a soda.

Okay, I know kosher food has some inherent additional costs, but it's getting to be ridiculous. In this economy especially, they're limiting their customers to only the wealthiest among us.

The RCBC is partly to blame. The Jewish Standard reported recently that to take on RCBC supervision costs a restaurant upwards of $60,000 a year.

The other issue is the fake "glatt kosher" requirement. Ashkenazic jews are not required to eat glatt kosher. Lately, companies are labeling chicken products as glatt kosher when that's not even a possibility. What is the fascination with "glatt?" Obviously, it's not required, so why are the RCBC, the OU and most other mainstream kashrut supervision agencies requiring it? How much money can the community save if this fake requirement went by the wayside?

Last week, I stopped by Glatt World on New Bridge Road in Bergenfield. The price for a pound of chopped meat was $5.49. At Pathmark, across the street, the non-kosher ground beef was $2.49 a pound. Sure we must pay a premium for kosher meat. But more than double?

The lone saving grace in all of this is the fish department at the Englewood Shop Rite. The fish in the kosher and non-kosher sections are the same price for the same item. Thank God for that one. Let them eat fish!!