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My mother used to say "The things you see when you don't have a gun.........."

Also glad to know I'm not being paranoid about the Pulaski.

LHS isn't a no kill shelter (i dont think). So i'm sure they do put down several dogs and cats each year that are not adopted and/or they cannot support financially.

Regardless, the humane society is a good cause.

I am hoping to see some significant improvement in mass transit across the US - it is about time.

I think this is great - should make for nice equity in my home over the next few years - wohoo - bring on $5 a gallon!

The list came from the engineering department, with the lovely ManilLa mispelling...


However, there is a mistake on the list. The repaving of Grand Street will be the complete stretch from Jersey to Marin, not just Jersey to Grove.

The repaving of Newark Ave is included in the whole Newark Streetscape redevelopment which should be completed at the beginning of 2009.

Sure is good that regional mass transit is getting a bundle of cash to pay for system wide improvements from all that money collected through congestion pricing. Oh, that's right, thanks Sheldon Silver for completing screwing us.

Thanks OPEC. Finally, people are beginning to take mass transit seriously

Excellent idea jennymayla! I like this!


*smiles* This cart sighting map could quite possibly become the Jersey City equivalent of 'Big Foot' sightings!

Seriously, there are just a lot of scumbag, corrupt and unethical individuals working/elected in this city and county.

I've met a couple of great city workers, cops etc but they are overshadowed by the actions of folks such as the animal control officers mentioned above. There is a culture of corruption that permeates this place.

From what I can see this roadwork is going to be ongoing for a LONG time. I can see at least a dozen pieces of large diameter cement pipe stretching halfway down the street. Looks like they will be digging up the entire street.

Can we please have a Google Map with all the carts on it? I wish I knew how to make that and I would do it myself, but I am inept in such matters.

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WOW -- this truly is the best photo so far!

Who knew that they would start migrating indoors?

Guess it was just a matter of time (given the heat and humidity of summer, of course).

Now I am curious to know if the carts have made their way to other areas besides Downtown Jersey City and Newport.

Have any been spotted in the Heights or Journal Square?

Or wilder yet, have they crossed into Hoboken or other border cities and towns?

It's just a matter of time before we see them sailing down the Hudson River!

I am just waiting for the day when I see a BJ's cart at Liberty National Golf Course. Now that would be priceless!!!!!!!!

It might be time to investigate how many animals Liberty is killing each year. Does anyone in the public know? Why isn't the public told?

Quote: I ride with a cycling club based in Newark. I hate taking the Path to our meet-up spot (Penn Station Newark). When I have time I ride there by first going North and crossing at rt 46. Here is the route: Compare that mileage to the two direct routes going over Lincoln Bridge or the Wittpenn: ........................ It would be great if that powers that be would seriously consider pedestrian and cyclists when they go about doing the major public works projects slated for the Hackensack and Passaic Rivers in the coming years.

If I recall correctly, when Grand Street was paved a couple of years ago, it, like Christopher Columbus, was paid for with grant money; it was not part of the normal paving program. At the time, Macco had just started construction on Liberty Harbor and had taken up the far right lane of Grand. This is why Grove to Jersey was never paved.

This subject was broached both at the Downtown Construction Committee meetings as well as the HPHA. We were specifically told by a city employee who works in this area (I will gladly tell you in private who this was, but I won't name him or her here because he or she is not at fault) that the decision was made to skip these two blocks because it would be too much for Macco to remove all of his barriers and that the brand new paving would be in jeopardy from all of the construction work. We were, however, promised that these two blocks of Grand would be paved as soon as the major construction was completed on Liberty Harbor. Additionally, we were assured that it would certainly happen because it was already paid for.

Also, within the last year, the intersection at Grand and Grove was completely dug up for what I believe was utility connections for Gull's Cove. This was done just after Marin was repaved. And Marin, I believe, was paved with State money as well. Of course, the city didn't make the contractors repair the street using the city's stated standards and the patch job they did was sub par. So a newly paved street is now back to the condition it was before it was repaved (at least at Grand and Marin). This mess could also be fixed at the same time, killing two birds with one stone.

Please follow up on this. We should not have to wait for the next round of paving to get the last unpaved section of Grand done. If the city got a grant and the job was never completed, then they need to make sure that it gets done.

Where are most county offices located now? The Admin building on Newark Ave. correct?

What happens to that space when they move into the HC PLAZA. How about the Freeholders' offices, are they going in the Plaza as well?

Thanks in advance!

Overall, sounds like a good idea putting the Sheriff's office and the clinic all in there with other buildings. We're approaching late 2008, I wonder how it's coming out.

I just started reading this board regularly, and this thread always makes me chuckle. I was excited this morning when I had a sighting of my own:


On York St. behind the Pathmark.

I couldn't help but snap a quick shot on my cell phone to share here.

THEN, further along in my walk, I spotted ANOTHER one on Barrow St. I didn't get to snap a photo of that one, as it wasn't on my way - I just saw it down the block. I laughed and continued on my way.

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Jersey City is a good friend to the developers unlike New York's gentrification neighborhoods the developers pay there. If the sewer line breaks from your house out into the street the home owner pays the costs involved including the cost of police presence. When united water, PSE&G, or other utility companies dig up the streets they the utilitiy companies repair the wake they left behind of their own costs. Imagine you're a developer and found a gentrifing town like J.C. and is generous as such I would do business here too ! Excerpt from the 1974 film The Godfather: Part 2: below
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Hyman Roth: If I could only live to see it, to be there with you. What I wouldn't give for twenty more years! Here we are, protected, free to make our profits without Kefauver, the goddamn Justice Department and the F.B.I. ninety miles away, in partnership with a friendly government. Ninety miles! It's nothing! Just one small step, looking for a man who wants to be President of the United States, and having the cash to make it possible. Michael, we're bigger than U.S. Steel.

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Hyman Roth: What I am saying is, we have now what we have always needed, real partnership with the government

Boy am I glad I didn't move there.

SHOT DEAD
Friend injured in gunfire at complex

Friday, June 27, 2008
By AMY SARA CLARK
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

One man was killed and another - who had walked away from a halfway house two years ago - was critically injured after they were shot from behind at the A. Harry Moore public housing complex on Duncan Avenue Wednesday night, officials said.

Terrell Martin, 24, of Claremont Avenue in Jersey City, was shot through the neck and chest at about 11:30 p.m. Martin, who also was known as "Dickens," was pronounced dead shortly after midnight, Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said.

Husain Booker, 27, of Armstrong Avenue in Jersey City, was shot twice from behind and was taken to Jersey City Medical Center, where he was in critical condition yesterday morning, DeFazio said. JCMC has no record of him being admitted, a hospital spokesman said.

Booker disappeared from the CUE Ogden halfway house in Newark in July 2006 while finishing a sentence for drug convictions, said Danielle Hunter, a spokeswoman for the New Jersey Department of Corrections.

The men, who appear to have known each other, were shot with semiautomatic pistols by at least two people who approached them from behind. Neither of those guns were found, but a third revolver that had not been fired was found at the scene. Police are not sure if the gun belonged to either of the victims, DeFazio said.

Police aren't sure of the motive. "It could be related to a dispute from a day or two before in which one of the victims was involved - that is something that we are looking into," DeFazio said.

Booker and Martin were shot on the east side of the building, said DeFazio, who added that police believe a large crowd witnessed the shootings.

People with information on the shootings are asked to contact the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office at (201) 915-1345, DeFazio said.

DeFazio said that in the meantime, police plan to increase security in the area. "People who are going there to resort to illegal activity will be deterred," he said.

AMY SARA CLARK can be reached at aclark@jjournal.com

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The lack of a way for pedestrians to get out is also a problem for people who don't have cars and are trying to decide how to get out of the city in an emergency.

Example: if a giant hurricane were coming, I'm sure I'm healthy enough to walk to Newark, if that would help, but I don't know how to get over the river. At least it sounds as if it's theoretically possible to walk over the Witpenn.

I'm curating an art show at Canco, opening on October 3rd! I hope all of this controversy will at least get more people our for the Pro Arts Studio tour.

Jersey City eliminates its Finance Department

Jersey Journal
by Ken Thorbourne
Thursday June 26

The city of Jersey City's finance department is no more.

The City Council voted last night to abolish the department -- but none of its roughly 68 employees will lose their jobs, city officials said.

The functions of the department, which range from keeping tabs on city investments to producing payroll checks, will be absorbed by the business administrator's office.

The city's chief financial officer, Donna Mauer, is already performing many of the department's functions, said Business Administrator Brian O'Reilly.

"There was a lot of redundancy between finance director and the CFO, who is under my administration," O'Reilly said.

Paul Soyka, the finance director, stays on as the person in charge of treasury and debt management, which essentially means collecting fees owed to the city and making sure its responsibly invested, O'Reilly said.

The finance department is also in charge of tax abatements, tax collection, and tracking expenditures in the city's various departments.

The city will realize savings as employees retire and others are "cross-trained" to perform multiple jobs, O'Reilly said.

"Three people have already left the finance department and their positions will not be filled," he said. "I expect we'll be down 10 finance employees in the next three years."

The City Council also voted to put the Department of Public Works' Division of Traffic and Transportation, which is in charge of among other things, signage, and street closings, under the Division of Engineering.

Traffic declines at Hudson River crossings
With rising gas prices and tolls, more commuters take mass transit

Friday, June 27, 2008
BY RON MARSICO
Star-Ledger Staff

Use of the Hudson River and Staten Island crossings dropped by more than 400,000 drivers in May, most likely because of soaring gasoline prices and rising tolls, Port Authority figures show.

The declines -- which have grown in recent months -- have been met with sizable increases in ridership on the PATH rail system and NJ Transit trains and buses, according to regional mass transit data.

On a typical day in May, use of the Lincoln and Holland tunnels and the George Washington, Goethals, Outerbridge and Bayonne bridges totaled about 348,000 vehicles, a 3.8 percent drop from an average day in May 2007, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates those crossings. Over the course of the entire month, that means more than 425,000 fewer drivers used those crossings.

At the same time, PATH ridership jumped 6.5 percent during the first three months of this year, to 17.9 million riders, up from 16.8 million riders during the same period a year ago, according to the agency.

More recent numbers from NJ Transit show systemwide train, bus and light rail ridership grew by 4.6 percent in April and May -- up from an already healthy 3.8 percent jump during the year's first quarter.

"The trend is accelerating," said Dan Stessel, a spokesman for NJ Transit. "Clearly, what's leading to this level of growth is the high price of gasoline."

Higher tolls also have played a role, said Stephen Carrellas, New Jersey's chapter coordinator for the National Motorists Association -- an assessment acknowledged by the Port Authority.

The agency socked E-ZPass users with a 60 percent increase in early March, raising peak hour tolls at its bridges and tunnels from $5 to $8. At the same time, gas prices have spiked considerably since April -- jumping to roughly $4 a gallon and more across the state.

Across the Hudson River, officials from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates the Triborough Bridge and Queens-Midtown Tunnel, have seen similar trends.

Spokesman Jeremy Soffin said bridge and tunnel traffic was down 4.7 percent in May and 1.5 percent for the year.

"We're definitely seeing a hit due to the gas prices...," but "we're seeing an uptick in transit ridership," Soffin said.

The increases in ridership, he said, are about 5 percent this year on the Long Island Rail Road and Metro North, which serves riders to and from Westchester County, other parts of upstate New York and Connecticut.

Marc La Vorgna, a Port Authority spokesman, said there has been a benefit on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River: less congestion at the crossings and more people on mass transit -- one of the agency's overarching goals.

"This is why we dedicated more than $8 billion in our 10-year plan to mass transit expansion to provide the opportunity for more people to get out of their cars," La Vorgna said.

In addition to modernizing the PATH system with new signals and trains, the Port Authority is spearheading an effort to build a second rail tunnel from New Jersey to Midtown Manhattan, a project slated to cost more than $7 billion.

Ron Marsico can be reached at rmarsico@starledger.com or (973) 392-7860.

State to probe Jersey City animal control officers

Friday, June 27, 2008
BY BRIAN T. MURRAY
Star-Ledger Staff

The state Department of Health and Senior Services is under court order to investigate allegations Jersey City animal control officers illegally entered an apartment, took a pit bull and dropped it off at a shelter to be put down as a stray.

The saga of Spanky, a canine eventually reclaimed by its owner and not destroyed, is just the latest animal control dispute to drop on the Hudson County city, where 16 dead animals were retrieved earlier this week from an unplugged freezer.

The carcasses of dogs, cats and a goats were found at a defunct shelter run by the troubled Hudson County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The shelter's former director is facing criminal charges of improperly disposing of the carcasses and medical waste.

But now it's Jersey City's own animal control staff under the microscope for complaints initially raised back in December 2005.

"Allegations of officers willfully and illegally taking a dog from its owner and falsifying records to claim it a stray, so as to expose it to adoption by another or euthanasia, calls for the department to take action," ruled a state appeals court Tuesday in an 18-page decision demanding the Department of Health investigate the case.

The decision was prompted by a lawsuit filed in 2006 by Liberty Humane Society, a nonprofit that shelters animals picked up by Jersey City officials. Liberty Humane claimed it was opened up to serious liability when Spanky was dropped off on Dec. 22, 2005, after Jersey City's chief animal control officer and an underling did a favor for a landlord by removing the dog from a Winfield Street apartment when the owner was not home.

No notice was left for Spanky's owner, and a city officer falsely claimed on shelter documents that Spanky was a stray, Liberty Humane charged in court documents. The papers went on to claim the dog's owner discovered Spanky's whereabouts only after another officer tipped her off. The shelter said Spanky, if left unclaimed, could have been euthanized after seven days.

The state health department certifies animal control officers and regulates shelters in New Jersey, but claimed it had no jurisdiction to investigate or revoke the certification of the officers, court documents show. The state appeals court strongly disagreed.

"It is both arbitrary and capricious for the department to ignore its duty to determine if revocation of certification is required," the court wrote, contending the state, "has a duty to consider serious allegations against the officers it has certified to serve the public."

The court ordered the state to make findings of fact for a subsequent court review.

The state Department of Health declined to comment, contending the ruling is still being reviewed by the state Attorney General. Jersey City officials also said the matter still is being reviewed by city counsel.

Liberty Humane directed its allegations at Jersey City's chief animal control officer, Joseph Frank, and Officer Emanuel Machado, claiming Frank ordered the removal of the pit-bull as a favor to a friend of his wife, who also works with city animal control.

Indictment targets ex-union official
Former business manager in Springfield accused of spending local's cash

Friday, June 27, 2008
BY GUY STERLING
Star-Ledger Staff

The former business manager of a beleaguered union local in Springfield, already under indictment, is facing new charges of spending the local's money on extravagant expenditures.

A superseding indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Newark charged Kenneth P. Campbell with using a union credit card to purchase thousands of dollars worth of electronic equipment and getting the local to buy a Lincoln Town Car for his father and a gas card for personal use by a woman who worked at the union.

The purchases exceeded $50,000, with the Town Car accounting for 37,000.

"The indictment alleges Mr. Campbell used the union to benefit himself at the expense of the union and its membership, contrary to his fiduciary duties to the union," said Anthony Moscato Jr., the assistant U.S. attorney handling the case.

Campbell, 56, of Basking Ridge, was initially named in a four-count indictment unsealed in March that charged him and another official of Local 825 of the International Union of Operating Engineers with accepting kickbacks in exchange for labor peace on two Jersey City construction projects.

More than a half-dozen officials or representatives of the local, including its former president, along with some contractors, have pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges in recent months, leading the local to be placed in trusteeship by IUOE officials in Washington.

Moscato said the investigation was ongoing and that he expects additional charges will snare new defendants in the coming months.

The latest indictment, released late Wednesday, adds more than a dozen charges to the March accusation, most of them alleging Campbell used a union-issued American Express credit card to buy big-screen TVs, a television stand, DVD players, a DVD recorder, camcorders, a Tivo, a receiver, cell phone service and a laptop computer.

The cell phone service included access to the "Naked News," a news show featuring nude broadcasters, the indictment charged.

All the equipment was purchased for use by Campbell and others between September 2004 and February 2007, according to the indictment.

Campbell was also charged with buying three $500 bottles of wine at an Atlantic City steakhouse on July 17, 2006. Federal prosecutors declined to describe the circumstances of the dinner.

Brian Neary, Campbell's lawyer, did not return a call for comment.

The Town Car was purchased for Campbell's father, Patrick, a former business manager of Local 825 who retired in 1998. The 80-year-old Campbell had no union duties after retirement, although he was given the title "business manager emeritus," the indictment said. He was also named as a defendant in the latest accusations.

The indictment alleges the woman who got the gas card had a "personal relationship" with Campbell, but it did not identify her other than to say she was a member of the staff at the local's headquarters in Springfield.

She "was neither required to conduct off-site field work nor travel as part of her job," legal documents added. The indictment said the woman used the card from December of last year until this past April, running up more than $1,636 in charges.

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Good to hear I'm not the only one who is terrified of that bridge. It feels like it is about to crumble and if you get into an accident 4get about it. I ride bikes but riding it on the bridge would give me a heart attack. Just imagine what would happen if you got a flat tire crossing that bridge.

Dunno for me it's all about what Fulop decides to do. I think Jersey City needs him and if he decides to stay in his seat I'll support him. However, if he moves up to higher office; I'll gladly support Skinner.

I've seen her speak at BOE meetings... it's great.

Mathias:

I gave up trying the Rt. 7 and Lincoln Highway routes to get past the rivers to do rides around north jersey. Now I just take my bike on the PATH to Harrison or Newark (not that that's a lot of fun, but it takes away 20 minutes of what would otherwise be complete misery).

On another note. I was in a cab coming back from Newark Airport and we are traveling up Kennedy Boulevard, one of the worst streets for cycling and out of nowhere there is one of those big SHARE THE ROAD signs with a bike and car on it.

It is so random. Those signs are very effective when many of them are placed at intervals on routes traveled by many cyclists...9w for example. The randomness of this sign is as disturbing as all the bike route signs around town.