JERSEY CITY LIST - Message Forum

Forum Index

Board index » All Posts (T-Bird)

Bottom

(1) 2 3 4 ... 50 »

T-Bird

Re: Democratic Operative Exposes Voter Fraud (He Did it in Hudson County!)

Home away from home

I can't tell if you are being facetious or if you actually have a problem with this (what Bloomberg did). If the latter, why?

[quote]
jerseymom wrote:
I've yet again sourced the "news" for the unwashed masses - hold your noses my fair JCListers. I mean, jeez, this wouldn't be a conflict if say, another unnamed president did this, or like a foreign country that begins with R and ends in A was the benefactor, right?

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has helped pay the outstanding fines and fees of 32,000 convicted felons in Florida so they could regain their right to vote ahead of the November election, according to a report.

Posted on: 2020/9/23 19:44

Topic | Forum

T-Bird

Window washers spray nesting peregrine falcons off JC building

Home away from home

What the hell is wrong with people?

https://www.northjersey.com/story/news ... r-jersey-city/1498850001/

Posted on: 2019/6/20 11:43

Topic | Forum

T-Bird

Re: Remember to VOTE TODAY (TUES. 6/4)

Home away from home

On my ballot, there was one race in either party and the outcome of that race (Democratic race for county executive) is a foregone conclusion. Not exactly a reason to rush to the polls.

Posted on: 2019/6/4 14:14

Topic | Forum

T-Bird

Re: The SUV Phenomenon

Home away from home

Quote:

RichMauro wrote:
I can't understand why--with the tax revenue that surely should be pouring in--the city can't build a number of centrally located low cost or no cost parking desks for residents.
Population increase looks to be a situation which will continue as long as NYC rates stay high and developers continue their building spree. A facility that can hold as many cars as the JSQ lot behind the Loew's would give so much relief to an area. Just imagine what five of them might do to help with parking difficulties.

That would be a long-term investment that may have limited utility ten to twenty years out and would be a terribly inefficient use of space. Population growth won't necessarily come with car ownership rates equal to those of the past.

Millennials have demonstrated less interest in driving and car ownership than previous generations. The nature of transportation is changing. Continued growth in ride sharing and an embrace of autonomous driving vehicle technology could put a significant dent in car ownership, especially in urban areas. Why would you invest in a fifty-year asset that could very well be a white elephant in fifteen or so years?

There is plenty of parking downtown - you just don't always get it free.

Posted on: 2019/2/12 21:00

Topic | Forum

T-Bird

Re: The SUV Phenomenon

Home away from home

Interesting time we're going through. People are getting wise to the amount of the cost they bear through the externalities created by of others and are starting to push back. You see it in the climate discussion, land use, pollution, gun rights, among others.

From a public policy perspective, free or near-free onstreet parking was a mistake to begin with. The arguments to defend it are understandable, because that's the way its been for our lifetimes. Doesn't make it a good practice, but taking things away from people is never popular. I'd suggest the opposite approach - parking permits should cost $/sf whatever the land costs are in a given block divided by whatever an appropriate number of years would be (40? 50?) to come up with a proper rent. Let the negotiations begin from that point instead of the other way around.

The general assumption that reduced parking requirements for new development is increasing street parking isn't exactly correct. Many of the garages in these buildings aren't full. Some even allow outside parking for a fee.

Posted on: 2019/2/11 18:13

Topic | Forum

T-Bird

Re: Would MTA be a better operator for PATH? And other ideas...

Home away from home

Quote:

brewster wrote:

I'll just note that there are plenty of people for which a greater than 10 minute walk to the subway or PATH takes a neighborhood out of consideration for them.

You're right. Though to be fair, I don't know that I'd want to live more than 10 minutes away either. I'd walk a 15 to 20 minute trip to the PATH at least 90% of the time, but would probably feel trapped if on the occasions it wasn't a reasonable option. I look at it as more of a flexibility consideration than an absolute unwillingness to walk more than 10 minutes.

Posted on: 2019/1/16 23:01

Topic | Forum

T-Bird

Re: Would MTA be a better operator for PATH? And other ideas...

Home away from home

Quote:

brewster wrote:

T-Bird: you seem to have no notion of how conservative the Feds are about navigable waterways, from bays to creeks. Just look at the craziness at the Portal Bridge on the Hack, where a barge coming through can snarl commuter trains carrying thousands. There's no way they would close the door on shipping taller than 50' ever using the entire Hudson, which is navigable up to Albany. As for your "just land it at the Oculus", have you actually looked a map and photos of that area? Snaking through the forest of buildings, and not passing over sacred Ground Zero would be quite a trick.

Just think how much free or subsidized ferry service could be provided for the tremendous cost of allowing a few fitness freaks to walk or pedal across the Hudson.

I'm looking out the window from my office at the occulus. (If I ever figured out how to post pictures on here, I'd show you!) I'm intimately familiar with the landscape of the area. You could run the tram/cc through Vesey street. It isn't going to be used for regular vehicular traffic again. You could land the cars at the SW corner of Greenwich and Vesey - across Greenwich from the Oculus. I could see concerns about needing to harden the freedom tower in the area the cable car passed by, but perhaps there is a solution. I really don't know.

So, because the portal bridge hasn't been addressed, all bridges everywhere can't be touched, built or otherwise thought about? I didn't suggest an specific height and said "I'm guessing." Unlike several of the resident experts here (I'll leave that to you to determine whether it applies), I don't spout off with firm expert opinions about things which I actually have just passing familiarity.

But... the google tells me that the low clearance up to Albany
is 134 feet at the Mid-Hudson Bridge at Poughkeepsie. (The new Tappan Zee bridge is only 139.) So right off the bat we've shaved 80+ feet from bodhipooh's pulled from a hat 215'. I'm sure further study by people who actually think about these things for a paycheck could determine how much lower you could go.

I'm all for ferries, tram/cable cars, and pedestrian/cycling infrastructure - all of the above. But to think "fitness freaks" are the only audience for a pedestrian/bike bridge misses the mark and to me is another symptom of the chronic obesity that plagues our country. Walking a mile and a half several times a week is the bare minimum of activity an adult should be getting. Fitness is not a reason I'd advocate for a bridge, but definitely a nice benefit.

As I said - such a bridge isn't something I'd expect to gain traction any time soon, but a President Bloomberg using revenue generated by a carbon tax? It would at least enter the realm of possible, were those events to transpire.

Posted on: 2019/1/16 17:47

Topic | Forum

T-Bird

Re: Would MTA be a better operator for PATH? And other ideas...

Home away from home

Quote:

bodhipooh wrote:

Cruise ships are not the only ships traveling on the Hudson! In recent years, the Hudson has become incredibly active with crude oil transportation. Crude oil is brought from North Dakota to NJ (to be refined) and it travels south from Albany to NJ via the Hudson. Additionally, there is other commercial shipping happening. As a result, any new bridge would have to comply with federally mandated regulations regarding clearance and such.

Didn't say there wasn't other shipping traffic, just that it wasn't tall. As i mentioned, I live on the waterfront - I see what's passing. There is no requirement that we organize our regional infrastructure around the desires of Carnival and Norwegian cruise lines.

As for crude oil (I'm in the oil business), the overwhelming majority of crude coming from the Bakken and Williston basins (ND and MT) was coming via rail, not barge. Now that Dakota Access has opened, almost half the crude produced there now leaves the basin via pipeline down to Illinois. As a result, crude transportation patterns have shifted considerably and Bayway is taking on a lot less Bakken crude than it used to.

I'm not against a cable car, per se. Would be interested to see if it could be built as part of, or in conjunction with, a bridge.

Posted on: 2019/1/16 14:12

Topic | Forum

T-Bird

Re: Would MTA be a better operator for PATH? And other ideas...

Home away from home

I live on the waterfront - I see the ship traffic. Other than cruise ships and the very occasional vintage tall ship it?s all low profile traffic, mostly barges. Whatever the clearance would need to be, it?s much less than what a cruise ship needs.

As for the last mile problem on the NYC side - you wouldn?t have to end it at the river bank. Run it across the west side highway and have the terminal convenient to the oculus for ease of connecting into the subway.

Posted on: 2019/1/16 11:51

Topic | Forum

T-Bird

Re: Would MTA be a better operator for PATH? And other ideas...

#10

Home away from home

Quote:

brewster wrote:
Bridge building is not easy, the history of collapses range from the recent ones in Italy and FL back to classical times. Have you ever seen the film of the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge due to wind resonance?

And ferries sink, subways occasionally crash, gondolas stop for hours at a time sometimes and even collapse now and then. What's your point?

The ramp length/height argument is a red herring, predicated on the belief that cruise ships need to be accommodated. They don't. That's the problem with you luddites - you only see things how they are. The cruise lines are private enterprises. Why would we allow their profitability to dictate infrastructure decisions, if we decided to go in that direction? To provide clearance for essential water traffic (I'm guessing here), you probably only need to get 60 or so feet above the water.

Estimates of usage are off as well - people well beyond downtown JC (or JC in general) would use it. A couple times a week, I ride to work. I live downtown and work at 7 WTC. I take the GW bridge - and there are a lot more people doing this than you'd expect. They come from throughout Hudson, Bergen and even Passaic counties. Not all are going downtown, obviously, but a bridge to downtown from JC would attract a wider population of riders.

Do I think this is a likely solution in the next decade? Unfortunately, no. It will happen at some point though, probably once we hit the point where there is a carbon tax or emissions trading system that would provide funding for projects like these. I agree with Dolomiti that the cost would be less than you think and that it would prove as or more cost effective than most/all of the other ideas, many of which require operating subsidies.

It would be interesting to look at whether the bridge and cable car ideas could be merged. Maybe you could share pilings in order to build both in a way that makes them each a lot more cost effective.

And Brewster - did you really mention the "eyesore factor" down thread (I think it was about cable cars)??? You live in Jersey City for god's sake.

Posted on: 2019/1/15 23:11

Topic | Forum

T-Bird

Re: Would MTA be a better operator for PATH? And other ideas...

#11

Home away from home

Here is an innovative idea from the 1930s - crazy to imagine it today, but fun to think of "what if"...

Posted on: 2019/1/7 17:51

Topic | Forum

T-Bird

Re: Tax Lien

#12

Home away from home

How many times, in how many slightly different ways, will this argument be had before JCList seizes up from too many people simultaneously banging their heads on their keyboards?

Posted on: 2018/12/3 23:52

Topic | Forum

T-Bird

Re: Leaving Jersey City Troll List

#13

Home away from home

Quote:

Monroe wrote:
Quote:

lefty55 wrote:
After years of using this site to connect with neighbors and find out what is going on in my neighborhood, I am leaving. This site has become nothing but a forum for angry trolls and a mean spirited webmaster. I find Nextdoor Paulus Hook to be what I had thought this site was supposed to be. Hope to see you all on a kinder more informed site. See ya.

Says the guy who happily sent me insulting PM?s, lol.

Says the guy who is easily one of the top three reasons this site is dying.

Posted on: 2018/11/16 18:21

Topic | Forum

T-Bird

Re: JC v Hudson County (debt)

#14

Home away from home

Quote:

Ralph_Abutts wrote:
Or one can let someone else do the heavy lifting, and refer to their bond rating...moody's, s&p...jc's rating is good.

A point I was about to make as well. Hudson County and Jersey City have the same Moody's rating - Aa3, which is a fairly strong rating. That's three notches above the state, six notches above Newark and only one notch below NYC.

Posted on: 2018/11/16 18:01

Topic | Forum

T-Bird

Re: Jersey City has big plans for 100 acres on West Side along Hackensack River

#15

Home away from home

Quote:

Yvonne wrote:
The reason for the upgrade - some old bonds were paid off.

Nope. From Moody's press release announcing the upgrade:

Rating Action: Moody's Upgrades Jersey City's GO to Aa3,
31 Oct 2016

New York, October 31, 2016 -- Summary Rating Rationale

Moody's Investors Service has upgraded to Aa3 from A1 the rating on Jersey City, NJ's outstanding General Obligation Unlimited Tax debt. Concurrently, Moody's has upgraded to A3 from Baa1 the enhanced rating on the city's MQBA enhanced debt. The underlying outlook remains stable while the enhanced rating carries the negative outlook attached to the MQBA program.

The upgrade to Aa3 reflects the city's rapidly growing, large and diverse tax base, satisfactory and improving finances, and manageable debt burden.

Debt went down very slightly in 2016 and, as you point out, is back up. According to Moody's updated research earlier this year, even at the higher levels there is no concern about the city's ability to repay its debt.

Quote:

In theory, if Fulop did not bond this year, our debt would have been reduced and taxes would have fallen.

Backwards. The debt has a very low interest rate and represents a small added burden on the city's finances. If new debt hadn't been incurred, the city would have had to pay for these expenses (setting aside the Bayfront borrowing, since that is a mortgage) out of general revenue. This would have meant higher taxes.

Obviously, people who actually look at these things for a living are not concerned about the city's debt level. They also understand that a $1 in the early '90's is not the same as a 2018 dollar.

Posted on: 2018/10/11 17:16

Topic | Forum

T-Bird

Re: Jersey City has big plans for 100 acres on West Side along Hackensack River

#16

Home away from home

Quote:

Yvonne wrote:
The city debt increased this year to an additional $170 million, plus $45 million bonded several months ago, $14.5 million for terminal leave. If you add an additional $100 million for tax refunds. That is an additional $329.5 million for 2018. The gross debt is already $650 million, bringing the debt well over $900 million. Then there is the loss of $170 million from the state for the schools. Forget about being the best midsize city in America, we will be the next Detroit who went bankrupt.

And yet, the bond rating agencies continue to upgrade Jersey City - Moody's having done so twice in the last four years. The current rating of Aa3 indicates a negligible chance of default.

This debt will be repaid when the city sells the land. Could they end up selling it for less than they are paying? Possible, but the amount at risk is a very small fraction of what is being borrowed and not the likely outcome.

Yes - numbers can be big and scary (and for some, confusing!) - especially when taken out of context.

Posted on: 2018/10/11 14:41

Topic | Forum

T-Bird

Re: Newark Avenue Pedestrian Plaza Expansion

#17

Home away from home

'For me, this is paradise': life in the Spanish city that banned cars

In Pontevedra, the usual soundtrack of a Spanish city has been replaced by the tweeting of birds and the chatter of humans

People don?t shout in Pontevedra ? or they shout less. With all but the most essential traffic banished, there are no revving engines or honking horns, no metallic snarl of motorbikes or the roar of people trying make themselves heard above the din ? none of the usual soundtrack of a Spanish city.

What you hear in the street instead are the tweeting of birds in the camellias, the tinkle of coffee spoons and the sound of human voices. Teachers herd crocodiles of small children across town without the constant fear that one of them will stray into traffic.

?Listen,? says the mayor, opening the windows of his office. From the street below rises the sound of human voices. ?Before I became mayor 14,000 cars passed along this street every day. More cars passed through the city in a day than there are people living here.?

Miguel Anxo Fern?ndez Lores has been mayor of the Galician city since 1999. His philosophy is simple: owning a car doesn?t give you the right to occupy the public space.

?How can it be that the elderly or children aren?t able to use the street because of cars?? asks C?sar Mosquera, the city?s head of infrastructures. ?How can it be that private property ? the car ? occupies the public space??

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/201 ... ty-banned-cars-pontevedra

Mayor Lores sounds like someone with vision who isn't afraid to think big.

Posted on: 2018/9/19 17:40

Topic | Forum

T-Bird

Re: Newport Half Marathon Newbie

#18

Home away from home

They really need to push this race back about a month. The last three years (at least) have had temps in the mid to high 70s at the start and 80% to 100% humidity. If they did it mid-October, you'd almost certainly get much more favorable conditions.

Posted on: 2018/9/18 1:52

Topic | Forum

T-Bird

Re: Okay, so who here thinks the Katyn monument needs to go?

#19

Home away from home

Quote:

TheBigGuy wrote:
We need a local issue draw out the mid-term election voters in November.

And the Katyn monument is that issue? That is one steaming hot take, my friend.

Are you sure you want to drive up turnout locally? Guessing from previous citations of Alex Jones, I'd think you are looking for the other six JC republicans to show up. Probably more of the folks who turn out to vote no on Katyn are angry with Fulop from the left than the right.

Posted on: 2018/8/17 13:08

Topic | Forum

T-Bird

Re: Sweeney proposes slapping payroll tax on Jersey City businesses to fund schools

#20

Home away from home

I guess those vaunted NJ suburban schools failed you. Again, the subject is Sweeney.

Go over to the Abbot thread and rub yourself blind.

Posted on: 2018/6/4 16:07

Topic | Forum

T-Bird

Re: Sweeney proposes slapping payroll tax on Jersey City businesses to fund schools

#21

Home away from home

Quote:

Monroe wrote:
The thread is about JC looking for more ways to avoid self funding it own school children's education.

Holy shit. Here is the title of the thread:

"Sweeney proposes slapping payroll tax on Jersey City businesses to fund schools"

It's literally (the most overused word of the decade, but made for this particular sentence) about the president of the senate suggesting a payroll tax.

Subject: Sweeney
Verb: proposes
Object: tax

There is a thread just a few down from this one:

"Will Jersey City and Hoboken ever lose Abbott District Status?" for your school funding circle jerk.

Posted on: 2018/6/4 15:42

Topic | Forum

T-Bird

Re: Sweeney proposes slapping payroll tax on Jersey City businesses to fund schools

#22

Home away from home

That may be what you are choosing to talk about. Bodhipooh was responding to Brewster's comment about non-resident employees working in Jersey City - which, in fact, is what the thread is about.

You are free to try to hijack every thread to fit your agenda, as you often do. We don't have to play along.

Quote:

Monroe wrote:
Quote:

T-Bird wrote:
Untrue. People working here but living outside JC could choose to work elsewhere. Or they could move to JC. They do have choices. They may not like them, but they have them.

Quote:

bodhipooh wrote: I dont think the sales tax analogy is an apt one: you can *choose* not to shop in NYC and instead take your money elsewhere. And, that's exactly the point: non JC residents lack that choice when it comes to their money and its "transfer" to the city's coffers.

To the school funding issue we're talking about, non-residents don't have a choice over the redistribution of tax money for schools. Trenton takes into account what it feels is the ability of each town to self fund their own schools, and gives much less back to affluent towns, more to others, and an obscene amount to Abbott districts. I guess someone from, say, Mendham could 'choose' to move to East Orange, but that's not really a choice, is it?

Posted on: 2018/6/4 15:06

Topic | Forum

T-Bird

Re: Sweeney proposes slapping payroll tax on Jersey City businesses to fund schools

#23

Home away from home

Untrue. People working here but living outside JC could choose to work elsewhere. Or they could move to JC. They do have choices. They may not like them, but they have them.

Quote:

bodhipooh wrote: I dont think the sales tax analogy is an apt one: you can *choose* not to shop in NYC and instead take your money elsewhere. And, that's exactly the point: non JC residents lack that choice when it comes to their money and its "transfer" to the city's coffers.

Posted on: 2018/6/4 14:51

Topic | Forum

T-Bird

Re: Jersey City LIVE Falcon Camera - 101 Hudson Street

#24

Home away from home

Quote:

jerseymom wrote:
Very cool update on "Junior" - the little eyas that was born in the JC nest:

https://exit63.wordpress.com/2018/05/22/junior-goes-to-sedge/

What a great story!

Thanks for posting that. What a great story!

Posted on: 2018/5/28 21:13

Topic | Forum

T-Bird

Re: Citi Bike

#25

Home away from home

Similar problem in much of downtown. They seem to manage the Grove St. and Exchange Place stations okay for the most part, but the redistribution of bikes elsewhere is very inconsistent - both in volume and timing. I used to see the bike van at the station across the street from my building at least a couple times a week - I don't think I've seen it since at least last summer.

The station by the Paulus Hook ferry terminal is too small and seems to be unmanaged. The fifteen or so spaces fill up in the morning before 8 and empty out in the evening by 6. For the price they charge, it wouldn't be too much to expect either a significantly larger station there (plenty of room for it) or active management of the bikes.

Posted on: 2018/4/24 14:24

Topic | Forum

T-Bird

Re: Group wants new highway leading to Jersey City Waterfront

#26

Home away from home

What point exactly was that? That it's better to pay for a third (or, more likely, half) of a $30 billion project than it is to pay for the majority of an $8.5 billion - or even $10 billion project? Pissing away ten years on the hope he could prove he was a tough guy worthy of votes in Iowa and NH is something we'll all be paying for with higher taxes for a long time to come.

Quote:

Monroe wrote:
The main reason Gov Christie killed the tunnel is simple. NJ would have solely responsible to pay for the inevitable multi billion dollar cost overruns. NY, the Feds, the PA would not be responsible for a penny. It was a suckers deal, and he was right to flush it. The most recent proposal is much more equitable, proving his point.

Posted on: 2018/4/10 19:24

Topic | Forum

T-Bird

Re: Jersey City Council to introduce $587 million budget with zero tax increase

#27

Home away from home

Take a breath and re-read. It's not at all like the analogy you pose. He directly benefits from something he's identified as not only wrong but harming others. Yes, he should by all means advocate for a fix and try to effect change. But:

1) other than burping on here about it six times a day, I don't think he's really trying to do anything.

2) He doesn't believe things are changeable here (he constantly drones on about how local democratic rule prevents anything good from happening, ever.)

3.) The analogous people to whom you refer aren't benefiting from Trump's policies. They are working to change things that are harmful, either to themselves or others.

Quote:

bodhipooh wrote:

What? By that logic, all liberals are more morally compromised than conservatives, and all should leave the country, instead of actively opposing the president and the policies they find morally abhorrent.

Posted on: 2018/3/20 18:17

Topic | Forum

T-Bird

Re: Jersey City Council to introduce $587 million budget with zero tax increase

#28

Home away from home

Your one note opera rings a little flat here. How is that fact different than when he took over? It isn't. The point is, he has improved services while holding taxes flat over an extended period of time.

Frankly, I find you even more morally compromised than those you accuse. You truly believe this is a problem and continue to benefit from it. If it bothered you so much you would, at a minimum, leave.

Quote:

Monroe wrote:
What tune would he be singing if he wasn't getting a half billion a year from suburban taxpayers to pay for his schools??

Posted on: 2018/3/20 13:44

Topic | Forum

T-Bird

Re: 'Porch pirate' charged with snatching bait package, throws fit at court appearance

#29

Home away from home

Another problem with three strikes laws is that law enforcement can be arbitrary. Low level felony offenses often have disparate arrest rates among various demographic and geographic categories. Some people with three strikes may have done nothing different than someone else who never even received their first strike.

Posted on: 2018/3/8 17:35

Topic | Forum

T-Bird

Re: New Tax Rate is Insane!

#30

Home away from home

No relation. But facts never get in the way when MonHannity gets going. His little nicknames are so cute - my daughter used to do that when she was seven.

Quote:

Dolomiti wrote:
Quote:

Monroe wrote:
Florio, Kenney and Raval-can we assume 'Florio' is Jim 'fillm flam' Florio, who is also a partner behind the group developing Canal Crossing in Greenville/BeLa?

We should not.

Apparently it's a man by the name of Edward J Florio.
http://www.fkrlaw.com/edward-j-florio/

I don't know who the guy is, or if he's related to any other Florios in NJ, but he has no apparent connection to Canal Crossing. From what I can tell, he's just an attorney.

Posted on: 2018/3/6 15:34

Topic | Forum

Top

(1) 2 3 4 ... 50 »