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Re: Liberty Science Center begs Jersey City for $2.5M - Fulop: 'Bailout' by city would set bad prece
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Except that, it is my understanding that the lion's share of these jobs held are part-time with no benefits. The rest are among the lower paid jobs at the LSC that typically get pink-slipped whenever there are budget cutbacks. You see, LSC always seems to have the money to pay their $100,000+ Vice Presidents, but when times are tight, money to pay the $30,000 salaries is nowhere to be found. Note that my understanding of the 100 Jersey City residents employed by LSC is purely based on hearsay. I can't readily back it up and I don't have access to LSC's payroll records. But I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard to prove if we all made visits down there different days of the week and started surveying some of the peoples to get a representative sampling of the LSC's workforce, we'd have something to go on. You know, while I'm glad all these facts and opinions about LSC are being brought to light - people need to know these things - this thread is kind of boring. Nobody has stepped up to defend LSC. There's no arguing, no debate here which always makes for more entertaining reading. But then again, what does that say about LSC?
Posted on: 2008/12/16 2:00
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Re: Liberty Science Center begs Jersey City for $2.5M - Fulop: 'Bailout' by city would set bad prece
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A mismanaged joke of an institution that probably should have never been built, and us local taxpayers who already pay enough property taxes, have to pay to prop up the damn place. Keep collecting your $310,000 a year Mr. Koster, and enjoy all the other perks they give you! I have sent a letter to the museum outlining my outrage over this bailout, and cc'd it to the at-large members of city council who voted for this pork-barrel expenditure.
Posted on: 2008/12/15 1:37
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Re: Can anyone in local goverment hold thier drink (Lipski this time)?
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These politicians of Jersey City are an embarrassment, in this order:
Jeremiah Healy, Willie Flood, Kabili Tayiri and Steve Lipski. The sad thing is, I believe that most of our local politicians (including the ones mentioned above) are intelligent people with good intentions. If they could just keep their ethics in check they could do so much for this great city with so much potential. I am tired of reading about Jersey City in the local news for the wrong reasons. Let's not forget about Steve Lipski's other antics with the state electoral commission, and the "loan to himself", $175,081.00 reasons Steve Lipski should be in jail and have his charter school revoked! _____________________________________________ This subpoena business brings to mind Councilman Steve Lipski's relationship with Hyman and his love for numbers. On Thursday, Lipski said he knew nothing about the federal prosecutor's request. He said all that business happened before he decided to run for mayor in 2004 in a special election in November. Hyman played a role in Lipski's run for the city's top spot. The problem is that Lipski's state ELEC reports on his campaign finances, where Hyman is mentioned, is tough to understand, confusing. He filed the financial reports in January 2008. Lipski said he was reminded of his legal obligation at a City Council caucus when Downtown Councilman Steven Fulop told him he was tired of waiting to see his reports. Lipski tried to explain their contents. I ask: "Well, what about this $75,873 which is listed under outstanding obligation column and is categorized as a refund due of excessive contribution? The creditor is listed as Steven Hyman." Lipski said he had to pay his political media consultant Sheinkopt Ltd. of New York, which supposedly came up with that cute ad attacking then-mayoral candidate Louis Manzo using hooded KKK figures. "I had to pay him in advance," said Lipski of the consultant. He said he had a running tab with an outfit called Platinum Design, owned by Hyman's wife Vickie, which Lipski said provided him with literature for mailers. "Well, Hyman paid Sheinkopt and Sheinkopt paid it back to us, and because Vickie was closing down her business and wanted to close the books, we paid her," he said, confusing me further. Presumably, this is why Sheinkopt Ltd. is listed under refunded disbursements as having paid back that same $75,873 to Lipski. Let's forget all that. What about this $43,000 loan that you made to yourself on Nov. 4, 2004? "Tell me about it," said Lipski. "I'm still paying that back." Ba-da-boom!
Posted on: 2008/12/1 2:33
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Re: Liberty Science Center begs Jersey City for $2.5M - Fulop: \'Bailout\' by city would set bad precedent
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I just looked at Liberty Science Center's tax returns - available at www.guidestar.org (you have to give them your email address and then you can log in and view tax returns of almost any non-profit large enough to be required to file one), and I found a lot rather substantial expenses that could more than make up for this $2.5 million shortfall. Let\'s start with the seven vice presidents, each making more than $110,000/year, except for one making $40,000 (perhaps because they started later in the year), and CEO Koster making $310,000. Not saying that some of them aren\'t worth it but do we really need 7 vice presidents all making six figure salaries?
Apparently in 2006, LSC took four students and two teachers to NASA Headquarters in Houston, TX for ten days - that couldn\'t have been cheap. Their tax returns appear to have been prepared by KPMG, a Big 4 accounting firm. The Big 4 accounting firms by and large have the highest hourly billing rates - according to the return they paid $65,000 in accounting fees. Seems like a museum that is just one location is not that complicated of an operation and has no need to use a Big 4 accounting firm, a smaller local firm that charges lower rates would do just fine. It would appear they shelled out more than $110,000 in legal fees to Pitney Hardin law firm, which I know is one of those white-shoe firms that charges hundreds of dollars per hour and serves mostly mid-sized to large corporations as well as ultra-wealth individuals who need estate planning work done (although maybe they provided them a lower hourly billing rate because LSC is a non-profit). A relatively simple operation like the LSC would do just fine using a Jersey City or Hoboken firm with lower hourly billing rates - how many legal issues can they possibly run into other than the usual slip-and-falls on their floors or some idiotic visitor who decides to stick his hand in the shark tank? $128,000 on travel expenses and $32,000 on conferences. Some of that could be cut back - it's a museum, in one place, what kind of travel do you really need to do? Then think about cutting back your outrageous ticket prices and parking charges - typical family of four (two adults, two children) ends up spending around $60 when you factor in the parking charge, and that doesn't even include admission to the IMAX! Cheaper than a ballgame or a day at Six Flags, yes, but sorry LSC, you are a museum and people aren't willing to pay as much especially when there are other museums in the area charging less. Like somebody else said, they should consider having some free admission days to generate interest in the center - people who come for free one day might return as a paying guest on another. I can see why this place managed to piss off a lot of its corporate sponsors.
Posted on: 2008/11/27 5:33
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Re: ‘The Donald’ strikes again in Jersey City - Council considers naming street for Trump
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They've managed to do something right - for once. Whose dumb idea was this anyway? Unless "The Donald" was giving money to Jersey City in exchange for the advertising, this has to be one of the dumbest proposals I've ever seen.
Posted on: 2008/11/26 19:00
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Re: Liberty Science Center begs Jersey City for $2.5M - Fulop: 'Bailout' by city would set bad precedent
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This whole thing is just appalling but I am glad that Fulop is my councilmember who doesn't have that herd mentality and just vote how everyone else is voting. 7-1 vote?
I can't believe it. Of course because this is a "loan" (how and whether it gets repaid is another matter), the money given to LSC won't be counted as an expenditure in the city budget so it won't affect their stated deficit. But it will add to the serious cash flow problems this city already has. Why was LSC ever asking Jersey City for the money anyway? Shouldn't they be asking the state instead? Since when do cities of our size fund museums?
Posted on: 2008/11/26 16:59
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Re: Can anyone in local goverment hold thier drink (Lipski this time)?
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Oh, but if you hang out in the parking lot out back where they have the reserved spaces for councilmembers, you can confront them there, with cameras if you like, I know Arnold Diaz from Fox 5 did to Willie Flood, but it doesn't mean they'll answer your questions, as indicated by Willie Flood's complete lack of response to Arnold Diaz's questions.
Posted on: 2008/11/26 15:08
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Re: Liberty Science Center begs Jersey City for $2.5M - Fulop: 'Bailout' by city would set bad precedent
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Well, did the bailout/loan get approved at tonight's council meeting? I would have liked to have been at the meeting but didn't make it.
If there are really people there making close to $350,000/year, how do I get a job there? Oh and why on earth do they need 7 vice presidents? It's a freakin' museum, and really not that big of one when compared to a lot of other science museums!
Posted on: 2008/11/26 3:47
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Re: Can anyone in local goverment hold thier drink (Lipski this time)?
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I see. Anyone know what came of that meeting? Does the Create Charter Board of Trustees have its own opinion about the issue or are they just another toothless, rubber-stamping entity that holds little if any real power over the school?
Posted on: 2008/11/26 3:40
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Re: Can anyone in local goverment hold thier drink (Lipski this time)?
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Well I went to the city council caucus tonight, although I didn't get there until after 8pm. No sign of Lipski, and I was told later he left early. Guess he wanted to avoid the reporters and constituents coming up to him when the meeting ended. Or maybe he had an AA meeting to go to.
Posted on: 2008/11/25 3:42
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Re: Can anyone in local goverment hold thier drink (Lipski this time)?
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I really want to be at the next meeting, and perhaps calling the state would be a good idea. Lipski may have done a lot of tireless work to found Create Charter, but he also gets paid $105,000+ to run it, he's not doing it purely out of the goodness of his heart, even if his biography on the City Council website indicates as such. If I knew how to tap into the state tax dollars like that, perhaps I would do the same. There are a lot of small businesses you can start that involve the same amount of effort and sleepless nights, but it is highly unlikely you will net $105,000 in your first year. And chances are you're either investing your own money or using a bank loan that you are personally liable for.
Posted on: 2008/11/24 5:18
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Re: Can anyone in local goverment hold thier drink (Lipski this time)?
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[quote]
mwa7368 wrote: I say who cares if you are, you should wear a tape recorder and Lipski's friends, if he has any left, can threaten you all they want and you can play it for the media and the lame a$$ story can stay alive. [quote] Not a bad idea, now that you mention it. I'm still waiting for a letter or threatening phone call where one of his "people" will tell me to STFU. I won't, so what if the truth hurts, until Mr. Lipski resigns from Create Charter.
Posted on: 2008/11/24 0:08
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Re: Can anyone in local goverment hold thier drink (Lipski this time)?
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Well, double standards in Jersey City government are hardly anything new... I do not want this story to die. Hopefully it can be kept alive long enough until Mr. Lipski has to go to court in DC in January. If I speak at a city council meeting like this, will I be threatened by Mr. Lipski's friends on the police force or elsehwhere?
Posted on: 2008/11/22 21:08
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Re: Can anyone in local goverment hold thier drink (Lipski this time)?
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I have called the city council and Create Charter School about this, and left messages. To this date, no response from either. I guess they're waiting for me to just go away.
Posted on: 2008/11/22 2:22
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Re: Can anyone in local goverment hold thier drink (Lipski this time)?
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I have no doubt in my mind that these kids were either hand-picked, didn't know the implcations of what they were doing or the entire scene was merely orchestrated, as the editor of the article seems to indicate (after all, Mr. Lipski knew the reporter was coming to the school).
Posted on: 2008/11/20 3:51
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Re: Can anyone in local goverment hold thier drink (Lipski this time)?
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I really hope this story doesn't die in the press. I have nothing personal against Mr. Lipski, but he had the misfortune of being the fourth Jersey City politician this year to make headlines in the Star-Ledge for all the wrong reasons and I'm sick of it.
If I speak about this during the open mike at the next council meeting, will I be assaulted by Mr. Lipski's security detail?
Posted on: 2008/11/19 4:00
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Re: Can anyone in local goverment hold thier drink (Lipski this time)?
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I vote, every election, even school board elections, but I don't live in Lipski's ward, which is too bad, because I know I'd be voting against him. I'd write in Donald Duck if I had to.
Posted on: 2008/11/18 4:21
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Re: Can anyone in local goverment hold thier drink (Lipski this time)?
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Well no one seems to disagree with that, but we all know that's unlikely to happen. You know what further disgusts me? Nobody at the public relations level in the various offices I've called will have anything to say about this and all they do is refer me to someone else. In Lipski's office, they don't even pick up the phone but that's to be expected. Mayor Healy's press office has said, well this is a serious matter but they believe Lipski can get through it, and I should really talk to the City Council President's (Vega's) press aide about it. I spoke with City Council President Vega's press aide and she would not speak about it and said that somebody else will call me back about it. No one, as of yet, has gotten back to me. Of course, it was Friday afternoon when I called, perhaps they were busy, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. I do not want this story to die. Mayor Healy's, Councilmember Flood's and Deputy Mayor Tayiri's antics may be considered ancient history by now and maybe they'll even get away with what they did, but Lipski was the straw that broke the camel's back and I'm just sick of it. The high property taxes are something I can accept in a city that is expensive to run but the politicians who abuse their positions is something I can't. Where is the accountability in one of New Jersey's largest cities? Why do we have to live with this corruption?
Posted on: 2008/11/17 7:37
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Re: Can anyone in local goverment hold thier drink (Lipski this time)?
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Well maybe it won't be necessary for him to tender his resignation at Create Charter - the place might get shut down by the state if it doesn't seriously turn around. $105,000 to run your own non-profit built mostly with state tax dollars and where you get to run your own show? Nice. I guess I'm in the wrong business.
Posted on: 2008/11/14 5:14
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Re: Latest Lipski shocker: Councilman was busted for DUI after another 'Dead Head' tribute concert -
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Well, considering what Ted Kennedy has gotten away with, I guess Mr. Lipski's behavior is fairly tame. Of course, Ted Kennedy doesn't run a high school and never did.
Posted on: 2008/11/14 4:11
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Re: Can anyone in local goverment hold thier drink (Lipski this time)?
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I have some PERSPECTIVE which I've had from my very first post about this. We all know that Lipski has said he won't resign his council seat and I never expected him to. His term ends in about 7 months and people will remember this. They have the choice to vote him out. No doubt the would-be opposition is coming up with a lot of creative slogans already. Nor can Healy make him resign even if he wanted him to - a formal recall petition is required for that and it is unlikely that anybody, least of all Mayor Healy, wants to go to the trouble of organizing that. What I've been talking about from the getgo here is Lipski's other job - Executive Director of Create Charter High School - a PUBLICLY FUNDED high school, I might add, where he is supposed to be a role model for the students attending there (if it was a private high school it would be entirely in the hands of the school's board of directors and I wouldn't care so much because its not my money anyway). Why do my tax dollars have to pay somebody to run a school who, in my mind, is an extremely poor role model for the teenagers attending it? Lipski has not said anything about whether he will be leaving his post at this school but it doesn't look like anything has changed, nor have we heard anything about Create Charter's trustees having any kind of special meeting. Lipski can be voted out of his council seat. He can't be voted out of this position at a public school paid for with your and my tax dollars.
Posted on: 2008/11/14 1:36
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Re: Can anyone in local goverment hold thier drink (Lipski this time)?
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So I see the news whole report on the local CBS news in the middle of the day today, really just a repeat of what is already reported in the Jersey Journal, and Mr. Lipski has indicated he will not resign his city council position because the act was not "morally reprehensible" but said nothing about his position at Create Charter High School. Has their Board of Trustees held any kind of meeting about this? anyone know?
Furthermore, I hope Mr. Lipski gets sued by the people who got pissed on. What kind of monetary damages they can claim, I don't know but at least it will require Mr. Lipski to go down to DC again to deal with that, further wasting his time. I hope he is taught a lesson.
Posted on: 2008/11/11 23:05
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Re: Can anyone in local goverment hold thier drink (Lipski this time)?
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Well it doesn't look like anything has been done over at Create Charter High School, where Mr. Lipski continues to preside. Does anyone have any inside information on this?
Posted on: 2008/11/11 16:35
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Re: Can anyone in local goverment hold thier drink (Lipski this time)?
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That all may be true, but he should have thought about that before he decided to drink in public. Furthermore, as an elected official he has a higher standard to live up to and maybe should have considered never drinking in the first place. I do enjoy the occasional glass of wine or beer but the fact is I often go weeks, sometimes months without any alcohol and if a doctor told me I could not drink for the rest of my life, I would do just fine.
Posted on: 2008/11/11 4:37
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Re: Can anyone in local goverment hold thier drink (Lipski this time)?
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Well, this headline from gawker.com is pretty good:
------------------------------------------------------------------- Hero Jersey Pol Pisses Off DC When does America care about a Jersey City Councilman? When a Jersey City Councilman urinates on people in Washington, DC. Steven Lipski was arrested in our nation's capital this weekend, because he went to the 9:30 Club... http://gawker.com/5082120/hero-jersey-pol-pisses-off-dc
Posted on: 2008/11/11 2:24
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Re: Can anyone in local goverment hold thier drink (Lipski this time)?
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Was anyone on this board at tonight's council meeting? I wanted to be there but got home too late from work.
Even if he has owned up to what he did, that doesn't excuse it. If he wants to remain our "friend and humble public servant" that's fine... he can always be voted out of his council seat but it is disgraceful for him to remain Executive Director of a public high school. Its like it sends a message to high school kids that it's all right to be drunk in public and pee on people. Very poor role model. If Mr. Lipski is truly sorry for what he did, he will resign from the charter school. I don't care if he founded it. For those people defending Mr. Lipski along the lines of "he's human, he makes mistakes" and "this could happen to anybody", you may be right but not every human is a politician. Politicians, whose salaries and expenses are paid out of our tax dollars and are meant to be leaders of the community, need to be held to a higher standard than the general population. Why hasn't anyone stated the obvious yet? Probably because it may never happen in Jersey City. I want to keep this story alive for as long as possible. I'm sick of this crap - first, it's Mayor Healy's incident in Bradley Beach, then Willie Flood and her drug-dealing son, then Kabili Tayiri and the rental car and now Mr. Lipski - where does it end?
Posted on: 2008/11/11 1:43
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Re: JC Councilman arrested for Urinating on a Concert Crowd
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Hey I've been to that club! It's such a cool place, been to a few concerts there back in my younger days when I lived in DC (and yes, I used their regular bathroom, on the lower level, when I had to go).
Does this ever end? First it's Mayor Healy, then Deputy Mayor Kabili Tayiri, then councilmember Willie Flood's son, and now this. What charter school does he run, anyway? Perhaps the board of that school would like to hear about it.
Posted on: 2008/11/10 2:37
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Re: Extremely dangerous and irresponsible conduct of PATH train service Halloween night 2008
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Know what kills me with regard to the PATH? Its own employees don't even know where things are in the very stations in which they work. What a joke. I was getting back into Penn Station Thursday night with a lot of luggage, having just gotten off Amtrak. I decided to take the E train from Penn down to WTC and the catch the PATH home there. Going up the flight of stairs from the subway wasn't fun, but manageable. Then I got over to the PATH station and took the elevator down to where the turnstiles are (convenient when you have luggage). As I was about to go through the turnstile, there were three PATH employees chatting away, doing very little of course, and I stopped to ask them if there was an elevator in the WTC station that goes down to the platform. One guy automatically shook his head no. The other guy said, oh, I think there's one way at the back of the station that takes you way to the back of the platform, but it's iffy, doesn't always work. So I walked way to the back of the station, lo and behold, there was a working elevator, with another employee sitting next to it doing nothing, who let me take it. I told him that the employees at the other end of the station don't seem to know this elevator is here, you might want to educate them, as I just learned something today. He just laughed.
The Port Authority might not like operating the PATH, but since when was the Port Authority like a regular business? They are a public service and should do the jobs they are responsible for doing, like it or not. There are a lot of things I don't like about my job, but I still get up every day and do them.
Posted on: 2008/11/3 3:32
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Re: Steve Fulop
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Ditto to all the positive comments about Steve Fulop. He was the only one on the city council who had the guts to vote against At-Large Member Willie Flood hiring her drug dealing son to a taxpayer-funded job at her office.
He is usually quick to respond to my emails and helped me out with my issues at the Office of Construction Code Official - finally got my building permit! If he runs for mayor, he has my vote, particularly if he can clean up the Office of Construction Code Official - at least get them to pick up the phone!
Posted on: 2008/11/1 3:01
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Re: Is it me or is an elevator missing at Grove Path??
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I really hope the lawsuit is successful. I'm not confined to a wheelchair but it would be nice not to have to carry my suitcase up the stairs when I'm coming back from an out of town trip. How expensive could it have been to install elevators in the east entrance? I don't think it would mean any more digging up of the street. In any case, the problem is that the Port Authority, being a two-state agency is not under the control of any one single government hence they are responsible to no one. I am certain this is why they get away with crap like this. This is why I despise agencies like theirs - the Washington Metro Transit Authority that manages the metrorail and bus systems in the Washington,DC area (operating in DC, MD and VA) is no better although I believe all of their rail stations have elevators. I am certain that the Metro Transit Authority (MTA) in NYC since they are under both the city and neighboring county governments gets away with corrupt actions but to a lesser extent since they are entirely in NY.
Posted on: 2008/10/8 5:28
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