GrovePath wrote:
Council moves to defer $14.8 million in pension payments

by Amy Sara Clark / The Jersey Journal
Wednesday March 25, 2009

"The pension program was unfunded for years during the Whitman and McGreevey administrations, and now in the time of the new Great Depression we're deferring only 50 percent," he said. "We fully-funded the pension program for the past three years. For every dollar we contribute to the plan, we only get back 70 cents. This is something that mayors and county leaders across the state have asked for and feel is critical due to the current economic situation our state and our nation face."

shakatah wrote:
State: JC, $10 is needed to pay for your schools. Based on your current property values you should be able to raise $8, we'll pay the remaining $2.

JC: State, $10 is needed to fund my schools. I can raise $5.

State: Your current property values suggest you can raise $8. Your schools need $10. We are paying $2. Raise the rest on your own.

JC: State is forcing me to raise taxes.

And the 800 pound gorilla in the room is the city's ill-conceived tax policy (abatement heavy and many decade+ property valuations).

This is just the beginning...

npcityjc wrote:


Shakatah, who's to blame for this then? Healy?, the school board?

....

K-Lo wrote:
Unfortunately, the pipes from your house to the city lines are your responsibility. We had to hire a plumber to dig under the sidewalk and the street when our sewar pipe cracked.

Christine wrote:
Stimpy55 and Freedom:

Send me a PM with an email address and I'll email it to you directly. In the interim I'll try to figure out how to post it to this thread directly.

hudsonhorizons wrote:
Quote:

regulator wrote:
am i missing something? the central ave (and adjacent streets, like palisade) have gotten 100% better since the time i was growing up (so roughly 15 years, which is the same timeframe as the OP was referring to). was this a serious post, or another tongue-in-cheek typical jclist post?

Election season is picking up full-swing. May will be here before you know it. Yawn.

Yvonne wrote:
Inequities already exists, Public housing had a deal written in which they could exclude utilities and water before they gave any money to the city, as water and utilities increase, public housing gave nothing. Rent-control is fixed by law. It is between 3 to 4 percent a year. Only, the 1-4 housing is paying the freight for the city. Property taxes are services that everyone uses. If you pay a state income tax, then you should pay a city income tax. Everyone wants new parks, charter schools, etc. We even voted several years ago to have a tax on the county level for open space. But only the 1-4 homeowner is paying more tax dollars for the open space. Where is the fairness?
Yvonne

Yvonne wrote:
I went up $577.00 since the last quarter. These are estimated tax bills, in theory I could pay $2300 more than last year. Rent-control properties according to city law can only go up 4% this year. Forget property taxes, eveyone should pay an income tax.
Yvonne

ianmac47 wrote:
I think 1 and 2 bedroom units are going to be the hardest hit in rental price. Professional couples will probably downsize into something smaller, either going from a 1 bed to a studio or from a 2 bed to a 1 bed, to save money. At the same time I suspect a lot of renters with decreased incomes will give up living alone and take on roommates; units with 3 or more bedrooms will offer the most savings, splitting rent and utilities between 3 or more people being the cheapest option. (also, as an aside, if you are paying $1,800 for a 1 bedroom downtown brownstone you are over paying).

GeorgeWBush wrote:
Quote:

shakatah wrote:
Not nostalgic for seedy Times Square but many of the ethnic neighborhoods are disappearing and being able to visit many parts of the world without leaving NYC has always been something that you could only experience here. As the distinctive neighborhoods disappear, so does the character of NYC.

I appreciate the sentiment here, but it's a little self-absorbed. I would argue that integration of ethnic groups into American society has been an enormous boon, both to the groups & to the country.

Irish & Polish & Jewish & Italian and on and on. Now Puerto Rican and Dominican and Southeastern and on and on. Eventually everyone spreads out & integrates- if not the new immigrants than their kids. They keep what's good from their homes, leave behind what's bad, and off we go.

Leaving someone in a ghetto (and I use the word in the classic sense) or hoping that they stay there, whether because you want to "contain" them or because you dig the food in the long run is not healthy.

Not saying that you're suggesting that, but I can only view the deterioration of ethnic enclaves positively.

Besides, now you can get authentic Polish cooking in the burbs. Today, pierogis & kiebasi, tomorrow, real tikka masala & empanadas!

That said, this article is hysterical, also in the classic sense. I wonder how long the folks interviewed that live in alphabet city have lived there. Probably since 2005.

And are squeegee men really back?? Any independent confirmation of this from anyone here? I certainly haven't seen any.

GWB

stani wrote:
Quote:

shakatah wrote:
Not nostalgic for seedy Times Square but many of the ethnic neighborhoods are disappearing and being able to visit many parts of the world without leaving NYC has always been something that you could only experience here. As the distinctive neighborhoods disappear, so does the character of NYC.

The neighborhoods you speak of are alive and well in Queens and parts of Brooklyn, all a short subway ride away. And let's not forget the diversity in our own fair city.

change wrote:
Anyone know what the process is for getting an abatement and reassessed?

Jeebus wrote:
If the guy's taxes went from $16K to $21K that's a 31% increase, not a 47% increase.