As both the mall and the neighborhood around it morph to change with the current demographics living there, I think you will eventually see a shift in the way the acreage is used here. Newport remains a very suburban-style center dropped into the middle of an urban grid... it's never really fit in well, obviously. Eventually I think you might see an outdoor component along Marin that embraces the Hamilton Park area and integrates the community better, they'll just tear down the deck, put in front-facing retail, and build the deck higher on top of new retail.

Probably not the smartest idea to BBQ on all of that dead grass. The whole peninsula is a tinderbox right now. I was waiting for the whole park to become a wildfire. Is Dancing Tony in the "Hey, It's Jersey City" videos?

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Not only is the station further on the map, but you actually have to walk 2 blocks past it to enter, then walk back those 2 blocks on that ramp. I never use that stop except when I'm too injured to shlep my bike down the grove stairs and go there for the elevators.

Thanks for forwarding.

Somewhat amusing (or disheartening) that a plea for better education for JC itself falls prey to affect/effect confusion. I signed the petition.

Below is an email message I received from Councilman Fulop on this issue:

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I am disheartened to see, all too often, that the decisions being made in Jersey City are based purely off of politics, which clearly has an adverse affect on our schools and our taxes.

Please take a minute to sign the petition to have the Governor and Education Commissioner overturn the Board of Education's illegal vote to extend the superintendent's contract. We have a chance to be heard and I hope you take a second to read the below email since it has a significant impact on our city.

What happened?

On June 22, the Jersey City Board of Education voted to extend the current Jersey City Public School Superintendent?s contract to 2013. They held this vote at what was essentially a CLOSED DOOR MEETING with NO GENUINE ATTEMPT TO NOTIFY THE PUBLIC thereby making the opportunity for public participation impossible.

I am saddened by this blatant attempt to subvert the public process, and disappointed in the Board of Education for continuing to resort to status quo Jersey City politics, where big decisions that affect your schools and taxes are made to benefit the few at the expense of the many.

At the meeting it was pointed out their actions may have been illegal. New Jersey State Law 18A:11-11 mandates that:
?a board of education can not in any way take action on a superintendent?s contract unless notice is provided to the public at least 30 days prior.?

?the board [of education] must hold a public meeting and give 10 days notice of that meeting.?


Why did the Board of Education hold this meeting without proper public notification? What are they trying to hide from YOU ? the taxpayer?

Here are the facts:
Superintendent Epps? current contract is worth over $250,000 in salary and housing allowance. The current contract includes NO benchmarks, NO performance standards and NO specific reporting requirements. 35 out of 40 Jersey City schools are on the state's list of failing schools-- 14 of them for the third year or more.


What can you do?
Demand better results by signing this petition to Governor Chris Christie and Commissioner Brett Schundler asking them to overturn the vote to extend the Jersey City Public School Superintendent?s contract and to hold a national search for the best-qualified candidate.

Please take a minute to sign this petition located at http://www.rrupt.com/software2/customer/stevenfulop/survey/BOE.php and forward to all your friends in Jersey City. You should determine who will manage this $619 million budget and you should demand results.

people who drive don't all try to run people down. I let people cross when they are in the cross walk. there are terrible drivers it is a fact of life. i walk, bike, and drive to work depending on the day and i don't get almost run down. you need to consider what street you are crossing.

people in jc are way to obsessed with pedestrian's rights. use common sense and you will not get hit by a car.

I lived in Hamilton Park for 2 years and now I live in the Village.
Each location is .5 miles from grove street.(yes i googled it to see which was closer) When i was in Hamilton Park it was .75 miles to Pavonia. Mall or no mall why would you walk father to get on a more crowded train... That makes no sense.

Most of us are the reason that these places are being gentrified so stop complaining.

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Funny how things change, no? I'd bet the mall (and in turn, Newport) would kill to turn the Hamilton Park residents into regular shoppers at their mall now.

They should really change the ground floor into storefronts facing outward -- or even try something like a year round flea market if they don't want to spend any money -- they could just have mall goers park their cars upstairs.

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Sure the mall's an eyesore/psychological barrier but I never really minded it because in the winter/rain it makes half my walk to the PATH station covered. In the good weather I generally walk to the Grove Street Station as it's about the same distance from my apartment.

Is a 10 minute walk to Grove St really that awful? I guess everything is relative, but come on.

This type of neighborhood isolating development is extremely common all over JC. Newport is separate from the rest of downtown, which in turn is seperated from Journal Sq and Mcginley sq by 78, the train tracks, the cemetery and Dickinson High. Try driving up Montgomery from exchange place. What is a prime location for a commercial strip is useless because of those large apt buildings surrounded by massive parking lots. This is interrupted briefly by the Van Vorst neighborhood and then after Brunswick there's incredibly ugly developments, a couple schools, housing projects and more and more parking lots. Just like Newark ave, this area could be a link between downtown and the rest of JC, but has been developed in such a way that it instead acts as a buffer to separate. It makes no sense why a city would encourage development that takes the worst aspects of suburban living and discourages the best parts of urban living. JC ends up being densely populated, yet in many parts of the city people must drive or take busses to mini malls to do their shopping. JSQ doesn't even have access to a park, yet there are tons of parking lots (we wouldn't want to inconvenience to suburban commuters!).

this is pretty much why i didn't go ahead with renting at Hamilton Park area. Very nice brownstones and still near downtown but access to public transportation was awful. newport mall was supposed to be a great incentive to catch the Path but i realized back then it would be a major hindrance and headache. i see it still is...

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This article doesn't belong in this thread. What does it have to do with folding bikes on the PATH ??

Robocub, you are correct the garage was built as a barricade against the neighborhood. I had heard it was a fight just to get the doors in on Marin!

But Newport was designed in the 80's, when Le Corbusiers urban ideas to destroy the traditional street still held some sway. What I find inexcusable is they're still making superblocks to break up the grid, like the new school laid across Varick.

When the LeFrak organization first built and developed the mall and it's surrounding apartment buildings their original intent was to totally block residents of Hamilton Park from having any direct access to the Pavonia PATH stop. Executive representatives from the LeFrak organization at the time articulated in no uncertain terms they did not want people from this area accessing their domain. The Hamilton Park Neighborhood Association railed against the LeFrak organization and ultimately was able to force them to keep the garage and mall open so people could access the PATH train. Otherwise residents would have been forced to walk around to 6th Street.

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Team Healy - CORRUPTION YOU CAN SEE!!!!

Newport's entire goal has always been to segregate itself from the rest of Jersey City and strip the area of any historical ties.

-- Renaming Pavonia Avenue to Town Square Place

-- Bribing convincing the Port Authority to officially rename the PATH station from Pavonia-Newport to simply Newport

-- Laying the foundation for Office Center I in the months prior to passage of the Waterfront Walkway legislation, thus avoiding a link between Newport's waterfront and the waterfront to the south.

The Newport mall is no exception. It obviously added an additional buffer between the Lefrak's city and the rest of Jersey City.

The mall is a low density use of increasingly valuable land. But for now the Lefraks still have plenty of vacant land in the northeast quadrant to build on. When that land is used up, they will probably begin to look towards low density properties like the big box stores on 18th Street and the Models / Staples, and eventually the mall. But that day is likely two or three or more decades down the road. Also, the mall isn't the Coliseum or the Parthenon; it is a disposable structure that will likely be cheaper to replace than repair in a few decades.

maybe the solution is to move them further away from Subway and other stores serving food.

I heard if you send an email to NJ Transit they will put a stop right in front of your house. Whats the big deal if you have to walk through a garage? If things are that much of an inconvenience, than buy a car.....then you can complain about parking.

Jersey City's food vendor trucks cope with legal rules, and the law of the streets
Tuesday, July 06, 2010
By ADAM ROBB

FOR THE JERSEY JOURNAL

By city law, food vendor trucks are only allowed to stay in one spot for a certain amount of time.


Sometimes this law is enforced by legitimate authorities. Sometimes it is governed by the law of the streets. Just ask Jose Ramos, the operator of the Kitchen Cafe Truck.

Recently, the owner of a competing truck approached Ramos at Exchange Place to give him a third and final warning to move.

Refusing to leave and get out of his antagonist's reach, Ramos stood back in his truck and watched as his register was first punched, then pushed to the floor. Still unsatisfied, the man spit in Ramos' face, striking him on the left cheek before fleeing for his own truck.

"He said to no longer sell food here because he's been here longer. Subway talked to him. He said Subway don't want us here. He told me Subway and (another establishment) said it's OK for his truck and the Louisiana Spice Truck to park here, but no one else."

The manager of Subway, across the street at 1 Exchange Place, declined to comment.

Ramos has owned a lunch truck for the past 10 years.

"I pay my tax, I pay everything, I have my license," he said. "I lived here for 15 years."

But he was still hesitant to call the police and complain about threats for fear the police would drive all the trucks from Exchange Place in the course of an investigation.

Jersey City Councilman Steve Fulop, an occasional customer at the trucks, sees the trucks as partly responsible for the loss of brick and mortar businesses like the Green Cow at Liberty Towers and the Magic Johnson Deli, at 95 Greene, which both shuttered this spring.

"It's unfair to solely point the finger at the trucks, but they are a reason," he said.

=================

Tempers flare over intense competition among food truck operators in Downtown Jersey City

Published: Tuesday, July 06, 2010
Adam Robb/For The Jersey Journal

Food truck owner Jose Ramos said the competition is so fierce in Downtown Jersey City that another food truck operator broke his cash register and spit at him in June.

With high winds knocking debris from construction sites and other emergencies, flashing sirens aren't unusual on Hudson Street in Downtown Jersey City.

But on a recent June day, it was a fleet of illegally parked lunch trucks that caught the attention of police and sent the food vendors packing with $42 tickets and a day's worth of unsold food.

City law dictates that trucks can only stay in one spot for 20 to 40 minutes depending on the license they hold.

Ask the drivers who they believe phone the police every time they're asked the move and accusations abound. They don't just blame local businesses, they blame each other in what has become a sometimes heated turf battle.

Jose Ramos recently collected spilled bills, coins and receipts from the cramped floor of this three-man operation, the Kitchen Cafe truck, while he continued to pass orders out of a window where punches had been thrown just moments before.

His cash register, the victim of one of those swings, is broken in three places, but still functional.

Ramos blames the owner of a competing truck, who he said walked down the block warning other truck operators that he was about to give his third and final warning for Ramos to move.

Ramos refused to leave, standing back in the truck, just out of reach, as he watched as his register was first punched then pushed to the floor. Still unsatisfied, the man spit in Ramos' face striking him on the left cheek before fleeing for his own truck, Ramos said.

"He said to no longer sell food here because he's been here longer," Ramos said. "Subway talked to him, he said Subway don't want us here."

Ramos explained that the man told him Subway and another downtown eatery have said it is okay for the man's truck and another popular truck, the Louisiana Spice Truck, to park there, but they don't want other trucks around.

The manager of Subway, across the street at 1 Exchange Place, declined to comment.

One local restaurant manager, though, admitted that even he buys breakfast from the trucks. When a driver asked him if he would call the police to complain about the competition but he refused.

"They got kicked out last week, why would I complain?'' the manager said. "It doesn't bother me."

Ramos has owned a lunch truck for the last 10 years.

"I pay my tax, I pay everything, I have my license,'' he said. "I lived here for 15 years."


Adam Robb/For The Jersey Journal
Food truck owner Jose Ramos' cash register was cracked in three places by an angry competitor last month but he said he didn't call the police fearing they'd give all of the truck operators in the Exchange Place area of Jersey City a hard time.


But Ramos hesitates to call the police on the other driver out of fear that all the trucks would be banned from Exchange Place.

Banning the trucks from certain areas ? they're already prohibited at Journal Square ? is one of many ideas the City Council is considering as it crafts a new itinerant license ordinance.

Jersey City Councilman Steven Fulop, an occasional customer at the trucks, said he wants a clearly outlined policy governing the trucks, but Fulop is rushing to their aid.

"They don't pay the same real estate and property taxes a business over there does,'' Fulop said. "There's a surplus of trucks in the area sitting outside tax paying businesses."

Fulop partly blames the food trucks for the closing of Green Cow at Liberty Towers and the Magic Johnson Deli at 95 Greene this spring.

"It's unfair to solely point the finger at the trucks but they are a reason," he said.

While Fulop knows the City Council is pressed to solve an overabundance of licenses, issued illegally by a city health official, he warns that it doesn't mean all the trucks should get to stay in business.

"As it stands today, it doesn't mean the trucks have the ability to break the law," he said.

Brave the heat and you can bike around the Queen today.

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Queen to lay wreath at Ground Zero in New York

Tuesday, 6 July 2010

The Queen is to address the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York for the first time in 53 years.

The trip is her first to the city since 1976 and follows her nine-day tour of Canada with the Duke of Edinburgh.

After her speech on world peace, the Monarch will lay a wreath at the site of the World Trade Center which was destroyed in the 9/11 attacks in 2001.

She will also officially open a British Garden of Remembrance in Hanover Square in honour of the 67 UK victims.

The Queen's speech to the United Nations is considered by Buckingham Palace to be one of her most important in recent years.

BBC royal correspondent Nicholas Witchell said she will address the General Assembly as the head of state of Britain and 15 other countries, plus the head of the Commonwealth.

Extreme heat

He said: "That, together with her nearly 60 years on the throne gives her an opportunity to draw on her position as the most experienced head of state in the world and share some thoughts and conclusions about the way the world has changed over past decades."

He said the governments of all 16 "realms" had been consulted about what she should say and the Queen herself had taken a more than usual "hands-on interest".
Continue reading the main story

She, [the Queen] more than anyone, knows that you cannot accept an invitation from the UN's secretary general to address the General Assembly and not have something worthwhile to say
BBC royal correspondent Nicholas Witchell
Queen prepares to deliver speech

But he said there was no suggestion she would overturn convention and make a political speech.

Bill Hoffman, from the New York Post, said officials in the city were concerned about extreme heat forecasts of up to 38C during her visit to Ground Zero.

He said her "whirlwind" visit to Manhattan should last about five hours.

On Monday, an explosion at a power facility in Toronto reportedly disrupted the Queen's state dinner when it plunged the city into darkness.

A quick answer "bag the bike" you can't stop someone when the bike is not visible; Out of sight out of mind, no food for thought. PATH usually looks the other way with folding bikes. A full size bike has a lot of parts & pieces jutting outward any move can cause the bike to latch onto a person or what they are carrying but when folded it becomes more forgiving.. If passengers are allowed on with strollers, wheelchairs, luggage, packages, and of course the famous backpacks then a folded bike isn't that much different. By having a bike that folds then it won't inhibit others, although it can get pretty tight in those PATH cars.

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Maybe they are impaired somehow...


George Michael Arrested for Driving Car Through a Storefront

Published July 06, 2010 | NewsCore

British pop singer George Michael was arrested over the weekend after crashing his car into a London store, police confirmed Tuesday.

The 47-year-old singer was reportedly traveling back from a gay pride march in central London when his Range Rover crashed into a North London branch of British photo developing store Snappy Snaps, in the early hours of Sunday morning.

"Police were called at approximately 3:35am on Sunday 4 July to reports of a vehicle in collision with a building on Hampstead High Street,? a Metropolitan Police spokesman said Tuesday. "Officers attended and a man in his 40s was arrested on suspicion of being unfit to drive.He was taken to a north London police station and later bailed pending further inquiries. He will appear in court in August.?

The Hampstead store?s manager, Jun Mustafa, said: ?You?re looking at a new shop front definitely -- it was quite badly damaged.?

Michael issued a statement Tuesday as well. "I want to apologize to my fans for screwing up again, and to promise them I'll sort myself out. And to say sorry to everybody else, just for boring them," he said.

The star ended a two-year driving ban last year after he was found slumped at the wheel of his car in May 2007 ?unfit to drive through drugs.?

He was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs in Berkshire, southeast England in August 2009 but was later released without charge.

The star?s most famous brush with the law came in 1998 when he was arrested for ?engaging in a lewd act? with an undercover police officer in a toilet in Los Angeles.

I went last night, great spot I had the pistachio and sat out front. Tons of people stopping by I even ran into a few familar faces. It's going to be hot so I'll be back for more.

Yeah I am complaining about it. But if you read my post, I was looking for insight if anyone knew of any plans to enhance or change the fact that the Mall does isolate neighborhoods. I'm not expecting anything to change but sometimes these things do happen and that the info I was looking for.

Couple of general thoughts on the matter.

1) Owning a food truck/cart is a legitimate business as well. I realize this is an inference of words, but when one says "hurting businesses" and "counterproductive to businesses" then that's a fair implication. Joe Shmoe Restaurateur is no better or worse an individual/business than Joe Shlemiel Food Truck Operator.

2) If the license fee is too low to make up the revenue lost from a place that is paying taxes on a brick and mortar store, then there are other ways to try and make that up without imposing rules on moving the truck every 20 or 40 minutes. Ordinances like that seem more frustrating than logical. Stop serving food every 20 minutes to move? How far do they have to move? Two inches? A parking spot? Around the corner? How strict is the time limit - will they get ticketed if a customer is waiting for their food and it expires?

On a similar matter and just a question, does this also apply to non-truck vendors like a hot dog cart?

In any case, the city could instead raise the fee significantly to make up for those lost dollars, or perhaps force the trucks to charge a sales tax like any other business.

3) Food trucks are a big part of a city's character and identity. NYC is obviously known worldwide for being the place for food and cuisine but places like Los Angeles with their Mexican-American food have had good long-standing relationships with street vendors. Even places like New Brunswick have embraced the greasy spoon trucks that serve the college kids there as a tourist attraction. That one that "invented" the Fat Darrell, the "throw everything on a sandwich roll" is actually pretty famous. He's been on Food Network a few times and got a nice writeup in Maxim a few years ago, among other publications.

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I don't think it's a matter of people being confused, I think it's a matter of people flat out ignoring the flashing yellow. Slowing down is relative, where stopping is absolute.

I was always worried about a car flying down Erie barreling down people eating outside at the embankment restaurant.

Sorry to post here but we had a poor registration turnout due to the holiday.

There is a free Soccer Clinic for kids ages 5 and up at Angel Ramos Park on Wayne Street between Barrow Avenue and Jersey Avenue.

Tuesdays at 2:45 til 4:45pm and Thursdays at 6pm til 8pm until August 12th. If your child can only go one day, please let us know.

Kids need to wear white t-shirts and sneakers. They must bring their own ball (size 4 or 5). Shin guards are optional.

If you would like to register please come this week or call JC Dept. of Recreation at 201.547.5003, Councilman Steven Fulop's Office at 201.547.5315 or email pandes@jcnj.org.

Thanks!