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Usually, if there is a challenger at the polls they will get the results as soon as the voting machine is closed out. There is no online info for committee results and to find out the fastest way who won is to call the city clerk in the am.

Fingers crossed for you, Pam.

Tuesday, June 02, 2009
By AMY SARA CLARK
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Two ordinances, one to bar the city from booting illegally parked cars unless the owner has three unpaid parking tickets, and the other to create an Animal Control Committee, will be introduced at tomorrow night's Jersey City City Council meeting.

Both ordinances are proposed by Councilman Steve Fulop.

"We're still booting on the first offense," said Fulop.

At last night's City Council caucus, Mary Spinello, who recently stepped down as Ward B councilwoman to take the helm of the Jersey City Parking Authority, said the city boots 100 to 200 cars a week.

The parking ordinance would also require the JCPA to refund money to drivers who are found not guilty of the parking violation by a municipal court judge.

In addition, it would allow residents to use their residential parking permits anywhere in the city except Zone 8, which is in the vicinity of New Jersey City University, at the request of Ward A Councilman Michael Sottolano. Currently, residents' permits are valid only in their home zone.

The ordinance creating an Animal Control Committee would replace a stalled ordinance that would create an Animal Control Commission.

Jersey City's legal department had argued against the commission, saying it would usurp power from the director of the city's Department of Human Services, which oversees the Animal Control Division.

The new ordinance, which was approved by the city's attorneys, makes clear that the committee will only serve in an advisory capacity. It also reduces the number of members from 19 to 13, and creates the committee, initially, for just one year.

a bit pricey, somewhat rough around the edges as expected from a new place, but quite enjoyable for what it is: a run-of-the-mill, higher-end hotel restaurant.

There are 3 times the amounts of people on the advisory board than what animal control has serving a city of this size. I think it would work out better for the city if they would just hire more animal control officers as they do with the police and fireman to combat short comings and deficiencies. If there weren?t enough police or fireman on the force today what do you think would be happen? Does the city council really need an advisory board to paint them this picture?

Thanks for all the well wishes, and from Monmouth Cty. too!!!! Even to you, KNOWITALL! I know there's love in that statement!

Ms. Pinky, do you know how we can find out the results?

We tried to campaign for people to vote but not many came out. One worker thinks about 50 in her district.

So how many jobs is this project going to create????

Will they be "green jobs"?

If Crystal Pointe gets something, won't the Trump building and 77 Hudson come knocking?

last time i checked, the idea of capitalism is that you take a risk and if you make it, you make money and if you fail, you lose money.

developers, last time i checked, espousing capitalism as long as they are making money and once they are not making enough money, they start annoying the semi-incompetent and semi-literate politicos in jersey city. i am not calling them corrupt, just incompetent.

i am not paying taxes to support development projects that go sour; i am paying taxes to keep the streets clean, to make sure that schools work, and that our social services do what ever they need to do.

i am surprised how little resistance is there when it comes to opposing these developers who expected to get richer and when facing obvious losses, they want to shift the burden to others who really cannot benefit from the upside developers expect.

if they give me a stake in the project that i am cross-subsidizing with my real estate taxes once city hall eases the abatements, i'd be happy.

larry and joe's

Can someone explain to me how my property will be effected in a reevaluation? I'm debating moving? Not because of property taxes, but if I can get out before and the reval may effect my bottom line perhaps its time to consider it. Also what is the time frame for something like this? Does it happen in one year or does it happen over many years with the option for people to appeal etc etc.

No, my problem is with the abatements. I videotape the Hoboken race last week. Both candidates said Judy Tripodi has started the reval process in Hoboken which means JC is not far behind. I lived through the last reval. The company which the city hired for reval based their numbers on new development (which was tax abated). My 1988 taxes increased to $16,000 from $3,000. Then we were on a calendar year, and we had to pay one and one half years over 12 months. The tax abated properties did not go down, in fact, their value rose. I saw people who purchased homes for $350,000, lose equity. After reval, the banks sold these homes for $250,000 or less. The city interferes with the free market when one groups receives a tax haven, and another group have to pay. Besides, according to the news, we are entering a recovery.
Yvonne

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Yes, that's basically what will happen, but if the city holds firm on not renegotiating the PILOT, that simply makes the post bankruptcy price lower, as it should be. It's not the city's job to absorb the risks taken by developers, the issuing of the PILOT for a recent waterfront development was bad enough to begin with. None of these places will sit vacant, no one's that stupid. They'll sell or rent them for what they're currently worth. Port Liberte's bankruptcy in the last crash was a disaster for it's developer but ultimately a win for the city.

How about this: any bankrupt property LOSES it's PILOT completely and reverts to the tax base. Then the condos sell for REAL market value!

I have yet to find truely great pizza in JC, but I tried Singhas pizza in JSQ last week and it was surprisingly good. It was more a deep dish style pizza than NY style for those who are picky, and the toppings were excellent. I can honestly say that it was the best spinach pizza I ever had, but more importantly the pepperoni was good too. As an added bonus, it was cheap and they deliver downtown.

I haven't had HPP since the ownership changed, but I remember that it was good for eat in and lousy if delivered. And the Mexican pizza was actually spicy.

This building is almost in the water.Someone today said "well what if they go belly up?"
Than the next guy will buy it from the bank at a steep discount and be able to make a profit.Its the way the world works.


It kills me that we bail people out for their own foolishness.

In addition to going to the Council meeting tomorrow night at 6pm at City Hall to support this ordinance, please email your council person and ask them to vote YES for the Animal Control Ordinance.

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I believe you can in Azucar in Newport.

Wow, you're really convinced that cats are a threat to kids and pregnant chicks huh? You're a foolish fool, sucka.

The New Jersey Audubon Society (NJAS) and Honeywell are offering scholarships for the second annual Honeywell Institute for Ecosystems Education to Hudson and Bergen County middle and highschool science and social studies teachers.

Registrations are due by JUNE 5, 2009. Teachers who are interested in applying can visit www.njaudubon.com/Education/Summerinstitute.html or call (609) 861-0700 x13.

The Honeywell Institute for Ecosystems Education is a one-week (August 17 ? 21, 2009) summer institute, which combines classroom instruction with diverse outdoor experiences at sites throughout the Hackensack watershed.

During the program, teachers will explore forested and field habitats, take an eco-cruise through the Hackensack River, and seine in freshwater streams and tidal salt marshes with environmental educators and naturalists. The experiences will help teachers transform textbook curriculum into hands-on lessons that offer students a ?learning-by-doing? approach to geology, watershed dynamics, habitat health, land use and human-ecosystems dependencies.

Participating teachers receive free tuition, classroom materials, a stipend and professional development credit.

Dump Healy's administration in Lincoln Park - That will solve a lot of problems in JC.

I'd hate to think what odds you would have walking your dog there with all the flee infested / bug ridden cats run around there.

PS - Kids and preg women stay out !

Didn't another developer request some type of abatement adjustment last year with the same sort of reasoning? I want to say the people a Canco?

What happens if this doesn't survive? Would the developer close up shop walk away. Then the banks would own it, they would look to sell it to a new developer who would go to city council and request the same kind of deal for finishing the project. It's almost like a can't loose. Especially if the new developer is the old developer.

Anyways that building looks to be pretty sweet property especially if your on the east facing side.

The Law Department has conceded that Fulop's ordinance creating an Animal Control Commission can lawfully be enacted by the Council, with some amendments. The ordinance is slated to be voted on tomorrow night (Wed June 3).

Specifically, language has been altered slightly to clarify that the Commission's purpose is advisory only, not administrative, i.e., the Commission will review existing policy within the Division of Animal Control and make recommendations on what policy changes should be implemented. Secondly, instead of creating a permanent body, the Commission will exist for a year and will expire at that time absent a renewal by the Council.

I hope you all will support this ordinance as it is an important step in creating more transparency and accountability within the Division of Animal Control. All are urged to contact their Council reps and ask them to vote "yes" tomorrow night.

Parking rules, animal panel on agenda
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
By AMY SARA CLARK
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
Two ordinances, one to bar the city from booting illegally parked cars unless the owner has three unpaid parking tickets, and the other to create an Animal Control Committee, will be introduced at tomorrow night's Jersey City City Council meeting.
Both ordinances are proposed by Councilman Steve Fulop.
"We're still booting on the first offense," said Fulop.
At last night's City Council caucus, Mary Spinello, who recently stepped down as Ward B councilwoman to take the helm of the Jersey City Parking Authority, said the city boots 100 to 200 cars a week.
The parking ordinance would also require the JCPA to refund money to drivers who are found not guilty of the parking violation by a municipal court judge.
In addition, it would allow residents to use their residential parking permits anywhere in the city except Zone 8, which is in the vicinity of New Jersey City University, at the request of Ward A Councilman Michael Sottolano. Currently, residents' permits are valid only in their home zone.
The ordinance creating an Animal Control Committee would replace a stalled ordinance that would create an Animal Control Commission.
Jersey City's legal department had argued against the commission, saying it would usurp power from the director of the city's Department of Human Services, which oversees the Animal Control Division.
The new ordinance, which was approved by the city's attorneys, makes clear that the committee will only serve in an advisory capacity. It also reduces the number of members from 19 to 13, and creates the committee, initially, for just one year.

mfadam +1
couldn't have said it better myself. well, i could have said it, but it would have been laced w/ profanities.

the american dream, if you can dream it, build it. if you can't sell it, don't worry, the poor schmucks that pay taxes can cover you.

and give me a break, i'm so sick of these politicians using scare tactics. perhaps no more development on the water front is a GOOD thing. Until you can pay for the infrastructure to support the mass amounts of people coming in, it should stop. But im' sure as soon as another developer comes along promising the next high rise dream, our lovely idiots in power will hand them the key to the city, tax free.

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i was at hamilton park pizza the other day.. i kind of feel like it has fallen off a bit...

just my two cents

Saw this come up on Dow Jones News Wires:

Jersey City Condos Offered 'Regardless Of Price'


By Dawn Wotapka
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Florida-style desperation to move condo inventory is
headed for a neighbor Big Apple.

Metrovest Equities, developer of The Beacon in Jersey City, plans to auction
25 one- and two-bedroom luxury units June 27 at a nearby hotel. A dozen units
are being offered "regardless of price" - an attention-grabbing measure
designed to draw traffic. Suggested opening bids range from $150,000 to
$250,000; they were originally priced from $380,000 to $700,000.

The condo auction - aggressive for this region, but common in the Sunshine
state, which is battling a multi-year inventory glut - is designed to close out
sales in the first phase of the project, 315 units in two buildings, as well as
accelerate sales of the second phase, 25 live/work condos in a third building,
the developer says. The sale is also another indicator that the New York area,
which long seemed buffered from the nation's housing crash, is weakening as job
losses and foreclosures mount.

The Beacon project - a $350 million-plus transformation of the 10-building
Jersey City Medical Center - opened for sales at the height of the housing
frenzy in late 2005. Buyers rushed to sign contracts - 40 a month, at one point
- for the development replete with floor-to-ceiling marble, a billiard room
with $1 million of sculpted artwork, two theaters, a hot tub and an 8,000-foot
sundeck with a bar and barbecue grills.

But, by the time it was delivered in 2007, some buyers changed their minds or
couldn't secure financing, says George Filopoulos, Metrovest Equities'
president.

While the original phase, a former office building and hospital connected by
a lobby, was 90% presold, "when the market fell down the tubes, we lost about
50 original contracts," he says. It is now 77.5% sold and occupied.

The timing of the initial wave of condos was far from ideal, but Filopoulos
isn't giving up on restoring the art-deco campus built between 1931 and 1943.
Billed as the largest historical residential restoration project in New
Jersey's history, it will ultimately comprise 1,200 residences in 10 buildings
and 80,000 square feet of retail space.

Completion of five phases - originally set for 2010 - is now more likely
between 2012 and 2014.

"The work is very intense, number one," Filopoulos says. "Number two, the
market conditions changed significantly from when we first started."


-By Dawn Wotapka, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5248;
dawn.wotapka@dowjones.com

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Fulop has never been more right.

This is blood-boiling stuff.

Of course they've lowered the prices.

Tell them people will buy the apartments if they lower the prices. Why should the PILOTS be reduced?

I just moved into the building and have eaten at Liberty Towers gourmet twice. I thought the sushi was very good considering it isn't a sushi restaurant. I also had my first walk around the grocery area today and I was very happy with the variety for such a small grocer.

All in all its a good place and I'm glad it stays open past 5, I'll definitely be a frequent visitor.

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It's mutual.

Yvonne, based on the examples you cite, it sounds like your real issue should be with lying politicians rather than PILOTs and abatements.