Quote:

Well gee, maybe the Mayor and Council should have thought about that when they were (and continue to) hand out PILOTs to any and all waterfront developers.

Because now...

a) Jersey City is missing out on school funding, to which the PILOTs do not contribute.

b) All of those PILOTs are locked in for at least 20 years, so none of the property owners will contribute to any tax adjustment.

Does this suck for us? Yes it does. But the writing was on the wall for quite some time.

Healy told the governor that basic cost-of-living increases would force his city ? which has raised taxes by 20 percent in the last three years ? to raise taxes by up to $1,000 a household each year.

New York Times: New Jersey School Plan Hinges on Odd Alliances

New York Times
By DAVID W. CHEN
Published: January 3, 2008

TRENTON ? Ever since Gov. Jon S. Corzine unveiled his plan three weeks ago to overhaul the way New Jersey finances its schools, he has witnessed the formation of unexpected alliances that either favor the new way he wants the state to dispense billions of dollars or strenuously oppose it.

On Wednesday, Mr. Corzine met with officials from Hudson County who have been among his staunchest political supporters, including Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy of Jersey City, who vehemently opposes the governor?s plan on the grounds that it shortchanges poor and urban districts, and may result in sizable local tax increases.

At first, Mr. Corzine?s plan also upset another longtime ally, the New Jersey Education Association, which represents teachers and is considered the most powerful labor group in the state. But last week the group changed its mind after lobbying successfully for changes, and it is now aligned with a group that supports providing parents with vouchers to send their children to the public schools of their choice.

Under the governor?s original proposal, the state would funnel more money to children who live outside the poorer districts, which now receive more than half of all state aid, and apportion funds to schools based on demographics like family income, language ability and special academic needs. Overall spending would increase by $532.8 million the first year.

To win over the teachers? union, the Corzine administration agreed to loosen a provision requiring about 120 school districts that are already spending more than what the state deemed to be adequate to return any excess money to local taxpayers. Instead, the districts would be allowed to keep more of that money to help deal with inflation.

Neither Democrats nor Republicans are lining up in a predictably partisan fashion. Democrats like State Senator Sandra Bolden Cunningham, who represents Jersey City, and Newark?s mayor, Cory A. Booker, have expressed the strongest reservations to the plan put forward by Mr. Corzine, a Democrat. Yet some Republicans, including Assemblyman Bill Baroni of Mercer County, have been among the most supportive.

The scramble is a reminder of how the politics of education in a state with more than 600 school districts is often unpredictable, and colored by such factors as geography and race.

For now, it is uncertain whether the bill will survive intact when it is taken up by the Assembly and Senate budget committees on Thursday, or approved by the end of the legislative year on Tuesday.

?It?s a clich?, but politics makes strange bedfellows, and when you talk about this kind of financing, it really is a political issue,? said Joseph R. Marbach, a political scientist at Seton Hall University. ?Before, it was often a traditional split, urban versus suburban, but this formula really cuts across the lines in so many ways.?

For more than two decades, the task of financing public schools in New Jersey has been guided by a State Supreme Court case, Abbott v. Burke, which found that students in poor and urban districts were not receiving the same education as their counterparts in wealthier suburbs.

Some districts, called Abbott districts, have made great strides in narrowing the achievement gap between rich and poor students, whites and minorities. But some have not. And the term ?Abbott? has become such a polarizing code word that Mr. Corzine said last month at a news conference announcing his formula, ?I would hope that over a period of time we will earn our way out of that.?

In a sign of just how determined Mr. Corzine is to get the formula signed into law soon, the Assembly Budget and Education Committees convened a rare joint hearing during Christmas week to question Mr. Corzine?s education commissioner, Lucille E. Davy.

It was there, in an 11-hour hearing, that the president of the New Jersey Education Association, Joyce Powell, came out in favor of the plan.

And while some Republicans, whose support Mr. Corzine was said to be working hard to gain, have been receptive, others are demanding more changes.

On Wednesday, the departing Senate minority leader, Leonard Lance, and his successor, Thomas H. Kean Jr., proposed that any new formula should link additional school financing to spending cuts in the budget.

Getting enough Democrats on board could prove to be just as hard for Mr. Corzine. With Jersey City scheduled to receive the minimum increase in funds, 2 percent a year, Mr. Healy told the governor that basic cost-of-living increases would force his city ? which has raised taxes by 20 percent in the last three years ? to raise taxes by up to $1,000 a household each year.

As a result, he warned that the city would work with the Education Law Center, a nonprofit group that represents the Abbott plaintiffs, to sue the state if necessary.

?If this stays the way it is, and it passes in lame duck,? Mr. Healy said, ?I don?t know what other recourse we have.?

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

Attorney General deems school plan constitutional as mayors, lawmakers protest

TOM HESTER Jr. | Associated Press Writer
1:33 PM EST, January 3, 2008

TRENTON, N.J. - Attorney General Anne Milgram Thursday deemed Gov. Jon S. Corzine's proposed new school funding plan constitutional as the Jersey City and Newark mayors and black legislators rallied against it.

Milgram, in a letter to Corzine's chief counsel, said the plan meets constitutional requirements that all New Jersey school children receive a "thorough and efficient" education.

But Newark Mayor Cory Booker, Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy and black legislators _ all Democrats like Corzine _ worried the plan could lead to deep program cuts and increased property taxes in struggling city school districts.

"We're getting burned by this," Healy said.

The opposition called into question whether Corzine and Democratic leaders could get the plan approved before the legislative session ends on Tuesday.

The Senate budget panel barely approved the plan Thursday, with the Assembly budget committee scheduled to hold a hearing Thursday afternoon. Approvals by both panels would set the measure for Monday votes by the full houses.

Booker said he feared the plan was being rushed and that it could bring school cuts and increased property taxes.

"That could have shock waves throughout our city," Booker said.

The plan is designed to send more state aid to suburban and rural schools with growing enrollments and many low-income students.

"It's fair and equitable and predictable," said Sen. Barbara Buono, D-Middlesex, who sponsors the plan.

State Education Commissioner Lucille Davy said the plan "follows the basic principle that children with greater needs deserve greater resources."

But Healy described the plan as "taking from the poor to help the poor."

Under the plan, the 31 poverty-stricken districts that have received extra financial help under a state Supreme Court ruling wouldn't see the same hefty aid increases they've typically received, but other districts _ like North Brunswick and Pennsauken _ would get 20 percent more from the state next school year.

Every district would get a state aid increase of at least 2 percent next year, and no school would see its allocation decrease for three years.

The plan comes after most school districts saw scant state aid increases this decade, forcing them to rely more on property taxes that are America's highest at $6,330 per homeowner, twice the national average.

Corzine contends the plan "gives all of our children in all of our communities the opportunity to succeed."

"It is balanced, unified and equitable and it provides significant relief to local property taxpayers," Corzine said.

But Republicans also said Democrats were rushing the plan without proper review and questioned whether it would help the rural and suburban districts. Black Democrats did the same on Thursday.

Sen. Sandra Bolden Cunningham, D-Hudson, said the plan could cost Jersey City schools $110 million over three years, while Sen. Shirley Turner, questioned whether it would boost what are already the nation's highest property taxes.

"I'm just dismayed that we seem to be rushing this through with so many unanswered questions," Turner said.

But Sen. Bob Smith, D-Middlesex, said the plan would eliminate inequities between school districts.

"This is a defendable formula based on the needs of kids," Smith said.

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

Maybe I'm the odd man out, but I have had pretty good luck taking the PATH/A Train to JFK (from Grove). I've actually found it to be about as fast and more convenient than the LIRR.

Yes, the A is 35 minutes vs 20 for the LIRR, but you make up most of that time on the much shorter PATH from WTC vs 33rd. Not to mention that when the weather is bad the walk from Penn to the 33rd PATH, and all the bag-schlepping up and down stairs, sucks. At least with the A you can walk from WTC to Chambers underground, or schlep your bag upstairs to the B'way/Nassau A stop right across from the PATH. And I have found the shorter Howard Beach A-to-AirTrain connection easier then the longer walk at Jamaica.

Of course if I were traveling really late at night I might choose differently.

Don't miss SUHEIR at Art House tonight! We've got hot cocoa!

www.suheirhammad.com

Funny, because it's true :)

Interesting Article. NYC = JC ?????


"Nobody knows for sure why crime has come down."


DTG


1/03/08

NY police credit rookies for declining murder rate

By Edith Honan




A 4-year-old program that sends rookie police officers to crime hot spots in New York City has helped the city achieve the lowest crime rate in 17 years and will be doubled in size in 2008, police officials say.

New York police said there were 494 homicides last year, down from 596 in 2006 and the lowest since 548 in 1963 when the city began keeping records of the total number of murders.

When asked last week if there was a single reason for the decline in crime, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly cited Operation Impact, which sends rookie police officers to narrowly defined areas that have suffered from high crime, some no larger than a housing project or a shopping corridor.

This month, all 914 members of the most recent police academy class will join the program, bringing the size of Operation Impact to more than 1,800 officers.

"You might have a high crime precinct, but the crime might be confined to a relatively small part of the precinct," said police spokesman Paul Browne. "It's important to put the boots on the ground and to increase police visibility dramatically."

But the decision to dispatch the least experienced officers on the most difficult assignments has given ammunition to watchdog groups that have accused the NYPD of harassing blacks and Hispanics in low-income neighborhoods.

"There are concerns that when rookies are sent to high-crime areas with instructions to stomp out crime, it's an invitation to engage in overly aggressive bullying tactics, including stop and frisk procedures that target people of color," said Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union.

But Browne said using rookies has been key to the success of the program, which was launched in 2003.

"They're the most recently well-trained officers we have. These people are getting the best instruction in the country and when they get out, they know their stuff," Browne said.

But critics say there is no evidence Operation Impact deserves the credit for the city's drop in crime.

"Every year that crime drops, the police take credit for the drop," said Andrew Karmen, a sociology professor at New York's John Jay College of Criminal Justice and author of a book on the city's declining homicide rate.

"Nobody knows for sure why crime has come down."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080103/us_nm/newyork_crime_dc

Someone sent me this nice Jersey City mention from the NYC blog Curbed.

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

Curbed's Comment of the Day

"Just when I thought they couldn't wreck the Village anymore...There is hardly anything left from my childhood. Maybe just the T'amo cigar place on Christopher, the little magazine shop on 11th and 6th. Or did they become Starbucks last night? God, I'm getting old. It's really sad that Jersey City looks more like the West Village to me now than the actual West Village which is crammed with sheep waiting for cup cakes and purses." [Live at the Washington Square Park Memorial Vigil]


Go to link here...

Quote:

Payment red tape: OK, the cash/money order thing isn't a big deal, but it's the sort of thing that can make daily life a pain in the neck if you're pressed for time. On the other hand, the public pre-K program does serve breakfast and lunch. If you give in and let your kid eat the school meals, that saves a lot more time than the payment red tape costs.

Waterfront parent-teacher interaction: For parents who can pick up children directly from the school, maybe it's OK. For parents who use after care, it's terrible. You're really not supposed to be communicating with the teachers about your child when you pick up and drop off, but there's no other informal mechanism for finding out what's going on. Park Prep is probably the best, in this regard, because it's small enough that the people who are there with your kid in the morning are also there when you pick up in the evening. The cooperative preschools are probably the next best, because volunteering gives you a chance to see what's really going on.

PCs: Many parents think of pre-K computer use as being comparable to pre-K TV watching. I think Waterfront is a non-PC school, at least at the pre-K level, but mainly because of PC skepticism, not at all because of budget issues. I think Waterfront spends a lot more on art classes, music classes, Spanish classes and other extras than the other schools spend on computers.

There are some serious changes that are coming to the western area now. Crescent Court over at the back side of Merseles Street will also increase the base population out this way, as well as the 4 story building at 369 Fifth Street. There are two other towers 361 and 380 Newark that are currently stalled at the moment, but if these go forward will mark a major improvement for Newark Ave.

Quote:

It's hard to tell. The school, especiallly Little Harbor, is really growing rapidly. Last year they had one pre-k four, and this year they have three. There are now three pre-k threes and a transitiional three for younger three year olds.

They only have one K this year, and it's quite full. I think they want to have two Ks next year, but they give priority to the kids in the three pre-k four classes. Registration for current students happens before open enrollment.

So to answer your question, it's not that easy to get in. But I think if you go early enough and commit, you have a good chance.

Alb - Thanks for the information. I am glad that I don't have to do a wrap around but that sounds annoying to have to go through.

linky - Thanks for the tip about calling the school directly. I think I have been calling Little Harbor and although someone always picks up and takes my information down, no one ever calls me back.

LifeofRiley - Thanks for the link for OLC. I am hoping now to check out PS3. Do you know if they have any open houses scheduled soon? Or do I just have to call and schedule it myself?

This is great news! Has everyone seen all the other new stuff -- like that new big building at Brunswick just off Newark Avenue. This area is really changing fast - now we just need to slow the racing buses and trucks and resurface Newark Avenue!

Someday nicer street lights would be nice -- as would making it one way only!


Quote:

I guess you also think Healy isn't really fighting Corzine to keep our school funding...

From that other thread:

"He (Corzine) has come out with his funding formula and that's all well and good, but it increases Jersey City's funding 2 percent, when our expenses are going up 4 1/2 percent every year," Healy said.

"This governor is trying to get this administration, this City Council, and this mayor to raise the balance of that 2 1/2 percent off taxpayers ... and this administration is not going to do that," Healy added."

Click Here

it was sweet! haaha, check her out....

and i'll 4th metropolis....

From their website:

http://olcschool.org/admissions.html

OPEN HOUSE FOR THE 2007-2008 SCHOOL YEAR.
JAN. 31, 2007 Call for an appointment 201-434-2405.

Anyone know if there is a huge waitlist for the OLC kindergarten program?

Homicide: the killing of a human being by another human being

Are you saying that the police claim that the person did not die?

Quote:

sort of like when Bush decided to start labeling jobs in fast food as "manufacturing jobs" when he started catching flack for letting too many manfuacturing jobs go overseas... it's all semantics folks.

A 3 murder difference from 2006 to 2007 is nothing to cheer about. And 2005 was a fluke, we knew it then, and i would expect people would know it now.

I received quite a few booklets, but only filled out 2 forms that dealt with emergency contact information and another acknowledging school policies.

My daughter is not in the wrap around program and we did not have to register at the Urban League. That was one option, another was to register at the school.

Paying with cash and money order is a trivial concern when you consider how little you are paying for what you are getting. I think it is quite practical. I mean come one now, do you expect you kid to be handling a credit card or a debit card?

My daughter's teacher replies to my emails and handwritten notes. I also have a chance to talk with her and her assistant when I drop her off at school in the morning and more formally after each school quarter at open house night at the school.

I don't think the same can be said for Waterfront Montessori. I could be wrong, but I don't see the school equipped with PCs (@ PS3 my child and teacher have access) and their teachers don't stick around very long.
Surely, for what you pay to have you child attend that school, the teachers are not leaving because they are underpaid. The owner's background is in business and not in education.

I bit of both. One great way to lower crime statistics is to report crimes as less severe alternatives; often violent crime rates drop because police departments stop counting certain things as violent crime, like say a mugging no longer counts as violent crime, so the rate goes down, even if the incident doesn't. This technique was really popular in the 1990's; to some extent, its been suggested that telling people there is less crime actually helps reduce crime. But anyway, while I'm not surprised actual murder rates have dropped, I wouldn't be all that surprised either if someone was messing with the numbers.

Quote:

Examples of what I'm thinking of in terms of red tape:

- When you start, you'll get a huge packet with about 15 forms that you have to fill out, or at least sign, and you have to go through the booklets, etc. one by one to find all of the forms. My daughter's teachers were shocked that we'd found them all.

- Even if you don't want the "wrap around" care program (which fills in when the regular school and the regular after school program are off), you have to (at least at my daughter's school) fill out the Hudson Urban League wrap around program form and go to the Urban League offices, a few blocks south of the Martin Luther King light rail stop, to prove to the social workers that your income is too high for you to qualify for free wrap-around care.

- You have to pay for everything a different way. You have to pay for the after school program (CASPER) with a money order, and nothing else, but you have to pay for school lunches with cash, and nothing else.

But, in general, now that the school year is under way, the public pre-K program seems to me to run about was well as the private programs do.

My impressions at this point: the very, very most working-parent-friendly programs that I've run into are the Park Prep program in the Heights and the River School program.

The one where you seem to get to know the school and parents best is Garden. (I assume Stevens is probably like that, too.)

The best afterschool activities are at Waterfront Montessori.

The teachers that seem to have the best ability to handle "strong-willed children" seem to be the public pre-K teachers. I don't know how how well Hamilton Park Montessori is at handling strong-willed children, but the Erie Street Montessori and Waterfront are not that great at it.

They seem to moving along much faster than I would expected; seems like the whole lot has been dug out now. If they construct this place at the same rate they are building 154 Steuben Street (Ivy House), this section of Newark Avenue will be revitalized by next year. Pretty amazing stuff; not that the building itself is particularly attractive, but filling in that big empty lot and putting some residents on Newark Avenue will really improve that whole area west of Jersey.

Quote:

Is that a bad joke?

Murders are way down.

So are murders actually down, or has the JCPD simply started reporting some homicides as non-murder crimes like assault and man-slaughter?

Quote:

We pay about $6,000 for our daughter in K, and I think $6,500 for our daughter in Pre-K four. The prices vary slightly from Montessori Toddler through K and upper grades. You usually pay a little more for the younger kids because of the smaller student/teacher ratio. There are also some fees such as registratiion, and you are expected to do some fund raising.

They also offer a 20% discount for additional siblings.

Registration is scheduled for this month.

Call the school, they always answer the phone when I call. Don't try to call Little Harbor Academy, just call the OLC school and you'll get the office.

I think the corner of Bergen and Fairmount would be great. I think an Indie theater would be great, being a filmmaker I would live in that place! I think it would be a successful theater and then i won't have to commute over to Angelika all the time.

I'll third suggestions for Mark at Metropolis. Great guy.

It is pretty easy to string yourself, assuming you don't have a double-locking tremelo, which is a bit more of a chore but not so bad.

What kind of guitar is it? Accoustic? Electric? Any time I hear someone say "I have this guitar in my closet" my heart skips- Could be like the time Erin Maiden on this board had a ES-335 Gibson model of some sort. That was pretty sweet.

GWB

If you have lots of stuff- you can book a Super Shuttle from the Millenium Hotel across from the World Trade. I usually travel with at least 2 gigantic suitcases over the summer, so schlepping on the AirTrain doesnt work for me. Super Shuttle won't pick me up in JC, so I suffer thru Path to World Trade, where assuming they are working(which they usually are) there are elevators up to the street. Super Shuttle is 19 bucks to JFK and shockingly I have always reached the airport in about an hour from WTC. (even going at noon on a weekday!)

Just another way- tho' I am a big fan of the Path to 33rd- LIRR to Jamaica Air Train. So much better than the subway.

Happy New Year and Many travels to all!

(updated)

27 homicides in 2007 as decline continues

Thursday, January 03, 2008
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

There were 27 homicides in Hudson County last year, the second straight year the number of slayings has fallen, and it's a nearly 50 percent reduction from 2005.

In 2005, there were 50 slayings, the highest number in the county since 1989. The number dropped to 37 homicides in 2006.

There were 21 homicides in Jersey City last year, down from 24 in 2006, Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said yesterday. In 2005, there were 37 homicides in the city, the highest number since 1982, officials said.

"We are seeing the fruits of (the Jersey City Police Department's) labor, but 21 homicides is 21 homicides too many," Mayor Jerramiah Healy said, crediting the leadership of Chief Tom Comey and Director Sam Jefferson.

There were four homicides in West New York last year, one more than in 2006, DeFazio said. Bayonne and Union City each had one homicide last year, DeFazio said.

Seventeen of Hudson County's homicides last year were shootings, DeFazio noted, adding that many would not have occurred except for the availability of guns.

"People are resorting to the use of a gun in incidents where in the past there would not be a firearm used," the prosecutor said, adding that the numbers from last year signaled an improvement, but were still unacceptable.

Most of Jersey City's homicides were gang-and/or drug-related, and occurred in areas known for drug trafficking, said DeFazio.

"Where you have open-air drug-dealing, you have gangs and you have the ancillary violence that comes with that," he said.

But DeFazio also said it is telling that Jersey City has a "surprisingly low homicide rate compared to other urban areas in New Jersey," and in part credited "a fabric to the community that is stronger than in some other urban areas."

For the first time since 2002, homicides are down in Newark, the state's largest city. There were 98 homicides in Newark last year, a drop from 107 in 2006.

Trenton hit a historic high of 31 homicides in 2005 and the number dropped to 18 in 2006, but last year it climbed to 25. Camden had 45 homicides last year.

New Jersey's experience seems to mirror the rest of the country. After a spike in violent crime in recent years, some cities - including Miami, Atlanta, Baltimore - are still struggling while others - such as Chicago, Philadelphia, Newark - appear to be getting it under control.

Two homicides included in Jersey City's total last year resulted from incidents that occurred in previous years.

Newhouse News Service contributed to this report.