About 4 years ago I installed a Mitsu 'Mr. Slim' in a studio apartment to replace a window unit. Also to act as a dehumidifier when not in A/C mode.

Only problem I had was due to the fact that the unit needed to be cleaned (condensate line got clogged with gunk), which was my own fault. The unit has worked flawlessly since then.

Another option which is superior, but A LOT more expensive is to install a Unico brand high velocity system. Go to Unico.com for details.

I would only go that far if you need to replace your heating system soon as well. The Hi velocity systems are great for both heat and cooling. If you can splurge for a chilled water system, your operating cooling costs will drop while system performance would increase.

I don't think anyone should be eligible for a pension until they have served the city for at least 25 years. I became a Jersey City Police Officer in 1973 with a salary of $11,000 and a promise that I would be able to collect a pension and health benefits after 25 years of service.

Salaries weren't too terrible back then, which I found surprising. $11k in 1973 equals about $56k today.

On the topic of pensions:

As of March 2010 (latest data I can find), the NJ Police and Fire pension fund was less than 40% funded. Based on one analysis, assuming an 8% return on investments, the fund will be completely out of money by 2020. This was before the legislature altered the pension as bit, so I don't know what the latest doomsday date is.

Would you support migrating new or recent hires into 401k type plans, as is done in the private sector?

so now the parking authority goes deeper in the hole to bring the old meters back? What a waste! I had a problem only once with the new meters, when the two closest ones were broken. That was a long time ago.

Have people in Hoboken been complaining about their meters? They work pretty much the same way, except the parking spaces aren't numbered.

Sand filling a tank no longer an option? That is what I did (years ago). This was for tanks that were not leaking though.

Flood Control... Japanese style

http://www.michaeljohngrist.com/2009/ ... derground-temple-saitama/

holy crap is that area a confusing maze right now. My plan for taking the bike out to the Columbia trail turned into something out of the Twilight Zone. I finally decided that there was no way to get to the Skyway.. ended up taking JFK to 1&9 truck route to get to 78.

I hope this construction project gets finished soon....

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If true, that makes the situation even worse - inept inspectors or inept maintenance crew .... then again it wouldn't be unheard of if someone was taking a bribe ![/quote]

I wouldn't jump to conclusion just yet. We are not even sure it was a mechanical issue. If you ever read up on a NTSB investigation, they are VERY good at what they do. They will figure it out eventually.

From what I read:

The chopper in question was only days earlier inspected. The inspection is very thorough.. it involves taking a lot of the aircraft apart. The inspections take over a week to do.

5. Take the water department from United Water. Water bills have skyrocketed since turning that agency over. Long story short, residents are paying much more for the same service they were getting before.

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Not sure if that is a good idea. JC didn't do such a great job of running its own water department. Contracting out is not a bad idea and has worked for many cities.

However, the water department wasn't privatized to make it run better. It was done to monetize its assets. Water rates went up because we are basically paying United Water rent instead of paying them to efficiently run the water system. Basically this was a backdoor tax increase.

Jersey City is however, lucky enough to have its own reservoirs.

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You have to call the Incinerator Authority ahead of time to arrange pickup of TV's or other electronic devices. I have a bunch of dead microwaves, TV's, CRT monitors to get rid of myself.

oh great... that means a PATH train full of smelly hipsters for my commute home today....

If you are zoned R1 the chances of getting a variance is low.

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I have been watching the protestors for the past couple weeks from the office:

They had Nekkid women for a while, but I think the NYPD finally shut that down. Or maybe it just got too cold. The signs the women carried weren't exactly clear as to what message they were trying to express.

At one point, the Wall Street protestors got forced out by some anti-death penalty group.

I have seen signs demanding the end to the Federal Reserve to independence for Puerto Rico.

These people really need a shower. Being downwind of them is.. well.. potent to say the least.

They spend most of the day now banging on drums.

The group is mostly 20 something white kids with a few aging hippies mixed in. How do these people afford to live? When I got out of college, I had to scramble during a recession to find a job. I had rent to pay and needed to put cash away to replace my beater car.

Of course the description of the perp is bereft of any details which might even hint at race / ethnicity. For all we know... the guy was blue.

Been using Hauptman on Central Ave for years. No complaints.

If the union had any brains, they would be busy coming up with a rescue plan for retirees in the pension system, whilst getting recent hires into a defined benefits plan.

They would also be busy working out an attrition system to make the layoffs as painless as possible. There just isn't that much mail to be delivered now days (outside of junk mail).

They would also be busy lobbying Congress to free the USPS from mandates that prevent it from making the changes a private business would make to gets itself back to profitability.


Instead, we get protests to I would assume, demand the govt. (us taxpayers) bail out the USPS.

There is no more money left for that. What money is being spent, 40% is borrowed or created out of thin air. We are already broke.

The USPS is going to have a brutally hard landing.. and will deserve it.

The park at JSQ is pretty much a vagrant hangout and has been since its renovations more than a decade back. They seem to get violent towards each other in the evenings; which makes things disconcerting for my wife since she has to "run the gauntlet" of screaming bums in order to get to where I pick her up.

What can be done really? Vagrancy laws have pretty much been gutted. So we now have large groups of people who in a more sane era would have been placed in institutions where (at least in theory) would receive treatment and medications to address their mental issues. Or at least get them off the streets so they would not be a threat to themselves or others.

So where is the $8 billion going to come from? You could send sewer rates to the moon and still not raise enough revenue to pay for the improvements.

except for the one time I had both of the closest pay stations broken, the stations worked pretty well. My only real beef with them is that they make you put in a quarter first before they will accept smaller denomination coinage.

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The manufacture of solar panel is not "clean". Plus it is a very energy intensive process. China leads the supply of refined silicon for panels because they don't bother treating the waste (silicon tetrachloride), which requires heating it to 1,800 F (more energy). The land around these plants is so poisoned, nothing will grow.

The energy to make those panels is coming from guess where? Coal.. lots of it. The Chinese don't bother much in the way of pollution control, which results in big brown clouds drifting over the Pacific.

And how much more are you willing to pay for electricity. We are on the same grid (PJM) as Pennsylvania, but we pay 2x what a PA resident or business would. This is due in large part of subsidizing the solar industry in NJ. Photovoltaic panels are simply not cost effective as a main power source. Running your calculator? sure... Supplying 20% of the power for this State (the goal of the green energy program)? Never going to happen unless there is some major technological breakthrough.

BTW.. NJ get the majority of its power from nuclear

last time one of my cats went outside.. he ended up hiding in a cat urine soaked alley next door (my neighbor has over 20 cats), screaming his head off (which didn't exactly do much for his intention to hide). He was quite happy to be collected and thrown back into the safety of home.

The one outdoor cat I have (adopted from the same neighbor), suffering from fleas, round worms, tape worms, and a lower intestine infection (her farts could peal paint) when first brought indoors, has never gone near the door again. She likes it indoors.

No need to microchip.. If these furballs leave the house, it will be because they dropped dead from old age.

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move...

leave the apartment full of used toilet paper...

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The landlord is responsible for all the lines in the building and the line leading from the building to the sewer.

Oh that's B.S....


I had a problem with my Ferry St. property some years back. Sewer line kept backing up. But it was newspapers and other junk.

I emailed the JCMUA. They came out, ran a fiber optic scope down the sewer. The storm catch basins were full of trash and so was the sewer. A few days later they cleaned the entire system out. I haven't had a single problem since then.

Now, where the problem your landlord is having is probably with the old cast iron pipes. Over time, rust can build up in the elbows and other fittings. That rust closes up the pipe, causing it to easily clog.

He needs to have the lines routed out or possibly replaced with new PVC (expensive).

A few years ago, we had some religious group that would setup on Central Ave in the Heights. Some woman would sing (horrible voice), aided by a microphone and a portable amplifier.

I kind of wished they would take a queue from the Mormons.. recruit quietly.

It might work.. I have mine tied into the floor a little bit. But you are going to have to remove the paint. Concrete paint is a bitch and a half to get off since its resistant to sodium hydroxide and other caustic based paint stripping compounds.

http://spec-chem.com/basement/index.htm

Used the product on my basement and its worked really well. I wanted to check to see if they would recommend any fabric re-enforcement like with their roofing products. The answer is 'no'.

The do recommend though:

All paint be stripped from the walls.
You put on at least two coats.

I know a product that might help you... I have used it myself. But I need to ask the manufacturer a couple questions to see if it will work for your situation.

Cool... I'll check them out. I need a left handed hip holster for my 0.40 S&W

PSE&G did that to me years ago when I was on the road and couldn't fix a broken boiler (bad gas valve). The violation wasn't for flooding, but for an issue with the flue. Came back, checked the draft and CO levels.. everything was fine.

I ignored the 'violation' and nothing came of it. That was about 5 years ago.