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It is probably not that the citizenry of Jersey City is
cool, calm and collected; more likely just apathetic.
A few of us may needle and rankle and rancor, but
I bet the majority could basically care less.

(just opining out loud.)

I'm so there too -- I'm going for lunch right now!

I'm going to try the calamari ($8) flooded with a red sauce that owes much to Italian marinara, with the herbal seasoning shifted in a Middle Eastern direction. And I'm getting a dirty rice and a small salad!

STATE MOVES AHEAD WITH 9/11 MEMORIAL
Friday, August 18, 2006
By JACK HERMAN
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

The state has no plans to alter the 9/11 memorial it is building at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, even as local opposition mounts.

On Wednesday night, hundreds of residents, politicians and park enthusiasts gathered in front of the construction site for the memorial, in the northeast corner of the park, saying it will obscure the park's "sacred" view of lower Manhattan.

Jay Watson, deputy commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection, which is overseeing the project, told the crowd he was there to listen, but later said the project has been "vetted enough," and the state has no plans to hold a public hearing.

State Assemblyman Lou Manzo, D-Jersey City, said yesterday he has introduced legislation which would require the state to hold a hearing and also wrote a letter to DEP Commissioner Lisa Jackson asking questions about the project's funding and construction.

Others, including the Friends of Liberty State Park and Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy, have written letters asking Gov. Jon Corzine to intervene.

Calls to Corzine's office were not returned yesterday.

Bruce Kane, who lost his 40-year-old son in the World Trade Center attack and was on the committee that picked the memorial, said the idea to build a memorial in Liberty State Park has been in the works since the victims' families met for a candlelight vigil two weeks after Sept. 11, 2001.

A group of artists and architects whittled down 352 selections to 16, which a group of victims' families chose from.

Most of the ideas were impractical, environmentally unsound or too expensive, Kane said. They eventually decided upon two 30-feet tall, 200-feet long stainless steel walls, which will be cut into a gently sloped hill and be perpendicular to the water.

"The twin walls are focused on Ground Zero and provide a powerful, contemplative space for the names," according to the Web site of architect Frederic Schwartz. "The memorial's strength lies in its simplicity and ability to resonate as it honors not only those lost but also New Jersey's witnesses, survivors and volunteers."

Almost everyone attending Wednesday night's three-hour, open-air meeting - including many local politicians - hope to see the memorial moved somewhere else in the park. The Friends of Liberty State Park suggested moving the monument, redesigning it or having a public meeting to discuss it.

"People should not have to walk up or around a 10-foot high hill that is a couple of hundred feet long, or walk through walls that are 30 feet high and 200 feet long just to see the powerful open vistas," said Friends of Liberty State Park President Sam Pesin. "It blocks the sacred view of Ground Zero, lower New York City and the Hudson River."

Pesin also said he objects to the fact that the DEP charged his group the normal $1,000 fee for holding the meeting there.

Newhouse News Services contributed to this report

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Steve,

Thanks for continuing to work on this.

Any chance these drawings could be made available beforehand so we can study them and have a more prepared, coherent commentary? Judging by past developer "presentations" to HPNA, there would also be less stupid, time wasting questions resulting from having just a few moments to study drawings from a distance.

Hotel tax introduced by council
Friday, August 18, 2006
By KEN THORBOURNE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Following up on legislation Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy pushed at the state level, the City Council introduced the so-called "hotel tax" at its Wednesday meeting.

The ordinance, which is likely to be adopted at the council's meeting next month, would add roughly $5 million a year to the city's coffers, officials said.

The ordinance doesn't raise the 6 percent local occupancy tax already in place but it eliminates the ability of hotels to deduct real estate taxes - or payments-in-lieu of taxes in the case of tax-abated properties - from the total they turn over to the city.

Taking this option away from the hotels required a state law, which was passed last month.

John Rojan, manager of the Courtyard By Marriott on the Jersey City waterfront, told council members on Wednesday that the ordinance could well cost his mostly minority work force jobs.

"I was concerned if the owners now have to pay this money, rates might have to be raised," Rojan said. "It could slow the occupancy growth. It could affect our employment status as well."

Jersey City Business Administrator Brian O'Reilly responded quickly, saying the hotel industry has long charged the tax, but it was used to offset the taxes and not used to provide property tax relief to the residents.

"The rates in the local hotels have gone up 40 percent over the past several years, and we are just getting what we rightfully deserve," O'Reilly said.

Journal staff writer Jarrett Renshaw contributed to this report

Jersey City mayor charges Shore officer with assault
Friday, August 18, 2006
BY MARYANN SPOTO
Star-Ledger Staff

Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy and his wife have filed charges against a Bradley Beach police officer who they claim manhandled them after the mayor tried to quell a lovers' spat near a bar earlier this summer.

Lodging a complaint in municipal court Tuesday, Healy accused officer Terry Browning of aggravated assault, official misconduct and other charges in the June 17 incident.

Because the complaint involves indictable offenses, the matter now goes to Monmouth County Prosecutor Luis Valentin for review. He can either keep all or a portion of the case or send it back to the municipal court level.

Besides aggravated assault and official misconduct -- two crimes that are handled in state Superior Court -- Healy charged Browning with simple assault and harassment, disorderly persons offenses handled on the municipal level.

Healy's wife, Maureen, filed charges of simple assault, harassment and official misconduct.

According to the mayor, the incident began when he spotted an arguing couple on his way out of his sister's bar, Barry's Tavern on Main Street, around 1:30 a.m. Healy said a young man was on top of a car, yelling at a young woman standing on the sidewalk. In recounting the incident the following day, Healy said he told the young man to quiet down or police would respond.

Shortly after that, police did arrive. Healy said he was pounced on when he approached one of the officers, Browning, to tell him that the young woman had nothing to do with the fight.

In his complaint, Healy says Browning grabbed his right hand and "twisted his arm behind his back, threw him to the ground, pushed his face into the asphalt, knocked his glasses off, causing scrapes, cuts and bruising about his body."

Browning also committed aggravated assault, the complaint alleges, by knocking Healy's glasses off and by spraying him in the eyes with a chemical, causing him temporary loss of his sight.

These actions constituted "an unauthorized exercise of his official functions," the basis of the official-misconduct allegation, the complaint said.

Maureen Healy said Browning used his knee to hold her husband's neck and head to the ground. When she tried to retrieve his glasses, Browning pushed her, causing her to fall to the ground, she said. She said in the complaint that she suffered abrasions to her right ankle and a swollen, sprained middle finger.

Acting Deputy Police Chief Leonard Guida said at the time that Healy "involved himself in the investigation" after being warned he'd be arrested if he stayed.

Healy was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, two disorderly persons offenses.

jc city council
come to the circle jerk

Hopefully you all have been doing well and enjoying the summer.

I have been working with T&M and other city officials to push forward with the Hamilton Park renovation project, and as a result have scheduled three meetings for public feedback on the drawings.

As a side note, the initial drawing will of course be based on the community surveys that were completed earlier as well as initial input/ideas from the different community groups based in Hamilton Park

Best Regards and looking forward to moving this forward with your help.

Steven Fulop


Dates
8/30 - Initial drawings
9/5 - Initial drawings
9/21 - Revised drawings

Location and Time ?
St. Francis at 7PM

Webmaster Edit: Subject Line

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Zero Tolerance? From the JCDD incident reports, the city's tolerating illegal narcotics activities quite a bit throughout JC.

Different Directions? Yes, they're going anywhere but the known hot spots!

Angry? Who's angry?

SCREW YOU!

It was not long ago that the warehouse district was twice the size it was. It was all razed for development. "You've got to compromise" they said. And we did. We didn't demand that every old building along the waterfront remain (even Robert Fulton's foundry!).

Mack-Cali has at least put up some interpretive signage around Harborside. Thank G-d for small miracles.

But when the community compromised, we had hoped that the city would make good to protect the remaining remnants of industrial history along the waterfront. Then came the 111 settlement. "You've got to compromise" they again said. And New Gold will now be allowed to build a 60 story tower smack in the middle of the district.

And of course, now Toll Brothers wants to build 40 stories, and other developers are licking their chops to push their high rise plans on a city that they know doesn't take its history seriously, and wouldn't have the guts to fight for it even if it did.

I'm sure we'll here it again. "You've got to compromise."

Joshua Parkhurst
President
Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy

What tosh! Florida ranked 1 & 2 worst. Might be because they have a higher percentage of older residents and older people statiscally have higher blood pressure.

People get paid to produce this drivel?

It's not called Chilltown for nothing.

If Gerry McCann told me the sky was "up", I would still look out the window to check for myself.

This is a tough one to believe because of the use of high blood pressure stats. Isn't JC 2/3 Black or Hispanic, and aren't those two demographic groups more prone to hypertension? Maybe our good ranking reflects the poor medical care people are getting - their numbers aren't in the computer.

I'd hate to think if a bunch of gays were up in arms:


"Just because we get 50 Homo's that send e-mails about saving the trees doesn't mean that we shouldn't consider it," [Councilman]Gaughan said.

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Okay here are the PDF links for the signs:

Join the Watch

We Watch

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I like Whole Foods and Barnes and Noble, and I understand that we have to accept some compromises here, but one problem on the waterfront is that the developers have done a truly terrible job of building the kind of diverse, interesting restaurant and shop scene that you have in Hoboken, let alone in Chelsea.

When individuals and businesses consider whether to go to Hoboken or Jersey City, all other things being equal, they're going to Hoboken, just because, aside from the Kitchen Cafe (which I guess is controversial here) and the Komegashis, there aren't enough fun, decent places to eat. The waterfront here is a place where Bertucci's passes as an Italian restaurant and Cafe Spice passes as having spice.

Another issue is that Europeans have been in the Jersey City waterfront since 1609. The developers make very little effort to promote or exploit that fact, but Jersey City has a fairly awe-inspiring history. It's aboust as old as Boston, for example.

The developers aren't going to save every crack in the sidewalk here, but it stands to reason that saving some of the star historic buildings will, in the long run, be good for property values in the area and give it some cachet.

Also, the old buildings are the logical places to put the theaters, restaurants, bookstores, etc. that the waterfront needs to attract and keep ad agencies, graphic design shops.
.

Gaughan's a tallywacker.



Did he really say this?

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Rising fast up the charts with a bullet!


Dick Clark
Photo courtesy of Dick Clark Productions, Inc.

[

NO STOP! McCann was involved in something illegal???? Say it isn't so!

WHEW! Thank god it didn't make it to downtown! I feel much safer from being a mugging target now.

Clothier arrested for drug sales, pirated CDs
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
By JACK HERMAN
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Police in Jersey City busted the manager of a local clothing store who was peddling a bit more than the latest fashions, officials said.

Suvie J. Winruit, 33, was arrested late Sunday afternoon for selling drugs along with bootleg movies and music from his "Street Fashion Store" on West Side Avenue, authorities said.

"Our 'Zero Tolerance' efforts to stamp out the illegal narcotics trade in our city may take us in different directions, but so be it to fight any crime that supports illegal drug trafficking," Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy said in a statement.

The Narcotics Squad, under the command of Sgt. John Redmond, initially took Winruit into custody for distributing large amounts of marijuana from his store. But a follow-up search turned up thousands of counterfeit DVDs and CDs, officials said.

Police discovered seven resealable bags of pot, 2,480 DVDs and 4,620 CDs, officials said. All the movies and music are believed to be illegally duplicated copies, officials said.

Winruit was charged with possession and distribution of marijuana within a school zone and violations of the New Jersey Anti-Piracy Act, officials said.

Julio C. Chevalier, 44, of Boyd Avenue, was also arrested after police nabbed him leaving the store with a bag of marijuana, officials said.

Archdiocese allowed pollution at PJP, according to McCann
Thursday, August 17, 2006

Former Jersey City Mayor Gerry McCann - a proud Irish Catholic and former altar boy - ripped the Newark Archdiocese yesterday, saying it has failed to live up to its responsibilities at the PJP landfill site.

"The Catholic Church is skirting their responsibility," McCann said in a five-minute rant at yesterday's City Council meeting. "When I was mayor, we filed a lawsuit against them, and a priest came up to me and said I wasn't being a good Catholic."

The former mayor said the Newark Archdiocese has never taken responsibility for "allowing" contaminated material to be dumped on the PJP site, owned by the Church, which led to a number of underground fires at the site and legal action by the city.

Archdiocese spokesman James Goodness referred all questions to the Church's attorney, who couldn't be reached for comment.

After a long dispute involving a number of parties, Waste Management Inc. has signed a consent order with the state to clean up the site.

Council members didn't respond to McCann's comments.

From Men' s Health Magazine

How Angry Is Your City?
A side-by-side ranking of where residents are the most steamed

Our search for evidence of urban anger began with the percentage of men with high blood pressure, from the CDC's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (as calculated by Sperling's BestPlaces). We then factored in FBI rates of aggravated assaults and Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers on workplace deaths from assaults and other violence. And because rage and the road often go hand in hand, we also included traffic-congestion data from the Texas Transportation Institute, as well as speeding citations per state from the Governors Highway Safety Association.

Does your city's rank rankle you? We kind of figured it would.

(From most to least angry cities)

1. Orlando, FL

2. St. Petersburg, FL

3. Detroit, MI

4. Baltimore, MD

5. Nashville, TN

6. Wilmington, DE

7. Miami, FL

8. Memphis, TN

9. Jacksonville, FL

10. St. Louis, MO

11. Chicago, IL

12. Tampa, FL

13. Jackson, MS

14. Albuquerque, NM

15. Charlotte, NC

16. Dallas, TX

17. Houston, TX

18. Tucson, AZ

19. Indianapolis, IN

20. Wichita, KS

21. Birmingham, AL

22. Providence, RI

23. Durham , NC

24. Altanta, GA

25. Washington, DC

26. Denver, CO

27. Philadelphia, PA

28. Baton Rouge, LA

29. Fort Worth, TX

30. Phoenix, AZ

31. Lubbock, TX

32. Cleveland, OH

33. Greensboro, NC

34. Cincinnati, OH

35. Arlington, TX

36. Los Angeles, CA

37. Buffalo, NY

38. Grand Rapids, MI

39. Boston, MA

40. Columbia, SC

41. Tulsa, OK

42. Aurora, CO

43. Seattle, WA

44. Sacramento, CA

45. San Diego, CA

46. Montgomery, AL

47. Raleigh, NC

48. Yonkers, NY

49. Oakland, CA

50. Fort Wayne, IN

51. Newark, NJ

52. Las Vegas, NV

53. Columbus, OH

54. St. Paul, MN

55. Charleston, WV

56. Kansas City, MO

57. New York, NY

58. Oklahoma, OK

59. Toledo, OH

60. San Antonio, TX

61. Riverside, CA

62. Modesto, CA

63. Louisville, KY

64. Honolulu, HI

65. Richmond, VA

66. San Francisco, CA

67. Bakersfield, CA

68. Spokane, WA

69. Milwaukee, WI

70. Jersey City, NJ

71. Lexington, KY

72. Little Rock, AR

73. Lincoln, NE

74. Billings, MT

75. San Jose, CA

76. Hartford, CT

77. Minneapolis, MN

78. Boise, ID

79. Anaheim, CA

80. Norfolk, VA

81. Austin, TX

82. Fremont, CA

83. Fresno, CA

84. Anchorage, AK

85. Cheyenne, WY

86. Rochester, NY

87. Madison, WI

88. Salt Lake City, UT

89. Omaha, NE

90. Pittsburgh, PA

91. Colorado Springs, CO

92. El Paso, TX

93. Sioux Falls, SD

94. Des Moines, IA

95. Burlington, VT

96. Portland, OR

97. Corpus Christi, TX

98. Fargo, ND

99. Bangor, ME

100. Manchester, NH

Carport, garage vote delayed
Thursday, August 17, 2006

A vote on changes to residential zoning laws that would have allowed future and current homeowners to build carports and garages throughout the city was tabled by the Jersey City City Council at a meeting yesterday.

The proposed ordinance would have allowed property owners with at least 15 feet of property between their home and the sidewalk to build a carport.
Advertisement

The changes would have also reduced the required backyard space from 30 feet to 20 feet, enabling developers to set back homes by 10 feet to accommodate a driveway or garage.

"I am glad the council tabled this, and I hope it's one of those that they keep tabled forever," said one resident.

Councilman Bill Gaughan, who spearheaded the proposal, said the city must begin a debate on the parking problem and come up with some solutions.

"No matter what happens. We got to do something," said Gaughan. In the fall, he hopes to bring together members of the council, the community and Parking Authority officials to help tackle the problem.

One of the items they will look at is eliminating the city's 10 parking zones and creating one master zone, he said.

JARRETT RENSHAW

PaulusHooker, you are a great judge of character:

Friday, March 31, 2006
By JARRETT RENSHAW
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

In 2003, the Highland House Condominium Association in Jersey City received a bill for nearly $6,000 that left its members scratching their heads.

That's because their bylaws state that all expenses above $500 must be approved by the elected nine-member board.

"We had no clue what the initial bill was for," said James Cooney, the association's president.

Soon after, another letter came in the mail, this time a court summons from the plumbing company that did the work.

Cooney said the building's former property manager, Jersey City-based ACI Asset Management Inc., had approved the work without the board's approval.

The management company's president was Robert Antonicello, the man who Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy now wants to appoint to either the Department of Housing, Economic Development and Commerce or the Redevelopment Agency.

The condo association lost the lawsuit with the plumbing company, but it won a countersuit against ACI Management.

After two canceled deposition sessions, however, the company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection on Jan. 24, 2005, which meant the check was not coming.

"I just couldn't figure it out, this guy manages large properties in Jersey City and he's filing bankruptcy because of $6,000," said Cooney.

Antonicello acknowledged that he failed to read the part of the contract that required him to seek board approval, but said the group met less than four times a year and he needed to get things done.

He said that he filed bankruptcy because he feared more lawsuits were coming, but he said he dealt with the association fairly and honestly.

? 2006 The Jersey Journal


http://jclist.com/modules/newbb/viewt ... t_id=50599#forumpost50599




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Hoboken housing aide admits embezzlement
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 08/17/06

NEWARK: The former accounting manager at the Hoboken Housing Authority pleaded guilty Wednesday to embezzling $111,083 from the agency by writing checks to himself, federal prosecutors said.

Eric D. Hurt admitted he wrote 34 such checks from August 2001 to February 2004, falsely reporting that the checks were to vendors. Hurt, 38, of Jersey City, pleaded guilty to one count of embezzlement and one count of a false tax return for 2003. He is to be sentenced Nov. 21 by U.S. District Judge Harold A. Ackerman and could get up to 10 years in prison and $500,000 in fines.

Attacks-Memorial


JERSEY CITY, N.J. (2006-08-17) Hudson County officials say a memorial
to New Jersey's nine-eleven victims will ruin the view of Manhattan's skyline and ground zero. During a Friends of Liberty State Park meeting in Jersey City yesterday, the officials urged Governor Corzine to redesign or relocate the monument. "Empty Sky" was selected by a panel of family members nearly two years ago. Two stainless steel walls would stretch 200 feet long and rise 30 feet high. It will display the names of the more than 700 New Jerseyans who died on nine-eleven. Supporters say the memorial is designed to focus on the void left where the World Trade Center towers stood. Assemblyman Louis Manzo has introduced a bill to require a public hearing on the project.

http://publicbroadcasting.net/thenigh ... CLE_ID=955823§ionID=1

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also
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'PILE OF DIRT' CAUSES STIR
Thursday, August 17, 2006
By JACK HERMAN
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

9/11 memorial site irks residents

Dozens of New Jersey residents told state officials last night that a planned 9/11 memorial for Liberty State Park would block views of the Manhattan skyline.

"We were just shocked when we saw this pile of dirt," said John Seborowki of Jersey City at the open-air meeting held at the park, referring to the mound upon which the planned memorial would sit.

"Nothing against the memorial," added Seborowki, who lost two friends on 9/11. "They should do something. But it is a shame that people make these decisions without consulting the public."

The proposed memorial is to feature two stainless steel walls 30 feet tall and 200 feet long on top of a hill at least 10 feet high. It is to fit near the Central Railroad of New Jersey Train Terminal.

The Friends of Liberty State Park held the meeting because it felt the state's Department of Environmental Protection, which is overseeing the project, failed to take the public's concerns into account.

DEP Commissioner Lisa Jackson said before last night's meeting that state officials met with 9/11 family members in June and decided to keep the current plan in place, because even though the memorial might "impact the view from some portions of the park," the park's walkway is more than a mile long.

Last night, DEP Deputy Commissioner Jay Watson said he was there "to listen."

"We believe this is a great monument," Watson said. "We really believe this a feature to bring people into the park."

To the cheers of many in the crowd, Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy also weighed in last night.

"There's not a vista like this any place on earth," said Healy, referring to the Manhattan skyline in the distance. "We're asking you to put the memorial some place else." Newhouse News Service contributed to this report.