Quote:

How about a color photo of Mayor Healy passed out
on the banquettes upstairs at Grove Street station.

When attempting to respond to another Maldonado falsehood, I got the following message:

"You have been banned for the following reason:
None"

Kind of sums up how Sonia treats that board.

How about a color photo of the drunks passed out
on the banquettes upstairs at Grove Street station.

Coming up the broken escalator and immediately encountering the comatose alcoholics is sort of an unofficial welcome to the nabe.
All the hign=class condos for sale signs give the scene a nice piquant touch, too. Let's get them in the shot, also.

Also, if we could package that rank smell around Grove Street, we might be able to market it in a bottle. Eau de JC.

Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy arrested after Bradley Beach incident

Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 06/17/06

BRADLEY BEACH -- Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy was arrested early this morning and issued two summons for disorderly persons offenses following a predawn incident today outside Barry's Tavern, according to Dep. Chief Leonard Guida.

Healy was arrested around 2 a.m. today and issued a summons for disorderly conduct and a second summons for resisting arrest, Guida said.

Healy was released soon after he was charged.

No other details were available, Guida said.

-- Andrea Alexander

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/arti ... D=/20060617/NEWS/60617021

As a variation...

"Where the streets are paved with chicken bones...JERSEY CITY"

There is a disclosure requirement for professionals whose services are utiized by developer/redevelopers in the application processes.

Key Components:

* Prohibits contributions to local elected officials, the municipal political parties, and county political parties from developers from the time notice is given (or 1 year prior, whichever is shorter) through the completion of the redevelopment project.

* Requires that developers and their professionals disclose all political contributions.

* Individuals who break the law, or try to circumvent it are banned from receiving redevelopment agreements for 4 years.

Daniel Levin, president
Civic JC

I believe, effective this year, there is a state-wide "pay to play" ordinance applying to contractors.

This is the next step. The council should definitely support this law.

Joshua

This proposal deserves support. A measure like this is long overdue in Jersey City. Would it apply only to the actual developers or would it also apply to their associated attorneys, architects, contractors, etc? The developers themselves are just the tip of the iceberg when you review the campaign finance filings of some of our local officials.

Guys all in white t-shirts!

great way for them to hide in the pack - if 1 commits a crime it is very hard to identify the individual.

a bit like picking out a sheep from a flock.

if they are thinking this way regarding the way they dress, I'd be very careful as they know how to play the game of not being caught if they are doing anything illegal.

I've played game with them also but very carefully.

Get yourself a sign made up that reads THIS AREA IS UNDER 24 HOUR VIDEO SURVEILLANCE and place it exactly where they hang out.

Then just nearby say 10 feet, get a friend to lay on the ground and outline your friends body with some white chalk. Put some tomato sauce where the head is and let it dry.
You will have to do this when they are not around.

As most crime is done by stupid people, they will think someone has been shot or killed and cameras are now installed in the area.

Then sit back and watch their reaction - it will have them out of there hopefully
However this could cause them to move on and give some else a source of drama.

An idea for the sign could be the JCPD logo and similar words regarding surveillance - cut and paste the logo from the internet and get some printable clear A4 stickers for your printer from the store. This will give it some creditability.

Recently there has begun to be a large group of young men in long white t-shirts who hang out on the corner across from my building. Trust me they are not up to any good. Have called JCPD non-emergency number a few times to report possible gang and or drug activity and have gotten little if any response. Wondering if anyone has any ideas or can help me find the right political route to go to address this issue.

...just CITY on a jersey...

"got chicken bones?"

Park Rules

A. Except for unusual and unforeseen emergencies, parks shall be open to the public every day of the year between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. daily. (J. Owen Grundy Park, however, is exempt from the 10:00 p.m. closing time.) The opening and closing hours for each individual park shall be posted therein for public information. . . . C. All activity is prohibited in the parks between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., except in the case of an exemption or special activity sponsored or approved by the City Council.

I know HP has a sign posted saying Athletic activities are prohibited between 10 PM and 8 AM, but I don't think I've seen a sign posted regarding what hours it's open.

The curfew is 10:30 for kids 16 and under. Ten years ago the curfew was some what enforced with a curfew van but I havent seen it enforced in years. Recently the police said they were going to get a curfew van for each precinct but they will probably just enforce curfew for a few months then forget about it again. As for the parks I believe there isnt a time the parks close, the only park I know of that is ever closed at night is on the west slope in the hieghts and it is only closed because area residents chain it at night.

Healy talks as if increased taxes is the only option. Another option? Lower spending. The city (and county) is full of no-show and political jobs. Healy has not once mentioned lowering spending, and he and his city council puppets (everyone except Fulop and Viola) attack mercilously a sensible Fulop suggestion to put in a hiring freeze. Its expensive keeping a political machine running.

What, if any, is the curfew for Jersey city? Is it enforced? Do the parks close after sunset?

Are there any statistics which account for attempted homicides in Jersey City? Alot of people nowadays survive wounds that would have been life threatening 15-20 years ago, so that must throw the numbers off some.

"(Healy) ...has announced a program called "Operation Little Rascal" to enforce a curfew. "We're going to start bringing these kids off the streets and bringing them to their parents," Mayor Healy said."

I hope this program works this summer - the name "Little Rascal" seems a bit out of the 1930's -- maybe the name should be updated -- hmmm -- something like "Operation Baby Bangers."

I agree with Brewster, I think the city should soon look again at some sort of payroll tax, I hope that Mayor Healy, Steve Fullop and others keeps it in mind when there is that gap between the budgets and the taxes.

I would worry more about real estate taxes going up than starting some kind of payroll tax.

This issue has become a double edge sword. If you blame the mayor and chief of police for an increase in crime one year, they will take the credit for the decrease the following year. They will even contradict everything they said the year before. Remember when healy said that there wasn't much they could do about homicides? So why is he suddenly taking credit for the decrease?

Last year's murder rate was inflated by a couple of instances where one person killed multiple people at one time. The Egyptian family tragedy comes to mind as well as the guy who killed his relatives. Those two occurrences accounted for 7 people if I remember correctly. So naturally this year will most likely have a lower murder rate than last year.

If last year was an anomaly and the crime rates go back down to where they were in 2004, I guarantee that mayor healy will say that the programs they have put into effect are the reasons. My guess is that the weather plays more of a role than the gun buy back program.

Like the article says, you cannot base crime statistics on one year to evaluate trends. Let's see how things are in four years and then we can pass judgment.

Check out the headline this week from NorthJersey.com

"Paterson murder rate up 100%"

Source -
http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?q ... sN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk2OTQ3ODYy

Seems to me that anyone who has opposed the tax abatements for waterfront construction should support the hotel & large employer payroll tax bills as alternative ways to tax businesses that didn't need a break to begin with. Both taxes are still a fraction of NYC's versions. Alternatively you must consistently believe that businesses still need to be lured here by tax breaks.

This city needs to find ways to tap it's new prosperity since the abatements have forestalled market rate real estate taxes for decades. That is, other than on the backs of homeowners like the proposed transfer tax and rising RE taxes.

Steve Fulop: I don't believe your constituents would be against payroll tax on employers of more than 100. I would guess that few of them are employees or owners of such. These businesses need to pull their weight in JC.

I think the NYtimes makes some good points!

Healy: No payroll tax, but I want other two
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
By KEN THORBOURNE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy says he's now against the city payroll tax proposal he initially asked state representatives to pursue.

Healy's explained his apparent about-face by saying, "In order to avoid having property owners potentially pay more in taxes in the future, I asked our state Legislature to give me some options for generating annual sources of revenue."

Along with a city hotel tax and city real estate transfer fee, legislators generated a bill that would enable Jersey City to implement a payroll tax "at our discretion," Healy said.

But, he said yesterday, he never intended to actually implement one.

"I am not an advocate of the payroll tax because it would be a disincentive to commercial investment in Jersey City and it may cause some existing businesses to seek greener pastures in other cities who do not impose that tax," Healy said.

The proposed city payroll tax would allow Jersey City and Newark, the state's only cities with populations of 150,000 or more, to hit companies with 100 or more employees with a 1 percent payroll tax.

Healy reiterated his support of the proposed hotel tax and real estate transfer fee, which he says would each generate roughly $3.5 million annually for the city.

The payroll tax and the real estate transfer fee also have lost the backing of Lou Manzo of Jersey City and Brian Stack of Union City - two of the six Hudson County state legislators who've co-sponsored the bills.

Instead, Manzo has proposed a bill he says would help the city generate more revenue from abandoned or vacant property while not going after residents, and Stack has thrown his support in that direction.

A resolution by Downtown Jersey City Councilman Steve Fulop opposing both the real estate and payroll tax was put on hold at the City Council's caucus meeting on Monday night.

City Council President Mariano Vega explained the measure was prepared too late to be placed on tonight's council meeting agenda.

Vega said he supports the real estate transfer and hotel tax, but isn't sure how he feels about the payroll tax.

"It could do more harm than good," he said.

Advocates demand Abbott school reform
State leaders called on to take accountability
Thursday, June 15, 2006
BY JOHN MOONEY
Star-Ledger Staff

As New Jersey's investment in its neediest schools comes under rising scrutiny, several children's and community advocates yesterday demanded the state do a bet ter job of making sure the money is spent wisely.

The advocates, led by those who have battled the state over its funding of the schools, said it is time for new leadership in the state Department of Education and a new commitment to hold districts accountable for reforms mandated under the Abbott vs. Burke school equity rulings.

"We know that after three governors, and several commissioners and assistant commissioners, the state has dropped the ball, failing the Abbott children, their schools and their communities," said David Sciarra, director of the Education Law Center, which has led the Ab bott legal fight and organized yesterday's announcement.

Among the steps needed, they said, was a comprehensive evalua tion of the Abbott programs, fiscal and administrative audits, a statewide student database, and greater community and parent involvement in decision making.

The call for better state oversight is hardly new, and much of it has been ordered by the court. But the renewed call comes now at an opportune time as Corzine administration has tightened the belt on new state money for Abbott districts.

A few of the districts also have come under fire over some of their administrative and other spending, including the Jersey City superintendent's overseas trip to a conference and performance bonuses for Camden's school chief.

The advocates said yesterday unless the state takes a stronger role now, Abbott reforms could be undermined entirely.

"If we don't insure accountability, we run the serious risk of losing the public will," said Diana Autin, co-director of the Statewide Parent Advocacy Network, based in Newark. "There are too many examples of where bad decisions are made ... and if that is to continue to happen, the funding that is so im portant is at serious risk of being lost."

Other advocates taking part in yesterday's presentation at the Statehouse in Trenton were the Association for Children of New Jersey, the Black Ministers Council of New Jersey, New Jersey Black Issues Convention, the New Jersey NAACP, Abbott Leadership Institute at Rutgers, Paterson Education Fund, and the Statewide Education Organizing Committee.

State officials said accountability has been a main focus of their efforts, and they cited ongoing reviews and audits of district budgets, tighter regulations on Abbott preschools, and new policies on travel and other administrative perks.

In addition, Gov. Jon Corzine last month took an unprecedented step by vetoing the contract of Camden Superintendent Annette Knox for being too generous.

"Since taking office a few months ago, Gov. Corzine has moved aggressively to ensure that all children receive a thorough and efficient education; accountability is key to meeting that goal," Corzine spokesman Anthony Coley said.

Assistant State Commissioner Gordon MacInnes, who oversees the Abbott implementation, is a chief target in the advocates' call for new leadership. But he said yesterday that advocates appear to center more on compliance and procedures and not as much on student achievement.

"We're at a stage that, given the run-up in funding, we can make the statement these districts now have adequate resources, with a few exceptions, and we need to be focused on what is effective in the education of these children," he said.

Yet he also raised a fundamental disagreement on the limits of the state's role in driving what happens in classrooms.

Sciarra yesterday cited the state Supreme Court's own words in its Abbott rulings that give the state authority to order changes. MacIness claimed such mandates don't work when it comes to instruction.

"The state's role is to provide every opportunity and assistance to get this work going," MacIness said. "If it ends up a district is not prepared to do that, there is no way for me to hold a gun to their heads. I don't care what judges or lawyers or editorial writers say, you can't mandate these things."

City may weaken gun rules before final vote
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
By KEN THORBOURNE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Jersey City officials are seeking to modify two gun ordinances before they come before the City Council tonight for final adoption.

The two ordinances would outlaw cheap, short-barreled guns commonly known as "Saturday night specials" or "junk guns," and make it illegal for an individual to purchase more than one firearm in any six-month time period.

A third gun ordinance, requiring gun owners to report lost or stolen firearms within 48 hours, also is on tonight's agenda but apparently will be voted on as proposed.

City officials are looking to adjust the ordinances out of concern they could cause undue harm to the business of Frank Caso, owner of Caso's Gun-O-Rama on Danforth Avenue and Hudson County's sole gun dealer.

On the first ordinance, city officials are considering cutting the six-month time frame in half, allowing a purchase once every three months. Corporation Council Bill Matsikoudis said a similar law is being pushed in New York City by Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

In regard to the ban against "Saturday night specials," Matsikoudis said officials are considering grandfathering in owners who already own such guns.

Caso accused city officials yesterday of coming up with cosmetic changes that won't put a dent in crime - but will hurt his business.

Because gun manufacturers have so upgraded the quality of weaponry they produce, the whole concept of "Saturday night specials" is obsolete, Caso said.

And limiting his customers to one gun every six months unfairly targets legitimate gun owners who have undergone extensive local, state and federal background checks, he added.

"New Jersey has the toughest gun laws in the nation," Caso said. "I live in Jersey City. I have a lot of love for Jersey City. Why don't they (city officials) just leave me alone."

New York Times: Small Cities Hit Hard in Crime Report
By LAURA MANSNERUS
Published: June 15, 2006

In Jersey City, where the gentrifying waterfront deflects the public eye from unchangingly poor neighborhoods, violent crime rose by 8.4 percent last year. Thirty-eight people were killed, an increase of 15 compared with the previous year.

Mourners carried the coffin of Monica Armanious, 8, on Jan. 17, 2005. She and three family members were found slain at home in Jersey City.
Multimedia

The bodies of a woman and two of her children, ages 6 and 13, were removed from their apartment in Jersey City on Sept. 21, 2005.

Paterson and Elizabeth, N.J., fared even worse with violent crime, each registering an increase of about 20 percent. In New York, Syracuse also had a 20 percent increase, and violent crime was up in Stamford, Conn., as well.

In most smaller cities and even in some quiet suburbs in the region, violent crime rose last year, according to preliminary statistics released Monday by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The increases were such that New York City, with a slight decline, appeared to be an oasis of relative calm.

Among the 15 other cities with 100,000 or more people in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, 10 had increases in violent crime, including 4 in the double digits. And in those 15 cities, taken together, the number of homicides rose by 28 percent.

The reasons, experts said, included the spread of gangs to smaller cities and suburbs and cuts in federal grant programs to local police agencies. Many attribute the success of bigger cities in part to sophisticated police techniques that they have developed, while smaller ones are just catching up — especially in their approaches to violent offenders.

While experts do not consider homicides to be a very telling gauge of crime, they agree that the increase is striking — even more so than the nationwide figures, which showed a 12.5 percent increase in homicides last year in cities with populations of 50,000 to 249,000. The numbers underscore what they describe as a resurgence of senseless violence among young men in impoverished neighborhoods.

"These ideas of respect and disrespect and how you have to respond to being disrespected may have started on the mean streets of the core urban areas, but you now see them in smaller places," said David M. Kennedy, the director of the Center for Crime Prevention and Control at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

By and large, the numbers in the New York region fit the pattern in the nationwide statistics released on Monday, showing a 2.5 percent increase in violent crime — which comprised homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault — after an impressive 15-year decline.

Violent crime in the largest cities declined slightly between 2004 and 2005, with New York City recording a 1.9 percent decrease over all and a 5 percent decline in homicides. In cities with populations under one million, however, violent crime was on the rise. The report did not contain data on individual cities with populations of less than 100,000.

"Right now, comparing anywhere to New York City is kind of a setup because New York City has become extraordinarily safe," Mr. Kennedy said. "It's places not just the size of Albany and Buffalo but places the size of Newburgh that are having big-city crime problems."

Experts also caution that a one-year increase in crime may be just a small bump. It is, nonetheless, a bump visible all over the country. While violent crime in cities of over 1 million dipped by 0.4 percent, it rose 8.3 percent in cities of 500,000 to 999,999, 2.9 percent in cities of 250,000 to 499,999 and 3.4 percent in cities of 100,000 to 249,999. In cities of fewer than 10,000 people, violent crime rose 1.6 percent nationally.

John Klofas, a professor of criminal justice at the Rochester Institute of Technology, said that while "the medium-size cities have been affected the most dramatically" in the latest rise in crime, "it's too tempting to try to read a lot into this at this time."

In Rochester, for example, homicides are down slightly so far in 2006, while aggravated assaults are far ahead of the number in the comparable period of 2005, Professor Klofas said. And the increase in homicides last year, to 53 from 36 in 2004, followed a huge decrease from 2003.

The F.B.I. report led officials in some cities to protest that one year's numbers were no basis for judging their handling of crime. In Jersey City, the report prompted Mayor Jerramiah Healy and Police Chief Robert A. Troy to announce that property crimes have been on a significant decline this year and that homicides — 14 so far — were down significantly compared with the same period last year.

The department has added bicycle patrols and surveillance cameras, has offered cash to people who turned in their handguns and has announced a program called "Operation Little Rascal" to enforce a curfew. "We're going to start bringing these kids off the streets and bringing them to their parents," Mayor Healy said.

In Paterson, a Police Department spokesman, Lt. Anthony Traina, said crime statistics often fluctuated for reasons that might not be immediately apparent, citing one crime wave a few years ago after more than 400 convicts were released from prison and returned home.

As to homicides, which doubled last year, reaching 20, Lieutenant Traina said, "Over the years, we've been over 20 and down to 7."

A few other cities reported numbers just as stark: Hartford had 25 homicides in 2005, up from 16 in 2004, and in Elizabeth the number rose to 17 from 10.

One exception, oddly, was Camden, N.J. — named "America's most dangerous city" for the last two years — which had 35 homicides last year, down from 49 in 2004. The overall violent crime data for Camden, a city of almost 80,000, was not in the F.B.I. report, since it is too small.

And in Newark, where violent crime has slowly receded — declining 1.6 percent in the preliminary 2005 data — homicides increased, to 97 from 84 in 2004.

"To have had an increase in murder for the past two years is very troublesome," said Michael Wagers, the executive director of the Police Institute at Rutgers in Newark. Mr. Wagers said 90 percent of homicides in Newark were committed with guns, compared with 67 percent nationally, in a pattern he saw in other medium-size cities like Hartford and Charlotte, N.C.

"You have an intersection with gangs and guns," he said. "In the typical homicide or shooting, the victim is a gang member in some kind of dispute, disrespecting someone at a party or bumping into them, and then there's an escalation of violence between groups."

Civic JC
PO Box 248
Jersey City, NJ 07303-0248
www.civicjc.org



for Immediate Release

June 15, 2006

Contact: Daniel Levin, president, 201.792-3386, dlevin@civicjc.org
Andrew Hubsch, vice president, 201.432.7615, ahubsch@civicjc.org


CIVIC JC AND JERSEY CITY CITIZENS URGE THE JERSEY CITY MUNICIPAL COUNCIL ON PASSAGE OF REDEVELOPMENT PAY-TO-PLAY REFORM ORDINANCE

Jersey City, NJ ? Civic JC and Jersey City citizens presented a model redevelopment pay-to-play ordinance to the Jersey City Municipal Council at Wednesday evening?s council meeting, June 14, 2006.

Andrew Hubsch, vice president for Civic JC, said, ?The ordinance that we are presenting to the Council tonight will allow Jersey City to ensure that major redevelopment decisions are solely based on the public?s interest, and not as a reward to deep-pocketed campaign contributors and politically-connected players. For too long, our good city has labored under a cloud, and constituents have questioned if campaign dollars dictate the political agenda. Finally, upon adoption of this important ordinance, Jersey City municipal government will declare freedom from even the appearance of conflicting interests, re-affirming that the ballot box is the only proper instrument for influencing government.?

Daniel Levin, Civic JC president said, ?Protecting the integrity of the Jersey City?s redevelopment plans from the undue influence of large campaign contributors is essential to protecting the quality of life of Jersey City?s citizens and the financial future of the city.?

The proposed ordinance would ban contributions from developers who wish to do redevelopment within Jersey City from one year prior to the negotiations through the completion of the redevelopment agreement.

This model law was development by a team of top legal experts, and is advanced by the Citizens? Campaign. Across the state, members of the The Citizens? Campaign are presenting legislations similar to this in their hometowns. The City of Asbury Park was the first municipality to adopt this ordinance. Similar ordinances have also passed in Belmar, Hightstown, Hamilton, West Windsor, and the County of Mercer.

Civic JC is a non-partisan, community-based initiative, designed to promote a comprehensive, positive vision for the future of Jersey City as a ?World Class City?. Through the www.CivicJC.org informational portal, Civic JC provides information and policy initiatives designed to make Jersey City a world class place to live, work and visit. Civic JC expects to concentrate on efforts that will improve the transparency of decision making of Jersey City municipal government.

I finally saw him!! But was too bashful to get a frontal shot.

Jersey City- Dogs R Us