Jersey City says I'm wrong about the 35 years, and here's why: the abatement does refer to "35 years from date of adoption," but the city says that's to put a five year time limit on substantial completion. If project isn't complete for 10 years, they say, then abatement would end 35 years from now -- but the abatement itself would only be 25 years.

The abatement is for 35 years from adoption or 30 years from substantial completion. So, likely 30 years, yes, but if the first tower isn't built on schedule or the project stalls, it could be 35.

Downtown Jersey City residents flay Fulop over 'micro-unit' development

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop was grilled by a group of Downtown residents last night over his administration?s handling of a controversial 87-unit residential development proposed for a lot near Schools 3 and 4.

The residents, about 80 of them assembled inside the council chambers at City Hall, accused administration officials and Fulop?s allies on the City Council of being unresponsive to their complaints about the development.

Some even uttered a word Fulop often hurled at the previous administration: corrupt.

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Former JCRA chief gets $265K to step down

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

Bob Antonicello, the former Jersey City Redevelopment Agency chief pushed out by Mayor Steve Fulop, will receive $265,000 to step down early.

City spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill confirmed the figure this afternoon to The Jersey Journal. Morrill said the payment includes ?compensation obligations,? as well as Antonicello?s ?accrued vacation and sick time.?

Antonicello?s last day as the JCRA?s executive director was Friday. He was hired in 2006, and his latest contract didn?t expire until July 20, 2015.

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Jersey City councilman says investigators botching case of murdered former cop

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

The investigation into the brutal, still unsolved murder of a former Jersey City cop found strangled in his home last year has been bungled, a City Council member said yesterday to the dismay of the Hudson County Prosecutor?s Office.

Ward C Councilman Rich Boggiano, a retired police detective, said during a special council meeting that officials know who killed Frank E. Goggan but have yet to arrest the suspect.

?It?s a disgrace what?s gone on the last two years, and something must be done,? Boggiano said. ?If they don?t get a cop killer, what hope do you or I have??

He added, about county homicide investigators: ?They blew it.?


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Billionaire education 'reformers' giving thousands in Jersey City school board race

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal


New Jersey billionaires who seek to revamp the state?s education system are again pouring money into a Jersey City election, with a Far Hills hedge fund manager donating nearly $10,000 to the four school board candidates backed by Mayor Steve Fulop.

Alan Fournier, who founded education group Better Education for Kids with fellow billionaire David Tepper, has given $9,405 to Board of Education candidates Micheline Amy, Jessica Rosero Daye, Carol Lester and Ellen Simon, who call themselves the ?Candidates for Excellence,? according to campaign finance documents made public today.

Fournier?s wife, Jennifer, also gave $9,405, which is nearly the maximum an individual can give to a committee of four candidates, the documents show.

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Fans, critics of Jersey City schools chief to face off in school board race

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

For the fourth election cycle in a row, a Jersey City school board race is coming down to the Fulop folks versus the anti-Fulop folks.

There are nuances at play in this year?s election, the first since Jersey City voters voted overwhelmingly last year to move balloting from April to November: the district?s teachers are awaiting a new contract, several schools are under review by state officials because of consistently poor test scores and new Schools Superintendent Marcia V. Lyles is still only in her second year on the job.

But the political dominance of Mayor Steve Fulop, who has backed every successful Board of Education candidate since 2010, is again front and center.

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Jersey City school board member resigns, fails to show for ethics hearing

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

Jersey City Board of Education member Sterling Waterman has resigned from the board two months before his term was set to expire, and five days before he was set to appear in a Newark courtroom to face ethics charges.

Waterman, the BOE?s vice president, sent a letter to the public-school district on Friday announcing his immediate resignation. His first term on the nine-member school board expires on Jan 6. He is not running in next week?s general election for a second term.

The Jersey Journal left a voicemail on Waterman?s cell phone and texted him seeking comment. Neither message was returned.

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Secret 2011 meeting an issue (again) in Jersey City school board race

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

A hush-hush meeting between then-City Councilman Steve Fulop and state Education Commissioner Chris Cerf two years ago continues to offer grist for the political mill here in Jersey City.

The meeting, at a private Arlington Avenue residence in May 2011, came just as the nine-member Board of Education was moving to oust former schools chief Charles T. Epps Jr. Two of the meeting?s attendees, BOE member Carol Lester and Ellen Simon, are on the ballot together in next week?s school board race, and their opposition has produced an ad raising questions about the get-together.

In the ad, BOE hopeful Lorenzo Richardson, a vocal critic of Fulop and Epps successor Schools Superintendent Marcia V. Lyles, stands in front of the Arlington Avenue home and demands, ?No more secrets.?

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Testy exchanges dominate Jersey City school board candidate forum

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

Ten candidates running in next month?s Jersey City school board race met at School 16 for an election forum last night, and after a sleepy start the forum ended on a chilly note after 90 minutes of candidates sniping back and forth.

Hot topics at last night?s two-hour forum, sponsored by the Historic Paulus Hook Association, included Schools Superintendent Marcia V. Lyles and incivility at Board of Education meetings.

Lyles, hired last August from a Delaware school district to replace longtime schools chief Charles T. Epps Jr., received either raves or jeers from the 10 candidates last night. Telissa Dowling, a substitute teacher, said her take on the new superintendent is ?somewhere in between,? then added if she graded Lyles she?d give her a D.


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I asked the mayor about this, caj11, and he told me Jennifer is one of the hardest working people in City Hall. He said he had no intention of firing everyone associated with the former mayor.

Fulop flip-flop on borrowing $9.5M; spokeswoman throws shade predecessor's way

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

Is Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop flip-flopping on deferring retirement costs?

Fulop, who was elected mayor on July 1, attacked his predecessor, former Mayor Jerramiah Healy, last year when Healy asked to borrow $9.5 million to pay for costs associated with a large number of city workers retiring.

At the time, Fulop, who represented Ward E on the City Council, said it is ?bad public policy? to borrow for retirement costs. Twice, Fulop and his allies on the council blocked the Healy administration from moving forward with the plan, and suggested the administration pay for the $9.5 million outright instead by selling property.

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In bizarre turn, Jersey City school board hopefuls endorse teachers union

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

Political observers watching the upcoming Jersey City school board race have been wondering: will the local teachers union, which is negotiating a new contract with the school district, endorse anyone?

The 4,000-member union faces a Catch-22: if it endorses its preferred candidates, it signals to its members who to vote for; but if those candidates win, they would have to abstain from voting on the new contract, leaving the pact in the hands of the remaining six members, most of whom did not receive union backing in their most recent elections to the board.

Well, an endorsement came through today, but it?s not the one anyone was expecting. The ?Children First? team, which includes incumbent board members Gerald Lyons and Angel Valentin, today issued an endorsement of the teachers union, the Jersey City Education Association.


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35-year tax break proposed for three-tower Journal Square project

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

The $600 million, three-tower residential project that Jersey City believes will transform Journal Square is set to receive a 35-year tax break, in addition to $10 million in bonds issued by a city agency that will pay for infrastructure improvements in the area.

The deal is the first for a market-rate project since Mayor Steve Fulop implemented a new policy regarding the tax breaks ? known as tax abatements ? that Fulop says will encourage development in areas of the city that aren?t located along the lucrative Waterfront.


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Jersey City reshaping fire department, claims up to $1M in savings

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

Jersey City is restructuring its fire department once again, eliminating an entire battalion in an effort the city says will save up to $1 million.

Reducing from four to three battalions will place more firefighters on duty and free up fire captains who had been acting as safety officers, the city says.

The move, which comes one month after the city combined the fire and police departments into one public-safety agency, will help reduce skyrocketing overtime costs in the fire department, according to the city.

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Jersey City mayor signs paid sick time bill into law

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

In a rare public ceremony at a Newark Avenue pizza joint, Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop this morning signed the city?s paid sick time bill into law, and predicted that the measure will eventually be replicated statewide.

Fulop, 36, said the law, which will take effect on Jan. 24, 2014 as the first of its kind in the state, is an effort to bolster the economy and help the city?s ?most vulnerable and most at-risk? workers.


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Jersey City hosts gay marriage ceremony for eight couples

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal




Eight gay Jersey City couples took part in a gay marriage ceremony in City Hall just after midnight today, the minute New Jersey became the 14th station in the nation to legalize same-sex marriage.

Mayor Steve Fulop, a gay marriage advocate who officiated the nuptials, said he had been expecting four couples, but four more hopped in front of the council dais to, as one bride put it, "be a part of history."

The crowd of about 100 witnessing the ceremony erupted into an ovation when Fulop declared the eight couples married.



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Gay wedding bells to chime in Jersey City at midnight Sunday

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

Most couples seeking to get married in New Jersey have to wait 72 hours after applying for a marriage license before they can wed.

But that rule doesn?t apply if you?ve already been married, so at least one Jersey City couple is taking advantage of that by remarrying in City Hall at 12:01 a.m. on Monday, with Mayor Steve Fulop officiating.

David Gibson and Rich Kiamco, who live on the city?s West Side, were married in New York on Sept. 30, 2011, and they plan to do it all again in the wee small hours of Monday morning.

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Jersey City due in court to argue for marrying gay couples starting Monday

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

Jersey City is set to appear in Hudson County Superior Court this afternoon in hopes of receiving permission to begin marrying gay couples on Monday.

Mayor Steve Fulop is an advocate for same-sex marriage, and already has two couples lined up to perform marriages for on Monday.

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Army Reserve seeking to unload 27-acre Jersey City property

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

The U.S. Army Reserve may be saying bye-bye to Jersey City, with the feds seeking to unload their 27 acre property on Caven Point Road by next April.

Though the lot sits just half a mile west of the well-heeled Port Liberte development, real-estate experts told The Jersey Journal they don?t think there will be much interest from developers in building residential units on the land, which is several miles from the bustling Downtown.

The Army Reserve isn?t selling the land, located at Caven Point Road and Chapel Avenue, but hoping to swap it in a transaction known as a ?real property exchange.? The ?buyer? would take the reserve property and, in exchange, build the reserve a new home within five miles of the current one.

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One year after Sandy delayed opening, Jersey City bakery finally in business

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

A Downtown Jersey City bakery that saw its grand opening delayed when Hurricane Sandy left six feet of water in the store one year ago finally opened its doors last week, and its owners are planning an all-day celebration this weekend.

Cocoa Bakery is located in a basement shop a few blocks east of the Jersey City Medical Center, in an area hard hit by last October?s storm. Jessica Isaacs, owner and executive pastry chef, said she still can?t quite believe that after four years of planning, her first bakery is a reality.

?It?s very exciting. It?s very nerve-wracking,? Isaacs said. ?I get a little nervous whenever it?s slow ? but we have a lot of kinks to work out.?

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Marie was appointed to the MUA board in August.

That's a good idea, Pebble. I'll discuss it with the editors.

More on this here:

Endorsing Lonegan, former Jersey City acting mayor cites Booker's 'incompetency'

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

Joseph Rakowski, who was Jersey City?s acting mayor for four months in 1992, today endorsed Republican Steve Lonegan?s bid for the U.S. Senate, saying Lonegan opponent Newark Mayor Cory Booker has been a ?failure.?

Rakowski, 65, said Booker?s tenure as mayor of Newark has led to ?unemployment, taxes, the crime.?

?To me, you don?t reward somebody for incompetency,? he said.

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Jersey City mayor kinda, sorta endorses Buono

by Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

It seems Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop has climbed off the fence and will vote for state Sen. Barbara Buono in next month?s gubernatorial race.

Just don?t expect to hear Fulop say Buono?s name.

?I?m a lifelong Democrat and when I get in the booth, I?m going to vote Democrat and that means the whole Democratic ticket,? Fulop, 36, told The Jersey Journal yesterday.

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Jersey City says Newport owes $2.6M in back taxes; not so, says Newport

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop bragged last week that his office had ?recovered? tax dollars he claims were overdue from the developers of Newport, but his statement has resulted in the threat of a lawsuit by Newport, which says they don?t owe the city any cash.

Newport didn't pay the city a total of $2.6 million it owed in overdue tax payments for the Marriott and Tower America, according to Fulop. Both properties received long-term tax breaks from the city.

The payments had been due as far back as 2005, according to the mayor, who said his administration is cracking down on developers who owe the city cash.

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RELATED: Fulop aggressively recovering overdue taxes? Or taking credit from Healy?

Mandatory paid sick leave in Jersey City: What you need to know

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

In late January, Jersey City is set to become the first city in the state, and the sixth nationwide, to require that most private businesses provide paid sick leave to their employees.

The measure was applauded by unions and criticized by business groups, but both sides seemed unclear about the expansive plan?s reach.

Here?s a primer

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You're right, Alex, I had my directions mixed up. Thanks! I've fixed it.