Slightly off topic: citibike NYC is doing an under-the-radar withdrawal from service of all of the newer model citibikes in what amounts to a product recall. No mention of it on their website. They sent me an email saying the front fork design is flawed and an independent contractor is inspecting every one of the "new" bikes and performing repairs as needed. I bring it up here since ALL of the Jersey City citibikes are of the "new" model. I doubt there is too much cause for concern I have NEVER seen a citibike with its front wheel broken off (its the FOrk that holds the front wheel on) But its news related to citibike and Jersey City.

Whenever this topic comes up I wonder why the most obvious course of action has net been pursued: Enforcement of the existing automobile related laws. Whenever I walk out my door I am assured of seeing dozens of Moving Violations and parking infractions of every kind. The laws are there on the books, enforcing them would generate revenue. SO why not act? Fear of voter backlash I suspect? The amount of leeway allowed motorists in this town is ridiculous and needs to be curbed. Yes it will anger motorists but the quality of life for the rest of us will improve and those of us who do not drive ALSO vote.

I see an economic opportunity here. Since Christie is working for the Trump campaign, we should bill Trump for the rental of our Governor. Clearly our Governor isn't working for us right now, he's working for Trump full time. He won't even attend a funeral for a N.J. State Trooper killed in the line of duty, preferring instead to stump with Trump in Florida. I think a fair rental fee would be twice the amount Christie usually charges for his speaking engagements, plus the maintenance and repair fee for whatever damage our Governor takes. I have to say there is already going to be hefty fee for the removal of all that tarnish on him. In fact it may never buff out.

Jersey City's tolerance for bad driving behavior goes right to the top. What is with this city and its shameless acceptance of any sort of bad driving behavior? Is this idiot going to be allowed to vote on pedestrian safety issues? How can this city government pretend to care about vehicular safety if this drunken driver gets off with a slap on the wrist and retains his City Council seat?

The story linked to bellow is one from Activistpost.com. If you are willing to accept Activistpost.com's take on atomic energy, enter the term "chemtrails" into their search window on their website and strap on your tinfoil hat and hang on tight because you are going on the express train to stupid land.

I'm glad to see Boggiano proposing something that would increase the quality of life in town. Its refreshing to see a City Council person trying to do something to make life better for the rest of us and it would be nice to see other councilpeople proposing things that were so obviously centered on improving quality of life. This is what I want from a City Council person.

Why would responsible lawmakers, charged with protecting the rest of us, roll back sentencing on illegal gun carrying? its got the word "illegal" right there in the name. They are sighting the actor carrying a fake gun as being somehow related to this issue and it is NOT related. They also site people from out of state bringing their guns into New Jersey and call them "legal", but they are NOT legal in New Jersey. The gun owners are responsible for knowing the relevant laws concerning gun ownership in the states they want to travel through. I for one am very GLAD that there are consequences for bringing illegal guns into New Jersey. Idiot tourists bringing their guns with them alarm me and I wish to be protected from them.

The original poster of this topic appears to be suggesting that "Big Tobacco" is behind the effort to limit or prohibit the sale of electronic cigarettes. He also is hinting or suggesting, as hard as he can, that electronic cigarette use is an effective way to quit smoking. I am not aware of any studies that prove this. I am against electronic cigarettes and support any legislation that restricts them. Any industry that is trying to market an addictive substance is evil, in my opinion and I am glad to hear news that New Jersey lawmakers are trying to hinder their distribution. Who knows what health dangers lurk in second hand electronic cigarette smoke? I would rather not have to inhale that stuff regardless of what is in it.

Amazingly the owner of the Fuel Service is blaming the boaters of Morris Canal for the spill: ....."He told NBC 4 New York off camera that he thinks the culprit could be somebody dumping old diesel in the marina, too cheap to pay to dispose of it properly.".....

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/ ... oast-Guard-368900281.html

An alarming post on facebook, complete with a photo of the barge sinking or sunk, alerted me to this story I have not seen covered in the news. The fuel barge is the one on the North side of the Canal, familiar to all as the fueling station adjacent to the ferry gangway at the foot of Marin Blvd.
A member of a facebook page for local boaters claims he alerted the Coast Guard of the sinking barge Sunday February 14th about the spill, but from then on the story gets murky. This morning more photos of the barge and more alarming still, photos of a LOT of pink colored fuel, huge blooming clouds of it, show the fuel has escaped any kind of containment and is now polluting the canal with a LOT of fuel. Its hard to say how much, but there were many photos posted showing the spill.
The worst part of the story is that there is a person claiming the fuel was deliberately pumped into the water after nightfall to hide the illegal dumping. Anyone in the area know if any of this is true, or have better facts about the fuel spill?

The more I read about this story the more I realize its a story about Double Parking in Hoboken. It is not a bike lane story and has almost nothing at all to do with cycling or bike safety or the rights of the bike riding public. Its funny the Hoboken issue isn't framed AS a double parking issue, the bike lane is the straw man for the real issue at stake- which is that the merchants feel that Double Parking is their lifeline. Without it, they feel their businesses will die. Everyone knows it is illegal and this fact is not mentioned at all in any of the articles I have read about this issue. It is the elephant in the room. The merchants SHOULD be advocating for Legal Double Parking. If Double Parking is their life line then they need to bring it out of the grey area of parking legality and fight for its acceptance as a legal certainty. Then it will be up to City Hall to decide if its a legal tolerable practice. Blaming the bike riders for an issue that centers on illegal double parking is an unfair rap to hang on the cyclists, all they want is a survivable asphalt environment to exist in.

I would like to apologize to any jewish people reading this. Not all Jersey City list readers (or residents of our city) are slack jawed mouth breathing caveman racists.

What a fiasco. So backward.

I was sitting on a bench at the South end of the esplanade at Liberty State Park when a couple of Bros launched a big loud drone and flew it directly towards the Statue of Liberty, flying it directly over the heads of all of us on the pathway. About 30' offshore the drone's engines cut out and it speared down into the water instantly, from a height of probably 50'. If it had hit someone it certainly would have messed them up, it was big and moving fast.
I wondered then and still wonder now if Liberty Island has radio jammers that prevent drone overflights? it would make sense in a sort of paranoid way. I myself am not supper worried about getting hit by one but I do see why civil authorities are stepping in to regulate them.

Got no plans for tomorrow? (Sunday Jan 31st) You have just enough time to make some soup and freeze it today, so you can bring the soup to exchange tomorrow!
Meet some neighbors, build community, exchange delicious home made soup. If you are sitting on the fence, don't worry your soup is not god enough! There will be some foodies there but often there are people that are bringing the first soup they ever made! Plus there is always a good mix of vegetarian selections too.

It should certainly not fall to firemen to be doing this city work. And while on the subject I will make something plaint that I would have thought was REALLY obvious: You have to shovel out the fire hydrants! YOU HAVE TO SHOVEL OUT THE FIRE HYDRANTS! And that does not just mean exposing the red paint on the hydrant, you have to shovel out AROUND the hydrant in order that a hose can be mated to the valve. I saw two on JFK Blvd that had the snow removed from them but not enough to get a hose in there.

Onto the snow shame snow pile I will also throw sidewalk intersections not being shoveled. Regardless of whatever the law is, its idiotic to shovel up to the corner then stop without reaching the street- the point of a clear sidewalk is that you can walk across an intersection to the NEXT sidewalk. I'm looking at you Every Merchant On Newark from Tonnele to Grove.

Yesterday I peeked over the fence on Tonnele Ave near Newark- the little cement bridge that spans the cut for the PATH tracks, among other tracks. These are the tracks that run West from Journal Square to Harrison and Newark. I could see there was an undisturbed blanket of snow covering all the tracks, nothing had rolled over them as of 4:00 Sunday the 24th. There was a crew of about fifteen guys on foot on the path tracks, armed with shovels and spaced out at intervals of 40' or so, and they appeared to be digging under the safety cap the runs over the Third Rail. I assume they were clearing electrical junctions or something that were bridged by the snow- thats my guess. They were not digging out the tracks, they were digging in specific uniformly spaced areas on the Third Rail. My guess is the snow is too deep to allow them to switch the current on and allow PATH trains to run. My guess is the snow would be bridging too many gaps and shorting out the line. I saw heavier engine powered equipment form the JFK Bridge adjacent to Journal Square, they had a backhoe on the rails. But all the tracks were covered with a blanket of snow with some rather large drifts in places.

I am not sure I have ever seen a ticket on a car window in Jersey City. Ever. I don't think I have ever seen a car pulled over with a cop writing a ticket in this city. Ever. It is very clearly a city of no consequences for those who own autos. Any kind of vehicle behavior is permitted. You can set your own speed limit in this town and drive at whatever speed suits you- there are no consequences for that. My city council person worked as hard as he could to REMOVE the red light cameras, assuring the drivers they were going to be safe from the consequences of not obeying the red light. The same councilperson has complained about the behavior of bike riders. I am happy to see the city has the opportunity to spend three million dollars on "Pedestrian Safety" but if they really care about the issue- which they clearly do not- they could address the systemic problems of driver behavior and work to change them. This would be the logic way to promote "Pedestrian Safety".

I was innocent of the exorbitant fees Care Point charges so I simply went with them when I had to pick a local General Practitioner. When I had an issue I walked blindly into their cynical exploitation of people seeking basic health care. My brief brush with Care Point cost my insurers a great deal of money yet the actual human interaction was as minimal as you could imagine and at no point did I feel that anyone I dealt with cared for my health at all. My physician had not even read the blood and urine test reports when I went in for the follow up, I had to point out to her that the lab had written on the report "we did not perform the urin test" she had not read the report but acted as if she had. What options do I have for avoiding Care Point? Next time I go in for whatever reason, am I allowed to say " I do not want Care Point to play any roll in my treatment"? Or do I have to just go where they tell me?

Hooray! This is my favorite Jersey City community event! Now....what soup to make? Do I go with an old standard or try something weird?

I am taking the position that this is a good thing for everyone involved, except the guy hit with the missile I hope he is O.K. Its a good thing for the JCPD since now they can fire this guy before he gains a toe hold on the force. Its a good thing for the citizens since it will show the PD is quick to respond when it becomes clear one of their own is the wrong sort for the job. Its good for the rest of the cops on the force since the public's trust in them will be greater when it becomes clear that the bad cops are quickly removed, leaving only those who can be trusted. Its even a good thing in the long run for the officer in question. He was not going to have a decent life living under the illusion that there are no consequences for drunken violence. Its going to be a hard lesson for him to learn but on the other hand he will have to acknowledge that he alone brought him to the place where he was drunk and violent in a bar, and he alone must pay the price for his actions.

What we should be hearing in the news is the the loud protests that should be coming from within the Parks department, not a placating statement designed to mollify our community outrage. Building Hotels in parks to "help pay for the parks" is NOT how State Parks function. If the State Parks are too expensive to run then the problem is with Park management. A park administrator that can even consider the idea of selling off or leasing parts of the land held in the public trust to private industry to cover the cost of managing the park is the wrong person for the job.A Parks department that tells us not to worry, that there are no imminent plans to develop the park is NOT the administrators we need, we need ones that will assure us that they are working to fight the privatization of our parks, not lending the credibility of their offices to the notion that privatization is even remotely possible.

Getting a citibike station close to the Hoboken PATH station would make perfect logical sense and I wonder why the nearest JC citibike station isn't as close as possible? As it is, if you want to get off PATH at Hoboken station the nearest citibike station is at River Drive South and Newport Parkway and in my opinion it should be right up against the Hoboken boarder at 14th St at Newport Green park, where there is PLENTY of room for it in a very bike friendly corner of town.

I'm happy to see that plans are going ahead to do something with the longstanding eyesore vacant lot at Journal Square, a civic embarrassment reminding all of us who live here that this is the land that urban planning forgot.
Lets consider the 95 million dollar tax abatement, or incentive, or whatever it is called, as "potential money" This money should go into enhancing the neighborhood right? Should all of that potential money be tied up in this one project? Wouldn't it be better to use some of it to spread around this forgotten district in the form of enhancing languishing infrastructure? For instance how much would it cost to repaint the stripes on our roads and maybe work harder at cleaning the trash off the streets? Maybe throw in some traffic safety enforcement? Sure I know this "money" doesn't actually exist in the present, its just money that won't be the responsibility of the developers. But maybe some of that same willingness to be creative with future tax revenues to make things happen could be manipulated in ways that could have a real and positive effect on the daily lives of those who live here?
Flash forward ten years and the towers are up and running. The developers are very well off now and the PATH train is a nightmare. 95 million dollars DID NOT go into enhancing the infrastructure. The rest of the neighborhood has had to get along without it. Has anyone repainted the stripes on the roads yet? Did those of us who live here now have our lives enhanced?

Look at it this way: If every foot of parking space in the city was divided by the total number of taxpayers, each individual would l get X feet of parking space that "belonged" to them. Likely this would be a strip measured in inches. Until citibike came along, non-car owners could not utilize parking spaces for any legitimate reason even though they were helping to pay for them. As a non car owner It would have been nice if I was exempt from paying some of my taxes to account for the fact that I was not utilizing the parking I was paying for, or if I was able to lease "my" parking space percentage to the car owners, but this has never been the case. But now non-car owners have a legitimate use for a very small percentage of the total parking spaces and you know what? I want MY space used for bikes, and so do a lot of other people. In fact there should be ten times as many citibike stations around town and I hope there will be in the future. This will still leave the vast majority of parking spaces to he car owners and is more democratic. Also lets remember that most of the citibike stations in Jersey City are not IN parking spots. Car owners do not like the loss of ANY spots and are putting up all sorts of irrational arguments against the use of citibike, which is hilarious but shows their overdeveloped sense of entitlement

Also do not forget that 10:30 A.M. today is the 10:30 adjusted for Daylight Savings! Did you remember to change your clocks?

Today is the day! And this will be a great opportunity to enjoy the Park, the fall foliage, and the always terrific views of the Harbor the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. No matter how you feel about the proposed economic exploitation of this public space, its going to be a great day to visit our park. I cut and pasted this from the facebook page: Registration opens at 10:30 a.m. for the solidarity bike ride starting at noon and ending around 12:45.
Cyclists will bike two laps around the park, approximately 10K (6 miles) (or optional one 5K lap).
The route is the scenic "Liberty Walk" waterfront walkway and Freedom Way, past areas threatened with privatization.
Cyclists asked to be at least 10 years old. Helmets are strongly encouraged, although NJ law does not require helmets for those over 17.

Then Mayor Steven Fulop and NJ Senator Sandra Cunningham will join Sam Pesin, son of LSP Founder Morris Pesin and President of the Friends of Liberty State Park, will give brief remarks about our fight.

At around 1:00, we?ll ROCK AGAINST PRIVATIZATION with an eclectic lineup of local bands curated by Dancing Tony/(The) Rock-It Docket.

Wear your costume! Face painting! Food trucks! Hot apple cider! Amazing professional kite flying display at ?South Field? behind the Terminal! Yoga stretching before and after the ride (no mats)! Photo booth!

WHEN: Sunday, November 1st, 10:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

WHERE: Historic CRRNJ Train Terminal Concourse

GPS: 1 Audrey Zapp Drive, Jersey City, NJ 07305 (east end of cobblestone road)

BRING: Family, friends, and everyone you know who cares about our urban state park. Bike, helmet, bike lock.

SCHEDULE
10:30 a.m. - Registration & yoga warm-up begins
Noon - 12:45 - Bike ride around the park
12:55 Brief remarks about the battle
1:00 The Milwaukees - @milwaukees
2:00 Karyn Kuhl Band - karynkuhl.com
3:00 DEVI - www.facebook.com/devirock
4:00 Sensational Country Blues Wonders - @SCBluesWonders

VENDORS
The Green Radish (vegetarian)
Cider Fusion (hot apple cider)

TRANSPORTATION
RIDE YOUR BIKE!
HBLR/SHUTTLE: A shuttle is available at the LSP Light Rail Station staring at 12:15, departing approximately every half hour. The last shuttle departs from the venue at 4:00.
CAR: Free parking in ferry tours lot, just say you're attending this event.
FERRY: http://www.nywaterway.com/PaulusHook-WTCRoute.aspx#weekend
UBER: Sign up with code 9zwbz for a free ride (up to $15).

Huge thanks to our supporters Bike JC, Grove Street Bicycles, and the American Kitefliers Association.

Stay informed! Get involved!
Friends of Liberty State Park: www.folsp.org
Twitter: @LibertyParkNJ, https://twitter.com/LibertyParkNJ
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/friendsoflibertystatepark
Instagram: https://instagram.com/friendsoflibertystatepark/
Email list: click on Subscribe at www.folsp.org
Volunteers & Media: Sam: 201-341-7895 or text 201-341-7900 pesinliberty@earthlink.net
For more information about this major crossroads battle for LSP, visit:
FOLSP: http://www.folsp.org/preservation/meadowlands_act.html

#SaveLSP #LibertyStatePark

So what I have learned here is that here in Jersey City I can drive up to 35 MPH over the speed limit and I can hit and kill a person and then I can drive off, I won't be obliged to remain at the scene of the fatality I caused. If there were witnesses I may have to suffer the annoyance of hiring a lawyer and fighting it in court, but I should be OK.

Quote:
You miss my point. I never used the words"plagiarism" or "misappropriation". I don't think re-recycling vintage imagery is illegal, I don't think that once a concept is visited by one artist, no other artists can touch it. Its possible the guy selling these new prints has NEVER HEARD OF the Hoboken artist and arrived independently at the idea to use the retro imagery and thats fine! The point made earlier that the Hoboken artist was ALSO borrowing from existing imagery is a VALID POINT but in my opinion a creative artist should try to move the ball farther down the field rather than simply walking precisely in the footsteps of another artist. So if the people selling these new prints were aware of the Hoboken artists work, that would, in my opinion, make them more "business people" rather than "artists". But if, as is possible, they were unaware of the Hoboken Artist's work, then they are above reproach and I would like to apologize to them if my participation in this thread makes them frown. But maybe on the other hand its better they know about the work of the Hoboken artist, if they were unaware of it before. In general I am happy about the sale of any artwork that celebrates Jersey City. People should buy the art, and they should CERTAINLY buy local art! Artists need the support and people need the culture.