Thanks everyone. It has to be a type of musical play. This is an assignment for a music class I need in order to graduate. I was set to attend two plays but the first time I had a family emergency and the second time there was a mis-communication with the ticket agency. I tried NJCU but they are not available.

Hey fellow JC Lister's! I am in a bit of a jam and need to find a musical performance (e.g., play, symphony) to attend by next weekend. I would like to support local talent instead of going out of Jersey City but may have to travel out of town if required. Any information is welcome! Thanks..

@dtjcview I don't think you are ranting at all. I think you actually present pretty relevant information and I agree with you that our current educational system seems to be ass-backwards. Add to that the low socioeconomic status of most students in our area and you have a lethal combination. I think you brought up some great ideas (especially the trade apprenticeship and career evaluation) and would seriously support these types of things occurring within our schools. Sadly, I wonder how we would be able to do such a thing when the Board relies on something like $80 million from the Federal Government. So it seems that we will still be crippled by the requirements of the Big Brother even if we remove the current administration and bring people in with great ideas. As a Jersey City lifer, I just hope there is a way that we can reach some type of common ground to give these children a REAL education that will help them throughout their life; instead of this current standardized testing system that could care less what happens to the student a month after they graduate!

I have to commend the Jersey City Independent site for always reporting something of substance. They have a story from NJ.com stating how Jersey City is touting a report that states there is a "big decrease" in the crime rates for the year 2009 compared to year 2010. But they follow this up with a letter from the ACLU-NJ educating residents on how to read these reports and how to ask the "right questions" to find out if the city is just painting a false picture or reporting the right information. I recommend that everyone check out the report and the information from the ACLU-NJ.

JC Independent/ACLU-NJ Mailbag

News Report from NJ.com

Numbers of reported crimes in Hudson County continue to fall; 14 percent countywide, 20 percent in Jersey City; 16 percent in West New York
Friday, November 19, 2010
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE and MELISSA HAYES
JOURNAL STAFF WRITERS

Only Hoboken and East Newark saw slight bumps in reported crime, according to the report. Overall, crime fell 13.8 percent countywide, from 18,994 incidents in 2008 to 16,368 in 2009. The overall crime rate, measured by the number of crimes per 1,000 residents, dropped from 31.8 to 27.5.

Violent crime dropped 17 percent, from 3,579 to 2,967, and nonviolent crime fell 13 percent, from 15,415 reported incidents to 13,401.

Murders dropped by five, from 35 to 30. Rapes were down to 73, from 80. Robberies sank from 1,871 to 1,386; and aggravated assaults, from 1,593 to 1,478.

In terms of nonviolent crimes, there were 2,786 burglaries, down from 3,506; 8,972 larcenies, down from 9,798; and 1,643 motor vehicle thefts, down from 2,111.

There were 25,975 arrests in Hudson County in 2009, a 12 percent decrease from 2008.

Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio, the county's highest-ranking law enforcement officer, said cooperation and communication among law enforcement agencies played a role in the downward numbers, which was a statewide phenomena.

"We have to continue our efforts, but it will not become easier when resources are reduced," DeFazio said. "I think we have to be concerned about what may happen due to the economy's impact."

Jersey City saw the biggest decrease in crime, with overall incidents falling from 9,913 in 2008 to 7,920 in 2009.

Violent crimes in Jersey City fell from 2,314 to 1,827, and nonviolent crimes from 7,598 to 6,093. There were 28 murders in the city in 2009, two more than the previous year. Robberies fell from 1,268 to 885, and there were 865 aggravated assaults in 2009, down from 972.

Jersey City Police Chief Tom Comey said the numbers prove the plan he put in place four years ago works.

"It's nice to see the drop in crime finally reported," Comey said. "It shows we are making the streets safe."

Comey also fears that cutbacks could hinder the progress, noting that due to budget shortfalls, 80 officers in the city face being laid off.

Reported crime in West New York dropped by about 16 percent in 2009.

"I think the work our Police Department is doing is excellent and (the drop in crime) is a tribute to the community that works together with the police force," Mayor Sal Vega said.

Hoboken saw an uptick in overall reported crimes, from 1,186 to 1,252. But violent crimes in the city fell, 149 incidents in 2009 compared with 156 in 2008.

Bayonne, Guttenberg, Harrison, North Bergen, Secaucus, Union City and Weehawken also saw decreases in crime.

East Newark increased from 26 overall crimes in 2008 to 30 in 2009. The increase was in nonviolent crimes.

@landshark what you are saying about Downtown is very true. As far as lower school levels, I believe that the same issues are arising with children in elementary and middle school. For example, I have a friend who is a teacher in one of the middle schools in the Greenville section. She states that there is a HUGE gang problem within the community that instills itself into the schools and creates so much tension for the staff and students who may not be a part of a gang. The test grades are poor and when they had a meeting with Superintendent Epps all he said was, "You have to work harder to bring these standardized test grades up. If you need more supplies, let me know because we have the money for it." This shows you two issues within out educational system. First, the administration is more concerned about standardized testing rather than focusing on the overall education of the child. This is not a JC issue but a national one that is affecting how we can allocate funds to develop programs that will help children who lack interest in education like those in JC. Many of the programs developed to help struggling children have been removed due to lack of funding or the administration having to shift more focus to standardized testing. For example, there was a teacher in that school that had a program in place where she would do one-on-one reading lessons with a child struggling to read at their grade level. The program was removed because the school needed to shift their focus to standardized test scores. So you could see there that the concern is not the education of the child but the number that they receive on a, in my opinion, useless exam. Second, Epps is not focusing on the actual issue that is affecting the children. The teacher stated that a group of teachers have brought up the gang-related and other violence issues to the administration and nothing has been done. Therefore, Epps and the administration should be working on tacking the issues of violence and not the "lack of supplies" as he stated. Hopefully, we as a community can work together to improve the problems within our schools!

@81905 thank you for sharing the information about the Harlem Children Zone. I will be doing more research on that program and more like it. As far as "mandatory" parenting classes, I honestly do not know how effective they would be. Currently, there are a lot of required or mandatory classes or workshops that individuals in poverty have to attend but never take the time to go to. It seems to me that it is more of a habit or belief system problem. Some people have been raised to not care about certain things and sadly they raise children without the right morals and habits. I myself was and still am from residing in a low-income household but my outlook on life is very different from some of my peers in the same situation. We can force someone to do something but it does not mean that it will help change or modify their belief system. The real problem is that our public school system current is disconnected with the community. There is no collaboration in place where both systems can work together to try and improve the overall quality of life in our community. Therefore, we throw all of this pressure on teachers to not just educate but raise our children knowing damn well that once they leave the classroom the kids deal with so many negative factors (e.g., drug dealers in the corners, robberies, lack of parental supervision) making it difficult for them to concentrate on a quality education. Hopefully, communication between the schools and community can begin to take shape so that we can improve the situation!

GXR Corp

GXR Corp is in Jersey City. 10 Linden Avenue, JC, NJ 07305.

(201) 333-2334

Still think that Newark would be a better spot for better pricing but you could always try GXR.

@pickledpark WOW! I am not going to lie, science was not always my best subject, so thank you for enlightening me with this information. I respect the concerns over the destruction of trees and can understand how essential they are to our everyday life!

@sepecat good point.. there are too many kids for the little amount of schools that we have.. Also, I know it is an issue nationwide but I was just trying to brainstorm with people about solutions within our area.

@milkbone I agree but my problem is that they are making it ONLY for the children of Union City while leaving the kids of Jersey City out even though it is a County park that lies between both cities. The children of our city are in need of a facility strictly for recreational purposes and I would have liked some collaboration between the two instead of closed door agreements to benefit solely one side.

@sepecat the section in question is actually split with part of the park being in Jersey City and the other part being in Union City. As stated above, the problem that I have is leaving Jersey City children out of the equation.

@truthinprint this story just keeps on getting more and more interesting! It seems to me that what Gaughan is doing seems to violate some form of contractual obligations that he may have with his County job or his Council seat in JC! Is there any way to research this? Seems like another reason to push for a recall of Gaughan! Sad to see how most of his Ward is against this move and he is just staying quiet to make his boss (DeGise) happy! I feel ashamed to call him the Councilman of my Ward!

@81905 great insight! I agree 100% with you and would love to find ways to improve the entire community so that the children can have a greater educational experience. It is a very daunting task but I think we as a community can get together and brainstorm on ways to make the entire city better. We put too much pressure on school teachers and pass the blame to administrators as well without noticing the damage that we do to our society. Hopefully, we can start making small changes to improve our outlook in life.

WOW! Nice.. I didn't know people from Jersey City were reading JCList! Guess someone ran crying to Mayor Stack and told him the word got out! LOL..

@pickledpark thank you for the information. I will try to make it to the meeting.

@1djcview thank you very much for the link. I will look into the organization!

@heights I do not think we are looking at the actual problem because Academic and Catholic schools are FAR from elite.. As a Catholic High School graduate, I can tell you from experience that they are not all that people think they are. I left the school knowing less than any of my friends who went to public school. And before I hear any ignorant comments, I graduated as the top male student in my class so I had good grades. I believe that the issue affecting the children are the habits that they learn throughout their childhood from their parents and the community around them. We need to stop putting all of the blames on the educators because the children come to school with so many problems that are not being addressed by the city officials, school administrators, and social services. We are burning out our teachers while the admins keep all of the $$ and reap all of the benefits. This is the reason that I think we need to stop shifting the blame to one another and work together to come up with a solution. These results for our public school are horrendous and we can't just lay down and rule our youth out because of where they come from and how they are currently performing.

And for some reason, the Jersey City residents are not making noises about his current CLOSED DOOR contract negotiations!

Wish I could attend the meeting tonight but I have classes and cannot make it. There has to be a way to make these type of proposals more transparent instead of having so many closed door deals! I think a football field would be great for the children of the Heights but there currently is not a logical geographical location to place it.

I find it hilarious how some of the metermaids actually hide out while they see you put a quarter into a broken machine, look at it with a puzzled face, look around for someone from the Parking Authority, and then leave a note in your car stating the meter was broken. Then they appear "out of nowhere" once you've walked away to hit you with a ticket. I've seen it happen a few times and just feel like telling them to grow a spine and stop hiding out.

The Hudson Reporter has an article discussing the state's monthly ranking of high schools. Sadly ALL of JC High School's ranked at or close to the bottom of the list. I know many people will state, "What would you expect?" or something along those lines. Honestly though, what can we do to at least make some minimal repairs to this problem? Bad schools = unproductive community, and vice versa. I don't want to continue complaining about our schools and the administration so I am just looking to brainstorm with other intelligent Jersey City residents on solutions to this problem.


Four Jersey City schools get failing grades
Hudson Reporter
Nov 15, 2010

JERSEY CITY -- New Jersey Monthly's annual ranking of state high schools has placed four city high schools near the bottom of the 322 schools rated, according to published reports.

Of the four, Lincoln was ranked highest at 305, with Dickinson (308) and Snyder (312), not far behind. Ferris, at 320, was two spots from the bottom, according to published reports.

In recent weeks, both Ferris and Dickinson have also been the scene of fights amongst students that have required police intervention.

Jersey City schools Superintendent Charles T. Epps Jr. is quoted as saying the district is trying to focus on academic achievement, creating programs that increase the rigor of course work and setting up after-school clubs for students who struggle with homework.

Read more: Hudson Reporter - Four Jersey City schools get failing grades

@pickledpark thank you for your insight. I had a feeling everyone was being kept in the dark. Similarly to what the WPA stated, I did not hear about this proposal until the Jersey Journal reported it. It is rather upsetting that they would make such a proposal that would EXCLUDE children! That alone sounds so ridiculous. I cannot understand why our government can just propose to use money without proper planning. A report including the entire community, especially neighbors of the work, should have been a requirement. You stated the next meeting is this week, when? Once again, thanks for the info.

Thank you for this information. This is some of the information that I was looking for.

Jerseymom:

Thank you for your response. I did read this and it sparked my interest. But, it does not give me a specific breakdown. From this article, we could tell that UC Mayor Brian Stack and his team have not really collaborated with JC government officials or the Department of Recreation. The mayor's spokesman states that he has tried to reach out to the Washington Park Association to discuss the matter but he does not state anything about actually having discussions with the city. Therefore, I am looking for basically a breakdown of the plans or the request that Stack sent to the State. I don't know about anyone else, but it saddens me to think that Mayor Healy has basically done nothing (at least publicly) to state any concern over lack of communication with the city. Then again, it might have been something "worked out" behind closed doors (like all other deals are done). Just looking for some transparency! LOL..

Does anyone know where I can find details about the proposed Sports Complex that Union City Mayor Brian Stack is trying to build in Washington Park (on the border of UC and JC)? I know that the Washington Park Association has a petition up but I do not find any detailed specifications as to what Stack really wants to do there and if he is collaborating with Jersey City. Any information would be helpful. Thanks!

The agencies in charge are basically non-profit organizations. Some of them have been in existence for over 35 years and have had these services for over 20 years. I do not know any other restrictions that are placed on the funding. I did some research and found out that the Weatherization agency in our city/county is PACO.

You are right. Just trying to shed some light on the issue to see if we can make some improvements to the mismanagement within the government.

I got quite upset while reading this article about the waste of resources within the State's Weatherization Program.. Sad that the feds gave up $60 million to the State for weatherization that is really needed, especially in JC, and only 10% has been used; and, from the 10%, a lot of it is "wasteful spending!" Thoughts??

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010 ... ays_federally_funded.html