for mechanic stuff, I've liked Summit a lot - they're kind of loosey-goosey on the scheduling (they often just say 'call me that morning and drop it off') but they're transparent and non-sketchy and they'll talk openly to you (remarkable for an auto repair place)

I've taken my Civic (until it was stolen) and am taking my Golf there, they've done good work, and aren't out to make any boat payments off you...

justjoe, I hope when I'm your age I'm walking home at all hours and posting to community message boards.

I hope this doesn't come off as condescending, but I think that's awesome.

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I'm having trouble deciding if this poster is being sarcastic or not.

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...words fail me.

I *think* Epps was forced to give up the state legislature job...

but here's a site with some scanned and retyped articles on Epps (including his $21K London trip...)

http://www.talkingpolitics.net/Charles-Epps.htm

ianmac47 writes:
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...the return of trickle-down economics. That worked out great for the middle classes over the last 30 years...
and this chart only goes to the top 95th percentile, at the top 99th, it's exponential

81% percent of Americans think the country's going in the wrong direction - that's an astounding number....
CBS news/NY Times poll


But to bring it back to JC, this debate is *not* about PAD development or no PAD development - of course there's going to be (and should be) development there (how many times does this have to get pointed out...sigh) - this debate is instead about the precedent-setting scuttling of a "40 year plan" only 3 years in!! (a distinction the 'Toll tools' out there will likely refuse to acknowledge)

In fact, as Fulop pointed out, it was also unfair to the other *developers* who (naively, in JC) made business decisions based on the assumption that the Redevelopment Plan was in place. You would think that even the developers' most ardent soldiers/toadies/shills should be able to agree that going forward, this sets a really bad precedent for other developers doing business with the city.

Lastly, ianmac47's trotting out of the Rush Limbaugh-ian chestnut about a villainous elitist class - it's such a red herring, it drives me nuts - the elite is the *money*. Always has been, and is now more than ever. Meanwhile, the people primarily interested in getting their share of the crumbs falling off the table are out there (and on this message board) carrying the real money's water...

So they played that video last night showing all their self-congratulatory (especially Lipski) initial yes PAD votes from a couple years ago?

It would have been fun to see their reactions last night (if it were even possible to shame these people, that is).

ok, you got me - that DC story is a bit higher up on the Kafkaesque scale than what I went through...


and Althea, you're right, this is *exactly* what I would like to imagine (in a perfect world where you could call an 800 number and have Kohl's stop dumping 8 circulars on your stoop every 3 days):
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...but we both know the PA would push back on this - because a scenario like that would involve more work, and the PA is so on auto-pilot it's not funny.

In my experience, while the JCPD might bust a chop shop if they come across one, when it comes any one *individual* stolen car, they've conceded that business to the thieves, you're on your own.

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jersey mom, it's not mandating anything, it's informing parents of the availability of free testing (because not everyone has state-funded health insurance with well-baby visits).


also (at the risk of pointing out the obvious a bit more), the comparison to obesity is not apt, because lead exposure is ..um... not visually detectable.

Shame on you, evil Steve Fulop, for mounting another one of your selfish propaganda initiatives on the backs of our children!

Flood, Gaughan et al have more class than to try something like that!

Stop trying to... um... stop trying to.... alter our perceptions!

rpinkowitz feels like Fulop's OP "bashes" the JCPD and DPW for their position on the Erie St. traffic situation.


This, in fact, is what he wrote:
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whew, that's pretty rough bashing, Steve. - easy, fella!


But that's it for me on this thread, because....

?If is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it?- Upton Sinclair
(a useful quote around here...)

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The point of Fulop's OP was only to urge interested parties to attend the next council meeting and hear for themselves, as simple and transparent as that.

And if Fulop *were* to answer this request to paraphrase Public Works' opposing views re: Erie St., the haters (probably connected to the current administration - entirely coincidental) would immediately jump on him for spinning it towards his 'nefarious' ends, no matter what he actually wrote.

Don't bite, Steve - it's a trap..

With the credit crunch still in effect despite the recent interest rate cuts, it's the waterfront developers who only want to do what's best for us I'm worried about.

I think we should retro-actively adjust the existing PILOT rates down to compensate - after all the waterfront and Jrnl. Sq. are blighted areas with nothing going for them, either geographically or infrastructure/mass transportation-wise.

this is not surprising at all (Comcast is the K-tel of cable companies)

...there aren't many phone calls I look forward to making more than that one to Comcast canceling my account, the minute FIOS comes to V.V.P. - whenever that is.

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...so he knows who & when to call to be his designated driver...

yeah I reread the OP - Otto would be the best bet if you're looking for a bit of a trendy place that's not *really* expensive like Babbo or Peasant.

I concur.

Da Andrea is good, but another cozy low-profile place is one block north, right on the corner of Hudson and Bank (I forget the name) - both are good, but the one I'm thinking of has much better atmosphere.

And then another few blocks north on Hudson is Angelo Piccolo - very good, hard to get in without a res... (I used to live in that neighborhood)

If you want to get into Babbo kind of money, though, there's also Peasant on Elizabeth St. (I think) - there's a huge wood-burning stove in the back of the room they use for everything, it's very nice.

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argumentative, and just a little creepy... :)

(and I told myself I wouldn't post to this thread anymore! :)

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I for one am taking super_furry's advice to heart, brewster...

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good one.

....how dare someone take issue with the city for retroactively jettisoning the Redevelopment Plan!!

...someone *without* the $100M, yet - why, the effrontery!


"Just think about the ratables" and how they will surely trickle down to the grateful lower echelons and their horrid little public school system! (as if there won't be an abatement bypassing the schools...)


I kid. I kid because I love.

What's mysterious is your failure to appreciate (as in: transitive verb1 a: to grasp the nature or significance of) the difference between Fulop and the rest of the council.

How many more 8-1 votes would it take, I wonder, for you to admit that.

Yet you remain resolutely silent on the rest of the council members and the mayor (*their* votes/positions and their performance in general) - I can only assume you're with the "8" rather than the "1", which of course is your right - but then be straight up about it, don't try a Jersey City version of 'swift-boating' Fulop...

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...it was pointed out on this site that he approved a single abatement, and he answered that post with a lengthy and polite response which pointed out the interest rate in question is *60%* higher than what's currently being doled out.


...show me a post by Willie Flood or Gaughan or Vega or Richardson or *any* other city council person to *any* jc community list addressing their vote on *any* particular issue.

Your assumption that it's either yes to every abatement or no to every abatements is simplistic.

Your refusal to appreciate or even acknowledge the degree to which Fulop's been accessible and responsive is mysterious.

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again, +1

Fulop is the *one* person in municipal government taking the trouble to maintain any direct online contact via sites like jclist (by his own admission, Major Quimby "doesn't read email") ...and yet when Fulop urges us to attend council meetings, people here whine because doesn't instead post the minutes (re: Erie St).

Keep posting, brewster - this site needs you (and thanks for the signature-worthy quote below)

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+1

I'm out of town the 9th so I can't make the council meeting - but Dan what exactly does this refer to:
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... because I tried googling around a few weeks ago and couldn't find much of anything - so I'm wondering, is this all true:


1) IDI construction company is building a warehouse Willie voted on.

2) Pa Flood is on a relevant redevelopment agency.

3) Jethro Flood is found driving an IDI Mercedes with expired plates, at which point to the registration quickly gets transferred to him?


If these 3 things are true, forget the 'shame on you' signs, it's time to get some media involved....

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Maybe the rank and file is underpaid, but Superintendent Epps already makes over $231,000 per year.


http://www.talkingpolitics.net/Charles-Epps.htm

Is it a council person's place to be transcribing and posting meeting minutes on a website? (which, by the way, is way more than we would ever *think* of asking our other hard-working council members to do... if they even maintained a presence on community websites like this in the first place - which they don't).

But in any event, Steve, don't take the bait and just paraphrase the opposing views, because the haters will accuse you of misrepresenting - it's a trap....


Another idea would be to attend the council meeting yourself and hear discussion on the issue for yourself if it affects you (as Fulop is urging) - because I'm sure our proactive Public Works Dept. has been hard at work on the issue all along and has some well thought-out alternative plans in place to offer. Yep.

And the JCPD probably has some good ideas to make Erie St. (which they drive and park on everyday) slower too.

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...or a third option, do you examine each abatement individually, taking things as location, interest rate, and term length into account? (as Fulop seems to be doing)


This blanket for/against thing seems a little silly/simplistic.
I'm sorry. Please don't delete my post.


A better blanket question might be: ""Do you favor ever renegotiating existing signed agreements after the fact to benefit developers (i.e. lowering interest rates, providing low interest loans, scuttling redevelopment plans)?"

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This makes me nuts - if it's true, I'd like to know which one(s).

And I'd also like to read some justification for the city to be in the business of indemnifying commercial developers against risk associated with business condition changes occurring *after* they sign agreements with the city - do developers renegotiate agreements to give the city more $ if things break *their* way? I wonder....


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I gotta tell say, compared to 'mayors-gone-wild' Healy and the rest of the council (Willie Flood et al), Steve Fulop is the *least* childish person over there at city hall.


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Help me out here, isn't that the way it's supposed to work? (...I mean, how *dare* he compare interest rates!! - what a showoff!!)

if you don't have time to read the whole thing, here's the crux of the Krugman piece:

"A generation ago the distribution of income in the United States didn't look all that different from that of other advanced countries. We had more poverty, largely because of the unresolved legacy of slavery. But the gap between the economic elite and the middle class was no larger in America than it was in Europe.

Today, we're completely out of line with other advanced countries. The share of income received by the top 0.1 percent of Americans is twice the share received by the corresponding group in Britain, and three times the share in France. These days, to find societies as unequal as the United States you have to look beyond the advanced world, to Latin America. And if that comparison doesn't frighten you, it should."