WHAT?!? La Rustique is leaving???? When? And do they plan to reopen at another location?

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Huh? Not sure I follow...Because this is a discussion about politics instead of a rant about parking?

I like Fulop, too. He at least has been responsive to emails when I raised concerns a couple years ago when we were slammed with that big double-digit property tax hike. I also sent emails to Healy and didn't get any replies. Healy doesn't give a rat's ass about accountability. While Fulop seems to enjoy broad support in the downtown, gentrified areas, you have to remember that Jersey City is much more - way more - than just Paulus Hook, downtown and Hamilton Park. There are vast swaths of Jersey City that aren't gentrified - and I'm going to have to choose my words very carefully here - where voters are not as well educated and for whom property taxes and corruption aren't the overriding issue. These are the voters the Hudson County machine targets and exploits, and very successfully at that. This is why lowlifes like Healy and Flood keep getting re-elected, and by very comfortable margins at that. Their record just doesn't seem to matter. As much as I like Fulop, I just don't see how he's gonna get elected mayor without the machine on his side, and to get the machine on his side he's probably going to have to make some very yucky deals.

I totally understand your frustration - I went through similar delays waiting to close on my condo. You must be a first-time buyer. One thing I've learned through my own experience and that of my friends: NEVER believe a developer/contractor on the delivery time for a new construction project or gut rehab. The time they give you is always a best-case scenario. Rule of thumb is to take whatever target date they give you and add at least 3-4 months. As for the sprinkler issue, one of my contractors was complaining about that the other day. He said the city updated the codes to include older buildings (projects that were underway weren't grandfathered in). The problem is the older, historic buildings don't have sufficient water pressure for a sprinkler system. The contractor was saying he had to order some special pump. Look on the positve side: you'll be safer and save money on insurance as well. Hang in there, you'll eventually close. Believe it or not, the developer wants to close as well because he likely has loans due on the project.

Try the hardware store on Newark Ave between Grove & Barrow. I got my cart there, though it was a few years ago.

The Newark Penn Station to EWR leg of the trip is where you always get screwed. What I like to do is take the PATH to Newark and then hop into one of the taxis waiting in front of the train station. From there it's usually less than 10 mins to the airport (unless it's rush hour), and a flat fare of $15. Only a bit more than taking the Air Train, but a lot less hassle than dealing with NJ Transit's retarded timetables - especially on weekends - and the super slow monorail at the airport. The taxi will also drop you off right in front of your airline's check-in area.

I just visited Brick Haus over the weekend. The $199 enrollment fee only applies if you want to go on a month-by-month payment plan. If you pay for an entire year's membership upfront (which is how I typically pay for my gym memberships), it's $899, no enrollment fee. That works out to $75/month. Sure, Synergy is less than half the price, but you get what you pay for - there's no classes and the equipment isn't maintained very well. Even though the cardio equipment in the back is only a little over a year old, one of the treadmills just broke. I'm willing to bet at least 2-3 other treadmills will also break soon, and it'll be weeks before they get anyone in there to fix 'em (that's what happened with the last batch). Some of the elliptical cross trainers need maintenance. The place also is feeling seedier and seedier - there are leaks all over the place and for awhile, the women's locker room smelled like sewage. The steam room at Brick Haus really had me drooling - but maybe the weather had something to do with it. Does anyone have pricing details for Club H - and who really believes they'll open up on time??

Fasteddie, you just made my day! LOL!! I actually think the German permutation makes more sense than the original one....Can we get a translation in Klingon?

Eeeeeeeeek! It's like someone typed it up the post in another language and then ran the text through one of those online translators...

Who knows what the market trend is? I suspect there's a soft underbelly that real estate agents and sellers are desperate to cover up....For example, I think this seller is sniffing glue with these asking prices (biggest unit is barely 900 sq ft.). It's laughable that anyone who knows JC would even consider Wayne Street "high end".

http://newjersey.craigslist.org/rfs/492548951.html

It just shows that we all need to vote in local elections - and make a point of voting for anyone who's NOT an incumbent! As much as I hate to do so (and I've never done so before), I'll be more than happy to vote Republican on Jersey City and Hudson County offices just to get this effing lot of morally bankrupt losers out. I've raised this before on a previous post, but maybe it's time to consider a recall vote - starting with the mayor himself - i'll gladly sign a petition to put a recall vote on the ballot! If the GOP in Hudson County had any brains, they'd capitalize on this growing frustration and get a recall initiative on the ballot. It worked in California, why not JC/Hudson County??

I just had an alarming thought: is the Register's office where all deeds, mortgages real-estate tranactions, etc. get recorded? Or am I confusing that with the county recorder's office? When those documents get sent there by the lawyers for official recording, there's all sorts of personal data on them. It's up to the office to make sure sensitive data, like your SSN, are redacted from the public record. Even if they are doing that, it's not exactly comforting knowing someone with a criminal background has access to all sorts of personal data. If it's not Flood II, it's bound to be someone else, given the cesspool that's public office in Hudson County. The more I think about it, the more it makes sense to do a credit freeze: http://www.state.nj.us/dobi/division_ ... /finance/creditfreeze.htm

A credit freeze can be a major inconvenience if you want to take out a loan or apply for a new credit card, but it's the only way effective way of preventing identity theft. The hassles seem kind of minor compared to what can happen once someone has all your personal data (shudder).

Makes for a 30-second commute! And it leaves you wondering why he needed mom's car - the lazy ass. He could've used a "borrowed" BJ's shopping cart. Oh, that's right - I forgot - the yuppies have invaded downtown. Even the drug dealers are going upscale!

Happened to us, too - twice in the last 2-3 years! The first time around, the thief was considerate enough to steal the garbage along with the can. The second time, they stole it during the night, right after the garbage truck had rolled through, while the empty can was still on the curb.
I even walked a around few blocks (sad but true) to see if I could spot our can in the offender's alley, because our address was spray painted in big obnoxious, day-glo colors. No luck.

Whinging = whining. Spent too many years in Europe, so my vocabulary is peppered with odd words, like "wanker." I do feel jaded because there are REAL problems in JC - like crime, sorry schools, corrupt/inept local government (including the parking authority), to name a few. Yet, parking and the lack thereof seems to dominate more than a few discussion threads. To me it's just seems like a disproportionate amount of complaining in relation to all the other problems out there. Damn, I love my country, but there are times when I read some of these threads and think "no wonder the rest of the world has such a negative opinion about Americans. It's all about me, me, me." Most families in Europe get by on one car, and it's usually something like a Volkswagen or a Fiat. That's not to say, of course, that big cities there weren't full of wankers, too.

If anything, I think JC still makes it TOO EASY for car owners. I'm all for a more pedestrian friendly city. There's still a long way to go on that front, and I get discouraged whenever I walk by one of those big high-rise construction projects and they're building a big honking garage to go along with it. A big, diverse city like JC can only get better if people get out into their neighborhoods and walk around and LIVE in it - not hop in the car and drive off. I'll admit, I'm the weirdo who likes to walk or ride the train, takes canvas tote bags to the supermarket, keeps the thermostat at 62 in winter and hangs up her clothes to dry rather than use a dryer. I don't really consider myself "green" - these are simply habits picked up from living nearly a decade overseas - but it did open my eyes to just how much Americans consume when I moved back here.

And kudos for the grocery gesture. I do hope that invites a bit of good karma your way.

Oh fer fark's sake, I'm so sick and tired of the amount of whinging that goes on about parking. Guess what people? You live in a densely populated city. My guess is most people chose to live here for an easy commute to their jobs via public transportation. You can't have it both ways - a nice quick PATH train ride to work along with easy street parking where you live. Life is full of tradeoffs and in a big city, parking is NOT a god-given right. So either put up with the parking mess (and it's the same in any big city), pay to park in a private lot, or give up the car altogether. If owning a car and easy parking are that important, then move to the suburbs. Plenty of parking there. Hell, you won't even have to walk the 50 yards between Pathmark and Target at the strip mall - you can drive between the two lots!

While it's true that obtaining a birth certificate in Hudson County is no problem, it will be a problem down the road if your child plans on getting a passport. A few years ago, the State Dept. took the unusual step of saying Hudson County, N.J., birth certificates will no longer be valid documentation as proof of citizenship - due to the above-mentioned fraud and corruption. No other county in the nation has been bestowed this unique distinction by the State Dept. (go Hudson!) If you've already decided on giving birth at NYU Medical Center, but aren't thrilled with your OB-GYN, I'd recommend Miriam Greene (her office is on 34th near 1st Ave.) She's fantastic, and is also with NYU. The only downside is she doesn't take any insurance - i.e. she's not part of any networks. So, you pay her first and work out reimbursement yourself with your insurance co. She's worth it, though, in my opinion. I've tried to find doctors on this side of the river, but always end up back in Manhattan. A large part of that is because the top-notch teaching hospitals are there.

Click on the district, and a map should pop up showing the exact boundaries.

http://www.cityofjerseycity.org/docs/neighborhoods.shtml

Since they obviously can't patrol EVERY street and note EVERY detail, a lot of what you can do without pre-approval, including painting, depends on the type of neighbors you have. Unfortunately, we are so paranoid of the snitches on our block now that we do everything by the book. One of our contractors recently told us that Mercer Street is particularly rife with uptight types who'll report people - even when they're doing work in the back and it's clearly not visible from a public right of way (and therefore not subject to approval). It doesn't stop them from trying. With all the problems JC has, you'd think people would have better things to do.

If your place is in the historic district, you'll need to have the Historic Preservation Nazi sign off on the new color. You'll have to submit color samples, etc. They can send you an application. Believe me, we made the mistake of making a slight change to our facade, and next thing we knew, we were hit with a summons and had to go through the whole headache of proposing a remedy before the entire commission. You can't so much as change a doorknob without the Nazi signing off on it. If you are in a historic district and have managed to go uncited so far, then you're lucky that your neighbors aren't snitches. Mine are - they're always reporting people they think are doing something amiss, historic-wise. That is soooo NOT cool!

Is it possible to launch a recall vote on Healy?? Enough is enough.


Jersey City cop charged with DWI after accident
Eyewitness News
(Jersey City - WABC, January 24, 2007) - An off-duty Jersey City cop was charged with DWI after a car accident that critically injured a woman and her toddler.

Police say Officer Kevin Freibott was drunk when he crashed his vehicle Tuesday night around 11 p.m.
Ruth Zelaya and her 2-year-old son were injured in the wreck. Zelaya was admitted to the intensive care unit of Jersey City Medical Center. The child was being treated at University Hospital.

Authorities say the accident is being investigated by the police department's accident investigation and internal affairs units and the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office.

The crash was reportedly not the first time Freibott has been in trouble over a traffic accident.

Officials say he was fired from the Middletown Township Police Department in 2001 after a minor accident outside an Atlantic Highlands tavern for failure to have a valid driver's license. Freibott was later reinstated by the state Merit System Board.

Freibott's driving record includes three license suspensions. The first came in 1988 for DWI, the second when he failed to attend a drunk driving program and the third for failing to pay fines. He's had six violations from 1986 to 2001 that include careless driving, speeding and driving without a license. Also, the Department of Motor Vehicles has his name tied to at least seven accidents. Freibott has been suspended without pay.

Freibott is a second cousin of Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy, two city sources confirmed.

Friebott came on to the Jersey City force through a hiring technique called a "lateral transfer," which allows police officers to jump from one town to another without losing their time in the pension and civil service programs, according to Healy's spokeswoman, Maria Pignataro.

Police officers must apply for a lateral transfer, which must be approved by their home department. The recieving department, in this case Jersey City, can arbitrally pick its officer from the list applicants without regard to civil service exams and other measures.

Pignataro said Friebott was hired at a time when the department was low on officers, adding that the mayor "pulled no strings in getting Kevin on the force."

(Copyright 2007 WABC-TV)