Brewster,
It is a gamble because you can only take a maximum of one and a half months rent as a security deposit. You can't check how he has been with landlords in the past and he might not care if he leaves your apartment on a bad note -- you can't threaten to ruin his credit.

Also he might not last a whole year (he likely won't)-- I myself like to try to get people who will stay for many years but if you don't care then you can take a risk on him.

I would talk to a contact at Goldman Sachs and I would also talk to his company here -- they will give you a letter saying how long they plan to keep him in Jersey City (how long his contract is with GS). It would help talking to them to get their take on things -- it might differ from what he has told you -- which would be interesting to know up front.

I would want to get a tenant who was going to be around for a long time if I were you -- but as everyone knows you also have to take gambles sometimes.

I don't rent apartments in Jersey City so you know the rental market here better than I do. Good Luck -- a bad tenant is a nightmare!

Remember that!

Guess the city really does see "tax" money even with these abatements.

quote]
sfly wrote:
...They said they have tax abatement for 20 years. But I can't tell where the abatement goes to from the number they quote.[/quote]

New York Times: Kariya trains in Jersey City, a Bantamweight, the Only Ice Is in Her Veins

New York Times Link

I wonder if she uses the place just past Brunswick Avenue.

People on here say it is a great gym.

Involves computerized voting machines in at least five counties
WABC Eyewitness News

(New Jersey - WABC, November 7, 2006) - Even before the all voting is finished and the ballots are counted, there are already complaints of voting irregularities. The Investigators' Jim Hoffer is monitoring the crucial issue of voting irregularities.
There are some disturbing irregularities being alleged by the New Jersey Republican Committee. For the first time, voters statewide are casting ballots on new electronic machines, the state GOP says either glitches or foul play with the machines is hurting their candidate.

The problems apparently involve the computerized voting machines at seven polling locations in at least five counties in New Jersey. The state's Republican Committee says some of the machines were either preset for Democratic candidate Bob Menendez or were inoperable when people tried to cast votes for the challenger Tom Kean Jr.

David Norcross, RNC: "Voting machines appear to be pre-voted, that is when one voter leaves, you can reach in behind the machine, push a button and that sets up a pre-vote for the next voter who comes in."

Election officials in New Jersey insist the problems are not widespread, and where machines malfunctioned people were able to vote with emergency paper ballots.

The state attorney general's office tells Eyewitness News that "observers have been sent to the locations and they have not found any pre-selection of candidates on any voting machines."

In New York, where the 40-plus year-old lever-operated machines are still being used, there were few reports of problems. This voter hotline in the city is having one of quietest election in years with little more than a few complaints about broken machines and an occasional mix-up in ballots.

Eugene Russinoff, NYPIRG: "You know it seems to be a pretty cleanly run election which may reflect that fact that there are very few contested races."

This election, the Justice Department has deployed a record number of federal observers nationwide to look for irregularities, including in New Jersey and New York. We found this federal observer rather busy at a Westchester County polling place where one voter filed a complaint with police claiming to have found glue on one of the voting machine levers.

Liz Perez, Yonkers voter: "So I put one and one together, the glue and it being stuck that means someone tampered with that machine."

The machine was fixed. It's uncertain whether glue was the problem. Meanwhile, voters seemed glad to have federal monitors on hand to observe the process and protect their right to vote.

"It is important that we have someone to monitor so we don't have any problems getting to vote, very important," one voter told us.

The machine was fixed. It's uncertain whether glue was the problem.

As for the New Jersey voting machine problems, state Democrats say it's just technical glitches that have since been resolved and accuse Republicans of stirring up trouble in the face of a losing race.

New Jersey Senate Race

State Senator Tom Kean Jr. is hoping to become the first Republican candidate in New Jersey to win a seat in the Senate in 30 years. He voted this morning and then had to deal with some vandalism issues at his headquarters in Mountainside -- the entrance chained shut and a key broken off in the lock.

Meanwhile, Menendez says the padlock issue is a desperate campaign ploy: "It's the worst publicity that I've seen in a long, long time."

Menendez focused his efforts on crisscrossing the state and rallying voters to head to the polls.

(Copyright 2006-WABC-TV)
LINK

Fulop's marathon helps kids charity
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
By JASON FINK
Jersey Journal CITY EDITOR

Jersey City Councilman Steve Fulop ran for a reason Sunday in the New York City Marathon, finishing the 26-mile trek in three hours, 44 minutes and six seconds - and raising more than $16,000 for the Hudson County Child Abuse Prevention Center, a Jersey City nonprofit organization that helps prevent the sexual, physical and emotional abuse of children.

Fulop, who served in the Marines in Iraq, said he struggled to finish his first-ever marathon, but kept going, knowing every stride meant more money for the center.

"I finished and I'm happy," a still sore Fulop said yesterday. "It's a good cause."

And though he finished in the top 20 percent of runners - 7,174th in a field of more than 38,000, with an average time of eight minutes, 33 seconds per mile - he said he is unlikely to try to run another one.

"It's absolute torture," the Ward E councilman said. "You feel like your legs have anchors around them for the last six miles."

Maybe Mr. Fulop can run by and check these 2 children out.

Quote:

Remember:

If anyone has a reasonable suspicion that a child is being abused, contact DYFS at 1-877-NJ-ABUSE.

OK I hated you as a child -- but I must sat Mr. Rogers -- I think you are right about this!

Quote:

Good point about physical fitness --25mcwilliams!

Another thing that Steve did was bring money and attention to child abuse.

Seems like a good time to say that we all should keep an eye out for signs of child abuse in those around us.

Great job again Steve!

=================================
Child abuse can come in four different forms: Physical, sexual and emotional abuse as well as neglect.

Some signs of physical abuse:

* Unexplained burns, cuts, bruises, or welts in the shape of an object

* Anti-social behavior

* Problems in school

* Fear of adults

* Drug or alcohol abuse

Some signs of emotional abuse:

* Apathy

* Depression

* Hostility

* Lack of concentration

* Eating disorders

Some signs of sexual abuse:

* Inappropriate interest in or knowledge of sexual acts

* Avoidance of things related to sexuality, or rejection of own genitals or bodies

* Nightmares and bed wetting

* Drastic changes in appetite

* Overcompliance or excessive aggression

* Fear of a particular person or family member

* Withdrawal, secretiveness, or depression

Sometimes there are no obvious physical signs of sexual abuse, and a physician must examine the child to confirm the abuse.

Some signs of neglect:

* Unsuitable clothing for weather

* Being dirty or unbathed

* Extreme hunger

* Apparent lack of supervision

Information provided by a Child?s Mental Health Guide on www.helpguide.org.

If anyone has a reasonable suspicion that a child is being abused, contact DYFS at 1-877-NJ-ABUSE.

Pump station soon to share with hotel or retail complex
Monday, November 06, 2006
By JARRETT RENSHAW
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

The Jersey City Redevelopment Authority Board is expected to choose between two competing proposals - one for a hotel and the other an entertainment complex - for a nearly 10-acre tract of land adjacent to Liberty State Park.

The site, which houses a Municipal Utilities Authority pump station, is bounded by the New Jersey Turnpike extension to the north, Communipaw Avenue to the east and Philip Street to the south.

Manhattan-based Metrovest - which is turning the former Jersey City Medical Center into a massive condo project called the Beacon - pitched its plan to the JCRA board two weeks ago that calls for a 250-room hotel and conference center.

The proposed nine-story Liberty Hotel and Conference Center would feature a stone-and-glass facade and would include approximately 50,000 square feet of meeting and banquet space, a rooftop bar and pool, along with a public plaza surrounded by retail and entertainment establishments.

The plan also calls for the construction of approximately 250 condos and an unspecified amount of retail space. Metrovest President George Filopoulos did not return phone calls seeking comment.

G & S Investors, who recently won approval for construction of the city's second largest building dubbed the Metropolitan, are expected to unveil their proposal to the JCRA Board on Nov. 21 at 4 p.m.

Details of their proposal are not available since it's not yet a public document, but city officials say the plan is a "retail/entertainment complex" that will include a movie theater.

No sale price for the lot, which is owned by the MUA, has been determined, said city officials.

In requests for proposals, the city asked that all plans include one or more of the following: a class 'A' hotel; tourism and destination developments such as water parks, theme parks, sports complexes or aquariums; public and private recreational facilities and bars and nightclubs.

"Anything that will cause a traffic jam should be totally out of the picture. Water parks, theme parks and those types of things should be off the table," said Friends of Liberty State Park President Sam Pesin, who pointed to public opposition of a proposed water park adjacent to Liberty State Park as a precedent.

The JCRA issued requests for proposals in August, and 17 developers picked up the packets, but only two developers returned them.

City officials said the site's perceived environmental problems and the demand that the Municipal Utilities Authority's pump station remain intact were the reasons for the lack of response.

The site has had a number of former industrial uses, most recently as a water treatment facility and automobile storage area. The site is suspected to include chromium. The cleanup of the site is the developer's responsibility.

The site is adjacent to five acres of property currently being used by the city's Incinerator Authority as a car impoundment yard and is not included in the proposals.

High-tech apartment hunting
Text messaging new tool in finding a place to live

BY LORE CROGHAN
DAILY NEWS BUSINESS WRITER

Blake de la Torre found an apartment on the upper East Side using the text messaging service. It's hard to find an apartment to rent in this town, but a pair of Bulgarian-born entrepreneurs are working to make it easier for you.

Their free service - TextoRent.com - lines up brokers who send text messages to your cell phone about apartments you might want.

Kalin Kassabov remembers all too well what it was like when he got here after graduating from the University of Central Oklahoma. By the time he'd call about a listing, the apartment would be taken.

"It won't be the only thing people do to find an apartment, but it's so easy," said Kassabov, 28. "Why not add it to the mix?" He and business partner Peter Kassov, 27, started the service in a slow, controlled way. In operation since the end of August, it has 100 apartment hunters as customers, and 20 brokers who send them listings.

The rentals are in Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx and Queens.

Apartment hunters fill out an online form detailing the size, price range and nabes they have in mind. Brokers look for prospects whose wants match the apartments they're offering - and pay $4 for each person they contact with a text message.

Things should start to pick up speed as Kassabov and Kassov rev up their marketing campaign, which is geared to reach their prime target audience, those 18 to 35 years old.

Their launch party at West Village bar Movida this Wednesday night - which is open to the public - should get them some attention. They've posted an eye-catching invitation on their MySpace.com page that promises "Free Booze."

The MySpace page isn't Kassabov and Kassov's, strictly speaking. It's a profile of a good-looking young woman identified as "Bili, the happy apartment hunter." Her photo's on the page, along with a link to TextoRent.com's Web site. She's a real person who works for them.

They've had a thousand stickers bearing the TextoRent.com name pasted up and down Broadway and West Broadway, south of 14th St. Once more apartment hunters sign up, the two intend to bring additional brokers into the game.

If all goes well, they'll expand to the Jersey City-Hoboken area, where so many young New Yorkers wind up renting. They might try a couple other big cities like Los Angeles and Chicago, too.

Based on their experience with other texting services they've created, the apartment listings business should break even in a year, Kassabov said.

The two men - who met when Kassov was an exchange student at the University of Central Oklahoma - have had a good run since they launched their company, VIE Corp., three and a half years ago.

Two of their creations are profitable. SendSMSnow.com - a free service that lets you type messages on a computer and send them to a cell phone - has 300,000 members. NightLifeTexting.com - for club promoters - is also doing well, they said.

Web entrepreneurs on the West Coast often start businesses in garages. But this is a New York story. They hatched VIE Corp. in their Astoria apartments. When they got tired of working in one apartment, they'd go to the other and work some more.

"Our business had two branches," Kassov recalled with a laugh.

At the beginning of this year, they graduated to an office suite near Ground Zero.

Starting early next year, another real estate service that delivers info to cell phones - Smarter Agent - will offer rental listings, too.

Smarter Agent's service will use GPS, or Global Positioning System technology, to look up the 10 apartment listings that are closest to wherever you are standing with your phone.

Eric Blumberg, Smarter Agent's president, said 2007 will be the "breakout year" for using cell phones to deliver data. "The more people that do consumer applications with cell phones, the better," he said.

Solid connection

For Blake de la Torre, it was better to have someone else do the apartment-hunting for her while she was at work - and alert her silently with a text message to her cell phone.

That way, she wasn't frequenting real estate Web sites on company time, or talking to brokers on her office phone.

Other people at the media agency where she works had gotten in trouble for doing personal business during the day.

"It's such a great idea," de la Torre, 23, said of the TextoRent.com service.

She got at least 10 apartment listings from it.

She was one of the first people to sign up for the texting service, when she needed help finding a Manhattan apartment for herself and two roommates.

She'd been living at home with her parents on Long Island since she graduated from college a year and a half ago. It was time to get a place of her own, she said.

Her parents had one stipulation, which she heeded - get a doorman.

"We want to know when you come home at 4 in the morning, there's someone to greet you," they told her.

Charge cop plotted insurance scam
Saturday, November 04, 2006
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

A Jersey City police officer has been suspended after he was arrested in Eatontown Wednesday night and then arrested again in Jersey City when stolen property was found while his locker was being cleaned out Thursday, officials said.

Officer Dean Hashmi, 37, of Ocean Grove, was charged with filing a false police report about his car being stolen - cops say he intended to make a claim with his insurance company - and he will also be charged with attempted theft by deception, said Eatontown Police Chief George Jackson.

Hashmi was suspended without pay shortly after the department learned of the arrest Wednesday night, Jersey City Deputy Police Chief Peter Nalbach said.

Hashmi, who was the late Mayor Glenn D. Cunningham's driver, was arrested again when a stolen police radio was found in his locker, Nalbach said yesterday.

"He was present and he told us he bought it for $300 from a civilian employee who works in radio repair," Nalbach said. "It disappeared from our inventory.

Hashmi was released on his own recognizance on the Eatontown charge and appeared yesterday in Central Judicial Processing in Jersey City for the attempted theft charge and posted 10 percent of his $25,000 bail. That will free him for his wedding, planned for today .

Hashmi's lawyer, Daniel Welsh, defended his client.

"As a man that has dedicated his life to serving the justice system, he hopes that that system doesn't abandon him now," he said yesterday.

Jersey City Department of Public Works radio repairman Lawrence Homer, 42, of Longfellow Street in Jersey City, was charged with theft regarding the radio, said Police Director Sam Jefferson.

Hashmi was suspended from Sept. 22, 2004 to June 20, 2005 following a domestic violence incident that did not result in criminal charges, Nalbach said.

STRONG LEAD
Saturday, November 04, 2006
By GREG HANLON
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Just days before voters head to the polls for what appears to be an extremely tight Senate race, Democrat Robert Menendez enjoys a strong lead in Hudson County over Republican Thomas Kean Jr., according to a new Jersey Journal/ New Jersey City University poll.

The poll shows Menendez - who grew up in Union City and now lives in Hoboken - with a 52 percent to 12 percent lead in Hudson, more than a 4-to-1 advantage over Kean. Perhaps surprisingly, 24 percent of those polled said they did not whom they would vote for; 9 percent chose "other" and 3 percent did not answer.

Menendez has increased his margin in Hudson County in the past month, when a similar poll showed him with a nearly 3-to-1 lead.

Menendez's lead in overwhelmingly Democratic Hudson County is hardly surprising. Because he is expected to carry Hudson by a large margin, "the problem facing Menendez is not so much the support he has in the county as it is turning that support into votes," wrote the poll's authors, NJCU political science professor Fran Moran and NJCU English professor Bruce Chadwick.

In the last midterm election, voter turnout in Hudson County was just 37.1 percent, according to Moran and Chadwick.

The poll shows that the war in Iraq is by far the most important issue to Hudson voters. Forty-five percent said they believe the war is the most important issue, more than 30 points ahead of the next highest issue.

Hudson residents expressed disenchantment with the Bush administration's calls to stay in Iraq for as long as it takes to secure peace.

Nearly 80 percent support concrete steps toward withdrawal: 38 percent want the U.S. to withdraw immediately, while 40 percent want a timetable for withdrawal.

"Menendez made his opposition to the war the focal point of his campaign and his ads worked hard at connecting Kean to President Bush," Moran and Chadwick wrote.

Kean has sought to distance himself from Bush.

"People will elect Tom Kean Jr. because he stands for reform and because he will be a check on this administration," said Jill Hazelbaker, a Kean spokeswoman.

Throughout the campaign, Kean has tried to paint Menendez as corrupt.

But according to the poll, the negative campaigning may have been counterproductive in Hudson: 24 percent said negative TV ads have made them more likely to vote for Menendez, while 5 percent said such ads have made them less so.

Moran and Chadwick speculated that "a large number of those surveyed may have taken the Kean allegations of political corruption as an indictment of Hudson County in general, and that Menendez may benefit from a 'rally around the flag effect.'"

He's such a help to Jersey's image!



Hey maybe Menendez got Joe Piscopo to say he wants Tom Kean -- you know reverse psychology.

Quote:

You know a charity pub crawl isn't a bad idea -- we could get all downtown bars to sign up -- profits go to charity.

It would be good for the bars to get people to try them -- and profits could go to cameras on the parks or some such thing.

From what I have seen most of us JCLISTERS are more suited to this than to a 26m race.

Quote:

Grovster, I didn't start a Fulop for Mayor. I like Steve Fulop a lot, I like Mayor Healy too -- my only fear is if Mr. Fulop were to run for mayor that he will split the Healy voters and we might get neither him nor Healy. My fear is that we might get someone who will really hurt downtown and all of jersey City.

Fulop is really great for Downtown -- I'm glad he got elected!

Quote:

I like Healy and I like Fulop -- which might seem odd to some people on here -- do you think Fulop could win city wide for mayor?

Steve, I know you read this site, are you gonna run -- and I don't mean the 26m?

Yeah -- I agree with you Bright

I am also happy to see that Mayor Healy is doing stuff too

Link

I better volunteer at something!

Mourners recall deli owner fondly
Friday, November 03, 2006
By KEN THORBOURNE AND MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

UNION CITY - Dozens of family members and friends streamed in and out of Jorge Rivera Funeral Home yesterday to view and pay respects to Fidelina A. Claros, 47, a Jersey City deli owner gunned down in her Webster Avenue shop on Monday during an apparent robbery.

Mourners recalled Claros, a divorced mother of three, as the main organizer of family get-togethers, and as a benevolent deli owner.

"I was always in there buying (New Jersey Lottery) scratch-off tickets," said Carmen Gordills, a customer for the past five years. "She (Claros) was always saying 'You're going to win.' She was a doll."

Claros, who lived in Roselle, never allowed a holiday or birthday to pass without organizing a party, said Nelson Claros, the eldest of Claros's five surviving siblings.

"She would say 'We have to do something,' and she'd do it," said Nelson. "She was beautiful."

Jersey City Police Chief Tom Comey and Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy also attended the seven-hour wake. Healy, who lives just a couple blocks away from the store and said he stopped in at least once a month, remembered her as "hardworking, personable, and outgoing."

The mayor also expressed confidence that his police department and the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office would soon capture the gunman who shot Claros three times - twice in the head, and once in the back - as well as his getaway driver.

Homicide detectives spent the day searching for the getaway car on security video secured from Jersey City police closed circuit TV cameras and from NJ Transit security video cameras at nearby Hudson-Bergen Light Rail stations, Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said.

Investigators have also reached out to area businesses with security cameras and are reviewing those, but have yet to find a car matching the description of the getaway car.

"Needless to say, there have been no arrests made as of yet and we still are requesting the public's help in this investigation," DeFazio said.

Claros's body, clad yesterday in a black dress with her hand clasped around a red rose, is being flown today to her hometown, Morazan, El Salvador, where a funeral service will be held Saturday night.

Claros's three children, Guillermo Herrera, 21, Brian Herrera, 19 and Johanna Herrera, 17, mingled with the crowd yesterday.

"I'm just trying to be strong," Brian Herrera said. "I know she's up there looking down on me."

Anyone with information on the murder is asked to call the Prosecutor's Office Homicide Squad at (201) 915-1345.

Thanks FastEddie -- I fixed it.

Two arrests, 'chop shop' is closed on Cator Ave.
Nov. 03 - Jersey Journal

Jersey City cops said they busted up a "chop shop" Wednesday afternoon thanks to a tip from a concerned citizen.

Cops said they were given the address of the building, on Cator between Garfield and Princeton avenues, and told someone was "cutting a car."

Inside the garage, police saw a man apparently working on a white 1999 Nissan Altima and a 2006 Suzuki motorcycle. The bike had been reported stolen out of Highland Park, reports said. Police said all but one of the vehicle identification numbers on the Altima had been removed and that its plates were false, reports said.

The man, Felix Garcia, of Summit Avenue in Jersey City, charged with altering motor vehicle identification numbers.

The building's owner told police the arrested man was a friend of her husband and she had no idea what he was doing with the vehicles.

When the woman's husband arrived, he was arrested.

ALI WINSTON

This is great for Journal Square -- finally a developer with some real Art sense!

I'm gonna go to the event on Nov. 13


============================
Hey you know the neon could have ALSO have been:

"IT IS CONDO THINKS BUILDING EVEN IN THE CAN"

Great, now can you post under one name Bouncing Soul?

GLOBAL WARMING ART IN JERSEY
The Precipice Alliance, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting awareness about global warming through the visual arts, has commissioned its first work, which opened in Jersey City, Nov. 1, 2006. The piece, by New York-based conceptual artist Mary Ellen Carroll, consists of a 900-foot-long window display in the buildings of the former American Can factory, comprised of eight-foot-tall neon letters proclaiming, "IT IS GREEN THINKS NATURE EVEN IN THE DARK." The head-scratching phrase is meant as an exercise in "indestructible language," focusing on the fluid, open-ended nature of words (strange, for a project with a clear social message!), and is sure to cause some confusion along the Pulaski Skyway, the New Jersey Turnpike, and in planes flying into or out of Newark airport.

Though using illuminated letters to get the word out, the organization hastens to note that the art piece is "carbon neutral," employing low-wattage transformers and lead-free glass tubing, as well as using solar panels to offset the energy consumed.

An event will take place at the site Nov. 13, 2006, to celebrate the debut of the work, featuring songstress Joan Osborne and a lecture by New York Times environmental reporter Andrew C. Revkin. For info, check out http://precipice-alliance.org.

http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/news ... ews/artnetnews11-2-06.asp

NEW YORK TIMES

Corzine Bets a Lot in Backing a Controversial Senator

New York Times -- By DAVID W. CHEN -- Nov. 3, 2006

HOBOKEN, N.J., Nov. 2 ? For months, the New Jersey Firemen?s Mutual Benevolent Association was flirting with the idea of bucking its Democratic inclinations and endorsing Thomas H. Kean Jr. for the United States Senate. After all, Mr. Kean is a former volunteer firefighter, and was even the union?s Legislator of the Year in 2004.

But then Gov. Jon S. Corzine got to work.

At the union?s annual conference in September, and at private meetings and in public settings, Mr. Corzine always praised the credentials of Senator Robert Menendez, the man whom he picked in December to serve out his Senate term.

Whenever he met with the union president, Bill Lavin, a longtime ally, on issues ranging from pensions to fire safety, he managed to drop in a few warm words about Mr. Menendez. Even when he dined with Mr. Lavin and others, he rarely hesitated to mention the importance of electing Mr. Menendez, and to ask how the union was leaning.

On Wednesday, that effort paid off when the union, which represents 5,000 members, or 80 percent of the state?s career firefighters, endorsed Mr. Menendez.

?I never felt the pressure, but you want to have a sitting governor and a political ally to continue to be on the same page,? Mr. Lavin said. ?He has a lot at stake because it?s his guy.?

A lot at stake, indeed. Not just for Mr. Menendez, and not just because a Democratic loss in this Democratic state could cost the party control of the Senate.

For Mr. Corzine, it would be a personal rebuke, a told-you-so moment for colleagues from Trenton to Washington who had cautioned against picking Mr. Menendez. A defeat would be particularly stinging for Mr. Corzine, who had been chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

?He will become a goat in the eyes of many Democratic activists,? said Bruce E. Cain, a political scientist at the University of California at Berkeley and director of its Washington Center.

Mr. Corzine said in an interview on Wednesday that he had a ?high degree of confidence? that Mr. Menendez would retain the slight edge he has held in polls. But after an event in Newark with Essex County officials, Mr. Corzine said he would accept responsibility for whatever happened on Tuesday.

?Hold me accountable,? he said, using the same phrase he used the night he was elected governor last year, and again in his inaugural address in January.

Mr. Corzine has not been particularly visible on the campaign trail; he has attended only a few events, when he has ceded above-the-title billing to national Democrats like Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, who attended a rally here on Thursday night. That is by design, Democrats say, to keep the focus on President Bush and the Iraq war rather than on voters? frustration with New Jersey?s high taxes.

?We want this to be a race about federal issues and the direction of the country, but Tom Kean would like to argue about the state budget and state issues,? said Representative Robert E. Andrews, a Camden County Democrat. ?Any time the governor goes somewhere, he will be asked what?s happening with the special session on property taxes, and he should, but that interferes with the message.?

Mr. Andrews has been one of Mr. Menendez?s most visible surrogates on the stump, along with Mr. Menendez?s daughter, Alicia, a recent Harvard graduate.

That Mr. Andrews has become such an important part of the campaign is interesting in itself because he was widely regarded as the bridesmaid when Mr. Corzine turned to Mr. Menendez in December to fill out his Senate term. His seemingly enthusiastic support emphasizes how hard Mr. Corzine has toiled behind the scenes to enlist Democrats in this unexpected battle.

Mr. Corzine has helped raise what Democratic consultants estimate at $3.5 million on behalf of state and local Democratic organizations, solicit millions more from a reluctant national Democratic Party and needle local officials to redouble their get-out-the-vote efforts. He has also loaned a few staff members to Mr. Menendez?s team.

?I have done enough effort in my spare time to try to make this as successful an outcome as possible,? Mr. Corzine said. ?We have certainly tried to use whatever influence I might have with our local infrastructure, political infrastructure, to make sure it?s mobilized appropriately.?

Mr. Corzine is hardly a stranger to high-pressure situations. He became co-chairman of Goldman Sachs, the investment firm, spent more than $100 million of his own money to win two statewide elections and shut down state government for eight days this summer over a budget impasse with Democratic legislators.

This time, Mr. Corzine has had to endure speculation in Democratic circles that Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, who succeeded Mr. Corzine as chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, did not agree with the choice of Mr. Menendez and preferred former Gov. Richard J. Codey, who remains enormously popular.

But Mr. Corzine has never wavered in his support of Mr. Menendez, the state?s first Hispanic senator. To this day, he cites Mr. Menendez?s vote against authorizing the use of force in Iraq as a brave and prescient move.

?I felt very comfortable with my choice in January, because of what I perceive as real character to take tough positions, to stand up for what you believe in on a long-time basis in a credible way, and be a great legislator,? he said. ?Bob Menendez is one of those people that has, on a scale of 1 to 10, come out a 10 on effectiveness as a legislator.?

Mr. Corzine?s commitment was never more crucial than in early September, when federal prosecutors reportedly began to examine the records of a nonprofit community agency that paid more than $300,000 in rent to Mr. Menendez for a property he owned in Jersey City, while receiving millions of dollars in federal grants with his help.

Mr. Kean pounced on the disclosure as proof that Mr. Menendez had a flexible set of ethics, and then went on to warn that the Democrats might drop Mr. Menendez from the ballot in the same way former Senator Robert G. Torricelli was replaced at the 11th hour by Frank R. Lautenberg in the 2002 Senate race.

The reported subpoenas were issued by the United States attorney, a Republican, and Mr. Corzine questioned whether the timing was politically motivated, and his support of Mr. Menendez calmed frazzled Democrats.

?He?s always talking about Menendez,? Mr. Codey said. ?That?s the first thing he brings up ? we need to get this guy to win. He?s keenly plugged into it, and he?s sensitive to making sure that Bob wins.?

So it was apt, perhaps, that Democrats flocked to Thursday?s rally here, home to both Mr. Corzine and Mr. Menendez, in which the featured visitor was Mr. Obama, whom Mr. Corzine had helped to recruit in 2004.

Mr. Corzine was there, but his name did not appear in press advisories for the event, and he seemed satisfied to let the others share the spotlight.

David Kocieniewski contributed reporting.
NEW YORK TIMES

WASHINGTON POST LINK

Menendez Seeks to Bury Image of a Shady Dealer

By Michael Powell
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 3, 2006; Page A02

ATLANTIC CITY -- A balding labor chieftain explains why his hard-hats should vote for the plump candidate who stands here in a muddy construction site dressed in a white knit cotton shirt, a pinstriped suit, loafers and a perfectly knotted tie.

"Bobby Menendez is a fighter !" Billy Mullen bellows at his guys on this balmy autumnal day. "He's been in the gutter , he's rolled around down there his whole life . . ." The hard-hats do much appreciative thumping of hands and waving of fists.

Sen. Robert Menendez, a Democrat, gives a pained smile suggestive of intestinal discomfort. He rarely answers to "Bobby." And there's a very good likelihood -- no, let's make it a certainty -- that he is not enamored of this particular compliment.

The notion that Menendez, 52, rolls in the gutter before lunch, that he is a political boss as expert in the manipulation of political IOUs and shivs as he is in the intricacies of trade policy, has trailed like a mutt after Menendez throughout his Senate campaign.

His opponent, Republican Tom Kean Jr., a semi-obscure state senator and the trust-fund scion of a multigenerational political powerhouse, cannot clear his throat without intoning that Menendez is "under federal investigation." There are, in Kean's telling, Menendez's questionable rental contract with a local not-for-profit, the pressure his advisers applied to get an ally hired at a local hospital, and so on and on.

Even if these charges prove true, it's not clear such behavior is illegal or disabling. In New Jersey the operating political philosophy is described as "pay to play," and the occasional indictment might be viewed as part of the life cycle of politics.

"We are a very, very nonjudgmental state," noted Clifford Zukin, a professor of public policy at Rutgers University. "Unless you are rich and can buy in from the outside, it takes a great deal of skill and toughness to rise up."

Still, the charges -- repeated in countless commercials -- take a cumulative effect. New Jersey has trended Democratic for years. But Menendez, who was appointed in January to fill the Senate seat vacated by Gov. Jon S. Corzine (D), stands a bare notch ahead of Kean in polls.

One public poll asked voters what jumps to their mind when they hear the candidates' names. Kean? He's the son of a former governor.

As for Menendez? The greatest number of poll respondents -- 21 percent -- say the words that come to mind are "corruption/crooked."

Menendez sits in the back of a coffee shop at the Borgata casino after his Atlantic City labor rally and wags his head. It's Halloween, and a waitress dressed as a giant Hershey's Kiss has just served coffee.

"In the end of the day, have all the negative ads taken effect? It's hurt." Menendez favors a softly wounded tone. "I didn't expect this."

The word "complicated" hangs over Menendez's head like a thought balloon.

One on one, he's neatly coifed and studiously bland, a pug-nosed lawyer at ease with the arcana of trade policy and Iraq. He's the immigrant's son -- his parents grew up in Havana and fled the dictator Fulgencio Batista -- and a skilled infighter for a higher minimum wage and low-cost student loans, and a determined opponent of the war in Iraq.

On the stump, he's curiously diffident. He attended a Veterans Day breakfast in Cherry Hill, a hall thick with old vets speaking in the emphatic manner of the hard of hearing. Max Cleland, the former Georgia senator and Vietnam amputee, had flown to campaign for him. The old Georgia pol coached the candidate.

"Go ahead, Bobby," Cleland whispers. "Push my wheelchair out there."

Menendez tends to step on his own applause lines. One vet after another ambles up to shake Menendez's hand but the candidate's handshake is as fleeting as his attention.

You might not guess that politics has been Menendez's chosen -- and highly successful -- calling since he ran for school board at the age of 19. He grew up in a tenement in Union City, a working-class immigrant city that hangs like a vine to the cliffs of the Palisades overlooking the Hudson River. The city sits in Hudson County, which for more than a century has exemplified a style of politics known as Early Feudal.

As Rep. Rodney P. Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) recently explained to the Record of Hackensack: "You don't take prisoners in Hudson County, you shoot them."

Another piece of the county's political DNA was laid down by Frank Hague, mayor of Jersey City from 1917 to 1947. He had a desk constructed with a lap drawer so visitors might deposit charitable envelopes of cash. Hague's salary never exceeded $8,000; his net worth at the time of his death was $10 million.

Menendez' first job came with William V. Musto, the intermittently reformist mayor of Union City. Later Menendez, who wore a bulletproof vest during this time, testified that Musto took bribes. Musto was convicted, and then he was reelected the day after he was sentenced.

Menendez has put in place mayors of Jersey City and Union City -- and upended the same men. But he recoils at any notion he's a boss. "Tom Kean rises to the top of his county machine with no experience and it's 'leadership,' " Menendez says in that professorial manner. "But we pick a candidate here in Hudson County and it's bossism. That's very outdated."

It must be said, however, that Hudson County politics retain a high entertainment value. Robert Janiszewski, the former county executive of Hudson County was forced to go into the witness protection program in 2001 after it was revealed he had worn an FBI wire. Janiszewski was sentenced to 41 months but in prison he's resurfaced as a pen-pal adviser to Kean's campaign.

Menendez frowns.

" In that case , the history of Frank Hague lives. But that history is not reality for the rest of us."

WASHINGTON POST LINK

Operation Falcon seizes hundreds of Jersey's most wanted
Friday, November 03, 2006
BY JOHN P. MARTIN
Star-Ledger Staff

Federal and local officers rounded up 548 of New Jersey's most wanted criminals last week, specifically targeting suspected gang members and child predators as part of a national crackdown on fugitives.

The suspects, nabbed in every New Jersey county, included 88 sex offenders, more than a third of whom who had not registered as required by law. Another 95 are gang members. Each faced a felony charge worth at least five years in prison. Six were wanted for murder.

"We arrest bad guys every day, but this is a special mission for us in law enforcement -- to get the worst of the worst off the streets," James Plousis, the U.S. Marshal for New Jersey, said at a news conference in Trenton.

The sweeps, which involved hundreds of state and federal officers, were part of Operation Falcon, an ongoing national effort to locate, prosecute or jail fugitives. More than 10,000 suspects wanted in 24 states were caught last week, including 1,600 sex offenders, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced.

But the arrests also highlighted what has been the stark, hamster-wheel reality here and elsewhere: The jails are often revolving doors. Last week's roundup, the second in 18 months, only cut the New Jersey's fugitive rolls to 21,000, and officials acknowledged that some of the newly caught suspects are likely to post bail and be free again.

Their hope is that a new federal law, enacted this summer, will make a difference. The so-called Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act exposes sex offenders who cross state lines to as many as 10 years in prison for failing to register their whereabouts. "That's going to make a big difference," said Donald Rackley, chief of the marshals service in New Jersey.

None of the suspects has yet been charged under the new law. Deputy U.S. Attorney William Fitzpatrick said his office planned to review the new fugitive cases to see if any could be prosecuted under the new law.

Plousis said the marshals teamed with agencies statewide, including the New Jersey State Police.

Among the New Jersey cases he highlighted yesterday was the capture of Steven Ramos, who fled after being arrested near Atlantic City in April 2005 for allegedly sexually assaulting his stepdaughter. Marshals found him living with his wife and stepdaughter last week in New Haven, Conn.

Another suspect was Damielle Tondee, 23, a reputed Bloods gang member from Jersey City wanted for a fatal shooting on Aug. 6. Officers staked out a Trenton neighborhood for more than 24 hours before nabbing Tondee on the street.

Authorities also pointed to the arrest of Armando Vasquez, a 41-year-old Trentonian they said had been a fugitive since 2002, when he was charged with sexually assaulting a child. He was found in Trenton.

But Superior Court records listed his case as "non-active" and his attorney, Charles Casale, was shocked to hear his client had become a poster child for dangerous predators on the lam.

"What a bunch of baloney," Casale said yesterday.

He said Vasquez was never on the run and had offered to surrender weeks ago when he was notified that "an old claim" was being reinstated. "The guy has been living here for something like 20 years," Casale said.

Deputy U.S. Marshal Michael Schroeder, a spokesman for the agency, disputed that Vasquez offered to surrender; he said officers had to forcibly arrest him when he refused to open his door.

Either way, Vasquez is likely to soon be out.

A judge set bail at $25,000. Vasquez expects to soon be released, his attorney said.

John P. Martin covers federal courts and law enforcement. He can be reached at (973) 622-3405 or jmartin@starledger.com.

Healy sets up foundation to help needy
Thursday, November 02, 2006
By KEN THORBOURNE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

He's mayor of Jersey City, but believes government has its limitations. He also believes charity begins at home.

With these principles in mind, Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy has launched "The Jerramiah T. Healy Charitable Foundation for a Better Jersey City," a tax-exempt non-profit, whose mission is to help needy individuals and causes within the city limits.

Incorporated over a year ago, the foundation received its official tax-exempt status in September. Its biggest fund-raiser to date took place Monday: a golf tournament at the posh Liberty National Golf Course organized by Paul and Dan Fireman, the golf club owners, and Connell Foley, the go-to law firm for developers in Jersey City.

The admission price for single golfers was $2,000 per person, and foursomes could play for $7,500, according to the organizers.

"It's simply to help people in need and causes in need inside Jersey City," Healy said last week of the nonprofit. "There are also a bunch of donors out there who would like to contribute to help good causes in the city. It has nothing to do with any political purposes."

The concept isn't new to Jersey City mayors. Bret Schundler established one, as did the late Glenn D. Cunningham.

According to documents provided by James Carroll, a Jersey City police sergeant who doubles as the Healy foundation's attorney, the charity collected $31,080 and doled out $8,398.21. This year, the nonprofit took in $200,000, gave out $127,500, and spent $65,000 on fundraising expenses, and $7,500 on professional fees - leaving $22,682 cash on hand, according to the documents. A list of donors and recipients wasn't provided.

The tax-exempt benefit of donating to Healy's nonprofit is retroactive to July 2005, when it was incorporated, an IRS spokesman said. The foundation's board has 13 members, including Maureen Healy, Healy's wife; Maria Pignataro, the mayor's press secretary; and Joseph Kealy, the attorney for the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency.

James Morley, chair of the redevelopment agency and a member of the Jersey City Library Board, is the foundation's president.

Michael Ryan, the owner of the PJ Ryan's bar and restaurant on Marin Boulevard, also sits on the board, and his establishment, according to the incorporation papers, is the foundation's official meeting place.

Deli killer is focus of manhunt
Thursday, November 02, 2006
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

As the manhunt continues for the man who murdered a woman while robbing her Jersey City Heights deli Monday, police are offering tips on how to make stores safer.

"The law enforcement community in Hudson County is working feverishly on this tragic case," Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said yesterday. "We are following leads and various law enforcement agencies are involved."

Fidelina A. Claros, 47, of Roselle, was shot once in the back and twice in the head during the robbery of her G&P Deli & Grocery on Webster Avenue and Ferry Street, officials said.

Homicide investigators are reviewing Jersey City Police Department closed circuit TV video that may have captured images of the getaway car as it fled, DeFazio said. There are no CCTV cameras at the corner where the deli is located, but the car may have passed others, DeFazio said.

"We have reason to believe that the car was parked where it was because of the knowledge of the driver and the planned escape route," said DeFazio, adding that the driver may have used the nearby "cut" to Hoboken, via Ravine Avenue.

Investigators have contacted NJ Transit Police to get video footage from security cameras at the Hoboken Light Rail Station with the hope it captured images of the car. They are also seeking video from the Ninth Street/Congress Street Light Rail Station based on the chance the car turned north on Palisade Avenue after fleeing east on Ferry Street, DeFazio said.

Meanwhile, Capt. Hugh Donaghue advised store owners to call the Jersey City Police Department Community Relations Unit at (201) 547-5682 to arrange for a security inspection by a police officer.

He also advised store owners to keep their windows clear of signs and merchandise, so people on the street can see inside if something is amiss. More tips are available at the department's Web site, www.njjcpd.org.

Anyone with information on the murder is asked to call homicide investigators at (201) 915-1345.

Anyone know much about this song the "Jersey Bounce" -- I heard it a few months back on WNYC - Jonathan Schwartz - The Sunday Show. I think it would be great if one of the local bands did a cover of it. Anyone know anything about the writers?
===============================

- Lyrics are as sung by Ella Fitzgerald -- who did NOT chart this song, but perhaps the best version.
- Most popular version was by Benny Goodman, (It hit # 1 in
1942, was an instrumental!
- Also charted that same year by both Jimmy Dorsey (came in at #9) and Shep Fields (came in at #15) Not sure why 1942 was such a big year for the Jersey Jump!

Words by Robert B. Wright -- Music by Bobby Plater, Tiny Bradshaw, and Edward Johnson

Lyrics:
===============================
Jersey Bounce

(scat intro)
They call it that Jersey bounce
A rhythm that really counts
The temperature always mounts
Wherever they play, the funny rhythm they play

It started on Journal Square
And somebody heard it there
He put it right on the air
And now you hear it everywhere

Uptown, gave it new licks
Downtown, added some tricks
No town, makes it sound, the same
As where it came from

So if you don't feel so hot
Go out to some Jersey spot
And whether you're hep or not
The Jersey bounce'll make you swing

(scat)
How I love that Jersey bounce
(scat)
Oh come on and play that Jersey bounce
(scat)

They call it that Jersey bounce
A rhythm that really counts
The temperature always mounts
Whenever they play that Jersey Bounce

It started on Journal Square
And somebody heard it there
He put it right on the air
That tune called the Jersey Bounce

Uptown, gave it new licks
Downtown, added some tricks
No town, make it sound the same
As where it came from

So if you don't feel so hot
Go out to some Jersey spot
And whether you're hep or not
The Jersey bounce'll make you swing

Ounce by ounce
The Jersey Bounce
Puts you right in the swing
That Jersey Bounce
It'll make you swing

Give me that Jersey Bounce.

Bill

I'm all for the death penalty against innocents -- Can we start with you and your many old and new JClist personas?

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