MediaAvid or anyone with a 20" wheel Dahon folders: Bags are often overpriced but I found a great deal on a bike bag. Dahon makes 20" bikes that are sold in Canada under the name Avenir -- ((( I think designknobs Aviner bike was stolen and I googled the brand and found this bike shop))) anyway it's a nice store in Toronto -- the owner sold me a couple of these bags, I think they are made by Dahon but a slightly older style, they fit the Dahon wonderfully! They are great for the subway during rush hour -- or to take into fancy places or to avoid the stares -- looks like music gear or something -- the price is far below the $59.99 they charge here in the states -- it is only $29 "Canadia" like $23 american!

The shipping was fast and cheap and of course there is no tax!

They are not allowed to ship bikes outside of Canada because of an agreement they have with Dahon but they can and DO ship bags!

link for bayview bike shop - Toronto

Chicks dig folders! http://www.boat.sk/boatbike/photos/10.htm

As much as I like all the NYC newcomers to Downtown Jersey City -- there are one or two that I wouldn't mind seeing move back to NYC (..and I hope they take their guns with them...)

Quote:

Gun that killed mom recovered, police say
Thursday, October 19, 2006
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Ballistics tests have linked a handgun found during a drug investigation to the murder of a Jersey City mother killed in the crossfire of an Aug. 6 shootout in front of a Martin Luther King Jr. Drive club, officials said.

The .357 Magnum was found in a backyard on Fulton Avenue during the drug investigation that resulted in the arrest of nine people, and seizure of three guns, 100 grams of cocaine and $8,000, said Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio.

That drug investigation was a spin-off of the investigation into the murder of Adia Reid, 26, of Monticello Avenue, DeFazio said.

Reid was waiting to enter the former Rendezvous club - now The Penthouse - when the shooting started. Reid is survived by her 8-year-old daughter, Elise Madison.

Calvin Clark, 19, of Fulton Avenue; Lamont Martin, 25, of Clerk Street; and Dennis Reid, 31, of Randolph Avenue, were arrested on Oct. 6 and charged with Reid's murder, DeFazio said. Police have also charged Damielle Tondee, 23, Garfield Avenue, in the murder and Tondee remains at large, DeFazio said.

"It's our theory the weapon was wielded by Calvin Clark," DeFazio said. Homicide detectives believe the murder occurred during a shootout between Tondee and his associates when they squared off against Clark, Martin and Dennis Reid, DeFazio said.

The shooting was "apparently related to a prior incident where Tondee shot at Clark because of a prior incident where Clark allegedly shot associates of Tondee," DeFazio said.

Anyone with information on Tondee's whereabouts is asked to call Hudson County Prosecutor's Office homicide detectives at (201) 915-1345.

Korean War vets salute deal to access memorial
Thursday, October 19, 2006
By KEN THORBOURNE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

The battle over the Korean War Memorial at the foot of Washington Street in Jersey City has ended with a compromise.

Local residents, who have enjoyed a street sealed off from normal vehicle traffic for more than a decade, will get to hold to this open space, and nine parking spaces are being set aside next to the monument for public use, the local councilman said yesterday.

"The end goal is to give the veterans complete access to visit it (the memorial) and increase open space for the city," said Ward E Councilman Steve Fulop, who plans to introduce an ordinance next week to carry out the change.

"In reality we are growing the roster of open space," he added. "It's going to be a win for the veterans."

Former Army Sgt. Joseph Swinson - one of the members of the Korean War Veterans of Hudson County who had fought to reopen the street - gave the compromise a thumbs up.

"I think it's going to be good," Swinson said. "They are going to open the memorial from 8 in the morning to 8 at night. And there's going to be parking for anybody who wants to visit the monument."

Gerry Bakirtjy, president of the Historic Paulus Hook Association, explained that six of the spaces are strictly for the visiting the memorial. The three handicap spaces can be used for visiting the memorial as well as the nearby waterfront and Liberty National Park, he said.

The parking spaces should be in place within the month, Swinson added.

Not everyone endorses the plan.

"We are totally adverse to this," said Sonia Maldonado, president of the Newport Waterfront Association. "It will be used to give exclusivity to (the) Portside (complex) and the Paulus Hook residents, which increases their property values. They want to keep everyone else out."

Want tax reform? Consider mergers
Jersey Journal - Joe Albright - Thursday, October 19, 2006

Solutions for property tax relief - real or theoretical - are resembling two-stage rockets. Neither is getting off the ground.

Two elements are entwined in the problem - immediate relief or long-term reform. And it also is ingrained with politics - Democrats are feeling the most pressure, since their 22-18 control of the state Senate and 49-31 margin in the Assembly are at stake in the November election next year, when all 120 seats will be contested.

Gov. Jon S. Corzine, of Hoboken, wants remedies enacted by this Jan. 1 to reduce the state's highest-in-the nation property taxes, which average $6,000 statewide, and legislators on four committees charged with tax relief responsibilities face a Nov. 15 deadline to come up with their recommendations.

Without questioning the sincerity of lawmakers burdened with the issue, they are still shadow boxing - no one has landed a hard punch on the target.

With, perhaps, one exception.

In June, state Sen. Joseph Kyrillos, R-Monmouth, reintroduced a bill he first advanced three years ago - the Municipal Alignment Reorganization and Consolidation Commission.

Under his proposal, a nine-member commission - with Corzine and the bipartisan legislative leadership each appointing four members, and the chief justice of the state Supreme Court naming the ninth - would have 24 months to come up with a list of proposed municipal consolidations.

The commission members would consider geographic factors, impact on local economies, potential tax savings, reduction in government costs, and community interests.

They would then present their recommendations to Corzine and the Legislature, who would be given 12 months to review them.

Using an approach like that employed when decisions are on military base closings nationally, the Legislature would have to either approve or reject the entire proposed list. There also is some sentiment to allow voters in the affected communities to decide by referendum whether to accept the merged status.

It may be the best chance for the Property Tax Relief Mission to get underway with the famous words, "We have lift off. All systems go."

Whole Foods sought for Downtown
http://www.nj.com/news/jjournal/index ... 61153525279850.xml&coll=3

Wednesday, October 18, 2006
By JARRETT RENSHAW
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Whole Foods Market may soon bring its organic and natural food brand to Downtown Jersey City.

Several city sources told The Jersey Journal that developer Peter Mocco and Whole Foods officials are working on a deal that would land the "green" supermarket in the Liberty Harbor North development.

Whole Foods officials could not be reached for comment and Mocco would not confirm the negotiations.

However, he said: "Whole Foods is a great retailer, and it would be an asset in Jersey City. I am confident that Whole Foods is coming to Jersey City, but the exact location is a function of many things such as parking and transportation."

The Liberty Harbor North plan calls for a major retail corridor along Morris Boulevard, between Jersey Avenue and Marin Boulevard, said Mocco. The plan also calls for a "gourmet" supermarket, said Mocco.

Downtown residents have been clamoring for a gourmet supermarket for years and Whole Foods, which operates more that 155 stores throughout North America and Britain, has been at the top of their list.

JARRETT RENSHAW can be reached at jrenshaw@jjournal.com.

http://www.nj.com/news/jjournal/index ... 61153541279850.xml&coll=3

The 'new' Journal Square takes another step forward
City says two properties to be seized through eminent domain
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
By KEN THORBOURNE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Within 30 days, two buildings standing in the way of a two-tower development in the heart of Journal Square in Jersey City will be seized by the city through eminent domain and transferred to the developer, a city official said yesterday.

The acquisition of the third and final building is delayed because the property owner needs time to hire a lawyer, said Robert Antonicello, executive director of the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency.

The two buildings in the process of being condemned are 12 and 14 Journal Square, respectively the sites of a former Wendy's and a current Kentucky Fried Chicken.

The third building slated to be taken, 15-16 Journal Square, houses four businesses - a McDonald's, Song's Hallmark, HT Wireless and a dentist's office.

"We're losing customers because they're not sure if we're going to be around," said Mohamad Abushaar, the manager of HT Wireless. "It (relocation and redevelopment plans) has everybody so mixed up, so confused."

Collectively, the buildings represent the only properties on the block next to the Journal Square Transportation Center not already sold to or under contract to be sold to Harwood Properties, the Jersey City firm designated to build two mixed-use towers on the site.

"We have filed with the court to pursue the condemnation," Antonicello said yesterday. "The money (to purchase the building) has been posted in the courts. The agency would buy them and then convey them to the Harwoods."

The purchase prices are based on appraisals the agency had conducted. According to those assessments 12 Journal Square is worth $1.5 million, 14 Journal Square $1.2 million, and 15-16 Journal Square $2.5 million.

According to the development agreement Harwood Properties inked with the city in May, the company is on the hook to reimburse the city whatever money it shells out to buy the buildings.

The building owners, who couldn't be reached yesterday to comment, are free to contest these building appraisals in court, but that won't hold up the condemnations, Antonicello explained. The court cases can proceed even as the buildings are being demolished, he said.

Harwood Properties is under contract to buy the other properties still standing on that block before the year is out - 1-7 Journal Square, Antonicello said.

The two businesses still in operation there - Three Brothers Pizza and Daily Tortillas - either will have to be evicted by the current owner, New York investor Ralph Tawil Jr., or the future owner, Harwood Properties, officials said.

http://www.nj.com/news/jjournal/index ... 61153391279850.xml&coll=3

IT ADDS UP
'Satisfactory' job gets schools boss a $9G raise
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
By KEN THORBOURNE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Jersey City Superintendent of Schools Charles T. Epps Jr. will have to make do on just $9,473 more a year.

Epps received a 4.5 percent pay boost to $219,993, retroactive to July 1, school officials confirmed this week. That's a $9,473 raise for Epps, who had been earning $210,520 annually as the district's state-appointed superintendent.

Epps, who lives in Society Hill, also receives a $1,000-a-month housing allowance for a total superintendent income of $231,993 - plus the $49,000 a year he earns in his part-time job as an assemblyman.

The school raise was "based on satisfactory performance as determined by the commissioner of Education," the contract states.

As generous as the pay hike might sound, it's a pittance compared to what it could have been.

Epps' contract - which runs from July 1, 2005, to June 30, 2008 - makes provisions for an additional pay hike of up to 12 percent, which would have meant a $25,262.40 raise on top of the $9,473, based on district performance in three areas.

Two of markers have to do with increasing the number of special ed students in regular education classes, while the third concerns raising the test performances of students learning English - each goal worth $8,420.80. Epps missed on all counts.

The first bonus hike called for increasing the number of special ed students in general education classrooms by 10 percentage points. The second called for reducing the number of special ed students who spend less than 40 percent of their school day in general education classes by 5 percent.

"The vast majority of special education students are already in inclusion classes," explained Roxanne Johnson, special assistant to the associate superintendent of special education. "Between December 2001 and December 2005 - those were the years with the most change."

The third bonus incentive called for a 10 percent or more increase in the number of students in the "English Language Learners" category passing the standardized language tests.

According to Director of Testing Michael Littlejohn, passing rates for English Language Learners sank 18 and 14 percentage points on the Grade 3 and Grade 4 tests, respectively. On the Grade 8 and high school test, passing rates increased 6.1 and a 1.2 percentage points, he said.

The 62-year-old superintendent didn't return calls to comment.

In August, the district's nine elected school board members submitted a mixed review of Epps's job performance to Acting Commissioner of Education Lucille Davy - most of the negatives having to do with Epps splitting his time between his two posts as superintendent and assemblyman.

At her confirmation hearings last week, Davy said she found Epps's dual roles "problematic" and that his performance as superintendent was still under review. Epps ran for Assembly last year with the permission of then-Commissioner of Education William Librera.

There is a few things already on jclist about this -- FastEddie knew some stuff..
JCLINK #1

JCLink #2

Relocation Blues
New York City?s shortage of office space hampers its economic future.

Steven Malanga - City Journal - 17 October 2006

In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, New York endured an unprecedented wave of corporate relocations, as companies left homeless by the terrorist attack moved tens of thousands of jobs out of the city. Today, Gotham faces another wave of relocations, prompted this time by the tortuous five-year effort to replace offices lost at Ground Zero and by the city?s inability to create alternative commercial districts for businesses that can?t afford to pay premium prices for existing Manhattan office space.

Over the summer, two big financial-services firms, Citigroup and Deutsche Bank, decided to shift some 2,200 jobs to Jersey City. For Citigroup, it?s the second major relocation to New Jersey in just 24 months. Smaller firms like UBS, Royal Bank of Scotland, and Morrow & Co. have also fled the city over the last two years, to Westchester and Connecticut. The relocations have spurred suburban developers to ramp up office projects. The LeFrak organization, for example, is now eyeing its eighth office tower in Newport City in New Jersey to accommodate new demand from Manhattan.

It?s easy to see what?s behind such moves. The terrorist strike destroyed some 11 million square feet of Gotham office space, enough to house nearly 50,000 jobs. Since then, there?s been little commercial office building in the city, apart from several projects that were already on the drawing boards, like developer Douglas Durst?s 42nd Street tower. That dearth of new building is a key reason that office vacancy rates have shrunk to pre-9/11 levels, even though the city still has some 50,000 fewer jobs than it did before the attack.

The city and state bear some responsibility for the space shortage. A nearly ten-year effort to rezone Manhattan?s Far West Side for commercial development wound up getting bogged down in Mayor Bloomberg?s plans to build a stadium there and lure the Olympics to New York. Potential construction of office towers in the area is thus still years away. The city has now missed two real-estate expansions, going back to the late 1990s, in trying to rezone the Far West Side.

Meanwhile, state and city officials haggled for years over the plan to redevelop Ground Zero, with some observers, including Mayor Bloomberg, pessimistically calling for a reduction in the office space planned for the site, assuming that it would be unneeded. As a result of the delays, only one building, 7 World Trade, is nearing completion?developer Larry Silverstein could rebuild it quickly because it wasn?t part of the site that the government controlled. Other Ground Zero towers won?t be ready for years.

Gotham has also failed to draw businesses to outer-borough office districts. Part of the problem is New York?s bureaucratic approach to development. The city, state, and Port Authority of New York and New Jersey have spent 25 years trying to develop land on the Queens waterfront, with little to show for it, due to government agency squabbling. By contrast, the LeFraks and their Newport City partners have built 20 residential and commercial towers on the Jersey City waterfront in less time.

When commercial buildings do rise in the outer boroughs, they are still too costly to be competitive. Consider Metrotech, a massive, heavily subsidized suburban-style office campus in downtown Brooklyn, intended to be the place where financial-services jobs would move when they left Manhattan. But after a few successful leases in its early years, the 20-year-old initiative has mostly drawn tenants already located in Brooklyn. Undeterred by that floppy performance, the city is now promoting another Brooklyn top-down mega-project by Metrotech?s developer, Forest City Ratner?the controversial Atlantic Yards, which, even if approved, will take years to realize and will have little impact on the city?s current commercial-space crunch.

What New York lacks is an entrepreneurial environment, where developers can quickly put up commercial space that responds to market demand. The city?s byzantine zoning code makes it impossible to build office towers even in underused outer-borough locations without lengthy hearings and zoning variances. New York?s inflated real-estate taxes render rents uncompetitive without special subsidies, even in the outer boroughs. In Brooklyn and Queens, real-estate taxes average a heady $10 per square foot, compared with just $3 per square foot in Jersey City. New York?s outdated building code, which the City Council refuses to change because unions like it, adds millions to the cost of major projects, as do stringent union work rules. When the LeFraks left New York to develop Newport in the mid-1980s, they pointed to onerous union rules as a big reason they left, and they touted Jersey?s 30 percent lower overall construction costs.

As New York?s economic engine has shifted over the last 40 years from manufacturing to financial services, the geography of employment has changed radically in the city. The 1 million manufacturing jobs once spread throughout the five boroughs are today largely gone. The office employment that replaced them concentrates increasingly in Manhattan?s two office districts, where there?s little room for growth. Without tens of millions of square feet of new office space, New York?s expanding firms won?t have room to grow in the city, and will go elsewhere.

They?re already going.Click here for link

OTHER VICTIMS?
Cops grab 2 men in street robbery
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Jersey City cops say they caught two men in the act of an armed robbery in the Heights, and detectives are seeking the public's help locating other possible victims of the pair.

Tryell McKenzie, 24, of Bergen Avenue, and Jameel M. George, 20, of Heckman Drive, both in Jersey City, are charged with robbery, receiving stolen property, eluding police and weapons offenses, police said.

"After reviewing the reports on the blatant criminal activity that led to their arrest, we have reviewed other similar incidents over recent weeks and we believe these two suspects may have been responsible," Jersey City spokesman Stan H. Eason said yesterday. "We are asking other people to come forward if they believe they may have been victimized by these thugs."

Police patrolling Paterson Street off Central Avenue Saturday at 12:32 a.m. spotted the two men "surrounding" a 24-year-old man and realized they fit the description of men who committed an earlier armed robbery, reports said.

Spotting the police, the two men fled, with George running west on Paterson and McKenzie running into a nearby yard, reports said.

As they chased McKenzie, he threw away a semiautomatic handgun, which police later recovered. The gun had its serial number removed and was loaded with hollow-point bullets, reports said.

McKenzie was later found hiding under a porch and was arrested, police said.

Meanwhile, George was caught at Bleecker Street and Central Avenue and was arrested on three open warrants, then was taken to the North District Police Station, where he was identified as one of the two robbers, reports said.

The victim told police the two men put a gun to his head and took his cell phone and $25, reports said.

Anyone who thinks they may have been victimized by the pair is asked to call the police tip-line at (201) 547-JAIL.

Hudson County's culture of corruption
Its local roots and prospects for change

By Mark J. Bonamo - Hudson Reporter staff writer 10/16/2006

On the Hudson County waterfront, a man who doesn't want you to know his name sits in the back room of a bar. His glittering blue eyes dance as he sits back and tells stories about a lifetime of watching and waging war in Hudson County politics. As the stories of various campaigns and convictions over the last 30 years roll off his silver tongue, the longtime county employee stops for a moment and laughs.

"Definitely nine out of ten commandments were broken," he says with a crooked smile on his face. "What I can say is I seen all types of illegal action committed, outside of murder. I saw the envelopes come in. They took the cash in and they shared it. Not that good, but they did. The people that the public expects the least are usually the ones who do the most. It's just the nature of the beast."

He was, and is, corrupt. But he is a free man. And he is among friends.

According to the office of Christopher Christie, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, Hudson County politicians have made significant contributions to New Jersey's culture of political corruption. There have been recent indictments involving political corruption in Essex, Middlesex and Monmouth counties. However, out of nearly 100 New Jersey political corruption cases where the defendants have either pleaded guilty or have been convicted of politically related charges since 2002, 20 originated in Hudson County, over 20 percent of the total cases.

In the last five years, the following local politicians, from the petty to the powerful, are just a few of those that have been snagged:

- Anthony Russo, a former Hoboken mayor who admitted accepting thousands of dollars in bribes from a Hoboken-base accounting firm (see sidebar).
- Robert Janiszewski, the Hudson County Executive from 1998 to 2001, who now sits in a Kentucky federal prison for extortion and tax evasion.
- Patrick Cecala, a former secretary to Hoboken's Alcohol Beverage Control Board and former school board member who had no prior criminal record, asked a woman for a $1,000 bribe to smooth the process of getting a liquor license in Hudson County's most bar-packed town. He later said, "One thousand dollars was just a round number. I just could have used $1,000 cash in my pocket."
- Peter Perez, a former North Bergen parks and recreation commissioner, pleaded guilty to accepting kickbacks from an air conditioning contractor who had town contacts. The contractor also did work on officials' private homes.

If political corruption makes New Jersey a national joke, then Hudson County is the punch line. For nearly a century, the 62 square miles hard on the west bank of the Hudson have been looked upon as the spot where the cancer that is eating the Garden State body politic alive was first metastasized.

What ultimately fuels the fire of Hudson County political corruption, which is as livid and long lasting as a burning oil slick? Does Hudson County still deserve its besmirched reputation? Is there really a culture of corruption here that knows no rival? If so, what does that culture do to the people who live here? Can Hudson County change? Does it need to?

Corruption in any form may create more questions than answers. Whether political corruption in Hudson County is only waterfront whispers, or a sticking point in a statewide Senate election, the answers are needed now more than ever.

Frank Hague's ghost

There is one man in the history of Hudson County corruption who cannot be ignored.

Frank Hague was the mayor of Jersey City from 1917 to 1947. Born in 1876 to Irish immigrant parents, he grew up tough in "the Horseshoe," a long-gone tenement neighborhood near what became the entrance to the Holland Tunnel.

Expelled from school as an incorrigible 13-year-old, Hague's natural political skills vaulted him through the ranks of the Hudson County Democratic Party.

He was elected commissioner of public safety for Jersey City in 1916 as a reformer and used his position as head of the police and fire departments to build the rock-solid base and patronage system that would extend and consolidate his power in Jersey City.

While he cleaned up the police force and lowered the crime rate, he recruited a group of plainclothes policemen from the Horseshoe to be his "Zeppelins," an elite secret surveillance squad within the police force who had a fierce loyalty to him. Riding a tide of simmering Catholic anger at the previous Protestant control of the city, plus the need for safer streets, Hague was unanimously elected mayor by the city commission government within a year.

The vaunted machine Hague built to maintain his control honed the now familiar political methods of canvassing, telephoning potential voters and transporting voters to the polls, establishing the famed Hudson County Democratic "get out the vote" apparatus that is still revered and feared in New Jersey politics. Between 1916 and 1940, Democrats won six of nine gubernatorial elections, most due to huge Hudson County electoral landslides. Federal funds from allies such as President Franklin D. Roosevelt flowed into Jersey City. Through his ward leaders, Hague created a unique form of municipal socialism that provided needed services for his constituents at the height of the Depression. When Hague said "I am the law" in Jersey City, he meant it.

Corruption continues

Hague's Hudson County empire did not last forever. Returning World War II veterans increasingly felt locked out by the machine. Other ethnic groups outside Hague's Irish power base began to feel neglected. Hague's strong-arm tactics and long vacations in places like Florida and Paris alienated many working-class residents.

As a result, Hague's appointed successor, his nephew, would lose to a reform slate led by John V. Kenny in 1949. Hague died a millionaire in his Manhattan apartment in 1956, unable to return alive to his former seat of power for fear of being subpoenaed over the kickback schemes that had made him rich.

Hague's mayoralty has been described by local author and historian Thomas Fleming as a "blend of violence and benevolence." Law and order was maintained by "justice at the end of a nightstick," a slogan Hague liked to use and occasionally enforce himself.

Although electoral fraud, enhanced by a misused state voter registration law, was part of the skewed equation that led to Hague's success, it was not the only reason why, unlike other American political bosses of his time, he continually faced the electorate and won.

Despite his rough reputation and use of voter fraud, Hague was never indicted and never spent a day in jail. Served with a subpoena in a $3 million kickback suit brought by city employees in an attempt to recover funds, Hague never paid back a dime. Although his Jersey City mayoral salary never exceeded $8,000 a year and he had no other source of legitimate income, at the time of his death, his wealth was estimated to have been over $10 million. For Hague, politics had paid well.

Hague was dead, but the boilerplate he set up for Hudson County politicians to follow was alive and well. Kenny set up his own satrapy in Hudson County, and the former reformer grew wealthy from his own patronage system and his kickback cash cow.

Mayor of Jersey City until 1953, Kenny remained the power behind the throne in Hudson County until 1971, when he and Mayor Thomas Whelan were indicted and convicted as members of the "Hudson County Eight" for conspiracy and extortion for taking $3.5 million in kickbacks in exchange for county construction contracts. When Robert Janiszewski became Hudson County Executive in 1988, it was hoped that he was the true reformer Hudson County had been waiting for.

But "Bobby J" was destined to disappoint. Janiszewski abruptly resigned from office in 2001, and it was subsequently revealed that he had secretly worked as an informer for the federal government since late 2000. His testimony brought down other Hudson County officials including Nidia Davila-Colon, a five-term Hudson County freeholder, who received a two-and-a-half-year term for passing more than $10,000 in bribes to Janiszewski to ensure that her then-boyfriend, Dr. Oscar Sandoval, would receive millions of dollars in county contracts. Janiszewski took the stand against her at her trial. Sandoval became an FBI informant and was never charged.

Janiszewski ultimately paid a price himself. He pleaded guilty in 2002 to extortion and tax evasion, admitting he had accepted over $100,000 in bribes. He was sentenced in 2005 to 41 months in federal prison, where he is currently serving time.

Proven guilty? Says who?

While many Hudson County officials who have been caught on the wrong side of the law remain mum, Gerald McCann, better known as Gerry, is more than willing to talk. A decade before Janiszewski experienced his legal woes, McCann, the mayor of Jersey City from 1981 to 1985 and again from 1989 to 1992, faced his own day in court with similar results.

McCann was found guilty of criminal fraud and tax evasion, although for offenses that took place when he was not in office. After his fall, Janiszewski expressed remorse for his actions. In contrast, the notion of McCann as a penitent politician is belied by the way he expresses himself.

"Do you really think people go into public service to serve the public?" he said. "There are hundreds of other ways to do it. Why do people like Jon Corzine want to become governor and Tom Kean Jr. want to become U.S. senator? It's the power. That's what they really want. It's the only thing that they didn't have. They had money, but they didn't have power. Sometimes when power becomes almost absolute, then the potential for corruption occurs."

But what about those who keep their noses clean, and then somehow get embroiled anyway - not all are a Hague looking to feather their bed. Aside from the Janiszewskis of the state, the corruption count also includes politicians who used campaign funds for jobs for relatives, accepted sporting-event tickets for political favors, and so on.

McCann said that, for many, the rise to power becomes a slippery slope.

"A councilman in a small town is not necessarily looking for power," he conceded. "But there are people who believe that the problems that occur in a small town can be resolved if they themselves get elected. Once these people become decision makers, the people who want to become the beneficiaries of their new power start to get them to cross over, whether it's paying bribes or getting kickbacks. Campaign contributions are part of the same thing. No one can get anybody to volunteer anymore because they think everybody is corrupt. It becomes self-perpetuating. In order to move up the chain in politics, you have to live in the gray. There are a lot of people more than willing to live in the gray. Gray is very close to black."

McCann drew a fine line between black and white until he finally left a distinct smudge. He was convicted in December 1991 of defrauding a South Florida bank by diverting for personal gain at least $267,000 of a $300,000 investment the bank entrusted to him in 1986 and 1987 to develop a marina at Liberty State Park in Jersey City. He was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison and ultimately served 24 months. When asked if he felt he did anything wrong, his answer was Jersey City blunt.

"I absolutely do not believe anything that I did was illegal," he said. "The power of the prosecutor's office got me. I didn't do anything corrupt. Corruption is when you are in a public position, and you do something to violate that trust. I was convicted for things that occurred when I wasn't the mayor. I'm very proud of what I achieved as mayor. I can show you the development at Newport, Harsimus Cove, Exchange Place, Grove Street, the light rail, and the new homes where Roosevelt Stadium was. If you have a legacy, it's what you've achieved in your own life. You can't point to one person, including Frank Hague, who did more."

Off the back of a truck

Not everyone agrees with McCann's assessment.

"Dream on, Gerry," said Jersey City native and published author Helene Stapinski. "Those buildings on the waterfront would have been built sooner and better without him."

Stapinski was born in Jersey City Medical Center, the hospital that Frank Hague built. A former journalist and an author, her critically acclaimed book Five-Finger Discount documents growing up in a Jersey City where personal and political corruption were often intertwined. Her appraisal of McCann's self-appraisal is not very forgiving.

Stapinski's frustration with McCann and the rest of Hudson County's ruling political class comes from both early observation and subtle cooperation. A key concept embedded in Stapinski's consciousness from an early age was "swag": stolen without a gun.

"Swag was a socially acceptable way of taking what wasn't yours, mostly stuff to live on," she said. "Your socks and underwear just fell off the back of a truck."

Stapinski went on in detail about how her father brought home frozen seafood not normally seen in working-class Jersey City homes from his job at Union Terminal Cold Storage.

"There were a lot of lobster tails on my table growing up," she said. "The thievery among the common folk happened because it trickled down from above," she said, "and it was OK to do stuff like that. When you were bringing Ivory Soap home from the job, that's peanuts to what Hague was doing. It paled in comparison so much, that it's not really illegal."

Stapinski didn't always think that politicians affected people's personal lives.

"I used to think that they were unimportant and that I didn't have to vote," the current Brooklyn resident said. "But the older you get, the more you see. Politicians are making the laws, and they are breaking the laws. They are defining what happens on a large scale and for the long-term future. If the schools are poorly run because of corrupt politics, the Yuppies will leave. This makes me really want to vote three times, which you can do in Hudson County sometimes."

Stapinski wondered aloud if voters will actually pull the lever for any Hudson County politician running for statewide office.

"Hudson County was such a power magnet in statewide politics, but that time is all gone," she said. "It's more of an albatross now. Even the whiff of Hudson County makes people itchy."

In the shadows

The man in the back room of the bar on the waterfront is just the type of Hudson County resident who makes people reach for the calamine lotion. His desire for anonimity is based on a certain practicality.

"I would not like to expose my family to this," said Mr. C (not his real initial). "You never get complimented on something like this. There is always something that backfires. I'm almost done and will leave this life with my pension."

The man's description of the life he lived and witnessed is murky at best.

"You could say I was more involved in south Hudson, but helped others in north Hudson," he says. "I was mainly a county person, so Bobby Janiszewski was whom I supported the most. Basically, we all get recycled." Around Bobby J, the man saw the same cycle over and over, as the deals were made in various shades of green. "Corruption might be dressed differently, but it is mainly the same," Mr. C said. "Kickbacks are always in cash, unless the other people are dumb and make some kind of gift that is tangible. Major law firms always get the big contracts. Bond deals are always made through friends that work for the bond houses that underwrite the deals. Unnecessary jobs go to workers who support the campaigns. If you were to actually hold interviews for some major jobs within the local municipal and county governments, three-fourths of the individuals would never get the job."

When asked what motivates Hudson County politicians and those around them to step outside the law, Mr. C cited two primary reasons.

"Both money and power," he said. "As the money comes in, most politicians start to need the control, and control brings power. They need the control because you can't trust anyone else, because they might slip up. They start to become paranoid because they start to worry about getting caught. Let's not fool ourselves. This is not a good boys club or girls club."

The local politico believes that people are fooling themselves if they truly think legislative measures to stem corruption would be any more than a futile finger in a dike.

"If a law is made, it is made mostly by lawyers," Mr. C said. "They are the same people who find ways around the law, and they are prevalent in politics. Pay-to-play laws are to appease the public, but that will never change who gets contracts and whose friend gets a job."

Christie's anti-corruption campaign

Christopher Christie was appointed U.S. Attorney for New Jersey by President George W. Bush in December 2001. Since then, Christie has taken an aggressive approach against political corruption in the Garden State. This strong stance has resulted in 97 successful prosecutions of both elected officials and other participants in illegal activities, such as contractors, who are part of the circle of corruption.

Christie has received bipartisan accolades for his work, in part because notable political figures of both the red and blue persuasion have had purple bruises administered by his office.

Former Republican Essex County Executive James Treffinger was brought up on corruption charges in 2002 when Treffinger was a leading G.O.P. contender for the U.S. Senate. It was Christie and his office who got former Democratic Hudson County Executive Janiszewski to plead guilty in 2002.

Recently, Christie was the driving force behind the legal effort that led former Democratic State Senate President John Lynch to plead guilty to charges of mail fraud and tax evasion. At a Sept. 15 press conference following Lynch's plea, Christie spoke about the ongoing struggle against corruption in New Jersey.

"At this point this is an old story," he said. "This office will continue to be vigilant about going after anyone who violates the law and betrays the public trust. Absolutely no one in New Jersey is above the law."

The advocate

Donald Scarinci knows the law.

In the early 1970s, the local, politically connected attorney was editor of the school newspaper at Union Hill High School around the time U.S. Senator and senatorial candidate Robert Menendez was student body president. The two men formed a friendship that lasted while both served as aides to Union City Mayor and State Senator William Musto. Musto's political career would come to a close in 1982 after his federal conviction on racketeering charges.

The ties between Scarinci and Menendez are not just political, but personal. Musto's conviction was due in part to his former prot?g? Menendez's testimony. Menendez went on to build a political career that took him to Musto's mayoral chair, the state assembly, the state senate, the U.S. House of Representatives and finally, after his appointment in January by Governor Jon Corzine, to the U.S. Senate.

Meanwhile, in an August interview, Scarinci would parallel his longtime ally's rise in his own field. His law practice is now one of the most influential in the state.

"I've been involved in Hudson County politics and government since 1972," he said. "Right off the cuff I would tell you that it is mythology that Hudson County is more corrupt than anywhere else. It has nothing to do with anything that has happened since the days of Frank Hague. The reality is that there are fewer instances of public corruption in Hudson County than in 50 percent of the other counties in the state of New Jersey. Bad people will do bad things."

He added, "Just because there are a few bad people like Gerry McCann and Bob Janiszewski doesn't mean all public officials are bad. You haven't had people stealing public money in Hudson County since the Musto trial in 1982. Wall Street would not be developing the waterfront if they had the concept that Hudson County was a corrupt place. I think the perception is based on folklore."

According to Scarinci, the perception of a hopelessly corrupt Hudson County is based in something even darker than local legend.

"The idea has its foundation more in racism and prejudice than in any reality," he said. "Hudson County to some people becomes a euphemism for Latinos, in the same way that Essex County becomes a euphemism for African-Americans. When people want to suggest that the people from Hudson County are above-average corrupt, I think that there is a very large element of bigotry and racism in that kind of remark."

Scarinci defended his friend Menendez as a true reformer.

"He demonstrated by his actions that he is a reformer. He testified against his mentor Musto, who was a personal and a political disappointment to him. Several people who were indicted with Musto were members of organized crime. Bob Menendez testified against them. That took courage. I saw him wear the bullet-proof vest," Scarinci said, referring to protective clothing worn by Menendez in the period surrounding Musto's trial.

Corruption issue affects Senate race

The question of ethics has recently become a major campaign issue for the Nov. 7 midterm elections. While Menendez's side has tried to portray him as someone who would stand up to President Bush and try to reverse perceived policy failures regarding Iraq and the war on terror, his Republican challenger, Tom Kean Jr., has tried to hit Menendez close to home. Ethics has been a major theme of Kean's drive to unseat Menendez, depicting him as just another corrupt Hudson County politician.

Menendez has had to fend off several corruption allegations in recent weeks. These criticisms have included that while in the House of Representatives, Menendez leased a building he owned to a Union City nonprofit agency for which he helped win federal funds.

Cutting even closer to the bone, Menendez was forced to sever ties with a close advisor, fundraiser and friend, the aforementioned Scarinci, after a 1999 telephone conversation was released in which Scarinci was recorded using Menendez's name to gain political leverage.

Menendez, who is known for never backing down from a political fight, has tried to give as good as he gets. The Menendez campaign threw ethics accusations right back at the Kean campaign when it was revealed that a researcher working for Kean's chief campaign consultant was digging for dirt on Menendez through an exchange of letters with the infamous Bobby Janiszewski. The former Hudson County executive writes his letters from the confines of a federal prison cell in Kentucky.

Corruption countercharges will continue to add enmity to this no-holds-barred political street fight that could have national implications. (Read next week's article about how the issue of corruption has helped frame the Menendez vs. Kean campaign.)

A policy perspective

Ross Baker, a professor of political science at Rutgers University and a longtime observer of the New Jersey political scene, said there are cultural and structural reasons for the county's corruption, and those have to change.

"Hudson County deserves every bit of its reputation," he said. "One of the things about Menendez, particularly after he turned state's evidence against Billy Musto, was that he stood out as the glowing exception, proof that a reformer could come out of Hudson County. But then again, Frank Hague and Bobby Janiszewski originally were reformers too. It's too bad in a way that the low state of public rectitude in Hudson County tends to rub off on people who try to escape its clutches."

Baker said the problem starts with having too many politicians. He cites county executives, positions that not all counties have.

"The center [of power] is never as powerful as the collective might of the twenty-one county chairs," he said. "Office double dipping has to be abolished. It tends to monopolize elective offices. It's a dangerous concentration of power. Pay-to-play legislation also has to be passed."

But Baker worried that some of it is ingrained.

"There are also cultural factors that will only change over the long run," he said. "A lot of the politics of Hudson County is tribal in that political ties are intermingled with ethnic ties. The more Hudson County becomes a desirable place for upper-middle-class people to live, the more that leads to the demographic transformation of Hudson County. The waterfront communities offer probably the best hope for reform."

What can be done?

It appears, from observers' comments and even politicians' own suggestions, that some waves of change are coming, but more has to be done. Suggestions include:

- Ban dual office holding. This move would provide more assurance that elected officials are not prey to conflicts of interests and that running for office is seen as a path to public service, not personal enrichment.
- Consolidate towns and town services. New Jersey currently has 566 separate municipalities. Through carefully considered regionalization, the number of towns and municipal positions would decrease, and with it opportunities for influence-peddling and fiscal temptation.
- Increase mayoral salaries for towns with large budgets. If mayors are ultimately controlling large sums of money without commensurate compensation, this becomes an inducement to steal.
- Ban "pay-to-play" at every level of New Jersey government, including redevelopment. "Pay-to-play" is the practice of giving professional service contracts to campaign contributors. Such practices can result in politicians approving overly expensive or unnecessary projects in exchange for campaign support. Giving someone a government contract in exchange for a political donation is illegal, but often it is difficult to prove. "Pay to play" laws cut out the possibility of that happening by saying that a business contributing a certain amount cannot get a contract. The state legislature should close loopholes in the laws, putting municipalities, counties and developers within the confines of those enhanced laws.
- Institute a zero-tolerance policy on the acceptance of gifts. Current ethics laws forbid legislators from accepting gifts worth more than $250 in total value from any single source for anything related to their official jobs. Instead, legislators should be banned from receiving any gift of any value whatsoever from lobbyists, government affairs agents or anyone else.
- Combine the Joint Legislative Commission on Ethical Standards into the new state Ethics Commission. Merging these two commissions would centralize and provide a vehicle for consistent and rigorous enforcement of the state's ethics laws.
- Make the new Uniform Ethics Code compulsory for the legislature and local governments. While more and more municipalities have taken up the cause of ethics reform, a clear, consistent approach must be taken regarding the application, control, supervision and enforcement of stronger ethics standards.
- End pension-padding. This odious practice allows for the promotion of state officials immediately before retirement, allowing officials to receive a public pension based on the higher salary of a position that they never truly held. This manipulation should end, and provisions should be added to the state pension laws that would mandate pension forfeiture by convicted corruption offenders.
- More aggressive investigations. U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie has had an impressive run so far. Newly confirmed New Jersey Attorney General Stuart Rabner, who helped to prosecute Bobby Janiszewski as an assistant U.S. attorney under Christie's leadership, must continue in this vein.
- Reward and punish at the ballot box. On the grass-roots level and on Election Day, voters should remember who has been doing the right thing, and who hasn't.

Councilman reflects on potential change

But will it work?

Steven Fulop was raised in Edison. The 29-year-old Jersey City resident came to live on the waterfront for the same reason many other new Hudson County residents did.

"I was working at Goldman Sachs," he said. "Goldman was moving their building to Jersey City. You get a lot of the benefits of being close to Manhattan, but at the same time all the benefits of being in Jersey. It just kind of made sense."

What Fulop did after he made the move to Jersey City was more unusual. He enlisted in the Marines after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and temporarily left Wall Street in 2003 to serve a tour with Marines in Iraq. Shortly after his return, he entered politics. Fulop stunned many local political observers by winning the downtown Jersey City council seat in 2005 over the Hudson County Democratic Organization (HCDO) incumbent.

When looking at the question of pay-to-play reform, Fulop offered some cautionary comments.

"If the reforms are not done in a way that would affect the county organizations as well, you will inadvertently adversely affect the reform candidates, because you won't give them the same access to funds the other side is going to have times ten," he said. "Jersey City adopted the state's pay-to-play reform package. Now some groups have come forward and said that they want a kind of pay-to-play law that would restrict developers from giving money to any Jersey City candidates. The premise is good, but if you do that, you restrict the money that somebody can get independently, but you can't restrict a developer from giving the money to the HCDO, which will ultimately give to the candidates that they choose."

Fulop continued, "Reform should go further to include not only banning dual public-office holding, but also holding two jobs that are paid for by taxpayer dollars in any capacity. Here in Hudson County, we are one of the biggest violators of this. Taxpayers paying one salary should be enough."

A number of Hudson County politicians have picked up the banner of reform before, only to wind up covered in sludge. Fulop thinks that he knows a way to avoid this fate.

"What I'd like to do is have an impact in the near term, and then I think that I'm done," he said. "You go back to the private sector, say that you served the public, and that's it. When you stay in office for too long, that's when things start to go awry."

He said that some people duck politics because of its reputation, causing a vicious cycle.

"You can't say everybody is corrupt and evil here," he said, "because that's surely not the case. We're headed in the right direction. In Hoboken, we have some young council people with fresh ideas coming from the private sector. In Jersey City, we're moving that way. You need the residents to put the right people in elected office, and then you need those elected officials to do the responsible thing. Part of the problem is that we still have the mentality that if you're good at hanging campaign signs, then you might qualify for some senior-level position, which is ridiculous. We're long past that mentality. So you either recognize that and get involved with change and progress, or you're going to have to get out of the way. Change can be forced, or change can be embraced. Either way, we'll take it."

SIDEBAR

A trip to the dark side in North Bergen

Another man who witnessed political corruption was an aide in the late 1980s to Joe Mocco, the North Bergen town clerk at the time. In 1987, Mocco was indicted for racketeering, specifically for facilitating illegal garbage-dumping in the Meadowlands.

The former aide, who says "I've been in politics since I'm ten years old," recounted how he saw Mocco's downfall up close.

"Mocco gave a man named George Hurtuk a job weighing trucks for the town," he said. "Hurtuk started to weigh the trucks, but the truck drivers started to give Hurtuk twenty bucks to leave them alone. After a while, Hurtuk said, 'If you give me a hundred bucks, you can dump the garbage right off of West Side Avenue near the Meadowlands and not even bring it to the dump.' I used to say to Hurtuk, 'Don't tell Joe about it, because Joe Mocco would steal a hot stove.'"

The way that Hurtuk eventually got caught was shocking.

"The pile of garbage got so high that one of the truck drivers drove up to the top, lifted the lid of the truck, hit an electric wire, and fried himself," the former aide said. "That's how the investigation started."

To the former aide, Mocco and Hurtuk's motivation was simple:

"Straight-up greed," he said. "Money in their pockets gets them girls, gets them drugs, and makes them happy." Ultimately the former aide tried to tell Mocco about Hurtuk's activities. Mocco's answer to his aide was succinct: Mind your own business.

"He said it would be even better if I helped him," the former aide said. "But that's not me. That's why I'm still here."

The way under-the-table business is done has changed, according to the former aide.

"They no longer take the envelope full of cash," he said. "The methodology is to give the contracts to friends. Meanwhile, you've got a secret share in the friend's business. But now, with all the different jobs these political guys give themselves, what do you need to take envelopes for? How are they doing the job? It's impossible." From his North Bergen base, the man had some thoughts about why the cycle of corruption in Hudson County politics keeps repeating itself.

"Lazy people who don't want to work for a living have found out that if you can get yourself elected, you can make a lot of money, without doing a lot of work," he said. "People living in brownstones in Jersey City and Hoboken making a million dollars a year allow somebody to run their towns that wouldn't be able to work in the mailroom of where they work. Maybe they are lazy too."

With a jaundiced squint, the North Bergen man noted the two things that might change Hudson County: "Death and (U.S. Attorney) Chris Christie."

SIDEBAR

Former teacher-turned-mayor succumbed to corruption

Anthony Russo, a former schoolteacher, ran a scrappy campaign for Hoboken mayor in 1993, against newcomer lawyer and tenant activist Ira Karasick.

The charismatic Russo captured the native Hoboken vote and won. Many still credit Russo for revitalizing city's waterfront, but his legacy will be forever tarnished by his submission to corruption.

Over the years, he gave contracts to a major Hudson County accounting firm that was run by his best friend Joseph Lisa. Some of those contracts were meant to provide audits that had not been completed during the previous mayor's term, and millions of dollars were given out. The Lisa firm also served as city accountants, so when they did the future audits, they were auditing themselves.

When Joe Lisa died of a heart attack in 1997, his more mild-manned brother, Gerry, took over the firm. It was Gerry who was fingered by the FBI and had to cough up details of payoffs to Russo.

Russo was sentenced in May 2005 to 30 months for taking bribes from the Lisa accounting firm. He remains in federal prison.

Since then, Russo's young son Michael, 31, has run for 3rd Ward council in his father's place, saying he would not fall prey to his father's weakness. He voted for measures raised by town reformers that would prevent campaign donors from getting jobs on campaigns.

The younger Russo said that he understands that taking bribes and accepting campaign contributions from contractors are different, but that one can often lead to the other.

"I have seen, firsthand, how this concept affects people," Michael Russo said in 2004. "We need to draw a line. The more a big developer or attorney donates, the more temptation sets in and the lines begin to blur. After a while they start asking questions like, 'Do you want $5,000 in cash and $5,000 in campaign contributions?'"

SIDEBAR

Mayor who pleaded guilty: 'Temptations are astronomical'

Peter LaVilla served as the mayor of Guttenberg, a four-block-by-twelve-block north Hudson town bordered by North Bergen and West New York, from 1996 to 2000, and enjoyed the perks of office. He pleaded guilty in 2003 to misappropriation of campaign funds, having used the money to play the stock market.

What happened, he said, was that during a 1999 campaign against Robert Janiszewski, he took out $63,000 worth of advertising in the now-defunct senior citizen newspaper that he once ran. He didn't report those funds as income, and the IRS came after him. He said he no longer had the paperwork, so he pleaded guilty.

LaVilla did six months of probation, paid a large fine, and now works as a screenwriter and a documentary filmmaker. A film about his experiences could be a kind of morality tale about small-town corruption. "Temptations are astronomical," he said. "Always the fine line between what is legitimate and what is not legitimate. As mayor, I made four grand a year. I couldn't live on that. I had to have other income. If you're a contractor and you want to get some business from the town, and he says things like 'Hey, can I take you to lunch?' that's where the fine line comes in. Do you pick up the tab?"

LaVilla declined to mention names, but said, "You're having a fundraiser, you send the ABC company two tickets, and they buy them, is that a violation? Because the temptations are so great, it's up to the individual who is in office to take care of due diligence and be above board."

In fact, the disparity in mayoral incomes in Hudson County seems to be one of the problems.

For example, Guttenberg's mayor earns $7,640 a year, but the town budget is approximately $12.8 million. That means that a mayor who is earning as little as $7,000 a year is giving out millions of dollars in contracts to lawyers and accountants. After a while, they tend to do one of two things: Seek another job at the same time, like assemblyman or county executive, or give contracts to friends and start asking for money back over dinner.

SIDEBAR

Dual office-holding common but controversial

Many political observers in New Jersey believe that one path to reform should include ending the common Garden State political practice of dual office-holding.

Powerbroker Donald Scarinci is not so sure that this is so.

"I'm one of the people who believes that dual office-holding is a good thing," he said. "I think a legislator who is also a mayor, or a freeholder or a county executive, brings something to the table at the state legislature. In Trenton, they truly know what state laws mean at the local level. People presume something evil is going on, but there's no evil in a $12,000-a-year mayor being a state senator."

The discrepancy between the mayoral salaries of the 12 Hudson County municipalities was explained by Robert Byrne, the Jersey City city clerk and a respected observer of the inside workings of local municipal government. "How big is Guttenberg?" he asked. "Guttenberg has a population according to the 2000 census of 10,807. Jersey City is only about 2,400 percent larger. Guttenberg wouldn't be a quarter of a ward in Jersey City. The responsibilities of places the size of Jersey City are much greater."

Byrne also noted that while some smaller cities such as West New York and Union City have technically part-time mayoral positions, which is reflected in their salaries, the same is not true of the larger Hudson County municipalities.

"Being the mayor of Jersey City is like having a full-time factory floor job, plus a job working in a Jersey turnpike toll booth on the weekend," he said. "The people in Jersey City and Hoboken would never let anyone get away with the mayor's job being a part-time position."

The reason why some officials cross the line escapes Byrne.

"I think that people are innately [either] honest or corrupt," he said. "I guess for some people, making six figures is not enough."

Scarinci went further concerning his view of dual office-holding.

"It would be a tragic mistake to eliminate dual office-holding just because people label it reform," he said. "You should watch out for the reformers, because all they are, are criminals in training. Real reformers don't label themselves."

Scarinci continued, "I don't know what it's going to take to take to convince the public that people who enter public service are usually good and not all criminals."

===============================


Link

The Hudson County link figures big in Senate race
By JOSH GOHLKE-TRENTON BUREAU- Oct. 16, 2006

For ridicule both earned and unearned about corruption, congestion and crassness, the United States has New Jersey. And New Jersey has Hudson County.

This geographic abuse is often jovial, but it has become a serious part of this year's U.S. Senate race. Republican candidate Tom Kean Jr. frequently deploys the county as a catchphrase -- shorthand for something that must not be good, because he uses it in connection with his Democratic rival, Hudson County's own Bob Menendez.

"A lot of voters out there are not going to forget he's from Hudson County," Quinnipiac University pollster Clay Richards said of Menendez, a longtime congressman appointed to the U.S. Senate in January. "I think it was the first thing a lot of people knew about Menendez."

In stories about the campaign in the state's largest newspapers, the county has been mentioned about three times more often than Kean's home county, Union. This has been driven partly by the Kean campaign's insistent repetition in press releases, speeches and advertising.

"I think that if he [Menendez] does for the state of New Jersey what he's done for Hudson County, I think we're in trouble," Kean campaign avatar Larry Giancola, a self-described Hudson Democrat, says during one typical riff in a radio spot. "Hudson County being the most corrupt county probably in the whole country."

Corruption is the ill most obviously invoked by Hudson County as it's imagined by Kean and perhaps most other people. Kean, whose campaign is based heavily on ethical charges against Menendez, begins one of his stock speeches by recalling Frank Hague, the infamous Jersey City mayor and Democratic boss who "walked away from his $8,000-a-year post a multimillionaire," as Kean puts it. The assumption is that Hague did not make the extra money on shrewd stock investments.

Although Hague's 30-year run began almost a century ago, in 1917, Hudson County's reputation has never quite escaped his shadow, said Francis Moran, a political science professor at New Jersey City University in Jersey City. Moran recalled searching for textbooks that touch on the area for one of his courses.

"The only time Jersey City is mentioned in any of them is Frank Hague," he said.

There has been no shortage of more modern examples to reinforce Hudson's associations with graft, Moran noted, although none of them approaches Hague's scope and influence. Hague, after all, was thought to be single-handedly responsible for the last elected U.S. senator -- and governor -- to hail from Hudson County, A. Harry Moore. Oddly enough, Moore won his seat in 1934 by defeating Sen. Hamilton Fish Kean, Tom Kean Jr.'s great-grandfather.

How about Monmouth?

History is mainly responsible for the current caricature of Hudson County, said Nick Acocella, the Hoboken-based publisher of the newsletter Politifax. When confronted with Bob Janiszewski, the former Hudson County executive now in prison for taking bribes in this very century, Acocella countered with federal authorities' continuing corruption sweep at the Jersey Shore.

"We're not as bad as Monmouth," Acocella said, referring to the county hosting what the U.S. Attorney's Office calls "Operation Bid Rig." He added sarcastically, "Except they have lawns, so they must be nicer."

Inevitably, any extended bout of Hudson-bashing extends to targets besides corruption. Kean's Giancola ad, for example, goes on to mention Hudson's "sky-high taxes" and "increased gang activity" before summing it up bluntly as "a terrible place to live."

The Kean message plays accordingly along the urban-rural divide. In Quinnipiac's most recent poll, urban voters judged Menendez "honest and trustworthy" by an eight-point margin, 42 percent to 34 percent. Suburbanites were almost evenly divided, 41 percent to 38 percent. And rural residents were almost the exact reverse of the cities: 34 percent deemed Menendez honest, while 43 percent distrusted him.

Menendez and his allies have periodically tried to turn the criticism around by suggesting that Kean, who represents New Jersey's wealthiest legislative district in the state Senate, is attacking not just corruption, but poor, urban immigrants.

"Are you casting an aspersion upon the people of Hudson County?" Menendez demanded after Kean contrasted their respective home territories in one early debate. Slapping his palm for emphasis, he went on, "They're hardworking. They're blue-collar people."

'Economic engine'

In a similar vein, Democratic state Sen. Bernard F. Kenny of Hoboken interrupted a legislative hearing on property taxes last week to defend the people of his county.

"We've been the economic engine of the state, contrary to what Senator Kean Jr. likes to say about Hudson County," Kenny said. He accused Kean of denigrating "half a million people, hardworking people, many of them immigrants."

With Menendez looking to remain the first Latino senator from the Northeast and only the sixth in U.S. history, some observers say the references to Hudson County effectively underscore his ethnicity.

"There are more than a few people here who believe that," Acocella said. "While I would not want to attribute that consciously to the Kean campaign, it does have that effect. There are people who are never going to vote for anyone with an 'ez' at the end of his name."

Kean, the son of former Gov. Tom Kean, noted that he comes from a long tradition of inclusive politics. He said his only target in Hudson County is its tradition of public corruption, which he believes Menendez is continuing. The Republican said he is speaking out for Hudson County residents who are paying exorbitant taxes to fund a corrupt system.

"The people of Hudson County have suffered enough under the tactics of Boss Bob," Kean said in an interview Friday. "Bob Menendez is trying to turn the U.S. Senate race into a class warfare situation, and that's disgusting."

Menendez argued that Kean is propagating an outdated, simplistic vision of his county.

"I think Tom Kean Jr. lives in a time warp, or a purposeful depiction of a county that doesn't recognize ... the greatness of a lot of people who started here, created successes and now live across the state," Menendez said in an interview at his favorite breakfast joint, the IHOP just off the Lincoln Tunnel approach in Union City. "The Hudson County I know is ... modern, it's bustling, it's raising the level of employment in the state with high-wage jobs. It's a lot of stuff to be proud of."

But Kean said Hudson County's politicians still offer plenty of causes for shame. He cited recently surfaced recordings that caught Menendez's longtime ally, attorney and political mover Donald Scarinci, invoking Menendez's name while apparently trying to micromanage county contracts and patronage.

The Scarinci tapes actually feature both of the competing visions of Hudson in the campaign. While raising the reputation for corruption that's being used as a cudgel, Scarinci also speaks to an underdog toughness that keeps returning the blows. At one point, Scarinci refers to an official from Bergen County as an outsider who "has everything handed to him in his life."

He adds, "He is not like us ... that scrape and earn what we have."

E-mail: gohlke@northjersey.com


* * *

Notorious Hudson County politics

Frank Hague
Jersey City mayor and Democratic Party boss from 1917-47, had $14 million in the bank when he died, even though he made $8,000 a year.

Cornelius E. Gallagher
Former Democratic congressman from Bayonne went to prison in 1973 for income tax evasion linked to a political fund-raising scheme.

Thomas J. Whelan
Former Jersey City mayor convicted in July 1971 for collecting million of dollars in kickbacks from Hudson County businesses.

William V. Musto
State legislator and Union City mayor convicted in 1982 of accepting kickbacks from city contractors. Won reelection the day after he was sentenced to seven years in federal prison.

Gerald Mc Cann
Brash-talking Jersey City mayor during the 1980s, convicted on federal fraud charges in 1992 related to a failed Florida savings and loan.

David Friedland
Hudson County assemblyman who faked his death while scuba diving in the Bahamas in 1985 after learning he was facing charges of defrauding a union pension fund. Was captured three years later in the Maldive Islands in the Indian Ocean.

Robert Janiszewski
County executive admitted in 2002 taking $100,000 in bribes and then triggered a windfall of corruption prosecutions. Serving a 41-month sentence in federal prison.

Minnie,
One would think that the security codes would be different from store to store - even if the security system had been installed by the same provider.

I can't believe the company monitoring the store didn't have police check it out at that hour.



Quote:

Excerpt from the Star Ledger

Jersey City Home Depot 'Inside job' nets burglar $31,000

Police are taking a long look at current and recent employees of the Jersey City Home Depot after an "inside job" burglary yesterday netted $31,000, authorities said.

The manager of the store, on Route 440 north of Kellogg Street, called police yesterday morning to say the business had been robbed overnight.

Authorities believe the robbery happened just after midnight yesterday, and began when someone smashed a glass panel on a rear door, then reached in and pushed open the emergency door lock.

The burglar then used the alarm code to turn off the building's security system, and went through three locked doors -- re quiring two separate keys -- to enter the store's accounting office. There were no signs of forced entry, police said.

Once inside the office, the burglar somehow opened the two safes -- containing a total of $31,000 -- and then fled. The store's bookkeeper called police after going into the office after 8 a.m. yesterday, police said.

Jersey City Police Director Sam Jefferson said the department's Major Case Squad and South District detectives are investigating the burglary, and will interview "everyone who would have had access."

Domino Theory alive in Hudson politics
Politicial Insider From The Jersey Journal
Saturday, October 14, 2006

The Domino Theory was a 20th century hypothesis that the takeover of a country by a communist regime will set off similar advancement of communism in nearby countries. Read your history about the involvement of this country in Vietnam.

In Hudson County, this theory is applied to political advancement. As an example, when Robert Menendez was appointed in December to the U.S. Senate, it started a linear reaction that will eventually affect other members of the Hudson County Democratic Organization.

The next domino in the line is Assemblyman and West New York Mayor Albio Sires. Sires is running for Menendez's old seat in the House. First, he is running unopposed next month for an interim term as congressman, from November to January. In the same election, he is also running against Republican candidate John Guarini for the full two-year term in congress.

When Sires' interim term election is certified, he will resign as mayor tentatively about Nov. 10. Should he win the contest for the full term in office that begins in January, look for him to resign his state Assembly seat about Nov. 13.

The thud of the next domino is in West New York where the Board of Commissioners is expected to name resident Caridad Rodriguez to the empty commission seat and Commissioner Sal Vega will be tabbed by the board as the next mayor. Then, look for Vega to resign his post as chairman of the Hudson County Board of Freeholders because he will be too busy trying to replace Sires in the Assembly.

Who will replace Vega as a freeholder? While the front-runner appears to be town Commissioner Gerald Lange, some administration officials said he has not been anointed because several others have asked to be considered - which is a polite way of saying that West New York wants to let other mayors know what they plan to do before it is official.

This brings us to a very interesting teetering domino at the Board of Freeholders where people seem to be lining up for Vega's chairmanship. Freeholder Bill O'Dea of Jersey City confirms that he is seeking the chairmanship and that he has asked for the support of his mayor, Jerramiah Healy, and others.

It is likely that the North Hudson mayors, including West Hudson, may support Freeholder Thomas Liggio of North Bergen.

"That's possible for the interim term, but I'll be seeking the full term," said O'Dea of Liggio's prospects.

The Jersey City West Side official expects to get the backing of his fellow hometown freeholders, Jeff Dublin and Eliu Rivera. The question is where will the other votes come from? How will Bayonne vote? Mayor Joe Doria should be very interested in what goes on because the state's 31st legislative district, where he is a state senator, is also home turf for O'Dea and Dublin?
Next year will be a keystone year for Hudson County.

The senior member of the Hudson County Board of Freeholders, Maurice Fitzgibbons of Hoboken, announced at Thursday night's session that "this is it for me, I'm not running again" to make certain that a statement he was making to county workers was just not the hyperbole of a politician.

So, why is it that there is no big announcement of Fitzgibbons' intended retirement?

Could it be that he has also been busy asking mayors to support him for chairman of the freeholders?

The county Democratic leadership held their weekly meeting yesterday and Sen. Majority Leader and HCDO Chairman Bernard Kenny made it clear to everyone what was expected of them in the Senate race. Kenny said Menendez needs at least a net vote result of 58,000. Consider that Gov. Jon Corzine received more than 61,000 net votes against the GOP's Doug Forrester in the 2005 gubernatorial race, so it is possible.

Kenny was also not happy with the polls that show Menendez up by about 5 points when the Democrats believe he should already on top by at least 10 points. Making it worse, in the eyes of HCDO leaders, their polls show Hispanics favor Menendez over Kean 66 to 22 percent. They had hoped for at least 75 percent and on top of this, there is very little support from black voters - this is why U.S. Sen. Barack Osama of Illinois was brought in Wednesday to introduce Menendez in Camden, Trenton and Newark.

Obama was obviously a big hit but how much that will translate into Menendez vote is questionable. It almost seems that the Obama visit was meant more as a signal to other voters around the state to brush aside GOP Senate candidate Tom Kean Jr.'s attempt to define Menendez as a product of a "corrupt" Hudson County.

The big question is why have state Sen. Wayne Bryant introduce everyone at the Newark stop? Federal authorities are investigating Bryant and his alleged no-show job at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.

The most disappointed organization in Hudson County is not considered a political one. Although, its members are mostly traditional Democrats.

The Friends of Liberty State Park are "more than" peeved at Gov. Jon Corzine for backing the proposed 9/11 memorial, "Empty Sky," on what is considered the public commons of the huge state park. The memorial calls for a 10-foot high landscaped mound supporting long metal walls with the names of New Jersey victims of the World Trade Center attacks etched on them.

Friends were unhappy that there was no public debate over the memorial that they say blocks the prime viewing area of the New York City skyline. When Corzine announced he would back the original design and location, it guarantees a court fight.

The governor is not the only official who has raised the ire of the park's volunteer watchdogs. At this moment, Friends leader Sam Pesin and other Hudson County "green" warriors have a very poor opinion of Kenny.

"Bernie Kenny stabbed us in the back," said Pesin who said he was hurt when the Senate leader announced that he supported the governor's decision.

All this makes us wonder how the open spaces crowd in Downtown Jersey City feel about City Council President Mariano Vega. Vega, who portrays himself as a champion of green spaces and parks, cast his vote in favor of the AMB mega-warehouse in the PJP landfill in the Marion section of the city.

One has to flip a coin to decide whether it was as bad as Downtown City Councilman Steve Fulop's decision to abstain from the warehouse vote? Local officials can not understand why he did not vote against the warehouse making himself look more of a pro-open spaces official than Vega. His vote would not have changed the outcome, but an abstention is like having no opinion.

Lengthy tax deals OK'd by council
Saturday, October 14, 2006
By KEN THORBOURNE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

The Jersey City City Council granted three tax abatements Wednesday that went beyond the usual 20-year timeframe.

Two 25-year abatements were related to a project by brothers Paul and Eric Silverman to transform the former Saint Francis Hospital in the Hamilton Park section of the city into a 225-unit condo complex.

The third tax abatement, for 30 years, was for the second phase of the American Can Co. building on Dey Street, where New York City-based Coalco is renovating the old factory to build at least 511 market-rate units, 440 parking spaces, 7,000 square feet of open space, and 1,200 square feet of retail space.

The developer has previously agreed to donate $185,000 to local nonprofit organizations. Council members said the developer deserved the 30-year abatement because this section of town needs an economic jump-start.

Of the Saint Francis project, council members said the developers, well-known for their renovation of the Majestic Theater, are giving to the city several amenities, including the re-opening of a section of Pavonia Avenue and the expansion of Hamilton Park.

The developers and council members also cited the difficulty of renovating three hospital buildings that will become part of the complex - a justification for the tax abatement Jersey City resident Dan Sicardi wasn't buying.

"If there was a horrible building and it was on Central Park South . there's no question someone would try to grab that building," Sicardi said. "It's a gorgeous area. And no affordable housing is included. That (inclusion of affordable housing ) should be carved in stone."

JUST TWO MUCH?
State ed boss may put kibosh on Epps' double-duty
Saturday, October 14, 2006
NEWHOUSE NEWS SERVICE

The state education commissioner has called Charles T. Epps Jr.'s controversial dual role as Jersey City school superintendent and a state assemblyman "problematic," and indicated she may put a halt to him serving in one of those jobs.

In her confirmation hearing Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, acting Commissioner Lucille Davy stressed Epps' job performance as the state-appointed superintendent remained under review, and she had yet to make a determination.

But answering a legislator's question, Davy conceded it would be difficult for any superintendent to serve in both capacities, and cited her own power to disallow the state-appointed officer to also be a legislator - even in the middle of his term.

It was her predecessor, former Commissioner William Librera, who permitted Epps to run for Assembly last year.

"If I had been in this position then," Davy said in her first public comments on the issue, "it might have come out differently from the outset."

"Certainly in the case of someone who is running a state-operated district, the idea of a dual employment in another position is problematic for me," Davy said at another point.

Epps said yesterday that he was "taken aback" when he learned of Davy's comments.

"I really haven't had a chance to speak with her about this, and I hope to," he said. "I have talked to her about lots of things, the district, how we're moving, the Broad Prize, almost on a daily basis."

Epps' dual role has been contested since he ran for the 31st District seat as a Democrat, with even some of his own board members saying his work as chief of the state's second largest school district has since suffered.

Epps has maintained he can do both jobs. He cited recent attention to dual office holding as a possible reason the issue was brought up.

"I think they are taking a look at everybody, and maybe I sparked something," he said.

Jersey City School Board Chairman William DeRosa offered conflicting assesments of Epps performance. He first said he did not find Epps' dual roles problematic, only to say later in the interview yesterday that Epps should consider leaving his legislative post.

DeRosa also said Epps is doing a great job as superintendent, but he supports Davy's fresh look at the situation, especially in light of the recent board evaluations that accused Epps of losing grip on the district.

Davy's comments were one piece in a lengthy and wide-ranging hearing that moved from private school vouchers to state monitoring of districts, with a heavy focus on how the state will crack down on wayward school spending.

The full Senate is expected to confirm Davy's appointment when it meets on Monday.

Davy has been commissioner for more than a year, but mostly in an acting or interim capacity. After a national search, Gov. Jon Corzine in July appointed Davy to stay on in the $141,000-a-year post.

Journal staff writer Jarrett Renshaw contributed to this report

Loew's vs. Jersey City - still unsettled
Volunteer group for historic theater wants lease issue cleared up

Ricardo Kaulessar
Hudson Reporter staff writer 10/13/2006

WELCOME TO THE LOEW?S ? This is the entrance to the Loew?s Jersey Theatre in Jersey City.
On the weekend of Sept. 22, the Loew's Jersey Theatre in Journal Square kicked off their event season with a screening of three Alfred Hitchcock films.

That was just the beginning of what may be their best season yet, which includes performances by music stars Beck (Oct. 21) and Yo La Tengo (who performed on Sept. 29), the annual Halloween show on Oct. 31, and screenings of Vampire films on the weekend of Oct. 27.

Much of the credit for booking the upcoming programs goes to the Friends of the Loew's (FOL), the volunteer group that operates the theater that the city owns. But the relationship between FOL and the city has become strained because the city's questioning the validity of FOL's lease to operate the theater remains unresolved.

On Oct. 15, 2004 the City Council approved a long-term lease between the FOL and the city to operate and maintain the theater. The lease allowed FOL to attract major promoters for events and to make much needed repairs to the theater.

But in December of 2005, the city's Business Administrator Brian O' Reilly notified the FOL that the council-approved lease was not signed by then-acting Mayor Harvey Smith, which rendered it null and void.

And this summer, FOL President Colin Egan was terminated from his job as a project manager for the Loew's Theatre at the Jersey City Economic Development Corporation without sufficient reason.

Turning over a new lease

The 2004 lease agreement calls for the FOL to meet yearly benchmarks toward renovating and operating the theater, and the city to be responsible for theater repairs to meets fire code and health standards.

The 2004 lease allows the FOL to operate the Loew's on a five-year basis with two five-year extensions.

James Tutak, FOL's attorney, said recently he is "cautiously optimistic" that the city will come to terms with the FOL.

"[FOL's] position is that the council had ample time to review the lease based on a review of the transcript of the October 2004 meeting that the correct lease had been signed," said Tutak.

In a letter to O'Reilly dated Jan. 26, Tutak reiterated the FOL's current stance that the correct lease had been signed and that, if necessary, he would "obtain a judicial determination upholding the Friends of Loews' rights under the lease."

City Corporation Counsel Bill Matsikoudis said last week he would like to see a resolution "as soon as possible" but has been frustrated by the delay. He also said he could not comment further since negotiations are ongoing.

"I've written letters to Mr. Tutak and there have been meetings scheduled but they are usually cancelled," said Matsikoudis. "We want at the end of the day to come to a resolution."

Matsikoudis outlined in an Aug. 6 letter to Tutak that there are unresolved issues with the lease. Among them, the lease calls for the city to be responsible for all structural repairs and new construction work without specifying a price or cost limit. He also said the lease fails to require the FOL to provide the city with a report on theater activities for the public, the value of those activities, an affirmation of the FOL's tax-exempt status, and a disclosure statement of the FOL's ownership interest in the theater.

Tutak admitted that because he suffers from an ongoing illness and is handling an unrelated case, he has not been able to meet directly with the city's Law Department on the matter. A representative from Tutak's office said there was no movement in the lease negotiations last week.

Last week Mayor Jerramiah Healy said he has not kept track of the lease situation. But he commended the FOL for the work they have done in their nearly 20 years of existence.

However, as he has done in the past, he advocated for the theater to be run by professional management.

"Friends of Loew's have done a very good job up to now, an excellent job preserving and restoring [the theater]," said Healy. "But we need something more than that right now and hopefully we will be able to find that something and make it an up and running concern that pays for itself."

The show must go on

Egan said last week that the theater is going through an "exciting and busy" period that could make one forget about the lease but it is "still in the back of his mind."

He pointed to the upcoming Beck show - booked on only two weeks notice through Hoboken promoter Todd Abramson - as well as other shows booked through early November.

"The city raised the doubts about the lease, although I believe we have a legitimate lease, and is making it harder to work with us," said Egan. "But the Friends want this settled since this is a good time to go to our financial sponsors as well as attract new ones since they'll see how busy we are."

Having the lease issue settled also enables the FOL to look at going beyond just renting out the theater for various acts.

"Having a lease could enable us to raise more money and start looking at attracting performers by providing an equity stake in the performance and bringing in more money," said Egan.

Egan also said a lease would provide financing for a few more employees to help in the theater office full-time.

Egan said he wasn't too hopeful about being employed with the city again.

"I think the city has made it clear that they don't want to bring me back, but I'll survive," said Egan. "It just means a lot of peanut butter sandwiches."

Pat O'Melia, local radio and TV show host and supporter of the FOL, said that Egan's dismissal was done to weaken the FOL as a group, thus giving the city leverage in changing the lease.

O'Melia also said it is paramount that the Loew's situation is settled.

"That theater is an anchor of the revitalization of Journal Square, especially with the various redevelopment projects going on in the Square," said O'Melia.

For information on the upcoming Loew's schedule, visit www.loewsjersey.org or call (201) 798-6055.

Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com

MONEY TALKS
Hudson residents want places to work, not play
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
By KEN THORBOURNE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Hudson County residents overwhelming believe jobs are more important to the area's future than parks, supporting Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy's push to have a warehouse built at the old PJP landfill site in Jersey City, according to the latest New Jersey City University/Jersey Journal poll.

The City Council is expected tonight to approve a redevelopment plan for the area, the latest step in bringing the warehouse proposal to reality.

According to the poll, which was conducted by phone on Sept. 27, some 57.9 percent Hudson County residents said jobs should be priority No. 1, while 15.8 percent favored parkland.

Only 3.5 percent of those polled said golf courses should be built on open areas, a proposal some county officials promoted for the old Jersey City landfill site.

"Overwhelmingly, people preferred the jobs that the warehouse and other buildings might provide against open space and golf courses," wrote the poll's authors, political science professor Fran Moran and English professor Bruce Chadwick, both of NJCU, in an analysis of the results.

"The largest group of supporters for jobs were among the youngest group, those in the working world for the first time, and the 50-65 year old category, many of whom may have been laid off or downsized during the last few years," they added.

Jobs were preferred across the board in all categories and by all political parties and groups, they said.

Healy championed AMB Corp.'s proposal to build a mega-warehouse on 47 acres of the former PJP landfill site. The land, owned by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark, already is under contract to be sold to AMB Corp., which would build the enormous warehouse but not operate it.

Although some Marion residents and council members opposed the plan, arguing the warehouse would add pollution and traffic congestion to the neighborhood, the City Council settled on a compromise that would allow for both a warehouse and 67 acres of open space. However, most of the land designated as open space is already owned by trucking companies, and the city has no plans to buy it.

The City Council is scheduled to hold a public hearing on this plan at its meeting tonight at 6 at City Hall, 280 Grove St.

Be an eco-tourist at the Meadowlands
By JANET FRANKSTON -- Associated Press --Wed, Oct. 11, 2006

New Jersey's Meadowlands conjures images of a football stadium, swamps, burning landfills, industrial wasteland and, perhaps, the final resting place of Jimmy Hoffa.

Not to be deterred, the state is trying to make the area less than five miles west of Manhattan into a destination for tree-hugging tourists.

The New Jersey Meadowlands Commission has released a 72-page color guide to bird watching and fishing in the Meadowlands and wildlife trails in the Hackensack River Watershed.

"The Meadowlands area is a hidden gem," Susan Bass Levin, commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs.

The Meadowlands is more than just the area around Giants Stadium and the adjacent arena and racetrack. Both the Hackensack River and New Jersey Turnpike bisect its 32 square miles, located west of the Hudson River directly across from Manhattan. Portions of 14 towns in Hudson and Bergen counties make up the Meadowlands district, including the towns of Secaucus, Rutherford, Teterboro and parts of Jersey City.

State officials are trying to promote "eco-tourism" here, the conservation-minded outdoor travel that is generally identified more with destinations such as Costa Rica or the Galapagos Islands.

Levin said the area described in the new guide is home to 26 endangered or threatened bird species.

Levin, who grew up in Bergen County, said she remembers driving through the Meadowlands as a child to get to her grandparents' house in Brooklyn. She recalls catching a whiff of what smelled like rotting trash.

"It had a particularly bad smell, and you certainly didn't want to go there. A lot has changed. The birds have come back and people have come back," she said.

The change first began with the federal Clean Water Act in 1972, and animals started to return in higher numbers about five years ago, she said.

Today, the Hackensack River is home to nearly 100 species of fish and shellfish and 200 bird species, including bald eagles that use the Meadowlands as a migratory stopover, according to the guide.

The Meadowlands Commission has been pushing "eco-tourism" in the area since 1994, when it began guided canoe and pontoon boat tours in the area. What started with two trips each in the spring and fall has turned into dozens of outings. In 2004, 657 people went along.

State officials hope more will come with the guide, which provides three different sections about trails in the Meadowlands.

"Meet at the Meadowlands" offers an overview. The other sections are geared to families with children and to more serious hikers.

The sections give ideas of what animals to see during each season, as well as suggestions about where to park and how to get there by public transportation.

The Meadowlands Commission paid for the guide, called "Birding and Wildlife Trails: Meadowlands and More," at a cost of $370,000, Levin said.

Katie Maschman, the membership and communications director for the International Ecotourism Society in Washington, D.C., said it's exciting to hear about eco-tourism in an unconventional area.

She wouldn't predict whether it would succeed, but added that, "based on industry experiences, making decisions on corporate, social responsibility and environmental responsibility does prove successful."

Levin said the commission plans to market the booklet to local and national audiences, pushing the area's proximity to Manhattan.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Meadowlands Eco-Tourism: For information about birdwatching, hiking and other outdoor activities in the New Jersey Meadowlands, call 888-656-2473 or click on "eco-tourism" at www.meadowlands.state.nj.us.

More crime in Greenville -- Though far away from Downtown -- I think it is good to keep informed about this area of Jersey City.
--------------------------
GREENVILLE'S BLOODY NIGHT
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

It was a bloody Sunday night at a Jersey City street corner in Greenville, where one man was shot and another man's face was beaten with a concrete-filled pipe in two incidents, reports said.

Police went to Myrtle Street and Ocean Avenue at 11:29 p.m. on a report of a man being assaulted by several people and found the victim on his back and bleeding from his face and mouth, reports said.

Police found on the street in front of the Ocean Minimart a 5-foot pipe, filled with concrete and spattered with blood, reports said. The victim was taken to the Jersey City Medical Center for treatment, reports said, adding that he was uncooperative and would not give his name.


A few minutes before midnight, cops were back at the same corner after receiving a report of a man being shot in the leg after leaving a store at that location, reports said.

When officers arrived they found the 24-year-old Irvington man sitting at the corner of Forrest Street and Ocean Avenue and bleeding from a gunshot wound to his right lower leg, reports said.

He told police that when he and two friends left the store at the corner he got into an argument with a man and a group of people then began chasing him and his friends, reports said.

The victims said that as he was running away he realized he had been shot, reports said. He was taken to the Jersey City Medical Center for treatment of the non-life-threatening wound, reports said.

Investigators are trying to determine if the shooting and beating are connected, police said.

===================================
Here is more -- is this Greenville or another area?

Gun pointed at 12-year-old -- "You down with Westside?"
Tuesday, October 10, 2006

A 12-year-old Jersey City boy told police an older boy pointed a gun at his head and asked if he was a member of a local street gang, reports said.

The boy said he was walking home late Sunday night when a 17-year-old walked up to him at Belmont and West Side avenues, pointed a gun at the 12-year-old's head and asked, "You down with Westside?"

The boy responded "No" and the teen-ager put his gun away and walked off.

Police believe the teen-ager was referring to a street gang and have turned the investigation over to the department's gang unit.

MICHAELANGELO CONTE
====================================
She loses 2 teeth in attack
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

A Jersey City woman told police two of her teeth were knocked out when she was attacked by two men who fled empty-handed, officials said.

The 38-year-old Rose Avenue woman told police she was walking near Stegman and Van Cleef streets at 2:28 a.m. yesterday when two men walked up to her and punched her in the face twice, reports said. The victim said the two men left without taking anything, reports said.

She suffered a lip cut and two of her front teeth were knocked out, reports said, adding that she was taken to the Jersey City Medical Center by ambulance, reports said.

The woman told police she could not identify the men and said she thought it was an act of random violence, reports said.

The attack came just four days after a 25-year-old woman said she was attacked by two men who slammed her head against the ground, then fled without taking anything. That woman said she'd parked on Neptune Avenue about 12:45 a.m. Thursday when she was attacked by the two men, one armed with a knife.

Anyone with information on either incident is asked to call the Jersey City police tip-line at (201) 547-JAIL.

40 buildings making way for traffic improvement
Monday, October 09, 2006
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

A tiny Jersey City community is being razed to make way for a major traffic improvement project, and one of the last holdouts is regretfully saying good-bye.

"It was nice here at one time, but everyone is gone," said Olga Nichols, 87, a resident of Covert Street off St. Paul's Avenue for 75 years.

The state Department of Transportation used eminent domain to buy about 40 residences and commercial buildings, many of them empty, on Covert and Dey streets and Larch Avenue to make way for the $225 million St. Paul's Avenue Bridge project.

The goal is to ease congestion on the Tonnelle Circle by providing a new connection between the Wittpenn Bridge and Routes 1&9, officials said. The DOT eventually plans to replace the Wittpenn Bridge with a new structure.

Nichols moved in to live with her aunt and uncle on Covert Street in 1931. A year before, she had been sent to a Bronx orphanage because her father was killed in a Pennsylvania mine accident.

She's reluctantly begun the search for her new home, possibly in Bayonne.

"I'm the only one left (on my block)," Nichols said, surrounded by houses slated to be demolished in a few weeks. "I have no choice. I have to leave."

Her uncle's home was the first in the neighborhood to trade in its outhouse for an indoor toilet, Nichols recalled. She remembered her aunt throwing loaves of bread to soldiers on trains during World War II. After marrying in 1952, Nichols moved out of her aunt's and uncle's home - and into the house next door.

David Donnelly, an aide to Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy, said the much-needed project will unfortunately mean the end for the tiny, isolated neighborhood.

"It is certainly a quaint area, but there's only a few people left so it's a small price to pay for progress," he said.

=============================

Activists oppose 'Dogpatch' demo
Monday, October 09, 2006

The St. Paul's Avenue Bridge is taking us in the wrong direction, according to Jersey City historian John Gomez.

The area being razed to make room for the project, sometimes referred to as "Dogpatch," is "a cute 19th century neighborhood with some eclectic architecture and cobblestone streets," Gomez said.

"It's a neighborhood waiting to be discovered for its architectural treasures but that's not going to happen with the DOT plans," Gomez said. "Of course preservationists won't take it lying down. We are going to oppose it."

--MICHAELANGELO CONTE

==============

Unsecured buildings boarded up
Monday, October 09, 2006
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Last week, a Jersey City police officer reported to higher-ups that the buildings bought by the state Department of Transportation to make way for St. Paul's Avenue Bridge project were unsecured, overrun by squatters and fire hazards to the handful of remaining residents, officials said.

He got a reaction. Representatives of the mayor's office, city inspectors and DOT officials converged on the site and crews boarded up the houses and took away 19 truckloads of debris illegally dumped in the area, officials said.

Because of the fire hazard, the DOT installed fire and carbon monoxide sensors in the buildings. City officials kicked 20 squatters out of the vacant buildings.

While the officials were at the site, someone climbed through a window of Olga Nichols' home and stole her television set. In order to make Nichols' home more visible and secure, they chopped down the trees around her residence.

"Clearly our goal is to move forward as soon a possible because the sooner I can demolish the properties on the site, the sooner I can eliminate the type of problems the city and we would like to avoid," said Joe Fiordaliso, DOT's chief of staff, adding that the agency boarded up the buildings as they took them over but the plywood had been removed.

JCLAW,

Good to hear about the changes coming to the Jersey City Medical Center.

Use of the Medical Center by people with insurance should greatly rise as more of the new buildings are occupied.

Even if it the center is only used just for emergencies, many of these wealthier newcomers might still often go to higher priced NYC medical services, but when you really have to get to a hospital you aren't taking the PATH, ferry or Holland Tunnel.

We are lucky to have it in downtown, it makes me feel safer, glad to see it is getting new management.

I would say america's health care system really needs a whole revamping -- but then it'll turn again into a left right name calling fest.

Michael Moore is doing a new doc on health care by-the-way.

Hi all,

Knowing Jersey City, I would guess there is ID theft involved here -- likely involving the internet.

The Secret Service works on these kind of cases -- they likely had info that they shared with other investigators.

CLICK LINK HERE

Jersey City hospital 'at risk of failure,' finance report says
Friday, October 06, 2006
BY ANGELA STEWART AND DEBORAH HOWLETT
Star-Ledger Staff

Despite "extraordinary infusions of state funding," both Jersey City Medical Center and its parent company, LibertyHealth, face growing financial losses, according to a consultant's report.

"Simply put, unless significant operations improvements are implemented, the entire system is at risk of failure," said the report, which was obtained by The Star-Ledger.

The report, which hospital officials called an early draft, is the same one that was presented to the hospital board last Thursday night and was followed the next day by the resignation of Jonathan Metsch, the 61-year-old hospital president and CEO and head of LibertyHealth.

"The system is dependent on, and will continue to be dependent on extraordinary state funding indefinitely," the report says.

The state provides $583.4 million a year to New Jersey hospitals for charity care, as well as $169 million a year to 30 hospitals as supplemental appropriations. Jersey City Medical Center received a $25.7 million supplemental appropriation in this year's budget.

Besides Jersey City Medical Center, the system also includes Meadowlands Hospital in Secaucus and Greenville Hospital in Jersey City.

"The reason Jersey City Medical Center is in this position is because only 25 to 30 percent (of patients) have private health care insurance. The rest of them are either charity care or Medicaid," said Alan Marcus, a hospital spokesman.

According to the report, Jersey City Medical Center faces a $20 million gap this year before it could break even, and that amount is expected to grow to $32 million by 2008. If the hospital wants to achieve a 3.5 percent operating margin this year, it would have to close an even bigger budget hole -- $29 million.

As a system, LibertyHealth would have to close a $20 million gap this year before it could break even, and that amount is expected to grow to $33 million in 2008. To achieve a 3.5 percent operating margin this year, the system would need to plug a $33 million budget hole, and by 2008 a $42 million gap, the report states in its executive summary.

Recommendations made by WellSpring Partners of Chicago, the consultants who put together the performance review, include: layoffs, limiting purchases to a single purchasing organization, drastically reducing food costs and sending more medical devices out for reprocessing.

Two Assembly Republicans yesterday called upon hospital officials to publicly release what they described as the "private audit" that led Metsch to step down on Friday.

Assemblyman Kevin O'Toole and Assemblyman Richard Merkt (R-Morris) also asked Gov. Jon Corzine to immediately freeze supplemental appropriations to the hospital until officials at the institution give an accounting of how state money is being spent.

"(The audit) raises a lot of questions that need to be answered by those of us in state government," O'Toole told reporters at a Statehouse news conference.

"Certainly the fact that the CEO disappeared from the scene immediately following the presentation of the audit raises red flags," said Merkt.

Marcus, reacting to the comments, called the legislators' remarks completely "irresponsible," saying the hospital has already entered into a consent agreement with the state about how the supplemental appropriation is being spent. He said the agreement was signed on Aug. 18.

"In their rush to make political hay, they are wrong, flat-out wrong," Marcus said. "They either didn't do their homework, or are just wrong or dumb."

Gretchen Michael, a spokeswoman for State Health Commissioner Fred Jacobs, confirmed that an agreement was signed.

"Yes, there was a settlement agreement with LibertyHealth and it was tied to $38.1 million, $25 million of which was contained in a state appropriation and $13 million of which was a federal Medicaid match," she said.

Jacobs, who attended last week's board meeting, made it clear that allowing the hospital to fail "is simply not an option." Michael noted the hospital sought the consultant's report at the urging of the commissioner.

Marcus said the hospital so far has paid WellSpring $3,000 to $4,000 for the work, which is not yet finished.

"Our total focus is on the delivery of health care and stabilizing our fiscal situation," Marcus said. "Quality of care has never been an issue." _LINK

Here is an article on even more stuff going up:
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Planning Board approves two Downtown buildings
Grand Street, Second Street residential projects get green light

Ricardo Kaulessar -Hudson Reporter - 10/07/2006

Hudson Exchange

The Second Street project, known as "Hudson Exchange," will build the units on a 60-foot high parking deck with 6,000 square feet of retail space designated for a restaurant. There will also 275 parking spaces. There will be a marina and a walkway along the Hudson River.

Brian Fisher of Fisher Development, based in Jersey City, said at the meeting that he looked forward to starting construction.

"I like building in Jersey City and I have built here before," said Fisher. "And I want to get started as soon as possible."

The project is expected to break ground in spring 2007 with a two-year construction schedule. He said he could not give any cost figures for the project.

Grand and Marin part of Liberty Harbor North

The $75 million Grand Street and Marin Boulevard development will be a mixed-use complex that includes buildings of four stories, eight stories, and 12 stories. It is part of the $2 billion, 80-acre Liberty Harbor North redevelopment project on the waterfront.

When completed in the next five to 10 years, Liberty Harbor North will have more than 6,000 residential units, 775,000 square feet for retail, 175,000 square feet for school facilities, 1.1 million square feet for a hotel, and 4.6 million square feet for offices. It is been considered by some urban planning experts to be a "city within a city."

Longtime developer and attorney Peter Mocco and fellow developer Jeff Zak are overseeing the entire Liberty Harbor North project.

The Grove Street and Marin Boulevard section will have nearly 4,000 square feet of retail along with 353 parking spaces, a new lot, and street access for the project, which sits next to the Hudson County Boys and Girls Club on Grand Street.

Applied Housing of Hoboken is working on this particular project, along with veteran developer Jeff Persky. Joshua Wuestneck, vice president of development at Applied Housing, said the project has been four years in the making.

No name has been given for the complex at the present time. The project is expected to take 18 to 24 months to complete.

At Tuesday's meeting, Sottolano asked the developers to commit to a total of 353 parking spaces, which would require valet service, as opposed to the original proposal of 249 spaces without a valet.

At first representatives of the developer were opposed, but then changed their minds and agree to put in more parking.

'Real exciting building'

The Planning Board was unanimously complimentary about the Second Street project, particularly the sleek glass tower design of the building.

"This is a real exciting building," said Planning Board Commissioner Leon Yost.

Commissioner Phillip Matsikoudis commented, "Great professionalism, beautiful building."

However, Planning Board Commissioner Michael Sottolano, also a City Council member, brought up the issue of whether the building will block the views of New York City for other buildings located west, such as the recently opened 26-story Mandalay on the Hudson, also on Second Street.

But Jordan Gruzen, the architect for the project, said the building will be constructed in such a way as to not block much, if any, of the views from adjacent buildings.

Among the conditions the developers would have to adhere to as part of receiving approval is making a color map of the project showing where building cranes and other construction equipment will be placed and how streets will be blocked off.

According to Fisher, this is the third building his company is constructing that directly overlooks the waterfront, following in the steps of Liberty Towers and Liberty Terrace, both on Hudson Street.

Robert Antonicello, executive director for the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency, was also at Tuesday's meeting. "This building, when completed along with the marina, will be one of the most desired locations in all of Northern New Jersey," said Antonicello.

Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com

MEMORIAL CLASH
Gov says 9/11 monument will be built on LSP site

Saturday, October 07, 2006

By ALI WINSTON
Jersey JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Despite opposition from local lawmakers and residents, Gov. Jon Corzine says he wants the state's 9/11 memorial at Liberty State Park to go ahead as planned.

But the president of the volunteer Friends of Liberty State Park said he would file a lawsuit to prevent the construction of "Empty Sky" as planned.

Corzine, who met Wednesday with Hudson County lawmakers to discuss the controversial project, declared he wholeheartedly supports "Empty Sky" as it was drawn up.

The memorial will consist of two 30-foot high, 200-foot long stainless steel walls inscribed with the names of more than 700 state residents killed in the terrorist attacks. The memorial would sit on a 10-foot high hill on the park's waterfront next to the historic Central Railroad of New Jersey train terminal.

The proposed memorial has drawn opposition from the Friends of Liberty State Park and others who say it would block the spectacular views of Manhattan, the Statue of Liberty and New York harbor.

Sam Pesin, president of Friends of Liberty State Park, called the memorial a "massive monstrosity" and said the governor was making a "colossal mistake" by supporting it despite the opposition of the park's users.

"This decision shows total disregard for the democratic process, Liberty State Park, and the people who use it," he said, adding his organization would file a lawsuit later this month to try to block the project from going forward.

"I thought that once he read about the sensible reasons for the opposition, he would realize how right it would be to relocate the memorial. I really am surprised and extremely disappointed," Pesin said. "This is like a slap in the face to the Statue of Liberty."

Assemblyman Lou Manzo, D-Jersey City, who has said he's in favor of a 9/11 memorial but in another location so as not to obscure the view, expressed disappointment with Corzine's endorsement.

The unobstructed views of where the Twin Towers once stood, Manzo said, would be the "most fitting way to remember the victims of Sept. 11." He suggested the memorial be placed alongside the park's Grove of Remembrance, also dedicated to the state's victims of 9/11, which is along the cobblestone road (Audrey Zapp Drive).

Manzo, Pesin and others also have complained about the lack of public input in the process. Though "orientation meetings" were held during the open submission stage of the memorial design in which 350 proposals were submitted, once the six final designs were chosen by a jury of 12 family members of 9/11 victims, there were no further public hearings until the final design was announced.

Elaine Makatura, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Protection, which is overseeing the project, welcomed the governor's support.

"It's been five long years and we need to remember the residents of New Jersey who died on this tragic day," she said.

Asked whether enough public hearings were held to discuss the placement of the memorial, Makatura said she "didn't want to rehash old issues," but that "this has been an open process all along."

As buildings move up, memorial moves out

Saturday, October 07, 2006

By EARL MORGAN
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

The Journal Square 9/11 memorial fountain memorial and the "Circle of Heroes" around it may have to make way for the proposed development of two high-rise buildings on the block once occupied by the Hotel-on-the-Square, Jersey City Redevelopment Agency Executive Director Bob Antonicello said.

Antonicello said the fountain, which has the names of Jersey City residents killed in the 9/11 attacks engraved on it, and the "Circle of Heroes" paving stones around the fountain, may have to be removed temporarily so construction workers can gain access to utility lines buried under the site.

"If the fountain has to be temporarily removed and stored it will be at the developer's expense," Antonicello said.

However, Lowell Harwood, the Journal Square businessman who was designated in March as the developer for the project, refused to comment as to where the fountain and paving stones will be located once the project is completed.

Harwood signed a contract to purchase the property in January from New York real estate investor Ralph Tawil Jr., who owed the city millions in fire and building code fines. The Hotel-on-the-Square, a burned-out hulk that had been an eyesore for years, has been demolished, as have several other buildings on the square.

Harwood's project will include high-rise apartments, with retail stores at street level and an underground parking garage. The development might also include a hotel next to the Journal Square Transportation Center, Harwood said.

The fountain, a kiosk and gazebo, were built on the square a decade ago, using funds from a $14 million federal grant the city received with the stipulation that the facilities constructed would be maintained in perpetuity as open space.

Harwood reportedly said he hopes to begin construction by January. According to Antonicello, construction could take between 18 and 24 months, and will likely cause a considerable disruption to pedestrian traffic.

3 men arrested in shooting

Saturday, October 07, 2006
By CRAIG GARRETSON
Jersey Journal - ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR

Three Jersey City men have been arrested and charged with murder in connection to the shooting death of a 26-year-old mother outside a Martin Luther King Jr. Drive nightclub, authorities said yesterday.

Calvin Clark, 19, of Fulton Avenue; Lamont Martin, 25, of Clerk Street; and Dennis Reid, 31, of Randolph Avenue, were arrested yesterday and charged with murder, Hudson County First Assistant Prosecutor Guy Gregory said.

The men are accused of killing Adia Reid, 26, of Monticello Avenue, who was shot to death on the morning of Aug. 6. According to police, Reid and a girlfriend were trying to get into the club - then known as Rendezvous, now known as Penthouse - when two rival groups began shooting at each other. At least 25 shots were fired, police said.

Gregory said he didn't know if Adia Reid was related to Dennis Reid.

He refused to provide further information, citing an ongoing investigation. In addition, he said, those arrested yesterday "do not represent everyone who is under investigation."

He said the three were arrested by the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office in coordination with Jersey City police, the U.S. Marshal Service and the Secret Service. He said he couldn't divulge why the Secret Service was involved.

Last month, nine people were arrested and drugs and guns were seized when police carried out raids they said were connected to the investigation into Adia Reid's death.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call the Prosecutor's Office at (201) 915-1345.