It was a good forum, well attended and many people stood to give their views.

My take-aways almost everybody that spoke wants beat cops who get to know the people and develop a mutual respect for each other.

Many of the speakers were homeowners all paying alot of property taxes, as there are no abatements here. They all want to be able to be safe on the streets they are paying for!

According to PATH the signal project when completed adds 15% more capacity basically by shortening the lockout zones between trains (called sections). By the time its finished (I wonder if Sandy caused it to be redesigned to be more water resistant?) I am sure there will be way more than 15% more riders so I dont see much of a gain.

Today at peak times the system is running at full capacity so the signal system and longer trains are about the only hope. One is funded, I guess, and the other is not.

If you notice the trains today pretty much fill up the antique tunnels so higher trains = non starter.

Too bad the Port Authority overspent all their capital on the Freedom Tower ($2B + over budget and still counting) and the yet-to-be-opened new WTC Station (another $2B over budget and still counting). I am guessing $4B could have gone a long way to real long term solutions, but that train has left the station.

Id say we are back to the 19th century Ferry solution. Or maybe a kayak-share program...

If you are cheap like me you can take the #62 bus from the airport to Newark Penn...it stops at each terminal, and frankly i find it easier than the airtrain and NJ Transit especially if you are packing alot of stuff.

I use a french press and grind my beans that i typically buy from Porto Rico. They stock literally any kind of bean and roast you can imagine, and the prices are really quite low--ranging from $8/lb on up. Its on Bleecker and 6th Ave, a short walk from 9th St PATH.

I admit some friends dont like the strength of the french press, or the fine grounds left in the cup, so another low technology alternative is the filter cone and plastic holder on top of the subject coffee mug.

Either way all you need is the ability to boil water and grind beans, though you can have your beans ground there as well.

You'd need a VIP tunnel first. On a serious note i think the ferry serves as a VIP option given the fare difference.

Two words: Freedom Tower. This boondoggle is so far over budget its inconceivable how the Port Authority will evver pay for it.

But rest assured they will continue to cut expenses and raise prices on the PATH to divert resources into that project, entirely at our expense.

Now just to be clear I fully believe in respecting and honoring those who lost their lives and the heroes who died or were injured rescuing those that were murdered. But blindly building a skyscraper that is out of control cost-wise is not an honor to anyone.

So the tunnel that supports the 33rd st route was completed in 1907 making the route more than 100 years old. Those rings you see bolted together in some of the stations are the original tunnel liners made of cast iron. While I am sure the track has been updated to some degree, its still built on a gravel bed with alot of very tight turns and switches for trains going to HOB, Newport, Exchange place, and crossing over each other. All of which makes for a very bumpy ride with tight turns since I am sure the system was originally built for much slower trains.

Now that the system is running at maximum capacity during rush hour, PATH is probably running the trains as fast as they can safely operate them to move as much traffic as possible. They are working on a project to upgrade the signalling system so that they can add roughly 15% more capacity, but once that is done, the system is maxed out. And I assume by the time the new capacity is added, the increase in ridership will have already absorbed whatever gains are made.

Bottom line is that the only forseeable possibility to increase transport capacity to Manhattan will be ferries. I dont see any sign that PATH has a master plan beyond the signal upgrade.

Anyway back to the roller coaster. When you ride the WTC route between Exchange Place and WTC it is fast, smooth and quiet. These tracks are welded and on concrete which i guess was done after the terrorist attack and subsequent shutdown. I cant see PATH taking the 33rd st tunnel out of service for the amount of time it would take to update the tracks, so the only hope is a new tunnel. And thats probably not in my lifetime...

1. Clean up the streets, vacant lots, and businesses. Get serious about trash removal. Look at Union City and Bayonne, much cleaner.

2. Foot patrols especially in the areas we want to attract new business to such as Ocean Ave, MLK, Westside, Pacific, Communipaw.

3. Enforce the Law. Give out citations for littering, not picking up dog poo, loitering, double parking, not stopping for peds in proper crosswalks. Stop warning, start ticketing.

4. Ease the permit process for small businesses, especially storefront type places. These are the people that will come here once the areas are clean and more secure and will immediately hire people. And guess what--they dont need abatements! Just make it quick and easy for them to get into business.

5. The whole "city process" should be streamlined, maybe have an office that takes the businessperson through the entire process and internally challenges the departments that become barriers. I can only imagine the challenges for a small biz trying to get all the zoning and permits and inspections etc to start up.

I think most or all of this is in the Fulop platform, so I hope we can move quickly. Bringing in 20 new businesses that hire 10 people each is much easier that trying to complete for one large employer, and much less risky from a failure perspective. I think Steve has the right idea to go after small biz since they have produced all the job growth in the US, while large companies continue to downsize and off-shore.

Bottom line--small biz are short on capital and time. Tax breaks are not all that helpful compared to up front savings and short time to open their doors. JC could give cost effective help to make it easy in the front end.

Until the last election our Ward A Councliperson was really no help at all, so I would contact the Councilpersons at large. The one who consistently helped our neighborhood association was Rolando Lavarro, who is now the Council President. And, we have a new Ward A Councilperson, Frank Gajewski, who I am excited to work with.

So i would recommend you contact your ward council and if you dont feel you are getting results or you have an issue that needs more attention, contact the at-large folks.

Open Letter to Councilperson Watterman

Dear Joyce,

I met you when you attended our neighborhood meeting with Steve, Rolando, and Frank. I liked what you had to say and respect your background, and I voted for you. Twice.

I am sure your daughter is a capable and good person and I am also glad she helped you get elected. But now, please, do the right thing and dont hire her as your aide.

I worked my way through high school and college, working in maintenance for a school district. I was one of the few part time employees that was not related to a principal or superintendent, and believe me, I know nepotism first hand. The special kids got the best jobs, were generally not managed, and were clearly favored. I would never want to be in that environment again, and urge you to reconsider.

For the sake of the Fulop platform, wont you please find a qualified person to work for you? Surely with the large number of people underemployed without benefits, you can find a good assistant. And, I am sure your talented and smart daughter will find success on her own.

Sincerely,
Jack

I have never lived in a place where peds in crosswalks are so widely ignored by drivers. its high time to begin to enforce the law that requires drivers to stop for peds entering a crosswalk.

As for rumble strips we have several on Richard St. Useless! Maybe made a few dollars for the paint company but no effect on speeders. We need real speed humps like many other towns have. Humps work really well especially for lowered cars, and have no effect on ambulances or fire trucks, the usual reason given for not putting them in.

Humps have a longer on and off ramp, versus speed bumps, and allow for an easy crossing at 20-25 mph.

But giving out tickets is going to be the quickest way to get the word out, JC enforces the law. Great thing here is that no laws are needed, they are already on the books. Just start enforcing them!

Yes Virginia, there are wet basements in this area. Our Church routinely gets water in the basement and we are trying to install a backflow preventer as sometimes it comes from the city side of the sewer system.

We ran into problems when we tried to do a video inspection and found that the city side of the system is about half blocked. Now we are trying to figure out how to deal with that as we cant add the preventer until we know our drain pipe is good....

Id make sure you have a backflow preventer and a sump pump and you should be okay. If you were buying a place i might invest in a video inspection of the sewer line.

Living by Bayside Park it is really unbelievable how much litter is dropped every day in that park. Initially i was naive to think that there were not enough garbage cans so we got the city to add a bunch more. It hardly made a difference.

I would like to see an additional requirement that any league or organized use of the parks for baseball, basketball, etc clean the facility up when they are done for the day. Not just the losers but all the participants. If the kids and young adults have to pick up their trash, and that left by their friends, i think that could help to break the culture of "its cool to send a FU out by littering".

Not to take away from this great initiative that will really help make JC more livable!

check out http://www.darwinawards.com/


Toni Yates
More: Bio, Facebook, Twitter, Stories by Toni Yates, News Team
Eyewitness News
JERSEY CITY (WABC) -- A 17 year old boy is recovering after he was shot in the face during a game of Russian roulette.

JERSEY CITY

The shooting happened along Danforth Street in Jersey City. Police say a 15 year old says he found a gun, and that's when he and his friend decided to play a potentially deadly game.

The younger teen in the Russian roulette shooting has been charged as a minor.

The injured 17-year-old is recovering at Jersey City Medical Center.

Parents in the neighborhood say the kids need more to do, and that active kids are less likely to engage in harmful acts.

Dozens of parents brought their kids to splash around at one of the city's 3 public pools on Monday, but they say there's room for improvement when it comes to giving teenagers something to do in the summer.

"Back when I was coming up, the Boys and Girls Club was affordable. Now, it's so expensive," Lucretia Jones, Jersey City resident, said.

"It's like, 'Oh school's out. Kick 'em out on the street. Whoever comes back in September, cool.' We have people wanting to feed dogs and cats, but no one wants to train kids, teach them skills," resident John Anthony said.

The new mayor says he is addressing the safety concerns and activities of his city's youth.

"We're expanding after-school programs, summer jobs - stuff we will do immediately," Jersey City Mayor-elect Steven Fulop said.

I couldnt agree more with Bodhipooh! The way you fix Jersey City will be through a thousand initiatives like this. Steve is on the right track taking on things that he can actually accomplish right away and try to build a culture of thoughtful spending of our tax dollars.

No voter's remorse here!

I have been living in Greenville near Bayside park for almost two years now, and when we first got here, we restarted our neighborhood association. Over the last year we have been active I have approached several council members to resolve issues such as graffiti, trash removal, burned out lights, police patrols, etc.

Of all the people I contacted Rolando was the ONLY one who consistently responded and took action on our behalf. People can make promises and say great things, but in the end a proven track record is what makes the difference, and Rolando has demonstrated to me that he cares and takes action.

Please consider a vote for Lavarro for Council at Large. I dont think you would be sorry!

Homemade is really easy and cheap, i figure less than a buck a batch. As long as you have a food processor of course!. I make my own tahini as follows:

1. Brown a couple of tablespoons of sesame seeds. I buy them in bulk in the City or in the large containers at Twin City.
2. Blend with garlic cloves and a bit of olive oil. Add salt to taste if you really need it.

Thats it! Now you can buy bags of uncooked chickpeas, or canned precooked ones, blend in your homemade tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, and some of the water from the chickpeas and you are good to go. I like to add hot pepper flakes and i really like the idea of trying an avocado!

I try to use less oil and more water and you can experiment to your taste. But never, never any oil but olive!

Ticks are out in force this weekend. I just pulled one off my dog with the hot tweezer technique, and i had one crawling on my leg last week after walking from Port Liberte to Liberty Park via the Golf Club path.

Disgusting little creatures, not much bigger than the head of a pin.

BTW the best technique i have heard is to heat up tweezers, and grab the tick body. As you gently pull, the tick should release its jaws from the skin due to the intense heat from the hot tweezers. You dont want to yank the tick off, as the jaws will stay behind and cause an infection.

And at Bayside Park the court lights are on well beyond the 10PM closing time. I am sure the city doesnt get free power from PSEG and we have one of the highest per kilowatt hour rates in the US (2x of out west). You would think it would be easy to program the time clocks...

Just so you know what the funds go to support, a largely volunteer group runs two major programs:

1. Monday thru Friday, over 100 seniors participate in a morning program that includes exercise and a good meal. The Parish Hall (basically the size of a basketball court) is generally full of participants.

2. Saturday and Sunday, over 100 individuals are served a good breakfast between 7 and 9 AM. All are welcome.

These are great programs worthy of support, and very cost effective with some donated food, and many volunteer people helping out.

THanks!

Yeah, this is like the new PS20 "groundbreaking" held in August 2012 in Greenville on Ocean Ave., where hizzonor attended and now we have a gravel patch. No apparent work since the ceremony.

My understanding is that the Mayor has at least three family members working for the City/School District. Can anybody confirm this, and if they were hired pre/post appointment of hizzonor?

Pebble--it really is a good time, I have been the last two years. The wine selection is quite good, and there are plenty of servers, so you dont feel like things are rationed. The food is good too, and last year they had a good selection of beer and scotches for those that wanted to try other spirits.

Taste Wines from all over the world

PLUS

Hors d?oeuvres & Photography Show

Special tables for Scotch, Spirits, and Beer!



To Benefit Grace Seniors and Feeding the Hungry.



For Tickets:

Central Avenue Liquors 201-792-1500 210 Central Ave
Grace Van Vorst Community Service 201-659-2211 39 Erie Street

On Line:http://www.gracevanvorst.org

(On Home Page, click on Wine Tasting)

Id love to see enforcement of cars required to stop for a designated crosswalk when a pedestrian is trying to cross, especially outside of downtown.

This would be alot easier to enforce if we had foot patrols!

Heres my $.02 from Greenville:

1. JCIA, responsive and helpful
2. Parks and Forestry--never returns or acknowledges calls
3. JCPA (Parking), see #2
4. JCPD--sincere effort to respond to specific issues and respectful dialogue with Deputy Chief Donahue. But quick to go to headcount problems.
5. Mayors Action Bureau (Judy)--helpful and returns calls, but similar response when they deal with the aforementioned agencies.

I have also contacted Conuncilpersons, and of all, Rolando Lavarro was the one who took sustained action and followed up. I really felt like i got results from him with our Neighborhood association.

CORRECTION TO DATES...

Healy is on Wednesday April 24th at 7PM, not the 25th.

And its at Ocean Pointe at 461 Ocean right across from the Firehouse.

Hello...its not downtown and not in the Heights so why would the Mayor be interested? Might as well be in Greenville....

I heard today that the Parking Authority ran a 2 million deficit last year, principally due to a huge administrative force. Apparently Fulop has addressed this in his platform to merge it into the JCPD and eliminate some of the excess bureaucracy.

It makes sense to me as i dont understand why parking enforcement isnt part of the JCPD, and i found it unbelievable that this ticketing agency isnt paying its way!

Anybody have factual data to back this up?

Thanks!

I have known Fletch for a couple of years and have worked with him on a couple of projects at Grace Church downtown. He is a hard working, honest person who would do our city a great job.

I live in Ward A so cannot vote for Fletch but would encourage you to consider putting a really good person on the Council!