I agree. The helicopters are awful. Convenience for the rich/Noise pollution for the 99%.

The so-called "Polish Army Veterans Community"* center on Sixth Street (at Jersey Ave) is continuing its efforts to blight the neighborhood (see pics below).

This weekend, they cut down two big trees on their land. One was a large fir, the other was a perennial that had been cut back severely after one of its branches died but was otherwise in good health. Previously, they cut down a beautiful magnolia/dogwood tree in the front yard.

Backstory here:

http://jclist.com/modules/newbb/viewt ... id=187627#forumpost187627

It's time to say it like it is: This is NOT a center for Polish veterans. It's a flophouse for young polish immigrants who rent out the basement for parties that leave the sidewalk littered with cigarette butts and empty Corona bottles.

While the rest of the neighborhood has made strides in recent years, with many buildings being refurbished and restored to their original historic glory, the Polish center keeps its grey metal doors and its ghetto fence. (And why do Polish people hate trees so much?)

It's time for the neighborhood -- and Americans of Polish descent who are surely embarrassed at what's been done in their name -- to demand that this place be closed or taken over by responsible management.

*Quote marks indicate that there is precious little evidence of any of these things at the building.

Dog owners,

Please, please, please pick up after your dogs. I own a dog. I pick up after her. But the Sixth Street Embankment between Jersey and Erie is being ruined by owners who think they don't have to pick up.

A couple of us have started making a stepping stone path on the embankment side of 6th, making it easier to walk on ... but the other day someone let their dog take a dump right on the new stones! WTF?!

I wish someone with a cam would video these idiots and put them on Youtube ... Name and Shame, JC-ers!

They have cut down at least three large trees in hamilton park since work started. JC hates trees. They won't be content until the whole place is turned into a rubberized playground for toddlers.

It's a full employment act for plumbers. I just got quoted $13,000 for one building!

I'd really like to know how many times water pressure dropped so low that sprinkler systems backed into the supply...

This beautiful block is otherwise spoiled by the Polish Veterans center. Its metal windowless doors seem to be in violation of the historic district.

And they just cut down a beautiful tree in front of the building that usually produces huge white flowers in the spring. The rest of their trees have been viciously pruned. (Why do people in JC hate trees so much?)

Don't get me started on the parties they hold in the basement, which leave Corona bottles on the sidewalk the next day.

It's like this place is intentionally trying to blight the neighborhood.

Does it even have anything to do with Polish veterans any more?

Hi,

My condo association just got one of these letters. Can anyone recommend some plumbers and give some price ranges for this kind of work?

What is being requested sounds extreme.

Steve Fulop has been a pretty good councilman. I'm one of his constituents, and like most constituents I only ever pay attention to JC politics when I want something done for myself or my street. On this low measure -- constituent service -- Fulop and his staff have been pretty good. They seem to understand that JC is ludicrously bureaucratic, and that city hall mostly stands in the way of progress rather than helping it along.

But this is irrelevent. The real reason to vote for Fulop is that he is the only real alternative to "Old Hudson County," as represented by Healy, Lipski et al. There are two demographic forces at work in JC and Hudson County right now:

1. Old Hudson County has its roots in the 40s and 50s, and sees city government as a patronage mill in which kickbacks, bureaucracy and self-dealing spread the wealth through connected communities. These people think that good government jobs are the way to go, and that On The Waterfront was the best movie ever made.

2. New Hudson County, which has its roots in the gentrification of JC. This group moved here more recently, bringing with it money and a taste for art. Yes, they have displaced poor renters in the downtown area. But at the same time they have "civilized" JC, in the sense that if you were here prior to the 1990s you'll remember that JC was essentially a free-fire zone for heroin addicts and corrupt cops.

Fulop is part of the New Hudson County. He seems to realize that making the city politically and financial transparent, ending conflicts of interest, and by encouraging new and more imaginitive forms of real estate and business development (ie LITM), is the way forward for JC. He's right. The function of the city is more than just filling potholes and adding cops to the payroll. It's about creating a vibrant arts scene, a small-scale retail scene, a hotbed for new business. Fulop seems to know that the future of JC means gradually easing out the Lipskis and Healys of the world in favor of people who just want honest government that won't get in their way when they want to set up a new business or refurbish a building.

He gets it. Vote for him.

P.S. Think of it the other way. What is the worst thing that Fulop has ever done? Propose a wacky off-ramp for the Turnpike over 10th Street! Compared to his colleagues, he's benign.

I am so in love with Chrissy, the blonde bartender at White Star. I wouldn't want to get into a fight with her though ...

Lipski should resign.

Agreed. Grace Church needs to consider the notion that gathering large numbers of "underprivileged" youths together on a Saturday night is more likely, not less likely, to cause problems.

One would not gather hit-men, drug users, or psychopaths together at parties in the hope of reducing hits, fights or drug use. Why do it with "troubled" youth?

If Grace church wants to help these kids one on one -- go for it. Great idea. I don't see why the church's neighbors have to sit in the crossfire created by the church's mission.

It's "Tiffin Box," for god's sake. Not "Jiffen." It's a type of Indian snack or British brownie.

I miss Pronto Cena also. When they were "on," Pronto Cena did some of the best vodka penne I've ever eaten. The wine list had its highlights too...

But ... there always seemed to be problems. I remember calling up one night and the woman on the end of the phone seemed unwilling to take a reservation because it was the weekend!

And there was a blonde waitress there who always seemed to have a black eye, like she had a "bad" boyfriend.

I had some great times at Pronto Cena. Took a couple of girlfriends there...so I am biased...

Was sad when I called up to book a table and found it had gone. The only restaurant in Paulsu Hook that somehow failed to make money....

Those huge TVs they put in the Ale House are awful. Really distracting. It;s just a sports bar now, not really a neighborhood place.

Steve Fulop is right on the money. He should take it one step further: Given the conflicting power and financial relationships between the city and the county, elected officials should be banned from holding any elected office within those two entities. (Of course, this is an abridgement of First Amendment rights, but if you care about government without conflicts of interest it's a concept worth debating.)

Get rid of these dinosaur Hudson County five-finger-discount senior citizen clowns. Build a new Jersey City that wants to preserve its historical and architectural heritage. Add to that an arts, entertainment and nightlife base that isn't controlled by real estate developers who don't want to pay taxes.

Fulop for mayor.

He's the only one on the city council who "gets it."

Jim Edwards.

T&M's plan for Hamilton Park needs to be opposed. Check out the location of trees in Hamilton Park right now on this Google satellite photo:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en ... ie=UTF8&z=19&ll=40.727651,-74.044829&spn=0.001531,0.003382&t=k&om=0

And then compare it to the map of trees as proposed by T&M on page 61 of their plan:

http://www.cityofjerseycity.com/arch/MasterPlan.pdf

It looks like the existing trees will be chopped down and replaced with tiny ones along the paths.

Wow. I didn't think anyone would even read that! Just a couple of rebuttals, if I may, yer honor:
1. The city's program for planting street trees is a good one. The only disadvantage is that you have to be the property owner to apply. On our buildings we planted about 8 beech trees on sixth street. But we can't do anything about empty pits on Erie etc. Here's that URL again: http://www.cityofjerseycity.com/dpw/tree_planting.html
2. The company that trimmed the Hamilton Park trees was not "Hamilton Tree Co." I remember the van that was in attendance. It definitely did not have that name. Subcontractor?
3. The idea that trees somehow promote global warming ... I'm amazed that people still believe that. It's one step away from Reagan's "leaves cause pollution" speech.

Please Stop Cutting Down Trees in JC

This is a plea to all residents and property owners in Hamilton Park and Downtown, particularly those in the region of the park and the block bordered by Erie, Jersey, and Sixth and Seventh Streets. Folks ? please stop cutting down trees in our neighborhood.

This interior of this block alone has lost four major trees (all at least three floors high) and several minor ones, mainly from the properties in the vicinity of 238 Sixth Street. Yes, one of these trees was ailing, but the rest were not. A decent sized tree was lost from the backyard of the Jasco-operated building on Erie Street (and then the yard was paved over ? classy!). And the Polish community center at the corner of Jersey and Sixth trimmed the trees on its lot so that they look like branchless sticks. Last year Erie Street lost one of its major trees from the sidewalk in front of that property that is constantly under renovation (you know, the one with the makeshift wooden staircase). Then, before winter, the trees of Hamilton Park were all trimmed in such an amateurish manner it looks like a joke ? some of those trees are more than four floors high but they only have two branches. St. Mary?s Church on Third Street took down the large trees in front of its building, and has yet to replace them. And there are countless empty or paved-over tree pits that the J.C. Division of Parks and Deforestry is, of course, doing nothing about.

I don?t know what it is that makes people dislike trees so much. But if you?d like to know what the city would look or feel like without them, take the PATH to Newark ? they got rid of their trees a long time ago.

In the meantime, please remember that aside from being the only cure for global warming, trees offer us some direct economic benefits:

- Trees lower the water table when their roots suck water out of the ground, and they lessen flood risk because their leaves slow, or stop, water from reaching the ground in heavy rain. (Given that we live on a flood plain at sea level less than a mile from the river, those two points are something we should think seriously about.)
- Trees provide shade in our increasingly hot summers.
- Trees actually cool the air around them in hot weather because the water inside their branches and leaves remains cooler than the air around them ? thus sucking heat out of the air and lowering the AC bills of any building in their shade.
- Trees are good for real estate prices ? ever wondered why upscale neighborhoods are often described as ?leafy?? It isn?t a coincidence.
- Trees just look good.

Thanks.