I live in Ward B and will be voting for Chico Ramchal for a couple of reasons.

1. Hardworking and accomplishes the bread and butter issues of local government and constituent service

2. Solidly on board Team Fulop - which is important to what JC needs right now

3. Represents a part of the city and Ward B that needs a place at the table more than another NYC yuppie import

I am NOT voting for Esther Wintner for a few reasons also. She doesn't have the track record of working local issues that Chico does. She doesn't know Ward B very well. Marion is like a foreign country to her. And, like it or not, people who worked with her at the Cornerstone School where she was Board President, give her failing marks for teamwork, vision, and leadership in that situation. They are not voting Wintner and that says something.

Chico's a better choice right now.

Oh, and a sidebar comment... It's a welcome change to see Yvonne Balcer take off the cloak and emerge as the partisan she is for Wintner and Boggiano. Much better than the facade of "journalistic neutrality" she tried unsuccessfully to present when hosting her self-organized candidate forums.

The buildings will eventually get repaired or replaced - a couple of years. It's otherwise a good block except for the huge carve-out of the Board of Ed building and parking lot, but a good number of long-time residents.

Lightrail and newer development west of the station helps indicate the upswing of the neighborhood. In addition, the area has good bus service along West Side Ave and Kennedy Blvd. You've got reasonable neighborhood services (laundry, restaurants) within a few short blocks, and this is likely to improve over time.

Being careful after dark is reasonable anywhere.

I was up early this morning and what do I see? Another sign that the emperors lack of clothes are apparent to all - or at least to most. Even more blistering than the Jersey Journal's.

Star Ledger endorsement: Fulop for Jersey City mayor, not the damaged Healy

Finally, the people of Jersey City have a chance to fire their mayor, a man who is ineffective, unethical and often downright embarrassing.

It is an act of chutzpah for Mayor Jerramiah Healy to place his name on the ballot after the bulk of his inner circle was convicted on corruption charges in the 2009 Operation Bid Rig case. Healy wants voters to believe he knew nothing, that his senior people were taking cash-stuffed envelopes behind his back.

To say that?s hard to believe is being kind. But if it is true, Healy was dangerously clueless about the culture of his own team. Either way, he owes an apology he never delivered. Time for voters say thank you by easing his passage into early retirement.

Healy?s main challenger is Steven Fulop, 36, a councilman of rare energy and talent. He offers a menu of sensible reforms, such as closing the independent authorities that serve as unaccountable patronage mills, and absorbing their functions into the city government. He wants to ensure public schools get a share of the payments made by firms that get tax abatements. As a councilman, he won approval over Healy?s objections of key ethics reforms, including a ban on political donations from city contractors.

Yes, Fulop is young and unproven. Electing a rookie mayor always carries some risk.

But Fulop has already transformed the politics of a city that sorely needed it. He has built an army of volunteers hungry for better government and schools, and his supporters now control both the city council and the school committee. He crushed Healy in the debates with cogent plans to make change.

More in the full editorial.

This view shows what Jerramiah Healy looks like outside Jersey City.

Moran: Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy likes a good fight - and he's found one
By Tom Moran/ The Star-Ledger
on May 05, 2013 at 12:02 AM, updated May 05, 2013 at 1:33 AM

Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy stared at his feet, his shoulders slumped, as if all his famous spunk was spent.
It was the final debate in a mayoral campaign Thursday night, and the young challenger, Councilman Steven Fulop, was pounding Healy over and over, drawing huge cheers from a crowd eager to see the mayor?s blood splash on the floor.

Finally, Healy lifted his microphone to speak, as if it were as heavy as a sledgehammer.

?You guys are real gracious,? he snarled.

This is rare. Politicians don?t usually insult an audience like that. But Healy is not your typical politician.

This is a guy who was photographed naked on his front porch at 2 a.m. during the 2004 campaign, and won the race anyway. People like him. A few years later, he was convicted of resisting arrest after scuffling with cops outside a bar his sister owns at the Shore.

In both cases, he insists he did nothing wrong and was framed. And no, he says, neither after-midnight incident is a sign that the rumors of his heavy drinking are true.

?Listen, I like to eat, drink, sing, dance and laugh,? he says. ?And I make no apologies for any of the above.?

It is tempting to get warm and fuzzy about Healy and his quirks. The man has a certain charm. He recorded a CD with his family singing Christmas carols, and still hands them out to visitors.

But know this: His administration has been proved to be thoroughly corrupt. Healy is one of the few survivors in his inner circle who was not convicted in the famous 2009 FBI bust known as ?Operation Bid Rig.?

That list includes his deputy mayor, three city council members who ran on his ticket, his housing commissioner, two senior managers in his health department, the building inspector and a commissioner at the utilities authority. In most cases, it was old-school stuff, cash in envelopes in return for needed permits.

Healy himself was not indicted, even though the FBI sent an informant with a cash envelope to give it a try. And he?s proud of that in a way that only a Hudson County mayor could be.

?No one in the state of New Jersey has been more thoroughly vetted than I was four years ago, and I came out clean,? he said at the debate.

The problem for Healy is that there are really only two possibilities. Either he knew what was going on, which makes him corrupt. Or he didn?t, which makes him clueless. There is no third way.

?I?m not with people 24 hours a day,? he said in an interview. ?If some in my administration veered off the righteous path, they did it foolishly.?

Healy is 62 years old, and it?s been a grueling stretch leading to the May 14 mayoral vote. He?s never faced a challenger like Fulop, a 36-year-old whiz kid who resigned from Goldman Sachs after the Sept. 11 attacks to enlist in the Marines, served in Iraq, and has worked tirelessly for years to build a following. His allies now control the city council and the school board, and he has good-government plans to fix everything.

PAST PRIME TIME

The pressure may be getting to Healy, because he seems to be losing a step.

Take the naked photo incident. At the time, Healy acknowledged he had been drinking and said he could not remember what happened. Last week he offered a new version of the story with a bizarre sexual twist.

Now he says three young women woke him by banging trash cans outside his house, so he rose from bed, wrapped a towel around himself, and went to investigate.

?Three Hispanic girls, young kids,? he says. ?So I go out on the porch and they pulled the towel off me. Now I start laughing, and then they started doing other stuff. I said, ?I?m old enough to be your grandfather.???

What other stuff?

?It was filthy,? he says. ?I chased them away, and I just sat down.?

And that, he says, is when a political enemy snapped the photograph. Why he would be changing this story now, in the final stretch of the campaign, is anyone?s guess.

SEEING ENEMIES

As for Bid Rig and corruption, Healy sees that as a conspiracy executed on behalf of a former prosecutor by the name of Chris Christie. He remembers watching TV as the FBI discussed the arrests of all those Democrats a few months before Christie won the election.

?I?m screaming at the TV,? he says. ?I was saying this is a (bleeping) campaign commercial. And that?s what it was. I don?t want to throw stones at the governor, but all that stuff was extremely helpful to his campaign.?

So much for any hint of repentance over his senior staff?s acceptance of all those envelopes.

Another bizarre viewpoint: Healy believes David Tepper, a hedge-fund billionaire who is funding school-reform efforts across the state, is helping Fulop in this race so he can execute a secret plan to take over the public schools in Jersey City and operate them as for-profit enterprises.

?It smells a little to me, okay?? the mayor says.

Really? Tepper earned $2.2 billion last year on the market. Isn?t it possible he is impressed by Fulop?s long-standing efforts to reform the city?s failing public schools?
strong challenger

Is Fulop the real deal? He?s smart, hardworking and makes good sense on every issue, so there is hope. But his TV ad accusing Healy of corruption is flatly unfair, and swimming in Hudson County?s political waters is hazardous to one?s ethical health. So who knows?

But you can feel the changing of the guard coming. It seems inevitable that Fulop will be mayor, if not in this election then in the next.

Healy has endorsements from President Obama, Newark Mayor Cory Booker and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Healy endorsed Obama early, so that is payback. And he has worked hard on gun control.

Still, Healy personifies the Jersey City of the past, a rough-edged place where you can still find the legendary wooden desk used by Mayor Frank Hague, rigged to allow him to push the center drawer outward so that visitors could deposit bribes without witnessing him touching the cash.

That Jersey City is slipping into history as surges of young professionals like Fulop settle in, along with ethnic groups of every type.

Healy is still talking up his long love affair with the city, where his children and grandchildren remain.

?I have roots in this city, blood in this city,? he says. ?Steve?s been here just 12 years.?

That might help the mayor with the natives. But with Fulop pounding on the door, it sounds more like the last stand of the old guard.

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It's a good event.

If I were a Mouse, I would want all cats to be registered, with strict limits as to the number of teeth and claws that could be carried (zero would be about the right number). And no concealed cats, ever!

But Jersey City does not require cat licensing.

It's official, and I called it. There's no there there in the BOE emails. So there!

Jersey Journal: New Fulop emails show councilman congratulating BOE on choice of schools chief

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
on April 19, 2013 at 3:49 PM, updated April 19, 2013 at 5:58 PM

After months of back of back-and-forth between Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy and City Councilman Steve Fulop over emails Fulop has sent to Board of Education members, the controversy may end with a whimper, not a bang.

The Healy campaign contends that the emails would prove Fulop used his influence over the school board to steer lucrative contracts to his political supporters. A Healy operative sued the BOE to force the release of the emails, and continued with the case after a BOE attorney with ties to Fulop handed over hundreds of emails, many heavily redacted.

This week, the attorney, Ramon Rivera, handed over four of those emails unredacted to comply with a court order issued by Judge Lawrence Maron, who was overseeing the case. The four emails are unrelated to any contracts awarded by the BOE, and instead show Fulop congratulating board members last June after they settled on hiring Marcia V. Lyles as the school district?s new superintendent.

?There are moments that confirm that your vote actually can evoke progress,? Fulop writes in one of the emails, dated June 29, 2012. ?Right now is one of those moments and it wouldn?t be possible had you not believed that change can happen.?

More at NJ.com

NW corner of Lincoln Park, right off Duncan Avenue (at Rt 440).

Healy and Fulop have been trading claims about crime, Healy in particular has pushed the notion that crime (especially murder) is down.

Thurman Hart's NJ Voices blog post "The case against Jerramiah Healy, part 1" puts some of those claims on the table for exmination.

Mr. Hart writes:

While I have never been a fan of Mayor Jerramiah Healy, I thought he did a decent job of presenting his case for why he should be re-elected. He hit most, if not all, of the talking points he presents on his website.

I just don't think his website is giving an accurate portrayal of his time in office....

If you listen to the audio link at the beginning of this post, Mayor Healy very openly claims that there were fewer murders in Jersey City in 2011 than in any year since records were kept. But according to the FBI, there were only 15 homicides in 1999 and 17 in 2000. That means that Healy's claim of being "the best ever" cannot even be claimed to be misleading. It is an outright lie.

Adding 2011 into the analysis does change the statistics, though. Over 27 years, there were 663 homicides in Jersey City, making the average 24.6. The total during Healy's time in office is 177, with an average of 25.3. This means that, even including the best year on Healy's watch, the number of murders was up, not down.

If we include 2011 in our murder rate numbers, then the average muder rate is 10.4. During Healy's terms in office, it has been 10.4. In other words, it has been average.

Healy's claim that murders were down in 2011 is true. But it is misleading. It's the kind of sleazy manipulation of the truth that makes people sick of politics.

For more of the stats, see the full article: "The case against Jerramiah Healy, part 1"

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The city must declare the area blighted (by doing a study and demonstrating the case for "blight") in order to declare an area in need of redevelopment.

But once the area is the subject of a redevelopment plan, the plan never goes away, and all new development is eligible for abatements, no matter how distant the blight has become.

If the city was doing its job, it would sunset the redevelopment areas, or the planning department would propose ending redevelopment plans once redevelopment has occurred and the "blight" has diminished or disappeared.

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Correct. Perhaps Fulop will be able to do better with the Powerhouse Arts District than the dismal Healy administration has. A less perverse abatements policy could have helped fund work to develop the district.

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LOL.

I'll trade you Healy's whole Mayor's Inaction Bureau for a 1/2 time Althea.

Westside Animal Hospital has done ok by me and my three cats (one deceased).

Like most veterinary practices, they will suggest maximal treatment. However, all you need to do is ask and they will explain the different options, with no pushback when you trim the charges you don't think are necessary. The vets and all attending the animals have a good bedside manner.

Animal Hospital of Jersey City, 603 West Side Ave.

UPDATE: Fulop responds to Healy e-mail probe

Mar 25, 2013

JERSEY CITY ? An attorney working for the re-election campaign of Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy was expected to head back to Hudson County Superior Court Monday afternoon in the next round of an ongoing attempt to get a series of e-mails released between Board of Education trustees and City Councilman Steven Fulop.

The Healy campaign has been trying to uncover evidence that Fulop ? who endorsed eight of the school board?s current trustees ? has used his relationship with the Board of Education to get lucrative contracts for his campaign donors and other supporters of his candidacy for mayor. In addition, they are also trying to document the extent to which Fulop allies in the private sector guided school board decisions.

While hundreds of e-mails were eventually released last month, many were heavily redacted and attorneys for Healy have argued in court that some e-mails that should have been released were not. Among the e-mails that that were not released by the Board of Education are some that have been leaked to local media.

Among the leaked e-mails is one to then-school board President Sterling Waterman, dated November 19, 2010. In it, Fulop introduced the school board president to Linda Quentzel and her client Philip Johnston of Johnson Communications. It is believed to be one of the e-mails that will be discussed in court today.

?This email is a great example of Healy trying to distract voters from his failed record as mayor,? Fulop responded Monday evening. ?Johnston Communications has been with Board of education for 10 years long before I was elected to the council. The next part of the e-mail on this issue that Healy doesn't reference to the voters clearly stated I was recommending a free cost-cutting audit to save taxpayer money. Also, to further strengthen my point, Johnston Communications has not bid or proposed to do any business with the Board of Education.?

For more details on this story, see this weekend's paper. ? E. Assata Wright

Just watch the Building Department spring into action on this application. I'll bet we find out that the paperwork was "lost" and uncovered and processed today, thanks to the Fulop team bringing it to their attention.

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That's not a big concern on the west side. There are more West Indians and Asian Indians than Hispanics in Ward B.

The real issue for Chico is that everyone knows him as Chico, and he's popular. That's why Healy wants "Chico" off the ballot - so some of his supporters won't recognize him.

Back in the day, the west side of Jersey City was home to Jersey City's best working-class, every day Italian food, all of it centered on Marion and Mt. Carmel.

Jule's and Pete Ilvento's on West Side Avenue are gone now. These Italian restaurants out of another era featured red-checked tablecloths, booths made out of plywood, and never a hint of daylight. You'd go in, have a nice simple meal, a bottle of wine, and even on your first visit felt at home.

The west side still has great Italian food.

Rita & Joe's

Puccini's

Salumeria Ercolano

Carmine's Deli

Casa Dante (Journal Square, but close)

What else is out there these days? Where in Jersey City can you get a good Italian meal?

Chico is well-known throughout the ward and has a big volunteer team. I think even without the "Chico" name on the ballot he gets the job done.

Call me crazy, but I remember nicknames on the ballot. I think Healy loses this one - in court, but also at the voting booth.

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Hardly surprising. This is a straight quid pro quo for past favors.

You gotta give the mayor credit for making the right pick in 2008. Cynical voices at the time suggested it was a straight bid for African American votes. That's not the whole story.

The real question for JC voters is which candidate has the vision and the skills to lead us forward. Healy's tired and has already failed. It's time for new leadership.

The main problem with Jersey City is not the tax rate per se, but the comparatively low return on the dollar. The equation you consider as a taxpayer and consumer of government services is what you get back for what you pay.

In Jersey City, it's hard to make the argument that City Hall is well-managed. I don't expect every pothole to be instantly filled. But I do expect a management plan that repaves the streets on a regular cycle.

I don't expect city workers to work for minimum wage. But I do expect benefits that are more in line with the private sector, and an end to the padded pensions and sick day payouts.

I don't expect my elected officials to turn down bribes in exchange for providing government favors - oh wait, I do expect integrity in government.

If we get an administration which brings more professionalism and integrity and simple performance to city government, we might get a sense of the hidden tax that shoddy government imposes.

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And I'm saying I haven't received this, nor has anyone I know in my neighborhood. That makes it seem like a targeted piece of election mailing rather than even a "you all know what this really is" attempt to inform residents.

If, as New2JCHeights says, Healy campaigners are distributing this as campaign literature, that's the smoking gun that Healy has once again crossed even the pretense of an ethical line.

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Exactly my point.

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If it's really a newsletter meant to inform the residents of the city, it should be mailed to everyone. If they're targeting, it's more evidence they're using public money illegally to aid their campaign.

Maybe the Corporation Counsel could give us an opinion on the subject?

They're plowing now. Main streets (Kennedy, Bergen, Montgomery, Communipaw) seem to have been done. The problem is that there's a lot of icing, so many patches are very rough, and no salting at the beginning of the storm means accumulation of ice adhering to the roadway which the plows just skim over.

A plow was parked on my block and I checked in with the driver. He'd been called back in to work, the JCIA hadn't done their usual storm plan.

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That's nonsense. NJ has one of the weakest county government systems in the nation. This is a constitutional matter and can't be changed by wishing it so.

Name a strong county government in NJ. Tell us what powers these strong county governments have that municipalities don't. The reason most mayors don't get paid much is that most municipalities are so small, and all elective offices are part-time, bordering on volunteer. It's not because the county is performing municipal functions.

You might want a different system, but the curse of home rule for 566 municipalities in one of the nation's smallest state has proven highly resistant to change.

One of two things will need to happen to enable change. One would be really visionary leadership springing up who can see and sell the advantages of cooperation rather than competition. I do not recommend holding your breath for that one, but the alternative is worse. Municipal bankruptcies and severe fiscal crises might, just might force change upon some municipalities. Absent these, I just don't see the enabling conditions for change.

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Unless I'm mistaken, Ms. Joyner doesn't actually know the children involved. She shouldn't be making prejudicial judgments about what these kids' home lives are like, or what's appropriate to talk to them about.

I know kids in Jersey City who've heard gunfire (the actual question asked). And I know kids who've been exposed to a lot worse, from violence in their homes, to witnessing violence in their neighborhood, to losing people they know to prison or violence.

They reality of our neighborhoods is bad enough. NOT TALKING ABOUT IT IS WORSE.

If we do not talk about it, we will find it impossible to do anything about it. Unlike the Mayor, who's committed to an "everything's great" position, Steve Fulop believes we have to do something about it. Unlike the Mayor, who's had 9 years in office without a clear strategy to combat crime and the causes of crime, Steve Fulop has a plan and a commitment to take this on.

The posturing will continue. But the outrage is that we have not aggressively tried to end the scourge of violence in our communities. It's time to roll up our sleeves, admit we've got a problem, and start working on it.

I think there are several points. Let's start with - is this an appropriate use of taxpayer money? Let's go with a no on that one.

If the Mayor had a record to promote, we'd already know it.

I don't recall seeing these on a regular basis at all. Nor have I received one yet.

If they "just happen" to come out right before an election, and they "just happen" to resemble campaign literature, and they "just happen" to use the same text as campaign literature, and they "just happen" to be mailed to registered voters, or even worse to targeted voter lists rather than to every address in the city, then I would say they JUST HAPPEN to be unethical and potentially illegal.

The critical thing in background checks is prior evictions or court actions related to housing. Credit history not so much. Most people with lousy credit still know to pay their rent first.

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This partly indicates how little development activity is going on statewide. But it also seems to be true on a micro level. I know two families moving into Newark, neither of whom would have been likely to go near the place several years ago.

njmcdirect.com seems to work ok. The court # has always been useless.

I still mourn the passing of Jule's and Pete Ilvento's on West Side Avenue. These were Italian restaurants out of another era. Red-checked tablecloths, booths made out of plywood, and not contaminated by any hints of daylight. You'd go in, have a nice simple meal, a bottle of wine, and even on your first visit felt at home.

There's nothing that compares. Rita and Joe's is great, but a little too classy.

I didn't see any update on this in the news. I checked with a friend in the JCFD who is friends with the injured firefighter and spoke with him earlier today. He is back home, and considers himself very lucky.

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers.