The claims are now being bumped back to the city. I went to City Hall and picked up the 7 page claim form to fill out and return with photos, insurance paperwork and estimates from a body shop.

I just happened to drive down 8th street this morning and the speed bump on 8th by West Hamilton is a perfectly reasonable and nicely painted hump... nothing like the one on St. Pauls that I hit. I haven't seen the one on Erie everyone's talking about but it's probably similar.

I hit the new one on St. Pauls ave yesterday just east of Kennedy Blvd. I MAY have been going 15mph and it ripped half the bumper off my car. When you're driving up to it it just looks like a patched piece of asphalt and it didn't even register until my front wheels jumped. There's no 18mph sign... 10 feet before is a 25mph sign... luckily I wasn't going anywhere near that. I called and they've not surprisingly been getting a lot of calls. Waiting to hear back later this afternoon about what they'll do about it...




My car is a totally stock PT Cruiser and the bumper was brand new as of 3 months ago so it had no prior damage or weakness.

They were also featured on a Modern Marvels episode a few years ago... not as good as a real tour but here's how they do it...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZHp1fGdAWE

"Live music" doesn't automatically equal "120 decibel heavy metal band". If a restaurant wants to entertain customers trying to eat dinner, a solo guitar, jazz duo/trio, violinist, harpist, etc is what they'll do. The new ordinance doesn't make it mandatory that you have to have a rock band in your establishment until 2am. If the music is too loud, people won't eat there and they'll learn pretty fast. If the music is appropriate and GOOD, I bet they'll suddenly start selling a lot more desserts - there'll be a reason to stay longer!

Mark.

If any local restaurants are looking for musicians, bands or equipment, we know all 3. Been a long time coming.

The noise restrictions definitely need to be enforced, but soundproofing isn't that hard, costs maybe a few thousand dollars, and I don't think the local bars are planning on booking Spinal Tap anytime soon anyway.

Just having a pianist or guitarist playing in the corner will boost business for any restaurant. Don't hire your cousins kid just because he'll do it for free - you get what you pay for. Also give the musician a few months - building a reputation for providing good live music takes some time. It would be great if bars were judged by the quality of their music, not the number of their TVs.

Mark.

Quote: Yes it is... <-- Newark ave business owner. Mark.

I know others have posted good results with Bayonne Roofing, but I had a nightmare of a time dealing with them 11 months ago. I had a leak and they "fixed" it, and leaked just as badly the next time it rained. They then told me I needed a whole new roof, ripped it up, filled my driveway with materials then disappeared for 2 weeks over Christmas and New Years before I finally started threatening a lawsuit to get them to finish it... and this summer the roof started leaking again. Finally, I just found out yesterday (coincidentally) that they never removed the old rotten, leaking roof and just put new plywood over it even though I was told it was completely replaced. Never again!

Mark.

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I've never heard that it's illegal, and if it is where's the logic in that? The parking space still works fine... with all the paving and line painting on Newark they've already removed a lot of the spaces around my store, and there's always at least one broken meter on my block.

Whether or not it's illegal they've never ticketed for it in the 8 years that I've had the store there, and they don't even have a code for it in the ticket machine... my ticket says it's for an 'overtime meter' not 'broken meter'.

Anyway still frustrating, especially considering it was right in front of my store and she knew it was my car... I'm going to dispute it and see what happens.

Mark.

A heads up that metermaids are ticketing multiple times for expired meters and also ticketing if you are parked at a broken meter - even if the meter is clearly broken and/or you put a big sign on it pointing out that fact. The metermaid who gave me a ticket told me that's the new policy and they've been distributing fliers for 3 months to all local businesses about the change. I've never seen nor received one, so I assume there are others out there who also don't know.

Along with the newly increased meter costs (which I'm sure will generate billions in added revenue for the city!) this is another way the city is helping to promote small business growth. Thanks...

Mark.

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Okay... it's fine now... I take back the take back. I called them and they came right out with the powerwashing truck and made it all good with apologies. Go JCIA!

Mark.

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I take it all back - I had a small grafitti tag on my bare metal gates and when I got to the store this morning the JCIA had slathered at least a gallon of paint all over it without my knowledge or permission, rather than just power wash it off or use grafitti remover. I don't even want to roll the gate up until some of it is toweled off for fear of gumming up the works. Their new policy is to look at the wall/gate, go buy a can of paint that sort of matches the background and then throw it.

Mark

I've called 911 3 times in the last few years for situations that I considered emergencies (one was that I had a shoplifter trapped in my store), and all 3 times I was told to call the non-emergency number. I don't know what they consider an emergency, but it must take a lot.

Mark.

Hi Alice and Jaah - we give vocal lessons at Metropolis Music at 240 Newark ave (at Coles st.). We have a great vocal teacher, and a dozen other teaches for just about any instrument you'd want to learn. You can check out more info on our website or call us at 201-222-8441. Thanks!

http://www.metropolisnj.com/lessons_all.html

Mark.

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By that same argument there's no way any local business could survive - it's a fact of life that everything is cheaper on the internet... but it's slower and less reliable with little or often no customer service or support. You just need to make sure you can evolve to meet the local demands and find unique products and services. As a guitar store within 10 miles of the biggest and best guitar stores in the world (as well as 7 Guitar Centers and 5 Sam Ashs) I've had to be very careful about what I stock.


I dream of a local new/used bookstore and I'd pay an extra couple bucks for the convenience...

Mark.

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This is our litmus test too... if they run to the french doors without looking back I know they're happy to be there... but if they stop and look back I feel guilty Luckily they've only looked back once.

Mark.

IIRC, there's someone there until 2am, then the next shift arrives at 6am... so the dogs are only alone for 4 hours. As for the staff - they're all great... When I see any of them around town they always come up and pet the dogs.

Once one of my dogs ran out of my store and down the street and it was a conveniently placed off-duty Boca's employee who caught him.... he ran right to her!

Mark.

I had Clear Flow come out tonight for a slow drain. It turned out they needed to snake the main... they charged me $650 plus tax for 45 minutes of work, and didn't even put the plumbing back together when they left. It all works and they say you can't argue with results, but it seems you can be a little bitter about them.

Mark.

We've had is just over 2 months and in that time I've lost internet twice, and both times I just rebooted the modem and it started all right back up again. Cable has never gone down... although the DVR has spontaneously rebooted itself once or twice while navigating menus.

Still a better track record than Comcast... and a lot more to watch.

Mark.

http://www.newjerseycriminaldefensela ... murder-in-new-jersey.html


Attempted Murder in New Jersey - Not Always Easy to Prove
August 27, 2009

Posted In: Attempted Murder , Violent Crimes/Assault
By Clark & Clark, LLC on August 27, 2009 9:56 AM

As I wrote in yesterday's attempted murder related post, attempted murder is not an easy charge for the Prosecutor to prove in New Jersey. Consequently, a defense attorney can often negotiate a better deal with the Prosecutor or defend the case at trial when an attempted murder charge is the primary crime charged against a defendant.

Why would a Prosecutor be willing to negotiate? The answer is simple - attempted murder is one of the hardest, if not the hardest, charge to prove. The Prosecutor would have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused's sole purpose in striking, stabbing or shooting another was to kill them. Often times, however, an accused wildly attacks another while enraged - acting recklessly - but certainly not purposely which is required to prove the charge.

Do not get me wrong, there are some attempted murder cases that the Prosecutor will have a much easier time proving. Where the alleged victim has been stabbed or shot multiple times and left unconscious, the Prosecutor will be able to effectively argue that the accused believed he accomplished his purpose when he left the scene. But most cases fall into a gray area. The accused may react to a situation without pre-meditation and on the spur of the moment - perhaps instinctively striking another causing serious injury but without a purpose to kill. If a an alleged victim is walking and talking after an attack while the accused flees the scene, it certainly would appear as if the accused's purpose was not to kill.

Attempted Murder is one of the most serious criminal charges a person can face but, my point here is that it is often defensible. Although the minimum plea offer on an attempted murder charge is 10 years, an experienced defense attorney can usually get a better plea offer under the right circumstances or effectively defend the case at trial if a satisfactory plea agreement cannot be reached.


I was curious too.

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They do a great job... the street cleaners call in any graffiti and the anti-graffiti guy comes out right away. One morning I got to the store and I had been tagged, reported and cleaned before I even knew anything about it. :)

Mark.

I just ran the same test with my fios and got 25.77Mbs download and 22.7Mbs upload... I'm pretty happy with the service. They also just added a ton of free NBC VOD content a few days ago.

Mark.

You see this scraggly looking guy in a rough neighborhood walking along slowly looking at houses... and when you ask him what he's doing he says "I'm on tour"... I'd want to see some ID too... and I KNOW what Bob Dylan looks like

Mark.

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Ah k thanks... too bad. That means another remote control around. When I signed up there was a $6.99 set top box - is that the one you mean or is there a smaller/cheaper one not listed?

Mark.

I'm scheduled for a Thursday install and we just realized there's a small TV in the kitchen that we completely forgot about - anyone know what comes out of the cable without a box? Can I at least get basic cable type channels or is it just nothing? I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think it's got a QAM tuner. Googling the question is giving mixed answers so I wondered if any locals had dealt with it. Thanks...

Mark.

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They had Dan Green on bass today - a great local musician who you may remember from such bands as Kilsy and Bongo Surf.

Mark.

Using the CNET online bandwidth test, I average about 300-350kbps at home. I don't use torrents, but I use Youtube and I stream movies through my Roku box a lot and can only manage the lowest quality level... and half the time my OnDemand doesn't work either. I'm at the point where I don't care if the Verizon tech rips all the copper wire out of my walls when he's there - just leave the one to my TV.

For whatever reason (business customer I guess) I get about 2500-4000kbps at my store with Comcast... about 5 blocks from home... so I'm fine with them there.

Mark.

As of today Fios is finally available around 5th and Monmouth if anyone's interested. I'm set up to install next Thursday.

Mark.

I think the biggest crowd I've seen was for the 1910 Thomas Edison "Frankenstein" they showed last year... a print thought lost for decades, unseen since 1931, restored and premiered at the Loews! How freakin' cool is that?

I loved seeing Raiders there, seeing Kier Dullea at "2001", meeting Anthony Harvey at "Lion In Winter"... I'd much rather do that than see a first run movie that may look great on a big screen, but sound terrible... since the Loews is about as far from THX standard as you can get :)

As for Bollywood/Filipino/etc festivals, the theater is available for rent... the movies themselves are cheap... you just need a projectionist, insurance and probably a fire marshall... I'll be there if you do. :)

The air conditioners are marvels of 1920s technology... locomotive-sized behemoths built into the foundations before the theater was built over them... they can't be removed without cutting torches and the restoration is very specialized (ie. expensive).

Moviebuff Mark.

For those of you playing along at home with a map and a box of thumbtacks, I just got a notice that business fios is available at 240 Newark ave (at Coles) and their website confirms it.... I'm not sure if that translates to residential fios in the area as well though...

Mark.