Jesus Christ, he?d been so quiet I?d hoped Covid had taken his steroid ravaged form to the other side.

Quote:

:/

"NTD TV is founded by a group of Chinese-American Falun Gong practitioners which supports social conservatism, segregated paradises and anti-communism..."

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/ntd-tv-new-tang-dynasty/

Yes, never mind the million dead, focus on the recession that Bill Clinton caused 7 years into Bush's term.
Benghazi!

Quote:

Ok, cannot change for some reason.

Should now read Dixon Leasing renovated Fulop?s Ogden Ave home for as little as $500 profit, far less than the 20% fee they charge their own clients, a practice recently highlighted by the fund reducing dividend payments from 5% TO 1% causing Alan Dixon to ?step down? as CEO of Evans Dixon.

You?re right, I will change it.

Notorious tax cheats Dixon Leasing used their inhouse renovation team to work on Fulop's Ogden Avenue home.

https://www.realjerseycity.com/mayor-f ... rojects-raises-questions/

You attack people regularly. I'm just trying to get to the root of your disgusting homophobia. I think it requires the kind of public exposition you apply to all other matters, we can explore your issues together.

You were an overbearing mother to to your two sons weren't you Yvonne? You gave them to the church as altar boys, lambs to the slaughter and now, in the eve of your life, you are left wondering why they are unmarried at 40.

What happened to your lambs Yvonne?

What a vile and hateful individual you are.

Am I right in thinking, Yvonne, that you have two sons - both confirmed bachelors?

The core issue here is who gets to dictate the nature of our public spaces - the developers, in league with our mayor, or the people of Jersey City.

The Exchange Place SID was created by Fulop and Candice Osborne at the behest of Mack Cali and is now controlled by Mack Cali, SJP Properties and Hartz Mountain. All of these companies own property adjacent to plaza where the statue resides. This axis of mediocrity was the sole impetus behind the attempted removal of the statue.

Mack Cali gave $250,000 to Fulop's dark money super PAC, Coalition for Progress.

#facts

Dixon group their properties into separate LLCs all named after Australian Rules Football teams.
Fremantle, St Kilda, Manly Warringah etc.

This is about Dixon, not Symes, but...

She was General Counsel at Dixon in Dec 2015 when Fulop attempted to cancel Dixon's increased assessments.

She was also General Counsel when Dixon successfully appealed those increased assessments. A fact that has so far gone unreported.

You cannot simply disassociate someone from their behavior simply because they subsequently left the employer who financially benefitted from that behavior.

The bottom line is Dixon successfully shifted their tax burden onto poorer parts of the city.

This is still going on.

http://www.realjerseycity.com/5-thoug ... ng-jersey-city-tax-reval/

I?ll take down the statue myself if it means I will no longer have to read drivel like this.
Quote:

A bad grade for diplomacy but extra merit for deflection as Fulop successfully shifted the narrative away from the rampant power of developers in this city. We should be talking about how and why our public spaces are being shaped to benefit profiteers over those who live and work here.

I do however feel you are mistaken regarding individual collaborators as the amendment in question is aimed specifically at anyone who attributes the Polish Nation or State as being complicit in the holocaust.

""The legislation concerns only accusations of collective responsibility by the Polish Nation or Polish State for German Nazi Crimes," said spokeswoman Ma?gorzata Safianik of the Polish embassy in Washington. "It does not seek to deny nor does it apply towards charges of individual collaboration by Polish nationals during World War II.""

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-met ... ing-polish-holocaust-law/

The point is moot because the damage is done, ordinary residents who oppose the removal of the statue now find themselves aligned with Polish Nationalists, anti-semites and Twitter shit stains like Jack Posobiec.
The opposite is also true, as per your assertion - "I wouldn?t roll over for Poland?s Stanislaw Karczewski, nor should you." the removal of the statue can now be framed as an heroic blow against Nationalism and not the craven capitulation to Mike DeMarcos deep pockets.

Given the groundswell of opposition against the statue's removal it would be foolish of the council to not now overturn the ordinance. Fulop loyalists among them must realize that forcing a referendum would be a complete waste of money with nothing but the prospect of humiliating defeat at the end of it.

The statue is bizarrely macabre and, yes, jarring but it is uniquely ours. A testament as much to this city's recent political history as the tragedy that inspired it and now, in years to come, a defiant reminder that we are not an homogenous extension of Battery Park.

The statue stays.

[/quote]

The Mayor probably gets a bad grade for his diplomacy, but reacting to button-pushing is a challenge for all of us. I wouldn?t roll over for Poland?s Stanislaw Karczewski, nor should you.

Thanks in large part to Karczewski?s efforts, the Polish government enacted a law making it a crime to suggest complicity in any events of the Holocaust on behalf of any of the Polish people or on any part of their government. Violators can be fined or jailed for up to three years.

If you?re willing to believe that NOT ONE SOUL in Poland was complicit IN ANY WAY, of saving their own life by turning on their neighbors, you?re free to do so, but that would be naive. Remember, there were Americans colluding with our enemies, and they weren?t even in danger. That doesn?t necessarily cast aspersions on either of our nations, but facts are facts, and they should not be suppressed.

As a compromise, would you believe that maybe ONE person in all of Poland?just one?aided the Nazis? If so, it?s important to understand that it would be illegal in Poland to speak about it, even if you have proof. Somebody like you, a person confident enough to stand at a podium in City Hall and speak her mind?exercising her freedom of speech?could go to jail for talking about it. Even if she was wrong, does that seem right to you?

As far as the memorial goes, it is uniquely jarring, and by its own virtues, belongs in a venue where it has the potential to be more appropriately contemplated.
[/quote]

Quote:

http://www.jcvillage.org/wp-content/t ... pjan7upfinalreupdated.pdf

I have been reliably informed that Noble Lester, a representative from the New Jersey Commuters Alliance, attended a recent Hamilton Park NA meeting. By all accounts he knew very little about the plan or Jersey City itself and when pressed as to who hired him he gave up two names.

KC Boyle and George Fontas. These are the two people responsible for the fake New Jersey Commuters Alliance campaign.

KC (Kevin) Boyle works for Hilltop Public Solutions a PR, Lobbying and political consulting firm.

http://hilltoppublicsolutions.com/

"Digital strategy, from social media, to online advertising, to email fundraising and engagement, is critical for any campaign. We?ll help you build your list, activate and mobilize supporters and spread your message online."

"Hilltop provides clients a number of ways to mobilize grassroots using the latest digital and offline tools. Over time, lawmakers and voters alike have earned to tune out generic, cookie-cutter campaigns. That is why Hilltop has developed new ways to organize and breakthrough."

George Fontas has his own firm, Fontas Advisors.

https://www.fontasadvisors.com/

"A boutique government affairs consultancy
Serving the next-generation needs of the companies and organizations operating in, and partnering with, New York City and State."

George is a registered lobbyist for LeFrak.




https://bmp.nyc.gov/elobbyist/search

Anybody seeking further information about this "shadowy" group could do worse than contacting either KC or George.

Yes this is a done deal.
Take a quick look at Fulop's tweets on the matter.








Source

Please note that Fulop refers to Newport (LeFrak) pushing for the added lane.

Strange that he knows so little because, as councilman in 2009, he proposed an identical plan.

Excerpts from Hudson Reporter article dated June 7th 2009.

1 - "Downtown City Councilman Steven Fulop has tried to heed the complaints of his constituents on mitigating the increase of vehicles detouring past their homes.

He has also considered and pushed for various initiatives to take automobiles off those one-way streets.

One of the most significant ones he would like to see is a proposed N.J. Turnpike extension or traffic separator down 11th Street in downtown Jersey City linking to the ramp on Jersey Avenue to Newport and the waterfront. This separator would take traffic off the road going to the Holland Tunnel to ease congestion.

?Hopefully, we will have a report back from the Turnpike this summer,? Fulop said. ?In five years, we think they will build something that will benefit the residents.?"

2 - "According to Turnpike Authority counts of traffic traveling that route daily to New York during rush hour in 2008, there were 20,300 cars Manhattan bound and 14,700 New Jersey bound (Jersey City waterfront and other local destinations). Also, the Turnpike Authority found in the same traffic counts that 3,400 Manhattan bound cars get off at the 14C ? Montgomery Street exit to make a nearly one-mile trip through Downtown as a ?back door? entry to the Holland Tunnel. And 13,600 cars exit at Montgomery Street to go to the waterfront and other nearby locales."

3 - "Interested in seeing the separator become a reality is Jamie LeFrak, one of the principals of the Newport Associates Development Company, the builders of Newport and other residential housing in downtown Jersey City:

?From our perspective as the largest owner of homes in Hamilton Park (the Lincoln and Roosevelt apartment buildings), the separator would reduce the number of cars which use the Hamilton Park neighborhood as a back door to the Holland Tunnel and the Waterfront, thus reducing traffic impacts in a residential neighborhood which was never designed to handle the number of dangerous cars which pass through.?"

Source

***

A few months prior to this article, March 10th 2009, Fulop actually gave a presentation to the Village Neighborhood Association touting "the benefits" it could have for The Village.




Source

Worth noting here that the reference to the NJTPA as the New Jersey Turnpike Authority is incorrect (that's the NJTA). The NJTPA is the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority.

Here's a few highlights from Fulop's presentation.




Please note the source - "Raymond Keyes Traffic Study for Jersey City waterfront development EIS 1983"

LeFrak began developing Newport in 1986




Please note here that the source is NJTPA 2009 traffic demand model.

Also note these are the same statistics used in my second excerpt from the Hudson Reporter article posted above.

Source

Now let's take a look at some highlights from the current 2018 proposal on the New Jersey Commuters Alliance site.







Note all sources and statistics are the same as Fulop's 2009 proposal.

Source

So I would say that Fulop would have a very good idea who the specific entity is behind this, it would be the same one he was pimping for in 2009.

Further confirmation of NJTPAs involvement -




Note "...vehicular access to the Hudson County Waterfront"

Source






There is another reason Fulop should know more than he is saying.




In 2013 he was actually elected to the NJTPA's board of trustees and is specifically on their Planning and Economic Development Committee. This appears to be automatic as Healy was on the board before him which, is almost entirely made of Mayors, Freeholders, County Executives and NJT and NJTA officials.

So, it looks like the big boys have this one in the bag.
On the hope front I have some good and bad news.

The good news is that of the 20 NJPTA board members, there is one ordinary member, one who is neither a politician nor a transportation official. He is termed the citizen's representative, he is there to represent us ordinary folk and he also happens to be on the Planning and Economic Development Committee.

The bad news is it's Jaime LeFrak.




Source

No.
If I supported Solomon it was because I was against the naked attempt by monied interests to install a councilperson in Ward E.
If I had the undue power to influence Solomon I would not exercise it and would be the first to protest if I thought he was unduly influenced.

He's your councilman, you call him. Our power is equal.

My main point here is that this letter was written in haste and delivered at leisure. It had nothing to do with obscenity and everything to do with damaging FM amid a fragile transition.
How has Lillian managed to escape censure thus far? Why now?

Additionally, the following is quoted in the letter yet appears nowhere in the municipal code.

"any display of a specified anatomical area contained in a live performance which by means of posing emits sensuality with sufficient impact to concentrate prurient interest on the area or activity"

Actual ordinance below.

? 251-4. - Definitions.
As used in this article, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:

OBSCENE FILM - Any motion picture film or preview or trailer to a film, not including newsreels portraying actual current events or pictorial news of the day, in which a scene, taken by itself:

A. Depicts a specified anatomical area or specified sexual activity or the simulation of a specified sexual activity or verbalization concerning a specified sexual activity; and B. Emits sensuality sufficient, in terms of the duration and impact of the depiction, to appeal to prurient interest.
OBSCENE MATERIAL - Any description, narrative account, display or depiction of a specified anatomical area or specified sexual activity contained in or consisting of a picture or other representation, publication, sound recording, live performance or film, which by means of posing, composition, format or animated sensual details emits sensuality with sufficient impact to concentrate prurient interest on the area or activity.

SPECIFIED ANATOMICAL AREA:

A. Less than completely and opaquely covered human genitals, pubic region, buttock or female breasts below a point immediately above the top of the areola; or B. Human male genitals in a discernibly turgid state, even if covered.
SPECIFIED SEXUAL ACTIVITY:

A. Human genitals in a state of sexual stimulation or arousal. B. Any act of human masturbation, sexual intercourse or deviate sexual intercourse. C. Fondling or other erotic touching of covered or uncovered human genitals, pubic region, buttock or female breast.

There's something very odd about the letter that FM received.




"Chapter 157.3 prohibits obscene entertainment."

Incorrect. Chapter 157.3 deals with license requirements and makes no reference to obscenity.

https://library.municode.com/nj/jersey ... 12-0019-11-2013ORNO13-081

The correct ordinance is 157.1(3)

"Obscene material is defined under Chapter 257.4 as..."

Again incorrect chapter 257.4 deals with the disclosure of the presence of lead based paints.

https://library.municode.com/nj/jersey ... 57PRTR_S257-4DIPOPRLESEPA

The correct ordinance is 251.4

Of note here is that the letter is signed by James M. LaBianca and only in Jeremy Farrell's name.


The letter was written and dated the 26th but hand delivered on the 27th. The show was planned for the 28th, why hang on to the letter for a day if it wasn't to proofread? It's almost like they held on to the letter to minimize FM's ability to respond either legally or by giving patrons notice of cancellation.
Maximum damage to a small business.

We have to remember where we are. No ordinary tax-paying resident would be able to have a show in a bar shut down with two days notice. The person behind this was politically connected and the target was Alan Rudolph and FM, not Lillian Bustle.

Despite the cancellation Jersey City remains dirty.

I have a lot to say about all this but I'm waiting for the final numbers to come in.
However, I found this NYT article from 1989 in the course of my research and thought I'd share.
I hope you are as amused by it's familiar themes and names as I was.

Jersey City's Revaluation Raising Anger and Despair
By JOSEPH F. SULLIVAN
Published: May 3, 1989

Few communities approaching a property-tax revaluation have faced a more daunting task than this city across the Hudson River from Manhattan. And few have seen the job, once done, create so much anger, despair and bitterness.

Much had changed since 1972, when property was last appraised in this city of 218,500. Some neighborhoods had come back to life; others had decayed. Parts of the industrial waterfront had remained decrepit; others had become crowded with offices and apartments.

When the appraisers were done, the value of all real property in Jersey City - homes, businesses, factories and vacant lots - had soared to $5.6 billion from $800 million 17 years before. But the resulting tax assessments varied widely.

Real-estate speculation had artificially forced up values and taxes for recovering neighborhoods in the city's center, while on the waterfront, abatements granted to developers held down taxes on luxury condominiums. Some people found their taxes reduced; others complained they were being forced out of their homes. A Challenge From Taxpayers

The result, when Mayor Anthony R. Cucci accepted the revaluation last year, was a coalition of taxpayers taking the city's officials into Tax Court.

The coalition, the Jersey City Coalition for Fair Taxation, has collected more than $100,000 to argue that the revaluation was badly flawed. Its evidence, said a co-chairman, John Mercer, includes affidavits from more than 850 people whose homes were listed as having been inspected by appraisers, but who say no appraiser visited. Others claim that inspections amounted to someone appearing at their doors and asking how many bathrooms they had.

''Brick homes were listed as wood frame, homes without garages were described as having them, others with 100-year-old plumbing and plaster falling from the walls were assessed the same as those recently renovated,'' Mr. Mercer said. The appraiser hired by the city, Real Property Appraisers, a division of Cole-Layer Trumble of Dayton, Ohio, one of the largest mass appraisal companies in the country, has acknowledged that workers inspected fewer than half the city's 27,000 homes. Harder to Find Someone Home

Bruce F. Nagel, senior vice president of marketing and systems, said workers had made repeated visits to homes. But, he said, ''it's becoming increasingly difficult, in an age of working couples, to find someone at home.''

The anger generated by the tax shift has created a complicated issue for candidates for mayor and council in the May 9 election. While downtown residents and some on the West Side and in the Heights section north of Journal Square have received sharp tax increases, a larger number elsewhere have seen their taxes drop.

City officials said that an influx of newcomers, particularly in the brownstone neighborhoods around Van Vorst and Hamilton Parks downtown, drove up housing prices in some areas and thus assessments.

''I can empathize with anyone who experiences such a dramatic tax increase, but not necessarily sympathize,'' said Jerry Lazarus, the deputy mayor. ''It's simply justice. Many of these properties were underassessed for years.''

But those who have seen their annual tax bills grow to $9,000 and $11,000 from $2,000 and $3,000 scoff at the idea that all properties were assessed at true market value, as required by law.

''Some officials have said they want to make the 'yuppies' pay,'' said Mia Scanga, an executive recruiter in Manhattan who bought her downtown row house on Mercer Street in 1983. ''They expected us to just open our checkbooks, but they didn't expect us to fight. Old-Timers 'Getting Slaughtered'

''They try to picture it as the new residents against the old-timers, but that's hogwash,'' she said. ''The old-timers are getting slaughtered.''

Stanley Miga, a 79-year-old retiree who lives on Montgomery Street across from Van Vorst Park, saw his taxes grow to $9,000 from $2,500. He said he doesn't know whether he will be able to stay in the four-story brownstone he has owned for 36 years. ''It's a day-to-day situation,'' he said. Father Damian Halligan, pastor of St. Peter's Church on Grand Street, four blocks from the river, said the area's many elderly residents were bewildered and dismayed by the sudden jump in taxes.

''They are afraid.'' he said. ''Most didn't even appeal their assessments and they just don't know what to do. They find it hard to change and to consider suggestions that they take in a tenant to help pay the increase.''

Yvonne Balcer, who saw the taxes on her York Street home rise to $11,000 from $3,180, received a tax bill in July at the start of the 1988 tax year for almost $16,000, retroactive to January when the new values took effect. Big Difference in Greenville

''That's more than I make as a kindergarten teacher,'' said Mrs. Balcer. Including the rent from two apartments in their building, she and her husband, Charles, the city's historic preservation officer, have a total income of $63,000.

While Mrs. Balcer was wrestling with her tax bill, however, she learned that her mother's home in the Greenville neighborhood, a stable area of one-family houses that has not seen a lot of newcomers, was assessed at $25,900, even though nearby properties are selling for $100,000. Her mother's taxes dropped to $700 from $2,000.

Middle class residents also say they are subsidizing those who are moving into riverfront property that has received tax abatements.

To attract development, the city has reassessed the value of waterfront land but abated taxes on buildings and improvements for up to 40 years.

Ms. Scanga said that taxes on a $250,000 apartment at the Newport development, for example, are fixed at $3,300, while taxes on a home assessed at the same level elsewhere are $7,500 and subject to annual increases.

The city collects payments in lieu of taxes from the developers. Without that $9 million, city officials say, the city tax rate would be $2 to $5 higher than the current $30.52 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. The city's total budget, including school and county payments, is about $425 million, with about $173 million raised from property taxes. Homeowners, Landowners Hurt

A survey by the coalition found that the revaluation raised the value of vacant land, by 11 times; residential property by 6 times; commercial property by 5.5 times; industrial property by about 4.5 times, and apartments by 4.8 times.

The analysis shows commercial, industrial and apartment owners getting a tax break at the expense of homeowners and owners of vacant land. Officials of the city and the appraisal company said the business community is paying virtually the same percentage of city taxes after the revaluation as before.

Relations between the city and Real Property Appraisers soured last year and the city is holding onto about $400,000 the company says it is still owed. The matter could end up in court.

The coalition and Peter A. Casamasino, the city tax assessor, say that the revaluation resulted in assessments that were about 70 percent of true value instead of 100 percent.

Mr. Casamasino said that 2,000 properties were still being reinspected and that the effort was reducing the gap between assessments and true market value.

Mr. Nagel of Real Property Appraisers said the company was hired to provide true value figures as of Oct. 1, 1986 and had done so. The city amended the 1986 figures to serve as 1987 figures for the purpose of sending out the 1988 tax bills by studying a number of new property sales between January and June 1987, he said, and this created the gap between the assessments and true market value.

"Solomon?s victory may be attributed to growing concerns about the impact of a citywide reevaluation of property as well the rapidly rising rents in the downtown and waterfront portions of Ward E.

Behind the scenes, those opposed to Fulop and Symes raised questions about Symes? association with big landlords and local developers. These attacks appeared to have some effect on Symes. In the waning days of the campaign she lashed out at her opponents for their ?unfair? portrayal of her as a front for real estate interests.

Going into the runoff, Symes was seen as a frontrunner since she had led a field of six candidates, and received 2,593 votes to Solomon?s 2,077 on Nov 7.

Although unsuccessful Ward E candidate Nicholas Grillo gathered 916 votes on Nov. 7 and later endorsed Symes, his voters appeared to have turned to Solomon instead."

Read more: Hudson Reporter - Council runoffs gives Fulop an edge but opponents remain Mayor pledges to finish projects his administration started

http://hudsonreporter.com/view/full_s ... tance=home_Most_commented

Put those peppers back.

Quote:

Quote:

Completely ignoring that at Dixon she employed two people from her old job with Senator Gillibrand.

Under Symes, Dixon successfully reduced their property tax burden leaving regular homeowners to pick up the tab.

Symes will favor developers over residents and you?ll be paying what they don?t pay in property tax.

Solomon spent 13,000 on mailing.
Symes spent 40,000.

Go look for yourselves.

How much does it cost Symes to have DPW workers bus seniors to file absentee votes?
Please note this DPW worker is former Mayor and convicted felon Gerry McCann.
Solomon could lend himself all the money in the world and still not afford what Symes has been given.