There's now a news helicopter hovering over Lafayette neighborhood.

In the past 5 minutes -- it's now 10:30 am -- at least 20 police vehicles have raced south on Grand St. towards Communipaw. Anyone have any information?

I'm a huge F1 fan, and would love to see this plan come to fruition. I jog through the park daily and it galls me to see all of the acreage that is unused. If only a small portion of the fenced off areas could be converted to public use I think it would be a benefit. Also, while I understand that the park is state owned, perhaps some of the money could used to build more amenities, particularly ball fields, or rehabilitate the platforms attached to the terminal for the benefit of the citizens of JC.

I understand that developing a golf course on the brownfields might not have been economically feasible, but in this era of reduced budgets, private/public joint ventures seem like a reasonable way to make a great park even better. For a week or two of restricted use and potential noise, I think that the trade off might be worth it.

When I first moved to downtown JC in 2002 I attended a block meeting, where the police officers informed us that many of the car thefts taking place were being committed by people taking the PATH from Newark, and were focused on areas within walking distance of the stations. Looks like some things never change.

Rumor has it that there is a lien on the property and that is preventing its re-opening. Have to say that I'm sort of bummed.

I've boarded my pups with them for at least 5 years and have never, ever had any issues. They are fantastic!!

This may be a little off point, but has anyone noticed how many unused churches there are in this city? I'd say that there are at least 3 idle church buildings in my neighborhood alone.

Does anyone know whether these idle buildings still receive tax-free status? It makes me sick to my stomach that the shell of a church on Jersey Ave. would still qualify for that status. It's an eyesore and a drag on municipal revenue.

This is not surprising. Last summer, my brother-in-law was at a community meeting that was hosted by the JCPD, and they admitted that there was a brothel on Bright St. I'm assuming it was in the building near the abandoned fire house. Very happy to see that someone is currently renovating the building.

This might be a case where focusing on the percentage rise in the rates is misleading. The article states that the average homeowner will pay $12/mo more. That is not a completely unreasonable number.

What's more interesting is why JC has not sought economic stimulus dollars for infrastructure modernization. Sewer system upgrades are the ideal type of project for stimulus money.

Some comments:

Man of the people - yes he's a man of the people if the people to whom he's referring are regularly involved in real estate fraud. I think a little investigation would expose the fact that the sale of his home to his sister was a sham transaction (Nothing would justify a property increasing in value from $200k to $350k in 3 years, even in a bubble economy). Whether or not the fire was accidental is questionable, however I'm sure that it was a welcome coincidence that a house that was over-mortgaged, burned to the ground. Finally, leave it to the Hudson County Democrats to fully vet potential candidates. With the cloud of this past summer's indictments still lingering over local politicians, they somehow found that this guy was a worthy candidate with a clean slate.

It is not stated in the statute per se. Look up the case NJ v. Tehan. The court in that case established the precedent that one could be charged with DUI when riding a bicycle.

At some point during the chase, they must've come south on Grand St. I was awakened by the sirens. looking out my window a little while later, I could clearly see that the police had located a handgun laying near the rear wheel of a car, parked on the east side of the street in front of 669 Grand. It was definitely a semi-automatic type of handgun, not a revolver.

Stellar interview with Amy Speace re her new album.

http://popdose.com/the-popdose-interview-amy-speace/

Only a JC resident would write this ode to the JC Parking Violations Bureau (a performance at the Brennan Courthouse Concert Series):

Local resident, singer/songwriter Amy Speace has been selected as the featured artist on NPR's Song of the Day.

Check it out here.

Her new CD, which will be out soon was also reviewed in the Washington Post

Update - Today a sizable work crew has started to dismantle the building sitting on this site.

Anyone have any information of what the owners intend for this site?

This site looked to be abandoned: a couple of empty building shells in total disrepair. This week saw the installation of new construction site fencing. Does anyone have any idea what is going on at this address?

I think that it's really interesting that the NYT published this article and yesterday profiled a number of people, including a family of 4 in Hoboken, who have lost their entire down payments because their mortgages have fallen through in the time between when they signed a contract and now. The Hoboken couple is out over $90k on a two bedroom in the Maxwell House complex. What's really shocking is that they have zero recourse to recover the money.