I'll try to find a few more. See you tomorrow. Thanks for doing this.

We have a long haul ahead of us, let's keep up the pressure.

I'll be there! And I'll register ahead of time so I can put my words into the record.

And it is true we need to get out the vote. A hundred protesters helps, but we need tens of thousands of voters to make a difference.

And we need citizens to call their councilmen every day and tie up their time so they have to work on what we want them to work on.

Collectively we are the CEO's of Jersey City, but if only 1% of us are paying attention, then this city will fail. Take a look at Harrisburg, PA, we're next unless we make big changes.

Union pensions and benefits are part of it, definitely, they need to share our pain. But abatements, no show jobs, double dipping, JCMUA, and other wasteful spending has to stop.

And it's not just about reducing costs, we need to generate revenue. Put people back to work with green jobs, that takes money away from coal and oil companies and puts in back in our pockets.

We had a good crowd in January. We need a bigger crowd next week, and we have to wake everyone up so they'll join us. Despair means failure and failure is not an option. I'm not going to say to my kids that Jersey City fell apart on my watch.

I hope everyone will come to City Hall on Wednesday and voice these opinions for the record.

FGJCNJ1970, thanks for going over the budget in such detail. If our government can't do its job, it's up to us to do it for them until we can find and elect better politicians.

We are not far from bankruptcy in Jersey City, and we need to acknowledge that extraordinary measures are needed. We need to spread the pain, or else taxpayers will default, leave the city, small businesses will follow, and the dominoes will continue to fall.

We need programs that put people back to work, and we need to keep people safe. Beyond that, we need to choose wisely and think creatively.

We need good pay for Police, Firefighting, Teaching, to attract talented and committed people, but we all need to chip in. The people at or near the top, those that can most afford it, that should take the biggest hit. But the number of people in this category are far smaller than the rank and file, so the rank and file (in all walks of life), have to chip in, too.

We need to renegotiate abatements. Many of these companies are hurting financially, but we all have to help.

And the cycle of political patronage needs to stop, and no show jobs eradicated.

FGJCNJ1970's excellent suggestions will help us get there, but we need to make big changes if we are going to dig ourselves out of this hole.

Come to City Hall on Feb 24th at 6pm and show the City Council that we are paying attention, we have solutions in hand, and they must change this budget.

Nice articles on PA, o73o2, esp. the last one.

mvm, have you gone through the payrolls, can you summarize the pay increases, and pension increases, if any?

I'm comparing the 2009 budget to 2010. Small % increase of CAP'd line items, that's $5mm. I guess labor contract prevent the govt from making that 0%, but you'd think with these extraordinary times...

But the real kicker is non CAP's going from $83MM to $112MM, almost $30MM increase! That's what we really need to dig into.

expected non tax revenues down $10MM. So a total $45MM INCREASE has to come from property taxes.

I'm going to ask for a sit down with Fulop before the 24th council meeting. Publicly he's only been pushing for symbolic gestures. We need to find out what they are afraid to cut and make it public.

I'm pretty new at this, so anyone want to join me?