Only in Jersey City can someone get a city job by offering to work for a dollar the first year. And the person is basically admitting he is not qualified for the job and that is why he'll work for a dollar.

Now it's a private agency but it will eventually return to city government.

CASID President, Calling Jersey City Parking Authority a ?Political Dumping Ground,? Offers to Run it for $1 a Year

By Matt Hunger/ The Jersey City Independent

Central Avenue Special Improvement District (CASID) president Michael Yun, who has held the position for 19 years, says that it hasn?t been by accident that the group has kept him in charge.

?There hasn?t been an increase to the tax in the [Special Interest District] in the time since I?ve been president,? he says, referring to the special extra assessment businesses within the district pay to keep the SID running. ?I know how and when to spend taxpayers? money. I know how to best serve the taxpayer.?

That, he says, is a stark contrast to those who run the Jersey City Parking Authority, which he calls a ?political dumping ground? with ?no parking plan for the city.? That?s why he wants the top job at the autonomous city agency, and has agreed to take a meager salary of just $1 a year to do so ? more than $115,000 a year less than the authority?s current leader.

?There needs to be a culture change at the Parking Authority,? he tells JCI. ?It shouldn?t just function as a tax collector for Jersey City.?

Read the full story here:

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/ ... s-to-run-it-for-1-a-year/

After years of frustration with a disastrous parking meter system that relies completely on often malfunctioning pay station machines, the Central Avenue business community, along with many shoppers and residents, are voicing their anger with the Jersey City Parking Authority, particularly CEO Mary F. Paretti?s inaction on the matter.

The failed pay station experiment indicates what CASID President Michael Yun believes is a deficiency in leadership: ?Months after raising the issue with Paretti and requesting its removal, there has been no concrete mprovements with the machines.? Mounting frustrations among the business community has led Yun to call for changes at the top of the JCPA and offer his own services in place of CEO Paretti?s. The JCPA is responsible for managing the City?s parking needs in both residential areas and business districts but has failed in that capacity: ?It is time the JCPA gets back to basics with leadership that understands how parking management affects local commerce and jobs. Instead of punishing residents for shopping local, the JCPA should lead the way for Jersey City to live up to the ?business-friendly? image Mayor Healy always boasts of,? said Yun. "For a salary of only one-dollar a year I could get the Parking Authority back on track."

Read the rest of the article in the Summer Edition of Heights News:

www.centralavesid.org/pdf/2011_07_Newsletter_web.pdf