This is an interesting move by Fulop. Many llifelong residents remember their summer jobs with fondness. For Fulop, it's a subtle way to help discount Healy's "outsider" claims.

And in all of this, Healy is at the bar planning his next bar crawl.

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There's a lot more to Fulop's plan than summer jobs. But I'd like to highlight this because it is so important.

My wife Lisa and I had a little time off tonight and we watched an old PBS documentary on the Civilian Conservation Corps. This was one of FDR's first and best New Deal programs, a jobs program aimed at putting young men to work. The people who went through this are so eloquent at telling of the opportunities that this program gave them. It lifted them out of hunger and poverty through work. And the program gave them a permanent step up through the experience they acquired.

I remember my first jobs, and how great it was to earn some money, get into a new setting, and learn skills that I could not have learned by staying at home or hanging out.

There's one other great thing about the summer jobs program. Like the CCC, it does not exist just to benefit the youth who get the jobs. The work they do helps others and helps our City. It is a big impact program for a comparatively small cost. It is smart government.

Jersey City's summer jobs program has languished for many years, shrinking and losing its impact. I'd be the first to say that this proposal is not the best we can do. But it's a darn sight better than what we've been doing.

I know that this plan comes from Steve Fulop listening to what Jersey City is saying. Pastors, parents, youth, the "old timers" who came through the summer jobs program all identified this as an opportunity to step forward. Our young people need our help in creating better opportunities for them to grow and develop.

Everybody knows I'm on board Team Fulop. This is just one of the many reasons why.

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This is a great program and a great idea. It hits a number of problems at the same time.

It gives kids job experience, great preparation foe life after high school.

It gives kids something to do in the summer other than wandering the streets.

It helps keep kids connected to schools, and might help reduce drop outs.

The only problem is that the program needs extra funding and should be extended even further. This is one step forward, maybe next year Fulop can find some more funding.

This is great. If they don't give out all the jobs based on favortism. You try to get your kind into one of these things and you can never get a straight answer, there's never an application, then boom! All the jobs are gone to somebody's grandnieces and somebody else's cousin's kids. You know who.

I would love to see this implemented. It seems very well thought through. It supplements education, and helps keep kids away from crime and gangs.

Maybe Mayor Healy will endorse it again and regardless of election results we can see this passed.

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

Revenue from Jersey City tax abatements would go partly to schools, the city would pay the school district to keep their facilities open after school and summer city jobs would be available to 60 percent more teens under a Steve Fulop administration, the mayoral hopeful announced this week.

Fulop, who has represented Ward E on the City Council since 2005 and hopes to be elected mayor on May 14, announced these proposals and more this week as part of his education and recreation platform. It?s the second set of policy proposals the Fulop campaign has released this year, and they can all be read on his campaign's website.

?If we?re going to create positive change in our education community, we?re going to have to take a long view,? Fulop said in a statement from his campaign. ?These policies will provide better outcomes for our children, more responsible budgeting both in the city and the district and more efficient use of existing infrastructure.

Fulop attempted in 2008 to direct 5 percent of the revenue from tax-abatements ? long-term tax deals given by the city to encourage development ? to the school district, which currently receives zero dollars from abatement revenue.

The Jersey Journal reported at the time that Mayor Jerramiah Healy endorsed Fulop?s plan, but Healy's allies on the council voted it down.

If Fulop is elected mayor ? he is running on May 14 against Healy and former local basketball star Jerry Walker ? the tax-abatement proposal would be implemented ?immediately,? and would help pay for extra costs associated with expanded recreation programs, Fulop said.

Summer city jobs, meanwhile, would be changed from 35 to 20 hours per week to allow for more teens to take advantage, Fulop said. The jobs, which the city said are given to roughly 400 teens per summer, would not be focused primarily on recreation, but would include work for the city Department of Public Works, he said.

Fulop?s plan was predictably panned by the Healy administration, which said it has already implemented a number of Fulop?s proposals. City spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill said city youth hired for summer jobs can?t perform many tasks that require specialized training or licenses.

?Reducing the number of hours of summer seasonal staff, particularly those of camp counselors, would be detrimental to the functionality of the program,? said Morrill.