Quote: Thankfully, Valerio of the Harsimus Cove Assn. is one of the best at getting notices out to the members once he receives them and HPNA as well. Well, as you see below, the email of notification is late by two days (at minimum)of notice from both United Water and from the Police Dept. This does not reflect well on the "quick response" outlined at this Monday's Mtg by the Police Dept. However, since this appears to be the SOP of United Water, I'm not surprised of this late notice. More money down the muddy drain. To contact the HCA, send an email to: HarsimusCoveAssociation-owner@yahoogroups.com -------- Original Message -------- Subject: United Water, Jersey City maintenance Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2006 10:41:31 -0800 (PST) From: Captain McDonough <jcpdeastdistrict@yahoo.com> To: east <jcpdeastdistrict@yahoo.com> Hello and hope all is well. Please read the following and advise all community group members, neighbors, family and friends. Regards. P.O. Dina Reilly From: John A. Hroncich, P.E., Operations Manager, United Water Jersey City On Monday, March 27, 2006 United Water, Jersey City maintenance crews will shut down the water supply aqueduct for the City of Jersey City to erform a detailed inspection of the 100-year old tunnel system. The queduct will be closed for about two weeks to allow engineering teams he opportunity to inspect the tunnel. Based on this, United Water will nsure its integrity and develop a plan to improve water quality and roperly maintain the aqueduct system. Arrangements with other water suppliers in the area (Newark and Passaic alley Water Commission) have been made to supply the City and its customers with water during the shutdown. You may experience some discolored water during the two weeks that the tunnel is shutdown for inspection. United Water apologizes for the temporary inconvenience this may impose but are confident that you support the predictive and reventive maintenance efforts. URS and the Jersey City Municipal Utilities Authority will be performing the tunnel inspections between March 28 and April 6, 2006. United Water ersey City will be providing confined space entry operations during this operation. In case of an emergency, United Water will notify local area Emergency Management Offices. United Water is asking all customers to conserve water during this two-week period. That means using water only for essential purposes such as taking quicker showers in the morning and washing only full loads of dishes and clothes at night. Uniter Water's goal is to have minimal, if any, discoloration. Should there be any discoloration, it poses no health threat, but can be aesthetically unpleasant. You should, however, let it run clear before washing clothes. Thank you for your patience and cooperation as United Water works to serve you better.

And the ironic thing is, nobody actually drinks the stuff anymore. Everybody knows drinking water must come from a gallon jug.

Not only is the MUA a muddy mess that needs to be cleaned up, but by spinning it off, the city has at least politically, washed its hands of the huge liability of upgrading our aging sewer system with existing breeches and decades old repair plans, how much..... 100's of millions....

For a start, get rid of the political board, get rid of board cars, family health insurance for board members and put the board meetings in city hall....

It is hard to not say that millions of our dollars are going down the drain.

It was only partial privatization, that's part of the problem. Full privatization would have sold the assets to the highest bidder, at which point the state of New Jersey would allow the utility to get a reasonable return on its capital investment (around 11% a year), including upgrades to its infrastructure. Since United Water's contract with the city probably gives it at least an 11% return already, if not more, the question is can the state more competently regulate United Water than the MUA. While the state bureaucracy is not exemplary, it does have a very professional staff that regulates hundreds of utilities. The process is very transparent, with full due process rights for any intervenors, compared to the opaque process and 15 minute public meetings that the MUA has.

Ah, so. A little googling was a reminder of what a mess it is. I had read the talkingpolitics.net page about it a while ago but the complexities slipped my mind, which of course was the whole point of Schundlers deal, to make it too complex to follow, while he milked the utilities to balance his budget.

What's amazing from the googling is how the deal is touted on websites as a public victory by privatization!

So, given the water delivery beaurocracy is a mess and the sewers are a physical disaster, were you in charge of MUA how would you solve it? The sewers would probably cost several billion to modernize. They don't even have a plan for it if they did have the money.

No, not quite. United Water manages the system, but does not own it. The MUA exists to regulate the United Water contract with the city, and they do a poor job at that.

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Ummm, the water was sold to United Water under Schundler for a one time budget save. The charges have gone nowhere but up.

Privatize water and sewage like most cities have and you would see a 20-30% decrease in your bills. MUA is a bloated corrupt government bureaucracy that needs to be eliminated. San Francisco trips for the entire board, huge pay increases for MUA lawyers, unlawful firing of Board members who dare to speak up against this corruption, free meals and drinks at expensive restaurants for the entire Board on ratepayers tab -- its all there. No wonder they have to raise our rates.

I read in the paper yesterday that it is actually a 3% increase every year until 1015.

I agree with everything you said. I recently moved from NYC to Jersey city and I work in Manhattan. I was attracted by the great commute and investment opportunity. Plus, it is pretty centrally located to many parts of the tri sate area. However, you are coorect about getting what you pay for. It starts at the top...the Mayor is responsible for local politics, then the Chief of Police is responsible for fighting crime, etc. This mayor looks like ajoke and so does the chief of police, as well as the res of the local politicians. I'm very surprised, but it needs to start from the top and their priorites are not in line with the residents.

over the last 2 years i have invested a great deal of money into this community. between the lack of a focused response on crime and the real estate tax/water/utility impact (which i didn't expect to decrease but also didn't anticipate the massive increases i've received) i'm seriously thinking of moving my business back to nyc. in truth, both cities suck for business people, but at least in nyc i'm getting what i pay for (lifestyle, police, et al.). that means the 10-12 people i was going to hire this year won't have a job thru me. that's the reality of govt's practices on the micro level. unfortunately, nj is so screwed due to shortfalls i can't see things changing without a massive income tax increase. for the record, i would be willing to pay 10-15% higher taxes for more cops on the downtown streets but that won't happen just yet. i'm disappointed with healy vis-a-vis crime at this point. as a real estate person i know that EVERYTHING revolves around that issue. i like him personnally, but he appears to be asleep at the wheel on this most important issue. i hope i'm wrong and things change soon. for some reason i have faith in him in the long run, but as a business person, i need him to understand the threat to downtown asap!

I received a flyer today at Shoprite in Newport. States that there will be a 44% increase in water/sewage this year and continue till 2015. There is a meeting to discuss on 12/29 at 5:00 pm
at 555 Route 440 on the 1st floor of the JCMUA.
I cannot make the meeting but would like to voice my opinion to our local council leaders. I went to the JC website, no email addresses, just phone number. I will call tomorrow. This is crazy. Maybe they should stop giving people tax abatements in the more expensive parts of JC. This is ridiculous.