I did the Math, municipal taxes increased 84.87% from 2005 to 2010 under Healy. Healy is a better mayor than Schundler, but I am tired of supporting tax abatements, developers who transfer their abatements, get a reduction in their abatements, or the city bail them out with loans. The city's ratable base was higher in 1988 after reval, now in 2013 the city's value has dropped. The ratable value is related to our tax bills, so the question is why? Abatements are not ratables plus developers are successfully appealing their assessment after their abatements have expired. It is no wonder the state wrote a report in 2010 attacking JC in its use of abatements. The drop of the ratable base should have been in Healy's speech.

I attended the Mayor's State of the City address. Here is the review I posted on my Facebook campaign page.

So I've been reflecting on Mayor Healy's State of the City address. Overall, it was an ok speech. But you could tell it was written for an election year. All about accomplishments, good things... and absolutely nothing about what could use improvement here in our city.

Almost the first half of the speech was geared towards public safety with the police and fire departments. I guess it makes sense since these two areas gobble up the lion's share of the city budget - close to 70%.

It's great that we got a 1.85 million COPS grant. However, have those contracts been fixed yet to address all the give aways like mass accumulation of sick days that let folks retire with 6 figure paydays after only what 20 years? Sick days are for sick days. Yes you got a grant to pay the cops, but what about all the benefits, etc. that us tax payers have to fund? Private sector folks don't get those types of payouts and benefits.

Jersey City has added over 50 officers, and now has 802 officers. And "some will be assigned walking posts". Just some? Come on. Frankly some of the only times I see JCPD are when they are guarding construction sites which is silly. I say bring back the bicycle patrols that actually had cops riding around. And get cops out of their cars, walking the beat, interacting and being involved with the citizens of this fine city. That will help decrease crime a lot.

And we are adding 59 CCTV cameras. Be aware fine citizens of Jersey City... Big Brother is going to be watching YOU. My question is, how much money do those cameras cost to install and maintain and service? Do we really need those expenses given the tight budgets that we have now?

I was taking lots of notes during the speech, and at one point Mayor Healy stated that "he has run the city is a fiscally responsible manner" and that we didn't have the layoffs other citys had, etc. etc.

FISCALLY RESPONSIBLE MANNER? Mr. Mayor, with all due respect, you gave the taxpayers of this fine city the middle finger back in 2009, and again in 2010 with overly excessive tax increases. All while maintaining the status quo of cronyism, nepotism and patronage that has been running out of control in Jersey City for a long time now.

If you had made the real tough decisions, instead of screwing over your citizens, you should have cut spending. CUT CUT CUT. And frankly JC needs layoffs and we NEED consolidation of agencies. And we need to restructure government NOW before its too late.

The JCIA, DPW, MUA all needs to be merged into one entity and the bloated senior level management canned. Have to say, the day after trash collection, second street looked like crap this morning with so much trash and little strewn around from pick up day. Good job folks. And the parking authority needs to be merged into the police dept, and there needs to be one Public Safety Department with shared services for JCPD, JCFD reducing administrative head count dramatically.

Healy did go on to say he supports small business and being a small business owner, I am all for that. However, Jersey City makes it impossible to do business here. Everyone in every department wants to be friends with Mr. Franklin to get things done. The fact that Newark Avenue still has vacant store fronts speaks volumes to Jersey City's commitment to small business. NOT ENOUGH. Healy said 35 new small businesses opened, adding just 654 jobs. I say ok. BUT NOT ENOUGH. WE need more small businesses. More jobs. ASAP.

Healy went on to say we're getting more development, and that $1.3 Million in additional annual payments are being made to the city. But these are special developer deals and PILOTS which hurt our schools as they get no funding through traditional taxes. So the regular folks like you and me get taxed more to make up that lack of funding.

And with all this new money coming in, Healy says he is growing the tax base. But fact of the matter is, the only thing growing for all of Jersey CIty is MORE TAXES. JC is still reeling from those 2009/2010 massive tax increases.

So the question begs to be asked, with all this new money, don't you think we deserve a tax reduction???? Well good news folks. Mayor Healy implied in his speech (but didn't say it fully) that there will be no tax increases in 2013.

To which I say, what about that reval that is still going on, that was postponed (conveniently) until after the election? Don't believe it folks. Once the election is over, Tax payers are going to get socked again. And if you did buy at the height of the market, don't expect your taxes to go down like they are promising.

The best part though of the whole speech was when Mayor Healy proclaimed he wants to make Jersey City known as the "Recreation City". There were lots of chuckles in the audience. That's all fine and dandy, but can't folks "recreate" without spending a ton of money on things that might be unnecessary like miles of bike lanes that folks might not even use?

Time to reign in the spending and be smarter about what we spend the taxpayers money on. We're all tapped out.

I give the speech a C+. Unfortunately I had some believability issues with certain parts of his speech.

Fletch

Follow my journey at www.facebook.com/Fletch4JCWardE

Hey Mayor Healy, Some???? Actually Most of you promises were not fulfilled in the 8 years you have been Mayor. So there you have it Jersey City Resident's he proves why you should not vote him, he is not capable of keeping promises and running Jersey City. Why would anyone in right mind give him another 4 years to fail on fulfilling promises. As they say, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expected a different result!

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He also presented his plan to balance the budget by looking for pots of gold at the end of rainbows, announced a new initiative to develop Ward F with investment from extraterrestrials, and declared that he is luring new commercial investment from New York by offering to provide "world-class, industrial-size" sugary soft drinks.

Jersey City's Mayor Healy admits some past promises haven't been fulfilled

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
February 21, 2013 at 11:15 AM

Included among the promises in last night?s State of the City address were acknowledgments of prior promises that were broken.

Mayor Jerramiah Healy last night noted that in 2012 he said he would merge the Jersey City Incinerator Authority and create a new Public Safety Department as cost-saving measures.

The latter proposal barely if ever got off the ground, while Healy?s allies on the City Council fought Ward E Councilman Steve Fulop?s efforts to merge the JCIA and DPW.

Asked last night whether voters should believe this year?s promises like his pledge to add 50 more cops to the beat when some of last year?s went unfulfilled, Healy said the city did its best.

?Those things last year didn?t work out,? he said, citing ?legal? problems that would have resulted from the proposals. ?We did our best to fulfill our promises and we?re going to continue to do that.?

The campaign of Ward E City Councilman Steve Fulop, who is challenging the mayor in the May 14 city election, pounced on the ?broken promises,? citing others, including a pledge in the 2011 State of the City address to have the historic Apple Tree House open by the end of last year. It remains closed to the public.

?The mayor has a history of making promises at these speeches that he has failed to deliver, from Journal Square still being vacant to empty promises on cost cutting that have caused property taxes to skyrocket over his term as mayor,? said Fulop campaign spokesman Bruno Tedeschi.

http://www.nj.com/jjournal-news/index ... ys_mayor_healy_admit.html

If you watch the video below, replace the name "George Bush" with "Jerramiah Healy"...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHpbSbqNxTc

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Not sure if anyone else watches Bill Maher but I'm pretty sure Healy & Co have been living in the "republican bubble." :)

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In my neighborhood we had better things to do than worry about Healy's location. But we sure didn't see him or anyone else from the city.

Did anyone see the "Wheres Healy (Waldo)" sign downtown after Sandy ?

It's hardly worth commenting on. Healy is living in an imaginary Jersey City.

Jersey City safer and more fiscally sound, mayor says in annual address

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
on February 20, 2013 at 7:37 PM, updated February 20, 2013 at 8:37 PM

Jersey City is getting safer, becoming more fiscally sound and making real progress, Mayor Jerramiah Healy said tonight in his sixth State of the City address.

Healy, who will ask voters on May 14 to grant him a third full term, pledged to hire 50 more police officers in 2013, keep taxes ?stable? and continue the city?s ?aggressive pothole and street paving program.?

?When I look and see the progress we are making, I see a better city not just for my grandchildren but for all of the children in our city,? he said at the conclusion of the 45-minute speech. ?I always put Jersey City first and I am committed to working every day to advance our city for all of us.?

Healy addressed more than 250 residents and county and local officials inside the council chambers at City Hall, and the crowd gave him a standing ovation at the start of the speech. He spent the bulk of the address discussing public safety and Hurricane Sandy, which devastated the region on Oct. 29 and caused as much as $100 million in damage to Jersey City.

The city last year hired 35 additional police officers, giving the Police Department a total of 802 sworn officers, Healy said. He pledged tonight to find grant funding for 50 additional officers by the end of 2013.

Discussing a $1.9 million federal grant that allowed the city to hire 15 of those officers, Healy specifically thanked community activists Esther Wintner and Riaz Wahid, who assisted the city in obtaining the grant.

Both worked to recall Healy in 2010. City spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill said the mayor's shout-out to his former adversaries shows he "brings people together."

The mayor praised the city?s efforts to recover from Hurricane Sandy, and while he acknowledged the severe devastation city residents suffered, he said he was heartened to see ?neighbors stepping up to help other neighbors.?

?During the storm, I visited every neighborhood in our city and heard from so many of you, and want everyone to know how truly inspired I am by the will and humanity of our people,? he said.

Ward E Councilman Steve Fulop, Healy?s longtime political rival and his chief adversary in the May 14 city election, panned tonight?s address. Fulop said it?s ?disturbing? that Healy didn?t address the upcoming citywide property revaluation.

The mayor requested state officials allow the reval in 2011 but it has been delayed until at least after the election.

?It?s going to have a massive impact on who can afford to live here,? the councilman said.

An earlier version of this article misstated how many new cops Healy said the city has hired.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... ore_fis.html#incart_river