Quote:

I agree, however this still sounds good to me. I suppose the devil is in the details. Where does th 8MM go? How long is the hiring freeze? And, will the city government will find some way around the freeze?

Trenton,Camden and Paterson are all Distressed Cities.
Nice way to lower your Bond rating and drive away business.

It's should be (if they had any shame, that is ) embarrassing to city hall to have to take this aid from the state in the middle of all this development.

My only theory is, Mayor McTipsy's proclamations about how it's a new Jersey City to the contrary, they want to keep JC in 'distressed city' status no matter what the tax windfall from the waterfront development could have been (if they were competent, that is), so the state continues to float the schools.

They're a bunch of squealing piglets, feeding at the Trenton trough. Addicted to the dole.

The biggest mystery to me is why the state plays along - we're like the relative who wins the lottery, blows the money, and needs a loan two months later. But at least the hiring freeze is a tacit admission from the state that this government can't be trusted to handle it's own money like a grownup.

Shameful.

Brewster's quote (see below) gets more true every week....

JERSEY CITY CITY COUNCIL
Takes $8M in state aid - hiring, salary freeze

Friday, May 16, 2008
By EARL MORGAN
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

By an 8-1 vote, the Jersey City City Council approved a resolution to accept $8 million in "Special Municipal Aid," from the state on Wednesday.

Approval of the resolution to accept the $8 million in state aid means the city agrees to impose a hiring, promotion and salary freeze, although Business Administrator Brian O'Reilly has said the state has agreed to grant permission to hire public safety workers.

Ward E Councilman Steve Fulop voted against the resolution, arguing the measure flies in the face of the administration's boasts that job creation and real estate development is lifting the city's fortunes.

The council also approved a resolution appointing Carlo Abad to a full-time position as a Jersey City Municipal Court judge.

The council also authorized hiring of a firm to appraise a parcel of land at the old PJP landfill site. The city wants to relocate the Jersey City Incinerator Authority and the Department of Public Works to that site.