Geeze.. I was on my way home, turning onto Montgomery by Chopin when this happened. This is the second shooting that has occured within the past few months. I REALLY want to live in a safer neighborhood, but unfortunately I had to pawn all of my silver spoons to make rent.
Just kidding... there really were no silver spoons-only a single mom who taught us how to work very hard for our money.
I am in favor of replacing the projects with mixed income housing.

I'm glad Mayor Healy supports replacing these soon with mixed income housing -- this has been the trend nationwide -- these high-rise ghettos are a failure.

Click below to see New York Times thread on Montgomery Gardens:
http://jclist.com/modules/newbb/viewt ... =ASC&type=&mode=0&start=0

Just now in the Jersey Journal is a reminder of why this should happen ASAP -- there were incidents today at both the Montgomery Gardens & the Booker T. Washington Housing Projects.

===================================

Montgomery Gardens Housing Project: Jersey City cop nearly caught in crossfire of shootout

by Michaelangelo Conte
Tuesday November 11, 2008, 1:18 PM

A shootout near a Jersey City housing complex unfolded dangerously close to a police officer who had pulled over his unmarked car to make a phone call when the first bullet smashed through a nearby windshield last night, officials said.

At 9:34 p.m. Officer Michael Burgess pulled over on Montgomery Street near the Montgomery Gardens housing complex and saw three men and a woman approach a green Acura parked at Florence and Bright streets, reports said.

Burgess said he then heard a loud "explosion" ring out and saw the Acura's windshield shatter, reports said, adding that he then spotteda muzzle flash coming from the gun of a man who was ducking and firing at the intersection.

Fearing he was in the crossfire of a gun battle, Burgess drove south on Florence and west on Bright before getting out of his car and returning to the scene of the shooting with his gun drawn, reports said. When he arrived, he found the Acura and four pedestrians were gone, but the pedestrians later returned and were interviewed, reports said.

It does not appear, based on the police report, that the gunman or Acura driver have yet been identified. Anyone with information on the shoot-out is asked to call the police department tipline at (201) 547-JAIL.
===========

Also today in the Booker T. Washington Housing Projects:

3 charged with weapons possession after Jersey City traffic stop

by Michaelangelo Conte/The Jersey Journal
Tuesday November 11, 2008

A Jersey City criminal took off running with his hand in his waistband during a traffic stop in the Booker T. Washington housing complex this morning and police watched him toss a handgun as he ran, officials said.

After a short foot chase police arrested James V. Trowell, 25, of Ocean Avenue, following the traffic stop at Colden and Prior streets and he was charged with resisting arrest and unlawful possession of a weapon, reports said.

Two others in the Ford sports utility vehicle, which was registered to Budget Rental Agency in Florida, were also arrested on the weapons charge, reports said.

Police stopped the SUV at 1:50 a.m. and James Trowell slipped out the passenger door and made a break for it, but was quickly caught, cops said. Officers then searched the vehicle and arrested the driver and another passenger after finding a handgun cylinder loaded with six rounds in the center console, reports said.

Trowell was in prison from Sept. 29, 2006 to Feb. 27, 2007 and Aug. 24, 2007 to Sept. 18, 2008 on convictions for drug possession, bail jumping and hindering apprehension, state corrections officials said.

Quote:

You know people assuming things here is going both ways... I live in the Beacon and am concerned about those in MG. I have personal friends I have met at work who live there and Booker T. Its a tuff situation with no clear good answers. No silver spoon here either, just lots of hard work!

According to www.HUD.gov, residents will not be required to move unless there is affordable housing available for them on the private market.

Also, the JC Housing Authority's site states the following..
Our Mission In Memoriam
The mission of the Jersey City Housing Authority is to offer and provide qualified lower income families and senior citizens with the best opportunities for gaining affordable housing within reasonably safe, working neighborhoods and simultaneously promote economic self-sufficiency for families, continued independent living for senior citizens and maximum accommodation for persons with disabilities.

.. note that they say safe, working neighborhoods .I live in the immediate area, and gun violence and crime does exist. I'd like it to be safe. I think that the local government and the police department have to work together to clean up the projects.

Poverty is the saddest most depressing issue that a person can experience. Empathy is needed to understand it. The ones who are stating down with the Projects probably were born with a silver spoon in their and are living off of mommy and daddy's money. Believe me I am not poverty stricken but I know what it is to work hard for what you have. Yes it is nice to replace those buildings with nice homes as the Hope vi project has done but those people living there have the right to be treated as human beings. Some might not be law abiding citizens but that's where the JCPD should be working with the people there instead ignoring the residents who do care. I am sure most people at the Beacon want those out but its for personal gain, but people are not all blind deaf and dumb here in Jersey City. We are not all poor, stupid and uneducated. This is why the newcomers are many times not liked. It's your own fault for mouthing off without know what is going on. Why don't you go to a community meeting, and say these things in public??
Instead of hiding behind a screen name and saying Down with the projects.
Again, To the future mayor of Jersey CIty , Steve Fulop thank you for having the courage for standing up and being honest!! I commend him.

Quote:


Oh yeah, someone who cares like Troy Washington ? Most of the commissioners are idiots with political axes to grind. The projects are a blight on this community which need to come down !!!

I cant believe you just said tearing down those projects will cut half the murder rate. What world do you live in?

Tearing down those projects will leave people who can't afford housing practically homeless. Solving the crime on Montgomery doesn't start with tearing it down, it begins with someone giving a damn about the lack of security in that place.

You speak as if everyone in there is vermin and the place MUST or SHOULD go down. Montgomery needs someone to stand up for them, BRAVO STEVEN for doing so.

Maio is doing her own thing over the authority of her own Commissioners, and you guys state she's a great "public servant"?

Tell me does a Great Public Servant, serve their public by telling em "Move out, we're making condos"

Again put a JCHA Director who cares. Out with Maio and her greedy ambitions.

Quote:

I think the secret about Fulop is that he means well but depends heavily on the information he is getting from people in the community. He's only as knowledgeable as the people talking to him are.

Whatever the guy's faults, he's definitely someone who wants to hear what knowledgeable people think and takes what they say seriously.

So, if you think Fulop is taking a dumb position, and you think you have first-hand information about what the situation is, try e-mailing him directly and setting him straight. You might have more influence over his position than you think.

Greenville: a little questioning and investigation doesn't hurt anyone.
I am not sure if Maio needs to be ousted but perhaps they have all been to hasty behind closed doors and Fulops is reminding them that they have to make sure that the residents of MG's have the right to know what is going on.
Again let me also remind you that unless you have hardcore numbers to accuse EVERYONE that is living their of a life of crime it iis clearly an exaggeration and a sterotype. Yes,many would like to see those buildings disappear tomorrow but it doesn't work that way. Fulop has to watch for his constituents there as much as he deals with Dog runs and minimal issues on the waterfront. Those people deserve to have Fulop represent him. I don't think that is pandering for votes. He is being fair and voicing for others. I have been around here too long to know that the JC administration purposely leaves out people from due process. After this election for president i think the consensus is that change is definitely needed, I do hope JErsey City takes in some of this CHANGE!!

He's pandering for votes, I thought this guy was a different kind of politician. Tearing down those projects will reduce the murder rate by half I bet. But Fulop knows he needs their votes for next year's mayoral election.

Anyone who knows Maria Maio knows she is a highly intelligent and committed public servant. The moves under way to subvert her are at the behest of hangers on from the corrupt Cunningham regime at JCHA as well as from craven politicians in the City (Fulop).

Quote:
Say what?

Quote:
Come again?

Fulop: Maio should go!

Councilman says Housing Authority director should be stripped of position

Ricardo Kaulessar
Hudson Reporter
11/07/2008

MAIO HAS TO GO ? City Councilman Steven Fulop (standing) speaking at a meeting at the Montgomery Gardens housing complex on Oct. 29. Jersey City Housing Authority Executive Director Maria Maio is sitting at the far right.
What would possess City Councilman Steven Fulop to call for Jersey City Housing Authority (JCHA) Executive Director Maria Maio to be terminated from her job?

That's what Fulop did last week when he wrote a letter calling for the seven-member Housing Authority Board of Commissioners to vote for Maio's ouster.

The JCHA is an $80 million agency that oversees the city's 2,670 units of public subsidized housing. It gets funding through the federal department of Housing and Urban Development, and on the local level, it is managed by a paid director (Maio) and an unpaid volunteer Board of Commissioners.

Fulop's letter came after he attended a crucial Oct. 29 meeting at the Montgomery Gardens housing complex on Montgomery Avenue in downtown Jersey City (which Fulop represents as councilman). Controversy has been brewing ever since Maio told newspapers that the JCHA intends to knock down and replace the 435-unit, six-building low-income complex. In its place, mixed-income housing will be built by a developer to be chosen by the agency.

After finding out about the agency's plans through these articles, the tenants have complained that they were not warned about the plans by Maio, and are worried they won't get their homes back after the transformation.

Maio has said that the plans were discussed openly at previous housing meetings, which tenants could have attended.

At the Oct. 29 meeting, frustrations boiled over, not just from tenants, but also from some of the commissioners. One of the former commissioners who attended the meeting waved a memo from Maio that said the JCHA intends to pick a developer for the site by this December.

"What I discovered at the meeting was indeed distressing, and went far beyond the fate of Montgomery Gardens," Fulop stated in a letter he sent the Jersey City Reporter this week. "Not only were the residents and JCHA Commissioners being excluded from the process of choosing a developer, but a complete lack of trust in Maio's leadership was all too apparent."

Next meeting crucial

The commissioners will have a chance to take up Fulop at his request when the next Board of Commissioners meeting takes place on Monday, Nov. 17 at 6 p.m. in the JCHA main office at the Marion Gardens housing complex on Route 440. The meeting is open to the public.

Maio was contacted for comments on Fulop's letter last week, but did not return a call before press time.

More issues to tackle

An estimated 7,000 to 8,000 people live in the Jersey City Housing Authority's projects, and another 2,800 people get Section 8 vouchers through the agency, allowing them to live at off-site housing if they are not able to get into public housing. Also, the agency has 250 employees earning salaries ranging from $8,000 for part-timers doing maintenance work to Maio's $155,800 as executive director.

Currently, the JCHA, like other housing authorities across the country, is subject to a HUD policy known as "stop-loss." That means that they will experience a decline in federal funding this year, but can have their losses stopped at 5 percent if they can show a successful conversion to asset management. "Asset management" is another recent HUD policy where the individual housing sites are responsible for their own management and work with their own budgets, rather than all management decisions being made at a central office like the one the Maio works in.

Tenants and others connected to the JCHA have said that HUD's policies are basically a way for the federal government to get out of the business of public housing.

However, some local sources still take issue with Maio, saying she did not do enough to sustain future losses in HUD funding. Commissioners have complained that she did not comply with HUD mandates such as cutting salaries for top-level staff in her office, and didn't provide the commissioners with enough documentation on how the JCHA collects revenues and pays salaries.

Maio's previous job

Mayor Jerramiah Healy advocated for Maio when told about the letter last week.

In a statement to the Hudson Reporter, he called Maio "the most knowledgeable, experienced housing authority executive officer in the State of New Jersey."

He noted that Maio had worked at the JCHA for many years alongside Robert Rigby, who was the executive director for 30 years until his death in 2003.

Longtime tenants and some veteran employees (who did want to be named) said while Maio is an experienced and competent administrator, she lacks the qualities that distinguished Rigby, such as his constant, almost daily visits to the various housing projects, and his ability to listen and help tenants even if they completely disagreed with his actions.

Healy also pointed to the "success" of the Housing Authority in recent years, as the JCHA has already converted some former high-rise housing complexes into mixed-income housing, part of a national trend to make public housing look less like "projects."

Comments on this story can be sent to rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com