SMITH!!!

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No need to apologize for the stump speech.I agree with you about the information being out there if people take the time to seek it out.Visit the website or call them.I am glad to hear that you were impressed enough to volunteer.This and many other postings I have read here shows that people are concerned about what is going on locally.I bet some of the more negative comments do come from being demoralized.

I have looked at both Levin and Manzo and like both of them.I see that Levin has many supporters on this board and can see why they are attracted to him as a candidate.
I do believe however that Manzo has a great deal of accomplishments and would do well for JC.He seems to be very passionate about his beliefs.Check out his website at
http://www.manzoteam2009.com/

Elvis,

I wish I was getting paid...but then again the could not pay me enough to post...The agency I work for in NYC pays me plenty, in which as I mention I invest back into Jersey City. I am happy to see we both agree that Healy is doing a crappy job...I see you have a problem with me voicing and bitching what I think about the job Healy is doing.

Well I'm the same way at work, if I don't like something, I let it be known. Yes I do ruffle feathers...

John

Speaking from the perspective of a non-native Jersey City resident: voters here do seem disconnected, uncaring, and, above all, demoralized. If I had experienced what most people from here have for years at the hands of local politicians then, in all honesty, I would probably be apathetic too.

But I'm not from Jersey City. I'm from a mystical place where mayors and councilpeople and other elected officials work FOR the residents they serve and accept city employment because they want to help their constituents. Go figure- those naive Midwesterners!

Yeah, things really suck, but I'm convinced that they can get better if voters would just...snap out of it and get involved.

It's our responsibility as citizens to know what's going on and to keep watch over our elected officials- to MAKE them serve our interests. I think of it as a game of "spot the liar".

I hate it when people say they don't have enough information on candidates to vote. The information is out there- visit the website of the candidates- or call/email them! You can do that! And maybe 90 percent of the time you'll get a response (and if you don't that should probably answer your question...). I did that with Dan Levin (he's great), and now I'm a volunteer.

Sorry bout the stump speech- but it's up to us guys.

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Mike Royko's great, but the funny thing was that a few years after he wrote "Boss" about Richard J. Daley - Royko backed Daley's son, Richard M. Daley!

Things change - times change!

Read - Royko: Click here

"We" are apparently a [sic] apathetic enough electorate that we use bad grammar in our subject headings.

Like the last election, there will probably be a run off between Healy and Manzo. The well oiled Jersey City Machine will put Healy back in for another 4 years with a litany of WTF when taxes go up another 30% and the Police go into hibernation for 3 1/2 years.

If you like what you see, stay at home and let it happen.....

The 3 1 1 sounds like a good idea, almost like a direct line to the Mayors Action Hotline.

I never thought local government/politics could be as bad as Cook County and Chicago during the days of the first Mayor Daley. Then I moved to Jersey City. Daley, at least, had a certain panache. Healey is just downright pathetic - a cartoonish caricature almost. If anyone wants a great read about machine politics, I recommend Mike Royko's "Boss." As for the upcoming election, I'm at a total loss. Healey is definitely NOT getting my vote. Manzo is hardly any better. Levin is a maybe, but I just don't know enough about him. In the end, I may just end up writing in "Grove Street Pimp" on the ballot.

I think Healy is doing a crap job but the difference between you and me is I am not getting paid to say that. Prove me wrong. Go talk about Hamilton Park, or the cats being dumped. Anything but Healy and maybe the people here will take you seriously. Right now you are as see-through as glass.

Just go away.

Elvis, can't help you don't like the truth about your boy. I'm not schilling for anybody. I want to see Jersey City prosper and be a safe place to live.
I work my ass off..I pay my taxes...I support Jersey City going to Restaurants, shopping, supporting my local grocery store. I could stay in NYC and go to Restaurants there, shop, ect, or go to Hoboken.
I'd rather give back at home and invest in Jersey City...if our elected officials don't make it a better place to live, than I will rethink spending my hard earn money elsewhere.
Do you do anything for Jersey City except for think your boy Healy has done a good job.

Will bitching about it on this forum change anything?
NO

Are you accomplishing anything other than annoying people on here with your obvious schilling?
NO

Does anyone care what you have to say?
NO

Will you still post here after the election?
NO

Do you care about anything in Jersey City besides ripping on the mayor?
NO

The answer is NO!!!!

In the last election Healy campaigned he would put more police on the street walking the beat. Are there police walking the beat - NO

He promised more community policing, has that happened -NO

Healy campaigned to lower taxes has he - NO

Is there less violent crime - NO

Do people feel safer - NO

Are our streets cleaner - NO

Has he conducted himself in a manner not to embarrass Jersey City - NO

Does he really care about the citizens of Jersey City - NO

Should he be re-elected - NO

Jersey Journal
Monday, April 13, 2009
By Agustin C. Torres
Political Insider



Healy's surely not been the mayor he said he'd be

S ince Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy declined an invitation to a debate at the Loew's Jersey Theater hosted by Pat O'Melia for Comcast cable TV, it should be known that the mayor's campaign honchos and honchettes also declined to attend a Jersey Journal mayoral forum this week.

The reason in each case is that he will only take part in debates and events with respected entities. Good thing he declined, because I was thinking the same thing and did not want to embarrass the guy.

I really do not know why he is afraid of taking part in the forum.

For a clue, let's look at the campaign literature Healy used when he ran to fill the late Glenn Cunningham's shoes.

First, his mailings promised that a Healy administration would use a "proactive and problem-solving policing" approach to control crime.

He claimed: "More foot patrols will be assigned to your neighborhood and there will be an increase in interaction between officers and residents they serve ."

Then there was this promise: "A Healy administration will give Jersey City property owners the same tax breaks and abatements that have been given to waterfront developers ."

The would-be mayor also promised to "Install a Dial 3-1-1 System to Control Quality of Life Issues." Through this new phone system, residents could "call in quality-of-life complaints such as dirty streets, potholes, refuse dumped on streets, broken sidewalks, blocked-up sewer catch basins and building code violations."

How's that 311 phone system working for you?

The mayor is correct when he says this columnist is biased. I am.

For too long this city has allowed politicians to not do their basic jobs - care for the safety and welfare of its citizens. They don't get it. Instead of putting future tax abatements and millions of dollars in grants into new waterfront projects along Newark Bay and the Hackensack River, city officials should just concentrate on upgrading the "quality of life" in the heart and spine of the "traditional" part of the city - from the Heights to Greenville.

New businesses, homes, parks, schools and more can do wonders for residents who already pay high taxes. Or how about just making sure the laws and codes that are on the books are obeyed? Isn't it amazing how first-time home buying programs always benefit members of city government - right, Dom. We can go on and on.

Truthfully, the incumbent is the overwhelming favorite. He has a massive campaign work force - manpower selected from city and county workers who seem to find time to do the bidding of campaign headquarters, and more than $1 million in a war chest. He also has lawyers who always seem to pop up to represent the city and so-called quasi-governmental agencies.

More importantly, the administration is the prohibitive favorite, knowing that it can lull an apathetic electorate - that's some of you readers.

Most people believe they did their voting when Barack Obama ran. A light voter turnout usually means a victory for the incumbent administration in most municipalities where political machines are abusing the system and churning out absentee ballots, night and day. If this happens in Jersey City, no one wants to hear any future complaints about how the city is run.

Healy loyalists like to say I favor one candidate or another. Most of them think I favor Lou Manzo. Manzo has been somewhat invisible. He is just getting his campaign underway and it may be too late.

Former Council President L. Harvey Smith had a tough time getting a full ticket together, has funding concerns, but is still actively campaigning. Dan Levin is hoping his Downtown loyalists will give him enough impetus to make people sit up and notice his grassroots effort. Phil Webb just has a big hill to climb. I like the passion of all the challengers.

The truth is I would rather anyone else - even a write-in vote for those metaphoric dozen monkeys who when locked in a room with a typewriter and given enough time can write a Shakespeare play - than the present administration.

Mad at me are you? Boo-hoo.

Jersey Journal
Monday, April 13, 2009
www.nj.com/hudsoncountynow



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