branpatrobinson wrote:
I expect they will just continue to patronize while they waste our money. This is all on their terms as well, you would have to take days of work to fight them, and even still they can deny you of your rights.

Fire the whole lot of them, maybe taxpayers should go on strike. This city government represents no-one but themselves, we work for them, it should be the other way around.

trish wrote:
Does anyone know if there will be another rally? I didn't know about the one last night, and I think we should keep the pressure on. We just bought in JC, and I'm starting to regret it! Honestly, the taxes make me want to move. I'd be happy to rally!
trish

Webmaster wrote:

stani wrote:
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gibbons70 wrote:
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Bike_Lane wrote:
YDespite the showing tonight I can't help but feel the message of the people fell on deaf ears. The body language (and words) of several members of council seem to indicate such.

+1

All the Bush years did is prove that Government does, what Government wants, regardless of what the people say. And the Healy Team is following in Bush's teachings.

And the sad thing is, if there was a recall, who would fill the seats? It's a one party system in JC, makes me think our local government is a dictatorship. There is no alternative.

Thanks for bringing Bush into the discussion. It's nice to see that Republicans are alive and well in Jersey City politics.

ianmac47 wrote:
But seriously, if they don't raise taxes to balance the budget, what gets cut? Police, fire, sanitation, parks...

T-Bird wrote:
.....at the very end of the meeting, when there were eight people left in the chambers other than council (even all the press had left), they voted on the reappointment of two commissioners to the JCIA. Fulop had said earlier in the evening that they'd be voting on this and that he'd vote against renewal with the stipulation that they could be appointed at a future council meeting if they agreed to serve without benefits. .....[/url]

gibbons70 wrote:
Quote:

Bike_Lane wrote:
YDespite the showing tonight I can't help but feel the message of the people fell on deaf ears. The body language (and words) of several members of council seem to indicate such.

+1

All the Bush years did is prove that Government does, what Government wants, regardless of what the people say. And the Healy Team is following in Bush's teachings.

And the sad thing is, if there was a recall, who would fill the seats? It's a one party system in JC, makes me think our local government is a dictatorship. There is no alternative.

stani wrote:
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T-Bird wrote:
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JCNewJersey wrote:
+1 for posting the video. I think the council heard the message loud and clear.

I think the council listened to the message - well, maybe not all of it. Willie Flood was asleep (literally) for a good hour during the second half of public speaking. I'm not convinced it registered though. Seems they have become conditioned to a large crowd showing up now and again, sitting through it and then waiting for things to die down a meeting or two later and going back to business as usual.

Why am I skeptical? Because at the very end of the meeting, when there were eight people left in the chambers other than council (even all the press had left), they voted on the reappointment of two commissioners to the JCIA. Fulop had said earlier in the evening that they'd be voting on this and that he'd vote against renewal with the stipulation that they could be appointed at a future council meeting if they agreed to serve without benefits. It is a first step toward eliminating benefits for the board members of the JCIA and the MUA - in total, these benefits run $400,000 per year. ($20,000 per member for twelve one hour meetings per year.) Fulop said he has dozens of resumes from people with far better qualifications to fill those seats who would do it for free.

The commissioners were reappointed, by a vote of 8 to Fulop. Richardson said she is in favor of looking hard at eliminating the benefits but didn't want to do it ad hoc and hang these two people out to dry. Fair enough - at least she had a reasonable objection and articulated it. The more interesting stance was taken by Gaughan. He blustered about needing to reward these people for their hard work and that the city won't be able to attract quality people to fill these "very important positions." The kicker is, his daughter is the chairperson of the board of the JCMUA.

The chairman of the JCIA is a P. Terrell Flood, any relation to Willie Flood?

I was at the meeting last night and I'm afraid unless there are street demonstrations on this issue, we will get nowhere. The issue is that the council members except for Fulop are part of the Healy team. They do Healy's bidding. They know the public has contempt for them and they in turn have contempt for the public. They're comfortably ensconced in their positions until next election and then they'll do the same thing they did last year: hold the line on taxes right before the election to make them look better and recruit their special interests to get out the vote.

We're toast until the next election and the biggest risk is that the ire and energy you saw last night will be dissipated by then. I think the best thing that could happen is that the message gets around to all of yesterday's attendees that we have to become activists for change during the next election. The people who turned out yesterday were a committed, enthusiastic bunch and if they use their enthusiasm and commitment during the next election cycle, we may have some hope. The Healy team needs to be voted out.

T-Bird wrote:
Quote:

JCNewJersey wrote:
+1 for posting the video. I think the council heard the message loud and clear.

I think the council listened to the message - well, maybe not all of it. Willie Flood was asleep (literally) for a good hour during the second half of public speaking. I'm not convinced it registered though. Seems they have become conditioned to a large crowd showing up now and again, sitting through it and then waiting for things to die down a meeting or two later and going back to business as usual.

Why am I skeptical? Because at the very end of the meeting, when there were eight people left in the chambers other than council (even all the press had left), they voted on the reappointment of two commissioners to the JCIA. Fulop had said earlier in the evening that they'd be voting on this and that he'd vote against renewal with the stipulation that they could be appointed at a future council meeting if they agreed to serve without benefits. It is a first step toward eliminating benefits for the board members of the JCIA and the MUA - in total, these benefits run $400,000 per year. ($20,000 per member for twelve one hour meetings per year.) Fulop said he has dozens of resumes from people with far better qualifications to fill those seats who would do it for free.

The commissioners were reappointed, by a vote of 8 to Fulop. Richardson said she is in favor of looking hard at eliminating the benefits but didn't want to do it ad hoc and hang these two people out to dry. Fair enough - at least she had a reasonable objection and articulated it. The more interesting stance was taken by Gaughan. He blustered about needing to reward these people for their hard work and that the city won't be able to attract quality people to fill these "very important positions." The kicker is, his daughter is the chairperson of the board of the JCMUA.

JCNewJersey wrote:
Harrison is laying off workers.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... o_see_cuts_in_librar.html

JadedJC wrote:
Just talked to my mortgage bank this morning, and my escrow account is down to like $20 after the first quarter's estimated tax is paid. I asked them to immediately do a new escrow analysis factoring this latest tax bill. My montly outlay is almost $300 more this year because I'm already paying extra for the shortfall from last year's 11% hike. Is anyone else running into escrow problems from this? Any ideas on how best to handle this? The woman at my bank's escrow department was very nice and she said acute escrow shortages were particularly commonplace in NJ.

JCNewJersey wrote:
+1 for posting the video. I think the council heard the message loud and clear.

ianmac47 wrote:
But seriously, if they don't raise taxes to balance the budget, what gets cut? Police, fire, sanitation, parks...