Veterans of the list have heard me say this before: the JCPA is the lens for viewing how screwed up and unaccountable all these authorities are. If an agency that should be making money like it had a printing press (like it does in other cities) manages to run in the red due to poor productivity, no show jobs, fake overtime, top heavy structure, etc, what do you suppose is going on in the rest of the agencies that we don't expect to actually makes us money?

This is how to run a city for the benefit of the political class and the employees, rather than for it's citizens.

Vote Fulop.

Everybody hates parking enforcement. But in this case, the Parking Authority is thoroughly deserving.

Overpaid, underworked, poorly-managed. It should be a disgrace to the people that "run" the place, all of whom were appointed by... hmmm... who could that be...?

I hope that Fulop gets elected Mayor and can help put an end to this BS. It's unreal how much we get robbed of by these corrupt autonomous offices.

SIX weeks of vacation?!?
And 15 paid sick days??
That's even more offensive than the salary.

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I would be. Would be a life changer for me. Can I apply for it?

You should not get a raise if your agency runs a defecit year after year even after illegally taxing people.

Its actually over $2,760 per week for what is essentially treated like a part time job with sever assistant executive directors under her. IF you factor in the value of her pension and benefits (compared to private sector employees), her tax payer funded wage puts her in the top 4% of household incomes in Jersey City (before considering the value of her husband's income).

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Only? Should incompetency & cronyism be rewarded? And when you take into account that the workers who were laid off were earning on an average of $35k, or $673/wk, $2300/wk could theoretically pay 4 people to be out there actually doing work. Just my opinion.

I dunno, it sounds a lot but it only works out to $2,300 a week.
I certainly wouldn't be happy with that wage.

And for the record, if it seems to some that there aren't quite as many 6am ticket blitzes going on by the Evil Empire (Parking Authority), know that usually Healy has them back-off so he doesn't look quite so bad. He did this just prior to his 2009 run. Doing this plus the little dip taxes took prior to the 2009 election lulled us into a false sense of security before being walloped afterwards.

Let's not get fooled again.

Ms. Paretti's pay increase is another example of Healy's patronage mill.

Ms. Paretti was the incompetent asst. director of the JCIA. The same JCIA run by Oren Dabney who Healy was going to give a new contract & raise to long before his present contract ran out. It was Fulop who raised a major stink that caused the renewal to be withdrawn.

After being 'elected' councilwoman for Ward B, Ms. Paretti sold out her constituency by doing what Healy bobble-heads do best, vote what Healy wanted, not caring what her constituents needed or had to say.

Her reward was the directorship of the JCPA, another autonomous patronage mill that has seen its share & has had several sexual harrassment suits filed against it along with settling suits brought against it by former directors.

And by the way, Mr. Paretti works for the JCPD. Both he & the wife have reaped many rewards by buying all the tickets.

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For those keeping score...

Fulop: move the Parking Authority back into the Police Department, reducing redundant personnel (mostly upper management) and allowing direct supervision of operations.

Healy: No comment. (Although at least the Director won't require any raises for the next 4 years

Walker: I'll appoint a commission to study that.

Malik: We have a Parking Authority?

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The Parking Authority was formed in 1949 & was always under the JCPD. That all changed upon the election of Bret Schundler, who made the department a separate, autonomous agency & staffed it with friends. The agency has been a patronage mill ever since.

All the autonomous agencies, though funded by the City, are not completely answerable to the City & each agency has its own personnel, payroll, etc. It this redundency that costs. The Parking Authority should be at least be able to break even but cannot for a number of reasons. One being the amount that they realize from tickets after they give the City & the State their portion. Another is the salaries paid some of its employees who are faithful to Healy. Another being the seemingly arbitrary issuance of fines. Those friendly to Healy or who display placards that they are on City business seem not to suffer the same fate as we poor mortals who are not so favored.

Fulop wants to merge departments such as payroll, personnel, etc.which has the top heavy in fear for their jobs.

(Example of misuse of placards - In my neighborhood is a police officer who retired in 2006. He still posesses a placard. A director who retired in 2011 still displays his placard & used it during Hurricane Sandy to get his friends moved to the head of the line while the rest of us waited patiently.)

I heard today that the Parking Authority ran a 2 million deficit last year, principally due to a huge administrative force. Apparently Fulop has addressed this in his platform to merge it into the JCPD and eliminate some of the excess bureaucracy.

It makes sense to me as i dont understand why parking enforcement isnt part of the JCPD, and i found it unbelievable that this ticketing agency isnt paying its way!

Anybody have factual data to back this up?

Thanks!

Healy calls Jersey City Parking Authority director's new contract 'overly generous'

Published: Monday, March 12, 2012, 1:30 PM
By The Jersey Journal


The Jersey City Parking Authority office on Central Ave in the Jersey City Heights.

Jersey City Parking Authority commissioners last week unanimously awarded JCPA Executive Director Mary Paretti a five-year contract that comes with a 12 percent pay hike over the course of the pact, The Jersey Journal reports.

The move comes only one month after Mayor Jerramiah Healy said he intends to fold the city agency into a newly formed Department of Public Safety, bringing it back under city control.

Under the contract, Paretti will receive $120,200 this year, a 3 percent hike over last year. Under the new deal her pay increases about $3,700 annually until 2016, when it will reach $135,286. She will also receive six weeks of vacation, up to 15 sick days annually and a JCPA-paid vehicle.

If Paretti and JCPA commissioners agree to extend her contract for an additional two years, Paretti will see a $143,525 salary starting in 2018.

Paretti, who now goes by her married name, is perhaps better known to many city residents as Mary Spinello. She represented Ward B on the City Council for about one term, resigning in April 2009 to become head of the JCPA.

Healy said he wasn't aware of the new contract until notified Thursday by The Jersey Journal. Healy called the terms of the pact "overly generous."

"While we value the dedicated work of Mary Paretti and have full faith in her leadership, we feel the terms of this contract are not tenable and that the board should consider reviewing and modifying this agreement," he said.

Paretti said she feels the new contract, basically a continuation of her previous three-year deal, is fair.
"At the end of this contract I still won't be earning as much as the directors of other autonomous agencies in Jersey City," she said.

The city is still reviewing the potential of folding parking enforcement into a new Department of Public Safety, the mayor said.

JCPA Chair Michael Holloway did not return a phone call requesting comment, but JCPA attorney John Young said he wasn't aware of the city's push to bring the JCPA back under city control.

"I haven't been involved in any discussion. No one's asked me to look at how it's supposed to be done," Young said.

Fulop, a Healy adversary, noted that Paretti ran on the mayor's ticket in the 2005 city election.

"Once again, it is what Healy does and not what he says," Fulop said. "He talks about consolidation of the JCPA in the State of the City (address), and now pretends to not know when contracts are approved."

Just some interesting stuff...for anyone who thinks just because the JCPA is an autonomous agency that the Mayor has no say over anything?remember these news pieces?

(This was about Bob Dalton who everyone said was doing a great job getting the JCPA back on track. But of course he suddenly quit?wonder why??)

On Saturday, Jersey Journal columnist Earl Morgan suggested Dalton was leaving because he had tired of "certain staffers" using their influence with Healy "to obtain pay hikes and other perks," and recent changes on the agency's governing board, including Healy's appointment of former police chief Robert Troy to the body.

*****
(piece about lawsuit by JCPA?s Russ who feels he got booted because he didn?t do what Healy asked..err ordered)

Former head of Jersey City parking authority, Mark Russ, files suit against Mayor Healy

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

*****

(out come of Russ lawsuit)

Ousted JCPA chief settles lawsuit with city, JCPA for $82,500

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

*****

JCPA website?.

http://www.jcparking.org/index.htm

The fiasco of the Central Ave parking meters is enough to keep any upper management of the the JCPA from warranting any pay increases.

What sort of pay increase did the frontline officers at the JCPA get ? Obviously this director knows Healy's days are numbered and wanted to secure a better pay and an awesome retirement package !

My understanding is they are not self-sufficient. Not only do they have a very large capital budget for equipment and vehicles (which the City subsidizes) they are like all the other autonomous agencies in the City, filled with political hacks making lots of money.

The current Director got her job as a political payoff from Healy for voting for his warehouse project along the west side of the City while she was Ward B councilperson.

The JCPA has been a cesspool of mismanagemnt and waste for years.

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coronalime,
Respectfully what does it matter whether they are self-sufficient?
JCPA gets all their revenue from citizen owned property. Every dollar they bring in past their expenses goes back to the city.
So the more they siphon off, the less we citizens get back and the more taxes we end up paying.
The autonomous agencies like JCPA and JCIA are ways to circumvent oversight by directly elected officials like mayors and council people.
I don't believe for a moment that our Mayor was not aware that his political crony was receiving a raise. But as the system is set up, he can plausibly claim ignorance.

There was a very good thread back in October 2011 that covered the structure of the JCPA. http://jclist.com/modules/newbb/viewt ... id=279954#forumpost279954
The posts by jcresident0001 are especially relevant.

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Is the JCPA self-sufficient, (as it should be) and paying for her salary out of parking fees and fines, or are they sucking on the teet of the property tax payer?

(webmaster please leave this thread under the CRIME forum..thankyou)

("Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy said he wasn't aware of the new contract until notified Thursday by The Jersey Journal" Do you really think we are that stupid? Or are you really THAT clueless about JC ..err I mean YOUR own government?)

***

Jersey City parking agency signs off on 12 percent pay hike for executive director; mayor says contract 'not tenable'

Published: Sunday, March 11, 2012, 12:44 PM
Updated: Sunday, March 11, 2012, 12:59 PM

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

Jersey City Parking Authority commissioners last week unanimously awarded JCPA Executive Director Mary Paretti a five-year contract that comes with a 12 percent pay hike over the course of the pact.

The move comes only one month after Mayor Jerramiah Healy said he intends to fold the city agency into a newly formed Department of Public Safety, bringing it back under city control.

Under the contract, Paretti will receive $120,200 this year, a 3 percent hike over last year. Under the new deal her pay increases about $3,700 annually until 2016, when it will reach $135,286. She will also receive six weeks of vacation, up to 15 sick days annually and a JCPA-paid vehicle.

If Paretti and JCPA commissioners agree to extend her contract for an additional two years, Paretti will see a $143,525 salary starting in 2018.

Paretti, who now goes by her married name, is perhaps better known to many city residents as Mary Spinello. She represented Ward B on the City Council for about one term, resigning in April 2009 to become head of the JCPA.

Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy said he wasn't aware of the new contract until notified Thursday by The Jersey Journal. Healy called the terms of the pact "overly generous."

"While we value the dedicated work of Mary Paretti and have full faith in her leadership, we feel the terms of this contract are not tenable and that the board should consider reviewing and modifying this agreement," he said.

Paretti said she feels the new contract, basically a continuation of her previous three-year deal, is fair. "At the end of this contract I still won't be earning as much as the directors of other autonomous agencies in Jersey City," she said.

The city is still reviewing the potential of folding parking enforcement into a new Department of Public Safety, he added.

JCPA Chair Michael Holloway did not return a phone call requesting comment, but JCPA attorney John Young said he wasn't aware of the city's push to bring the JCPA back under city control.

"I haven't been involved in any discussion. No one's asked me to look at how it's supposed to be done," Young said.

Fulop, a Healy adversary, noted that Paretti ran on the mayor's ticket in the 2005 city election.

"Once again, it is look what Healy does and not what he says," Fulop said. "He talks about consolidation of the JCPA in the State of the City (address), and now pretends to not know when contracts are approved."

Full JJ piece?.

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


Buy the JJ..it is full of crime stories like the above.