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Re: Rich Boggiano for Jersey City Council At Large
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Just can't stay away
 
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Thanks Rich, good stuff.
Posted on: 2011/10/15 0:23
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Re: Rich Boggiano for Jersey City Council At Large
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Home away from home
 
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I seem to recall the only thing preventing a residency requirement is the union contract. Cops tend to point to the contract like it was something handed down from heaven not something they demanded. When I asked a Captain once why 1/5 of the force was on vacation all summer, the highest crime season, he replied "it's in the contract" like it was a natural phenomena.
Posted on: 2011/10/14 22:08
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Re: Rich Boggiano for Jersey City Council At Large
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More like this please. My personal perception is that the cops union views the city and its government only as a paycheck with no interest in making the place better. If a substantial number of JCPD members live here, that might change. I know their are state laws and court cases that limit what can be done, but find ways to do it.
Posted on: 2011/10/14 19:43
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Re: Rich Boggiano for Jersey City Council At Large
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jsqfunk - All great questions. Here are some answers for you.
1. Jersey City's financial situation is that we're in a mess in both the short and long term. Over the past 20-30 years, our politicians have used every one-time accounting gimmick in the book when creating our Jersey City's budget. We're now in a position of essentially borrowing from the future to pay today's operating expenses. Jersey City has an upcoming pension balloon payment of about $50 million from unpaid police, fire, and public employees pension contributions since 2009. Obviously some of that has to do with the recession of the last few years, but the city was in trouble long before the financial crisis made it impossible to hide the problems any longer. There is no single magic fix for our budget problems. I've already listed many of my ideas in earlier posts, but here are some more: a. Revisit contracts allowing for accumulation of sick time. The city is borrowing $9.5 million to pay for this liability this year alone when we have an $80 million budget gap. b. Eliminate redundant city and county agencies. Merge agencies - DPW and JCIA should produce about $10 million/year in savings. c. Ban city employees from holding multiple government positions. We have people who are employees of both the city and county. Where does their loyalty lie if they're collecting 2, 3, or 4 separate paychecks? Are they really working 2, 3, or 4 times as hard as the rest of us? Probably not. d. I said this earlier and I said it again in tonight's debate: I will only accept a $1/year salary as a city councilman. I also wouldn't accept a city car for my position, which is another complete waste of money. Why are we paying for city employees to commute down the shore everyday? 2a. Business experience: Over the years as a police officer I bought and maintained a number of apartment buildings in Jersey City with the help of several partners. I sold off the properties that I had in the early 2000s and haven't bought any again because the economics haven't made sense (go figure since we had a housing bubble). 2b. We have an insane number of regulations that serve little or no purpose, restrict business, and aren't evenly enforced anyway. It's safe to say that it's likely impossible to actually start a business in Jersey City without breaking the law first. We have useless fees justifying useless jobs all in the name of protecting the public, but the real reason is so that your elected politicians can have a form of control over business owners in the city. I'm not anti-government, but I do think that government should exist to provide basic services and protect people. Jersey City hasn't had a government like that since Frank Hague was elected 90 years ago. 3. The short answer is yes, I support using tax incentives to lure business to Jersey City on the condition that they actually benefit the city. For example, Goya is being offered $80 million in state incentives to relocate a facility in Jersey City. In theory it will create several hundred jobs, but if they are closing down a facility in NYC to place it in Jersey City how many of the NY employees are simply going to commute to Jersey City to keep their jobs? If that happens, NJ will have given away $80 million without "creating" as many jobs as advertised. Instead, the incentive should stipulate that Goya has to create a certain number of jobs in Jersey City or in NJ (depending on who is paying for the incentive) in order to earn their tax break. 4. JC Police "on the beat." I was actually a beat cop in the South District back in the 1980's. In times past we had hundreds more cops than we do today. The police force has been 20-50% larger than it's current size at various times in the past. Police work is inherently labor intensive. With fewer cops covering the same area the JCPD is forced to put every warm body into patrol cars to maximize the flexibility of their resources. Knowing that adding 400 more cops is not realistic when the city faces an $80 million budget deficit I'd propose an alternative. Right now, Jersey City cops have to be Jersey City residents when they are hired. After they graduate from the Police Academy they can move out of the city after their first year on the job. About two-thirds move out of the city because they want to send their children to better schools. If we have 800 cops on the JCPD I'd say about 250 currently live in the city. Imagine if you had 650 more cops simply living in the city? Over the past 40 years I've done countless things off-duty that make Jersey City a better place - rushing into a burning building a few houses down from me, breaking up fights, and simply being a 24-7 crime deterrent in my neighborhood. Rather than hire 400 new cops why not explore ways to encourage more of our current police force to continue living in the city? Extend the mandatory requirement to live in the city for new hires? Offer a bonus to existing cops? I'd rather have 800 cops living in the city 24-7 than 1000 cops who are only in the city during their shift. 5 & 6. I think that both of these answers are the same. On the whole, I think that the Journal Square redevelopment plan is sound. We need mixed use development interwoven with a livable/walkable/bikeable community. Journal Square used to be the center of the city until the PATH complex was built that destroyed the area, but we know what is possible and there's no reason we shouldn't be moving in that direction. 7. The biggest problem Jersey City faces is low participation from registered voters in elections. Too many people have given up hope that anything will ever change in Jersey City. This is a special election in an off-year, so we're likely to see well less than 10,000 people come out to vote. It could be as low as 3,000-4,000. That's 1-3% of the city's population and 2-5% of the registered voters in the city. The good news is that a small group of motivated people can upset the apple cart. So please, tell your friends and family to vote on November 8th.
Posted on: 2011/10/14 4:01
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Re: Rich Boggiano for Jersey City Council At Large
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Paulushooker -
I loved much about the JSQ redevelopment plan, except that some of the planning seemed to stop at the borders of Journal Square, especially when it came to the sewer system. I'm no civil engineer, but it seems pretty simple to me that if you add thousands of housing units and massive buildings on the top of a hill all of that sewage is going to flow downhill. I've lived about 4 blocks downhill from Journal Square across from St Joseph's Church for over 30 years now. In the first 25 years I never once had a problem with flooding. In the past five years my basement has flooded three times. While part of that may be bad luck on my part, much of it has to do with the fact that large portions of our 100+ year old sewer system are failing. Many of the people in my neighborhood had similar concerns, especially given our city's history of making lopsided bargains with developers. So, I did what I've always done and raised my voice to shine some light on the matter and will continue to do so until my neighborhood's concerns are addressed. Stay tuned.
Posted on: 2011/10/14 3:14
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Re: Rich Boggiano for Jersey City Council At Large
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Rich
Thanks for answering questions in such an open manner. Here are mine: First a caveat, for the financial questions I don't expect someone not already on the City Council to have a complete understanding of all the numbers, so feel free to state your opinion / best guess. 1. This week the capital of Pennsylvania filed for bankruptcy. a. What is JC's financial situation as of today? What does it look like in the short term and long term future? b. Are the pensions that city tax payers are responsible for fully funded? If not what kind of catch up payments need to be made? If a lot of money is needed in the short-term where do you propose to cut (or tax) to raise the money. 2. Long time readers of JClist have followed the trials and tribulations of various businesses trying to navigate the permitting processes required to open a business in JC. a. Do you have any experience in the private sector? b. What specific changes can be made to make JC more "business friendly?" 3. Should JC use tax credits or other enticements to lure big corporations to the city. 4. After living in JC for about 10 years, I have never seen a police office "walk the beat" (I live near Journal Sq.) Is this kind of policing impossible given the current staffing levels of the JCPD? 5. If money (and time) was not a consideration what would you do with the empty space next to the Journal Square path station. 6. In the real world, what kind of project would you promote in the empty space next to the Journal Square path station. 7. What is the biggest problem JC faces that the City Council cannot address?
Posted on: 2011/10/14 2:36
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Re: Rich Boggiano for Jersey City Council At Large
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Rich,
What was your beef with the redevelopment plan of Journal Square?
Posted on: 2011/10/13 23:08
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Re: Rich Boggiano for Jersey City Council At Large
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Earlier I (asdfdf23) wrote:
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After reflection I going to take back my concession on sales tax. I remembered that JC has numerous UEZ zones which collect a 3.5% sales tax that all goes to the city. Therefore JC has significant sales tax revenue as does NYC. Beyond that I promise not to post any more about tax issues in a thread that is supposed to be about a candidate.
Posted on: 2011/10/13 23:03
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Re: Rich Boggiano for Jersey City Council At Large
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Actually they are explicitly subsidizing small residential properties with the commercial tax base. You can have a million dollar townhouse paying less than 1% of it's value in tax. Once you go over 4 units the rate skyrockets. We do the reverse, giving tax breaks to commercial properties and sticking it to the residents. http://www.commongroundnyc.org/nicemess.htm
Posted on: 2011/10/13 21:31
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Re: Rich Boggiano for Jersey City Council At Large
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Binky,
I concede the point about NYC income and sales taxes. That is relevant. Not sure how the much larger tax bases figures in, they also have proportionately more people and area to serve so that cancels out I would think. As a property owner (as opposed to a renter) I much prefer the NYC system. Most important, I would say that compared to NYC, JC lacks in transparency and honesty in government. Yes, I know NYC is far from ideal, but if JC was managed as well I am sure our property values, schools, streets and overall quality of life would be much higher than present. Best!
Posted on: 2011/10/13 21:17
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Re: Rich Boggiano for Jersey City Council At Large
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I agree with you in general, but I have to point out that NYC has a MUCH larger tax base, particularly commercial. And a city sales and income tax. That makes a property in Brooklyn worth much more than a comparable one in JC. Quote:
Would that that were true.
Posted on: 2011/10/13 19:56
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Re: Rich Boggiano for Jersey City Council At Large
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asdfdf23 - I've been fighting this fight for 30 years and haven't compromised my principles yet. Ask any member of the Hilltop Neighborhood or any of the hundreds or thousands of people I've helped over the years.
As a show of my intentions, I will only accept a salary of $1/year for my work as a city council member. I will also refuse all of the other perks that our elected officials tend to lavish on themselves. I'm running for office because I want to fix Jersey City, not for personal gain. I wish I could say the same for everyone else in this race. Last, nothing will change in Jersey City without good people going to the polls and voting. The reason our current mayor and council have so little credibility is because they were elected with the votes of a few percent (low single digits) of the city's total population. I think North Korea gets a higher voter turnout than Jersey City. So please, tell your family and friends to go to the polls on November 8th. If they can't get out of work that day have them fill out an absentee ballot before the October 18th deadline. If someone doesn't vote they lose their right to complain about all of the things wrong with this city.
Posted on: 2011/10/13 19:35
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Re: Rich Boggiano for Jersey City Council At Large
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How sad the above is so true. I sometimes wonder what percentage our taxes could go down with a transparent and well run countywide government that did away with all the political borders and fiefdoms. On a personal note my wife and I have a couple of NYC properties. The amount of taxes we pay on Queens properties based on the home value is literally less than 1/2 the cost of JC. And I would rate the government services received from NYC as substantially better than JC. Anybody on this forum want to defend paying 2x more for substandard services?????????? Mr Boggiano, you say the right things. I hope you are true to your word. If we can get 3 or 4 more non HCDO people on the council perhaps some more headway could be made. It is painful to watch JC and Hudson County needlessly suffer with such inept and corrupt local politics and politicians.
Posted on: 2011/10/13 19:01
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Re: Rich Boggiano for Jersey City Council At Large
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Thanks Brewster. Every vote counts, so please tell your friends and let them know I'm happy to answer their questions as well.
As for merging county services, I agree that it would be an uphill battle, but it's been done before albeit on a smaller scale with the North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue. These kinds of changes could take years, but this is the first time in a very long time I've felt that the tide is shifting against the cabal currently running Jersey City & Hudson County. If Jersey City tips in favor of transparency in the next election or two, we could all be surprised how quickly the intractable problems of today simply go away. The real question is if we're going to get enough voter turnout to counter the dead bodies the HCDO will probably roll into polling stations on Nov 8th. It's very hard to enact change unless people leave their houses and vote for it. Rich
Posted on: 2011/10/13 16:05
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Re: Rich Boggiano for Jersey City Council At Large
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OK Rich, you've convinced me you're capable of getting granular on issues. And Althea's vote counts for a lot. No doubt only a couple of your opponents have a serious grasp of the nuts and bolts of this machine we call JC. But I would pick #3 personally.
I don't know what to say about a countywide consolidation, it seems unlikely. It would take a plebiscite, and even then you'd have a hard time getting people to prefer tax savings to the "parochial pride" that would be drummed up to oppose it. Entrenched economic interests opposing change is one of the greatest obstacles this country faces, whether it's consolidating the 566 NJ municipalities or restructuring healthcare. There's no reason Hudson County shouldn't act as a single city of 600k, but if we can't even consolidate the JCIA & Public Works...
Posted on: 2011/10/13 15:11
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Re: Rich Boggiano for Jersey City Council At Large
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Thank you Althea. I can't say how much I appreciate your support and enthusiasm.
Brewster - To answer your question on the JCPA. The agency has about 100 employees. The top 10 salaries are responsible for about 25% of the ~$4+ million budget. Below are my comments on the JCPA vs JCPD: 1. The leadership structure of the JCPA is top heavy and bloated in comparison to it's size and budget. 2. The above numbers do not include the annual sexual harassment settlements ($300,000 this year and counting). 3. The average non-executive salary in the JCPA is about $35,000. Cheaper than a cop? Yes. To your comment about the JCPD being overburdened and unresponsive, I can guarantee you that if you were being robbed the traffic agent down the block wouldn't do anything about it. When I was first hired there were 1276 active cops in Jersey City. Today we're down to a little over 800. With so few police for a city this large it's no surprise response times for all but the most serious crimes are so slow. It's also why so many residents don't even bother reporting crimes, which only makes matters worse because politicians can claim that crime is going down. Right now we're spending $4 million to collect about $8 million each year from tickets issued. That's a horribly inefficient form of taxation. The purpose of the JCPA shouldn't be to provide revenue for the city. it should be to make sure that parking is fairly enforced. Otherwise, we should hire 500 traffic agents at their $35,000/year salary and make sure they all wrote tickets for an amount $35,001 or greater. Bottom line is that you have an agency that is both bloated and ineffective. To think of it another way, the residents of Jersey City are paying $8 million a year to get minimally effective traffic enforcement. I'd far rather see cops doing that job and doing it effectively while also providing greater coverage to respond to emergencies in the city. 4. Even if you wanted to keep the traffic agents at their current salaries (instead of cops), I see no reason why they shouldn't be rolled up under the leadership of any other city agency simply to eliminate the useless and bloated overhead at the top. I think that the JCPD would be the most logical place to put those folks. 5. You may say that my time as a cop means that I'm biased in favor of the JCPD, but I guarantee that my argument for county-wide consolidation of police services would not be popular in any of the 12 different departments in Hudson County, especially not in the JCPD. Fortunately, I've been around long enough that even when I say something unpopular most people know that I'm saying it because I believe it's right and not because I stand to benefit. Last, thanks to the sold out crowd of supporters who came to my fundraiser last night at the Powerhouse Lounge.
Posted on: 2011/10/13 11:51
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Re: Rich Boggiano for Jersey City Council At Large
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+1 So far I've liked everything I've seen and read about Rich.
Posted on: 2011/10/13 5:46
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Re: Rich Boggiano for Jersey City Council At Large
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Brewster - If you want someone who can put their money where their mouth is and not be all talk then Rich is a very strong candidate. He doesn't email, he will sometimes call, but most of the time he shows up in person at City Hall to demand things. He's at most of the meetings and is not beholden to anyone.
He outstrips me when it comes to getting action. Getting the stinky smelly trash trains from stopping on the tracks underneath the Journal Square neighborhoods when those at city hall said there is little you can do because it is Conrail's tracks and it is governed by an interstate agency was the point at which I knew he is more than capable of cutting through the bull and getting things done that are so basic that you'd think they were a no-brainer. He did this in one after noon while I had been trying for months and only coming up against walls. I like Rich's humble and direct honesty. I like that he works with many groups and people on issues throughout the city and is open minded enough to take criticism and then judge the best approach. I'm impressed. Rich has my vote. The Hilltop neighborhood is a very strong and vocal one that owes a lot to Rich's leadership. Fight the good fight Rich because I know no matter what the outcome you will continue to hold everyone's feet to the flame.
Posted on: 2011/10/13 3:19
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soshin: Mention guns and bd pops up through a hole in the ground like a heavily armed meercat
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Re: Rich Boggiano for Jersey City Council At Large
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That's better detail. Thank you. I'd love to discuss it all, but to stay with the one example, the proposal for eliminating the JCPA needs to be supported with actual numbers that prove that somehow the JCPD would be more cost effective and productive enforcers of parking than the JCPA. Otherwise it simply looks like an ex-cop trying to expand the PD's turf. No one who has ever called the JCPD and had to wait a long time would think they need more responsibilities to distract them from crime, and adding expensive cops to write parking tickets seems crazy on the face of it. I don't mean to harass you, just trying to make the point that we've been too long fed the "I'll solve all your problems, just elect me!" We need to hold candidate's feet to the fire and ask for more than platitudes, and there's no place better to start than local. Who doesn't remember a candidate that mocked "fuzzy math" and then gave us the biggest national deficit in history?
Posted on: 2011/10/13 1:12
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Re: Rich Boggiano for Jersey City Council At Large
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MDM - You raise a good point.
Whether controlled by the city or contracted out, the point of government is to protect its people and provide basic services. Instead, Jersey City residents have gotten the worst of both worlds where they no longer control an essential portion of the city's infrastructure, but it's still run as inefficiently as when the city ran the show.
Posted on: 2011/10/12 20:28
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Re: Rich Boggiano for Jersey City Council At Large
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5. Take the water department from United Water. Water bills have skyrocketed since turning that agency over. Long story short, residents are paying much more for the same service they were getting before.
--------------------------------------- Not sure if that is a good idea. JC didn't do such a great job of running its own water department. Contracting out is not a bad idea and has worked for many cities. However, the water department wasn't privatized to make it run better. It was done to monetize its assets. Water rates went up because we are basically paying United Water rent instead of paying them to efficiently run the water system. Basically this was a backdoor tax increase. Jersey City is however, lucky enough to have its own reservoirs.
Posted on: 2011/10/12 19:09
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Re: Rich Boggiano for Jersey City Council At Large
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Brewster - Thanks for your feedback and questions. I speak with Steve Fulop all of the time - We share a number of the same ideas about how to fix the city government. With respect to my ability to enact change, I've been doing that for 30 years as the President of the Hilltop Neighborhood Organization. It's always been an uphill battle exposing corruption & patronage and doing what's right, but I'm certainly not new to that fight.
To give you some concrete examples, here are measures that I support for eliminating redundant services in Jersey City/Hudson County: 1. Move the Jersey City Incinerator Authority into the Department of Public Works. This will save more than $10 million per year in waste. 2. Eliminate the Jersey City Parking Authority. I don't disagree that a traffic agent is cheaper than a cop, but the issue is that agency is way too top heavy with zero accountability. The top salary for the JCPA is $115,000/year. Add to that all of the benefits, take-home cars, etc., and you have an autonomous agency that runs a deficit while also having no effective parking plan for the city. 3. We need to stop the county government from expanding its footprint within Jersey City. I fought the county from buying the Block Drug property. Now we have a large piece of property the city no longer collects property taxes on. Currently the county wants to buy the Provident Building on Bergen Ave which I am also fighting. If they move through with the purchase, you're not only paying for the county to buy private private property and renovate a building, but you're also losing out on property taxes because they're not giving up any of their other real estate. Nothing has changed to necessitate such an expansion of county government. 4. I think Jersey City should merge its police and fire departments with other municipalities in Hudson County. Right now we have 12 fire chiefs, 12 police chiefs, and 12 departments with massive redundancies between them. I was a cop for 37 years, so I'm confident saying that we could streamline those top heavy leadership structures, put more cops on the street, and end up with more effective services for our residents than what they currently get. Our police and fire departments combined consume more than one third of the city's budget. This proposal would face a lot of resistance from entrenched interests, but these county-wide inefficiencies are a big reason why county-wide property taxes are also so high. 5. Take the water department from United Water. Water bills have skyrocketed since turning that agency over. Long story short, residents are paying much more for the same service they were getting before.
Posted on: 2011/10/12 19:03
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Re: Rich Boggiano for Jersey City Council At Large
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Rich, you sound like a thoughtful guy. But frankly, I'm getting a little tired of bright people who can give great analysis of what's wrong (and I'm speaking of national issues too now) but are short of practical concrete proposals. One of the things many of us admire about Councilman Fulop is his willingness to actually try and enact change, even if it's tilting at windmills given the councils current makeup, because it turns a bright light on our government and who's for change and who's for the status quo.
What specific legislative changes would you propose if you were elected? Ex: pointing out there's fat and inefficiency in our govt is easy. How would you excise it? The alphabet of autonomous agencies like the JCPA, JCIA and the MUA are created to limit accountability and control. It's easy to say that the JCPA is bloated and ineffective, but paying cops to do what a traffic agent with far less expensive training, benefits and salary can do is obviously not the answer. What specifically would you present to the council to make the JCPA the cash source such agencies are in most cities? We need leaders, not more flunkies, on the council. Impress us that's you're serious about making change happen, and you'll get votes.
Posted on: 2011/10/12 17:44
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Re: Rich Boggiano for Jersey City Council At Large
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These are all great questions. Some people may not agree with my answers, but if nothing else please trust that I understand the complexity of these issues and I approach all of our city's problems with integrity and an open mind. My answers are below. Please keep your questions coming.
- Raising local property tax to fund municipal government? I am against raising property taxes. Period. There is far too much waste and corruption in our city and county governments that needs to be wrung out to free up funding for our city government. Jersey City has among the highest property taxes in the nation and less to show for it than municipalities that collect a fraction of our revenue on a per capita basis. Fix the duplication of services, eliminate useless jobs, require competitive bidding for 100% of city projects and publish the results of every bid received by the city. These are the kinds of things that Jersey City needs to focus on ? not raising property taxes on an already burdened population. Extending existing and new PILOTS/tax abatements to promote inward JC investment? Tax abatements aren't inherently good or bad. What is far more important is how they are used. In the case of Jersey City, I do think that some tax abatements are necessary to stimulate development and bring business to the city. At the same time, the abatements have to make sense for the people of Jersey City. Everywhere else in the country such abatements are tied to a company's performance (how many local jobs they create, etc). If the company upholds its promise it gets a break on taxes for doing good things for the city. At the same time, if the company fails to perform, their abatement should be withheld or rescinded. JC policies to limit pensions and healthcare benefits to those that have served the City for a pre-defined period (say 20-25 years)? I don't think anyone should be eligible for a pension until they have served the city for at least 25 years. I became a Jersey City Police Officer in 1973 with a salary of $11,000 and a promise that I would be able to collect a pension and health benefits after 25 years of service. I continued to serve Jersey City until I hit the mandatory retirement age and was forced to retire (I was fortunate to have a job that I loved so much). Thousands of police, firefighters, and teachers have signed up for different versions of the same bargain. Do I think I earned my pension benefits? Absolutely. Do I think we need to look at reworking the structure of our system so that it's sustainable into the future? Also true. The fact of the matter is that the world has changed a lot since 1973. Health care costs continue to climb at an unsustainable rate, making good faith promises from years past look like short sighted gimmicks in retrospect. Limits on unused sick days for public workers such as use them or lose them? The private sector has had a use or lose policy for sick leave for as long as I can remember. Rather than have public workers stockpile sick days for a doomsday scenario I would rather purchase long and short term disability insurance for them. So, if someone needs to go out sick for an extended period because of cancer or a heart attack they won't have to worry about losing their income. At the same time, the city would be relieved a very large liability. It's important to keep in mind that this kind of change will take time as there are various contracts that have been signed in the past and those would need to be honored until they can modified when those contracts come up for renegotiation. Still, there is no time like the present to start making such changes. - Stance on public employee pensions in general. Can the City still afford them the way they stand? The biggest threat to public employee pensions is health care. The reason why the average person in either the public or private sector hasn't seen much of a wage increase in the last 10 years is because rising health care costs have consumed most or all of the money that would normally be used for that purpose. I think that public employee pensions are sustainable if we are smart about how we handle the health care issue. There are smart ways to keep health care costs in line, but there is so much distrust between our public employees and city government that the situation has been treated as a zero-sum-gain until now. - Stance on JC balancing the budget. What measures would you support? There is a massive duplication of services in Jersey City and Hudson County. For example, when I first moved to the city there was no Parking Authority ? cops were responsible for writing parking tickets. We've basically added an entire department to the city with an entire leadership team and all of the fat salaries, office space, and equipment that come along with those positions. Also, why isn't there more collaboration between police and fire departments in the county? Years ago Hoboken didn't have a police force and was patrolled by Jersey City PD. Now they have their own department with a chief, etc. I could go on and on with examples like these. I know that there are entrenched interests that resist change, but I think that we need to rethink the way that we do business in this city and county and with that will come a balanced budget, reduced property taxes, and improved quality of service. Will you try to put an end to pay to play? I've worked to shine a light on corruption in Hudson County for the last 30 years. As President of the Hilltop Neighborhood Association, I fought the Waldo Rail Yards back in the 1980s (if you've never heard of the Waldo Yards it's because we won that fight). More recently, I've rallied my neighbors from Journal Square and the Heights to make sure their voices are heard as the redevelopment of Journal Square begins. Unlike many of our elected officials, I've never tried to benefit financially from any of my relationships in the city. Since retiring from the police department, I continue to volunteer my time as the liaison between the State Department, US Military Academy at West Point, the Jersey City Police Department, and a number of ethnic communities throughout Jersey City for the Winning the Peace Program. Over the last decades that program has exposed hundreds of West Point cadets to ethnic groups they'll likely face again as officers serving overseas. I do it because I'm happy to serve my city and country, not for money.
Posted on: 2011/10/12 15:56
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Re: Rich Boggiano for Jersey City Council At Large
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Home away from home
Joined:
2006/11/27 12:04 Last Login : 2016/7/1 9:09 From Southern JC
Group:
Registered Users
Posts:
1205
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Will you try to put an end to pay to.play?
Posted on: 2011/10/12 3:21
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Re: Rich Boggiano for Jersey City Council At Large
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Home away from home
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Hey Rich.
Where do you stand on the following issues: - Raising local property tax to fund municipal government? - Extending existing and new PILOTS/tax abatements to promote inward JC investment? - JC policies to limit pensions and healthcare benefits to those that have served the City for a pre-defined period (say 20-25 years)? - Limits on unused sick days for public workers such as use them or lose them? - Stance on public employee pensions in general. Can the City still afford them the way they stand? - Stance on JC balancing the budget. What measures would you support? I'm sure JCLISTers have plenty of other questions for you :)
Posted on: 2011/10/12 1:51
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Re: Rich Boggiano for Jersey City Council At Large
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Just can't stay away
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Hi everyone, this is Rich Boggiano. I just wanted to thank all of you for your support and I hope to earn your vote on November 8th.
I wanted to offer myself to answer any questions that you might have about my candidacy or where I stand on any of the challenges facing our city today. So, if you have anything you'd like to know please post your questions here and I will respond for everyone's benefit. Last, I invite you to visit my website at http://jcboggiano.com/ Thanks again everyone! Rich
Posted on: 2011/10/12 1:12
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Re: Rich Boggiano for Jersey City Council At Large
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Home away from home
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Quote:
Mr. Boggiano is the real deal. I grew up in the Hilltop area and residents could rely on Mr. Boggiano to bring quality of life issues to the attention of the police hierarchy and city hall. Long before the good government movement began to gain some traction with the election of Fulop and the grassroots efforts of Dan Levin, Mr. Boggiano was fighting the good fight. He was a good cop and is the "go to" person in the Hilltop area. Semper Fidelis.
Posted on: 2011/10/11 1:24
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Re: Rich Boggiano for Jersey City Council At Large
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Home away from home
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Richard Boggiano ought to be one of the top 5 writers in the opinion section of the Jersey Journal. I've read at least one article a week from Rich. He seems to address many issues that are on the minds of the residents. Being involved in the community and his block association (as president) shows his concerns are sincere. He's got my vote. Good luck Rich !
Posted on: 2011/10/11 0:08
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Re: Rich Boggiano for Jersey City Council At Large
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Not too shy to talk
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I don't think Jersey City's problems are the fault of the unions - look at the corruption and total lack of accountability within the non-union parts of the city government. Richie does what's right - regardless of whose toes he has to step on. He was the only one who stood up to the developers trying to redo journal square because there was little in it for the surrounding neighborhoods except for more flooded basements from overloading the sewer system even further than it already is.
Posted on: 2011/10/10 23:43
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