i looked into them when i was looking for a dentist but didn't find a great deal of satisfying info. my recommendation is:

John Vitale, DMD - General Dentist
24 Chapel Ave
Jersey City, NJ 07305
Ph: 201-521-980

take the $1.50 bus from grove path and it drops you off right there and back. state of the art equipment and a really nice and informative staff...i would highly recommend plus they will work with any insurance carrier

i hope they don't re open. i would rather someone bought the place and turn it into a store/restaurant that is useful.
who knows they could have burned the place down to collect the insurance, i never saw the place with many customers.

Dear LHS Supporters:

Thank you for all your recent action around the request to remove Joe Frank from his position.
The Mayor?s Office and City Council were bombarded with your emails, faxes and phone calls. If you
have not had a chance to contact them yet, please do so as it will continue to make a difference.
Your efforts thus far have generated a much-awaited response. Corporation Counsel will meet this
Friday, February 10th to address this matter. In addition, LHS was granted a meeting with the
Mayor?s Chief of Staff on February 16th. These are direct results of all your recent support and
would not have been possible with your involvement.

Finally, the question about Joe Frank?s removal will be raised at the City Council meeting tonight
(Wednesday, February 08, 2006) at 7 pm. The meeting will be held on the 2nd floor of City Hall
(280 Grove Street). Please attend the meeting to show your support for the shelter.

With sincere gratitude,
Liberty Humane Society

sorry, i confirmed the meet and greet it is today. Please note the clarification to date: on TUESDAY, February 7th, 2006, please call, email and fax the Mayor and your Council representative.

volunteer information

http://libertyhumane.org/index.php?mo ... leid=4&cntnt01returnid=31

please help if you can

?This has made my life hell. I suffer from insomnia and chronic anxiety. I never know when the
next attack will come or what form it will take. Every time I see an Animal Control van I get a
knot in my stomach and I wonder, what is he going to do to me this time??

This is how Liberty Humane Society shelter manager Niki Dawson describes life at the shelter. Who
is she talking about? Jersey City Chief Animal Control Officer Joe Frank.

I?m writing to you today because we at LHS need your help. Most of you are aware of the problems
caused by Joe Frank, Chief ACO for the City of Jersey City. What you probably don?t know, is how
bad things have gotten.

Joe harasses Niki and sabotages LHS at every turn. He does whatever he can to impede our progress
and burden us with nonsense work. He ignores the contract we have with the City and does whatever
he wants, with no consequences. But what Joe loves to do more than anything, is use his law
enforcement authority to bully us. Over the past 3 years, Joe has threatened to file charges against
Niki and/or have her certification revoked 12 times. At least twice, Niki?s had to endure an
investigation from the SPCA because o Joe filed a bogus complaint with them, including one time when
the SPCA agent actually pulled his gun on her! (Both investigations decided Joe?s complaint was
meritless.) In the past year, Joe has threatened three other LHS employees with charges. He
actually did charge one LHS staff member with ?creating a public nuisance,? only to be forced to admit in
court that there was no odor in her home, only slight ?clutter.? The staff operates in a constant
state
of fear that if they don't do things Joe's way, one of them will be next. This is no way to
operate!

But I haven?t even told you the worst of it.

On October 27, Joe finally made good on his threats and filed animal cruelty charges against Niki.
Under New Jersey law, a conviction would have resulted in Niki?s certification being revoked,
meaning she would never be able to work in this field again. Her career with animals would have been
over. Thankfully, the prosecutor saw that the case had no merit and dismissed the charges on
January 10. But for three months, Niki had to go through the shame and embarrassment of wondering
what people would think if they found out, and the anxiety over not knowing whether her career with
animals might soon be over.

Why is Joe so bent on getting rid of us? We don?t have to wonder ? he?s perfectly up front about
it. Here?s the deal: When the shelter opened in 2002, Joe became the temporary shelter manager,
but was replaced after only 5 months by Niki. Bitter over having been replaced, Joe launched a
campaign of harassment against Niki to force her out of the job. His campaign continues to this
day. You see, , it seems Joe feels stuck in a dead-end job as Animal Control Officer, a job he has
held for 30 years. He saw the shelter manager's job as a way out. In Joe?s view, Niki and LHS
took the shelter manager?s job away from him, and now he will stop at nothing to force LHS out of the
management contract so that he can assume the management of the shelter for the City.


This ordeal is getting to us. It has made the daily lives of Niki and the shelter staff at times
unbearable. Imagine having to deal with the usual stress of getting 60+ cages clean, responding
to health emergencies, medicating sick animals, trying to find foster homes, arranging for
transport to the vet and to rescue, answering the phone (which rings constantly), making difficult
decisions about euthanasia, helping the public with pet-related emergencies ? now imagine doing all that,
every day, while knowing there?s a guy constantly coming up with ways to undermine you, trash your
reputation, and destroy your good work.

That?s what our staff goes through every day.

Think about this --- last year we spent 3 out of every 5 work days last year dealing with Joe?s
nonsense. We?ve put the City on notice of his attacks and threats and other disruptive tactics 74
times in the past 3 years. They never do anything more than give him a slap on the wrist. No one
takes this seriously because ?it?s just animals.? Joe is left to do whatever he wants. He
operates without any oversight whatsoever.

Dealing with Joe?s constant attacks and interference with our work also wastes our time and our
money. We?ve had to hire lawyers, investigators, etc. just to defend ourselves. Our precious
resources are diverted away from the animals to deflect his attacks. Here?s what we haven?t been able
to focus on because so much of our time is taken up with dealing with Joe?s hostility:

--Raise money for the new shelter
--Expand our spay/neuter program
--Offer basic obedience training to our dogs to make them more adoptable
--Improve/expand the volunteer program
--Raise more money for shelter programs (in particular for an outside exercise area and a new
transport van)
--Hire a vet so spay/neuter can be done in house (saves us money)

Our progress on getting the new shelter built has also been delayed because we spend so much time
on this.

This cannot go on.

The LHS has called on Mayor Healy to remove Joe Frank from his position as Animal Control Officer.
In a letter dated November 1, LHS President Laura Moss writes,

His abuse of office and official misconduct have been documented by our organization for over
three years. We have had enough of this harassment and need the City to replace him with a more
competent, cooperative and reasonable Animal Control Officer.

Moreover, after repeated incidents occurring over the life of LHS?s contract with the City, it has
become apparent that Joe Frank is not willing to work with our organization or abide by the terms
of our agreement with the City. His persistent hostile actions towards our group and our staff,
his repeated refusal to cooperate, and his adamant denial to provide us with even basic information,
has precluded the City from fulfilling its obligations to the LHS, and has hampered our ability to
fulfill our commitment to the City in regards to our contract.

Therefore, the Board of Directors of Liberty Humane Society request that Joe Frank be removed from
his position as Chief Animal Control Officer of Jersey City.

To date, we have not heard back from Mayor Healy regarding this request. We have also met with
Health & Human Services Director Harry Melendez and Corporation Counsel (the City?s lawyer) about
this issue. Nothing.

Don?t misunderstand ? City officials agree that Joe?s actions are intolerable and something needs
to be done about it. They just don?t do anything.

In order to get the City, and the Mayor to take action, we need your help.

We need you to call, email and fax the Mayor on Wednesday, February 7. We also ask that you
contact your Council representative as well. (If you don?t know who your Council rep, is, email us
with your address and we?ll let you know.) There are two phone numbers for each rep below.

A sample letter/script follows below with contact info. I will also be on hand at the Volunteer
Meet & Greet (February 7, The Merchant, 279 Grove Street, JC, 7:00 pm ? 9:00 pm) to talk about
further action items and our overall strategy. Please help us. Enough is enough!

Diana Jeffrey
LHS Treasurer and Past President



Sample letter/script:

Letter ? Dear Mayor Healy,
I am a supporter/volunteer of Liberty Humane Society. I was distressed to learn that Joe Frank
recently charged shelter manager Niki Dawson with animal cruelty. While the charges were dismissed,
this kind of abuse of power should not be tolerated. I understand that he has been trying to
undermine the Liberty Humane Society for years. He does not respect the contract between the LHS and
the City, and it is clear he will not stop his abuse voluntarily. Therefore, I ask that you grant
the LHS?s request that Joe Frank be removed from his position as Animal Control Officer.

Sincerely,

Phone call Script:

I am calling to request that Mayor Healy honor the Liberty Humane Society?s request that Joe Frank
be removed as Animal Control Officer. I understand that he has been trying to undermine the
Liberty Humane Society for years, that he does not respect the contract between the LHS and the City,
and that he won?t stop voluntarily. The LHS has requested he be removed from this position and I
would like the Mayor to honor that request. Thank you.

Mayor?s contact information:
Email: MayorHealy@jcnj.org
Fax: (201) 547 ? 4288 (or 5442)
Phone: (201) 547 ? 5500

Council fax number: (201) 547-4678

Mariano Vega, Jr.Council President
(201) 547-5268 (201) 547-5458
Willie FloodCouncilwoman-at-Large
(201) 547-5134 (201) 547-5108
Peter BrennanCouncilman-at-Large
(201) 547-5319 (201) 547-5363
Michael SottolanoWard A Councilman
(201) 547-5098 (201) 547-5060
Mary SpinelloWard B Councilwoman
(201) 547-5092 (201) 547-5101
Steve LipskiWard C Councilman
(201) 547-5159 (201) 547-5172
William GaughanWard D Councilman
(201) 547-5485 (201) 547-6817
Steven FulopWard E Councilman
(201) 547-5315 (201) 547-5283
Viola RichardsonWard F Councilwoman
(201) 547-5338 (201) 547-5361

it's obvious that jersey city has a drainage and sewer problem..you can smell it in different areas of downtown when you are walking around. how can the city deny this

from what i have heard flooding is a big problem in jersey city because the drainage system is old and always getting backed up