You can also look at this
http://www.americanlibrariesmagazine. ... e-americas-libraries-2011

Especially interesting pp 4-8 Library Funding. How libraries are easy targets for budget cuts by state on local legislators (pg.5) because of mistaken beliefs! Also contains some interesting statistics.

Don't forget to show up at City Hall on Wednesday at 6pm.
Remember to call to speak on behalf of the library

I checked the hours here
http://www.jclibrary.org/libinfo/hours.php
and it looks like every branch has one night a week open til 8pm EXCEPT PAVONIA (my branch.)

Yeah, I think that I heard that the return boxes are problematic, fires, vandalism and other mischief.

I just picked up a flyer that said that the Jersey City Public Library is facing $800,000 in budget cuts.

This would mean:
- closing branches
-laying off staff
-termination of the Bookmobile program
-no computer access for teens, seniors, and the unemployed
-no new books

The flyer asked interested supporters to call the City Clerk at 201-547-5150 to go on the speakers list for the next City Council Meeting, April 13, 2011, at 6pm at 280 Grove Street.

Suggested talking points:
Why do you oppose Jersey City Public Library budget cuts?
Why is the Jersey Public Library important to you?

Oh by the way, next week is NATIONAL LIBRARY WEEK.
Way to go Jersey City.

Monday, April 4, 2011
4 PM
Walter Dean Myers ( A Jersey City Resident!)
(Award winning children's and young adult author)
New Jersey City University
2039 Kennedy Boulevard
Jersey City NJ 07305
Gothic Lounge (Hepburn Building, Room 202)
Author Talk, Book signing.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011
5-7 PM
Yvonne Thornton
(Author of The Ditchdigger's Daughters and Something to Prove)
New Jersey City University
2039 Kennedy Boulevard
Jersey City NJ 07305
Gothic Lounge (Hepburn Building, Room 202)
Author Talk, Book signing

ALL EVENTS ARE FREE

Does anyone know what the outcome was, after the last City Council meeting?
Have the buildings been landmarked?

Quote:

Reminder
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
5-7 PM
Tonya Bolden
(Award winning children's and young adult author of biographies, history books and historical fiction)
New Jersey City University
2039 Kennedy Boulevard
Jersey City NJ 07305
Gothic Lounge (Hepburn Building, Room 202)
Author Talk, Book signing.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011
5-7 PM
Tonya Bolden
(Award winning children's and young adult author of biographies, history books and historical fiction)
New Jersey City University
2039 Kennedy Boulevard
Jersey City NJ 07305
Gothic Lounge (Hepburn Building, Room 202)
Author Talk, Book signing.

Monday, April 4, 2011
3-5 PM
Walter Dean Myers ( A Jersey City Resident!)
(Award winning children's and young adult author)
New Jersey City University
2039 Kennedy Boulevard
Jersey City NJ 07305
Gothic Lounge (Hepburn Building, Room 202)
Author Talk, Book signing.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011
5-7 PM
Yvonne Thornton
(Author of The Ditchdigger's Daughter and Something to Prove)
New Jersey City University
2039 Kennedy Boulevard
Jersey City NJ 07305
Gothic Lounge (Hepburn Building, Room 202)
Author Talk, Book signing

ALL EVENTS ARE FREE

Thank you Steve for looking out not only for residents of your constituency but for all the residents of Jersey City.
Thank you for keeping us in the loop with things that may adversely affect us in the future.

Quote:

Try
Instyle Hair Studio
353 Grove St
Jersey City, NJ 07302
201-839-5780

Both Lucy and Consuelo are good.

WEBMASTER: The threading and waxing threads SHOULD NOT be combined.

And one more thing on the value of libraries and our own Jersey City Public Library!:

The Jersey City Public Library will be featured on the TV show ?Who Do You Think You Are? The staff in the library?s the NJ Room had been researching genealogical information for an unknown patron. They were surprised when Rosie O?Donnell walked in to see what they had discovered about her family. The episode will be shown on Friday, Feb. 18 on NBC.

This Bob Braun column appeared Sunday in the Star Ledger- It raises some points that have been touched on above and raises a few troubling concerns about poverty, class and disparity in educational access.

Hope I am not violating copyright
http://blog.nj.com/njv_bob_braun/2011 ... tics_compare_charter.html

Bob Braun: Calculating the difference in charter schools
Published: Sunday, January 23, 2011, 7:08 PM Updated: Sunday, January 23, 2011, 7:09 PM
By Bob Braun/Star-Ledger Columnist


TRENTON ? It?s New Jersey School Choice Week. Gov. Chris Christie signed a proclamation encouraging all citizens to ?join the movement for educational reform.?

Or, at least, his brand of reform, one that includes cutting $1 billion from traditional public schools while spending taxpayer money on independent schools that have somehow failed to enroll New Jersey?s neediest children, those with handicaps, language problems, and very low income.

In the last few days, the governor issued a study that purported to show charters ?outperforming? traditional schools, approved 23 more charters, proposed laws making it easier to create the independent but publicly funded schools, and hired an organization run by Geoffrey Canada, the champion of New York charter schools, to try his magic in Paterson.

Some critics argue state studies comparing scores of charter schools with their home districts were not scientific and unbiased and, if they showed anything, proved test score averages can be improved by not enrolling children who don?t do well on standardized tests.

?If the children are compared honestly, there is no significant statistical difference between the performance of students in charter schools and those in traditional public schools,? says Bruce Baker, a Rutgers researcher and, incidentally, a charter school advocate.

Charter schools enroll far fewer children with handicaps than conventional schools, far fewer non-English-speaking, and far fewer who are so poor they qualify for free lunches.


The latest available state records show: In Asbury Park, 21.9 percent of students have special needs; charter school enrollment is only 9.8 percent special education. In Camden, special education enrollment is 21.8 percent; its charter schools have an average 6 percent special enrollment. Hoboken, 16.2 percent for public schools, 14.5 percent for charters. Jersey City, 13.8 percent of all students, 10.7 percent in charters. Newark, 19.7 in public schools, 5.5 percent in charters. Paterson, 15.4 percent versus 4.2. Trenton, 19.7 percent versus 15 percent.

Records on non-English-speaking are spotty but, where they exist, disparities are wider.

The state report comparing charters to their home districts did not exclude classified or limited-English-speaking pupils. It did not factor in the very poor. A second report, requested by this newspaper, corrected some problems but did not consider income levels.

Traditional schools did better in the second report. More public schools outscored charters than in the first and the differences between them narrowed. Alan Guenther, spokesman for the state education department, says the reports were ?virtually the same.?

But neither he nor anyone at the governor?s office would answer the question why the charters enroll so few special needs students and what, if anything, the state intends to do about the disparities. Acting Commissioner Christopher Cerf declined to be interviewed.

Charters have very little impact on most people in New Jersey. The state has 591 school districts, but charters exist in only 22 ? all but four in cities. The state has 4,385 traditional schools and 68 charters. Public schools enroll 1.38 million children; charters, 22,000.

In cities, however, the impact of charters ? as presently run ? could be segregation based on intellectual ability, language skill and income. Test scores are less important than what it will do to traditional public schools in the cities.

?There?s obviously something wrong with the process,? says Peter Carter, the outgoing Hoboken superintendent and former Essex County schools chief. ?The charters should reflect the communities they serve but they don?t.?

Julia Sass Rubin of Princeton, a charter school parent and spokeswoman for SOS-NJ, a public school advocacy group, says charters are ?creaming the population and leaving the most expensive and difficult to educate students in traditional schools.?

This increases the cost of public education, she says, and weakens traditional schools.


?Special needs parents don?t apply because they accurately don?t think they can get the needed services,? she says. Rubin also says poor and non-English speaking parents ?are too busy surviving and may not even know about charters ? and the schools don?t go after them.?

Bruno Tedeschi, a spokesman for the New Jersey Charter School Association, doesn?t deny disparities exist but insists charters do not deliberately exclude the poorest students.

?If critics have evidence that charter schools are violating the law regarding enrollment, they should report it to the proper authorities,? he says.

Deliberate or not, the effect is the same. Diane Ravitch, an educational historian at NYU who has studied charters throughout the country, says conservative politicians like Christie ?are telling parents they should go charters to get away from the losers? ? the children who don?t learn easily and must stay in public schools because charters don?t want them.
?Charter schools feel they are in a competitive marketplace and will do what they can to enroll the best students and keep out the least-performing,? Ravitch says.

I've been to this in past years at JC Museum- really good.

Is there parking?

I found more info at the web site
http://www.nyadff.org/JerseyCity_11.html

7TH ANNUAL AFRICAN DIASPORA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL- JERSEY CITY - JAN 14-16, 2011

FRIDAY, JAN 14

6PM Opening Night Reception

7PM
WHITE BOY BROWN
Jersey City Premiere
Armed with only a very important letter, Curtis Brown, a young black man embarks on the most difficult journey of his life, a journey that will force him to confront his own demons of hatred and prejudice, while rediscovering a love, long lost for his adopted white brother Johnny. Through a series of flashbacks and stories, Curtis learns of the life of a brother he once knew, a life of a brother who, although being white, experienced the same racism he himself experienced, ultimately binding the two together. USA, 2009, 88 min, drama, English, Sean Sawyer dir.
Q&A WITH DIRECTOR AFTER THE SCREENING.

SATURDAY, JAN 15 @ 3PM

NO TIME TO DIE
Jersey City Premiere
A hearse driver meets and falls in love with a young, beautiful dancer who is planning an elaborate homegoing celebration for her mother. This comedy follows the hearse driver as he does everything to win the affection of the young woman. Ghana/West Germany, 2006, 95 minutes, Comedy (English), King Ampaw, Director

SATURDAY, JAN 15 @ 5PM

SHADOWS OF THE LYNCHING TREE
Jersey City Premiere
The shrouded history of lynching in America is the subject of a powerful new documentary from producer/director Carvin Eison. During the late 19th and much of the 20th century, countless numbers of African-Americans were murdered at the end of a rope. In the age of Obama, have we reconciled this misshapen history or does its legacy live on? ?Let sleeping dogs lie?? is a way of saying leave that certain thing alone, it could hurt you. Shadows of the Lynching Tree kicks the sleeping dog and awakens a troublesome past. The dog is awake, will we finally confront the beast or does it return to an uneasy slumber?? USA, 2009, 60 minutes, Documentary (English), Carvin Eison, Director
Q&A WITH DIRECTOR AFTER THE SCREENING.


SATURDAY, JAN 15 @ 7PM

YOUSSOU N'DOUR: RETURN TO GOREE
A musical road movie, Youssou N'Dour: Return to Gor?e follows Senegalese singer Youssou N'Dour's historical journey tracing the trail left by slaves and the jazz music they created. Youssou N'Dour's challenge is to bring back to Africa a jazz repertoire of his own songs to perform a concert in Gor?e, the island that today symbolizes the slave trade and stands to honor its victims. Senegal/Switzerland/Luxembourg, 2006, 108 minutes, Musical Documentary (English and French with English subtitles), Pierre-Yves Borgeaud, Director

SUNDAY, JAN 16 @ 3:00PM

AFRICAN LEADERS PROGRAM

FRANTZ FANON: HIS LIFE, HIS STRUGGLE, HIS WORK
Jersey City Premiere
Frantz Fanon was a psychiatrist, originally from Martinique, who became a spokesman for the Algerian revolution against French colonialism. Embittered by his experience with racism in the French Army, he gravitated to radical politics, Sartrean existentialism and the philosophy of black consciousness known as negritude. His 1952 book, Black Skin, White Masks, offers a penetrating analysis of racism and of the ways in which it is internalized by its victims. While secretly aiding the rebels of the Algerian anti-colonial war as a doctor in Algeria, Fanon cared for victims and perpetrators alike, producing case notes that shed invaluable light on the psychic traumas of colonial war. Expelled from Algeria in 1956, Fanon moved to Tunis where he wrote for El Moudjahid, the rebel newspaper, founded Africa's first psychiatric clinic, and wrote several influential books on decolonization. The film traces the short and intense life of one of the great thinkers of the 20th century. Martinique/France/Algeria/Tunisia, 2001, 52 minutes, Documentary (French with English subtitles), Cheikh Djemai, Director

Followed by
AMILCAR CABRAL
Jersey City Premiere
Amilcar Cabral was the leader of the Liberation Movement of Cape Verde and Guinea Bissau and the founder of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde (PAIGC). He was born in Guinea in 1924 and assassinated in Conakry in 1973. Regarded as a true icon of African history, this documentary provides considerable background to this revolutionary giant and reveals Cabral in several dimensions: as a man, a father, politician, humanist and poet. The documentary is skillfully produced and uses a wealth of rare archive footage, balanced inclusion of varied testimonies of important African personalities and the credible recreation of notable episodes of Cabral's life. Cape Verde/Portugal, 2001, 52 minutes, Historical Documentary (Portuguese with English subtitles), Ana Ramos Lisboa, Director


SUNDAY, JAN 16 @ 5PM

ALEIJADINHO: PASSION, GLORY AND TORMENT
Set in 19th century Brazil at a time when slavery was still at the foundation of the Latin American economy, this fascinating historical drama is loosely based on the life of sculptor Antonio Francisco Lisboa ("Aleijadinho"), one of Latin America?s greatest sculptors. Brazil, 2001, 100 minutes, Drama (Portuguese with English subtitles), Geraldo Santos Pereira, Director

Screening followed by a DVD launch reception: Come celebrate with us the launching of the 2-DVD set:
RACE AND HISTORY IN BRAZIL.

TICKETS: $15 Opening Night (includes
_________ reception)
$9 Regular per film
$7 Seniors/Students per film
$35 Weekend Pass
$20 Saturday all day
$15 Sunday all day

WHERE:__St. Paul's Episcopal Church
38 Duncan Avenue
(201) 332-6824
SECURE YOUR SEAT TODAY!
CLICK HERE http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=214587TO BUY TICKETS ONLINE

We only accept CASH at the door.

DVDs of films from Africa and the African Diaspora will be on sale at the theater. $15 per DVD; $25 for 2 DVD; $30 for three DVD and $10 for each additional DVD. Cash only.

Look at this
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF ... source=embed&ll=40.714151,-74.051542&spn=0.013207,0.029955&t=h&z=14


Check the website
http://nogaspipeline.org/the-danger

Then Call Governor Christie
Call Governor Christie's office at (609) 292-6000.

(With the Mayor announcing that he intends to seek Intervenor standing at FERC, it is time to shift gears to the state and federal level!)

Demand the Governor Intervene @ FERC!
Suggested script:

My name is ______ and I live in Jersey City. Please demand the Attorney General intervene at FERC to stop the natural gas pipeline, proposed to run through Jersey City, Only intervenors can overturn a FERC ruling through the Federal Courts.

Mayor Healy has declared to seek Intervenor standing. We ask the Governor to demand our New Jersey Attorney General declare to seek intervenor legal standing with FERC before upcoming deadlines are announced.

Call Governor Christie's office at (609) 292-6000.

This is scary stuff!

Or brosjh since we are now in the 21st century you could go to the JCPL website http://www.jclibrary.org/
Click the link for QandA NJ (list on lower right hand side) and get a librarian to help you find it 24 hours a day-7days a week in one of the library's online databases http://www.jclibrary.org/resource/online.php
All you need is your library card number to access databases


Quote:

So were Comcast customers the only ones in JC without cable or Internet service all morning or were Verizon FIOS and VERIZON DSL customers affected too? Mine was out from @8am to 12:15pm.

There are fellow sufferers in Queens
See this link
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2010/11/1 ... ant-smelly-trees-removed/

Quotes:
?The stench is horrible ? it?s like a combination of dog excrement and vomit,? Foertsch said. ?It?s a nauseating smell.?

Years ago, the city planted six female ginkgo biloba trees along Langdale Street. The trees drop a bumper crop of fruit each fall.

?The fruit is pretty repulsive,? said Fred Gerber, an expert at Queens Botanical Garden.

Gerber said that?s why the females shouldn?t be planted in residential areas.

?Usually they?re planted by mistake, and of course the males don?t have any fruit, so those are the ones you usually see on the street,? Gerber said

CALL THE VOTER HOTLINE TO REPORT

ANY PROBLEMS

1-800-792-VOTE (8683

Well said DanL
I'm with you on this issue!
MAKE OUR PARKS

Does anybody understand what the Public Question that we will be voting on means?
PUBLIC QUESTION #1
CONSTITUTIONALAMENDMENT TO DEDICATE ASSESSMENTS ON WAGES BY THE STATE TO THE PAYMENT OF EMPLOYEE BENEFITS
Shall the amendment to Article VIII, Section II of the State Constitution, agreed to by the Legislature, which: prohibits collection by the State of assessments based solely on employee wages and salaries
for any purpose other than providing employee benefits; dedicates all employer and employee contributions collected for any employee benefit fund, and all returns on investments of those contributions, to the purpose of that fund; and prohibits any transferring, borrowing, appropriating or using of those contributions or returns for any other purpose, be approved?

INTERPRETIVE STATEMENT
This proposed constitutional amendment prohibits the collection by the State of assessments based on employee wages and salaries for any purpose except paying employee benefits (or making other employee-authorized
or federally required payments, in the case of the Stateʼs own employees), dedicates all contributions made to the unemployment compensation fund, the State disability benefits fund, or any other employee benefit fund, and
all returns on investments of those contributions, to the purpose of that fund, and prohibits the use of those contributions or returns for any other purpose. The requirements of this proposed amendment do not apply to the gross income tax, which is exclusively dedicated by the Constitution to the purpose of reducing or offsetting local property taxes.

Boiled Mussels,
They are also centers of information, instruction and entertainment for the community. I think a city the size of Jersey City should have many more branches.

Visit your neighborhood library and see what they offer! And see how many people are using them. You'll be happy you did.
Quote:

Boiled Mussels

When was the last time you were in a library or looked at a library catalog?

The JCPL has computers and internet connections-used very heavily for students for research and especially the unemployed in job-hunting.

Check out the JCPL Digital Catalog- you can download audiobooks and other media to your iPod, or e-books to your computer or http://jclibrary.lib.overdrive.com/B4 ... FE6/10/491/en/Default.htm Sony Book Reader

You can access online databases like Medline and PubMed and many others (in English and Spanish)from their website using your library card http://www.jclibrary.org/resource/online.php

The JCPL also provides literacy help as well as being a repository for historic documents, providing a venue for movies, meetings and cultural events.

Check out the website http://www.jclibrary.org/index.php
and join the rest of us in the 21st century .

A public library is SOOOOOOO Much more than books.

SPEAK OUT
Send an email or call and demand that libraries be kept open! Please note that Fulop, Richardson and Donnelly spoke up at the Council Meeting on behalf of restoring funding to the library,

Office of the Mayor
City Hall - 280 Grove Street
Jersey City, New Jersey 07302
Tel: (201) 547-5200Fax: (201) 547-4288/5442
Mayor Jerramiah Healy
emailto: HealyMayorHealy@jcnj.org


Council President Peter Brennan
City Hall, 280 Grove Street
Room 202
Jersey City, NJ 07302
Tel: (201) 547-5319Fax: (201) 547-4678
email: BrennanP@jcnj.org


Councilwoman-at-Large Willie Flood
City Hall, 280 Grove Street
Room 202
Jersey City, NJ 07302
Tel: (201) 547-5134Fax: (201) 547-4678
email: FloodW@jcnj.org


Ward A (Greenville) Councilman Michael Sottolano
City Hall, 280 Grove Street
Room 206
Jersey City, NJ 07302
Tel: (201) 547-5098 Fax: (201) 547-4678
email: SottolanoM@jcnj.org


Ward B (West Side)Councilman David Donnelly
City Hall, 280 Grove Street
Room 202
Jersey City, NJ 07302
Tel: (201) 547-5092 Fax: (201) 547-4678
email: DonnellyD@jcnj.org


Ward C (Journal Square) Councilwoman Nidia Lopez
City Hall, 280 Grove Street
Room 202
Jersey City, NJ 07302
Tel: (201) 547-5159 Fax: (201) 547-4678
email: NLopez@jcnj.org


Ward D (The Heights) Councilman William Gaughan
City Hall, 280 Grove Street
Room 202
Jersey City, NJ 07302
Tel: (201) 547-5485Fax: (201) 547-4678
email: bgaughan@hcnj.us


Ward E (Downtown) Councilman Steven Fulop
City Hall, 280 Grove Street
Room 202
Jersey City, NJ 07302
Tel: (201) 547-5315Fax: (201) 547-4678 (fax)
email: FulopS@jcnj.org


Ward F (Bergen/Lafayette) CouncilwomanViola Richardson
City Hall, 280 Grove Street
Room 207
Jersey City, NJ 07302
Tel: (201) 547-5338Fax: (201) 547-4678
email: RichardsonV@jcnj.org

Today's JJ Daily Poll is: Are Jersey City and Bayonne officials overreacting to the pipeline explosion in California?
Published: Tuesday, September 14, 2010, 5:52 AM

Go to
http://www.nj.com/hudson/voices/index ... _are_jersey_city_and.html
to vote

When the expert "architect" who was called to give his professional opinion about the Embankment recounted his previous projects, I got shivers. One was the Sugar House, which has been plagued with horrific water intrusion problems, another was the robotic parking garage in Hoboken, which is always breaking down.

Wouldn't a better witness have been a civil/enviromental engineer, who could have judged the design and structural integrity of the Embankment as a 19th/ 20th century public work, and also could have told us what the environmental impact of removing a century of industrial debris would have on our community?

Did anyone stay to the end? I would like to know what happened after I left at about 7:30pm.

Also use this site
http://www.ehso.com/find_a_recycling_center.php

according to the information here
http://www.ehso.com/ehsoext911.php?wh ... replace%3EGo%3C%2FSPAN%3E

Staples and Goodwill ( 2815 Kennedy Boulevard ) recycle/ accept computer donations.

Instyle phone number is 201-839-5780. Met the new owner Consuelo. As posted before Lucy is still there.

Quote:

+1
Yes, please post the schedule and any additional meeting info on jclist.
Thanks

the agenda will be found here
http://www.cityofjerseycity.com/agenda.aspx?id=1268
when it is ready

Quote:

Maybe if the Community Center that was supposed to be built at 9th street had not been turned into the Golden Door Charter School, teens may have had somewhere to safely hang out with activities and supervision, and we might have not had that eruption at the mall today.

But, I guess our new Commisioner of Education, Brett Schundler, on whose watch community center funds were used to create a charter school around the corner from Cordero School knew best.

Just had to get my 2cents in.

At the CNN site, people can search for missing persons or upload pictures of people they are looking for by filing an ireport
Link:
http://www.ireport.com/ir-topic-stori ... a?topicId=381628&start=12