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LOL! From you, that accusation is an honorific.

Also Yun the same year Rich won. And Ward E will have a candidate not on a ticket this year regardless of who wins.

In 2005 Fulop won his seat without running on a ticket as well.

Yeah, you often Jonesed for that place! Wonder what the rent was and will be.

EC, with respect to my role in the campaign, I have publicly supported Rebecca. I'm not in the inner circle, though I've attended canvassing trainings, strategy meetings, and GOTV rallies.

I will say that I've never seen Bertoli at any of these. I'm not saying he has not offered his help in some way. Maybe he has some Svengali-like behind the scenes role but it's really not how that campaign is being run. The people doing the heavy lifting on the campaign like Alex and Anne, are all public about their roles.

Rebecca did well by the waterfront because her campaign has worked very hard to outreach to voters all across the ward. In Liberty Harbor she had a concerted effort to have residents in each building contact their neighbors to get out the vote.

James is being supported by one Weichert Realtor who has bragged to me about her ability to get entry to the large buildings, basically what you are accusing Bertoli of doing (which he did not do in my building or my neighborhood). But SHHHHHH! He's not supposed to have support from the "real estate industry."

First of all, I post under my real name and have always made clear my position and where I stand. Second, I've answered your question. Rebecca has said that, for one year, she will work full time as a councilwoman. $35K is around what she was making in prior jobs.

I have never seen ANY candidate asked to document their proposed budget and living expenses in the future.

From what I understand, that's about what she earned working full time at Housing Conservation Coordinators and government.

Lots of people do, in fact, make around $35K. I hope we are not reaching a point where we say the Ward E councilperson has to be independently wealthy or work in a high paying job while they do their council duties part time.

So now we are at the point where she is suspect if she doesn't earn lots of money, and she is also suspect because, for a brief period of time, she worked in the private sector and made more money.

Honestly, the whole Dixon conspiracy has run its course in this campaign. I assume Solomon has been able to establish his niche with it, and there are those who view Rebecca through its lens no matter how irrational. Trying to come up with new permutations of it at this point will not convince anyone. The people who repeat variations of this are just trying to justify it to themselves.

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Perhaps you can post under a real name.

Habib is not exactly on the in with Fulop these days.

"Good Friends!" Hey, it worked for Senator Menendez!

I'm KIDDING! I'm KIDDING! To be clear, I am NOT implying that James is receiving contributions and other favors to get young models to the U.S. on student visas!

If there is no Stroock contribution on the ELEC then I will say that was my mistake.

In the meantime, I am trying to figure out the quid pro quo for Rebecca (an allegation of illegal conduct). Given that the Mayor has STILL not endorsed her (to the frustration of many in the Symes campaign, I suspect) he has an awful funny way of showing the "quo."

I do think that there is an element of sexism in SOME of the comments related to Rebecca. I also think that, depending on how runoffs go, we have a potential to have only one woman on the council, and that is not a healthy state of affairs. Having said that, I don't think it is appropriate to reflexively call sexism on any criticism of a female candidate. I also think Rebecca has been assiduous in not raising gender as an issue.

She was featured by Senator Gillibrand as to women willing to get #offthesidelines and run for office.

For what it's worth, Stroock, Stroock and Lavan is a huge law firm in NYC. They do all sorts of corporate work imaginable, including some of the largest development projects in NYC, like Essex Crossing. Attorneys at Stroock have also contributed to James's campaign.

Does that mean James is beholden to the real estate developers? Or that even worse, he is giving a "kickback" of business for campaign contributions, i.e. pay to play? Of course not. But that is the logic that is being used to demean his opponent.

Ok, so if Mr.Rogers is Tom Bertoli. Who is "jcvoter"?

Neighborhood Associations will not formally endorse.

I know people involved in the various downtown groups and they come down on different sides in this one.

It's a real dogfight, for sure!

Especially after the reval. And because no other states allow it, the state can set rates at near confiscatory levels and still expect NYCers to hop on the PATH train to shop.

Though I suspect like most of the revenue generated in Jersey City, it would all be gobbled up by the state while it complains the city isn't doing enough to pay for schools from property taxes.

Well, I know a certain resident of Ward B who is an attorney and will be quite happy to help Ms. Prinz-Arey with the count.

Revenge is best served cold.

I am supporting John, but I will say Rich sometimes gets a bad rap. He does work with the administration when he sees fit. I'm not saying that the objections are just for show, but I do see Boggiano as different from Yun, who is more steadfast in his opposition.

To clarify. Jacob criticized Rebecca for using her proposal to replace the role of neighborhood associations.

Personally, I feel that neighborhood associations are as good as the residents that participate in them. I certainly found going to VVPA meetings highly beneficial in learning about the community. There were the occasional cranks who dominated a meeting but generally they were good people, even if I disagreed with some viewpoints expressed. I met most of my elected officials for the first time through these meetings as well as the police departments representative (though that was replaced by larger "captain's meetings" a while back). I briefly helped form one in the Liberty Harbor neighborhood, where the residents all wanted development. After all, everyone was moving into a neighborhood that was being built up from scratch.

The law provides for community input formally at the meetings themselves. I think many people are disillusioned with that because the feeling is decisions have been made behind closed doors well before the public hearing. I do think we can improve public input without allowing NIMBYs (or, at the other end, developer shills) to take over the process.

I think there needs to be some community input into the development process while also recognizing that residents do not have a NIMBY veto.

As the OP point out, state law, specifically the Municipal Land Use Law, governs the procedures by which development occurs. A developer has to obtain approval from the necessary boards, most notably the planning board, and sometimes the city council for things such as redevelopment plans. Those meetings provide for public input.

In Jersey City, there is at least an unofficial policy, predating Fulop, where if there is any perceived opposition, the Planning Board will tell the developer to meet with the community, usually through the established neighborhood association, to see if they can address such concerns. In some cases, that process leads to agreed on changes. In other cases, the developer holds firm. Sometimes that means a developer will receive approval for their plans over loud community objection because they have a right to it. The microunit development on Bright Street is a good example of that, although the city buckled down and had to be forced to approve through litigation because VVPA was so adamant in fighting it.

In other cases, if the developer doesn't have a right and needs a variance or something else, they may lose. VVPA successfully fought off a license for a sidewalk cafe and restaurant also on Bright because it wasn't required by zoning, and the owner inexplicably refused the offer to table their proposal pending a meeting with VVPA.

Some developers are more proactive and seek community input earlier. The Silvermans do this a lot and had a productive relationship with neighborhood groups, to the criticism of some residents who felt the relationship was too cozy.

To the extent Rebecca wants to create formal Community Boards or something similar, that have binding authority to approve or deny plans, that is not consistent with the MLUL and will require changes to the law from Trenton. To the extent she wants to increase the level of community input and do more of it up front, it can be done to some extent though likely not through an ordinance.

Note, I support Rebecca, but don't speak for her or the campaign on this point. I think that the criticisms of the policy from the OP, as well as from Jacob Hudnut during the campaign, have some validity and require that she recalibrate and refine her proposal.

These are reasonable, substantive questions that show how a discussion platform can be used to educate and improve politics. They are bereft of personal attacks or insinuations.

I fear for the future of this forum.....

Whatever you do. Do NOT tell Yvonne about Danica Roem....

I also have footage of the mayor on the campaign trail yesterday.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxL8bVJhXCM&t=39s

I think that's the Akil/Sullivan tape they were trying to keep from him.....

Yvonne's just bitter because she missed the victory party. Here, I have highlights for you.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubamvmURQf0

Maybe I should have known that.

But I didn't.

Do you know why?

Because that award was given in 2016, 7 years AFTER I was president of the JCLC, and 6 years after I stepped down from the board as per mandatory term limits.

I didn't even go to that awards ceremony due to a family commitment.

But I am still on the Advisory Council, so I could see how you perceive that. Do you know who else is on the Advisory Council? Solomon supporter Daniel Levin. So why is James Solomon seeking support from an individual affiliated with JCLC which apparently now is all part of the grand scheme of things to buy an election for Rebecca Symes. Must be that he's bought as well......

The Billy video was a lame attempt at an October surprise. It tries to connect anyone involved with "real estate" back to a developer. that allegedly has some Svengali like control over Rebecca. It was like the silly last minute mailing to the residents of Liberty Harbor saying stuff like "Rebecca rents her headquarters from a company owned by Peter Mocco. Peter Mocco is the developer and landlord for Liberty Harbor. Peter Mocco makes you subscribe to really lame cable service. So Rebecca is in cahoots with Mocco to deprive you of cable service."

Rebecca still carried Liberty Harbor last night.

Answer: Yes.

These two go mano a mano next month.

By the way, I don't have a problem with this. I like his legal work and the firm that he formed after he left corporation counsel's office. I am friendly with Bill and we've had several conversations in the campaign, and we plan to sit down for coffee afterwards. If he wins, I will congratulate him and ask him what we can do to make the city better. If he loses, I would like to talk about our respective law practices and the joys and pitfalls of running your own business.

"He worked at Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer, alongside professionals the likes of, Anne S. Babineau who is heralded as ?the go-to person in Redevelopment Law? http://www.wilentz.com/anne-s-babineau . "

ROTFLMAO! And how many people supporting Matsikoudis criticized Symes for her involvement in real estate?

Really? Based on my walk through the various precincts for Fulop, I saw more Solomon boots on the ground than Symes for sure. Symes may have had some more paid hands. But that's $10.00/hour for each kid. It's not a huge part of a campaign budget.

I wasn't counting mailings from the candidates, but my impression was James sent out more literature.

Presumably he is saving some money for the runoff.

Rather than edit I am going to modify my statement above. Saying the State DOE wanted Lyles all along is too strong a statement. When it came down to her and the other finalists, she was the clearly expressed preference of the state. If the state could have installed someone by fiat it probably would have been someone else. But commissioner Cerf knew Lyles, was comfortable with her, and was not shy in having the board know that, particularly if they wanted to take the next steps toward local control.