There are multiple additional ways we can demonstrate our dissatisfaction with the Mayor, the members of the City Council, and the current political power structure of the City. One of them is to come to the meeting and show our numbers.

Another alternative is to call the Mayor and members of the City Council every day and demand that they resign, lower taxes, provide better service, take a pay cut, etc.

Name, contact information to the Mayor and the members of the council are

Mayor Jerramiah Healy
MayorHealy@jcnj.org
Tel: (201) 547-5200
Fax: (201) 547-4288/5442

Council President Peter Brennan
BrennanP@jcnj.org
Tel: (201) 547-5319
Fax: (201) 547-4678
Robert Noakes, Council Aide
NoakesR@jcnj.org
Tel: (201) 547-5363

Councilwoman-at-Large Willie Flood
Tel: (201) 547-5134
Fax: (201) 547-4678
FloodW@jcnj.org
Annie Jenkins, Council Aide
Tel: (201) 547-5108

Councilman-at-Large Mariano Vega, Jr.
Tel: (201) 547-5268
mariano@jcnj.org
Hilario Nu?ez, Council Aide
Tel: (201) 547-5458
hnunez@jcnj.org

Ward A (Greenville) Councilman Michael Sottolano
Tel: (201) 547-5098
SottolanoM@jcnj.org
Robert Rybinski, Council Aide
Tel: (201) 547-5060
RybinskiR@jcnj.org

Ward B (West Side) Councilman David Donnelly
Tel: (201) 547-5092
DonnellyD@jcnj.om
Khemraj "Chico" Ramchal, Council Aide
Tel: (201) 547-5101
DonnellyD@jcnj.org

Ward C (Journal Square) Councilwoman Nidia Lopez
Tel: (201) 547-5159
NLopez@jcnj.org
Kerry Jicha, Council Aide

Ward D (The Heights) Councilman William Gaughan
Tel: (201) 547-5485
bgaughan@hcnj.us
Bridget Gaughan, Council Aide
Tel: (201) 547-6817

Ward E (Downtown) Councilman Steven Fulop
Tel: (201) 547-5315
FulopS@jcnj.org
Pam Andes, Council Aide
Tel: (201) 547-5315
pandes@jcnj.org

Ward F (Bergen/Lafayette) Councilwoman Viola Richardson
Tel: (201) 547-5338
RichardsonV@jcnj.org
Lorenzo Richardson, Council Aide
Tel: (201) 547-5361

If you have a moment during your day, spend a minute and call any of them to tell how negatively these proposed tax increases are affecting you and your family. They need to hear our voices and they need to start listening to our ideas.

BE THERE ON THE 10th!

It is up to 1.606 on the internet.

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/s ... ey-city-tax-increase.html

Spread the word!

And sign the petition.

Quote:
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,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
???????????????????????????????????????????????
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Hope the above helps.

Quote:
Quote:Many appreciate stream of consciousness and consider it a legitimate art form. You, sir, you elevate it to a new plateau.

The final count is closer to 2,100.

Although we have sent it to the governor's office, you can still sign it. In fact, I was talking with a friend yesterday who did not even know about the pending tax increase, and for her the potential effects can be significant. The tax increases information has not been widely shared and those outside of the online communities may not have been made aware of the potentially devastating impact this unprecedented tax increase may have on the community.

Sadly, what seems to be missing from the discussion are the collateral effects - the impact of this significant tax increase on renters and tenants. Given that Jersey City has more renters then owners, the pain will soon be shared by tenants. Not necessarily through increased rents, since the market cannot bear that, but rather that maintenance will be delayed and all repairs may not be done as quickly as tenants have become accustomed to.

You can still sign the petition and if you need paper petitions to circulate among friends, neighbors, and others, send me a message.

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/s ... ey-city-tax-increase.html

The final tally on the on-line petition is 1,557.

I still do not know what the final count is as there are paper petitions, and there are volunteers at the council meeting asking for additional signatures.

So there is still the opportunity to sign.

I am very excited about the turn-out and the response. Certainly, in a city where there has been a voter apathy for long, seeing such a great response from all parts of the city (not only in the Downtown area, but also from the Heights, West Side, Greenville, Lafayette, etc) makes it clear to me and others actively working on the petition that the anger, disappointment, and frustration is felt everywhere.

We are now in the process of sending the petition to governor Christie and hope for the best.

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/s ... ey-city-tax-increase.html

Quote:

I understand your concern. When you sign the petition, you have the option to select your name to be displayed publicly or not; if you wish, you can select the cloak of anonymity. Many have done that and it is understandable. However, the actual information will be available to those who are organizing the petition, so in the final format, it will list names.

Furthermore, the current count displayed on the website, and shared on jclist, excludes the number of signatories on the paper petitions that volunteers have been circulating in the city. They have been very effective and raised several hundred additional signatures.

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/s ... ey-city-tax-increase.html

Every signature makes a difference.

Quote:
In April 2009, for the Board of Education, there were 15,500 voters. http://www.hudsoncountyclerk.org/elections/090421.htm
With 2,000 votes, you got elected.

There are roughly 120,000 registered voters in the city; the election participation is very low. In the last general election, 32% of the registered voters voted.

Quote:Yes, agreed. Do you want to help?

1499 we only need 1 more ...

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/s ... ey-city-tax-increase.html

to bring it to 1,500!

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/s ... ey-city-tax-increase.html

ask your friends, neighbors, frenemies, everyone .... even mayor healy

we only need 63 more signatures .... we can do it!

and thanks to everyone who has signed!

The current count is 1313 ...


Can we make 1500 by the council meeting on Wednesday night?

We only need 187 more signatures ...

Your help is essential to make the city listen to us and reconsider the tax increase.

So if you know anyone who has not signed yet, or is not aware of the tax increases, make sure that you send them the link so that they can sign

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/s ... ey-city-tax-increase.html

Right now, there are 1,028 signatures on the petition. Thank you to everyone who has signed and shared the petition.

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/s ... ey-city-tax-increase.html

Good analysis: the budget raises a lot of unanswerable questions. There must be other ways to balance the budget than those token actions that city hall and mayor propose. This entitlement that the municipal unions have become accustomed to must end. There are thousands of private employees who have seen salary freezes, cuts and loss of jobs in the last two years. Why is that so that the unions cannot take the right step and offer wage and other concessions as many others have had to do?

By the way, the petition is the 10 most active petition on www.gopetitiion.com!

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/s ... ey-city-tax-increase.html

Quote:

The petition is up to 974 right after 6 pm this evening. At 1:25 pm, it was 924; so in almost 5 hours, 50 people signed the appeal. http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/s ... ey-city-tax-increase.html Even if you are a renter, you should sign the petition, because the potential tax increase may increase your rent, or your landlord might delay maintenance. So, this tax appeal is not a homeowner - landlord problem: this is a problem that impacts everyone living in Jersey City: from Greenville to the Heights. And it does not matter whether you rent or own, and do not listen to whatever people tell you: this proposed tax increase will hurt you financially. Quote: There is a thread somewhere on JCLIST that discusses the process and how to get through. The advice therein is excellent.

this was awesome ... it is certainly worth watching ...

This is how Harrisburg, PA is dealing with the unbalanced municipal budget ...

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61D27C20100214

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001 ... d=WSJ_Markets_LEFTTopNews

http://www.benzinga.com/124856/harris ... ou-ve-got-bankruptcy-next

they are threating to default and potentially declare bankruptcy, which could force some of the municipal unions to offer wage concessions ....

the petition is up to 899 signatures ... let's try to get it up to 1,000 ....

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/s ... ey-city-tax-increase.html

Quote: In one word: inbreeding.

http://images.google.com/images?rlz=1 ... &resnum=4&ved=0CCQQsAQwAw

Why didn't you take any pictures and post them here? It would be nice to have a hall of shame.

If these guys would not benefit from the pleasure and protection offered by tenure, they would have shown up. This is why public service trade unions - such as the teachers' union - are one of the biggest problems.

There are a lot of teachers out there, and many are very dedicated to education and students, but tenure provides perverse incentives, and these incentives are perpetuated through the unions. I am not attacking them, nor questioning their professionalism. I am simply making a point that the protection public service unions have gained compared to the lack of employment protection in the private sector, leads to odd incentives.

For full disclosure, in my previous life, I had the pleasure of spending several years in academia, in a tenurable position, where the perverse and costly effects of tenure were evident.

Thanks for the bump.

Up to 859 now, so anyone who has not signed yet, should do that.

Also, share it with your friends, neighbors, and anyone you know who lives in Jersey City.

Even those who are renting will feel the impact of this tax increase.

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/s ... ey-city-tax-increase.html

Jersey City and New Jersey reminds me more and more of any Western European country where the unions have accumulated so much power that no change is possible.

The proposed solution of terminating seasonal employees is also a convenient solution that further marginalizes a lot of people, but it does not touch the problems stemming from patronage and entrenchment, which are the cause of most of the problems here.

The stats someone mentioned a few days (week) ago, on the relationship between the number of fireman and captains in Jersey City relative to New York City show that real fiscal change will not happen unless the public service unions (fireman, police, and teachers) see their power severely curtailed.

Quote:fine ... but if political contributions are not bribes, what are they? i really want to hear his explanation ...

I am wondering what this will lead to ....

--------------------------------------------------------------

Christie Declares Fiscal Emergency as Deficits Loom (Update2)
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By Terrence Dopp

Feb. 11 (Bloomberg) -- New Jersey Governor Chris Christie declared a fiscal emergency and said he will withhold $475 million in school aid to help close a $2.2 billion budget deficit with less than five months remaining in the fiscal year.

Christie, 47, a Republican who took office Jan. 19, also said he will reduce funding for hospitals and colleges, delay capital projects, cut subsidies for New Jersey Transit and eliminate state programs that ?sounded good in theory but failed in practice.?

?The cuts I have outlined may sound dramatic. And they are,? Christie said in a speech today to a joint session of the Democrat-controlled Legislature. ?Some sound painful. And they will be. I am not happy, but I am not afraid to make these decisions, either. It is what the people sent me here to do.?

Christie scheduled the address after he said he discovered the deficit in New Jersey?s spending plan was twice as big as his predecessor, Democrat Jon Corzine, had projected. The new governor has vowed not to raise taxes to cope with declining revenue and increased costs for services including Medicaid, the health-care program for the poor.

The governor next month must present his plans for closing a gap between projected revenue and spending in the coming year. That deficit is more than $11 billion, the largest per taxpayer of any state in the country ?by far,? Christie said today.

Executive Order

Christie said he signed an executive order before the speech that gives him the right to freeze spending to balance the budget. Democratic lawmakers said they didn?t receive a copy of the fiat until an hour prior to the address and said it was an attempt to circumvent legislative opposition.

?To govern by executive order isn?t going to be accepted here,? Senate President Stephen Sweeney, a Democrat from West Deptford, told reporters. ?We?ll work with him but we are not going to function like this.?

Sweeney said lawyers for both legislative houses are examining whether the executive order goes beyond Christie?s legal powers and how it can be blocked. The governor?s plan would raise local property taxes, Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver said. Both said they want Christie to use the state?s $500 million surplus before making the cuts.

Property Taxes

School systems in New Jersey on average receive about 40 percent of their funding from the state, according to the New Jersey School Boards Association. The remainder is financed primarily through local property taxes, which at an annual average of $7,045 are the nation?s highest.

Aid to public schools accounts for $11.1 billion, or 38 percent, of the $29 billion budget Corzine and the Legislature approved in June. The state has yet to pay about $3.5 billion of that aid, making it the largest account that can be accessed this late in the fiscal year, said Assemblyman Joe Malone, a Republican on the budget committee.

Corzine in May cut aid to schools by $67 million and delayed $383 million in payments to the current fiscal year to cope with a $1.2 billion revenue shortage for the previous 12- month period. In December, he proposed saving $260 million by freezing school aid and forcing districts to use surpluses.

Scalpel, Not Axe

Christie said more than 500 school districts will be affected by his decision to withhold $475 million, and more than 100 districts will lose all state aid for the rest of the year.

?We have not reduced school aid with an axe -- we have done it with a scalpel and with great care,? he said.

Frank Belluscio, a spokesman for the school boards association, said districts may have to cut programs to deal with the lost aid.

?It could be disruptive and we?re very concerned.? Belluscio said prior to the speech.

The new governor also told lawmakers he plans to move forward with Corzine?s proposal to forgo a $100 million pension payment this fiscal year. He said he will push for ?substantial pension reforms? that will help reduce the system?s $34.4 billion unfunded liability.

Earlier this week, Sweeney introduced a package of bills that would shift future part-time workers into a so-called defined contribution plan that doesn?t promise specific benefits, instead of a pension system that guarantees monthly payments. It also would require teachers and local government workers, some of whom have never made contributions, to pay 1.5 percent of annual compensation toward health care.

Pension Changes

Christie urged lawmakers to pass the pension bills before he presents his budget address next month.

?Until that reform is enacted, we cannot in good conscience fund a system that is out of control, bankrupting our state and its people, and making promises it cannot meet in the long term,? he said.

Nationwide, state tax collections dropped the most in 46 years in the first nine months of 2009, Albany, New York-based Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government reported. The worst economic slump since the Great Depression has forced states to cut spending, raise taxes and shift costs to local governments as they seek to keep spending plans aligned.

New Jersey?s revenue slid 12 percent in fiscal 2009, the worst year in modern history, David Rosen, chief budget analyst for the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services, told lawmakers Feb. 4. Sales-tax collections fell 9 percent last fiscal year and are down 6 percent so far this fiscal year.

?Even Deeper?

The state?s budget deficit for the fiscal year that ends June 30 rose from $924 million predicted by Corzine before he left office. The hole will grow next year as temporary tax increases expire and federal aid declines, Rosen said.

?The challenge next year will be even greater,? Christie said. ?The cuts likely will be even deeper. The reforms will, of necessity, be even more dramatic.?

At the end of January, the state had $14 billion of unspent money remaining for the fiscal year, Christie said. Of that amount, $8 billion was dedicated to such things as employee contracts, maintenance of money to keep federal funding, debt service and constitutional mandates. That left $6 billion from which Christie had to find the $2 billion of savings, he said.

Christie?s proposal would save $115 million by delaying programs and capital projects. Hospital charity care will be reduced by $12.6 million, or 4.2 percent, while aid to colleges and universities will be cut by $62.1 million, Christie said.

Jobs Program

The governor said he cut spending in 375 different programs. That included termination of Corzine?s InvestNJ program, which gave businesses $3,000 for every new hire, to save $50 million. Christie said InvestNJ has ?a large unspent balance and a failed record in actually creating new jobs.?

Christie said he also froze the spending of ?unspent technical balances? across programs, which includes everything from funds to upgrade energy systems in state facilities to those aimed at assisting local governments in plans to consolidate. The governor is discontinuing funding for the Office of the Public Advocate and folding its functions into other parts of government.

?Our priorities are to reduce and reform New Jersey?s habit of excessive government spending, to reduce taxes, to encourage job creation, to shrink our bloated government, and to fund our responsibilities on a pay-as-you-go basis and not leave them for future generations,? Christie said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Terrence Dopp in Trenton, New Jersey, at tdopp@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: February 11, 2010 13:38 EST
--------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pi ... 7&sid=asTru6eOf6ks&pos=9#

thanks for everyone who called and emailed the mayor's and the council member's offices ... even if they cannot read, they should be able to understand that collective message we are sending to them ...

There are multiple ways we can demonstrate our dissatisfaction with the Mayor, the members of the City Council, and the current political power structure of the City.

We need change, and one of the ways we can effect change is by going to city council meetings. Another alternative is to call the Mayor and members of the City Council every day and demand that they resign, lower taxes, provide better service, take a pay cut, etc.

Name, contact information to the Mayor and the members of the council are

Mayor Jerramiah Healy
MayorHealy@jcnj.org
Tel: (201) 547-5200
Fax: (201) 547-4288/5442

Council President Peter Brennan
BrennanP@jcnj.org
Tel: (201) 547-5319
Fax: (201) 547-4678
Robert Noakes, Council Aide
NoakesR@jcnj.org
Tel: (201) 547-5363

Councilwoman-at-Large Willie Flood
Tel: (201) 547-5134
Fax: (201) 547-4678
FloodW@jcnj.org
Annie Jenkins, Council Aide
Tel: (201) 547-5108

Councilman-at-Large Mariano Vega, Jr.
Tel: (201) 547-5268
mariano@jcnj.org
Hilario Nu?ez, Council Aide
Tel: (201) 547-5458
hnunez@jcnj.org

Ward A (Greenville) Councilman Michael Sottolano
Tel: (201) 547-5098
SottolanoM@jcnj.org
Robert Rybinski, Council Aide
Tel: (201) 547-5060
RybinskiR@jcnj.org

Ward B (West Side) Councilman David Donnelly
Tel: (201) 547-5092
DonnellyD@jcnj.om
Khemraj "Chico" Ramchal, Council Aide
Tel: (201) 547-5101
DonnellyD@jcnj.org

Ward C (Journal Square) Councilwoman Nidia Lopez
Tel: (201) 547-5159
NLopez@jcnj.org
Kerry Jicha, Council Aide

Ward D (The Heights) Councilman William Gaughan
Tel: (201) 547-5485
bgaughan@hcnj.us
Bridget Gaughan, Council Aide
Tel: (201) 547-6817

Ward E (Downtown) Councilman Steven Fulop
Tel: (201) 547-5315
FulopS@jcnj.org
Pam Andes, Council Aide
Tel: (201) 547-5315
pandes@jcnj.org


Ward F (Bergen/Lafayette) Councilwoman Viola Richardson
Tel: (201) 547-5338
RichardsonV@jcnj.org
Lorenzo Richardson, Council Aide
Tel: (201) 547-5361



If you have a moment during your day, spend a minute and call any of them to tell how negatively these proposed tax increases are affecting you and your family. They need to hear our voices and they need to start listening to our ideas.

there is a petition circulating in the city ...

this petition asks gov christie to disallow the increase in real estate taxes and refuse to grant jersey city its pending application to increase real estate taxes above the mandated 4 percent annual ceiling ...

the city had its application to raise taxes above the 4 percent ceiling approved last year... stopping the application may make the city to reconsider the proposed tax increases, and potentially reconsider its budget, revenues, expenses and priorities ...

the petition is online, and if you are interested in signing the petition to gov christie, feel free to do so ...

the full text of the petition is available here:

http://www.gopetition.com/online/33870.html


if city hall does not listen to us, they will have to listen to the state ...

share the link with all your friends and neighbors in the city .... make a difference in the life of the city and start building a new future ...

this is possibly the best place to post the link to today's jersey journal editorial calling for the immediate resignation of healy

well ...

having a convicted felon being the head of the incinerator authority is another proud accomplishment of the current political leadership of the city ...

thank god, mccann only spent time for bank fraud, and not for bribery ... had he had spent time for bribery that would have made it a full circle ...

i have recommended

Matule Robert C
70 Hudson St, Hoboken, NJ
(201) 659-040

we have used for several different real estate related transactions ... great guy!