For Jersey City, I enjoy this website:

http://www.newyorkssixth.com/

Most of the jobs will be given to specialists from outside Jersey City. Whatever. The construction of this thing will tear up the city. It will be a disaster all around.

I only call Spectra's Jersey City office to argue with them.

I believe the same owners opened Fire and Oak in the Westin. I guess the restaurants were too close together for it to make sense to operate both.

It was difficult for Kelly to prepare the report since he has his other full time job in Orange keeping him busy.

Quote:

It is like when the blue collar tea party members rail against ending the Bush tax cuts for the rich.

I just answered questions about the pipeline from the survey company. They first ask if you would like to take a survey about "Jersey City." Then they ask you about your opinions of our elected officials. Most of the questions about the pipeline were something like "would you be more likely to support the pipeline or would you be neutral if you knew that Spectra would reduce your taxes with the pipeline?" I just kept saying that I would still be against it and that it wouldn't help me. They ended the call asking me questions about whether I read newspapers, watch tv and email people.

PATH has said that the Smartlink System was built as an open system for other entities to link up to. They are hoping that the MTA adopts it in the future. Apparently, the MTA has been wavering on its adoption.

Well, the budget cuts are only going to cut deeper going forward. Perhaps the police should cut their salaries and pensions so more of them can stay on the force. I can see a police officer watching a mugging and refusing to help because of "budget cuts."

The project definitely had flaws, but isn't it important to draw in high earning individuals to the NJ suburbs? While much of the state income tax goes to NY with NYC jobs, these people pay real estate taxes and buy goods and services here. People act like it is only NY v. NJ. But isn't it NY & NJ against the rest of the country and the world? We are competing against everyone. If we don't improve our infrastructure in this region, we will just be left behind.

Has anyone ever met a Jersey City police officer that was friendly? Seriously.

I am still surprised when I see PATH police officers being polite to people. Being from Jersey City, I now expect all police officers to be confrontational and argumentative.

The NBC people also came to discuss the content on PATHVision. Complaints/requests from the group were more news/fewer ads, more NJ content, more train updates and less Talk Stoop. The content has definitely improved over time but has room for improvement. Currently it is updated at 4 AM and 4 PM and I believe it runs on a 40 minute loop. They are working to see if they can have separate loops for the platforms vs. the interior of the trains. Originally they were going to give away 100,000 radios to have sound, but they decided it would not work.

We had the opportunity to challenge the Director about the lack of garbage cans this evening. Someone from the group brought photos of railroads from around the country which have garbage cans on the platforms. The Director of PATH has a security report from post 9-11 which recommends removing the garbage cans. At this point, he is simply not backing down from his stance. He says it is a security risk that he is not willing to take. He says they studied alternatives (clear plastic bags, etc.) but could not come up with something that he felt comfortable with from a security standpoint.

The 8 car PATH trains on the WTC-Newark line have been implemented.

The next improvement in capacity should come in a few years on the WTC-Newark line when the signals are upgraded. They are prioritizing the signal system wide upgrade on that line first.

They are going to come out with temporary use Smartcards to replace the Quickcards. There will not be a fee for these Smartcards. They are also working on a program for automatic replenishment through the pretax payments people make through work. They are also working on some kind of payment system through smartchips on credit cards. I missed a little bit of the discussion on the last point.

One disappointment was that the Cap Ex to build extend the train platforms to accommodate 10 cars is unclear. There have been some cutbacks to the budget and future expenditures are uncertain. But I will say that all the PATH people with met with including the Director want to continue to improve the system and take a lot of pride in what they do. It was quite refreshing. They take complaints and suggestions seriously. However, the system simply has limitations (stations too hot, no elevators at some stations, need additional entrances at some stations) and there is only so much they can do within the constraints of the system and budget.

As an example of a small, practical customer service improvement, they said they now have customer service open at 7 AM instead of 9 AM for rush hour commuters. And they now route weekend calls to someone who may be able to help. They acknowledge that the weekend phone person is not going to be as helpful as during the weekdays, but they did want calls to get through so people can receive assistance.

They previously mentioned that cell phone service will be installed at stations but not in the tunnels. They were not sure on the timing of this.

I complained a lot tonight about the garbage on the tracks. I think it is something easy to fix but it receives too little attention. Tonight was the last meeting but we can still submit suggestions.

I have not noticed a "poop" smell. If there is a problem in a specific train car, you should call in the problem, tell the PATH Twitter guy or post it here. I will say that I do not have a strong sense of smell.

Tonight we received a tour of the Harrison Repair Station. The PATH personnel told us that every car is inspected every single day. They acknowledged some problems several months ago with the old cars and the new cars. The old cars had resistors that were breaking and they had trouble obtaining replacement parts because the cars are so old. And the new cars had break-in period issues where doors needed adjustments by a couple of millimeters to adjust for the car "settlement." But they like the new cars and the PATH repair crews have adjusted to the new cars. They are on schedule for the entire fleet to be replaced in a year and a half. Thus far, approximately half the fleet has been replaced.

At the Repair Station, we could see old cars and old wheels that were being taken out of system. It was very interesting.

Separately, they mentioned that the trains are louder entering WTC because concrete ties were installed for security purposes. I am not clear on the advantage to concrete ties, but it is what it is.

And, lastly, if I heard correctly, beginning this Saturday, the Newark-WTC line will be running 8 car trains instead of 7 car trains. Sounds like some increased capacity is coming now. Hopefully this information is accurate.

I think a lawsuit is the only way to deal with this problem. The Building Department just wants payoffs. If they don't get them, they delay things. One would think that City Hall would try to improve the process to get businesses into Jersey City to increase the tax base. But City Hall probably gets a piece of the action.

This is what, 2 blocks from the police station?

Actually, we discussed standing up for pregnant women last night. The PATH said that they would consider informational campaigns/signs to educate the riders on courteous behavior regarding giving up seats for pregnant women and other issues.

I am just writing to say that the PATH personnel have been very informative at the advisory council meetings. I do not have information about the "tossing," but if there are specific instances, you should write down the time and car number and then inform PATH. Or post it here and we can forward it to PATH.

My impression of the organization is that they truly want to provide a better experience for passengers. The PATH system like almost every other public transportation system in the U.S. is run at a loss and there are a lot of limitations in funding and infrastructure. But the organization is open to ideas and change.

Some of the things I learned are that service will not be increased in the near future after midnight to 5 AM because that is when they do track work. It was simply a nonstarter. Also, the Jersey City-Hoboken-33rd Street weekend route is here to stay at least until the new WTC station opens. This was another nonnegotiable item because of construction issues. PATH indicated that there is still a lot of pressure to shut down the WTC line on the weeks because of WTC construction but that they are doing everything they can to keep it open.

We were told that the new signal system is about 5 years away from completion. They said that it will continue to move slowly because they are doing all the work while the system is in operation. They do not have a lot of flexibility in the construction schedule. The current signal system has 8 "blocks" and no more than one train is allowed in each block. The new system will be allow for trains to run much closer to each other because computers will precisely track the trains. And, therefore, PATH will provide this precise information to the customers so we will know how long we will be waiting for the trains.

We have been fighting for garbage cans. So far, "security" has been the counterargument. They said they hired security consultants, etc. We were told that the the head of the PATH system will be speaking to us in 2 weeks and that he made the decision to eliminate garbage cans.

One other note - we said that we were not aware of the New Year's policy against taking alcohol onto the trains. PATH said they would make more of a concerted effort to tell customers that there is a no alcohol (even closed containers) policy on New Year's.

I have seen Gulls Cove and thought it was nice. I assume Gulls Cove is more expensive in a price/sq. ft. than the others. The Flats looks nice in the photos. Crescent Court probably offers the best price/sq. ft. situation. It is the furthest from the PATH but it also is relatively quiet down there unlike The Flats. I don't think I have ever heard anyone say anything positive about The Saffron other than it is relatively close to the PATH.

How do the units at The Flats compare to Crescent Court and The Saffron?

Did they rebrand this place to become The Flats?

I think the PATH ride is less bumpy and screetchy than it was a few years ago. I think they have improved the ride. Is there any particular spot that is bumpy? I think the rides do vary from driver to driver.

Thank you very much for all the feedback. I will make many of these points at the meeting. There is something I will comment on though - the cost. The PATH is an amazing deal. Newark to NYC for less than $2.50? $54 for a monthly pass? That is it? My understanding is that the PATH runs at a deficit and is subsidized by the fees from the roadways/tunnel.

If the PATH does extend the platforms as planned and revamps the signal system to allow for additional trains to the WTC, additional capacity will be available.

I am scheduled to attend the PATH meetings. If there are issues you would like me to address, please comment.

The floor in the sample kitchen at the Crescent Court sales office was terribly banged up. Joe said some women were wearing high heels the night before. That was all it took???

I agree that the apartments are reasonably priced. I think having the Crescent Court office closed most of the week without someone to answer phone calls has also hurt sales. I guess M&M did the cost/benefit analysis though.

Last I heard, they were 50-60% sold. Have they sold a lot more units recently?

Why haven't they sold the rest of the units?

My impression in talking to him over the phone was that he sounded like an intern. Pleasant guy to talk to but he did not sound impressive. I feel like he is the type of person who could do a good job if he was allowed to think independently but I think he is already controlled by the machine.