Quote:

well said .... her election is disgusting, and she does not even address the topic.

there is no reason why we should not be proud of her and her accomplishment.

1. "only little people pay taxes." but you are not alone. there is no jc income tax (yeah), but the nj state income tax is a burden (ouch.)

2. robert matule; warmly recommended. it does not get better than robert. he is in hoboken, but knows the local market, the brokers, and the other attorneys. worth every penny.

http://www.kannekt.com/cgi-bin/r.pl?I ... Hoboken&&FullCity=Hoboken

time for a recall?

thank you for the information. the pdf and the act seem to be consistent. your website has a very impressive array of information, particularly on the tax side. i agree with your conclusion that income tax is preferable to property (wealth tax) but, the shocker is the campaign disclosures of our current mayor.

finding information on recall election or elections in nj is not easy ... 1. recall election -------------------------- the relevant law is the Uniform Recall Election Law, Chapter 105, Laws of 1995 (N.J.S.A. 19-:27A-1 et seq.), and the law can be accessed http://lis.njleg.state.nj.us/cgi-bin/ ... base=statutes.nfo&record={915F}&softpage=Doc_Frame_PG42 the relevant section, 19:27A-5. Recall petition; signatures required, states "5. A recall petition demanding that an election be held for the purpose of deciding whether an elected official shall be recalled from office shall be signed by a number of registered voters of the jurisdiction of the official sought to be recalled equal to at least 25% of the persons registered to vote in that jurisdiction on the date of the general election preceding the date on which the sponsors of the petition file a notice of intention pursuant to section 6 of this act. A recall petition shall be filed with the appropriate recall election official. No recall petition shall demand the holding of an election to recall more than one elected official. " 2. the number of registered voters in jc --------------------------------------------------- in 2008, there were 139,158 registered voters in jc (http://www.hudsoncountyclerk.org/elec ... owns_GEN2008_20081117.pdf, page 15). so in 160 days, 25% of the registered voters in jersey city have to sign the petition to recall. So, one needs to have roughly 35,000+ signatures. let's do the math ... 35,000/160 = 219 signatures per day for 160 days ... and considering a 10% spillage, cheating, and all other contingencies, one would need only 240 signatures a day. what can i say? 3. additional information -------------------------------- there is information at http://www.joemustgo.net/Assets/elect ... truction-sheet-123108.pdf the memo states "SIGNATURE COLLECTION EFFORT (19:27A-5) Upon approval of the petition, the recall committee and registered voters in the jurisdiction of the recall election may solicit signatures of other registered voters in that jurisdiction. Specific requirements on the method of soliciting signatures are listed in the law. The recall effort is limited to 320 days for a Governor or 160 days for other elected officials from the date of the notice of intention. The petition requires the signatures of 25 % of the registered voters in the jurisdiction, as of the last general election."

perhaps we need both.

i cannot recall having seen one jersey city working on ballot initiatives (this can depend on the relatively short period i have lived here.)

what i am advocating - apart from the recall, which does seem to be somewhat difficult to implement given that 25% of the voters need to consent - is active use of ballot initiatives.

for instance - a ballot initiative could be put forward
- to ensure that all owners of real estate in jersey city should equitably contribute to the city budget.
- to ban on new tax abatements, unless the developer actively contributes to the welfare of the city and its inhabitants by building daycare, school and common spaces, and does not contribute to any office holder in the city.

the list can be long.

and the more ballot initiatives that are put on the ballot, the more difficult it will be to defeat small, but important, initiatives. divide and conquer.

perhaps the best approach is to built a community-wide grassroots organization that highlights the problems that affects the city as a whole and initiates ballot initiatives. series of ballot initiatives may change the political landscape faster then a recall - 25% of the electorate required to initiate a recall election is tantamount to impossible. this could be the first step of many to change the political landscape ....

i agree with yvonne that the at-large candidates should be targeted for a potential recall....

but realistically ... if 25% of the registered voters need to sign a petition for recall that is in itself a threshold to pass .... and in a city where only 15% voted, i'd call it a small obstacle.

you've gotta love democracy....

thanks, t-bird, i did not know of that thread.

ross - so close to an election where 15% of the electorate decided to show up to vote, any recall election is quixotic. i admit that. but let's wait a year or two and use that time to organize a city-wide effort, and it may be an actual force to consider in an election.

or not.

facts are facts. and there is no other way to consider the elections over the last two cycles as clear evidence that this is still a town run by a powerful and organized political machine. correct me if i am wrong, but elected positions are still handed out to the loyal vassals of the ruling elite ....Quote:

van vorst township is fine.

but this does not change the problem at hand: a small part of the city bear a disproportionately large part of real estate tax burden because (a) property prices in the downtown area are higher and (b) the political decision-making has reduced the size of the potential tax revenues by selling away tax revenues.

unfortunately, the existing political machine was re-elected. and this machine seems to be extremely short-sighted and clearly beholden to developers.

city hall squanders away tax revenue and instead of reducing the tax burden on those whose taxes have financed the city for many years, city hall indirectly increases the net tax burden through abatements.

not taxing fairly the property - both new and old - needs to change. and change must come soon.

preferably, change should happen well before the entire downtown is built up, all the valuable development rights are used up (that is no more tax abatements), and the city finds itself in the hardly enviable position of not having sufficient funding to create, maintain, or expand the infrastructure (roads, sewage, schools, etc) needed to support tens of thousands of new inhabitants lured here by developers with tax abatements.

frankly, i do not know whether the new jersey municipal law gives the electorate the right to recall the mayor and/or city council. if it does, perhaps that what we should do - start a recall process against healey & co ...

any takers?

downtown jc differs from all the other areas of jersey city.

if you want a revolution, why not a real revolution!

i advocate secession from the rest of the city to form a new city - tribeca west* - with its own cops, city hall, schools, and government.

i do not know how large part of the city budget comes from the downtown and how much of downtown's contribution to the overall city budget is reinvested in this very part of jersey city, but i would strongly argue, based on the vastly disproportionate valuation of real estate across the wards, that after seceding, property taxes would plummet for the inhabitants of the tribeca west*.

further, i would not be surprised if public services - ranging from cops to schools - would also show a marked improvement.

so, if anyone is interested in organizing a grass-roots movement to secede from jersey city and to form tribeca west* from downtown jersey city, let us unite!


*preliminary name; subject to change....

this is outrageous.

the make is difficult to determine.

yet ... it is still the best public high school in the state.

newsweek ranks the schools by the number of students taking advanced exams to all graduating seniors. this can easily be inflated by mandating that all students (freshman and up) enroll and take the exams, and that is why these rankings are often biased and easily manipulated.

focusing at the number of students actually passing one of these exams, mcnair's ranking increases markedly, and actually exceeds the ranking of the top rated school in the nation

it is important to note, that mcnair's ranking is highly volatile, moving between from 15 to 83 within one year.

let them fail, let them go bankrupt, let the greedy b@st@rds suffer.

the boom is over. get it?!

if there is an extension of the abatement, real estate taxes for everyone else will have to go up. i have no inclination to cross-subsidize inept developers that cannot accept the fact that their wonderful dreams of profit have evaporated.

there is nothing more pathetic than see grown adults cry over spilled milk.

a bit pricey, somewhat rough around the edges as expected from a new place, but quite enjoyable for what it is: a run-of-the-mill, higher-end hotel restaurant.

last time i checked, the idea of capitalism is that you take a risk and if you make it, you make money and if you fail, you lose money.

developers, last time i checked, espousing capitalism as long as they are making money and once they are not making enough money, they start annoying the semi-incompetent and semi-literate politicos in jersey city. i am not calling them corrupt, just incompetent.

i am not paying taxes to support development projects that go sour; i am paying taxes to keep the streets clean, to make sure that schools work, and that our social services do what ever they need to do.

i am surprised how little resistance is there when it comes to opposing these developers who expected to get richer and when facing obvious losses, they want to shift the burden to others who really cannot benefit from the upside developers expect.

if they give me a stake in the project that i am cross-subsidizing with my real estate taxes once city hall eases the abatements, i'd be happy.

and you move inwards leaving the glittering skyline, you get a 2br for less than 2k. seriously.

this is a slippery slope. i can see the social benefits from an amnesty that leads to increased tax base as well as improved living spaces.

by extension, this increases property values and acts as an indirect tax revenue. and this city needs more tax revenue because it has squandered away, through its ill-conceived tax abatements, revenue that could have been used to fund the enforcement of rules that improve or benefit the community.

but, it will further marginalize those who have no option but to live in unsafe apartments. and this city does not really embrace those living on the margin of society.

we can only hope that these rules will be enforced with greater consistency than the parking rules ....

or we can just dream ...

it is absolutely sickening to deal with the jcpa zoombies.

well, people seems to be a very generous statement of these creepy subhumaniods enforcing poorly written rules.

if they only passed a simple iq test. it is a bitch to deal with the deep left tail of humankind's normal distribution.

info ... http://hpnajc.blogspot.com/

two docs ...

http://www.hamiltonpark.org/PDFS/Hami ... _Renovation-Site_Plan.pdf


http://www.hamiltonpark.org/PDFS/Hami ... vation_Landscape_Plan.pdf

really?

http://newyork.craigslist.org/search/ ... in&maxAsk=1500&bedrooms=2

ooopps

http://newyork.craigslist.org/search/ ... k=1500&maxAsk=&bedrooms=2

that's a good point. the funds have been appropriated already, so why and how would the economy become a concern?

an aspect that seems to be missing here is the benefit provided by kids and teachers milling around during the day.

while crime is this part of downtown is not a concern, with the exception of the disappearing navigation systems from parked cars, having kids and adults around during the day significantly reduces the occurrence of petty crimes.

i am not telling that you should leave the door open during the day ....

personally, if i were to buy property again around hamilton park that stretch of pavonia would be prioritized.

perusing the for rent section of craigslist would certainly offer you better alternatives than what you are being offered.

my experience is that some of the smaller landlords in jersey city are squeezed due to the economy and whatnot, so if you are really looking for a deal, your best bet is to see what the local small landlords have to offer.

$3k for a 2br is a joke. you could get a decent 2br for half the price in "certain" downtown sections and approx $2k at the "nicer" areas ....

but $3k .... my god!

also you can buy daily parking permit for visitors. costs a couple of bucks, but it is cheaper than a ticket or the boot.

in the downtown area, out-of-state cars have an eerie tendency of attracting both parking tickets and boots.

i have never been able to figure out why ...

Bertucci's is decent, but Rustique wins.