here's NJ exit pol data, FWIW

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/20 ... s/exit-polls/states/nj/d/

Quote:If you'd spent time in the past few days, as I and others have, ringing doorbells around Jersey City, this is not at all a surprise. Comparing notes at the end of the day with other workers, they have had the same experience. The responses have been passionately and overwhelmingly for Obama. I heard that from old and young, male and female, white, black, Hispanic, Muslim and who knows what they are.

Listening to their reasons, it is clear that Obama's message is being heard, at least around here.

If what I saw and heard holds true, local voter turnout will be high - and the vote unequivocal.

Quote:I'm curious as to what that attorney says about that lease form.

And about the larger issue of how the court sees an individual condo owner.

Which law applies?

That for multi-unit with all the ant-eviction protections for the tenant.

Or are you seen as an owner with the right to evict on 30days notice of intent to occupy?

Quote:Landlord / Tenant Court will not allow interest on late overdue payments but there is no need tor a landlord to suffer financial loss.

The court allows recovery of filing fees, attorney's fees and last payment fees as long as they are properly written into the lease. Even if the tenant shows up with the nominal overdue amount, the court usually will require those other items be paid as well, that very same day, to avoid eviction.

Further, if your lease includes a properly required security deposit, (usually 1 and 1/2 of a month's rent), and you must evict, you usually will be allowed to keep it as liquidated damages under most conditions. The most common legal justification is that eviction leaves the landlord with empty, non-performing premises - and the courts usually allow the landlord to keep the security as compensation.

If late payment is chronic (defined at the judges discretion) that alone is statutory grounds for eviction.

Quote:I finally returned to reading this thread. You are right.

If you are a landlord who allows conditions that result in your tenants being terrorized by criminal intruders, I'm your nightmare.

If you are a landlord who tries to interfere with residents' constitutionally protected right to peacefully assemble, I'm your nightmare.

If you are a landlord who thinks that landlord still means Lord over the Land in ways that ended with the Magna Carta, I'm your nightmare.

If you are a landlord who threatens all the residents of a 59 unit building with punishment because someone overloaded a washing machine, I'm your nightmare.

Sweet dreams to you . . .

If you get much of your news as I do from trolling www.news.google.com, they just posted a headline for a Fox News piece:

""President Readies Final State of the Union Address""

I've known for a long time, in fact since he took office, that Bush was a disaster, but I never thought he would actually destroy the Union.

We'll at least the S.O.B. appears ready to admit he's done it.

I remember seeing that trailer in a theater (Yes, little Johnny and little Janey, there was a time when movies were shown in big dark rooms).

I never saw the film itself because I was turned off by two things; the author behind it is Stephen King; and the scene where the boys are caught on the trestle by a train is just not credible.

Based on my own experiences of walking a variety of rail and trestles, a train is not only noisy, but it sends vibrations out that can be felt miles down the track. What person walking on a trestle, especially a boy of that age, would be - could be - oblivious to that information? Who would walk across a trestle without putting his hand gently on a rail to feel what the rail is saying?

Quote:If you mean what I think you mean (nudge-nudge, wink-wink) I had not a clue as to anything that may or may not have been going on. All I can say now of Christopher Street in 1947 was what all of us 13 year olds in those innocent days absolutely knew for certain about the whole Village:

The men were all queers (whatever *that* meant) and the women would do sex (whatever *that* was) for anyone.

All men and women in the Village were commies. Also, both men and women had beards.

As I said, in those days, we kids knew all that for certain.

Life was much simpler when I was 13.

Taxi regulations in JC are pretty straight-forward. You may be able to get a few copies of the wallet-sized card that was created a few years ago by calling the JC Div of Commerce 201-457-5335. Ask for the yellow and black Taxi Riders Bill of Rights card. On the other side of the card are the Senior Discount Fare Rules.

Getting your driver to honor the rules requires that you have some well-informed backbone of your own by refusing to allow a driver or dispatcher to tell you different. Since this forum does not allow uploads, I can\'t post a photo of the card but here the Bill of Rights

1) The meter must be used on all fares within the city limits. If not, THE RIDE IS FREE!

2) The meter is not to be used on fares outside the city limits but the fare must be agreed upon by the passenger PRIOR to the start of the trip.

3) The fare that you pay on all trips is the total that you pay, regardless of the number of passengers. There is no additional charge for baggage.

4) As a passenger you have the right to:

- a courteous driver
- a clean passenger seat area
- a clean trunk for storage or baggage or packages
- a driver who obeys all traffic laws
- a radio-free trip
- the most direct route to your destination
- refuse any additional passengers to ride in the cab
aand
- a smoke free ride unless both you and the driver agree to permit smoking.

The senior fares rules (simplified here):

Monday to Friday (EXCEPT THERE IS NO DISCOUNT during weekday rush hours from 7am to 9am and 4pm to 7pm)

Saturday and Sunday - discount all day and night.

The senior (age 62 and over) discount fare is:

If the meter reads:

$4.00 or less, the fare is $2.00
Over $4.00, the fare is 1/2 the meter

Thus, if the meter reads $6.20, the fare for one or more seniors in that cab and on that trip totals $3.10 cents

If there are any passengers on the trip who not seniors, there is no discount. If all the passengers are seniors, the discount applies.

END of Jersey City Taxi Riders Bill of rights card

So, it should be obvious that the following also applies.

If the cab has a meter and your destination is in JC, just get in the cab and tell the driver your destination. There is no need for negotiation or discussion about the fare or the willingness of the driver to go there. He (or she - there are a few women taxi drivers) cannot refuse to take you to any JC destination on the meter and by the shortest route.

If the driver tries to overcharge you, or otherwise not follow those rules, write down his taxi number or the license plate and report him with a phone call to the above phone number. They actually will go after the driver. I\'ve seen drivers forced to go back to the passenger\'s home and return an overcharge or apologize for rudeness.

Of course there are times when you just have to cut the carp and stand up for yourself. I had a driver try to refuse me the senior discount one night around midnight.

His excuse was, \"An old man like you should not be out so late. You should be home.\"

There were some clues that he was from Africa so I told him, \"If you dared speak to one of the elders of your people back home like that, you would be tied to a tree for a lion to eat you.\"

I dropped the discounted fare, no tip, onto the seat next to him and slipped out of the cab as he sat there speechless.

I have nothing to share about the Holland Tunnel, but I can tell you how to walk to lower Manhattan.

In 1947, when I was 13 years old, there was a strike that shut down the PATH service, then known as the Hudson and Manhattan or "the tubes." I was living in Hudson Gardens, a short walk away from the tunnel entrance near Journal Square.

My buddy Bobby O'Brien (captured and murdered in Korea at age 17 just days after the war started) and I walked the totally empty tunnel to Christopher, went up to the street and walked out past the startled picket line. We took the ferry at Chambers Street back home.

No one in the projects - meaning none of the other guys, because I surely didn't say anything to my mother - believed we had done it. A few days later the strike was over. We were determined to prove we had done it. So we took our loudest critic with us and did part of the walk again, while the trains were running. He chickened out at Grove Street and agreed we'd made our point.

To walk there while the trains are running requires constant alertness to the subtle shift in air pressure that comes before the sight or sound of a train. It gives you plenty of time to find a safety niche. Wearing dark clothes and facing into the niche as a train approaches will reduce your chances of discovery but given contemporary frequency of trains, the higher ambient lighting, etc., that's going to be difficult in 2008.

Also, there probably are video cameras at the tunnel entrance and even inside.

Oh, and make damn certain you know where the 3rd rail is.

Assuming there are now some really heavy-handed Patriot Act laws being broken, those are probably the greatest downside to an otherwise interesting experience that few can claim in these parlous times.

And what a big disappointment the Landmark Loews Jersey has become. Except for the occasional theme-movie weekend and less than a handful of shows, it has not even begun to realize its potential.

It was supposed to become a lively venue that was going to attract 3,000(+) attendees at least a few times a week, thus revitalizing the area.

I don't recall if it has done that even once in the last decade or so.

Try

Sal Cameli
Sal@Cameli.us
cell: (646) 417-3978

He does not have a shop because his clients are almost entirely corporate.

When I got in line at exactly 1:30, the end of it was about 100 yards down Glenwood.

By the time I was admitted, around 4:15pm, the line ahead of me had swelled by what I estimate to be at least 30% more people than had been in line when I joined. Those added people simply walked up to the line as late as 4pm and greeted friends already standing in line.

That was a hypocritical display of rudeness by many who claim to support justice, honesty, integrity and equality.

There were none of the portable metal fences that could have been placed along the curb and patrolled to discourage this arrogant behavior.

Quote:Eviction does not take months and a landlord does not have to be represented by a lawyer unless he is incorporated.

The court date is within weeks after the filing. Continuances (rescheduling) are unusual and require serious reasons. In virtually all cases, the suit for eviction will be heard and disposed of at the first scheduled hearing.

Take a morning one day and go sit in as a spectator. It's quite an education in how law serves both sides. I've always been impressed.

While I have characterized NJ law as fair to tenants, I have also said it is equitable. A landlord has rights too, the most obvious the right to be paid on time.

The court, faced with a non-paying tenant - and after the tenant has had a final opportunity to pay up - will not hesitate to evict. I've seen a court grant a mother with an infant a few weeks to get her affairs in order, such as arrange for shelter, but the judge was strict that eviction would follow.

Eviction usually is effected with 10 days or so after the court order. If the tenant doesn't get out voluntarily before the day of reckoning, the sheriff will do it.

That is not to say that the court is cruel. NJ has a functioning Homeless Prevention system. Virtually any renter not already on public assistance can get a voucher that a landlord can cash for the funds to pay two or three months overdue rent to avoid a renter being made homeless simply by asking for it at the State Office at Sip and Summit.

It's a one-time thing. No repeat rescues. After that, it's off to a shelter or relatives or whatever - but it does give people time to arrange for welfare or an alternative.

Bottom line, know your rights as a landlord and be businesslike. Your mortgage company doesn't care if your non-paying tenant - or you - is a nice guy or not.

I just read the clauses you quoted in that lease. It's a piece of junk.

Quote:Under NJ Law you are required to give ten days written notice of late rent that you mail or hand deliver.

POST EDIT - I just checked the law. I'm wrong. Only certain situations defined in the law require notice before filing suit - and it's 14 days not ten.

Further, if the tenant is a senior, you must wait five days before you can give that late notice. That extra time is allowed because seniors don't get their monthly SS money until the 3rd of the month and a weekend might intervene. So the law allows for that.

When a landlord fills out a complaint asking for eviction, he must swear on oath that he has done given that notice of late payment. If the tenant can make a credible denial of receipot - the judge may (is discretionary) throw out the evication suit for that.

If the tenant offers the full rent within that ten days, along with any late fees that are spelled out in the lease, the landlord must accept it.

However, as someone else pointed out, you are not required to accept a partial at any time. Doing so will only cause you problems. It's usually all or none but I have heard of cases where there were documents establishing that the partial was accepted "conditionally" with the balance being paid in full before the ten day deadline - and when it wasn't the suit was still allowed to proceed. But don't count it.

That language saying you can re-enter and take possession for any violation is itself a direct violation of NJ Law. You may enter ONLY on reasonable notice (usually 24 hours) or without notice only for an emergency such as overflowing toilet, smoke boiling out the windows, odor of a dead body coming from under the door, etc. - or a court order.

As for possession, only after a judge issues an order called a ForceAable entry and Detainer - and then only after it has been served in process spelled out by the court. He or she will not even hear a complaint asking for evictionA unless it claims one of the causes that are clearly spelled out in the law.

Frankly that lease should never be used. My recollection, if you search the net, you may find a model NJ lease that pays proper respect to the law and doesn't give false info to either you or your tenant.

I am amazed that anyone would rent out an apartment without a basic understanding of NJ Landlord Tenant Law. Sorry to sound so critical, but renting out property is not something one should do without learning your rights and responsibilities. It's serious business.

The grounds for eviction are spelled out in complete detail on many web sites. Do a Google search on the phrase "NJ Landlord Tenant Law."

The first site that comes up in that search is pretty good. You could print it out and read it with marker in hand.

http://www.lsnjlaw.org/english/placei ... e/tenantsrights/index.cfm

I have used this knowledge with great effect to defend myself against abusive landlords because NJ Law is one of the fairest and equitable in the USA. It is often cited by ruling in other states. In one case I was living in a building that was to be sold as "empty" to get around rent control laws. The landlady eventually spent a lot of money that she could have saved by simply sitting down and offering me a few rent-free months to move out. As it was, it cost her quite a five-figures in legal fees and, in the end, she had to pay me a full year's rent.

In another case, the landlord wanted me out because I founded a residents association. We were having burglaries and other problems that the landlord ignored. He tried for two years, every few months, to evict me with phony suits in Landlord Tenant Court. He failed each time because I knew the law and I had done nothing wrong. After he had built up that two(+) years record of fake suits, I sued him and won a nice little settlement. And he had to do all the things that he should have done right in the first place.

I still live there. He knows now to just leave me in peace - and to do the right thing when there are problems he is responsible for.

WARNING I'm not a lawyer, so what follows in not advice on how to proceed. Read the law and decide if you understand it well enough to act on your own - if not, hire a lawyer.

NJ law spells out the exact reasons you may evict. Based on what you've said above, some of them seem to apply to you, but watch out for that "seem to apply," because I don't know all the facts on your side or his.

It may be significantly *in your favor* that the unit is a condo. A landlord of a small building with just handful of apartments has a broader range of weapons to evict even a tenant who is otherwise paying on time and not breaking the lease in any way. For those situations, a landlord only need say he wants to evict because he wants to live in the apartment himself or rent to a close relative. Those law above tells you how many units give that status. I don't know if a condo owner has that status, but if one does, he could be in a position to recover possession on 30 days notice. It's worth investigating.

But first, the only way anyone can be evicted from any home rental on any grounds is by a court order from a judge in the local Landlord Tenant Court, in this case at the Courthouse on Newark Ave. The clerk in Room 711 hands out forms to file for eviction and explains how to do that.

Among the causes for eviction that may apply in your case are

(1) non-payment of rent and
(2) chronic late payment.

In the case of non-payment, NJ law and court practice is very lenient to the tenant. This is in the interest of avoiding homelessness.

If the landlord and the tenant show up in court on the appointed date, at the start of the case, the tenant may offer to pay on the spot in cash (no checks or credit cards). The judge will discuss those amounts with the parties and tell the tenant how much must be paid to avoid eviction. If the tenant doesn't have the cash in hand but is willing to pay, the court usually will allow the tenant to return and pay before 3pm with the warning that failure to do so will result in an eviction order.

Once the tenant pays, everything is back to square one . . . until the next failure to pay when due.

Another cause for eviction is chronic late payment. The law does not define what that is. It's really a call by the judge. He would almost certainly (but you never know for sure) require solid documents that show a history to support the complaint. I doubt if even a series of three or four late payments or partials would be enough, but if a landlord can prove that, it might be worth a shot.

Landlords get lucky when the tenant does not show up in court. The court usually grants a default judgment unless there reason to believe that the tenant is in hospital or has some genuine emergency. There are still steps to take, that the court will explain, before the sheriff will do the eviction (called a "Forceable Entry and Detainer" order) but with that order, either on the merits of the case or by default) there only a few things that a knowledgeable tenant or lawyer can do to stop the eviction.

So, keeping in mind my warning that this is NOT LEGAL ADVICE but merely anecdotal reporting drawn from own experiences, get more informed.

Good luck!!

PM me. Tell me your name and address. I'll arrange for a one-time credit at a local supermarket to cover a week of staples.

The Loews at Journal Square occasionally has theme-based weekends. It's been a joy to have sci-fi film weekends, MGM musical weekends, etc. but they are sporadic and limited.

Problem is, the property is owned by the city. Lacking a profit imperative the management has neither the vision nor the incentive to realize the potential being discussed here.

But there are other venues that might be made over at small cost as ad-hoc theaters, should anyone be interested in exploring that possibility.

On the corner of Bergen and Fairmount is a former bank, a handsome Greek-revival building that has been vacant for at least 5 years. Large open space interior. The parking lot across the street is basically a daytime leased lot that remains unoccupied in the evenings after dark - and there's another lot about 100 yards away, on Bergen, next to the supermarket.

There are commercial buildings along Newark Ave where only the street level is used but were built during a time when shoppers were in better shape that they are today, had more time and were willing to climb a whole (OMG!) whole flight of stairs. Those upper floors often have undivided spaces. (Skinner's Loft restaurant's second floor dining area is an excellent example of adapting one of those spaces into a really handsome room.

Grace Church already makes use of its auxiliary building with daycare during weekdays and various activities in its open space on evenings and weekends.

Victory Hall used to have an annual film thing. They ran a great clean print of The Third Man few years ago. .

Taking a different approach, there are many possible Tar Beach rooftop locations all over the city that could easily become our own Cinema Paradiso on summer nights.

Those JJ articles about buying from local vendors are not getting much respect even in their own house.

Based on their own reports, the 3.6 Million for "Destination Jersey City" appears to have been totally spent outside JC without competitive bid, as if this was good news. It includes an expensive web site created by a Long Island designer on behalf of a Domain Name registered to someone in Franklin Park and hosted by a service based in Texas.

But when the JJ reported (OK, when they published the lightly edited press release out of Trenton) they did not offer any insight into the selection of those out-of-town benefactors - despite the fact that the JJ's own web site development business, based in Journal Square, like all other site designers in this city, was ignored in favor of a no-bid award.

Well, at least the chambers job is only 1.5 million. I mean, it's not as if that is *real* money.

I'd be willing to bet that if restoration of the chamber's art glass is included, the project will NOT go to the internationally respected art glass restorer across Montgomery Street from City Hall. And if new and period lighting fixtures are involved, the world-famous architectural lighting firm on Cornelison Ave will also be ignored in favor of someone miles away .

Quote:It's worse than that (big surprise, right?)

Yes, the architect is from Princeton.

The web site developer is from Long Island.

The Domain Name registrar is out West somewhere.

The web site hosting company is in Texas.

The owner of the web site is someone in Franklin Park who also has links on the web site that invite you to buy advertising - and make your own guess where *that* revenue goes.

Anyone want to take up a bet about:

- the location of the contractor who installed the signs
- the location of the company that actually made the signs
- the location of the supplier of the materials used to make the signs.

Further, can any Jersey City-based company that is capable of supplying any of those materials and services say that they were invited by the State to share in the no-bid awards of this $35 million dollars that went everywhere EXCEPT Jersey City? That question includes Advanced Internet, the big Internet company, sister company of the Jersey Journal, with a home office at Journal Square and also creator of NJ.COM.

How ironic that they are doing free publicity for this project while the distribution of the money is a non-story.

Better headline might have been, "State Can't Find Jersey City."

I\'ve been going to the VIP a few times week for about 20 years. It\'s the cleanest, most consistently dependable restaurant in the Journal Square area. I usually have to ask the manager to turn down the \"background music\" that is neither background nor music (whiny, repetitive, 6-note lines are noise, not music). He does so without grumble.

One day this past summer I was there waiting for a business associate. He was late so I ordered and ate. He showed up about the time I finished. He ordered an ice tea. The waiter, one I\'d never seen before, was clearly annoyed at the ice-tea order.

\"Is *that* all? That\'s *it* ?\"

My friend explained to he was late because his parents were with him, waiting out in the car and had themselves been late. He said his father - who is also involved in the son\'s business - wanted to come in and personally deliver a small gift. The father is old-school Chinese and token gifts are common.

So he called the father on his cell phone. Father and mother come in. The usual bowing and hand shakes all around. The usual courtesy of \"please sit down\" followed. Father gives me a nice little bound notebook. I happen to have very nicely packaged pen that I\'d intended for someone else, so I gave that to the father. Total maybe 5 minutes.

I get the bill, glance at it and leave my usual 20% tip. My visitors preceded me out the door as I stopped to pay the bill.

Then I noticed an unexplained extra on the bill. When I started to ask about it, the young, and also never seen before, manager cuts me off. He is rude. He has clearly been waiting for my question and can\'t wait to sock me with the charge.

\"Sir, Look at the menu, sir.\"

Anytime someone calls you Sir twice in one sentence, the contempt they have for you is pretty obvious.

\"Sir, it\'s clearly stated there, the charge for non-ordering customers who occupy a seat, sir. \"

Apparently, in my 20 years of as a customer, I missed the agate type at the foot of a back page. How stupid of me.

Young rude manager kept interrupting when I tried to speak. I had people waiting for me outside. So I paid the bill and go a receipt - but before leaving, I went back to the table and retrieved the tip with a parting sneer to the waiter.

Next day I went back to the VIP while Peter, the owner, was there.

I described what happened. He refunded the extra charge. Offered an apology for the incident.

\"The waiter is supposed to tell you when people sit down and don\'t order that there will be a charge so you can leave and avoid it. No matter how many times I keep telling them not to do it this way . . . thank God it doesn\'t happen so often.\"

Staff rudeness can happen any time, and not with the owner\'s knowledge - even contrary to his instructions to the staff.

So, Brownstone or VIP, whatever . . . when this stuff happens, talk with the guy who owns the business and you probably will get much better treatment.

BTW - Never saw that waiter again. Whenever I come near the cashier desk to pay a bill, that rude manager manages to get away from the register and have someone else take the money. I admit I enjoy his discomfort which he could end anytime he wanted to acknowlege that we had a disagreement that is resolved - but no; He\'d rather sulk. (hee hee).

PS - their 3 egg omlets - are excellent.

Quote:Only yesterday I became aware of a controversy raging around covert editing of the Wikipedia entries about the events and deceptions that preceded the Iraq War.

Surprise, Surprise! The Orwellian changes have been traced to a computer assigned to an intern in the office of a hawkish Senator.

The WP is a great concept - as long as you know that it's also a great tool for telling lies.

re the request for "a list of web hosting sites" in Jersey City, it is pretty common for web site developers to sell hosting either on shared servers or to own or lease one or more dedicated hosting servers.

Since I own one web site development company (active since before 99% of all existing web sites) and two web site hosting companies (with clients in 7 countries) I think that posting their names here would be blatant advertising.

I have no doubt of Steve's sincerity in wanting to promote local businesses but the current arrangement is a fairly high profile example of buying outside the community. I mean, the current supplier even promotes himself in these forums. Oversights happen and are not always based on bad intentions. Now that the issue has been brought up, I hope Steve will do some local shopping for a replacement of his current out-of-town resource.

re "nothing is untraceable"

All web registrars offer some form of registration "cloaking." For the price of a few beers the identity of any registrant of any domain name is concealed. Only law enforcement (and maybe some other official entities) may know that identity.

That situation is commonly used to embarrass political opponents or to cause problems for a web site. A common way of preventing that is to register variations such as dotNet.

That's what I am referring to.

In 1992, while working for a Manhattan newspaper, I interviewed and photographed Presidential Candidate Bill Clinton when his supporters opened a campaign storefront up in Washington Heights around 181st St. Afterwards, someone gave me a ride further downtown and dropped me off at the subway station near Columbia. I was headed back to the newsroom.

As the train approached 86th Street, the train stopped a few yards short of the platform and the conductor announced that police were boarding at the first car. We would move ahead and open the doors of one car at time to let passengers off, as the police searched each car for a person causing a disturbance.

I was in one of the first cars. I stepped out on the platform, pulled my NYPD Press Credentials from under my shirt so they were visible and got my camera ready to shoot whatever might happen as cars further along in the train were opened.

A few cars down, three cops brought a young man out onto the platform in handcuffs. As they headed my way I began shooting. I had ultra high speed black and white film so I did not need flash.

As they neared, one of the cops demanded that I stop shooting. He had no right to make that demand so I simply brought up my press credentials and made sure he saw them. I continued to shoot.

That really pissed him off. He handed the prisoner off to the other cops, came up in my face and told me I was under arrest.

One of the other cops told him to leave it go, and mentioned the press pass. But the cop persisted, put me in cuffs and had me sit on a nearby bench. He gave me a ticket for violating a law that prohibited photos in the subway. On subsequent reading of the law, I learned it specifically and clearly exempted credentialed press engaged in the gathering of news.

I was given a summons to appear in court. He didn\'t confiscate my equipment.

As soon as he released me I went directly to the office of Ellis Hennigan at New York Newsday, the only reporter in the city with the subway as his beat.

The next day the brown stuff hit the electrically-powered revolving air-moving device.

It was a slow day. So the story got the top half of Page 3 the following morning. Before Noon, Three television stations showed up at my newsroom and interviewed me about \"the violation of your First Amendment Rights.\" They all ran it on both the early and late evening news programs.

By co-incidence, the same day that Newsday ran the story about my arrest, the NY Post\'s front page and page 3 had the story of a woman who had been arrested at another station on the same line, that same day, for the same offense of the same law. She too was featured on all the local TV news programs that night.

She was not a journo. She had been telling the TA for a long time that there were bare live electric wires in easy reach of an accidental touch along the stairs at her local station (I think it was 86th).

In frustration that her warnings were ignored for a long time, she took photos of the dangerous situation. This was before digital cameras. A few days later she brought the prints to the office of the TA - and they had her arrested, given a summons and released.

More brown stuff moving at high speed.

The next morning, the TA sent a uniformed officer with a ton of brass on his hat and collar to my newsroom with a formal letter of apology, a quashing of the summons and a promise that the law, while it would remain on the books, would be ignored. I understand the vigilant woman got a similar visit and letter.

It was maybe 5 years later, in one of those small world co-incidences, while working on a current story, I was talking on the street with a plain-clothes cop and he suddenly asked, \"Did I ever arrest you?\"

I said I don\'t think so.

\"Well, have you ever been arrested?\"

Since I didn\'t think he was likely to know of my arrest at the Chicago Dem Convention in \'68, I admitted only to the subway thing.

\"That\'s where I know you from. I was one of the officers holding the pickpocket at the 86th Street Station when my partner arrested you. I told him not to do it but he was pig-headed.\"

I learned that the incident was put in his official jacket. He had other incidents of over-zealousness. Within a short while, after only 2 years on the force, he was out.

On researching the original excuse for the law, I learned it went back to the day when the only lighting for photography was the explosive powder in a tray that you may have seen in old movies. The law was intended to prevent an accident due to temporarily blinding a motorman or disorienting people on the platform and causing them to fall onto the tracks.

The current excuse is the nonsense about terrorists. As if there are not already literally millions of photos already in circulation of just about every transit system in the world. As if anyone with a common cell phone cannot surreptitiously take pix and videos while pretending to use a mobile phone.

I hope this latest victim sues their asses off.

In 1943 our family moved into the neighborhood. Moloney's was then - and still is - a classic butcher shop with high quality stuff and excellent service, at reasonable prices.

In 1945, at age 12, I got newspaper route that covered pretty much the entire area from the back of Journal Square to Baldwin Ave and from Pavonia to Observer Highway. Moloney's was a favorite stop. The butchers always gave me a tip and offered a slice of baloney or liverwurst.

What, you ask, has service got to do with a butcher shop? The most obvious thing is you get the exact cut you ask and the weight you want, not what is already super-market-wrapped with the "bad" cut folded under the good one.

The butchers are a dependable source for directions in preparing an unfamiliar meat or cut.

I'm curious.

With all the web designers available here in Jersey City, why would a councilman interested in supporting local businesses hire a web developer in New York and use a hosting service even further afield?

And, to be candid about it, he didn't get very good advice for whatever he spent. His inexperienced webmaster allowed the classic error of not covering his client's ownership of alternative domain names.

Hence, a domain vampire has registered "stevefulop.com" and probably is waiting to sell it to opposition when the next election goes all "jersey city" and the dirty tricks start flying. Unless he buys it up first, I'll bet you will see an interesting and totally untraceable web site under that alternative name.

Quote:Some of the dishes at "It's Greek To Me," corner of Newark and Jersey, less than 3 minute walk up the block from OX, satisfies some of those issues. Their salads are excellent and generous in size. They have a number of vegetarian items.

A few corrections - without apologies to whoever makes them needed

1) The dedication of the Ted Conrad Rotunda actually took place at a ceremony, in the Rotunda, attended by hundreds of local activists, including Sam Pesin and Ted's family, about 13 years ago. It certainly was not Sam's original idea as one of the recent newspaper articles reports. I trust that Sam did not intend to leave that impression.

2) The naming of the Ted Conrad Rotunda was my idea. Within a few days after Ted's death, I hand-delivered a letter to the then County Executive and also to the editor of the Jersey Journal. I proposed that a fitting memorial to Ted would be the dedication of the Ted Conrad Rotunda.

3) The ceremony followed in December. It was not just a memorial service. It included a naming of the rotunda, exactly as I had proposed, in Ted's honor.

4) What has been missing all those years since is the promised plaque.

6) Over the years, various things got in the way of the plaque. The then County Exec turned out to be a crook and resigned in disgrace. The subsequently elected administration was unaware of the unfulfilled promise - and this was compounded later by an unfortunate misunderstanding of Ted's role in saving many valuable items from the rampant theft that was allowed when the building was abandoned. Without his courage, vision and tenacity, recreating those treasures that now grace the building would not have been possible. He was a hero.

Until someone told me of that misunderstanding, I was not aware it had put a freeze on things. But more than a year ago, maybe two years ago, I found myself standing in the rotunda near two of the principal people in the misunderstanding. They were just a few feet from each other, chatting with different people.

At that point, in front of those bystanders, I literally took each of them by the hand, pulled them aside and put their hands together and asked them, in honor of Ted's memory, to resolve their mis-understanding and work to get the plaque installed.

On occasion, after that, when I encountered either of them, I gently nudged each about progress towards the plaque. They each were sincere and responsive.

Last night's ceremony was the eventual result. But, I was not on the program. I was not even invited. I learned of it through the various public notices.

I must say that I was deeply hurt and disappointed that my idea, my inspiration, my suggestion for public expression of love for Ted Conrad and my effort to bring parties together were ignored by the official program. I brought my feelings to Tom DeGise only a few minutes prior to the ceremony. His opening remarks gracefully corrected the record and I greatly appreciate his doing so.

It is not a popular thing in Jersey City to say such things out loud, but I am not an office holder, have no reputation to polish or any benefit to gain by staying silent about the truth. If anyone is offended by my public position, that's too bad. It's the unvarnished truth.

Joe Harkins

There's a lot of bogeyman and straw man argumentation going on here, especially with regards to legal consequences of using an open WiFi. It's not surprising that it comes flavored with the "let them eat cake" attitude that underclass is not able to appreciate it.

To claim that using an open connection would subject the user to criminal charges probably wouldn't get past the first motion to dismiss. The simple fact is, many are deliberately left open by generous citizens or by neighborhood organizations who see the public good in that sharing.

Rarely - very rarely - is there any welcoming screen to identify the deliberately open from the accidental. In that common circumstance, proving intent to steal service would be difficult for the simple reason that the intention may not exist - and the presumption of the law - at least for as long as we have our fragile and endangered Constitution - is that one is innocent until proven otherwise beyond reasonable doubt.

Yes, your friend and mine, the phone or cable company, that outstanding public citizen who has no problem exploiting public property as a monopoly, has tried and failed to stop community-wide projects. But I'm not aware of any attempt by them to criminalize, or even civilly prosecute, someone with a laptop sitting on a bench or in a car outside an apartment house.

As for that "child pornography" bogeyman, distributing it by any means is illegal all by itself. To say that open WiFi should be repressed because it may be used to distribute illegal material is the same as saying that owning a printing press or fax machine or scanner or computer or pencil should be regsitered, licensed and controlled because of the potential for abuse.

That's the pretense used right now in China to control the Internet. It's the pretense of every despot in history to suppress liberty.

As for the "go buy your own" elitist arrogance, we subsidize public transportation, not to serve some lazy underclass that refuses to buy its own train or bus, but because it serves many economic and social needs that are essential to a wealthy and stable society. Paving streets and building highways is not to make life easier for those too stupid to build their own but for the common good. Public education is not a bone to rioting masses but the engine of national political and economic power. Open access to the Internet is just one more basic social service.

I have lived in a certain country where 5% of the population own more than 95% of the real estate but paid no income or property tax. As a result, there were few, if any, public services. Police were paid $40 a month - and all they could extort from their fellow poor. Trained firemen were virtually non-existent and the small amount of fire equipment that existed bore the names of cities in other countries that donated their used equipment. Public libraries did not exist. Hospitals were where one went to die, while the rich got on a plane to the USA. Public schools, when they existed at all, were pathetic.

And that country, while sitting atop huge natural resources such as gold, gems and astoundingly fertile land, is "third world" due entirely to the selfishness and arrogance of its wealthy. The arguments used there to maintain the privileges of the wealthy were the same ones used here against cheaper or even free public access to open wireless Internet.

Marie Antoinette would agree.