That said, I'm not sure we can trust the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency to be the steward of this project.

I am still troubled by their going after the Golden Cicada tavern on Grand for St. Peters to gain land.

However maybe the city or the Jersey City Redevelopment Agenc could help the Friends of Lowes restructure and gain real sponsorship and management.
---------------------------------------------
Just keep in mind the info below:
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Jersey City Redevelopment Agency v. Cheng Tan, et al.

...The ACLU-NJ is representing tavern owner Cheng "Terry" Tan who is fighting the Jersey City redevelopment Agency's attempt to take his restaurant through eminent domain. Jersey City wants to take Mr. Tan's land to give it to a parochial school, St. Peter's Prep, for its football field...

Also you can search the DUMB name "Make MY Park" really poor choice of words -- It should be "Make OUR Park" or better

"Rails to Trails - Let's make a park"

Activits should change that name at once!

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Who pays the overtime? Who pays for the car and other equipment use? I assume you mean the taxpayers of that town are paying.

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Again, as I have said before, the Loews and the old Armory should seek support from corporations like Goldman Saks, PNC Bank, the Hyatt etc -- we need to create something like BAM in Brooklyn or turn it over to someone with grant writting skills and connections to do it.

The Friends of Loews saved the place now let's see it fly! They should grow, expand and bring in lots of new blood.

http://www.bam.org/

i think since they are coming over from NYC maybe they should just get a chapter going downtown first -- they will expand if it works!

They are volunteer don't start telling them to do more -- at least just yet!

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So-Hot-----We-Hu!
said ironically
(South of Holland Tunnel, West of Hudson)

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Seaboard,
Since you listen to the show maybe you can call in and recommend he look at jclist for info on past crimes etc.


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Ricardo Kaulessar - Jersey City Reporter 02/03/2006
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Stevie...has exhibited serious incompetence'

Police chief and councilman trade barbs over crime rise

FACING THE PEOPLE ? Troy (left) speaks during a community meeting last week at the Mary McLeod Bethune Life Center. Standing to his right is resident and community activist Virginia Miller.
After Councilman Steven Fulop called for Police Chief Robert Troy to resign two weeks ago in the wake of Jersey City's rising murder rate, Troy responded to the public with a three-page letter last week, and blasted Fulop in an interview.

"As a public servant, Stevie Fulop has exhibited serious incompetence," Troy said last week. "I say that because he offers nothing as far as solutions go. He has never once in his short tenure as a junior councilman called this office."

In his letter to the public, Troy complained that Fulop's comments "not only undermine the public's confidence in the Police Department, but also negatively affect the morale of the men and women who comprise the Jersey City Police Department."

Fulop had complained about Jersey City's 39 homicides last year, a 20-year record, and a rise in neighborhood violence.

Troy said that Fulop should have called his office if he was concerned, like Ward C Councilman Steve Lipski did recently.

Troy added, "Stevie grandstands, he embarrasses himself in front of the rest of the council."

Troy pointed out a number of accomplishments under his leadership, such the city's gun buy-back program that brought in 900 guns from the public, the success of the Street Crimes Unit, and various crime sweep operations cracking down on sexual predators, deadbeat landlords and training seniors to protect themselves.

Troy defends record

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Troy is expected to retire sometime this year, but said he will not step down right now. He has been on the force for 25 years as of March 1. He has done 14 years of patrol and has been the commander of the department's Bureau of Criminal Investigations before his appointment as police chief in November 2004.

In his year and a half as chief, Troy targeted the growing menace of gangs and drugs within the city, with the JCPD Street Crimes Unit. The unit made over 3,200 drug-related arrests and approximately 290 gang-related arrests in the past 15 months.

Troy did agree with Fulop that the police chief had to be made accountable for the city's crime problem and there should be accountability on all levels. But Troy shot back at Fulop's lack of accountability in the matter.

"If Stevie applied that same accountability procedure to himself, he would remove himself from the council and do the taxpayers a favor," said Troy.

Fulop responds

Fulop responded to Troy's comments last week saying that he has called Troy's office a number of times but has not gotten a response back. He referred to his call for Troy's resignation as a "last resort" in dealing with a dire situation.

He also said that the murder rate wasn't the only reason for his comments.

"I believe he is making excuses," Fulop said. "There is an increase in crime everywhere, not just homicides, but also burglaries, rapes, robberies. When he was sworn as chief, he said, 'You can hold me accountable.' "

Fulop also claimed that his call for Troy's job has had an effect, as a number of plainclothes officers have been returned to walking posts in dangerous parts of the city.

Fulop also wrote a letter to the newspaper about the issue.

"To me," Fulop wrote, "our poor performance not only jeopardizes the safety of our residents, it jeopardizes pro-perty value, and it jeopardizes our standing in the region. Now, if we agree that there is an increase in crime, which I think is fairly difficult to dispute, then the question that needs to be addressed is why, and who is accountable?"

He opined: "Sometimes you have to rattle the cage to get results."

Troy at community meeting

Blunt and plainspoken, Chief Troy has preferred in most cases to shun the limelight, except when to announce a tragic murder or a job well done by his fellow police officers. But with Fulop's call for him to resign, the Christmas Day deaths of JCPD officers Shawn Carson and Robert Nguyen in an accident in which they drove off a draw bridge, Troy has had to contend with being in the public eye more.

Troy, along with Mayor Jerramiah Healy and a number of police personnel, appeared Thursday at a community meeting organized by Ward F City Councilwoman Viola Richardson where he answered questions and spoke on the state of crime in the city.

SIDEBAR

DOT criticizes accident investigation; Troy responds

Jersey City Police Chief Robert Troy responded last week to a recent report by the NJ Department of Transportation regarding their investigation of the accident Christmas Day on the Lincoln Highway Bridge that claimed the lives of Police Officers Shawn Carson, 40, and Robert Nguyen, 30.

Carson and Nguyen were traveling back to Jersey City the night of Dec. 25 after delivering flares on the Lincoln Highway Bridge, which connects Jersey City and Kearny. They were not aware that the bridge was up and the warning lights were out, and their Emergency Services Unit vehicle plunged into the Hackensack River.

There have been various theories as to why the accident occurred. It has been said that the police officers on the bridge were distracted by a false report of a civilian robbery, which diverted their attention from halting their vehicle in time. Another theory states that the officers were not informed that the bridge was up.

A 19-page report on the accident was released by the Department of Transportation, along with an eight-page report on the improvements needed for the bridge, on Jan. 27. It raised questions such as how Jersey City police officers who were already on the bridge, Michael Scarpa and Jane Louf, could not have been aware that the bridge was up, and why the two bridge operators on duty that night, Kenneth Cordano and Ali Alexandarane, were tested for drugs and alcohol when Scarpa and Louf were not.

The report also found that Cordano and Alexandarane were not in any way negligent on duty nor responsible for the accident that claimed the lives of two officers.

But the report criticized the JCPD for conducting an investigation that pressed the bridge operators to give answers "they wanted to hear," rather than recounting what actually happened that night, and rushing them to sign off on their statements without allowing them to read them beforehand.

Last week, Troy said the reason officers Scarpa and Louf were not tested for drugs and alcohol was because he and police officials determined that night that they did not need to be tested because they were not the "ones who raised the bridge."

Troy also said that in their assessment of the accident, the DOT was looking to "divert responsibility" and all the facts will come out early this week when the JCPD announces the results of their long-awaited investigation.

"We're going to lay out the truth, no matter where that road takes us," said Troy. "If the road takes us where we need to be critical of ours, then so be it."

Troy took issue with a suggestion in the DOT report that the JCPD investigators, led by Lt. Mike Kelly of the Major Cases Unit, were too harsh on the operators. He commented sarcastically that it "just breaks my heart."

"The investigators are some of the best in [Hudson] county and they just happen to be Jersey City police officers," said Troy. "We're more concerned about getting to the truth than hurting their feelings." - RK

Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com

Jersey city (we) are giving money and land for this place which mostly used for pit bull placement - 80%+!

Jersey City is getting over run with these killers -- There will be a law suit one of these days -- worse there will be a horrible attack on someone!

http://www.theunexpectedpitbull.com/donate.html
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Pit bull apologists, wake up
by C.W. Nevius - San Francisco Chronicle

Eighty-eight year old Mabel Wong was still in critical condition in John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek on Monday. She's been there since a week ago last Saturday, battling for her life, after a horrible mauling by a neighbor's pit bull near her Concord home.

In the aftermath, people wondered how it could happen. What did this little elderly lady do to trigger such an attack? The answer is simple and blunt. Nothing.

"This lady had interacted with this dog hundreds of times,'' said Lt. Abe Gamez of Contra Costa Animal Services. "She was just trying to get from one place to another.''

Whenever there is an account of a mauling by a pit bull, there is a howl of protest from those who love the breed. There are no bad dogs, just bad owners, they say. Or they ask how the media reporting the incident knew the dog was a pit bull. Pit bulls, they insist, are no more inherently dangerous than any other breed of dog.

That's not true.

"What I usually say is that it is not uncommon to spend thousands of dollars breeding a good hunting dog,'' says Gamez. "With a good hunting dog, that is not something you teach -- he's got it in his genes. The pit bull is bred for fighting.''

"You can't make a German shepherd stop herding,'' says Merritt Clifton, editor of the Washington-based Animal People magazine. "You can't make a Chihuahua stop barking.''

It is at this point that everyone starts yelling at each other and pointing fingers. My pit bull, someone says, plays with my children every day. He's the cutest, most affectionate pet we've ever had. Pits are no more aggressive or dangerous than beagles.

That's not true.

According to a study by the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, covering the years between 1979 and 1994, pit bulls were involved in 57 fatal attacks -- well over twice the number for the next breed on the list, rottweilers, with 19, and more than German shepherds (17), huskies (12) and malamutes (12) combined. A 2000 study by the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association concluded that pit bulls "were involved in 65 fatal attacks between 1979 and 1998 ... twice that of rottweilers and more than three times German shepherds.''

Even more damning are the statistics kept by Clifton, a dog activist who has been keeping meticulous records since 1982 of dog attacks severe enough to have been reported in the media. It should be noted that Clifton excludes attacks by guard dogs, police dogs and trained fighting dogs and does not chart cases where the breed is uncertain.

The numbers are stunning. As of last week, meaning Mabel Wong's mauling would be included, pit bulls were cited in 831 attacks. The next closest was the rottweiler with 373. No other breed made it out of double digits.

"They are off the charts,'' says Gamez. "If you look at the fatals and severe bites, you will see the majority are rottweilers and pits.''

But that's just part of the story. If you've been to an animal shelter lately, you know that it seems like half the dogs there are pit bulls. Naively, our family thought that was because families were not adopting them.

Actually, it is the result of a population boom in pit bulls. In the three days before the Fourth of July holiday, Clifton contacted 22 animal shelters, and compared the results with a study he did 11 years ago. In a sample of 2,918 dogs, he found that the number of rottweilers and pit bulls had increased five times, including an "astonishing'' four times more pit bulls. And, it is important to note that with spay and neuter programs, the number of animals of all breeds in shelters has actually been decreasing.

"I've been in this business since 1975,'' Gamez says. "In those days, we used to pick up lots of types of dogs, Irish setters, Afghans. Now you walk into a shelter, and every other dog is a pit bull. This has been going on for 10 years. It may appear to be exploding, but it has been happening exponentially.''

The result is more opportunities for that sudden, unexpected moment when a pit bull loses control. Gamez says he always cautions his officers to keep an eye on pit bulls when capturing them.

"They don't growl,'' says Gamez, who was also part of the team investigating the Shawn Jones mauling case in Richmond. "It usually just comes right after you. These dogs can just go off. And when they do, they cause tremendous damage.''

What can be done? Gamez says it is important to report incidents of menacing or intimidating behavior by dogs in your neighborhood to animal control. As in the Diane Whipple case in San Francisco, where people came forward after the fatal attack with accounts of having had earlier concerns about the dogs, Wong's neighbors are now reporting having had problems with the dog that attacked her.

And some cities and states are considering "breed specific'' legislation, passing a law to keep pit bulls and rottweilers out of populated neighborhoods. The idea has encountered a firestorm of opposition from owners and dog organizations.

"The human community has been in denial for 20 years,'' says Clifton. "There's only hope where we begin to recognize the problem. We need to get that layer of denial lifted.''

In the meantime, if you encounter a pit bull or a rottweiler, keep an eye on it no matter how often its owner says it is the sweetest little pup you've ever seen. That's especially true if it is a "rehabilitated'' dog, which has supposedly had its breeding curbed by good training.

"Rehabilitated,'' says Gamez, "means it hasn't bitten anyone lately.''

Again I just want to stress -- Pit-Bulls and dogs bred to fight might be good with their owners but may not be good with their owner's children or with other people oout in the world - not to mention other dogs and animals. If these breeds get "set off" they are very scarey! They have killed and maimed countless people! It is an on going and daily problem across america -- just look, any random time, at the news. LAS should not be adopting these breeds out to older people, or to people with children -- maybe they shouldn't be adopting them at all! I think JC should look into a ban of these breeds, as many other cities are already doing. I know the government should not be supporting this in any way! Spay & Nueter and put them all on a remote secure farm somewhere -- Lovers of these dogs can donate to this/these farms and we can let the bred die out naturally -- but don't ask children and adult victims to pay the high price of keeping these breeds out and about.

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned ... l+attack&btnG=Search+News

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Why is the Liberty Animal Shelter (LAS) so big on placing pit bulls and dogs bred to fight into homes in Jersey City. It seems like this is over 80% of what the LAS does. These dogs can hurt children and other people -- every day there is another news story about some poor person mauled or killed by these type of dogs.

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&ie=UTF-8&q=dog+attack

It is only a matter of time till someone in JC is hurt or killed by a dog from LAS.

And I know, I've heard it all before! "Your Pit Bull is different!" "It's not the breed it's the owners!"

Well all I can tell you is read the news!

Talk about JC getting sued!

Let's turn the Goldman Sachs Building into an arts district -- haha

The book is cheaper at the Strand

http://www.strandbooks.com/qsearch/?quick=mysteries+of+my+father

I couldn't locate the thread on this but this is an interesting story:
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$9M TAG: NOW THAT'S RICH
Saturday, January 14, 2006
By JARRETT RENSHAW
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

What can $9 million get you in Jersey City?

An entire block, or two maybe, in Greenville or the Heights, some prime office space in the Goldman Sachs building or perhaps a seven-bedroom, eight-bathroom, single-family home Downtown.

That's what Hong Kong-born artist turned Manhattan general contractor Simon Chan wants for his posh, 11,000-square-foot-plus blend of modernism, Feng Shui and 21st century bravado.

The hefty price tag is believed to be the highest listing price for a single-family home in the city's history, and may represent a turning point, as the market attracts a more eclectic group of builders willing to invest in lavish homes with an urban flare.

"This type of building used to be reserved for Manhattan and Bergen County," said Chan's real estate specialist, Gershon Adjaye, of Keller Williams Realty. "Based on properties selling in places like Edgewater, the quality of the construction and the square footage, we came up with the price."

The luxurious loft-style home, which has already been looked at by several hip-hop artists whom Chan wouldn't name, is on the 300 block of First Street and sits on a modest, blue-collar block lined with row houses and a few used cars. Its pizzazz lies in its interior, hidden behind the house's frosted glass.

With heated marble floors, a spiral staircase crafted from imported Chinese white jade tile and an indoor pool, the historic building has come a long way since its days as a smoked meat factory and later a general store.

But Chan went out of his way to keep some of the building's historic elements, rebuilding the exterior with the original bricks and keeping the original bluestone columns.

Several pieces of furniture - which Chan said can be negotiated along with the house - were built using original pine wood, a contrast to some other furniture, such as a computer chair built from a Ford truck bumper, which offers a more modern feel.

However, the historic flare quickly gives way to modern technology. Among other detailing, the house features more than 300 light bulbs that are tied into digital dimmer switches, as well as a computerized bathroom glass door that turns from transparent to foggy when closed.

Maybe the toniest part of the house is a series of skylights that run from the ceiling to the ground floor, including one on the second-floor that also serves as a foot bridge. While the skylight adds some eye-catching design, like most items in this house, it also serves a function.

"If you got a pool in the basement, you need some sun," said Chan, referring to his 490-square-foot, 5-foot deep pool.

Chan takes advantage of the home's urban environment with a dazzling, 1,000-square-foot roof deck that provides views of the Jersey City skyline, with its staggered high-rises and numerous buildings under construction.

And what used to be the uncommonly large chimney has now turned into Chan's self-described "penthouse" suite, currently occupied by his daughter.

Chan bought the building several years ago for about $400,000 before turning it into his own art project. The house is currently assessed at slightly less than that, according to city records.

This will not be Chan's last project in Jersey City. He bought some property in Port Liberte and has similar plans for it.

"Jersey City has so much room to grow, and its history can be converted into some fantastic places," said Chan. "And I plan to do that."

Somebody is smoking something -- $900,000 might seem a little low but $9 million -- I don't think so!
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Jon Stewart Purchases $5.8 Million Manhattan Loft

Jon Stewart has purchased a $5.8 million Manhattan loft, according to The New York Observer.

John Stewart recently bought a 6,000-square-foot Tribeca spread in the building that once housed the Wetlands Preserve, a nightclub with an environmental bent. The duplex penthouse has exposures on three sides, a 600-square-foot terrace and a private rooftop.

Prudential's Douglas Elliman had the listing.
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How terrible -- Newark Avenue is like a speedway for buses and trucks. The traffic lights when they are actually working, are often ignored! That whole stretch on Newark from Brunswick all the way up the hill to Dickinson High School is a free for all. Right where she was hit, trucks, buses and cars race up and down the hill at all hours. It is unreal at rush hour!

I agree with swooshy -- " I think everyone should write to Councilmen Lipsky, Fulop, the county executive and the Mayor."

I am deeply sadden by your loss -- it could have been ANY of us on Newark Avenue.

I would love to know if Downtown really could do this.

But what could we call it? I think it should be called the area Jersey Town or Hudson City.

Trenton State College changed it's name, It stole Princeton U's first name College of New Jersey.