Has Jerry and his admin done anything substantial over the last 8 years to address the littering issue that plagues Jersey City? Other than him expressing his concern for the overuse of plastic bags a couple years ago he has been very ineffective on this. In fact, ShopRite, to this day, will double bag a 12oz water if you're not watching.

T-Bird, bike lanes have been around and popular for a lot longer than 10 years. They may be gaining more traction around the US but the facts are facts and for the last 8 years Jerry and his planning board could have enacted all sorts of bike friendly requirements for developers but did nothing of the sorts. They have been totally oblivious and in the dark ages. I place a lot of the blame on Bob Cotter, Jerry's Planning Director. These guys actually view having bike racks enstalled as a huge accomplishment when it should just be the norm.

Christopher Columbus Drive is a perfect example of what could have been. Clearly wide enough for bike lanes, even down the center, yet they didn't have the foresite to include any sort of biking component. Fail.

The list goes on and on. How about the now defunct wooden bridge entrance to one of our nations most treasured parks that we have had to deal with with? Hardly lit at night, prone to flooding after a regular heavy rain and certainly not the type of entrance this park or the JC tax payer deserves. 8 years and not a whisper from Jerry on improving that bridge or area other than stregthening the horrible sway it had. Of course now it is totally useless. Hindsite can be a real bitch.

It's amost laughable that Jerry is now seeing the light of day on this bicycling issue as the election and his future as our mayor looms. Pretty convenient considering that for years he has been against even the slightest whisper of bike lanes and being a bike friendly city. Sure, he throws a bone to the bike advocates now and again but in general he has never had the mindset or forethought of most forward thinking city mayors.

Look at how the powers that be in great cities like Mpls, Chicago, Portland, and NYC have embraced the many benefits of a vibrant bicycling community. They have been championing these beliefs and ideals for many, many years. In otherwords, it will be a long time before JC lands in the top 50 of www.bicycling.com's "America's Best Bike Cities."

Not to place all the blame on Jerry. Every sitting mayor before him did nothing as well.

To give you some idea of just how in the dark Jersey City is and has been for decades look at this from the 1890's.

"Bicycle advocacy has been present in Chicago since the early days of the city. Carter H. Harrison II, a mayoral candidate, was an advocate for cyclists. One of his campaign posters presented him as "Not the Champion Cyclist; But the Cyclists' Champion." Harrison won the mayoral election and attributed his victory to strong support from cyclists, and rewarded his supporters with a bike path along Sheridan Road from Edgewater to Evanston...."
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycling_in_Chicago

I guess it takes an election to finally wake up to reality. Pretty typical of Jerry and his admin really.

Is this the same Epps who in April of last year told a group of ministers that "young ladies" are the community's "worst enemy" and labeled some students "dirty, nasty, bad kids?"

Well done Jerry!

Looks like too much bad baggage, lack of accountability, dismal performance during and after Hurricane Sandy and the FBI's national corruption sting is finally catching up with Jerry. His Press Secretary puppet, Jennifer Morrill will be working over time to spin why all his former backers are now jumping ship.

Surely anyone with a conscious or any sort of moral compass will not vote for him and his party. The ones who do are either ignorant or they are in his administration's back pocket.

How many of you can actually stomach what Jerry let happen to his elderly former Deputy Mayor, Leona Beldini? Did he give it one ounce of thought or did he run with tail between his legs? Loyalty rarely flows down but I sure bet the Alka-Seltzer was flowing at Jerry's house. Her sad, dejected, grimmace below must send shivers down his "turncoat." Those eyes speak volumes.





















Of course what Beldini did was abhorrant and against the law but did she really do this all by her sweet lonesome? She will be lonesome alright locked up in Texas. And I am not implying Jerry was at all involved but it does give one pause, no? Hope that pause happens at the ballot box in 2013.

Meanwhile, I encourage all Jersey City citizens to revist the scandal that rocked our city and helped cast a further repugnant corrupt cloud over it. All done under Healy's watch. Keep in mind that Beldini started her 3 year prison sentence just 7 months ago.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... _city_deputy_mayo_15.html

The Heights and parts of Journal Square is the big question for Fulop and an election win. Thanks to O'Dea Fulop will reel in more votes in Journal Square. However, the Heights is the big question and represents a huge amount of JC voters.

JC Listers from the Heights please get out and tell your neighbors that Jerry's corrupt, back slapping cronyism is finished!

Like O'dea said, ?Councilman Fulop is the embodiment of a new generation of young, energetic leaders that Jersey City needs to reach our full potential,?

I was not at all surprised to read that in 2011 the JC MUA had to pay $350K for a Clean Water Act violation for failing to properly operate and maintain its combined sewer system. I don't recall reading about this further black mark on Jerry's rein.

I am not an attorney but since this is now on the books couldn't a landlord/owner sue the city for not disclosing the horrid conditons of their underground sewer and storm drain systems? Imagine all the owner/builders who are now facing severe flooding issue in their buildings because of these well known festering, systemic issues.

The Department of Justic and the EPA also announced that the JC MUA will invest $52 million over the next 8 years to repair and upgrade its existing infrastructure.

?This agreement, like others reached with cities across the country, addresses critically important and long-overdue upgrades to the municipal sewer system in Jersey City, which are required if JCMUA is to achieve compliance with the nation?s Clean Water Act,? said Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice. ?Among the actions required by the agreement, a supplemental environmental project will replace privately-owned sewers with direct sewer connections, directly benefiting economically disadvantaged residents by improving wastewater collection and preventing sewage backups in their homes.?

I would love to know what "un-biased" entity will be in charge of this 52M and what their action/goal time table looks like. What streets do they tackle first, etc.

Thanks to driverjase who posted the violation:
http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/July/11-enrd-940.html

@jmiz I fully realize that Hurricane Sandy was a one-off but what about the countless smaller storms that flood basements year after year? To think that properly cleared storm drains/sewers would not have helped in many of those cases is ridiculous.

My beef is that it seems the MUA is not even doing the regular scheduled maintenance of these storm and sewer structures. 20 years to clear a short section of road is 100% unacceptable.

So again, under Jerry's watch, the nepotistic entities involved showed an utter lack of knowledge and forethought.

There has to be some accountabilty.

In light of Hurricane Irene and now Hurricane Sandy I think I speak for most JC residents when it comes to our disdain and utter contept for our horrible, outdated underground infrastructure.

Case in point, last summer on my frequent trips to the W Cafe I had the opportunity to talk to the guys from either the JCMUA or the JCDPW (can't recall the entity) about the sewer dredging they were doing on Bay St. between Marin Blvd. and Provost St. These guys were dredging this short section for over a month! One of the guys said it hadn't been dredged in probably 20 years.

The heavy iron bucket that you can see in some of the photos brought up truck load after truck load of mud and debris.

So, that begs the question Mr. Mayor: Why did it take around 20 years to dredge an area that is so heavily apt to flood and are there other sewers and storm drains in JC that are in the same condition?

I think we all know the answer and also know that you and Jennifer Morrill (JC PR) will keep us in the dark on this very serious topic.

"Out of site and out of mind Jerry"

One thing is for sure this town has a ton of rinky-dink graphic designers.

It may have to do with the huge public green space going in near Communipaw and Garfield.

Any sights & sounds of gentrification marching SW is a big positive to the property owners in BL which is essentially an extention of DT Jersey City. Perhaps better connecting BL and DT will result in more downtowners venturing Eastward. These improvements will only help spur on more restaurant/cafe owners to seak out the super cheap rental prices over there.

This sailboat was posted to Craigslist on 8/22 so perhaps they just haven't been at their computer yet. It's also an estate sale so that could also limit your ability to reach the right person. Did you put a notice on the boat for them to call you?

http://newyork.craigslist.org/jsy/boa/3221622660.html

"Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct" ~Thomas Jefferson

I am not sure you can call this a rottenness but it is risky. One thing is for certain, if Dan does get in he will try and distant himself from Healy faster than Romney and his tax returns.

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

Nothing more, we can all move on now.

I was talking to one of the JC Municipal Authority guys who have been cleaning the sewer on one block stretch of Bay St between Provost St. and Marin Blvd. and he said that short stretch has not been cleaned in 20 years. It has taken them nearly a month to just clean this short section. No joke, mountains of mud and filth is being brought up each day with this thick iron bucket like contraption. I suspect that when there is another flash flood the intersection of Bay St. and Marin Blvd. wont be as big of a lake.

Perhaps they have already done this sort of cleaning on the streets that are prone to flooding. Clogged sewers don't help anything especially with JC's horrible storm drain situatiuon and the cronic littering problem that exists here. If I lived in one of those houses that gets flooded each heavy rain I would find out when the sewers in their area were cleaned as thorough as they are doing on Bay St. If they have not been dredged for 20 years like Bay St. I would be asking why not.

By "real" I mean that's who he is. On some days he is friendlier than others. Call it a character flaw if you will but I don't find it a deterent from using his services. The other people you mention are great JC busines owners and yes, by and large, more cheerful.

meowmix wrote:
I don't know... By that same logic, that post net is more "real" because of that certain je ne se quois, would you also say that Celeste from MWL or Brian from Park and Sixth or Alice from Madame Claude or the sweet lady from Sava (the list could go on and on) are less real because they are friendly (and in my opinion awesome) to all their customers? They are all in the same small business boat.

I haven't enjoyed my experiences at post net. If you have, that's great. Perhaps we should all agree to disagree.[/quote]

His business model opens him up to placating to these large entities like Fed-Ex. Does he have to provide this service? I am not sure. Either way, it seems his personality fights with this and that is something he needs to work on. I am sure he would also agree that he isn't exactly Mr. Congeniality.

I have used PostNet on numerous occasions over the years from dropping off letters to faxing and while I may not be blown away by Rich's cheerful personality he has sort of grown on me. Much like my barber in the city who, on most days, is a bit cantankerous and opinionated. Perhaps this is the reason I choose to patronize both of them. I like this salt of the earth demeanor, seems more real. My Fed-Ex guy is the same way. I ask him every time I see him (once every week or so) How's it going? I get the inevitable, "Don't ask."

Is Rich the Soup Nazi? No. Is he a bubbly business owner who greets everyone with a warm smile? No. Is Rich a Jersey guy who will have a 5 minute conversation with you about the old Jersey City or other topics and then say have a good day, see ya next time? Yes.

My co-worker has tried them in NY and says they have some real interesting toppings. Looking forward to it.

You may not like the colors or style of the Two Boots store front but it's clearly professionally executed. Fussy Friends...not so much.

Mr_Johnson wrote:

Two Boots. Really??? It's an eyesore at best. Maybe on Bourbon St. in New Orleans it would fit right in. But if you all want "upscale" stuff downtown, Two Boots makes Fussy Friends look like a yacht club in Malibu.[/quote]

One thing is very clear after living here for nealry 10 years. The word "Foresite" was removed from the JC playbook decades ago and there is no sign of it returning. The utter lack of city planning here is conteptuous, embarrassing, and boneheaded.

Has anyone had the luxury of dealing with the building dept in JC? I swear universities who specialize in Urban & Regional Planning should use it as a posterchild of how NOT to do things. No accountability, just corruption, nepotism and cronyism.

The entire Embankment fiasco is a perfect example. They let it go for a song when the residents (ones with foresight and brains) screamed fowl. Now, years later, the light bulb finally went off and the city is having to spend millions to get it back.

I am surprised there are no handicapped spaces in that lot actually as it's rarely full.

Fair enough regarding the US postage JadedJC but surely one of them could have gone in and dropped it off while the other double parked like most people do in NJ. It's almost acceptable now and generally tolerated by the JC police.

Sorry, but as much as I detest the insanely high property taxes for our quality of life here at some point you have to accept some responsibility.

Not to sound crass but it seems this could have all been avoided by simply mailing it in.

Make no mistake folks this is simply Jennifer Morrill's (Healy's Press Secretary) way of making him look green and pro-cycling as the mayoral race starts to pick up steam. Healy has done zip, zero, nada for cyclists during his 8 years as mayor.

This short, pathethic bike lane is comical.

We should all care a lot more about the real "trash" issue that litters our streets and clogs our sewers then care about these two trashy bimbos that will be gone before you know it.

Ha! Do you know the saying, "name calling is the last refuge of the out argued?" It seems that on JC List the last refuge is to point out ones spelling errors.

I will point out that Waterman and Lester are two intelligent people and both felt that endorsing Sue was a smart move in case she was elected and if she was not. Pretty simple math really.

Speaking of Machiavellis I am sure you then know that "Machiavellian" is a derogatory term for describing someone who aims to deceive and manipulate others for personal advantage. It's also known as another word for deceit and political manipulation.

Did Sue Nadar I mean Sue Mack borrow some of your old Greek and Roman philosophy books?

It's called politics Diogenes2013. Keep you friends close but your enemies closer. That's exactly why Fulop stayed out of it.

Could it be that her BoE position is an unpaid while the Council draws a salary? Hmmm. Either way, lots and lots of us DT find it pretty interesting.

I believe Ianmac also said, "opinions are like asshats - everyone has one"

Look, the prevailing chatter amongst the neighbors I talked with that evening around Grace Church and around Hamilton Park the days after the election was that Sue Mack was the Ralph Nadar of this run-off election. In otherwords, there's no denying she took important votes from Levin and Boggiano and essentialy gave Lavarro his seat.

Yes, she had every right to run but now she has a big hill to climb to get back in the good graces of the other BOE members. They must have been aghast when she announced she was jumping ship just weeks after being elected to this crucial post.

Hindsight can be a bitter pill to swallow.

The only results Mack should be waiting on are progress results from the Jersey City school system.

Put your tail between your legs and get back to the BOE job that you really campaiged for and won.

Owlie - While you are correct on your views remember the sitting city council we unfortunately have is in no way shape or form forward thinking. A number of the current city council members did a complete 360 in just one year on the height density issue in the PAD. Lets not forget in 2004 they unanimously voted (with vigor) on the original PAD Redevelopment Plan. Then, just a year later, many of them became turncoats.

In case you forgot it was video taped and can be found on Dan Levin's web-site

http://onejerseycity.org/?p=20

You think the PATH train is bad now? This 3 building 950 unit beast will obviously yield a huge amount of new PATH train commuters each morning. Plan on leaving an extra 30 minutes early each morning.

Remember to see who changed their minds on this issue come November 8th.

owlie wrote:
Toll Brothers developments are very much like Walmart. They don't give a damn about the community they set their sights on. They will promise everything but in the end they will only benefit themselves.
They will build whatever they want and block out the sun to all the other buildings.
We don't need another huge residential building Downtown. That will only make the PATH even more crowded . We need something to make Jersey City more livable. We need a Trader Joe's or a Whole Foods. We don't need to obliterate the history of Jersey City. We don't need to complicate our lives. We need to make it more pleasant.[/quote]

Anything to bring in more cars!

Money talks and smart, forward thinking reasoning walks.

Zero accountability. Vote these morons out please!