One day a smart editor of the one last surviving newspaper will look at what a wreck the long-term Jersey City finances have become and tell a young cub reporter, "Didn't anyone, anyone at all warn against this prolific spending over nothing?" The cub reporter will hopefully not only know how to use Google blog search but Google itself or LexisNexis or EMyth or Simmons or any one of a number of tools which will bring them to this place in time.
"Yes Mr. Editor, there was someone who stood up and made exacting pronouncements on not only when the collapse began but pointed out the seminal cracks along the way."
*Harp flashback music*
Then, the Beatles song "Fool on the Hill" will begin to play over the office Pandora and the crux of the article will become a "How did we not see this coming, the signs were all there" think-piece.
*End harp flashback music*
We mentioned briefly yesterday in the that News Roundup (That someone copied online thank you very little) former Governor and professional government employee Jim McGreevey, who while being a good guy was working on prisoner re-entry but just had a poor vision of how to do a vital job when it came to how residents would view it. However, after working four months for the Fulop Administration McGreevey will now get lifetime benefits from Hudson County. Privately some in the county offices are fuming but as you read yesterday a county spokesperson made a word salad about bullshit benefits to the county (after four months two of which were spent getting told to fuck off by taxpayers) and they left it at that. Spending friends. Spending is running amok because somebody wants to run for governor so we get a pile of people performing half-measures who are never held accountable because like McGreevey they didn't go through the normal hiring processes. They're just being paid top dollar to half-ass JC business but work hard on Fulop for governor is our analysis. Why else do corporate counsel show up at a huge citywide meeting on tax abatements where they wanted to ask for a 30 year abatement but dropped it to a 20 and when asked why refused to comment? The head of the Jersey City government is disengaged and it's showing. There are far too many people on payroll for the services we're being told we should be getting.
Giving away hundreds of millions of dollars that COULD be on the city books is no long-term planning. Raising taxes 4 percent one year and lowering them 2 percent the next year and claiming you're solving city tax issues when you're not is bait and switch. Did the state run schools get better in all that? Look says the administration, taxes have been kept low for the time being, life is good. What about in ten years when all the benefit is the developers' who write a small check to the city, far less that what they'd pay (all for as few as 10 going rate income units which as we know CAN be shifted elsewhere) in the long term. Who is going to cover the shortfall? Have we seen one great new anchor store go into a Fulop high-rise yet? Macy's? Target? A lot of the old units can't get businesses to stay. Any income projections from the city are just that, projections in their best interests.
Of course this is Steve Fulop, who made time to go give the glad hand at a Republican fundraiser so at this point going forward if this guy surprises you with his say one thing while doing another you need to get on that Google search or just keep your internet dial tuned right here Jersey City. When it comes to being the last outpost of reason on city business, if your internet it tuned here your internet is tuned RIGHT!
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