The Mayor and City Council President have some serious questions to answer

Johnny's been letting this story simmer this week and let the facts trickle out organically and trickle they have.

First, a little stage setting. Transmission is a club at 150 Bay St. that despite the locals push back was deposited in a small crowded area of the Powerhouse Arts District. All the concerns locals have voiced thus far have come true and yet the city is glacial in dealing with them.

Transmission a month ago was raided and arrests made. Underage drinkers and drug sales were the order of the night. Undercover officers went in and instead of taking notes for future reference felt things were so bad they brought in the black and whites. How BAD is it in there? Great for the PAD property values by the way to have such a club in operation. Underage drinkers and drug sellers. Classy.

Two weeks after that police were called as the clientele got out of hand, were seen drinking and taking drugs in cars, and challenging pedestrians walking by to fistfights. The Transmission owner said the booking agent that night tricked him.

Last Saturday night at Transmission a local style blogger had a party. The crowd was large and the streets were packed as usual and nobody in the neighborhood could sleep with the windows open.

Steve Fulop, Jersey City Mayor, showed up (for what the party host said was about two hours) along with Council President Rolando Lavarro. The two top members of the Jersey City government hanging out in a club with such a reputation? One where drugs have recently been sold and underage kids drink. Why would either think this is a good idea, to contribute their names to such a place? At this point the only thing missing from Transmission are illicit dice games on the 150 Bay veranda but there they were, giving the glad hand.

Their presence gets more scrutiny when the police showed up to go through the club at 1am. Did police not know Fulop was inside? Is the club so bad (and remember Johnny pointed out the undercovers went in at 1am in his report on this last Sunday) they feel they just need to go inside and check around? If so, again, what business do the mayor and council president have inside?

Which brings us to our last order of business, yes, the mayor and council president were more than likely present at a party where drugs were being used. Remember this bag of powdery substance right outside Transmission, taken by Johnny Sunday morning?

See those items? Those are the exact kinds of things that quickly get dumped when police start showing up.

Is this the kind of example you, Mayor Fulop and Council President Lavarro want to set? Is this a good message from either of you? Know what it is? It's every bad stereotype of the new downtown setting itself in stone to the rest of the city.