Hey kids, as tasty as this candy bar may be...

...make sure mom or dad get a look at it first. We're sure milk chocolate from Uranus is a wonderful candy. What's not to love? Oh yeah. Years ago AYDS "diet candy" met an untimely end because of the name. We are however rather certain that chocolate candy from Uranus doesn't have the magic elixir phenylpropanolamine – a substance the FDA has now ruled “not recognized as safe” in it.

Another creepy Halloween destination

If you ever find yourself in Stowe Vermont and you head across Emily's Bridge don't be surprised if in the middle of the covered bridge your lights and engine cut out. Don't believe Johnny? It's happened before. Some people report scratches to themselves or their vehicles.

So if you ever are in Stowe make sure to take a trip across Emily's Bridge, if you're not too scared that is.


Image by Johnny

Happy Halloween from all of us here at the Jersey City Desk!

So let's get right to it shall we? It's Bobby "Boris" Pickett and the Crypt Kicker Five with the classic 'Monster Mash.'  A full day of fun, music and scary surprises coming up here today at "The Desk."

Late night open thread

Congrats to the Red Bulls out in Harrison tonight who won a one-game elimination match against Sporting Kansas City (Bad 24 hours for Kansas City):

Bradley Wright-Phillips, who led the league with a record-tying 27 goals, tied it in the 77th minute and headed in the winner with less than a minute remaining in regulation.

New York will host Eastern Conference champion D.C. United on Sunday in the first-leg of a two-match semifinal. D.C. will host the second leg on Nov. 8.

It beats the hell out of the Jets...

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

What was the best candy to get at Halloween when you were a kid?

Johnny Tweeted out the pic below telling the good children of Jersey City he was ready for them tomorrow. Johnny always overstuffs the proverbial candy buckets because it's just tougher to trick-or-treat anymore. Where it's not been outlawed it's been severely curtailed. You show up at Johnny's door and you better know a good dentist.

So tell us dear readers, what were your favorite types of treats to get on the holiest of candy nights? Candy not being smushed under a small pumpkin is not the correct answer.

Late night open thread

Happy anniversary Jersey City, two years ago tonight was much, much different.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

OK this is just too cute for words

Today is National Cat Day. Johnny has a dog BUT he'd most likely also have a cat if Mrs. Johnny wasn't allergic to them. That being said the company Uber is, from 12-4 today hosting #UberKITTENS. If you get our your smartphone and bring up your Uber app and punch in KITTENS your driver will arrive with a gaggle of kittens for you and your office mates to play with, from the Uber blog:

It’s just $30 for 15 minutes of kitten snuggles and every dollar from your visit is donated directly to the participating shelter in your city! In most cities, you’ll also have the option of adopting that little furball you’ve almost certainly fallen in love with. Just ask the local shelter rep assisting with your kitten delivery.

See? How cool and what a great use of a corporate app. Get dialing...

Late night open thread

Sorry for the lack of any infotainment today friend-o's, busy day on other matters. It may wind up costing you the entire day ironing things out but Johnny's best free advice in his business is never let a one day issue become a two day issue.

OK, you've been good, here's a late night treat before bed.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Late night open thread

“I would rather sit on a pumpkin, and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.”
 --  Henry David Thoreau

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

A Jersey City Desk Editorial

Know who's not an Ebola expert and doesn't have anyone on full-time staff who really truly has a working understanding of Ebola and what happens in such a global outbreak? Chris Christie.

Know who are experts on the Ebola? The CDC and World Health Organization, both of whom Chris Christie is pretending he knows more than because he's trying to raise money for the flat earth society. Cuomo conceded he didn't know what they know and NY are no longer sending people to Ebola yurts.  If Christie keeps on this path then no doubt Steve Fulop will meet with certain handpicked council members and Toll Brothers to give a 30% tax abatement for 20 years to build Ebola Housing Downtown. Without fail some advertising douche would name it The Virale! Then when they get ready to break ground Toll will tell city planning they don't want stupid Ebola patients anywhere near let alone inside their glamour pad. City Planning will of course capitulate.

We don't want that Jersey City so contact Christie's office and tell him to shut his yapper and listen to real experts. If the World Health Organization or CDC ever wants analysis or lyrical meaning of ANY Bruce Springsteen song they should not hesitate to contact Governor Christie. Christie needs the old "less talk more listen" approach here.

This has been a Jersey City Desk Editorial.

Late night open thread

Mr. Pibb is the replica of Dr Pepper. But it’s the bullshit replica because dude didn’t even get his degree!
 -- Mitch Hedberg

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Of all the great art in Jersey City...

...sometimes this is the kind that makes you smile most when you see it.

Late night open thread

It's the Saturday night Scoreboard Show!

Ohio State 34
Penn St. 24 2OT
Dear Penn St., keep the shit off your field

Nebraska 42
Rutgers 24
Rutgers will take home some lovely corncentric parting gifts

Michigan State 35
Michigan 11
A Michigan linebacker brought some kind of spear or stake from Ann Arbor with him and just before the National Anthem ran to the 35 yard line and staked it into an 'S' painted on the field. Michigan State then won the toss and elected to kick the Bejeesus out of Michigan for the next ten years

LSU 10
Mississippi 7
One Mississippi down in the playoff race

Toledo 42
Massachusetts 35
You knew this score would be explosive when you have Minutemen and Rockets involved

Bucknell 22
Georgetown 17
Who says Bison are extinct east of the Mississippi?

Alabama A&M 37
Alabama St. 36
It's the Bulldogs who reign supreme in the state of Alabama small and directional school bowl

TCU 82
Texas Tech 27
A score like this reminds Johnny of the first time he played his godson in Playstation college football and was destroyed

Wabash 70
Oberlin 10
Putting the Bash in Wabash

The Jersey City Desk Game of the Week®
North Carolina 28
Virginia 27
Well, you can't accuse North Carolina of studying game film, or studying much of anything else for that matter but they still schooled (Oh Johnny quit) Virginia.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Rutgers football gameday!

In what a lot of people call the friendliest road trip one can make in college football, the Scarlet Knights are in Lincoln Nebraska today for a morning matchup with the Cornhuskers. Being in central time the game kicks off at 11am in Lincoln and while they have an awesome gameday atmosphere we're not sure how much BBQ one can get around by say 8:30 am to get it smoked and cooked just so before you head into the stadium for an 11am kickoff. See? Rutgers is already flexing their ratings muscle.

Johnny thinks it's going to be a long afternoon for the Knights unless they can force turnovers and lately nobody has been better at trying to give games away via the turnover than Nebraska. The overview is pretty simple, force a couple fumbles, get a pick or two as the Huskers aren't a strong passing team or Ameer Abdullah is gonna get a chance to ram the ball at the RU defense for four quarters. We know Rutgers will play for the entire game, a great program trait so if they can keep it within a score deep into the third quarter well that's how upsets are born.

So finish your frosted flakes New Jersey, still 45 minutes til kickoff.

Fearless Forecast:
Nebraska 31
Rutgers 20

Late night open thread

“It's 4:58 on Friday afternoon. Do you know where your margarita is?”
 -- Amy Neftzger

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with THE RUNAWAYS!

Lita Ford, Sandy West, Jackie Fox, Joan Jett and Cherie Currie. When you get that kind of talent in a room you're gonna get some pretty good music out of it. However fleeting their time together they made a real good noise. The Runaways batting leadoff tonight and making their Music Series debut with 'Cherry Bomb'.

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with ELMORE JAMES!

Goddamn right Elmore James.

You got those 'Madison Blues' people? Not sure if you have the Madison Blues or the Ebola? Let Elmore James tell you all the symptoms. The best part of this song is from 0:00 to 2:25.

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with THE CARS!

Headphone songs. You know 'em. Pink Floyd made quite a few. The Moody Blues, The Beatles, ELO, there are some bands that know the value of slapping on a pair of good headphones for one of those special play with your head type songs. Songs that while they may sound good on the car radio or on your home system, they shine in headphones. We're wrapping up tonight's Music Series with a Top ten headphone song. Since you've already seen the band is The Cars the secret's out isn't it? Here's 'Moving in Stereo' for all us headphone fans.

Late night open thread

On this day in 1976 Chicago had their first #1 Billboard hit with "If You Leave Me Now." In honor of their great accomplishment here's The Clash from 1977 with 'Garageland '

You didn't think we were going to play that Chicago song did you?

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

If you shitwreck your umbrella in 40mph winds...

Don't just drop it wherever you stand. They have these newfangled things called trash cans all over Jersey City. There's one every other block.

Pigs...

Late night open thread

Two guys in a rowboat just flew by Johnny's office window high atop the SpacePunk Building downtown.

You don't want that.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Dear developers

On days like this when walking a dire wolf it sure would be nice if Jersey City could be known as "the City of Awnings."

Just sayin'.

Late night open thread

And who doesn't love fun?


Time for Jersey City, After Dark

We're going to start off today with a brilliant article in NJ.com

S.P. Sullivan has a fascinating article on Snake Hill in Secaucus and how it may not be done giving up it's secrets after a massive cemetery reinterment from 2002:

That was 2002. The Turnpike Authority was looking to build a new interchange in Secaucus — Exit 15X — to give motorists access to the Secaucus Junction train station. As the site was prepared for the work, human remains were discovered. What followed would end up being the largest disinterment of bodies in U.S. history. Thousands of remains were extracted from the Meadowlands during a 10-month period in 2003. All told, more than 4,000 people were reburied in Hackensack and memorialized at a ceremony in late October 2004.

A decade later, a question lingers: Are there more bodies, forgotten and without families, buried just beyond the New Jersey Turnpike’s shoulder?

Make time for this article. It's so well written and simply fascinating. The fact it's late October and some of this story is about bodies and cemeteries makes it all the more topical.

Late night open thread

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Zed's dead baby, Zed's dead...

Late night open thread

The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.
 -- Aristotle

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Get stepping Jersey City, Eliza Neals sings all up in your faces this afternoon

Jersey City artist by way of Detroit (and thus a friend of Johnny's) Eliza Neals will be on stage today at the corner of Bay St. and Provost in the Powerhouse Arts District. So put on a sweatshirt and some long pants and get downtown, she's fantastic!

Late night open thread

It's the Saturday night Scoreboard Show!

Florida State 31
Notre Dame 27
Touchdown Jesus must have had his remote control on another channel while Notre Dame had to retry their final chance

Alabama 59
Texas A&M 0
This one got so bad former A&M QB Johnny Manziel Tweeted during the game "Make it stop"

Michigan State 56
Indiana 17
Scary to think how good Michigan State could be if they held the throttle down for 4 quarters. Oh look, Michigan next weekend in East Lansing

Ohio State 56
Rutgers 17
Mama said there'd be days like this...

Ohio 23
Akron 20
Akron's Andrew Pratt never thought he'd ever be associated with the Jersey City Desk. That was before he fumbled late to allow Ohio a late field goal to win. Note to Andrew, Johnny checks almost every game score and, he like Santa Claus, know if you've been naughty or nice

Western Michigan 26
Bowling Green 14
In the shadows of I-75, along a stretch of highway that looks a lot like Truman Capote's description of the high plains of western Kansas in his book In Cold Blood, the Kalamazoo 11 smacked the Falcons of BGSU

Lehigh 31
Cornell 14
Lehigh's first win of the year. Sad times on South Mountain

South Florida 38
Tulsa 30
South Florida scored 17 points in the 4th quarter to make Tulsa look like girliemen (What, it's Saturday night)

Northern Arizona 21
Portland State 17
It was bound to happen sooner or later. In a game being played in America's great northwest a Bigfoot ran on the field and delayed the game for a few minutes until he ran off into the woods

Princeton 27
Brown 16
Johnny did watch a few minutes of this game today. Princeton has a goddamned BOOK on the logo on their field. Do you see a book anywhere on the field at Alabama? How about Georgia? Ever seen a book on the field at Ohio State? Princeton needs to work on that branding thing if they want to get in that playoff one day

The Jersey City Desk Game of the Week®
Northern Michigan 33
Wayne St. 30

On the shores of Lake Superior, in fact so close to Lake Superior you can walk outside and piss and hit it, if it weren't freezing in mid-air, the Wildcats won their first game of the year. The Pride of the Upper Peninsula, the NMU Band got to send everyone off into the arctic days that are October in Marquette Michigan, where it's light 3 hours a day, home with a smile on their faces. Johnny gets a great big lump in his throat ever time he hears this one

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Rutgers football game day!

Well RU football fans, here's your chance to see boorish fan behavior on a level you're just not used to. If you're going to the game in Columbus vs Ohio State today no doubt you'll be coming come to tell tales about THE worst fanbase in the B1G. They are drunken louts with delusions of grandeur in Columbus. Johnny knows, he's seen it first hand sadly on more than one occasion. To use the old Reggie Jackson line, Ohio State thinks they are the straw that stirs the B1G drink. Losing to Michigan State in the B1G title game last year was horrible for them. Johnny read their fans posts and columnists and they just don't understand not being in first....ever. They are rude to opposing fans (If you have a Michigan license plate on your car in late November on a certain game day they'll roll your car) and in general are a sandpapery lot.

There, now you're prepared for the Columbus game day experience. How about the game though Johnny. Yes, the game.

Now, RU is playing well. They have exceeded expectation of just about everyone not wearing a Rutgers jersey. If they have always wanted to know deep down where they matchup against the B1G's better teams here's their chance. Urban Meyer doesn't usually recruit the guys that don't have 4 and 5 starts next to their names in high school. The athletes OSU has will give Rutgers issues. Johnny thinks where that will be most pronounced will be in the trenches. The Buckeyes have a top flight defensive line led by Joey Bosa. Can the Scarlet Knights offensive line keep Gary Nova upright? Yeah, it'll be a big test. Ohio State has those great players that let's face facts, are a cut above RU's players.

But Michigan gets those same 4 and 5 star players and Rutgers beat Michigan. It's why they play the games isn't it? Rutgers has the reputation of being difficult to play against. If they can force OSU's backup QB into some throwing mistakes who knows? Try and keep it close and win it late, RU's best chance.

We'd love to pick Rutgers today, we would. We have no love lost for Old Columbus Town. Have we told you about their fanbase? This is a pic Johnny took in 2011 outside the Prudential Center for the NCAA basketball sub regional. Ohio State fans:



Know what, the Buckeyes lost that night too.

Fearless Forecast:
Rutgers 29
Ohio State 27

Late night open thread

In honor of the JC Artists Studio Tour tomorrow and Sunday, Johnny reached way down into his sack of animated gifs for this one.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with INXS!

What a great band, they really had a wonderful body of work before Michael Hutchence passed away. Great albums and some super fine singles. Here's one from early early in their career, from 1983 and if you listen you can try to pick out Daryl Hall signing on the chorus with Hutchence. INXS with 'Original Sin'

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with ROXY MUSIC!

Check it out, the blue sea monster woman is Jerry Hall, Mick Jagger's ex. Johnny wonders if she knows Sigmund and the Sea Monsters. The rock and roll historical rumors are NOT true that Jerry Hall was Violet Beauregard's mother, you know the girl who turned purple in Willy Wonka. They're not even in the same color shade people. Johnny hates when people tell tales out of school like that.

Oh yeah. 'Both Ends Burning' from Roxy Music.

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with VINCE TAYLOR AND HIS PLAYBOYS!

Why is it in cool songs that sing about top of the line cars we never hear one about Lexus? Yeah, they're not writing any classic American rockers about Lexus or Acura or Infiniti's are they? If it's a classic it's a CADILLAC! How many great songs are songs about Cadillacs? You try and count Caddy references in popular music while Vince Taylor and His Playboys rip it up with 'Brand New Cadillac' bringing down the curtain on another Music Series.

It's the Super Bowl of art weekends -- JC Artists Studio Tour

The JC Artists Studio Tour starts tomorrow and it gets bigger and better every year. So many of Jersey City's best artists will put their best work forward for a LOT of art lovers all over the area. There will be a kickoff party tonight at 6pm in J. Owen Grundy Park on the waterfront. For those who wish to see which of your favorite artists are where and even get a preview of some of them here is a handy link to the event's Facebook page. You can also follow them on the Twitter.

Johnny is more of a Photoshop kind of guy when it comes to art ability. He did however leave the art world agog a few years back with his stunning breakthrough piece:

Ghosts Eating Marshmallows in a Snowstorm, Johnny Action Space Punk (c) 2010

Here's to a great 2014 weekend of art in the absolute best place to have it, Jersey City!

Late night open thread

Those late night talk shows, you never know who's gonna turn up.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Mayor Fulop's terrible awful no good week

It's been a bad week for Jersey City mayor Steve Fulop dear readers. Late last week Fulop sprung a previously unannounced plan to take train cars full of New York City garbage and park them in Greenville and Port Liberte in the Greenville Yards. The Jersey Journal's Terrence T. McDonald tells us thusly:

"...a proposal floated by Mayor Steve Fulop last week that would allow the city to collect a $10 million payment and $250,000 annually from waste disposal firm IESI in exchange for halting Jersey City's opposition to a garbage transfer station in Greenville Yards, where New York City municipal waste would be loaded from barges onto railroad cars and then moved out of the city."

Remind you of anything? Dumping garbage on people expecting something else entirely? Mayor Fulop reminds us here a whole lot of Montgomery Burns and his "Merry Fishmas" betrayal of the people of Springfield by tossing fish guts and garbage on them when they least expected it.

How do residents feel? We think unhappy is a starting point:

"We give you $10 million and you're gonna live in stink," is how Ocean Avenue resident Kathy Quirk describes the deal.

City council did their part to push the surprise announcement through by voting on it two whole days after Fulop brought the deal to light and once again Council President Rolando Lavarro Jr. decided he knew best for somebody else's neighborhood. Again he proves if it can make money or can impress the mayor he does not give a shit about you or your neighborhood. The vote was 5-2-1 for garbage trains. Boggiano and Yun were no votes, everyone else was yes except oddly enough Frank Gajewski who represents Greenville was on vacation and did not vote. He previously said he was against the plan. Joyce Watterman abstained. As many of you know we here are very impressed by Candice Osborne. That being said we noticed a couple weeks back she was very much against a zoning change to allow an extra seven floors on a building in her neighborhood but yet voted for garbage trains in someone else's. *John Belushi raised eyebrow*

Wait a minute, what's that? Quoteth ESPN Gameday's Lee Corso "Not so fast my friend!"

The Port Authority whom Fulop earlier this year sued he said on Jersey City's behalf for $400 million in unpaid taxes were probably drawing straws to see who got to tell Fulop his plan was DOA. They stopped it faster than a bug on a windshield. Gotta be shocking to live in Greenville and Port Liberte and realize the Port Authority is looking out for you more than your elected city government, yes? They even took a dig at Fulop by saying in a statement "We will require assurances that adequate consultations with local public officials and concerned citizens have occurred..." OUCH!

So getting shut down by the Port Authority like that so publicly after thinking you'd succeeded in ramming a deal down Greenville and Port Liberte's throats is pretty bad. What could make this week worse?

Fulop's Chief of Staff, Muhammed Akil, resigned today saying his comments made some twenty years ago, that were hateful and pretty stupid, let's face it, were a distraction to Mayor Fulop. Look, don't we all just make mistakes? Haven't we all said stupid shit we wish we could take back? Everyone has. Those who say otherwise are lying. Life is about mistakes and learning from them in becoming better people. Muhammed Akil had quite clearly met that bar. Not everyone learns from mistakes and we read about them usually in the crime blotters. Akil had become a success and we figured this too would blow over just like potty mouth trash hater Brooke Hansson's now-classic YouTube performance. Johnny talks with people in and out of city hall. Lives near one. Nobody was screaming for Akil to go. Unless of course this might look bad for someone say running for governor to have a chief of staff having said such things back when, but Jersey City nary batted an eye over it. This raises the question about whom the resignation is more aimed at, Jersey City or Trenton.

A lot of goodwill burned up for nothing, every neighborhood now on alert for secret deals they know nothing of but will be armed to the teeth with lawyers for when they poke their heads up, and a city asset chased off by the ghosts of what might be.

"And for what? For a little bit of money. There's more to life than a little money, you know. Don'tcha know that? And here ya are, and it's a beautiful day."

Late night open thread

On this day (Oct. 16) in 1793, Marie-Antoinette was beheaded in Paris. So no matter how your day goes on Thursday it won't be as bad as hers.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

A food website has some good (and bad) things to say about Jersey City

The website Wallethub ranked Jersey City number #39 in a look at food, restaurants, cost, accessibility and quality of the 150 top populated cities in America. Jersey City did poorly if you're out looking for a dinner deal, ranking it #129 on the list meaning eating out is expensive. Big surprise. Look east, see those really tall buildings, it's been expensive to eat there forever. In some ways that stat truly proves Jersey City's claim as sixth borough. That can further be proved by the fact Jersey City placed a very impressive #6 when it comes to diversity, accessibility and quality. It came in even better at #4 for number of coffee shops per capita and also for gourmet specialty food stores per capita. Sound like anyplace nearby?

While some may look at the #39 overall rating and be disappointed, Johnny thinks something else it at work here. With all the new high end as well as other very good new places to eat people do now have expectations of good food in Cool City. They may initially grumble at the cost thinking they are paying a lot and not being actually physically in NYC, but the food world is getting smaller. Anymore there are a lot of cross-river eaters. Jersey City's Taqueria is opening in the East Village this year for a reason. NYC chefs are opening in Jersey City for a reason. Johnny knows a couple in NYC that won't eat Indian food anywhere but Newark Avenue in Jersey City.

In Johnny's mind these numbers are better rather than worse. He'll take a top ten ranking in diversity, accessibility and quality any day.

Late night open thread

There's a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot.
 -- Stephen Wright

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

A couple questions the CDC and Federal Government should answer but they won't

Can a zombie get the Ebola and then can they transmit it in a bite so there would be Ebola zombies who might then actually infect and kill other zombies who don't have zombie Ebola? And would the Ebola zombies die off if they didn't get treatment for the zombie Ebola because they turned the doctors who could have treated them into zombies or Ebola zombies?

Well, we're waaaiiiiiting...

Johnny could use a good news story this morning...

...because the simple act of Johnny walking his dog almost cost a Toll Brothers worker his life this morning when he for some unknown reason ran his mouth and yelled at Johnny. Johnny actually looked to the side of him and behind him to see if the goober was even talking to him and to this moment he has no idea why. Johnny was just checking messages on his cell phone while his dog peed and Mr. Toll Brothers let fly. Johnny then (being from Detroit and never one to miss a good argument) walked up to the guy and asked what his issue was. He hemmed and hawed in front of his worker buddies and then at one point acted tough until Johnny moved closer and got right up to his face and once again told him to "Get back into that building you're working on you **** and while you're working in it contemplate the fact you will never be able to afford to live in it." He left, grumbling under his breath and Johnny happily went on his way (He was simply walking his dog to begin with) and he's now ready for some good news, some fun stuff if you will.

Montclair had a puppy apocalypse or Dog Walk of the Dead if you will as a fundraiser for the Montclair Animal Shelter last night and the video and the pictures of the ghoulish pups are just too cute and so much fun. Follow this link and you can see all the puplets ready for their star-turn for Halloween.

Late night open thread

Sleep tight.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Next time someone says we need more cops, tell them no we don't

We need to make better use of the ones we have.

When Mayor Fulop was elected he said he'd help make better use of Jersey City Police resources, specifically he'd use civilian "monitors" instead of police officers to stand around construction sites and get in and out of their cars, play with their iPhones and talk with workers. Fulop said at the time, and we completely agreed, that Jersey City cops could do a better job fighting crime if they were actually on patrol or in an official police capacity.

So Mayor, what happened? Was it because first you had a Chief of Police then you didn't then you did for a short while and now you have another? Is your message not getting through? Did you simply not follow up on this? Which is it? Did the police tell you in no uncertain terms those were their gravy assignments? Tell us Mr. Fulop. Right now in the Powerhouse Arts District there are no less than five Jersey City police officers standing around a five block area.

This happens all too often.

Jersey City Desk file photo

So, five police officers who could be out working followup on cases, doing paperwork or helping fight crime standing around, sometimes sleeping in their cars, and not one of them has saved any local citizen from any construction related malady. Mayor, is it too much for you to make this a priority? Stop puffing your chest about hiring unneeded cops if you're not going to effectively use the ones we have on staff now. Where's this effective streamlined government you spoke so enthusiastically about just a year ago? People in Greenville and the Heights sure would be willing to put a citizen monitor outside a construction site if they could get even one more cop on patrol we're certain.

Or do you simply not care now that you're on to the whole gubernatorial thing?

Late night open thread

Did you know you have roughly the same odds of dying in a tornado as you do falling out of bed? Yep, it's true, 1 in 2 million on both.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

New Jersey Jets football gameday!

This will be short for all you Jetropolitan fans as you head over to the New Meadowlands. Rumor has it the Denver Donkeys stayed at the Westin this time like they didn't do during Super Bowl week. They high-tailed it over to the Westin so they could stay where winning teams stay, like the Seattle Peahens.

OK, so there you go, there's your drama. The Jets are a sucky mess with no hope at QB and the other team today has Peyton Maning and a highly operative team and game plan. What would you like Johnny to tell you Jets fans? That no game is ever played on paper? Ok, no game is ever played on paper. That being said...

Fearless Forecast:
Denver Donkeys 36
New Jersey Jets 13

So Jersey City, what are you gonna be for Halloween?

We realize many of you have been planning and or working on your costumes for weeks if not months, while others may have an idea and yet others who have no good idea what or whom to be. Johnny knows what he's going to be and while he has the size part down for the character he still is waiting on a couple props to arrive via UPS. So tell us your costuming plans and if you follow this handy link you'll see who Johnny's going to be, yes, the male character.

Late night open thread

It's the Saturday Night Scoreboard Show!

Mississippi State 38
Auburn 23
There must really be something to this whole Mississippi State as SEC power thing

Mississippi 35
Texas A&M 20
There must really be something to this whole Mississippi as SEC power thing

Alabama 14
Arkansas 13
Extra points DO matter. The Fighting Bielema's lose again

Michigan State 45
Purdue 31
Those bright yellow accents on the Purdue uniforms were painful to look at

Baylor 61
TCU 58
Now we know what a Horned Frog sounds like when it chokes

Michigan 18
Penn St. 13
As someone said on Twitter, this game started at 7pm and ended in 1964

Eastern Michigan 37
Buffalo 27
Eastern Michigan finally knocked down those cinder blocks

Grambling St. 28
Alcorn St. 21
Alcorn St. scored 14 unanswered points in the fourth quarter...and still lost

University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh 21
University of Wisconsin at LaCrosse 18
This game sells out months in advance, you can bet there are Oshkosh fans wandering drunk through the streets of LaCrosse tonight

The Jersey City Desk Game of the Week®
Murray State 44
SE Missouri St 41-OT
Murray State's KD Humphries got power up and threw a TD with seconds to play then another in the second OT to send the home fans home happy. KD may loot and pillage for the next 24 hours

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Late night open thread

Johnny has to go to bed so he can get up and start watching sports tomorrow. Look, it's gonna rain, be cold, screw that. It's college football and then hockey til dawn!

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with THE BLACK KEYS!

You might as well just get up and push the furniture to the side of the room for the next three minutes thirteen. Here comes a kick in the pants courtesy of The Black Keys and 'Lonely Boy'

All live clips tonight, no cover charge, just tell the guy at the door you know Johnny. There is however a ten drink minimum. Drink up, shriner.

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with CHAKA KHAN!

Sherman, set the Wayback Machine for 1983. Punch in the coordinates to where Chaka Khan goes into the studio and sings the shit out of this song. Johnny would very much like to go there and see and hear that.

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with SARAH MCLACHLAN!

Our third selection tonight is by our favourite Canadian chanteuse of the 1990's, Sarah McLachlan. Concert visionary, animal advocate and all around cool person, Sarah (can we call you Sarah?) with a fine-ass live version of 'Into the Fire'

Late night open thread

Four years ago Spanish goalkeeper Iker (Ee-ker) Casillas was the toast of the soccer world. He'd just won the World Cup for Spain, and was keeping goal quite well for Real Madrid. In 2012 there was St. Iker as he was now being called, winning another European Championship. At some point between 2012 and today something's gone sideways for Casillas. Yanked after two terrible matches for Spain in Brazil at the World Cup, shaky netminding for Real Madrid last season and this one that have found him on the bench for long stretches. Look, maybe his contact lens prescription ran out. Maybe he's got heebie jeebies of some sort. This sudden fall was and is difficult to explain.

And then came tonight. Spain qualifying for the Euros in 2016 playing in Slovakia (yes THAT Slovakia) which should be a quick trip in for 3 points and back home. Yikes.

Oh Iker you're so blind you're so blind you blow my mind, Hey Iker....Hey Iker!

For those scoring at home, the Spanish word for "sucks" is "chupar."

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Rolando Lavarro, Strike One

Don't you just love it Jersey City when someone thinks they know better than you when it comes to where you live? Now we're used to city planers and city council members bending over for developers here. Developers promise bullshit they never intend to deliver in the first place to get the city official to grab their ankles, which they do. That happened here of course, and of course it flew directly in the faces of residents who said they didn't want or believe in the add-ons being promised by Developer X in getting a free seven new stories added (Bringing the building total to 15 floors) to a neighborhood with a seven story limit.

This story has a new twist kids:

“On the whole I think it is good for Jersey City and good for the neighborhood there so I vote aye,” said City Council President Rolando Lavarro.

So he knows Better about Paulus Hook than Candice Osborne who lives a stone's throw from this abortion of a project and voted no. Good old Rolando, he knows better than Candice. Riiiiiight. No doubt he's lived in the neighborhood and raised his family at that end of Paulus Hook for years. It's arrogant and disrespectful to act like you know what's best for someone else especially after hearing you're wrong from actual taxpayers who live in Paulus Hook. We hope the voters there DO remember this.

Hear this now again probably for the first time Rolando, as a gentleman said in the meeting:

One man noted “We voted in a whole new council for a reason.”

He said if a plan is in place it should be left alone because people buy their homes because they like the neighborhood. “The simple thing is, don’t sell us out. Because we may vote you out.”

Strike One, Rolando.

Late night open thread

Um, how do we say this without offending the good people at Newport who handle the lighting for the "flag light" we're all so familiar with. It went from cool changing lights to a sad, slow amoeba of two or three colors til now where it's a Morse Code (remember Johnny was a code breaker for the Allies in WWII) that reads "Gozer the Traveler, He will come in one of the pre-chosen forms..."

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

We have snivelers in our midst Jersey City

It would seem a few business owners, restaurants mostly, have an issue with the Farmer's Market that sets up shop outside the Grove St. PATH station on Monday and Thursday from 4-8pm. Both Two Boots owner Aaron Morrill and Jeff Fabia, owner of Grove Square at Grove Street (The Bistro on the corner) whined to the Jersey Journal's Terrence T. McDonald that the Farmer's Market is costing them business because prepared foods are allowed alongside the usual farm fare of veggies and fruits.

Dear Aaron and Jeff,  please STFU. Aaron, did you complain when the pedestrian mall was put in on Newark Ave next to your store? Wouldn't people walking outside your store give you an advantage over say Helen's up the street? Jeff Fabia, you could try serving good food for a change. Johnny's been to your place one out of curiosity and then with a friend who wanted to go and both times your food was substandard. Were either of your businesses open before these empanada stands and food trucks (and we're talking eight hours a week, A WEEK these things are there) set up shop? No? Oh, gee well thanks for whining you Johnny-come-latelys. Maybe besides fresh fruits and veggies people want a few empanadas to take home. Johnny loves those empanadas but also supports the food trucks there too.

Is Two Boots suddenly FROM Jersey City now? Morrill complained in the article that some of the prepared food vendors are from outside Jersey City. Hey, just like Two Boots, NY based.

So until the pedestrian walkways disappears from in front of Two Boots and the Grove Square at Grove Street, these guys should just accept the fact other people have wares for sale too and they certainly don't have a monopoly on being a go to food destination. They would appear to have the market cornered on whining, however.

Late night open thread

Laura Palmer was right in the Black Lodge all those years ago. Twin Peaks to return in 2016, 25 years after Laura predicted.


Time for Jersey City, After Dark

This is the Jersey City Johnny likes living in

Almost a postcard. An elderly woman pushing her cart along Newark Ave. through a construction area. She said she didn't need help pushing her cart but the JCPD officer made sure her way was cleared and the work paused so she could pass.

That's the Jersey City Johnny likes living in.

Late night open thread

And we're back up and running here at the Jersey City Desk offices. Johnny could see what a glorious day it was gonna be and told the staff to add an extra vacation day.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark