A couple good reads over coffee this morning

Agustin C. Torres takes a very in-depth look at the implosion of the Hudson County Democratic Party over Mayors Fulop, Stack, Bhalla, and Roque all gunning to replace current county chair Tom DeGise with new blood and DeGise telling them to bring a flashlight and pack a lunch. Good stuff.

Also on your reading list, Earl Morgan makes the fair observation that maybe next year Ward F will hear what Mayor Fulop did and not just what he's still planning to do. Plus, Mr. Earl Morgan used the word surfeit. You can feel those bonus word scores piling up.

Jersey City is now a top 5 in the nation rental city

Realtor.com had an article on cities that have the most renters per capita and and Jersey City (and Newark) were on that list, in fact very high on the list. Both top five cities. While it's great people want to live in these cities (and let's not kid ourselves here bout why JC and Newark have so many people willing to rent, proximity to NYC) there are drawbacks when that high of a percentage of a city is rental units. First off renters don't pay property tax and nor in any big way help schools and infrastructure they are often using. Voting becomes yet another issue. Renters vote, you bet they do as well anyone should but perhaps their votes aren't the vote of someone looking to invest or look at a city's long-term financial health. The incentive to look at the long game just isn't there for a myriad of reasons. The fact remains the infrastructure use is really only being paid for by homeowners.

Johnny has a pretty good idea why Jersey City will continue to stay on this list if not own it one day -- The Healy and on steroids abatements of the Fulop administrations have invested very little in the way of abatements for buildings one can buy into and left hundreds of millions of dollars off the tax rolls for buildings made exclusively for renters. In just the past five years the Columbus towers, The One, The Toll Brothers The Morgan, the new Jared Tower on Bay St., M2, the Urby and now old Pep Boys parking lot Vyv (Just an awful name for such an ass looking building), JSQ1, et all have gotten huge abatements, more are on the way for....you guessed it, rental units.

It really is a self-fulfilling prophecy of fail when you do look long-term. The first abatements given to downtown are about to run out. There was a huge reval that hit downtown like a bomb (as Fulop knew it would which is why he spent so much time and effort to protect his base) and there will be questions if ownership buildings will be able to withstand the impact. Will people move out because of higher taxes? Hey, there's a pattern of that. Once they do that's less money for road fixes, storm cleanup, getting electricity back online, cops, DPW, Parking, who all lose when there is less ownership.

Ask yourself this about Fulop (and Healy) bending over for every developer they could, when the money starts to get tight downtown do The Heights or Greenville or India Square think anything is going to get built or fixed in their neighborhoods? They have to pull teeth now to get development and city help and supposedly this is the Jersey City gilded age. Once the tax base shrinks (and there's nothing really being done to actively grow it) they can kiss the big promises goodbye...again.

While it's great people want to live in Jersey City this is where "city planning" under Bob Cotter should have been far more engaged than, "Hey, there's a good spot on the waterfront for a developer" during his reign of awfulness. Cotter, "city planning" and the city councils should have insisted on far more ownership buildings in the downtown land rush.

Like Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren was waving her arms and telling everyone in no uncertain terms the 2008 crash was coming, Johnny is telling you now, get in but also know when to get out of the Jersey City real estate game, the timer on the bomb has been set and is ticking.

If only the mayor had any credibility in taking about the JCPD

It sure sounds like Steve Fulop's Public Safety Director (nee Jersey City's) James Shea was told about the possibility for the very abuses that have landed dozens of JCPD in trouble with the FBI for no-show stand around jobs by former JCPD Chief Robert Cowan. Cowan is said to have circulated a letter pointing out the vulnerabilities of the program but Public Safety Director and Jersey City spokespeople are saying the letter wasn't dated so there's no ay of knowing when it was created. Those inside the department however say they did indeed see the memo in 2013, when Cowan said it was written.

Plenty more on this from Terrence T. McDonald but well get you fired up to read with story with this clip:

In a statement to The Jersey Journal, Cowan said Zacche's actions left some of Jersey City's poorest residents vulnerable.

"Fulop and Shea's ignoring of my recommendations also provided tacit approval for the small percentage of corrupt minded politically connected police supervisors and officers to continue fleecing the taxpayers at the expense of the safety of the citizens these corrupt officers are sworn to protect and serve," Cowan said.

Finally

In an interview with the Hudson County View, Mayor Steve Fulop made waves by saying in 2018, these disgraceful stand around jobs cops get (and remember, on Fulop's watch JCPD would take cops on active duty and place them around construction sites) might just be going away.

Hallelujah and pass the ammunition.

Johnny has been railing against these nonsense ripoff jobs from the beginning. It's a poor poor use of police assets and with the FBI investigating this program and the bad actors who gamed it, sounds like Johnny is finally going to get his way.

During the same press conference in his office discussing a multitude of policing matters, Fulop revealed that the off-duty security details could soon become a thing of the past in Jersey City.

“On the off-duty stuff, we’re very proactive. The one thing I’ll tell you, just based on conversations we’ve had with the FBI … I would not be surprised if the off-duty jobs go away entirely in 2018,” Fulop said.

About time. Johnny actually used to complain about this program to Fulop's office back when he was a city councilman and got no replies (Fulop was just awful at getting back with Ward E constituents). On it's face this program is a loser and now that the cops have decided they can schedule these types of "jobs" without paying taxes on all that filthy lucre and brought the administration shame it truly looks like it's going away. It was an unnecessary cost to developers who then pass those costs to the renter because that's the money food chain.

As a side note, Johnny has actually, with his own ears, heard a cop explaining the benefits of hiring them to stand around (When you have a dog you can linger and nobody notices). One was nothing gets stolen. Sooooooo your jobsite, in broad daylight, with 10-20-30 workers, a cop will keep some scrap metal scavenger from stealing company property. Right. That happens at night. That's why security companies, flush with amber lamps, employ people.

So, Fulop and Public Safety Director James Shea are taking these tasty jobs away right at the same time they took away a lot of cops extras (some really out there FYI) via an arbitration ruling and thus we'd deduce the JCPD somewhere hidden away has a dart board with the mayor's face on it. In this case, however late to the game, Fulop is right, these jobs are more a sham.

Jersey City allowing residents to prepay 2017 taxes due to Trump tax bill

Jersey City and the Fulop Administration are telling and allowing residents to prepay their 2018 estimated tax bill to take advantage of the current tax law. If you were to pay your 2018 taxes on say January 5th you'd only be able to deduct $10,000.00 on your 2018 taxes, the ones you'll file by April 2019. Paying your 2018 by December 31st will allow the full deduction on your upcoming April taxes. Confused? Follow this handy link on how it's done and what to expect.

Big personnel changes coming to Steve Fulop's Mayor's office this term

Embattled Anthony Cruz is among those who are being pushed out/not brought back/spending more time with their families/given the bums rush/moving on to other opportunities as Mayor Fulop announced some changes to his administration for the upcoming new term. Terrence T. McDonald, Ace Reporter, has all the details available at press time.

Mayor Fulop's bill to Jersey City taxpayers for his reval cancelation lands at $3.8 million

Fulop's petulant attempt to protect downtown taxpayers from the state ordered reval has a final total, $3.8 million pulled from taxpayer pockets and guess what, his new city spokeswoman hit the ground telling fables like the old one did.

Now first off, spokeswoman Hannah Peterson who just because she's new still can't be absolved for getting basic facts wrong in her statement trying to still spin Fulop's attempt to protect his base. Let's go through her statement and show her how we do in Jersey City:

"For the last four years we have kept taxes stable (not really, we've just played games with the numbers while developers get everything they want from Fulop), while expanding the police department (Who you cut off at the knees by not negotiating their contract fairly and let's face it, the JCPD despise Steve Fulop and on his watch the police force is a disgrace anymore), building new parks (ORLY? Now we know you're a noob) and stabilizing the city's finances (No, again, your new boss has done nothing but play budgetary games with a willing council to kick the problems down the road)," city spokeswoman Hannah Peterson said. "The route it was on in 2013 was extremely dangerous for the city and its residents (Just saying it was somehow dangerous, DANGEROUS LOL, doesn't make your word salad so Ms. Peterson), and we now feel that this process is being done properly. We made the right decision. (You cost city taxpayers 3.8 million dollars for Fulop's tantrum)"

There you go Ms. Peterson, fixed all that for you and please don't insult our intelligence with such nonsense in the future.

Vote for Steve Fulop.....IF

With tomorrow being the election here in Jersey City and everywhere else in America, Johnny wanted to touch on the importance of the one who gets elected at the top of the ballot, Jersey City Mayor. With Bill Matsikoudis set to face incumbent Steve Fulop on the 'morrow, Johnny wanted to take a close look at the race and offer some salience to Jersey City voters before the big day.

Vote for Steve Fulop.......IF

Vote for Steve Fulop if you liked him making every decision for the first three years as to how it would be viewed through the lens of a statewide governor's race and not how it would benefit Jersey City residents.

Vote for Steve Fulop if you think a mayor should have to be shamed and dragged to fund schools the state just gave Jersey City control back of because he's a shill for developers and doesn't want to inconvenience their bottom lines.

Vote for Steve Fulop if you think thugs should be running around on behalf of the mayor to 'recommend' certain vendors get certain contracts, you know, if you know what's good for you.

Vote for Steve Fulop if you think him using the JCPD as props in his ads is OK while the city bargains in questionable faith knowing they'll get relief vs police union on pay with mediator.

Vote for Steve Fulop if you think it's ok for cops to be pulled off active to duty to stand around and protect empty buildings.

Vote for Steve Fulop if you still defend that very program.

Vote for Steve Fulop if you think the utter hash he's made of the JCPD is fine.

Vote for Steve Fulop if you think the big change at Jersey City Parking worked....at all...in the least.

Vote for Steve Fulop if you think it's OK to badger a local artist to paint an ad for his real estate company buddy into a Monopoly board.

Vote for Steve Fulop if you think those on city payroll telling residents they live like pigs and in filth should keep their job.

Vote for Steve Fulop if you think looking the other way while one of his useful idiot buddies gets drunk, crashes into three people, lies on job timesheets as long as he votes for his items on council AND deserves a stack of the mayor's campaign cash is good by you.

Above all, vote for Steve Fulop if you think entire swaths of the city are ok to be ignored while almost $100 million dollars comes off the tax rolls downtown, ensuring those ignored neighborhoods will have no money to help grow and can't get the least bit of their fair share of Jersey City goodness.

Read this article, read all of it before you vote for mayor

Seriously, this is what is done in our names every day Jersey City, THIS is how Steve Fulop operates as your mayor. He'll send in thugs and goons to try and intimidate others to see his will done, in this case Anthony Cruz, all-around jackass (Johnny's had email dealing w him) and now all-around muscle for Fulop.

Again, this goes on every day in Jersey City, those in power simply think government just runs this way. Your job on election day is to tell them different. Unless of course what you're about to read is OK with you.

Both Politico and the Jersey Journal have the 'Fulop Tape'

In along day of political news this morning Politico released transcripts of the Fulop bid rig tape and later int eh day the Jersey Journal followed suit. We've been covering this tape for quite a while now so here's the link to the Jersey Journal story.

Doesn't sound good for Fulop and how he does business and those he employs to do business for the city.

One to watch; Mayoral debate on Thursday to be on the television & livestreamed

The best part of the mayoral debate on Thursday will be the one who asks the questions, the hard questions and all the follow ups, Jersey Journal reporter who covers Jersey City so well, Terrence T. McDonald. Now Johnny is going to go ahead and say that when Mayor Fulop found out who'd be moderating he had to make a stop at the drug store for indigestion medicine. Some of the questions that he'll be asked, the hard questions without the cover of lackeys or crowds, are the kind that can change elections. Bill Matsikoudis, the challenger enters the debate needing some kind of big big hit on style points on Fulop or a knockout blow all while not stumbling in front of someone who covered his old boss, former Mayor Healy.

We're happy questions that need asking will get asked and the candidates will have to deal with them. You can click this link to find out which Bat times and which Bat channels will have the debate and how you can livestream it on the series of tubes that is your interweb.

The Steve Fulop/Anthony Cruz bid-rig story takes yet another sad turn

Attributing pretty much all the questionable ethics surrounding his first term to political stunts by his opponents, Mayor Fulop today released info he took a $1000 donation from the company at the center of the bid rig at the heart of the original story. Sure, that bid didn't get pushed through (though there is quite the story still building around the tape of the bid rig for Green Energy Inc.) because the way it was happening came to light, so let's take more money from that company. Terrence T. McDonald, one great reporter, take it away:

The re-election campaign of Mayor Steve Fulop reported receiving a $1,000 donation last month from the managing partner of an energy company that is at the center of allegations of attempted bid rigging by a group of city officials in 2014.

The Fulop campaign, in reports made public today, said it received the contribution from Javier Barrios, managing partner of Good Energy, on Sept. 7. Asked to comment, the Fulop campaign questioned the relevance of the reported donation.

Just more sleaze from the guy who claimed from every mountaintop he'd change the ethics in the office of mayor. He has not. It almost feels like most days Bill Matsikoudis isn't running against Fulop so much as a cult of personality.

Who wants a Monday night politics fix?

That's right citizen, you do. Terrence T. McDonald asks the question of some candidates, if you're a Steve Fulop ally, how do you stay independent and how do you show you're being independent. Some hemmed and hawed but none made quite the hash of the question Ward C candidate and Fulop ticket member John Hanussak did. We're not going to step on McDonald's journalism here, you go click that link and watch a slow motion car crash in real time.

Fulop & Matsikoudis spar over affordable housing

This is why spending the first 3.5 years of your mayoral term basing your decisions on how they'd be viewed if he ran for governor not only hurt Steve Fulop, it hurt Jersey City. Fulop went before the assembled group at New Jersey City University Monday; he had to admit his administration had fallen short on this and promised to play catch up. Three and a half years worth of catch up mayor? Matsikoudis who has previously released his plan on affordable housing won huge cheers from the crowd on Monday when he said:

"It's out of control," Matsikoudis said. "I'm hearing about people that are getting pushed out of Jersey City, who've had to move from Downtown to the Heights or from McGinley Square to Greenville and the next step is out of Jersey City."

"Right now there's no door to knock on, there's no phone number to call," Matsikoudis said on Monday. "If you need help finding affordable housing, well, it's up to you to figure it out. Well, we're going to change that."

Johnny railed on this forever, all of Fulop's decisions were filtered through the idea he'd run for governor and how decisions on Jersey City issues might impact him outstate. Now those delays in focusing on the city play out in the numbers. Terrence T. McDonald pointed out the mayor was claiming construction or approval of 1,444 affordable units. When only units completely built are included, the number of affordable units is 173. 

Playing catch up indeed, just not in the mayor's race yet.

MASSIVE BREAKING NEWS: Mayor Fulop overheard two top department chairs trying to rig a city bid, did nothing

Boy howdy has Politico broken a story this morning. We'll be brief but concise; If Mayor Steve Fulop overheard information from his COS and JCDO chair rig a city bid and did nothing he needs to resign or action must be taken to run him out. We cannot have a wannabe crime boss as mayor running our city. This is beyond the pale, to hear someone wishing to commit a crime on your administration's behalf and you sit on your ass and do nothing?

Politician Steve Fulop did nothing. He must resign.

The Fulop campaign gets a lesson in copyright law

Steve Fulop as you may have heard somewhere is running for mayor of Jersey City again. Mr. Fulop's re-election campaign made an ad where Fulop sits in a lawnchair ie Chris Christie and in place of homesteading on a public beach closed in a snit, Fulop is using his lawnchair placed around Cool City ad to talk about his accomplishments in Jersey City, both real and imagined. A lot of people thought it was just the best thing.

Then it got pulled from YouTube. Johnny's dad used to have a saying, "If you have to explain a joke, it's no good." The Fulop ad team, Putnam Partners (who aren't returning calls it would seem) for whatever reason, tried explaining their ad. They used THE image (the overhead that spawned a thousand memes) for however short of a time, taken by Andrew Mills of NJ Advance Media in the actual Fulop ad and they didn't get themselves permission which is most likely the reason it's only on Fulop's Faceplacebook page. The ad agency didn't trust their gut enough. People in Jersey City would EASILY have gotten the lawnchair gag. Christ, know your audience. What's that? No, it wasn't some kind of guerilla ad made to be seen once or twice. It was planned for at least three weeks.

So, that's some good advice from Johnny's dad who had such other treasures you can work into your daily lives like "Would you kids like some candy?" YAAAAAAAAY "Why, you'd just eat it" and the classic, "Does your face hurt? It's killing me!"

The JCPD vs Steve Fulop, part pi

Angry at a myriad of supposed insults and lack of respect from Mayor Fulop, the JCPD took to city hall placing placards in city hall and parading them around reminding the mayor and his team to "Support the JCPD."

This is one oft those stories that cuts both ways for Johnny. He thinks Carmine Disbrow, who represents the JCPD in all matters where a blowhard with an overactive imagination is necessary, might have a point when he decries the fact the JCPD is kind of leaderless with James Shea now just allowed to act as police chief. Fulop's decision, he'll just act as the boss. Not that that's his job or calling but he'll handle it. That's a BAD idea. Get a cop in charge of the other cops. not a ublic safety director no matter what he did in New York City, this is Jersey City. That point brings us to the other part of the cuts both ways comment; City Spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill's response to Disbrow (Face it, to her response to just about anyone) was that his commentary "undermines his credibility." Maybe Ms. Morrill would do better to stick to easily called upon facts to show Disbrow still isn't over Fulop calling out the JCPD for their part in the wild west shootout that had JCPD officers firing out car windows while driving through our streets and ended when they kicked an innocent man who had been set on fire in the resulting car accident.

So we have a spokesperson who is right on some points about the actions of the police force in our fair city and a police union spokesman who is right about wanting a proper chief.  Reasonable people should be able to come to an agreement over these issues, right?

Ha, we hope the Itchy and Scratchy fight goes on forever. Kids dig it.

The petitions are in...

...and it is indeed a two man race for Jersey City mayor between incumbent Steve Fulop and former Healy corporation counsel, Bill Matsikoudis.  Elsewhere Terrence T. McDonald reports there will be 7 candidates running in Ward F and 6 in Ward E with 48 candidates citywide. This link, it helps with the breakdown.

Ward F debate, coming fall 2017:

A little something for the facts and stats crowd

Caitlin Mota at the Jersey Journal has collected and ranked the compensation packages of all the mayors of Hudson County. Pay ranges anywhere from $2500 a year to one mayor making $116K.

If you wanna see who makes what you gotta click.

Hey, slackers, you have one week to get your paperwork in to run for mayor or council

Let's go you layouts, slug-a-beds, and ham and eggers, you only have one more week to get your paperwork in to run for council and mayoral runs. As far as your mayoral paperwork and money you plan to spend running against Steve Fulop you may well just go take that cash and go up on your roof and throw it into the wind. Trust Johnny, it'll have the exact same effect. You'd be better served to buy a 20x20 piece of property and go get a 20 year abatement on it. Those are automatic here.

Terrence T. McDonald points out it's a crowded council race in so many wards, but you're gonna have to go give him some click love to see some of the numbers of people running in each ward.

Why are you still here? Skedaddle!