The kind of Jersey City Johnny wants to live in

Johnny was all prepared to go off on one of his usual scolds, whether it be the mess in Trenton, the weather-related mistakes being made here in Jersey City, or the Transit deal mess in Hoboken but something happened this morning that pushed all that to the back burner.

Walking to the Grove St. PATH Station with his wife and dire wolf in tow, Johnny saw a young gentleman stopping his morning routine to do something so cliche some people may be non-plussed. He was on his way to the PATH station, possibly to work or to meet someone. He saw an elderly woman pushing a walker with wheels on the still icy and snow piled sidewalks and intersections. This young man stopped and offered assistance to make sure this woman made it safely across the icy mess and get on her way safely. Five minutes out of his day for something so nice, something that shows he cares for people around him. Five minutes to do what he felt was right. Johnny dropped his wife at the PATH and started waking up Marin Blvd. in the direction the woman had set off in. He and his wolf caught up with her at 1st and Marin. Johnny picked up the cause of the first young gentleman and made sure this wonderful woman (her name is Dorothy and like Johnny she was originally from Michigan and she moved to NYC in the 60's and then to Jersey City some 25 years ago. She too had helped rescue dogs back before it was all the rage) made it past the ice and snow that Shop Rite refuses to shovel or plow or salt next to their store on Marin Blvd., and safely got her to BJ's where she was headed.

THIS is the Jersey City Johnny wants to live in. Johnny's not taking credit for something someone else started. He merely wants to pass along this story to ask YOU citizen what can you do daily with say 5 minutes to help make our fair city even better. Let this young man's kind act inspire YOU like it did Johnny.

Forgive Johnny for being a giant geek

But walking by a construction site off of Marin Blvd. this morning he thought the worksite looked a whole lot like an industrial-age Isengard from Lord of the Rings, which is the very thing Tolkien was warning against as a subtext throughout the entire trilogy.

Introducing the pile driver as Orthanc.

Pretty ballsy bank robbery this morning here in Jersey City

The Valley National Bank right near the corner of Marin Blvd and Christopher Columbus was robbed around 10 am this morning. As many may recognize that is really a high vehicle and pedestrian traffic area directly across the street from one of the Grove St. PATH stations. Police have not said if they think the perpetrator fled on one of the PATH trains of if they maybe had a car waiting or escaped on foot. No dollar amount was listed as being stolen.

Just us here at JCD but this is not exactly the bank you point out right away when deciding on which bank to rob, being you know like 4 or 5 blocks from city hall. PATH has cameras, the intersection has cameras, there are cameras outside stores there so we wonder if there might not be SOME inside job aspect to this one. Just a wild guess (and we can do that since we're a blog) but something about this one smells different.