City Belt

LEGALIZED CORRUPTION

Jersey City Council rejects Redevelopment Pay-to-Play ordinance
By Veronica M. Perez

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Last Wednesday, the sounds of anger and disapproval rang throughout the Jersey City Council chambers. The Redevelopment Pay to Play Campaign Reform ordinance that many Jersey City residents had worked so hard to get passed was voted down. Only Councilmembers Steven Fulop (Ward E) and Viola Richardson (Ward F) voted yes while six others voted no -- Council President Mariano Vega abstained.

"Development is the big Jersey City topic," said Dan Levin, President of Civic JC, a non-partisan community based organization that promotes good municipal government practices. This was apparent -- not only from the crowd's shouts of dissaproval, but from Councilmembers' personal attacks against each other in the weeks prior to the vote. Even Mayor Jerramiah Healy got in on the act by writing a scathing letter to the Jersey Journal denouncing the ordinance as undemocratic.

HELPING HUDSON'S HOMELESS

By Will Connor

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Last week the cold crept in overnight, dropping a full twenty degrees. For those without heat, it must have been a cold week. For those without homes it must be hell. Due to rampant development and a rising cost of living, Hudson County's homeless population has grown in the past few years. While a solid statistic is difficult to obtain, officials agree that it is an ever-increasing problem. Without immediate action, the death rate for the homeless residents in our neighborhoods could rise to an unprecedented level.

As a result of dwindling support from governmental agencies, and an all-time low for interest in public support programs, local groups and individuals have had to kick in support for the homeless, in the form of blanket drives and benefit concerts. One such benefit, MusicFest for the Homeless, aims to provide both monetary support and warmth.

SEX OFFENDERS? NOT IN MY BACKYARD!

Residency restrictions for sex offenders like the one recently enacted in Jersey City may mean well, but are they really ‘protecting the most vulnerable'?
By Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg

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Using only one of the criteria that now dictates where sex offenders are allowed to live in Jersey City (proximity to a school), City Belt created this rough map that shows an offender's possible housing options in the downtown area in red. The "red zone" includes a PSEG substation, PATH railroad tracks, the Jersey City Cemetery, and one tiny area next to Old Colony Shopping Center with a small amount of housing. When the other criteria are included, that pocket would evaporate, due to sports fields at nearby Ferris High School, among other factors.

Thanks to an ordinance passed late last year, sex offenders can’t live anywhere in Jersey City, save for, maybe, about one street.

The ordinance, which passed the Jersey City Council 8-0 (with Councilman Lipski absent), dictates that any person over the age of eighteen who has to register with authorities under Megan’s Law cannot live within 2500 feet of:

1.    Any public or private school
2.    Any daycare center
3.    Any day camp
4.    Any city, county or state park, including the so-called “pocket parks” within individual neighborhoods
5.    Any public or commercial recreation facility clearly designed to attract children as a “playground”
6.    Any commercial recreation facilities frequented by young people, including theaters, bowling alleys, sports fields, exercise or sporting facilities; or
7.    Any convenience store
8.    Any public library

Sex offenders who are currently living in Jersey City are grandfathered in and can stay in their homes. However, that does not extend to people in prison who previously lived in Jersey City.

HOW THEY VOTED: LESSENING THE HIGHER-ED BURDEN

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The Bill: H.R. 5
Date Passed: Jan. 17, 2007; 5:35 pm
About: This bill would drop the interest rate on federally-subsidized student loans from 6.8 to 3.4 percent over five years. At a time when tuition costs continue to rise, and student reliance on loans grows, this is a welcome piece of legislation, and, like many of the bill's supporters, we hope that it is one part of a larger body of legislation to help Americans afford undergraduate education, at the very least.

In the 2003-04 school year, the average amount borrowed by undergraduate students was $5,800, according to the National Center for Education Statistics -- that's a $23,200 total if the student is lucky enough to finish in four years. And that's only for an undergraduate education. As graduate studies become more necessary to gain an edge in a hostile job market, many students are coming out saddled with student loan debt upward of 50, 60, or even 75 thousand dollars. And what for? If you go for something "useful," like engineering, finance or law, you'll likely command a high salary. But what about the people I know -- the philosophy, social work, journalism, or sociology grad students? You're looking at a lot of work, a low salary, and a difficult time paying back that loan debt. 

HOW THEY VOTED: PROGRESS ON WAGES, BUT IS IT ENOUGH?

The Bill: H.R. 2
Date Passed: Jan. 10, 2007; 5:10 pm
About: The newly Democratically-controlled House passed a gradual increase in the federal minimum wage, currently at a paltry $5.15/hour, where it has been stuck since September 1, 1997. 

The bill calls for a raise to $5.85/hour to go into effect 60 days after President Bush signs it, then up to $6.55 in a year and all the way to $7.25/hour in two years. (Golly, mister, thanks!)

You may remember that the Republicans successfully blocked this meager raise by attaching it to an increased exemption for the estate tax last year. If not, we can refresh your memory.

3000 DEAD IN IRAQ

How many more of these have to be flown home?

Marking yet another grim Iraq War milestone with a marathon vigil in Highland Park
By Leigh Davis

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“Hot enough for you?” was on the lips of many this past weekend, almost overshadowing the sad fact that in Iraq, the number of American soldiers killed had reached 3000 during the previous week.

When I first said I’d do the overnight shift for Central Jersey Coalition Against Endless War’s marathon vigil marking the occasion, the first thing on my agenda was to locate a generator and radiant heater to try and keep warm. After all, we were expecting the number to hit sometime in January. Little did we know that we’d actually reach that number by New Year’s Day, or that on January 7, Donaldson Park in Highland Park would be filled with rollerbladers, bicycles, people in shirt sleeves, and at least one person fishing in the pond.

UPDATE: AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN HUDCO AND BEYOND

Downtown Jersey City set to lose 65 low-income apartments with the sale of Dixon Mills; New report confirms: NJ is fucking expensive.
By Jon Whiten

Back in October, we reported on the dearth of low-income -- or even mixed-income -- housing in Jersey City, especially in the area experiencing the orgasmic sensations of condo-boom: downtown.

Since our report, there have been two key related developments -- one means a big loss for affordable apartments downtown, while the other paints the dollars-and-cents picture for all of New Jersey's renters (hint: it's not pretty).

First, as the Jersey Journal reported last month, Dixon Mills -- one of the few apartment complexes we called that did have set-asides for low-income residents -- was sold for $78.5 million. The building, which is currently all rentals, will be -- shocking! -- converted to condos. The new owners will be offering the real estate equivalent of "first dibs" to current residents to buy their units. Of course, this likely won't help those living in the 65 low-income apartments -- we doubt that these tenants will have the significant savings that will be necessary to buy a condo likely priced at no less than $200,000.

The special-rate units won't be expiring just yet, though. Before the sale, the low-income provision was set to last for about four more years, according to the Journal. The Jersey City Redevelopment Agency helped to extend that provision for one additional year. This sounds good on the surface, right? After all, the renter-friendly policy would evaporate anyway, and now it just lasts one year longer. But chances are, if the buildings hadn't changed owners, and had remained apartment buildings, the low-income renters would have -- or at least could have -- continued to be accomodated. But with the buildings going condo, the chance of the low-income rentals remaining is virtually none.

So downtown Jersey City loses some key low-income housing -- the kind that always works best, too: set-aside apartments mixed into one complex with market-rate units.

We'd like to see Grove Pointe absorb the 65 units into its development, plain and simple. Consider that a public challenge. With 458 rental units supposedly hitting the market, 65 lower-rate units shouldn't  signficantly hurt the bottom line, either.

HOW THEY VOTED: CONDEMNING A GESTURE, NOT INVESTIGATING A DEATH SENTENCE

The Bill: H Res 1082
Date Passed: December 6, 2006
About: This resolution condemns the decision of St. Denis, France, to name a street in honor of Mumia Abu-Jamal.

This month marked the 25th anniversary of Mumia Abu-Jamal’s conviction for the murder of Philadelphia policer office Daniel Faulkner – a crime in which the only evidence connecting him to the crime was manufactured. But even if you don't believe his innocence, or feel you cannot determine it -- despite the overwhelming evidence, including another man’s confession to the crime -- you’d likely concede his trial was a farce. At the very least, Abu-Jamal should be given a new, fair trial – a call echoed by Amnesty International, among others.

JERSEY DEVIL IN THE DETAILS

This summer’s fiasco at Kiddie Kollege was just the tip of the environmental iceberg – New Jersey is filled with toxic sites that haven’t been properly cleaned up.
By Leigh Davis

Check out a few photos of one toxic site in Newark

New Jersey’s reputation for environmental problems is not news to most folks. It’s been fodder for comics who turn ournickname, the Garden State, into the not so tongue-in-cheek Garbage State. And the more sinister appellation Cancer Alley is commonly associated with various parts of the state. However, the Jersey Devil is in the details.

'CULTURAL KARATE'

Photo by Fred Askew

On the streets and in the stores with Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir on Buy Nothing Day
By Matt Hunger

Unless otherwise noted, all photos for this story are by Flickr user Ianqui.

My embarrassing confession is that I keep sneaking looks at the passing store windows’ display items -- definitely one of those “wrong time, wrong place” type of situations.

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if I wasn’t walking down Spring Street in downtown Manhattan on Black Friday, mumbling along with Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir, surrounded by about 100 red robed activists and a sea of poster board with such catchphrases as, “Manipulative Advertising, Don’t Buy It!” and “I’m NOT a Consumer, I’m a PERSON.” But I am.