Saturday Morning News Roundup

By • May 16th, 2009 • Category: Blog

- The Historic Preservation Commission voted 6-0 to deny developer Steve Hyman’s application to tear down the 6th Street Embankment this week. The commission ultimately ruled that the property was non-commercial, and thus not bound by same rules that govern the demolition of historic structures that are deemed commercial. Hyman has rolled out a number of different plans to develop the property, including a recent one that preserves the embankment walls. Hyman’s attorney says he will appeal the ruling.

- County officials are apparently not satisfied with yesterday’s test of the new Countywide Siren Notification System. “There’s a concern the sound will not travel far enough — there are areas where we weren’t getting the decibel levels that we hoped for,” Jack Burns, the coordinator for the Hudson County Office of Emergency Management, says.

- Want to vote in the June 9 runoff for the Ward A and Ward F City Council seats but didn’t vote in this week’s elections? You’re in luck: you can register to vote in the runoff until Tuesday night at 9 pm. You can find registration forms and more information here.

- The Insider pens an “election reflection” column, calling the voter turnout of about 20 percent of the city’s registered voters “embarrassing” and talking to favorite son Lou Manzo about his future plans. Manzo seems to be going the same route as Dan Levin, saying he wants to create an organization “that will take part in any debate the affects the city’s future.” The org’s working title: the Citywide Independent League. A quick postscript in regards to voter turnout: We agree that it is sadly low, but we also wonder what that 20 percent figure actually is. What would morph to if the voter rolls were properly purged and updated — how much higher would the voting percentage be?

- Multi-Housing News calls the Margaret S. Herbermann Manor, a 45-unit mixed-income community in the Heights that recently had a groundbreaking, “the next step toward creating the city of 2050.”

- The state Department of Transportation says the Route 7 Wittpenn Bridge will be closed the entire weekend. The bridge, which is set to be replaced next year, will reopen Monday at 5 am.

In statewide news:

- Gov. Corzine announced 850 additional budget cuts designed to reduce the present 2008-09 state budget by $150 million. The action means he has cut the budget by over $2 billion since it was approved July 1. The Treasury Department has all the details in this PDF.

- A federal judge in Newark has denied a request by immigration officials to dismiss a lawsuit in which the plaintiffs argue that warrantless raids on immigrants’ homes by federal agents are unconstitutional.

- President Obama has tapped Paul Fishman to replace Chris Christie as U.S. Attorney for New Jersey.

- As part of an extensive package on how the foreclosure crisis is affecting minorities around the region, the Times takes a closer look at Essex County.

- Gov. Corzine has renominated Justice Barry T. Albin for the state Supreme Court.

- The Senate Transportation Committee has put a bill designed to protect bicyclists on hold. The bill, introduced by Sen. Brian Stack of Union City with Sen. Steve Oroho, calls for a minimum three-foot clearance when motorists pass cyclists. North Bergen mayor Nicholas Sacco, who is also the chair of the Transportation Committee, says “the roads are built for cars and for driving.” He used a local example to illustrate why he thinks the bill is no good. “I can see myself driving down Bergenline Avenue in Hudson County and there is absolutely no way that three feet would work, certainly not a half lane, you are just in such a heavily congested area,” he said.

- Texas Representative and former presidential candidate Ron Paul has endorsed Republican hopeful Steve Lonegan for governor.

- The state is slated to receive $73.6 million in federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds for its energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.

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is the founding editor of the Jersey City Independent; he now works for a public-policy nonprofit in Trenton.
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  • http://www.trismccall.net tris mccall

    “I can see myself driving down Bergenline Avenue in Hudson County and there is absolutely no way that three feet would work, certainly not a half lane, you are just in such a heavily congested area”.

    sounds reasonable.

    i don’t really need three feet of clearance, anyway. all i need is for drivers not to be jerks. there’s nothing the government can do about that.

  • Jon Whiten

    I think that part of the purpose of the bill is to try to influence the jerkiness of some drivers in relation to cyclists. It’s serves kind of a re-education purpose, since enforcement would likely be rare. I see it as similar to drunk driving laws, which completely demonized an action that, 50 years ago, wasn’t thought of as a big deal. I think the cell-phone driving laws have similar underlying purposes.

    That all being said, I’d much rather have a focus on painting more bike lanes and improving the quality of the roads in Hudson County overall — I think those two actions could do much more for the biking community than a 3-foot-clearance law would.

    Also: I don’t need a 3-foot clearance on *every* road. Any biker already knows what routes are good and which are dicey. You won’t see me biking down Montgomery between Jersey and Grove, for example — it’s a death wish. So if major thoroughfares for bikes could be made even safer via painted lanes and a lack of major obstacles like potholes, we’d be on our way to creating a more solid underlying system for cyclist flow.