The Jersey City Independent "

Share/Save

- The city is set to some budget help this week when the state Local Finance Board will vote on allocating $14 million in special municipal aid to Jersey City, part of $44 million in special aid approved by the Joint Budget Oversight Committee yesterday. The special aid has come under fire recently from incoming Gov. Christie and state GOP leaders, and yesterday was no exception, with Christie calling the move “Wall Street fiscal shenanigans.” Mayor Healy says Chilltown wasn’t initially slated to receive any of this aid, but that he lobbied Gov. Corzine and state legislators to include Jersey City, which is facing a budget deficit that officials have estimated to be at least $40 million.

- More details are emerging about what cops say led to an officer shooting an 18-year-old Jersey City man in the face on Dwight Street Sunday night. Officials say that the man, who is expected to survive, was pointing a loaded handgun and attempting to rob an undercover officer when he was shot. Meanwhile, his relatives say he wasn’t a “street kid,” and also say they weren’t able to see him or receive updates on his condition at the medical center. And the Journal points out that the location of the shooting is only half a block from where another man was shot dead in September.

- Mayor Healy talks to David Cruz about the still-absent budget, corruption, Mariano Vega, food trucks, the Census and Chris Christie

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

. The mayor doesn’t say anything particularly revelatory in the interview, but he does lean pretty hard against moving municipal elections to May, claiming that Jersey City’s mayoral elections generally have solid turnout and that a November election that results in a December runoff could face an attention deficit due to the holidays.

- The annual Point-in-Time survey of the homeless, which helps federal and state authorities determine how much grant money to give to local agencies, organizations and shelters that deal with the homeless, is coming up later this month.

- St. Peter’s Prep has received a $4 million donation from Donald P. Moriarty, a member of Prep’s Class of 1948 who died last spring. It’s the largest gift in the Jersey City high school’s 137-year history.

In statewide news:

- The last day of the state legislative session was yesterday, and there was a lot of action in Trenton. The highlights?

• A medical marijuana bill was passed by both houses and will go to Gov. Corzine, who has pledged to sign it.
• The bill giving undocumented immigrants in-state tuition rates at public universities failed when legislative leaders did not schedule a vote.
• The legislature passed a package of bills aimed at stopping the revolving door of recidivism by preparing incarcerated individuals for work and removing barriers to work after they are released from prison.
• A bill that would force franchises with more than 20 locations nationally to include the number of calories for all items they sell and post them on their drive-through and indoor menu boards passed the legislature.
• Legislators overwhelmingly passed a land-use bill on Monday that federal environmental officials called “troubling,” but supporters say will stimulate the economy.
• A bill forcing some first-time drunken drivers to install ignition interlock devices under legislation was approved by both houses.

- Meanwhile, the new session of the state legislature begins today at noon.

- Gov. Corzine will bid us farewell today; the Record has a preview. Meanwhile, his poll numbers are slipping as he leaves office.

- Gov.-elect Christie has named his picks for transportation commissioner and head of NJ Transit. The Tri-State Transportation Campaign says both men have “plenty of transportation experience.”

- Bad job news: Pfizer is set to eliminate 400 jobs in New Jersey, while Merck will cut 500.

- Good housing news? Real estate appraiser Jeffrey Otteau predicts that New Jersey home prices have bottomed out and will rise about 2 percent this year.