- Other Corruption News: The attorney for Lou Manzo plans to see this week if he can mount a case against the government for prosecutorial misconduct in the 2009 sweep. And the Ledger Live video series heads to Jersey City to talk corruption with the Star-Ledger reporters who wrote a new book about the FBI probe, The Jersey Sting.

- Bus Service: The Bergen Bus Co. abruptly ended service for good this weekend due to financial constraints. But a deal to sell the company’s fleet and its routes to A & C Bus has reportedly been finalized, and the Bergen Avenue buses could be back on the road as early as Tuesday.

- Stabbing Death: A 48-year-old Jersey City woman died Saturday after being stabbed multiple times in the face and neck by her husband during a domestic argument.

- Downtown Getting New Pipe: The Jersey City Municipal Utilities Authority is set to begin a $1.5 million project to repair a water pipe underneath 18th Street that has failed four times in the past year and left Newport residents and businesses with no water or low water pressure.

- March Madness & St. Peter’s: St. Peter’s College has been seeded #14 in the Southwest Region of the NCAA tournament, a draw that has landed them a Friday matchup with Purdue in Chicago.

- Pedestrian Struck: A 59-year-old Jersey City pedestrian was left unconscious and in critical condition after a SUV struck her Saturday evening.

Today’s Best Bets:

- NJCU hosts a “Funding Social Change That Matters” panel discussion with Kiyana Stansbury of Bric City Development Corporation and Alfa Demmellash of Rising Tide Capital (noon), and later, Jeffrey Khaner, the principal flute player for the Philadelphia Orchestra, performs for free at the university (6 pm).

In Statewide News:

- Property Taxes: The overall property tax in the state rose 4.1 percent in 2010 from 2009, according to the official local tax rate list released Friday by the state Department of Community Affairs. It is the largest increase since 2007, when taxes spiked 7.3 percent.

- Chris Cerf: The man who represents perhaps the most important nomination of Gov. Christie’s tenure is facing questions about his openness, imperiling his confirmation as education commissioner at a time when the governor has made education reform one of his top priorities.

- Pollution: New Jersey has withdrawn from a lawsuit brought by several states that sought to have five electric utilities cut the greenhouse gases emitted by their power plants in 20 states.

- School Construction: The announcement from the Schools Development Authority (SDA) earlier this month about how it would proceed with construction projects was supposed to clarify a process that for years was anything but clear. But since the announcement, there have been far more questions than answers to how the SDA is picking its work, with the agency releasing some more details last week but hardly to lawmakers’ satisfaction.

- Cap-and-Trade $: New Jersey has made more than $100 million since 2008 by selling carbon credits.

- March Madness in Newark: In less than two weeks, some of the nation’s most talented college athletes will shed their practice suits and take to the lacquered parquet courts of Newark’s Prudential Arena.

In his lawsuit, Russ alleged that Mayor Jerramiah Healy ordered him not to issue tickets after 6 pm during the 2009 mayoral campaign, as part of the mayor’s efforts to curry favor with voters. When Russ allegedly refused to heed the mayor’s order, he says he was reprimanded by several administration officials and eventually replaced by former Ward B councilwoman Mary Spinello.

Last summer, the City Council approved up to $75,000 in expenditures on outside legal help to fight the Russ case; the suit eventually went to a mediator, and he is recommending the settlement, which Russ has approved.

“Approval of this settlement will result in the termination of the contract with outside counsel with a minimal expenditure of attorneys’ fees and expenses,” the resolution reads. Jersey City’s assistant corporation counsel Michael Dougherty tells JCI that only $3,012.50 of the $75,000 allocated for outside legal work has been spent.

The resolution warns that, if the settlement is not approved, “the costs of continuing with discovery in this case and counsel fees are likely to far exceed the amount of the contribution recommended.”

This particular moment, with all its sad irony, represents what the government contends was the culmination of a cash-for-favors deal made between the defendant and Dwek outside of a Bayonne diner. 

Smith’s words, Kramer says, “will be the most compelling evidence against him.”

Calling then-Assemblyman Smith’s “official position for sale,” Kramer brings an overview of the government’s exhaustive case to bear in her remarks, which are long on details and somewhat thrifty in showmanship.
 
Peter Willis, the senior lawyer representing Smith, takes a broader view, and a longer take, in his opening. Stopping multiple times for water, and at one point pleading with Judge Jose Linares to allow him to remove his suit coat (it was too hot, he says), Willis displays his folksy, Grisham-esque dramatics.  

Reminding the jurors multiple times of the syntactical largess of the phrase “presumed to be innocent,” Willis pays tribute to Smith’s character, noting his civil service and years of community involvement — as a school teacher and holder of various elected positions — and paints a vastly different picture of Smith’s past year-and-a-half. 
 
As opposed to the greedy pol looking to exploit his office for personal gain, Willis suggests that Smith was the victim of betrayed friendship, wrongly caught in a broadly cast FBI net.

Willis turns back to his new favorite word, suggesting the FBI “lured” as many New Jersey politicians as they could into any situation where they would speak to Dwek. With the reputation of Hudson County politicians being what it is, Willis says he’s not surprised they caught so many criminals. 
 
That Smith was among these politicians, however, Willis sees as merely a matter of circumstance and of a confidant’s mislabeling. Conceding many of the facts put forth by the prosecution (most of which were backed by the aforementioned video evidence), Willis instead constructs Smith’s side of the story as one of bribery almost literally by force. He claims that one of Smith’s so-called friends “threw” an envelope full of money into an open window in his car, unnoticed, before Smith left one of four meetings with Dwek and other local officials.
 
Smith was in a state of panic upon finding the envelope stuffed with cash, Willis says, adding that it wasn’t the first time the Assemblyman and then-mayoral hopeful had seen such an envelope. The first one, the attorney says, was rejected by Smith.

But regarding this second envelope, which had surreptitiously landed on Smith’s automotive upholstery, Willis says Smith had neither the time nor the opportunity to address it in time, due to prior obligations — a planned vacation with his wife and two grandchildren the day after the fateful meeting. Before Smith had the chance to make things right, Willis suggests, the FBI called him back to the Garden State.

Former county employee, Board of Education official and Housing Authority commissioner Edward Cheatam — the so-called friend in question — is the only witness called to the stand today.

“His last name couldn’t be more appropriate,” Willis says at one point during his opening.

Cheatam, the on-again/off-again — but now seemingly off for good — friend of Smith and his one-time deputy mayor, is one of the most prominent names across the entire federal sting, with his name popping up in a number of the complaints as someone who helped Dwek connect to the Jersey City political power elite.

While admitting that he is helping the government after his own guilty plea to taking $70,000 in bribes — for what he hopes will be a lesser sentence — Cheatam comes across as soft-spoken and demure on the stand. At times he, either by dialectical crutch or incomplete testimony, starts his answers with the uncertain openings “I believe,” “I guess,” and “I imagine.”  Willis is quick to raise objections to these so-called speculations.

The shaky hidden-camera video evidence taken by Dwek in diners and their parking lots takes a star turn during Cheatam’s time on the stand. The extensive clips show Cheatam, Smith and former Smith aide Richard Greene discussing the cash-for-favors proposition coming, unbeknownst to them, straight from the federal government. (Greene was initially charged in the sting but the charges against him were dropped last week before his former boss’ trial began.)

In his testimony, Cheatam also explains how a $5,000 cash payment entered into Smith’s campaign bank account. He recalls driving to his niece’s home in Newark, asking her to convert half of the money in the FedEx envelope into checks or money orders. His niece did so, presenting Cheatam with five money orders for $500 each. The other $2,500 was given to a friend of Cheatam’s named Lorenzo Johnson, who owns a flooring business in Hoboken and allegedly gave Cheatam a check in exchange for the dirty money.

But Smith’s side of the money laundering is different. According to Willis’ opening, Smith had asked Cheatam to return the cash to Dwek and ask him for a check instead, to keep the financial dealings above-board. When Cheatam brought checks and money orders back, Smith assumed this is just what had happened.

The questioning of Cheatam, which took the balance of the day’s proceedings, will continue today.

Photo of Smith from an April 2009 mayoral forum by Steve Gold

The Healy campaign for mayor lands at number three on the “Best Campaigns of the Year” list, behind Chris Christie’s gubernatorial run and Nelson Albano and Matt Milam’s runs for State Assembly in District 1.

“The uncertainties of Jersey City politics made Team Healy remain in campaign mode for four years. They raised lots of money, ran an excellent incumbency protection operation from City Hall, and scared some serious challengers out of the race,” Politicker says, ostensibly referring to Ward E councilman Steven Fulop, state Sen. Sandra Cunningham, and former mayor Bret Schundler, all of whom were at one time weighing a run at Healy. “With a 53%-26% win (his two main competitors were arrested two months later), Jerry Healy is only Jersey City Mayor since Frank Hague to win three times without a runoff.”

Elsewhere on the list, Solomon Dwek, who helped take down many Jersey City politicians and officials as part of the federal corruption probe, was named “Criminal of the Year.” Meanwhile, Ward C councilwoman Nidia Rivera Lopez, who endured a legal battle over her residency after winning election, is dubbed “Disney Character of the Year.”

And last, but not least, former deputy mayor and Healy campaign treasurer Leona Beldini, who is awaiting her trial on corruption charges, is dubbed “Stripper of the Year.” She gets that prize as a result of unconfirmed reports on a burlesque blog that connects Beldini to a former burlesque dancer named Hope Diamond. The blog’s report, which we checked out when it first surfaced back in the summer, features some pretty convincing evidence that Beldini was indeed Diamon, who danced in the mid-20th century, but as of this writing, that fact hasn’t yet been confirmed.

You can read the full report here.

- Speaking of the Parking Authority, it is not enforcing meter rules or alternate side parking rules until Monday. Consider it a holiday gift.

- As of Dec. 21, Hudson County was on track to see a drop in its murder rate, with 32 as compared to 35 in 2008. The trend mirrors the rest of the state, which is set to see a decline in the number of murders for the third straight year.

- But you can add one more to that number, as the death of a 41-year-old Jersey City man on Christmas Day has been ruled a homicide by medical examiners yesterday. (Story not online.)

- Hundreds of mourners came out on Monday to pay their final respects to the late Tom Fricchione, a former City Council member who passed away on Dec. 22 at his Jersey City home from natural causes at the age of 64.

- Jersey City resident Eddie Chang is a contestant on the Food Network’s upcoming food competition show Worst Cooks in America.

- The Puerto Rican Family Institute will use a $30,000 grant from The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey for its Diabetes Outreach Program.

- The Journal runs down what it thinks were the top stories in Hudson County this year; here’s hoping they don’t forget half the year, like they did yesterday when its listing of the most read stories online at only included the last six months. We’ll have our top stories and the rest of our Year in Review goodness for you all tomorrow.

In statewide news:

- More people were killed while walking New Jersey’s streets this year than in 2008, according to State Police data released Tuesday. The 2009 total sits at 155, compared to 138 last year. That number includes 12 pedestrian deaths in Hudson County.

- A new study finds the sea level is rising faster in New Jersey than anywhere else along the East Coast.

- A coalition of environmental groups says a bill making its way through Trenton would undermine water quality and promote sprawl throughout New Jersey by pushing off new sewer and septic regulations for more than two years.

- A new report finds that some of New Jersey’s poorest residents — the children of undocumented immigrants — are ineligible for in-state tuition rates at state-run universities and colleges, making higher education unaffordable.

- State attorney general Anne Milgram begins her exit from the “all-encompassing” role as New Jersey’s top cop.

- Is the worst over for New Jersey’s office real estate market? Some experts seem to think so.

- The City Council withdrew an ordinance last night that would have guaranteed an $8 million federal loan for the developer of a Downtown Hilton hotel.

- Investigators have not yet determined if the death of a 17-year-old Jersey City girl this week was a suicide or homicide; her guardian says there’s no way it was a suicide.

- Judge Irwin Rosen, who was swept up in ticket-fixing charges that resulted in the suspension or resignation of five others Jersey City judges, will return to the bench in Jersey City on a part-time basis.

- Sixteen new police officers are patrolling the city streets after being sworn in Friday at a ceremony at New Jersey City University.

Today’s Best Bets:

- Artists Billy Miller and Pollie Barden will be at the Jersey City Museum at 1 pm for a conversation and film screening that explores the connection between the Hudson River and the community, the legacy of industrialism on the river, and new ways artists engage the environment. This evening, “A Tuna Christmas” is back for one of its last few performances at St. Michael’s Church, and The Nightmare Before Christmas will be screened for free at the Warehouse.

In statewide news:

- New Jersey can’t afford to inspect bridges, fix drainage systems or even fill potholes, so it’s pushing off nearly $70 million in routine repairs onto the Transportation Trust Fund, which is nearly bankrupt.

- The state’s unemployment rate stayed at 9.7 percent in November, even though the private sector lost almost 11,000 jobs.

- New Jersey Turnpike Authority commissioners have approved another highway widening contract, boosting the level of construction and contracting in 2009 to three times that of prior years.

- Gov. Corzine and Gov.-elect Christie are ratcheting up their clash over dozens of last-minute nominations to state boards and authorities.

- State officials have lifted the restrictions that had limited the swine flu vaccine to people considered high risk. The shots are now open to everyone.

- Bald eagles continue to make a dramatic recovery in New Jersey, according to the state’s census released this week.

But Jersey City is changing in many ways, as the Technological Society becomes more fully realized each and every day. So it’s only fitting that in this year’s campaign, we were treated to a high-tech version of the notorious sound truck: the truck for incumbent Mayor Jerramiah Healy blasting video advertisements (many featuring President Barack Obama). Yes, indeed, the nature of politicking in Chilltown is changing.

Meanwhile on the web, the past five years have birthed an interactive multiverse of social networking, content management, bleeding edge hardware, mobile web applications and the disappearing barriers between content creators, distributors and consumers. The difference is staggering. It has changed the face of everything it has touched, including politics, and those who ignore it face a major disadvantage when facing those who embrace it.

We saw just how far this new web can affect the outcome of an election during Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. The Obama campaign did what no one had done before: it embraced new technologies as a fundamental and integrated component of traditional campaign organizing and fundraising, rather than a sideshow. Technology was not just a tool in their toolbox, it was their drive train.

MyBarackObama.com allowed local organizers to plug in with the national campaign, taking the reigns on grassroots organizing while staying connected and relevant to the overall strategy. It also offered a suite of tools that allowed organizers to easily send out email blasts or coordinate with others. Twitter social messaging was used to get information out to people, but it was also used to focus organizers and engage supporters in an energizing and interactive way. Facebook groups were used to cement the youth vote in a way that had rarely been seen before. And now, this is the standard by which other campaigns are being judged.

Well, I might not go that far. The Obama campaign had one thing most campaigns only dream of having: Barack Obama. But lessons from the campaign could be learned by any candidate for any office.

So how did Jersey City’s mayoral and City Council candidates use these lessons and emerging web campaign technologies to bolster their bids for office this spring? With the hangover from the elections receding into the background and the runoff passed, we take a look at how well the campaigns integrated new technologies into their own strategies, and what impact that had on the outcome.

Team Healy

The website for incumbent Mayor Healy and his roster of City Council candidates was fairly simple and informative, with links to news, biographies, platforms and positions. The site’s page loading was slowed down by objects and images, but the content was easy to navigate.

The Team Healy site was also tied to the social web, with outgoing links to Facebook and YouTube pages.

The Healy campaign boasted two Facebook pages in addition to individual candidate’s pages. Healy For Mayor 2009 was the most active. A political organization page with 236 members, it dwarfed the nascent Young Professionals for Mayor Healy, another political organization page with only 27 members.

One Healy candidate, Ward C’s Nidia Rivera Lopez, had her Facebook page notably hacked in late April. Links to pornography were sent out to her 44 Facebook supporters. The fact that her account was compromised and porn sent out over it — during a campaign — is real slacking on her tech team’s part. What was the password on it, 1-2-3-4? (Remind me to change the password on my luggage.)

The Healy team had 13 videos on YouTube, including each campaign ad. They also put longer videos of high-profile Healy endorsements from Newark mayor Cory Booker and Sen. Bob Menendez on the page, as well as several clips used to bolster the messaging of Healy’s ties to Obama. The page is rounded out by clips from Healy’s most recent State of the City address and from the Sustainable Cities conference that took place at Liberty Science Center in March. Of course, the campaign was also shadowed on YouTube by the user “JerryHealy09” which posted a parody ad that apes a Hillary Clinton ad from the Democratic presidential primaries and plays on Healy’s reputation as one with a wee bit of a thirst.

The Healy campaign was one of only two that waded into the Twitter waters this election. Both Healy and Lopez had Twitter accounts, but judging from the number and dates of their updates, it was little more than a passing fad.

@MayorHealy, with only five updates over its apparent lifespan of ten days (May 6-16), still amassed 67 followers; while @NidiaRLopez sent out 13 updates (the last one on election night) and picked up 24 followers. Her use of Twitter seemed more organic than Healy’s, but only slightly (mainly because of this May 7 tweet: “Doing an oral hygiene presentation at the Grandview Senior Center.”). Overall, both accounts feel a bit cold and spammy.

Both Healy and Lopez seem not to have learned one of the basic tenets of Twitter marketing, whether political or not: If you follow people, they will be more likely to follow you back. Healy was only following eight other Twitter users, while Lopez was following six.

Manzo for Jersey City

The website for Lou Manzo and his team of council candidates had a solid amount of information, but it was hampered in load time by too many images and embedded videos all on the home page. It also featured a strange site architecture that tells us it most likely wasn’t set up by a web expert.

The Manzo campaign had videos, but used the relatively obscure service Blip.tv rather than YouTube or Vimeo. The campaign’s Blip page featured several Manzo ads and longer-form segments where he spoke about issues. Manzo’s campaign was largely absent from Facebook and Twitter, even though Manzo did maintain a personal Facebook page, which he used for campaign messaging on occasion.

Smith Team for Positive Change

In the beginning stages of the campaign, the slate headed by Assemblyman L. Harvey Smith had a remedial website that was tough to navigate and sported poorly cropped headshots of Smith’s council candidates.

Smith’s web strategy didn’t really get going until its relatively late-in-the-game hiring of longtime local journalist David Cruz as communications director. One of Cruz’s first tasks was to set up a new website.

The site Cruz went with — which unfortunately can no longer be retrieved online — felt more like a blog than a traditional campaign site, with each candidate “contributing” entries and first-person accounts of life on the trail. The site also included the relevant links to biographical, policy and background information. It also included a schedule of upcoming events, debates and campaign appearances.

One of the Smith team’s other web strengths was the use of YouTube video, both on the YouTube site and embedded in the Smith site. This is not surprising considering Cruz’s recent experience in radio. He took the skills honed at Newark’s WBGO and turned them into campaign videos that, while not slick by any means, were effective in other ways.

The two campaign ads were obvious candidates for the YouTube page. But the nine longer clips, of candidates out campaigning and sometimes talking off the cuff about various issues, were the real diamond in the rough here. They were entertaining (at least to a political wonk!), touched on policy (always a plus) and revealed more about the real person behind the candidate than any campaign ad did this season.

One Jersey City

For a campaign with very little money, the One Jersey City team, led by mayoral candidate Dan Levin, made good use of the web and social media.

The campaign’s main site featured a traditional layout, but at times was hard to navigate and was slow to load. The site also suffered from a few false starts.

In the nascent stages of the campaign, the One Jersey City team was using its site to illustrate one of its main campaign themes: using programs and policies that have worked in other places to help solve the problems facing Jersey City. To that end, the site briefly began uploading policy papers, research and related news articles about issues like community policing. It was a strategy that merged well with the web, with its endless interconnectivity and borderless geography. But unfortunately as the campaign heated up, the campaign (understandably) had little time to do such rudimentary blogging.

A similar phenomenon took place with the campaign’s use of short web videos designed to illustrate a problem in the city and the solution that the campaign was offering. Billed as a series, the last video was teased on the blog in February, and they ended up only touching on land use and zoning issues — important issues, no doubt, but not exactly the “hot” issues in the campaign.

On Facebook, One Jersey City was disproportionately well-represented, when compared to the overall vote total it received. Its One Jersey City common interest group sports 222 members, with a more active “Wall” than most of the other campaigns and a variety of on-the-scenes photos and messages from Levin. The group is still active as of this writing, which is fitting since Levin has said the campaign was only the beginning for One Jersey City.

For a low-budget grassroots campaign, One Jersey City was lookin’ good on video, thanks to help from Jersey City’s own Colin Comstock of Le Arsenal AV. The campaign was the only one to go with Vimeo in addition to YouTube, and they’ve got 15 videos on their Vimeo page, including the one campaign ad they produced, those short issues videos we mentioned above and solid footage from campaign events and from public hearings where Levin spoke.

Phil Webb

The website of mayoral candidate Phil Webb was by far the least technologically advanced, and also hardly included any relevant information about the candidate. Webb’s site was an out of the box solution from CompleteCampaigns.com, and while it is not a bad idea to go with such a product (especially if money is an issue, as it was for Webb), if you do, you should modify it to make sure — at the very least — that the majority of links aren’t empty pages.

Webb did do some ingenious advertising on Craigslist, as proven by the ad that read: “MAY 12, 2009 IS THE ELECTION. PLEASE GO TO YOU TUBE.COM AND TYPE IN PHIL WEBB NET, TO VIEW HIS COMMERCIAL…. THANK YOU AND PLEASE PASS THE WORD…”

Doing so takes you to Phil Webb’s YouTube presence, which is poorly branded (the video is actually part of Champagne Films’ page, not a dedicated Webb page) — but at least he got something up there.

Steven Fulop

Independent Ward E candidate Steven Fulop’s web strategy rivaled Team Healy’s for its sophistication and bested all the other campaigns for its use of emerging web tools and technologies (perhaps no surprise since the councilman is an avid iPhone user).

His main site was contemporary in design, with a Flash banner headline and various multimedia elements prominently displayed. The navigation was clear, the content was easy to find and the site loaded relatively quickly.

The Fulop campaign was the clear leader on Facebook, with three different pages, in addition to his personal page.

The largest page was the Councilman Steven Fulop common interest group, which as of this writing boasts 449 members and an active “Wall.” The older Steven Fulop 2009 common interest group has 36 members, while the related Fulop Commitment profile page has 45 friends.

Despite placing no traditional video advertising on local cable, the Fulop campaign did produce web videos and hosted them on their YouTube page. Most of them feature Fulop speaking on issues at events, with the exception of the one post-election video — a slick “thank you” video shot on election night.

The Fulop campaign was the only one besides the Healy campaign to use Twitter, and was a very active tweeter during the campaign. He’s since discontinued one of the Twitter accounts and now lives @StevenFulop. His Twitter page, which he still updates, is worth following for random bits of insight into City Council and Council Caucus meetings (June 1, 6:16 pm: “Gaughan is mad…. Vega not so much”).

From Bits to Ballots

If there is one thing that cannot be stressed enough, it is that the best new media strategy will never change a fundamental fact of politics: if you can’t get out the vote, you won’t win the election. This year’s elections were determined by about 20 percent of the city’s registered voters, and the votes broke overwhelmingly for Mayor Healy’s slate in every ward, with the exception of Fulop’s runaway win in Ward E.

Only part of this can be ascribed to voter apathy. Getting out the vote was essential to Healy’s opponents, but the votes never materialized. While traditional get out the vote efforts often require massive investment in campaign organization, funds which Healy’s opponents simply did not have, they can be overcome by an influx of motivated, coordinated volunteers.

One of the major benefits of new media is the relatively low cost of entry to a campaign. All the tools available are free, like most of the web, requiring only an investment of talent and careful planning. With said talent and planning, new media can be a great leveling device, especially in local elections, helping to mitigate organizational or fundraising difficulties. But while this year’s election was well ahead of the last election with regard to use of new media and social networks, it was still light years behind the kind of integrated use present in many innovative national campaigns, and far below their potential. This is part of what kept the big-fundraising incumbents in office.

TIPS FOR SUCCESS

• Focus on search engine optimization for your sites, to improve search results for your content.
• Manage social networks effectively, interactively and in relation to on-the-ground organizing.
• Empower and involve your supporters in online communities so that they not only vote themselves, but encourage friends to vote as well on election day (bring a friend to the polls).
• Optimize and maximize online fundraising, stressing easy-to-give small, recurring donations in a secure online environment that is one click away.
• Let your supporters carry your message themselves, through their own projects. Make these satellite projects accessible and give people access to online tools that will help them do this.
• Engage the mobile web via Twitter and SMS text messaging.
• Get your organizers connected. Get them smartphones. Get them workshops.
• However: Realize there is no such thing as a social media expert.

Additional reporting by Jon Whiten.

Photos: Steve Gold

Turnout was relatively light at Wednesday’s meeting of the City Council, the first regular meeting since late April. About 25 people were in the audience for the meeting, which lasted a little less than two hours. Among them was newly elected Ward C councilwoman Nidia Rivera Lopez. Council president Mariano Vega kicked off the meeting by acknowledging her presence and congratulating her on her victory. She will replace incumbent Steve Lipski, who chose not to run.

“You’ll have to wait five weeks to take a seat,” city clerk Robert Byrne told Lopez as he congratulated her. The new council, of which Lopez could be the only new member, takes over July 1. (The Ward A and F seats will be decided by a June 9 runoff election.)

Animal Control Commission Tabled

As we reported prior to Wednesday night’s meeting, an ordinance creating an Animal Control Commission to provide what critics say is much-needed oversight of the Animal Control division was tabled. The city’s law department has issued a memo saying that the ordinance cannot be legally implemented, as it conflicts with New Jersey’s Faulkner Act, which dictates how municipalities are governed.

But the animal welfare community and Ward E councilman Steven Fulop, who introduced the ordinance, say the city is misreading the act. Corporation counsel Bill Matsikoudis says his office will review everything and, if necessary, he will revisit their legal opinion.

As he pointed out on Wednesday, though, those are just the legal questions surrounding the ordinance. “The policy of it is a whole different issue,” he said, noting that Health & Human Services director Harry Melendez expressed some of those policy concerns to the council at their caucus meeting this week.

The council tabled the ordinance before taking any public comment on it, to the disappointment of several residents who spoke later in the meeting.

Council gadfly Yvonne Balcer said the commission should make sure that Animal Control isn’t concentrating only on dogs and cats. She said that wild animals often show up in her Downtown backyard and that Animal Control doesn’t offer much help when she calls about these appearances.

“I am not qualified to catch a possum,” she said.

Resident Catherine Grimm asked the council why the terms of the first commissioners began with different lengths. The ordinance calls for five of them to serve two-year terms, and four to serve three-year terms to start out. After that, all will serve three-year terms. Byrne explained that this was standard operating procedure, designed to avoid a full slate of vacancies all at one time on any given commission or board.

Grimm also wondered if any of the commissioners would receive compensation or benefits, a question Fulop was quick to answer.

“The answer is no,” he told her, stressing that it is a volunteer board.

If no further delays are encountered, this ordinance will once again be up for a vote — and a public hearing — at the June 3 council meeting.

Friends of the Loew’s

The lease of the Loew’s Jersey Theatre between the Friends of the Loew’s and the city was amended on Wednesday, via a memorandum of understanding between the two parties. The lease, which was signed in 2004, had been contested by the city in the past, and the memorandum seeks to formally resolve the “differences [that] have arisen” between the city and the nonprofit group.

The agreement slightly tweaks the lease agreement, upping the number of appointments to the board made by the mayor, and implementing more oversight of the nonprofit’s finances. The lease expires this October, but can be renewed for another five-year term. Friends of the Loew’s president Pattie Giordan urged the council to vote yes to the amended lease, which they unanimously did.

“[The Loew's will] become the centerpiece for the arts in Journal Square,” Vega proclaimed. “The best is yet to come.”

Steve Hyman Makes His Case

Developer Steve Hyman once again stopped by the council meeting this week. He was there, he said, because he’d been “maligned” by Mayor Healy and he needed to defend himself.

In the weeks before the municipal election, as JCI readers know, Hyman launched an aggressive campaign to force Healy into a runoff by courting Jersey City’s black residents.

“I tried hard, but not soon enough,” Hyman said, noting that Healy avoided a runoff by a few percentage points.

Vega, however, had a different perception of the election results.

“You can say it: land … slide,” the council president said, hammering home his point by enunciating as if talking to a child learning to read.

Hyman said that, sure, he’d made the anti-Healy fliers, but claimed he had no part in a “newspaper” called the Jersey City Informer that popped up in the weeks before the election in the city’s black communities. Hyman said Healy accused him of being behind the publication.

“I want you all to know that I had no part in this,” Hyman said, adding that he didn’t have any idea who was behind it and that he’d take a lie detector test to prove it. “If I did do it, I’d tell you I did it.”

Ward F councilwoman Viola Richardson was incensed.

“Are you actually telling us that you’re innocent in all this?” she angrily asked Hyman. The two then jawed at — and over — each other, with Hyman saying “I didn’t do it and I don’t have to listen to you.” Richardson then got up and left the chambers while Hyman continued to speak.

Richardson, who is facing a runoff for her seat, has reason to be upset with Hyman. He helped out the campaign of one of her opponents, LaVern Webb-Washington, who narrowly missed a runoff with Richardson.

Hyman went on to tell the council that corporation counsel Bill Matsikoudis had been aggressively trying to reach a settlement with him on the 6th Street Embankment but that he had no interest in settling.

“I’m not going to roll over for anybody,” he said.

He then said he was going to get into “the real stuff” that he wanted to talk about, but he was informed that he’d already gone over the 5 minutes allotted to public speakers. He then returned to his seat, only to stand up and have what can only be called an animated conversation with Matsikoudis as the council meeting continued.

A Question of Chromium Standards

Felicia Collis, the president of the Jersey City community group GRACO, once again spoke before the council about the ongoing concerns over chromium cleanup in Ward F. She asked the council to consider signing petitions for rulemaking that GRACO and other advocates have sent to the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) that urge the DEP to adopt more stringent hexavalent chromium cleanup standards.

As we reported earlier this month, the groups are calling on the DEP to adopt the cleanup standard 1 of parts per million (ppm) recently recommended by the department’s own Division of Science, Research and Technology (DSRT).

Vega appeared hesitant to sign on to this kind of petition, saying that the council’s “capacity to understand the standards” is lacking, since they aren’t scientists.

Fulop, however, told Collis he would certainly sign such a petition.

He said that the standard he’d use in regards to any environmental cleanup is whether or not he’d live there in the face of any potential health hazards, and as such was happy to advocate for the strictest possible remediation standards.

“You can count on my support,” he said.

Ward A councilman Michael Sottolano snapped at Fulop after his pledge of support with implications that Fulop was grandstanding and that the entire council felt the same way. However, Fulop was the only member to say in no uncertain terms that he would sign on to the groups’ petition.

Deputy mayor Kabili Tayari said the city was also pressing the DEP.

“They need to go ahead and, as soon as possible, decide what the standards should be,” Tayari said.

“We’re in unity with the community,” he said, noting that the city was sending a letter to the agency urging action.

The letter, which is signed by Mayor Healy, says the “lack of a formal position” from the DEP in the wake of the DSRT report “has led to uncertainty and concern.”

It continues: “I strongly urge you to complete your review of this recommendation” and “issue a formal position on whether or not [the DEP] will promulgate regulations to modify the chromium soil remediation standard.”

Other Second Reads

In addition to the ordinance concerning the Loew’s, the council unanimously passed ten ordinances. You can read about them here or see them in their full-text glory here.

First Reads

All five first read ordinances were introduced unanimously. You can read the full text of them here, but as always we’ve got the skinny for you.

* Ordinance 09-064 turns Clendenny Avenue between Route 440 and Mallory Avenue into a residential-parking zoned area. The residents of Clendenny Avenue are apparently upset that visitors to the car dealerships in the area have been parking on their street, thereby reducing the amount of parking available for residents and resulting in various types of illegal parking. The Ward B residents collected nearly 40 signatures for the change and sent a letter to Mary Spinello in December, who was their council member. Spinello stepped down in March, and Phil Kenny was appointed to replace her. This marks one of the first ordinances he’s brought before the council since he took over.

* Ordinance 09-065 officially vacates Ludlow Street between New Street and Cator Avenue. The land on that block, which is all owned by the city and the New Jersey School Development Authority, is needed for the expansion of PS #20 and improvement of Ralph Taylor Park.

* Ordinance 09-066 alters a deal made between the city and Stegman Realty in 2005. Both parties owned 10 units in a building at 228-230 Stegman Street near Audubon Park. Four years ago the city conveyed its units to Stegman, requiring the company to renovate the building and sell the units as owner-occupied residences. Stegman, however, has apparently had a hard time with the selling, so this ordinance would negate the owner-occupied provision and allow the company to rent the ten units to senior citizens (62 and up) whose incomes don’t exceed 60 percent of Hudson County’s median income.

* Ordinance 09-067 authorizes the imposition of a conservation easement and deed restriction for the so-called “Gateway Sites” at the former Honeywell site on the city’s west side. As part of the settlement with Honeywell to clean up chromium contaminated land, the city agreed to keep these “Gateway Sites” as recreational sites in order to preserve the remediation being done there.

* Ordinance 09-068 allows the city to issue $24 million in bonds or notes in order to purchase land that will house the new Jersey City Incinerator Authority and Department of Public Works buildings. The property, at 15 Linden Ave. East, is currently owned by Liberty Self Storage.

Odds & Ends

* William Dorrity, who battled his building’s management company over a bedbug infestation last year, told the council that the company is skirting the law again. Dorrity said Norman Ostrow Inc., which manages the Grandview Terrace Apartments on Kennedy Boulevard, is not paying taxes and is also not abiding by rent control laws. Grandview Terrace is a building for seniors, one of many that the company manages in Hudson County. City business administrator Brian O’Reilly said he’d pull the company’s file and get to the bottom of it. If they are raising rents on seniors and making money, O’Reilly said, “quite frankly, they should be paying more in taxes.”

* Environmental activist Jayson Burg was on hand to urge the council to activate the city’s Environmental Commission and its Shade Tree Commission. Burg also questioned the city’s green cred that it has been touting. “This city needs to look at how green it is — and isn’t,” he said, suggesting, among other things, that the city implement a composting plan.

* When voting on a renewal of a contract with the United States Postal Service (USPS) to provide postage to the city, several council members couldn’t help but share their true feelings about the USPS.

“It’s a shame how we’re being treated by the USPS,” Ward D councilman Bill Gaughan said. He said the postal service had treated the city poorly, and he urged people to use anything but USPS for their postage needs. He wrapped it up succinctly: “The US postal system stinks.”

At-Large councilman Peter Brennan seconded that emotion. “Like Gaughan said, it stinks,” he said. Richardson agreed, and pointed to the closing of the Lafayette branch as an example.

Vega took it one step further, suggesting that the Parking Authority should perhaps begin towing postal service vehicles that are parked overnight in metered spots.

* At-Large councilwoman Willie Flood has a new council aide. Ayesha Johnson will replace Yvette Gore-Bell, who has been terminated. Gore-Bell was appointed Flood’s aide last June. Gore-Bell, a former county corrections officer, was removed from that position in 2005 “on charges of inability to perform duties and other sufficient cause,” though she appealed that ruling and was eventually able to tender a “resignation in good standing.”

* The city designated $500,000 to demolish blighted and abandoned buildings, as part of the $2.15 million in money it received from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for “neighborhood stabilization” in the wake of the foreclosure crisis.

* The city laid out its plan for the $2.7 million in stimulus money it expects to receive as part of the Homelessness Prevention Fund. The money will be allocated mostly to rapid re-housing of homeless individuals and short- and medium-term rental assistance.

* The city received a $274,437.12 Clean Communities Grant from the DEP; the Incinerator Authority will manage the grant funds.

* The license to create the “100 Steps” walkway from Paterson Plank Road up the palisade into the Heights was approved.

* The city settled a handful of property tax appeals, to the tune of $322,018.68.

* The city extended its contract with attorney Charles Montange for legal work related to Conrail’s abandonment of the 6th Street Embankment. Steve Hyman has said at previous meetings that Montange should not be allowed to represent the city.

* The JCPD received a $7,500 grant to help combat underage drinking and a $197,935 grant to pay for a portion of eight officers’ 2009 salaries.

* The city settled a lawsuit brought by Secaucus judge and former Jersey City assistant corporation counsel Kathleen Walrod, who had been accused by first assistant corporation counsel Joanne Monahan of ethics violations. Walrod filed a civil suit against the city in 2007, apparently thinking that she might lose her job over the accusations, although she never did. Under the settlement, Walrod will resign her position in Jersey City on May 31 and defer her pension until age 60. The city, in turn, will provide her with a one year salary increase of $35,000 and health benefits as if she’d retired after 25 years of service. The city will also give her a one time payment of $5,000.

* The city also approved an ordinance urging the state to revise its definition of “hotel” in its law that allows Jersey City to impose a Hotel Occupancy Tax. There was a long-term stay establishment that apparently didn’t want to pay the city’s hotel tax, and they were able to get around it because of language in the state law. The city wants the law to change so it can collect the tax revenue from every hotel. “We want the full loaf, not the half loaf,” business administrator Brian O’Reilly explained.

What are we buying?
The council approved the following purchases on Wednesday:

* $447,195 for 15 new police vehicles.
* Up to $235,720 worth of grant management services.
* An additional $175,000 worth of data circuits from Verizon.
* $155,720 for five 2009 Toyota Highlander hybrid vehicles.
* Up to $125,000 worth of legal services for the city’s activity on the tax-exempt securities market (bonds, notes, etc.).
* Up to $90,000 worth of professional planning services in relation to a Smart Future 2008 grant.
* $89,405 for the replacement of wayfinding signs around the city.
* $83,006 for 11 Dehydrator dryers, which are used to dry firefighters’ gear.
* $79,980 in telecommunications equipment (and its installation) for the city’s IT department.
* $75,000 in legal services relating to the relocation of the Department of Public Works and the Incinerator Authority.
* $42,997 for one Ford F350 XLT Supercab, used for animal transport.
* $39,800 in design and surveying services for the expansion and renovation of Boyd McGuiness Park in Ward B.
* $37,000 in design and surveying services for the renovation of Muhammad Ali Park in Ward A.
* $35,000 in design and surveying services for the new North District police station.
* $21,150 in engineering services for improvements to Greene Street and Washington Boulevard.
* $19,961 for one Pitney Bowes postage machine.

- Star-Ledger columnist John Farmer, noting that last week’s municipal election wasn’t a big deal in state political circles, says it wasn’t always that way.

- Who might be the next chairman of the Hudson County Democratic Organization? The Insider throws out some scenarios. (Mayor Healy is currently chair, but the Insider seems to think his post is up for grabs. We’ll see.)

- The number of property tax appeals in Hudson County, like the rest of the state, are way up in 2009 from the previous year.

- To combat weak sales, Canco Lofts is offering a free Smart Car to each person who purchases one of their penthouse condos. The condos range from $550,000 to $675,000; the car retails around $15,000.

- A motorcyclist riding in Jersey City died early Saturday morning after he reportedly slammed into a concrete support. On Saturday night, a man was hit by a vehicle at Montgomery Street and Bergen Avenue and was taken to the medical center with life-threatening injuries.

- The bus company Coach USA, which owns Red & Tan, has received $444,000 in Homeland Security grants to help prevent and respond to terrorist attacks.

- The Golden Door Charter School is pushing to purchase its building on 9th Street from the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency, but the city isn’t interested in selling.

- St. Peter’s College held its commencement yesterday; presidential historian Michael Beschloss was the speaker.

- A 15-year-old Jersey City boy won Nintendo’s Punch-Out Challenge in NYC this weekend.

Today’s Best Bets:

- Bob Leach, who JCI profiled last week, makes his second public appearance in a matter of days tonight. He’ll be at the Five Corners Branch Library (678 Newark Ave.) presenting Invasion of the Reds: Mayor Hague’s War Against Radicals & Free Speech, a video story. The event is free, and it begins at 6 pm.

In statewide news:

- MVC agencies are closed statewide today as part of the state worker furlough plans.

- The state Division of Child Behavioral Health Services is looking to change the way family support groups operate in New Jersey. Under its plan, group workers and board members would be hired by the organizations that make decisions about a child’s care, a move families and mental health advocates say is wrongheaded. They argue the care management organizations are the same ones whose plans for children are often challenged by the support groups.

- The two Republican gubernatorial frontrunners faced off in a second televised debate on Saturday. Chris Christie and Steve Lonegan sparred over taxes and their conservative credentials. The gubernatorial primary is slated for June 2.

- The largest of the state’s four-year colleges and universities are expanding the size of their freshman classes in September to accommodate a record number of applicants.

- A month after radioactive tritium was found at the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in South Jersey, experts are still trying to define the scope of the contamination.

- The Gloucester County NAACP chapter is asking Gov. Corzine to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the way officials handled complaints made against police by two black men who claimed separately they were racially profiled and assaulted.