Kessler Foundation Awards $250,000 Employment Grant to Jersey City Social Enterprise for People With Disabilities: Kessler Foundation awarded a $250,000 Signature Employment Grant to Hudson Community Enterprises (HCE), headquartered in Jersey City, to advance employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities.

Mom Testifies at Ex-boyfriend’s Murder Trial of Horrific Day Daughter Died in Fire; Jury Sees Grisly Photos: Heart-wrenching testimony and gruesome crime scene photos were presented to the jury today in the trial of a Jersey City man charged with strangling his former girlfriend’s daughter and then torching her room to hide the crime.

Broken Gas Pipe Repaired Near Holland Tunnel: A gas line near the Holland Tunnel was broken by a construction crew yesterday morning, forcing the temporary closure of the westbound tunnel traffic, officials said.

Crime Blotter: After being robbed late Monday by three men, two of them holding silver handguns, a 23-year-old Jersey City man followed the trio until he lost sight of them — but cops picked up the search and busted the alleged perps; A 46-year-old Jersey City woman told cops she was punched in her face after she told a car burglar to hand over her laptop computer; After he was stopped by New Jersey Transit cops for nonpayment of a fare on a Hudson-Bergen Light Rail train at the Liberty State Park Station, a suspect jumped off the train and ran into Liberty State Park.

Today’s Best Bets:

Hudson Pride Connections Center hosts a Card/Game Night tonight (7 pm, $5 donation). Meanwhile, Boca Grande holds its weekly free music Open Mic hosted by Nick Ciavatta (8:30 pm).

In Statewide News:

Senator Sandra Cunningham of Jersey City Proposes Bills to Reform Justice System: At a news conference at the Statehouse on Friday, Senators Sandra Bolden Cunningham and Raymond J. Lesniak announced a package of bills they are introducing to make it easier for some non-violent offenders to get out of a prison and overcome barriers to getting jobs.

New Jersey Third in Student Performance, Non-profit Group Says: A national report card on education in America has ranked New Jersey third in the country for student performance and awarded it a B-minus for state education policy — but the state received mostly D’s for teacher-quality issues, leading the state’s largest teachers union to question the validity of the report and its criteria.

Democrats Make Marriage Equality Their Priority: The Democrats drew a clear line Tuesday when they released the Senate version of the marriage equality bill, honoring a promise to make the issue their first priority.

The Hudson-Bergen Light Rail will be operating on a weekend schedule, and bus service will be on a “modified weekday schedule” with “fewer trips operating during peak periods on some routes.” NJ Transit warns that some bus routes may be subject to delays, detours or cancellations due to local flooding.

The outlook for the rails looks worse.

“Rail service will be extremely limited,” NJ Transit warns. “Customers are advised that they may have to seek alternate transportation on many lines because of significant storm damage.”

Earlier this afternoon, the Port Authority announced that full PATH service would resume at 4 am tomorrow.

You can check www.njtransit.com for the latest real-time schedule updates tomorrow.

NJ Transit last month published the results of the first customer satisfaction survey, which asked customers to rate the agency on a scale of 0 (unacceptable) to 10 (excellent) on 32 attributes of the system. The issues that riders said needed the most improvement were fare costs, on-time performance and the handling of service disruptions. NJ Transit, which hiked fares and cut service in 2010, pledges that it will hold fares stable during Fiscal Year 2012.

Everyone who participates in the survey is automatically entered to win one of five free monthly passes. To fill out the survey, click here.

- Light Rail Collision: A 72-year-old Hoboken man was seriously injured when the sport utility vehicle he was driving collided with a Light Rail train on Sixth Street yesterday morning.

- Robbery: Three robbery suspects fleeing from Jersey City police yesterday morning slammed into a police cruiser and two parked cars before the cops arrested them and found a gun in the car.

Today’s Best Bets:

- Jazz is on tap for this week’s Groove on Grove outdoor concert, with The Broc Hempel Trio, Brendan Kibbee and Jordan Piper lined up to perform (6 pm). Meanwhile, Radio Exiles and They Live! play a free show at the Lamp Post (8 pm), and there are four open mics to choose from: the Teen Center open mic at the Miller Branch Library (6 pm), the Out of the Box Chilltown open mic at Hudson Pride Connections Center (7:30 pm), the Tempest jam session/open mic at the Lamp Post (8 pm), and an acoustic open mic at Boca Grande (8:30 pm).

In Statewide News:

- State Budget: Democrats and Republicans are clashing over how much income tax revenue will be generated by the Garden State’s millionaires — and how to spend it.

- Redistricting: A state Superior Court judge has rejected a tea party group’s request to delay the June 7 primary election while it mulls whether the state’s new legislative districts are unconstitutional.

- Kyleigh’s Law: Police in New Jersey have issued 1,838 tickets to teen drivers for failing to display red decals in the first year of the law that makes it easier to spot young motorists.

- Unregistered Contractors: The Division of Consumer Affairs is undertaking a statewide crackdown on unregistered contractors.

- Judge Rules That Man Can Be Deported: A federal judge in New Jersey ruled Tuesday that a Portuguese man arrested after a traffic stop last month can be returned to his home country to face a prison sentence for allegedly hiring hit men to murder his ex-wife in 2006.

“[The proposed settlement can] end the disputes and litigation that have continued for over five years,” the April 12 letter from Hyman’s attorney Daniel Horgan to the city reads. “These terms give consideration to the interests of the city and to all parties, but the overarching goal is to provide for the meaningful and productive use of over 25 acres of property in the heart of Jersey City that can help the city and its taxpayers in these most difficult economic times.”

Since purchasing the six elevated blocks in 2005, Hyman has been engaged in a number of legal battles with the city over his desire to develop parts of the property, as the city and Downtown activists continue to fight to preserve the land for a public park, and potentially a light rail extension.

Hyman, who has spent millions on the epic legal battle with Jersey City, often makes his case in economic terms, criticizing the city’s willingness to spend massive amounts on the various cases, as well as its unwillingness to allow him to bring new properties — and new property taxes — on line.

Hyman’s offer to the council Wednesday was a compromise deal he has been hinting at for months, and it comes about a year after he rejected the city’s plan to buy the entire collection of properties for up to $7.6 million. Under the proposal, Hyman would have kept four of the elevated parcels and sold the city two of them for $10 million, with the stipulation that the city could not transfer the deeds to another developer and would have to use the two blocks for a public park.

In addition, the city would have to create a Redevelopment Plan for Hyman’s four parcels, as well as a number of land parcels west of the Embankment under the Turnpike extension that are currently owned by Conrail, the railroad company that originally sold the Embankment properties to Hyman.

“The Conrail property has an important relationship to the sound redevelopment planning of the Embankment property, and is uniquely suited as a hub that can be served by mass transit to permit significant levels of urban development,” the proposed settlement reads.

The proposal requested the right to build 1,800 residential units on the four Embankment properties, as well as 4,000 residential units and 2 million square feet of commercial space on the Conrail properties “without any restrictions under programs of historic preservation, or otherwise, whatsoever.” It also proposed using part of the Conrail properties for a possible light rail line that would connect the Journal Square PATH station and the current light rail tracks near 18th Street and the Hoboken border.

The administration says it is glad the council rejected what it dubs a “preposterous” settlement.

“We will continue to fight for the preservation of the Embankment for the creation of a world-class elevated park and a transportation corridor, while remaining open to any reasonable settlement proposals,” city spokesperson Jennifer Morrill says. “Unfortunately this wasn’t one.”

Proposed Embankment Settlement

The proposed route for a light rail extension over Route 440.

NJ Transit’s board of directors today adopted a plan to extend the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail (HBLR) across Route 440, and authorized its submission to the North Jersey Transportation Authority (NJTPA) for designation and inclusion in the agency’s Long Range Regional Transportation Plan, which would make the project eligible for federal funds.

NJ Transit has been studying the extension since September 2009. Under its plan, 0.7 miles of new light rail track would be laid along an elevated viaduct from the West Side Avenue station, across Route 440 to the northern end of Jersey City’s massive proposed Bayfront redevelopment project, where there would be a new station constructed. The trip between the two stations would take 1 minute and 50 seconds, and NJ Transit officials have estimated the cost of construction at $171.6 million in 2010 dollars, and $213.9 million in 2017 dollars — the expected mid-point of actual construction.

New Jersey transportation commissioner James Simpson, who is also board chair of NJ Transit, says the extension “would both support the [Bayfront] development and address traffic congestion along Route 440 and secondary roads.”

Mayor Jerramiah Healy says his administration is “pleased and thankful” that NJ Transit is pushing the extension forward.

“This extension would not only connect our city from east to west, but it would also further our administration’s goal of creating Smart Growth urban communities, more mass transit, and a cleaner environment by reducing congestion,” the mayor says.

To the Editor,

It should go without having to say that times are tough. Everyone is forced to do more with much less; and that includes government.

Two weeks ago, NJ Transit changed the route and timetable for the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail (HBLR). This is a decision that NJ Transit made in order to close a $300 million deficit. While we applaud the best efforts of NJ Transit to bring their fiscal house in order, we respectfully disagree with this change. This cut in service hurts the 33rd Legislative District and hurts Hoboken the hardest.

Since NJ Transit has announced that route and schedule changes would be occurring, our office has made inquiries asking them to be considerate of the residents of Hoboken. Since the changes took effect, our office has pleaded with NJ Transit to reconsider this route change.

We understand wholeheartedly that the state faces a fiscal crisis. Furthermore, we understand that NJ Transit faces a $300 million budget deficit. With that said, we understand that fiscal constraints have led to the decision to change certain routes as a part of closing the overall gap. This route is a heavily traveled route and serves as a conduit between several municipalities.

This inconvenient scheduling and routing change will only serve to hinder productivity and cause further congestions at peak traveling times. Furthermore, this discourages and limits people from visiting Hoboken restaurants and businesses.

Moreover, most residents of Hoboken are doing our environment a service by utilizing public transportation and avoid driving their personal vehicles. This route change may discourage utilization of the HBLR and may cause an increase in traffic, decrease revenue and further decrease ridership for NJ Transit.

We implore NJ Transit in the strongest sense of the term to reconsider this route change and restore the route to its original schedule. This is a “lose-lose” situation for the City of Hoboken, NJ Transit and the State of New Jersey. By restoring the route, we are not only saving these residents from an inconvenience, but we are continuing our commitment to the environment, supporting local small businesses, as well as maintaining worker productivity in these harsh economic times.

We encourage everyone who’s affected by this route change to sign our petition today and let your voices be heard. Let’s work together to restore this route back to normal.

Sincerely,

Ruben J. Ramos & Caridad Rodriguez
Members of the NJ General Assembly, 33rd District

The streamlining of the train routes leaves the light rail with two distinct, but overlapping lines on weekends and holidays: between Hoboken Terminal and 22nd Street/Bayonne and between Tonnelle Avenue and West Side Avenue.

Trains originating at Tonnelle Avenue in North Bergen, which come through Hoboken at 9th and 2nd Streets, serving many Heights residents, will no longer go to Hoboken Terminal. Instead, all weekend and holiday trains on that line will go first to Pavonia/Newport, before continuing on the southern rail spur out to West Side Avenue.

For a Heights resident heading to New York City on the 6th Avenue PATH line, that means a slightly longer trip (one minute longer, according to timetables) from 2nd Street to Pavonia/Newport than the one to Hoboken. But more importantly, because of the PATH train’s weekend schedule, that rider would then have to come back through Hoboken Terminal for a stop before making his or her way into New York City.

The change also means that anyone traveling from the West Side Avenue, Martin Luther King Drive or Garfield Avenue stops to Hoboken will have to change trains at Pavonia/Newport.

If you have questions about the service changes, you can call NJ Transit customer service at 973-275-5555.

Rail service will increase by 25 percent; light rail and local bus service will rise by 10 percent. Hudson-Bergen Light Rail customers will now pay $2.10 for each ride, while local bus riders will be asked to cough up $1.50.

As part of the service cuts, two bus lines operating in Jersey City via the Hudson County Wheels Minibus Service will be eliminated: the 981 and the 305. The 981 runs on weekdays from Port Liberte to the Grove Street PATH Station, and the 305 runs solely within Liberty State Park. Mayor Healy had written NJ Transit opposing the elimination of the 981, calling it “too vital to the residents of Jersey City.”

Other service cuts include the elimination of 36 Hudson-Bergen Light Rail trips each weekday beginning at 8 pm, by increasing the interval between trains from 20 minutes to 30 minutes. The agency is also discontinuing direct light rail service between Tonnelle Avenue and Hoboken Terminal, resulting in longer trips for some riders who will have to switch trains. Both of these changes will go into effect in August.

Several bus routes in Jersey City, including the popular 86 line, will also see service reductions, mostly in the form of longer wait times between buses. (For a full accounting of bus service cuts, click here.)

NJ Transit’s internal Environmental Justice Analysis, a federally mandated report on how the hikes and service cuts would impact low-income and minority populations, includes striking demographic data on NJ Transit riders. The report was released earlier this month after an Open Public Records Act request by the advocacy group the Tri-State Transportation Campaign.

Take a look at these two charts, which we created using data in the report:

The key on this one is a little hard to read; the orange line is the average number of weekday riders, and the blue line is mean household income.

Meanwhile, this chart plots the percent of riders of each mode that are racial minorities:

While this demographic data isn’t exactly earth-shattering news, since its widely known that bus riders are poorer and less white than commuter rail riders, the wide gaps in the numbers are still interesting, and make quite a case for NJ Transit’s ultimate decision to ease up on the 25 percent fare hikes for bus and light rail riders.

The Tri-State Transportation Campaign has commended NJ Transit for changing the fare hike formula, but says the agency should not have eliminated the off-peak round trip discount for rail riders, which the group says will have a disproportionate impact on low-income riders. It cites the example of an off-peak round trip from Newark to New Brunswick, which will jump from $12.25 to $18.

For its part, NJ Transit agrees that the off-peak round trip change will hurt some low-income riders, since “riders with incomes of less than $25,000 are more likely to use the rail off-peak round trip ticket than other rail riders.” But the agency says the move, which is expected to generate $8.4 million in revenue, was a choice that had to be made. It says that keeping the discount would have forced “draconian” service reductions on bus lines, or across-the-board fare hikes of more than 25 percent.