Beldini Prison Pacemaker Provision: Before ruling on whether corrupt former Jersey City Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini must begin her prison term, a federal judge has asked prison officials if they can provide treatment for her should she need a pacemaker.

Medical Condition Ties Up Journal Square Traffic: A medical condition at the corner of JFK Boulevard and Bergen Avenue created delays for motorists and pedestrians traveling through the busy intersection.

Vehicle Crashes into Wall: A woman was taken to Jersey City Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries after her vehicle hit a wall on Tonnelle Avenue near Newark Avenue yesterday evening, police said.

Crime Blotter: Jersey City police continue to make arrests Downtown after beefing up patrols in response to a wave of car burglaries; a Jersey City man robbed by two men in the Newport section of Jersey City Sunday night tried to chase down his attackers, but they got away.

Today’s Best Bets:

Sample a variety of scotches paired with hors d’ oeuvres at Brightside Tavern’s Scotch Tasting Event, hosted by whiskey master Craig Vaught (8 pm, $15–$20).

In Statewide News:

Proposed Law Would Make Driving Stricter for Teens: Parents of teens with a driving learner’s permit would be required to take a teen driver-orientation course, and the teenagers themselves would have to practice driving for up to 100 hours, under the bill sent to the state Assembly.

Bill to Fund Hurricane Irene Repairs: New Jersey would issue $100 million in bonds to repair water and transportation infrastructure damaged during Hurricane Irene under a bill released by an Assembly panel yesterday afternoon.

Committee Says NJ Won’t Treat Wastewater from Hydraulic Fracturing: In a move that may be more symbolic than substantive, a legislative committee yesterday voted to prohibit New Jersey’s sewage treatment plants from accepting wastewater from operations drilling for natural gas in Marcellus Shale deposits in Pennsylvania and other states.

Democrats Press for Aid to Poorest Cities: After a nearly six-month standoff with Gov. Chris Christie, Assembly Democrats offered up a proposal yesterday to restore more than $100 million in aid to the state’s most troubled cities.

Updating State’s Drinking Water Infrastructure Could Cost Billions: Upgrading an aging water infrastructure will need investments of $20 billion over the next few decades to continue delivering safe drinking water to residents and businesses in the state.

Legislation to Ease End-of-Life Care: Legislation now on track in Trenton would bring to New Jersey a relatively new model of end-of-life planning known as the “Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment.”

Spectra Plan Public Comment Deadline: Today is the deadline the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has set for public comments regarding Spectra Energy’s controversial plan to build a natural gas pipeline through parts of Bayonne, Jersey City and offshore Hoboken.

Court Grants Request to Postpone Redistricting: A Hudson County Superior Court judge has granted the city’s request for a 120-day extension to postpone redistricting pending the outcome of a challenge to Jersey City’s 2010 U.S. Census numbers.

County Building Cafeteria Closed: The employee cafeteria in the new Hudson County Plaza was closed almost this entire past week after rodent droppings were found near and possibly in the food there, according to officials.

Toll Collector Memories: About three of every four drivers on the New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway use E-ZPass, a trend that points to toll takers going the way of the ice truck. The Star-Ledger visited Turnpike Exit 14C to reminisce about the past and take stock of the future of the toll collectors.

Preview of Online History Collection: A year after starting a monumental project to photograph every statue, plaque and historical marker in Hudson County, the Hudson County Genealogical & Historical Society is providing an online glimpse of its progress.

Unidentified Woman Found Dead: The body of an unidentified middle-aged woman was recovered Saturday morning from the Hudson River near the Newport community.

Appeal Denied in 30-Year-Old Murder Case: A Jersey City man convicted of murder who has spent 30 years in prison lost another appeal last week and can look forward to what may be decades more behind bars.

Slain Couple Inspires Scholarship Fund: The Love Mike Nia Foundation, a nonprofit created by the friends of Jersey City carjacking victims Michael Muchioki and Nia Haqq, has so far provided two students with $1,500 scholarships for their college education.

Crime Blotter: A Jersey City man yesterday morning suddenly turned on his two roommates for no apparent reason and stabbed them multiple times; two men forced a Jersey City gas attendant into a sports utility vehicle at gunpoint Saturday evening before robbing him and releasing him two blocks away; two men were injured in Jersey City early Saturday when they and another friend were attacked by four men who were armed with knives and a machete; a woman was robbed of $31,000 in cash and $30,000 in jewelry when her SUV was snatched by a gunman in front of her Jersey City home Thursday evening; a fried chicken delivery man was robbed of $80 and a late-night food order by a gunman on Harrison Avenue Thursday.

Today’s Best Bets

Happy Halloween! There are two big events for kids today: Newport Centre Mall is throwing a Happy Halloween Haunting Party, complete with trick-or-treating in the mall, a coloring activity station and the opportunity to capture the moment with a photo (12 to 6 pm); later in the afternoon, the Historic Downtown SID is hosting a free Halloween Bash for Kiddos, featuring face painting, pictures and of course, candy (5 to 7 pm).

And for the kid in all of us, LITM and DJ Meghan McKee will be putting on a special Halloween edition of their monthly Detention! ’80s party (starts at 6 pm). The party features cocktail specials and discounts for those in costume.

The Iron Monkey Halloween Weekend closes out tonight with a Best Tattoo Contest (starts at 8 pm).

In Statewide News:

Blacks, Hispanics Take Brunt of Job Market Hit: Widespread layoffs across the nation have left few families untouched. However, the prospects in an uneven recovery are especially bleak for unemployed blacks and Hispanics, who came into the recession on a lower rung in the job market.

Battle Over Future of Speaker Post: The shadow war over who will be Assembly speaker has been waged by phone over the past week as Democratic power brokers dial their allies and party brethren to lock down support for their chosen candidates, party sources say.

State Looks to Save on Medicaid Expenses: New Jersey is seeking federal approval for major changes to its $11 billion Medicaid program, hoping to rein in what state officials and some non-government stakeholders say is an unsustainable escalation of spending.

Support for Same-Sex Marriage: Fifty-two percent of New Jersey voters believe same-sex marriages should be legal, according to a Rutgers-Eagleton Poll released Friday.

More Than $200 Million in Hurricane Aid for New Jersey: The federal government in two months has in aid for New Jersey residents and businesses affected by Hurricane Irene, officials said this week.

Overdue Fines Racking Up: Licensed professionals such as doctors and accountants owe New Jersey $13.8 million in overdue fines and state officials concede they haven’t done enough to collect the money.

Rutgers Eyes India Partnership Grant: Rutgers University is applying for the first round of grants that the Obama administration will provide to help colleges and universities in the U.S. and India work together to set up joint research programs, expand dual-degree offerings and increase study-abroad opportunities.

The festival, Washington Park Live – Arts and Music in the Park, features arts and music workshops; fitness demonstrations (yoga and boot camp); face painting; live musical performances by Oscar Feldman & La Maquina Latina and AwShockKiss; and much, much more. There will also be tours of the recently installed Permaculture Learning Garden at the park. It will take place in area of the park known as the gazebo area, at Webster Avenue and Paterson Plank Road.

Flooding on 9th Street near Enos Jones Park on Sunday, August 28

Just one week after Hudson County residents and businesses became eligible for Post-Irene aid from the federal government, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) this weekend opened an office in Secaucus to provide face-to-face assistance to those who suffered damage from Hurricane Irene.

At the center, visitors can:

• Receive information about different types of state and federal disaster assistance.
• Get help completing applications for U.S. Small Business Administration low-interest disaster loans for homeowners, renters, businesses of all sizes and private nonprofit organizations.
• Inquire about the status of applications for federal assistance.
• Receive referrals to voluntary organizations to help with immediate unmet needs.
• Learn cost-effective measures to reduce the impact of future disaster losses.

The center is open daily from 8 am to 6 pm for the time being, but residents are urged to register before visiting. To do so, log on to www.disasterassistance.gov, m.fema.gov or call FEMA’s toll-free number, 1-800-621-3362, or TTY 1-800-462-7585. Those with access or functional needs and who use a TTY, call 800-462-7585; or, use 711 or Video Relay Service to call 800-621-3362 (both numbers are available from 7 am to 10 pm).

The FEMA office is at the Secaucus Public Library and Business Resource Center, 1379 Paterson Plank Road.

Officials at New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection tell the New York Times that initial tests of the river indicate that “the most likely cause behind the reddish hue is the significant storm-water runoff from upstate as a result of Hurricane Irene”:

City officials tested the waters in five locations in the river and found the water showed “lower than usual transparency,” said Farrell Sklerov, a spokesman for the Department of Environmental Protection.

“Based on these initial tests and recent events that included historic flows from tributaries connected to the Hudson, the most likely cause behind the reddish hue is the significant storm-water runoff from upstate as a result of Hurricane Irene,” he said.

“Periods of rain with embedded pockets of heavy rainfall is expected today in association with a stalled front and tropical moisture streaming into the region,” the service notes. “Heavy rainfall rates of around one inch per hour will be capable of producing urban flooding, as well as flooding of fast-responding rivers and streams. Overall higher chances of flooding are expected to be across New Jersey and the lower Hudson Valley.”

August brought record amounts of rainfall to Jersey City, capped off by Hurricane Irene, which heavily flooded low-lying areas around the city. Today’s Flash Flood Watch is valid through the afternoon.

Photo of Chopin Court flooding the day after Hurricane Irene by Jennifer Weiss

Sound coordinator Brandon Field sorts paper at the Cultural Affairs office, throwing out anything unusable

MORE PHOTOS:

Homeowners and shopkeepers weren’t the only people to come out of Hurricane Irene with flooded basements — City Hall also flooded, forcing several city offices to move temporarily.

The Division of Cultural Affairs’ basement office was flooded with a mixture of rainwater and wastewater, according to city officials. Other basement offices were flooded too, including the Division of Risk Management and Veteran’s Affairs.

A company called Servpro was brought in to do cleanup this week, city spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill says.

At the Cultural Affairs office, where employees returned to a squishy carpet and bad smell on Monday, some office supplies were damaged, and the banner for the October Artists’ Studio Tour was ruined, according to Cultural Affairs director Maryanne Kelleher.

While the situation stank — literally — Kelleher does see a bright side.

“Sometimes stuff gathers,” she says. “So, we’re using this as an opportunity for fall cleaning.”

The carpet in the office has since been ripped out, and will be replaced with something more water-resistant, according to a Department of Public Works (DPW) employee who is on site today.

As dehumidifiers and fans hummed in the basement this morning, members of the DPW worked to mitigate the damage. There was still a pool of water visible in the Risk Management office.

While the space is cleaned up, some Cultural Affairs staffers have moved to the office of the Mayor’s Action Bureau. They will be checking their voicemails, and the main phone line, 201-547-6921, will still be available.

Risk Management director Peter Soriero says his office has relocated to 1 Journal Square, but may be reached at the regular phone number, 201-547-5037.

While he and his staff took precautions before the storm, preparing the office just in case, he says this was a first.

“I’ve never had a drop of water in my section,” he says.

The chromium site on Garfield Avenue in 2009, before the cleanup began.

When workers cleaning up the massive chromium-contaminated site along Garfield Avenue arrived at work this morning, they noticed that potentially contaminated groundwater had been “pushed up” at the corner of Halladay Street and Carteret Avenue, according to site administrator Mike McCabe.

The “small amount” of pooled water “looked like it might be contaminated,” McCabe tells JCI. Crews pulled samples of the water to send out for testing, and then “vacuumed it up [and] took other precautionary measures” to make sure the potentially dangerous water wouldn’t become airborne when it dries (hexavalent chromium is considered most carcinogenic when it is airborne and inhaled).

JCPD cars blocked off the site, and the JCFD hazardous materials truck was sent over, creating a bit of a scene in the formerly industrial and largely vacant swath of land right by the Garfield Avenue light rail station. But McCabe assures us that, because of the steps taken this morning, the incident is “definitely not a threat to the nearby residential community.”

The test results are expected within “a couple of days.” If the tests come back positive for hexavalent chromium, the cleanup crew will have to do additional sampling to make sure today’s initial cleanup rid the area of the dangerous toxin. If that round of sampling also tests positive for hexavalent chromium, McCabe says they will do additional cleaning at the site.

But he says the cleanup crew, which had dealt with similar rain-induced leakages when cleaning up the Honeywell site on the city’s west side, went ahead and did a preemptive cleanup to ensure the highest level of safety on site and in the area.

“We didn’t wait for these test results,” McCabe says. “We thoroughly addressed the problem.”

Joe Morris, director of the chromium cleanup project for the Interfaith Community Organization, which has fought for more stringent cleanup standards at the site, says it’s good that there was a quick response, but the danger posed by a leak like this only illustrates why the site should be cleaned to the maximum possible extent.

“It’s a good example of why it’s important to get all of the source material out of there and remediate the groundwater,” he says.

Flooding on 9th Street near Enos Jones Park Sunday morning

As residents around Jersey City continue to dry out their basements or homes in the wake of Sunday’s storm, the city’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM) is reminding anyone who suffered any water or wind damage to keep detailed records, receipts and to photograph the damage for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

“What is happening right now is that preliminary damage assessments will begin throughout the state, on a county-by-county basis,” OEM coordinator Greg Kierce explains. “If the damage meets the criteria for FEMA reimbursement, which by all accounts it should, then Jersey City will stand to receive some funding to cover the costs. This funding could also be made available for affected homeowners.”

The city says it will keep residents informed as it hears more from FEMA. But for now, it suggests that you:

• Keep a detailed record of damages to your property as a result of flooding or high winds
• Keep track of what costs were incurred as related to the storm with accompanying receipts
• Keep notes to document any power outages that might have affected sub-pump functionality
• Take photographs of the damages

Willie DeJesus surveys flood damage on Chopin Court

After days of wondering just how bad Hurricane Irene would be, Jersey City residents got their answer. As the storm swept through town yesterday morning, steady rains and strong winds toppled trees and left significant flooding in their wake.

The National Weather Service did not offer rainfall numbers for Jersey City, but it recorded 9 inches of rainfall in Hudson County, at Harrison. The maximum wind gust recorded in Hudson County was 70 miles per hour, at the Robbins Reef Lighthouse in Bayonne at 4 am yesterday morning. Wind gusts of 52 mph were recorded in Harrison.

Between 5,000 and 10,000 residents lost power Sunday, though it could have been much worse. Early Sunday morning, PSE&G announced that its power generating station on Duffield Avenue had sustained heavy flooding, and that it would have to take it offline, causing almost all of Jersey City to go without power. The utility company instead was able to repair the damage, lessening the blow to the city’s residents. As of this morning, between 500 and 2,000 residents remained without power.

With power out in some areas, Christ Hospital went to generator power. Jersey City Medical Center, which brought in extra staff, had its generators ready but didn’t need them, according to hospital spokesman Mark Rabson.

There were roughly 40 new admissions there during the storm, but not many were storm-related. Those who stayed in town “took the advice of city officials and stayed home,” he said.

“A lot of our staff were worried about their own flooded basements,” Rabson said. “We want to thank them for working the extra hours, and the EMTs and paramedics for being out there in the wind and rain.”

With many still without power late Sunday, one of the seven emergency shelters the city had opened Saturday remained open (PS 4, on Bright Street, which the city closed this morning). Many faced heavy flooding inside their homes.

Downtown resident Justin Wolk spent Saturday night in Philadelphia, returning yesterday to his ground-floor one-bedroom apartment on York Street. Like a number of residents in and around flood zones Downtown, in Bergen-Lafayette and on the far West Side, he opened his front door onto something surreal.

“My couch is floating, my bed is floating, the refrigerator came right off the wall and is floating right now,” Wolk said Sunday afternoon as he surveyed partially submerged garbage cans outside his place (seen at right). “Even the toilet is floating.”

Wolk said he was angry the city hadn’t done more to mitigate the flooding, which was caused by a combination of seven to eight inches of rain and the fact that the storm came in at high tide, overwhelming the city’s combined sewage system.

But city spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill defended the response as “coordinated, effectual and rapid,” pointing out a number of measures taken to lessen the storm’s damage.

“The Jersey City Municipal Utilities Authority was out in advance of the storm cleaning catch basins and sewers and also brought in multiple additional pumps that were placed in areas throughout the city to mitigate the flooding,” she said. “The city also provided sandbags from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to homeowners to help minimize any water entering basements and homes.”

Morrill noted that it was not a lack of preparation, but the intense rain — combined with the fact that August’s earlier rains had already saturated the ground — that caused most homes and basements to flood.

Among the streets that were completely impassable yesterday were the intersection of Newark and Division, Columbus and Merseles, Grove and 18th, Route 440 between Danforth and Sip, and Cornelison between Bright and Fairmount, according to the Jersey City Police Department (the roads were clear by this morning’s commute). A fire truck got stuck in the waters at one point yesterday morning on Division Street.

“Basically, the Jersey City sewer system failed miserably,” said J. D. Dallam, as he and Yvonne Willrich-Teague hauled away trash bags filled with mulch, which they’d used to try to barricade their ground-floor apartment. (The mulch helped, but they still found themselves with a flood they had to hastily bail out with buckets and a wet-vac.)

Without a better drainage system in place in the city, Dallam said their home, on Montgomery Street near Grove, didn’t stand a chance.

“There’s old plumbing and too much hyperdevelopment,” he said. “We pay high property taxes, but we’re going to have to pay for this too. The buck stops with Mayor Healy, he has to get his act together on this.”

As rivulets of floodwater flowed from sump pumps onto city streets, building and business owners surveyed the damage to their properties with sadness and frustration.

“I’m afraid to open the door right now,” said Robert Tucker, a York Street building owner, as he looked down at a pool of water at the entrance of his ground-floor unit. That unit had not been rented, and the rest of his tenants had left town for the weekend. Tucker said he and his wife, Jane, had put close to $30,000 into renovating the basement unit, restoring original Victorian details — and did not have flood insurance.

“We’ve been hit,” he said, as two sump pumps spilled water from the house onto the street. “This is the first real time we’ve been nailed.”

Mohammed Alam, who owns Salman Grocery on Marin Boulevard, had sump pumps draining about 8 feet of standing water from his basement yesterday.

As the water level at his front door rose first thing yesterday morning, so too did his level of concern.

“When the water went up almost a foot, then I got worried,” he said. It would eventually reach about 2 feet, he said, pointing to a watermark.

“We’ll be pumping all night,” he added.

Alam said he was happy with the city’s efforts before and after the storm, especially the level of police and fire presence he saw Saturday night.

“The city can’t help this, they can’t stop the rain,” he said.

Paul Barna, another Dowtown building owner, was dealing with five feet of flooding in his basement unit on York Street. He said he was looking forward to retiring and moving away.

“This is the worst in 30 years,” he said. “But I don’t see this one coming back for a while.”

On Chopin Court near the onramp to the Turnpike extension, cars were stuck in a pool of standing water, some submerged more than halfway. Melanie and Cef Pineda had walked there from their home on the nearby Mercer Loop with their son and said they thought the storm could have been worse.

“We were expecting worse than this because of the news,” Cef Pineda said.

For neighborhoods up the hill, flooding wasn’t an issue. But that didn’t mean everything went smoothly. A power outage was reported in Journal Square. And in the Heights, the storm’s high winds uprooted a number of trees.

Kathleen Aponte (at left) and her 84-year-old mother, Veronica Corbalis, considered themselves lucky to not have had flooding at their house on Montgomery Street near St. Peter’s College.

“A hill is the best place to live,” said Aponte.

Still, she felt the storm had been serious and was glad her family had spent time getting prepared.

“It rained steady all night, pounded and pounded, and I thought for a moment, ‘what if the wind does blow the windows in?’” Aponte said.

On the West Side of the city, there were also plenty of downed trees and some flooding nearer to the Hackensack River. The pond in Lincoln Park nearly doubled in size with the rain.

Antonio Monroe was happy to go to the park yesterday morning after being holed up at home waiting for the storm.

“I stayed home all day yesterday and watched TV,” he said. “I was really bored.”

But when he arrived, he found that the lake had flooded over his normal jogging route.

Other walkers and bikers were roaming the park to observe the damage, which included fallen trees. Kathy Kozachok (at right), staring at the much-larger lake, was among them.

“I’ve seen it swell before during a rainstorm, but never this big,” said Kozachok. “I forget we live on wetlands until after it rains.”

Photos by Jennifer Weiss