JCLogic

A blog created to inspire the community's duty to stand up and fight for a dignified future.

[jclogic]

State of the City Address

This past week I had the gratification of attending my first State of the City Address where I listened to Mayor Fulop discuss many topics including enhanced affordable housing, expansion of special needs recreation programs, plans for the Vision Zero initiative, as well as the notorious revaluation for our city.

The mayor touched on a lot of promising plans coming to all wards of Jersey City to be unveiled within the coming year or so. I particularly admired his idea to reinforce more recreation programs for special needs children and those of all ages – coming from ward B and growing up seeing a lot of gang violence I believe that is especially important resulting in keeping younger children and teens off the streets and too busy to be in trouble.

Although the mayor has gotten a lot of feedback on this next topic, I strongly and personally believe it was a beneficial decision for all tax paying residents. His decision to end the off-duty police program angered a lot of officers who claim Mayor Fulop is punishing the entire force for the actions of a few trouble makers; as the saying goes “one bad apple ruins the bunch.” If 14 officers of the law plead guilty admitting to participating in schemes allowing them to accept payments for off-duty jobs they never worked, I’d hate to imagine how many more were part of this corrupt scandal and never got caught. This program is highly unnecessary and come from the tax payers pocket, it needed to be stopped.  

Albeit the mayor brought up many great plans for the city, some were not so great, and this hefty long overdue topic struck a nerve with many residents. Revaluation, which is the act of assessing the value of something again. In response to an order given by Ex-Governor Chris Christie the city is being forced to complete the current revaluation which is about 85% complete. What does this mean for Jersey City residents? Tax bill increases. The current revaluation which started in 2011 was stalled by our mayor. Critics argue it was hindered to protect downtown residents from a tremendous tax increase and hindered again in 2017 to increase Fulop’s popularity for political gain. 

This revaluation not only spells out disaster for downtown residents but residents from every ward, especially the city’s more underprivileged and long-standing residents. I can’t help but wonder had the mayor not handed out tax abatements left and right to downtown developers like they were candy, despite heavily criticizing these incentives long before becoming mayor, and stalling revaluations for almost 10 years would we be in this predicament? I doubt it.

The mayor also briefly touched on the subject of community-driven public safety initiatives. Earlier this year an Executive Order was signed implementing the Vision Zero initiative. The goal for this initiative is to eliminate traffic fatalities on roadways by 2026. Our city averages 300 traffic accidents per year involving pedestrians with an average of 9 people being killed each year. If these averages are so high, why should we have to wait an absurd 8 years for this plan to be implemented? How many more citizens must be injured or even worse, die for a plan to be implemented right now?

I personally feel deeply about this matter because not too long ago I was victim of a traffic fatality on the infamously dangerous Kennedy Boulevard, fortunately for me I am alive even though I still suffer pain because of a careless driver in 2014. A friend of mine, Khalla Nguyen, died because of a reckless driver and a rather confusing traffic pattern on the intersection of Newark Avenue and 7th street. I believe this is a pressing matter and we should not have to wait another 8 years for more innocent people to be hurt or die.

To sum this up, I’m glad I went out and was a part of my community listening to the mayor’s plans for my city. I urge you all, whether you like politics or not, to be a part of your community, listen to what’s going on around you, and let your concerns and voices be heard. Below is a list of community meetings that will be going on in the coming weeks along with respective dates and locations for each ward meeting.

                                                                                             Mel.

[jclogic]

The Real Truth About Jersey City.

I’ve been a native of Jersey City all my life, 25 years to be exact. I’ve seen the good, the bad, and the ugly that makes up Jersey City, especially since I grew up in Ward B’s West Side/Duncan area. I’ve seen this city transform into what most would call “progressive” (depending on where you visit or even live) but those of us that have seen the true gritty Jersey City we know that’s just fancy lingo for gentrification. Natives that have lived here 20+ years are being pushed out because they’re not able to afford the cost of living, taxes that seem to keep skyrocketing as well as hipsters moving in and benefiting off our misery. Let me clarify this, by no means am I against outsiders coming in or seeing our city prosper; what I do have an issue with is seeing places like Ward E’s downtown solely benefit from this so-called progression while the rest of the wards are left in the dust.

 A couple of days ago I had the unfortunate displeasure of reading an article forwarded to me by my boyfriend titled “The Truth About Jersey City”. This piece circulating the internet was written by the infamous Jersey City “Culture Blogger”, Lynn Hazan, better known as @chicpeaJC in the social media realm. He was angry and couldn’t find the exact words to express what it was he was feeling and asked me to read it and formulate an opinion. I carefully read the article three or four times analyzing each word – I found myself getting more and more displeased and rather offended by the so-called truths. I discussed it with him and asked what it was exactly about the article that particularly upsets him. The answer resonated with me as well as many others commenting on all her platforms, it’s contradictory and rather hypocritical of her to write such an absurd article.

 I do not know Lynn personally, nor do I follow her on social media because I believe she helps sell Mayor Fulop’s vision to bring opportunities to Jersey City, but only if you live in downtown. In the article she mentions how she’s been writing about Jersey City for more than 3 years stating how she’s curated it as “the picture-perfect place to live.” It appears Lynn has finally taken off those rose-colored glasses and explored places beyond the “sixth borough”, facing the harsh realities that those of us living in the neglected areas such as the heights and Bergen-Lafayette communities struggle and cope with every day. However, it begs the question, is it too little too late?

 “I have a platform, people listen to me.” You’re right Lynn, we heard you loud and clear. But are you really listening to us? Do you really understand our struggle? Those of use coming from these abandoned communities don’t think so. You talk about how a conversation needs to happen but when we express our righteous indignation to these hypocritical thoughts you sort of throw in our faces how you started one program. The Content Creators Academy; although that’s a great start, it’s not enough. We deserve so much more, not for you to mock us and ask what we have done for our community. We survive the struggle every day. Some of us are single mothers or fathers, working one or more jobs to keep food on the table and a roof over our family’s heads. Some of us unfortunately don’t have time to protest what’s going on around us or time to go to community meetings.

 I don’t have as much of a platform or following as Lynn, however I recently realized how important it is to be vocal in a professional manner regarding what truly angers me about this think piece, among many other things going on in my city. Although she still hasn’t gotten back to me, she posed a rather insulting yet interesting question to the curious folks expressing their similar thoughts of displeasure as mine. She asked, “what are YOU doing to instill change?” That is my sole purpose in starting this blog.

While I do a lot for my city I reflected and realized sometimes I think I’ve done enough but there’s still way more work to be done. I got a lot of positive feedback from kind strangers all over the internet expressing to me how I have “echoed their true spirits” as someone wrote to me. Many a time I felt I am too outspoken and a little too brazen – but these concerned and gracious strangers taught me how important it is to be vocal because you never know when someone else is thinking the same things but may not always have the voice or even the courage to express themselves. So, to the Jersey City community, natives and those who have just moved in recently I challenge you all to be vocal, let your voices be heard, stick up for what you feel is truly unjust and do more for our community.

 For those that have the time and are interested in letting your voice be heard let’s join today February 22, 2018 at 6:30 PM for the 2018 State of the City Address being held in the Council Chambers at City Hall where there will be a discussion about enhanced affordable housing resources, expansion of special needs recreation programs, as well as many other interesting topics. It is free and open to all and I look forward to seeing you all there.

                                                                                         Mel.