I emailed this letter to Mayor Fulop on September 24th. Dear Mayor Fulop, After reading this article in today’s Jersey Journal, I’m asking you, as a parent of two children in the Jersey City Public School (JCPS) system: Please stop politicizing our public schools. I was at the Jersey City Board of Education (BOE) meeting...Continue reading
Abatements Data Viz 101: Mapping Abatements in Jersey City
As I explained in my last post, transparency around abatements is finally, slowly, increasing. As data is unlocked, taxpayers can glean greater insight into how their tax dollars are spent. To help with this effort, I’ve mapped the 146 abatements from Jersey City’s 2015 “user friendly budget” into an easy-to-use Google map. Let’s Get Civic with...Continue reading
Tax Abatements 601: Brighter Sunshine Mandated for NJ Abatements
Tax abatement reporting in Jersey City is finally getting more transparent. Two distinct authoritative bodies have mandated changes that require Jersey City (and other cities) to get onboard the transparency train. This news should come as a relief to taxpayers since abatements now constitute over 20% of Jersey City’s annual revenue yet have been sharply criticized by the NJ Comptroller as being too opaque and...Continue reading
Press Releases, Property Taxes, and the Value of Spin
Mayor Fulop announced last week the hiring of a new communications director for Jersey City, 26-year old Ryan Jacobs, at a salary of $110,000. The current communications director, Jennifer Morrill, earns $100,614 and will remain as press secretary “to assist…with day to day operations.” Jersey City taxpayers are now paying over $200,000 for spokesperson duties. A city...Continue reading
Sustainability, Community, and that Beautiful Sign at PS #3
Frank Conwell Public School (PS) #3 is a school committed to sustainability; they now have a sign to prove it. And it’s a really beautiful sign at that. This morning, through a partnership with Slow Food USA, Lead Teacher Mark Buttner and two preK classes celebrated the unveiling. At about five feet tall, the sign was provided by Slow...Continue reading
Open Letter to City Council – Ordinance 14.136: Why Should Taxpayers Take on Variable Interest Rates?
I sent this letter to the City Council members this morning. If you live in Jersey City and have similar concerns about funding variable interest rates, please feel free to copy/paste this letter and send from your own email account, or call your Council reps. Contact info is provided below the letter. Background on Open Letter On August...Continue reading
City Hall Annex: Concerns About the Fine Print
Jersey City currently rents office space at several locations other than City Hall for a total of about $2.7 million per year. To cut costs and give residents a single location (other than City Hall) to access services, the City wants to create a City Hall Annex (“the Annex”). A key question has become: how much money should the City pay for the new space?...Continue reading
Jersey City Public Schools: 2013-14 Year in Review
This week marks the conclusion of the 2013-14 year for Jersey City Public Schools. The last week of school is an opportunity to pause, reflect upon, and celebrate some of the highlights from the past ten months. JCPS serves nearly 30,000 school children through 39 schools that operate on a budget of over $650 million....
Mayor Fulop, About the Annex…
On Wednesday, June 4, 2014 at 7:30pm, the Hamilton Park Neighborhood Association (HPNA) will host Mayor Steven Fulop for Q&A during their monthly meeting. One issue likely to be discussed is the community building at 180 9th Street — aka “the Cordero Annex” or “the former Golden Door Charter School.” The building has been the subject of contention in recent months due to...Continue reading
Abatements & Schools 101: Abatement Policy Disconnected from School Policy
Jersey City has been estimating the cost of its abatements incorrectly for at least eight years, and the impact to conventional taxpayers could amount to millions of dollars. Here’s the problem: Jersey City has been under-counting the number of (a) residents and (b) public school students that will eventually live in each abated building. The City has been using...Continue reading
Van Vorst Park: Won’t You Be Their Neighbors? (Originally Published Nov 2013)
The post below – originally published in November 2013 on my other blog – is a primer for an upcoming article that will show how the “Bright & Varick micro units” are now sitting squarely at the intersection of public schools, taxes, and abatements in Jersey City. Stay tuned as we connect the dots in Jersey City… The “Bright &...Continue reading
Tax Abatements 501: A Critique of Mayor Fulop’s “Buy Up” Abatement Policy
In my Abatement Series, I’ve discussed the basic premise of abatements, how they are funded, and the impact to conventional taxpayers. In this post I look at Mayor Fulop’s new tax abatement policy for Jersey City, which includes two notable components: Tiering System: A system of awarding abatements based on geographic location or project type1. Each “tier”...Continue reading
A Concerned Parent Addresses City Council re: Classroom Shortage in Jersey City
The letter below was read into the City Council record on March 26, 2014 by Sarah Welt, a downtown mom with a child who is eligible for public pre-K this coming fall. Sarah has been instrumental in informing many parents in downtown about the PS 37 annex issue. Sarah waited five hours to speak during the public portion...Continue reading
Tax Abatements 401: The Transparency Issue
In his 2010 report, “A Programmatic Examination of Tax Abatements,” NJ Comptroller A. Matthew Boxer highlighted numerous weaknesses with abatements. One issue he touched upon was transparency. He stated, “Information concerning abatement[s]…is not published in a transparent manner or centralized location, making it difficult to impossible for the public to compare, calculate the effect of,...Continue reading
JCPS Demographic Study: Pertinent Facts re: Classroom Space
A Jersey City parent who reviewed the Board of Education’s (BOE) two demographic studies asked that I share pertinent information from the studies as it relates to the pre-K facility issue. If you’re unfamiliar with that issue, this article in the Jersey City Independent provides background information. The Jersey City Public Schools (JCPS) has 28,000+...Continue reading
JCPS 2-Volume Demographic Study (Published in 2014)
Below are links to the 2-volume demographic study published by the Jersey City Public Schools district in 2013 and 2014. These documents are an extensive analysis of Jersey City’s city-driven development (Volume 1) and the capacity outlined in each school (Volume 2). These are documents published by JCPS and I’m sharing on CivicParent as reference....
Tax Abatements 301: Two Sides of the Same PILOT
This is article #3 in my series about abatements. Article #1 is “Tax Abatements 101: The Basics” and Article #2 is “Tax Abatements 201: Abatement Impact on Conventional Taxpayers.” In my previous post, “Tax Abatements 201: Abatement Impact on Conventional Taxpayers”, I focused on the orange slice of the pie pieces below. In this post I...
Tax Abatements 201: Abatement Impact on Conventional Taxpayers
This is Article #2 in my series about abatements, which focuses on the impact abatements have on conventional taxpayers. My first post, “Abatement Basics,” is located here. How important are abatements to Jersey City residents? The answer: extremely important. Abatement revenues – also known as PILOTs, or “payments in lieu of taxes” – have increased from 3% of...Continue reading
Tax Abatements 101: A Basic Overview
A basic introduction to the topic of tax abatements in NJ.Continue reading
News Flash: JCPS is now on Twitter! (@jcps_district)
I’m a big believer in getting civic, and a big part of getting civic is tuning-in to your local community. Once you start tuning in, your confidence to provide feedback and become part of the conversation grows, and then a virtuous cycle of community and civic partnership is born. But oftentimes, tuning-in can seem impossible, especially...Continue reading
Jersey City Public Schools: Year in Review, 2013
Last night at 6pm, inside Martin Luther King, Jr. (PS 11) school on Bergen Avenue, three new members of Jersey City’s Board of Education (“BOE”) and one incumbent member were sworn into office. The Board of Education is the governing body over the City’s 35+ public schools, which serve more than 28,000 students each year on...Continue reading
An Open Letter to Mayor Fulop and the City Council of Jersey City Regarding Basic Life Support (“BLS”) EMS Contract
This letter was emailed to the Mayor and all nine City Council members on December 26, 2013 at 11:04am. Date: December 26, 2013 From: Brigid D’Souza, Yoo Lee, Matt Schoenfeld Subject: Concerns Regarding Basic Life Support (“BLS”) Emergency Medical Services (“EMS”) Contract To: Mayor and...
EMS & Ambulance Gap Analysis
The Jersey Journal reported on Friday, December 13, 2013 that Mayor Fulop and his administration want to change Jersey City’s EMS provider. I wrote a separate blog post here that goes into more background about both providers. The Jersey City Medical Center (JCMC) is the current EMS provider, and their current contract expires on December 31,...Continue reading
Ambulances, Politics, and Money
What defines a best-in-class ambulance and EMT service? The Journal of Emergency Medical Services (JEMS) has an answer: the Jersey City Medical Center (JCMC). What is the most expensive hospital in the United States? The NY Times has an answer: Bayonne Medical Center, owned by CarePoint Health. So…why is Jersey City looking to sever its...Continue reading
Why Use Twitter? To Follow Your Local Reporter, of Course
I often hear friends say “I don’t understand Twitter…” and then list a litany of reasons of why Twitter stinks. But if you live in Jersey City, then here is one reason you should use Twitter: to follow Jersey Journal reporter Terrence McDonald. Twitter is a tool, like anything else. You may not have much to...Continue reading
Let’s Get Civic
The genesis of CivicParent.org…. I live in Jersey City and on November 14, 2013 I learned that Mayor Fulop’s first abatement – the 3 towers planned for Journal Square – would not include dedicated funding for Jersey City public schools. I also learned that five City Council members, all of whom were Fulop-endorsed candidates, approved...