University administrators allow students into a building containing exposed asbestos

When I worked at New Jersey City University in Jersey City, in spring 2022 the vice president of enrollment management moved the career center (at the time, one person, me, although that's another story) into Grossnickle Hall. As you can see from the attached pictures there were broken tiles on the floor outside my office, and an entire section that that was broken but covered by a mat. I filed a complaint with the state of NJ; inspectors visited and tested the tiles for asbestos. The tests came back positive, and only then did the acting president bring in someone to repair the tiles. So for years NJCU had students coming in and out of classes in this building, and never bothered to repair the tiles. Former president Sue Henderson was too busy taking trips to China to pay attention to what existed on her own campus, and her vice presidents didn't care about the students, so this easily fixable situation went on.

Belleville NJ - wasting citizens' tax money

Belleville, NJ:

How Our Tax Money Is Wasted in the Municipal Court System

An experience with the municipal court system in Belleville New Jersey shows how time and tax money is wasted, and how a town mistreats its senior citizens

 

My father had always kept his car parked on the street in front of his house in Belleville, NJ. Not in front of anyone else's house, mind you. His second car was kept in the garage. When I visited recently I noticed the old car in front of the house was gone. I asked him what happened to it, and being 82 years old, he said to me, “They towed it away, they said I donated it." Of course, this is not what happened. Among some papers on his desk I found a parking ticket that read "abandoned motor vehicle."

I called the chief of police who said neighbors had complained that the car was parked in front of the house (his house, not theirs, I remind you. I guess some people have nothing better to do than look out their windows and get into other people's business). Then he said, "Well, the town has an ordinance that says a car can't be parked in the same spot for 48 hours." So I guess the cops in Belleville have too much time on their hands, being that they spent their time writing parking tickets to senior citizens. No wonder property taxes are so high in New Jersey. Too many cops doing nothing.

The chief said he was sent written warnings, about not moving the car. Well that isn't true. They sent nothing, because I went through my father's mail every day, and they never sent any warnings. Then the chief said, just go to court, and they'll dismiss the ticket. (Okay...but then why did you write it in the first place?)

So I went to the impound lot and had the car hauled away for $300, which I had to give to the impound lot owners, for their towing fee. The car was still running, but since my mother wasn't driving anymore, there was no need for my father to keep and maintain two cars. Then I scheduled a court date to contest the $260 abandoned motor vehicle ticket.

So I go to the municipal court in Belleville and meet with the prosecutor, who gives me a silly song and dance about how he can't recommend dismissing the ticket, blah, blah, blah. Nevermind that my father lived in Belleville, his entire life as a law abiding citizen, and paid thousands of dollars in property taxes during the past 50 years. Nevermind that there was no written warnings about the car, and nevermind that he's 82 and probably didn't comprehend that there was some obscure ordinance about not leaving a car in the same spot for longer than 48 hours. (By the way, there were no marks on the tires when I found it at the impound lot, so the cops had no proof that the car was parked there for a certain amount of time).

Finally I stood up and said to the wormy prosecutor, "Forget it, I'm just going to pay the ticket and go to the media with my story, about how Belleville treats their senior citizens." Of course, now the prosecutor says, "Don't do that, we'll call the cop and try to reach a settlement."

So we go in front of the municipal court judge, a guy named Zinna, to ask for a new date, and this judge rambles on about nonsense...where's your father, I don't know if we can do this, blah, blah, blah. This from a guy, like all municipal court judges in New Jersey, has his own private law practice but moonlights on the side as a judge in order to get into the state pension system and milk the taxpayers for money. Finally he relents and we have a new court date, three weeks later.

So I go to court on the new date - and there's a new prosecutor! I start to explain the situation, and after fifteen seconds he cuts me off with "I'm just going to ask the judge to dismiss this." He hustles into the courtroom, I follow him, and he asks the judge to dismiss the ticket. I see that it's the same judge, Zinna, from three weeks prior, the one who grumbled and groaned about setting a new date for a conference. Zinna says, "This is a minor issue. Case dismissed."

Wouldn't it have made more sense just to dismiss the ticket the first time? Wouldn't have made more sense for the cops to ask my father if there was anyone helping with things, and could you give them this warning letter about the car parked in front of the house? No. Instead these fools waste my time and tax money with their silly shenanigans. Political nonsense. Right wingers rage about too much government at the federal level, when the reality is there's too much government at the local level. Anyone who writes a parking ticket to senior citizen for a car parked in front of his own house ought to be ashamed of himself. All the problems in the world, and this is what cops, prosecutors, and judges are spending their time and our tax money on? It's a disgrace.

Yankees ought to just release Alex Rodriguez

The Alex Rodriguez saga is dreadfully boring. Here's a guy who had tremendous talent, yet still decided to use steroids and whatever else to try and get an edge that he really did not need. Now there's suspensions, arbitration, lawsuits, stupid quotes by lawyers and baseball officials...who cares. This is more boring than a reality show.

The Yankees ought to just release Rodriguez and pay him whatever millions of dollars that he's owed. If another team picks him up, fine. I wouldn't worry about it. He's not a good player anymore, and the Yankees don't need all the nonsense. Just sign Mark Reynolds to play third base. They'd basically end up giving the team the same production on offense and their defense wouldn't be much different.

Giving Rodriguez a 10 year contract was dumb, a move that George Steinbrenner would have made if he had been lucid at the time, although he didn't have to be, since his dumb son Hank made the deal anyway.

Can we please move on from this craziness and get back to just playing baseball?

My crazy job search stories, part II

My last job search article discussed an incident that happened on an interview with a company in the private sector, Goldman Sachs. But I had some odd experiences while interviewing for jobs at colleges. (Oh, and “universities.” Excuse me for that major oversight).

Once I went to an interview at Seton Hall University Law School, and met with a committee of four people. So when I walked into the room each person introduced himself or herself and held out their hand. I smiled as I gave each person a firm handshake.

Unfortunately I grimaced when I clasped the last woman’s hand. Her hand was greasy. She must have just smeared it with some sort of hand lotion, before I entered the room. Now my hand was covered with whatever this oily slime was. Afterward I wondered if this was her, or the committee’s way of trying to trip up a candidate. A stress test of some sort? A clever way to see how someone would react to adversity? Perhaps it was a signal that if I got the job I would have to “grease palms” in order to get ahead in the organization?

Or maybe the woman was just a moron. Even with all their degrees some people who work in higher education are pretty strange.

They asked me a couple of questions, the asked me if I had any questions. I asked one and had a few more prepared but one guy with an unkempt beard (must have been a sleazy lawyer before landing his cushy job at the law school) abruptly thanked me for coming and stood up.

Needless to say I didn’t shake anyone’s hand as I left. I didn’t bother to send a thank you note either.  I decided I didn’t want the job. I guess some lawyers really are slimy, literally.

Donald Trump is right to not shake anyone’s hand. Smart man…