The Place for Jersey City News

Posts

Aaron Morrill

Stop Asian Hate Rally Draws Hundreds to City Hall

/in , , , , /by

Hundreds of people assembled in front of City Hall this afternoon to protest an upsurge in violence against Asian Americans across the country. Organized by a coalition of immigrant rights and community activists, along with business and civic leaders, the rally took place amidst rising anxiety in the Asian American community following a series of highly publicized attacks.

A young Asian American man in his twenties named Randy shared one experience.  “About a year ago, we were walking in the Newport area and there was a gentleman who yelled at us to go back to China and that we didn’t belong here. It happened in Boston as well.”

Said Ria Serrano, Executive Director of the Pan American Concerned Citizens Action League, “We want to make sure that we stand united. We want to make sure that our seniors feel they belong in our neighborhood.”

Vernon Richardson speaking on mayor Fulop’s behalf, recalled the how the late Michael Yun told him that “you can anticipate a rise in anti-Asian violence” as a result of Covid-19.

Richardson was interrupted by a woman in the audience who asked where the mayor was. “Where is he [Fulop]? He’s the mayor of this city and I’m a native of this city. I’m an Asian American woman. Where is my mayor that I actually voted for?” Cheers and clapping arose from the crowd.

Assemblyman Raj Mukherji spoke of America’s long excluding Asians. “For the last four years we had a commander in chief who fanned the flames of hate. Hate becomes normalized. It comes out of the shadows.”

If there was a headliner, it was New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Singh Grewal, himself a Sikh-American, who recalled the fear experienced by Asian-Americans in the wake of the “Dotbusters” attacks on Indian Hindus in Jersey City in the fall of 1987. “We will use all the tools we have as a law enforcement agency…to root out this problem.”

Local activists Harveer Singh, and Ruth Arroyo elicited boisterous responses from the multi-ethnic crowd in a call and response. “Show me what a community looks like” they shouted. “This is what a community looks like,” the crowd retorted.

 

Jersey City Times Staff

Former BOE President and Fulop Ally Indicted

/in , , /by

Former Board of Education President and Steve Fulop ally Sudhan Thomas has been indicted by a state grand jury on charges that he allegedly took bribes in a major investigation of political corruption in Hudson and Morris counties.

Thomas is the second Fulop ally to be hit with state or federal charges recently. In June of last year, former Fulop campaign consultant and real estate expediter Tom Bertoli was charged with tax evasion.

The indictment alleges that Thomas, along with three co-defendants, took thousands of dollars in bribes from a cooperating witness in the form of illegal campaign contributions. In return, the defendants allegedly promised the cooperating witness, a tax attorney, that they would use their official positions to give his law firm lucrative government legal work.  Envelopes and paper bags filled with cash were delivered to the defendants by the cooperating witness at various locations.  Other times the cooperating witness offered checks from illegal “straw donors”— individuals reimbursed to write checks to the defendant’s campaign in amounts that complied with the legal limit on individual donations.

In November, Thomas, who was also Acting Executive Director of the Jersey City Employment and Training Program (JCETP), was indicted by a federal grand jury for embezzlement, money laundering.  In that case, Thomas was charged with embezzling funds from JCETP and wire fraud and money laundering in connection with the the JCETP. Thomas was also charged with wire fraud for embezzling money from his 2016 and 2019 Jersey City Board of Education (JCBOED) campaigns; bank fraud for stealing checks issued by and to another JCBOED candidate’s campaign in 2018; and mail and wire fraud for schemes to defraud two separate Florida companies.

“These indictments are an important step in our prosecutions of these defendants,” said Attorney General Grewal. “We allege that these former political candidates agreed to sell the authority of their public office or the office they sought in exchange for an envelope filled with cash or illegal checks from straw donors. The conduct alleged in these indictments is old-school political corruption at its worst— the kind that erodes public faith in government and that we are determined to root out.”

Jersey City Times Staff

Grewal and ABC Charge Popular LGBTQ Bar

/in , , , , , /by

Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal and the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control are seeking an 85 day suspension of Downtown LGBTQ nightclub Six26’s liquor license.

According to a press release, Six26 was cited for violating the 10 p.m. curfew, face-cover requirements and for exceeding limit on number of patrons seated at a table. It was also cited for hindering an investigation and allowing smoking indoors.  Six26 was one of 12 establishments charged across the state.

“As we’ve said before: we take no pleasure in undertaking these actions, but we’re in the midst of a pandemic and we need everyone in the state to do their part to combat a surge in COVID-19,” said Grewal. “We will not allow a small percentage of bars and restaurants that disregard mitigation measures to jeopardize public health, and our message is especially important as we head into the New Year’s holiday.”

The charges stem from violations of executive orders from Governor Murphy requiring establishments to limit the number of patrons allowed in indoor areas to 25 percent of the establishment’s indoor capacity; enforce face covering requirements for patrons and employees; prohibit the consumption of food and alcohol by patrons who are not seated at a table; maintain a six-foot minimum distance between dining tables; limit the number of patrons at a table to eight; and enforce social distancing among employees and patrons.

Six26, located at 128 Christopher Columbus Drive, shares both ownership and a building with the massive Newark Avenue sports bar The Ashford. According the the club’s website, the name Six26 refers to the date of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in  Obergefell v. Hodges which ruled that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples.

The owners are no strangers to controversy. In 2018 they were forced to close their Hoboken bar 1-Republik after a series of violation including one incident where a patron suffered life threatening injuries. Immediately after opening the Ashford, managment was accused of instituting a racist dress code which specifically banned “oversized jeans and shirts, head gear, ball caps, work boots, gym sneakers, shorts or athletic apparel, sweatpants or joggers, cargo pants, oversized jewelry and chains, sunglasses, camouflage, low or baggy pants and headphones.” It also required that pants be worn with belts. At the time, co-owner Kenny Caulfield told NJ Advance Media that a large placard with the dress code written out was “an oversight” used only during the bar’s soft opening. He further stated that it had “nothing to do with race whatsoever.”