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Sadly, the old school Machine Dems are back in power. Mayor Jerry Healy, a man who was once busted naked and intoxicated outside his house in da Heights and who got into a fight with Bradley Beach cops about two years ago (again, while heavily intoxicated) is praised for bringing "development and prosperity", even though most of the contracts were put in place while Brett was Mayor.

Lets also not forget that JC did what so many other places have done when poor people were displaced by luxury developments: dump the poor on aging, blue collar communities via section 8 (see JC Heights, Bayonne and Kearny). This happened when Schundler was Mayor as well.

In the meantime, JC continues the schizophrenic identity that it has maintained over the last 25 years or so: luxury condo community on the one hand (with inhabitants moving in and out without every few years) and poor immigrant/underclass city (with the underclass displaced/dispersed everytime a new luxury development is put in place). Lots of zoning for housing, but not enough for retail or recreation (even the professionals in the high rises must go to Hoboken and Manhatten for diversions). Meanwhile, development rights were given away with long-term tax abatements, meaning that the city collects few taxes from the high rises, while supporting a bloated bureaucracy (JC being one of the last cities I know of with elevator operators in the neighborhood libraries).