Coping with life after the Star-Ledger: Beaches, Sponge Bob, Corruption and Baseball

I left the Star-Ledger just a little over a week ago, walking out of the newsroom with a box in hand and a round of applause from my colleagues. I think it's the greatest gesture a journalist gets, and of course, it makes leaving the newspaper business all that much harder.

I think that's why I got out of Newark pretty quickly that day. But after a weekend of hanging around the house, I was right back in Jersey, visiting the Shore on Monday.

Island Beach State Park (http://www.islandbeachnj.org/) was incredible. The sun and warm surf were just right, and I loved the setting against a backdrop of sand dunes. We left afterwards for the boardwalk in seaside (both the Heights, http://www.seaside-heightsnj.org/, and the Park, http://www.seasideparknj.org/). I recommend the Casino Pier (http://www.casinopiernj.com/) over Funtown Pier (http://www.funtownpier.com/).

Casino's bigger, and the rides are better. It has a beautiful carousel, and Stillwalk Manor, a haunted house, is actually scary. Funtown has a huge ferris wheel, visible for miles, but other than that, the rides are lackluster. The Comet coaster pleased my thrill-seeking kids, but the Sponge Bob ride, a sort of funhouse, was very disappointing. My 7-year-old daughter and I got off calling it, "Sponge Bob rip-off!"

For snacks we had cotton candy and Kohr's frozen custard. I recommend mint. And for dinner, we had sliders at White Castle's on Route 37 in Toms River. From there, we stopped off in Lakewood, to see the old Ortega homestead. Our former house is once again up for sale (http://www.remax-nj.com/remaxnj/modules/internet/search/includes/mapsearch/listingpopup.asp?mlsid=211&mlsnumber=20923916&l=y). Sadly, most of the neighbors we knew are all gone.

We also stopped at St. Mary of the Lake cemetery (http://www.stmaryofthelake.org/) to visit the graves of my parents, and an old friend, Bob Romano.

The shore is such a contrast to north Jersey. Nothing quite as urban as Newark. Not even Asbury Park, which seems to be picking up, albeit slowly. The beach there too is very nice.

I went right to work at my new job in Hoboken on Wednesday, and spent the remainder of the week studying everything I could about hedge funds, which I'll be writing about for a corporate newsletter. I also abandoned my car for the train ride into Hoboken. It was long, but quite a switch from driving. I did more reading than I've been able to all year.

Hoboken is extraordinary. So many stores. So many restaurants. So picturesque. So affluent. It's so easy to spend money there. A big difference from Newark.

I've not spoken much to the folks at Newark's city hall or at the Ledger since my departure. All were a bit busy with several shootings. Hoboken got crazy too with this week's North Jersey corruption scandal (http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/07/peter_cammarano_iii_portrayed.html). Ironically, I'm at the new job just two days, and the mayor gets nabbed by the feds! Hoboken's city hall is right around the corner from my office too.

I did return to Newark on Friday, to see the Bears play the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs (http://www.newarkbears.com/gamecenter/gamerecap/). My family came too, and we sat in a sky box, with food included, as part of a corporate invite. The company that invited us is a printing firm, based in Newark for 25 years.

It was a fun time, with fireworks over the Passaic River at the end of the game. It's a nice image of Newark to hold on to. However, there's a lot more to New Jersey's largest city, beyond the rockets and explosions.

I didn't do enough to write about the city, in only seven months on the beat. I wish I could have done more. And I do miss it.

This will be my last posting on this blog. Thanks for reading.

Ralph Ortega

Newark developer Tony Gomes

I interviewed Tony Gomes yesterday, after the developer agreed to drop three lawsuits he filed against the Newark Housing Authority (http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/07/newark_developer_drops_lawsuit.html). Tony sued about three years ago after the authority refused to take possession of a 56-unit development he built, because of alleged deficiencies. He said he wasn't happy with the settlement, which paid him what he was promised, $8.7 million, because it had cost him much more money to build the complex and fight the authority. He said he originally wanted more than $18 million in damages, but agreed to settle because he couldn't afford the legal fight any more. Gomes said he's broke, and that he'll use the settlement to pay off his loans. The authority, meanwhile, will likely sink another $3 million to address its concerns, including design flaws in the construction, and get the units occupied by next year.
Gomes was very open to discussing the situation. He's Angolan, in his 50s, and has kept his office in Newark for three decades. He said his name meant, "quality," before the authority balked at accepting the development. "Now I just want my reputation back," he told me.
The Star-Ledger did do an investigation that found Gomes, the authority and city had issues going into the project. Gomes also had then, and still has a friend in state Sen. Ron Rice (D-Essex), who used to work for the developer, and continued working for him after he became deputy mayor under Sharpe James. Rice said he didn't see a conflict, but quit his job as a vice president in Gomes's company because people had expressed concerns. Rice also said his relationship with Gomes was used as a political weapon against him when he ran for mayor in 2006, and for re-election to the senate in the following year. Rice said the Gomes project ran into difficulties because of his relationship to the developer. "Tony was hurt because he's my friend," Rice said.
Unfortunately, with this story on my plate yesterday, and a Sunday story in the works, I couldn't attend the youth tribute to Michael Jackson at Military Park last night (http://www.nj.com/newark/index.ssf/2009/07/newark_idol_returns_with_tribu.html).

So long since my last post, and soon so long to Newark

I've had a whirlwind couple of weeks, which is why I haven't updated the blog. I went off to attend a journalism conference in Puerto Rico, returned home to an unpaid, furlough from work, which left me with a lot of time to catch up on housekeeping at home. Time for self-appraisal too.

I will soon be reaching the end of my time at the Star-Ledger, a job that I've enjoyed very much for 4 1/2 years. But it's time to move on. I've accepted a business writing position for a subscription newsletter in Hoboken, and will start there later this month. It's a stable job, about a timely subject.

Before then, I'll have a couple weeks left in Newark, and look forward to writing a few more blog entries about my experiences in the city, and with it's people.

For now, I'll include one small disappointing note: I drove over the Jackson Street Bridge on Wednesday, and noticed trash floating in the Passaic River. Now, that's no surprise. But it was still a sad sight.

I grew up in New York, during a time that you'd never think about swimming in the Hudson or East Rivers. Both were green, and allegedly very dirty. Well, that's changed now. Just look at how many people actually ride kayaks along the water.

I hope the same will be true for Newark's river. School children already have braved the water in boats they built in school this spring, and the city has plans for creating a waterfront park in the Ironbound. However, it will take time before the river is a healthy place again. It's contaminated from a years of industrial waste, and of course, garbage.