New Yorker drowns while vactioning in Hawaii

I'm always amazed how the local angle can bring a far-away story to a media outlet. The story can involve anyone. But make it a New Yorker, and that's all that you'll need to see the New York papers pick it up. Of course that's true in any place. Readers want to see if they know the people involved in a news report. And that's the case with me and the drowning woman I mentioned above. So, let me draw your attention to the unfortunate demise of Norka Villacort.

Norka was smart, savvy and well-connected in the financial world. She also was flirty, elegant and funny. A Peruvian by descent, I used to affectionately refer to her as "Peruvian Diva." But most importantly, she had a good heart, and the ability to listen and be a good friend.

I met her in 2010, during a big annual fundraiser known as Hedge Funds Care, where Norka literally dropped $2,500 on the spot to auction for a ring. What a rock too. She was having a good time that night, was a bit tipsy, and slipped on snow outside as we left to go share a cab. Fell right on her rump too, but took it in stride. Norka stayed in touch, giving me story ideas for the financial newsletter I currently write for, and offering a sympathetic ear during some hard personal times.

We met at restaurants and bars around New York and enjoyed hours chatting about hedge funds, relationships, and her sometimes exotic vacations. I wasn't surprised when I emailed her to say hello and she responded the following:

-----Original Message-----
From: Norka Villacorta []
Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2013 5:21 PM
To: rortega
Subject: Re: Hedge Fund Alert

Thanks Ralph.

I'm in Hawaii this week so taking a little break now.

See you soon

Sent from my iPhone

She passed away about 24 hours later. Very sad. A great many people are missing her, both personal friends and professionals from her business circles. "There are a lot of people on our team who are lost right now. There's a huge void," said one of her bosses at the financial data company she worked for, Revere Data.

She'll be waked on Sunday. A service is to follow on Monday. Norka lived in Manhattan and had family in Queens. She very much loved her boyfriend. My condolences to all.

I never thought I'd be so saddened by the loss of someone from the financial world, which is almost all of the time all business. But Norka was one of those from finance who was all about personality, charm and being of service to others. She was a rarety.

Back from the brink

I have incredibly allowed more than a year to go by since my last blog entry. Blame it on a bout of insanity and self-absorption, partly due to a personal break up. But really, it was more about my own issues... fear, anger, resentment. Those demons are at bay now, thanks to a number of factors that have come into my life. The biggest being my days now spent in New York with friends and work. And my returns most weekends to my home in Pennsylvania, where I spend time with my four children. They are my precious ones.

So, I'm taking this opportunity to return to this blog, which I stumbled upon doing a Google search of myself. I was like, "Oh yeah, that thing, haha. I forgot about that."

So, "So, shall we begin?"

Free internet in the lobby, should be an added bonus with the apartment

Yes, I discovered a while back that I can pick up the free internet connection from the Starbucks around the corner from my aunt's building when I sit in the lobby. This obviously is an added bonus for any New Yorker looking for that extra value in housing. They could include the internet access when marketing the good old "Clermont Towers" on the Upper Eastside. One problem, however, arose tonight when a lady walked by and told me how inappropriate she thought it was that I was using the lobby as my living room. I explained it was because of the free internet from Starbucks next door, but that failed to impress this person. I was Skyping with my kids. Don't see how that was so awful. In fact, I would imagine most people would think of it as cute, or clever that I was picking up the Starbucks wifi. It's not enough that we have to smell the roasted beans all the time in the lobby since they opened the bucks. The free internet is a nice trade off, right? In any case, I copped a big resentment towards this lady, but only had the courage to say that she was the only person to complain. In any case, she was a jerk.

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.

Gone to see Newark showing of "Land of the Lost"

I decided to accept Mayor Cory Booker's invite to go see "Land of the Lost," the new film version of the classic Saturday morning, kid's TV show, starring comedian Will Ferrell, at the Newark Screens Friday night. I left the Star-Ledger about 10 minutes before six, and arrived at the theater to find former police chief, now special adviser to the mayor on public safety, Anthony Campos, and a small crowd already there. The chief seems to be a movie-loving guy, like myself. We last saw each other at the mayor's Star Trek outing in May (http://www.flickr.com/photos/hopeful_in_nj/3522381829/).
The screens are a decent place for being the only major movie theater in town (<iframe width="425" height="350" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="). The place is clean and well-staffed. But it does look like it was built on the cheap. Plain walls, neon signs and worn carpet. Newark native and basketball pro Shaquille O'Neal (http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/02/newark_theater_and_cityowned_l.html) bought the screens earlier this year with some partners, and plans to replace it with a new theater/entertainment complex, which also serves dinner. That should fit nicely on Springfield Avenue, which is one of the best, redeveloped sections of Newark. It already has an Applebee's and Home Depot, Duane Reade pharmacy, and a drive-thru Dunkin' Donuts/Baskin Robbins. Plus, there's a lot of new development in the area too, including an apartment building named after Sharpe James. The former mayor just asked an appellate court have his conviction thrown out (http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/06/sharpe_james_lawyer_asks_appea.html).
Mayor Booker arrived in his black SUV, trailed by a Time magazine reporter who said he's writing an update on Booker and Newark. The mayor shook hands and stood for photos with the crowd, which included several young people. Booker said he had some reservations about seeing, "Lost," (http://www.nj.com/movies/index.ssf?/movies/render.do?finder=njo&movieId=63950) when he realized he could have opted for Disney/Pixar's "Up," (http://www.nj.com/entertainment/tv/index.ssf/2009/05/up_movie_review_disney_pixars.html). But it already was too late to change the film selection. He promised the children with us, that if the movie was disappointing, he'd take them all out again. The mayor said he covers the cost of tickets, popcorn and soda through his campaign, and does a fair amount of mingling with constituents while he's there. He sat in the theater with the kids, as he did for Star Trek, and stayed till the last credit, hoping to see one of those surprise add-on endings.
There was one, and it was pretty forgettable, like the movie too. The mayor left somewhat unsatisfied, but the crowd was happy. After all, it was a Will Ferrell film, and not a true remake of the classic TV show. It felt almost like watching one of those Scooby Doo, live action movies, just not as painful.
I told Campos going in, that, "Lost," would be worth the price of admission, if Ferrell sang the show's cheesy theme song. He did, during a disgusting scene with a prehistoric mosquito. Overall, not a bad time.