the
Jersey City Reporter
Snooki = The incumbent as underdog He’s been down, big business but Mayor Healy and NINE WEEKLY NEWSPAPERS SERVING HUDSON COUNTY • STORIES UPDATED CONTINUOUSLY AT WWW.HUDSONREPORTER.COM • A PUBLICATION OF THE HUDSON REPORTER
VOLUME 29, NUMBER 40 • SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2012
Local stores, restaurants pleased with exposure in ‘Jersey Shore’ spinoff
GYM, TAN, SHOP IN JC - Snooki brought exposure to local businesses. Photo by Al Sullivan.
T
By Yarleen Hernandez Reporter correspondent
he “Jersey Shore” spinoff reality series “Snooki & JWoww” has meant increased publicity for several Jersey City shops and services that have been featured on the show, which will air its season finale on Sept. 13. The MTV series features Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi and Jennifer “JWoww” Farley, living it up as two young women in the big city. However, with Snooki revealing her pregnancy and both women in serious relationships, their antics in this series have been largely muted compared to their previous show. Twelve episodes of the series were filmed in Jersey City earlier this year and have been airing this summer, with little fanfare. The young women have visited local shops and a bakery, a big change from their hijinks when they were single. Although reality TV fans may have lost out due to the quieter tone of the show, the big winners were the local merchants who were its co-stars. Jersey City store owners said recently that they’ve been pleased with their role in the series.
supporters say don’t count him out
W
By E. Assata Wright Reporter staff writer
henever Jersey City’s political observers discuss the upcoming 2013 mayoral race, one question seems to come up more than any other: “Is Healy really
running?” It is an odd question, given that Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy announced in February that he was running and has reiterated his intention several times since. Still, the question crops up, perhaps because until last week Healy’s reelection bid seemed almost nonexistent, particularly when compared to the campaign of Healy’s only opponent at this time, Ward E City Councilman Steven Fulop. Fulop officially launched his campaign in 2010 and has worked hard to raise both his citywide visibility and money. Healy, by contrast, has run a half-hearted campaign at best. “I’ve been kind of busy governing the great city of Jersey City,” Healy said last week from the Democratic National Convention last week, where he served as a New Jersey delegate. “I’ve never started a campaign in July for an election that I’m running for the next May. But good government is good politics. So, in doing that, in running the day-to-day affairs of the city, I’m talking to residents all the time. That’s what I do on a daily basis.” All summer those close to Healy said his campaign would get moving after Labor Day and would kick into high gear after the upcoming presidential election in November. Sure enough, on Sept. 4 – the day after Labor Day – Healy launched a campaign website and announced the endorsements of several prominent Hudson County Democrats. Because Fulop hit the campaign trail early, and because Healy has focused less on the upcoming matchup between them, Fulop’s
www.hudsonreporter.com Business Directory
p. 26
Classified
p. 21
Education
p. 20
Letters
p. 27
Open House Directory
p. 24
Sports
p. 8
‘No stranger to the people of Jersey City’
Despite being an attorney and former municipal court judge, Healy, a resident of the Jersey City Heights, comes across as a down-to-earth “regular guy.” He is also known to have a sharp memory and instant recall of personal details and tidbits about residents who he has met: Where the kids went to school, the sick
see HEALY page 9
Where to find a few specific ethnic essentials in Hudson County
South Asian/Indian: From fresh cumin to snack chips
Hudson County wasn’t always so friendly to the show’s producers. Snooki and Jwoww have become known for their partying
inside
base is organized and energized. Ironically, for all his talk about being a reform-oriented political outsider, at this stage Fulop is the mayoral candidate with the money and the machine. Twoterm Mayor Healy, who served on the City Council for 10 years before becoming mayor, could be considered the current underdog in the race. But the mayor’s supporters say it would be foolish to count him out. They expect Healy to mount a forceful challenge to Fulop that will lead to a come-from-behind victory for the incumbent next May.
Tired of the same food?
Nervous at first
see SNOOKI page 7
With the 2013 mayoral election less than a year away, incumbent Jerramiah T. Healy is shifting his campaign into high gear.
By Vanessa Cruz, Gennarose Pope, Adriana Rambay Fernandez, E. Assata Wright
E
Reporter Staff Writers
ver wanted to eat some oxtail? Or spread fig with sesame jam on your pita? Or bite into freshly made mozzarella on Italian bread? Or spice up your diet with authentic South Asian, Italian, and Latino staples? The Reporter staff found some interesting food items in Hudson County’s ethnic grocery stores and supermarkets. Read on to sample the delicacies.
Given the store’s name alone, one might not expect much from Apna Bazar Cash + Carry located at 2975 Kennedy Blvd. in Jersey City. But Hudson County’s thriving, growing South Asian community swears by this supermarket at Jersey City’s renowned India Square. “We always come here to shop. It’s the only place I can come and find things I need,” said Indira Sengupta, a Secaucus resident who often takes the No. 2 New Jersey Transit bus to Apna. Other customers testified that Apna is the preferred market for South Asian cuisine: Fresh, not just ground, cumin, galangal, or gourd – key ingredients used in chili pastes. For the Westerner who may be unfamiliar with the details of Asian cooking, Apna provides a tour and crash course of foods rarely
see ETHNIC page 8