Almost White Christmas

The first snowfall of the season came just a couple of days late for a white Christmas. Some kids made the most out of the light snowfall and got a few runs in on the local sledding hill Monday morning.

Joe Reynolds wrote a nice piece on what the changing season means for local wildlife. According to Joe we should keep an eye out for bald eagles, harbor seals and an occasional humpback whale.

Speaking of the weather. This tsunami business is very scary. The NY Times reports over 19,000 dead. Could this kind of thing happen here?

The Two River Times reports that a bill was introduced that would allow NJ Transit to operate the Belford ferry since it looks like NY Waterway is going belly up. However, according to the article, "Last week, Teri O'Connor, the assistant to Monmouth County Administrator Louis Paparozzi, said that 'NY Waterway assured us' that there would be 'no interruption' of the Belford ferry line." Anyone want to take bets? How did NY Waterway get into such dire straits? They received millions of dollars after September 11th to help with operating costs, the city of New York leased them docks in Manhattan for $1 a year and from what I've heard Arthur Imperatore Sr had more than a few politicians from both teams in his pocket.

The New York Times reports that a deal is close to sell the Hoboken and Jersey City routes to a group headed by a Manhattan lawyer (ninth item, subscription required):

FERRY OPERATOR GETS A REPRIEVE The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey yesterday gave New York Waterway, the financially troubled Hudson River ferry operator, permission to keep running ferries from Hoboken to the World Financial Center through February. The reprieve will give the company time to complete a sale of about half its operation to a group led by William B. Wachtel, a Manhattan lawyer. In a proposed deal announced yesterday, Mr. Wachtel's group would assume about $20 million of debt on 16 ferries and use them to operate routes between Lower Manhattan and docks in Hoboken and Jersey City. Charles A. Gargano, vice chairman of the Port Authority, said the deal would ensure that there is no disruption in commuter service across the Hudson.

I hope something comes together for the Belford run as well. As ferry ridership has increased over the past few years I don't see how Seastreak can support that many commuters, not to mention their cars. I've heard rumors that Seastreak may buy the Belford runs - perhaps with a little help from FEMA they could.

Perhaps Jack Archibald could replace our long lost Psychic? He drops some omnipresent knowledge on what's going on inside of Santa's bag and inside of local politicians' heads.