I just came home from the city, and sailed right down Rt. 3 without a problem. But there was a sea of headlights heading eastbound. The reason comes in a tip from Crank:

Driving to the fruit/veg market just now, I noticed an unusual amount of traffic in my town for this time of evening. My town (Rutherford) is 2 miles west of Giants Stadium, where Springsteen was scheduled to hit the stage around 20 minutes ago for the final show of his 3-night stand there. Turned on the radio to see if there was any connection. The traffic report had the critical info.
There is a propane truck lying on its side on the Jersey Turnpike at northbound exit 16W. This is, of course, the default exit for Giants Stadium traffic. The exit is closed in both directions.
According to the radio, 5 miles west of here, there is an 8-mile backup northbound & a 5-mile backup southbound on the Garden State Pkway at the Rt 3 interchange. That 5-mile stretch of Rt 3 from the Parkway to the Stadium is a parking lot.
This explains all the cars in my town, obviously trying to do the last couple of miles to the Stadium on the local roads.
I have the feeling that there are going to be a lot of pissed-off people at Giants Stadium tonight, once they finally get there.

If you go somewhere interesting and want to share it with Baristaville, do it. Steve M. went to Governors Island. Here’s what he tells us…

Governors Island is open to the public on weekends and makes for an interesting day out. Ferries are available and free and you get to wander around the ghost town that has served as a military outpost, a prison and is now the future home of an NYC public school.
A small fleet of buses (think stretch golf cart) provide tours of the island, with rundown of the key buildings and their original purpose. There’s a cute artistic mini-golf course (free) for kids and bikes to rent to see the island a little faster. Some houses are open to look around, including one decorated by some crazy artists – in an area dotted by strange sculptures. Others buildings are awaiting repair or renovation – like Castle Williams, which would be much more interesting if you could tour the former cells.

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With the economy tanking and gas prices soaring, people are finding creative ways to get by. Here’s one from Craiglist…

Hi, I am a single mom of 2 boys going through serious economic problems. I am offering the back side of my black toyota corolla 2004 to post your ad, I drive my car a lot, I work as a babysitter and drive the kids a lot to many different places, I go to school FDU your ad will be seen by many different people, I use my car for family trips, I live with my mom, dad, brother and my 2 kids, I drive many miles about 1hr to bring my kids to their dad on weekends, I drive so much on necessity that I thought maybe someone would like to post their ad on the back of my car.
just some info: my car goes to places in NJ like: Mahwah, Montclair, Garfield, Teaneck, Maywood, Perthamboy, New Brunswick, South river, to the lake via Route 80 exit 28, to the beach, my car goes to Canada at least 2 times a year.
my car drives on major routes like Turnpike, Parkway, route 4, 80, 17, 21, 3, 287, and to all these places I go my car parks on the street. Your ad will be visible because for sure no one will park behind me.
The ad can be any ad but not offensive ones.

How does she know no one will park behind her…?

Last week we told you about a group of high school students from all across the northern part of the state putting on “Rent.” Another group (many of them friends of the “Rent” ensemble) is putting on “Les Miserables” this weekend. The NJ Summer Theatre Workshop is directed by longtime Glen Ridge theatrical impresario Darren Gage, with music direction by Jim Millar. The show features three young Glen Ridge talents: Will Carey, Catherine Blauch and Noah Levinson. The three-night run starts tonight at Tenafly High School. More info on our calendar.

Tough times for our friends at the Star-Ledger, as they announce a big push to buy-out and reduce staff.

The Star-Ledger today announced a large-scale buyout to all non-union workers with the goal of reducing the staff by at least 200 employees.
Publisher George E. Arwady said if 200 employees don’t agree to the buyout and if the paper cannot reach agreements with unions representing drivers and mailers meant to reduce costs, the paper will be sold. He said the deadline for reaching both of those targets was Oct. 1.
The offer was announced to grim-faced employees by Arwady at the paper’s headquarters in Newark. He characterized the paper as being “on life support” and urged employees to consider the offer for the good of fellow employees.
“This is a matter of simple survival,” he said.

C’mon, you don’t want a charismatic rock star leading the country. You want the nerdy, old guy.

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When it comes to our highways, New Jersey ranks as extravagant for its size. From the Courier Post…

New Jersey has the fourth-smallest state-owned highway system in the country, but with some $6 billion total funds spent ranked highest with $2.2 million spent per mile of road. The national average was $128,538 per mile, with the national low in South Caroline at $31,685 per mile.
David Hartgen, professor of transportation studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and author of the study, said the report aims to show how states compare with their total funds and what they get in return.
“They have an aging system, lots of traffic, heavy truck traffic, lots of development, not the greatest weather in the country. . . . Certainly not a good situation,” Hartgen said.

While Montclair’s 4th ward residents struggle with outrageous taxes and unaffordable housing which threaten to destroy the diversity of the town, there were plenty of other quality of life complaints voiced at a packed town hall style meeting: overdevelopment, parking problems, police protection.
Renee Baskerville, newly elected council person for Montclair’s 4th Ward, wasting no time getting to the heart of her predominantly African-American constituency, organized the gathering at Glenfield School. Baskerville asked for volunteers to form a citizens committee to help her work on neighborhood priorities. From The Star Ledger:

Alvin Smith, a former state trooper, suggested a licensing requirement for massage parlors, noting prostitution arrests at Aroma Therapy, a Bloomfield Avenue massage parlor near a store called Dressing for Pleasure, whose website describes the operation as a major retailer of bondage equipment, fetish wear and sex toys.
“Pretty soon there’s going to be hookers on that corner,” he said.

Mayor Jerry Fried, Kathryn Weller and Roger Terry, both newly elected at-large councilors were also at the meeting.

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No, this isn’t about a Jersey politician, and it’s not in Baristaville, but it’s a good cat story…and Princess Chunk is purrrty nice. Associated Press reports a 44-pound cat was found wandering the street of Voorhees, NJ. Officials at the Camden County Animal Shelter are wondering how anyone could lose a 44-pound cat. Maybe Chunky ate her owners out of house and home…
Right now, she’s probably up for a good meal. But if no one claims the white furball by Saturday, she’ll be up for adoption…which means she could become the next Baristacat!

Student wannabe filmmakers now have the opportunity to participate in a town internshsip program that teaches high school kids how to make public service announcements – and about the TV biz. Student-produced spots are conceived, written, videotaped and edited by the students, according to MAC president, Jim Peskin, a program coordinator – and four will be broadcast on Montclair’s Channel 34.
For the first green PSA, students consulted Township Environmental Guru Gray Russell for ideas and were mentored by local commercial makers Conrad Fink and Lisa Kalb Schaffer, among others.
Several lucky junior and senior high school students recently toured the studios of the CBS News magazine program “48 Hours,” where they met with TV news legend, Exec Producer Susan Zirinsky.

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