Jersey City: Events

[JCMAN320]

Police unity tour kicks off from Liberty State Park

by Michaelangelo Conte Friday May 09, 2008, 3:48 PM

The send-off ceremony for the 300-mile 2008 Police Unity Tour, a bicycle trip held to raise awareness for those who have died in the line of duty, was held in Liberty State Park in Jersey City this morning, and participating officers then set out for the trip to Washington D.C.

With the motto "We Ride For Those Who Died" the annual tour raises money for the National Law Enforcement Officer's Memorial and Museum in Washington, scheduled to break ground in 2009.

Prior to the ceremony, the Jersey City officers participated in a ceremony to honor the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center and then came across the Hudson River via ferry to the park.

The Unity Tour Web site lists riders in the Jersey City Police Department contingent as Robert Baker Jr., Robert Baker Sr., Luisa Canario, Joseph Cassidy, Jessica Fernandez-Cruz, Michael Galvez, Gary Griffen, Michael Hulings, Jim Keating, Jim Lisi, Jane Louf, Bill Loughlin, Brian McDonough, Edwin Nazario, Israel Nieves, Samantha Pescatore, Scott Schnee, Frank Sprague, Michael Stise and Lorenzo Tosado.

[JCMAN320]

Some see new life for abandoned graveyard

Monday, May 12, 2008
By PAUL KOEPP
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Several people who have shown interest in tending to the run-down Jersey City-Harsimus Cemetery will first have to clear a big hurdle - finding missing records and an orphaned trust fund rumored to hold more than $40,000.

The key to solving the mystery may be a set of keys that would allow entry into the locked house at the Newark Avenue entrance that was occupied until recently by the caretakers of the 179-year-old graveyard, which is being overrun by vegetation and has many toppled grave markers.

The keys have now been located and the house will be searched soon, according to Jeff Lamm, spokesman for the New Jersey Cemetery Board, which regulates non-religious ceremonies.

At a meeting of the NJCB Thursday in Newark, several people involved in a recent cleanup of the cemetery said they want a new board of directors to be set up because the previous one has faded into oblivion as its members died off.

The NJCB told them that a new board can be formed through a meeting of all current plot owners.

Two such owners, Darlene Cimino and Mildred Kwozko, said they also want to know what happened to the $2,000 in fees they each paid to have their mothers buried in the cemetery this year.

"We do not know exactly where it all is at the present time," admitted NJCB member William Nichols. He said it's not known how much money is in the cemetery's required maintenance and preservation fund, which takes in 15 percent of the revenue from each plot sale.

Also at the meeting was Louis Cicalese, who said he manages 13 cemeteries across the state. He said he could invest up to $200,000 and generate revenue at the Jersey City-Harsimus Cemetery by placing new plots in the current walkways and possibly building a mausoleum and crematorium.

"I think the problems can be solved there," Cicalese said. "The first step is to get all the information."

Meanwhile, local radio host Pat O'Melia says he too is interested in putting together a group, composed of local developers, to oversee a restoration of the cemetery. O'Melia wrote in a letter to the NJCB that he had arranged for the Jersey City Incinerator Authority and Hudson County Improvement Authority to maintain the grounds until a new board is formed.

PAUL KOEPP can be reached at (201) 217-2400.

[JCMAN320]

Fulop to push for new charter school

by Ken Thorbourne Monday May 12, 2008, 1:48 PM

Expect verbal fireworks at tonight's Jersey City city council caucus over whether the council should endorse an application to bring a new charter school to the city.

Downtown Councilman Steve Fulop, a charter school advocate and a board member at the Learning Community Charter School, is pushing a resolution to support the proposed Ethical Community Charter School.

Two weeks ago, several council members, including Steve Lipski, who runs the CREATE Charter High School, balked at supporting the resolution on the grounds that the council didn't have enough information about the group and a resolution supporting a proposed charter school could set an unwise precedent.

The leaders behind the proposed new school are scheduled to make a presentation tonight.

In the meantime, the Jersey City Board of Education has weighed in, with its president, William DeRosa, penning a letter to Mayor Jerramiah Healy saying the district has already lost "millions" to the city's eight current charter schools.

Tonight's meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m., at City Hall, 280 Grove St

[Zephyr]

JCMAN320

I peek in on this thread often. What an effort, and I applaud you for it. I wish, however, that you would include more visuals in the posts themselves, even though these are events that you are detailing.

Cheers! And keep it coming...

[JCMAN320]

Thank you very much Zephyr much appreciated. Here is something I missed, but still of note of perserving that great extensive history of Jersey City.

Saving history is its own reward

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

It is not often that we get to rub shoulders with actual heroes of historic preservation and living legends of local history.

Tonight, as the marquee of the Loew's Jersey lights up Journal Square, a select group of citizens will take to the gilded theater's lobby to accept awards from the Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy for their exemplary preservation efforts over the last year.

The honorees hail from every corner of Jersey City and myriad walks of life: a married couple who restored their magnificent Queen Anne mansion; a Manhattan-based developer with a proven penchant for preservation; a Downtown neighborhood association defending a waterfront district of extraordinary warehouses; a Heights garden group dedicated to perpetuating the memory of the war dead; a doctor who sparked Hudson County's preservation movement in the early 1960s; and a 92-year-old poet whose verse was born of her Depression-era youth on the stick-ball streets of Jersey City.

Sponsored by Metrovest Equities, Lord Abbett, Panepinto Properties, Harwood Properties, Liberty Realty and Mack-Cali Realty, the ceremony cannot be held at a more symbolic location than the Loew's - itself the result of a spirited citizens-based campaign.

"We hope that the award winners this year will both be inspired to keep up the good work and inspire others to do the same," says Conservancy President Joshua Parkhurst, who with his colleagues and with members of the Friends of the Loew's will be rolling out the red preservation carpet for the guests.

Excellence in Preservation Awards recognizing the recent restoration, rehabilitation or adaptive reuse of a building, structure or object:

Metrovest Equities for the superb restoration of the Rialto and Capital buildings at the Beacon residential complex, the former (legendary) Jersey City Medical Center. The country's largest historic tax credit restoration project, the majestic Art Deco complex features original lobby and corridor marble floors, rich wainscoting and dramatic mythical medicine stone friezes - all carefully and faithfully restored under preservation consultant Ulana Zakalak.

234 Second St., Downtown. This circa-1855 Greek-Revival clapboard house had been altered and hidden under unsightly siding until owner Kyung Chung and architect David Benfield, working with the city's historic preservation office, determined original paint colors and porch and fenestration configuration.

613 Bergen Ave., West Bergen. The Chatman family restored this circa-1892 Queen Anne beauty, choosing accurate paint colors, maintaining original fabric and replicating missing materials. The house, dramatically elevated and set back from the sidewalk, towers over Bergen Avenue and is an inspiration to the surrounding Victorian neighborhood that is increasingly pressured by non-preservation minded developers.

Preservation Initiative Award recognizing efforts to promote the preservation, protection and stewardship of a historic resource:

Laura Skolar and the Pershing Field Garden Friends, Jersey City Heights. The bronze America Triumphant World War I monument, designed by James Novelli and dedicated in 1922, had been coated over the decades by layers of paint and its memorial plaque stolen. The PFGF successfully applied to the Hudson County Open Space, Recreation and Historic Preservation Trust Fund for a grant to restore the statue to its original patina and recreate the missing plaque.

J. Owen Grundy History Award named for the late eminent Jersey City historian, recognizing work that chronicles Jersey City history:

Lillian Morrison, a legend in the children's literature industry, having written such beloved volumes of verse as "The Sidewalk Racer" and "The Break Dance Kids." It is "The Ghosts of Jersey City" that is being lauded tonight, an out-of-print volume that is a lyrical portrait of a Jersey City lost to us now. Morrison, born in 1917 and still at work, created poems that conjure the sights and sounds of the Oakland Avenue sidewalks of her youth: teeming factories, ringing church bells and schoolyard laughter climbing over open-windowed tenements.

Theodore Conrad Preservationist Award named for Jersey City's late influential preservationist, recognizing grassroots historic preservation:

The Powerhouse Arts District Neighborhood Association, headed by Jill Edelman, which has created an organization, launched a Web site and e-mail list, strengthened its support base, established community partnerships, lobbied City Hall and raised funds to protest builders who seek to replace warehouses and cobblestone streets with modern towers and asphalt pavement.

Jersey City Legend Award, a lifetime achievement award:

Now-retired Dr. Ethel Lawner, is the preservationist who helped to pioneer a movement in the early 1960s as she went up against elected officials who tried to cut down old growth trees along Kennedy Boulevard. Lawner not only stopped the desecration, she inspired and partnered with other preservation juggernauts like Morris Pesin, Audrey Zapp and Ted Conrad. Her powerful Citizens Committee to Save John F. Kennedy Boulevard evolved into the wider Citizens Committee of Hudson County, a group that went on to save the Hudson County Courthouse.

The Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy's eighth annual Preservation Awards ceremony is tonight from 6 to 9 at the historic Loew's Jersey Theater, Journal Square, Jersey City. Tickets are $25. For information, go to jclandmarks.org.

EDITOR'S NOTE: John Gomez, founder of the Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy, graduated last week from Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. He may be reached at historyrules1999@gmail.com.

[JCMAN320]

Zephyr, I will try to get some pics up. Thanks.

Volunteers help clean cemetery

Friday, May 30, 2008

Last Saturday, a diverse crew including Hudson County jail inmates, city and county workers, students and volunteers cleaned up the overgrown and abandoned Jersey City-Harsimus Cemetery on Newark Avenue.

The group put in several hours cutting the grass and putting flags on veterans' graves, said Freeholder Eliu Rivera, the organizer of the effort.

Another clean-up effort is scheduled for tomorrow morning at 7 a.m.

"People are all chipping in," Rivera said. "It's a big mess there."

The cemetery is temporarily without a caretaker or a board of directors. A public meeting of the New Jersey Cemetery Board, which regulates non-religious ceremonies, to discuss plans to form a new board of directors is scheduled for June 12 at 6 p.m., at the offices of the Hudson County Improvement Authority at 574 Summit Ave.

NJCB officials have said that plot owners would have to meet to create a new board.

PAUL KOEPP

[JCMAN320]

Hamilton Park Farmers' Market starts today

by Journal staff Wednesday June 04, 2008, 11:50 AM

The Hamilton Park Farmers' Market opens today and runs every Wednesday, 4 to 8 p.m., through October.

Hamilton Park is located at Jersey Avenue and Eighth Street in Jersey City.

[JCMAN320]

Powerhouse arts center to debut its first play tonight

by Jeff Theodore Thursday June 05, 2008, 9:47 AM


Emily Anne Epstein Journal Photo
David Murgittroyd, left, plays Tim and Scott Cagney, right, plays Buff, in Strangedog Theater's production of 'subUrbia.'

In a remote section of Jersey City's downtown area, a hardscrabble-looking warehouse symbolizes another effort to pump life back into the arts scene.

The Powerhouse Arts District Arts Center, situated at 150 Bay St., has a purpose. The theme of the play "SubUrbia" -- which will mark the center's first ever presentation of a play -- centers on young teens with no purpose at all.

Nonetheless, Anthony Gusevich, 20, assistant director of the play, says the fledgling arts center and the play are a perfect match.

"I love that people are bringing new life to spaces like this," says Gusevich, a junior at Montclair State University and Union City native. "I like breaking away from the norm to do groundbreaking things. It's better than something stereotypical where you're living in the past."

Founding the center was a project of the Powerhouse Arts District Neighborhood Association, also known as PADNA.

Jill Edelman, president of PADNA, and Jorge Cacheiro, co-director of the Jersey City Theatre Center, collaborated to bring the play to fruition at the center.

"We're really pleased and hope that it is the first of many here," Edelman says. Artem Yatsunov, the play's director, says staging the play in the arts center will be entirely different than its initial run at the Fox Theater at Montclair State University a few months ago.

"What's really unique is that this space is almost inappropriate because we're trying to integrate outdoor scenes in a warehouse," says Yatsunov, a recent Montclair University graduate and co-director of newly founded Strange Dog Theater.

Yatsunov says the arts center, which was once home of The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, will allow "our performers to exhibit the bare bones style and rawness of youthful disillusionment that's depicted in "SubUrbia.'"

The play, created by Eric Bogosian, tells of young people struggling to find their way and break free from a mindset of being "kids who see their whole world as a suburb," Yatsunov says.

Most of the play's cast members come from suburban backgrounds and can relate, he says.
"Bogosian did a great job of capturing how these kids are," Yatsunov says. "The script is crisply written with a youthful energy. It speaks to them and the fleeting opportunities that come their way."

Yatsunov says he immediately connected to the play after reading the script.
"The drinking, getting high in the woods, reminded me of friends I've had ... like a clan of no-nothings testing their wits," he says.

Gusevich, the assistant director, says the play also focuses on the drug culture and how young people operate in that lifestyle.

"Compared to the Montclair version, having the production here will make things more raw and cold," says Gusevich, a High Tech High School graduate. "I think that will bring the characters and the story to life."

"SubUrbia" debuts tonight and will show at 7 p.m. Thursdays to Sundays through June 15. Cost is $12. For more information call 201-222-6287.

[JCMAN320]

Jersey City Cultural Arts Festival on Sunday

by Lysa Chen Thursday June 05, 2008, 11:15 AM

Jersey City's 34th Annual Cultural Arts Festival will kick off the summer on Sunday from 1 to 7 p.m. at the Central Railroad Terminal at Liberty State Park.

The festival will feature a variety of ethnic foods and art, as well as musicial performances by John Christian, Con Vivo Chamber Music, Sabor Tropical, Laura Lea & Tripp Fabulous and Jersey City's own Barbara Sharpe.

There will also be a re-enactment of Morris Pesin's famous canoe trip to the Statue of Liberty, which helped spur the creation of Liberty State Park.

"This year's Cultural Arts Festival is especially important because not only does it showcase our rich diversity and thriving arts scene, but this year we are also celebrating the historic event that gave Jersey City one of its most treasured jewels," Mayor Jerramiah Healy said in a written statement.

Children can also participate in several arts-and-crafts activities, including one using recylable materials. A clown magician and storyteller with puppets will also perform.

[JCMAN320]

Help clean up basketball courts tomorrow

by The Jersey Journal Friday June 06, 2008, 11:11 AM

Volunteers are being sought to help clean up the Terry Dehere basketball courts tomorrow.

The Randolph Avenue and Harmon Street Block Association, together with the Jersey City Communities That Care Coalition, will lead volunteers from noon to 5 p.m. in sprucing up the courts (formerly known as the Garfield Park Basketball Court), at Garfield Avenue between Bramhall Avenue and Harmon Street.

Volunteers will help pick up trash, pull weeds, and tidy up the park with the help of cleaning tools to be provided by the Jersey City Incinerator Authority.

Light snacks and refreshments will be provided to clean-up volunteers and kids can play a pick-up game of basketball after the work is done.

To volunteer, donate food, or for more information call Kelli K. Wilson at (201) 332-4711, or email jcctcc2005@yahoo.com.

[JCMAN320]

Immigration policy panel to meet in Jersey City

by The Jersey Journal Friday June 06, 2008, 10:57 AM

A state panel on immigration will hold a public hearing on Wednesday at New Jersey City University.

The Governor's Blue Ribbon Advisory Panel on Immigrant Policy, which is charged with developing recommendations for more successfully integrating the state's immigrant population, will meet from 6 to 10 p.m. at the Margaret Williams Theatre at NJCU, 2039 Kennedy Boulevard.

Members of the public are invited to speak and advance registration is strongly encouraged. Call (609) 826-5081 to register.

Written comments can be submitted to: immigrantpolicypanel@advocate.state.nj.us; faxed to (609) 984-4747 or mailed to:

Department of the Public Advocate, Attn. Clarisa Romero-Cruz
P.O Box 851
Trenton, NJ 08625-0851.

[JCMAN320]

Stand-up guys and gals at the Attic Ensemble tonight

by The Jersey Journal Saturday June 07, 2008, 3:33 PM

The Attic Ensemble, Jersey City's resident theater company, is hosting its first night of stand-up comedy tonight at 7 and 8 p.m. with Julie Goldman, from Logo TV's "Big Gay Sketch Show," with Rachel Feinstein and Bill Graber.

Tickets are $15 and it's a fundraiser for The Attic Ensemble.

To make reservations, call 201-413-9200 and leave your name, time of show, number of tickets needed, phone number and please indicate if you are a subscriber.

The Attic Ensemble is located at the Barrow Mansion on 83 Wayne St., Jersey City.

http://www.atticensemble.org/

http://www.myspace.com/biggaysketchshow

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JCPD rewards acts of heroism

Saturday, June 07, 2008
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Acts of selfless bravery and dedication were honored yesterday at the Jersey City Police Department's annual award ceremony held in Liberty State Park's Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal.

The highest honor for valor, the Honorable Mention, was awarded to Lt. Kevin O'Connell and Officer William Braker, for "heroism in which the officer, at perilous risk to his life, performed his duty in such a manner as to reflect courage, dedication and initiative."

O'Connell was awarded for his role in an incident in which officers trying to stop a stolen tractor trailer cab had to open fire on the driver when he allegedly tried to ram them with the rig, officials said.

Braker was honored for an incident in which he responded to a murder scene and chased an armed man he found fleeing. The man trained his gun on Braker, who fired one round at the man, missing him.

The Combat Cross, the second highest award for heroism, was bestowed on Sgt. Augie Joey and Officers John Edward Ransom, Anthony Silver, Brian Davis, Bernard Chester, Joseph Cossolini, Joseph Stelzle, Jessie Hilburn and Patrick Butler. The Combat Cross is awarded for "distinguished performance or an act of gallantry and intrepidity at imminent personal hazard of life in the performance of duty."

The Police Director's Police Officer of the Year award went to Cossolini and the Police Director's Civilian of the Year award was given to Mary L. Roche and Judith Torres.

Ransom also won the John M. Sheyka Memorial Police Officer of the Year award, Detective John Wisniewski won the William J. Carter Memorial Investigator of the Year award, and the Special Investigation Unit won the Unit Citation.

Hudson County Freeholder Eliu Rivera, D-Jersey City, Firefighter Israel Rodriguez, and Police Officer Salvatore Noto were honored for their attempt to rescue a 91-year-old woman from a burning building. The woman died.

Special awards to civilians who assisted the Police Department were given to Jersey City Fire Director Armando Roman and Fire Chief Michael O'Reilly, Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio, Hudson County Sheriff Juan Perez and Hudson County Department of Corrections Director Oscar Aviles.

Forty-four commendations were awarded for bravery and 429 Excellent Police Service awards issued for exemplary performance.

[JCMAN320]

NFL chips in for new field at Jersey City's Caven Point

by Journal staff Sunday June 08, 2008, 1:57 PM

A Jersey City athletic field shut down in April when it was found to have higher than expected lead levels will be replaced in part using a $200,000 grant from the National Football League Grassroots Program.

The grant, awarded by the New York Giants, the NFL Youth Football Fund and the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), is part of a $5.43 million in field refurbishment awards allocated this year to community groups in areas surrounding the 32 NFL markets.

"Fields are an integral part of creating viable and health communities," said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. "The development and refurbishment of these football fields gives youngsters across the country a safe place to play the game, and brings families and neighborhoods together."

The field at Cochrane Stadium, which is also used for baseball games, was shut down in April after test showed lead concentrations in the soil as high as 12 times as what's allowed by the state.

Two other AstroTurf fields were also tested and found to have high levels: Frank Sinatra Park in Hoboken and the College of New Jersey's Lions Stadium Field in Ewing.

Officials in Hoboken and Jersey City immediately stopped use of the fields.

Hoboken has already awarded a contract to replace its field.

Roger Jones, a spokesman for Jersey City Public Schools, has said the district had planned to replace the Cochrane Stadium field using funds from the NFL grant, $250,000 from Jersey City, and $400,000 from Hudson County.

[JCMAN320]

Kids room at Jersey City library closed for renovations

by The Jersey Journal Monday June 09, 2008, 12:01 PM

The Vincenzo Domenico Bonetti II Children's Room at the main branch of the Jersey City Public Library, 472 Jersey Ave., is closed for renovations.

No date has been set for its reopening.