Hundreds of Sindhi Americans marched from New York City to Washington, D.C., recently to draw attention to the kidnappings and human rights violations suffered by Sindhi Hindu girls in Pakistan. Organized by The Sindhi Foundation, the participants in the “Long Walk for Freedom, Nature, and Love” began their 350-mile trek on April 4 and reached Washington on April 7. They traversed Jersey City along the way.
I first learned about the march from my seventy-four-year-old grandfather who walked the entire distance. His passion inspired me to raise my own voice as a fifteen-year-old Sindhi girl. I decided to help those Sindhi women who are silenced in Pakistan by publicizing the cruelties faced in order to spread awareness. Even though I am only in high school, I wanted to lend my voice to this really important cause. I think people should unite and amplify their voices not only for a better Jersey City but for a better world.
Sindhis are an ethnolinguistic community native to Pakistan’s Sindh province. We are predominantly Hindu (90 percent) and minority Sikh. With that said, every year over a thousand Sindhi Hindu girls are kidnapped, forcefully married, and converted to Islam. When parents file a complaint, the police order them to leave or face their other family members being taken away. In Pakistan, these offenses are happening to girls as young as 12.
According to the National Council of Churches in Pakistan (NCCP), these abductions are on the rise. “It’s hundreds, hundreds, many girls, many girls. This crime is committed by many people, and the authorities don’t do anything,” said the NCCP’s general secretary, Bishop Victor Azariah.
The Long Walk has garnered support from Adam Schiff, congressmen of California, who said:
“I am so pleased to be able to offer a few words of encouragement and support for the long walk for freedom, nature and love. I have had the honor of getting to know more about the Sindhi people and their peaceful and inclusive culture. I am also deeply concerned to see the trends of human rights abuses in Sindh province, including disappearances, torture, forced conversions and extrajudicial killings. I hope that the long walk can raise awareness for these crimes and bring peace and justice to Sindh. I am with you as well in your efforts to call for action on climate change and environmental justice. I wish you all the best journey…”
Many other members of Congress have shown their support, such as Jamie Raskin (D-MD 8th District), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL 8th District), Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY 12th District), and David Schweikert (R-AZ 6th District).
Given that 10 percent of Jersey City’s residents are Indian, the atrocities taking place in Pakistan hit home. As America’s most diverse city, we have both the potential and the duty to make everyone feel comfortable and included.
By supporting our campaign, you can contribute to the development of a more just Pakistan and send a signal around the world that Americans do not tolerate this gross mistreatment of women and violation of fundamental human rights.
In anointing New Jersey “the best place to eat pizza in the country” yesterday, Food & Wine magazine featured two local pizzerias, Razza and Bread & Salt, as exhibits A and B.
Food & Wine cited Razza owner Dan Richter for his “expert-level pizza-making capabilities” and for using “the exceptional, often underrated bounty of the Garden State, from heirloom tomatoes, to buffalo mozzarella, to—yes, locally grown— hazelnuts.” The article then goes on to laud Bread & Salt as “Rick Easton’s appealing little café, serving light-as-a-feather, impossibly perfect Roman-style pizza by the slice.”
“Suddenly, Jersey City had become this glorious showcase for just how far we’d come with American pizza, after twenty-odd years of tinkering under the hood. Very different styles, certainly, but both Richer and Easton are working on a level most people will need to experience to appreciate—this is pizza so good, you could eat it with nothing more than a bit of olive oil and a sprinkling of flaky salt, and you’d still know it was one of the best you’d ever had.”
According to workmen, Razza is expanding into the space next door previously occupied by the boutique known as Tia’s. Razza did not respond to a request for confirmation.
Razza and Bread & Salt are located at 275 Grove Street and 437 Palisade Avenue respectively.
There are few things in the world less subtle or more graphic than a forest fire. The flames turn the landscape into an infernal vision that no painting or work of literature can hope to reproduce or approximate. Fires on the scale of those that have recently torched California are almost impossible to represent, or even to wrap our minds around: four and a half million acres, or more than four per cent of the entire Golden State, went up in smoke in 2020. Chances are, you’ve engaged with the news reports, or seen the brutal photographs, or just heard incredible stories from friends on the West Coast.
But should you really want to understand the sheer horror of California ablaze, you’re encouraged to head to MANA Contemporary (888 Newark Avenue) for “Implied Scale: Confronting the Enormity of Climate Change,” which will dominate the first floor of the gallery complex until July 22. Jeff Frost, one of five contributors to the show, has taken his camera so close to the conflagration that it’s a wonder that his lens didn’t melt. Frost took 350,000 photographs of the fires, and he projects them in an anxious rush, on a wide screen hanging in the darkness, employing a rapid-fire time-lapse technique that accelerates the encroachment of the flames and smoke. “California on Fire” is a portrait of a landscape that has turned, ferociously, on its inhabitants — the Golden State as an active volcano in the midst of a slow-motion eruption, throwing off the restrictive burden of civilization, torching roads and houses and fast-food restaurants, charring disposable containers and corporate logos, and catching some poor unlucky animals by the tail, too.
It’s hard to believe these images are real, but real they certainly are. Our immediate disbelief is part of what Frost is working with: he anticipates our astonishment, and keeps right on shocking us anyway. This is not a dystopian future but our world as we’ve made it. As an exercise in documentary realism, “California on Fire” is jaw-dropping; it’s also merciless, and relentless, and viciously pointed. Evidence of human overconsumption and overbuilding is everywhere in these shots, and, just in case the connections elude the viewer, Frost has included satellite footage of hurricanes churning away in the Atlantic. (He’s also organized his images according to the five stages of grief; putting a needle-fine point on things is part of the project.) Effective use of music and found sounds make “California on Fire” play like a cross between “Koyaanisqatsi” and William Kentridge’s speedy, hand-drawn, time-lapsed excoriations of human waste and folly. I could mention the excellent composition, color, and saturation, and near-lyrical balance of Frost’s photographs, but when the images fly by at this pace, meticulous attention to aesthetic detail feels like an insult to the polemical intentions of the artist. This is not pretty or easy viewing, and that’s appropriate. In 2021, we do not inhabit a pretty or easy planet.
“California on Fire” isn’t even the roughest piece in the “Implied Scale” show. Even dedicated myrmecologists might have trouble countenancing the “War” segment of Catherine Chalmers’s graphic, unsparing, high-contrast film of rainforest ants on a bright white background. Shorn of habitat, there’s nothing in the footage except pure combat — small ants swarming against larger ones, mandibles and twitching antennae in motion, expressions of insect distress uncomfortably visible. In another filmed sequence, Chalmers grants her stars access to a pile of leaves cut in the shape of English letters. In the interest of keeping this review spoiler-free, I won’t tell you the two words that the ants somehow manage to spell, but I am impressed by the filmmaker’s patience with her tiny charges, and her skill at making the monstrous and miniature feel disturbingly identifiable. Even the calmer pieces in “Implied Scale” speak straight to the conscience in a stern voice. Zaria Forman’s long aerial scroll of the Greenland ice sheet, projected on three gallery walls, might almost be calming in its placid whiteness were it not for the accompanying soundtrack: the pop and crackle of bubbles of gas trapped beneath the glaciers, and released after dormant centuries by climate change.
Those heavy human footsteps are audible throughout the exhibition. James Prosek, whose menagerie of animal silhouettes decorates the MANA lobby, presents a horizontal inkjet print of a photograph of dead birds retrieved from a museum archive, belly up and arranged by color. From a distance, it’s quite pretty; viewed up close, it’s an unsettling testament to our will to control animals by imposing classifications on them. What is the consequence of all of this sorting? The lifelessness of the birds — their objectification under the lens — speaks eloquently, and brutally, to that. In this context, even his gentler pieces, like a square canvas “Noah’s Ark” filled with silhouettes, and hanging mobiles suitable for a crib, feel like challenges to the viewer. There is no ambiguity at all about Ted Kim’s 70-foot mural drawn in sharpie directly on a MANA wall: his depiction of a tsunami of garbage that threatens to eclipse the sun and engulf the natural world. It’s a Hokusai of modern horror, and an elaboration in black and white of the consequences of our own actions. Kim of drawn birds among the spools of wire and rabbits between the screens of discarded electronic equipment, but these playful touches only serve to amplify the threat.
These are treacherous and confusing days for artists. The NFT whirlpool continues to drag creators of all kinds toward moral relativism, dangerous compromises with capital, and justifications of behavior that isn’t kind to the planet. Even the most well-intentioned cultural activity has its cost in carbon. Advocates must weigh the ecological cost of speaking out — even speaking out on behalf of ecological responsibility. The five artists in “Implied Scale” seem to agree that there’s no time to waste: they’ve made pieces that come at the problems as forcefully and as fully as they can, even at the risk of destabilizing the viewer. These works are a collective shout at humanity. I’m afraid we deserve it.
The Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office is still seeking the public’s help in locating a suspect wanted in connection with the death of a 29-year-old Bayonne man who was fatally stabbed on March 2, 2021.
Elvis Santana, age 30, of Bayonne, was charged in March in the death of Mathew Mortimer who was found with multiple stab wounds to his body in the vestibule of 1095 Avenue C in Bayonne. Authorities believe that Santana is in the New York/New Jersey metro area.
On March 2, 2021, members of the Bayonne Police Department responded to 1095 Avenue C between 53rd and 54th Streets in Bayonne on reports of a stabbing.
Anyone who sees Santana should not approach him, but should immediately contact police. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Office of the Hudson County Prosecutor at 201-915-1345 or to leave an anonymous tip on the Prosecutor’s Office official website at:
Community activists and members of the group Blacks In Law Enforcement Servicing the Community are calling the 2020 conviction of former Jersey City police officer Denzel Suitt a miscarriage of justice. Suitt will be sentenced tomorrow in the Hudson County Superior Court.
Denzel Suitt
A jury found Suitt, 29, guilty of official misconduct and theft by unlawful taking, stemming from a March 25, 2018 incident in which he was charged with stealing money from the wallet of a man on Bayside Terrace.
Michael Shurin of the website Real Garden State observed the trial and called the verdict “perplexing.” The site contains links to video and transcripts from the trial.
Speaking at a press conference this afternoon on Martin Luther King Boulevard, Police Officer and BLESC member John Boamah said Suitt, raised in the foster care system, was “dealt a horrible hand in life” and yet “chose to do positive things in our community.” He “defied all the odds,” said Boamah. “He fell victim to an injustice.”
Frank Education Gilmore argued that the Hudson County Prosecutor’s office had ignored more serious cases. “Of all the cases of police misconduct and police brutality you chose this case? Had this officer been a caucasian officer would this have happened to him? Had this officer had political connections would this have happened to him?”
Activist Chris Gadsden said, “we’re asking for Governor Phil Murphy and Attorney Grewal to look into this case.”
For his part, Suitt who had been standing in the back, stepped up to the mic to add “I do believe I’ve faced an injustice.”
Earlier this month, the super PAC Hispanic American Commerce Association in Jersey City announced that it would be backing longtime resident and banker Elvin Dominici in his run for an at-large seat on the city council.
We sat down with Dominici for an in-depth interview.
JCT: You are running for an at large city council seat, tell me a little bit about your background?
Dominici: I was born and raised in the Dominican Republic. I came to this country when I was 21 years old. At the time I didn’t know how to speak any English.
JCT: What did you do when you got here?
Dominici: I went right away to Hudson County Community College. I started taking classes in Level 1 ESL and I was on my way to getting my associate’s degree in liberal arts. To me, that was amazing that I could come from zero and be able to get a degree. I didn’t stop there. I went to New Jersey City University and I started my B.A. in science and I was able to graduate in 2006. And finally, I went to St. Peter’s University and I was able to get two master’s. I have an M.B.A. in science and I have a master’s in accountancy.
I’m currently working at J.P. Morgan Chase. I’m a senior associate. I work in custody making sure that transfers and wires are settled for different markets.
JCT: How long have you been in banking?
Dominci: 16 years. My first job in the states was in U.P.S. I was lifting packages there for a year and half. It was tough but it taught me about discipline and commitment to do more with my life.
JCT: Tell me about your family. Married? Single? Children?
Dominici: Sure. I’m the father of three boys. I’m currently separated. My oldest son recently finished basic training with the National Guard. He’s already deployed to Washington after that issue that happened about certifying the election. I’m very proud of what he’s doing for this country and how far he’s gone.
My family to me is everything to me. Because the sacrifices that my mother made for me to have a better life and come to this country and seeing my children grow up in this beautiful city is something that is very touching to me and very important.
JCT: Have you been living in Jersey City for the entire time?
Dominici: When I came to the country, I lived in Union City for two or three years and then I lived in Weehawken for like two years. But I’ve been living in Jersey City since 2006.
JCT: Have you gotten involved in the community? Have you been involved in any organizations or volunteer work?
Dominici: Yes. We were very active back when Hurricane Sandy came. We did reach out, especially to the Latino community where there isn’t a lot of knowledge of the municipality and the different programs that were available.
JCT: When you say “we” are you referring to yourself, friends, an organization?
Dominici: Back in 2010 or 2011 I created a PAC called Hispanic Political Action Committee, HPAC. It was for people committed to working on community activities. We had a group of people that worked to have a traffic light installed at Poplar and Summit which was, at the time, a very dangerous spot for children who go to P.S. 28. We organized a team of people going and getting signatures. We were able to collect over 500 signatures. We did a study on how many accidents happened at the corner and how we could raise it at city hall. We liaised with the council at that time and we were able to get it approved.
JCT: So you’re involved in two different groups? Are they both PACs of is the other one something else?
Dominici: Actually there is one that is a small business association. The name is the Hispanic American Commerce Association. Back in 2015 there was a person who died in Ward F in a bodega. After that there was rampage of the city giving out summonses and tickets to small businesses. They have over 300 to 400 businesses in the association.
JCT: So the association created the PAC?
Dominici: Yes. Because the association is not supposed to get involved in political activity.
JCT: Are you going to step down from the PAC if you become a councilperson?
Dominici: That’s a very good question. At the moment I’ve just been endorsed. I’m not part of the board of the PAC. Because I was involved in creating the association. So they know my capabilities if I actually get to City Hall, not only to the association but to all of the residents of Jersey City.
JCT: What would be the top five reasons you want to become a councilperson?
Dominici: Well the platform is still being developed. Basically there are three things that I, or we, believe strongly that we need to bring to City Hall. The first is accountability, the second is affordability and the third is to advocate for the residents of Jersey City and the small businesses of Jersey City.
There are other issues that we can talk about. But if we get to city hall and we are not able to hold accountable the municipality on the things that they are not doing right for citizens and residents, I could talk to you for hours about taxes, the public schools, I could talk to you about any other issues.
But what we’ve seen for so long is that the council members have failed greatly their duty to defend, advocate and do what is best for the residents of Jersey City.
JCT: Give me some examples because that’s pretty general.
Dominici: We want to make sure we get affordable housing for low and middle income residents. We need support for homeowners and tenants who are struggling due to the pandemic. We need to get resources for the small businesses to help them to stay afloat until we get out of the economic crisis. Also the funding for the public schools and the other resources to make sure our children, especially those who lost academic support during the pandemic can catch up.
Also I care about the the city workers that were affected by the economic crisis and the pandemic and we’ve got to make sure that we don’t rush them back to the office without proper safety measures in place.
There are issues also with a high school that they want to build in Liberty State Park. It is unbelievable that we have almost one hundred residents going to a meeting online advocating different from what the city wants to do and at the end of the day we see our council members giving their backs to the residents and just voting in favor of the municipality’s agenda.
That’s something that is very sad. We need to find a way to bring the human touch back to City Hall.
JCT: As far as the Fulop administration is concerned, are they doing anything right?
Dominici: I can’t sit here and say that they haven’t done anything right. They have worked to make sure that the budget and taxes are stable. Even though we are debating the situation with the public schools. We the residents are expected to get a tax increase of a thousand dollars.
What wasn’t done in the past to avoid this? That’s what we have to look into.
You can see lots of different people coming here from different parts of the country coming here. You can see real estate values going up.
I think the bike paths on the street are good.
Overall, the human touch and being able to go to City Hall and have an open conversation with the leaders is not what it should be.
JCT: What do you think about property taxes? Are they too low, too high or just right?
Dominici: We have to take a look at we’re doing with taxes. Are they fair based on the values of the property? Whether there are other loopholes or other sectors that can be taxed more like the multi-nationals that are sitting in the Downtown. If I’m not mistaken, there are something like one hundred and seventy eight tax abatements. I understand that they bring jobs and help the city in in different ways. But we don’t know how many of the jobs are going to people who actually live in the city.
JCT: Are there any areas where the city budget needs to be increased or decreased?
Dominici: I think we have to invest more money in the city, especially with the potholes and the streets. You can see the city needs a lot of fixing. Even if you go near where the mayor lives, you can see it’s a big mess.
I need to take a closer look at what can be increased. Recreation and more funding maybe for non-profits and people who are doing good work in the community.
JCT: What are views on public safety?
Dominici: I believe we have to see where the city can have more policing in areas that need to be patrolled. The police needs to be in closer touch with the community, especially in the Greenville area that we know is an area that we see more shootings and unfortunately people dying from crime.
We have two different tales. We have people living Downtown that they don’t even know that there are people in Greenville that are going through theses situation.
We need a plan of action. I have seen for many years that we are doing more hiring, we are giving more funding but the results are still the same.
JCT: How are you going to pay for your campaign? Are you going to pay for it yourself? Developer money?
Dominici: I assure you that I’m not going to take a penny from developers. If I were to do that I wouldn’t be running because I take this campaign very seriously. Definitely I’m going to have to take some money out of my pocket but mostly its going to be from donations from people who believe in this project and think that we can make a big change in this city.
JCT: I assume that the political action committee is going to be donating to you?
Dominici: I don’t know because we haven’t had that conversation. They’re going to do whatever they think is best.
JCT: How does your background in banking affect how you would handle the job? Is there anything you can bring to city government because of your background in banking?
Dominici: Absolutely. I’ve been working with numbers and budgets and making sure that financial transactions between the clients in emerging markets go through. So I can come in and look at numbers and actually have a better understanding of where the money is being spent.
Overall, my education and degrees are a plus but a bigger plus is my loyalty to the people of Jersey City and how I’m going to make sure that the well-being of the people of Jersey City is what we are going to stand for and that my will is not going to bend to any political agenda besides just doing what is right.
Mayor Steven Fulop’s controversial $6.7 million renovation of the Newark Avenue Pedestrian Mall moved forward today with an official groundbreaking.
“Today is a step in making it a more permanent and significant destination for Jersey City and all of Northern New Jersey. Since we did this, we’ve seen the businesses in the area thrive and we hope that the further investment in the area is going to make these businesses in the area excel even further,” said Fulop.
When the renovation contract came up for a vote before the city council in February, Councilman-at-large Rolando Lavarro protested. “Two point seven million over what was originally budgeted and unable to explain how that happened…even though we’re doing streetscaping in other neighborhoods, it doesn’t come close to what we’re spending on this project.” Ward F city council candidate Frank “Educational” Gilmore questioned how the city could afford the project when it had passed on purchasing land slated to become a mammoth luxury housing development called Morris Canal Manor. “I’m just trying to figure out how we have money for that,” said Gilmore. The Jersey Journal weighed in with an editorial questioning the expense. Originally, the renovation had been projected to cost $4 million.
Many Newark Avenue business owners and Downtown residents appear to support the upgrades however. Mark Kahn who, along with his wife Debi, owns Downtown Yogurt , recounted first planning to open their store in 2013. “We had no idea that it was ultimately going to be such a successful pedestrian mall and such a successful example of what a business community can do when it sticks together.”
This being an election year, politics played a part in the event. Ward E Councilman James Solomon who represents the area and supports the project, apparently was not invited to the groundbreaking. Asked to comment, Solomon said “I’m happy to have worked with mayor Fulop and the administration to advance the upgrades to the pedestrian plaza and am not interested in photo ops. I’m only focused on the work of making people’s lives better in Downtown Jersey City.” Notably, Municipal Prosecutor Jake Hudnut, who is running for Solomon’s seat under the “Team Fulop” banner, was in attendance and donned a hard hat and shovel for the ceremonial dirt toss.
First opened on a trial basis in 2014 and the subject of considerable pushback from some local businesses that objected to losing automobile access, the closed-off street has attracted new restaurants, shops, and large evening crowds.
With its spectacular views of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, Liberty State Park (LSP) easily ranks as the crown jewel of New Jersey’s state park system but some people are asking why it can’t offer more in the way of amenities. Questions surrounding food concessions, transportation options and a renovation of the crumbling train shed have been overshadowed by the debates over Caven Point and the restoration of the park interior.
The park’s northern end features the historic Central Railroad Terminal of New Jersey, where millions of immigrants entering the country from around the Civil War to 1967 boarded trains and ferries taking them to homes and jobs in a new land.
As many as 5 million visitors from near and far are drawn annually to LSP’s 1,200-acre expanse where walkers, runners, and cyclists traversing the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway can gaze out at the New York skyline and the Hudson River. A host of migratory birds also flock to the site.
At the park’s northwestern entrance sits the Liberty Science Center, the state’s first major science museum. Inside the park are the Liberation, a bronze sculpture memorializing the Holocaust; The Sail of Columbus, a two-story bronze monument commemorating the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ voyage, and Empty Sky, the state memorial to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
There’s also a nature interpretive center, which sponsors periodic tours and lectures, a public boat launch, a kiddie playground and interior park trails. Closed for years due to damage sustained during Superstorm Sandy, the center will reopen with the lifting of COVID restrictions by Governor Murphy. And it will feature all new exhibits (and bathrooms that will remain open even when the building is closed.)
Liberty State Park is flanked with a few other privately owned enterprises. On its southern end is the 18-hole Liberty National Golf Club across from which is the RPM Raceway for indoor go-karts; a private marina occupies part of the park’s northern tip under a lease arrangement with the state.
So why with all these attractions and loads of visitors does LSP offer not a single food concession? Why does the rail yard of an historic transportation landmark remain fenced off to visitors due to unsafe conditions? Why are only a handful of the scores of walkway pole lights working and increasing numbers of benches showing their age? And when will operation of the commercial ferry service from the park to Liberty and Ellis Islands resume?
Caryn Shinske, spokesperson for the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), which manages the state parks, said the ferry service was temporarily disrupted when the barge that was used as the embarkation and disembarkation facility partially sank on Christmas Day 2020.
“The ferry service will resume Memorial Day weekend utilizing the existing north ferry slip directly in front of the (Central Railroad of New Jersey) terminal building,” Shinske added. There are plans to remove the existing barge and replace it, which could take 18 to 24 months, but no start date for the work has yet been set, she said.
Then there is the matter of the rail facility. The opening of the federal immigration station on Ellis Island in 1892 opened the floodgates to millions of new U.S. residents who streamed through the CRNJ terminal.
At its peak, an estimated 75,000 travelers flowed daily through the terminal on 150 New York-bound ferry runs and 300 trains.
To better accommodate the commuter demand, in 1914 the CRNJ completed a 300,000 square foot train shed—covering the length of six football fields—affording cover for riders accessing 12 platforms and 20 trains operated by the Central Railroad of New Jersey, Baltimore & Ohio, and Reading and Lehigh Valley lines. The aging structure still stands today along with a modernized terminal at the foot of Communipaw Avenue.
Stretching back to the 1600s the location has served as an embarkation point for New York-bound ferries, even for steamboats plying their way through the vast harbor.
Liberty Historic Railway and other advocates for the shed’s preservation say the restored facility could host such activities as interpretive exhibits, a display of historic locomotives and rail equipment, crafts and food fairs, and an end point for a park trolley shuttle.
Curtis + Ginsberg Architects and Donald Freeman of Old Structures Engineering, both of New York, were retained by Liberty Historic Railway in 2012 to review the structural integrity and future use of the shed.
Central Railroad of New Jersey train shed
The structure features 10 concrete platforms and 30 cast-iron column bays supporting a steel frame and concrete roof. While the consultants saw huge potential, they concluded that such factors as “falling decorative elements, connector plates, and pieces of concrete make the structure generally unsafe for people to be present in the train shed for any purpose, including maintenance.” In engineering jargon, the shed is a “stabilized ruin.” Shoring up the structure, removing the roof, remediating asbestos in the roofing membrane system, removing concrete and repairing steel would cost $23 million, they estimated. Demolishing and rebuilding the structure would take about $14 million (all figures as of 2012).
Asked about the prospects of fixing up the shed as a future tourist attraction, the DEP’s Shinske said the department has “no current plans” for the train shed. “The current management practice is to maintain [the shed] as a ruin.”
Whether that position will translate to DEP budgeting or to seeking outside funds remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, Shinske said the main terminal building and concourse will reopen to the public Memorial Day weekend and continue to remain open for access to the ferry ticket office, ferry passenger waiting room, exhibits, events, programs and meetings.
Perhaps the most newsworthy development Shinske had to report concerned food vending. The park has not featured a food concession since just prior to Superstorm Sandy in October 2012 when it sustained significant damage. All that will change this summer: The DEP is currently soliciting bids for mobile food vending.
Vendors will be expected to dispense food such as hot dogs and hamburgers, chicken nuggets, salads, and wraps, non-alcoholic beverages, ice cream and other desserts, and novelties from a fully equipped, self-contained mobile retail food unit or truck at seven individually licensed locations within the park (outside the park office at the southern end of the park, the Freedom Way Playground in park’s center, and outside the CRNJ terminal at the northern end of the park).
For the right to provide the service licensees will pay an $1,800 annual fee. The DEP will have the right to pre-approve all retail prices.
Sam Pesin, president of the nonprofit volunteer Friends of Liberty State Park, an open space advocacy group with about 800 members, said he was “glad the DEP has worked on this change after about three summers with about one ice cream truck in LSP.”
According to Pesin, the DEP had exploratory talks with a prospective café concessionaire last year. But Pesin said those talks ended after the prospective vendor’s representatives asked the DEP if the company could run 30 catered events outside the terminal under a tent during summer weekends. Potential conflicts over the use of the space for parking by other weekend park guests may have helped sink the vendor’s pitch, Pesin said.
If the rail shed is ever renovated and becomes a viable attraction, the DEP may consider providing a public transit link for visitors, connecting the Hudson/Bergen Light Rail station between Communipaw and Johnston avenues, just outside LSP, to the CRNJ terminal.
For about a decade, NJ Transit ran a bus shuttle between the Light Rail station and the park but dropped it in 2010 as a casualty of budget cuts. The Hudson Transportation Management Association (TMA), a unit of the county Improvement Authority, filled the gap in 2011 with a summer shuttle, but that failed for lack of funding. A private operator picked up the slack the following summer but couldn’t continue.
McKelvey of Liberty Historic Railway is pitching an historic rail trolley hookup. But here again, money is an issue.
In 2013, Jersey City, in collaboration with the New Jersey Transportation Planning Authority, commissioned Sam Schwartz Engineering of New York to investigate transportation enhancements servicing Liberty State Park destinations.
He found that an historic trolley would require $3 to $6 million to build and more than $600,000 a year to run while a bus service could be launched for roughly $70,000 at an annual operating expense of about $450,000.
Another idea, Schwartz volleyed would be a park “circulator,” a vehicle that would transport people in a loop inside the park. That option could be possibly be realized with federal or private funding.
Jersey City has yet to go this route. Nevertheless, the city is partly funding the new vehicular bridge from Jersey Street to Audrey Zapp Drive (at the park’s northern end) that is currently under construction.
Then there is the matter of maintaining standard park equipment like the benches and lamposts. Said Shinske: “Light poles and benches are maintained year-round. Now that winter storms are behind us and as we onboard more seasonal maintenance employees for the warmer months, we can focus on repairs.”
How much the DEP figures to spend on those fix-ups is unknown. LSP derives revenues from three basic sources: lease fees from the Liberty Landing Marina and Hornblower Cruises, special events such as film and TV productions and polo exhibition; and a share of the state corporate business tax.
Compare that to New York City’s 843-acre Central Park with more than 40 million visitors annually. The Central Park Conservancy, a private organization with millionaire donors, provides tons of money to the park to support its several storage reservoirs, lakes, a boathouse, 36 ornamental bridges, 20,000 trees, zoo, two skating rinks, 26 ballfields, 21 playgrounds, and two indoor restaurants—plus annual events like the NYC Marathon, Shakespeare in the Park, and Summer Stage concerts.
While LSP has, so far, successfully fought off threatened intrusions by developers looking to expand a golf course and a marina or to build a giant casino/hotel within the park borders, Central Park has been impacted – literally – by the long shadow of development: residential skyscrapers have cast a gloomy parlor over the southern edge of the park, causing documented temperature drops that discourage kids from playing and folks from walking along paths in the beloved park.
As to the future of LSP, says Pesin “I’m very optimistic provided Governor Murphy signs the Liberty State Park Protection Act which protects the park from privatization. It provides for small scale commercial activities like a winter ice skating rink, bike and kayak rentals, food vendors and after-hours activities. It’s very empowering law because it prevents backroom deals and requires public hearings and a comment period.”
Leaders of NJ 08 for Progress and Progressive Democrats of Hudson County are not discouraged after local progressive candidates came up short in the 2020 election. The organizers spoke to Jersey City Times about their role in delivering victory for President Joe Biden and their continued steps to position candidates for success in the future and create change at the county level.
NJ-08 for Progress started in January 2017, directly inspired by groups like Indivisible, which galvanized grassroots action after the 2016 election.
“We have a firmly held belief that the more people participating in government creates better government for more people,” said Rebecca Missel, a steering committee member of NJ 08 for Progress
Encouraging people to participate in government encompasses everything from contacting their representatives to canvassing and phone banking to running for office themselves.
The group hosted virtual Jersey City for Biden phone and text banks, in which participants reached out to residents of swing districts and states. They were much more active locally in the 2020 primaries than in years past due to the people power built up over the last few years, said Missel.
“We worked with the Hudson County Progressive Alliance to do candidate trainings to get people informed about what it means to run here. Some of those folks have gotten elected and there are more folks running,” Missel said.
Eleana Little, a member of NJ 08 for Progress’ steering committee, was a candidate to represent District 4 in the Hudson County Board of Chosen Freeholders in 2020, before the office was renamed to county commissioner. She bracketed with Hector Oseguera, challenger to Congressman Albio Sires. Ron Bautista of Hoboken, president of Progressive Democrats of Hudson County, ran to represent District 5 as a freeholder.
While none of the candidates won, Missel said “we got Albio Sires to fill out a candidate questionnaire, which sounds so small anywhere else, but in this district that’s real.”
“We measure success in part by “did we get the machine to spend their own money?” because half the time in these races, the establishment candidates don’t even have to campaign,” she said.
At Elizabeth Detention Center
Progressive Democrats of Hudson County was formed a year ago as a new chapter of the statewide organization Progressive Democrats of New Jersey. The group provides training and support to candidates who challenge incumbents and the political machine.
“Our focus is to make sure that other people don’t have to start from scratch when they want to be able to serve the community and challenge the political machine,” said the organization’s president Ron Bautista.
Bautista has been a US citizen for four years and has already run for office three times. He sees his and Little’s 2020 runs for freeholder as a springboard for other progressive candidates.
“The way that we see it is I got 40% of the vote in a district with a long-time incumbent, Eleana got 45% of the vote against the machine and the line, so from there it’s just growth. The idea is for other people who start from where we are right now.”
“This was the first and only time I have ever run for office, and I feel like I learned so much over the course of that primary,” Little said. “Some of us got relatively close and we want to keep building on that momentum and help the next cycle of candidates.”
Going forward, both groups are pushing forward a strategy of making change from the inside by running progressive elected for the county committee slots.
Bautista said county committee candidates are being encouraged to run “not just for the sake of running” but to “push an agenda and to be an advocate for the community.”
In addition to nurturing and supporting candidates, the two organizations have their eyes on structural change in the way the county Democratic party operates.
Missel said NJ-08 is working to change the fundamental processes by which elected representatives are chosen in the county.
“We believe that the current system is less than transparent, and less than ideal,” she said. “The “one person, one vote” system does not always quite apply because of the upstream choices that are happening.”
In New Jersey, county political leaders design the ballots, and candidates appear on a vertical line, which can imply the Democraftic party nominees endorse the county’s preferred choices for local office.
This ballot design is being challenged in a lawsuit brought to declare it unconstitutional.
Bautista said Progressive Democrats of Hudson County is working on an institutional brand that unites new candidates.
“Progressives have been running the past few years individually in different instances. This is the opportunity for us to run together, pooling resources, pooling people, and for us to really take the fight to the machine and beat them with policy, with issues that matter to the community, with the right kind of political representatives,” he said.
Progressive Democrats of Hudson County is a membership-driven organization where members pay $30 a year and vote on the executive board and endorsements. Fill out the membership interest form to join, and follow the organization on Facebook and Twitter.
Last night, following an outcry from parents, plans for protests and criticism from local leaders, Superintendent Franklin Walker reversed course and set a plan for reopening Jersey City public schools. What follows is his email.
Dear Parents,
The District’s focus continues to be on doing what is best for children. When The District made the difficult decision to remain closed, that decision was guided by science and the realities of safely staffing a district of 30,000 students for in-person and remote learning simultaneously. I recently met with Members of the Board and the Teachers’ Union Leadership to further discuss reopening schools. The increased concerns of parents, especially those with young children, have made us reconsider the decision.
Starting Thursday, April 29, 2021, we will welcome the students from PK to third grade who selected in-person learning with a 12:45 dismissal. The schools will group students into groups. The all-remote group, a group A and a group B. During their in-person week, students will attend classes Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Wednesday will continue as a remote day for everyone to enhance our cleaning at the schools. The school will provide parents and guardians with the schedules.
We grouped grades to make the reopening feasible. The first group returning is PK to third-grade students. The tentative return date for fourth to eighth grade is May 10, and grades 9-12 may return on May 10. The District will share more information as we continue the process of making in-person learning available. Parents continue to have the option to keep their children with remote learning through June.
I will send a separate message to the staff explaining their schedules and District expectations. Our custodial and maintenance staff has worked very hard to get the schools ready. Thank you, and stay safe.
