The Place for Jersey City News
Jersey City police car
Aaron Morrill

Jersey City Police Officers Connected to Far Right “Oath Keepers” Group

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According to a report from Gothamist, Jersey City police officers are among 37 New Jersey law enforcement officers and first responders tied to the far right militia group known as Oath Keepers.

After reviewing “membership rolls obtained by an anonymous hacker” and cross referencing them with phone numbers and addresses of police and corrections officers, Gothamist identified several officers, as yet unidentified, hailing from Jersey City.

While the Oath Keepers website says it is “a non-partisan association of current and formerly serving military, police, and first responders, who pledge to fulfill the oath all military and police take to ‘defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic,’” it has been described by The Southern Poverty Law Center as an extremist  group espousing “a number of conspiracy and legal theories associated with the sovereign citizen movement and the white supremacist posse comitatus movement.”

According to federal prosecutors, Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the Oath Keepers, spoke on the phone with a senior member of the group for 97-seconds before the member, along with other Oath Keepers, took part in a military-style formation in order to breach the U.S. Capitol on January 6. In total, eighteen Oath Keepers have been charged in the insurrection.

Craig Iacouzzi, a detective working for the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office was listed in the hacked membership roll. Iacouzzi reportedly told Gothamist that his involvement only went as far as getting an “email subscription” to receive “current events and a different take on mainstream media perspective.” He had not, he said, met or spoken to anyone from the group.

HCPO spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill said that her office was investigating and would seek guidance from the Attorney General’s Office.

The Attorney General’s office has also also reportedly launched an investigation.

Calling the allegations “disturbing,” Councilman-at-large Rolando Lavarro is calling for an investigation.  “We need to urgently establish rules that ensure all our city’s employees’ personal associations and conduct are consistent with our commitment to service, as well as the values and vision of our City. Anyone violating such rules should be dealt with swiftly if we are going to prevent further infiltration of JCPD’s ranks. Moreover, we need to send the message loud and clear that such extremism is not welcome and will not be tolerated in Jersey City.”

 

Jersey City Municipal Council
Jersey City Times Staff

City Council Pushes Ahead with Sixth Street Embankment and 5G Telecom

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At Thursday’s meeting, the City Council voted unanimously to approve two ordinances that recommend the Sixth Street Embankment be designated a redevelopment area and an ordinance enabling telecom companies to install 5G equipment throughout the city. Separately, Councilperson-at-large Lavarro pushed for affordable housing and jobs in a Community Benefits Agreement for the redevelopment of Laurel Court. Lavarro also chastised Mayor Fulop for neglecting to make his acting directors permanent.

Two Resolutions Passed Unanimously to Recommend the Creation of the Sixth Street Redevelopment Area

 

The City Council passed two ordinances, which taken together, recommend the Sixth Street Embankment and several parcels in Harsimus Cove as “an area in need of redevelopment, a “non-condemnation area” without the powers of eminent domain.”

This is the next step in a lengthy battle the City has been in with Conrail and Victoria Hyman. Hyman’s husband purchased the land from Conrail in 2003 in order to develop it. The city has argued successfully in court that this sale was improper but is awaiting a ruling on the use of the land. Jersey City hopes to develop the corridor as an open, public space.

Patrick J. McAuley, Esq. of the law firm Connell Foley called in to object to the ordinances, stating, “we submitted an objection letter on why the city is not authorized to include the Conrail parcels in any redevelopment.”

Ten residents called in to express their support, including the president and the executive secretary of the Harsimus Cove Association.

Stephen Gucciardo, of the Embankment Preservation Coalition, also called in to voice support. “We strongly support these areas being designated as in need of redevelopment. They have long laid fallow. The railroad sells off portions when it’s convenient for them. … These resolutions pave the way for creating a redevelopment plan that preserves this important corridor as open space.”

Council Amends Ordinance to Facilitate the Installation of 5G Small-Cell Wireless Facilities

 

The Council approved the amendment of an ordinance to facilitate telecom companies’ installing small-cell wireless facilities in rights-of-way, namely for 5G service. With Councilperson Solomon yet to arrive, the amendment was approved 8-0.

Small-cell wireless facilities are typically small antennas (3-4 feet tall) that are placed on existing infrastructure (such as utility poles) and accompanied by equipment cabinets installed lower on the pole. They generally handle large amounts of data over short distances, so many small cells may be installed in a neighborhood to improve coverage.

In keeping with the existing ordinance, this encourages installations on existing wireless communication towers, existing water towers, and existing utility poles. The goal is to minimize adverse impact on streetscapes, vistas, and historic sites.

Councilperson Solomon, who joined the meeting late, asked that the implementation date be extended from the usual 20 days after passage to 90 days “to give time to review all the telecom provider comments.” He said that the comments, which were received on Tuesday, “were substantial and are the type that require real conversation.” The Council approved this change unanimously.

 

Council Authorizes Community Benefits Agreement with Laurel Court Developer Amid Strong Comments by Lavarro

 

A resolution was passed unanimously authorizing a Community Benefits Agreement with LMC Laurel-Saddlewood Holdings, LLC in connection with the redevelopment of the entire Laurel Court area, the blocks bounded by First Street, Manila Avenue, Second Street, and Marin Boulevard that consist of dozens of suburban-style houses. A community benefits agreement requires developers to provide amenities to the immediate neighborhood in return for the right to build.

Councilperson-at-large Rolando Lavarro voted for the agreement but warned it might not require enough of the developer.

“With regard to the water and sewage infrastructure,” he said, “all of that is important, but we just passed legislation requiring this as an obligation of the developers. It shouldn’t be factored in as a benefit; it is a necessity. It shouldn’t be horse traded away for things like affordable housing.”

With regard to affordable housing, Lavarro pointed out, “When you break down the rents — studio rents at over $1,350 — is not affordable by any standards of working families in Jersey City.”

Last year, the developer made a deal with the 37 homeowners to buy their homes for agreed-upon prices. In their place, the developer will build a 50-story high-rise with 810  rental apartments and 14,000 square feet of retail space, a new public park, an expanded Filipino Veterans Plaza, and a new public school for 300-350 children.

Lavarro Abstains from Approving Acting Directors for Another 90 Days, Citing Fulop’s Disregard for the Law

 

The acting directors were approved, 8-0-1, for another 90-day term, with Councilperson-at-large Lavarro abstaining. Lavarro chastised Mayor Fulop for neglecting to make his acting directors permanent.

Lavarro said, “The law is that the mayor’s acting appointment is only permitted for 90 days and then has to come to council for approvals. There is a reason for requiring the acting appointments. If they are permanently appointed, the City Council can override any termination by the mayor. We can’t do that with acting appointments, so they are beholden to the mayor in that regard. That threat for anyone in that position is you have to continually appease and please your immediate boss. These acting appointments flaunt the law. … We see this all too often under this administration.”

Liberty State Park Demonstration Jersey City
Ron Leir

A Billionaire Enlists Sports Figures in His Battle Against Park Protection

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Thus far, 2021 has been tricky to negotiate for Jersey City’s environmental advocates. The proposed Harsimus Embankment park remains tied up in legal red tape. Plans to build a bike and pedestrian greenway from Jersey City to the Delaware River will be doomed by year’s end absent a strong endorsement by Governor Murphy.

But perhaps most concerning to local activists is that Liberty State Park, the 600-acre “jewel” of New Jersey’s state parks system with an estimated 5 million visitors annually, may succumb to privatization and lose Caven Point, a 22-acre wildlife sanctuary that is home to wetlands, 100 species of migratory birds, and a pristine beach.

The Friends of Liberty State Park (FOLSP), founded in 1988 as an advocacy group for the park, and its president Sam Pesin are in a pitched battle with a group called “Liberty Park For ALL (LPFA)” over a bill pending before the State Legislature known as the Liberty State Park Protection Act, which LPFA has dubbed the “Liberty Park Deception Act.”

Last month, an estimated 250 people, including local politicians, converged on Liberty State Park to support passage of the Act. Not far away, LPFA led a much smaller “counter protest” featuring sports luminaries Elnardo Webster and Bob Hurley to talk up the virtues of providing more active recreation opportunities within the park.

The group handed out literature claiming that the legislation would unfairly “prohibit large-scale recreation projects that our families embraced during public meetings over the last year.”

Speakers at the pro-Protection Act rally were having none of it. Lincoln High School Principal and Council-at-large Candidate Chris Gadsden told the crowd that “active recreation will take place” in the park. Gadsden further lamented that, in his view, Fireman had “singlehandedly divided the Black community.”

For several years, billionaire businessman Paul Fireman, a former Reebok chairman/CEO and a co-developer of Liberty National Golf Course, has lobbied to convert a wildlife sanctuary within the park known as Caven Point, to several additional holes of Liberty National.

In an interview last year, LPFA executive director Arnold Stovell admitted that his organization was funded by the Fireman Foundation.

Pesin labels the LPFA “a phony front group” for Fireman that is “defiling this park with lies. Liberty Park is for all right now, and that’s how we want to keep it.”

Pesin says the Friends also favor active recreation for the park but not the type of activity he believes Fireman wants to incorporate by expanding the golf course to Caven Point, a natural habitat for 100 species of migratory birds.

The Liberty State Park Protection Act, which has stalled in committee for nearly two years, would:

  • Prohibit the state Department of Environmental Protection “from conveying, leasing, or otherwise transferring any property rights within the 235-acre natural restoration area in the interior of Liberty State Park and the Caven Point Peninsula.”
  • Create a nine-member Liberty State Park Advisory Committee that the DEP would have to consult to review any proposed changes to the park’s management or proposed transfer of property rights of any portion of the park.
  • Limit any deals involving transfer of property rights to private entities for “small-scale commercial activities” such as bike or kayak rentals, food concessions, a temporary winter skating rink, commercial boat tours operating from an existing boat slip, use of the historic Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal, “or other use identified in the management plan” to be developed within five years after the bill’s passage.
  • Compel DEP, before authorizing any lease or property transfer “of any portion of Liberty State Park with a term of one year or longer,” to submit the proposal to the advisory committee for review and recommendations, “provide for a 30-day public comment period, and hold at least two public hearings” before acting.
  • Prohibit the Liberty Science Center and any “existing marina” bordering the park from expanding beyond their footprints of operation existing at the time of the bill’s passage.
  • Call for the advisory committee to advise DEP on the ecological restoration of the 235-acre interior portion of the park (now closed to the public), on strategies to increase public access to the park, and on reviewing leases of park property.

DEP plans to dedicate 180 acres in the uplands forest section to passive recreation with a saltwater marsh, tidal channel, and freshwater wetlands.

For active recreation, it will reserve 50 acres in the southwest edge of the interior plus 10.75 acres just outside the interior, including four-and-a-half acres along Freedom Way, four-and-a-half acres along Jersey Avenue, and two acres near the old private cabana club on Morris Pesin Drive.

Despite the assurances of public input into proposed changes in the park’s use, LPFA pamphlets distributed at the counter recent rally  say the bill “eliminates our community’s seat at the table” in favor of “an exclusive Liberty State Park Advisory Committee” that DEP must consult “when making all major decisions.”

This advisory committee, the LPFA says, “represents the same group of non-inclusive special interests that have left Liberty State Park and our community [in Greenville and Bergen-Lafayette] behind for decades through broken promises — no cleanup [of the 235-acre interior], no access [to the closed-off interior], no opportunities, no programs.”

“Make the park a destination weekend for families by having active recreation areas,” said Hurley. Practice soccer fields, a football field or multi-purpose fields would be essential because “there are nowhere enough fields in the city,” he added. A cross-country path connecting both ends of the park through the middle of its interior could also work, he said.

During public comment sessions DEP hosted on Zoom, Webster said, “Jersey City should have world-class playing fields” within the confines of Liberty State Park. Seeing birds in protected estuaries are fine, he said, “but this park has some 240 acres that are not being used. That’s unfathomable.” Webster called the LSP Protection Act a “flawed piece of legislation” and “racially insensitive” to the needs of the neighboring largely minority community. He said that community was “in active discussions for funding active recreation in the park” with public and private sources.

Stovell said he’d like to see “local entrepreneurship” participate in the overall planning and execution of improvements in the park, and Bruce Alston, a local activist, endorsed the idea of “more active recreation in an urban park” and commended the Fireman Foundation and Liberty National Golf Course (which abuts the park) for their efforts on behalf of the park.

Fireman had hoped to expand his club by destroying the Caven Point wetlands and building three new holes of golf in their place. However, after FOLSP raised a public furor over the plan, Fireman issued a statement in July 2020 saying he’d back away from it, a claim Pesin suspects is bogus.

“Those who do not want to empower minority communities are using me in an effort to distract from the real issue of who gets to make decisions [about the park],” Fireman said. ‘I am [withdrawing the golf expansion plan] to force the supporters of the Liberty State Park Protection Act to address the social justice problems connected to Liberty State Park without using me as an excuse to keep ignoring minority communities.”

Pesin also points out that following a series of public meetings, the DEP announced that it would dedicate 61 acres of park land to active recreation.

Act sponsor Assemblyman Raj Mukherji has said that he will make an amendment to add social justice nonprofit groups to the advisory committee on the Protection Act.

Fireman has accused Pesin and the Friends of sidestepping the need to clean up the environmentally compromised 235-acre interior of the park to make the land safely available to nearby “minority communities” for playing fields, picnic areas, and more, along with ways of making public access to the park easier.

Pesin says he and the Friends welcome DEP’s plan for “the standard protective remediation” of historic landfill that dominates the park’s interior. DEP plans to install a one-foot dirt cap across the entire surface of the interior to contain “a low level of contamination” from construction debris that was created when the area was converted to a park in the 1970s. DEP hopes to tap funds captured from environmental polluters in court settlements to pay for the cleanup.

Additionally, DEP has already secured a financial pledge from Honeywell to pay for separate remediation of hexavalent chromium that was found along a sewer line in the park’s interior.

No cost projections have yet been provided for either cleanup phase. Some remediation work could start as early as late this fall or early winter, one DEP officlal said.

At a Friends rally held at the park Sept. 26, Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop said he welcomed the opportunity for a “healthy conversation around recreation” at the park.

At the same time, the mayor said, “We don’t want to be here every year or every six months fighting for the preservation of this park. We want the governor to sign that bill (Liberty State Park Protection Act). … We will do everything in our power to make sure this park never becomes privatized.”

Added Pesin, “Governor, support the Protection Act. End your silence. Say no to billionaire Fireman. What are you waiting for?”

This article was updated Sunday, Oct. 17 at 10:50 a.m.

Photo by Ron Leir

Body painting by Ron English
Jayne Freeman

Body Painting as Public Spectacle: Artsy or Offensive?

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The other night at an otherwise impressive event hosted by The Jersey City Art & Studio Tour (JCAST), attendees watched ​former Jersey ​City resident Ron English​​ apply fluorescent paint to a female body. ​ She wore what appeared to be underwear and a bikini top while Mr. English placed his hands, dipped in paint, on every exposed part of her body. This was done in a room off the main gallery in complete darkness but for black lights illuminating the fluorescent paint. ​Through the dim light I caught the eye of another woman in the room and we looked at each other as ​though to say, ​”Is this entertaining?​”​

Abruptly, we​ walked out of the building to get some fresh air. However, we couldn’t escape the scene ​as it was simultaneously ​projected on a large screen​ as the event’s centerpiece, around which many danced, smoked and socialized​. More women joined ​our circle and watched the performance unfolding before us on the giant screen. There was a uniform expectation that we were supposed to be watching something creative, edgy and very “street.”  Yet every one of the women expressed unease, turning away, uncomfortable watching the spectacle.

Was it that Mr​.​ English, a respected and reputable artist, didn’t need to be laying his mitts on a woman for anyone’s aesthetic gratification? ​Was it an insult to his reputation and caliber of talent?​ At the same time ​there ​was something about the act that felt distinctly gratuitous.

This group of women caught a whiff of something antiquated and possibly offensive. In all fairness, there were three men who opted to get painted by English, but they received a hand to the clothed chest, a pat on a hat, and a smear on the face. To my knowledge, no male participant disrobed in order to be anointed in fluorescent paint.

There are other ways to paint on bodies — if that was truly the goal. ​Also presenting work for JCAST was Australian artist, Georgina Billington who, as a former make-up artist, states that she “presents body-painting as a way to transform her subjects into art.” Her work, displayed as photography, left a whimsical impression — very different from a live body-painting event.

British artist Sophie Tea paints female nudes all sorts of candy colors, yet is committed to presenting women with all kinds of body types and who have experienced all sorts of journeys, such as transgender women and breast-cancer survivors. Tea’s participants are also naked except for underwear and body paint, but they confidently parade down a catwalk.

Billington and Tea make personal statements about body issues and celebrate differences and transitions. Also, note-worthy is neither woman, in photos of them working, appears to be painting with her hands.

Ron English is an activist artist. His body of work, from paintings to murals to perverse figurines, is replete with distortions of brand imagery, like so many “Wacky Packages” made 3-D. When you look at them you can’t help but rethink the commercial images that bombard us daily. He doesn’t celebrate greed and consumption; he pokes a jaundiced finger at it.  Was Mr. English making a statement about women as commercial commodities? If so, that was not articulated.

​​One more thing.

It doesn’t matter that the women English painted swear up and down that they participated willingly: We believe that. The question is why it made several women feel distinctly “cringy,” in their words.  Said Katie Welles, a 20-something Jersey City resident, “I felt this event invited us to participate in the objectification that we feel every day as women. I’m not criticizing any woman who chose to partake in this activity. It’s just the act of watching it made me feel complicit.”

In 1983, Keith Haring, one of the first celebrated American street artists, painted the naked body of choreographer and dancer Bill T. Jones. Jones described the act of being painted as something akin to an indigenous ritual. “I felt powerful,” he said. “I felt like an Aboriginal man, like a shaman.”

Yet, in the same breath, he said how uncomfortable and vulnerable being painted publicly made him feel. “What does it mean to be a black man — in a room full of white people — completely naked? I tried to imagine what is incorrect about this. I don’t know if we really knew at the time.”

Some of us witnessing a similar event last Saturday wondered the same thing: “What is incorrect about this?” Street art, on its ever-roving canvas of opportunities, lands all too conveniently on female flesh. ​Inherent to graffiti is the element of vandalism; and by definition “vandalism” is “damaging property that does not belong to you.”  It would be a stretch to imply that English damaged the women he painted at the JCAST show, but our collective feminine psyche registers the imprint of not only Mr. English’s hand, but the presumption that this version of body painting is entertainment.

 

 

 

Hudson West Folk Festival Jersey City
Emily Scott

This Weekend

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This weekend, Jersey City is the place to be for fans of folk music, Halloween, and self-care. Check out the Hudson West Folk Festival on Saturday, or the Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Historic Jersey City and Harsimus Cemetery. There’s also Pitness in the Park, a Reiki healing circle, and more. 

 

Hudson West Folk Festival

 

Check out this Americana/Folk/Roots festival for “soaring harmonies, deeply poetic songwriting and outstanding musicianship.” Note that all attendees must show proof of vaccination, and children under 12 must show proof of a recent negative test. 

 

Jersey City Ballet Dances Through the Seasons

 

Finally “dancing together again,” this performance, featuring the music of Alexander Glazunov and Frank Sinatra. Live stream also available at 5 and 7 p.m.

    • https://www.jerseycityballet.org/
    • Saturday, Oct. 16
    • 5 p.m. live stream; 7 p.m. live stream or live performance
    • Location: Saint Peter’s University Roy Irving Theater, 2641 John F. Kennedy Blvd. 
    • Cost: Pricing varies
    • Dance

 

The Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Historic Jersey City and Harsimus Cemetery

 

The Historic JC & Harsimus Cemetery and NJHOH are hosting a showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show with a live shadowcast. Be sure to bring your own lawn seating. 

 

Funny Tikka Masala: Hinglish Standup Comedy Show

 

This Saturday, Vinod Chhaproo hosts Funny Tikka Masala, America’s first standup show in Hinglish, “a mix of Hindi and English… a beautiful mutation of both these languages, that most Indians use daily.”

 

Celebrate 5 Years of Jersey City Together

 

Jersey City Together – which focuses on housing affordability, education, and public safety/criminal justice – celebrates its 5th anniversary on Saturday. Join on Zoom, or in-person for “food, fellowship, and a short program.”

    • https://www.njtogether.org/jct5 
    • Saturday, Oct. 16
    • 4 to 6 p.m.
    • Location: Zoom, or in-person at St. Aedan’s Church Courtyard, 800 Bergen Ave.
    • Community event

 

Global Cat Day

 

Jersey City Free Public Library celebrates this holiday that “reminds us of educating, engaging, and empowering people to defend and protect cats.” There will be cat books, coloring pages, and crafts. 

 

Pitness in the Park 2021

 

All ticket proceeds from this event go to Jersey Pits Rescue. Come meet other dogs, attend a leash clinic, participate in raffles, and check out local vendors.

 

Spooky Saturday Shenanigans

 

This Halloween event will have a DJ, games, a pop-up shop, and food. Attendees must come in a costume. 

 

Natural Area Volunteer Beach Cleanup

 

This Saturday, the Liberty State Park Nature Center is hosting this beach cleanup of the Richard J. Sullivan Natural Area. Attendees will meet at the Nature Center and walk to the beach as a group. 

 

Great Staten Island Loop

 

Join FreeWalkers for a 19-mile loop, starting and finishing at Exchange Place. Highlights will include Liberty State Park, the new Bayonne Bridge walkway, and the Staten Island Ferry. 

 

Let’s Cook a Traditional Spanish Dish

 

Jersey City Free Public Library presents a virtual lesson in cooking Pastelón, “a classic Puerto Rican dish with layers of thinly sliced plantains, ground beef, and cheese.”

 

Reiki Healing Circle

 

Sol Spirit JC hosts a healing circle featuring breathwork, guided meditation, and sound healing.

 

Wellness on the Weekends

 

This event is a writing workshop incorporating art therapy, breathwork, and meditation. Bring a yoga mat or blanket. Attendees are invited to bring a journal, but writing materials will also be provided.

 

The Art of Being a Goddess: Fall Goddess Gathering at The Loft Art Lounge

 

Art in Heels and Izzy the Goddess host this all-women event on Friday. Following a Sensual Yoga Session will be a free pop-up shop. Attendees must be 21 or older. 

 

Health & Beauty Wellness Expo

 

Stop by Newport Mall this Saturday to meet with Beauty Professionals at this special expo.  

 

**If you’d like to tell us about an event for a future issue, please contact emily.scott@jcitytimes.com** 

 

Moment of Extraordinary Joy by Rebecca N. Johnson
Tris McCall

Rebecca N. Johnson’s “Bodies of Water” at Deep Space Gallery

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Ours is a garden state, and the garden is in peril. Those of us who live in Jersey City, flood-prone, weatherbeaten, and greenspace-challenged as it is, know this as well as anybody could. The world ecological crisis has evident local dimensions, and New Jersey artists and arts institutions have, in the past twenty-four months, responded to the alarm. Ocean pollution is the explicit subject of Amanda Thackray’s “Surface Tension,” now up at the Lemmerman Gallery; Cheryl Gross’s recent Eonta Space presentation of drawings of threatened animals was similarly themed, and similarly urgent. MANA Contemporary rang all the bells at the station in “Confronting the Enormity of Climate Change,” a group show that included a mural-sized illustration of a trash heap and a graphic filmed depiction of the California fires.

“Bodies of Water” is not that kind of show. It does not shout. It hums like a bumblebee on a blooming vine. But this solo exhibition of new paintings on canvas and works on paper by Rebecca N. Johnson, on view at Deep Space Gallery (77 Cornelison Ave.) through October 31, feels like a gentler response to the same ferocious anxieties. The world Johnson depicts is hushed and bejeweled with flowers, thick with vegetation, dripping with liquid, populated by women who appear to be outgrowths of the wilderness. Their bodies are festooned with leaves and twigs, their expressions inward and inscrutable, their surroundings honeyed and lush. Many of them are captured in the act of caring for an animal, or a plant, or just themselves: they’ve got a hedgehog handful, or they crouch under a giant blossom that covers their heads like a parasol. And we know, without needing to ask the artist, that this act of caring — for nature, for the fluid and growing, for the forgotten and the feminine — is good and proper, and required of all of us. (Just in case you miss the point, she’s given us a nudge: “Water the Flowers,” one of the drawings recommends.)

The exhibit is twee. The smaller the images get — and some are barely bigger than a playing card — the more desperately adorable they become. Yet “Bodies of Water” is saved from preciousness by the sense of looming danger that these images radiate. Johnson’s subjects never look uncomfortable, but they assume softly defensive positions: bodies protectively folded, kneeling or on haunches, shoulders and elbows tucked in, shielding whatever they’ve got in their hands. Sometimes the frame is made a little too tight for them; sometimes the vegetation stretches from corner to corner. In “Where the Flowers Grow,” one of her larger canvases, a woman with her eyes closed crouches in a thicket that envelops her nude body like a great green blanket. Her long hair, tied in a topknot, merges with the foliage behind her, and a vine wraps possessively around her face. Guarded like a secret, a starburst in vibrant yellow blossoms from her palm. In “Flowers for Friends,” a striking work on paper, another seated woman wraps her arms around her knees and a stem as thick as her ankle that could be growing from her chest. Two giant flowers slither around her in curves that echo the bend of her shoulders and spit colorful petals downward in forked-tongue shapes. One of these floral serpents emits a single drop of blood.

The materials used by Johnson give these effects extra resonance. She juxtaposes fields of opaque flashe paint, even and impassive, with pastels and acrylic ink that swirls, ebbs, and murmurs like watercolors do. Her women, as in “Ossages,” are often dissipating, fading to white, as bodies of water do. Her plants are solid. Many of the figures on the canvases are rendered in lime wash, which is more often used to tint the slats of fences and the walls of cottages in the woods. It all feels minerally, summoned from the earth, as if she’s painting with soil and sand and river-eddies.

Rebecca N. Johnson also contributed work to “Cat Aesthetics,” the feline-themed group show that Deep Space mounted earlier this year. Her “Nocturnal Creatures,” an image of a sad-faced woman merging under the moon with a trio of dissolving black cats, was a humble highlight of that show. It’s therefore fitting that Deep Space has gifted Johnson, one of its quietest star performers, with its first solo exhibition in over a year. “Bodies of Water” plays like a feminine counterpoint to the exciting but thoroughly macho “Walls to Smalls II” — a reminder that acts of resistance need not always be loud. Sometimes they can arrive like a spring breeze, or a whisper, or a soft but unyielding embrace.

 

 

Lewis Spears Jersey City
Lewis Spears

Op Ed: On Vaccines it’s Better to Convince than Attack

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Imagine my surprise when I was asked by the Jersey City Times to submit proof of my vaccination status because of Team Fulop’s latest attacks on Frank Gilmore, independent candidate running for City Council in Ward F.

Although I fundamentally disagree with the premise of “you should tell everyone if you are vaccinated if you wish to run for public office,” I submitted my vaccination card as proof of my status because this is not the hill on which I wish to die.

Let me be clear. I understand the importance of vaccines. But even I had questions for my wife, a doctor, about the vaccine. In the end because she stressed the importance of protecting our family and community, I became vaccinated because I didn’t want to put my sons or the elders in my family at risk.

Black and Brown people in this country have many reasons not to trust the public health system. Anybody with an ounce of empathy or genuinely interested in understanding where vaccine hesitancy is coming from can find readily available information about the Tuskegee experiment, the history of the study of gynecology on Black and Brown women’s bodies, and the forced sterilization of Hispanic women for generations, including most recently in detention centers.

With mistrust built over decades, some people simply do not trust our public health system. And I believe the responsible way to address vaccine hesitancy in our communities is to address people’s fears respectfully. The city should sponsor a multi-lingual public information campaign designed to inform people about why becoming vaccinated is so important.

We need more people to share their journeys publicly, like Frank Gilmore.

Which is why I was so appalled to see both Mayor Fulop and Jake Hudnut call Frank an anti-vaxxer on their social media platforms. Having this kind of vitriol shared from people who wish to lead this city is just downright embarrassing and unnecessary. Are we trying to have a public conversation on the importance of vaccines, or are we weaponizing public sentiment with finger pointing and public shaming to win an election?

Frank Gilmore’s public journey to becoming vaccinated has probably helped people in Jersey City to decide to do the same. He said he had questions. He said he was scared. He never told anybody else not to be vaccinated.  When he did get the vaccine, he shared his experience just as publicly as he shared his concerns. He bravely shared his journey in the public eye, as he always has.

Since then, ugly, and quite frankly, racist rhetoric about Frank’s past has been plastered around the city. What is the mayor’s team hoping to accomplish here? Frank is unapologetic about his past and his redemption, and he’s worked hard to represent the people he already serves in Ward F. Is this what Team Fulop thinks about Ward F, where many in the community are formerly incarcerated? That there can be no road to redemption? That nothing you’ve done since you served your time matters?

The mayors in Trenton and Newark have improved their vaccination rates, fighting vaccine hesitancy by going into communities, meeting residents where they are, and answering their questions with dignity and respect. The mayor of Jersey City is currently running a Facebook ad accusing Frank Gilmore of being an anti-vaxxer.  Our mayor would rather create controversy based on half truths and innuendo to win an election than take the time to address residents’ fears about the vaccine in any meaningful way.

I fully understand that we need everyone to become vaccinated as quickly as possible to win the fight against Covid-19. But I also understand that getting vaccinated is a personal decision. And if we want people to decide to do what is best for all of us, we will never win them over by attacking their choices.

We should demand and expect better from people who wish to hold public office in this city.

 

 

Team Fulop Jersey City
Aaron Morrill

After Denouncing Gilmore “Team” Fulop Takes the Fifth on Vaccinations

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Following last week’s firestorm surrounding the admission by Ward F City Council Candidate Frank “Educational” Gilmore that he had not been vaccinated against Covid-19, Jersey City Times asked all candidates, including the mayor and current council members, to disclose their vaccination statuses.

The results are in and, with the exception of Ward F Councilman Jermaine Robinson, who in an email repeated, without other proof, his claim that he was inoculated, none of the “Team” Fulop members responded to our request.

Seven of 22 candidates provided government issued proof of vaccination. Four others responded but failed to provide government-issued proof of double inoculation with corresponding dates.

The mayor and several members of “Team” Fulop, including Ward E Council Candidate Jake Hudnut and Ward F Councilman Jermaine Robinson, had criticized Gilmore in emails and social media posts. Because the issue had become politicized, and because of the public interest in knowing whether the candidates had followed the guidance of health care professionals, The Jersey City Times argued in an editorial that all candidates should disclose their vaccine statuses.

There was precedent for our request. In July, CNN made a similar request to members of Congress, and the Los Angeles Times made such a request to California legislators. In both cases, substantial numbers of Republicans refused. Almost all Democrats disclosed their statuses.

The Jersey City Times contacted all the candidates on Friday, Oct. 8 for the information and gave them until last night to provide both their status and government-issued proof. We also asked for the dates of the vaccinations to determine whether the person was innoculated prior to the Gilmore revelation.

We did not ask Gilmore for his status but note a photo of his inoculation posted the following day.

We have assigned each candidate a “pass,” “fail,” or “incomplete” grade based on the criteria below.

Pass (provided government-issued proof of inoculation with corresponding dates)

 

Mayoral Candidate Lewis Spears

Council-at-large Candidate Chris Gadsden

Councilman-at-large Rolando Lavarro

Ward B Council Candidate Joel Brooks

Ward C Council Candidate Kevin Bing

Ward E Councilman James Solomon

Ward F Council Candidate Vernon Richardson

Fail (Did not respond)

 

Mayor Steven Fulop

Council-at-large Candidate Amy DeGise

Council-at-large Councilman Daniel Rivera

Council-at-large Councilwoman Joyce Watterman

Ward A Councilwoman Denise Ridley

Ward B Councilwoman Mira Prinz-Arey

Ward C Councilman Richard Boggiano

Ward D Councilman Yousef Saleh

Ward D Council Candidate Danielle Freire

Ward E Council Candidate Jake Hudnut

Incomplete (replied but failed to provide government-issued proof of inoculation with corresponding dates)

 

Council-at-large Candidate Elvin Dominici

Council-at-large Candidate June Jones

Ward A Council Candidate Kristen Zadroga-Hart

Ward C Council Candidate Tom Zuppa

Ward F Councilman Jermaine Robinson

Aaron Morrill

Incendiary Flyers Attacking Gilmore Appear on Cars Throughout Ward F

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To anyone familiar with Ward F Council Candidate Frank “Educational” Gilmore’s backstory, the information on a flyer that appeared on cars throughout the ward this morning is nothing new. Gilmore’s voyage from teenage drug dealer to prison, and then on to Rutgers, is a tale of redemption that has inspired many of his supporters.

Flyers on Cars on Jersey Avenue Jersey City

Flyers on cars on Jersey Avenue

The story of self improvement and community activism that earned Gilmore a gift of $50,000 and a van from Ellen Degeneres on “Ellen’s Greatest Night of Giveaways,” did not, however, dissuade the flyer’s creator. Featuring a photo of Gilmore beneath the word “Guilty” in large red letters on both sides, Gilmore’s purported rap sheet, it charges, among other claims, that Gilmore “Destroyed Black and Latino Families in Ward F.” The author of the flyer is not identified.

Responding to the flyer, Gilmore told JCT, “I’m just going to do the work to advocate and fight for the community. Michelle Obama said it best ‘when they go low, we go high.'”

Mayoral Candidate Lewis Spears was less diplomatic, posting to Facebook, “This is a disgrace… The Kushner family is celebrated in Jersey City through real estate and sweet deals while we vilify Black men.”

The cost of distributing thousands of the slick, glossy card-stock flyers throughout the ward was likely substantial. According to Staples, for instance, the flyers would have cost the unnamed author approximately one dollar apiece.

And according to the Jersey City Municipal Code, the placing of such “handbills” on automobiles is illegal.

Mayor Steven Fulop, who heads up the ticket that includes Gilmore opponent and Ward F Councilman Jermaine Robinson, has described the city’s efforts to help former convicts transition back into society “a national model with leaders around the country looking to Jersey City as an example of how reintegration can be successfully replicated in other cities.” Speaking at a prisoner re-entry conference in 2016, he decried the “knee-jerk reaction” that make such reintegration difficult.

Requests for comments from Robinson and “Team Fulop” spokesperson Phil Swibinski went unanswered.

 

Crime Scene Tape
Jersey City Times Staff

Three Victims in Bergen-Lafayette Shooting

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Three people were shot tonight in Bergen-Lafayette.

According to multiple reports, the three individuals were shot at the intersection of Myrtle and Ocean Avenues at approximately 10:22 p.m.

Detectives from “BCI” were on their way to process the crime scene, which was described as “big.”

The three victims were taken to Jersey City Medical Center. One was shot in the ankle and arm. The other two were hit in a thigh. All three were listed in stable condition.