The Jersey City Board of Education – with a push from the advocacy group Jersey City Together and financial help from the city’s Municipal Utilities Authority – is soon to start the final phase of a multi-year campaign to ensure that students are drinking clean, safe water in their schools’ water fountains. At a press […]
Ron Leir
Ron Leir has been a journalist since 1972. That includes a 37-year stint as a reporter, copy reader and assistant editor with The Jersey Journal, followed by a decade as a reporter with The Observer in Kearny. He has also pursued his avocation of acting, appearing mostly on small stages in NYC and New Jersey and several independent films.
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Right-To-Counsel Moves Forward, Smoke Shops to be Licensed
The Jersey City City Council Wednesday night took the first step to establishing a “Right to Counsel” for the city’s tenants who comprise about 70 percent of the population and who, advocates say, face increasing prospects of evictions by landlords’ hiking rents to unprecedented numbers. Tenants at Portside Towers on the city’s waterfront, in particular, […]
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City Unveils Mural Saluting Tuskegee Airmen with Local Roots
This past Saturday, during a “Special Remembrance” ceremony at the Pershing Field Veterans Community Center, Jersey City unveiled a mural dedicated to city residents who served with the Tuskegee Airmen, a unit of Black military pilots and crew members who served primarily in World War II. Assemblyman Raj Mukherji (D-33rd district), a Marine Corps veteran, told the crowd […]
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“They Won the Battle But Not the War,” Says Union Chief
Santo Della Monica, president of Local 245, is unbowed following an unfavorable arbitration ruling that could cost the union over $20 million. “They won the battle but not the war. … This is only step one. We’re going to step two.” Based on a technicality, a state arbitrator ruled May 18 that Jersey City has […]
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State Report Faults NJCU’s Prior Administrators for Bad Management
The New Jersey Office of the State Comptroller concluded that New Jersey City University’s “improper budgeting” of federal COVID-19 relief funding led to a $14 million deficit one year later. Acting Comptroller Kevin Walsh said his office found that NJCU had planned to use its $14 million in federal Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund allocation […]
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Jersey City Honors Pair of Local Heroes at City Council Meeting
A city school crossing guard and the city’s “Senior of the Year” were recognized for their dedicated public service at Wednesday night’s meeting of the City Council of Jersey City. The honorees were: Samuel Ortiz Jr., whose quick action helped prevent potential loss of lives and property during the initial stages of a 4-alarm fire […]
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Council to Vote on $57 Million in Debt to Cover Massive Budget Deficit
At last night’s City Council meeting, lawmakers moved ahead on a plan to finance a massive $57 million budget deficit that administration officials blame on the Covid-19 pandemic with a form of debt called “special emergency notes.” Since the start of the pandemic, administration officials say Jersey City has racked up nearly $93 million in […]
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Council Delays Pool Fees, Bans Dirt Bikes and Punts on Fire Pits
After hearing constituents’ pleas to keep Jersey City’s two outdoor pools free, the City Council Wednesday night obliged—but only by kicking the can down the road. At the suggestion of Ward A Councilmember Mira Prinz-Arey, the governing body agreed to defer imposition of entrance fees for the Pavonia Pool and Lafayette Aquatic Center to Memorial […]
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Bergen-Lafayette Twins Create Award-Winning Fashion Brand
Working from their home office in Jersey City’s Bergen-Lafayette neighborhood, twin sisters Yvette and Eva Estime have created an award-winning brand of women’s fashion accessories called “Dirty Celebrity” notable for sustainability. According to Urban Dictionary, “Dirty Celebrity” is a “style of fashion worn by modelxcore girls” and consists of “designer clothes mixed with grunge or […]
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Fulop Administration to Cut Free Swimming in Outdoor Pools
The Fulop Administration has proposed cutting free swimming at Jersey City’s outdoor pools. For the first time in recent memory, kids and adults will have to ante up to use the two outdoor municipal pools — Pavonia/Marion Municipal Pool, 914 Pavonia Ave., and Lafayette Aquatic Center, 303 Van Horne St. — starting this summer. And […]