All communities in Jersey City should gather together to protect and improve the precious land we call Liberty State Park.

Juneteenth is sometimes referred to as “Fourth of July for black people.” Reporter and essayist Assata Wright doesn’t view history quite as flatteringly.

A transparent investigation that includes witness interviews and disclosure of all body camera videos is required. Moreover, even if the belt-grabbing allegation is proven to be true, the police department will still have to explain how the baton-wielding officer’s actions were appropriate and, if they weren’t, what discipline the officer will face. The burden will be on the police department to demonstrate that it can credibly investigate itself. If this incident shows that it can’t, it will be time to create a civilian complaint review board.

Jersey City residents stuck at home looked, desperately, to local authorities for answers. That tap, too, ran pretty dry. Neither the municipal government nor Suez, the utility company that provides our water, were forthcoming with answers.

Caven Point is a small, ecologically sensitive twenty one-acre piece of land.  It is unique, precious and fragile.  There isn’t room on it for herons, falcons, seals and golfers.