In a raucous, brightly colored show of strength, members of The Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) rallied at Journal Square on Monday to call for higher wages and better working conditions on construction sites in Jersey City. Union spokesman Rob Lewandowski singled out Eatontown-based contractor Concrete Rising for particular opprobrium. According to Lewandowski, […]
Jersey City Business and Economics
Study: Jersey City is a Tough Place to Start a Business
You’d never know it from the new buildings and restaurants that seem to sprout up seemingly overnight, but Jersey City is a tough place to start a business. At least that’s what a new study from the financial website WalletHub concludes. Of the 100 cities in its ranking of 2023’s best large cities to start […]
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 […]
Heights Vape Shop Raided by Police
Google reviewers give OZ Tobacco and Vape a perfect score of 5. “New shop right in Jersey City with everything you need and more” wrote one fan, Harold Green, in a February post. Apparently, the Jersey City police are not as enamored of OZ, especially the “and more” part. Last night, just before eight, a […]
Fairmount Avenue Couple Converts Vans to High-Tech Campers
I’ve barely gotten out of my car when Sophie Colle apologizes for her English.” Even zo I half bean leaving in Jersey Ceety for sirty years, I half zees accent,” she says sheepishly. A native of Marseille, France, Colle came to Jersey City in 1993 after a short stopover in Brooklyn. But indeed, she still […]
Governor’s Liquor License Plan Lacks Legislative Support, Top Dem Says
Republished courtesy of New Jersey Monitor A leading Senate Democrat said Gov. Phil Murphy’s push to expand the availability of liquor licenses for restaurants and bars has won little support from lawmakers, threatening to doom the administration’s efforts to retool the state’s Prohibition-era liquor laws. “I think the governor’s proposal to expand liquor licenses does […]
Jersey City’s Liberal Cannabis Policy Meets Resistance in the Heights
Jersey City’s the sky’s the limit policy on marijuana dispensaries is suddenly meeting with resistance in the Heights, where residents are concerned about issues ranging from teen smoking to aesthetics. As of March 13, the city’s Cannabis Control Board has approved 44 marijuana dispensaries including a disproportionate number — 14 — in Ward D. In […]
For-Profit Donation Center Comes to Newport Plaza Downtown
Earlier this month a new option for donating clothing and household objects came to Jersey City. GreenDrop®, a for-profit company, is now accepting donations of household objects and clothing on behalf of their local nonprofit partners, in this case the American Red Cross, at its first Jersey City at Newport Plaza Downtown. Community members may […]
While Schools Plead for Help, Many Businesses Escape Payroll Tax
Last week, following Governor Murphy’s proposal to cut $51 million in aid to Jersey City Schools, Board of Education President Natalia Ioffe complained that a payroll tax enacted to support the schools was coming up short. “There seem to be no mechanisms in place to ensure proper collection,” she charged. Ioffe is at least partially […]
Faculty Union Rallies to Press State for Additional Aid for NJCU
They all came: students, teachers, union leaders, politicians from across the board, and, of course, the interim president of New Jersey City University. All of them came Monday to a union-sponsored “Fund NJCU” campus rally to plead the case for the survival of NJCU, to demand that Gov. Phil Murphy and state legislators come to […]