Hoboken's Zoning Board unanimously approved a proposal last week for a 12-story building at 1415 14th St. that will include donated space for one of the city's two charter schools. In addition to carving out 180 condos, 371 parking spaces, and some retail space, developer Bijou Properties is donating 46,000 square feet in the building for the Elysian Charter School.
The plot of land is currently shared by the Park on Park Garage and an undeveloped dirt lot located on 15th Street between Garden Street and Park Avenue. Mass transit, new revenue sources, and the quality of life were the main topics as Mayor Jerramiah Healy gave his first State of the City Address since taking office in fall of 2004. About 200 people, many of whom were city officials and employees, were attendance in the auditorium of Middle School 4 on Bright Street Tuesday night.
Among the prominent names attending were U.S. Rep.
Albio Sires and Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise, who gave the introduction for the speech. Healy spoke for 30 minutes and addressed five points: public safety and crime, the quality of life, economic development and fiscal responsibility, the environment, and integrity in government. Ward E Councilman Steven Fulop mailed surveys in late January to an estimated 25,000 residents, asking for their input about the city.
But was the mass mailing conducted simply to accrue knowledge, or is the Fulop preparing for a possible mayoral run in 2009? Fulop, who turns 30 this Wednesday, said he created the survey to do what he called a "performance review" of city government, a gesture that could be informed by his experience in the business sector working for the New York City-based financial firm Citigroup. "Politicians don't do this and they should do this," said Fulop.
"You work for the people and the residents are the ones who know best what's happening in their city." But the 25,000 residents don't all live in Ward E, which includes the downtown area of the city near the waterfront. "This is just Fulop getting ready for a run at the mayor's office in 2009," mused Healy.
Overhearing Healy was longtime friend and local radio host Pat O' Melia, who said he not gotten a card but would fill one out live on his weekly radio show. "The mayor should be doing this," said O'Melia. "He should be sending the survey.
It shouldn't be a councilman from Ward E." City Councilman Steve Lipski, a rival of Fulop's who represents Ward C, did not receive a survey but he was not impressed upon hearing about it. "[Fulop] does not want to see what I am going to write," said Lipski.
"I also don't need a survey to know what to do." Lipski lives in the St. John's Apartments on St.
Paul's Ave. His ward spans from Journal Square to part of the Heights. Why do buildings in downtown Jersey City have names like Luker Bros.
and Guaranty Trust? Some tell a story of businesses that rose and fell, while others are branded near the roof to memorialize a former use of the facility. The law allowing for civil unions was signed by Governor Jon Corzine in December, but went into effect on Monday.
In Jersey City, that meant couples were going into the City Clerk's Office to fill out their applications for a civil union. After a 72-hour waiting period, they received their licenses. Jersey City City Clerk Robert Byrne said that as of 10 a.
m. Thursday, 15 applications were filled out. Later that day, according to Walt Boraczek, president of the Hudson Diversity Action Council, at least two Jersey City couples were planning to get married in private once they got their licenses.
Boraczek, a gay man, does not have a partner, but was enthusiastic about what transpired last week. "The whole week of events has been a long time coming," said Boraczek. "I think people did take advantage, especially if you were a couple who had been together for so long.
" That, Byrne explained, means filing papers in State Superior Court and the court would have to adjudicate if there is alimony and custody of children involved. The concept of privatizing New Jersey's toll roads ran into a rhetorical roadblock at a public hearing in Secaucus last week. Members of the State Assembly and the public gathered on Feb.
15 at Secaucus Town Hall for the first scheduled statewide hearing designed to explore the possibility of leasing the New Jersey Turnpike. The Corzine administration, seeking to address New Jersey's $100 billion in state debt, is seriously considering letting a private company operate and maintain the Turnpike, as well as other prominent toll roads, such as the Garden State Parkway and the Atlantic City Expressway. Jimmy Hayes has been performing with the popular a capella singing group, the Persuasions, almost a half century now.
"In April, it will be 45 years together," said Hayes, who will bring his group to Weehawken for the third time Saturday night, as part of a special concert produced by both the Hudson Riverfront Performing Arts Center and the Weehawken township council. "We've been through a whole lot and we keep on hanging on. When we started out, a capella was dead and gone.
Another era of music was coming in, called the 'British Invasion,' headed by the Beatles. But somehow, we survived. We maintained and survived.
And we're still here." Saturday's event is being called a "special Weehawken community concert," which is free like most HRPAC concerts, but tickets are needed to attend the 7:30 p.m.
show at the Weehawken High School auditorium. Lifelong Weehawken resident Katie Lynch-Ferrante is finishing up her studies at William Paterson University, where she is majoring in history, with the intent of becoming a teacher. In fact, Lynch-Ferrante is already student teaching in Clifton at a learning center, working with special needs students there.
"Some of the students there participate in Special Olympics," Lynch-Ferrante said. "Just from working there, I wanted to do something to help them." Lynch-Ferrante saw a flier for the annual Polar Bear Plunge, the largest fundraising effort by the New Jersey Special Olympics.
Participants collect pledges from businesses and private donors and then take to Seaside Heights to plunge into the frigid waters of the Atlantic Ocean Saturday, Feb. 24. With several of New Jersey's professional sports teams heading to other arenas in the next few years, a new panel of officials is considering what to do with the Continental Airlines Arena in the Meadowlands.
The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority (NJSEA) announced at its Feb. 15 meeting that it had created a subcommittee to evaluate the long-term future of the facility, which is one of the most critical components of the Meadowlands Sports Complex. The construction of the Red Bull Park soccer stadium in Harrison, expected to be completed in 2008, and the Prudential Center in Newark, expected to be done by 2007, means that the older Meadowlands sports venue will now face stiff competition.
In 1835, a New York man of faith named John Furley and his wife, Mary, moved from Manhattan to Secaucus with the hope of establishing a Baptist church and preaching the Gospel on the western side of the Hudson River. Furley, a devout member of the South Baptist Church in New York, had apparently become upset with the "wickedness and depravity" that was found in New York, so he moved to New Jersey to spread the word here. A year later, Furley and Rev.
Charles Sommers, the pastor of the South Baptist Church, encouraged five people from New York to be baptized off a branch of the Hackensack River, believed to be in Secaucus. Soon after, more converts moved to New Jersey and formed their own church, complete with their own church constitution and Articles of Faith, written with verses from the Scripture. Get ready to shake your shamrocks at Hoboken's annual St.
Patrick's Day parade, which is set for this Saturday, March 3 at 1 p.m. This is the 20th year for the festivities, which start at the corner of 14th and Washington streets.
They precede the actual St. Pat's Day by two weeks, so that Hoboken can get the best bands and performers. Grand Marshal Sean Hession, who is the well-known owner of Willie McBride's and Busker's Bar Grill in Hoboken, will lead the parade as it heads down Washington Street to City Hall.
Thousands of people pack the mile-square city for the parade and the all-day festivities at the local bars and restaurants. Whether you are Irish or just Irish for the day, this annual event is fun for everyone. Jersey City is gearing up for the next installment of "JC Fridays," a free all-day event of art, music, dance, photography, theater, film, spoken word, and more at various locations throughout the city on Friday, March 2.
Now almost at the two-year mark, JC Fridays has tripled in size from a dozen venues to over 28 free events to choose from. This is the eighth "Friday," and it includes brand new artist collaborations and two spring fashion shows. With so many things to see and do, each event has something for everyone.
In the spring of 2005, major art leaders in Jersey City reached out to the community in order to promote the art scene in Jersey City. They wanted to find a way to bring the art community, art lovers, residents, and business owners together. Yeah, I made a good amount of money on Hoboken St.
Patrick's Day - at least I used to, before it became such a headache. While certain members of the community may deem it unsavory, it has been legal to own and operate a bar in this country since December 5, 1933. However, to this day it remains one of the most scrutinized industries in the land.
The smoking ban already hurt the bar industry, and because bar owners are now required to make their patrons smoke outside, neighbors are complaining about an issue that the bars had opposed in the first place. Now, the problems are being compounded by the city of Hoboken attempting to limit hours of operation on ONE DAY (St. Pat's parade day, March 3) - a day where they are absolutely guaranteed to make money, and these precious hours of operation translate into thousands of dollars.
Bar owners are beginning to wonder when and where it's going to stop. The female-fronted band Plastiq Passion is bringing something new to the local music scene. In an age of garage and feel-good tribute bands, Plastiq Passion is turning back the clock to a time when anguished, edgy music was the pick of the day.
With haunting melodies and emotionally raw music, the band takes their cue from popular alternative bands like the Cure and Depeche Mode. The group is making their way at well-known music venues in Manhattan and Hudson County. The pair went through a several drummers before the line-up solidified last year, with the addition of Matt Conti on bass and Cecilia Song on drums.
According to Chaos, their last drummer, Tara Waters, performed on the album but couldn't continue because of conflicts with law school. A serial killer is stalking Hoboken and Hoboken Police Department Detective Captain Anthony Falco is one of the first victims. But no one will know the details of the murder until June 1, when Polycarp, a horror and mystery movie that Falco's Hoboken Pictures is executive producing, premieres at the Hoboken International Film Festival, which runs through to June 7.
Falco and his partner B.J. Davis are working alongside film festival proprietor and former Hoboken resident Ken del Vecchio on the film, which has been shooting at several locations in and around town for the past month.
According to del Vecchio, who wrote the film's script, Polycarp is not your typical slasher scream-fest. "I didn't want to do your standard horror movie," he said. "This one is riddled with the occult and psychology.
It's more intellectual." Discrimination is a touchy subject that most movie-makers steer clear of. But Italian-American screenwriters/actors Adam Piacente and Frank Fata tackle the taboo topic head-on in their short film "Typecasted.
" The short was honored this past November by the 2006 New York International Film Video Festival, and won for the Best Comedic Short. In the movie, Tony (Piacente) and Angelo (Fata) are sick of being stereotyped. Through their experiences at a series of auditions they realize that they may be forever condemned to playing mafia guys, goons, and goombas.
But Tony and Angelo decide that they don't want to play into the prejudices. Throughout the film, they prove that there is more to Italian culture than just meatballs and the mob, and they do it eliciting a few laughs along the way.
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