For Immediate Release: Contact: Heather Taylor
April 1, 2010 (732)548-9798 x1

CITIZENS LAUNCH A JERSEY CITY CALL TO SERVICE
Jersey City, N.J. — Civic JC, the Downtown Coalition of Neighborhood Associations, the Heights Coalition, the West Bergen/Lincoln Park Neighborhood Association and the Citizens’ Campaign are leading a Call to Service in Jersey City, to increase citizen participation in community and City service opportunities.

The Call to Service was kicked-off last November in City Hall with a free community forum about the appointments process and the political leveraging techniques for getting appointed to serve on a local Board/Commission/Agency/Authority. The next installment of the Call to Service will be on Saturday, April 10th at 11am.

This effort is part of the Citizens’ Campaign’s “Jersey Call to Service,” a statewide public service initiative to inspire citizens to participate in the leadership of their communities and reverse the tide of government waste and corruption.

Jersey City has 40 boards and commissions for residents to serve on, and which offer the opportunity for community leaders to have a substantial impact in city public policy. Attendees to this forum will get inside tips for seeking and gaining appointment, and learn about current service opportunities in Jersey City.

The Call to Service free one-hour leadership forum will be held on Saturday, April 10th, at 11:00 am in Dinneen Hall, St. Peter’s College (JFK Blvd & Montgomery St).

The Jersey Call to Service focuses on 4 powerful service opportunities, they are: 1) Serving on an appointed local board or commission; 2) Serving as a neighborhood-level party committeeperson; 3) Becoming a citizen legislator by devising a constructive common-interest proposal and presenting it to a relevant government body; and 4) Serving as a “Citizen Journalist” to report from the frontlines what is happening in City Hall.

The Call to Service forum is free and open to the public, if you are interested in attending please RSVP to info@civicjc.org.

For more information on the Jersey Call to Service, visit www.JoinTheCampaign.com.

Public gets left out in rush to seal deal

Monday, January 14, 2008

New development along the Newark Bay side of Jersey City is always welcome. The tentative settlement with Honeywell International Inc. is expected to spur construction of housing, office buildings and shops on about 80 acres and provide more open space on nearly 20 acres.

This newspaper has editorialized that on the surface it appears to be a good deal.

What sends up a small red flag is the speed at which this settlement and major development project was rammed through the City Council, whose members hardly asked a question but nevertheless unanimously approved the agreement.

This deal was supposedly negotiated over the course of a year. Yet, the public announcement about the proposed development and the agreements between the city and Honeywell, and then the council's vote, all took place in less than one week.

The question here is when will there be any time for any substantial public input? Will it be during Planning Board sessions when Honeywell sells property to potential builders - after the financial considerations in the agreement are completed?

Honeywell is expected to buy the 41 acres of city land currently occupied by the DPW, the Municipal Utilities Authority and the Incinerator Authority, and then sell - after a chromium clean-up - this land and roughly 60 acres the company already owns, to builders who agree to follow redevelopment plans drawn up by the city.

Members of the public did not have enough time to question this deal. Where are the DPW, MUA and Incinerator Authority being moved? Apparently there is no plan for such a move, because Ward B Councilwoman Mary Spinello objected to plans to move these government facilities to the Marion section of the city. Now the MUA will stay where it is, but it will be rebuilt as a streamlined facility. The other two have yet to find new homes.

Perhaps the reason city officials want to expedite the agreement is that there is a hole in the city budget that has to be closed. Quarterly tax bills have gone out and there are some angry homeowners. The Healy administration wants to repair the damage, and this deal will do it.

Honeywell has agreed to upfront payments of $15 million this year and $10 million next year, money that would come out of the city's 40 percent share on the land sales to developers.

Development on the west side can only help this city, but the administration should have given its citizens time to digest what is being offered.

© 2008 The Jersey Journal
© 2008 NJ.com All Rights Reserved.

The Reservoir Alliance, and the people of Jersey City, thousands of who have actively supported the Reservoir, are excited that Mayor Jerramiah Healy has announced the city’s decision to preserve the Reservoir's natural and historic treasures as a park.

The Reservoir Alliance looks forward to working with Jersey City on these next steps that must be taken to follow through on its commitment:

• Draft Site Plan - for the Jersey City Parks Master Plan, being developed by T & M Associates. Key design principles to protect and enhance the historic and natural resources of the Reservoir.

• Put all 13 acres of the Reservoir on Jersey City's open space and parks inventory - Protecting it from ill-advised development, and making funding and grants from sources like NJ Green Acres available.

• Programs: Recreation, Nature, Historic, and Educational - Continue partnering of the Alliance with the City's Department of Recreation and the Division of Cultural Affairs, as well as groups like Hoboken Cove Boathouse, and seeking funding for these programs.

• Historic Structures Report - Assessment by qualified experts of the Reservoir's historic structures and fabric, for preservation, restoration, and reuse; using the grant and guidelines from the Hudson County Open Space Trust.

• Environmental Survey - Review the natural features of the Reservoir including lake and wetlands, trees, plants, birds, fish, and animals.

• Formal Site Plan - Development by qualified experts of an incremental plan for the future of the Reservoir, preserving it as a natural retreat from the surrounding city, and as an environmental, historical, educational, and passive recreation resource.

For more information, please visit - Jersey City Reservoir Preservation Alliance