Category Archives: General

General

Golden Gloves on the Jersey Waterfront Local Boxers Train Hard to be Contenders

  Bouts on March 24th , March 30 and April 7th

By Sally Deering 

Photos by Sally Deering and Joe Botti

Union City Boxing TeamInside an old municipal building and up a steep flight of wooden stairs is a world of sweat and hope, a cavernous space filled young men and women who bring their dreams of championship titles and Olympic gold medals into the four-sided ring of the Union City Boxing Club. Joe Botti, a Union City Police Lieutenant and former amateur boxer has been running the Union City Boxing Club for 23 years and on a recent March evening, the gym is filled to capacity as Botti and his team of volunteer trainers help young boxers train for the 2012 New Jersey Golden Gloves. “We’ve had 29 Golden Gloves Champs,” Botti says, lacing up a young hopeful’s shiny red gloves, “and hopefully this year we’ll have our 30th. We have five team trophies.” Two boxers who train there are Juan Rodriguez, who won the Golden Gloves in 2009 in the Open Class and Jason Escalera, who won Open Class in 2008; now they’re both professionals. A young fighter being coached by Joe Botti

“They used Golden Gloves as a jumpstart to professional careers,” Botti says.

Herkin DeLaRosa, 20, of Union City, has 26 fights under his belt and sees a Golden Gloves title as his opportunity to go pro.

“Everybody wants to be a Golden Gloves champion,” DeLaRosa says. “It means a lot of hard work. It’s like a goal to me. I get to compete in the Nationals.”

DeLaRosa is one of ten boxers at the Union City Gym who will be competing in the 2012 New Jersey Golden Gloves amateur boxing championship’s preliminaries for a shot at the nationals.

The team also includes Felix Tejada, Jose Aviles and Johnny Hernandez of Union City; William Arevalo, Anthony Valentini, Jarrett Blair and Gino Montero of Jersey City; Carlos Lopez of North Bergen; and Hector Melendez of Hoboken.

Melendez, 17, has won 20 fights and two Diamond Glove championships. He also takes AP classes at Hoboken High School and plans to major in economics in college.

“I want 70 amateur fights before I go pro,” Melendez says. “I want to travel, spar in different places. I’m trying to get experience. I only lost one fight. I think boxing will open doors for me.”

Melendez also has high praises for his trainer.

“Joe Botti, he’s great,” Melendez says. “It’s not about money; he does this for free. He cares about his fighters. He does a lot for us and we do for him. I fight hard in the ring. It’s my way of paying him back. It’s not always about boxing. It’s about family. He’s like a dad.”

Going for the Gold Continue reading Golden Gloves on the Jersey Waterfront Local Boxers Train Hard to be Contenders →

General

Hudson County Community College and Saint Peter’s College Sign Historic Transfer Agreement

Agreement will enable HCCC Associate’s degree grads to continue studies towards Bachelor’s degrees at SPC at NJ state college tuition rates

Hudson County Community College and Saint Peter’s College signed documents formalizing the memorandum of understanding between the two colleges. Seated from left: HCCC President Dr. Glen Gabert and SPC President Dr. Eugene Cornacchia. Standing from left: SPC Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Marylou Yam and HCCC Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Eric Fri               

March 23, 2012, Jersey City, NJ – On Wednesday morning, Hudson County Community College (HCCC) President Dr. Glen Gabert and Saint Peter’s College (SPC) President Dr. Eugene Cornacchia signed a memorandum of agreement that will allow HCCC graduates to transfer their credits to, and complete their baccalaureate studies at, SPC for the same tuition students would pay at a New Jersey state college. The signing of the agreement took place in the HCCC Culinary Arts Institute/Conference Center on the College’s Journal Square Campus in Jersey City.

Continue reading Hudson County Community College and Saint Peter’s College Sign Historic Transfer Agreement →

General

Jersey City to Celebrate Women’s History Month With Group Art Exhibit Featuring Both Local and World Renowned Artists

JERSEY CITY – Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy, the Municipal Council, the Department of Health and Human Services/Division of Cultural Affairs will host an art reception on Tuesday, March 27, 2012 for the Women’s History Month Group Exhibition from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in City Hall, 280 Grove Street. Continue reading Jersey City to Celebrate Women’s History Month With Group Art Exhibit Featuring Both Local and World Renowned Artists →

General

Jersey City Celebrates Women’s History Month with the 14th Annual “Women of Action Awards

Mayor Healy and Municipal Council to Recognize Twenty-Seven Outstanding Women

Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy, the Municipal Council, and the Department of Health and Human Services/Division of Cultural Affairs will honor 27 outstanding women during the 14th Annual “Women of Action” Awards Ceremony, in celebration of Women’s History Month. The event will take place at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 29, 2012 in the Council Chambers in City Hall, located at 280 Grove Street.

“Generations of women have taken the lead throughout history making significant contributions that have shaped our lives,” said

Mayor Healy. “In paying tribute to them, we are also expressing our gratitude for all they have done for us and recognize their commitment to improving the lives of the people in their community.” Women’s History Month is a great occasion that honors the women who have shaped history and touched so many lives. Sharing their stories of steadfast determination also teaches future generations that anything is within reach as long as they believe in themselves and that there is no obstacle too great for them.

Continue reading Jersey City Celebrates Women’s History Month with the 14th Annual “Women of Action Awards →

General

Jersey City to Honor the Life of Judge Shirley A. Tolentino

 Street Renaming of the Corner of Baldwin & Newark Avenues

 

JERSEY CITY –Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy and members of the Municipal Council will rename the corner of Baldwin and Newark Avenues as Judge Shirley A. Tolentino Avenue in honor of Judge Shirley A. Tolentino at 3:00 p.m. Wednesday, March 21, 2012.

“Judge Shirley A. Tolentino lived an illustrious and full life marked by countless accomplishments,” said Mayor Healy. “Renaming the corner of the Hudson County Courthouse in her honor is only fitting, as she has dedicated decades of her life to serving the courts and the people of our county.”

 

General

DINE OUT FOR CANCER PREVENTION TONIGHT March 20th

Pictued John Minella and Barbara Stamato (Chairpersons of the event) Louis Laico  (Owner of Laico’s ) and Madeline LoRe Chairperson of the foundation

Dine at Laico’s today March 20th, and a portion of the proceeds will benefit the Madline Fiadini LoRe Foundation for Cnacer Prevention. The foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to making cancer prevention programs available to the men and women of Hudson County. Have lunch, dinner or take-out and show your support.

Laico’s is located at 67 Terhunne Avenue Jersey City 201-434-4115. Reservations are suggested, but not required. For more information contact the foundation’s office at 2-1-437-9100. or [email protected]

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General

New Jersey Actor “Joe Sernio” on the Road to Success

By Evelyn Bonilla

Joe Sernio
In the very beginning Sernio’s journey was far off the acting road, a graduate of Chubb Institute, twice to be exact, once with a computer networking degree and the other with a technical support degree he began his life in information technology. But it would be his love of acting and the passion in his heart to follow his dream that would push the young Sernio onto the acting lane. Now several independent films later and former roles on daytimes soap operas Sernio is now following his life’s true passion.

He has received acclaim for his acting and the films he has been a part of; have received a compilation of awards. In retrospect, if you were to watch some of the characters he portrays on film you could see that Sernio has hone his craft and has brought to the film screen an “intensity and dynamic” to his acting.

Sernio has starred in such independent films as “The Roadhouse” Repetition of Change”, “Mourning on Charlotte Street” and currently he has a role in a new film entitled, “A Dance with Andrea.” Sernio is truly dedicated to his films, but in his spare time he is devoted to helping others develop their acting skills as well. Presently he is working with well-known actor Vinny Pastore of Sopranos fame. Pastore has formed a theater company entitled, “The Buffalo Theater Group” which will work on developing new screenplays in addition to reviving iconic works by various playwrights. Continue reading New Jersey Actor “Joe Sernio” on the Road to Success →

General

Bayonne St. Patrick’s Day Parade – Photos 2012

Bayonne Mayor Mark Smith River View Observer
Mayor Mark Smith smiles at the crowds

Enjoying the Bayonne St Paddy's day parade River View Observer Bagpipes make the parade

 

 

 

 

Yesterday, with the sun shining, the crowds smiling, Mayor Smith waving,  Bands and the Bag Pipers  playing; the 2012 Bayonne St. Patrick’s Day parade took place and our River View Observer cameramen where there- Enjoy!

SEE MORE PHOTOS.

 

Continue reading Bayonne St. Patrick’s Day Parade – Photos 2012 →

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Hudson Then . . . Again – Women’s Suffrage Movement 19th and Early 20th Century

By Maureen Wlodarczyk

With about 8 months to go until the presidential election, the raging rhetoric and political pontification threatens to leave potential voters tone-deaf, disgusted, and dubious that their vote matters. That being said, it will do us all good to remember the struggle of one group of Americans desperate to have that right to vote: the ladies of the women’s suffrage movement of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Suffrage Leader Alice Paul

 As early as the 1850s, with the cry “Votes for Women,” suffragettes banded together in pursuit of a place at the ballot box, led by movement pioneers Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. Success remained elusive and as the quest for universal suffrage struggled on at the dawn of the

In the second decade of the 1900s, one Hudson newspaper carried a column titled “Woman’s Suffrage Forum,” a  regular feature that included information on local women’s suffrage lectures, events, news and campaigns and also reported national progress as individual states voted for (or against) extending the right to vote to female residents. In 1915, New Jersey suffrage supporters succeeded in getting the question on a statewide referendum to be voted on in October of that year. In August, as the election drew near and a woman’s right to vote in New Jersey lay in the hands of the men of our state, the pages of local papers carried news of the upcoming arrival of the “suffrage torch” in Jersey City. The torch, symbolically unlit to represent the enlightenment that would come from granting we Jersey girls the right to vote, was to travel throughout the state to raise awareness and popular support for the upcoming suffrage amendment vote. The torch’s travels across the Garden State were to be accompanied by celebrations and ceremonies attended by politicians, prominent citizens and the leaders and members of the Women’s Political Union (WPU).  Continue reading Hudson Then . . . Again – Women’s Suffrage Movement 19th and Early 20th Century →

Dining, General

Dip into The Melting Pot -At this Hoboken Waterfront Bistro Melted Cheese and Chocolate Fondues take Center Stage

  By Sally Deering

It was my first time at a fondue restaurant and I wasn’t sure what to expect when I walked into The Melting Pot on Sinatra Drive in Hoboken, a hip corner bistro where customers dip into delicious cheese and chocolate fondues, dine on tasty salads and cooked-to-order entrees while gazing at the spectacular views of the Manhattan Skyline outside its windows.

The dining experience at The Melting Pot is what co-owner Lina Patel calls “interactive,” because here diners don’t sit back with a knife and fork, they skewer and dip into the melted concoctions made right at their table by the wait-person. This family-owned business, a franchise that started in Florida, is a unique dining experience and a popular Hoboken night spot. On Fridays and Saturdays the 160-seat restaurant gets very busy and reservations are highly recommended. Continue reading Dip into The Melting Pot -At this Hoboken Waterfront Bistro Melted Cheese and Chocolate Fondues take Center Stage →