COVID-19 Crisis has changed all our lives within a month or more. There is no getting around it, this is our new norm as evidenced in Bayonne at the corner of 26th Street and Broadway, located in front of Bayonne’s Main Library, as someone has seen fit to cover the mouth and nose of this statue as a reminder to wear your mask.
Let this statue serve as a reminder to keep each other safe when going outside.
Residents’ Health and Safety Remains Top Priority, includes Mental and Physical Wellbeing amid Quarantine
As of Monday, April 27th, the following five parks spanning the city will reopen with restrictions:
Enos Jones Park
Berry Lane Park
Audubon Park
Leonard Gordon Park
Pershing Field
JERSEY CITY – Mayor Steven M. Fulop announces the reopening of five major parks throughout Jersey City as a first step to safely help residents restore their routines through outdoor exercise and recreational activities while adhering to social distancing measures. The parks will be open for residents to enjoy the fresh air from dawn to dusk for jogging, walking, and all non-contact activities following the health and safety protocols in place.
Bayonne Mayor Jimmy Davis announced
that the City of Bayonne will have an Earth Day Clean-Up At Home on Saturday,
April 25, with a rain date of Sunday, April 26.
Mayor Davis said, “Earlier this year, we had big plans for a citywide
Earth Day clean-up that would have involved groups of people working together,
followed by a major celebration. Due to
the Coronavirus, those plans had to be cancelled.†Mayor Davis continued, “We can still honor
Earth Day. Although we cancelled plans
for doing something big leading to a party at DiDomenico-16th Street
Park, we can still do something local and effective. Put on a face mask and gloves, step outside,
and clean up around your own home or business.
Let’s try to keep at least the front of our properties tidy. This can
make a big difference for our neighborhoods.â€
April 25, 2020, Jersey City, NJ – Hudson
County Community College’s (HCCC) Division of Continuing Education and
Workforce Development (CEWD) is offering a roster of online enrichment
workshops and classes during the COVID-19 pandemic pause. Topics range from
brand management to e-commerce, social media, and retirement planning;
mastering Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint; and much more.
HCCC
Dean of Continuing Education and Workforce Development, Lori Margolin, said
that the College is committed to ensuring these offerings are provided with the
same high quality and support that students receive at HCCC in-person workshops
and classes. To assist “Learn from Home†students, the College has established
a guide to accessing remote CEWD services, complete with contact information
for assistance.
Hudson County actress Tammy Blanchard was nominated on April 21, 2020 for a Drama Desk Award for her performance as Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors.
Blanchard has received many excellent reviews for her portrayl of Audrey since the official opening in October 2019.
The Drama Desk Awards were begun in 1955. The members of the Drama Desk are almost all theater critics and journalists. The Drama Desk Awards are the only awards that consider Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-off-Broadway shows together in the same competitive categories.
According to Wikipedia- An Off-Broadway reviva of Little Shop of Horrors at the Westside Theatre began previews on September 17, 2019, with an official opening on October 17, 2019. The cast starred Jonathan Groff as Seymour (Gideon Glick replaced him from November 5–17 and from January 21 to March 11, 2020), Tammy Blanchard as Audrey, Christian Borle as Orin and Tom Alan Robbins as Mr. Mushnik. Michael Mayer directs with choreography by Ellenore Scott. The lighting designer is Bradley King.[44][45]
LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS suspended all performances on March 11, 2020 through June 7, 2020 due to the Coronavirus Pandemic
JERSEY CITY –Mayor Steven M. Fulop announces today he
will propose at the next council meeting the withdrawal of the Arts Referendum
planned for the November ballot to allow voters to decide on the establishment
of an Arts and Culture Trust Fund. The proposal to implement the special
levy was announced in February,
following years of working alongside local arts organizations to lobby state
legislators to implement the mechanisms that would allow for long-term arts
funding.
“We were the first to put out an actionable plan supporting
sustainable funding to benefit our burgeoning arts industry and our
residents, but the world is changed today and we want to minimize the impact on
our taxpayers as much as possible,†said Mayor Fulop. “There
is a lot of uncertainty between now and November, so we want to do the
responsible thing and start making the tough decisions now so that we can
better plan as we come to realize the full magnitude of the pandemic’s economic
impacts.”
Freeze
applies to this year’s Summer and Fall semester sessions
and 2021 Winter, Spring and First Summer sessions.
April 21, 2020, Jersey City, NJ –Hudson
County Community College (HCCC) President
Dr. Chris Reber announced that the College’s Board of Trustees unanimously
voted to maintain the current cost of tuition and fees for the 2021 fiscal year
with no increases.
“Our
students are experiencing significant economic pressure as a result of the COVID-19
pandemic. All of us at HCCC are dedicated to doing everything we can to ensure
their health and safety, and to assist them in realizing their academic goals,â€
stated HCCC Board Chair William J. Netchert, Esq.
First Phase of Program Targets Local Small Businesses; City will Match NJEDA Grants, Doubling Financial Assistance for Local Small Businesses Amid Crisis
JERSEY CITY – Following Mayor Steven Fulop’s announcement that he will introduce an ordinance with the Jersey City Municipal Council to freeze rent increases within rent controlled buildings, Mayor Fulop is unveiling a program of local grants to support small businesses that are facing financial hardships due to the current Covid-19 crisis.
The small business grant program will entail the City of Jersey City matching 100% of any state grants awarded to Jersey City applicants of the NJ Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) Small Business Emergency Assistance Grant Program, which goes live from Friday, April 3rd to April 10th. The local Jersey City program will be administered through the Jersey City Economic Development Corporation (JCEDC), a 501c3 nonprofit.
“We’ve been working to stay ahead of the curve by anticipating our residents’ and business owners’ needs to survive this pandemic not only from a health standpoint, but also economically which could further devastate our community,†said Mayor Fulop. “We decided to structure local programs that fully complement the state and federal program so that our local businesses can get a much needed advantage. We are achieving that here with short term grants up to $10,000 per business.â€
The Administration will use available CDBG funds to match the $1,000 to $5,000 in state funding being made available to small businesses and nonprofits with a physical storefront.
“As a city, we believe in small businesses and their contribution to the economy, which is why providing a matching grant program is essential,†said Council President Joyce Watterman. “Small businesses are the backbone of our city, and are among those who need financial help the most right now. This financial boost will really help businesses get back on their feet.â€
The JCEDC is already working with local community partners to highlight this opportunity for small businesses and nonprofits, which is the latest step towards providing financial relief to those who need it most during this crisis.
“The money we match will be used to help with payroll and provide working capital with the goal of retaining employees,†said Vivian Brady-Phillips, Vice Chair of the JCEDC. “The business owner must certify as to the COVID-19 related need for financial support and be committed to retaining employees. This is key for both businesses and the workers who also live in our community.â€
The application for the NJEDA Small Business Grant program will be available on https://cv.business.nj.gov beginning at 9 a.m. tomorrow.
The pandemic we are facing has brought challenges to nearly every aspect of our community. We continue to see the number of positive cases rise. As of today, April 2nd, we have 902 cases and 26 fatalities – both of which are the highest in New Jersey. Our thoughts continue to be with those families that are dealing firsthand with someone that has the virus or a family member that has been lost due to the virus.
You should know that as a City, we are focused very much on the here and now with regards to making sure people are safe – that is our number one priority – but we must also plan for tomorrow, for how our Jersey City community will recover months from now. While we continue to stay home and continue to practice social distancing, we know that many of the small businesses that are the fabric of our community are suffering. From closing their doors indefinitely to having the lay off staff, we know that they have already made challenging business decisions, with a long road ahead. We are now seeing some relief programs in place at the federal and state levels for small businesses. I know for many this will not be enough and for that reason, we are launching some local initiatives to help small businesses and their employees. For those businesses in Jersey City that use the state grant program, we will match at the local level every dollar of the state grant they receive to enhance the help for our small businesses. We will literally double the grant you receive from the state and all you have to do is apply. Our goal with local programs like this is to think strategically on how we can leverage existing programs at the state or federal level and enhance them so that Jersey City businesses gain an advantage. With this program we are launching tomorrow, small businesses and nonprofits with a storefront can receive up to $10,000 as a grant.
I know these times are tough, but you should know that we will continue to work at the local level to confront the challenges together and we will get through this.
A lifestyle and entertainment publication serving the Jersey City, Hoboken, Bayonne, Weehawken, West New York, North Bergen, Cliffside Park, Edgewater, Secaucus and Guttenberg Waterfront Communities