…the green, green grass of home
By Tom Dwyer
With a population of over 600,000, open space in Hudson County is essential for the well-being of its residents. Open spaces like parks, and having waterfront access, help provide a ‘quality of life’ for a community; an oasis of calm in an urban environment.
Presently, the Hudson County park system is comprised of eight county parks: Stephen R. Gregg Park and Mercer Park in Bayonne, Columbus Park in Hoboken, Lincoln Park and Lincoln Park West in Jersey City, James Braddock Park in North Bergen, Washington Park in Union City and Northern Jersey City, West Hudson Park in Harrison  and Laurel Hill Park in Secaucus. The largest and oldest park is Lincoln Park in Jersey City, created in 1905 with 277 acres.  Most of these parks have been in use for decades providing open space for special events, sports, parties, and being one with nature.
Tom McCann, the Director of Parks for Hudson County, knows better than anyone the day-to-day operation in keeping the parks up and running. “If you just take Lincoln Park where on a good day we see two thousand people, and multiply that by 365 days, you’re looking at a million visitors to just that park alone. So that gives you an idea how popular our parks are.â€
With one hundred and twenty-five employees, McCann runs a small army of trades people, his own forestry, mechanics, and over four-hundred pieces of equipment to keep the parks operating. Over the past few years, Hudson County has invested close to fifteen million dollars on upgrading the tennis facilities in the Hudson County park system. “Most people don’t know that we have the best public tennis system around in our parks. People come from all over to use our courts. And, we don’t charge,†McCann said. They have also invested in new ball fields and track facilities. “With over fifty organizations including Hudson County schools using the park facilities for their sports’ events, more open space in Hudson County is a priority,†McCann stated.
What would Sinatra, Sammy and Dean think about the Ocean series? In this next installment Danny Ocean (George Clooney) and his ever expanding band of merry men plot their latest heist. Also starring, of course, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Bernie Mac, Don Cheadle and Carl Reiner. But joining the cast are Al Pacino and Ellen Barkin, one of whom will play Danny’s love interest.
Off the front pages this story is Based on the horrific true story of Danny Pearl (Dan Futterman), the Wall Street Journal reporter who was abducted by terrorists in Karachi, Pakistan. When his wife Marianne (Angelina Jolie) hears the dire news, she rushes overseas to find Danny before he is executed. Alas, she never did …
He’s back and once again controversial filmmaker Michael Moore aims his camera and this time he looks at the diseased American health care industry for his latest documentary.
* Hemingway Days: Fans of Ernest Hemingway’s literature and lifestyle commemorate the author’s July birthday each year in Key West, the island where the author lived and wrote throughout the 1930s. Events include a “Papa” Hemingway Look-Alike contest at Sloppy Joe’s Bar, the catch-and-release Drambuie Key West Marlin Tournament, the Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition and an offbeat “Running of the Bulls.”
(NewsUSA) – Serious wine connoisseurs can make wine seem intimidating, but Ed McCarthy and Mary Ewing-Mulligan, the authors of “Wine For Dummies” (Wiley, $21.99), say wine can be appreciated by everyone.
Anthony Caputo, the port director for Cape Liberty Cruise Port in Bayonne, could not be more proud of the success of the partnership of the city of Bayonne and Royal Caribbean Cruises. In just three short years, Cape Liberty Cruise Port has become one of the busiest cruise ports in the country. The port is ranked second among Northeast and mid-Atlantic coast ports in passenger volume. In 2006 it hosted 71 cruise ship calls, with 321,000 passengers during the 2006 season which ran from May to November. The port was also recognized as one of the top three-rated ports, worldwide, for Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises, which merged in 1997. “When you take into consideration that we only have one berth and we are home-porting passengers which means that the passengers sail from here and return here unlike port–of-calls, our growth is really incredible,†Caputo said. The 2007 season, which begins in May, will commence year-round trips to its destinations.
I first met Dan Morgenstern more than five years ago when I picked him up one Saturday morning outside his Journal Square apartment in Jersey City. Our destination was the Catskill Mountains home of the late George Handy, a genius experimental jazz composer/arranger from the 1940s’ and 50s’ with whom I had studied piano after getting out of the Army in 1970. Dan and I had never met until Handy’s widow, Elaine, asked us to drive up together that day to discuss archiving his scores, albums, and memorabilia with the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University in Newark. Dan Morgenstern is the director of the Institute, where he oversees the world’s largest collection of jazz-related material. Our two-hour drive to the mountains, that included a few wrong turns, was like my own personal history of jazz, in fast time. During the duration of our trip, as I asked Dan about some of the jazz greats and not-so-well-known players he had met over the years, he recalled stories and memories about the many musicians he was “lucky enough to meet.†We returned home to Jersey City that night; Dan had secured George Handy’s collection for the Institute, preserving his legacy for future generations of music lovers. And it was a ride that opened my eyes to a man whose life is jazz; and who loves every moment of it.
