Tag Archives: Hudson County

General

Shop Bayonne! Introducing a Property Tax Reward Program

by Evelyn Bonilla

buez luncheon March 1st 2013
Nick Campanella,  Managing Director   from  Fin Credit Inc. holding the “Shop Bayonne.” card at the recent March 1st, 2013 luncheon to announce the program to Bayonne businesses

 On March 1st the program was introduced to Bayonne business owners and Bayonne residents at a special luncheon hosted by the Bayonne Urban Enterprise Zone and the Bayonne Special Improvement District.   And a special mailing will go out to Bayonne Businesses and Bayonne residents explaining how the program works.

 “Shop Bayonne” is a program initiative that provides a tax credit to residents who make purchases from local businesses in town. Once you enroll in the program, you are assigned a property tax card similar to the reward cards you get in other stores; you’ll use it when you make your purchases with local merchants who are participating in the program. Residents who use their PTC-Property Tax Card will accumulate property tax dollars towards their tax bill.

Continue reading Shop Bayonne! Introducing a Property Tax Reward Program →

Business Views

River View Observer Financial Views-Declining Debt, New Tax Revenues Lead to Moody’s Upgrade of Bayonne’s Bond Rating

 CITY OF BAYONNE SEALMayor Mark A. Smith announced that Moody’s Investors Service has upgraded the City of Bayonne’s bond rating from Baa1 with negative outlook to Baa1 with stable outlook.  Smith said, “This upgrade is very good news.  It shows that Bayonne has made significant financial progress during my Administration.  Moody’s has raised Bayonne’s rating for the first time in more than five years. Our hard work and fiscal discipline are paying off. We have turned a corner and are moving in the right direction.”

            Moody’s cited several factors in its decision to improve Bayonne’s rating: 1) The agency recognized that the Bayonne Municipal Utilities Authority’s (MUA) joint venture with United Water and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) removed $120 million from the local debt burden. The transaction paid off all the MUA’s debt and a portion of the debt of the Bayonne Local Redevelopment Agency. 2) Moody’s noted that the City no longer has any deferred charges.  All charges deferred in the past have been paid off. 3) The City of Bayonne has a declining reliance on tax anticipation notes (TANS) to cover its cashflow needs.  4) Bayonne has a large tax base.  5) Bayonne has declining debt.  6) Bayonne has new revenues from payments in lieu of taxes (PILOTS) coming from newly developed properties. Continue reading River View Observer Financial Views-Declining Debt, New Tax Revenues Lead to Moody’s Upgrade of Bayonne’s Bond Rating →

General, Hudson Then...Again

Hudson Then . . . Again- INFLUENZA

by: Maureen Wlodarczyk

 

1918 Spanish Flu Patients
1918 Spanish Flu Patients

When I was five years old, we moved from Jersey City to Union Beach, a place where my parents could afford to purchase a small ranch house with carport. For many years after, I spent two to three weeks each summer back in Jersey City, visiting my maternal grandparents at their apartment on Rose Avenue in Greenville. I loved staying with them and being the center of my grandmother’s attention. My grandparents never owned a car so my grandmother and I would take the bus to Journal Square to shop or see a movie. One summer I unexpectedly came down sick, very sick. My grandmother tucked me in up to my chin in her own bed and called for the family’s faithful physician, Dr. Front. He was what used to be called a (very) “tall drink of water,” and had to duck his head when coming through the doorways of the apartment. When he appeared at my bedside, I am told that my eyes opened wide like saucers. No doubt. Looking up from my sickbed to take in the whole of him was quite an experience. His diagnosis: the grippe.

Today, the word grippe, coming from a French word meaning “seize suddenly,” has been replaced by the modern term “influenza,” the two words being essentially synonymous. For decades before that summer I took sick in Jersey City, Hudson County residents had been stricken by periodic grippe outbreaks including in 1889 and 1892. The most serious of those was the 1918 “Spanish” influenza pandemic that first broke out in Europe and killed thousands of soldiers on the battlefields of World War I before making its way to the United States.    Continue reading Hudson Then . . . Again- INFLUENZA →

Live On Stage, Music Views

MUSIC -If You Play It, They Will Come – Union City Chamber Players Enchant Local Audiences with Classics

By Sally Deering

 

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAOne of the great things about living in Hudson besides its close proximity to Manhattan is the community of artists who reside here and share their talents. Dancers, actors, singers, musicians, visual artists – you name it! – lots of creative folks who perform professionally call Hudson home and some even find time in their busy schedules to share their talents with local audiences, like the musical artists who call themselves the Union City Chamber Players.

 

Union City Chamber Players (L-to-R) Pianist Marina Korsakova-Kreyn, Violinist Peter Borten and Vocalist Bernadette LaFond

Violinist Peter Borten; mezzo-soprano Bernadette LaFond; and pianist Marina Korsakova-Kreyn are Union City residents and professional musicians who banded together to share their love for classical musical and their talents as classical musicians. At St. John’s Episcopal Church in Union City, recently, the trio presented a classical program, a “Love Concert” that featured Gounod’s “Ave Maria”; Mozart’s violin sonata K.526; French love songs by Faure and Massenet; Strauss’s “Stiller Gang” and Rachmaninoff’s “In the Silence of the Secret Night”. Continue reading MUSIC -If You Play It, They Will Come – Union City Chamber Players Enchant Local Audiences with Classics →

Education

Hudson County Families Invited to Bring the Kids to Hudson County Community College’s Sixth Annual Literacy & Family Day

The FREE March 2 celebration of Dr. Seuss’ birthday is open to the general public and will feature several child-pleasing activities                                  

 

hccc-logo300dpiJERSEY CITY, N.J. / March 1, 2013 — Hudson County Community College (HCCC) invites area families to gather the children together and come to the College for a day of reading and fun. The College will hold its Sixth Annual Literacy & Family Day on Saturday, March 2 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the College’s Culinary Arts Institute/Conference Center, 161 Newkirk Street, just two blocks from the Journal Square PATH Station in Jersey City. There is no charge for admission; all children must be accompanied by an adult.

 HCCC President Dr. Glen Gabert said the event, which is prepared and presented by the College’s Academic Affairs Division and the Culinary Conference Center, is an annual celebration of the birthday of Theodore Seuss Geisel, who is better know to generations of Americans as Dr. Seuss, author of Green Eggs and Ham, The Cat in the Hat and 44 more beloved children’s books. Continue reading Hudson County Families Invited to Bring the Kids to Hudson County Community College’s Sixth Annual Literacy & Family Day →

General

HUDSON COUNTY RESIDENTS: AEREO ANNOUNCES EXPANSION OF CONSUMER ACCESS TO ITS GROUNDBREAKING TECHNOLOGY ACROSS THE NEW YORK CITY GREATER METROPOLITAN AREA INCLUDING HUDSON COUNTY

Aereo’s technology is  now available to more than 19 million people in 29 counties across  the New York City greater metropolitan area, providing consumers increased access  to free-to-air, local broadcast television

 televisonNew York, NY (February 28, 2013) – Aereo, Inc., today  announced that its groundbreaking television technology is now available to the more than 19 million people living in the New York City metropolitan area. The New York City metropolitan region,   commonly referred to as a designated market area (DMA), includes 29 counties across New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. Previously, Aereo was only available to residents of New York City’s five boroughs. The expansion into the NYC metropolitan area comes less than two months after the company’s announcement in January of its intention to expand to 22 additional markets in 2013.

 Aereo’s innovative remote (cloud-based) antenna/DVR technology makes watching television simple and user friendly.  Using Aereo’s technology, consumers can pause, rewind and fast-forward any program that they are watching live, or save a program for future viewing. Continue reading HUDSON COUNTY RESIDENTS: AEREO ANNOUNCES EXPANSION OF CONSUMER ACCESS TO ITS GROUNDBREAKING TECHNOLOGY ACROSS THE NEW YORK CITY GREATER METROPOLITAN AREA INCLUDING HUDSON COUNTY →

Festivals in Hudson County, Movies

Golden Door Does Its Best Film Festival’s ‘Best of’ to be Screened at Art House Productions in Jersey City

      

 

By Sally Deering

 

Bill Sorvino Executive Director of the GDIFF
Bill Sorvino Executive Director of the
GDIFF

 In October 2012, the second annual Golden Door International Film Festival of Jersey City lit up screens at the Landmark Loew’s Jersey Theatre and other venues where films from all over the world premiered and winners chosen. On Sat, March 16th, the festival’s Executive Director Bill Sorvino presents “The Best of the Fest” where three films from the Golden Door International Film Festival will have encore screenings at Art House Productions in Jersey City.

 

Maybe Tomorrow, a film by Michael Wolfe

The feature film to be shown is “Maybe Tomorrow” directed by Michael Wolfe and starring Wolfe, Dominik Tiefenthaler and Paul Lange. At the Golden Door, the film won Best Picture, Best Lead Actor, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor and Best Screenplay. The film centers on the friendship between three men and the test their friendship endures when they become involved in a crime that ultimately changes their lives forever.

  

 

 

 

PollinationNext on the bill is “Pollination*”  a short film about the special life of plants by filmmaker Sam Borowski and starring Federico Castelluccio (of “The Sopranos”) and Chris Kattan. 

 

 

 

My Time with the English Tourist, a film by John Dunstan of Jersey City
My Time with the English Tourist, a film by John Dunstan of Jersey City

Rounding out the evening is “My Time with the English Tourist,” a short documentary by Jersey City resident John Dunstan that won the Audience Choice award. The film short is a 13-minute valentine to Jersey City’s Liberty State Park and the wildlife that resides there as seen through Dunstan’s camera lens during walks with his English bulldog Tommy.

 “These three films were chosen across the spectrum,” Sorvino says. “The feature film, ‘Maybe Tomorrow’ is a powerhouse movie starring Michael Wolfe.  John’s film is a short documentary about the walks he took with his dog and the beautiful wildlife in Liberty State Park. It’s a great film. And Sam’s film ‘Pollination*’ packs a 7-minute wallop.’ Continue reading Golden Door Does Its Best Film Festival’s ‘Best of’ to be Screened at Art House Productions in Jersey City →

Jersey City News

Jersey City to Raise African-American Flag In Honor of Black History Month

Jersey City Seal www.riverviewobserver.netMayor Jerramiah T. Healy, members of the Municipal Council and the Jersey City Department of Health and Human Services/Division of Cultural Affairs will hold a flag raising ceremony to mark Black History Month at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, February 19, 2013 at City Hall, 280 Grove Street. The flag-raising ceremony will be followed by a short program. Continue reading Jersey City to Raise African-American Flag In Honor of Black History Month →

Bayonne Observer insidebayonne.com

Bayonne Starts Amnesty Program for Certain Illegal Apartments and Unregistered Dwelling Units

City of Bayonne begins amnesty program for illegal apartments Mayor Mark A. Smith announced that applications are available for the City of Bayonne’s amnesty program for certain illegal apartments and unregistered dwelling units.  Those documents are available from the Building Department in Room 13 at City Hall, 630 Avenue C.  Mayor Smith said, “In recent years, illegal apartments and unregistered housing units have become a problem in many urban communities.  These types of dwellings raise a variety of concerns about safety and the quality of life in our neighborhoods. My Administration has taken the lead in addressing this serious issue in our community.” Continue reading Bayonne Starts Amnesty Program for Certain Illegal Apartments and Unregistered Dwelling Units →

General

There Is Still Time to Register for Spring Classes at Hudson County Community College

HCCC-logo@300dpiJERSEY CITY, N.J. / January 25, 2013 — New and continuing students at Hudson County Community College still have time to register for Spring classes, which begin on Monday, Jan. 28, and Spring Late Start classes, which begin on Feb. 11.

  HCCC offers a variety of classes in degree and certificate programs which meet during the morning, afternoon and evening, weekdays and weekends, in online and in-person formats. The College also has articulation agreements with several area colleges which will facilitate transfer of credits for a bachelor’s degree.

 

For more information, please visit www.hccc.edu/mystart or call 201.714.7200.

 

 

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