JERSEY CITY –Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy,Mayor- elect Steve Fulop, members of the Municipal Council, and other city officials  joined with  community members for a dedication ceremony for the newly installed Jersey Avenue pedestrian bridge that links downtown Jersey City with Liberty State Park and which was washed out during Hurricane Sandy.

The bridge will be dedicated in the honor of Ethel Pesin, matron of Liberty State Park.

The dedication  took place at 11 a.m. on Thursday, June 20th, 2013 at Jersey Avenue and Mill Creek.

The ceremony  served to officially dedicate the bridge as the “Ethel Pesin Liberty Footbridge.”

Photo by Alton O’Neill

A community leader and founding trustee of the Friends of Liberty State Park, Ethel Pesin – who

passed away earlier this year – and her husband Morris, were the driving forces behind the creation of

Liberty State Park.

The new bridge, which provides vital pedestrian and cyclist access into and out of Liberty State Park,

cost approximately $800,000 for construction and installation. The City has applied to FEMA for

reimbursement of 75 percent of the costs.

The post Jersey City Officials Dedicate New Footbridge Linking Downtown Jersey City with Liberty State Park first appeared on River View Observer.

Bruno Sammartino Wrestling Great Gets Key to the City of Jersey City from River View Observer on Vimeo.

At a special ceremony in the Jersey City's, City Hall, Mayor Jerramiah Healy presented Wrestling legend Bruno Samartino with a Proclamation and Key to the City of Jersey City.Sammartino has fought at different venues in Jersey City during his lengthly career as a wrestler.
Sammartino was in the Jersey City area for his induction ceremony at the Meadowlands Sports Complex on Satruday, April 6th where he is to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

The post Bruno Sammartino Wrestling Great Receives Key to Jersey City first appeared on River View Observer.

“We are extremely honored to receive this prestigious award and recognition,” said Mayor Healy. “Make A Difference Day, and particularly the ‘BIG DIG†project, illustrated the immense value of public-private partnerships and what a positive impact volunteerism can have on a community.”

Thirteen volunteer initiatives will be recognized with the 2012 Make A Difference Day Awards at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., on April 19. Make A Difference Day, the nation’s largest day of service, was created in 1992 by Gannett Co., Inc.â€s

USA WEEKEND Magazine along with partners, Newmanâ€s Own®, Inc. and Points of Light. Newmanâ€s Own will donate a total of $130,000, awarding ten volunteer initiatives $10,000 each and presenting three cities $10,000 each for their local projects.

According to a press release from

USA WEEKEND, the winners were chosen from thousands of grassroots volunteer efforts that took place on Oct. 22, 2011, Make A Difference Day. Millions of Americans served their communities and made positive changes as a result of the volunteer action encouraged by the nationwide annual event.

Jersey Cityâ€s the BIG DIG, was supported by an army of more than 600 volunteers from across the city, as well as the Mayorâ€s Office, the Division of Parks & Forestry and the Division of Cultural Affairs.

Dozens of city parks, select open spaces, schools, libraries, historic cemeteries and gateways to the city are now blooming in yellows, oranges and reds as the bulbs that were planted have now blossomed.

“From the outset, this was a winning partnership and illustrated perfectly how public-private partnerships and volunteerism are key for governments at all levels to succeed,” said

Mayor Healy. “For the past few years, my office has been involved in recognizing Make A Difference Day with events in Jersey City, however, this was the first time we had one, overarching event for the entire city. We thank the Jersey City Parks Coalition for this concept of coordinated bulb planting throughout the city and for all of their hard work to get this project off the ground.”

The Parks Coalition volunteers handled fundraising by reaching out to Jersey Cityâ€s vast corporate community, raising nearly $15,000 to help cover the cost of the bulbs and gardening supplies. The City identified the parks, prepared some sites for digging, and began promotion of the event through press releases, on our website and Facebook page, and through other media. More than 600 volunteers participated in the planting, including members from other non-profits, school teachers and students, scouts, members of civic organizations and representatives from the corporate community.

In addition to sponsorship from the City of Jersey City, the BIG DIG was sponsored by Century 21 Plaza Realty, the Hudson County Improvement Authority, the Liberty Science Center, the West Side Community Alliance/Honeywell, the Jersey City Municipal Utilities Authority, Liberty State Park, PSE&G, United Water, and The Westin Jersey City, as well as many other local businesses, organizations, and residents.

This was the first citywide event for the Jersey City Parks Coalition although the Coalition has established Community Gardens in 10 of their 14 member parks groups. Since 2004, spring plantings and fall bulbs have been making a difference in parks such as Pershing Field, Van Vorst Park, Riverview-Fisk Park, Sgt. Anthony Park, Ercel Webb Park, as well as Washington Park and Lincoln Park.

“This event was a great way to really make a difference in the community and now that the bulbs are in bloom, we are seeing the impact this project had on neighborhoods throughout the City,” said

Charlene Burke, project manager for the BIG DIG. “Many of the participants have provided us with photos from the 80 planting sites, which we have posted on The Jersey City Parks Coalition facebook page. We hope that everyone involved will look forward to BIG DIG 2012.”
The ten 2012 Make A Difference Day Award honorees are:

Summer Search North Bay, Petaluma, Calif.

The United Way of Lake County, Waukegan, Ill.

The Marys & Marthas and the people of Clarion, Iowa

Girl Scouts of Madisonville Housing Authority Troop 333, Madisonville, Ky.

Mary Vail, Las Vegas, Nev.

Victory Christian Church, Albany, N.Y.

Joyce and John Jackson, Delaware, Ohio

Neha Gupta, Yardley, Penn.

Eleanor Schoenbrun, El Paso, Texas

The Ellis Family, Rhinelander, Wis.
The three 2012 City Award honorees are:

The Jersey City Parks Coalition and Jersey City, N.J.

City of Salisbury, N.C.

Strong Neighborhoods Program, San Jose, Calif.

The All-Star Award goes to:

Lucas Metropolis, Boca Raton, Fla. and Durham, N.C.

“This event goes to the heart of Gannettâ€s purpose to serve the greater good of our nation and the communities we serve. Every year, millions act upon our invitation to reach out to others in their community. Itâ€s inspiring to see how our audience responds and the good that comes out of this one day,” said Heather Frank, editor-in-chief of

USA WEEKEND.

All of the award recipients will be featured in this weekendâ€s edition of USA WEEKEND.

Make A Difference Day 2012 will be held on Saturday, Oct. 27. For more information, please go to www.makeadifferenceday.com.

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The post Jersey City & Parks Coalition Win One of Three National Make A Difference Day Awards for Municipalities for “BIG DIG” Planting Project first appeared on River View Observer.

CAPTION: (from left) Jersey City Planners Maryann Bucci-Carter and Tanya Marione-Stanton, Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy, Press Secretary Jennifer Morrill, City Planner Robert Cotter and City Engineer Chuck Lee.

Awards are for Sustainability, Municipal Engineering &Communications

The City of Jersey City was awarded the “Collaboration Award” from the Sustainable Jersey organization. The Collaboration Award recognizes a municipality that worked in partnership to implement a program or project. This award recognizes that many sustainability issues must be addressed on a regional scale or require the pooled resources of more than one partner.

The panel awarded the award to Jersey City for partnering with several entities (City Green, Washington Park Association, the Jersey City Food Co-op, and Garden State Urban Farms) to actively address food system issues by amending ordinances to allow local food production and sales, establishing and promoting a community gardening program (Adopt-A-Lot), developing a demonstration rain garden, and supporting the school gardening program.

The New Jersey Society of Municipal Engineers presented the award for “Engineer of the Year” to Chuck F. Lee. P.E, City Engineer of Jersey City. In selecting Mr. Lee, the Society noted his “outstanding contributions to the profession of municipal engineering . . . that are transforming the stateâ€s second largest city.”

Jersey City was also awarded “Best Print Media” by the Rutgers†Center for Government Services for its entry which included the first comprehensive book on the Municipal Budget. Last year, the City of Jersey City received the Best Municipal Public Information award from Rutgers for its print, website and social media outreach.

“The residents of Jersey City should be proud of their leaders and their professionalism in municipal government who are continually striving to make Jersey City a greater place to live, work and raise a family,” said

Mayor Healy. The residents of Jersey City should be proud of their leaders in municipal
government who are continually striving to make Jersey City a greater place to
live, work and raise a family,” said Mayor Healy.  “It is even greater when those municipal
leaders are recognized amongst their peers as some of the best at what they
do.  To this yearâ€s award winners – Keep up the good work!”

The post City of Jersey City Recieves Three Awards at Annual League of Municipalities Conference first appeared on River View Observer.

Jersey City Mayor Jerrimiah Healy(L) holds a “Street Sweeper”  automatic gun with a 30 round clip and Jersey City Police Chief Thomas J. Comey (R) holds a “Pump Action Shotgun” which can kill as many as the street sweeper within three rounds being fired.

Photo’s by Steveamack.com

Jerramiah T. Healy and police officials displayed 65 firearms taken into custody today, including a dangerous machine gun pistol called a “Street Sweeper”, all of which were gathered during Day 1 of the cityâ€s gun buyback program.

“I have to commend the citizens who turned in these weapons because at any turn they could end up for whatever reason in the hands of a lawbreaker or being used in the heat of the moment during a dispute,” said Mayor Healy, who launched LifeSaver I early into his administration in 2005 where police recovered more than 900 guns.

“Like many good things, there will always be critics who don’t support this initiative, but would they rather have these weapons being collected by cops or in the hands of someone who has nothing but bad intentions for them?”

The cache of weapons collected was paid for absence of tax payer dollars and solely on the donations of local residents, businesses and a grant from the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office.

“If you look at the capability of the ammunition of one of the weapons we recovered you have to say it is a success,” said JCPD Chief Tom Comey. “The damage that could be caused by that one Mac 10 – the devastation could be immeasurable to the community. And the ammunition, hollow points are designed to cause extreme soft tissue damage once it enters your body. We are pleased by the turnout because these things are no longer available to the criminal element of our society.”

Gun Buyback II continues on July 23 from 12 noon to 4 pm. To turn in your weapons during the suggested time report to the locations: St. Joseph’s Church, 511 Pavonia Avenue; Monumental Baptist Church 121 Lafayette Street; and Heavenly Temple Church, 15 MLK Drive in Jersey City.

 

The post Machine Gun Pistol, Hollow Points Highlight Haul of Weapons in Jersey City first appeared on River View Observer.