River View Observer Staff Writer

“Iâ€m just not ready to quit”, says Raul (DjRv ) Vicente Jr.  Vicente, aka DjRv as he likes to be called these days, has put out three cdâ€s.  Two salsa songs; one with English lead vocals and one with Spanish lead vocals.  You can find them for sale on iTunes and other platforms says Vicente but to his chagrin little if any sales have been generated.

And his third, attempt as recent as last year, was a Spanish remake of Mariah Careys hit song “My All”. Itâ€s called “Yo Daria Todo”.

The post -Some Singers won’t take no for an answer even if there doesn’t seem to be anything on the horizon- first appeared on River View Observer.

Of interest to Hudson County Veterans and surrounding areas

VA is moving forward with a phased approach for expanding select services that were put on hold due to the coronavirus at medical facilities across the country. Our goal is to care for Veterans who have the greatest clinical need while ensuring a safe environment for both employees and Veterans.

VA facilities may not expand to a full spectrum of care immediately. In resuming services, VA facilities will consider the unique circumstances of each state and local government, environmental safety preparedness, and clinical risk assessments to assure the safest possible environment. 

Due to the trend of COVID-19 cases in Southwest Michigan still flattening,  our facility is not yet ready to expand services. Facilities selected as lead sites were chosen because they align with VA, federal, state, and local guidance and meet the White House “Guidelines for Opening Up America” gating criteria for expanding services. Gating criteria are requirements that each region or state should meet before reintroducing select services, such as a decline in COVID-19 cases during a 14-day period.

Once the Battle Creek VA Medical Center has met the gating criteria, it will be phased into VAâ€s plan for expanding care. In the meantime, we will benefit from data, lessons learned, and best practices from the lead sites†experiences.

Based on current data, we expect to slowly begin to expand services on June 15, 2020.  Please note that expanded services will be by appointment. Please call to make an appointment before visiting. The preferred method of care until we meet criteria is using virtual care when possible.

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Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop beamed on the steps of Jersey City’s City Hall while announcing his City Council memebers this morning at the start of the first-ever Jersey City Veteran’s Day parade.

Fulop a former Marine who joined the Marines after 9/11 and served in Dessert Storm announced  his Council memebers and NJ State elected officials one by one and proudly decared which ones served in the United States Marines, both Ward C Councilman Richard Boggiano and Jersey City Councilman at Large Daniel Rivera are former Marines as well as current NJ State Assemblyman Raj Mukhenji , Fulop smiled and said to the crowd ” See where I am going with this folks.”

Fulop also mentioned that State Senator Sandra Cunningham who was in attendance was married to a former Marine the late Jersey City Mayor Glenn Cunningham.

New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez  spoke about Jersey City and Hudson County’s sacrafice to defend our nation

It was with this pride and enthusiam from all participants  that surrounded today’s first ever Jersey City First-Ever Veteran’s Day Parade that made it an overwhelming success that can only grow larger with each year.

With hundred of Veteran’s and active Military service members marching some in uniform and  more folks linning the streets, you could feel the excitement  as Jersey City residents from all backgrounds and cultures held up the American flags and said “Thank You” to the many Veterans and servicemen  in the parade.

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“I am proud to announce that in 2014, we will introduce a budget with a tax reduction and flexibility for the Council.” That was one of Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulopâ€s final lines in his State of the City address Thursday night, when he addressed not only the progress of the city on various fronts since he took office last July but also how it is going forward in the upcoming year. But Fulop was more detailed about other accomplishments and goals while speaking in front of over 400 people inside the McMahon Student Center on the campus of Saint Peterâ€s University.

He spent time talking about how the cityâ€s consolidation of the Fire and Police departments into the recently-formed Public Safety Department enabled the city to save money to hire 26 more firefighters and 34 more cops, and how the additional cop manpower along with the employment of various crime-fighting initiatives will help the police bring crime down by double-digits by the end of this year.

He then said coming this Monday, the city will launch a reentry program for ex-offenders that will provide treatment, housing options, and job opportunities with the goal of reducing recidivism for ex-offenders by over 30 percent from the current average for those residing in Hudson County. This effort was described by Fulop as being in sync with his Marine training.

“We here in Jersey City also believe no person should be discarded, that no life is nonredeemable, so as a progressive and as a marine, weâ€re doing things differently,” Fulop said.

Fulop emphasized the role of job preparation in building Jersey Cityâ€s economy on two fronts: partnering with major companies such as

Pershing and Goldman Sachs to launch a summer internship program for top students in the cityâ€s high schools and putting together a mentor program for Jersey City students to learn on-the-job mechanical/technical skills coupled with academic courses at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark.

He also mentioned jobs in terms of the various companies bringing them to Jersey City such as Forbes and Nautica, helping to burnish the townâ€s reputation as the fastest growing city in New Jersey at the present time, even claiming that Jersey City will be the largest city by 2016.

However, Fulop is not just depending on the economic kindness of others to boost Jersey Cityâ€s image and population as he announced the city will carry out a $1.2 million marketing campaign, financed by the municipality and the private sector, to attract people to come settle here.

Fulop spoke further about the cityâ€s growth when he pointed out that the cityâ€s school system will have 4,000 more students in the next five years, many of whom will most likely be the children of those couples that officials hope will relocate as a result of Jersey Cityâ€s promotion effort. In that vein, the mayor highlighted three pre-k facilities that will open in coming years – two in the planning stages and one to open in the former home of a charter school – while pushing the cityâ€s school district to ensure that they not just focused on pre-k education in downtown Jersey City.

He also spoke during the address about some other items that will make Jersey City into “the best mid-size city in America”: the management and restoration of the Loewâ€s Jersey Theatre in Journal Square that has met with opposition from the current operators of the theater and their supporters over the cityâ€s handling of this issue; booming development across the city including 10 projects underway and 23 that have already been proposed or approved, and the creation of a special improvement district for the cityâ€s west side.

And while it seems City Hall has an ambitious mandate this year and beyond, Fulop early in the speech laid out how something so daunting can actually be doable. “We know expectations are high, as they should be. I know we will succeed. I believe in our team, and I believe in Jersey City,”

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