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Government Officials, Coalition Celebrate STB Win
Jersey
City Mayor Jerramiah Healy and Council President Mariano Vega Jr.
(front) and Councilman-at-large Peter Brennan (back row, left) join
Embankment Preservation Coalition board and advisory board members in
celebrating the STB ruling in favor of the City of Jersey City, the
Coalition, and co-petitioners. Several representatives from
the many nonprofits attending are in the photo: Laura Fraschilla, VVPA
president (middle row, second from left) and Elizabeth Brody, East
Coast Greenway Alliance trustee (middle row, fourth from left). Photo by Richard McCormack.
October 13.
About 350 people joined the Coalition at Resurrection School
gymnasium to celebrate the ruling by the Surface Transportation Board
(STB) August 9 on a petition brought before it by the City of Jersey
City, the Coalition, and others. The STB confirmed our
contention that Conrail must follow federal regulations governing
rail abandonment before selling the Embankment to a private developer.
Emily Helck's bug costumes were a big hit. Dee Rennar, 6th Street Earth Mother, helps a toddler with pumpkin decorating. Photos by Richard McCormack.
With
the help of Educational Arts Team, Hudson View Entertainment, Pro Arts,
and other talented area artists, children fashioned Halloween
costumes and decorated pumpkins (and themselves) while their parents
and others listened to good music and enjoyed refreshments
provided by a dozen Downtown restaurants.
U.S.
Senator Robert Menendez was honored for his support letter for the STB
petition and for $1.6 million he sponsored in the SAFETEA-LU bill that
is earmarked for the Embankment. Coalition president
Jennifer Meyer presents the Senator with a fanciful Richard LaRovere
print of monarch butterflies over the Embankment. Photo by Richard McCormack.
U.S.
Senator Robert Menendez, NJ State Assemblyman Louis Manzo, Jersey City
Mayor Jerramiah Healy, Council President Mariano Vega, Jr.,
Councilman-at-large Peter Brennan, and Ward E Councilman Steven Fulop
accepted certificates for their roles in the petition. Hudson
County Executive Thomas A. DeGise and Jersey City Council members who
supported the STB petition were also honorees.
Top left, Councilman-at-Large Peter Brennan tells the assembly about his childhood in the Embankment area. Top right, Councilman Fulop, Senator Menendez share a light moment. Photos by Richard McCormack.
Representatives
of allied organizations and other individuals who contributed to the
petition were on hand. Laura Frascilla, president of the Van Vorst Park
Association, surprised the Coalition with a generous check from VVPA in
support of our work.
Richard
McCormick donated the photographs shown here. More McCormack
photos, as well as those from other professional photographers
Maya Joseph Goteiner and Mike Smith, appear at www.embankment.org.
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Embankment Fans Walk the Walk
October 13. More than a dozen tour-goers walked
along the Embankment with tour leaders, historian Richard James and
Historic Preservation Commission chair Stephen Gucciardo, and listened
to some history of the PRR Harsimus Branch.
Several Fifth Street homeowners between Jersey and Erie opened
their homes to the tourists, including Christina and John Donnelly
and Dana Winfield, whose gardens back up to the Embankment wall.
The Donnellys entertained the guests, particularly the children, with a
miniature Pennsylvania Railroad, and provided refreshments.
On the other side of the street, Teri and Michael Branley
generously opened their garden for the second annual
tour. Their garden adjoins those that surround the
condominiums in the former synagogue.
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Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!
Thank
you, volunteers (some seventy of you!), for the
unstinting help you gave before, during, and after our October 13
event. We were floored by the outpouring in response to our
requests for help. Thank you Althea, Anne, Anne, April, Ashley,
Barbara, Beth, Bethany, Carlos, Carmine, Cassie, Cat, Cheryl, Chimene,
Claire, Clay, Dan, Dana, Demetri, Devon, Dierdre, Dinah, Dolores, Ed,
Emily, Eric, Felicia, Gerry, Gina, Glen, Gretchen, Jamie, Jan, Jillian,
Jim, Jim, Joan, Joanne, Joseph, John, John, Karen, Kelly, Kevin, Lia,
Lizzie, Maggie, Mahaley, Margaret, Mary, Maya, Michael, Michele,
Midori, Mike, Miles, Nellie, Ray, Rebecca, Renata, Richard, Richard,
s.a.v.e., Shelly, Stephanie, Steve, Teri, Tim, Violet, Walt, and those
unnamed attendees who didn't sign up to volunteer but pitched in
anyway.
Thank you, Father Rino Lavaroni and the staff at Holy Rosary Church, Angela, John, Danny, and Jimmy.
Thank you, Sister Eleanor Uhl and Sister Barbara Nesbihal of Resurrection School.
Thank you, sponsors; see the list of big donors below and additional donors on our web site: www.embankment.org. |
| Liberty State Park Needs Volunteers
Volunteers Needed to Plant
60,000 Flower Bulbs
Volunteer
gardeners of all ages, individuals or groups, are welcome and needed
Saturday, November 24, from 8 am to 11 am to finish
planting more than 60,000 flower bulbs throughout Liberty
State Park. For information about the specific location, please call
LSP horticulturist Maria at 201-915-3418 during the week or email her
at gardening@libertystatepark.us
or on Saturday, ask the staffperson at 201-915-3403. No experience is
necessary. Please help the Friends of LSP beautify our urban state park. | |
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