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Mayor announces beautification program for 15 entry sites to city

Article: The Jersey City Reporter
By Ricardo Kaulessar

TEAR IT UP TO MAKE IT NEW – Construction workers work Tuesday at Ralph Lambiase Plaza on Newark Avenue, where by the middle of this week there will be new concrete pavers, signage, and shrubs.

Jersey City government would like for visitors to see how beautiful their city is as soon as they enter it.

That idea was conveyed at a press conference Tuesday morning at Ralph Lambiase Plaza on Newark Avenue, where Mayor Jerramiah Healy and other city officials announced the city’s new Gateway Beautification Project.

The project calls for 15 sites, located near entry points to the city (known as “gateways”), to get upgrades such as newly planted shrubs and roses, shade trees, flags, improved signage, and walkways.

The project started on Tuesday with a construction crew tearing up Ralph Lambiase Plaza on Newark Avenue. A new, improved plaza is expected to be seen by the public as of this coming Wednesday, April 23.

The project has an estimated cost of $500,000, which is funded by money from the state’s Urban Enterprise Zone (UEZ) Program. Urban business districts like some in Jersey City can charge 3.5 percent sales tax rather than 7 percent, and can use that money for beautification.
People judge by entrance

Healy touted the benefits of the new beautification project as the pounding of jackhammers provided a soundtrack.

“They say don’t judge a book by its cover, but the problem is that first impressions are important,” Healy said. “We want to make sure that our entrances to the city and to these various neighborhoods in Jersey City live up to what we know we have here, which is a great city.”

No sites in Ward F

After the press conference, City Councilwoman Viola Richardson took issue with the fact that none of the sites are in the city’s Ward F, which she represents. She said the area around the Bayview Avenue entrance to the NJ Turnpike should have been included.

But she was informed that there were no UEZ-qualified businesses in that area.

“I will be working to get this project into my area, to find some funds to do this,” Richardson said.

But the mayor’s spokesperson, Jennifer Morrill, was quick to rebut Richardson’s comments, saying this beautification project is only a first phase. She said that a second phase to cover other entrance sites into the city that could not be upgraded this year.

And Roberta Farber of the Jersey City Economic Development Corporation said the city has a $1.3 million revitalization project slated to start in the next two months for the section of Richardson’s ward known as the Junction, where Communipaw Avenue, Grand Street, and Arlington Avenue intersect. It will include a new streetscape, lighting and other amenities.

Jose Arango, Director of the city’s Division of Economic Development, said Mayor Healy pursued the beautification project starting last year. He met with Arango, Farber, and city engineer Bill Goble.

Arango said the project will have a positive impact upon the city.

“We believe that part of development in the city, economic-wise, is to create a pleasant place where people can shop and people can live,” Arango said.

Farber, who oversees the city’s UEZ program within the Economic Development Corporation, said there will be a contract with a private company to do maintenance of the beautification sites.

And homeless people will help with the cleanup, as per the city’s current contract with the DOE Fund, a nonprofit organization that puts homeless men and woman to work.

City Council President Mariano Vega said the beautification project is part of the three-pronged effort by the city to make Jersey City a tourist destination. The effort also included the city’s introduction earlier this month of the city’s recreation 10-year master plan to upgrade the city’s parks, and the upcoming plan this summer to create a tourist marketing plan for Jersey City.

Other comments

Anthony Lambiase, director of the city’s zoning division, is the brother of the late Ralph Lambiase for whom the plaza is named.

“[My brother] would say, if he was still alive, that this is great project that helps make the city more beautiful, and shows that government is working,” Lambiase said.

Pat O’Melia, local radio and television host, helped refurbish the Blakeslee Monument located on a traffic island near the intersection of Broadway and Highway 1 and 9. That traffic island is one of the sites in the beautification project.

“Planting some new grass and shrubbery, it’s a great idea and it can’t hurt,” O’Melia said.

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