In Jersey City, in a room nearly as long as a football field, Mayor Steven Fulop kicked off a marathon series of speeches that in total are meant to serve as his State of the City address for 2017. “Although required by law to give a state of the city address, Mayor Fulop decided to do one in every ward this year,” said At-Large Councilwoman Joyce Waterman, introducing the mayor at the first of six events on Feb. 7. Holding the first in the Mary McLeod Bethune Center on Martin Luther King Drive, Fulop came to the heart of the poorest and most troubled section of the city – Ward F. This section of town, which runs from Liberty State Park into the center of the city, is plagued with violence and poverty. It poses the biggest challenges for a municipality that is otherwise seeing the biggest economic boom since Alexander Hamilton helped found it as a port city. Click here for more.
After the death of Adrian Rivera, the 18-year-old Hoboken Housing Authority resident who was shot to death in his home on Jan. 24, Hoboken officials hosted a public meeting last week to discuss safety concerns and drug usage in the area. “We wanted to make sure that all levels of communication were open,” said 4th Ward Councilman Ruben Ramos, who actually had begun organizing the community meeting last December. According to Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez, Rivera was the victim of a targeted attack. This was “Not a random act of violence,” said Suarez at the meeting. “We believe based on the investigation he may have been targeted or at the very least followed.” Click here for more.
After standing behind an armored vehicle on 57th Street for nearly 12 hours last Saturday, Feb. 5, West New York Mayor Felix Roque had a lot of time to think about the harrowing event that took place in Hudson County that day, and what it means for how veterans are treated when they come home from war. Earlier that day, a call came in to the police in North Bergen, a town that shares a border with West New York. Emmanuel Hernandez, 27, of West New York, had reportedly been seen inside a red Infiniti with a firearm on Kennedy Boulevard at about 2 a.m. North Bergen police caught up with Hernandez – an Army veteran who served honorably in Iraq – at about 2:20 a.m. at the QuickChek on Kennedy Boulevard. When they approached him, he reportedly became defensive and, as he fled in his car, he allegedly ran over a cop’s foot and struck the police vehicle. Click here for more.
