Hoboken is several months into an 18-month long reconstruction of its main shopping district, Washington Street. Vehicles lurch and rattle over patched and re-patched pavement, channeled by police into narrow gauntlets lined with cones to avoid the work crews and construction equipment as they tear up pavement, reconfigure intersections, and lay new water pipe. The $17.5 million project, approved by an 8-1 council vote in 2016, will replace old water mains, add safety features like bump outs, timed pedestrian crossing signals, ADA compliant ramps, and repave the patched and pothole covered road. Some residents have raised concerns over the project in letters to the editor to the Hudson Reporter and at City Council meetings, citing traffic woes during construction and questioning the feasibility of bump outs, though other residents praise the upgrade. Click here for more.
In a race that promises to be hotly contested, nine people have filed to run in the November election for four Jersey City Board of Education seats. Three incumbents will defend their seats, while a fourth seat is also up because Board President Joel Torres is seeking a seat as a freeholder instead. Board members Amy DeGise, Lorenzo Richardson and Gerald Lyons are running on a slate together, campaigning jointly for three year terms. In a pre-filing press release, the candidates collectively cited the effort to complete the process of transitioning Jersey City schools back to full, local control. The candidates also pointed to the population growth in the city, the need to oversee the redistricting of city schools, and most importantly, to ensure financial stability in the wake of state of New Jersey cuts to the district’s adjustment aid. Click here for more.
A medical marijuana dispensary is set to begin operations in Secaucus, after the state recently issued a permit for it to begin growing the plants. Harmony Foundation is on track to become New Jersey’s sixth Alternative Treatment Center, and the first in Hudson County. Once a state laboratory tests Harmony’s marijuana strain and the state Medicinal Marijuana Program inspects the dispensary, the facility will receive a second permit to become an ATC. Should all go well, Harmony, located at 600 Meadowlands Parkway, hopes to open in late 2017. They will grow the marijuana inside their location, under intense security measures including cameras, alarms, and mechanical sensors. Click here for more.
