Registration for summer recreation programs
North Bergen’s Competitive Swim Team now has open registration for boys and girls ages 5 to 18. Registration will be open until June 26. To register, visit North Bergen’s Recreation Center, at 6300 Meadowview Ave. from 2-9 p.m., Monday-Friday. This is not a program to teach children how to swim. To become members, children must be able to swim and pass a swim test. Applicants must bring proof of residence, a birth certificate/ passport, and a nonrefundable registration fee of $75, and must be prepared to pay for a swimsuit at registration.
Registration for Summer Tennis Camp, for boys and girls ages 9-14, will be open until June 28 at the North Bergen Recreation Center, from 2-9 p.m. Monday-Friday. This program will run from 3-5 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from July 2 to July 30. Applicants must bring proof of residency, a birth certificate/ passport, and a nonrefundable fee of $35. Registration is limited to 75 children on a first come first serve basis.
Summer Volleyball Camp registration for boys and girls in grades 6-8 is open until June 28 at the North Bergen Recreation Center, from 2-9 p.m., Monday-Friday. The program will run form 3 to 5 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays, between July 2 and July 30. Applicants must bring proof of residence, a birth certificate/passport, and a registration fee of $35. Registration is limited to 75 children, on a first come first serve basis.
Braddock Park Flea Market kicks off first event of the season
The seasonal Braddock Park Flea Market kicked off its first event of the summer on June 1, with new and returning vendors. Crowds of visitors showed up to browse through the many items on sale, with lots of bargains and items selling for a dollar or less. Food trucks were at the ready.
The flea market will continue through the summer on the first Saturday of each month from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a rotating lineup of vendors.
The next flea market will be held on July 6. Admission is free.
North Bergen is now on Instagram
The township now has an official Instagram account. For municipal news, photos, and information on events and activities around town, follow the Township of North Bergen on Instagram, to keep connected with community happenings. Expect lots of photos of residents, neighbors, friends, and guests. The account will provide timely information on weather events or other emergencies, road closures, repair work, and social events like Winterfest or National Night Out. These updates are available at www.instagram.com/township_of_northbergen.
Union City Chamber Players to perform in Weehawken
On June 15, at 8 p.m., Hudson Theatre Works will present performances of Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet and other chamber music by Union City Chamber Players, at its Weehawken location, 80 Hauxhurst Ave. (formerly Woodrow Wilson School).
Union City Chamber Players will perform a program of Viennese masterworks by Mozart and Beethoven, featuring Mozart’s beloved Clarinet Quintet. Guest artists Dorothy Duncan (clarinet), Robert Lawrence (violin), David Steinberg (violin), and E. Zoe Hassman (cello) will join violist Peter Borten for the quintet, performing what is considered to be Mozart’s most famous chamber work.
Oboist John Frisch will perform Mozart’s Oboe Quartet with the ensemble. The program also includes Beethoven’s moody and explosive String Trio in C minor, Op. 9, No. 3.
Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet was written in 1789 during the composition of his opera Cosi fan tutte and shares that work’s otherworldly beauty. The composer’s Oboe Quartet dates from 1781 and is a showpiece for the oboe, with strings in a mostly supportive role.
Beethoven’s dramatic C minor trio, by contrast, is full of stinging accents and violent attacks.
The Union City Chamber Players unite locally based professional musicians and guest performers to bring low-cost, high-quality performances of classical chamber music to the Union City community and beyond. UCCP was in residence at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Union City from 2012 to 2015 and is currently seeking a new home. Together with the Union City Opera, Union City Philharmonic, and the Union City Music Project, UCCP is proud to be a part of the new classical music scene in Hudson County.
Tickets can be purchased for a $10 suggested donation on the day of the concert at the door. Seniors from Hudson County receive free admission with proof of identity.
The show is sponsored by Weehawken’s Mayor Richard Turner and the council.
High Tech High kicks off HCST Film Festival
The High Tech High School Film Department kicked off its first annual Hudson County Schools of Technology Film Festival, along with feature filmmakers, actors, and the screening of films produced by High Tech students.
Janet Grilo inaugurated the film festival with “Jack of the Red Hearts,” a film she directed. Grilo, a teacher at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, joined a panel of student filmmakers onstage for a Q & A session.
Actor John Caprice entertained attendees with stories about working in Hollywood for more than 50 years with the likes of Oliver Stone, Sir Laurence Olivier, and Jim Carrey. He also appeared on Seinfeld, The Ellen Show, and the national Polly-O string cheese advertising campaign.
High Tech screened 40 films, from a pool of more than 400 submissions, which included instructional videos as part of school curriculums, and personally produced videos. The evening’s red carpet gala attracted more than 200 attendees, including executives from HBO, ABC, NBC, and GoPro.
Granton Ave, High Tech’s own award-winning band performed a 15-minute set amid technical difficulties, accompanied by senior David Mansour, with whom the troupe played jazz songs during the awards presentation.
Hudson County CASA is seeking volunteers
Learn how to become a CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) volunteer and help foster children find safe and permanent homes. The next information session will be at Little City Books at 100 Bloomfield St, Hoboken, on Wednesday, June 19 at 7 p.m.
CASA is a nonprofit organization committed to advocating for the best interests of abused and neglected children. CASA works through trained community volunteers to ensure that needed services and assistance are made available to children while helping to move them toward safe and permanent homes.
Hudson County CASA volunteers are everyday people who make a direct impact in foster children’s lives. They are trusted, dedicated adults who seek to improve children’s well-being. CASA volunteers get to know their assigned child and his or her circumstances and provide valuable information to the court. Judges rely on the volunteers’ recommendations to make the best decisions about the children’s futures.
Menendez, Brown rail against new rules for debt collector’s communications
In the wake of a crackdown on robocalls, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed a rule that would allow debt collection companies to send unlimited texts and emails to consumers. Just last year, debt collection tactics have led to about 82,000 complaints to the CFPB, and nearly 458,000 to the Federal Trade Commission.
Senators Bob Menendez and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) are calling on CFPB Director Kathy Kranixnger to reverse the proposed rule, which would enable intrusive communications. Consumers who don’t have unlimited texting plans would be on the hook for any texts they receive from debt collectors.
“Just when you thought we’d made real headway in cracking down on those annoying, aggressive robocalls, along comes the Trump Administration, giving the green light to debt collectors so they can start inundating people with unlimited texts and emails,” Menendez said. “Come on, this proposal is unacceptable. Too many debt collectors already use aggressive tactics, the last thing we should be doing is giving them more ways to harass consumers.”
The proposed rule would also allow debt collectors to call consumers up to seven times a week, for each debt they have. For example, someone with six debts could receive up to 42 calls per week.
