The market is the brainchild of the relatively new Farms in the Heights organization, which was spawned from last year’s Farms in the City brainstorming and networking event.

The market will run each Sunday from 9 am to 3 pm through the end of October, and vendors will be selling organic and farm-fresh fruits and vegetables, meats, eggs, baked goods, pickles, salsa, nuts and more. In a new twist, the market will also often include community programming focused on wellness and health, asd well as arts and culture components, like live music.

We caught up this week with two Farms in the Heights organizers to find out more about the market, and how it came to be.

So this group, Farms in the Heights, was formed out of the Farms in the City workshop? Can you explain a little more about what brought the group together?

Destené Styles: Part of the workshop on the day of the Jersey City Farms in the City event was to break apart in groups by neighborhood and discuss what types of “green” initiatives we would like to see happen in our local community. We all swapped contact info and from their our smaller group formed and began meeting on a regular basis.

The Heights is by no means a food desert, but still, it can be difficult for people in the Heights and most other neighborhoods in Jersey City to obtain fresh and seasonal food. How will the market will change this, and why it is important?

Destené Styles: I not only see the market as an opportunity to have access to local grown, quality foods, but also an opportunity to grow community. My hope is that the market will encourage folks to increase healthy habits in their homes and allow neighbors a space to come together and share — who doesn’t like talking about food, family and music? We have a wonderfully diverse community and I see the market as a way to help us celebrate it.

How difficult was it for a group of concerned community members to put this all together, and end up with a weekly farmers market in the neighborhood?

Destené Styles: The most consistent and hardworking driver for this whole initiative was Mo Kinberg. Without her, this would not be happening.

Mo Kinberg: There was a lot of community interest and community members willing to put time and energy into starting a farmers market and we got immediate support and advice from existing farmers markets, the city and the Riverview Neighborhood Association. There is also an emerging local food movement in Jersey City that was supportive of our efforts and instrumental in making the Riverview Farmers Market a reality.

What else does Farms in the Heights have planned for the future, beyond the farmers market?

Destené Styles: We are working on having community education programming held during the markets. The focus will be on health and wellness, but will also encompass the arts. Additionally at our June 12 kick off event we are trading community members a vegetable seedling in exchange for a favorite recipe. We’d like to keep collecting recipes throughout the summer and release a community cookbook in fall and there has also been talk about a quarterly newsletter. We would also like to see some cooking classes sprout where the focus would be on seasonal, fresh ingredients and we have begun talks with the city to utilize their Adopt-A-Lot program to turn an empty lot into a learning garden.

Anything else to add?

Destené Styles: As I mentioned we are working on coordinating programming throughout the market season. We would love to utilize some of our local talent. Play the congas? Practice yoga? Know how to plant a culinary herb container garden? Have you mastered the spices of Indian cuisine? We are open to all ideas and would love to hear from our neighbors.

The Riverview Farmers Market kicks off Sunday, June 12 from 9 am to 3 pm in Riverview-Fisk Park. It will include a fitness bootcamp at 10 am, a kids sidewalk chalk coloring contest at 11 am, and live music from 1 to 3 pm. For more information, email cityheightsfarms (at) gmail.com or check out Farms in the Heights on Facebook. For a full list of the city’s farmers markets, as well as the Jersey Fresh guide to what produce is freshest when, click here.

Photo: U.S. Department of Agriculture

For the past three years, the Riverview Neighborhood Association (RNA) has held one movie night in Riverview-Fisk Park in August or early September. But this year the RNA has teamed up with the Washington Park Association (WPA) to offer a movie in a park each Friday night in August. Two of the movies will be screened in Riverview-Fisk Park (August 5 and 19), and two will be screened in Washington Park (August 12 and 26).

“It is an opportunity to visit two fabulous parks in the Heights while taking in some wonderful films,” RNA president Becky Hoffman says. “Joining forces with WPA enabled us to add more movies and reach more of the community.”

The two groups are hosting a fundraiser next weekend to raise money for the Movies in the Park program. The event features BBQ prepared by WPA president and chef Mory Thomas, tequilas, other food and drink options, and a silent auction.

“The WPA is always looking for new and fun ways to engage the community with the park,” Thomas says. “The Movies in the Park program will not only give us an opportunity to work with our friends at RNA, but will allow families and community members to enjoy some quality entertainment and safe recreation. What could be nicer after a busy week than relaxing in the park on a summer night?”

Photo taken during the setup of 2011′s movie night provided by RNA

THE DETAILS

Movies in the Park Fundraiser; Saturday April 30 from 3 to 7 pm; at 662 Palisade Avenue. Tickets are $40 in advance and $50 the day of the event. Tickets can be purchased via Paypal through the RNA website.

After more than a year of discussion and revision, the city’s redevelopment plan for Journal Square was approved by the City Council at its Wednesday meeting. About 100 community members packed council chambers to witness the vote and several addressed the council with comments on the plan, known as the Journal Square 2060 Redevelopment Plan.

The council voted 8-0 for the plan; At-Large councilman Mariano Vega* was absent.

The 50-year vision plan for Journal Square is the latest — and by all appearances, the last — iteration in a recent series of redevelopment plans for the area. In February 2009, the City Council considered a proposed Journal Square Redevelopment Plan that called for extensive infrastructure improvements over a large area surrounding the Journal Square transportation hub. The council tabled that plan after getting an earful from concerned residents.

At that time, the community’s concerns about the plan centered around density, fear of eminent domain, a perceived lack of citizen input and potential strain on infrastructure and city services.

Becky Hoffman, president of the Riverview Neighborhood Association in the Heights, told the council at the February 2009 meeting that she was concerned about “untenable” increases in density and looked askance at certain financial instruments called for in the plan. One such instrument, the District Improvement Bonus fund (DIB), would have allowed developers to build beyond the density levels laid out in the plan if they paid into the Journal Square District Improvement Fund.

Hoffman argued at the time that the DIB seemed like “a bargain” for developers and bad planning, since it allows developers to break the planning guidelines — if they pay.

The DIB also turned out to present a political obstacle for the plan, since proceeds from the fund — which are intended to pay for infrastructure developments to support increased development — can be used only within the corresponding redevelopment zone. Council members outside of Ward C wanted a piece of the DIB pie and, being legally barred from it, may have slackened their support of the plan.

A year later, with a new council in place, the Planning Division brought a slimmed-down, DIB-less proposal known as the Journal Square Core Redevelopment Plan before the Planning Board; the administration’s intention with this plan was to move quickly to put a redevelopment plan in place by focusing on the area immediately surrounding the transportation center. However, residents and community groups took a dim view of that idea, and the Planning Board never approved it; instead they asked city planners to come back with a proposal that took the entire district into account.

The Planning Division did so in May, releasing the 2060 Plan, which addressed many of the criticisms leveled by the opponents to previous plans while keeping central the concept of high-density, transit-oriented development that drove the 2009 plan.

While the concerns raised in 2009 have not disappeared, the Planning Division took a proactive approach to addressing them by staying in touch with community group leaders and even holding two public meetings to allow residents to put in their two cents before sending the document to the Planning Board. The overall reaction in those meetings was positive and some changes were made to the plan as a result of the community input.

The plan had accrued a critical mass of community support by the time it reached the Planning Board for its July 27 meeting, and it was recommended to the City Council for approval.

The majority of those who addressed the council about the plan on Wednesday were supporters. Some of those who spoke were affiliated with the city’s trade unions; they urged the council to adopt the plan, saying it is an essential step for stimulating construction and creating much-needed local jobs.

Hudson County Building Trades Council president Patrick Keller told the council that “close to 50 percent” of his members are unemployed.

“We need this project to move ahead,” he said. His comments were punctuated by thunderous applause from the dozens of union members and supporters assembled at the back of chambers.

Former Planning Board commissioner Jeff Kaplowitz, who has been a consistent supporter of the city’s redevelopment plans for Journal Square, was on hand again on Wednesday to add his comments to the record.

Noting that “every mayor from Mayor Gangemi to Mayor Healy has tried to turn this area around, with very little success,” Kaplowitz praised the 2060 Plan for its inclusion of public input and sensitive treatment of “the concerns of the surrounding neighborhoods.”

Kaplowitz added that he hoped development in the area would soon “take away all the telephone stores, discount liquor stores, 99 cent stores” and “bring in better retail.”

However, not everyone is happy with the final draft.

Good-government activist and 2009 mayoral candidate Dan Levin was not present at Wednesday’s meeting, but in a letter to JCI earlier this month he said that despite the administration’s revisions, the 2060 Plan “remains deficient.”

Levin says that besides lacking in provisions for infrastructure, schools and open space, the redevelopment plan “does not address how bicycles can safely access Journal Square.” The 2060 Plan incorporates several bicycle-friendly elements, including required bike parking in all new structures. But without dedicated on-street bike lanes throughout the city, Levin contends that the plan merely “creates a ‘bike island’ without sufficient support for the surrounding area.”

Gustav Von Roth, who is on the board of local bicycle advocacy group Bike JC, acknowledged that the administration still has work to do in making the city more bikeable, but expressed optimism on Wednesday about the opportunities presented by potential development in Journal Square.

“We hope that our group can be a resource as the plan becomes a reality,” Von Roth said.

Hilltop Neighborhood Association president Rich Boggiano has been an outspoken and bitter critic of the redevelopment plan since its inception last year. Time and again he has expressed concerns about tall buildings going up on Journal Square — too close to his home for comfort. Speaking at Wednesday’s meeting, Boggiano did not raise any specific objections in his comments, instead chiding the council, saying they “have just steamrolled [the 2060 Plan] ahead because the administration wants it.”

Before returning to his seat, Boggiano vowed to continue fighting the plan.

“I’m not seeing my neighborhood, the Hilltop, ruined,” he said. “And I’m not seeing giant buildings [in Journal Square].”

City planner Jeffrey Wenger, one of the lead planners on the 2060 Plan, was sanguine when he spoke to JCI on Thursday, despite critics.

“There’s no way to get everybody 100 percent happy,” Wenger admits. “There are some one- and two-family homes that are near this transportation center that will also be near some very intense development.”

But Wenger also notes that there is “a general sentiment that people in the neighborhood wanted to see more and better services,” including more diverse retail, improved public infrastructure and broader dining and nightlife options. This can only come about, he says, with “a larger population base that can support that.”

All of the council members made positive comments on the plan when voting on Wednesday, even as many acknowledged that it did not please everyone in the community.

Ward C councilwoman Nidia Rivera Lopez, who represents the Journal Square area, thanked the plan’s critics “for their determination and their interest in what’s best for the city,” but explained that she was satisfied with the level of community input and is confident that the plan will “bring revenues to the city.”

Ward A councilman Michael Sottolano remarked that “in any redevelopment plan there are always pluses and what some people consider minuses, but … that does not mean you sit on your hands and do nothing.”

Ward E councilman Steven Fulop emphasized the need to put a redevelopment plan in place now, even in an economy that is still only sputtering toward recovery.

“In these economic times, the key for the city is to be planning … so when the economy does turn, we can hit the ground running,” Fulop said.

Council President Peter Brennan acknowledged the union members and supporters in his remarks.

“I see a lot of people out there that are sitting here but would rather be out there banging nuts and bolts and putting their beams up,” he said as he cast the final aye vote for the plan.

But the approval of the plan on Wednesday does not mark the end of the story of Journal Square’s redevelopment.

As Fulop remarked when casting his vote, the plan is at this point only “a direction the city wants to move in.” Economic conditions, developer interest and community voices will dictate if the ambitious vision envisioned by the Planning Division will become a reality.

The evening will have a Heights focus, but many of the issues that concern residents of the Heights — from taxes to the city budget to economic development — are citywide issues, and RNA president Becky Hoffman says that citizens from outside the neighborhood are encouraged to attend.

Questions for Gaughan and Lopez should be sent in advance to the RNA, so they can make sure the discussion covers as much as possible. You can email your questions to riverviewneighborhood (at) comcast.net.

The meeting will be in the 1st floor cafeteria of the Harbor View Health Center (178 Ogden Ave.) at 7:30 pm.

Big thanks to JCList.com for shooting the video, to Tris McCall for allowing us to use his music, to the candidates for showing up, and to the Riverview Neighborhood Association for putting the event together.

TAX ABATEMENTS: All Candidates Were Allowed to Respond

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: Andrew Hubsch, Noemi Velazquez and Lori Serrano

ROAD REPAIRS: Peter Brennan, Andrew Hubsch and Mariano Vega

SMALL BUSINESS CULTIVATION: Emilio DeLia, Lori Serrano and Ronnie Greco

TAXES AND GOVERNMENT WASTE: Betty Outlaw, Noemi Velazquez and Ronnie Greco

DEVELOPMENT AND CRIME IN GREENVILLE: Peter Brennan, Joseph Cassidy and Betty Outlaw

TAXES AND SENIORS: Mariano Vega, Emilio DeLia and Abdul Malik

Photo by Steve Gold

Candidates for the City Council At-Large seat gathered on Tuesday evening to introduce themselves and field questions from voters at a forum held by the Riverview Neighborhood Association (RNA) in the Heights. About 75 people crowded into the dining room of the Harborview Health Center to hear from the candidates.

Eleven of the thirteen candidates were present. From Mayor Healy’s ticket, incumbent council president Mariano Vega and councilman Peter Brennan attended; councilwoman Willie Flood did not. Also present were: One Jersey City candidates Emilio DeLia and Andrew Hubsch; Joseph Cassidy, Betty Outlaw and Lori Serrano from Lou Manzo’s ticket; Ronnie Greco, Frank Scalcione and Noemi Velazquez from L. Harvey Smith’s slate; and Abdul Malik, who is running with Phil Webb. Independent candidate Marie Day did not attend.

Each candidate was allowed two minutes for an opening statement, in which they were asked to describe their view of the role of an At-Large council member and name the major issues they see facing the Heights. These introductions were followed by ten audience questions. Because of the large number of candidates present, not everyone was asked to answer every question: three names were chosen randomly to decide who would answer each. However, a question about the value of tax abatements provoked so much interest from the candidates as well as the audience that all candidates were permitted to speak on the issue: organizer and RNA chair Becky Hoffman jokingly called it a “bonus.”

The questions covered a wide range, including Heights-specific issues such as the condition of roads and development plans, as well as hot-button citywide issues such as abatements, property taxes, the practice of holding municipal or county jobs while holding elected office, and support for small business. Overall, the tone of the forum was quite lively, with some candidates — Downtown businessman Frank Scalcione in particular — becoming intensely impassioned while speaking, and cheers and jeers coming from the crowd in equal measure.

RNA founding member Maria Tuzzo, a lifelong resident of Jersey City, capped the event with a brief but stirring appeal to those present to avoid voting on the basis of personality, looks, cronyism or other irrelevant criteria, but rather to cast a vote “to improve this city.”

A consistent thread in the questions as well as the responses was dissatisfaction with the current administration’s record. Greenville resident Monique Snow, who is backed by mayoral candidate Lou Manzo in her run for the 31st District Assembly seat, directed her question to Brennan, a former Ward A councilman. Citing what she called the lack of recreational facilities in her neighborhood, she asked, “what plans do you have for Greenville?” Speaking after the meeting, Snow said that “nothing has improved in Ward A” under the incumbents. For his part, Brennan had on hand a “complete manual of everything the city offers for recreation.”

While Brennan and Vega defended their respective records and laid claim to a catalog of positive changes, the challengers at various points cited a lack of accountability, fiscal mismanagement, corruption and high crime as reasons to remove the current administration.

Although the overall temper of the crowd seemed rather unfriendly to the incumbents, not everyone was impressed by the challengers. Jersey City resident Bob Pagano said after the forum that he would be voting for the Healy team. “There are always some candidates who think they can knock down the incumbents by talking about things like abatements,” Pagano said. “The incumbents are doing a decent job.”

RNA chair Hoffman said she was pleased with the turnout for the event and grateful that most of the candidates were able to make it. She did say, however, that the candidates “could have done a much better job” of addressing the specific concerns of Heights residents and of “answering the questions as completely as possible.”

In contrast to the rather tepid routinized performances of the mayoral candidates at the Hudson Media Group debate, those who participated in yesterday’s event were highly energetic and, for the most part, satisfyingly specific about their policy plans. Even with the time restrictions necessitated by the large number of candidates, each one was able to get across his or her unique approach to the office of At-Large council member. In the end, that’s the best result a forum like this can have.

On Tuesday, April 14, at 7:30, the Riverview Neighborhood Association will host a forum for all At-Large council candidates at its regular meeting at Harborview Health Center (178 Ogden Ave.).

- “The Journal Square Redevelopment Plan will benefit a few developers at the expense of the majority of Jersey City’s residents,” representatives of the Riverview Neighborhood Association say in a letter to the JJ. The letter argues that the possibility for inclusion of skyscrapers up to 100 stories in the plan is out of scale with much of the existing neighborhood, that development of that scale would tax the city’s infrastructure and that there is yet to be any buy-in to the project from the Port Authority or NJ Transit, both of which are necessary partners in the project. More importantly, the group argues, much of the revenue generated by the project would benefit the few at the expense of the many, via funding mechanisms like the Revenue Allocation District (RAD) and the “paradigm shift” in financing (the District Improvement Fund Bonus) that we reported on last week.

- More than 5 percent of St. Peter’s College full-time students are falling behind on tuition as the recession continues. “I was told we had 123 students who began the new semester $5,000 or more in arrears on their tuition bills,” college president Gene Cornacchia tells Bob Braun.

- The Bally Total Fitness health club in Journal Square is celebrating its opening with a weekend-long slate of events starting Friday. They’ve scheduled an After-Work Fitness Formula Happy Hour for Friday from 5-10 pm; a Fitness Music Festival for Saturday from 9 am-9 pm; and a Family Fitness Festival for Sunday from 9 am-6 pm. More info on the gym can be found here.

- To no real surprise, many of the Society Hill neighbors of the man charged this weekend with holding a woman against her will and promoting prostitution didn’t know that he was a pimp. Many apparently thought he was in the music business.

In statewide news:

- Some three weeks after NJ launched an audit of roughly 225,000 public employees to root out ineligible dependents receiving health benefits, workers and unions are seething over how the effort is being conducted.

- Former New York City mayor and Republican presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani is expected to endorse Chris Christie for governor of New Jersey today.

- A bill advanced last week by an Assembly panel would nullify any contract that contains language prohibiting a consumer to file a complaint either with police or government authorities.

- An office of Bayer Health Care Pharmaceuticals in Morris County was evacuated yesterday and eight employees had to be decontaminated after they were exposed to a powdery substance that arrived in a letter sent to the company.

- Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) routes could come to Bergen County as early as next year. BRT already exists in Essex County.