Dear Editor:
I want to bring all of our merchants and business owners up to date on the issues I have been working on in our commercial districts.
As you may have already noticed, police presence on Bergenline and Summit Avenues has been increased, both day and night. The police department has recently been reorganized to allow more officers to be on the street around the clock. As emphasis on quality-of-life reinforcement, especially in the over-night hours, has resulted in a decrease in calls to the police for service and quieter streets at night.
I hope you and your employees are taking advantage of the reduced parking meter prices in our open municipal lots. Meters now give one hour’s time for 25 cents, rather than one half hour. This was done to encourage more people to park in the lots and free up parking spaces on the avenues for your customers.
Working with PSE&G, we have been upgrading all street and parking lot lighting in the city. More and brighter lighting is being installed, with about half of the city already upgraded.
The hours of the Urban Enterprise Zone (UEZ) cleaning program have been changed and ex tended in an effort to improve the cleaning process.
We are about to undertake a new street paving project to improve the road surfaces in several areas of the city. This particular project will begin soon, but we are already securing funding to do more streets later on. This is an ongoing process, and we hope to have every street in Union City repaved.
The UEZ Board continues to meet regularly to find more ways to improve our business areas. If you have not attended one of these meetings, I would suggest you make an effort to do so because the Board represents you. You don’t have to be a member of the UEZ to attend these open public meetings. To find out when the next meeting will be held, just call 201-271-2350.
Brian P. Stack
Mayor