New rail tunnel to replace canceled ARC project
STATEWIDE – On Monday, New Jersey’s two senators and Amtrak officials announced plans for a rail tunnel that would follow the same route as the now-canceled Access to the Region’s Core (ARC) tunnel from Hudson County to New York City. The ARC project was canceled by Gov. Chris Christie last year in order to save money.
With the new tunnel and rail line, trains would run through Secaucus, under the Hudson River, and connect to new tracks in an expanded Penn Station.
The project, being called the “Gateway” tunnel, would allow eight more Amtrak trains and 13 more NJ Transit trains per hour to take the route, as opposed to 25 more NJ Transit trains that ARC would have allowed.
The project was announced and lauded on Monday at a press conference in Newark, but exact timelines or funding sources have not yet been revealed.
St. Mary High School in Jersey City to close
JERSEY CITY — St. Mary’s High School in Jersey City will close permanently after this schools year, sources have confirmed. The students were given the news at an assembly on Monday.
St. Mary, at 209 Third St., is a private school, affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church. It serves 295 students in grades 9-12.
Hoboken introduces new assistant comptroller
HOBOKEN – Tejal Desai, formerly of the Hoboken Municipal Hospital Authority, has been introduced as the new Assistant Comptroller for the city of Hoboken.
Desai will be responsible for advising the administration on the city’s financial condition and making recommendations on fiscal policies and financial transactions, according to a city press release.
Assistant comptroller is a position that hasn’t been filled recently, but is in Hoboken’s employee organization table, according to Mayor Dawn Zimmer.
The job is full-time, and Desai will earn $80,000 annually.
“Given the history of what’s happened in Hoboken it is important that we continue to rebuild the finance department,” Zimmer said in a phone interview on Monday.
Desai received an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago, and worked in public finance investment banking for Bank of America and in the Corporate Treasure Department of the Dow Chemical Company, according to the city release.
Jersey City most diverse in state
JERSEY CITY — There’s an 82 percent probability that if you picked any two Jersey City residents at random, they would be different in terms of race and ethnicity. That’s what Bloomberg.com found when it did its own assessment of recently released Census data in the area.
“Jersey City is the most polyglot municipality in the state,” it reported, referring to the use of multiple languages.
NJMC offers Herbal Tea Workshop Feb. 12
New Jersey Meadowlands Commission is offering an Herbal Tea Workshop on Saturday, Feb. 12 at 1 p.m. for ages 14 and up. In the workshop, participants will make a special herbal tea blend to take home as Karen Breuel of Littlebrook Organic Farm discusses the therapeutic properties of several easy-to-grow herbs you can plant at home. She’ll also demonstrate how and when to harvest, dry and prepare the herbs for tea. Refreshments are included.
Price is $4 for members and $5 for non-members. The workshop is limited to 25 people.
NJMC and BCAS host hosts Valentine’s Day Bird Walk Feb. 13
New Jersey Meadowlands Commission and the Bergen County Audubon Society will host a Valentine’s Day Bird Walk on Sunday, Feb. 13 at 10 a.m.
This free two-hour guided nature walk starts outside the Meadowlands Environment Center in DeKorte Park in Lyndhurst. Participants will walk around the square-mile park, looking for wintering waterfowl and other birds of note. Check meadowblog.net for last-minute weather updates. You will have to sign a standard liability release for this event. To RSVP, contact Don Torino of the BCAS at greatauk4@aol.com or (201) 636-4022.