Happy Birthday, President Lincoln
The Lincoln Association of Jersey City will hold its annual commemoration of our nation’s 16th president on Tuesday, Feb. 12 during a ceremony in – where else – Lincoln Park. The commemoration will begin at noon at the park’s statue of Lincoln. Use the park entrance at Kennedy Boulevard and Belmont Avenue.
Later that evening, at 6 p.m., the association will continue its celebration with a dinner at Casino in the Park, which will include a recreation of Lincoln’s famous 1860 speech at Cooper Union and feature a talk by author Joseph Cummins, who will tell stories about troubled presidential elections that were influenced by voter fraud. Tickets to the Casino in the Park dinner are $65. For more information, visit www.TheLincolnAssociationOfJerseyCity.com.
Healy adds Rev. Mario Gonzalez to slate for Ward D; Team Fulop file petitions
Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy has announced that Rev. Mario Gonzales has agreed to join his reelection slate as the Ward D City Council candidate. The addition leaves only one vacancy still remaining on the Healy ticket.
For the past 13 years, Gonzalez has served as CEO of the Hope Center for the Visual and Performing Arts, a faith-based non-profit that trains at-risk youth in the arts. During his tenure Gonzalez has turned the institution into a multi-million dollar arts center. The center also conducts job trainings and runs a food pantry service that has assisted hundreds of families in the Jersey City Heights.
Gonzalez is also the founder of The Least of These, a hospital-based AIDS ministry that is affiliated with Jersey City Medical Center, among other institutions.
Gonzalez joins Healy’s previously announced City Council candidates: At-large candidates Peter Brennan, Viola Richardson, and Omar Perez; former Jersey City Superintendent of Schools Dr. Charles Epps (Ward A); and community activists Jerry Meyers (Ward B), Janet Chevres (Ward C), and Dan Levin (Ward E).
Healy has yet to announce a candidate for Ward F.
Meanwhile, Healy’s main opponent in the mayoral race, City Councilman Steven Fulop, has filed petitions for the candidates on his slate. According to Fulop Campaign Manager John Thieroff, the campaign was about to collect a total of 10,700 petitions of support with the help of about 500 volunteers.
Fulop, who has already announced all the candidates running on his ticket, is also planning to run a slate of candidates for the Jersey City Democratic Organization. The organization has 368 seats up for reelection this year.
“We will continue to gather signatures in all city neighborhoods for Steve and the ticket and are now beginning the process of having our volunteers challenge in almost every Jersey City Democratic Organization committee district for June,” Thieroff said. “We are committed to creating a Democratic Party in Jersey City that is about public service, not self service, which has been the mark of the past.”
Independent candidate Michael Yun, who is running for the Ward D City Council seat, has also turned in his petitions, according to the office of the City Clerk.
Candidates Frank Gajewski (Ward A); Khemraj “Chico” Ramchal (Ward B); Nidia Lopez (Ward C); Sean Connors (Ward D); Candice Osborne (Ward E); and Diane Coleman (Ward F) are on Fulop’s slate, in addition to at-large candidates Rolando Lavarro Jr., Daniel Rivera, and Joyce Waterman.
111 First St. doc to be screened at library
On Saturday, Feb. 23, the Jersey City Free Public Library will host a screening of “111 First Street: From Paris to Jersey City, They Showed No Love.” The screening will begin at 1 p.m. at the library’s Main Branch, at 472 Jersey Ave. Directed by filmmaker and photojournalist Raul “Branko” Romero, the documentary recounts to story of the artists who used to live and work at the iconic 111 First St. building that once housed live/work studios for local artists downtown. For two years, from 2003 to 2004, Romero – who is known professionally as Branko – filmed interviews with several 111 artists in their studios and captured footage of them at work. There is even some footage of the Annual Artists’ Studio Tours, which grew out of the nexus of artists at 111 First St. The last of the artists were finally forced out in 2005.