Hudson County is doing better, according to the review of the State of the County over the last year given by County Executive Tom DeGise to the Hudson County Board of Freeholders on Feb. 12. Before last year, DeGise’s reports were tinged by the economic woes of The Great Recession.
In his 2014 address, DeGise had told the freeholders he believed the county had turned a corner after nearly six years of dismal news coming out of the 2008 collapse of the national economy.
This year’s report suggested steady progress.
“That’s why we received another bond rating increase in 2014,” DeGise said. “Today our county’s credit strength, as measured by the three major ratings agencies, is the best it has ever been under the county executive form of government.”
Budget savings, parks, education
Continuing the initiative to cut operating costs that started with the original purchase of County Plaza nearly a decade ago, DeGise celebrated the opening of The County Center at Bergen Square.
“[This] completes our plan to place all county employees in county-owned buildings, rather than expensive, often inadequate rented space,” he said.
The county has also cut costs through an agreement with Union County to provide juvenile detention services. Not only did the county save $5 million annually as a result, but will be able to convert the existing Juvenile Detention Center in Secaucus to other uses.
“Those savings will come without layoffs,” DeGise said.
Hoboken residents saw the opening of a new park under the 14th Street Viaduct in December, while county changes to traffic patterns and other improvements in Lincoln Park in Jersey City have made conditions safer for pedestrians and bikers.
“We finalized plans on a new passive park honoring veterans and two new athletic fields within Braddock Park in North Bergen,” DeGise said. “This $6 million project is the largest investment the county has made in Braddock Park in decades. And construction on our new public golf course in Lincoln Park West was completed in 2014. It will be ready for duffers like me to enjoy this spring. The cost to play a round will be about the price of a visit to a movie theater. Our hope is it will open this sport especially to the young people of Hudson County, who might never have considered it before.”
Hudson County Community College opened its new Library Media Center in 2014, he reported, the third major campus building completed in less than a decade.
The county is also supporting construction of the college’s planned Science Technology Engineering & Technology (STEM) building to keep up with student demands for new technology-related programming.
“The college selected an architect in September and is working to make the project financially feasible. It is a wise next step,” DeGise said.
Two years ago, the county put its plans to build a new Schools of Technology building in Secaucus on hold. This year, the county dusted off the plans and is moving ahead with the effort.
“Let’s finally build a new campus for The Schools of Technology on county property adjacent to Laurel Hill Park,” DeGise told the freeholders on Feb. 12. “The Schools of Technology have been an award-winning institution for decades. It’s time we finally provided them a new campus worthy of their reputation. Our bonding authority is in place, it’s time to turn some shovels.”
County made strides against homelessness
In his 2013 State of the County, DeGise vowed to end homelessness in Hudson County, something he predicted might take a decade to do. Among its efforts late last year and early this year, the county has invested more than $3 million in HOME funds to help build 96 units at the Hoboken YMCA in partnership with MBS Housing Urban Renewal.
The county also worked with the North Hudson Community Action Council, the City of Union City, and the West New York Housing Authority to add another 18 units a short time later. These efforts were part of a 10-year plan to eradicate chronic homelessness.
To help the homeless during the cold winter, the county opened a warming center in Kearny.
This year, he said the county needed to find help for homeless veterans.
“According to the best estimates we have from the Division of Housing and Community Development, the number of homeless veterans in Hudson County averages around 50 at one time depending on the season and economic conditions. About 100 homeless vets will come into contact with staff in the course of a year,” DeGise said.
“They are usually among our chronic homeless population, meaning they tend to be male, older, and have been living on the streets for months or often years at a time. We have already pledged to eradicate chronic homelessness in Hudson County. It is a challenge that will likely take a decade to meet.”
He asked the freeholders to work with him to provide more immediate help for the veterans.
“We should pledge that any homeless veteran in Hudson County in need of housing will be able to find it,” he said. “Through the use of $5.5 million in HOME funds, we created twenty-four new, permanent, affordable housing units for homeless vets in two developments in Bayonne and Union City with local partners in the last three years. In the Union City development, project-based vouchers are provided by Continuum of Care funding. While this funding does not flow through the county, the Division is the collaborative applicant to HUD and coordinates the process.”
He called this real progress.
“To better focus on the issue, we have created a Homeless Veterans Committee within the Hudson County Alliance to End Homelessness,” he said. “The mission of the committee is to better coordinate the existing services we offer and to assist in the development of new permanent housing solutions for veterans. “
Members of the committee include representatives from the cities of Jersey City and Hoboken, a staffer from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and various service providers in Hudson County. It is co-chaired by the Office of Veterans Affairs and Division of Housing and Community Development.
The committee’s first order of business is to develop a comprehensive resource guide for existing housing and services in Hudson County for veterans.
“It will also collaborate with existing shelter providers to maintain a master list of homeless veterans they come in contact with. This should allow us to more easily find and counsel them one-on-one so they can link with services and housing,” DeGise said. “Already the mayors of Jersey City, Bayonne, Harrison and Hoboken have signed on to The Mayors Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness launched by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. I’m confident that the remaining eight municipalities will sign on to The Mayor’s Challenge. We encourage them to do so. This will help us bring more resources and more attention to the issue in every community in Hudson County.”
DeGise added, “Our Division of Housing and Community Development and Department of Health and Human Services provided funding to create a Homeless Street Outreach team. They are on the streets, 365 days a year, engaging the unsheltered homeless population.”
Other successes in 2014
“Already a national model, we sought to further expand our program to reduce recidivism among female inmates at the county jail,” DeGise said. “Today our jail population is the lowest it has been since the opening of the modern correctional center building in Kearny two decades ago.”
Although the impact of the closing of the Pulaski Skyway for reconstruction earlier this year was not as terrible as first predicted, DeGise credited the county Transportation Management Association (TMA) for working with the business community to help coordinate a massive public education campaign to divert drivers to other routes.
“We invested $2 million in road improvements in Hoboken,” he said. “And we cut the ribbon on the new 14th Street Viaduct in Hoboken in July. At a total cost of over $54 million, the project was the largest single investment in county transportation infrastructure ever.”
The county also established the first We Are One New Jersey Center in the state, whose mission is to assist immigrants to move toward citizenship with all the rights and responsibilities it entails.
“We committed $200,000 over four years to be a partner in a new Public Transportation Workforce Development Training Program [which] will help clients of our Hudson County One Stop Training Centers and the Jersey City Employment Training Program develop the skills they need to work in the transportation construction trades,” DeGise said.
Predicted efforts for the future
In the year ahead, the county is poised to:
• Develop a partnership with Union City, in order to construct a new, shared public works garage to serve the city and the Division of Roads.
• Assume control of the western end of Duncan Avenue, making it a county road, which will allow the county to clean it up and make it an attractive entrance to the new golf course in Lincoln Park West.
• Engage state and federal officials to support extending the West Side Avenue light rail to spur development and reduce traffic.
• Put in place a host of park improvements including a dog run, a fishing pier and a boat dock in Laurel Hill and adding five new fields in Stephen Gregg Park in Bayonne.
•Increase the signal power on the 1710-AM Traffic Information Station (TIS) to make it more effective in emergencies.
The county is also moving ahead with plans to extend Central Avenue in Jersey City to connect with Newark Avenue, improving traffic flow in the area of Journal Square and clearing the way for the construction of a new courthouse complex.
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