Jersey City Master Plan: How to get involved!

Jersey City is currently in the process of updating its Master Plan. The current plan, adopted in 2001, is in need of a comprehensive reexamination in order to meet the needs of current and future residents. This is a major initiative that will have significant impacts on City life for years to come. The Master Plan acts as a blueprint for the future of the city; transportation infrastructure, housing, public space, land use, neighborhood and economic development--all of the building blocks city life--will be impacted by updates to the Master Plan.

How much will be invested in implementing green infrastructure in coming years? How much will be invested in affordable housing in all wards across the city? How will this plan effect economic development in areas outside of downtown?

Jersey City, to say the very least, is a city in flux. It is crucial community members get involved to make their voices heard to influence the updates to the Master Plan. We must work together to build a city that is beautiful, sustainable and equitable for all!

The city has begun holding Kickoff Sessions to discuss the revision process and gather community input.

The first session was held on September 15th at City Hall.

The next session will be held tonight, Wednesday, September 21, at the Bethune Center in Bergen-Lafayette at 6:30 p.m.

The final session will be held on Tuesday, September 27th at P.S 28 in the Heights at 6:30 p.m. 

I strongly encourage you to attend either of these sessions if you are available! I cannot stress how important it is to offer feedback at the stage.

You can also offer vital input by completing this survey.Fill it out!  Have your friends and neighbors fill it out!  It takes just a few minutes.

This is important. 

New #TreeSpeech Video!

[embed]https://youtu.be/T2cfK1VE2lc[/embed] We have 18 trees tweeting and just passed our 1,000th tweet!

If you'd like to join, email treespeech@sustainablejc.org, or join the conversation on twitter by searching for #treespeech.

Video directed by Brian Bolanowski and starring Jen and Dexter.

7/26: Regional GHG Initiative and Josh Fox's New Film on Climate Change

Please Register here for this event.

Come join us, to get a handle on what we can do to move New Jersey back into the forefront of America’s efforts to combat Climate Change.  We will meet on Tuesday, July 26, 2016, at 6:30 PM in Room 202, Hepburn Hall (straight in from the main gate on Kennedy Blvd) at NJCU’s Main Campus.

This event is in two parts - Presentation + Film :-)

FIRST, we will hear an analysis of RGGI, and New Jersey's role in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative -  The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) is a nine-state market-based collaboration to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions from power plants. Governor Christie withdrew New Jersey from RGGI in 2011. More here -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_Greenhouse_Gas_Initiative

THEN, we will watch and discuss Josh Fox's new film, "How to Let Go of the World and Love the Things Climate Can't Change"

Agenda:

• 6:30 - 7:00: Networking and Introductions
• 7:00 - 7:15: Presentation - The History and the Future of RGGI in New Jersey
• 7:15 - 7:30: Discussion of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
• 7:30 - 9:30: Film Screening
• 9:30 - 10:00: Discussion of the Film

Parking: Located on Culver Avenue, the Michael Gilligan Student Union garage offers two levels of NJCU campus parking beneath the building

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This event is presented by Sustainable JC and NJCU's C3: Communication-Collaboration-Commendation & Department of Geosciences and Geography

Co-Sponsored by: Environment New Jersey, New Jersey Sierra Club & the local Hudson County Sierra Club, as well as the Center for Sustainability at Ramapo College of New Jersey.

HEPBURN HALL at NJCU

When

Tuesday, July 26, 2016 from 6:30 PM to 10:00 PM (EDT) - Add to Calendar

Where

NJCU's Main Campus - Hepburn Hall, 202 2039 John F. Kennedy Blvd., Jersey City, NJ 07302 - View Map

6/26 Footwear Drive @Berry Lane Park opening Opening 11AM-3PM

SLOW Fashion: The Race to Recycle Foot Gear/FFFARS will be at Berry Lane Park Grand Opening & Family Day Festival tomorrow collecting your gently used shoes which goes to those in desperate need and income generated goes to worthy cause #OneOrlandoPulse while keeping your foot gear out of the landfill! We gift you with artful #sustainableswag for your donations, thank you! See below for what you can bring and how you contribute and follow us @slowfashionfffars:

TREE SPEECH - JC Trees Speak Up!

Jersey City Trees Speak Up! Local Artist Anne Percoco and Sustainable JC Launch Stewardship Awareness Campaign on Twitter.

JERSEY CITY, NJ—This summer, the trees of Jersey City are taking to twitter. Environmental artist Anne Percoco is assigning Twitter accounts to Jersey City trees and recruiting residents to tweet, in the first person, from the trees' perspectives. These “tree stories” will start a citywide conversation about expanding and maintaining the City's deficient tree canopy.

This project, produced in partnership with Sustainable Jersey City and numerous volunteers, will be a vehicle for environmental activism, education, and community engagement. The project, which will launch on June 20th, will also help create a tree inventory using OpenTreeMap.org, an open source mapping tool to which the City subscribes. The team's goal is for 50 trees to be tweeting by mid-September.

Creator Anne Percoco shares her vision: “Both poetic and political, TREE SPEECH will form a virtual ecosystem of interconnected, communicative individuals. This will mirror the fact that trees actually do share information and nutrients through an underground fungal network.”

Participants will act as creative collaborators and authors, tweeting tree jokes, quotes, and drawings; updates about trees' health and seasonal changes; and educational information about the benefits of green infrastructure. The #TreeSpeech hashtag will track this dialog.

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How to Participate:

To sign up to tweet as a tree, email treespeech@sustainablejc.org. We'll send you instructions.

To join the conversation, use and follow the hashtag #TREESPEECH.

Suggested Donation: $15 Per Tree (to cover project costs)

View JC's tree map in progress and add trees on your block at OpenTreeMap

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Sample Tweets:

Beatrice Cherry Tree @TS_Beatrice, located on 3rd Street and Coles, tweeted:

Aren't you guys tired of this fall weather in May? I know I am! Luckily, a lot of #UrbanBirds find shelter between my leaves...#TreeSpeech

Danny the Tree ‏@Danny_TS1, located on Hutton Street in Jersey City Heights, tweeted:

When I was small these power lines were no problem. Now I'm feeling a little cramped :( #TreeSpeech

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Why Does our Tree Canopy Matter?

Urban trees lower temperatures, utility costs, and building emissions substantially. They reduce stormwater runoff by absorbing thousands of gallons of rain each year. They help mitigate climate change impacts naturally and greatly improve our air quality and public health. The Jersey City Environmental Commission's July 2015 Tree Canopy Study recommends that our canopy coverage increase by 30,000 trees as a restorative measure. While local government has committed to planting 2,000 trees in parks over the next 5 years, more is needed and the community must help. TREE SPEECH would like to raise awareness of the dire need to maintain the City’s existing tree inventory and to plant more Street Trees.

Check out the URBAN FORESTRY links available on SJC's Resource page here.

BENEFITS OF TREES

Planting the right trees in the right locations in the right way, will restore our Tree Canopy (now at 17%, should be at 44% !) and provide Green Infrastructure benefits across Jersey City.

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Partners: NJ Tree Foundation & OpenTreeMap