HPHA Membership Meeting

Thursday, May 4, 2017

HPHA Membership Meeting

Thursday, May 4, 2017 

Meeting called to order by Diane Kaese at 7:35 PM in the basement of Saint Peter and Paul Orthodox Church, 109 Grand Street.

1. HPHA Board Member Attendance

B. Officer Reports

1. President, Diane Kaese opened the meeting.
2. April Meeting Minutes were approved.
3. Budget Jennifer Wagner: Absent no report given.
4. President Report Diane Kaese:

• Reminder the Newport 10K is happening this Saturday if you need to leave Jersey City move your car beyond the race route.

C. Committee Reports

1. Construction Committee - Diane Kaese
   1. 99 Hudson (Plaza Construction):
      1. The builders are trying to move up the timeline from 3 years start to finish to 2 years.
      2. Diane had a meeting with management and their lawyers. They requested the ability to work on Saturday and work extra hours. Diane said as long as they did not make noise on Saturdays they could work and they can extend hours into the evening but no work can begin before 7:00 AM.
      3. Foundation work is completed.
      4. The structure is in place up to the third or fourth floor.
      5. No commercial vehicles are to use Washington to gain access to and from the site. If you see any you should take down the companies' name and license plate and report it.
   2. The Municipal Utilities Authority is working on new sewer lines by Morris Street
   3. NJ Transit put a new transformer in last week.

1. Parks Committee - Ann Webster and Stephanie Daniels

1. Stephanie Daniels is stepping down as Parks Committee Chairperson as we enter the next phase of building the park. Ann Webster will be heading up efforts to move the park into construction.
2. Stephanie encouraged everyone to continue the push to complete the project and support fund raising efforts.
3. Diane thanked Stephanie for all her years of hard work and dedication to the Parks Project.
4. Ann informed the group that we are having moving forward getting various paperwork addressed.
1. Events Committee: Joyce Mathisen and Andrew Macurdy for Riza Hunger
   1. The All You Can Eat Pancake Breakfast
      1. Was very successful with about 250 people in attendance
      2. A special thank you to everyone that flipped pancakes including the Police and Fire Department Volunteers
      3. This year we had twenty-six table sponsors including twenty new business members.
   2. Jersey City Great American Clean Up
      1. We had a good turnout despite the unusually warm weather. 
      2. Faith and the Mother’s Group cleaned Four Corners Park.
      3. Andrew and Lauren spearheaded the Morris Canal Park Clean Up.
      4. We had three Clean up sponsors: BCB which provided breakfast, Downtown Pharmacy: Water Bottles, and Windsor Liberty: sunscreen and dog clean up bags with holders. 

1. Technology Committee: Joyce Mathisen for Emmanuel Simon

1. The new website is working well; we are recording payments for tickets and membership.
2. We are working on refining the content. This will be an ongoing process even after we launch.
3. Currently our focus is on the business membership profiles and sponsor page.
4. Andrew Macurdy agreed to work on a special project for the history section.
1. New Membership including Small Business Events: Joyce Mathisen
   1. We approved the business window decal created by Emmanuel and expect to have it printed and distributed to our HPHA business members by the end of the month.
   2. We have had a successful membership drive adding twenty business members and sixty-one new residential members. These memberships are in addition to our current annual membership.
   3. Since our last general meeting we hosted our first HPHA book club meeting and a wine tasting at Sátis Bistro. 
   4. Upcoming events include:
      1. HPHA Book Club on 7:00 PM, on May 18 at Caffe Bene - The Gold Coast by Nelson DeMille
      2. Monthly Meeting 7:30 PM, on June 1 - Speaker from Jersey City Public Library
      3. Wine & Food Tasting at Sátis 7:00 PM, June 5
      4. Banking and Real Estate Seminar 7:00 PM June 8 at 77 Hudson
      5. Pizza Making at John’s Pizzeria June 20
      6. Paulus Hook “PH”itness in the Park June 17, July 15, and August 19

1. Featured Presentation: Director of Planning Annisia Cialone

The HPHA welcomed our new Director of Planning Annisia Cialone. Ms. Cialone, a Jersey City resident, understands firsthand the challenges our community is facing regarding the surge in new development and was active in her local neighborhood association trying to ensure responsible urban planning. Cialone leaves a job with the architectural firm Perkins Eastman where she worked for over 10 years to accept her new position. She has an undergraduate degree from Cooper Union and a master of architecture degree from Harvard University. 

Upon taking the job she addressed the issue of public transparency regarding her department. On the Jersey City Planning website cover page  http://www.cityofjerseycity.com/cityplanning/   she offers a place for email sign up [email protected] to receive monthly meeting agendas for the Planning Board, Zoning Board of Adjustment, Historic Preservation Commission and the Environmental Commission. In addition, she made it easy to access the Jersey City Data Portal  http://data.jerseycitynj.gov/ which provides a variety of data including operational data, locations of municipal services or other landmarks, and a variety of other miscellaneous information. She also offers a link to the Jersey City Master Planwww.jerseycitynj.gov/masterplan/.

Ms. Cialone advocated, as a member of her neighborhood association, for a new master plan focusing on transportation, sustainability, green space, and resiliency issues. As Director of Planning she is adding Vision Planning for Jersey City and is in the process of a nationwide search for consultants to work on the project. Jersey City is the fastest growing city in New Jersey causing it to have a unique set of challenges. 

The remainder of the meeting was opened to a Q&A. Director Cialone answered questions and listened to concerns regarding:

• The proposed Governors Walk Way from George Washington Bridge to Bayonne that was never completed. 
• The need for more public schools and transportation. She is working on running the light rail to the Bergen Arches.
• Lack of athletic fields and a proposed idea to add fields to the top of Newport Mall.
• The need for green space in the community. We need to have the private sector commit to adding public space in their new construction.

The HPHA wished Annisia the best of luck in her new role as Director of Planning and looks forward to working with her. 

Meeting was adjourned around 9:00 pm.