Hudsonreporter Archive

Who says you can't beat city hall?  Not the 24 merchants that make up the Plaza Central Business Association in Secaucus, which was born out of a fight to preserve their interest in the face of a non-caring town hall. But the result that followed that fight proved to be much more than anyone could have imagined, garnering respect from customers as well as a deep commitment to building a strong community. ``The idea of the association isn't to make money from joining it, but to create an atmosphere of good will that makes people want to come back and shop in these stores,'' said founding member Sal Barone and the driving force behind the association's success.  ``Sal likes to give things away,'' said Bob of Secaucus Pets Plus. ``Sometimes we have to hold him back a little.''  This year for Thanksgiving, PCBA is giving away 40 turkeys among all its stores, up from the one turkey per store they gave away when they started in 1989.  ``Customers think peo...

  A mere handful of votes separated victory from defeat in this year's mayoral race, leaving both the Democrats and Secaucus Independent Alliance in near breathless anticipation. Both groups gathered within eye sight of each other after the poles were closed, the bridge over the six lanes of route 3 like a metaphor for the deep divisions the election has created, dividing the town into a new political reality that may last for years. ``The wounds from this election aren't going to heal for a long, long time,'' said one election volunteer outside the polling station at the Plaza, red ribbon marking him as a Democrat. Yet white ribboned volunteers from the SIA said the same at other voting places, pacing back and forth at the legally required fifty feet from the door. ``Dirty campaign'' was the catchword for both sides.   A last minute drive for votes came on Monday and Tuesday, as advertisements, flyers and even hate letters made the rounds.   Sal M...

    Who said kids can't paint master pieces in grammar school? Not art instructor Douglas DePice who divides his time teaching kids in both Clarendon school and the high school. For him, its almost as easy as teaching them their ABCs. But the letters he uses are Vs, Us, Ts, and Ss, in a unique approach to teaching art. What started out as a celebration of the painter the turn-of-the-century painter Matisse, wound up a tribute to kids and their abilities to create. "Mr. DePice has done a super job with the kids," said Clarendon Principal Anthony D'Elia, who seemed a little awed by the collection of thirty or more paintings on the walls of the art room. Classical music by Vivaldi played from hidden speakers as inspiration. "The kids are enriched by what he's been teaching here." But art is only part of what DePice is teaching. "I'm drawing things out of them," DePice said. "That's what education means. Educere in latin mean...

      Legislation introduced by Assemblyman Anthony Impreveduto on May 20 would require the state to channel excess revenues to municipalities in Hudson and Bergen counties so they can reduce local property taxes.   The bill (A2623) would provide up to $77 million to municipalities without any "dire" consequences on state finances, said Impreveduto.   "The communities in my district would be encouraged to use these unanticipated revenues to offset their operating costs, thereby reducing property taxes for local residents," he said. "I'm pleased to be playing a role in security this much needed tax relief."   Projected figures for towns in Hudson County include $148,971 for Secaucus and $312,012 for North Bergen.   Impreveduto said Republican leaders in the state Senate and Assembly had embraced the legislation and may be duplicated by the Republicans in their revised 1994 state budget.   "This money belongs to the citizens of the sta...

    published, Weehawken Reporter, 1993                   Toy soldiers aren't for kids any more, or so says James Delson, owner and operator of the Toy Solider Company in Jersey City. He is the largest seller of toy soldiers in the United States. Although his cusomters are adults, his business is good.                 "The stress is on playing, not collecting," he said, "though we dod tell peole they can rebuild the collection mother threw out when they went into the army or college."                 After nine years in the business of marketing toy soldiers, Delson has learned that two things sell: something new or something people had as kids.                 Toy so...

    For years, there was a widely held belief in the New York metropolitan area that art in New Jersey is a contradiction in terms. Not because art doesn't exist here, but because people think of it on a level so primitive that it takes an archeologist to dig it up, and a Rosetta stone to figure out what it means. The same thing, of course, might have been said of the Aztecs before Cortez went stomping around them with hobnailed boots. New Jersey, to many, has always been that vague land across the Hudson with little shape and so sense of self-worth. While Walt Whitman lived here, it is his New York City poetry that is most quoted. During the 1970s, however, development pushed forth from Manhattan, engulfing many of the communities this side of the Hudson River and by the 1980s had transformed much of the landscape of Hudson County into a model-miniature of the Big Apple. Early on during this expansion, art flourished largely due to ample grants connected with programs l...