Petition Urges Reopening This Jersey City Firehouse, Use Your Voice In This City’s Survey And More In This Hudson County News Roundup

Google Maps photo via Jersey Digs.

From federal freeze scares to a call for more local firehouses, here’s what’s been happening in Hudson County and New Jersey.

Jersey City Community Is Asking For Help To Reopen This Firehouse

Jersey City has been riddled with fires just a month into the new year.

The city has roughly 14 active firehouses throughout the city, but Engine 10 Ladder 12 at 283 Halladay Street has been closed since March 2017. In a GoFundMe post that’s been circulating social media, John Flynn urged the city to “urgently” reopen the Communipaw neighborhood firehouse. 

(Photo via GoFundMe)

“The distance to the next closest fire stations significantly increases response times in emergencies, putting residents and properties at increased risk–every second counts in the event of a fire,” Flynn wrote.

On Jan. 23, flames ripped through at least two businesses and apartments on Pacific Avenue, just off of Communipaw Avenue. A family of three– including two adults, one child and a dog–was displaced.

You can sign the petition here to help reopen the fire station.

Tell Jersey City What Matters To You – Fill Out This Survey

Jersey City has undergone a lot of changes over the last few years, with many feeling that there’s issues impacting them and the community. 

The Jersey City Division of Community Development (JCDCD) has been hosting Focus Group Sessions in different wards of the city, hearing from local residents of their needs, ideas and more. This is a free session and the public is encouraged to join a session.

If they’re unable to attend, the JCDCD has shared their survey for any resident to fill out online, which will play a key role in making future assessments for the city including affordable housing, rent, healthcare, public transportation and more. 

“The Division of Community Development is in the process of crafting our 2025-2029 Consolidated Plan, which is a 5-year plan that provides the framework the City of Jersey City will use after assessing affordable housing needs, conducting analysis of market conditions, identifying and addressing community concerns, and craft investment plans based on data-driven needs of the community,” the City of Jersey City wrote in a Facebook post.

You can complete the survey here. For any questions, you can contact Jade Whyatt at 201-547-6910 or jccplan@jcnj.org

New Jersey Among A Dozen Who Filed To Block Trump’s Federal Aid Freeze

Earlier this week a federal aid freeze was announced by the Trump Administration, sending many communities, including Hudson County, into a frenzy. 

Late this past Monday, in a memo from the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB), they wrote that federal agencies “must temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance, and other relevant agency activities that may be implicated by the executive orders, including, but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal”; in layman’s terms, many citizens worried that this proposed freeze would affect public assistance programs like school breakfast and lunch programs and Section 8 rental assistance, to name a few. 

But the order received immediate pushback. Matthew Platkin, a New Jersey Attorney General, was one of more than 12 attorneys general that filed a lawsuit on Tuesday to block the freeze. The order was also revoked by a Federal District Judge, which caused Trump to rescind, or cancel, the freeze.

“Thanks to our lawsuit, [Trump] had to admit that he can’t unlawfully defund the police, end your healthcare, or close schools to score political points,” Platkin said on Wednesday.

(New Jersey OAG / Facebook)

The pause would have raised costs and altered normal life for a number of New Jerseyans, Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill said. And it threatened a number of projects that are already underway such as NJ Transit repairs and Gateway Tunnel project construction, Sherrill also said. 

“The freeze means stalled infrastructure projects that increase commute times, fewer mental health resources for our kids and veterans in crisis, missed paychecks for union workers, and seniors going hungry without food assistance from Meals on Wheels,” said Congresswoman Sherrill.

“We see him [Trump] now from the Oval Office trying to wage war against the American people, trying to think solely about how he can contain and consolidate that power for himself,” said U.S. Senator and Democrat Andy Kim. 

“Who is going to be the people who struggle and suffer from it? It is going to be the American people.”

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Former NJ Senator Bob Menendez Is Going To Prison

Former New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez, who served in the senate for 18 years,  was sentenced to 11 years in prison on Wednesday after being found guilty on bribery and corruption charges. 

In July of 2024, Menendez was charged with 16 felony counts including accepting bribes such as cash and gold bars, extortion, obstruction of justice, acting as a foreign agent to benefit the governments of Egypt and Qatar and multiple counts of conspiracy.  

Following the court decision, Menendez went on to state that the trial has been “nothing but a political witch hunt” and continued to defend himself as innocent. He also added that Trump was “right,” claiming that the process is political and “corrupted to the core.”

“You really don’t know the man you are about to sentence,” Menendez said as he broke into tears in the Manhattan courtroom.

John Angelillo/UPI/Shutterstock

“This is who I truly am, judge. A man devoted to service,” said the emotional and once powerful Democratic senator. “I have lost everything I have cared about. For someone who spent a life in public service, every day is a punishment.”

He resigned in August, after months of insisting his innocence. Menendez also ignored calls from other top Democrats to step down.

U.S. District Judge Sidney H. Stein delivered the sentence, saying to Menendez, “Somewhere along the way, and I don’t know when it was, you lost your way and working for the public good became working for your good.”

Two New Jersey businessmen convicted of paying bribes to the ex-senator, Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, were also sentenced on Wednesday

Menendez and his wife, Nadine Arslanian, were indicted on Sept. 22, 2023 after they allegedly accepted bribes of cash, gold and a luxury car from at least three business contacts.

Investigators found gold bars in the couple’s house in a closet while searching their home. FBI agents also found $480,000 in cash; some stuffed inside boots and others in the pockets of clothing in their closets. The FBI also seized gold bars, which were worth an estimated $150,000. 

Stepmom Recounts Her Daughter’s Murder In Jersey City

After living in Jamaica all her life, Cianna Lee’s mother let her move to Jersey City for a “better life.” But on Jan. 18, the 15-year-old’s life was cut short after she was fatally shot in the area of Union Street and Martin Luther King Drive. 

This past Tuesday, Lee’s stepmom Xiao Kuang, 37, wanted to speak on the 15-year-old and share how much of  a “caring,” “kind” and “beautiful soul” she was. 

“She’s a very driven girl. She has a lot of random ideas. She will make us laugh. She’s a really beautiful soul. She’s really caring, very kind, and sometimes she will tell me, ‘I see this person on the street. I really want to help them.’ I say, “You need to focus on your education first and then you can help these people,’” Kuang said.

(Courtesy of ABC7News)

Kuang was shot on that Saturday night along with Lee while heading home in Jersey City after a birthday party. The bullet only grazed Kuang’s back before striking Lee.

Kuang said she thought she drove over a bottle.

“I was like, ‘Cianna, are you okay?’ She was not responding. I reached out to her, and my hand filled with blood. That’s when I realized she was shot.”

Last Thursday, investigators took a 16-year-old Jersey City boy into custody and later charged him with murder in connection with the double shooting. Kuang said she doesn’t think Lee knew the shooter.

A GoFundMe has been made for Lee. It said: 

“Cianna Lee was a vibrant and loving young 15 yr old young girl, who was born in Jamaica. She moved to the United States to be with her father (Damion Lee) and to pursue greater opportunities for her future.”

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