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Sustainable Jersey Certification Report

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This is the Sustainable Jersey Certification Report of Jersey City, a Sustainable Jersey silver certified applicant.

In April 2007, a USA Today cover story recognized Jersey City as, ? A Model For The Urban Future,? further describing the City?s comeback as a template for how to handle booming population. Jersey City?s bid for Sustainable Jersey Silver Certification continues that commitment toward smart growth practices.Sustainable Jersey Certification shows a commitment to promote policies that embody a more sustainable approach; of healthy lifestyles, reduced consumption, advance environmental stewardship, and education. More and more people of Jersey City are growing vegetables and buying local produce in farmers markets. They are choosing to recycle and reduce consumption. The City seeks to support these trends and make these more sustainable options readily available to them throughout the community. We seek to empower people with City sponsored and community based environmental initiatives and to give them the tools they need to make informed choices. Jersey City was certified in 2011 at the Silver level with 350 points. Listed below are their 2011 certified actions and associated materials.

Contact Information

The designated Sustainable Jersey contact for Jersey City is:

Name:Amanda Diamond
Title/Position:Director, Division of Sustainability / Infrastructure
Address:13-15 Linden Ave
Jersey City, NJ 07305
Phone:2015473035

Actions Implemented

Each approved action and supporting documentation for which Jersey City was approved for in 2011 appears below. Note: Standards for the actions below may have changed and the documentation listed may no longer satisfy requirements for that action.

  • Animals in the Community

    Pledge Supporting NJ Wildlife Action Plan

    10 Points

    Program Summary: Wildlife Action Plan Introduction Because this is a task undertaken as a direct result of Jersey City's SJ Application, this resolution was included as an attachment to the Sustainable Jersey Distribution memorandum. The cover memo including the distribution list is attached. In addition, the distribution is always undertaken by the City Clerk after every council meeting. A copy of the City Clerk Certification is attached.

  • Community Partnership & Outreach

    Green Fair

    10 Points

    Program Summary: ***** As per comments - here is link to the list of vendors that you cannot access - http://brandingyoubetter.com/2010/11/global-entrepreneurship-week-jersey-city-green-fair-2010/?ac=072444061203 ****** The City of Jersey City partnered with Rising Tide Capital and the Jersey City Food Co-Op to host the combined event of the annual Sustainable Cities Conference and the first Green Fair, a part of the annual comprehensive Global Entrepreneurial Week. The Green Fair focused on local small business with a green focus, which took part of a vendor fair in the rotunda of City Hall. Additionally, there was a special speaker panel on urban agriculture that was hosted by the Jersey City Food Co-Op. The Sustainable Cities Conference hosted a panel that focused on what current green initiatives in Jersey City. The City also took advantage of this event to announce its willingness to partner with non-profits, universities and the like to take part in its submission to become a certified Sustainable Jersey City. The event was hosted by the City and held at City Hall at no cost to the Jersey City Food Co-Op or Rising Tide Capital. The below attachment provides a list and a summary of all the vendors that participated, along with the panels. The next annual Green Fair is going to be held in October in collaboration with one of Jersey City's most popular events, "Grove on Grove," held on the Grove Street PATH station - and will become "Green on Grove," having only vendors with a sustainability focus, and the chance to inform Jersey City residents about many of the programs the City has for them to go green.

    Community Education & Outreach

    10 Points

    Program Summary: Community Education and Outreach Community education and outreach is an important component of Mayor Healy’s 365 Days of Green Campaign. Various outreach techniques have been used to engage the public, including the use of the City’s award-winning website to inform the public of sustainable programs and initiatives and the organization of public events that highlight green issues. On November 20, 2010, the City hosted its third Sustainable Cities Conference in City Hall, which included a panel discussion on the City’s efforts to create a cleaner and greener City. In order to publicize the City’s revamped Adopt-a-Lot program, the City held day-long kick-off event in City Hall on May 7, 2011, which included presentations on the Adopt-a-Lot program, a rain barrel raffle, live composting demonstrations, food and live music, and the planting of a children’s garden in front of City Hall. On May 13, 2011, to celebrate Watershed Awareness Month, the City held Taking Back the Hackensack: Revitalization of Jersey City’s Western Waterfront, an event that highlighted the efforts of various organizations to revitalize the Hackensack River and its waterfront in Jersey City. The agenda included presentations by three key participants in the transformation of the Hackensack riverfront and a walking tour of the existing, publicly-accessible portion of the riverfront led by a representative of the Hackensack Riverkeeper Inc. The green Committee meets regularly and continues to coordinate events and announcements with the Mayor’s office and Press Secretary. We are continually striving to improve and expand our public reach. The Jersey City Redevelopment Agency has an been extremely supportive in this area. They have just retained a consultant to further expand our Green on-line WEB site services, making them more interactive and increasing their connectivity.

    Create Green Team

    10 Points
    Bronze Required Silver Required

    Program Summary: The Green Committee was originally formed July 27, 2009 by Executive Order of the Mayor, and then that Executive Order was replaced January 13, 2011. Therefore, the Green Committee has been in existence for two years, with revisions made to the membership structure and their responsibilities that reflect the progress of group’s actions. The current membership consists of the Business Administrator/or their designee, the Corporation Counsel/or their designee, the Director of Housing and Economic Development Corporation/or their designee, Director of City Planning/or their designee, and a representative of the Mayor’s Office. In 2009, the Green Committee’s responsibilities were to create and analyze a green fleet, a green building incentives ordinance, a green purchasing ordinance, and a green municipal buildings ordinance. Additionally, the Committee was tasked with conducting an energy audit of all municipally owned buildings. In 2011, the Green Committee was restructured to focus more on Jersey City’s Sustainable Jersey certification, and one of their first acts was to form the Green Task Force that would focus specifically on the actions related to the City’s certification. In July 2010, a representative of the City Planning Department took part of a public forum focused on Urban Agriculture in Jersey City, and from that forum the Jersey City Green Team formed having the City Planner as an ancillary member filling a supportive role serving as the liaison between the City’s Green Task Force and community Green Team. Finally, in October 2010, the City reorganized the Environmental Commission, and their first meeting was held on May 23, 2011. The City Planner, and more so the Environmental Commission now serve as the connection between the municipal Green Committee/Task Force and the community lead and driven Jersey City Green Team.

  • Diversity & Equity

    Diversity on Boards & Commissions

    10 Points

    Program Summary: Evaluation of population diversity, Board diversity and recommendation for improvement is also required of Jersey City by HUD because we accept CDBG and HOME funds. Since it is a duplication of a pursuit, a section of the report entitled, Impediments to Fair Housing Choice Plan, that was initiated for HUD only is devoted to evaluating board diversity pursuant to SJ Diversity and Equity. This is accomplished by: providing a community profile, assessing key development boards, and making recommendations for improvement. Relevant excerpts of the report are attached. The Green Committee sub-committee will track this aspect of this study annually. The committee is made up of a Mayor’s office representative, Deputy Mayor, and an Environmental Commission member. Last year the Mayor’s office held a volunteer workshop event where residents were invited to learn about the roles and responsibilities of all the various volunteer board opportunities of the City and submit resumes for the Board(s) of their choice. This event was extremely successful. It was advertised in local newspapers, on the City’s WEB site and distributed to active neighborhood associations throughout the City. This practice will be repeated annually to support the Citizen Service Act requirements. The final recommendations are located within the Analysis and Recommendations PDF. They were made part of the document, Impediment to Fait housing Choice Plan and the City Council Resolution adopting this plan is attached. The above paragraph identifies how the final recommendation will be implemented in compliance with the Act. The recommendations, as required in the SJ task, were discussed before the city council and incorporated into the document on July 20, 2011.

    Lead Education & Outreach Programs

    10 Points

    Program Summary: • We are a designated Children’s Lead Poisoning Prevention Program (CLPPP ) site of thirteen sites throughout the State. What this means is that we are funded to provide case management and environmental intervention services to children who have been identified as lead poisoned according to the guidelines of the program. • We are also a “Lead Safe Model City”, an agreement signed by the State Public Advocates office(before it was dissolved) and the City of Jersey City. In summary, it means that Jersey City will be an advocate and provide education and prevention outreach efforts throughout the community. • Approximate four years ago an ordinance was created and signed by Jersey City to implement a system of notification to parents in daycare centers and schools, mainly first grade, to have their children tested for lead. (see attach). • As per state CLPPP request and additional funding, a memorandum of agreement was signed between Jersey City and Bayonne and Jersey City and Hoboken to provide case management services to children with elevated blood lead levels. **** See link to Jersey City's CLLP site - http://www.cityofjerseycity.com/hhs.aspx?id=1446 **** will not load properly on your file upload section.

  • Energy

    Fleet Inventory

    10 Points
    Bronze Priority Silver Priority

    Program Summary: Fleet Inventory The City's Fleet inventory is accomplished by evaluating the City's in-house maintenance program and the GASBOY Program. City Planning went to the Department of Public Works to evaluate this data and make recommendation on how its accuracy can be improved. Because of the inefficiencies of the Gasboy program, we had to manually calculate the mile per gallon baseline for almost 500 vehicles. An inventory of all the City's vehicles was conducted, and a report on how the City can take steps to reduce our fleet emissions and to improve the accuracy of the reporting programs are attached to this submission. Also important to note was that in January 2009, the Green Committee wrote an ordinance to create a "green vehicle procurement policy." This ordinance required all new vehicles that were purchased or leased to meet one of the standards of an alternative fuel vehicle, and also required a waiver to be produced should the newly purchased vehicle not meet the new green standards.

    Purchase Alternative Fuel Vehicles

    10 Points

    Program Summary: Jersey City took an asset based inventory of its fleet for Sustainable Jersey purposes, with Vehicle Type, *Vehicle Identification Number, *Year, *Make, *Model, Date of last maintenance. The total fleet is 954 vehicles. The resources required to track all of the measures required by SJ for a fleet of this size would be considerable, as it would be to undertake the evaluation process as delineated by SJ, although we are continuing to explore how to achieve a comparable tracking system. Meanwhile, Jersey City implemented an alternate methodology wherein a baseline inventory was established, along with goals to purchase hybrids and reduce the total number of vehicles by 20%. Jersey City has been purchasing hybrid vehicles and increasing the fuel efficiency of its fleet. We hope we can gain credit and recognition for this priority item. In May of 2009 a resolution of the City Council was passed to purchase 5 hybrid vehicles for the Department of Public Works and the Automotive Division. It was recommended in the Action Report based on the fleet inventory that these Departments would most benefit from alternative fuel cars since they required multiple and daily car trips to perform their work duties. So far, (5) Hybrid Vehicles were purchased.

    Municipal Onsite Solar System

    10 Points

    Program Summary: The Jersey City Incinerator Authority in partnership with the Jersey City Department of Public Works applied for grant funding to install 100 solar operated Big Belly Trash Compactors throughout all of Jersey City. The installations are currently underway, and should be fully complete by the end of August. See the attached inventory for a fuller description.

  • Food

    Community Gardens

    10 Points

    Program Summary: Jersey City has partnered with the non-profit organization CityGreen to continue the successful school gardening program started at Conwell-Middle-School4 in Downtown JC. A video link of the project is provided. The City wrote and received a PSEG Foundation Grant for $10,000.to expand the existing PS4 garden and add gardens at schools 5, 38, 7, and the Learning-Community-Charter-School. There schools are now completed .Their overwhelming success has prompted program expansion. 4 more schools will be added next growing season. A detailed curriculum is provided as well as background information from CityGreen . They provide Environmental-Club and/or Garden-Club services, they publish a monthly gardening newsletter available to their schools and they sponsor special events coordinated with each principal where the children’s achievements can be highlighted. Qualitative Assessment: School Garden Program Describe: This program established gardens in schools in partnership with CityGreen. They are built by the students and teacher(s) and the curriculum for their continued care and harvest is passed along to the assigned school teacher(s). The children have an active role in the garden design, development and contents. They are also provided with the tools to start an environmental or garden club. Estimate costs/time commitment: Costs were approximately $600.00-$700.00 per/school. Our time commitment required one City Planning Staff member to coordinate with CityGreen and the Principals. She spent approximately 8 hours per week per school. CityGreen was paid through the PSEG-Foundation Grant. What worked: We are duplicating the program at each school. The difference is the school facility and where the garden is placed. Not all are on the roof. Some of the schools prefer ground level gardens so they can implement a solar program on the roof. Next: Seek additional funding for 2012-2013 school year participants & meet with the Board-of-Education-Facilities-Committee to coordinate placement of gardens vs. solar-panels for future participants. *Qualitative Assessment Tool and JC's First School Garden uploaded in File 1

    Buy Fresh Buy Local Programs

    10 Points

    Program Summary: In June 2011 the Jersey City Buy Fresh Buy Local Steering Committee was formed. The steering committee was started by the Jersey City Planning Department and the partners are the following: Gillian Allen, President of the Jersey City Food Co-op, Lisa Clarke, Board Member of the Sharing Place, Jennifer Papa, Executive Director of City Green, Moriah Kinberg, Founder of the Jersey City Heights Farms in the City, Lorraine Gibbons, Owner of Garden State Urban Farms, Alfa Demmallesh, Chief Executive Officer of Rising Tide Capital, and Robert Antonicello, Executive Director of the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency/One City Jersey City. The Jersey City Buy Fresh Buy Local Chapter hopes to create an awareness and appreciation for local and fresh produce in Jersey City. It has a special focus on urban agriculture and bringing food and education into the neighborhoods of Jersey City with the least access to healthy fresh produce. Year ONE goal will be host a Kick-Off to announce the Chapter designation and begin the recruiting local food institutions to become designated, and to publish the first annual Buy Fresh, Buy Local Jersey City Chapter guide. We will also conduct a survey that would help us identify 1) retailers who may already qualify for Buy Fresh and 2) identify the barriers they face buying from local farmers as well as barriers that farmers face in selling their products locally. The results will be used as an advocacy tool to change some of the laws which may prevent retailers from purchasing locally, to build our list, connect retailers with farmers and identify criteria for designation. The Jersey City Buy Fresh Buy Local Chapter received official designation July 2011, and will be hosting our official Kick-Off October 22nd with one of our future restaurant partners. Campaign material will be decided on and worked on with BFBL in time for our October 22nd event.

    Making Farmers Markets Accessible

    5 Points

    Program Summary: The Riverview Farmers Market, in the Jersey City Heights section, was first organized this June with the support and assistance of the City of Jersey City. The farmers market takes place in Riverview-Fiske Park, a municipal park that is ADA accesible and has a bus stop, for at least 3 different NJ Transit buses, immediately outside of the park. Additionally, this bus stop is frequented by private company jitneys that provide service at least every 15-20 minutes. Finally, there is a light rail station with an elevator that is only four blocks away. The anchor farmer for the Riverview Farmers Market is Alstede Farms and they accept SNAP and WIC Benefits.

    Farmers Markets

    10 Points

    Program Summary: In July 2010 the City and the Jersey City Green Team hosted a community forum called “Farms in the City,” and its focus was on urban agriculture in Jersey City. From that forum, a group of residents from the Heights section in Jersey City formed and continued to meet focusing on how to address food access in their neighborhood, that group took the name “Farms In the City Heights.” The group recognized the need for a local farmers market. After forming a board, conducting surveys, and setting up a non-profit the Riverview Farmers Market was started on Sunday June 12, 2011. The market is open every Sunday from 9am – 3pm, there are currently two anchor farmers; Alstede Farmers and Nature’s Own. There are two local bakers, a pickle stand and a nut stand. Every week in the morning a free boot camp or yoga class is offered, and in the afternoon there is a Jersey City Mom’s Meet Up for an hour children’s story time. Additionally, every week is a special event – for example, a few weeks ago a local DJ came and showed children 8-15 how to play vinyl records. The Riverview Farmers Market has a facebook page that provides updates on vendors and gives weekly recipes. The City has provided support to the Farmers Market in multiple ways. The City provided technical advice to the Farmers Market manager in the starting and budgeting of the market. The City then attempted to write a grant from TD Bank in order to fund the first year of the market, but was unfortunately turned down. The City has also assisted the market manager in obtaining permits to have the market on a City owned park. Finally, in a joint effort, the City will be hosting its first annual closing of its municipal community gardening program during the Riverview Farmers Market.

  • Green Design

    Site Plan Green Design Standards

    20 Points

    Program Summary: Application&Checklists were provided. JC is attacking the challenge of implementing green building requirements on several fronts: 1) Through incremental changes in traditional Zoning Ordinance Requirements; 2) Through adoption of progressive redevelopment plans; 3) Through adoption of innovative zoning tools. 1) Zoning Ordinance amendment insuring agricultural uses, gardens, farmers-markets & greenhouses are permitted was adopted. A Zoning Ordinance Amendment requiring Green Roof Designs was adopted. 2) JC through the JerseyCity redevelopment Agency-JCRA issued an RDQ for the creation of a GreenGuide for JC Development and an expanded Green Resources WEB site. At the meeting of August 16, 2011, a contract was authorized with Clarke-Caton-Hinz, the Land-Use-Law-Center-for-Sustainable-Development, and Vertices-LLC. The contract is in the amount not to exceed $110,000.00 and will be funded through the Energy-Efficiency-Community-Block-Grant. A copy of the resolution and project scope is attached as an up-loaded document. 3) Sustainable New-Urbanist redevelopment plans have been adopted. The best most recent example is the Canal Crossing Redevelopment Plan Area. It is a 140 acre industrial area designed for transit oriented development with higher densities around the two light rail stations, required LEED Certified buildings, and pedestrian friendly streets. HUD and DOT awarded the JCRA $2.3 Million to implement a new sustainable community in JC. Studies have begun to design sustainable infrastructure. 4) JC was awarded a Smart Growth Grant and Agricultural Bank Grant totaling $130,000 to implement Transfer of Development Rights within the City. JC will be the first Urban area to implement this tool. Multiple Charrettes, city wide have taken place over the past year. The final ordinance is expected to be adopted in December 2011.

    Green Building Policy/Resolution

    5 Points

    Program Summary: Green Building Policy We have provided Certification from our City Clerk that all Ordinances and Resolutions are sent to department heads after every City Council meeting. We have also provided a link to the WEB page and a Screen shot. This ordinance is posted on the Cover Page of the City of Jersey City HOME page in the NEWS SECTION, in the paragraph entitled “ 365 Days of Green Initiatives All Across Jersey City”, along with other Sustainable Ordinances. A PDF of the web page containing it is attached. You can also access the site on the WEB at: http://www.cityofjerseycity.com/ Attached are our Green Buildings Policy Ordinances submitted as a pre-requisite to further Green Design Actions. At the present time, Jersey City has incentivized voluntary Green Initiatives and required Sustainable Green Building Standards for City owned buildings and municipal projects. A further expanded policy that is expressed in the Sustainable Land Use Pledge is also submitted for your consideration and review. That more recent action elevates these 2009 Resolution steps into more binding Zoning initiatives.

    New Construction

    20 Points

    Program Summary: Green Design Municipal Buildings The Mayor and Council of Jersey City have embraced these standards and held to them. There have been two new construction municipal buildings proposed, both meeting LEED requirements. One, referred to as the Jersey City Public Safety communications Center, (AKA the Bishop Street Facility), is completed and has been awarded LEED Silver. The certificate is attached. The second is a New Municipal Public Works Complex that will house the , Engineering & Traffic Divisions, Department of Public Works, municipal garage, and the City Police K-9 Unit. The application for receipt of certification is pending.

  • Innovative Projects

    Innovative Community Project 1

    10 Points

    Program Summary: This was a monumental project for Jersey City in our efforts to become an Urban Agriculture leader in the state - if this program cannot be used for this action, please use it for the innovative demonstration project section. The Jersey City community gardening program, the Adopt A Lot program, was recently amended in February 2011. This program was revised as the result of a community forum that focused on the future of Urban Agriculture in Jersey City. So far, Jersey City has received much praise, notority because of the expansion and revision to their community gardening program - including being one of the head speakers for the Ag in the City Conference that was recently held at Rutgers EcoComplex. The revisions include an extended lease, from 1-year to 2-years, and expands the potential for gardening by allowing residents or nonprofits to garden not only on vacant city owned land, but also parkland that is in need of improvements and that the City will not be able to find funding to improve in the next 2 years. Additionally, the City contracted with City Green to provide a mandatory educational session on basic gardening to all community garden groups, required that every garden have 10-20 public hours every week and that the hours would be posted and the garden accessible, and required that all garden participate in an annual \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Green Your Block\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" event. Prior to the revisions, the majority of Jersey City residents were not aware of the Adopt A Lot program, nor could they name where the community gardens were located. A Kick-Off event was held in May celebrating and educating the revisions to the program. The revisions have given the program and the gardens more of a public presence and made the gardens accessible to everyone - the number of gardens have increased from 3 to 9. In October the City will host the closing of the gardening season that will include tours of all the gardens as well as announcing the winners for the first annual garden competions. One of the new Adopt A Lot is on the front lawn of City Hall, and it is a partnership between the City, City Green, and the Jersey City Moms Association. It is a butterfly rain garden were the children are able to walk through and learn about the life cycle of butterflies - moreover, the garden is maintained by the Jersey City Moms group on a daily basis, and the City continues to provide water and mulch to the garden.

  • Land Use & Transportation

    Sustainable Land Use Pledge

    10 Points
    Bronze Priority Silver Priority

    Program Summary: Sustainable Land Use Pledge Our Mayor and the Council, Chief of Staff, Green Committee, Planning and Zoning, and Environmental Commission members all worked together with the Division of City Planning to compile the sustainable practices of the City and craft a Sustainable Land Use Pledge. It incorporates all the SJ proclamation elements and specific initiatives unique to Jersey City. This extensive resolution was adopted by the City council on March 23, 2011. Discussion on the initiatives within the resolution and its goal to continue the implementation of Smart Growth Practices was discussed with City Council members and aired via the Local Cable Station for wider visibility. The Pledge will also be made available on our Making Jersey City Greener 365 Days a Year WEB site. As per the requirements of SJ, this and other resolutions associated with Conservation and sustainable practices were distributed to all Development Board members, Department and Division Directors and other key staff members for implementation. Many of these individuals were consulted on the drafting of the resolution, but were provided with a memorandum containing a collection of all the most recent resolutions and ordinances advancing the goals of sustainability and environmental balance. The memorandum was distributed on April 10, 2011. The memorandum accompanying this distribution and the distribution list of recipients has been up-loaded for your reference.

  • Local Economies

    Support Local Businesses

    10 Points

    Program Summary: The Jersey City Economic Development Corporation was incorporated in 1980 as a private 501 (c) (3) non-profit corporation with the support of the Jersey City Administration and Municipal Council. JCEDC has never deviated from its original mission: to “promote, encourage and assist the industrial, commercial and economic development of the City of Jersey City…creating greater employment opportunities and broadening the base of the tax structure.” Our role in Jersey City’s economic development was expanded in 1987 when the City appointed the JCEDC to administer and promote the newly designated Urban Enterprise Zone (UEZ). Since that time, more than $129 million of UEZ funds has been reinvested in more than 180 UEZ projects. Additionally, UEZ business enrollments have accounted for the creation of 28,802 full-time jobs, and over $13 billion in private investments. Since the establishment of the Jersey City UEZ, more than $129 million of UEZ funds has been reinvested in more than 180 UEZ projects. Past and ongoing projects include: •Streetscape Improvements; •Special Improvement Districts (SIDS) in the Central Avenue, Historic Downtown, Journal Square, McGinley Square and Newark Avenue areas; •“Main Street” funding that enabled Monticello Avenue Community Development Corporation to apply for and obtain Main Street designation;•Restoration of historic Apple Tree House•Closed-Circuit TV (CCTV);•Gateway Beautification. Additionally, since its inception, the Jersey City Economic Development Corporation has been dedicated to nurturing and assisting small businesses (companies with less than 500 employees) and microenterprises (those with 5 or fewer employees) to succeed. The JCEDC Small Business Assistance Program provides small businesses and microenterprises with the keys that can lead to long-term success: technical assistance and financing that might not be available from traditional lending sources. Our Small Business Assistance Program is here to help you if ... •You currently own — or plan to own — a small business in Jersey City •You plan to relocate your small business to Jersey City •You have had difficulty in securing credit or financing from traditional sources. The JCEDC also runs the "Destination Jersey City" website, which is an award winning tourism website for the City that promotes local business, shopping, nightlife and lodging.

    Buy Local Campaign

    10 Points

    Program Summary: The Jersey City Economic Development Corporation, an autonomous branch of the City, celebrates and bolsters local small businesses throughout Jersey City. Every year for the past three years they have hosted an event that focuses on a speciality that a group of local, small businesses specializes in. This year they celebrated local Jersey City bakers and confectionaries, and they were hosted in the City Hall Council Chambers. Lots of vendors and residents attended, and the Mayor gave out awards recognizing Jersey City's small businesses. **** As per comments - the website to the event is http://www.destinationjerseycity.com/events/1082/?ac=072503773802 ****

  • Natural Resources

    Environmental Commission

    10 Points

    Program Summary: The Jersey City Environmental Commission was reorganized by ordinance in January 2011 after being dormant for five years. A whole new commission was appointed, and the focus of the Commission was restructured to have more of an advisory role to the Planning Board and City Council in regards to the City’s natural resources and open space. Additionally, the newly formed Commission also has a strong emphasis on environmental education and outreach to Jersey City residents. The first meeting of the newly formed Commission was May 2011, and they meet on a monthly basis. Since then their actions have been aggressive in setting a foundation for the Commission. Various action committees were set up to manage achieving the goals for the Commission. A committee focusing on overseeing the Natural Resources Inventory for the City was formed, and that committee has applied for grant funding from the Sustainable Jersey Small Grant to hire a consultant. A committee formed focusing on responding to Spectra’s proposal to build a natural gas pipeline through Jersey City. An outreach committee was formed that has been working with the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency’s LEAF program that will provide revolving loans to small businesses and residents that would like to invest in green products and technology. Finally, a policy committee was formed that focuses on responding to new and proposed environmental legislation at the County, State, and Federal level. The policy committee has already published comments in response to proposed DEP and EPA legislation.

    Open Space Plans

    10 Points

    Program Summary: we are providing the exact text link to the document entitled: JC Recreation & Open Space Master Plan. The City WEB location is provided below: http://www.jerseycitynj.gov/uploadedFiles/City_Government/Department_of_Business_Administration/Jersey%20City%20Recreation%20Master%20Plan%20(Web)%20_4-2008%20REDUCED.pdf The accomplishment of Jersey City successfully completing and adopting the OpenSpace and Recreation Plan, dated April 2008 was no small task. The JC OSRP is a comprehensive document that guides municipal openspace protection and preservation and tracks and coordinates with county and regional openspace Plans. It is extensive and thorough and encompasses all of the SJ openspace segment requirements. It tells how and why open space will be protected, includes cost estimates and provides a framework for implementation. It also examines open space and recreation needs and other resources that are vital to a healthy community. It is for Jersey City an active tool that lays out a plan of action to protect and maintain these valuable places. Jersey City initiated the planning process in 2006. The process a program of public hearings to solicit the input. Over 70 existing or potential parks & natural openspaces were evaluated, photographed, and mapped to identify condition and needs. Recommendations were formulated for renovations and new facilities in the existing parks, with associated construction cost estimates for the needed improvements. Park improvements were prioritized by year, over a 10yr. period. Sources to help fund the construction of improvements and acquire open space in the City were identified. The need for public recreation and open space resource protection was analyzed, based on land area and population. Deficiencies in amount and type of recreational facilities were highlighted. Opportunities for acquisition of new open space by the City were compiled. Discussions were initiated with the County and State park systems for shares use and coordination of existing and new recreational facilities.

  • Operations & Maintenance

    Recycled Copy Paper

    10 Points

    Program Summary: The best documentation is to show implimentation of the green purchasing program is showing its application. We are submitting dicumentation fo the reycled Paper sub-action based upon information received from the Office of the Jersey City Business Administrator.

    Adopt a Green Purchasing Policy by Ordinance *Retires 12/31/23*

    10 Points

    Program Summary: Green Purchasing Policy The best documentation is to show the action, which is what we have chosen to do. We are now applying for the Recycled Paper sub-action based upon information received from the Office o f the Business Administrator. As certified by our City Clerk, the Green Purchasing ordinance was distributed to all department heads. The certification letter of distribution is attached. Adopted ordinances are also posted on the City Clerk section of the WEB site, and in addition, this ordinance is posted on the Cover Page of the City of Jersey City HOME page in the NEWS SECTION, in the paragraph entitled “ 365 Days of Green Initiatives All Across Jersey City”, along with other Green Policy Ordinances. A PDF of the web page containing it is attached. You can also access the site on the WEB at: Green Purchasing Policy In your initial comments you questioned why we did not apply for sub-action credit if we had a Green Purchasing program. We got the message. The best documentation is to show the action, which is what we have chosen to do. We are now applying for the Recycled Paper sub-action based upon information received from the Office o f the Business Administrator. As certified by our City Clerk, the Green Purchasing ordinance was distributed to all department heads. The certification letter of distribution is attached. Adopted ordinances are also posted on the City Clerk section of the WEB site, and in addition, this ordinance is posted on the Cover Page of the City of Jersey City HOME page in the NEWS SECTION, in the paragraph entitled “ 365 Days of Green Initiatives All Across Jersey City”, along with other Green Policy Ordinances. A PDF of the web page containing it is attached. You can also access the site on the WEB at: http://www.cityofjerseycity.com/