Do you care about the Central Avenue shopping district? Come to discuss what you love, what's missing, and how to make Central Avenue serve its community to the best of its ability. Facilitated by Positivity Strategist Robyn Stratton-Berkessel.

Date: Saturday Feb. 20, 2016 from 2:00 PM to 7:00 PM

Where: PS 8 - 96 Franklin St., Jersey City

Register Now for this FREE Workshop.

There are plenty of great restaurants on Central Avenue. From getting a quick bite at a deli or fast food place to finding a relaxing restaurant environment, Central Avenue is always a great dining destination.

Here is a full list of all dining options on Central Avenue with links to available restaurant websites: http://www.centralavesid.org/restaurants.shtml

Also, here are a few business spotlights on Central Avenue restaurants:

Noodlefan: http://www.chicpeajc.com/food/restaurants/noodlefan/

Rumba's Cafe: http://www.chicpeajc.com/food/restaurants/rumbas-cafe/

Renato's Restaurant: http://www.centralavesid.org/news-com ... RenatosPizzaMasters.shtml

Hope this helps!

Everything Jersey City Festival 2012 brings "life" to Heights neighborhood with food, music

By: Jersey Journal

Seeing the Everything Jersey City Festival makes Regina Rodriquez tear up a bit.

Rodriquez, who lives in the Heights said she always hears about the bad things in her neighborhood, but seeing the community come together in a positive manner touches her.

"We always hear of the drugs and the fights," she said, holding the hand of her 3-year old son who she hopes can see the good in the neighborhood to avoid the violence. "But it's events like this, like the festival, that shows what a lovely place we are. This gives life to the Heights."

She said the festival is a chance for the area to showcase what is usually shadowed by the "poor choices of a few."

"The stores get to show what they have to offer, the kids get to show off what they learned in their karate classes," she said. "And on a day like today, this area cannot look any better."

The annual festival brought more than 40,000 visitors to the Heights, up more than 5,000 from last year's fair, organizers estimated. With the visitors coming from throughout Hudson County, and even more vendors traveling from throughout the state, the fair provided an opportunity to put the Heights on the map for the shopping and dining options it provides, said Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy.

"It's a great day for the Everything Jersey City Festival," he said. "This is about promoting our city, especially the Heights and our shopping district."

Business owner Loretta Jameson said the festival doubles her store's revenue for a usual Saturday because people who attend the festival are willing to have fun and explore. The stores, paired with the activities, like a petting zoo and a rock climbing wall, add to the total experience, she said.

"People who come to this are willing to take a look inside and open their wallets," she said. "They come, get something to eat, maybe get a new dress, and it's a good day for them, but more so, it's a great day for the vendors who get to treat them."

Raffle to win a FREE IPAD at the Everything JC Festival!

5th Annual Everything Jersey City Festival Set for Saturday
By Matt Hunger ? May 14th, 2012, Jersey City Independent

Local cultural celebration Everything Jersey City Festival is set to hit the streets for its fifth straight year when dance, music, and local crafts and food vendors takeover the Central Ave shopping district (rain or shine) this Saturday, May 19th, from 11am to 6pm.

The event, which is hosted by the Central Avenue Special Improvement District,
says residents can look to dance performance to take center stage this year, with performances by the Haesun Jung Korean Traditional Dance Academy, Emerald Fire Dance, The Hope Center for the Performing Arts, 407 Moves from County Prep High School.

There will also be live theater performed by the Jersey City Children?s Theater, belly dancing, a mariachi band and two fashion shows.

?The Festival plants good, positive memories of their hometown in our children and helps strengthen the bonds of community pride and harmony,? Festival Committee Chairman Michael Yun said in a statement.

A new addition this year will be Field Station: Dinosaurs, which consists of two life-sized animatronic dinosaurs (some of the largest ever created).

Since the festival?s inception in 2007, 80 new businesses have come to the area, and Everything Jersey City will offer one-day sales with discounts ranging from 10-50%-off on select merchandise, sidewalk sales and special promotions.

Ward D Councilman Bill Gaughan, who for its five years has worked as the Festival Finance Committee Co-Chair, added, ?I look forward to another tremendously successful Everything Jersey City Festival. Being part of the Central Avenue Special Improvement District for the past 20 years has given me a lot of great memories and I must give a heartfelt thank you to all who have helped develop what we call ?Heights Pride?.?

With more than forty different performances taking place between the Festival?s four stages, attendees can expect music ranging from headlining act (and Jersey City-native) Chico Mann?s Afrobeat to the Latin-influenced Rumba Con Son and Swing Sabroso. Celtic band McLean Avenue will play their first Festival, as will Jersey rockers Outside the Box and Jersey City?s own The
Audiobodies. Previous festival goers may recognized teenage pop-punk star Leah Le Grace, funksters Woodfish, and pop-punkers Go Falcon!. Jersey City-based singer-songwriter Christine Santelli, Jersey City a-cappella group Choice, and The Manhattan Dolls, will be on hand as well.

Performer Chico Mann said, ?I?m very excited to be playing in Jersey City. It?s not often that the opportunity arises so I can?t wait to share this music on our side of the river!?

?This is the third year that the Jersey City Parks Coalition will be participating in Everything Jersey City Festival,? said Heights resident and 2012 Pride and Harmony Award Honoree Laura Skolar. ?As a parks and open space advocacy organization the festival is a great opportunity for us to meet and connect with our neighbors from across the City.?

For more information, performer schedules and a full list of the Everything Jersey City Festival sponsors, supporters and performers visit JCHeights.com.

Can you tell the difference between parking in a red vs white parking space under the pay station system on Central Avenue?

Pictures are worth a thousand words. Here is one of the Parking Pay Stations on Central Avenue.

Can you figure out what is the first step? Clue: when do you punch in the numbers for your space?

Did you catch that the screen says "Please use other machine" which is a block away. This happens quite often. When a meter was broken only one person is inconvenienced. When a pay station is broken. every person parking on that block is inconvenienced.

BTW, did you also catch that NO CHANGE is given?

Progress is good. But let be clear, the parking pay stations on Central Avenue is anything but that. It would seem most of you are speaking to the pay stations in New York and may not have a full appreciation for the system hand picked by the Jersey City Parking Authority.

Please note, the pay stations on Central Avenue have changed directions over the past three years. Observe:

1. You do have to display the recite on the passenger side dash board now (when first installed, this was not required).

2. They can no longer tell electronically whether the space is paid for. (again, this function was part of the original system. The problem was a five minute back log from when you purchased time as to when it registered electronically with the meter maid. Many people where ticketed incorrectly in this five minute window.)

3. This system does not allow room for growth/ upgrades. Paying with credit cards and cell phones would mean having to purchase a completely new, and more expensive, model of the pay stations.

Yes, it is not rocket science. However, being distracted by a cell phone, casual conversation with a passing friend, or handling a small child while using the pay stations can become a $30 mistake.

Shopping locally should be something simple, routine, fun and encouraged to do. The feed back we receive is that the parking pay stations do not do this. We are all for progress on Central Avenue but this is not it.

Three years after the installation of the parking pay station machines on Central Avenue, businesses and shoppers continue to express their extreme dissatisfaction with the system. The feedback we persistently receive from end-users indicates that this parking management system still does not effectively address the needs of the Avenue and undermines efforts to operate a successful business in Jersey City.

For this reason, the CASID is requesting your assistance in a campaign to remove the pay stations once and for all and return the coin meter heads. The CASID did meet with JCPA?s CEO on this issue in April 2011 without results. Since that meeting, the JCPA has NOT taken any action or provided a meaningful timeline implicating the issue has been postponed indefinitely.

Join the campaign, sign the online petition now (www.JCheights.com) and an email will be automatically delivered to City officials. Have something you want to say to the JCPA? Email a video/ youtube link to parking@jcheights.com

CASID President, Calling Jersey City Parking Authority a ?Political Dumping Ground,? Offers to Run it for $1 a Year

By Matt Hunger/ The Jersey City Independent

Central Avenue Special Improvement District (CASID) president Michael Yun, who has held the position for 19 years, says that it hasn?t been by accident that the group has kept him in charge.

?There hasn?t been an increase to the tax in the [Special Interest District] in the time since I?ve been president,? he says, referring to the special extra assessment businesses within the district pay to keep the SID running. ?I know how and when to spend taxpayers? money. I know how to best serve the taxpayer.?

That, he says, is a stark contrast to those who run the Jersey City Parking Authority, which he calls a ?political dumping ground? with ?no parking plan for the city.? That?s why he wants the top job at the autonomous city agency, and has agreed to take a meager salary of just $1 a year to do so ? more than $115,000 a year less than the authority?s current leader.

?There needs to be a culture change at the Parking Authority,? he tells JCI. ?It shouldn?t just function as a tax collector for Jersey City.?

Read the full story here:

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/ ... s-to-run-it-for-1-a-year/

After years of frustration with a disastrous parking meter system that relies completely on often malfunctioning pay station machines, the Central Avenue business community, along with many shoppers and residents, are voicing their anger with the Jersey City Parking Authority, particularly CEO Mary F. Paretti?s inaction on the matter.

The failed pay station experiment indicates what CASID President Michael Yun believes is a deficiency in leadership: ?Months after raising the issue with Paretti and requesting its removal, there has been no concrete mprovements with the machines.? Mounting frustrations among the business community has led Yun to call for changes at the top of the JCPA and offer his own services in place of CEO Paretti?s. The JCPA is responsible for managing the City?s parking needs in both residential areas and business districts but has failed in that capacity: ?It is time the JCPA gets back to basics with leadership that understands how parking management affects local commerce and jobs. Instead of punishing residents for shopping local, the JCPA should lead the way for Jersey City to live up to the ?business-friendly? image Mayor Healy always boasts of,? said Yun. "For a salary of only one-dollar a year I could get the Parking Authority back on track."

Read the rest of the article in the Summer Edition of Heights News:

www.centralavesid.org/pdf/2011_07_Newsletter_web.pdf

Heights News: Your Guide to the Everything Jersey City Festival

Visit www.JCHeights.com for online edition.

Survive May 21, 2011 at the Everything Jersey City Festival and you may come out of it with a FREE T-shirt!

Yep, it is happening. A couple hundred ?I survived May 21, 2011 at the Everything Jersey City Festival? T-shirts are now being printed and will be given away randomly at the event.

Would you look at that? The Everything JC Festival may have a celebrity in attendance this year.

For more info, visit www.JCHeights.com. Any feedback out there on this event?