On Sunday, June 29 a motorcycle and a car collided at the intersection of North Burlington and Hudson Streets in Gloucester City.

The motorcyclist, John \”Peanut\” Vazquez, 26, of this city was critically injured and taken to Cooper Trauma

According to his mother Helen Wilcznski, John is still in the Cooper Trauma Intensive Care unit.

\”He sustained head injuries and is listed in critical condition\”, said his mother.

\”Anyone who wants information about my son\’s condition can call me direct at 856-432-6159. I want to thank everyone for their concern.\”

\”Peanut\” as he was known by his friends is the brother of Chalie Cheeseman and Brian Vasquez. He is engaged to Kristin Stranahan.

The family is asking the public to keep John in your prayers.

The Gloucester City Board of Education held an emergency meeting Monday night in the high school media room. Chairman for the Board meeting was School Superintendent Paul Spaventa.

The Board approved a resolution to award bids in the amount of $525,200 to renovate the high school auditorium. Also several new employees were hired.

The City of Gloucester City has authorized a feasibility study for a Business Improvement District (BID) that would include businesses in a four block section of the City. The center hub for the BID would be Broadway and Monmouth Street.

The JCSG group is conducting the study for a fee of $5,000, according to Howard Clark, director of the City’s UEZ (Urban Enterprise Zone).

The results of the study will be released to the City’s Business Association at an upcoming meeting.

Related: Breaking News Traffic Accident …………..Related: Breaking News Emergency Meeting

Link: Philadelphia Inquirer | 07/01/2008.

The body of a 44-year-old man was found yesterday floating in a pond near a campground in Elk Township, Gloucester County.

The man had been identified, but officials did not immediately release his name as they worked to contact his relatives.

Authorities do not know how the man died, and there were no signs of trauma, said Bernie Weisenfeld, a spokesman for the Gloucester County Prosecutor\’s Office.

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By Anne Forline

Special to the NEWS

The students at NJA3 (by EIRC) celebrated the end of school year with a variety show and concert at Cold Springs School on June 6^th.

The New Jersey After 3 House Band reunited for the show and showcased its newest member, drummer, Tom Young (vocals and drums), Paul Pasante-Ortiz, (guitar) and Jess Thomas (saxophone and flute) entertained the crowd with several summer-themed songs, among them \”Under the Boardwalk and \”Wipe-Out.\”

Other featured performers were the 1^st Grade Music Club by Ms. Kacey Krier and Ms. Megan Dilks, who sang \”High School Musical\” and \”I Love Rock & Roll.\” The Second Grade Music Club, By Mr. Paul Pasante-Oritz, used kazoos as accompaniment to \”San Francisco Bay Blues.\”

Students from another second grade class performed a skit that they wrote called \”Return to Respect Land\”, which highlighted a message about bullying and respect.

The show ended with a presentation of a memory book to thank Assistant Director, Kevin Young, for his hard work, commitment and dedication to the students and NJA3.

Mr. Young\’s last day at NJA3 was June 6^th and he will be greatly missed.

By John Schmidt

The Gloucester City Planning and Zoning Board approved a resolution from the Gloucester City Historic Preservation Commission for 29 new homes to be built adjacent to the old Coast Guard Pier.

The resolution passed by the Gloucester City Planning Board ensures that the new development will be constructed with historic architecture features including a mixture of historic-era looking siding and bricks.

The developer will still have to come before the board to receive variances for construction. One issue that is still undecided is whether or not the new homes will be powered by solar energy.

Councilmen Nicholas Marchese, the Council Delegate on the board stated that the city is working to ensure the houses have solar panels.

\”Mayor and council has made it all important so that the pier would be green,\” Marchese said. Marchese added that the city is pressing the developers to ensure that this site plan is solar.

The only application which was presented in front of the board was an application for a D Variance on 224 N. Broadway. The current owner Parmod Joshi who owns the property was applying to rent the upstairs residential unit which he occupied until recently.

The board approved the application on a 6 to 1 vote. The only dissenting vote came from Board Member Ryan Murphy.

\”I didn’t see the point in changing the use from an owner occupied building to a non-owner occupied building,\” Murphy said. \”It adds one more rental into the town and I didn’t see the benefit it brought to the town in changing the use.\”

During the application Former Mayor and Board Member Bob Bevan stated that something has to be done about the rental situation in Gloucester City.

\”The city has gone from 20% rentals on the western side of the railroad tracks to 65% in the last 15 years,\” Bevan said.

Bevan went on to say the city has too many undesirable rental properties and that the governing body is looking into passing a crime 3 rental landlord law. This law would make landlords run criminal background checks on their tenets.

Even though the crime 3 rental landlord law is not in effect Joshi voluntarily agreed to run a background check on the tenet that he plans to rent the apartment to.

The board also heard an informal review from Frank Coyle the owner of the Highland Tavern on Orlando Avenue.

Coyle would like to have an outdoor deck with a seating area. Last year Jack’s Twin Bar on Broadway successfully came before the Planning and Zoning Board and got approval for an outdoor seating area along Broadway.

Coyle is looking into different possibilities for the deck but he mentioned that he would like to do something similar to Clancy’s Pub in Brooklawn with outdoor tables and umbrellas.

NOTE FROM BILL: The plans for the housing project at the former Coast Guard property was first announced by the Kilcourse Administration prior to the 2006 November council election. It was to be called Freedom Pier. In fact the architect designs and a trailer have been sitting on the site since September 2006.

Freedom Pier was the (subject topic) of a recent Email between Councilman Marchese and City Administrator/City Clerk Paul Kain. On Friday the Gloucester City News filed an OPRA request with the Municipal Clerk\’s Office to view the Email.

Also last week Marchese said a builder for the project has not been named.