I agree with Wil Levin’s point in his article that the residents of Gloucester City would benefit from a new grocery store. While this is a great idea, I feel that a new grocery store would unfortunately only benefit the residents of Gloucester City. In order for Gloucester City’s redevelopment to really take off, our town needs to be able to draw people in from out of town. A \”regular\” grocery store will not do that as people from other towns will simply continue to shop in the store that is most conveniently located for them.

Due to the popularity of organic and specialty foods, I feel that bringing a grocery store such as Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, or Wegmans to our town could be just what this town needs. I have spoken to many people who love these stores and willingly drive out of their way to shop there. Being that the closest Wegmans is in Cherry Hill, and the closest Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s are in Marlton, I feel that there is a large market of people in south Jersey who would patronize any one of the above stores if located in Gloucester City. This would be very beneficial because it would bring many new people into our town and make Gloucester City a place for people to visit.

Gloucester City has everything a large specialty grocery store would need to thrive here: space for a lot (both in town or on Route 130), a central location among many neighboring towns, and a large market of potential consumers.

I hope the town will consider my letter and actively recruit one of the above organic grocery stores to Gloucester City.

Patricia Williams, Gloucester City

Well, OK. Sam\’s story defeated me. I lost my inner battle against my emotions.

Please, I plead with you to watch his video – it contains no graphic imagery. Just Sam.

Sam died.

He shouldn\’t have.

Kind regards
Ryan O\’Meara
Editor-in-Chief
K9 Magazine

Some of the firemen that attended were Chief George Huston, Captain Joseph Schili, (SMS class of 1988), Firefighters/EMT\’s Scott Maksymowicz, (SMS Class of 1986), Joseph Tuttle, Stephen Quinn and Patrick Hagan…

Helen writes, \”Thank You so much Bill for running our plea on CNB for help in finding a building. The good people of Gloucester City have stepped up and offered us enough space to house our troops. I like to send a big thank you to Eric Fetterolf who contacted the First Presbyterian Church on Monmouth Street. They are welcoming us with open arms. We also have an offer for the Pinegrove Fire House. With the way we have grown we will need them both.\”

~Bill Cleary

Burkhardt also said the St. Mary School Development Committee is looking for sub-committee members.

The sub-committees include: The Annual Fund, Special Events, Alumni, 300 for 300, and Communications.

\”If you have some time or talent that you would like to share with our committee, let us know,\” she said.

In other school news, congratulations to Mrs. Beth Rudderrow for winning the Phillies Ticket Raffle.

She bought her ticket from Mrs. Kelly Devereaux, whose daughter, Emily, is a fourth grader at the school.

\”Thank you for supporting Saint Mary School PTA.\”

Thanks to all who attended the school’s recent Wine and Cheese affair.

\”It was great to see the alumni of our school. Thank you to all who made the event a success. All proceeds will benefit the Saint Mary School Annual Fund,\” Burkhardt said.

The second annual Communion Breakfast will be February 21.

Over the past twenty plus years Gloucester City has made many plans to redevelop Freedom Pier and the old Coast Guard Base. The latest plan I have heard is to build 29 private residences and to turn the Coast Guard Base into a commercial / retail facility with shops and restaurants…or at least I think that is still the plan.

Just recently a resident named Bill Gugel submitted to Cleary’s Notebook a number of computer generated images of how he would like to see Jersey Avenue and Freedom Pier redeveloped. Although the designs where constructed solely from his own opinions, they captured my attention. What struck me most about his ideas were the concepts he visualized through his graphics and the questions they created in my mind about Freedom Pier’s redevelopment.

Questions like:

• Where are the Freedom Pier official design images and graphics for us all to view on the internet?
• How well is the Freedom Pier redevelopment project moving forward?
• What benchmarks have our City achieved so far?
• When can we expect to see the beginning stages of construction?
• Since the City has recently requested additional studies for the Pier, does this mean the plan has changed?
• Have there been any interested businesses inquiring about retail space and if so, which ones?
• What are the projected sale prices for the homes to be built on Freedom Pier?

These are just some of the questions I have about Freedom Pier and I believe our residents deserve to know the answers. I believe an Independent Watchdog is needed to keep residents informed of what is happening in their City. I hope you will consider my City Council Campaign when you go to the polls to vote on November 3^rd.

Joa’s Arc realizes this is an area where we will be able to help others and help these extraordinary animals in the process to not only live a more comfortable life, but a more loved life as well as a potentially adopted pet.

Joa’s Arc works together with shelter to help these special pets get their own chance to be adopted.