GLOUCESTER CITY, NJ (September 2, 2026)(CNBNews)--Dolores R. Raube (nee Cleary) passed away on August 31, 2026 after a long battle with Alzheimer’s Disease. A few month ago, her nurse told the family that she was in the seventh stage of this dreadful ailment and suggested to the family that she should be placed on Hospice care. Her sons Michael and Joe Raube were taking care of her at her Brown Street home during her illness.
She graduated from Gloucester Catholic with the Class of ’56. After graduation Dolores was hired as a secretary by Quigleys Lumber, at 811 Market Street. Much later she worked for the Gloucester City News, a weekly newspaper owned by her parents, George and Mazie Cleary.
Following her mariage to Joe, the couple moved to Ventnor. They lived in a apartment attached to a corner food store that was owned by Joe’s parents. They stayed there for several years as Joe learned the butcher’s trade. Several years later the couple returned to Gloucester City and purchased a home on East Brown Street a few properties from the house where Dolores grew up. Once established into their new home the couple acquired Paul’s Market (Paul Martz) at 900 Market Street.
After she had children Dolores continued working part-time managing the Gloucester City News subscription list. Each Wednesday she delivered the weekly paper to 45 area stores. After their three sons had grown and left her hous Dolores was hired as a teacher’s aide by the Gloucester City Board of Education. After 20 years of employment she retired.
Gloucester City, NJ (August 26, 2026)–More and more I am finding it so difficult to deal with businesses, utility companies and those in the medical field online. The wait time to talk with someone can be an
hour or more. In some cases you can’t talk to anyone. Instead you are switched to a chat-line that seems to lead nowhere. The frustration of navigating these systems is overwhelming. Most recently, we wanted to change our cellphone provider. What an ordeal this has become. After countless hours, we still haven’t been able to get that dilemma solved.
We had been with Verizon forever, and although the service was reliable, the cost for our mobile phone plan had become exorbitant. Tired of paying such high bills, we decided to switch to Consumer Cellular based on some recommendations. Unfortunately, the phone reception was abysmal, making it difficult to use the service effectively. Our next choice, based on further research and consumer feedback, was T-Mobile.
BAD MOVE
On June 7, 2026, I spent over an hour applying for a T-Mobile senior citizen 55 and over mobile account for my wife and me. The following day, I printed out the seven-page contract that I signed electronically. As I reviewed it, I was shocked to discover that I was billed $639 for an iPhone 17e that T-Mobile had advertised as being free as part of their promotion for new customers. Katherine the T-Mobile rep that I chatted with the day before emphasize several time that phone was free; “On us,” she wrote.
GCity Residents Challenge Council on Proposed Tax Increase
GLOUCESTER CITY, NJ (April 8, 1982)–Two Gloucester City residents confronted Mayor William E. Gartland and City Council during the April 8, 1982 meeting, questioning what taxpayers would gain from a proposed nine‑cent increase in the municipal tax rate.
Former Fire Chief James Durkin asked council members what additional services residents could expect if the tax rate rose from 43 cents to 52 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. Durkin noted that his seashore home — taxed at a lower rate — received three trash collections per week, while Gloucester City had reduced its schedule to once weekly.
GLOUCESTER CITY, NJ (August 13, 2026)— The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) has issued an official Warning Letter to Gloucester City, putting local officials on a ticking clock over significant environmental violations at a controversial waterfront property. The state’s action comes as the city finds itself tangled in parallel legal and financial crises over the future of its Southport redevelopment zone.
According to state records, a compliance evaluation by the NJDEP’s Bureau of Coastal and Land Use Compliance and Enforcement revealed that the city completely bypassed critical environmental obligations at 850 Water Street (Block 120, Lot 2). To rectify the violation, the state is ordering the city to purchase $2.6 million in wetland mitigation credits.
The Timeline of the Violation
State environmental rules dictate that local infrastructure development cannot come at the permanent cost of South Jersey’s natural ecosystems. Under New Jersey Administrative Code (N.J.A.C. 7:7A-11.3(a)), developers are bound to a strict timeline when modifying protected environments: any required wetland mitigation must be built or restored prior to or alongside the main construction.
State regulations require that environmental restoration track at the exact same or greater percentage of completion as the construction project itself. The state asserts that Gloucester City continued its build-out on Water Street while neglecting to advance the necessary environmental counter-balances, violating Condition #3 of Permit #0414-11-0002.5 LUP190001.
ATLANTIC RICHFIELD/ARCO was located at 850 Water Street 50 years ago. Across from that company was NJ Zinc, also known as Gloucester Titanium, and Gulf and Western.
The state had previously granted the city an extended grace period to rectify the matter, which expired on April 17, 2025. Because that deadline passed without a resolution, the state escalated the enforcement action under file number WRN250001.
Historical Context: From Oil Terminal to Brownfield
The 9-acre parcel at 850 Water Street holds deep historical weight for the Gloucester City waterfront. Situated in the city’s industrial Southport area, this parcel was home decades ago to the Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) / BP oil terminal site.
Following the cessation of oil operations, the territory sat vacant for over 30 years as a highly contaminated industrial brownfield, locked in stagnant, unproductive conditions due to heavy environmental liabilities. The entire 121-acre Southport district was heavily plagued by modern industrial hazards, including metals, PCBs, PAHs, and radiological contamination.
In 2008, the NJDEP officially designated Southport as a Brownfield Development Area (BDA), allowing the city to clean up, cap, and safely reconstruct the defunct industrial shoreline. A landmark three-party settlement agreement between Gloucester City, BP/ARCO, and the NJDEP eventually cleared the way for remediation and groundwater cleanup.
Broken Contracts and a $10.5 Million Lawsuit
The Cannabis Connection: High Stakes on Water Street
Public records reveal the high-stakes battle over 850 Water Street was about much more than organic waste compost. In 2019, Gloucester City leadership passed Resolution R123-2019 and companion measures to deliberately alter the Southport zoning rules.
Their goal was to clear the path for a massive, vertically licensed medical marijuana cultivate-and-retail facility directly on Block 120, Lot 2. D’Antonio’s firm sought to sublease the territory to cannabis operators. When the city tore up the contracts, it didn’t just kill a recycling facility—it extinguished a multi-million dollar cannabis enterprise, supercharging the current $10.5 million civil suit again
With the industrial scars of the ARCO era slowly being erased, the city aggressively sought out redevelopment partners. The original vision for 850 Water Street was centered on a groundbreaking green energy initiative: a world-class, fully enclosed organics recycling and composting facility designed to transform regional food waste into renewable energy and high-quality compost.
The city initially partnered with Gloucester City Organic Recycling, LLC (GCOR), an entity spearheaded by environmental entrepreneur Rocco D’Antonio. D’Antonio’s waste-to-energy firm, operating under the project banner Oren, spent substantial time remediating the site, pulling out contaminated debris tanks and raising the entire 10-acre site four feet out of the floodplain to clear the path for groundbreaking.
However, the relationship between the municipality and the redeveloper completely soured. Citing contractual breaches, failures to act, and conflicts of interest, the Gloucester City Mayor and Common Council terminated their agreements with GCOR and formally cut ties with all entities owned by D’Antonio.
The messy breakup triggered severe legal retaliation. Believing the city wrongfully broke its contract, D’Antonio filed a massive $10.5 million lawsuit against Gloucester City. That major litigation is currently working its way through the New Jersey court system, hanging over municipal administrators as a catastrophic secondary financial threat.
Sourcing the Credits: A Public Expense
The $2.6 million credit demand introduces an immediate hurdle for local leaders. When a project impacts a delicate local wetland ecosystem, the law requires that an equivalent portion of nature be built, enhanced, or protected elsewhere. Because Gloucester City failed to perform this remediation work directly on or near the Water Street property, the state allows the purchase of third-party “credits” as a fallback.
These credits are managed by approved regional Wetland Mitigation Banks—dedicated parcels of land where private environmental firms or state agencies have already successfully restored expansive wetland tracts. Sourcing these credits is difficult, as there are currently no active, privately run freshwater wetland mitigation banks physically located within the borders of Camden County.
State mitigation tracking relies heavily on Watershed Management Areas (WMAs) rather than county lines. To satisfy the mandate, Gloucester City must secure credits from a facility whose approved service area covers WMA 18 (Lower Delaware), such as the regional Oldmans Creek Mitigation Bank operating nearby in Salem County.
If regional private credits are entirely sold out, the city will have no choice but to pay into the state’s In-Lieu Fee Program, sending millions in public funds directly to the state’s Freshwater Wetlands Mitigation Council to fund state-managed restoration programs far away from Gloucester City. Because the city is a public entity, a $2.6 million mandate—compounded by the defense costs of a $10.5 million developer lawsuit—represents a severe blow that could deeply strain the local municipal budget.
NJDEP Considering Daily Fines Against Gcity
The clock is officially running for Gloucester City Mayor Dayl Baile and his city council. The state’s warning letter mandated that the city must respond with a definitive, actionable compliance plan to satisfy the outstanding mitigation requirements within 30 calendar days of the notice.
Inquiries regarding the enforcement file are currently being routed through NJDEP Environmental Specialist Maurice Nelson. City leaders have not yet publicly detailed whether they intend to absorb the multi-million dollar credit purchase, appeal the state’s calculations, or how the ongoing litigation with Oren and Rocco D’Antonio will impact the final layout of the Southport waterfront.
According to our source, The $2.6 million is not a fine. It is the cost of wetland credits the City would need to purchase from wetland banks (private companies) to satisfy their permit obligations.
Allegedly, the City has been claiming they didn’t have the funds which was not true. They have been sitting on $2.75 million to do this work since they passed Bond Ordinance 2012-003 on February 16, 2012, specifically to do the work.
Both the NJDEP and the Army Corp of Engineers know the City is not being truthful as they have all the City’s documents Including former mayor Spencer’s testimony that they were aware they needed to do the work and confirmed they always had the money.
1980s Federal UDAGProgram: Did It Help Gloucester City?
William E. Cleary Sr. | CNBNews
The Urban Development Action Grant program was introduced to Gloucester City residents in 1984. People living near the marine terminal at the time were against the idea from the very start. Several public meetings hosted by the mayor and council were held beginning in 1984. At those meetings, residents spoke about why they were against the expansion of that facility. At the time the Holt Family was just beginning to build their monstrous facility.
Gloucester City News article written by William E. Cleary Sr., published October 10, 1985
That program was promoted in 1978 by President Jimmy Carter. The purpose was to help distressed cities attract private investment, create jobs, and redevelop blighted industrial or commercial areas. UDAGs were awarded competitively and required substantial private‑sector participation. HUD’s regulations describe the program’s core mission as assisting cities facing severe economic distress by stimulating economic activity needed for recovery.
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Holt Marine Terminal encompasses 125 acres of Gloucester City waterfront property.
GLOUCESTER CITY, NJ (CNBNews)(August 3, 2026)--Driving from North Broadway onto Hudson Street recently, it was hard not to see the giant cranes blocking the skylight as you got closer to the Holt Marine Terminal in Gloucester City. Some of those cranes that towered over the Mill Block properties, located between King Street and Ellis Street, were 20 stories high. There was a constant humming noise emitted from the terminal as we drove on Ellis Street towards Mercer Street.
You have to wonder how the people who reside so close to this terminal deal with the seven-day-a-week operation. When a container ship carrying fruit, meat, or some other commodity arrives, residents in the area are given no consideration. Their only choices are to move or sleep with a pillow over their heads.
Presently, the City has signed an agreement with a real estate developer who plans to build 350 apartments at the former Coast Guard Base, about 100 yards from the marine terminal. The Holt family is fighting the proposal. Their lawsuit claims that the development plan, which would be built just feet from Holt’s office building, would interfere with their operation.
59 YEARS AGO HOLT ARRIVED IN GLOUCESTER CITY
In 1967, Leo A. Holt Sr., the father of Thomas Holt, purchased 37 acres of the former New York Ship property. Interested in the same property at the time was the Camden County Municipal Utlities Authority (CCMUA). Gloucester City Mayor Vince Daily fought against the CCMUA moving into his community. Thank God for Mayor Daily. That agency processes roughly 58 million gallons of sewage every day at its main plant in South Camden. People living near it claim the smell coming from their property is sickening some days.
Holt was an independent truck driver serving Mom and Pop stores. Holt Motor Express had 10 trucks. And they owned 11 warehouses around the Philadelphia and Camden City area. Leo Holt Sr., died in 1968. After his death, his sons took over Holt Motor Express and expanded into the stevedoring business.
THE HOLT FAMILY’S RECENT IMPROVEMENTS AT THE GLOUCESTER MARINE TERMINAL
Last week, Cleary’s Notebook News (CNBNews) received notice from Nextdoor Neighbor, the neighborhood‑based social media platform, that our account had been banned. The stated reason: three short snippets of press releases we posted allegedly violated their guidelines.
We immediately appealed. On Saturday, July 25, 2026, Nextdoor issued its final decision:
“Appeal not approved: Account indefinitely suspended.”
No explanation. No citation of a specific rule. No opportunity for correction. Just a permanent ban.
Local Reviewers With the Power to Silence You
Nextdoor relies on local “Reviewers” — ordinary users granted extraordinary authority — to censor posts, remove publishers, and suspend accounts. Because Nextdoor is a privately owned company, it has the legal right to remove anyone it chooses. But the way this ban was handled raises legitimate concerns about bias, personal grudges, and selective enforcement.
BROOKLAWN, NJ (July 19, 2026)(CNBNews)— James “Jim” DiAmore, age 77, longtime pharmacist and friend to generations of residents, passed away on July 15, 2026, following a long illness. Jim was a unique personality — blunt, direct, and sometimes misunderstood by those who didn’t know him well. But beneath that gruff exterior was a man defined by generosity, loyalty, and quiet compassion.
A Life of Service to His Community
Jim devoted decades of service to the Brooklawn Fire Department, often driving the ambulance and responding to emergency calls late at night. He supported local police, youth sports teams, and was frequently the first to offer financial help to Brooklawn and Gloucester City residents who had fallen on hard times. He didn’t talk about the good he did; he simply did it.
GLOUCESTER CITY, NJ (July 14, 2026)-The former doctor office of Edward Lundy has been placed on the market. Lundy pleaded guilty in April to illegal distribution of opioids. After the court proceedings, law enforcement announced that he would be sentenced in May.
Clearys’ Notebook has contacted the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), trying to find out why Lundy’s sentence has been postponed. Our most recent contact with those departments was last week. Neither the AG’s office nor the FBI has returned our phone calls or answered our emails.
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (June 20, 2026)–Gloucester City Firefighter Jack Driscoll participated in a HYROX contest held recently in Stockholm, Sweden. Jack is a Gloucester City native who graduated from Gloucester Catholic High School. He placed second in the World Wide contest in the Overall and Age Group.
Afterwards, Driscoll said, “I went all in on the sport this year and had some big goals written down before the season started. I wanted to win a pro race and won five. I wanted to make it to the start line of an Elite 15 race and made it to two, one in solo and one in doubles. I wanted to podium at Worlds, and pulled a hard-fought 2nd out of the best of the best.
“Thank you to my family and friends for all the support this year, especially my girlfriend Erika Tvedten I couldn’t do it without you all. And thank you to all the people who have cheered me on at races and online all year! Time to build better for next year.”
