The Cleanup of Gloucester City\’s Superfund Sites Continues; $384 Million Spent So Far

William E. Cleary Sr. | CNBNews

GLOUCESTER CITY, NJ (January 26, 2020)–The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is continuing the cleanup of contaminants in Gloucester City that came from the defunct Welsbach Factory located at King and Essex Streets and the Delaware River. Presently the property is the home of the Gloucester Marine Terminal/Holt property.

The same area was also the home of Armstrong Cork for many years.

The EPA is preparing the plans to remove contaminants from the Gloucester Marine Terminal/Holt property at King And Essex Streets (gloucestercitynews.net photo)

The Welsbach factory manufactured gas mantles in Gloucester City from the 1890s to the 1940s. Using state-of-the-art technology at the time, the wicks for the gas lamps were dipped into radioactive thorium so they would “glow in the dark.”

The company, not knowing the thorium was radioactive, discarded the wicks throughout Gloucester City. A similar manufacturing company, General Gas Mantle, located in Camden City did the same with the waste coming from their plant.

Since 1999 the EPA has been removing the thorium at various sites such as the baseball and football fields on Johnson Blvd. The same cleanup process has been ongoing in Camden.

In 1980, the NJ Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) sponsored a flyover radiological survey in Gloucester City and Camden City. Based on the survey, the EPA investigated more than 1,000 properties surrounding the two former gas mantle facilities – Welsbach in Gloucester City and General Gas Mantle (GGM) in Camden City.

As for the upcoming work at the Gloucester Marine Terminal, a source told us that an above ground tank 42 feet in diameter and 16 foot tall was going to be erected at the site.

Elias Rodríguez,

Public Information Officer, Region 2, New York, was asked to explain the purpose of such a large structure.

A similar tank like this one will be erected on Gloucester Marine Terminal/Holt property (Gloucestercitynews.net files)

\”

You are likely referring to the tank for the groundwater treatment system. Groundwater treatment will be conducted using physical and chemical treatment processes. The final design of the groundwater treatment facility including the treatment equipment/tanks has not been completed. However, one of the tanks to be designed/constructed is expected to be an open tank and would be used as an emergency back-up storage tank. So, it would not regularly contain impacted groundwater. In addition, the contaminants of concern are not ones where movement from the water to air is a concern,\” said Rodriquez.

\”

Construction of a groundwater treatment facility has been initiated and is part of existing work addressing excavation of radiologically contaminated soil at the port facility. Water encountered during the soil excavations will require treatment/disposal and that necessitates the design/construction of the groundwater treatment facility,\” he said.

\”

The Holt Cargo/Gloucester Marine Terminal parking lot is the location of the groundwater treatment facility. The port is the location of the former Welsbach facility. The former Welsbach facility operated from the turn of the century to roughly the 1940s and a waste by-product from their manufacture of gas lanterns contained low levels of radioactive material that was used as fill material in areas of Gloucester City and Camden City. One of the remaining buildings on-site at the port facility is the Armstrong Building.\”

Rodriquez said

the Welsbach Company (Gloucester City) and GGM (Camden City) produced gas mantles from the late 1890s to 1941. The companies used radioactive elements in the production of the mantles to help them glow brighter when heated. In the early 1990s, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection found elevated levels of radiation at the site and in many residential areas. EPA added the site to the Superfund National Priorities List in June 1996.

Cleanup activities completed to date include:

¨ Excavation/disposal of contaminated soil and waste materials from numerous properties in Gloucester City and Camden;

¨ The demolition/off-site disposal of the former GGM building in Camden;

¨ Cleanup of radiologically contaminated building surfaces in the Armstrong Building, the last standing building associated with the former Welsbach Company at the port in Gloucester City;

¨ Cleanup/restoration of the William Flynn Veterans Complex, which included rebuilding three baseball fields, a football practice field, and a parking area; and

¨ Cleanup/restoration of the Nicholson Road Sports Complex, which included restoration of three softball fields, a Little League baseball field, bathroom facilities, and a concession stand. Current cleanup activities include:

¨ Excavation/disposal of radiologically contaminated soil at fifteen locations at the port facility; and

¨ Relocation of utilities (e.g. electrical, gas, telecommunication) within the port facility to facilitate subsequent large excavation of radiologically contaminated soil.

The prime contractor for the groundwater treatment facility is APTIM Corp.

APTIM specializes in engineering, program management, environmental services, disaster recovery, complex facility maintenance, and construction services. They have offices in Philadelphia and New York City and throughout the United States and Canada.

https://www.aptim.com

The value of the groundwater treatment facility project being built at the marine terminal is estimated to be $7 million Rodriquez said.

According to Rodriquez a

n estimated $384 million has been spent for investigations and clean-up and that includes work in Camden and Gloucester City.

When asked how much longer will it take to finish the projects in Camden and Gloucester Cities Rodriquez said, \”The current projection for the complete cleanup of these two communities is 10 years.\”

From the EPA\’s

WELSBACH & GENERAL GAS MANTLE Superfund website;

To address long-term site risks, EPA has investigated close to 950 properties in Camden and Gloucester City and has completed the cleanup on 163 of the nearly 175 properties identified as contaminated. To date, EPA has excavated and disposed of more than 350,000 tons of radiologically contaminated soils and waste materials. These cleanups included removing about 105,000 tons of contaminated soil from Gloucester City Swim Club and adjacent residential properties; about 23,000 tons from the site of a Gloucester City middle school; 35,000 tons from residential properties along Highland Avenue and Klemm Boulevard in Gloucester City; more than 55,000 tons from the General Gas Mantle area in Camden, more than 16,000 tons from residential properties and wetlands areas along Temple Avenue in Gloucester City, and about 130,000 tons from the recreational properties along Johnson Boulevard in Gloucester City.

(See More)

Video (s): $25 Million Spent on EPA Cleanup of Johnson Blvd. Sports Complex

www.gloucestercitynews.net › clearysnotebook › 2009/08 › epa-to-ho…

GLOUCESTER CITY: EPA to Hold Meeting On Welsbach …

Aug 18, 2009 –

Road

. To better understand how the community uses these ball

fields

, EPA … EPA plans to begin the

cleanup

at the

Gloucester City

Land Preserve by early fall 2009. … be working on, plug in

Johnson

Boulevard,

Gloucester City

, NJ 08030. … and Common Council of

Gloucester City

(

gloucestercitynews

net

) …

source of graphics EPA

Honduras Arrests U.S.-Bound Iranians as New Caravan Heads North

JudicialWatch.org News

We now have another unnerving story about the border crisis, Iran, and national security. Our

Corruption Chronicles

blog

reports

Central American immigrants take part in a caravan heading to the United States on the road linking Ciudad Hidalgo and Tapachula, Mexico, on October 21, 2018. # Pedro Pardo / AFP / Getty

hundreds join a new U.S.-bound caravan

in Honduras, authorities in the crime-infested Central American nation reveal that four Iranians were recently arrested there. Like thousands of illegal immigrants from around the world, the Iranians entered Honduras illegally and were heading north to the United States, according to a Honduran

newspaper article

that attributes the information to the president, Juan Orlando Hernández. The Iranians were transported to the capital, Tegucigalpa, and officials have launched an investigation.

Earlier this week Judicial Watch

reported

on a U.S. alert warning Mexico of armed Iranians planning to enter the country through the southern border, but it’s not clear if the cases are related and calls to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) went unanswered. The bulletin, issued by the Border Patrol’s regional intelligence operation center in Arizona, said that a Guatemalan national may try to smuggle five Middle Easterners—including a suicide bomber—into the U.S. through Mexico. The smuggler and four other men and a woman transited through Guatemala and Belize before reaching Veracruz, Mexico, according to the bulletin. The Guatemalan, whose name is redacted in the government document, was deported from California a year ago. U.S. authorities received the threat after picking up recordings distributed via social media, according to a Spanish-language

news story

published by a Latin American outlet.

The U.S. alert didn’t faze a busy Mexican border city’s police chief, who confirms the region is full of Middle Easterners, Africans and Asians trekking north. In a Latin American

news report

published shortly after the U.S. issued the bulletin, Mexicali Police Chief María Elena Andrade Ramírez matter-of-factly said the arrival of people from the Middle East, Africa and Asia as well as the rest of the Americas is “normal” in her California border city of about

a million residents

. In a separate article published in a Mexicali paper, authorities downplayed the situation by assuring citizens that the arrival of people from the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia and the rest of the Americas is “

something normal

.”

They don’t magically land in Mexico. Central America has long been a popular route for illegal immigrants from terrorist nations who want to reach the U.S. There’s no doubt many will infiltrate the new caravan heading to the Mexican border from the northern Honduran city of San Pedro Sula. President Hernández says some

70,000

immigrants from these countries cross through Honduras annually, even without an organized caravan.

When the first Central American caravan launched from Honduras in the fall of 2018, then Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales confirmed that nearly

100 ISIS terrorists

had been apprehended in Guatemala. Like its Honduran neighbor, Guatemala too is a major smuggling corridor for foreigners from African and Asian countries making their way into the U.S. In 2017, Guatemala’s largest paper, Prensa Libra, published an in-depth

piece

on the inner workings of an international human smuggling network that moves migrants from Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal and Bangladesh to the U.S.

Over the summer

four ISIS terrorists

planning to enter the U.S. through Mexico were captured by the Nicaraguan military in a remote area where the men entered the country illegally from Costa Rica. Nicaraguan authorities identified the men as two Egyptian nationals—33-year old Mohamed Ibrahim and 26-year-old Mahmoud Samy Eissa—and two Iraqis, 41-year-old Ahmed Ghanim Mohamed Al Jubury and 29-year-old Mustafa Ali Mohamed Yaoob. The men arrived in Panama

on May 12

and in Costa Rica

on June 9

, according to an

article

published in Nicaragua’s largest newspaper.

Put all of this in the context of Democrats braying when President Trump took out Qassem Soleimani, leader of Iran’s elite Quds military force and considered the world’s No. 1 terrorist.

$2.2 Million in Teacher in the Workplace Grants to Connect Pa. Schools/Local Employers

HARRISBURG, PA –Governor Tom Wolf today announced $2.2 million in

Teacher in the Workplace

grants have been awarded to 92 local education agencies (LEA) to enable teachers to visit local employers and learn the skills and industry trends to enhance their classroom instruction, student learning, and career readiness. Each LEA will receive a $25,000 Targeted Grant through the Department of Education (PDE).

“It’s critical that we connect our schools to local businesses so we can prepare students with the skills they need for in-demand jobs,” said Governor Wolf. “By connecting directly with employers, teachers can learn first-hand about the skills and industry trends that will enhance their classroom instruction, student learning, and career readiness.”

Building on the success of the program, the governor proposed to double Teacher in the Workforce grant funding to $5 million, which he signed into law in June. Grants are available through PDE and the Department of Labor and Industry (L&I). The L&I grants will be announced soon.

“Local business leaders know what skills are needed for their employees to be successful in the workplace, so they can provide valuable insight to school administrators and teachers,” said Secretary of Education Pedro A. Rivera. “The Teacher in the Workplace program enables educators to participate in real-world, employer-based experiences that they can use to inform classroom instruction and prepare students for career, college and community success.”

Award recipients include:

Abington SD

Antonia Pantoja Community Charter School

Armstrong SD

ASPIRA Bilingual Cyber Charter School

Avonworth SD

Beaver Area SD

Blackhawk SD

Boyertown Area SD

Bradford Area SD

Bucks County IU 22

Cambria Heights SD

Catasauqua Area SD

Centennial SD

Central Cambria SD

Chester Community CS

Cocalico SD

Columbia Borough SD

Conewago Valley SD

Conneaut SD

Crawford Central SD

Crestwood SD

Daniel Boone Area SD

Deer Lakes SD

Elizabethtown Area SD

Ephrata Area SD

Erie City SD

Eugenio Maria De Hostos CS

Fairview SD

Fell CS

Forest Area SD

Franklin Regional SD

Freedom Area SD

Freeport Area SD

Governor Mifflin SD

Greater Johnstown SD

Greater Nanticoke Area SD

Hanover Area SD

Harbor Creek SD

Hempfield Area SD

Hollidaysburg Area SD

Hopewell Area SD

Intermediate Unit 1

John B Stetson Charter School

Johnsonburg Area SD

Juniata County SD

Lancaster SD

Laurel Highlands SD

Laurel SD

Mohawk Area SD

Montrose Area SD

Moshannon Valley

New Castle Area SD

North Clarion County SD

Northeastern York SD

Northern Lehigh SD

Northwest Area SD

Olney Charter High School

Oswayo Valley SD

Otto-Eldred SD

Palisades SD

Penn Cambria SD

Penncrest SD

Perseus House CS of Excellence

Pittston Area SD

Propel CS-Homestead

Purchase Line SD

Redbank Valley SD

Ridgway Area SD

Ringgold SD

Riverside Beaver County SD

Riverview IU 6

Riverview SD

Saint Marys Area SD

Salisbury Township SD

Schuylkill IU 29

Seneca Valley SD

Sharon City SD

Southern Huntingdon County SD

Spring Cove SD

Trinity Area SD

Tunkhannock Area SD

Twin Valley SD

Union City Area SD

Union SD

United SD

Valley Grove SD

Wallenpaupack Area SD

Waynesboro Area SD

West Middlesex Area SD

West Mifflin Area SD

Western Beaver County SD

Westmoreland IU 7

The Teacher in the Workforce grants from PDE are funded through federal money made available through Title II, Part A, of the Every Student Succeeds Act and from L&I through the Workforce Innovation and Opportunities Act. Eligible applicants include local education entities, businesses and chambers of commerce, labor organizations, postsecondary institutions, community-based organizations, public libraries, trade associations, and economic development entities.

Guest Opinion: American Dream Mall Fail to Pay Back Taxpayers

submitted by NJ Sierra Club

It has been 3 months since the grand opening of the American Dream Mall and towns are still waiting to be paid. In East Rutherford, where American Dream is located, officials said the mall owes $1 million in payments for last year, and an anticipated $2 million in payments in 2020 that are outstanding. For nearby Carlstadt and Secaucus, the missing payments amount to $750,000 and $100,000, respectively.

“The cost to build the American Dream mall has reached a historical price tag for both our wallets and the environment’s. The mega mall is too costly to build and too costly to visit. From riding its thrilling rides to food costs to parking, a daily visit is very expensive. New Jersey taxpayers had to pay over $1billion to subsidize this monstrosity of a mall and now its customers are being charged even more to enjoy it. What’s even worse is that the mall still owes taxpayers millions of dollars for their mega mall. The mall has taken all of this public money without paying them back while the public still can’t afford to go there,”

said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.

It has taken 17 years to build and billions of dollars from subsidies, tax breaks, and tax incremental financing. The price tag for the mall has reached historical lengths and unfortunately the cost to its customers are seeing high price tags too. The American Dream/Xanadu mega-mall is the largest public subsidized development project in state history. The project received $350 million in direct state subsidies from EDA plus another $800 million for financing including $100 million for road improvements, bringing it up to $1.5 billion project.

“The American Scheme mega-mall has been the largest corporate subsidy in the state’s history. What’s even worse is that they have failed to pay back East Rutherford and other cities who are proposing to use taxpayer money for school improvements,”

said Tittel.

“If paying $24 for parking wasn’t enough, a daily price to ride American Dream rides will be $80 soon. Combined, that’s more than a season pass at Six Flags and just $5 shy for a daily pass to Disney World. The people who work at the American Dream Mall making $11/hr. cannot afford to go there. To spend a full day at the park could take a full week’s wages.”

The mall is an estimated 3 million square feet with more than half of that allotted to entertainment and the other 45% of the space will be for retail. There are 11,000 parking spaces and they share 22,000 with MetLife stadium on non-event days.

“There is no real traffic program for the bus or train services that are reliable, instead the mall will be car dependent. The project, which comprises 7.1 million square feet of office and commercial space, in order to be successful, it will need to generate around 120,000 to 150,000 cars a day, gridlocking Bergen County with traffic. Everyday traffic will be like game day at Giants Stadium,”

said Tittel.

“The Murphy Administration have been trying to fix traffic problems by proposing a rail plan that will cost $1-$2 billion while NJ Transit is crumbling. That money could have been used to finish the Bergen-Hudson Rail, or important improvements for NJ Transit. Why should we be paying for a rail to a private male. They created the problem, why should NJ taxpayers pay to fix it?”

The American Dream/Xanadu mall sits partly on wetlands in an environmentally sensitive area prone to flooding. Meadowlands resources are important for flood control, fisheries, and migratory birds.

“We have been fighting this mega mall for over 20 years because it is too large, it’s in an environmentally sensitive area, and will cause a lot of pollution and traffic. The American Dream/Xanadu site flooded during Hurricane Sandy. The mall’s water park is built on top of wetlands, which means increasingly vulnerable to the effects of sea level rise and storm surges. Studies have shown the entire area will end up under 3 feet of water. The EPA and Fish & Wildlife under President George W. Bush opposed the project because of environmental impacts on clean air and water, and wildlife,”

said Tittel.

“Overdeveloping the Meadowlands will not only put more people in danger of flooding, but will actually impact wetlands and the fragile ecosystems.”

Governor Murphy believes this project has provided New Jersey residents with extraordinary opportunities for good-paying construction and building jobs, as well as opportunities for New Jersey’s business owners.

“The billions of dollars for American Dream could’ve been used for building schools and colleges, taking lead out of our drinking water, or cleaning up our toxic sites. Instead, this private enterprise is a one- two punch to our wallets, the billions it took to build it and the high price tag to enjoy its amenities. The American Dream mall shows everything that is wrong about New Jersey. We don’t know what will be worse, it the American Dream succeeds, we will see all of the pollution from the traffic coming to the mall plus possible gridlock it would cause to commuters. If it would fail, it wastes billions of taxpayer dollars,”

said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.

PROPERTY TAX INCREASE BLOCKED IN NEW JERSEY

source

KE ANDREWS

New Jersey school districts were about to raise funds by raising property taxes, but the governor blocked it. The districts will have to find another way to compensate for the cuts that have taken place to state funding. When vetoing the bill, the governor made a statement that taxes on the wealthy should be raised to pay for schools, instead of asking middle-class taxpayers to pay more. Some districts have lost state aid, due to changes to the formula for school property tax funding.

CNBNEWS GRAPHIC FILES

If the measure would have passed without veto, it would have allowed school districts to exceed the two-percent cap on New Jersey property tax increases that were previously set. But Governor Murphy made it clear that he would not support the development of another way to exceed the cap, especially when it increases the burden of property tax and harms voters. The current school funding formula for the state tells voters how much every district should be spending, how much comes from the state, and how much should be generated from property taxes.

The funding formula has been in overhaul mode for years, and those changes have been controversial. The goal of the changes has been to shift state aid away from overfunded districts and to districts that are not funded as well. But at the same time, hundreds of millions more are being put into schools every year, and every district should get 100 percent of what is owed to them. There are 172 districts that will lose state aid, because they have been getting more than the current formula states that they need.

For the last seven years, there have been other districts that are losing money and not receiving enough funding. Programs reductions, budget cuts, and layoffs are part of the future for those districts, if changes to the distribution of state education funds are not made. By exceeding the two-percent property tax cap, these schools could get more funding and reduce their chances of ongoing financial problems. There would have been 40 districts that qualified for the changes. Still, the governor vetoed the bill and strongly suggested that districts find another way to address the issues. The goal is to avoid increasing how much families pay in property taxes, and it is a decision that should be taken seriously.

The governor continues to propose raising the tax on wealthy people, but defenders of the original bill argue that none of the money from an increase on wealthy people’s taxes would actually go to the districts that need the funding. According to the New Jersey School Board Association, the governor is also mistaking the bill’s actual effects. That Association states that the bill was thought out carefully, and would have helped school districts without causing the significant and unrestricted increases in property taxes the governor implied.

KE Andrews: Property Tax Consultants

121 Parks in Pennsylvania Face $500 Million Deficit

By Dave Fidlin |

The Center Square

HARRISBURG, PA–Rising costs and stagnant income is leaving Pennsylvania’s 121 parks with a projected deficit of about $500 million to address ongoing maintenance needs, a state official revealed recently.

CNBNews graphic files

Paul Zeph, head planner of the Pennsylvania Bureau of State Parks, went before members of the House Tourism Committee on Jan. 15 and discussed the

Parks for All

plan, which was recently refreshed after last going under the microscope in 1992.

In his testimony to the House panel, Zeph touched on a number of issues related to state parks, but the one piece of insight that garnered the most attention was the anticipated shortfall. When Parks for All was last updated, Zeph pointed out budgetary deficits at the time hovered around $100 million.

“We’re scratching our heads on how to go forward,” Zeph said. “We may have to shut down some facilities, we may have to make some parks a little more remote. We’re not sure, but we are identifying that we have a need.”

In 2017, the Bureau of State Parks conducted a survey, which yielded about 14,000 responses, and Zeph said he thought the feedback could serve as an important guide in how to proceed.

Pennsylvania residents have long enjoyed visiting state parks for free – the thinking, Zeph said, being the cost is covered through taxes – and there was minimal support for imposing an admission cost at this point.

Another middle-of-the-road scenario, calling for scaling down amenities at some of the state’s lesser used parks and giving them more of a rustic designation could also be on the table.

“There was some mild support for that,” Zeph said.

Several committee members weighed in on the issue. State Rep. Dan Moul, R-Gettysburg, questioned if at least one of the state’s larger parks could have a ramped up, amenity-rich emphasis on tourism that would extend beyond the park system’s current traditional base of day-trippers.

“We do have some state parks that have big enough lakes,” Moul said. “There’s a way we could bring more people into the commonwealth and have them spend money.”

But Zeph said such a scenario could lead to unforeseen circumstances. Other states, he said, have encountered financial losses in the long run for similar proposals.

“The bigger you get, the more the commonwealth winds up paying for these kinds of facilities,” Zeph said.

State Rep. Mark Longietti, D-Hermitage, said he was concerned with the rising deficit of parks maintenance. With inflation taken into account, Longietti said he is concerned the figure will only rise in the years ahead.

“It’s frustrating. It’s a conundrum,” Zeph said in response, pointing out there are no easy answers to the questions.

As for the survey itself, Zeph said there was one aspect of the responses that jumped out at him as the results were tabulated.

“I was surprised by the uniformity of responses,” he said. “By and large, people seem pretty happy with the system.”

Further discussion of the deficit and other aspects of the Parks for All plan is anticipated as 2020 gets underway.

“We need to mine a little deeper on some of these questions,” Zeph said. “We do have more work to do. This isn’t the end. But this has given us a good starting point.”

published here with permission of The Center Square

No Increase in New Jersey Transit Fares

Today, Governor Murphy announced that his FY2021 budget proposal will not include a fare hike for NJ Transit. This is the fifth year that NJ Transit has not had a fare increase. Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, released the following statement:

“We are glad that NJ Transit will not be increasing their fares this year. This is good news for commuters. This is important because they cannot and should not balance the budget on the back of NJ Transit riders. Rate hikes unfairly hurt seniors, young people, and the working poor the most. New Jersey commuters pay the most in the nation when it comes to contributing for their share of operation and maintenance. NJ Transit is still robbing capital funds that should be going to improve and expand NJ Transit for operations and maintenance, $460 million this year alone. This is like robbing our future to pay for current expenses, or taking a second mortgage on a house to buy groceries. New Jersey needs a dedicated source of funding for operations and maintenance so we can decrease fares and improve ridership.”

“This is the fifth year that we haven’t seen a fare increase, but keeping fares stable is not enough. We are in a state of climate urgency and we need immediate action to help protect our air. Transit agencies in other states are actually cutting or eliminating fares to encourage ridership. If we reduce and eliminate fares, it would get more people out of cars and would reduce pollution. New Jersey has some of the worst air quality in the nation. NJ Transit needs a stable source of funding for operations and maintenance to lower fares and improve ridership, because next year the fares could go up. They should be helping get cars off the road and making our air cleaner.”

Trees Not Tombstones: New Options For End-of-Life

(NAPSI)—The vast majority of Americans have not completed their end-of-life planning. In fact, over half of those age 45-plus have done no end-of-life planning at all, according to a recent survey conducted by Better Place Forests, the country’s first sustainable alternative to cemeteries for families that choose cremation.

A beautiful forest can be a final resting place that brings comfort to family and friends.

Better Place Forests hopes the idea of a beautiful, sustainable final resting place will encourage people to create those plans. Instead of tombstones, the company incorporates ashes into the base of beautiful trees in permanently protected forests. The company performs spreading ceremonies in the forest, where families can gather to say goodbye. Currently, there are two forests in California, in Point Arena in Mendocino County and in Santa Cruz, and the company plans to open more across the country.

There is a growing trend toward greener burial options in the United States. According to the National Funeral Directors Association, nearly 54 percent of Americans are considering a green burial and 72 percent of cemeteries report an increased demand for green burials. Thousands of people have already reserved trees for themselves.

“Making plans and establishing guidelines for the end of your life means that loved ones don’t have to guess about your wishes and you can give them the experience you’d like them to have when you pass,” explained Sandy Gibson, CEO of Better Place Forests. “At Better Place Forests, we talk to people every day who find peace in knowing they have created a beautiful experience for their loved ones by selecting a family tree.”

Beyond providing a more beautiful final resting place, choosing a tree in one of these memorial forests means you are leaving a legacy of conservation. The company performs spreading ceremonies in the forest, where families can gather to say goodbye and continue to visit—a feature current cremation options can’t provide. The trusts also actively manage the land to ensure that it’s less susceptible to forest fires. They hire forestry experts to keep the trees healthy and the forests free of invasive species. In addition, more trees are planted in areas in need for every tree a customer chooses. Thousands of trees have already been planted in forests devastated by the California wildfires.

Learn More

For further facts, visit

www.betterplaceforests.com

$46 MILLION AWARDED TO NEW JERSEY LOCAL HOMELESS PROGRAMS

Funding supports thousands of local homeless housing and service programs

WASHINGTON – U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson today announced nearly $2.2 billion in grants to support thousands of local homeless

assistance programs across the nation. HUD’s

Continuum of Care

grants will provide critically needed support to approximately 6,593 local programs on the front lines, serving individuals and families experiencing homelessness. This is the first of two announcements of Continuum of Care awards.

View a complete list of all the state and local homeless projects awarded funding

New Jersey state local homeless housing and service programs will receive $46,031,871. This is an increase of $734,247 from the past year.

“A safe, affordable place to call home is key when creating a path toward opportunity and self-sufficiency,” said Secretary Carson in Ohio, where he made the funding announcement. “The grants awarded today help our partners on the ground to reduce homelessness in their communities and help our most vulnerable neighbors.”

HUD Continuum of Care grant funding supports a broad array of interventions designed to assist individuals and families experiencing homelessness, particularly those living in places not meant for habitation, located in sheltering programs, or at imminent risk of becoming homeless. Each year, HUD serves more than a million people through emergency shelter, transitional, and permanent housing programs.

“The $46 million in grants being awarded today by the Trump Administration marks yet another year of record level of funding aimed at reducing homelessness in New Jersey,” said Lynne Patton, HUD Regional Administrator for New York and New Jersey. “HUD recognizes the importance of supporting New Jersey’s local homeless assistance programs.”

HUD continues to challenge state and local planning organizations called “Continuums of Care” to support their highest performing local programs that have proven most effective in meeting the needs of persons experiencing homelessness in their communities.

In 2019, most of the country experienced a combined decrease in homelessness but significant increases in unsheltered and chronic homelessness on the West Coast, particularly California and Oregon, offset those nationwide decreases, causing an overall increase in homelessness of 2.7 percent.

HUD’s 2019 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress

found that 567,715 persons experienced homelessness on a single night in 2019, an increase of 2.7 percent since 2018 but nearly 11 percent decline since 2010. The number of families with children experiencing homelessness declined 5 percent from 2018 and more than 32 percent since 2010. Local communities also reported a continuing trend in reducing veteran homelessness across the country—the number of veterans experiencing homelessness fell 2.1 percent since January 2018 and by 50 percent since 2010.

View a complete list of all the state and local homeless projects.

The grants HUD is awarding include the following:

2019 Continuum of Care Grants (Tier 1)

State

Number of Projects

Amount

Alaska

$ 4,688,499

Alabama

$16,187,098

Arkansas

$ 4,166,349

Arizona

$ 39,667,766

California

761

$ 415,233,197

Colorado

$ 31,823,715

Connecticut

148

$ 53,925,797

District of Columbia

$ 21,068,602

Delaware

$ 7,825,678

Florida

309

$ 87,529,248

Georgia

169

$ 42,721,865

Guam

$ 1,119,247

Hawaii

$ 12,158,946

Iowa

$ 9,364,401

Idaho

$ 4,234,119

Illinois

368

$ 114,704,242

Indiana

$ 23,770,934

Kansas

$ 7,500,169

Kentucky

105

$ 23,141,762

Louisiana

142

$ 50,763,628

Massachusetts

217

$ 76,567,387

Maryland

157

$ 49,879,309

Maine

$ 13,121,653

Michigan

274

$ 73,362,763

Minnesota

202

$ 33,500,442

Missouri

135

$ 36,059,327

Mississippi

$ 4,892,316

Montana

$ 2,529,752

North Carolina

134

$ 26,659,517

North Dakota

$ 1,943,050

Northern Mariana Islands

$ 13,983

Nebraska

$ 8,767,133

New Hampshire

$ 7,702,743

New Jersey

223

$ 46,031,871

New Mexico

$ 10,506,434

Nevada

$ 16,051,105

New York

520

$ 214,895,469

Ohio

284

$ 106,811,990

Oklahoma

$ 8,354,106

Oregon

120

$ 37,289,231

Pennsylvania

459

$ 106,088,546

Puerto Rico

$ 18,596,380

Rhode Island

$ 7,308,810

South Carolina

$ 10,509,459

South Dakota

$ 1,299,930

Tennessee

119

$ 21,010,778

Texas

206

$ 101,332,807

Utah

$ 10,928,741

Virginia

136

$ 29,207,216

Virgin Islands

$ 188,753

Vermont

$ 4,572,629

Washington

166

$ 72,793,372

Wisconsin

$ 24,700,183

West Virginia

$ 8,601,585

Wyoming

$ 277,357

TOTAL

6,593

$ 2,163,951,389

###

HUD’s mission is to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all.

More information about HUD and its programs is available on the Internet

www.hud.gov

and

https://

espanol.hud.gov

CAPE MAY COUNTY: Route 47/S Delsea Drive to be closed and detoured for priority roadway repair beginning next week

Closure in place until June to repair sinkholes undermining the road

LOWER TOWNSHIP, NJ–(January 17, 2020)–New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) officials today announced that Route 47/ S Delsea Drive will be closed and detoured beginning Monday for priority roadway repairs in Middle Township, Cape May County.

Beginning at 7 a.m., Monday, January 20, NJDOT’s contractor Mount Construction is scheduled to close and detour Route 47 in both directions between Indian Trail Road and Springers Mill Road for priority repairs to a culvert over Dias Creek resulting in sinkholes that are compromising the roadway. The project is anticipated to be completed by June 2020.

Local access will be maintained for residents and businesses. The following signed detour will be in place throughout the duration of the project:

Route 47 Northbound Detour:

 Motorists wishing to continue on Route 47 northbound will be instructed to turn right onto Indian Trail Road

 Turn left onto Route 9 north

 Turn left onto W. Hand Avenue

 Turn right back onto Route 47/S. Delsea Drive

Route 47 Southbound Detour:

 Motorists wishing to continue on Route 47 southbound will be instructed to turn left onto W. Hand Avenue

 Turn right onto Route 9 south

 Turn right onto Indian Trail Road

 Turn left onto Route 47/S. Delsea Drive

Variable Message Signs will provide advance notification to motorists of traffic pattern changes associated with the work. The precise timing of the work is subject to change due to weather or other factors.

Motorists are encouraged to check NJDOT\’s traffic information website www.511nj.org for real-time travel information and for NJDOT news follow us on Twitter @NJDOT_info and on the NJDOT Facebook page.

Address/Location

Lower Township Police Department

405 Breakwater Rd

Cape May, NJ 08204

Contact

Emergency: 9-1-1

Non-emergencies: 609-886-1619