JOURNAL SQUARE WATCH

This week....
By Chris Bernardo
Operations Manager

Ilustrated below, P.O. George Buska monitors the Kiosk this week looking for panhandlers, illegal vendors and public drinking. Here a citizen is advised on public drinking. He subsequently vacated the area.



Al Rivera uses deterget and new outdoor bleach product by Clorox to cclean the Kiosk and deodorize the area prior to the lunchtime music series.



Al Rivera monitors the flowers every day in Journal Square and ensures that they receive a sufficient amount of water to keep them vibrant and healthy.



Exodus Supreme provided live music for this week's lunchtime music series.






The sign illustrated below was reported to the traffic department this week.

Posted by Chris Bernardo at 10:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

By Chris Bernardo, Operations Manager

Quality of Life/PublicSafety
The vagrant illustrated below was found by Journal Square Ambassador Jamal Robinson who in turn called me. I contacted our Police Supervisor Sgt. Ray Mahon, who dispatched P.O. Ralph Dilucci. Sgt. Mahon also dispatched a bus (ambulance) which arrived at the scene in under 8 minutes.

Wednesday, May 17 - Lunchtime music in the Square:

Wednesday, May 17: Weeds on Sip Avenue btwn Bergen and Tonnelle



Thursday, May 18: Special Pressure Cleaning detail prior to Circle of Heroes Ceremony

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By Chris Bernardo, Operations Manager

Quality of Life/Public Safety
Our off-duty police detail is focusing heavily this week on detering individuals from "camping-out" in and around the kiosk. The goal is to maintain a strong presence in the area of the kiosk, fountain and demolition area to make it uncomfortable for anyone who wishes to engage in illegal activities such as panhandling, drug-dealing, drinking in public or selling merchandise.

I was able to tour the district with Sgt. Ed Caritini recently to document these efforts:









Weed Removal
Pictured on the left is Al Rivera...Al is our maintenance equipment operator and takes the lead on any non-sweeping activities such as graffiti removal, pressure cleaning and, as shown on the left, weed removal. Here Al is removing weeds from the center median on Kennedy Blvd.




Public Utilities
PSEG reports that the missing cobra pole at 35 JSQ should be replaced next week (week of May 15).



Public Amenities/Decorative Lighting
The bases of all decorative light poles are currently being painted black to conceal chips and cracks in the paint.

Posted by Chris Bernardo at 5:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As a quarell breaks out between a local shop owner and a displeased customer, one of our off duty police officers is called to the scene to quell the dispute. The argument ended peacefuly with the patron leaving the store.

Weeds plague cracks and crevices all around the district. Luckily for us, weed removal is our maintenance crew's specialty. Rest assured that this weed will never show itself at Provident Bank again.

These pictures indicate a severe problem for shop owners, customers, and even passers by. The neglegent and irresponsible garbage disposal practices by Newark Ave. residents has caused an enormous collection of pigeons to make their home there. Also contributing the pigeons large numbers are the bags of food that shop owners leave out on the side walks for hours. This is a health hazard not only because pigeons are getting their beaks on food that customers will eventually buy, but also with large numbers of these birds come a large number of droppings which may land on a patrons head or the food he may potentialy buy.

This water filled pot hole was caused by the hosing down of the side walk into the street. This is a bad idea for three reasons. the first reason is the food that is being hosed off the sidewalk is not being collected afterward, creating a buffet for pests. The second reason involves mosquitos who make their homes on standing water. The mosquito problem will increase as the temperature does. The third and most important reason is passers by may step in this pot hole, trip and fall down, or hurt themselves. This picture will be forwarded to the Buildings and Streets department.

Posted by Teddy Drimonis at 11:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Quality of Life / Public Safety
A vagrant who continually panhandles in the district, especially in front of the Dunkin Donuts on JKF BLVD., is intercepted and given a fierce admonishing by P.O. David Rodgers. The panhandling vagrant was confontational with passers by over the last few weeks and it is nice to know he may not be bothering anyone again.

Maintenance
I spotted this large patch of graffiti above the Burger King billboard on Summit Ave. The billboard has no climbing access so the way in which this offence was perpetrated is questionable. Our maintenance crew will remove this graffiti ASAP.

A new green basket will be the replacement for this damaged container as soon as JCIA retrieves it.

Grease stains of unknown origin have appeared on the corner of Summit Ave. and Sip Ave. Maintenance is scheduled to power wash this problem away.

Posted by Teddy Drimonis at 5:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Quality of Life/Public Safety
In response to a call from a local stakeholder the SID management team with the assistance of P.O. Dave Rodgers from the SID Off-duty Police detail successfully escorted an itinerant ice cream vendor out of the district. This particular vendor had carts stationed at two separate locations on Kennedy Boulevard.

Maintenance
High pressure water treatment for the sidewalks and curbs started today to remediate grease and other liquid stains. "After" pictures are not currently available due to the rain that started in the late morning and continued throughout the afternoon.

Posted by Chris Bernardo at 4:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

These pictures show garbage in one of our jsq trash cans placed there by a woman who lives off of Bergen Avenue. As I approach the woman to inform her of her wrong doing she turned and ran away as depicted in the second picture. The third picture is a front shot of the woman's home. Their have been many insidences of people leaving their trash from home in our recepticals this week. As of now we are unsure of what measures we will taken to fix this situation.

Street Lamps without electrical panels collect garbage frequently and are very difficult to clean out. The exposed wires in the lamp posts may also become a saftey concern. The following are before and after pictures.

Journal Square maintainance workers work hard to keep posted bills off walls and lamp posts.

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