Roll With Us: Jane's Roll 2010: Orange, NJ

Jane Jacobs

Join us for Jane's Orange Roll

A Bike Ride Through Orange with Patrick Morrissy

Celebrating the Work of Jane Jacobs

Saturday May 1, 10 a.m.

Meet at Rita's Deli, 502 Central Ave.,Orange, NJ

On May 1st and 2nd people around the world honor the life and work of Jane Jacobs, saviour of cities, by walking and biking the streets of their neighborhoods: http://janeswalkusa.wordpress.com/This year's Jane's Walks and Rolls also celebrate the release of a new collection of essays "What We See" about how we carry Jane Jacobs' work forward. Orange's own Mindy Fullilove has a featured essay in the collection!: http://whatwesee.org/

Jane's Orange Roll will include a tour of the historic hatmaking capital and growing arts district, a stop at the May Day Festival, visits to delicious eateries, lunch at two-ton tony's plaza, [murmur] stories and more.

Essex County's Hazardous Waste Collection Day

Saturday, May 1st is Essex County's Hazardous Waste Collection Day

8:30 am - 4:30 pm

Bring your household hazardous materials to the Essex County Fleet Maintenance Garage at

 99 W. Bradford Ave, Cedar Grove, NJ for safe disposal FREE of Charge.

Hazardous materials accepted are: Paint thinners, solvents, chemistry sets, propane tanks (bbq), automotive fluids(antifreeze, motor oil, steering fluids), household batteries( AA, AAA, C,D, 9V, NiCad), car batteries, household cleaning fluids, aerosol spray paints...etc

Re-chargeable batteries MUST be bagged or taped on the terminal ends

Please visit the Essex County website to see the complete list of accepted materials. Remember to bring proof of Essex County residency

Gardening, Greenhouse & Y-Art Sale Oh my! ComcastCares Day

Saturday April 24th, and this year's Comcast Cares Day, was a wonderful day! It was a beautiful day perfect for gardening and planting. Over 30 comcast volunteers, friends and families gathered at Ironworks Studio to help put in a garden at International Central Gospel Church and also help with the construction of the greenhouse in the lot next to Ironworks. Lorraine Gibbons explained her work with Garden State Urban Farms and introduced the Prodigal Sons and Daughter who are working on the Greenhouse Construction. After brief introductions, we all settled in and got dirty! Lettuce, Spinach, collard greens, strawberries etc were planted in EarthBoxes which require limited watering and will have an impressive yield. Can't wait until the vegetables come in! To add to the festive nature of the day, Valley Arts held their Y-Art Sale on Tompkins Street. Various art vendors demonstrated their work and sold their art along Tompkins Street as residents took in the beautiful weather. Many people satisfied their volunteer and have fun with neighbors requirements for the UofO transcripts.
Be on the lookout for more gardening and volunteer opportunities in the coming months!

Upcoming Volunteer Event: Comcast Cares Day!

Comcast and Garden State Urban Farms present a volunteer opportunity on April 24th at 9am, as part of this year's Comcast Cares Day and in celebration of Earth Day . Comcast employees and volunteers will gather at the Greenhouse construction site at 406 Tompkins Street, Orange, NJ and help create a community garden in the front yard of International Central Gospel Church on 438 Valley Street.

Come join us as we add to the beauty and function of the Orange Valley Arts District. To learn more about Comcast Cares Day and Garden State Urban Farms please click on the links.


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This event can satisfy the volunteer requirement on your UofO graduation transcript. Remember all you need to graduate is: Vote (in a school, mayoral election or even American Idol), Attend a City Meeting, Take 2 UofO courses, Have Fun with Your Neighbor, Volunteer. All of your requirements are not restricted to Orange alone, be involved in your community!

2nd Annual Heart of Orange Placemaking Conference a SUCCESS!

The Second Annual Heart of Orange Placemaking Conference: Building a Just & Beautiful City was a success! Held this past Saturday(April 10th) at the beautiful First Presbyterian Church of Orange, residents and community leaders gathered to hear inspiring speeches by Denys Candy, Rich Brown and Carlos Canales and engage in the wonderful afternoon workshops.

Thank you to Denys Candy for sharing his experience with development of the Hill District and Find the Rivers! and Carlos Canales for his presentation on organizing day laborer's worker centers. Placemaking attendees had a wonderful time in the afternoon with workshops such as envisioning a more interactive Tony Galento Plaza, printmaking using Adinkra symbols, and creating a temporary art installation in the South Essex Tunnel with spray paint chalk and attaching beautiful ribbons with written messages of Orange Love to the bridge at Lincoln Ave. The day wrapped up with graphic designer Rich Brown discussing the importance of art in community organizing. Thank you to all that attended and made the day great. We were able to come away with inspiring thoughts and strategic goals to mold Orange into a truly Just & Beautiful City.

All in all it was a wonderful day! As Mr. Candy exclaimed:

"A Just and Beautiful City is Just Beautiful!".

Enjoy this slideshow of the day's events:

FlickrSlideshow

Denys Candy, 2010 Urbanist-in-Resident

We are 3 days away from the 2nd Annual Heart of Orange Placemaking Conference: Building a Just & Beautiful City! So we thought we'd share with you a great article from one of our 2010 Urbanist-in-Residents, Mr. Denys Candy !

Below is his article "Field Work" from the Scottish Urban Regeneration Forum in Scotregen, Issue 49:Spring 2010

Also check out his website at: denyscandy.com

Your Are Cordially Invited...

Don't Forget Saturday is the 2nd Annual Heart of Orange Placemaking Conference!

Wrestling With Moses: Book Discussion

UU Orange: Wrestling with Moses.

Rev. Darrell Berger

In January, 2010, members of The First Unitarian Universalist Church of Essex County and members of the greater Orange community met to discuss this book. It is about how Jane Jacobs and other residents of Greenwich Village organized in the 1960’s to stop Robert Moses’ plan to extend Fifth Avenue through the middle of Washington Square Park, meeting a lower Manhattan Expressway which would have destroyed the Village, Chinatown, Little Italy and SoHo.

This book is a primer for community organizing, as well as for understanding the history of urban renewal in New York City. This same battle extended into New Jersey, destroying many neighborhoods in Newark and the Oranges. By understanding this history, we can discover what is needed to recreate and revitalize urban communities today.

This Book Group was supported by the University of Orange’s People of Orange Leadership Institute for Sustainability (POLIS), which has received a grant from JP Morgan Chase.

For those who would like to participate in the Book Group from wherever you are, here are some study questions to stimulate discussion and self-reflection. If you’d like to get “credit” from the University of Orange, please send me your thoughts and I’ll send you back your certificate. The University of Orange is a free people’s university, and we graduate every year to a greater degree of responsibility for our communities. Our degree is the Bachelors of Freedom, otherwise known as the B.Free.