Hudson County, figures prominently in a battle of the towns. Both Jersey City and Hoboken are nominated for the best downtown by the American Planning Association’s People’s Choice Award.
There are other towns outside of Hudson County that are nominated, also. After inviting the public to nominate their favorite towns, the APA-NJ narrowed the category down to a group of ten finalists. They are further broken down into regions, North, South and Central New Jersey. The other two cities in the North New Jersey category are Montlcair Center and Downtown Morrison. Now you can help your town by voting on their website.
The mayors of the various towns are getting excited. Of course, Mayor Dawn Zimmer is pulling for Hoboken, and Mayor Steve Fulop is pulling for Historic Downtown Jersey City. I guess it would be a feather in any mayor’s cap to have bragging rights over such an award.
In 2010, the APA gave Hoboken’s Washington Street the title of a Great Street, and in 2013, Hoboken’s south waterfront received the title of Great Place in New Jersey. Jersey City hopes to narrow the gap with places like Journal Square, and Mcginley Square. There’s also the new pedestrian plaza on a length of Newark Avenue near the Grove Street PATH station.
It can only be good for one of these fair cities to win. Besides the prestige, it will be a draw for new businesses, and for patrons of these businesses. Chances are, if one city wins, the extra business would spill over into the other, since they are so close to each other. Go ahead. Show some civic pride and vote for your city.
The voting will stay open through September 26, and the winner will be announced in early October. Here is a link to the voting site. You can only vote once. However, that doesn’t prevent you from putting daily plugs for your city on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. This could get to be fun!
Which city do you think has the best downtown area?
Edward