Bloomfield Memorial Day Parade On, But July 4th Celebration in Jeopardy – TAPinto.net

BLOOMFIELD, NJ – In spite of health restrictions limiting in-person meetings, Bloomfield continues to have a strong line of communication with residents as Mayor Michael Venezia joined First Ward Councilwoman Jenny Mundell for a community meeting on Thursday, May 20.

It was reiterated to residents that the Memorial Day Parade will return in 2021 after a one-year hiatus due to the pandemic and it takes place on Monday, May 31 at 9:30 am.  The parade steps off at the corner of Broad Street and Warren Street, and marches south down Broad Street to Liberty Street just past the civic center.

As of right now, things do not look good for Bloomfield to host the annual July 4th Celebration at Foley Field due to the possibility of having thousands of people gather together in close proximity.  No final decision has been made, but the township will look to host a celebration around Labor Day weekend.

Essex County has already moved their County Fireworks Celebration to Labor Day, and they pushed back their concert series to September and October.

Regarding the Police Department, Mayor Venezia said, “over the past six years, our department has improved dramatically, and the department recently underwent deescalation training as we feel many situations need to be deescalated and not escalated.  Our first training session had 50 officers, and we will be doing the rest of the police department in the next couple of weeks.”

Venezia continued, “in another initiative, we are in the process of planning in conjunction with our Health Department and Police Department the monitoring of all calls from Emotionally Distressed Persons, and we are looking to assign a social worker to our Police Department who will go out on all calls with the police for situations involving EDP’s.”

Mundell added, “this is a good collaboration to bring a social worker in to help with case management, so the Health Department can come in and do the things they do to get the person the help that they need.  This kind of intervention is positive for our community.”

The Police Department recently started foot patrols in north center downtown area, in the Watchung area, and on the First Avenue area.  Officers will walk through the areas with the goal of the officers to get to know the business owners and get to know the people in the region.  This will last from May to September.

The Police Youth Academy will take place this summer, but with a slightly limited group size.

Within the Recreation Department, close to 50 percent of all summer camp spots are filled.  Sports clinics just saw registration open with spots filling up fast.

The Library recently reopened, and the hours are Monday 1 to 8 pm, and Tuesday through Saturday 10 am to 5 pm.  Patrons can stay for 30 minutes at a time on the first floor of the adult and children’s library.  The library will also be open on Saturdays in the summer.

The creation of a Farmers Market continues, and the committee is working to launch the market in early-September and last through the end of the fall in the courtyard of the library and the Civic center.

Lion Gate will open in June and a ribbon cutting ceremony will be planned soon.

Thursday’s meeting was held virtually, and live-streamed on the township’s Facebook page.

“It is important that we regularly have these community meetings, even if we are unable to do them in person at this time,” said Councilwoman Mundell.  “These smaller meetings are an excellent opportunity to speak with residents of the First Ward and to learn if there is anything that we can be doing to better serve our community.”

The next First Ward Community Meeting will take place in September.