Announcing 2014 Newark Riverfront Event Calendar!

Newark Riverfront Revival in collaboration with the City of Newark, Essex County, Ironbound Community Corporation, and Friends of Riverfront Park are happy to release the official 2014 Newark Riverfront Event Calendar. With the support of the National Endowment for the Arts Our Town program and other funders, this year will be the busiest, most fun, most cultural, most environmental, most NEWARK riverfront year in generations.

Download the 2014 Newark Riverfront Calendar here.

2014 will continue popular events including Newark Walks to the Water & River Day and free and low-cost activities like concerts, boat tours, walking tours, environmental workshops, movies, public art, public exercise and sports to draw Newarkers and visitors from across the city. This year will also introduce new events and activities like the Praise on the Passaic Gospel Festival and Public Paddle Days.

Help us spread the word and bring every Newarker to see their river!
  

EPA announces Passaic River clean-up & 5/7/14 Newark Public Hearing

On April 11, 2014, at Newark Riverfront Park’s Orange Boardwalk, the US Environmental Protection Agency announced its long-awaited cleanup plan for the lower eight miles of the Passaic River. The proposal includes bank-to-bank dredging of the river and the removal of 4.3 million cubic yards of contaminated sediment. As per Superfund law, the clean-up will be funded by the companies responsible for the pollution. Newarkers and others have advocated for the river clean-up for decades; this announcement brings the dream of a clean, safe, and healthy river another step closer to reality.

On Wednesday, May 7, the US Environmental Protection Agency will hold the first of three public hearings on the proposed clean-up of the Passaic River. All are invited to learn more about the proposed clean-up and offer their thoughts and feedback to the federal government.

The hearing will begin with a brief presentation by the federal government followed by spoken comments from the public, which will be limited to two minutes. EPA will also accept written testimony. For more information please visit ourpassaic.org.

Everyone who cares about the future of the Passaic and its neighboring communities should attend!

Passaic Clean-Up Public Hearing
Wednesday, May 7, 7 pm
Portuguese Sports Club, 55 Prospect Street, Newark, NJ 07105

Learn more!

“Judith Enck, regional administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency who made the cleanup announcement at a riverfront park in Newark, said the Passaic has been plagued by pollution for far too long. ‘We’ve studied this for years. The river communities have suffered for long enough,’ she said.” 
“Massive, $1.7 billion environmental cleanup of Passaic River proposed by EPA,” Star-Ledger, 4/11/14.

“The E.P.A.’s plan is ambitious, necessary, long overdue and definitely good news for those who believe that humans should again enjoy this once-thriving waterway.”
“A Cleanup Plan for a Toxic River,” New York Times, 4/15/14.

EPA Fact Sheet: An Overview of the Problems (PDF download)
EPA Fact Sheet:  Overview of EPA’s Cleanup Proposal (PDF download)
EPA Proposed Plan for Cleanup of the Lower Eight Miles of the Passaic River (PDF download)
EPA Superfund website
Lower Passaic River Restoration Project website