MH: How much do you know about the McGinley Square Project? 

ES: I’d have to say not much, only really what I have heard from Saint Peter’s during their...when they gave presentations on the progress and McGinley Square. And just a little bit of, I have heard things about McGinley Square up to Journal Square, kind of the development that is going to be taking place. 

MH: Do you think development of this kind can affect the community in the area?

ES: Yes, well it certainly will affect the community whether it’s a benefit or negative, I’m not sure. Ideally when you better the neighborhood or…Or it should be when you develop the neighborhood, ideally its to benefit the people who are living there currently. Again, hopefully that will take place. Unfortunately, I’ve observed or at least noticed, that when we improve an area or kind of build it up or develop it, quite often people who were originally living there are moved out, which I don’t think is actually really...shouldn’t be the goal. And I don’t think it’s the goal, I shouldn’t say it is the goal, but that shouldn’t be a product of development. 

MH: You’re starting up the campus kitchen in that area and all that. Can you tell me about the little bit about the low income community in McGinley Square?

ES: Well, Saint Aidan’s Parish I would say is certainly...I think it’s always been, in its history back to the 1930s, a working class parish, certainly low to middle class, and you know, we...small business owners, you know, on Bergen, obviously Saint Aidan’s, the parish itself, you know, it’s changed changed over time. It was heavily Irish, and now it’s, I guess you could say, Hispanic of Filipino and we really want to continue to support the neighborhood, we just had our eighth, I believe it was our eighth, Saturday that we had the pantry open, the food and clothes pantry, and our numbers continue to grow, so that really shows that people in the neighborhood do need some assistance, do need some help. They’re very appreciative of it. And so that’s what we’re really trying to do is work within our community to help people who are struggling with issues of hunger, poverty, etc.

MH: Do you see a sort of poverty divide in Jersey City, where certain neighborhoods have more poverty issues than other or...?

ES: I, again just an observation it could be completely wrong, but absolutely. Downtown seems very affluent now. You come to my neighborhood, which is kind of the West Side/Greenville section, you can see the difference immediately. And you know, I don’t necessarily blame anyone for that. I think it’s just, in my neighborhood we need to feel to respect and feel proud where we live and take care where we live. Downtown there’s been kind of a certain amount of money, new business, stuff like that being pushed into it. There is a benefit to that obviously. But yeah, certainly, the neighborhoods are very different in terms of socio-economic classes.

GP: Have you heard any negative reactions from residents in your community work?

ES: There’s always...people always, say boy, you know I wish they would...I wish this city would care this much about Downtown as they do...or I wish they would take, care as much as much our neighborhood as they do downtown. I think there is an element of that. I think this city should be focused on taking care of all neighborhoods, but it’s also our fault as well in our neighborhood. We have to be able to take care of our own neighborhood as well, so it’s a combination of both things. In terms of McGinley Square development, my only concern would be again, you know there are a lot of people who live in McGinley Square or...I’m thinking specifically about the homeless population, you know, they go to 880 Bergen, it’s the Hudson County Self-Help Center. My only concern would be, and you know there are whispers trying to move them out of where they are and that would be my concern. I think that we have to...the beauty of Jersey City, the beauty of society in general is that we...there are people of all different race, ethnicities, religions, and unfortunately different classes, economic classes, and we don’t just move people out. It should be that we work together to better the neighborhood, to better each other. 

Erich Sekel - Associate Director of Campus Ministry for Community Service

McGinley Square Project