'Boken Promises: Some Ask If Hoboken Will Get New Recreation Programs This Summer

HOBOKEN, NJ — Secaucus's Recreation Department offers a low-cost "environmental camp" to keep kids busy when they're out of school, letting them explore wildlife and local science centers.

Bayonne has offered a chess camp, kids' travel camp, and theater camps.

Jersey City has a CIT program for teens — as well as low-cost STEM, nature, and arts and fashion weeks for younger kids in summer.

Hoboken offers a handful of sports through recreation each summer, but hasn't added townwide daytime arts programs in the summer for years.

The city has been slow to add new programs to keep kids busy when school is out — with promises of a camp that never materialized, a lack of swimming lessons at pools that are touted as available to residents, and only one 20-year-old summer art program for kids 4 and under.

Parents and kids have come to City Council meetings to ask for more programming — and recently, some complaints have come from the mayor's allies.

"With more recreational space, it is my vision that Hoboken can finally host its own summer camp for kids," wrote then-mayoral hopeful Ravi Bhalla eight years ago, in 2017. "As someone with two young children, I know how important having an affordable and local option for children during the summer months is for parents."

"Please tell me about all the things you might consider looking into doing, after you've been in a leadership position for the past eight years," wrote one commenter at the time, since Bhalla had been serving on the council.

Three years ago, Bhalla announced the hiring of a new director of the Recreation Division for $110,000 to revitalize city recreation programming.

At the time, she said she hoped to add arts and other programming to the city's offerings, but no arts programming was added in summer.

Until this past year, the city used to provide one four-hour improv/drama program for teens each summer, through Cultural Affairs — but even that was dropped last year without explanation.

Many towns include their arts and drama programming through their recreation department, allowing kids from all parts of the city to participate in low-cost options during the months while they're out of school.

School District Steps Up

The school district stepped up last summer to partner with an out-of-town YMCA to offer a camp to younger children — after a parent inquired with the YMCA.

The district also announced, just before summer, that they'd offer five hours of swim lessons per age group at the high school pool.

The city did not offer lessons, despite touting Stevens' pool and the high school pool as being available to residents each year. Various administrations have promised a pool for residents more than 20 years, with no results.

A petition from a local mom asking for the city to offer lessons — and noting that urban children are more likely to drown because it's harder for them to get lessons — has now amassed more than 700 signatures.

"The school district has many other pressing priorities," notes the petition, "and though they've kindly provided additional swim options to the city, they should be supported in leveraging current and future facilities totally in the service of their student body. As two educators from NJ noted in a NJ.com op-ed recently, urban areas need their own community pools and low-cost swimming lessons to save lives."

For the last few summers, the city's Recreation Division has offered baseball, cheerleading, basketball, and other sports.

In a city with an arts community, local teachers, and a growing number of families, more summer programming might provide jobs to teens, artists, and teachers. Artists have asked if they could teach locally, including on a Facebook group called "Hoboken Recreation Department" that's largely spam.

Councilman: 'Not Sufficient'

Recently, Councilman Ruben Ramos raised the issue of whether Hoboken had started working on its summer 2025 recreation program.

"Unlike most neighboring communities, Hoboken does not offer children’s summer camp programs and our recreation offerings overall are not sufficient for our city’s population," he said. "Families desire activities that they can afford and that their children will enjoy."

He added, "This is an issue that needs to be planned for now as Summer 2025 fast approaches."

When running for re-election this past fall, school board member Ailene McGuirk was asked about ways to bring together Hoboken's kids, who attend various school districts. She replied, "I look to the city and the recreation department to accomplish this. I am hopeful that recreation can be enhanced in town, as we need more activities for all children. Recently I have been taking notice of the wonderful programs Bayonne offers."

Marla Decker, a council candidate who was backed by the mayor during her 2023 council run, said at the time that adding recreation was a plank in her platform. "I believe my strong and persistent voice on the council advocating for a youth summer camp will enable us to move forward," she said. "I think it's a needed option for many Hoboken kids. The majority of the council to date has not been willing to support an investment into a program."

Councilman Ramos, like council members Michael Russo, Emily Jabbour, and Tiffanie Fisher, is a likely candidate for mayor this year. Recreation may emerge as an issue to tackle.

Years ago, swim lessons and low-cost camps were offered by Hoboken's YMCA, which shut down over a decade ago.

'I Have Fought For Better Recreation Programs'

Last month, when Leo Pellegrini — who had handled Hoboken's recreation before Jessica Lezcano arrived — pleaded guilty to extortion, Jabbour, who's an ally of Mayor Bhalla, said she asked questions about recreation and was stonewalled by Pellegrini.

"From day one on the Council, I have fought for a better recreation programs," she said last month. "I demanded more offerings, a better system, more transparency — and every step of the way Director Pellegrini pushed back and told me that things were great...Most egregious is that these charges came at the expense of our children and the Hoboken taxpayers."

Pellegrini resigned in spring 2023.

When asked why she didn't ask Bhalla for answers over eight years, or make her concerns public at any point, Jabbour said, "With respect to Leo, I absolutely shared my concerns about what was happening in the Rec Dept with multiple other parties in City Hall."

She added, "It is my observation that under Mayor Bhalla, the directors are given a fair amount of independence and leeway in their operations. Some ideas were never accepted and still not accepted — eg. a parent council to advise the Rec Dept and provide feedback - and other ideas were pursued - eg. investigating why the previous travel soccer program was getting prime field space every season."

A year ago, in January 2024, Jabbour wrote on Facebook that she had met with the recreation staff about issues that were raised by parents.

No such program has been added.

A parent responded to the post by asking, "I know Jessica had mentioned the formation of a parent committee, was that discussed as well?"

Another parent chimed in that she had even created and submitted an outline to the city for what that could look like.

"Yes! I raised that idea at the meeting," Jabbour replied on Jan. 12, 2024. "More to come on that soon."

Any council member could draft such a resolution.

Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher and late Councilwoman Jen Giattino had also publicly asked about a recreation advisory committee at council meetings last year, but none has been created.

Fisher said this week that she hears from people in all segments of the community about needing more recreational space and programs, including seniors. She said that because various groups — including adult pickleball players — have battled over space, a resident committee and a concrete plan are needed.

She included, in a list of priorities for the next mayor, "Establish a recreation committee to represent all stakeholders. Instead of one person deciding how scarce recreational space is allocated, Hoboken needs a collaborative resident committee and a comprehensive plan to meet residents’ diverse needs, ensuring all voices are heard."

Announced Just Before Summer

Summer recreation programs have been announced each year just weeks before summer was to begin, forcing parents to come up with other plans early in the calendar year, without knowing what the city might offer.

Jersey City offers teaching artist grants to local artists, allowing them to provide programming to local kids —and allowing artists to earn extra income and stay in their town as housing costs rise.

Last year, Councilman Michael Russo, who's among those hoping to run for mayor, conducted a survey for residents to give their opinions on local recreation offerings. Russo said that has he explores a run for mayor, he'll hold town halls. He said he'll release the results of the survey as he does.

The city was asked on Wednesday if it plans to include any new recreation or arts programs this summer — and why the partnership with a local theater for their program was dropped last summer.

Arts Will Be Added

Marilyn Baer, a spokesperson for the city, said that several new arts programs that were introduced as pilot programs in the last few months will return when school is out.

"Planning for summer recreation programs is well underway, and additional information, including registration details, will be announced in the coming months," she said "Given that we are still in January, details are still being finalized, but the city is committed to continuing to offer diverse and engaging programs for Hoboken families."

She added that the new pilot programs introduced in fall included classes in fashion, art, and dance.

"Due to the success and popularity of these programs the Division will be offering and expanding them this summer," she said. "Additional details will be announced in later months."

She said that the city will finally get a pool (long promised by a series of officials) as part of the redesign of the Multi-Service Center.

"The city does not have plans to offer swim lessons this year," she said. "However, the Hoboken Board of Education partnered with the YWCA last year to provide a swim program utilizing their pool and the city continues to partner with Stevens Institute of Technology to offer pool memberships to residents."

Baer said that since 2022, participation in town recreation programs, including children and adult programs and at night, grew from approximately 3,000 participants in 2022 to over 8,000 across all programs.

The city also implemented RecDesk, a more streamlined registration program.

She noted, "The city remains committed to fostering partnerships with local nonprofits, community groups, and educators to provide enriching art programming for youth and teens."

She said, "Additionally, if members of the City Council would like to see even greater growth, the administration would encourage them to support increased funding for the Recreation and Cultural Affairs budgets."