Sheriff thanks Garfield and Miguel Reyes for getting gun buyback initiative started

According to northjersey.com: 

 

Jorge Huerge of the Bergen County Sheriff's Office checks out a gun at the gun buyback in Garfield at Our Lady of Mount Virgin Church on April 13.

Bergen County Sheriff's Officer Damian Pope checks in a Russian Military rifle in Garfield.

Bergen County's gun buyback program brought in a total of 1,345 firearms over a two-day period, which more than doubled what was collected in 2010.

Saudino additionally thanked the police departments that participated in the buy back program including the houses of worship that were designated drop-off locations. Saudino specifically thanked Garfield's City Manager Tom Duch and Garfield resident Miguel Reyes, president of United Residents of Garfield Engaging Neighborhood Transformation (URGENT), who helped get the gun buyback initiative started. Saudino said Garfield was the voice that helped set the initiative in motion.

Garfield held its gun buyback at Our Lady of Mount Virgin on April 13. The Garfield site collected one assault weapon, 80 hand guns and 56 rifle or shotguns.

Read more here:

http://www.northjersey.com/news/203258351_Sheriff_thanks_Garfield_for_getting_gun_buyback_initiative_started.html

URGENT's Miguel Reyes Quoted in the NEWS

According to nj.com:

Buybacks have been held across the state, but Saudino said Tuesday that Bergen's was spurred by efforts of local community groups like URGENT Garfield, which first approached their city council with the idea of holding one late last year. The group had been pushing the event on their own, distributing fliers in Garfield and surrounding towns in Bergen and Passaic counties.

"We've been pushing this pretty strong," Miguel Reyes, one of URGENT's founding members, told NJ.com over the weekend.

Read more here:

http://www.nj.com/bergen/index.ssf/2013/04/photos_bergen_gun_buyback_brought_in_1345_weapons_sheriff_says.html#incart_river_bergen

"We've been pushing this pretty strong." 

                                       - Miguel Reyes, Pres. of URGENT

Restore the Shore - Pics of the clean up of the Jersey Shore

Great job!  Saturday, 4/20/13

Restore the Shore!

Cleaning up the New Jersey Shore!

A lot of cleanup at the Jersey Shore

URGENT Cleaning up the Jersey Shore

Resting a bit after cleaning up the Jersey Shore

We are all in this together!  RESTORE THE SHORE! 

Cleaning up the New Jersey Shore

Clean up crew for the Jersey Shore

Garfield Gun Buy Back set for April

According to northjersey.com:

Garfield will host a Gun Buy Back program on April 13 at Mt. Virgin Church where anyone can trade in a gun for money with no questions asked.

Organizations and officials supporting the program include Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli, Sheriff Michael Saudino, Bergen County Police Chief Brian Higgins, the Bergen County Chiefs of Police, United Residents of Garfield Engaging in Neighborhood Transformation (URGENT), Father Peter Palmisano, the Garfield Mayor and Council and Garfield Police Chief Kevin Amos.

"We need to reach out to neighboring cities not just Garfield," said President of URGENT Miguel Reyes. "We need to spread the word and have the community come together for this to be a successful program.

Read more here:

http://www.northjersey.com/news/189412051_Garfield_announces_date_for_its_Gun_Buy_Back.html

"We need to reach out to neighboring cities not just Garfield...to spread the word and have the community come together for this to be a successful program."             -Miguel Reyes, Pres. of URGENT

JUSTICE for the CENTRAL PARK FIVE

Yusef Salaam and the Founders of URGENT

At an URGENT event 12/12: Remembering Malik Williams

LtoR: Reggie Buggs, Yusef Salaam, Miguel Reyes, Victor Urbaez

We support the CENTRAL PARK FIVE in their quest for economic justice.  Please read the petition from change.org and SIGN. 

http://www.change.org/petitions/mayor-michael-r-bloomberg-the-central-park-5-seeks-economic-justice

Dear Mayor Bloomberg:

I am a resident of New York and a tax paying citizen of the US. I am asking for your support

in the civil case involving the Central Park 5. As you probably know, 5 young men were prosecuted and convicted for the rape of a jogger in Central Park. Prosecutors used our tax dollars to prosecute and convict 5 boys (now men) who have served time and have since had their convictions set aside. These young men had their education interrupted and their whole lives turned upside down because of this case.

When the real rapist stepped up and confessed his guilt the convictions were set aside. His DNA matched the samples taken at the scene of the crime, which further proved the innocence of the 5 boys, now men.

Instead of giving an apology for their judicial misconduct and coerced confessions, and offering economic justice for their wrong doing, City prosecutors are doing everything possible to delay the civil case which the boys and their families were forced to bring. More of our tax dollars are being wasted because prosecutors won't admit they were wrong.

We are asking that you do everything within your power to stop prosecutors from engaging in delays in the civil court. Although you were not the mayor at the time, surely if you would speak on the subject and demand justice for these boys, it would make a difference. The boys, now men, and their families deserve an apology and economic justice for the pain and hardship caused by the City and State. Justice delayed is justice denied.

We've witnessed you standing up for what you know is right and we're asking you to do it again in the case of the Central Park 5. If you need more information on the case, watch the movie produced by Ken Burns or read the book by his daughter Sarah Burns. The world is watching how citizens of this great country respond to injustice.

Sincerely,

To:

The President of the United States

The U.S. Senate

The U.S. House of Representatives

The Governor of NY

The NY State Senate

The NY State House

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Mayor NYC

The Central Park 5 Seeks Economic Justice

Sincerely,

[Your name]

http://www.change.org/petitions/mayor-michael-r-bloomberg-the-central-park-5-seeks-economic-justice

Sheriff personally thanked URGENT for the success of the buyback program

northjersey.com:

Bergen County's gun buyback program brought in a total of 1,345 firearms over a two-day period, which more than doubled what was collected in 2010.

The initiative took place on April 13 and 14 at 11 locations and netted a total of 1,345 firearms, including 10 deadly assault weapons and scores of handguns, rifles and shotguns. Numerous boxes of ammunition, high-powered air rifles, flare guns, BB guns and knives were also surrendered.

"We're thrilled with the overwhelming results of our 2013 Gun Buyback," Bergen County Sheriff Michael Saudino said today at a press conference in Hackensack. "As we've seen far too many times, gun violence-whether intentional or accidental-destroys lives. While this initiative was a great step in getting unwanted firearms off our streets and out of our homes, we'll continue to find ways to curb gun violence and protect our children, our families and our neighbors."

    "Saudino specifically thanked Garfield's City Manager Tom Duch and Garfield resident Miguel Reyes, president of United Residents of Garfield Engaging Neighborhood Transformation (URGENT), who helped get the gun buyback initiative started. Saudino said Garfield was the voice that helped set the initiative in motion.    "

Read the whole story here http://www.northjersey.com/news/203258351_Sheriff_thanks_Garfield_for_getting_gun_buyback_initiative_started.html

Cleaning up the Jersey Shore

URGENT is collaborating with the City of Garfield in a support effort to restore our Jersey Shore.

Our neighbors at the shore need our help.  We're going to Lavallette.

SATURDAY, April 20th 

@ 6am @ The Garfield City Hall

Transportation will be provided by the City of Garfield.  Lunch will be provided by the Ocean Beach Marina.  Work Clothes is the attire for the day!

Volunteers are welcomed.  So let's fill the bus and come together in the "City of Champions" and do our part!

RESTORE REBUILD RECOVER

Join the conversation about THE CENTRAL PARK FIVE

The story of the CENTRAL PARK FIVE raises important questions about race and class, the failings of our criminal justice system, the problem of false confessions, legal protections for vulnerable juveniles, and basic human rights. Join the conversation and share your thoughts.

We are proud to have had Yusef Salaam, one of the Central Park Five, as a speaker in an URGENT event a few months ago.  Read about the event here nj.com that says:

"Friends, family and supporters gathered for a memorial at the Garfield VFW on the anniversary of 19-year-old Williams' death. He was shot and killed by police after fleeing out an unlocked door at the Garfield police department, where he had earlier turned himself in on domestic assault charges.

Police said Williams fled to a residential garage and armed himself with tools, advancing toward officers as they opened the bay doors and, ultimately, opened fire. The incident lead to months of protest and the formation of a community group, URGENT Garfield, which sought answers in the shooting and an increase in outreach programs for the city's youth.

Most of the women who took to the lectern Monday night had a similar story to tell.
Speakers included the mothers of Ramarley Graham, an 18-year-old man shot by police in his New York home earlier this year, and Phillip Pannell, a Teaneck teen killed in similarly controversial circumstances in April 1990.

The event also included a reading from Yusef Salaam, a poet and activist who was one of the "Central Park Five," a group of black and hispanic boys accused of the brutal rape and beating of a jogger in 1989. They were later exonerated, and are the subject of a new documentary exploring the case."

Read more here: 
http://www.nj.com/bergen/index.ssf/2012/12/mothers_of_young_men_killed_in_police-involved_shootings_join_garfield_mother_at_sons_memorial.html

In 1989, five black and Latino teenagers from Harlem were arrested and later convicted of raping a white woman in New York City’s Central Park. They spent between 6 and 13 years in prison before a serial rapist confessed that he alone had committed the crime, leading to their convictions being overturned.

Set against a backdrop of a decaying city beset by violence and racial tension, The Central Park Five will tell the story of that horrific crime, the rush to judgment by the police, a media clamoring for sensational stories and an outraged public, and the five lives upended by this miscarriage of justice.

Watch Central Park Five Trailer on PBS. See more from Central Park Five.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg: 
The Central Park 5 Seeks Economic Justice

http://www.change.org/petitions/mayor-michael-r-bloomberg-the-central-park-5-seeks-economic-justice#

1300 guns off the streets! thanks to the Buy Back program!

1300 guns bought back for approximately $100,000.

Bergen County officials were surprised by the turnout for the buyback, which surpassed the number of guns, 708, collected in August 2010. Authorities purchased 560 firearms on Sunday and 747 on Saturday, said Bergen County Sheriff’s Inspector Mickey Bradley.

“Some people didn’t even want the money,” Bradley said. “They just wanted to get rid of the guns.”

Read more here:  

http://www.northjersey.com/englewood/Bergen_County_gun_buyback_brings_in_more_than_1300_weapons.html?c=y&page=1

Gun Buy Back Program

LET'S KEEP GARFIELD SAFE

Turn in your guns and receive cash. 

April 13th and 14th.

URGENT is working in collaboration with the Bergen County Sheriff and the Prosecutor's Office, Bergen County Police Chiefs Association, Mount Virgin Church and the Garfield City Council to make our streets safer by reducing the number of guns.

GUNS FOR CASH. NO QUESTIONS ASKED!!!

St. Joseph's Center - Mount Virgin

199 Harrison Ave., Garfield, New Jersey

Temple Beth Shalom

40-25 Fairlawn Ave., Fairlawn, New Jersey

Assault Rifle = $250

Handguns = $100

URGENT in the news on FiOS1!

GARFIELD - One year after the shooting of 19-year-old Malik Williams, a group of residents have formed an activist group called URGENT to fight the city, police and Bergen County, claiming harrassment about the Garfield Police Department.  Williams was shot and killed in 2011 by police officers after fleeing the Garfield police station.  However, members of URGENT say that despite their efforts, nothing has changed.  FiOS1's Christi Duffy reports.

Newsletter for URGENT

We started a newsletter for URGENT just last month.

We distributed in key areas such as:

City Hall, health department, boys and girls club, 

where ever the people are!

Here is a copy of our newletter. 

In this March 2013 edition, we speak about the

Gun Buy Back Program.

Our plan is for the newsletter to be issued quarterly.

Over a year of URGENCY

URGENT is a watchdog organization in Garfield, New Jersey who has taken on social activism and taken the issues that concern us to the streets, the town meetings, newspapers, by way of speeches, rallys, marches, handwritten billboards, whatever it takes to get our concerns heard.

In the past year, these are the issues we have rallied about:

• police killing of Malik Williams
• protested against nepotism in city government jobs
• demanded answers concerning chronium in our water system
• Y.E.S. program was proposed and implemented as a Youth Empowerment Program
• gun buy back program
• organized volunteers for cleaning up the new jersey shore
• voting regulations in garfield were amended
• demanded updating of the city's website
• demanded investigations of police brutality

We are URGENT

Welcome to URGENT!

We are a new organization that started about a year ago.

What started as a response to an event that shocked the citizens of the City of Garfield, New Jersey, has grown into a watchdog organization for our citizens of Garfield.

In December of 2011, a tragedy hit our city.  One of our very own youngsters was gunned down and killed by the Garfield Police Department.  We were shocked and outraged that those that wore the uniform and are charged to protect us, instead killed one of our young men in our community.  We demanded answers.  We became United.  The United Residents of Garfield Engaging Neighborhood Transformation.

Follow our journey, through our blog, Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus account, as we chronicle how we are engaging in neighborhood transformation.