Plaza dedicated to former mayor

In recognition of the efforts of former Mayor Raymond McCarthy in the redevelopment of downtown Bloomfield, Lackawanna Place was given the honorary designation of Raymond J. McCarthy Boulevard at a June 24 ceremony.

McCarthy, his wife Janet, and their daughter Carli, were present to accept the accolade.

About 40 people attended the ceremony at the corner of Lackawanna Place and Washington Street, across from the NJTransit station that made the redevelopment viable.

Michael Sceurman, the director of parks, recreation and cultural affairs, was emcee. Among the invited guests were: Bloomfield High School Athletic Director Steve Jenkins; former township councilman, Bernard Hamilton; and former NJ assemblyman, Ralph Caputo. Ceremonial remarks were made by Bloomfield Mayor Michael Venezia.

In his introductory remarks, Jenkins captured the purpose of the tribute: the recognition of an individual who steered a declining business area into the modern transit village age.

“In our community, he’s our Robert Moses,” Jenkins said, referring to the NYC urban planner. “We’re all sharing in this.”
Jenkins continued.

“I’ve reached out to him many times to help a kid,” he said. “There was never any hesitation; just one caveat: He wanted it to be anonymous.”

But any signage for the mayor without his wife’s name is incomplete, according to Jenkins.

“I may go into my first foray with graffiti,” he said.

Hamilton said downtown redevelopment was a primary goal for McCarthy, who served as mayor from 2002 to 2014, and the township council.

“At the end of the day, it was about Bloomfield and you represent Bloomfield,” he said.

Caputo said the tribute was a true reflection of how people felt toward their former mayor, and his council was ahead of its time by planning around the NJTransit station.

In an interview prior to the ceremony, McCarthy, a real estate appraiser, said he moved to Bloomfield and married in 1977. It was at his wife’s 25th BHS reunion that several councilmen suggested he become involved with the downtown policy board.

“When I first came here, downtown was very active,” he said. “But in the ‘80s, malls were thriving and we lost a bunch of shops.”

It was a trend he saw in other suburban/urban communities.

“It was dying on the vine,” he said. “It was a shame. Everybody remembers the good times. Lipton’s was like a little Macy’s. And there was Barry’s Men’s Shop. Downtown was thriving and then it stopped.”

McCarthy said his idea for Bloomfield was happening in Hoboken which had residential properties over retail stores and an active train station.

“But the one we had, the Greenwood Lake Line, missed the downtown,” he said. “We knew the train would eventually come through and it would be everything – a homerun.”

The initial developer, in the ‘90s, was Forest City Daly.

“They kind of dragged their feet,” McCarthy said. “The council said let’s move on and that’s when Bill Colgan came in. This was 2006.”
Colgan is a real estate developer with offices in Bloomfield.

“To get some life into the development, we initiated the Bloomfield Parking Authority,” McCarthy said. “The parking authority was able to bond and get money for the properties.”

He said there was concern for proposing large-scale residential properties because new students would then flood the schools. But his contention was, without new children coming into town, how would residents sell their empty-nest homes?

“The whole thing is that people would come into the apartments and when they started to raise a family, they’d stay in Bloomfield and move into a house. I have 10 new people on my block. Bernard Hamilton was a city guy. He knew what we were talking about. Every speech I had was about the family. That’s why we were successful. We treated everyone like a family.”

At the ceremony, Venezia acknowledged McCarthy’s contributions.

“I’ll be honest,” he said. “When I was on the council and we didn’t get along, I didn’t appreciate the job he did until I became mayor. This is Ray’s vision and I benefited from it and wanted to say thank you.”

McCarthy thanked Venezia. In 2013, Venezia supplanted McCarthy on the Democrat Party ticket.

“You have become my friend again,” McCarthy said. “You continue to do things right for this community. As I’ve always said, a mayor is all about the
family.”

The commemoration came as a surprise to McCarthy who said he never would have accomplished what he did without the love of his wife.

“The people of Bloomfield responded to the developments,” he said. “When they had questions, we had answers. The sign has my name but the heart and soul of Bloomfield are there, too.”

  Bloomfield Center Alliance, Bloomfield Council