Halsey Street Block Party Thursday — or Not

The past two years, there have been block parties on Halsey Street during the summer, which was a very good thing. This year, there were none during the summer. Instead, there are three scheduled for October 13 and 27, and November 17th. Rain dates are the following day in each case.

Poster from party organizers.

Whose brilliant idea was this? October and November are often too COLD for outdoor parties, and October is too RAINY. The forecast for both October 13th and 14th is "Scattered Thunderstorms"! The forecast temperatures, high of 73° Thursday and 74° Friday, aren't bad, but 73°, sunny, with a lite breeze is quite a different matter from 73° with thunderstorms and raging winds.

Remaining fotos today are from a Halsey Street Block Party in June of last year.

In case this week's event comes off, and we luck out as regards rain missing Halsey Street — tho some potential attendees won't risk it but will go directly home after work instead of sticking around for a block party — it is described thus in the email notice I received:

October 13, 2011: Eat Up Newark! 5:30pm – 10:00pm

A delicious kick-off to GoNewark Restaurant Week (a 10-day promotion during which dozens of Newark’s restaurants will feature special dining offers). This specific event is being held in conjunction with Brick City Development Corporation and Greater Newark Convention [&] Visitors Bureau. Restaurants, vendors and local artists are joined by entertainment including live performances from Karlus Trapp and Milo Z and a Capoeira demonstration. The rain date is October 14, 2011.

The Greater Newark Convention & Visitors Bureau, one of the sponsors, has, at least for the moment, a rudimentary website still up from Restaurant Week 2009, which notes in the right column that that page will soon close. The contact person shown, Hector Ortiz, may or may not still be with the GNC&VB, but he was laid off his City tourism job by our brilliant mayor as a cost-cutting move. Good thinking. Lay off the one person who was trying to make money for us by showing off things we already have. We've got an airport that over 30 million passengers a year fly in or out of, and we can't steer even 1% (300,000) of them in to see Newark? I will be interested to see if there are any brochures about Newark tourism on offer at a table at the Block Party — if such a party this week happens on either Thursday or Friday.

And how, pray, are we to find out which day, or neither, the party is to be held on? Facebook? Twitter? I'm not on either, but I guess before I head to Downtown four miles from my house I should see if I can get some kind of info from one or both of those sites. This is an example of the kinds of information a Newark TV station could provide to Newarkers and people close in. But our English-language TV station, WNET, was stolen long ago by New Yorkers, who cover NOTHING in Newark and provide NO information for the people of its FCC "city of license". WFUT, another ostensible Newark TV station, operates in Spanish and out of Secaucus, and also provides no information specific to the people of its city of license.