Edison youth sports, museum, JCC projects get state funding boost

EDISON – Three township projects, promoting youth sports, the community's history and services to the most vulnerable, received a $1.5 million funding boost with the passage of the state budget.

During a news conference Monday at the Thomas Edison Tower and Museum, Mayor Sam Joshi, who was joined by state legislators and local leaders, announced the grant funding would go toward a new youth recreation center in the southern section of the township, a new Thomas Edison Memorial Tower and Museum on Christie Street and the expansion of the Middlesex County Jewish Community Center on Oak Tree Road.

The mayor said the projects will not only improve facilities for residents but also enhance the township's history and culture.

A total of $1 million will go to the new Edison Sports Recreation Center, a multipurpose facility near the Edison Jets turf field, that will serve as the home for youth sports leagues to train and practice, particularly cheerleading organizations as well as wrestling and basketball.

Joshi said the township needs facilities for young athletes to train year-round to be more competitive.

"This state-of-the-art facility will make Edison the epicenter of youth sports in New Jersey," he said. "All of our youth sports will be able to use this facility year-round."

The $5 million facility will have an upgraded concession stand and outdoor viewing deck overlooking the football field and indoor space for practices and competitions. Several children from the youth sports program attended the announcement.

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Allison Dima, 17, complimented the administration’s plans.

“Throughout my career in the Edison recreation league, the places we had to practice were not great,” she said. “The fields were uneven, and we often rolled our ankles. When it got cold, we had to move around to different elementary schools, and go wherever there was space. Now we’ll have our own safe environment to practice in.”

The Thomas Edison Memorial Tower and Museum is receiving $250,000 toward an expansion fundraising campaign that will allow more residents to visit the facility and enhance the learning experience.

The museum has long been a stopping point for school trips and educational tours, but Joshi and state officials agreed the two-room center needed an upgrade to better honor Thomas Edison, the “Wizard of Menlo Park.”

"We in New Jersey don't celebrate our history the way we should," said state Sen. Patrick J. Diegnan Jr., D-Middlesex "Let celebrate our history."

Kathleen Carlucci, director of the Thomas Edison Tower and Museum, said visitors came to the center in droves during the 1870s and 1880s when Thomas Edison was there to see what he was doing. Today’s visitors are still coming to see what happened there.

"This is the birthplace of research and development," she said. "This is where the modern world begins."

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Carlucci said the existing 400-square-foot museum has many artifacts, photographs and phonographs. She said each guest receives a personally escorted tour and demonstration of original items and other Edison-related technology.

She said the ability to tell the extent of Edison's story is limited by the museum's small space, and sometimes that means turning away parties, including school groups. The state funding will allow the museum to grow on the 36-acre state park.

The Middlesex County Jewish Community Center, which shares its Oak Tree Road property with the Edison YMCA branch, is receiving funding to expand to a two-story, 21,000-square-foot space that will provide services and programs for adults and seniors, as well as those with special needs and the early childhood program.

"This is a really a transformative project for our community campus. This project will add much-needed enhanced spaces for the most vulnerable in our community, those being our seniors, people with disabilities, people on fixed incomes as well as early childhood and special needs programs," said Adam Glinn, Middlesex County JCC CEO. "We do our best when we do what we do for the least among us, the most vulnerable among us and that is the aim of this project."

Email: srussell@gannettnj.com

Suzanne Russell is a breaking news reporter for MyCentralJersey.com covering crime, courts and other mayhem. To get unlimited access, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Edison NJ: Youth sports, museum, JCC projects get state funding boost