The Jersey City Independent"

Saxophonist Bryan Beninghove leads his band at a concert in Journal Square

Lunchtime in Journal Square will be a little less lively this year, thanks to the volatile budget situation in Trenton, which has led to the cancellation of this year’s Journal Square outdoor live music series.

The five-year-old music series is run by the Journal Square Restoration Corporation (JSRC), a private nonprofit that operates the Journal Square Special Improvement District (SID). The Journal Square SID operates in an Urban Enterprise Zone (UEZ), and with Gov. Chris Christie proposing major cuts to UEZ funding, the JSRC is facing a potentially massive funding gap.

JSRC district administrator Don Smartt says the organization stands to lose $678,000 in Fiscal Year 2011 if Christie’s proposal is approved as part of the state budget plan — half the organization’s budget. The city’s other SIDs also face potential 50 percent reductions, but the Journal Square SID’s budget is the largest in the city, and the fourth-largest in the state.

“It’s the degree of uncertainty right now which has led my organization to be a little more conservative about its expenditures,” Smartt says of cutting the music program.

“We want to safeguard the Square’s quality of life, and ensure that the funds that are available help keep the Square safe and clean,” he says. “Those are the priorities right now.”

The series, which featured shows at lunchtime, was launched as a once-a-week concert in 2005, to coincide with the Journal Square Farmers Market. It quickly gained an audience, and over the following years the program was expanded. Last year, there was live music in Journal Square three days a week — Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

“The program was a significant success, contributing to the sense of vitality that a central business district like Journal Square should have,” Smartt says. “We hope to restart the program as soon as the [budgetary] uncertainty becomes certain.”

Jersey City jazz saxophonist Bryan Beninghove was a regular performer at the series in recent years. He says he’s disappointed by the decision, although he understands the financial pressure that forced the JSRC’s hand.

“It’s rather unfortunate,” he says. “It seems like right now everyone’s clamping down because of the economy.”

For Beninghove, who plays at a number of venues all over town, it’s just one less local gig — a well-paying one at that.

“They actually treated you right,” he says.

Longtime Jersey City show booker (Dancing) Tony Susco says he’s “not surprised” by the decision, since “the arts are first to get cut” when things begin to go south. Susco also helps run another outdoor music series, Groove on Grove, which is run by another SID, the Historic Downtown SID (HDSID). The HDSID, like all other SIDs, is facing a loss of funding; it recently discontinued a popular advertising subsidy program, which helped small businesses in the SID pay for ads in local publications, including this one.

But Susco says Groove on Grove is sticking it out, adding that it would be “foolish” to eliminate the popular event. He says they are “hustling to get more business sponsorship” to help fund it, while he is hearing from some bands that they would even be willing to play for free, if it comes to that, “just so they could perform in our stage-strapped city.”

Meanwhile, as we reported in March, the Healy administration and other urban leaders are pushing to bring back the UEZ funding, but so far their efforts haven’t been fruitful. Officials say the loss of funding would negatively impact a wide array of city programs, from street paving to workforce development to litter patrol to Closed Circuit TV (CCTV) cameras.

“We’re working with our state legislative delegation to have this decision overturned to restore this funding, but we will not know until the state’s budget is finalized in Trenton,” Mayor Healy says. ”In the meantime, the SIDs and other entities who rely on UEZ funding must make their own decisions as to what they deem are essential services for their districts.”

Smartt says he and his colleagues — like many other New Jerseyans — will be watching the budget process closely. The legislature is supposed to pass the FY 2011 budget by the end of June, since the fiscal year begins on July 1. But as the standoff between leading Democrats and the governor’s office begins to intensify, there are rumblings that this year’s deadline — like in 2006 — might not be hit, which would lead to a shutdown of many state services.

“Given the dialogue that’s going on now between the governor and the legislature, every resident of New Jersey is going to be looking to see what happens,” Smartt says.