The Jersey City Independent "

All photos: Steve Gold

Wednesday’s City Council meeting, the last evening meeting before the daytime summer schedule sets in, was long on both content and comment. Clocking in at around two and a half hours, the meeting saw several members of the public on hand to address the council on issues ranging from significant bond ordinances to the problems faced by the city’s homeless. The full council was present to consider seven first reading ordinances, three second reads and 39 resolutions.

Bonding Approved for DPW/JCIA Move

After hearing from 18 community members who spoke for and against the measure, the council approved a second reading ordinance that permits the city to issue nearly $67 million worth of bonds for the purposes of relocating the Department of Public Works (DPW), the Jersey City Incinerator Authority (JCIA) and the Police Department’s Emergency Services Unit (ESU) to city-owned property at 13-15 East Linden Ave. These departments are currently located at 575 Route 440, a property which falls within the bounds of the 100-acre Bayfront Redevelopment Area.

At the June 7 caucus, city attorney Bill Matsikoudis (at left) and assistant business administrator Brian O’Reilly made a presentation to the council explaining that the funds are needed in order to move forward on the terms of a settlement the city reached with Honeywell International in 2006. The settlement requires that Honeywell remediate the chromium-contaminated site on the city’s West Side, at an estimated cost of $23 million, and contribute to the city’s relocation costs for the DPW, JCIA and ESU. The city plans to construct a state-of-the-art complex at the East Linden Avenue site to house the DPW, JCIA and ESU, along with the city’s tow pound, which will be relocated from its current site near Liberty State Park. Matsikoudis and O’Reilly also set out the details of the presentation in a memo accompanying the ordinance.

As Matsikoudis and O’Reilly pointed out, the remediation of the Honeywell site will make way for the implementation of the Bayfront Redevelopment Plan, which Matsikoudis called the “largest redevelopment plan in the city’s history.” The Bayfront Plan calls for 4,000 to 8,600 residential units and between 750,000 and 1.2 million square feet of commercial space, as well as more than 20 acres of open space. It also incorporates plans for a light rail extension and measures to transform Route 440 into a “complete streets” style urban boulevard, replacing the auto-centric high-speed thoroughfare that currently exists.

The city has already issued $24 million in bonds in order to pay for the purchase of the East Linden Avenue site, and part of the proposed $67 million bond issue in this ordinance will be used to pay the earlier bonds off when they come due in September.

Although the measure was introduced unanimously at the June 9 council meeting, Ward E councilman Steven Fulop lodged some reservations regarding the plan at that time. While saying he supports the general concept of the Honeywell deal and the Bayfront plan, Fulop indicated that he is not comfortable with increasing the city’s debt burden to pay for it.

“Clearly we’re in an environment where our debt burden is excessive,” Fulop said at that meeting.

Speaking to JCI after the June 9 meeting, Fulop suggested an alternative plan to issuing bonds to pay for the costs of constructing a new DPW/JCIA complex. Fulop indicated he would rather see the city sell its full interest in the Bayfront property now and use the proceeds to fund the East Linden Avenue project.

“If there’s a better approach to do it without bonding that’s the way we should go,” he said.

Fulop repeated his suggestion at Wednesday’s meeting, urging the city to build the new DPW/JCIA building “without bonding one nickel.”

Some of those who addressed the council during the public hearing on the ordinance, such as West Side resident Esther Wintner, agreed with Fulop.

“Sixty-seven million dollars in more debt is something that we cannot afford,” Wintner said. “That’s a lot of smackeroos right now.”

The city expects that the revenue generated by land sales and property taxes in Bayfront will offset the new debt service the city will be required to pay. According to the Matsikoudis/O’Reilly memo, “Bayfront will be producing property taxes by 2017,” and by 2020 they expect those anticipated taxes to clear the total debt service payments. According to O’Reilly, the money for the city’s debt service obligations for 2011 and half of 2012 “is already in escrow.” What’s more, the city plans to use revenues from the anticipated sale of the tow pound to defray future debt service costs.

But perennial budget watchdog Mia Scanga (at right) cautioned against counting on land sales revenues.

“We don’t need more condos, we have more than we know what to do with,” Scanga said, referring to slow sales at condo developments throughout the city. “You guys need to get out of the development business because you’re bankrupting us.”

Despite objections like Wintner’s and Scanga’s, the majority of the community members who addressed the council urged the council to approve the bond ordinance. Several were members and representatives of local trade unions, who reminded the council of the city’s high unemployment and said the jobs that the Bayfront plan would provide are essential. West Side Avenue merchants Jean Burns and Lito Tarnate expressed hopes that the Bayfront plan would bring about the overall revitalization of the West Side.

But Fulop remained firm on his opposition to bonding, despite the community presence at the meeting.

“This is not about jobs and development,” Fulop said. “I am emphatically supporting this plan … what I am not supporting is bonding.”

Ward F councilwoman Viola Richardson was likewise hesitant about the bonding plan, saying the sum to be floated “is a lot of money.” However, she said she did not know of any other way to raise the funds to move the city agencies and remediate the Honeywell site. Unable to come to a decision, Richardson abstained.

However, all other council members upped the measure and it passed 7-1-1. Ward B councilman David Donnelly (at left), who represents the West Side, echoed Burns and Tarnate as he cast his aye.

“The West Side has been ignored for far too long,” Donnelly said. “This is our chance.”

The bonding plan will now need an approval by the state Local Finance Board (LFB), which the city expects to obtain next month. A resolution permitting the city to apply to the LFB was passed by the council at the June 9 meeting.

Another second reading ordinance, approved unanimously, authorized an easement agreement between the city and Honeywell to permit Honeywell to enter onto certain city-owned property underwater in the Hackensack River in order to perform chromium remediation work there.

Forward Movement on Embankment Deal

On Monday, the council held a one-hour closed caucus to discuss a first reading ordinance that would authorize another bond sale, this one in the amount of about $7.7 million, for the acquisition of the contested 6th Street Embankment. The city expects to obtain a total of $6.6 million in grants to fund the purchase of the property, which city attorney Bill Matsikoudis says will be used to offset the cost of the bonds.

The Embankment property, a six-block stretch of defunct elevated railbed that runs along the south side of 6th Street from Marin Boulevard to Brunswick Street, is currently the subject of several court battles over its ownership and use. Developer Steve Hyman, whose wife Victoria purchased the property from Conrail in 2005, has repeatedly resisted the city’s attempts to purchase the property and restrict Hyman’s plans for the property. The city would like to see the property used as public space, and has offered up plans for a park as well as a light rail extension. Hyman on the other hand seeks to develop at least part of the Embankment for private residential use, and has even proposed tearing it down to develop housing on ground level. The city is also currently pursuing the use of eminent domain as a way to wrest the Embankment from Hyman’s control. A sale agreement would end all of the ongoing — and costly — litigation.

Ward D councilman Bill Gaughan voted against introduction of the bond ordinance, while Ward F councilwoman Viola Richardson and At-Large councilwoman Willie Flood both lodged abstentions. None stated reasons for their votes during the meeting, but Gaughan later told press that he was wary because the grant money the city is expecting to receive is not yet finalized.

Several members of the Embankment Preservation Coalition, which wants to make the abandoned rail line into a public park, were on hand to thank the council for moving the issue forward.

“The Embankment Preservation Coalition would like to thank the council for voting for introduction for bonding to acquire the Embankment,” said coalition coordinator Maureen Crowley (at right). “We also appreciate Mayor Healy’s support of this project, which has been very long-standing.”

Richardson also abstained on a resolution to authorize the city to make an application to the state Local Finance Board for approval of the proposed bond issue, but the measure passed 7-0-1.

Homeless Residents Appeal for Help

Several homeless people who are staying in Journal Square were at Wednesday’s meeting to ask the council for assistance in finding housing and work. The community members present on Wednesday amplified the appeals made by a small number of those who addressed the council at the June 9 meeting on the same topic. Rufus Senec, who was present at the June 9 meeting, returned to the council to repeat his pleas for council action.

“It’s getting worse day by day,” Senec (at left) said of the conditions faced by those living on the street. “We need help; we need help very fast.”

Also returning to council chambers on Wednesday was Riaz Wahid, a community activist in the India Square section who has reached out to the homeless community in an attempt to help them find services to meet their short-term needs and solutions to their long-term problems.

Speaking to JCI before the council meeting at an ad-hoc rally in front of City Hall, Wahid expressed frustration that although a dizzying array of city, county and state services are ostensibly available for those who are homeless or in danger of becoming homeless, most of the homeless people he talks to are unable to secure assistance.

“It’s unimaginable that these people are being pushed from places to places and no help is available to them,” Wahid told the council. Wahid pointed to a chronic lack of identification as one major challenge for homeless people trying to obtain government services.

Ward C councilwoman Nidia Rivera Lopez met with several members of Journal Square’s homeless community the day after the June 9 meeting, and she once again told those who were present in council chambers that her office is available to assist people in finding the services they need. But she noted that of the eleven people she spoke with two weeks ago, only one followed up on her referral.

“It’s very important that, if you get the information, that you follow up,” Lopez said. She added that she would be willing to make transportation arrangements for those unable to make appointments because they lack bus or train fare to get to service locations.

Residents Push Recall Message

A group of residents who have been pursuing a recall effort against Mayor Healy, Council President Peter Brennan, At-Large councilman Mariano Vega* and At-Large councilwoman Willie Flood were on hand at Wednesday’s meeting. Gathering outside City Hall before the meeting, the group discussed issues related to city spending and what they see as systemic corruption in city government.

The recall effort is in the early, “paperwork” stages of development. According to an email released by recall organizer Esther Wintner on Tuesday, the Clerk’s Office has responded to the recall committees’ initial filings and has requested some “adjustments.” City Clerk Robert Byrne confirmed that his office has been in communication with the petitioners, and indicated that the recall committee relevant to each office holder must be composed of separate individuals. The initial recall filing listed the same three members for each recall committee: Martha Larkins, John Lynch and Riaz Wahid.

Speaking to JCI at the gathering before the meeting, Lynch expressed his frustration with the citywide elected officials. Making reference to several individuals caught up in last summer’s wide-ranging political corruption sting, including former Ward B councilman Phil Kenny, 2009 Ward E council candidate Guy Catrillo and former Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini, Lynch intimated that the corrupt fundraising practices exposed in those cases reached all the way to the top of the ticket.

“You wonder how Healy got $4.5 million for his campaign,” Lynch said.

The mayor and council members named in the recall filings have declined to comment on the effort.

First Reads

The council considered seven first reading ordinances, five of which passed unanimously. You can see the full text of the first reads here.

• Ord. 10-082 would amend the Claremont Redevelopment Plan (CRP) to permit indoor and outdoor recreational uses. The plan covers an area of Ward F between the light rail tracks and the New Jersey Turnpike, between Chapel Avenue in the south and Bayview Avenue in the north. City planning director Robert Cotter told the council at Monday’s caucus that a former Hartz Mountain warehouse that has been vacant for nearly two years is being eyed by a company for use as a go-kart track. Cotter also mentioned that another developer may be interested in building a bowling alley within the CRP area.
• Ord. 10-083 would authorize a rights of way use agreement between the city and telecommunications carrier Lexent Metro Connect, which is seeking to run fiber optic cable through various parts of the city. Lexent has agreed to pay the city $1,500 for administrative expenses associated with the city’s review of the project.
• Ord. 10-084 would remove affordability restrictions from deeds pertaining to property at 240 Bergen Avenue, owned by the Fairmount Housing Corporation. Fairmount is seeking to sell the property to another developer. A similar ordinance was passed in December, removing affordability restrictions from a property owned by Fairmount at 136-138 Grant Avenue.
• Other than the ordinance concerning the acquisition of the Embankment, the only first reading ordinance that did not pass unanimously was Ord. 10-086, which would dedicate Coles Street between 10th and 13th Streets as Moishe’s Way, in honor of the national moving and storage company that has a large facility at that location. Ward D councilman Bill Gaughan voted against introduction, stating later in the meeting that he doesn’t “think [Moishe's] did enough for Jersey City.” At-Large councilwoman Willie Flood also withheld her aye by abstaining from the vote, but the measure was introduced 7-1-1. A resolution to honor Moishe’s on their 25th anniversary passed unanimously later in the meeting.
• Ord. 10-087 would adopt and codify a set of ordinances to replace the entirety of the city’s traffic code, thereby turning it into something “logically arranged for convenient use.” At Monday’s caucus, city clerk Robert Byrne gave a “shout-out” to Clerk’s Office staffer Irene McNulty, who he said “did a yeoman’s job” reorganizing the code.
• Ord. 10-088 would dedicate Dales Avenue between Logan Avenue and Broadway as Pastor Erwin Lanier, Sr. Drive, in honor of the founder and pastor of the Good News Bible Mission Church in the Marion section.

Odds and Ends

• In addition to the ordinances regarding the bond issue for the new DPW and JCIA complex and the easement agreement, the council considered one other second reading ordinance, which passed unanimously. You can read about this ordinance here.
• Thirty-seven of the 39 resolutions considered by the council passed unanimously.
• Approving a resolution added late to the agenda, the council opposed the relocation of Hoboken’s municipal garage to a Downtown site near the Hoboken border. Ward E councilman Steven Fulop proposed the resolution, saying at the meeting that Hoboken’s plan is “counterproductive to the redevelopment goals of this area of the city.” Ward D councilman Bill Gaughan agreed, saying he “would hate to see … that property given to another municipality.” By the time it was passed, however, the resolution was moot, as Hoboken mayor Dawn Zimmer had officially taken moving the garage to Downtown Jersey City off the table.
• The council authorized the acceptance of a grant in the amount of $850,000 from the state Department of Labor Workforce Investment Act funds. A subsequent resolution designated that these funds will be awarded to the Jersey City Employment and Training Program (JCETP), the “one-stop operator” and administrative entity to carry out the city’s obligations under the Act, which provides for employment training services funds.
• The city was authorized to award $500,000 in state Neighborhood Stabilization Funds to Capital Development Realty Group towards the acquisition and redevelopment of foreclosed property at 302-306 Communipaw Avenue.
• A resolution that would award a contract worth more than $21 million to Express Scripts for the city employees’ prescription drug plan was withdrawn because it was not approved in time by the Chief Financial Officer.
• Without stating a reason, Fulop abstained from the vote on a contract worth up to $360,000 with accounting firm Donohue, Gironda and Doria of Bayonne. The contract is for an annual audit of financial statements and federal and state grant programs. The measure passed 8-0-1 in spite of Fulop’s abstention.
• The city spent $150,000 to settle a lawsuit brought against several police officers by Carl Caraballo-Degan, who alleged that the officers assaulted him and deprived him of immediate medical treatment.
• The council authorized the reallocation of a total of over $90,000 in unused Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) funds from certain grant recipients to others that will provide summer youth recreation programs.
• The council approved a resolution to transfer a total of $350,000 from certain line items in the 2010 budget to others.
• A resolution establishing the petty cash funds and custodians for the 2011 fiscal year was approved.
• The council approved a discharge of mortgage on a $6,000 loan made to the owners of 201 Freeman Avenue under the Home Owner Rehabilitation Program (HORP).
• The council approved the 2010 budgets of two special improvement districts (SIDs): the Journal Square SID, in the amount of $1.421 million; and the McGinley Square SID, which ranges from over $78,000 to nearly $153,000 depending on the availability of state Urban Enterprise Zone (UEZ) funds.
• An agreement was approved that will permit the Historic Paulus Hook Association to raise funds on behalf of the city and donate the funds to the city for the purpose of the Paulus Hook Park redesign.
• The council extended several honors at this meeting: to ten Catholic nuns serving in Jersey City; to the Welcome Baptist Church on the occasion of their Men’s and Women’s Day; to the Monumental Baptist Church on the occasion of its 110th anniversary; to acclaimed novelist Michael Shaara, author of the Pulitzer-winning historical novel The Killer Angels and a Jersey City native; and to the Seventh Day Adventists’ Student Association Chorale, an all-male choral ensemble from Soweto, South Africa.

What Are We Buying?

The council approved the following purchases on Wednesday:

• Up to over $1.4 million to Jogi Construction of Edison for Phase 3 of the Newark Avenue Roadway Improvements project.
• Up to $225,000 to law firm Gluck Walrath of Trenton for a one-year contract for consulting on legal matters related to the sale of municipal bonds.
• An additional $200,000 to amend an existing contract with attorney Thomas Jardim of Morristown for legal representation of several police officers in a case brought against them by Mathais Bolton.
• Up to $75,000 to attorney John R. Dineen of Closter for legal representation of Mayor Healy in a case brought against him by former Parking Authority director Mark Russ.
• $38,100 to Nelson Westerberg of Somerville for moving services that may be needed throughout the year. $5,000 of this amount will come from the 2010 budget, with the remainder to be paid out of the 2011 temporary and permanent budgets.
• Up to $35,000 to Generator Exchange of Communipaw Avenue for automotive batteries.
• $28,500 to Mullin & Lonergan Associates of Camp Hill, Penn. for consulting work on the preparation of a city application for a Section 108 loan for a proposed mixed-income housing development. The developer will be responsible to reimburse the city for this cost as well as others associated with the 108 application.
• Up to $16,900 to Astra Software of Cornelius, N.C. for software support and enhancement related to the Fire Department’s computer aided dispatch (CAD) system.
• $10,000 to Monarch Housing Associates for consulting work on the preparation of an application for Continuum of Care funds from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

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