Ralph has been driving trucks for 31 years, including 11 years handling shipments from the busy ports in northern New Jersey. It’s those decades of experience that allow him to clearly sum up the plight of today’s port truckers.

“We need help,” Ralph says. “This industry has really changed; it has only gotten worse.”

The Jersey City resident, who asked that JCI withhold his last name to prevent potential retribution from his employer, is technically a contractor for the trucking company for which he works, but he suggests the arrangement comes with nearly all of the risks but none of the benefits that one associates with being independent.

He is responsible for all the repairs and maintenance and some of the insurance for his 2001 truck. The company doesn’t take taxes out and offers no health insurance, which Ralph says he can’t afford on his own.

And as the recession continues to take its toll, the volume at the Port of New York and New Jersey is way down. In the first quarter of 2009, cargo volumes declined 17.4 percent, representing the biggest quarterly drop in more than 15 years.

To Ralph, a drop in volume equals a drop in work. He says his work week has shrunk to two or three days during the last eight months. As a contractor, he doesn’t get paid when he’s not working, but his company still won’t let him drive for another firm.

“I don’t believe there’s anyone out there hearing our cry,” Ralph says.

Groups like the New Jersey Environmental Federation and International Brotherhood of Teamsters say they are working to help truckers like Ralph by improving both environmental and labor conditions at New Jersey’s ports.

They are calling for new regulations to curb diesel emissions from the trucks that service the facilities overseen by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. To improve air quality and protect the health of drivers and the public, the groups argue that the oldest trucks have to be replaced outright and others should be retrofitted to meet new standards.

But they say that any replacement and retrofitting shouldn’t be done on the backs of the truckers. To that end, they say drivers should be hired as employees by the trucking companies.

These companies are in a better financial position to not only take on the necessary upgrades, the groups argue, but to also provide middle-class salaries and benefits like health care to a hard-working segment of the population that risks a descent into poverty.

Advocates hold up a Clean Truck program at the Port of Los Angeles as an example of what needs to happen in New Jersey. But that program is being challenged in court by the American Trucking Association, which criticizes it as unfair regulation and a ploy to allow unions to organize drivers.

“It would do nothing for the environment,” Clayton Boyce, a vice president of public affairs with the trucking organization, says.

Meanwhile, the Port Authority is also moving forward with its own program to reduce truck emissions.

Port Drivers

About 7,000 port truckers haul shipments ever day to and from ports in Newark, Bayonne and Elizabeth, with about 12,000 daily moves in the spring of 2008 before the recession really hit, according to Rutgers University Professor David Bensman. Because of industry-wide deregulation following the Federal Motor Carrier Act of 1980, nearly 75 percent of those port truckers are independent contractors who own or lease their trucks but work for a single company, according to a 2009 report by Bensman and Yael Bromberg of the School of Management and Labor Relations at Rutgers University.

The majority of the 299 drivers surveyed for the study were minorities and the bulk lived in North Jersey towns near the ports. Jersey City had among the highest concentrations of drivers, at 24.

The median income of the drivers working as independent contractors was $28,000 after expenses, about $7,000 less than what full-fledged employee drivers made annually, according to the study.

Nearly 75 percent of the independent contractors had no health insurance for their families, and less than six percent of those families had any kind of pension or retirement plan.

The industry, however, defends what’s known as the “owner operator” model. Boyce says it provides flexibility to the companies and ensures they have the appropriate manpower to address changes in demand and costs, so “you don’t build a church for Easter Sunday.”

What’s more, Boyce adds that many truckers prefer being able to set their own schedule and handle the other aspects of their business.

“If you talk to these drivers, they’ll tell you that they prefer to be an owner operator,” Boyce said.

But Ralph says there’s too much volatility inherent in being an owner/operator.

“In the last four years, I don’t know what it is to have a salary,” he says.

What’s more, the Rutgers report says the owner operator model negatively impacts not only the drivers, but also society at large.

More than 7 percent of drivers reported truck model years of 1989 or earlier, while more than 17 percent reported model years from 1990 to 1994 and more than 46 percent from 1995 to 1999.

The 11-year-old vehicle driven by the average port trucker pollutes at least 10 times more than modern versions, the report states. But a new vehicle can cost more than $100,000, and Amy Goldsmith, director of the New Jersey Environmental Federation and The Clean Water Fund, pins the cost of retrofitting an older truck at $20,000. Just 4 percent of the drivers in the Rutgers study said they could afford to upgrade to the new, more efficient generation of diesel trucks, so pollution continues to be a problem at the ports.

Studies have shown a connection between the high levels of the tiny particles emitted by burning diesel fuel and serious medical conditions such as asthma, cancer and heart disease.

“It’s very dirty — it’s soot, it’s light absorbing,” Goldsmith explains. “It has a lot of impact in terms of creating more heat, especially in urban areas.”

Those impacted by the soot not only include residents who live in areas with heavy truck traffic, like much of western and southern Jersey City, but the drivers themselves.

“There are times I get home and I can’t breathe. I’m breathing through my nose,” Ralph says. “It’s from all this black smoke.”

Many drivers suffer from ailments ranging from asthma to cancer, according to Christina Montorio, a port representative with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. But, due to the widespread lack of health care among them, these problems often go undiagnosed.

The Teamsters and the New Jersey Environmental Federation are among several organizations that make up the Coalition for Healthy Ports, which is calling for reforms. But those changes — including truck upgrades — will clearly cost money, leaving the question of who will foot the bill.

“We wouldn’t be able to do that with the money that we’re making in this industry,” Ralph says.

Learning from California

For the coalition and others, the answer doesn’t lie in forcing independent truckers to shoulder the cost of cleaning up the industry, but in pushing the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to follow the lead of the Port of Los Angeles.

There, the Los Angeles Harbor Commission has set immediate and future requirements for trucks servicing the port. All pre-1989 trucks were banned from entering the port when the program took effect in October 2008, all 1989 to 1993 trucks and 1994 to 2003 trucks that had not been retrofitted will be banned by the start of 2010, and all trucks that did not meet 2008 Federal Clean Truck Emissions Standards will be banned by 2012.

To help pay for the new, cleaner trucks, the port imposed a $35 fee on each container entering or leaving its facilities; the program includes grants of up to 80 percent of the purchase price of new trucks as well as low-cost lease options.

Trucking firms would have to secure a five-year “concession,” which is effectively a permit to operate at the port and adhere to several regulations. One of the more controversial stipulations mandates that companies have their shipments handled by employee drivers within five years. Another requirement for a firm to operate at the port is using a hiring program that gives preferential treatment to local drivers and those with previous service at the ports. The plan also calls for an application fee and an annual fee per truck.

Much like the Port of Los Angeles has, The Port Authority has to “drive the policy engine” when it comes to its own facilities, says Goldsmith, who is chair of the Coalition for Healthy Ports. Montorio agrees, saying the agency has to use a variety of incentives, directives and possibly fees to level the playing field for companies to invest in new trucks.

However, several elements of the Los Angeles plan are tied up in litigation after the American Trucking Association filed suit against clean port plans there and in neighboring Long Beach.

“This litigation is about removing unconstitutional and illegal red tape, and about protecting the rights of the owners of small businesses that the Port of Los Angeles has trampled,” Boyce said in a statement earlier this year. He said the lawsuit wasn’t intended to target public health or safety and security aspects of the plans, but that requiring drivers to be trucking company employees was unfair and would allow unions to organize them.

In April, a U.S. District Court judge in California halted several of the requirements the ports wanted to impose, including the employee mandate and concessions fees, pending the outcome of a trial on the association’s lawsuit scheduled to start in December. The ban on certain diesel trucks and the collection of container fees was not affected.

Although parts of its plan are on ice for the time being, the Port of Los Angeles has claimed some successes. Pollution at the port complex was reduced by 23 percent during the first six months of the program. Boyce argues that the progress on air quality — achieved without the employee mandate — undercuts the arguments of the environmental and labor groups.

“The process of cleaning up the air is ahead of schedule without this brutal action to steal an entire sector of the economy’s livelihood,” Boyce says. “What has happened in Long Beach and Los Angeles has shown that the owner operators are able to buy their own trucks.”

But the success in that arena has been heavily subsidized (to a tune of more than $100 million so far) by the ports, according to Port of Los Angeles senior communications director Arley Baker.

“The only way to really ensure that we are not going to face this same problem a decade from now — when today’s new trucks need to be replaced — is to have a system that places the responsibility of the truck maintenance and operation on the asset-based motor carrier versus the individual, paid-by-the-load owner-operator,” Baker says.

Baker adds: “Licensed motor carriers with employee drivers are in the best position to run an efficient fleet, have control and quality assurance over the person behind the wheel of the rig, and properly maintain that rig to get the best use out of it for the longest amount of time.”

The Port Authority

“We have no intention of doing something similar here,” Port Authority spokesman Steve Coleman says when asked about the Los Angeles program.

He says the agency is moving ahead with other measures instead. The Port Authority recently received two grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency totaling $9.8 million and a $1.8 million grant from the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority to implement parts of a broader clean air plan.

One aspect of the plan will target the oldest trucks that service the ports. Pre-1994 trucks could be replaced through a $28 million program, including a $7 million EPA grant and a $21 million incentive fund from the Port Authority. Coleman said truckers will be eligible for 25 percent of the cost of a new vehicle using the grant money, while low-interest loans available from the Port Authority can cover the balance.

Sixteen percent of the trucks that frequent the ports were built before 1994, and they contribute 33 percent of the fine particulate matter and 10 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions each year, according to the Port Authority. However, it remains to be seen what the Port Authority will do about vehicles built after 1994 that are still dirtier than newer models.

“We have a whole program,” Coleman says. “This is just one piece of that program and we’ll take a look at that as well.”

The recent funding will assist other environmental efforts, including the installation of a shore power system at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal to reduce emissions from berthed cruise ships and the retrofitting of two diesel switcher locomotive engines.

“There’s much more involved than just the trucks,” Coleman says.

Coleman says Port Authority has no opinion on the condition of port truckers, and whether its facilities are better served by independent contractors or truckers who are full fledged employees.

Meanwhile, Goldsmith calls the Port Authority’s efforts “a first step,” but adds that “now the port must look at fixing the broken system on the whole to permanently rid our roads of dirty diesel trucks and sustain clean-up efforts in the long term.”

And for Ralph and the coalition, there’s no separating clean air efforts from improving what they argue are the unfair working conditions of many port truckers.

“I believe that would be the only way to correct the situation,” Ralph says.

Shouts, hugs and handshakes filled Casino in the Park Tuesday night as supporters of Mayor Jerramiah Healy relished their candidate’s victory. With 30,657 votes cast, Healy won — and avoided a runoff — with 52.9 percent of the vote. Absentee and provisional ballots have yet to be tallied.

Supporters began gathering in front of a screen showing live results from Hudson County shortly after the polls closed at 8 pm. Healy’s percentage of the vote never dropped below the crucial 50 percent mark as the crowd steadily grew.

Healy celebrated with by his winning council At-Large running mates, a who’s who of Hudson County officials such as Hudson County Executive Thomas DeGise, and prominent state Democrats including state Democratic Chairman Joe Cryan and Gov. Jon Corzine.

“As America was on the cusp of change, Jerry Healy stood up for Barack Obama, now you stood up for Jerry Healy,” said Corzine, who faces his own bid for reelection this fall.

Unlike Corzine, Healy was an early supporter of Obama during the presidential primary. Obama was featured in a Healy campaign commercial that, among other spots, repeatedly played on big screens inside and outside of Casino in the Park, located in Lincoln Park.

Healy, who is also Hudson County Democratic Organization chairman, thanked supporters including those gathered around the podium.

“Working as a team with all these people, we’ve done a lot for Jersey City,” Healy said. “You look forward to working hard over the next four years to do much more and to truly make this city, as Ronald Reagan used to say, the shining city on the hill.”

As often is the case in municipal elections here, turnout was low, with less than one-quarter of registered voters casting a mayoral ballot.

Lou Manzo’s campaign manager Sean Connolly said he was “astonished” that so many people “stayed home.” Manzo, who finished in a distant second place with 26.3 percent of the vote, blamed “voter apathy” for the low turnout. “People give up because thy don’t think they can beat a machine,” he said.

Manzo appeared disappointed by the loss, but said he was “not deterred.” When asked if he would run for mayor a sixth time, Manzo laughed and said he will definitely keep working with his Office of Public Advocacy.

At third-place finisher Harvey Smith’s Monticello Avenue headquarters, the mood was somber. By 9:30 pm, supporters were already taking down campaign signs and looking for any kind of encouragement from the incoming numbers.

“I’m a little disappointed,” Smith, who received 12.9 percent of the vote, said. “But I wish Jerry (Healy) a lot of luck. I commend them and their campaign”

Smith, whose entire slate was defeated yesterday, said his campaign spoke about “change and things that matter to everyday Jane and John Doe,” of Jersey City, including getting more police on the streets, fixing the local housing problems, and trying to get federal stimulus dollars into the city.

“I want to thank all the people who supported me,” he added. “We did the best we could with the resources we had.”

When asked what was next on his plate, Smith said he needed a much-deserved break. “I want to go fishing,” he said.

At Downtown bar the Golden Cicada, Dan Levin was optimistic, saying his loss in the campaign didn’t constitute failure. “The campaign was started to get regular people involved in local politics,” he said. “The end result was not the vote, but getting more people involved in the community building process in order to move towards a more accountable and responsive local government.”

A little after 10 pm, Levin, who came in fourth with 5.6 percent of the vote, spoke to the group, expressing pride in all that his One Jersey City team had accomplished — and reaffirming that the volunteer effort was just beginning.

“We knew we were the little guy, but we weren’t doing it for us — we were doing it for everyone,” he said. “One Jersey City is not a political movement; it’s a community.” A few attendees wiped away tears, applauding Levin’s efforts in forming both an alternative political candidacy and in bringing together people from disparate parts of the city under a banner of reform.

Ultimately, Levin said the moment was a special victory, even as it was a loss. “It’s inspiring,” he said between smiles. “Regardless of the outcome, we built an organization, a movement. We got together and did something really good.”

Two City Council Seats Up for Grabs

The City Council will be welcoming a few new faces and many familiar ones when it’s new members begin work in July. Last night, Healy candidates and incumbents Phil Kenny (Ward B), Bill Gaughan (Ward D), and Peter Brennan, Willie Flood and Mariano Vega (At-Large) all secured victories. They will be joined on the council by running-mate Nidia Rivera Lopez, who won the Ward C seat vacated by outgoing councilman Steve Lipski.

In Ward A, all four candidates finished with more than 10 percent of the vote, which puts first-term incumbent (and Healy candidate) Michael Sottolano in a tough spot. Despite the fact that he leads the pack with 39.3 percent of the vote, he will face a runoff opponent. What is not yet clear is who that opponent will be.

Currently, Manzo’s candidate Rolando Lavarro is in second place, with 1,260 votes (24.5 percent). However, independent candidate Andre Richardson is only 21 votes behind Lavarro, with provisional and absentee votes yet to be counted. Those ballots should be tallied by the end of the week.

Lavarro said the result in Ward A showed that “we desperately need change in this city,” and expressed his “great pride in [the] hopes” of the Filipino-American community. If elected, Lavarro would be the first Filipino-American to serve on the City Council. However, he was quick to add that he is “running to be the councilman for all people” of Ward A.

Ward F is also a nail-biter for the Healy team, with incumbent Viola Richardson heading towards a runoff.

Richardson seems to have been plagued by a multitude of candidates. While she maintains a commanding lead of more than 1,000 votes, with four other candidates receiving more than 10 percent of the vote, she falls far short — at 39.6 percent — of the 50 percent threshold needed to avoid a runoff. Like Ward A, the runoff opponent here is not yet clear. Only five votes currently separate Manzo candidate Ron-Calvin Clark (656 votes, 15.1 percent) from independent candidate LaVern Webb-Washington (651 votes, 15 percent).

Clark said he “look[s] forward to the runoff” and was hopeful that with the support of the other Ward F candidates, “we can achieve our goal to put a new person in office.”

Healy pledged to work hard for Sottolano and Richardson in the next month. The runoff election will be June 9.

“We think we can bring them home to victory, and put the team back together once and for all,” Healy said.

At Casino in the Park, Healy didn’t mention any of his mayoral opponents but congratulated Steve Fulop, who cruised to victory in Ward E with the night’s most commanding victory, garnering 63.2 percent of the vote.

At Fulop’s campaign headquarters, spirits were high as by 9:15 pm it was obvious that he had been reelected to his post. On Newark Avenue, Fulop supporters could be seen heading from the headquarters to LITM restaurant where the victory party was already underway. Fulop himself walked, with his family, to the headquarters of Guy Catrillo, his closest competitor, to congratulate him on a good campaign.

Shelley Skinner, Fulop’s campaign manager, attributed their victory to an outstanding voter turnout in Ward E. In an election where voter turnouts were, overall, disappointing, voters in Ward E came out in force and helped Fulop to his victory.

Fulop agreed that turnout was the key.

“The fact that we were able to achieve 63 percent in a field where the mayor spent a lot of money and sent out countless mailers, speaks to the residents of Ward E,” he said. “They understand the issues. It’s a very educated bunch down here.”

On his way to the victory party, Fulop greeted supporters and talked of a “stressful and concerning” campaign.

“We try to run a good campaign, a positive campaign,” he said. “We made a decision as a team, that I’m kind of happy about, that we’re not going to engage in anything personal about any of the candidates and it turned out to be a good thing. In hindsight I couldn’t have asked for a better team.”

Nancy Benecki, Irene Borngraeber, Jonathan Fitzgerald, Shane Smith and Jon Whiten also contributed to this report.

Four of the five candidates running for the city’s top job – incumbent Jerramiah Healy, community activist Dan Levin, former assemblyman Lou Manzo and assemblyman Harvey Smith — fielded questions that the Jersey City Independent created with input from community groups like the Embankment Preservation Coalition and the Jersey City Waterfront Parks Conservancy. The candidates also stressed their own ideas and accomplishments in the process.

Candidate Phil Webb did not return a request for comment.

On the Waterfront

Courtesy photo from Jersey City Waterfront Parks Conservancy

Erosion is the most pressing issue at the city’s waterfront, according to Matthew Johnson, the president of the Jersey City Waterfront Parks Conservancy. He says storm-generated waves and high-speed ferry wakes are rapidly dissolving land at waterfront parks.

“This land cannot be reclaimed,” Johnson says.

The mayoral candidates are quick to note that the state and other entities own the city’s shoreline.

According to Healy, the only piece that the city owns is at the foot of Hudson Street. He says the city is working with the state engineers to install a bulkhead as well as additional sections of the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway — a planned path along 18.5 miles of the waterway in Hudson and Bergen counties. Drawings for the plan are currently being discussed, Healy says.

Levin says his administration would use city resources to bring together responsible parties to address the erosion problem.

“These would include state agencies, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Port Authority, and ferry companies,” he says, adding that the city also needs a long-term strategy to deal with global climate change and rising ocean levels.

Manzo says funding for shoreline protections should come from developers who seek permits for waterfront projects.

“What you need basically are the things that you see in San Francisco, Hawaii and other areas,” Manzo says, “where they build break waters, like piers in front of the shore line, which can protect the shore line from eroding further as well as its natural vegetation and habitats.”

Smith says he wants to give groups like the conservancy more of a voice in his administration.

“For too long, the mayor’s office has seen the waterfront as a cash cow and a home for tall towers and exclusive restaurants,” Smith says. “I will make sure that the best minds are in place to make the necessary changes to our laws to end waterfront erosion and to change the mindset.”

The state says that 11 miles of the Hudson River Walkway have been completed, but sections within Jersey City have yet to materialize, which Johnson and the candidates agree is a major issue.

“We have to collectively lobby for the connection from Goldman Sachs to Liberty State Park. This would be a great use of stimulus dollars,” Healy says. “We had success with our efforts to lobby NJ Transit to go forward with the connection of the walkway from Newport to Hoboken, so we are optimistic that we can get this done as well.”

Smith says the problem with completing the walkway has always been who will pay for it, but he believes there are partners out there who should help cover the costs.

“Let’s start with the corporate entities that have taken the most benefit from the waterfront. They should all kick in their share for both construction and maintenance. Some have done their part, but many others have not,” Smith says. “Then, we have to fight for any state and federal funds that will finally get the job done. The walkway should not be a series of disjointed fragments.”

Manzo says he fought for the section from Newport to Hoboken and would do the same for its unfinished stretches — and for the city’s other riverfront.

“It’s just a matter of the mayor using the leverage of Jersey City to make sure that walkway is complete, not only on the Hudson waterfront, but on the Hackensack side as well,” Manzo says.

Levin says design standards have been applied piecemeal and enforcement of rights of way are lax during construction along the walkway. He also says it’s difficult for the 30-foot walkway to accommodate different kinds of activity because of the government’s “unwillingness to insist on adequate waterfront space for the public” and pressure from developers.

“Some property owners have put up signs — both now and in the past –restricting bicycling and rollerblading,” Levin says. “This is wrong; they should not privatize the public space, and they should follow the law.”

An Environmental Commission?

Levin says the city has no leadership on environmental issues. He points out that the city laws call for an environmental commission, but the panel has no members and does not meet.

“There is none functioning to provide advice to our land use boards or the mayor and council, much less begin to grapple with larger issues,” Levin says.

Manzo concurs, saying the city needs an environmental commission with teeth to offer advice on the fate of contaminated properties and other issues.

Healy campaign manager Bud Demellier says the commission was set up and went defunct prior to when Healy took office. Active or not, Demellier says it would have had no impact on what he described as the mayor’s environmental accomplishments. He adds that Healy is investigating the creation of an environmental team through executive order that would be more powerful than the commission as originally proposed.

The Reservoir

Photo by Stephen Marks/Hudson County Division of Planning

The 13-acre Reservoir No. 3 was built in the 1870s to provide the city with water, but its abandonment in subsequent years helped transform it into a nature preserve. Citizen activists worked to protect the site, located in the heart of Jersey City Heights, and in 2007, Healy announced it would be preserved as open space for passive recreation.

Steve Latham, president of the Jersey City Reservoir Preservation Alliance, says nine acres of the reservoir have been added to the city’s open space inventory, making it eligible for Green Acres funding from the state.

One of Levin’s first actions as mayor would be to include the remaining acres of the site in the city’s open space inventory, and he pledges to work with stakeholders to preserve the site and seek additional funding.

But Healy points out his administration is already in the process of placing the rest of the Reservoir in the open space inventory, permanently protecting it from development.

“Since I announced that Reservoir No. 3 would be a passive recreation park, my administration, the Reservoir Preservation Alliance, and our outside landscaping engineers have been developing plans to make this urban oasis even more beautiful,” Healy says.

John Gomez, president of the Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy, says the current administration initially resisted preservation and even attempted to drain the boulder-bottomed lake but is now committed to saving the site. Manzo has also been supportive over the years, according to Gomez, attending rallies and sponsoring legislation calling for urban reservoirs to be turned into public spaces.

“The Reservoir should be landscaped by world-class landscape architects and its physical resources restored by the best conservators in the historic preservation field,” Gomez says, adding that the city has been working with the Reservoir Preservation Alliance and accepting proposals from architectural firms.

“The Reservoir is like a piece of coal that we must continue to forge into a shiny diamond,” Smith says — a diamond that needs to be open more often.

“It’s frustrating to take someone to the Reservoir property and find a locked gate. We have to look at it through a hole in the wall? That’s not right,” Smith says. “The city must find ways to encourage groups like the Reservoir Preservation Alliance to bring programs to the site, whether it’s with available grants, or other city resources. Where possible, city workers should augment clean up and preservation efforts like the ones undertaken by the alliance.”

The Embankment

JCI photo

Running six blocks in the historic Downtown area, the 6th Street Embankment is currently the subject of an ongoing legal battle to determine its future.

Developer Steve Hyman, who purchased the property from Conrail in 2005, wants to construct townhouses on the site. However, the federal Surface Transportation Board ruled in 2007 that Conrail should have asked the board for permission before abandoning the property. City attorneys argue Hyman doesn’t legally own the property and the city should be given the option to purchase it. Hyman, the city and the Embankment Preservation Coalition are negotiating possible settlements, while a number of issues over the property’s sale remain tangled in court.

Advocates want the site preserved as a future linchpin in a network of greenways throughout the city, and Healy says his administration has fought to save the embankment in court and will continue to do so.

“We will save the embankment walls, create a greenway to connect to the East Coast Greenway and maintain a transportation corridor so that the light rail can someday connect Downtown to Turnpike Exit 15X and the Lautenberg Train Station, which will keep cars from driving into Downtown,” Healy says.

But Manzo thinks light rail on the property would be disastrous and says it should be used as a passive recreation park.

“You’ve got a lot of funding already and you have a lot of additional money,” he says. “It’s just using the clout of the mayor’s office to get this resolved and perhaps negotiating with the developer for property elsewhere in the city, to perhaps get him off of that, and I’m committed to do that.”

Smith notes that he sponsored bills in the state Assembly to protect the embankment and properties like it from getting sold off to private developers. He says he’d like to see park space there, and could support its use as a light rail option.

Levin says he supports preserving the embankment for open space and protecting the rail right of way for potential future use.

Looking ahead, Stephen Gucciardo, president of the Embankment Preservation Coalition, says a key issue for any mayor lies in strengthening city ordinances, redevelopment plans and policies to protect historic areas and open space. Without changes in those, neighborhood groups are fighting an uphill battle, according to Gucciardo.

“We are picking around the edge and are often thwarted by outdated redevelopment plans, ordinances that aren’t clear on the issues, which then of course leaves us open to extended legal battles, which wear down our council people and administrations to the point where we have no choice but to settle or not get what they want at all,” he says.

Levin agrees, saying the city’s laws protecting historic sites aren’t strong. For example, he says the owner of a historic commercial property can demolish a historic structure if it can’t make a 12 percent net return on the current value.

“That rate is unjustifiable in this economy, or almost any economy,” Levin says, while adding that the city’s Historic Preservation Commission is poorly funded.

Manzo says the city needs a broader green plan for maintaining the environmental integrity of neighborhoods.

“Years ago, when the forefathers of Jersey City laid out a plan, they went as far as to make sure you had even different types of trees in different areas of the city to add to air quality,” Manzo says. “You have to be as proactive as they were and use our vision as they did to put together development that is enhanced by an environmental master plan as well.”

Open Space Tax?

Unlike Jersey City, Hudson County and neighboring Hoboken have both implemented an open space tax — a additional tax on property that pays for parks and green space –  a point Levin is quick to make.

He says the Harsimus Cove Association supported the county open space tax while he served as president, and that he supports a similar tax here to acquire land and improve parks and historic sites.

“This is one tax — usually one penny for each $100 of assessment — that taxpayers are willing to pay,” Levin says.

Healy says he does not support such a tax, saying the city hopes to create more than 100 acres of new parks using grant money instead. Major new parks possibly on the horizon include the Reservoir, Berry Lane Park in Bergen Lafayette, the Marion Greenway at the former PJP landfill, and 20 acres of open space at the Bayfront Redevelopment Area, where some city facilities currently sit on soil contaminated with chromium. Healy also says the city will renovate one park per ward every year for the next 10 years pursuant to the city’s new parks master plan.

“We did zone and create redevelopment plans for these land uses,” Healy says. “However, we are accomplishing this without a new tax and we will not seek a new tax.”

Manzo says an open space tax could be a viable option, but only after the city gets a better handle on property taxes and water rates. In the meantime, Manzo says developers who may be building in an environmentally sensitive area of the city could put up money to help preserve another area.

Smith says that while he “supports the use of public funds for open space preservation as a concept,” any new tax has to be considered in light of the current economic climate.

“Our residents don’t want to hear about another tax. That’s just the political reality,” he says. “They are being soaked on the local level and have very little to show for it in terms of city services.”

Environmental Errata

The candidates are also advocating a range of other environmental proposals and promoting past accomplishments.

Besides jumpstarting the city’s environmental commission, Levin wants to implement a working shade tree commission, conduct tree planting throughout the city and include a historic preservation component in the city’s Master Plan.

Manzo says he would offer tax credits to city residents to convert existing houses to solar and other alternative energies.

Healy touts the passage of ordinances that require environmentally sensitive purchasing and green building technology in city buildings, add hybrid and alternative-fuel vehicles to the city’s fleet and create incentives for private developers to build green.

Healy also says his administration has mounted legal challenges to corporations responsible for chromium pollution in the city, pointing not only to the Honeywell site on the Hackensack River but also the proposed settlement with PPG Industries to clean up a chromium contaminated site on Garfield Avenue.

That plan has sparked concerns from some residents and community groups who are worried it lacks teeth and doesn’t call for a thorough enough clean up. Manzo alleges that the public has been shut out of determining the fates of the chromium-contaminated sites.

“At the early stages, we need to be upfront and have honest conversations with our residents, especially those who are affected by it,” Manzo says.

In Jersey City, the poorest neighborhoods  — once popular territory for subprime mortgage lending — are now facing the overwhelming proportion of foreclosures. While homeowners in these neighborhoods fight to keep their homes, agencies that provide legal and counseling services for housing say they are swamped with foreclosure cases. Advocates say that the sprawling foreclosure problem, too big for local governments to fix, will be somewhat abated by new state and federal programs, but they say more could be needed to reverse what data suggests is a deepening regional and national trend.

Hudson County ranked 13th among New Jersey counties in foreclosure filings in 2008 with 3,950, more than four times the amount of filings in 2007 and more than six times the amount of filings in 2006, according to RealtyTrac, a national website that tracks foreclosed properties.

There were a total of 1,937 foreclosure filings, affecting 2 percent of all housing units, in Jersey City in 2008. That’s a higher rate than the statewide (1.8 percent) and nationwide (1.84 percent) rates for the year.

The bulk of the city’s foreclosures came in lower-income areas, as shown on the map below.

The 07305 ZIP code, comprising mostly Ward A and the Greenville neighborhood, saw the most foreclosure filings with 792, or 3.6 percent of all housing units. The 07304 ZIP code, which includes parts of Wards B and F and the West Side, Bergen-Lafayette and McGinley Square neighborhoods, was second highest with 409 filings (2.6 percent of all units). By contrast, the 07302 ZIP code, which is mostly made up of of the downtown neighborhoods, only had 129 filings, less than one percent of all units.

Jorge Aviles, general counsel of the Hudson County Housing Resource Center and a former Jersey City councilman, isn’t surprised that the 07305 ZIP code saw the greatest number of foreclosures in the city. He describes the area as a likely hotbed for the kinds of troubled mortgages that were packaged as securities and sold to the investment community.

“Even in the worst areas of town, you could take somebody that had basically no income but a good credit score and put together a package that would allow that person to get a mortgage merely based on anticipated equity,” he says. “The 07305 was the classic thing they were selling on Wall Street, these collateralized debt obligations.”

Aviles’ organization, which offers counseling to troubled homeowners of all incomes, is facing an unprecedented spike in foreclosure cases that started after Labor Day and snowballed in January and February of this year. He says Jersey City is probably worse off than the rest of the county because a greater number of subprime mortgages were given to people here, a sentiment echoed by HUD officials and other advocates.

The city was also hit hard by foreclosures because of the disproportionate housing burden on households. For years, the general rule of thumb has been that a household’s housing costs shouldn’t exceed 30 percent of it’s monthly income. But in 2007, 42 percent of Jersey City’s owner-occupied housing units with mortgages surpassed that threshold, up from 34.7 percent in 2000, according to Census data. An Associated Press analysis of the same data showed that nationwide, minorities — particularly Hispanics — had much higher housing burdens than whites.

With so many households already overleveraged, the economic collapse has caused homeowners to fall behind on mortgage payments, whether subprime or standard. As Ward A Councilman Michael Sottolano points out, job loss has been a driver of foreclosure filings in his ward.

“Obviously the job market is extremely frightening. It’s one thing if the person who had some means put aside from a job to sustain themselves for a year or so, but the majority of the people that we’re talking about who are losing their homes are paycheck-to-paycheck people,” Sottolano says. “As the unemployment rate keeps rising, the problem is just going to increase.”

Gregory Diebold, director of litigation for Northeast New Jersey Legal Services, which serves low-income residents of Hudson, Passaic and Bergen counties, estimates that his organization’s load of foreclosure cases has tripled during the past year. Using extra funding from the state, the organization recently hired a second attorney to specialize in foreclosures.

Diebold says homeowners facing foreclosure should seek legal help as early as possible.

“The worst thing from our perspective is when people wait until just before the property is going to be sold to come in. That really makes it difficult to do anything,” he says. “People have a lot of options now, the state and federal government are taking some steps to try to alleviate the foreclosure crisis, so there are all sorts of possibilities out there for people.”

When people come to the Hudson County Housing Resource Center for help, Aviles says the first thing he often has to do is calm them down.

“Many of the people that got into these situations are decent people who are really troubled by this,” he says.

The organization then tries to work with the bank or lender holding the mortgage and prepare for possible litigation. Aviles says that, because of the massive number of foreclosures, even someone in litigation may remain in the house for an extended period of time. It presently takes about 18 months from the filing of a foreclosure to the auction and sale of the house, at which time the former owner is legally obligated to vacate, Aviles says.

“Unless somebody waits until the auction to come see us, and that has not happened to anybody yet, there are very few people you can’t do anything for,” he says.

Once a foreclosed home becomes vacant, it impacts a community in myriad other ways.

“Usually if [a home] is vacant, there’s a good chance, depending where in my ward it is, that it may be vandalized or could have squatters or somebody else coming in there,” Sottolano says. “We try to keep an eye on it. It’s very difficult to get the banks to be receptive to not only securing the place but making sure it stays secure. Generally the best eyes and ears are the neighbors.”

As of July of last year, 2,217, or 2.4 percent, of the city’s 94,211 residential addresses, were believed to be vacant for at least 90 days, according to United States Postal Service and HUD data.

City spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill says the city was awarded $2.15 million last fall through the HUD-administered Neighborhood Stabilization Program. The money is slated to be used for demolition of foreclosed and abandoned properties as well as rehabilitation and stabilization of targeted communities throughout the city, according to Morrill, who says the city has applied for additional funds from the state and will develop a final plan once officials learn if they are receiving more money.

Intervention

Sottolano says cash-strapped cities aren’t equipped to deal with the massive scope of the foreclosure problem, but many advocates say that state-level action has created new options for homeowners facing foreclosure.

“We probably have the best foreclosure prevention legislation of any other state in the country as a result of the bill that the governor signed in January,” says Phyllis Salowe-Kaye, executive director of the consumer group New Jersey Citizen Action.

That legislation created the Mortgage Stabilization Program, which allows non-amortizing matching loans of up to $25,000 to encourage lenders to modify mortgages in danger of foreclosure for qualified homeowners. A second program under the bill provides funding to nonprofit and public entities that would take over the mortgages of troubled homeowners and charge them affordable rents until they can could buy back the property.

In addition, several state agencies are partnering on a free program that gives residents access to HUD-certified housing counselors, attorneys and neutral mediators who work with lenders to reach a solution. The mediation temporarily halts the foreclosure process, but agreements reached are not binding.

Citizen Action also provides HUD-certified counselors for homeowners facing foreclosure. While Salowe-Kaye says little can be done for those who have mortgages they never really could afford or have drastically changed incomes, she says it’s still critical to meet with a counselor and explore one’s options.

Those options could include refinancing the loan or modifying it — or in more drastic cases, a short sale, a deed in lieu of foreclosure or a regular sale. The latter options are less-than-ideal, but still better for a homeowner’s credit than an outright foreclosure, Salowe-Kaye says.

There has also been movement at the federal level.

A program unveiled by President Barack Obama last month provides funding designed to entice lenders to reduce monthly mortgage payments for homeowners who are defaulting or at risk of defaulting. A second part of the program enables those with loans owned or guaranteed by Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae to refinance despite a steep drop in the value of their homes that would otherwise shut them out of doing so.

The state and federal measures provide hope, but Salowe-Kaye says they should have gone further. The Obama plan doesn’t actually mandate a modification of the mortgage except in some cases where the financial institution received other federal bailout money, nor does it mandate any reduction in the principal mortgage amount for troubled homeowners, she notes.

In addition, the state measures should have included a stipulation that lenders put up $2,000 every time they file a notice of foreclosure, with that money going into a fund to pay for counselors and providing an incentive to renegotiate the mortgage’s terms, Salowe-Kaye says.

Lastly, she adds that the state needs to tighten up protections and notice requirements for renters living in foreclosed homes. Aviles concurs, saying he has seen hundreds of cases in which a foreclosed property has tenants — who are legally protected from eviction — who are getting conflicting notices from the foreclosing agency. This is the scam known as “cash for keys,” in which a bank offers a tenant a lump sum to agree to vacate the property.

“They’ve basically been trying to tell the tenants this house is in foreclosure, get lost, when the reality is, if the house is in foreclosure, it has no affect on them,” Aviles says.

Resources:

President Barack Obama’s housing plan
NJ HOPE
NJ Judiciary Foreclosure Mediation Program

Smiling attendees in modern formal wear, vintage throwbacks and more unclassifiable fashion choices raised glasses of champagne at the Snow Ball on Jan. 24, toasting the partnerships that have supported the arts in Jersey City.

Despite drained corporate profits and personal checking accounts nationwide, the Art House Productions fund-raiser was a success, according to Christine Goodman, the group’s founder and executive director. The organization oversees the regular citywide arts festival known as JC Fridays as well as other theater, visual art, poetry and music events.

But even in the festive atmosphere, signs of the tough economic times were a conversation away. Singer/songwriter David W. Jacobsen said he has fewer places to play in the region as coffee shops and other smaller venues go out of business.

Tony Susco, who coordinates and promotes events at the 58 Gallery on Coles Street, said artists are cutting their prices and buyers are being more frugal. Susco added that his own gallery’s budget has largely remained the same.

“We’re doing OK. We’re like every other gallery — we’re struggling,” Susco said.

Businesses and households throughout the state are feeling the recession, now more than a year old with no sign of waning. New Jersey’s unemployment rate in December — 7.1 percent — was the highest it had been since March 1994. Consumer spending has shrunk with swaths of the public out of work, shouldering cutbacks in hours or generally tightening their belts amid declining home prices and investments.

The challenge for cultural institutions is staying vibrant as the downturn threatens corporate sponsorships and eats away at the disposable income of patrons. Some Jersey City arts organizations are indeed reporting cutbacks because of the recession, but the overall picture remains hazy, with entities finding mixed results or success with fundraising and productions.

The Jersey City Museum has cut back the hours it is opened to the public, ending its Sunday hours on Nov. 1 of last year, and closing on Thursdays at 5 pm instead of 8 pm. The later hours on Thursday had been sponsored by Target, but that funding did not come through this year, according to Rita Salpietro, the museum’s communications manager. She said that many of the museum’s public programs were held on Thursday.

Museum officials hope to return to the old hours with the start of its new fiscal year in July.

Diane Dragone, executive artistic director of the Kennedy Dancers, said the 33-year-old organization has reduced administrative hours and combined some classes. She said the company has seen a decrease in corporate grants, especially from the financial sector, and fewer students.

“If anyone says they’re doing exceptionally well, I really don’t believe that because the arts get cut quickly, unless there’s government funding,” Dragone said.

Dragone said the company has worked to tighten its budget so it can continue to afford four clerical staffers and five teachers. Tough choices have also included a roughly three-month period last summer during which Dragone didn’t take a salary.

Performance-wise, the organization’s teen company is performing across the region, and the professional company’s already-scheduled regular season of shows remains intact. Dragone said one Bayonne venue may fall through, but it’s beyond her control.

“I don’t think we’re in danger of going under or anything, but I know we’re going to have to work differently as far as finding outlets for performances,” Dragone said.

The longest-running freeform radio station in the country, Jersey City-based WFMU relies entirely on donations from its listeners.

Station manager Ken Freedman said the results from recent fund-raising efforts have run the gamut. The annual record fair in October did almost as well as 2007, the station’s best ever. And while a direct-mail fund-raiser brought in more money than in 2007, a benefit art sale in December raised just five percent of its goal, Freedman said. The pledge drive that plays a large role in the station’s operating budget is just around the corner.

“We will be doing a lot of things differently for the big pledge drive in March,” Freedman said. “I am worried, but we’ll see what happens.”

Art House’s Goodman was also worried going into this year’s Snow Ball, but the event ended up selling out and raising $1,000 more than last year’s. The event generates most of the funding for the organization’s programs.

“I think everybody started to get a little nervous about ticket sales, so we really planned it out as far as spending,” she said.

Goodman noted that Art House has always had to “make something out of nothing.” It doesn’t have a permanent space, with Exeter Properties allowing the group to use the space at Hamilton Square until the building is converted.

J CITY Theater has been active in the city for two and half years. After a break in 2007, the company recently brought back its production of “A Tuna Christmas,” a comedy about a Christmas yard display contest in a small Texas town.

“This year’s production of ‘Tuna’ was even more successful than 2006,” said artistic director Sandy Cockrell. “We moved to a new space, increased our number of shows and maintained a very budget-conscious ticket price of $15.”

Cockrell said one challenge has been developing a local audience, noting that at least half of this year’s attendees were from New York. Another challenge is trying to compete with inexpensive stay-at-home entertainment options such as Netflix, which jumped from 8.7 million subscribers in September to 9.4 million by the end of 2008.

“That works against us,” Cockrell said. “We’ll probably do some more things like two-for-one night. It really is a challenge, and I think it keeps getting greater to get people to come out.”

Cockrell added that no theater exists on ticket sales alone and most of its budget is supplied by private and corporate benefactors in addition to government grants.

“We are in the initial stages of securing such funding and this recession will affect our success,” Cockrell said. “Other theaters in the area are already experiencing this crunch. [There's] no money to be had.”

Many in the arts community were quick to point to the importance of support from public institutions. The Urban Enterprise Zone program, for example, was honored at the Snow Ball. The entity – which uses sales tax revenue for economic development projects – is a major sponsor of JC Fridays.

Diane Dragone said government grants have been helpful for the Kennedy Dancers, including a grant from the New Jersey Council on the Arts and a New Jersey Cultural Trust Stabilization Grant. She speculated that any money from the federal economic recovery package that goes to the National Endowment for the Arts could also help urban nonprofit performing companies.

The city’s Division of Cultural Affairs helps sponsor more than 300 events annually, according to director Maryanne Kelleher, who said she has put more emphasis on seeking grants, corporate sponsorships and in-kind donations in recent years.

“I am committed to reaching out for as much grant and corporate dollars as possible to insure that the arts in Jersey City thrive, despite the recession,” Kelleher said. “In past years, the Division of Cultural Affairs operated on taxpayer dollars alone. That is not acceptable anymore, due not only to the poor economic climate, but to the people’s desire for more and more accessible cultural events for their families.”

She said the division has not had to cut any funding to the groups it works with. Instead, the division raised about $72,000 in fiscal year 2008, surpassing that in fiscal year 2009 with $97,550 thus far.

The Hudson County Office of Cultural and Heritage Affairs and Tourism Development administers block grants from the state Council on the Arts as part of its duties, providing the money to about 25 to 30 local arts groups across the county. Meredith Lippman, program development specialist, said there have been cutbacks in funding from the federal to the state level, but that her office has seen full funding and a bit more.

If the recession poses financial challenges for local arts programs, it may also strengthen the creative output.

“Artists are like cockroaches. After everything is gone we will still be here,” Goodman said. “We thrive on hardship. Actually, the art gets better in difficult times.”

Art House’s artistic director Jack Halpin echoed that sentiment, noting that both he and Goodman have other jobs and that the organization has in many ways become a haven for the city’s cultural community.

“We tend to do a lot of projects that require a lot of people, things we can’t do alone,” he said. “There seems to be something positive about the work this year.”