The Place for Jersey City News
Andrea Crowley-Hughes

Schools Plan to Begin Hybrid Learning in April

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As Jersey City Public School students attend school remotely for the 100thday since September, many frustrated parents called in to the virtual Board of Education meeting Thursday pleading for the schools to reopen. The Board of Education just announced a plan for schools to partially reopen in April.

So desperate were many families for the schools to reopen that, during the public comment part of the meeting, students as well as parents addressed the Board. Some told of their desire to be with friends; others mentioned the trouble they were having with remote learning.

“I don’t want to be staring at a screen for five hours,or more a day to do my work,” one elementary school student said. “It’s not helping me learn at all.”

Parent Leslie Sperber said, “Our schools have to open eventually, and opening now will help you prepare for a strong opening in September.”

Other speakers used the fact that nearby urban school districts, such as New York City and Hoboken, are open for in-person learning to urge a reopening in April.

The Facebook comments below the live-streamed meeting told a more complex story, as commenters wrote about safety concerns in the school building and the potential for reopened schools to close again.

According to Superintendent of Schools Franklin Walker, who presented the city’s reopening plan, the district will survey families and staff and use this data to break up the students into four cohorts. In-person instruction will begin on April 15.

Under the schedule currently proposed, one cohort will receive remote-only instruction and three will receive hybrid instruction in which half the day they will be in school until 12:45 and half the day they will attend school from home. Students leaving at 12:45 will be given a meal to take with them.

Walker said the Jersey City Public Schools’ reopening plan was submitted to the state department of education in August and approved “without questions or revisions.” A 331-page Building Readiness Documenton the district website reports the state of the buildings in detail.

Walker said staff members in district buildings are wearing masks already and that students must also wear masks when they return. (An exception is being made for students who have a documented developmental disability that keeps them from wearing a face covering).

Desks will be six feet apart, and students will be separated from one another by barriers in front of them, he said. Each school has an isolation room for students experiencing COVID-19 symptoms.

To update facilities and pay for items and services that will prepare the schools to reopen, the superintendent said the district has spent $21 million, including $8.5 million from the CARES Act and $12.5 million from the district’s funds.

Despite the detailed nature of the district’s re-opening plan and the year the district has now had to prepare to implement it, Walker said the situation is still uncertain.

“Since February 2020, we have been navigating this new territory of the pandemic with limited guidance and no prior experience,” he said. “What we know today will change.”

He said the district is facing challenges related to COVID-19 “on top of the issues of urban education with very old buildings that in some areas of the schools are overcrowded.” His presentation showed that 13 of the district’s school buildings are more than 100 years old, and 16 are more than 80 years old.

Walker also said recent CDC guidance does not take a stance on the “thorny” issue of teacher vaccinations. Board President Mussab Ali wrote an op-ed this weekurging Gov. Phil Murphy to prioritize teachers for vaccines.

In Hudson County, there have been 1,894 new cases and 31 new deaths as of Feb. 24, and the county has the lowest vaccination rate, according to the superintendent’s presentation. Closer to home, Walker said the district suffered its fourth loss of a staff member to the pandemic on Wednesday.

“I will not play Russian roulette with the lives of our students and our staff,” he said.

Aaron Morrill

A Notorious Developer Has the Last Laugh — Part I

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The case of two Downtown buildings completed last year by the notorious developer Peter Mocco has raised serious questions about the city’s commitment to enforcing its own zoning laws. Without approval, Mocco added floors, a swimming pool, changed building materials, and made myriad other substantial changes to the two luxury apartment buildings with little concern that the city would stop him or that he would face serious consequences.

That Mocco was able to flout Jersey City’s zoning laws with little fear of repercussions has caused consternation among neighborhood groups and at least some public officials.

Foam Depot

On July 1, 2017, Tony Sandkamp was working in his garden on Bright Street near Van Vorst Park when he noticed white particles falling through the air and onto his plants. “It was like snow in summer,” he recounts.  It was “all over the street and sidewalks.” A cabinetmaker by profession, Sandkamp quickly figured out that the particles were Styrofoam and most likely coming from a nearby construction site.

With a few friends Sandkamp walked over to the site, 333 Grand Street. “We saw guys on scaffold cutting foam. We said, ‘Hey listen, you’re covering our entire neighborhood with foam.’ The workers said ‘we’ll take care of it.’ They sent a couple of people over to sweep our street with brooms.”

Sandkamp would soon learn that the foam was actually something called “EIFS,” an inexpensive product used by builders to create a faux brick exterior on a building. EIFS wasn’t approved for use in Liberty Harbor North. Indeed, the plans for 333 Grand approved by the building department called for the use of more expensive and longer lasting brick veneer. But EIFS has one major advantage over the more durable brick veneer: It is cheap. Locals came to call the building “Foam Depot.”

As it turned out, the use of EIFS was only one of the forty-some building code violations that would soon be lodged against Mocco in connection with the construction of 333 Grand Street.  Among his many other unauthorized changes, Mocco had also added a swimming pool and balconies and more than doubled the size of the penthouse from 5,815 to 12,013 square feet.

These unauthorized changes saved Mocco money and simultaneously added substantially to the building’s value.

A Developer’s Checkered History

Peter Mocco came to Jersey City colorful reputation in tow. In the 70s, he and his brother, Joe, had run North Bergen: Peter had been mayor and Joe town clerk and Democratic party boss. Their influence continued into the 80s only to come to a sudden end in 1989 when Joe was sentenced to 20 years in jail in connection with an illegal garbage-dumping scheme.

In 1992, Peter’s business partner, Jeff Zak, was sentenced to three years in prison for attempting to tamper with the jury in Joe’s trial.

Peter had had his own brushes with the law. His law license had been suspended for one year after he allegedly forged the name of both a business associate and his brother Joe on a legal document.

At one point New Jersey education officials implicated Peter in the firing of seven teachers who had refused to do political work for him. He faced allegations of voter fraud for his role in a 1976 Democratic congressional primary. He was also the subject of a lengthy grand jury investigation regarding his fundraising.

But Mocco had also developed a reputation as a charmer. He was known to serenade senior citizen voters with his guitar. Today Mocco comes across “as a kindly grandfather” according to one person who knows him.

Asked about his background, Mocco would only tell Jersey City Times that he “served as Mayor of North Bergen from May 1971 to May 1979” and that he “retired from all municipal politics and Township municipal activity after May 1979.”

“I went from being a public figure to a private citizen some forty some years ago,” said Mocco.

From politics, Mocco moved on to development. In 1985 he bought the 70 acres that would become Liberty Harbor North from the Jersey City Employees’ Retirement Fund for the princely sum of $880,000, a pittance in today’s prices.

In 1994, following a downturn in the real estate market, Mocco filed for personal bankruptcy. It became one of the largest such cases in New Jersey history with one creditor claiming Mocco owed his firm $70 million. But ever the survivor, Mocco managed to hold on to Liberty Harbor North.

In the meantime, he racked up multiple code violations involving an un-permitted parking lot and the infamous and now defunct “Sand Bar” restaurant. Twice, Mocco sued Jersey City over code-related issues; twice he lost.

Notwithstanding this history of violations and lawsuits, in February 2001 the Jersey City Planning Board gave Mocco the go-ahead on his ambitious plans for Liberty Harbor North. In what appeared to be a more enlightened approach to development and at the urging of local officials, Mocco brought in Miami-based “starchitect” Andres Duany, a respected critic of urban sprawl and advocate for the “new urbanism.”

The Liberty Harbor North Redevelopment Plan that emerged breathlessly trumpeted a new vision. “When completed, the neighborhood of Liberty Harbor North will perhaps be the most thorough exemplification to date of the principles of the New Urbanism. Due to its high-density housing, its multiple transit connections, its pedestrian-oriented mixed-use streetscape, and its inner-city location, this development is likely to serve as a text book model for healthy urban growth in the future,” read the development’s marketing materials.

The vision didn’t last long. With the real estate market still somewhat depressed from the 2008 financial crisis, Mocco had just the excuse he needed to argue for changes to the plan—changes that would increase the value of his property. Instead of a low-rise townhouse model, Mocco pressed for the right to put up what he said were the more popular buildings of up to 55 stories. In other words, Mocco vastly increased the number of stories he would build and profit from.

Then-Councilman Steven Fulop argued against the changes saying that Jersey City taxpayers should be compensated for increasing the value of the developers’ properties. But in the end, Mocco, aided by the unions, prevailed. Apparently Mocco didn’t return the favor. Today, the unions regularly bring out their inflatable rat to protest his use of non-union labor on the very high-rise buildings they fought for.

Mocco’s legal entanglements weren’t over. In 2013, he filed for personal bankruptcy again when a jury determined that he owed $21 million for 3.4 acres of land along the waterfront. He ultimately settled but not before almost bankrupting the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency. In another mammoth case, this one involving a Liberty Harbor mortgage, a Superior Court judge accused Mocco of “scheming,” “obfuscation” and “deception.”

Afterward, then-JCRA Executive Director Bob Antonicello quipped, “No one has been given more by the City of Jersey City for less than Peter Mocco and has done so little with it.”

Mocco’s reputation for skullduggery is such that Councilman-at-Large Rolando Lavarro recently outed Ward F Councilman Jermaine Robinson for having confessed that he wanted to “follow in Mocco’s footsteps.”

Thus, when the nearby Van Vorst Park Association learned of Mocco’s un-approved changes to 333 Grand Street, it didn’t pull any punches. It fired off a letter to Mayor Fulop charging that Mocco’s actions demonstrated “a blatant disregard by the developer and [the building’s] designers toward Jersey City, its zoning laws and the community.” The VVPA asked for a stop-work order and that no further approvals be granted. Both Fulop and the construction official, Raymond Meyer, said work on the building would stop.

But the work didn’t stop.

This is the first of a four-part series. For part two, click here.

Updated 3.1.21

Jersey City Times Staff

Jovina Johnson Elected President of Journal Square Community Association

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The Journal Square Community Association has elected Jovina Johnson as its new president. She replaces Kevin Bing, who stepped down after leading the association for the past two years. Johnson, a human resources professional, was first elected to the group’s board of trustees in February 2020.

JSQCA, founded in 2016, has approximately 80 members, who pay annual dues of $25. Most of its events are open to the public, other than its annual members-only meeting, which this year was held on Feb. 13. Like all its meetings since the lockdown began a year ago, the meeting was conducted virtually.

The meeting included a report on a member survey, which asked members to select up to three goals for the association. The top priority was parks/trees/green space, selected by 63% of the respondents. There was a four-way tie for second place, with affordable housing, homelessness, retail/walkability, and arts/culture each selected by 30%.

Speakers at JSQCA meetings over the past year included Mayor Steven Fulop, PATH director Clarelle DeGraffe, School Superintendent Franklin Walker, the Board of Education candidates, and experts on housing and homelessness. Stacey Flanagan, director of Health and Human Services, and Soraya Hebron, the city’s chief diversity and inclusion officer, will be the guest speakers at the next meeting on Saturday, March 13, from 10 am to 12 noon. Flanagan will discuss the city’s vaccination program. Hebron will discuss her work. The meeting will be livestreamed on the group’s Facebook page and Youtube.

Johnson said her priorities will include increasing the group’s diversity to more accurately reflect the population in Journal Square and the city overall, expanding the JSQCA’s relationships with local business, and overseeing a return to in-person meetings and events.

Bing, who was first elected to the Journal Square group’s board in 2017 and who was re-elected to the board this month, called his service as JSQCA president “the highlight of his civic career.” By stepping down after two years as president, Bing noted that he was following the precedent set by Bill Armbruster, the group’s first president, who currently serves as secretary.

Besides Johnson and Armbruster, the group’s other officers are Dario Gutierrez, vice president, and Mia Scanga, treasurer. The at-large trustees are Bing, James Dievler, Sumit Galhotra, Chris Lamm and Tom Zuppa.

The group’s slogan is “Working together to build a better community – Clean, Green and Safe.” Much of the JSQCA’s work is accomplished through its committees, including Clean, Green, Construction and Planning, Safe, History, Transportation, Homeless Outreach,  and Communications and Outreach.

The association is the principal organizer of Bergen Square Day, which will be held this year on Saturday, Oct. 23, in Bergen Square, at the intersection of Bergen Avenue and Academy. The group held its Bergen Square Day in May 2019; last year’s event was canceled due to the pandemic.

The JSQCA is the only community association in the city that belongs to Jersey City Together, a group composed primarily of religious congregations and that focuses on the school funding crisis, criminal justice reform, tenant rights and affordable housing.

The JSQCA  normally meets the second Saturday of the month from 10 am to 12 noon, except during the summer when it meets the second Monday of the month from 7 to 9 pm. Its website is https://www.jsqca.com/.  Its Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/jsqca.

Jersey City Times Staff

Mayor Announces Major Citi Bike Expansion

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Mayor Fulop announced today that the Citi Bike program will be expanded by an additional 150 bicycles and 15 new stations and extend to Hoboken, pending approval by that city’s city council. Jersey City’s Municipal Council approved the resolution during Wednesday’s meeting.

Citi Bike was launched in Jersey City in August of 2015. At the time, it was seen as a snub to Hoboken, which already had a bike sharing program using a different vendor. Explaining his his desire to have a system that worked with New York City’s, Mayor Fulop told The Jersey Journal, “What’s most important for me is that folks in the Heights or Greenville, where’s there’s not great access to the PATH, can get to the train, get out on the other side, and then get on a bike.” With Hoboken joining the system, it now appears that the mayor’s vision has won the day.

The first two stations will be installed in Greenville, as identified by residents, within the first 60 days.

“We have had great success in our valued partnership with Lyft, and this agreement is the latest step in our commitment to establish a comprehensive transportation network that includes mass transit, the Via system we implemented, and the growing bike share program, to better connect our residents to jobs, schools, and other important opportunities,” said Mayor Fulop. “In addition to having integration with Hoboken for the first time, as part of this agreement, Jersey City will immediately add two stations in Greenville based on community feedback. From there, the contract states we will add 15 stations with priority in Greenville, West Side, and The Heights.”

The unified system will include 650 bikes in Jersey City and 300 bikes in Hoboken, for a total of 950 bikes, under the five-year agreement. For the first time, the fleet will be comprised of both pedal bikes and pedal-assist ebikes. According to the announcement, this will provide more options to best meet diverse riding preferences and allow riders of varying physical abilities to take longer rides, easily climb hills, and arrive at their destination more quickly. Over the next five years, Citi Bike will expand in Jersey City to 66 stations, 40% of which will be pedal-assist ebikes.

The agreement consists of 82 docking stations, including the 51 existing Citi Bike stations in Jersey City, two additional stations in Greenville, and all new stations in Hoboken. The expanded system will continue to be a part of the Citi Bike regional network, accessible on both the Lyft and Citi Bike apps, and with annual members having access to all Citi Bikes across New York and New Jersey. Reduced fare Citi Bike memberships are available for Jersey City Housing Authority residents and SNAP recipients.

“This is a big step toward continuing to grow Citi Bike’s role as a truly regional bike share program that meets the first- and last-mile commute needs of New Jersey residents, who often have bikeshare transportation needs on both sides of the Hudson,” said Laura Fox, General Manager for Citi Bike at Lyft.

With docking stations near regional transit hubs such as Grove Street PATH Station and Journal Square, the administration says this will create a “seamless first- and last-mile connections to trains, buses, and ferries.”

Lyft has also added real-time transit arrivals in both the Lyft and Citi Bike mobile apps to help riders plan rides that include both bike share and regional transit systems such as PATH, HBLR, New Jersey Transit, and New York Waterway.

Through the Jersey City Bicycle Master Plan, which was adopted in 2019, Jersey City has set ambitious goals to transform how residents move with the intent of quadrupling cycling levels in the city by 2025.

“After launching Citi Bike in 2015, Jersey City has prioritized the implementation of Vision Zero initiatives, including a protected bike lane network that now spans over 10 miles citywide. As a result, we have witnessed a significant increase in biking and walking, which are essential modes of travel, especially during the pandemic,” said Barkha Patel, Jersey City’s Director of Transportation Planning.

For dedicated commuters, Lyft offers an annual membership designed to keep riders pedal-powered on the more than 19,000 bikes in the system across New York and New Jersey. Riders will now be able to take a Citi Bike to the PATH in Hoboken and then take another bike to complete their journey once they reach Manhattan. For $179 per year, annual members can take as many 45-minute rides as they like on a classic bike or upgrade to an ebike for an additional $0.10/min. Currently, 70% of annual Citi Bike members in Jersey City also use Citi Bike in New York.

A single ride on a classic pedal bike costs $3 for up to 30 minutes. For an additional $0.15 per minute, riders can upgrade to an ebike.

Lyft, the owner of Citi Bike, also offers a Citi Bike reduced fare membership that costs only $5 per month for Jersey City Housing Authority, Hoboken Housing Authority, and SNAP recipients, which includes unlimited free rides on classic pedal bikes for up to 45 minutes. Per minute pricing on ebikes is reduced to $0.05/minute for these riders.

Lyft will continue to offer its user rewards program called Bike Angels, currently running in Jersey City. By rewarding users for slightly adjusting their origin or destination away from stations that are full based on real-time and forecasted system conditions, the Bike Angels program aims to increase bike availability across the system. Users are rewarded with ride passes, Membership Extensions, and gift cards depending on how many points they earn through the program.

 

Eleana Little

Op-Ed: Hudson County Needs Vaccine Justice

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Hudson County is one of the most racially diverse places in the country. Unfortunately, communities of color are severely underrepresented in our county-run COVID-19 vaccination site. As of this week, the numbers are dire: “While Hispanic residents make up nearly 43% of Hudson County’s population, they comprise only 18.5% of the people who have been vaccinated at the county’s USS Juneau Memorial Center in South Kearny. Black residents make up just under 15% of the county population, but represent less than 3% of those vaccinated there.”

At the heart of the problem lies the fact that the Kearny site is set up only to vaccinate people in their cars. Simply put, if you are one of the 25% of Hudson County residents that live in a household without a car, your county won’t help vaccinate you. We know that a car can be a luxury for many—according to the Regional Plan Association, as many as three-quarters of local bus riders in New Jersey are essential workers, the majority making under $30,000 per year. And in Jersey City, people of color are 16% more likely to live in a household without a car. Many residents can’t afford to own a vehicle that would facilitate their access to the vaccine.

There is no good reason for Hudson County to distribute vaccines so unequally.

First and foremost, if someone can access the site by bus, foot, or bicycle, they should be allowed to be vaccinated. The county must set up a process at the Kearny site to administer the vaccine to people outside of cars. Alternatively, the county could make use of space in our county parks to set up pedestrian-friendly stations where people could make appointments just like at the Kearny site.

However, even if pedestrian options are implemented, the site in Kearny is still out-of-the-way for many residents, especially since there is only a single NJ Transit bus route that services the area. Hudson County needs to provide additional transportation options. The county could borrow from the playbook of Jersey City, which has partnered with Uber to provide free rides for certain residents to city-run vaccine sites. The county could also provide a scheduled shuttle service from a few major transit hubs or bus thoroughfares in different parts of the county (e.g., Journal Square, Bergenline Avenue, Kennedy Boulevard).

These plans would address the accessibility problem, and potentially even be a more popular option than the current drive-through model, given that half of commuters in Hudson County either use public transportation or walk to work.

Even though other vaccination options are available, the county’s vaccination site in Kearny remains the fastest option for many people. People of color are overrepresented among frontline workers and have been dying at disproportionately high rates. The price of inaction will be paid in the lives of our most vulnerable friends and neighbors. Our Hudson County government should not make people at high risk for severe COVID-19 wait months longer to receive a vaccine just because they don’t own a car.

Eleana Little is a Jersey City resident, Progressive Democrats of Hudson County Executive Vice President, NJ-08 for Progress steering committee member, and former candidate for Hudson County Commissioner in District 4.

Photo by Gustavo Fring from Pexels
Aaron Morrill

Hudnut Gets Gift from State Senate

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Updated 2.24.21 9:06 a.m.

A day after Municipal Prosecutor Jake Hudnut announced his candidacy for the Ward E City Council seat, a bill before the legislature that would have potentially barred him from running was amended. The bill was sponsored by State Senator Nicholas Sacco, an ally of Mayor Steven Fulop.

Phil Swibinski, spokesperson for Hudnut and Team Fulop, said the “story is completely false. This issue is a total coincidence, and neither Mayor Fulop nor Jake Hudnut had any role in this amendment being added to the bill whatsoever. In fact, they only became aware of the amendment at all earlier this evening when they were contacted about it by another reporter. To say that this is some kind of “special treatment” is preposterous — the restrictions in the bill never applied to municipal prosecutors at any time.”

Matt Friedman of Politico New Jersey tweeted that he spoke with the amendment’s co-sponsor, Dick Codey. Codey told him that someone, who he would not identify, requested the amendment. Cody “doesn’t believe it had anything to do with Hudnut.”

The bill as originally written bars all county prosecutors, assistant prosecutors and legal assistants to prosecutors from seeking elective office and engaging in certain political activity for three years after leaving the job. Last Friday — a day after Hudnut announced that he was running — a provision was added and approved providing that the prohibition “shall not apply to a municipal prosecutor, assistant municipal prosecutor, or legal assistant to a municipal prosecutor.”

 

 

Ron Leir

Historic Building Fights for Its Life Thursday

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Once a robust hub of political life and good will in Jersey City, the property at 500-504 Communipaw Ave. in the city’s Bergen-Lafayette ward is now threatened with the wrecker’s ball.

The Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy, a not-for-profit advocacy organization founded in 1999 to preserve, promote and protect the city’s historic buildings and landscapes, is fighting to save the structure.

Nearly one year ago, a development firm known as 500 Communipaw Ave. LLC applied for and was granted a “determination of significance” by the city’s Historical Preservation Office that will allow the only remaining Art Deco-inspired commercial building in the ward’s Junction area to be toppled.

But the JCLC is contesting that decision, and the Jersey City Zoning Board of Adjustment has scheduled a virtual public hearing Feb. 25 at 6:30 p.m. to consider the group’s appeal. The JCLC says this case will also open the door to an analysis of the procedure used by the city to pronounce properties as worthy of preservation or not.

Residents of the Junction community learned this past summer that the developer is assembling parcels that would allow him to put up a five-story building fronting on Communipaw with ground-floor retail and apartments above and a four-story residential structure off Park Street with 38 on-site parking spaces. A total of 71 apartments are projected.

But Chris Perez, a JCLC board member, said it was only by accident, through the community meeting organized by the developer, that the JCLC discovered that the developer had secured the determination of significance certificate.

Perez said there’s nothing in the legal apparatus set up by the city to compel public notification of the decision made by the Historic Preservation Office.

What the city does require is set out in a Chapter 105 municipal ordinance regulating building demolitions that was amended in May 2018 to compel an applicant for a demolition permit to secure from the city’s Historic Preservation Office a “determination of significance” consistent with the standards set by the U.S. Department of the Interior that evaluate a property’s “architectural style, historical associations and significance of the building or structure.”

Aside from whether the property embodies the “distinctive characteristics of a type, period or method of construction …,” that review must also determine whether the property is “associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the board patterns of our local, state and/or national history” or whether the property was “associated with the life of a person who made a significant contribution to local, state and/or national history.”

“This building [at 500-504 Communipaw] is an example of why the process needs to be improved,” Perez said. And this matter will likely result in the JCLC researching the legal protocol and hopefully coming up with recommendations to the city on how to close that loophole “to make the process more public-facing, possibly by having the city’s historic preservation commission conduct a formal public vote on the determination of significance.”

In the meantime, the JCLC hopes to line up support from the community to prevent the demolition of the building.

The building’s last occupant was a popular Black-owned eatery known as the Junction Fishery. But from the 1930s to the early ‘70s, according to the JCLC, the building was owned by the family of political operative John Longo and home to The Jersey City Community Chest, which Longo’s family sponsored.

According to the JCLC, The Community Chest was an umbrella organization for 25 agencies around the Junction “that would help fellow citizens in need.” It is historically significant for another reason: It often battled Jersey City’s notorious powerhouse mayor, Frank Hague.

Longo was jailed twice – first in 1937 and again in 1943 – at the old Hudson County Penitentiary and sentenced to hard labor on what many at the time considered trumped-up charges that he forged election petitions for an anti-Hague slate. He was ultimately exonerated.

“The building at 500-504 Communipaw Ave. is a testament to John Longo and his passion for clean government,” a JCLC statement said. “This building was the home for a quarter-century of an important local civic association that had a significant role in the political history of Jersey City. Longo’s organization was able to bring all residents of Jersey City together during the Jim Crow years, to defeat a boss mayor.”

Aaron Morrill

Loew’s to Get Renovation and National Acts

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Mayor Steven Fulop has announced a $72 million renovation of the Loew’s Jersey Theater in partnership with Devils Arena Entertainment, the operator of Prudential Center. The announcement represents the realization of a seven year effort by the mayor to bring in a well-heeled professional management company that can book national acts and compete with the likes of the Beacon Theater in Manhattan.

“This one-of-a-kind partnership signifies our long-term planning for a post-pandemic future where we’re confident arts and culture will be a staple of life” said Mayor Fulop.

The project, which is likely to close the theater for at least 18 months beginning in 2022, will result in upgrades to heating and air-conditioning systems and the installation of state-of-the-art audio-visual systems. Interior finishes will be restored, bathrooms repaired, entrances and exits will be reconfigured and the marquee will be rebuilt to resemble the original.

The announcement marks just the latest phase in a continuing revival of the landmark theater that sits majestically across JFK Boulevard from the Journal Square Transportation Center.

The theater was saved from the wrecking ball in 1986 largely through the efforts of the not-for-profit group Friends of the Loew’s. With an investment of sweat equity and grant money FOL was able to partially re-open the the theater in 2001. FOL’s status was formalized under a 2004 lease that gave FOL the right to manage the theater for $1 a year until 2020. Over the ensuing years, FOL continued to restore the theater to the point that it hosted major acts such as Patti Labelle, Kurt Vile and Courtney Barnett, Yo La Tengo, Sufjan Stevens, Neutral Milk Hotel, The Decemberists, The Duprees, and Beck.

In 2014, Fulop waged a bitter fight to evict Friends of the Loew’s from the theater and replace them with concert promoter AEG Live. Under that arrangement, AEG was to rent the theater for 30 years and contribute $3.5 million toward its renovation. The mayor’s effort came to naught in 2015 when a judge ruled that evicting FOL would breach the 2004 lease.

If all is not forgotten, all is going in the right direction from the perspective of FOL Executive Director Colin Egan. FOL was heavily involved in putting together the Request for Proposal (RFP) that brought in Devils Arena Entertainment and is confident that the final agreement will allow FOL to continue its mission.

Many details have yet to be ironed out. Devils Arena Entertainment received only “conditional designation” today from the Jersey City Redevelopment Authority (JCRA). Egan explains the plan. “This enables the city, the JCRAm and FOL to go from the conceptual, which is what their presentation was,  to a very specific arrangement.”

How will it work?  “We are still the non-profit partner,” says Egan. “That will allow us to continue with non-profits arts generally.” He also expects FOL to have a “major voice” in the preservation work going forward.

Egan reflected on today’s announcement. “Everyone knows that it’s been a rocky road getting here. It takes people of good will to realize that they can agree.” He says FOL has a good relationship now with the city and the JCRA.

Egan wants Jersey City residents that the things they like about the Loew’s won’t change. “I want to reassure people that that’s not happening. Everyone who wants bigger shows on a regular basis, and that includes us, should be very happy. But for the folks who also enjoy our movie shows to our art shows…that’s not going away. That’s why we’re still in the picture.”

The Loew’s Jersey is one of five “Wonder Theaters” built in the tristate area in the late 1920s by the Loew’s Corporation, which had created and owned MGM Studios and was at the time one of the most important presenters of both live stage shows and movies. In its first years, the Loew’s hosted stage shows with some of the greatest stars of the 1930s, including Cab Calloway, George Burns, Gracie Allen, and Duke Ellington. Movie stars including Judy Garland, Humphrey Bogart, and Jean Harlow made promotional appearances there.  The Four Season gave a concert at the Loew’s in 1967.

“The Loew’s Jersey Theatre is an iconic community treasure that has played a long, distinguished role as Jersey City’s premier arts and entertainment venue. The opportunity to partner with Mayor Fulop, the Friends of the Loew’s, and the local Journal Square community to revitalize this historic venue is a privilege for us,” said Hugh Weber, President of Devils Arena Entertainment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aaron Morrill

Governor Signs Marijuana Bills

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Today Governor Phil Murphy signed three bills into law regulating the use of marijuana. This follows the approval in November of a referendum making recreational use of cannabis legal in the Garden State.

The governor signed the three bills immediately following passage by legislators of a bill establishing civil penalties for those under 21 caught with marijuana. The governor had only 20 minutes left before two previously passed measures would have gone into effect without his signature.

The legislation now makes the recreational use of marijuana legal for adults 21 and older, removes penalties for small amounts of the drug, and creates a regulated market. 14 states and Washington, DC, have legalized marijuana for recreational purposes. However, DC does not allow recreational sales.

“Maintaining a status quo that allows tens of thousands, disproportionately people of color, to be arrested in New Jersey each year for low-level drug offenses is unjust and indefensible,” said Governor Murphy.

Under the new legislation, a “Cannabis Regulatory Commission” (CRC) will draft regulations governing the medical and adult-use industries, oversee applications for licensing of cannabis businesses, and promote diversity and inclusion in cannabis business ownership. The legislation also provides that revenues from cannabis sales will be funneled to designated “impact zones” including Jersey City.

Companion legislation reforms criminal and civil penalties for marijuana and hashish offenses and provides remedies for people currently facing certain marijuana charges. The bill prevents unlawful low-level distribution and possession offenses from being used in pretrial release, probation, and parole decisions and provides certain protections against discrimination in employment, housing, and places of public accommodation. The bill also creates a pathway to vacate active sentences for certain offenses committed before enactment of the enabling legislation.

“Remaining at status quo meant continued disparity in arrests for African Americans and teens for amounts now to be considered personal use.  We are moving the state in a direction more compassionate for cannabis and in line with what is happening across the country in regards to legalization” said Assemblywoman Angela McKnight.

Senator Sandra Cunningham noted that “For the last fifty years, marijuana criminalization has been used as a tool to propel mass incarceration…It has done immeasurable harm to Black and Brown communities around the country, and today we begin to right the ship here in New Jersey. I look forward to seeing the tangible impact this legislation has on our communities in the years to come.”

 

 

Jersey City Times Staff

Study: More People are Leaving Jersey City

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If Jersey City had a rock and roll soundtrack, it might start with Billy Joel’s “Movin’ Out.”

According to a new report entitled “Moving in the Year of Pandemic: The 2020-2021 HireAHelper American Migration Report,” Jersey City had the sixth worst ratio of people moving in to people moving out.

At -53% Jersey City’s move-in/move-out ratio clocked in behind New York City, Oakland, San Francisco, Omaha and Ft. Lauderdale. Continuing a multi-year trend, cities in the sunbelt had the most arrivals versus departures, with Boise Idaho being the exception.

In order to arrive at its findings, the online marketplace for movers, HireAHelper, analyzed over 75,000 moves nationally. In addition, HireAHelper sampled 4,000 customers to determine their underlying motivations for leaving.

Why did people move last year according to the study?

  • A quarter (25%) of Americans who moved in 2020 did it because of the pandemic
  • Around 35% of COVID-forced moves were out of financial hardship
  • Nearly one-third of those who moved because of COVID did so to look after family
  • A total of 36% of respondents moved to somewhere where they felt safer, i.e., somewhere with fewer COVID-19 cases, or more restrictions
  • 35% were forced to move due to loss of job or income due to COVID-19
  • 31% moved to either shelter-in-place with family or to take care of family members
  • 28% moved because they started working from home and no longer had to live close to work

Alaska, Hawaii, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming were excluded due to a lack of sufficiently representative move data. Only cities with 50 or more moves were included.

As to the soundtrack, Billy might want to change the words to “Who needs a house out in Jersey City?”