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Dvora Gallery Jersey City
Tris McCall

A Conversation About NFTs With Artist Scot J. Wittman

December 31, 2021/in Eye Level, header, Narrate, Visual Arts /by Tris McCall

NFTs went mainstream during a national shutdown. With no way for people to go to museums, clubs, or galleries, receptivity toward digital art spiked. There were headlines: stories of NFTs sold for eye-popping sums, pushed by cryptocurrency hype men determined to stoke the fires of FOMO. Was this the future of art, or just another Internet-driven fad?  Were we just going stir-crazy?

In 2021, a few Jersey City artists plunged into the deep end of the digital pool and began producing and selling NFTs of their own. Yet our most prominent painters and sculptors have hesitated, and it’s not hard to understand why. NFTs confuse veteran collectors. Those who already struggled to understand blockchains and cryptocurrency blanched at the thought of another term added to the arcane lexicon of modern computer-speak. Many famous NFTs had a slapdash, unserious quality and tarred digital art by association; tales of napkin doodles moved for millions made the whole enterprise feel tawdry. Most of all, the massive (and growing) carbon footprint of cryptocurrency and blockchain activity has alienated environmentalists. Since our imperiled biosphere is a preoccupation among socially conscious Jersey City artists, it’s not surprising that so many of them have demurred so far.

The NFT "Sparrow Couple"

The NFT “Sparrow Couple”

I, too, have long been a skeptic. If the market craters in the not-so-distant future, I won’t be surprised. But in the short run, NFTs aren’t going anywhere. They’re going to be part of the story of local — and international — art in 2022. Even if lockdowns don’t come back, at least some NFTs will appear in local gallery shows. James Pustorino and Anne Trauben of Drawing Rooms, two of the most experienced curators in town, are currently showing a thoughtful and well-crafted exhibition that includes a tranche of non-fungible tokens. Scot J. Wittman makes prints of human figures from historical maps he’s redrawn himself. Many of the images in his “Solo Exhibition,” which is on view at DVORA Pop-Up Gallery (160 1st  St.), were crafted from humble analog materials: paper, ink, and glue. Twenty-two of the pieces in the show aren’t on the gallery walls at all. They’re fully digital, available on the NFT exchange OpenSea, and you’ll have to pay Ethereum, a cryptocurrency, to add them to your collection.

Wittman, who calls himself a mapographer, is no paper-napkin doodle vendor. His work is full of carefully rendered detail. That’s particularly true of his large pieces, which play on classical motifs, raise questions about the relationship between mapping and memory, geopositioning, mythology and storytelling. The tension between traditional drafting and mechanical reproduction is apparent in all of his work. Despite the regal overtones of his images, he’s no crypto-billionaire: his giant “King Corvinus” image was conceived and rendered long ago when he was working at Kinko’s, and printed on résumé paper. Wittman, an arts educator as well as an artist, is present to the ironies of the NFT marketplace. For instance, images of his paper works have already been uploaded to Artsy, thereby guaranteeing them a permanent digital existence. The NFTs will vanish once the show is over.  Before they do, we caught up with Wittman to ask him about the decision he made to play in this arena, and where we all might be headed.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Tris McCall/Jersey City Times: I’d like to start with the question I get the most — both from curious artists and collectors.  When I purchase an NFT from you, what exactly am I buying? 

Scot J. Wittman: First and foremost, you are buying an artwork from me.  Creativity, effort and time went into the creation of the works.  They are for sale. People can purchase/collect/enjoy them. Full stop. There are other facets to this diamond, but the simple immediate answer is this — what collectors are receiving from me is really no different than one of my works hanging in a gallery right now.

TMC/JCT: Okay. But if I buy a print of a Scot Wittman image, I can put that on my wall. I can hang it in an office.  What can I do with an NFT?

SJW: Whether the wall is in your home or in your office, it sounds like a nice place to hang the work. You can see it as often as you like. Others at your home or in your office can enjoy it too. NFTs come in all shapes and sizes (moving images, sound, etc.) and have display spaces in kind. As my NFTs are purely visual, viewing on any screen would work. And, unlike your wall at home or in the office, anyone in the whole wide world (web) can enjoy the work if you wish/post.

TMC/JCT: But what, as an NFT owner, do I control?  Anything? Do I have any rights over the image?  Can I prevent someone else from generating a digital copy of what I’ve bought, and if so, how?

SJW: Your control is delineated by a “smart contract” when the transaction happens. I retain rights over the image.  When someone purchases any of my photographs off my own website Mapographer.com (or a gallery like Drawing Rooms in Jersey City representing me) I retain rights of those images too.

Can you prevent someone else from generating a digital copy of the image? No: no more so than you could prevent one of my photographs on my website being reproduced… although there’s a resolution sub-argument to be made. You can however, by public record (the distributed ledger) prove you are the single owner of the collected NFT itself.

At this level it’s about provenance. I am using the blockchain to provide provenance for the works on paper in my Solo Show at DVORA too; I am using Verisart.com to digitally tattoo a certificate of authenticity with the work.

TMC/JCT: Why does any of this have to happen on a blockchain?  Why not just sell a watermarked JPG?

SJW: First let me say that I’m neither trying to say one way is better than the other nor am I comfortable acting as defender of all things NFT. But to your specific question, I find selling on a blockchain to have certain advantages.  First, it is a transaction that is verified by the blockchain itself.  There is no piece of paper that someone has signed at some point that got lost, burned by accident, takes on questionable verification, etc.  A “block” is a piece of digital information, and the “chain” is a public database.

Second, by selling on the blockchain, royalties can be established.  This was what first raised my eyebrow to selling NFTs.  This is already a classic scenario: if an artist’s work resells at a major auction house for $10M, the artist does not see a penny. If my NFT resells for $10M, I receive 1$M.  Automatically and instantly.  Perhaps while I’m sleeping.

TMC/JCT: I guess I like paper. It doesn’t seem quite as fragile as the Internet does. I’ve noticed that permanent-looking things on the Internet have a tendency to resolve to vaporware. Are blockchains really more secure?  Let’s say that the blockchain is compromised.  Could you lose all your NFTs?

SJW: Forgery is an issue with paper provenance but the blockchain acts as verification in the transaction itself.  Hacking is the only issue I see with NFTs being less secure.  The site you store your files on (OpenSea, Rarible, etc.) could suffer issues I suppose. From what I’ve witnessed, while it is still nascent, most in the space are not worried about such issues.

TMC/JCT: One of the advantages of digital media is the ability to make infinite indistinguishable copies.  Suggesting that there’s such a thing as a non-fungible digital artwork feels strange to me. It feels like giving up on the one clear advantage that digital art has over physical media: unlimited reproducibility. Do you believe there’s such a thing as an original work of digital art?  What differentiates that original from a reproduction you can make by copying and pasting?

SJW: You cite one of the joys of digital media.  Indeed.  If NFTs are meant merely to simulate something else, that would be a shame.  It’s a massive space that is unfolding rapidly and being used in a variety of ways.

When I first started using Twitter, people seemed most interested in telling me what they had for lunch. Now, Twitter has enormous pull in the spheres of politics, fashion, philanthropy, the list goes on. I’ve seen NFTs being collected for a variety of inspirational reasons.  Bands are using NFTs as tickets to concerts, that allow people special access.  In the wine industry, Hello Fam! Wine is allowing NFT purchasers to hold onto the NFT as long as they wish or cash it in for a case of wine that has been professionally stored all the while.  I myself am donating a portion of the Ethereum I make on sales to places that accept Ethereum (which are many and growing). When I have a gallery show, I try to support a local arts community and a local nature preserve close to the gallery. Ethereum makes donation swift, transparent and easy.

But I’m getting away from your question. Is there an original digital artwork? Consider this. Some people like collecting rare objects. Also, social media is not slowing down at all. People like to show friends a rare Picasso or perhaps a rare Nike. Now people can show the world they own the “original” of a digital asset. Yes, that asset may be reproduced, but here again there are analogs.

TMC/JCT: I do hate to sound old-fashioned, but as a veteran Internet user, I just think the notion of owning an exclusive digital asset is odd. The Internet, as I understand it, runs on the notion that anything can be copied and pasted.  What’s the difference between my NFT and a copied image of that NFT?  Is there any?  

SJW: I don’t think it makes you sound old fashioned. I’m trying hard to walk a line here to explain that I don’t think everyone needs to hop on the NFT trolley while at the same time offer some exciting ways that the NFT space is opening doors. Perhaps just one or two more examples of analogy. I’m told some people pay thousands of dollars for a napkin that [fill in your favorite celebrity] used at a restaurant.  That’s just a white napkin. But there is “authenticity” and ownership. I understand people wanting to own that napkin. Now, in the NFT space, there is that same authenticity and ownership at the click of a button, and that is verified on the blockchain.

I’m also thinking of another example from years ago. I used to meet someone in Second Life. We were states away from each other and could not meet in person, but this was a space we could meet that offered more of a “world” than the phone. Gradually we started buying digital furniture and digital clothing to make our meeting place seem more like “us.”  My Aunt and Uncle thought we were bonkers buying things that did not really exist.  I pointed to his own couch and asked if it was a bargain. He said “well, I paid a pretty penny for it because your Aunt loved it.” I asked if it was really so different. And Second Life was “merely pleasure” whereas NFTs might increase in value.

Scot J. Wittman

Scot J. Wittman

TMC/JCT: The NFTs on your page are on sale for .21 ETH (Ethereum).  That’s about $800, right?  How did you decide on that price?

SJW: When I made the NFT works for my solo show I decided to sell them for what my smallest and most inexpensive prints in the show are being sold for: $500. I made 22 NFT works — one for each of the 22 works in the show. They are NOT reproductions of each work.  Rather, I chose one of the works in the show, the “Sparrow Couple,” and made 22 different iterations from scratch. I think it is easy for people to think I auto generated them, but each has a subtle difference.

Now the works are more valuable because ETH has gone up $300 more dollars since the show Opening.  But! – I am gifting for free an NFT to anyone who purchases one of the works on paper in the show.  And, each comes with its own unlockable gift within a gift: recently, I’ve been drawing 5”x 7” birds for an upcoming folio that a major NYC publisher is talking about printing.

TMC/JCT: Ethereum, like all Proof of Work blockchains, has a scary carbon footprint.  Was it always going to be Ethereum for you?  Did you consider other currencies and blockchains?  Do you have any qualms about encouraging collectors or artists to get involved with ETH?

SJW: When I first learned about this issue, I became concerned.  My work is about natural resources and natural land sites that are shrinking under the industrial cover. Of course the NFT Proof of Work issue is tiny compared to other online usage and toxic offline industries, but I still do think it’s an issue. I’m heartened that Ethereum 2.0 is fast approaching which boasts cutting down the issue by 99% and there are other players making similar maneuvers.

TMC/JCT: I’ve followed Ethereum for a long time, and they’ve been teasing a switch to Proof of Stake, or at least a greener system, for years now. Do you ever think this is a carrot on a stick situation? Before getting involved with NFTs, why not wait until the system has been made carbon neutral?

SJW: I am fortunate my “tech-milieu” is heavily involved in this industry.  I’m more of an “end user” than someone directly involved.  My cousin, who is a developer, points out minting and mining is a bit like an arms race, with computers trying to out-compute each other, and that it can’t last. One friend who just sold his company for over a billion dollars talks regularly with founders and CEOs of household name tech companies, and he says greener Proof of Stake and other processes will soon dominate. And things may flip when quantum computing becomes a reality.

TMC/JCT: I guess I just don’t trust any of these people. Tezos, for instance, is supposed to be a cleaner system, but it was founded by right-wing hypercapitalists. They don’t seem like the kind of people who tend to have artists’ — or the planet’s — best interests in mind. 

SJW: Interesting.  Are you aware of Polygon?  It’s a cryptocurrency associated with Ethereum that is making minting free across certain platforms.

TMC/JCT: There’s so much to follow, and new developments are coming so fast, that if you miss one, it can feel like you’re a decade behind.  Do you believe an artist has a responsibility to educate herself about NFTs before making one?  How much knowledge of cryptocurrency and blockchains do you think is necessary before she embarks on this journey?  I ask because there’s a lot of pressure on young artists to get involved in this, and I do wonder how much some of them know about what the heck they’re getting into.

SJW: This is a big question, because it’s about ethics writ large.  And its association with ethics within the art world.  You are asking me at a moment when I perhaps am most centered on this issue in my own career.  If we are in Web 3.0 now, I wonder if I’m in studio 3.0.  That is, when I was quite young, I was able to draw things convincingly. Later, at Cranbrook Academy, I learned the power of creating art objects that challenged people, asked questions, or perhaps even gave answers.  For the past few years I’ve been more interested in cultivating a community in Instagram (@OpusFlight) and realizing the importance of community-engaged ideology, ideation and action, with art that follows.  It has been influencing actions inside my studio, and indeed outside.  I am making more informed choices at the food market, in public spaces and interactions, and online.

The issue with NFT and energy consumption is not a black and white issue, in part because there are so many different players.  Also, the digital assets industry, when discussed with the larger creator economy (Rally.io as just one ecosystem example) universe, becomes very difficult to offer advice with any kind of authority.  I’ve been listening to pioneers like Anne Spalter in the NFT space.  She cites ways in which people have balanced with offset carbon purchasing, but also shares a vision of companies working towards greener outcomes. She’s been in the computer/arts sphere for decades and is quite knowledgeable.

There is an enormous amount of information out there, with conferences such as the recent NFT NYC and others, as well as the web in general.  Also, the artworld is exploding.  I teach teenagers.  They are a wild, wily and informed crowd.  They also are inheriting quite a world.  Just as steps are being taken by youth to work towards a better environment, I wonder too if the answer to your question about youth getting into the NFT space is best answered by young artists themselves. Not kids, mind you, but practicing artists who helped develop and shape the early contours of the NFT boom.

In addition to normal gallery hours for the analog set, “Scot J. Wittman: A Solo Exhibition” will be viewable via a Drawing Rooms Zoom walkthrough on Jan. 8.

Dickinson High School Jersey City
Aaron Morrill

Jersey City Public Schools to go Remote Next Week

December 30, 2021/in Education, header, Latest News, News /by Aaron Morrill

Jersey City Public Schools announced today that students will return to remote instruction for one week starting Monday January 3.

The announcement describes the move as a “precautionary measure” because of the “surge in the number of individuals testing positive due to the highly contagious Omicron variant.”

As of today, the district plans to resume in-person learning on Monday, January 10.

“The District’s decision to temporarily switch to virtual learning is difficult. Still, the administration and the Board are mindful of the health and well-being of our students, staff, and community.”

Parents are being directed to the “parents’ guide” on the website which will provide specific information about daily instruction, student attendance, and support for parents and students.

According to the announcement, on Monday, students will work independently on the assignments posted by their teachers.

All staff members will report to their job on Monday and Tuesday, and their immediate supervisors will provide more details.

The schools will provide lunch and breakfast starting Tuesday at 20 different schools throughout the City between 11:00 am and 1:00 pm. The locations are listed in the parents’ guide.

Additional information will be forthcoming about testing and vaccination opportunities.

 

Covid Testing Truck
Ron Leir

One Man’s Seven Day Wait for Covid Test Results

December 30, 2021/in header, Latest News, Narrate, News /by Ron Leir

As the end-of-year holidays approached, many Jersey City residents rushed to get tested for Covid-19 before joining family celebrations or job-related assignments. Or perhaps they were just nervous about Omicron’s contagiousness.

For a few, getting tested and learning the results went smoothly; for many others, however, the process was frustrating at best, useless at worst.

Permit me to offer up my own odyssey toward the still-elusive goal of getting from point A (the test) to point B (the results).

Since I live within easy walking distance of Journal Square where, I learned from Jersey City’s website, I’d find one of several city-sponsored rapid testing sites, I proceeded to hike over one afternoon last week.

Reaching my designation, I found myself at the back of a line of perhaps 25 people waiting patiently, unprotected against the elements, and in the cold (mid-30s with a biting wind) to be called into a small trailer staffed by a single technician.

The staffer — herself unprotected from the elements since the trailer door remained open — was tasked with checking each client’s ID and health insurance, feeding the data into a computer, and then preparing and administering a nasal swab for the client.

After spending about an hour in the line and having moved ahead only minimally while my body ached and my feet became numb, I reluctantly gave up and headed home.

The next day, resolved to be more steadfast, I returned to the trailer site. This time I arrived about 45 minutes after it opened and was the 15th or so person in line.

Weather conditions were much the same, and one couple ahead of me was periodically dancing, first together, then stamping separately, in an effort to stay warm.  I tried not to think of the elements and to just focus on achieving my goal.

Remarkably, no one in line cursed out the city or griped to the lone trailer staffer (the same person as the day prior) about having to stand in the freezing cold although one woman wondered why no one had considered at least accommodations for the elderly or infirm.

While we were waiting, a man suddenly approached the line and invited us to come with him to a nearby location to get tested right away. When asked to produce some form of official ID, he said he had none, producing only his driver’s license and a business card for a tax accounting business he claimed to run.

The city’s web Covid-19 web page warns residents against just such potentially fraudulent “pop-up” testing sites (and recommends anyone suspicious about such sites to call Health & Human Services).

Meanwhile, our line was moving forward. Slowly but, nonetheless, moving. That was good enough for me.

But something was awry. Yes, a posting outside the trailer which, the day before, had promised test results within 24 hours was gone. And, after about an hour’s wait, when I finally reached the trailer door for my swab, I learned why:  The lab contracted to perform the analysis was now taking 72 hours to process each swab, and now the results would be mailed to me, the technician told me.

Seems that the lab staff had been overwhelmed by the volume of samples being sent them, the technician said.

Fair enough, I supposed.  And, with that, home I trudged.

Today will mark my seventh day of waiting for those findings which, if they come at all, will be hopelessly out of date.

I called Jersey City’s Health & Human Services Department to ask about the situation and was routed to the “Covid crisis manager,” who promptly told me I wasn’t alone in reporting a lag time but said it was out of the city’s hands and that only the lab itself, run by Prestige Health, could advise me.

So, I called them, got connected to a recorded voice which prompted me to “press 3” to speak to someone about “COVID-related issues” and was promptly disconnected.  Several repeated efforts on different days all ended the same way.

What to do? Try another of the city-sanctioned testing sites, suggested my city contact. Or, he said, try an independent tester or get a home testing unit.

So far, I’m waiting it out. And so are many of my neighbors.

On NextDoor, two people ‑ Johann Lamrissi, of the Powerhouse Arts Distric, Gigi Gazon, of Bergen-Lafayete — said they waited 11 days to get results from a free outdoor testing site on Grove Street.

Kim Powell, of Van Vorst Park, griped about her experience using a “pop-up” testing place near the Acme market by the Holland Tunnel. After “waiting for hours,” she said she paid for a rapid test, the results of which she was still waiting for 19 hours later.

Jersey City residents experiencing delays are not alone. It’s a problem throughout the metro area.

Aware of the problem, Health & Human Services Director Stacey Flanagan and Maryanne Kelleher, director of Partnership for a Healthier JC, said the city is taking these steps:

  • Working with Fusion Labs to extend hours to 6:30 p.m. for Covid testing at the Bethune Center, 140 Martin Luther King Drive, on Dec. 29 and 30.
  • Arranging for Fusion Labs to add staff and “enhanced intake technology” at the Bethune Center, at the city’s Public Safety headquarters on Marin Boulevard, at 546 West Side Ave., and 725 Rt. 440.
  • Adding three walk-in testing sites, through Dec. 30 only, for persons ages 3 and up. These are: the Maureen Collier Senior Center, 335 Bergen Ave., 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; the Joseph Connors Senior Center, 28 Paterson St., 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Public School 26, 164 Laidlaw Ave., 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Turnaround time for results is “ASAP but may be impacted by demand.” A PCR test will be administered via Alliance Labs.

Meanwhile, Hudson County, in partnership with the state, announced it has opened two new vaccination sites: one in the multipurpose center in Stephen R. Gregg Park in Bayonne and the other in the boathouse in Braddock Park in North Bergen. The Gregg Park site will be open Thursday through Saturday, 2 to 7 p.m.; Braddock’s hours will be Sunday through Tuesday, also 2 to 7 p.m. In addition, the county is still offering free vaccines and boosters continue at its drive-thru center in Kearny.

The New Jersey Department of Health says testing is available at more than 100 sites statewide. Or, to order a free test kit, DOH recommends visiting Vault Health, where results are reportedly available 24 to 48 hours after a sample arrives at a lab.

Volunteers from Masbia
Aaron Morrill

Jewish Non-Profit Provides Halal Meat to Afghan Refugees and Others

December 28, 2021/in Greenville, header, Latest News, News /by Aaron Morrill

The Hebrew word “masbia” means to satiate. Fittingly, it’s also the name of a Jewish nonprofit that came to Greenville yesterday to provide satiating quantities of free halal meat to newly arrived Afghan immigrants, among others.

Masbia, which describes itself as a “soup kitchen network and food pantry,” partnered with Welcome Home Jersey City, which provides educational, employment, and material support to refugees, asylees, and asylum-seekers in the Jersey City area.

Standing outside halal butcher Ocean Live Poultry, a Masbia volunteer named Naftali, from Teaneck, explained his reason for standing next to the busy meat market on a raw winter day. “I’m the son of an immigrant who came here after World War II. We care about immigrants.”

Said Masbia Executive Director Alexander Rapaport, “The idea is that we’re like minded people … we try to do good and share with people who are currently under duress.”

Alexander Rapaport with two Afghan men

Alexander Rapaport with Ahmad Farid Halimi, center.

The group had previously provided food to Afghans housed at Fort Dix in New Hanover Township, NJ. However, Rapaport lamented that they weren’t able to meet the recipients. “We felt a little disconnected. We wanted to talk to the recipients themselves and make sure it goes to the right people. So we connected with Welcome Home Jersey City.”

Masbia pulls from a cross section of the Jewish community. “We’re a mishmosh,” said Rapaport. Rappaport is Hasidic while Naftali identifies as “modern orthodox.”

The event was extended to other refugee communities. Welcome Home Program Manager Kenna Mateos was effusive in her praise. “I thought it was really generous that they opened it up not just for Afghan and Syrian refugees who had arrived recently but also for our existing families who’ve been here.” She went on. “When I mentioned that there are other families that are not being served by Welcome Home, he was so generous and said ‘send them too.'”

Lending a hand was Manija Mayel, an Afghan-American from Jersey City whose parents arrived in the first wave of Afghan immigration in the ’90s.

Yesterday, Mayel accompanied several newly arrived Afghans to the event and brought food to several families who weren’t able to attend.

Chickens at Ocean Live Poultry. Photo by Stefano

Chickens at Ocean Live Poultry. Photo by Stefano Giovannini

A chef by profession, Mayel had reached out to Welcome Home founder Alain Mentha about getting involved. “It’s in my back yard now. There’s no turning a blind eye.”

Mayel sees symbolism in the interfaith food donation. “I thought it was amazing that it came from a Jewish organization because there are so many similarites culturally and religiously in some regards. It was symbolic that they understand the importance of having halal meat.”

“For Muslims as well as for Jews, charity is a big pillar of the religion” she added.

One of Mayel’s charges was Ahmad Farid Halimi, a 33 year-old Afghan journalist who arrived in Jersey City a month ago with his wife and two young children in tow. Said Halimi, “we don’t have anything. We left everything in Afghanistan. This is humanity, that they could feel our pain.”

 

 

Crime Scene Tape
Aaron Morrill

Teenager Arrested in Bergen-Lafayette Killing

December 27, 2021/in Bergen Lafayette, header, Latest News, News /by Aaron Morrill

An unidentified teenager has been arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of 16 year-old Pedro Rodriguez in Bergen-Lafayette on December 16.

The 17 year-old juvenile suspect from Jersey City was arrested after surrendering to homicide unit detectives at the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office in Jersey City. He was arrested without incident and will be remanded to the Morris County Juvenile Detention Center pending his first appearance.

Rodriguez was gunned down just before noon while inside “O’Lala Empanadas” at 600 Communipaw Avenue.

According to reports on the day of the shooting, a youth was seen leaving the crime scene in a stolen dark blue 2016 Subaru Legacy.

The 17 year-old was charged with Murder; Possession of a Weapon (firearm) for an Unlawful Purpose; and Unlawful Possession of a Weapon (firearm).

An additional arrest is expected.

The Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office Homicide Unit is actively investigating the case with assistance from the Jersey City Police Department. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Office of the Hudson County Prosecutor at 201-915-1345 or to leave an anonymous tip on the Hudson County Prosecutor’s official website.

All information will be kept confidential.

 

Jersey City Street Sign
Aaron Morrill

New Parking Rules Start Next Week in Ward E, City to Follow

December 27, 2021/in Downtown, header, Latest News, Narrate, News /by Aaron Morrill

If there’s an issue that unites denizens of Jersey City, it’s a hatred of parking tickets and a belief that there aren’t enough parking spaces to begin with.

Earlier this month, Ward C Councilman Richard Boggiano rode to victory bludgeoning challenger Kevin Bing with the accusation that Bing’s support for bike lanes would translate into fewer on-street parking spaces. While the bike lanes may not disappear any time soon, some Jersey City car owners will now be getting the holiday gift of fewer tickets.

Starting on January 3, Ward E streets will be swept two times a week, down from the previous four. Initially, the ordinance was intended to be rolled out citywide, but it was amended to begin with only Ward E.

The City Council passed an ordinance amending the street cleaning rules at its last meeting on December 15.

Jersey City Business Administrator John Metro explained “It was best to start with the less complex wards. Ward E has less main drags.” Other wards will follow.

With the new rules, an automobile parked on a given side of the street will only have to be moved once. As a result, litter will only be swept up once a week.

Proponents of the new ordinance argued that street sweeping wasn’t necessary on minor streets and creates parking problems for residents, often resulting in parking tickets.  Rob Mattar, who lives on Wayne Street, where the new signs have gone up, countered “If it’s just going to be less cleaning and the block, like ours, is already filled with litter because it’s close to Downtown, then that’s not a solution. It might be acceptable if additional cleaning was done.”

Ward E Councilman James Solomon did not respond to a request for comment on plans to monitor the roll-out.

 

 

Tris McCall

Anne Novado’s “Non-Linear,” at Novado Gallery

December 24, 2021/in Columns, Downtown, Eye Level, header, Visual Arts /by Tris McCall

For an arts business operated by a single proprietor, the Novado Gallery (110 Morgan St.) is pretty spacious. Three or four SMUSHes or Outlanders could fit between its walls. The shows mounted there aren’t necessarily larger than those at the other art galleries in Jersey City, but they often breathe better. Anne Novado has room — space to isolate works that are better apprehended by viewers if they aren’t hemmed in, and space to position the overhead lights at angles that enhance the effect of the work on view. Some of our other art galleries don’t have dedicated overhead lights at all (something for the Arts and Culture Trust Fund to work on, perhaps?)

There’s little doubt that Novado, whose sense of presentation is as sharp as that of anybody in Jersey City, would mount fine exhibitions in smaller spaces. But airiness complements her aesthetic. More than any gallery-runner in town, she’s got a specific tone she likes — one that emphasizes balance, beauty, careful use of color, occasional whimsy, conceptual daring, and evident marks of high intelligence. Artists who present at Novado Gallery tend to do a lot of thinking before they swing those brushes around. Also, the mischievous streak that runs through her shows has only been amplified since the pandemic: in the past eighteen months, Novado Gallery has brought us the toy-like 3D-printed sculptures of Dan Fenelon, Denis Ouch’s winking conflation of Western pop stardom and military dictatorship, and Paul Leibow’s audacious (and salacious) deconstruction of Felix the Cat.

Now comes the skeleton key to the whole enterprise: “Non-Linear,” a presentation of fifteen new pieces by Anne Novado herself. The show, which is up until January 22, is a particular treat for those of us who’ve seen Novado’s excellent paintings tucked away, modestly, on back walls of the gallery, and wished we could be immersed in her vision. The works in “Non-Linear” embody many of the virtues we’ve come to associate with Novado’s gallery, and Novado’s taste: melody and rhythm, chromatic richness, lightness of spirit, gentle winking and nudging. But they were also created during the pandemic, and abstract as they are, that trauma is observable. The grace and radiance that are part of her visual signature are here in spades, but everything is set in pinwheel-motion by a chill breeze of isolation that blows through the whole show. “Non-Linear” helps us understand everything else mounted at Novado Gallery because it makes Anne Novado’s aesthetic values plain. But it also helps us understand the current state of Anne Novado’s psyche, which is looser and more untethered than it would be during a more relaxed and gregarious time.

The three conceptual pieces — all of which she’s cheekily subtitled “An Important Work” — give a pretty good indication of the artistic questions that have been dogging her. A pair of gold-plated balls, each roughly ping-pong size, dangle suggestively from a nail on the wall; she’s called it “Gilded Decorative Object,” and let us know that the gleaming plating is 22-carat, which is good enough to make a jeweler smile. A forty-inch plane of wood, by contrast, is dubbed “Something Useful,” and it’s hard to argue with that, even as you may be more drawn to the decorative objects. “One In A Million” is a wall-mounted box containing a single artwork, and no, you can’t see it. It might be decorative, or it might be useful; in either case, it’s been shut away for an indefinite period. In a city where the largest arts establishment is an outgrowth of a long-term storage facility, what value might accrue to a painting kept under lock and key? Is art sleeping through this difficult period, and will it come alive when we’re finally let out of the box? Do we prefer utility, or decoration, and why do we always seem to insist on a sharp distinction between the two?

Anne Novado  "Finding Beauty in the Chaos, I"

Anne Novado “Finding Beauty in the Chaos, I”

The new works on paper suggest that whatever is in the box is well worth seeing. “Fiat Lux N.6,” for instance, possesses the melting quality that characterizes much of “Non-Linear”: washes of green that ebb into yellow circles, and dots of gold leaf (there’s that gold leaf again; Novado is drawn to understated expressions of opulence) that dance around the body of the image. “Finding Beauty in the Chaos I” amalgamates overlapping circles of white paint, strawberry jam-colored bursts of acrylic, blots of black ink, and torn-up road maps. As good as her promise, Novado brings these elements into harmony. Another striking piece is the smallest in the show — “Festooned, I,” a handsome earth-toned rectangle that, non-representational as it is, nonetheless seems to suggest a tower poised atop a mountain, set under a heavy sky.

The four oils on canvas that constitute the heart of the show are also abstractions that lean, accidentally or not, toward representation. The four “Finding Beauty in the Chaos” portals (her word) are circular paintings with color pushing at their circumferences, Spin-Art style, and bleeding into the white space beyond. One of these evokes a red Jersey sunset over the water, while another resembles a great blue bird. These geode-slices also feel seasonal: a wintry nebula in a night sky, a spring-like avian ascension, a summer swirl of melting color, and the glorious disappearance of an autumn day. Robert Glisson, the New York nature painter who often shows at Novado Gallery, and who, through the audacious use of color, often imparts a psychedelic quality to his bucolic landscapes, would surely understand.

Or maybe he wouldn’t. These paintings are, after all, abstract and non-linear. But even non-representational artists are sensitive to the problems of the world around them, and they do manage to inscribe those anxieties on their canvases. We really have been watching the seasons turn through a pinhole. Those of us who haven’t given up have indeed been trying to assemble some beauty out of all the chaos. Neither the decorative nor the useful have been providing us much comfort. December 2021 and January 2022 promise difficulties, but what months haven’t? As the calendar turns and another vexed year begins, it’s a comfort to know that Anne Novado is keeping the lamp lit, and that the joy and provocation she’s managed to wrestle from the struggle is right there, visible for all of us to see.

 

(Novado Gallery is closed from December 23 through December 27. But it’s back open on December 28 and 29, and it’ll keep its usual generous hours during January: Saturday and Sunday, 11-6, Wednesday and Thursday 10-5, Friday 10-4, and Tuesday by appointment.) 

Jersey City Police Car
Aaron Morrill

City Hall Mum as Shots Fired Downtown Continue Rash of Gunfire in Jersey City

December 24, 2021/in Downtown, Greenville, header, Latest News, Narrate, News /by Aaron Morrill

Continuing a rash of recent shootings in Jersey City, police are investigating a series of gunshots fired last night in the Downtown neighborhood of Van Vorst Park. The apparent upsurge in gunfire and related injuries has been met with silence at City Hall.

The shooting last night took place next to 325 Monmouth Street just before 11 p.m. Police could be seen placing evidence markers where approximately ten spent shell casings were found.

Two men were seen running onto Brunswick Street in the direction of Montgomery Street. According to radio reports, the police were interviewing a witness to the shooting.

A police officer at the scene said he had yet to determine where the shooter was aiming.

The gunfire last night follows two shootings on Tuesday. One shooting at Triangle Park in Greenville, in which a man was hit in the back was reported by The Jersey City Times.

The Jersey City Times has since learned that earlier that evening, at approximately 5:45 p.m., a man was shot in the leg at the corner of Martin Luther King Drive and Van Nostrand Avenue.

The increase in shootings Downtown reflects a geographic expansion of gun violence in the city. In August, a wild shootout in the Downtown Powerhouse Arts District involving approximately 30 gunshots elicited a “a detailed email” from the mayor about steps the city would take to investigate the incident.

On December 1, a shootout near the 99 Ranch Market Downtown, left two youths wounded.

A police officer who spoke on the condition of anonymity said “I’ve never seen this much shooting in my life. It’s mind boggling.”

 

— Keeping crime data secret has allowed the administration to advance a narrative on crime at odds with the reality and leaves the public uninformed. —

 

Like many cities, Jersey City has experienced an increase in homicides. With 23 so far this year, the number will exceed the yearly average of 21 under both Mayors Fulop and Healy. Last year, there were 16 homicides.

Police Officers Searching for Shell Casings in Jersey City

Police officers searching for shell casings last night

However, the full extent of the recent apparent upswing in gun violence in Jersey City is unknown. While the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office reports on homicides, non-fatal shootings and “lesser” crimes such as aggravated assaults, shootings, robberies and rapes are not made public by Jersey City. The data is only available from the F.B.I. months after the end of the year in which it occurred.

Jersey City had published monthly CompStat data but in June of 2019, stopped. This was in spite of Mayor Fulop’s pledge that city’s police department would be the “most transparent police department that there is.”  New York City, in contrast, publishes weekly CompStat reports on a wide variety of crime, including shootings, and puts the numbers in historical context.

Keeping crime data secret has allowed the administration to advance a narrative on crime often at odds with the reality. In May of this year, The Jersey City Times published a detailed report on crime in Jersey City using FBI statistics. The report showed that crime had risen during the mayor’s first six years in office. The report and its underlying data undermined the mayor’s claim that his administration had brought about “historic” improvements on the crime front.

The mayor’s spokesperson has not responded to The Jersey City Times’s requests for comment.

 

 

 

96 Duncan Avenue Jersey City
Aaron Morrill

“Landlord is Freezing out Tenants for Christmas”

December 23, 2021/in header, Latest News, News, Westside /by Aaron Morrill

Updated at 7:10 pm on December 4, 2021

The community organizing group Jersey City Together and the Northern New Jersey Democratic Socialists of America are condemning the owner of a West Side  building for failing to provide heat and repairs to its tenants.

According to JCT and DSA, the owner of  96 Duncan Avenue has subjected the tenants to “months of no heat and intimidation tactics.” The landlord, writes the two groups, “has failed to make needed repairs (water damage, apartments with no working refrigerators, windows boarded up, and more) and recently dismissed the building’s superintendent.”

Last summer, the rent controlled building was bought in Angela Morello Lange (operating as London Legacy LLC). Tenants were sent a letter encouraging them to give up their tenancy voluntarily in exchange for various incentives.

City inspectors from Jersey City’s Quality of Life Taskforce have, according to the groups, issued citations to the landlord because of how long they have been without heat. These citations carry the potential of $2,000 per day in fines. On December 18, the City of Jersey City offered tenants temporary housing at local hotels.

Betty Gill, a tenant at 96 Duncan

Betty Gill, a tenant at 96 Duncan Ave.

Said Betty Gill, a tenant at 96 Duncan for 30 years, “The heat in our apartments hasn’t been working for months. As tenants, we’ve done everything we could to resolve this. We tried to offer constructive solutions – bringing in contractors to suggest how the issue could be addressed. We’ve taken them to court. The city has issued violations. Still, the landlord doesn’t seem to care. Now, my neighbors and I are stuck at a hotel for Christmas. This has to stop. Fix the heat, let us go home, and no more intimidation tactics.”

Diane Maxon, a leader with Jersey City Together’s Strategy & Housing Teams & a member of the Church of St. Paul & Incarnation also located on Duncan Ave, added “We’ve been fighting against abusive landlord tactics like these for years. Freezing tenants out is literally illegal. If she had assaulted one of these tenants on the street, she’d be in jail now.  Clearly being fined is not enough punishment for this kind of cruelty. The city and the courts should be using every power they have available to get the heat turned on, including making the repairs and sending the bill to the landlord.”

Joel Brooks, a member of the Northern New Jersey Democratic Socialists of America and a former city council candidate for Ward B, said, “Temporary housing for these tenants in the midst of increasing COVID-19 infections is not a long-term solution: they deserve to be in their homes, with heat on, to enjoy the upcoming holidays.”

Morello Lange told The Jersey City Times that they only learned of the boiler problems when they turned it on for the first time at the beginning of November. She said the boiler had passed inspection when they bought the building this summer. “We’ve never ignored the issues. We’re working diligently to correct the situation…we’ve had numerous contractors there… there are all the delays due to Covid and supply chain issues…we’re cooperating with the Jersey City Authorities.”  She continued. “We have offered remedies to the tenants.” Asked if those remedies included being bought out or whether they had tried to intimidate tenants into leaving, she declined to comment on the advice of council.

The Waterfront Project is representing several tenants in a lawsuit.

Photos courtesy of Joel Brooks
Aaron Morrill

Couple Faces Lengthy Sentences in Violent November Crime Spree

December 22, 2021/in Bergen Lafayette, Greenville, header, Latest News, News /by Aaron Morrill

A violent 70-minute November crime spree has a man and woman facing federal conspiracy and gun charges that could result in lengthy prison sentences.

Rodney Williams, 29, of Jersey City and Siobhan Chandler, 19, of Newark, appeared  yesterday before U.S. Magistrate Judge James B. Clark III. Both were detained.

They are each charged in a criminal complaint with conspiring to rob, and robbing, four businesses and shooting two individuals in Jersey City. Williams is additionally charged with possession of a firearm and ammunition as a convicted felon.

The U.S. Attorney’s allegations read like a scene from the movie Bonnie and Clyde, albeit without the glamor of Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty.

The action started at approximately 8:10 p.m. on the evening of November 14 when Williams entered a deli on Danforth Avenue. Williams allegedly placed a gun to the clear’s chest, threatened to kill him and demanded all of the store’s money. The clerk complied and Williams fled on foot.

Rodriguez Brother's Supermarket

Rodriguez Brother’s Supermarket

Thirty-five minutes later, Williams and Chandler arrived at a Valero gas station on Garfield Avenue. Chandler tried and failed to enter the attendant’s booth. Williams then pointed his gun at an attendant and demanded money. When the attendant refused, Williams shot him in the chest and said, “do you think I am f—king playing with you? Give me the money!” Williams then pointed the gun at the other attendant and threatened to shoot. The attendant escaped to the attendant’s booth and locked the door. While Chandler waited near the gas station’s entrance, Williams pursued him and tried to force his way inside. Unable to get in, Williams ran toward Chandler and they fled.

Fifteen minutes later, Williams and Chandler entered Rodriguez Brother’s Supermarket on Communipaw Avenue. Williams pointed the gun at the clerk and demanded the store’s money. The clerk complied and the Williams and Chandler left.

Ten minutes later, Williams and Chandler entered Crown Chicken across the street. Williams pointed his gun at the clerk’s chest and demanded money. Apparently, the clerk didn’t believe that Williams was serious. In response, Williams attempted to shoot him but the firearm misfired. Williams then re-cocked the gun and shot the clerk in the chest. Williams then forced his way into the restaurant’s kitchen and demanded money from the employees. Meanwhile, Chandler remained at the doorway and ordered one employee out of the restaurant and barred a patron from entering. As Williams forced the wounded clerk to empty cash from the register, Chandler yelled, “Let’s go! Let’s go!”

At around 9:20 p.m., Jersey City police officers noticed Williams and Chandler in their car outside Crown Chicken. Apparently panicked, Williams drove his car into oncoming traffic, striking a police vehicle and rendering his own car inoperable. Williams and Chandler were immediately arrested.

Today, a worker at Crown Chicken told The Jersey City Times that the employee shot by Williams was doing well. Across the street at Rodriguez Brother’s Supermarket, a cashier said that the money stolen had not been returned.  “You don’t get it back,” he opined.

The pair are subject to a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for each charge of robbery; a maximum penalty for 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for conspiring to use and carry a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence; and a maximum potential penalty of life in prison and a fine of $250,000 for each charge of possessing, carrying or using a firearm during a crime of violence. Williams is subject to a maximum potential penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for the charge of possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon.

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News Briefs

Mayor Steven Fulop joined Public Safety Director James Shea and Fire Chief Steven McGill today to announce two brand new fire companies and officially launch a newly created specialized response team, the JCFD High-rise Unit, to respond to all high-rise fires and all working fires as a Rapid Intervention Crew (RIC).  The last fire company added to the Jersey City Fire Department was in 1937.

The Hudson County Board of Commissioners has provided $195,000 for services provided to inmates through the Housing and Reintegration Program of the Hudson County Department of Family Services. The program provides services that inmates can use for housing, substance abuse treatment, clinical care, mental health, obtain medications and go to job training and job search services.

This program also provides the County Department of Housing and Community Reintegration access to 40 transitional housing beds. The program runs from June 1, 2022 through January 31, 2023.

Mayor Fulop has announced the creation of a $20 per hour Living Wage Statute for all full-time Jersey City employees. As part of the City’s 2022-2023 fiscal year budget, the Living Wage Statute will boost salaries for hundreds of current and future Jersey City residents and workers from $17 (already one of the highest minimum wage rates in the nation) to $20 per hour – which is $7 more than New Jersey’s current hourly minimum wage.

 

Jersey City, US
3:53 pm, June 30, 2022
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