Date: Wed, 02 Dec 1998 12:14:54 -0500 This was submitted to our class listserv today... "New Jersey's gold coast." David Wallace, Planning, May 1998, referring to the developing New Jersey waterfront. "I believe in the golden rule - the guy with the gold makes the rules." Sir Samuel J. LeFrak, 9/13/98, New York Times, referring to himself and his development plans on the New Jersey waterfront. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the implications of Mayor Brett Schundler and his administration's attempts to develop the waterfront of Jersey City, specifically the areas known as Paulus Hook/Exchange Place and Newport/Pavonia, and the subsequent effects on the local communities. We all can appreciate the development of Jersey City as it becomes the largest city in the state and one of it's leading cities. But we need to consider the quality of this development. The current development trend in downtown Jersey City is obvious: the waterfront is being divided up by the Lefrak Organization, Hartz Mountain Industries, and other corporate giants. As a result of this development we should ask ourselves who has a better life? Who's quality of life has improved over the last 5, 10, and 15 years? Are we hoping that luxury, highrise housing units in Pavonia/Newport will have a beneficial effect on the low-income and minority populations of Jersey City? We see the new buildings and skyscrapers on the previously undeveloped land. What once were derelict properties and brownfields are now glass and steel structures with people in suits and ties scuttling about with their Starbucks coffee in hand. But at what cost is this growth? The Schundler administration will have us believe that the residential towers that have been sprouting up on the waterfront, along with the corporate centers, will further support infrastructure improvements (transportation, water, roadways, etc.), create more housing, and the tax revenues from these developments will then support the rest of the city. This unfortunately is not happening. There are two main development areas: Paulus Hook/Exchange Place and Newport/Pavonia. The Newport/Pavonia area is a 600-acre site that was abandoned a few decades ago. This land became public property in the late 1970s and could have been described as a large waterfront brownfield that was littered with railroad ties, tracks, and trash. Brownfields are currently one of the hot topics in Washington D.C. and are receiving a large amount of federal support and funding for development. Unfortunately, it appears to be too late for local non-profits, community groups, and community development corporations to try to get funding for the development of grassroots-led initiatives. Currently, the Newport development has seven apartment towers, two office buildings, a three-level mall, an 11-theater movie complex, a helipad, and a marina. The completed Lefrak development master plan includes 9,000 apartment units, 4.5 million feet of office space, and 2 million feet of retail space. The current price for a two-bedroom apartment in one of Lefrak's "Towers of America" is around $2,000 to $3,000 per month. Affordable housing is obviously not considered in the development plan. A tenant of one of those units stated in the New York Times that "You feel like you're living in a yacht club." In the same article Sir Samuel J. LeFrak said, while departing from the Pavonia/Newport Marina in his yacht, "We own the river." The other main focus of development is in Paulus Hook/Exchange Place. While Newport/Pavonia had little or no previous residential community, Paulus Hook has always had a strong community, including a large Polish population. The gentrification of Paulus Hook is pushing long-time local residents out in favor of young urban professionals. Being a resident of downtown Jersey City, in Paulus Hook, I have seen the transformation: property development, land speculation, buildings for sale, dwindling street parking, the raising of rents (and New Jersey has fewer rent control laws and regulations than NYC), and loss of waterfront access. All over the metropolitan region, waterfront access is at the nexus between community rights and corporate welfare and responsibility. Hartz Mountain Industries is building a 12-story, 860,000 feet building up to the waterline. This will further close down community access. The Harborside Financial Center was also built on top of the waterline and thereby effectively cutting off access to the waterfront. Oddly enough, the first floor of the Harborside Financial Center is devoted to an indoor walkway so the professionals and their staff at Dean Witter can enjoy the amazing view of New York City and the harbor as they make their 20-second walk to the elevators. The one area that community residents do have access to is the J. Owen Grundy Park, located in front of the Exchange Place Centre and the Neptune Orient Lines building. Though this is a nice public space, it is not a park. It is a short boardwalk that extends into the Hudson River and not along the waterfront. It is the only area from Paulus Hook north to Newport/Pavonia that is a public space that could be readily used by local residents. During the daytime, the "Park" is used mainly by the professionals who work in the buildings at Exchange Place. During the weekends and evenings, Exchange Place and the "Park" are usually vacant with a handful of strollers, passerbys, and a few people fishing. The area is similar, though on a smaller scale, to places like downtown Charlotte, N.C., in that the area is built for and used by white collar professionals and when the whistle blows, the place is vacated. Recently, I have also noticed that on occasion, in the evening, the Police have been blocking the front of the boardwalk with their vehicles. Is this a further restriction on the little bit of available public space? Hoboken, just north of Pavonia/Newport had a similar development transformation that occurred in the 1980s. A man who grew up in downtown Jersey City spoke with me about the changes in Hoboken, "We used to feel sorry for the people who lived in Hoboken. They were the poorest of the poor." Now, through the gentrification of Hoboken, it is a playground for young, mainly white, urban professionals (the film "Delivered Vacant" documents a part of this transformation). The main difference between the Hoboken situation and downtown Jersey City is the proliferation of high rise buildings and corporations. While Hoboken has become an area that is predominantly residential and service-oriented, the waterfront of Jersey City is becoming the home of high rise buildings and large corporations. Paulus Hook, on the other hand, is an historic district that has brownstones and more of a residential feel to it, much like Hoboken. Measures need to be taken to assure that Jersey City is not Hobokenized and that low-income and community residents are not forced-out and priced-out of their homes like in Hoboken, and that affordable housing will remain and be included in new residential developments. David Wallace, founder of Wallace Roberts & Todd, wrote an article in Planning (May 1998) about the New Jersey waterfront developments. Mr. Wallace and his firm have worked on portions of the development plan. He was able to mention in his highly laudatory four page article that there is "little in the way of minority population - or of affordable housing." It should also be noted that gentrification is pushing people of color, low-income populations, and affordable housing OUT of the area. So the effects of this development is not only on the new housing and the new tenants, but also on the old. The main concession to our community was the state regional initiative commissioned by the environmental protection agency that called for the development of a 36-foot-wide waterfront walkway that developers must pay for and build. Mr. Wallace prepared the 18.6 mile plan which he admits to being completed in "a somewhat piecemeal fashion." Though many millions have been spent on new buildings (including the tallest building in the state - 101 Hudson which is 60 stories), we have yet to see a viable piece of this walkway in Exchange Place/Paulus Hook or Pavonia/Newport. So while the New York Stock Exchange is offered huge tax breaks to move to Exchange Place, the community can't even get a waterfront walkway. Just south of Paulus Hook, is Liberty State Park which does have a nice, large walkway. Unfortunately, in order to get to this walkway and the rest of the park, downtown residents must get in their cars and drive to it because it begins and ends inside the park. with no connection to the downtown. A canal separates the Park from the downtown. Another key component to the development plans for Jersey City is the Light Rail Transport (LRT). The LRT is an interesting case because while the need for more public transportation is great and the tracks are located around Jersey City, the LRT will mainly be used by commuters to travel to New York City via the PATH stations and to the Jersey City waterfront and their jobs. Also the purpose of the LRT is to make the waterfront more attractive to corporations (CBS, the New York Stock Exchange, and others that have looked into and "threatened" New York City with moving here; Federal Home Loan Bank of New York, Merrill Lynch, Bankers Trust, Republic Bank, Charles Schwab, First Chicago Trust, and many others have already moved or have opened up offices here). So the LRT is not primarily for Jersey City residents. This is most apparent in the Paulus Hook resident's losing fight with the Schundler administration over his desire to run the LRT through the already developed Paulus Hook community instead of down Montgomery Street where many of the local downtown businesses are located. Why run the LRT through a residential area instead of the local, downtown business area that could result in many beneficial effects on the local economy and local businesses? Colgate, which owns many of the remaining undeveloped waterfront sites, wanted the tracks to go through Paulus Hook in order to further develop and speculate on their property. The administration's priorities are clear: develop the waterfront at any cost and without consideration to local businesses and communities. The argument for the continuation of this type of corporate welfare relies on the belief that two things will happen: more jobs and more taxes. The jobs are available to white collar workers who have the ability to live anywhere in the greater metropolitan area. With the introduction of the Light Rail Transit, this will make it even easier for this to happen. It will also open up new areas such as Bayonne for commuters. The increase in local jobs will not be as significant as it could have been, if more emphasis had been placed on community needs. The area in which local jobs will increase will be low-wage jobs; janitorial services, temporary agencies, and food service (apparently Starbucks hired a few locals to pour coffee). The tax base that will increase is also negligible. On the front page of the Jersey City website is a breakdown of the different taxes that are required from the different metropolitan region. Jersey City, a federal empowerment zone, has the fewest taxes across the board. The reason that corporations are moving here is because of the greatly reduced taxes. In addition to the tiny tax burden, during negotiations between potential new clients and the city administration, more tax breaks are being given to corporations (Ron alluded to this in class yesterday concerning the New York Stock Exchange). One last thing I would like to mention is the division of the city along class and racial lines. Jersey City is divided, like many cities are, by a roadway that runs between the downtown and the not-downtown: the New Jersey Turnpike Extension. I believe that what we will continue to see, and further amplified, is the segregation of the city between the white professionals downtown and the people of color in the rest of the city (the Heights, Greenville, Central Avenue, etc.). Jersey City has a large and diverse population including African Americans, South Asians, Filipinos, Cubans, Puerto Ricans, etc. As the downtown gentrifies the city will become more racially and economically divided. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Stephen A. Johnson City & Regional Planning Planners Network Pratt Institute 379 DeKalb Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11205 Brooklyn, NY 11205 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~