Is it a one or the other situation? I'm for both.

If you value preservation this event is for you. Yes, I'll be there at 6.

Amazing that Newark is thinking beyond the box. Michele worked in Jersey City's planning office for several years before Newark grabbed her. Sorry to lose her!

And I'll be joining the Bergen tour?looking for the lost statue of Peg-Leg-Pete!

Beautify Journal Square by robbing Bergen Square?Huh? I?m guessing it?s too much to ask to just put it back.

As long as you?re going for grand views, I suggest dusk at full moon. From the Grundy Pier you can get ?Moonrise Manhattan? a la Ansel Adams with your iphone. Better still, you can find the moon above Liberty?s torch at the southern end of the waterfront walkway near Flag Plaza in Liberty State Park. This one requires a zoom to make it work. Tonight is full moon but it?s cloudy so you?ll have to wait at least another month. You?ll be amazed when you hit it right.

The difference is that a street spot will be used by multiple drivers most of the 24 hour day. The private spot remains empty when the owner is away.

I'll be there with a box of complimentary "Vintage Jersey City, 2009" calendars for participants.

Some sites and structures that are handed down to us from prior generations rise to the level of overwhelming architectural and social significance. Examples in Jersey City include the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, the Brennan Courthouse, and Saint John?s Church. Our generation is entrusted with the care and maintenance of these sites during our lifetimes so that we can hand them over in good condition to the next generation.

Inexplicably, the Diocese has knowingly, willingly, and even actively caused Saint Johns to undermined from without and within by the elements and a salvage company.

To give some perspective, Jersey City is a 15 square mile city compared to Manhattan which is 22. Jersey City has fewer than 40 registered historic sites and districts compared to Manhattan which has more than 500. Is Manhattan?s history that much more significant than Jersey City?s?

Once the shower passed at the beginning it was a perfect day and a perfect tour! Many thanks to SAVE.

Yes, you're in luck as this is Preservation Month and there is a session just for that purpose on Thursday, May 22, 6?8 pm in the NJ Room of the Main Library at 472 Jersey Avenue. Just check the JCLC website for the list of events for the month.
http://jclandmarks.org/PreservationMonth2008.shtml

This tour is rain or shine but it looks like it will be more shine than rain. Hope to see you there for a fun afternoon!

The New Jersey City Architectural Tour
Sunday, May 4, 1?3:30 pm

Cost: $10; $7 for seniors and students with current ID.
Meet next to the Katyn monument at Exchange Place. Please wear comfortable walking shoes.

This brisk informative 21⁄2 hour walking tour covers the intriguing mix of old and new architecture where Jersey City's downtown waterfront morphs into the Paulus Hook and Van Vorst Park historic districts. We will walk where Henry Hudson walked in 1609 and claimed the area for the Dutch. We will follow this trail of history from the 1770s Paulus Hook fort to the 1830s Morris Canal to 21st century glass-skinned skyscrapers. Architectural styles will include Greek Revival, Romanesque Revival, Italianate, Queen Anne, 60s Modern, Interpretative Modern, and Postmodern. We will observe award-winning adaptive reuses of historic structures that have acquired new lives with new modern functions. Many of the sites we will see are featured in the Conservancy's 2008 wall calendar which will be given free to the tour participants.

Guided by documentary photographer Leon Yost ermaleon@gmail.com

My wife and I bought a house on York Street near City Hall in 1974 and our friends typically stare in disbelief when we tell them that this area was cleaner and safer then than now. Our 80 year-old tenant would put on a sheriff?s badge and go outside and holler at kids if she saw them hanging around. Our theory is that crime increased because more affluent people came to the area and became targets. Not all blocks were safe though. The Montgomery Gateway, in particular, was an area that we avoided because of the rows of burned-out houses.

Btw, I?m not sure what city Xerxes is referring to, but Ocean Avenue was and still is Ocean Avenue. The former Jackson Avenue is now MLK Drive. There is no MLK Blvd in Jersey City.

Great tip! Too bad full moon isn't until Jan 22 which would have made it literally out of this world. Moonrise over Liberty's torch viewed from the waterfront walkway at the southern end of Liberty State Park makes one of the most spectacular views anywhere on earth.

As long as we?re crediting the calendar?s creators, here are the rest, all frequent visitors on jclist. Writers: Joshua Parkhurst, President, JCLC; Tom Murphy, Adjunct Professor, NJCU; Randall Gabrielan, Author and Historian; John Hallanan, Commissioner, JC Historic Preservation Commission; and designer: Jeff Spangler. And yes, this year?s edition does have an agenda besides looking good from across the room. It?s that quality architecture is worth recognizing whether old or new!

You'll see it featured on page 27 of Randall Gabrielan's new book, "Jersey City, A monumental History," Schiffer Publishing, 2007. Yes, it's easy to access, right along the waterfront walkway at Pavonia Avenue aka Town Square Place in Newport. The book is in the Jersey City Museum's gift shop.

141 Bentley

I served on the ACB for 10 years (I am no longer on it) and can give you a few of hints on how to get your application approved quickly with the least waste of your and the Board?s time. Just document your professional activity in some branch of fine arts (visual or performing) over the last 5 years. Anything else in your life including commercial arts, illustration, architectural renderings for clients, tv commercials etc. that are not traditionally considered fine arts are irrelevant to the Board?s decision. Applicants often pack their submissions with extraneous material like this and it can easily overshadow the fact that he/she may also be a fine artist (fine art tends to be artist driven as opposed to commercial art that tends to be client driven). The Board?s legal mandate is to verify ?the artists? commitment to the fine arts as a career.?

Documentation for the visual arts includes: professional artist?s resume, 15-20 slides or print-outs of work completed within the last 5 years (hopefully consistent in style), exhibition record via announcement cards, catalogs, reviews, newspaper clippings, etc.

The performing arts and filmmaking tend to be somewhat more difficult to document, but these applications should include the professional resume, examples of work, e.g. music scores, professionally produced cds/dvds/vhs with the artists? role in the creative process documented on the jacket and/or in the credits in the recorded work, playbills, reviews, newspaper clippings, etc.

Writers and poets can also be certified if the board deems them to be on a career track and the work to be ?fine? rather than ?commercial.? These applications should include the professional resume, examples of published works, peer reviews, playbills for readings, etc.

The Board?s job is to make sure that affordable units in the PAD go to valid fine artists and not hobbyists or others who want affordable units without providing the service to the City that the career artists do. That service is to create an arts and entertainment district, i.e. a destination and tourist attraction. For example, lottery winning artists are expected to open their studios for the Artists Studio Tour each October.

I hope this information is helpful. The public including applicants with pending applications are always welcome at the regular monthly Board meetings. They are held at the JC Division of Planning, 14th Floor, 30 Montgomery Street at 10 am the first Wednesday (I think) of the month. Call City Planning 201.547.5010 to confirm the dates.

Chama, You may want to check out the Harsimus Cove & Embankment walking tour this Saturday, May 6, 11 am - 1 pm. It meets at the Grove Street PATH station at 11 and is guided by Pat Guida of the (NYC) Municipal Art Society. Yes, NYC organizations do tours in JC, usually co-sponsored by the JC Landmarks Conservancy as this tour is. The cost is $15. You'll find the complete listing of Jersey City's Preservation Month tours and events on <http://www.jerseycityhistory.net/PM2006-SCHEDULE.html>. I hope you enjoy historic downtown Jersey City discovered by Henry Hudson on September 12, 1609 (the same day he discovered New Amsterdam aka Manhattan, but our story is that he dropped anchor in a cove in Jersey City).

Yeah, here's a clue. Your vote counts ten or so times as much as it counts on larger turn-out regular elections so go vote for someone even if you're not totally sure. This way, at least it will go on record that your district exercises its power. If you can't find three candidates you're comfortable with, you can "bullet vote" i.e. vote for one or two rather than three.

It's a little disgusting that the J Journal didn't even mention the election today (polls are open 2 to 9 pm). Yeah, Morgan rightly knocked Dr. E., but what about a line at least mentioning the election! In case anyone cares, I'll be clicking on DeRosa, Hemingway, and Richardson.

Unfortunately, they're not just in the Heights. Been to Greenville lately? Fewer have been going up downtown recently because most of the land is already spoken for, but even there, five in a row went up inside the Van Vorst Park Historic District (on York Street between Grove and Barrow) during the Cucci administration when he disbanded the Historic Preservation Commission. It requires a slightly more expensive architect to design a better house, but the "build and run" developers choose not to do it because there is an insatiable demand for ugly. Unfortunately, and surprisingly, most of the market doesn't seem to care about the look of their houses, more concerned with space for themselves and a "bonus" unit or two. Realtors even tout these ugly houses as attractive. Education of the buying public is sorely needed to help drive the market toward better design.

The cookie cutters slide under the radar because most of them don't hit the threshold for Planning Board approval and instead are approved in-house by Zoning. They're generally in 1-2 family zones and quickly become illegal threes, also, under the radar. The way to stop the "bonus" units (which are not computed into the property tax assessment) is to document when you know there are more than the permitted two families, using photos of mailboxes, etc. Once you've got the evidence, take it to Zoning at 30 Montgomery and there is a high probability that you will get action. Although Zoning doesn't go looking for more work, it's different when you report it. To help assure action, send copies of your evidence to the Director of HEDC and the Planning Board.

A long shot, but within the realm of possibility if citizens of all wards pressure their councilpeople and mayor, is to draft stricter design standards for 1-2 family houses. The law allows it but political will is necessary to make it happen.