Visionary !

The only vision he has is for the next beer he will drink.

I went to the city's presentation at St Peter's College, and was generally very impressed with the design concept for the new Journal Sq. The idea of building a new green pedestrian boulevard over the ravine that cuts east - west through the heart of the neighborhood, with new high rise development lining it, is a great solution. The added public transit is very good too, and in general the tone of the plan could be used for much of Jersey City.

The problems will be how to get it built, and how to get the best designs for the new buildings. Unfortunately the current design of the Hotel on the Square towers is not very inspiring. I hope there is room to revise them before they are built.

I didn't really understand how the financing scheme works that they are proposing, but they said they will be launching a new website soon with details.

It also wasn't clear as to who would be paying for the new transit improvements, and how high the skyscrapers can go given that PATH is already overcrowded. Lower Manhattan has over 6 different mass transit lines running though it, Journal Square will have at the most 3.

GP missed this editorial today-


Pushing 'vision' much too hard

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

J ersey City Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy's unveiling earlier this month of his administration's "vision" for Journal Square seemed more like "pie in the sky" than the promise of New Urbanism.

At an invitation-only "press conference," administration officials gathered to reveal planner Anton C. Nelessen's and architect Dean Marchetto's somewhat blurry vision of the area called the Heart of the City.

There were some very impressive - if not unbelievable - artist renderings of a completely "rehabilitated" Journal Square area, roughly bordered by Route 139 in the north, Garrison Avenue in the west, Vroom Street in the south and Baldwin Avenue in the east.

Those drawings and explanations revealed skyscrapers, with one as tall as 100 stories - near Empire State Building dimensions. Gone is the PATH Transportation Center as we know it, replaced by a taller structure of glass and steel that would also house an underground bus depot with a glass ceiling.

Besides having everyone bike or walk, people would get to McGinley Square and perhaps beyond by using a narrow-gauge modern trolley. Healy would also like to see an extension of the Light Rail to Journal Square.

This new Heart of the City would have no need for motor vehicles. They would be banned - a problem for other neighborhoods, although there is some discussion about parking garages on the outskirts of the Square.

All that is missing from the renderings is Magic Mountain.

This newspaper has championed the rebirth of Journal Square and welcomes change, but the city has already missed its chance to do something more people friendly and thought-provoking on its waterfront. This administration should not repeat the mistakes of the past. It should take lessons from how Hoboken has been developing its riverbank - with people and quality of life a priority.

This "vision" seems more forced by the administration. It is not an orderly process where the public has much say. It smells of the kind of Xanadu development that is occurring in the Meadowlands, where the mega-mall, backed by powerful politicians, was rammed down the throats of residents of the surrounding communities.

http://www.nj.com/opinion/jjournal/ed ... 24656760108620.xml&coll=3

Cityhall can't even maintain a basket-ball court named and paid for by an ex-NBA player and they say they have 'vision' - please give me a break with this crap.

'Vision' for Square going on display at School 11 tomorrow

Wednesday, October 22, 2008
By KEN THORBOURNE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy is inviting the public to review his ambitious "vision" for the Journal Square area tomorrow at 6 p.m. at School 11, 886 Bergen Ave.

Dubbed the "Did We Get It Right?" session, officials say the plan to be displayed takes into account the feedback consultants received from residents and major property owners at two meetings earlier this year.

First unveiled last week before a group of roughly 100 politicians and real estate industry members, the plan covers 244 acres and calls for between 10,000 and 15,000 new housing units, nine acres of parks, and a Light Rail link connecting Journal Square and the waterfront.

Much of the plan is pure "vision," with no money available to implement it. The most concrete element of "Vision Journal Square" is the two-tower, mixed-use development approved for the block adjacent to the Journal Square Transportation Center. The developer said last week he expects to break ground within six months.

The City Council will be asked to declare Journal Square an "area in need of rehabilitation" before the end of the year, said City Planning Director Robert Cotter.

Assuming that happens, the council will be asked to approve this redevelopment plan, Cotter said.

The city could use eminent domain to take private properties to create parks or expand roads, noted Jersey City Redevelopment Agency Executive Director Robert Antonicello.

I am sure he will balance this out by getting drunk more often while doing impersonations of the naked cowboy...rotating through the various jersey city neighborhoods....followed by long, drawn out court cases.

I don't understand..

"incorporate my principles of making Jersey City greener, safer, more affordable and more prosperous.?

How can you simultaneously pull off (2 or 4) and 3? As an area gets safer and more prosperous, it becomes less affordable.

'BOLD' NEW SQUARE

Thursday, October 16, 2008
By KEN THORBOURNE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy yesterday unveiled an ambitious "vision" for the Journal Square - a plan that one city official calls a Marshall Plan for the long-neglected center of the city.

Developed by planner Anton C. Nelessen and architect Dean Marchetto - with some input from residents and major property owners - the plan covers 244 acres, the heart of which is the transit hub at the Journal Square Transportation Center.

Presented to a crowd of movers and shakers at the Hudson County Community College's Culinary Arts Center, the plan is intended to be more pedestrian-friendly, with more walkable, has more open space and fewer cars. Even residential blocks in the yesterday's PowerPoint presentation are given islands of greenery.

"It's bold, it is visionary," Healy said about the plan. "And it is not only going to be a great thing for our city, our county, in our state. I believe it is going to be a model for the country to follow."

The plan calls for between 10,000 and 15,000 new housing units, nine acres of parks, parking lot "interceptors" at the edges of the district, and light rail connecting Journal Square to the Downtown waterfront.

Distinguishing between pure "vision" and portions of the plan that are backed by money, a timetable and a builder behind it was tricky yesterday since the Nelessen's PowerPoint presentation included both.

Clearly the most concrete element of the plan is a two-tower, mixed development slated for the old Hotel on the Square block. Both Healy and Lowell Harwood, one the developers, said they expect to break ground "within six months."

This $400 million project includes 1,600 residential units and 70,000 square feet of retail in two towers, one 68 stories, the other 50. On the other hand, the PowerPoint show included a glittering new Port Authority of New York and New Jersey building on the Square and a new PATH entrance with sunlight beaming through from a reflecting pool at street level.

Asked if the agency has agreed to these improvements, Port Authority Deputy Director Susan Bass Levin, who attended yesterday's presentation, said, "No, we haven't."

"That was the first time anybody saw it, it was part of the visioning process," Bass Levin added. "What we are doing now is a $3.3 billion PATH modernization system. . What you're seeing here is a very, very first stage and it will take a while for this get to reality, but this is how you have to start."

Healy said the plan could take five, 10, even 15 years to complete and he couldn't yesterday put a price tag on how much it would cost the public.

The "vision" study, which gets a public hearing on Oct. 23, has so far cost $400,000. "Smart growth" grants from the Department of Community Affairs covered $150,000 and Urban Enterprise Zone funds $250,000, city officials said.

Journal Square Will Get Major Makeover

By Eric Peterson
GlobeSt.com


Journal Square station

JERSEY CITY-Mayor Jerramiah Healy has scheduled a press conference for Wednesday morning to unveil the details of what he terms his Visionary Plan for Journal Square. The latter is a section of this city?s downtown surrounding a major PATH light rail station that has struggled economically for a number of years.

?We have had a major renaissance in Jersey City on our eastern waterfront, the Hudson River, but it has been my priority to see that this rising tide lifts all boats,? Healy says, in a statement. ?In my quest to make [this city] greater, I have requested that this vision for Journal Square incorporate my principles of making Jersey City greener, safer, more affordable and more prosperous.?

To accomplish that, the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency earlier this year commissioned the Belle Mead, NJ-based A. Nelessen Associates to work out the details. The land planning firm is no stranger to this city, having previously drawn up plans for the 100-acre Bayfront Redevelopment Plan involving 100 acres along this city?s New York Bay waterfront, as well as a redevelopment plan for the area surrounding the campus of New Jersey City University.

City officials would not release details of the Journal Square plans prior to tomorrow?s press conference, but general information released by the Mayor?s Office envisions development of ?thousands of new housing units and millions and sf of retail and commercial space in what is the geographic heart of the city?.?

?The Healy administration has begun the process of turning things around and restoring Journal Square to its former prominence as the commercial and entertainment center of the city,? says a spokesman. ?The plan incorporates smart growth in Journal Square, which is a state-designated transit village where eight million commuters utilize PATH light rail and bus transportation annually.