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Good piece of advice! Also add Lincoln park to that list as I predict the residents will explode before they let the city implode their buildings.

Talking about Journal Square

Letter to editor
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
By ROBERT P. ANTONICELLO
SPECIAL TO THE JOURNAL

I n response to your editorial in the July 28 edition regarding the Journal Square Public Visioning Charette, Mayor Jerramiah Healy's administration and the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency are actively engaged in a public dialogue on how to best restore Journal Square from its present state to what it once was: a world-class residential and commercial center. These charettes are part of a process that began almost 21/2 years ago when the mayor directed the JCRA to initiate a process of putting together a plan to address the long, slow decline of Journal Square.

The Journal Square design charette is the first step in a series of many opportunities for public participation. No comprehensive discussion can take place regarding Journal Square without the involvement and input of the Port Authority, owners and operators of the PATH system. The Journal Square PATH train and bus terminal serves more than 17 million riders a year and is central to the rebirth of the Square as a commercial hub. We have been and will continue to seek the involvement and input of the Port Authority in this unprecedented endeavor.

If Journal Square is going to rebound, it's going to happen by forming a public/private partnership which links all levels of government with the business community and the residents. All are stakeholders in the rebirth of Journal Square, with the residents of Jersey City first among equals.

I would like to make clear that a number of subjects brought up in your editorial piece, such as revenue allocation districts and off-site parking facilities, are preliminary in nature and ought to be treated as part of a discussion rather than drawing any hard conclusion during the infancy stage of the planning cycle.

What the city and the JCRA have done is to take painstaking measures to ensure that the most important stakeholders, the city's residents, are incorporated into this critical vision process early and often. Mayor Healy's administration is committed to taking a comprehensive approach to the renaissance of all areas in the city, not just Journal Square.

We will continue to carefully monitor both economic and transportation trends. We are blessed with a wonderful transportation network which would be valued in the billions of dollars if it had to be created today, and at the centerpiece of this transportation network lies

Journal Square. As we move forward in planning and rebuilding Journal Square, we are committed to smart growth planning, green and sustainable development, and walkable and livable cities.

ROBERT P. ANTONICELLO is executive director of the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency.

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Note to self: Stay FAR away from the Duncan Projects on September 1st!!!!

Kidding! I don't know anything about the projects on Duncan, but as for the JSQ construction......... Don't hold your breath dude. They have been taking around 3 years to tear the old buildings down (they still aren't all down) I can't imagine how long it will take to clear it and start to rebuild. But then again Grove Pointe was built in like less time than Rome and Noah's Arc.

Can anyone please tell me the latest news about Projects on Duncan. I have tried every source of info under the sun and cannot get a straight answer. Are all the buildings coming down? If so when. I have heard people need to be out by Sept 1. I somehow doubt that that will happen. I also wonder if anyone knows the latest on Journal Square and when construction will begin on the new residential and commercial buildings. Thanks.