Developers chosen to replace low-income units
But Downtown tenants get no guarantee that they can return

by Ricardo Kaulessar
Reporter Staff Writer

APPROVING REVITALIZATION ? The Jersey City Housing Authority?s Board of Commissioners on July 9 approved a development team for the revitalization of the Montgomery Gardens housing complex.

MONTGOMERY GARDENS MADE ANEW ? Montgomery Gardens is a six-building, 435-unit public housing complex managed by the Jersey City Housing Authority that is awaiting a master plan for its redevelopment.

The Jersey City Housing Authority?s Board of Commissioners recently approved two development companies to replace the Montgomery Gardens housing complex on Montgomery Street in downtown Jersey City.

But residents of the low-income public housing project have gotten no guarantee that they can return when their units are replaced with mixed-income housing. In fact, JCHA Executive Director Maria Maio said that she is not sure that all 435 units will be replaced, and that many tenants will not be able to return.

The matter has been controversial for some time, as tenants complained last year that they weren?t given adequate notice of the Housing Authority?s plans to replace their housing.

There was also suspicion that the private development company Metrovest Equities, which is building market-rate housing nearby, would get the contract.

True to form, Metrovest was chosen two weeks ago to work on the project ? as part of a team with another developer and an architectural firm.

By a 7-0 vote at its July 9 meeting, the JCHA Board of Commissioners authorized Metrovest Equities of New York, Michaels Development Co. based in Marlton, and Philadelphia-based architecture firm Wallace Roberts Todd to complete and implement a master plan that includes the design, financing, and construction/rehabilitation of on-site and off-site mixed-income units.

They have 90 days to complete the plan, with a deadline of Oct. 9. The development is estimated to take about five years.

Replacing public housing

Montgomery Gardens is a six-building, 435-unit public housing complex managed by the JCHA, an autonomous agency that operates with an $80 million budget. It is funded by the federal government through its parent agency, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

At the July 9 meeting, Jacqueline Alsbrook, a 27-year Montgomery Gardens resident, said she was ?apprehensive? about the revitalization. She wants to make sure residents will get their homes back if they are displaced by the work.

?I am not worried about the redevelopment, I am worried about the residents of Montgomery Gardens,? Alsbrook said. ?I want to make sure we are not dislocated.?

Changes to come

Last year, the JCHA decided that Montgomery Gardens would be demolished within two years. Residents only found out in an October New York Times article that the property would be redeveloped into mixed-income housing by one of four developer teams who had submitted proposals to JCHA Director Maio.

Residents felt that Maio should have told them before telling the Times, and some called for her ouster.

Since October, there have several meetings between tenants, the Housing Authority, and city officials to discuss initial steps toward revitalization, including a program to relocate Montgomery Garden?s tenants to other affordable housing sites. At the present time, 113 of the units are vacant.

Also, since last fall, the four development teams who made proposals met with tenants and gave them tours of other affordable housing projects they have built in other cities.

A team effort

Michaels Development and Metrovest Equities actually started as competing developers, two of the four who submitted proposals in September.

Now on the same team, Michaels and Metrovest will each have a different role to play, along with architect partners Wallace Roberts Todd.

Wallace Roberts Todd will create the plan, Michaels will be responsible for the development, and Metrovest will contribute the vacant land they own in the vicinity of the Montgomery Gardens site for the new project.

Metrovest has an additional interest in the project, since the company is responsible for the 1,200-unit Beacon condo project on the old Jersey City Medical Center site next door to Montgomery Gardens.
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?This will be a model of urban revitalization.? ? George Filopoulos
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Metrovest may also be involved in rehabbing any high-rise buildings that remain on the Montgomery Gardens site, similar to what they are doing at the Beacon.

George Filopoulos, President of Metrovest Equities, said after the meeting he looks forward to the project getting underway.

?I am very excited to work with a good team,? Filopoulos said. ?This will be a model of urban revitalization.?

The Montgomery Gardens project could be modeled after other Jersey City Housing Authority sites, such as Pacific Court located on Pacific Avenue, where there are now townhouses.

JCHA Director Maio said any construction will be financed with mostly private money by Michaels, since there is very little federal money available to fund the project.

Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonrreporter.com.

If there are empty affordable housing units, they should be taken away entirely. Knocking them down and replacing them with new ones is a waste of tax payers money. The housing gets destroyed immediately because the tenants have nothing vested in them. If the current situation is uncomfortable, perhaps it should serve as a motivator to work harder.

Buildings still standing, residents still staying
Future of Montgomery Gardens still uncertain

by Ricardo Kaulessar
Reporter Staff Writer


MONTGOMERY GARDENS STILL STANDING ? Montgomery Gardens is the six-building complex on Montgomery Street in Jersey City. Despite the lack of affordable housing in the area, more than 80 units lie vacant.

The six-building Montgomery Gardens housing complex on Montgomery Street in downtown Jersey City is either a relic of bad housing policy and should be torn down, or a group of necessary affordable apartments for hundreds of residents ? depending on whom you ask.

Montgomery Gardens is managed by the Jersey City Housing Authority, an autonomous agency that operates with an $80 million budget, funded by the federal government through its parent agency, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The JCHA oversees 2,670 affordable units in 13 housing projects. There is an estimated population of 7 to 8,000 people living in Jersey City public housing.

Last year, the 435-unit complex was slated for demolition within the next two years, much to the shock of residents who are not sure whether they?ll get their homes back if they are displaced. They found out in October through a New York Times article that the property will be redeveloped into mixed-income housing by one of four developers who have already submitted proposals to JCHA Executive Director Maria Maio.

The news caused an uproar among residents who felt that Maio should have told them instead of the Times. Maio claimed she would have told tenants about any future plans if they had attended past community meetings. She also said the Housing Authority?s Board of Commissioners voted publicly in June to seek a developer, and to offer vouchers to families wanting to leave.

There were calls for Maio?s ouster from the Housing Authority, but instead she was able to keep her powers.

Since October, according to Housing Authority Board Commissioner Raj Mukerji, there have several ?very good? meetings with tenants, but he deferred to Maio to answer more in-depth questions about those meetings.

Why are there vacancies?

At Wednesday?s City Council meeting, local resident and longtime public housing advocate Telissa Dowling addressed the council about vacant units in the various Housing Authority complexes across the city.
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?That?s 95 units [that are] off-line and not generating any revenues.? ? Telissa Dowling
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Dowling said the council should form a committee to question Maio about a 6 percent vacancy rate in the various Housing Authority complexes, which comes out to approximately 160 units. The ?6 percent? figure was cited by Maio at a City Council caucus in early February when she was questioned by council members about criticism made by former Housing Authority Commissioner Lori Serrano.

Dowling also mentioned that there were 95 vacant units in Montgomery Gardens, information she said she got from various sources connected to the Housing Authority.

?That?s 95 units [that are] off-line and not generating any revenues,? Dowling complained.

Speaking to City Council members in February, Maio told them that there were 83 vacancies in Montgomery Gardens, of the 121 in all the complexes. She acknowledged they have ?held off? reoccupying the units except for relocating residents from the near-empty A. Harry Moore complex on Duncan Avenue. She said there are limited capital funds to rehab the units and it costs from $7,000 to $10,000 per unit for such work.

City Council members Viola Richardson, Michael Sottolano and Mary Spinello all implored Maio to make sure the units are occupied, pointing out that there are people waiting.

Mixed feelings

Brenden Washington, a 19 year-old Montgomery Gardens resident, has lived in the complex his entire life.

?I don?t want it to change, but [the Housing Authority] is looking to knock it down, and I don?t want to go,? Washington said.

Shermise McKiver, 26, lived in Montgomery Gardens for the first 18 years of her life until she moved out. Her mother and sister still live in the complex.

?I hope they knock down some of the buildings, but not all of them, because there too many problems relocating people,? McKiver said.

Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonrreporter.com.

Yeah, he might want to lay low.

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Irresponsible! quoth Mr. Lipski

Sorry, couldn't resist

JCHA board returns Maio's powers

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

The Jersey City Housing Authority Board of Directors restored control over professional services contracts and personnel to Executive Director Maria Maio during a tumultuous meeting last night.

The board had taken those powers from Maio at a meeting last month, saying its members had not been properly consulted on issues such as the looming demolition of Montgomery Gardens.

A shakeup in the last month led to last night's reversal. Lori Serrano, the former chairwoman, was forced to leave for failure to complete required courses and that position was taken by Elba Perez-Cinciarelli. Jersey City lobbyist Raj Mukherji was appointed to fill the board's vacancy.

Speaking in a Marion Gardens conference room packed with tenants, Commissioner Edward Cheatam said the board should have more power to look after the interests of public housing residents and the JCHA's employees.

"How can I protect them if I have no say?" he said.

But the commissioners supporting Maio said the board was not designed or authorized to take over the agency's day-to-day functions.

During the public portion of the meeting, Shelley Skinner, speaking for City Councilman Steve Fulop, repeated Fulop's call for Maio to resign.

Councilman Steve Lipski said it was "irresponsible" for anyone to demand Maio's resignation.

PAUL KOEPP

JCHA board returns Maio's powers

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

The Jersey City Housing Authority Board of Directors restored control over professional services contracts and personnel to Executive Director Maria Maio during a tumultuous meeting last night.

The board had taken those powers from Maio at a meeting last month, saying its members had not been properly consulted on issues such as the looming demolition of Montgomery Gardens.


Hooray for Maria !!! A good person who really cares. And a defeat for Fulop and Skinner. Good !

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I think that one issue is that there isn't a big pool of affluent retirees and affluent ladies who lunch living here.

Most of us who are supposedly affluent feel pretty poor ourselves and have no time whatsoever.

But, anyhow, a lot of us live pretty close to the Villa Bourinquen apartments on Marin and barely notice that those apartments are there, except to be grateful that the streetlights there work. Even the drug dealers there seem to be under control.

Anyhow, how much does it cost to run the Bourinquen development compared with Montgomery Gardens? Is it astronomically expensive and pie in the sky-ish, or is there any way to apply what the folks at the Bourinquen development know to help the folks in the Montgomery Gardens project?

Could someone clarify this?

I had assumed the replacement of Montgomery Gardens by the Hoipe VI project would be on the existing Montgomery Gardens site.

FULOP is discovering how very corrupt the various housing agencies in Jersey City are. It is an eye-openiong process.

Yes, Maio should be retired. Thirty years in control of or second from control of all this money is about two decades too long.

It seems obvious that her first allegiance is to developers rather than those farther down on the economic pecking order.

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Your killing me here with these assumptions stating them as if they are truths (quoted above). Could they be true, I dont know, neither do you. So by your theory here, how about Duncan projects!! Who is behind that one? I will give you an assumption if you like...the golf driving range across the way demanded those projects be torn down. Or maybe it was the people who play handball in the park across the way the buildings windows reflect the afternoon sun in their eyes! Just had to be them, right?

Look we agree, being active is important, having an involved community is very important, squeaky wheels work some time. So, do you know of community meetings for the McGinley Square area? Can you share information if you have it?

We should aslo expand your question, where are the affordables for 77 Hudson, Trump, Liberty, etc...they are all offsite, right?

And if you have an axe to grind, just grind it, don?t try to cover it with other issues.

Oh, all of a sudden i am "not too shy to talk" what is the next level?

Everyone has the right to there own opinion but I won't waste much time going back and forth. I think its important for people to know what meetings are being held to discuss this important issue.
One thing is for sure: there is a direct relationship between the future of Montgomery Gardens and the Beacon.

Again I ask: what community meetings are being held in that area? No one seems to know.....interesting.

Dan mention inclusion....in this situation the residents of Montgomery Gardens deserve an answer that IS in black and white. It has to be crystal clear for people to know what is going on.

I have a suggestion: Why can't metrovest include affordable housing in the next phases of the project. That way the screened residents at MG can perhaps live at the Beacon. Another question for the City: where is the money that Metrovest has put aside for the affordables that they owe the city? Where will these people go as the MG projects are being torn down to accomodate the Beacon?

This should be an interesting issue when it goes before council.

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You dont need to tell me that i dont need to report to you, i know that. My only concern was that you actually believed all the broad assumptions and stereotypes you were putting forward. If you are this active I would rather you be aware of other possibilities than what you put forth here, the world isnt black and white its grey.

Just to try to nip another...nobody knows if there is a corrilation between wealth and ability to attend a community meeting.

No one needs to report to me what they do on their time my point is that in order for things to get done the way you want them to be done then it involves community activism.
Everyone can say that their schedule does not permit them to attend meetings etc but then they are ready to give an opinion such as "yes let's get rid of Montgomery projects or we need more JCPD, or there is too much crime here and there...." the squeakyy wheel gets the oil..that's all. I have contributed countless hours of my precious time to better not only my life but my neighbors...sometimes putting off a doctors appt to make it to a meeting that I think is important , such as a Captains meeting. I am not patting myself on the back , but I suggest that if you are going to make statements that affect many than you have to back it up with action if not then ride the wave like everyone else!
Those who are more affluent , whereever they might live in Jersey City should have no problem attending community meetings. From my experience the new JC residents usually are more vocal about the issues here and that's great but again if one person is voicing it rather than your whole block you won't get anywhere in city hall.

nah, i have the hard copy somewhere in the archives but i'd have to dig for it. searching the JJ site is a nightmare.

Haha, got a link to that article?

I can never, ever make it to local meetings due to my work schedule, and the only time I've emailed the mayor's office about a problem, it wound up in the Jersey Journal under some "weird but true" kind of heading. I'm actually not even making that up.

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How many people are active? My hunch at least the average amount if not more when compared to the city at large, a tiny percent of people anywhere are active?you know that, but I am not the ambassador for anyone so don?t ask me about others. I can only answer for myself w.r.t. involvement. I do all the ?normal? things, Pay taxes?vote?shop locally?ect. Beyond that I have contacted our local politicians on various occasions directly, in person too. I support and get involved local organizations that interest me?related to open spaces for people in JC, historical JC organizations/preservation, various environmental/recreational organizations, and the like. Also regional groups. I have tried to attend a community meeting before, work conflicts prevented me, actually as I sit here in the office now there is a council meeting going on I think. I would like to do more but when the balance of work and my life come in?it all comes down to time.

However if you prefer to think of me as among people who don?t care about the area they live in and are orchestrating what is happening all over this city, the stock market crash(es), various earthquakes on the other side of the earth, and wars around the world?whatever floats your boat.

You want a good book that talks about politics and people influencing major things in JC pickup ?the last 3 miles??

Alb now we are on to something!
This is why I stated the RELOCATING people is not the answer its weeding out the rotten apples.
The building have to come down because federal government has realized that housing people in box buildings is just plain trouble but the JCHA supposedly has a tough screening process to gain back entry into this low income affordables...so the bad apples relocate to areas where they know people just dont' care and where the JCPD does not patrol.
Those who can't afford to live in places like the Beacon are stuck with the bad apples because as many people here like to "assume" that if you are poor and live in the projects you must be uneducated, stupid, lazy, and a gun toting criminal.
See my other threads regarding CURFEW. I am a big advocate of CURFEW. If only we enforced this one simple law in Jersey City all under the age of 18 would be out of the streets.
If we don't get involved in our community then we can't just sit here and type away ideas.

Can I assume that the Beacon residents are at the forefront of seeing the projects go? is this a wild assumption? If so can anyone tell us if there are any community meetings at the Beacon or if you all attend the local one in that area? I am not assuming just trying to get facts to help me in NOT assuming.

Thank you

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One question would be what the ratio of diehard troublemakers is to ordinary residents.

It seems as if the city wants to knock down the homes of thousands of people to prevent crimes mostly committed by about, say, 20 rotten kids.

Why not lock the rotten kids up somewhere and let the rest of the residents keep their homes?

DanL:
Amen to that!!

JCSHEP:
Everyone here assumes!! People assume that the projects have to come down but when you don't like what you read you back off. I am not attacking anyone.
Is it a fact that many people that live in the Beacon are better off than others, YES ...Do you think someone on a teacher's salary could afford to live there??
Are most of the people at the Beacon life long residents of Jersey city? Probably not.
Let's go one step further how many of those residents are EX Montgomery garden residents that moved up the block and into the mini-city that the beacon is....? Doubt it.

If you have no further interest than you join the group that does not want to participate in improving the process you are here to make a statement and run?

How many people in that area are active in the community, attending police meetings, or city meetings? Based on attendance at all these meetings I will "assume" that people talk the talk but dont walk the walk.
This is not directed to offend anyone as when I post i speak from the heart and from life experience.
thank you

there are few issues going on here -

the performance of the director of our housing authority, the housing board, pending redevelopment of Montgomery Gardens and the lack of affordable housing in Jersey City....

Councilman Fulop shortly after assuming office had an excellant housing board commssioner appointed of his choice so the current situation should not come as a surprise. If there are problems or issues with long time professional staff, any decision should be well thought out and failrly assessed.

The redevelopment of Montgomery Gardens should not come as a surpise to any one involved. However, there should be plan in place to address the housing needs of its existing residents. With the current shortage of affordable housing in Jersey City, just providing section 8 vouchers is not a real solution.

We should be concerned about the designation of the developer for the project, noting that the designation of the Medical Center project did not go to the best bid and that the proposal process was rushed, many people might find the process rift with conflicts of interest.

I believe that people who look seriously at the low income / affordable housing issue come to agree that it should be inclusionary.

West Bergen neighborhood groups advocated for the Medical Center (now known as the Beacon) to be mixed income and include commercial activities open to the community at large. The PAD Neigbhorhood Association fought unsuccessfuly to keep the affordable housing requirements in the PAD plan. It is the city (our elected officials) that have removed or not honored these components.

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You have some good points for discussion. Unfortunately you cant seem to stop yourself from assuming inaccurately that you know what i think/care about. You also keep making general blanket statements about people...second time in this thread alone. You?ve drained any interest I have in posting any further response to this...

JCSHEP
NJ housing standards (COAH) is to enforce 1:4 housing.
Instead of including this housing in the development JC is accepting the money and getting offsite land for the developers to building sub par housing in another side of town. Guess where? In Lafayette or Greenville, mostly around MLK drive...
My point is why aren't they putting it in their buildings.? I agree the medical center is now a beautfiul project but it is cheaper for them to do offisite affordable and in turn they are futher contributing to gentrification.......
same as when they took the artists out of first street and are doing offsite affordable on summit ave and mlk drive....
People do your research....you will be surprised by what you find.

But then again if you live in the beacon you probably don't care about the rest of the city...just the perimeter that surrounds you. And so i say that Greenville and Lafayette need to stand up and voice their concerns too!

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Only those on the JCHA can talk to the decisions made. A couple of facts that I suspect are driving this:
-The federal plan Hope VI dictates this is what should be happening to this type of housing.
--Per Hope VI, this is happening across the country to similar high rises.
--Per Hope VI this has been happening to similar high rises IN JERSEY CITY (e.g. Duncan Ave).

I thought the tax abatement for the Beacon was a win for JC, sitting abandoned as it was the land would probably never be developed if subject to full tax rates. JC went from $0 in tax revenue a year for this land to?some large amount of money per year. How do you see the tax abatement tied to HUD?

Yes, if it takes replacing the whole JCHA Board of Commissioners then do so. It's not difficult at all.
I've been by the MG projects, and you can just tell no one gives a dam about the place.

Out with Maio, and replace the whole board if must. Not only for MG Projects but for others too.

To all of downtown:
KEEP YOUR AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN DOWNTOWN JERSEY CITY. DO NOT MOVE IT TO BERGEN LAFAYETTE OR GREENVILLE.
When you all knock down the projects, build the new housing in downtown.
Down with Off-site affordable housing!
If you don't know what that means then you don't go to community meetings, you don't attend council meetings and you don't read the local newspaper.

thank you.

To LTV congratulations on living well, but my point is that a lot of people who live well forget that poverty is directly related to crime, and that YES there are lot of people here who are living in JC that are wealthy and do not want to live near "the projects"(they have the Let them eat cake attitude)
....believe me most people are tired of certain areas of jersey city, but why wasn't everyone stepping in before? Why does it take The Beacon to "help" those in the projects get better homes...why didn't people care before? The JCPD and the JC administration of dealt with these issues way before you came into the picture.

I am not against it. I am against hypocrisy and people who sugar coat things by saying the JCHA and everyone are going to "help" those get better housing when in fact its for personal gains.
I do know what new developers do. As soon as montgomery gardens disappears there is going to be a lot more money in a lot of people's pockets.

Let's get rid of crime, let's not relocate it to other parts of Jersey city. Deal with it and fix it.
Why didn't the developer of the beacon create some affordable condos for low income since he is receiving tax abatements?
I can go on and on....trust me, I know what I am talking about. The haves and the have nots are going to be battling in Jersey City for a long time........
How many of you go to council meetings, planning board meetings, community meetings and really are involved in bettering jersey city? Or is it just all about "me"?
The solution is simple in Montgomery Gardens...........

Hmmm? A traffic stop that yielded a gun and 3 criminals? Yes JCPD, traffic stops do work.