Civic JC e-Newsletter
www.civicjc.org

Volume 3, Issue 1
February 2008

Reform Initiatives Underway

The petition drive continues in effort to place two reform ordinances on the November 2008 ballot.

Proposed Contract Pay to Play Reform Ordinance

Proposed Multi-Salary Restriction Ordinance

If you are interested in obtaining a petition document to help gather signatures or to sign a petition, please contact ? info@betterjc.org.

Circulation Element of the Jersey City Master Plan Commences

Long time coming, the city issued a Request for Proposals in November 2007 for a consultant team to prepare a new ?Circulation Element? of the master plan that defines the City?s vision through the year 2050. The project is charged with creating an action oriented plan for a citywide, multi-modal transportation network for the movement of people and goods that strengthens the link between land use and transportation. The RFP requests that the transportation network be pedestrian-friendly, traffic calmed, congestion-mitigated and provide frequent and reliable mass transit service between home, workplace, school, recreation and shopping both for Jersey City residents and regional commuters.

A citywide traffic study has been one of Civic JC?s founding goals and we are enthusiastic about the commencement of the study. The project is to include a Stakeholders Group to be identified by Jersey City staff. We encourage community groups, neighborhood associations and other advocacy organizations to contact City Planning and ensure their place at the ?table?. This Stakeholders Group is to assist with the organization of public meetings, the establishment of goals and objectives, and the identification of potential alternatives and the selection of preferred alternatives.

Un-Zoning of the Powerhouse Arts District Continues (then the rest of the city)

Backed by the public exhortations of the city administration, the Planning Board recommended the Toll Brothers amendments to the City Council who will now vote on these changes during February. These changes include demolishing two historic warehouses, destroying and abandoning to the developer one of the city?s few remaining cobblestone roads and permitting double the density and four times height of the existing plan. These changes become permanent and irrevocable.

Beyond the dramatic reversal of public policy, the work, resources, near universal citywide support and multiple unanimous city council votes that went into creating the historic district and original redevelopment plan, the city?s refuses to respect the integrity of the planning, zoning and redevelopment process by continuing to rezone land developer by developer, property by property.

Bill Matsikoudis, Corporation Counsel for Jersey City stated in his Opinion Letter to the Editor of the Jersey Journal published December 4, 2007:

When I addressed the "domino effect" before the City Council it was clear that other property owners, including Toll Brothers, might seek greater densities and heights and I said those issues would "come down to policy issues" and that "with regard to those other properties, those developers or those land owners are going to have the opportunity to make their case to the administration, to the council, to the Planning Board, and you are going to get to decide on that."

It is very disappointing to hear our corporate council accepting spot zoning. The door has now been opened for individual deal making and more pay to play for each rezoning proposal to be evaluated not only in the Powerhouse Arts District, but within other redevelopment plans throughout the city.

Civic JC has endorsed the PADNA (Powerhouse Arts District Neighborhood Association) Legal Fund which will solely be used for defending the Powerhouse Arts District Redevelopment Plan against the Toll Brothers amendments and other similar challenges. Please make checks out to ?PADNA?, with ?Legal Fund? written in the memo section, and mail to the PADNA, PO Box 3834, Jersey City, NJ 07303.

Civic JC Civic Calendar

Please check our Civic Calendar for the posting of civic, municipal and political events to our home page. Please submit events here ? events@civicjc.org.

Civic JC is a non-partisan, community-based initiative, designed to promote good government practices and a comprehensive, positive vision for the future of Jersey City as a ?World Class City.?