Civilian complaints about excessive litter in Journal Square could soon come to a halt.
With three months left in its fiscal year, the Journal Square Restoration Corp., which oversees that area’s Special Improvement District (SID), had its $1.3 million budget approved by City Council Wednesday. This allows the city’s Economic Development Corp. to provide the SID with $600,000 in matching state funds.
SIDs are areas in which small businesses can pay a fee that will go back to empower, improve, and secure the area. Once the SID submits an annual budget, the city’s Economic Development Corporation, which oversees SIDs, will match that money with varying amounts of state funds.
“We as retailers in the area look forward to an exciting future,” said Elliot Braha, a storeowner and board member of the Journal Square Restoration Corp., to the City Council.
According to Don Smartt, the new president of the Restoration Corp., the organization is expected to be operational within 60 days. Smartt, who replaced Brian Coleman, said that the board is in the process of reorganizing as it attempts to climb its way out of a mounting debt that threatened bankruptcy. In addition to his new position, Smartt is the district administrator for the Historic Downtown Neighborhood Improvement District, a separate SID on Newark Avenue.
Like all SIDs, the Journal Square Restoration Corp. has agreed to collect its own tax assessment roll that is used to maintain the cleanliness of the district and help market the district’s businesses. Created in 1996, the Restoration Corp. has successfully transformed a transportation hub formerly known for its decrepit appearance into what many council people have referred to as the “heart of the city.” But by failing to submit its budget earlier, the SID had been ineligible for matching funds from the city’s Economic Development Corporation and was forced to borrow money from the Trust Company of New Jersey.
In several caucus meetings, city officials and council people debated why the Restoration Corp. had delayed submitting its annual budget for so long. Robert Byrne, the city clerk, had suggested that it was part of a ploy to break up a union forming amongst the estimated 30 maintenance workers whom the Restoration Corp. had let go in February when it could no longer make payroll.
Ward C Councilman Steve Lipski contested this theory each time, citing the EDC’s inability to accept many items listed in the organization’s budget. Since that time, there has been a structural overhaul in the EDC and the Restoration Corp., as new leaders have been assigned to each organization.
Since February, the SID had been financially choked by a $485,000 debt, which forced its management to fire the maintenance and security crews responsible for keeping Journal Square clean and safe.
The organization annually spends $416,000 on maintenance and $405,500 on security.
“We should be able to clear up our debt,” said Allen J. Magrini, vice president of Hartz Mountain and a Restoration Corp. board member. “We’re focusing on the plan that we’re going to initiate.”
Because the litter piled up quickly, the administration scrambled to find a quick-fix method for providing similar services. As a result, Journal Square’s maintenance has been a collaborative effort from a host of citywide and countywide agencies for over two months. The Department of Public Works, the Jersey City Incinerator Authority, the Hudson County Correctional Facility, and the non profit organization Ready, Willing, and Able have all participated in this effort. Despite this cleaning collective, certain stretches of time still ended in a flurry of garbage on sidewalks and streets.
Because the Restoration Corp. had assumed so much independence, the city was not familiar with the work that had to be done, according to the council. In order to ease the pressure on the Restoration Corp., the council has advised the new board to make some use of city services in the reorganized plan so that it does not strain its own resources.
Although the new plan is still being constructed, Smartt said that the Restoration Corp. looks forward to a healthy public/private partnership.