City Council approval of Special Improvement Districts’ budgets will be in limbo until next Tuesday. Special Improvement Districts (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.
At a council meeting Wednesday, the Jersey City Council withdrew resolutions approving the budgets for the Journal Square Restoration Corporation and the McGinley Square Special Improvement District until a 10 a.m. meeting July 23.
Addressing the council Wednesday, Restoration Corporation Director Don Smart said the Journal Square SID was eager to get back to work and "just needed a little money to function." Earlier this year, the Restoration Corporation’s maintenance workers were fired when the organization could not pay employees. The city compensated by assigning workers from the Jersey City Incinerator Authority and the Hudson County Jail to clean-up duty.
In a Monday council caucus, the SIDs were told by the council that they had to follow procedure in submitting budgets, which the council said had not been followed in the past. At Wednesday morning’s council meeting, Raul Mercado, project manager for all four of the city’s SIDs, stated the budgets would be ready by Tuesday. Mercado added that he was working with information as it came in from the SIDs.
The budget for the Restoration Corp. was estimated to be $1.7 million. This was reduced to approximately $1.6 million when $200,000 was removed for a façade project that had not been executed. A further $80,000 in expected revenue failed to materialize when businesses in the India Square section of the Journal Square district were unable to join the SID.
The SID budgets were originally due in April.
In other news
In other news, at the council meeting Wednesday afternoon, the council approved a 15-year tax abatement for the development of a 11-story apartment complex at 700 Grove St. near the Jersey City-Hoboken border. The $25 million project would consist of 230 units and have 280 parking spots, according James McCann, the developer’s legal representative.
Downtown resident and activist Yvonne Balcer challenged the council’s actions, saying the apartment complex would contribute to the area’s traffic problems and cause flooding.
"You are taking Jersey City and closing it in," said Balcer. "The traffic around the Holland Tunnel is going to be made worse."
McCann responded that surveys of the building site caused no alarm for inspectors. Also, drainage plans for the complex had been approved by the city planning board. Councilman Steve Lipski noted that the Hudson Light Rail would move more people into Manhattan, relieving some of the traffic woes at the Holland Tunnel. Councilman Jerramiah Healy added traffic on the Jersey-City Hoboken border has always been bad, but that this should not deter the project.
"If you turned down every project because of traffic problems, there would be no projects being built," Healy argued.
In other matters, Rosemarie Bleda, a resident, criticized the council’s decision to put fluoride in Jersey City drinking water. Bleda argued that fluoride was a poison that contributed to a number of health problems.
"Who are they to say what we can drink," asked Bleda. "You can drink it if you want."
Bleda then suggested the matter be put before a citywide vote.
Healy calmly responded to Bleda, stating the amount of fluoride in the water supply would be one part per million. "The Surgeon General and the Center for Disease Control have recommended putting fluoride in water," Healy said. Healy stated fluoride in the water supply prevents tooth decay and would be a benefit to the children of the city.