Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop appears to have taken the next step in the battle for control of the historic Landmark Loew’s Theater last week. The City Council voted to redirect $2 million from the theater to other projects. This is the second time the city has intercepted money that would go towards repair of the historic Loew’s after a Superior Court ruling last year said the city could not get out of its contract with the Friends of the Loews (FOTL), the non-profit group that runs the theater. Last year, at the request of the Fulop administration, the Hudson County Board of Freeholders redirected $500,000 away from the Loews.
Fulop had hoped to turn the palatial theater into Jersey City’s performing arts center by having professionals come in and restore then operate it. The Friends of the Loews, an organization of mostly volunteers, stood in the way, refusing to be shunted aside after investing more than two decades of sweat equity into the theater.
Unfortunately, the head-butting between Fulop and FOTL threatens to literally bring down the roof of the theater. All or a portion of the $2 million was slated for roof repairs that would keep the theater from suffering additional weather-related decay.
This inability of the mayor to come to terms with FOTL may lead to the destruction of the theater. The site is located in an up-and-coming area. FOTL saved the theater from demolition years ago when it was originally proposed to become site of an office tower.
Fulop, of course, needs a performing arts center if Jersey City to fulfill his ambition, especially if it becomes the largest city in the state by next year. Fulop has been frustrated by the fact that previous administrations failed to live up to their obligations to restore the theater. Since then, FOTL have been making repairs as needed, but do not have the resources to repair the whole theater at once.
In order to save the theater, FOTL will likely have to surrender control of its operations, something they are unwilling to do. With the law on their side, FOTL may well repeat what Roman Emperor Nero once did, fiddling while Rome burned.
Clash of titans
Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto is in a tough spot. He would love to have casino gambling allowed in northern New Jersey. But in order to forge an agreement that might make this possible, he would likely have to betray union labor.
While state Sen. President Stephen Sweeney – one-time president of the steel workers’ union – is willing to let Gov. Christopher Christie abort some of the contracts with union workers in order to help rescue Atlantic City, Prieto will not. Hudson County has a huge union presence. Prieto and other leaders here depend on union support.
Atlantic City is a quagmire of missed opportunities and a failed vision, a city with nearly as many social problems as Paterson or Camden, but inflated by the belief that casino gambling could save the city. Similar plans – if not so elaborate – were created to save Paterson and Camden as well. The construction of a federal building in Paterson was once thought to help save that city, but failed to take back the streets from the army of drug dealers and street gangs. Camden became the site of the USS New Jersey and the state aquarium, neither of which did anything to help shed that city of its dismal poverty.
Atlantic City has always been a tale of two cities, incredible wealth sponsored by casinos, and then the very visible poverty that has existed just beyond the waterfront. Some believed that perhaps through osmosis the wealth of one portion would somehow spill over into the other. Like plans to save Paterson and Camden, this quick fix didn’t work because it never tackled the real problems in Atlantic City.
Unlike other cities that have successfully recovered, Atlantic City never broadened its economic base, and so when the casinos started to fail, so did the vision.
While Prieto’s defense of union labor may be political expedience, Christie and Sweeney are equally mistaken in the belief that gutting the unions will solve the problems in Atlantic City.
The Sweeney-Christie solution would allow casinos elsewhere in New Jersey if part of that revenue can be used to help support Atlantic City. This comes from a Republican governor who has been critical of school funding that pours millions of state aid into poor school districts.
In both cases, it is very much like sending good money after bad. Pouring revenues from casinos elsewhere in the state into a failed economy isn’t going to save the Atlantic City, nor will gutting the unions – these things will simply prolong the agony in Atlantic City and make casinos unsustainable in Jersey City and the Meadowlands.
Revaluation madness
Bayonne is the latest target of the state’s demand for municipalities to bring property assessments in line with reality.
Early in April, reports emerged saying that the state – most likely the state Attorney General – intends to force municipalities including Jersey City to revalue their properties. Bayonne may be among them. A recent court ruling against Weehawken has already ordered a revaluation in that town.
Jersey City hasn’t done a large reassessment since 1988. Bayonne, which complied in the early 1990s, saw huge tax spikes at the time and may see a similar spike if forced to revaluate now.
The difference between Bayonne and towns like Jersey City and Weehawken is that new development hasn’t yet taken a foothold. While older homes are grossly under assessed, new residential development planned over the next few years could make the Bayonne revaluation out of date before the ink is dry.
In a year when Bayonne is already facing a tax increase, the revaluation is additional bad news for Mayor Jimmy Davis.
If the revaluation is done over the next year, the impact on property owners would be felt just when Davis is seeking reelection. Many believe Mayor Richard Ratkowski lost his reelection bid in 1994 largely because of the revaluation.
For the handful of people who are behind a movement to recall Davis, the revaluation may be good news. It is very unlikely the recall movement can get off the ground because those behind it would need to get the signatures of more than 8,000 registered voters. But the revaluation may just give them the issue they need to beat Davis in 2018. All they have to do is wait.
Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.