Jersey City plans to crack down on neighborhood groups that don’t follow the rules when it comes to neighborhood gardens.
The city established the Adopt-a-Lot program several years ago in order to beautify city-owned lots that would otherwise be unsightly properties. In the past, the city offered two-year leases on a lot for $1. The program is overseen by the Jersey City Department of Health and Human Services and the Partnership for a Healthier JC.
These are “Earth Box” gardens designed to allow residents to turn lots into flower or vegetable gardens. The boxes are not planted directly into the ground, but upon soil above the ground.
But problems have arisen over public access and how the groups operating the gardens are organized.
“Some of these people act as if they own the land,” said Stacey Flanagan, director of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Community gardens established on city-owned property are supposed to be open to the public for at least 20 hours a week for gardening, and often are not, she said. There apparently have also been a number of internal disputes among those sharing a site over the division of fruits and vegetables.
Flanagan said the leases are being adjusted to focus exclusively on gardening. The changes would put greater control over the administration of the program with the Department of Health and Human Services. The city also wants to require greater liability insurance to protect the city from possible lawsuits.
“This is supposed to be about community building, but it doesn’t seem to be much community building going on.” – Stacy Flanagan
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The current leases expire in August, when the city will impose the new restrictions.
Organization is an issue
The lots are open to nonprofit corporations and associations. Some new leases may be issued for up to two years, but these would likely be with nonprofits. The city prefers to deal with nonprofit groups rather than loosely-associated groups of individuals. Flanagan pointed out that only one of the current neighborhood associations – the Riverview Neighborhood Association – actually has not-for-profit status.
“There are a number of conflicts ongoing inside some of these organizations over whether or not to become nonprofit,” Flanagan said.
What is grown on the site cannot be used for commercial purposes. She said state law prohibits the sale of vegetables grown on less than an acre of land.
She said new locations will come as a result of partnering with the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency.
Ward F Councilwoman Diane Coleman said that she had problems with one group on Ocean Avenue that seemed to believe they owned the property and could do whatever they wanted on the site.
“These sites are supposed to be open to the public for at least 20 hours a week,” Flanagan said, “so that anyone in the neighborhood that chooses to have a small plot can coordinate with the lot manager to get a small plot. That’s not operating like that now.”
The Department of Public Works received a grant last year to build a better organizational framework for these lots.
“These gardens,” Flanagan said, “are group-oriented. So often the group decides how to share what they grow, whether to donate these to local food pantry or distribute among themselves. This is supposed to be about community building, but it doesn’t seem to be much community building going on. We’re trying to bring this back to community focus.”
Wage theft protection law
Council President Rolando Lavarro has sponsored legislation that would enable the city to protect local workers from having their wages stolen by employers.
The legislation would allow the city to refuse to renew permits with employers who have been convicted by a court or some other state or federal agency of failing to properly pay an employee’s salary.
Jersey City will become the fifth municipality in New Jersey to address wage theft violations through local ordinance. One week ago, the city of Newark proposed similar legislation.
“Right now, the state lacks the power to deter bad actors and protect workers from wage theft,” said Lavarro. “Local leaders have an obligation to make sure all workers receive the wages they were promised and that the good businesses that play by the rules aren’t undercut by shady competitors.”
Wage theft covers a variety of infractions that occur when workers do not receive their legally or contractually promised wages. Common forms of wage theft are non-payment of overtime, not giving workers their last paycheck after a worker leaves a job, not paying for all the hours worked, not paying minimum wage, and even not paying a worker at all.
Wage theft is a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which provides for a federal minimum wage, allows states to set their own (higher) minimum wage, and requires employers to pay time and a half for all hours worked above 40 hours per week.
Under the proposed ordinance, the city will be empowered to deny or suspend the license of any Jersey City business entity that has been found liable of wage theft by the New Jersey Department of Labor or a court of law, and fails to pay restitution to its aggrieved workers within 90 days of a final decision or appeal.
A 2008 survey of large cities found that 64 percent of low-wage workers in the state have experienced some form of wage-theft, with 26 percent paid under the minimum wage and 76 percent denied overtime. On average, victims of wage theft lose 15 percent of their earnings a year.
In 2011, the Seton Hall Law School for Social Justice surveyed day laborers across New Jersey and found that many of them don’t know their rights and are reluctant to use legal recourse to enforce them.
Several council members, however, raised concerns about the ordinance, asking the city to notify business owners throughout the city before hand.
“I think we need to tell business people that we are doing this,” said Ward E Councilwoman Candice Osborne.
Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.