The Fulop Flip-Flop

Pull up a chair boys and girls, this story is juicy, it's long, and it will show you that when Mayor Steve Fulop shows up for the ribbon cutting at 110 First St. Thursday morning will complete his descent into just another all about himself say anything politician.

To understand how utterly distasteful it will be Thursday morning when the Jersey City Mayor shows up to gladhand building owner Lloyd Goldman, BLDG and "The One" employees, (and we told you he'd sink to this) you have to know the whole story. An arts building used to stand on the property at 110 First St., The Art House. Artists would, as artists do, sleep there and make it an art community. Some 50-60 used the art space. This never sat well with Goldman who wanted the building at 111 First St. gone. The city under Mayor Healy sued Goldman. There are rumors online and still persist downtown Goldman sent goons to light fires to destroy the integrity of the building to get it condemned. Meanwhile the city actually stood up for the residents in PADNA and sued Goldman and won. Again and again the city won. Goldman would countersue and all the while the Jersey City fire department would be levying tens of millions of dollars in fines against Goldman. At some point an agreement was reached, with the help of convicted felon and then Jersey City Council President Mariano Vega, that forced the city to drop lawsuits and allow the Art House to be torn down and built over. Keep the idea in mind about the rumors of starting fires as you read later. Goldman agreed to 25 affordable units that once agreed upon told the city they didn't want poors living anywhere near them. So much so in fact Goldman's BLDG decided to pay into the city's Affordable Housing Trust Fund to keep them away.

Wanna know who supported the city's positions, the residents of his ward and fought against Goldman's shady dealings? Councilman Steve Fulop. We'd like to share with you, before Mayor Fulop shows up tomorrow and overlooks the destroyed city park right behind him that BLDG and 110 First St. contractors destroyed, without permission, in March (Remember now about the rumors of setting fires and in general destroying things to circumvent laws and rules to get what they want when it comes to that city park next to their property) and his thoughts about all things 110 First St.:

At least one council member still objects. Ward E Councilman Steve Fulop said the agreement is “not a good deal,” and noted that city Tax Collector Maureen Cosgrove voted against it at the July 13 meeting of the city Tax Abatement Committee, which approved the new agreement with Goldman by a 5-1 vote. “This thing is flawed on many front,” Fulop said at this morning’s council caucus. “This is a bad deal.” Jersey Journal 

The deal needs approval from the City Council, and Steven Fulop, the councilman for that area, is strongly opposed to renegotiating the affordable housing component, which he said is the sole concession the city got from Mr. Goldman in 2006. "The most important thing for me is that the city over the last nine years has shown no backbone," Mr. Fulop said. "It's created stagnation in that Powerhouse Arts District." Wall Street Journal

“I didn’t vote for the initial [amendment] as I thought that was a bad deal,” said Fulop, who said he would “absolutely not” vote for it this time around, either. Jersey City Independent

Added Fulop, “This may appear wise today, but in the long term it’s going to be detrimental to the city.” Jersey City Independent

There are more but you get the idea. Steve Fulop was all about taking MORAL stands against Goldman trying to keep affordable units, stands against bad tax deals being passed onto taxpayers, and voting against Vega's not enforcing the JCFD imposed fines. He stood on his moral rock and time and time and time again came out against the plans for the existence of a 38 story building 110 First St. and how they were implemented.

Tomorrow he'll be giving that aforementioned gladhand to public enemy #1 in PADNA and parade around with him and act like best friends. Why? Why would someone do that? Just because he's mayor now or because he might want something from BLDG and Goldman in the future such as an endorsement for governor or money for his campaign. It's sad we have to ask that question. Why turn your back on something you were so set against Mr. Mayor? Johnny personally would have skipped this event (and yeah he's dropped paying clients for being dicks later on but that's just Johnny, he has morals). Can "The One" even get a certificate of occupancy? Last we heard Councilwoman Candice Osborne was holding that up until Goldman/BLDG/The One makes good on repairing the city park they set on fire destroyed.

So enjoy your speech about the booming downtown and how you're all about it but just remember Mr. Mayor, the building you're cutting the ribbon on was a Mayor Healy joint. 90% of the construction you'll point to going up downtown was approved and started under Mayor Healy.

Remember, you were fighting things like 110 First. St. back then. Not so much now, huh?

The boycott of 110 First St. by those who support the arts, love downtown, are sick of the city going to the highest bidders continues...

The day after the big dig, how do we as a city respond

As Johnny documented yesterday, Lloyd Goldman's contractor, Pavarini-McGovern tore asunder a city park ie., city property. If you or Johnny had simply bulldozed a city property we'd be in jail. No permits, no run through city planning, no presentation before city council, no vote, no public input which it what we think this selfish petulant display by Goldman's people is all about. They knew the park was not theirs. They had a plan to redevelop it that needed to first see the light of day. They no doubt found out the neighborhood saw nothing wrong with the park and dog park and nothing needed to be changed. So they simply went ahead and invaded your land friends.

So the question becomes, how to punish Goldman's 110 First St. building. Fines of course They'll need to be in the SIX figure range to get Lloyd's attention. If any other developer thinks for a second that they can do what was done yesterday then any green space in your neighborhood, or any tasty property they'll simply see they can take it for pennies on the dollar.

Goldman's companies need to be banned from doing business in Jersey City for TEN years. Doing business in Jersey City is a privilege and this assclown has done nothing in his actions but call Jersey City residents rubes. If you like being called a rube or a backwater hick go ahead and let Goldman simply get away with this. It's time to start holding EVERY developer to a code of conduct, something currently sadly missing in Jersey City.

City council and the mayor need to ignore the grand opening of 110 First. Why aid and abet this kind of thievery. That's what it is folks, a theft of your land.

Speaking of the mayor, *AHEM* Mr. Fulop. You've been pathetically silent on this issue. You took an  oath to defend this city and it's resources. We can only think of one reason Fulop (who spoke against the entire Goldman plan back when he was a Ward E councilman) would be this silent; Lloyd Goldman could be a great source of cash if Fulop runs for governor. Well, help Johnny out. Sure that's cynical but where the fuck is the mayor on this? Why isn't he jumping up and down like any sensible warden of the city would be doing? This is the second most disappointing aspect of this story.

No more downtown abatements. None. These developers don't keep their words and frankly, downtown is swimming in offers for Zip car charging stations. You can't walk through PADNA without tripping over one. Tonight in fact a developer is going begging to PADNA over a new development at the corner of Warren and Steuben St. It's approved for 12 stories but the developer of course wants 15 and is going to offer bullshit nobody wants nor needs to try and get his extra three floors. If Johnny were PADNA he'd show them the dog park about developer promises, tell them 12 stories and if they don't like that get a lawyer. That meeting will be at O'Hara's (another business getting torn down by a developer) from 7-8 if you live in the PAD and wanna go.

We need to make an example, a big sorry example of Goldman and Pavarini-McGovern on this. No fine can be seen as too high. Getting required permits and meeting city guidelines are not that hard to do. Builders have done it for a long time here in Cool City. If you can't follow the rules, Lloyd, then get the fuck out of OUR city, asshat.