The other shoe has fallen in the 'Invasion of the Park Snatchers' caper

As you well know if you've been within a half mile of Johnny this week what took place in what we'll simply call PADNA Park. Developer BLDG thought they had approval to dig up a city park because they got some input from some people in the neighborhood and sent plans to the Jersey City zoning department. BLDG (Previously referred to as Lloyd Goldman's building - which it is) TOLD zoning they'd just go ahead on this in early March.

Isn't that something? TOLD a city department. That''s cute. This obviously came as surprise to Johnny who has been following this issue since long ago and who knew Ward E Councilwoman Candice Osborne expected a full city planning and city council review. City planning sure thought they'd be taking a look at the plans as well.  So yes, Johnny is the whistleblower here and he contacted the office of Councilwoman Osborne who got to the bottom of this pretty quickly and acted absolutely in the best interests of the city. While we wished Mayor Fulop had commented on this personally he sent out city spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill to address the issue from the city's point of view. Terrence T. McDonald, stand back with that notepad because here it comes:

"We are disgusted with their actions," Morrill said. "This developer will see hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs and losses at his building, as it will now remain vacant until we feel his actions have been corrected."

Ouch. No certificate of occupancy until the residents needs are met on the park? How about that Jersey City? The plans that were out there can be improved upon with public commentary (Johnny thinks the dog park part was pretty skimpy size-wise but then again he loves pups) and city planning assistance we'd hope. Maybe new plans arise, perhaps it's a hybrid. The important thing is that the city acted and acted fast and yes, stood up and told a big developer we don't do business the old way in Jersey City anymore. It's not just a shrug and a nominal fine.

We're giving the famous Jersey City Desk last word to Councilwoman Osborne on this because of all her GREAT work:

"The law means everything in Jersey City," Osborne told The Jersey Journal. "Developers and their professionals who brazenly ignore the law here will suffer the consequences."

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.

And thus a nickname was born...

Johnny was walking behind two women this morning who were seen looking at the new DeWitt Tishman 35 story building going up at the corner of Warren and First St. One woman looked at the other and said what a useless "POS" building (she used the more familiar term for POS, we're paraphrasing) it was.

There you go, it sounds good to us. The new building at 110 First shall hereby be known as the POS Building. Lady in the blue blazer and heels, congratulations on the name.