Self-Pwnership?

Could one find a better visual analogy of Toll Brothers, 'The Morgan' than this one this AM? If you dumped your trash on their doorstep shame on you. If you're with the cleaning crew and left it like this, thank you.

Hey The Morgan, what kind of place you running there?

Johnny has first hand confirmation that if you don't want to pay going hotel rates in downtown Jersey City, you can call The Morgan, Toll Brothers abortion of a building (remember, they themselves slagged the design in a PADNA meeting) downtown and they will rent you, via AirBNB or similar program a room to let. Now, the Morgan is in the business of renting, long term leases, we don't think there was anything in the reading of their abatement language that allows them to turn their place into a de-facto hotel.

Johnny also heard this morning from a source in the building with knowledge of the situation The Morgan, nee Toll Brothers, appear to have rented entire floors out to corporate room finders for short-term stays. We understand from sources The Morgan isn't renting units as fast as they had hoped so it would appear, according to the stories, they have decided to perhaps skirt local hotelier laws and no doubt Marriot and Hilton would be interested in such actions.

Toll Brothers, a bad part of Jersey City.

Little things often paint a bigger picture

As all our Jersey City Desk readers know, Johnny is not shy at making predictions. If you'll go back and look at his record, sure he'll be the first to blow his own horn, he's often times right. Let's put that to the test once again.

Walking his dog down Bay St. towards the Hudson River (Gotta stop and get a to-go-cup of that Intelligentsia coffee at The Warehouse Cafe) for the second time in two weeks he noticed a chunk of concrete has fallen off the Manischewitz building, protected historically by the city and PADNA. While Toll Brothers who own the property are busy trying to possibly de-bug the new Morgan building (The one a Toll VP said he couldn't defend the look of) and driving piles for their phase two portion at Warren and Morgan, while legally required to save the historic remaining front section, they are doing absolutely nothing to protect something they are required to.

So why must they protect the remaining part of the Manischewitz building? It's part of the Phase three portion of their abatement (heavily abated) which requires a giveback to the city in the form of a downtown theatre between their Morgan building and the Manischewitz building. The very fact Toll has done zero to protect or save the front facade tells us all we need to know. You can't go back and save a crumbled building. Johnny thinks therein lies their plan.

They're not going to build that theater, certainly not as planned. Never on the timetable. This is Toll Brothers people, they have a god-awful record of agreeing to something in writing then running back to city planning for variances that fuck over residents and benefit themselves. Sad part is because they are a big developer for decades Bob Cotter and the slack-jawed yokels at City Planning have simply agreed to whatever builders want.

So, we have a company not known for keeping promises already letting a historically protected building crumble before the city's eyes and and city planning department and a city council willing to cover for the sins of the builders.

So here's the prediction if you haven't caught on: Toll will never build the PADNA giveback theater because they'll say the building they were tasked with saving is beyond saving. They'll claim the money isn't there. They'll say it has to wait. They'll claim the cost of saving the building are too much and they'd simply rather pay their builder friends to build something else and "Jersey City Planning" and the Jersey City council will allow this to happen.

Johnny thinks you can make some good book on this prediction at the Atlantic City casinos.

Manischewitz Building--Jersey City Desk file photo

Toll Brothers getting on the 'affordable unit' bandwagon

In Jersey City, if you want tax abatements for really ugly unnecessary buildings, you have to agree to put in affordable units, even if you plan on dumping them in the next city over once "city planning" and city council gives you the variance you'll whine for. Not Toll Brothers, no, Toll today is at the forefront of affordable units, case in point, here's their newest offering for low-income or those of modest means, "The Hovel at Warren".

Listed on Zillow recently this property goes for $399K and while it doesn't have running water or sewage connection you will get 100% authentic early-American hovel living, complete with a cool blue back porch and storage/extra metal pod sleeping for friends and family. What's not to love, it's a Toll property after all, built with all the loving care they put into the Morgan.

Another brand new building downtown, more slapdash work

Here's a corner of a building, one of those brand spankin' new downtown high rises. Yep, just look at the quality workmanship. Remember this kind of slapdash work when these guys go before city council and think they are worthy of tax abatements. When they go before city council and insult those would introduce financial sanity into the discussion because they, after all are the engine that drives the economy in their minds. Yeah, with work like this why wouldn't you think you're entitled to other people's money? So a corner of a new building downtown looks like an eyesore and exposes the kind of work being done on our dimes. It's one thing to insult the taxpayers with unnecessary giveaways, it's quite another when those giveaways look like ass and constantly mock those paying the note down for the developer. Well done Toll Brothers, who wouldn't want to live in a building with such attention to fit and finish. If a bottom corner of your building already looks like this just imagine the low-budget work inside (and we know the painting was done by non-union workers at The Morgan).

If Johnny was in the mood to pay between $2 large and up a month in RENT, he'd expect more than we see here from The Morgan.

C'mon Municipal Utilities Authority and Department of Pubic Works, try a little harder than this

Earlier this week the Municipal Utilities Authority (MUA) announced an "aggressive" campaign to start filling in potholes all over town. Why the MUA? Because the Department of Public Works (DPW) can't keep up because they are busy installing personal gas grills in their offices. Some of these potholes have gained mythological reputations and Twitter accounts. Johnny called one in, baseball size BUT it's going to become watermelon sized and SINK because if you look at the pictures below you can see a good six inch VOID under street level. It's sagging badly inward. We're of the mind the construction crews for Toll Brothers, Shuster, Lloyd Goldman's bunch via Pavarini-McGovern and Mill Creek should pass the hat since their trucks' constant pounding most likely exacerbated this one.

Johnny called it in and the "aggressive" MUA/DPW campaign stopped by and it looks like threw one, maybe two shovels of asphalt over it (some did get inside LOL) and left.

So our question to the MUA/DPW is, does this count as fixing a pothole? When you say you've fixed 5000 around Jersey City does throwing a couple shovels of asphalt count as fixed? You cannot half-ass this stuff gang. These holes get worse and worse and a shovel here and a shovel there doesn't do shit.

So, one more time, did you count this one at Warren and Morgan as a fix?

Toll Brothers does a lot of business in Jersey City

Now, we're not saying they do it well; their workers are slobs and care nothing about the neighborhoods they work in but what we just read about in New York City which Toll are actively defending, well it's just beyond the pale.

Toll Brothers has built projects where they add a few low-income or let's call them "affordable units" to a new building so they can gobble up your tax money they don't need in abatement form (Somebody needs to tell companies like Toll that the world won't end if they stopped building their shitty buildings). Then they $egregate the building. They have and are now openly defending putting in separate entrances for poor people vs. rich people. They don't really want the poor people at all but the poor people are what gets Toll the abatements. They wouldn't piss on the poors if they were on fire but they'll USE them to gain advantage. THAT is Toll Brothers.

What does Toll Brothers think about the criticism over their (and others) $egregation? Here we'll let David Von Spreckelsen, senior spokesmodel for Toll Brothers tell you how they see the poors who will use the "poor doors":

“So now you have politicians talking about that, saying how horrible those back doors are. I think it’s unfair to expect very high-income homeowners who paid a fortune to live in their building to have to be in the same boat as low-income renters, who are very fortunate to live in a new building in a great neighborhood.”

What an utter and complete piece of shit that David Von Spreckelsen is eh ladies and jellyspoons? What an attitude. But, again, THAT is Toll Brothers through and through. They are a classless company that we as a city should look long and hard at if we want to keep letting them do business here with their antiquated ideals. For now don't buy or rent from Toll Brothers properties. There are plenty of other choices around town that leave you feeling like a human being at the end of a day, not someone on a rope line hoping you can get into where you live because the riches are hanging out.

Has there ever been a better metaphor for what Toll Brothers really does to a neighborhood?

To protect and serve...and nap...

OK, don't get Johnny wrong, there is nothing funnier than developers like Toll Brothers or Mill Creek, Tish, Trump, or Lloyd Goldman or anybody else getting ripped off. They are required to foot the bill for the too many to count police officers often seen standing around construction projects doing nothing, sipping coffee, enjoying a cigarette and so forth. Well this guy, we'll call him Mr. Sleepy, has been tapped by one of these developers and he's found a great way to pass the day, sleeping in his car while he should be standing on a street corner looking important in his police vest and sipping coffee (picture taken at 8:55AM). Again, nothing makes us happier than a developer losing money BUT this guy is also supposed to be the one stopping truck and crane and backhoe traffic so people can cross at intersections. He should be the one stopping traffic from going down closed streets (because the police unions insist only someone with a badge can correctly point to a road closed sign). He should be another set of eyes out there looking out for the public or at least for the people paying him.

Also, what does Mr. Sleepy tell the residents who see him not only sleeping in his police vest, no, he's going the Full Monty with a sleepers blindfold on to boot. Johnny had seen this guy doing this before but spared him the embarrassment (not to mention the city) but figured maybe it IS time to break some eggs over at City Hall and get Police Chief Robert Cowen hipped to what really happens on the streets of Jersey City. Maybe he'd agree it's time to move these poor overburdened police officers off these gravy assignments and let citizen-tasked traffic coordinators handle pointing at road closed signs.

Maybe they can at least stay awake...

One picture helps sum up Toll Brothers sheer contempt for Jersey City residents...

...and shows the people in the Jersey City government who allowed them to close this sidewalk have their heads firmly planted up their asses (but what's new?). Here we see Toll Brothers setting up a sign telling people "Hey, we could give a shit about you and your neighborhood, just cross the street here and walk down THAT side of the road." Yes, road, there is no other sidewalk. So, Toll Brothers is really telling Jersey City taxpayers "Just walk in the street but don't bother us. If you get hit too bad."

Then of course there are the people in the Jersey City government who for years have kowtowed to stupidity like this. Mr. Fulop, department heads all need to go. Every last one of them. Send their cronies and lackey to the unemployment line and let them deal with their bad decisions that way. It's long overdue.

We're watching you Steve Fulop, BIG changes are necessary, especially with how the city deals with developers who could give a shit about the city they make bank in.

You can forgive those who trespass against you but for these guys it'll take a court appearance first

The JCPD was on scene at the corner of Bay St. and Warren where a group of about 10-15 trespassers had made their way into an abandoned warehouse owned by Toll Brothers. Johnny chanced across the scene while going to visit a friend who lived nearby. Police seemed more highly agitated about this call. Maybe it was because they sent 20 of them. Maybe it was because they had to call the guy with the K-9 unit (that guy was an ass) but either way the police rounded them all up and took them away in a paddy wagon.

Of note, one younger officer told Johnny to put his camera away. Johnny declined politely. Again the officer from across the street told him to put it away. Johnny was more firm this time in saying "No." He explained in a public place where he is in no way interfering with operations police MUST, that's MUST allow people to take pictures or video. After a few minutes this young officer came up to Johnny and apologized (Cool, right, doing the right thing?) and admitted yes he can take pics which all Johnny was trying to do.

The fellers in these pictures are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Councilmembers Fulop and Lavarro are on the right track in raising workers wages

Ward E Councilman Steve Fulop and Councilman at large Rolando Lavarro are looking to raise the pay of low-wage workers to well above the minimum wage. In their plan Fulop and Lavarro say that city contractors and businesses who receive city subsidies would have to pay 200 percent of federal minimum wage, or roughly $14.50 an hour or slightly less than new hires at auto plants would be taking in. It is not all THAT burdensome to the contractors. Oh they'll claim poor but these are the same companies that get mega-million dollar deals to develop OUR city and OUR land. You know, OUR city where we set the rules and where our city decides we'd like our friends and neighbors a chance to climb into the middle class or start or continue some kind of nest egg. 

Now, Mayor Healy wouldn't really come out and say he's for it or against it, instead he used the opportunity given to him to once again take a swipe at Steve Fulop:

“Knowing that Steve Fulop does little to nothing without a political motivation, my initial reaction is that this is his response to the criticism he took at last week’s council meeting regarding his plan that could have cut jobs from workers at the JCIA, particularly the Second Chance program.”

Mayor, grow up. What kind of response is that to Jersey City residents taking home more pay? Instead of looking over and through Jersey City residents and voters to get at Steve Fulop why not tell us if you are for this plan or against it. Far from creating "impediments" to business how about thinking about US for once? Mayor, are you really hinting that if the wages go up on these jobs, developers like the asshats at Toll Brothers will stop buying and developing properties they stand to make hundreds of millions on? WRONG. These developers still be good little piggies eating at the trough of tax breaks and some will wonder if Solomon Dwek still works for the city and how they might contact him. It's just how they roll.

Here's a nickel's worth of free advice. Mayor, you have an election a year from now. Now might just be a good time to try and reconnect with voters and not the big wheels. You might want to let them know you back them on wage increases and other kitchen table issues you've been MIA on. 

Snooki and JWOWW have moved on, it's time you start thinking about your non-tanned flock. 

Toll Brothers, cratering neighborhoods for fun AND profits

A mere 4 years since they were given the go-ahead to rip apart the old Manischewitz building near Morgan and Marin Blvd., work has begun. The Toll Brothers plans, hated by almost everyone in the Powerhouse Arts District (reading online it's hard to find a lot of people who like Toll Brothers or find them as some kind of community asset), are planning on three tall condo buildings of 30 stories, 35 stories and 40 stories (Just what Jersey City needs, more empty condos) on the site. Here are a few pics from demolition work going on at the site.

A RARE look inside the Manischewitz Factory

The old Manischewitz factory that takes up almost an entire city block between Marin, Bay, Provost and Warren in the Powerhouse Arts District hasn't been open in quite some time. The 1932 landmark is getting ready to be turned into some god-awful Toll Brothers cash cow and workers checking the water lines inside today left a door open out back and that was all Johnny needed.

Behold

McGinley Square residents get eminent domain letters from the Healy Administration

Property owners and residents in McGinley Square got letters this week that the city is planning on possibly using eminent domain as a plan is in place for newer housing and a very necessary bowling alley. While redevelopments plans can be a good thing, eminent domain is simply a cheap way of screwing landowners out of a fair deal.

Remember, this is the Healy Administration and Jersey City Council we're talking about, where deputy mayors get convicted of felonies, council members wind up going to jail and where there doesn't seem to be much accountability (When was the last time the actual Mayor of Jersey City answered for ANYTHING). How much of a fair price do you think homeowners are gonna get?

Oh we have questions. The city says they have a redevelopment plan. Like the one that gathers dust on Journal Square? In this Journal Square redevelopment plan is the use of eminent domain being discussed or is that just McGinley Square's cross to bear? After the city takes over these properties are they going to turn around and give them to private business to develop? Wouldn't that be great, take someone's property on the cheap and then give it a private business to make money on?

You better believe that's what's gonna happen here, property owners will be lowballed as under eminent domain there is NO reason not to. "Take our best offer or we'll just kick you to the curb". Then the city will practically hand the property over to some slimy development company like Toll Brothers to get rich off of while the people who used to own it try and find housing with the pittance they were offered.

A LOT of questions need to be answered before Jersey City and their band of cronies try this route.