Fulop encounters hostile Jersey City crowd at JSQCA’s 4.5-hour Pompidou meeting

Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop encountered a mostly hostile crowd at the Journal Square Community Association’s meeting on the Centre Pompidou at Hudson County Community College that lasted a whopping four-and-a-half hours.

By John Heinis/Hudson County View

” … Most of the time people tell you ‘just don’t rock the boat, don’t make change, keep things status quo, you will get re-elected’ because every time you engage in something, you get these sort of conversations that open the opportunity for naysayers,” Fulop said, noting he would stay at the meeting for as long as necessary.

He continued that he wanted to correct misinformation, for example noting that the Centre Pompidou x Jersey City would really be more of a cultural institution than a museum, also noting that NJPAC in Newark had a ton of opposition before it was built and is now one of the most successful arts venues in the state.

Fulop went over the renderings that have been circulating since he announced the latest iteration of the project via an HCV editorial on September 6th, noting the new location at 808 Pavonia Ave., as opposed to the Pathside building – which was the original location.

The Jersey City Council will vote on the second reading of a 30-year tax abatement at that location for the KRE Group on Wednesday after it cleared first reading by a vote of 6-2(1) earlier this month.

Before opening the floor up for questions, Fulop delved into some of the financial concerns regarding the project.

“Today, the cost of the taxpayer is roughly $1.25 million, not a lot of money, and $2 million from the library on expanded services: not a decrease, an expanded budget. So you’re looking at, relative to our budget, a very small amount,” the gubernatorial hopeful stated.

“Where does the other dollars come from? Okay, we took the most conservative estimate of philanthropy from our professionals and that equated to roughly $3 million. The biggest change on why it’s economically viable today versus why it was not economically viable in the previous model without the governor’s help was because that [NJ]EDA grant … that we were using for construction before, were permitted to use that for operations now. That carries the majority of the burden for the next 10 years.”

Founder and Artistic Director Nimbus Dance & Nimbus Arts Center Samuel Pott, who has been outspoken about his opposition to the project, yelled out that some of those numbers were off, prompting others to shout before JSQCA President Tom Zuppa called for order.

Fulop committed to providing a 10-year budget for the project, which he followed through on, and after a bit of tumult from the audience, Pott stated the preliminary budget he received from a council member says the annual municipal cost would be $2.25 million.

The mayor responded that an updated budget factors in a Special Improvement District tax, which is projected to raise an additional $1 million a year.

Chris Capers, a member of LIUNA Local 3, asked why the project labor agreement (PLA) didn’t encompass the full scope of the project, to which Fulop said prior zoning decisions from past administrations did not permit such a deal to be made.

Therefore, only the land at 808 Pavonia Ave. – about 100,000 square feet – would have a PLA.

Former Ward B Councilman Chris Gadsden, also the principal at Lincoln High School, asked what KRE Group would have to pay annually in taxes without the abatement versus what they’re paying with the abatement – should the council approve it on Wednesday.

NW Financial Group Principal Michael Hanley said the total cost of the Pathside iteration of the project would have been nearly $200 million over 30 years, while the cost at 808 Pavonia Ave. will be more along the lines of $60 million.

Alvin Pettit, a local artist who sits on the Jersey City Arts Council (they backed the Pompidou project) who will be crafting a statue of LGBTQ+ icon Marsha P. Johnson in Hoboken, said art institutions are needed to bring in tourist dollars.

Zuppa noted that JSQCA got a question during the week asking that if the city can’t handle 911 operations and street cleanup, how can they be expected to handle something of the magnitude of the Pompidou.

Fulop reiterated that he erred in allowing the Pompidou to be repeatedly referred to as a museum, when it’s more of a cultural institution, given that there will be a wide range of programs and attractions for children, similar to the Liberty Science Center.

This reporter asked for clarity on how much the latest version of the project would cost, all in, as well as how the allocation from the library would be effectuated.

The mayor indicated that it was too early to estimate a total cost since the city has not secured a building yet, a sentiment that was echoed by Jersey City Redevelopment Agency Counsel Joe Baumann.

They also both made it clear that if the project goes south, the city would still own 808 Pavonia Ave. in perpetuity.

Regarding the library, Fulop said his administration has invested tens of millions of dollars in their system, doubling in the past six years, before explaining why this partnership makes sense.

“The library is a core part of the institution in programming in Paris and everywhere else in the world, it is part of their community mission … The library is an expanded service, not a reduction.”

Zuppa asked if that mean the city would allocate $2 million to the library, who would then give it to the Pompidou, to which he said yes.

A short time later, Centre Pompidou × Jersey City Co-director Anna Hiddleston-Galloni said that their goal is not just to replicate their location in France in Jersey City, but to instead incorporate their history and communities.

Ward F Councilman Frank “Educational” Gilmore said people are “pissed off” about the lack of transparency around the project, noting that financial assessments have not been available to date.

Fulop said the city has had this conversation for the past four years, emphasizing that he wished they had say eight months to wait for the project to move, but that’s not feasible here due to construction deadlines.

Additionally, Pott argued that NJPAC is not a reasonable comparison since they receive local and state funding, to the tune of millions of dollars, that wouldn’t be available to the Pompidou.

“What we’re deciding here is whether we’re going to invest in Jersey City, in our people, in our communities, in our resources, so what we invest in grows into something wonderful. The Pompidou requires us to pay a licensing fee to use their name,” he asserted.

“If we do not come up with that money to pay their licensing fee, they’re not invested! Okay, we’ve heard a lot of talk about how they’ve been involved in our community, as soon as they don’t see that check, they’re not gonna be involved in the community!”

Another vocal critic of the project, Dan Levin, declared that Fulop had been accused of “making stuff up on the fly” in court filings, therefore real time fact checking is necessary, before eventually asking why this couldn’t be put to the referendum.

Responding in kind, the mayor said Levin’s X account “is devoted to me” before declaring that a referendum would effectively kill the project since the time to build would pass before November.

As the meeting was into it’s third hour, resident John Ross pushed back on the notion that the timeline was too fragile to be altered.

“To try and push this through in a week-and-a-half, generally, quite honestly, it smells, badly. It’s not fair, it’s not good … This pushing and shoving and speedy trying to get it through,” he said.

” … You have the personal relationship with KRE, you are the mayor of Jersey City, you can increase the window of opportunity, and you could push back on KRE and say ‘give us a month.’ It doesn’t have to be done by Wednesday.”

Fulop repeated that financing is already in place for construction to commence and has already been delayed slightly, as well as that the building has been approved as a “by right” construction project.

” … It’s different than any abatement that we’ve talked about eight, nine years ago. A lot of those projects were not financially viable, absent an abatement. This is a different conversation on that and that’s the reason why the timing is what it is ultimately.”

Former Board of Education President Mussab Ali, a declared candidate for mayor, sought clarity on how much the public schools would receive annually, to which Hanley said it would be $3.2 million.

The meeting can be viewed in its entirety here: