[NJARC] Ever wonder what ever happened to Harrison, NJ?

[john ruccolo]

Hi NJARC Folks,

Ever wonder what happened to Harrison, NJ, whose name
appeared on zillions of RCA tube cartons?

Here is an article that I posted on the TCA Reflector
last night, but got busy and forgot to post it here.
It was published in the NY Times in Feb.

I hope you find it interesting.

As Newark Neighbor Moves Toward Rebirth, Some Pains
Are Felt

The New York Times via Dow Jones

  Publication Date: Wednesday February 21, 2007 
  Metropolitan Desk; Section B; Page 3; Column 1 
  c. 2007 New York Times Company 
 
  By RICHARD G. JONES 

  HARRISON, N.J., Feb. 20  -- For decades, the nicest
thing said about this town
of withered factories, toxic waste sites and dried-up
ambitions was that at
least it was not Newark. Or that it was a great place
to park and catch a train
for Manhattan. 

  It was a sobering descent from the days when
Harrison, which juts into the
Passaic River just across from Newark, was the city
where the likes of R.C.A.,
Otis Elevator and Thomas A. Edison helped forge the
town's motto: "Beehive of
Industry." 

  "The factories left, everything left, some of us
stayed," said Manny Amaral,
the owner of a car dealership and a parking lot, who
has witnessed the ups and
mostly downs in Harrison for the past 25 years. "We
tried to make it better." 

  But now, even as a proposed $1 billion redevelopment
project on 300 acres of
abandoned industrial land along the waterfront has
captured a good deal of
attention and large-scale investment, some residents
are already asking if their
city's much-heralded rebirth is worth the trouble. 

  After more than a decade of discussions, preliminary
work has begun on the
first of a handful of projects that would almost
double the town's housing
stock, replace punched-out factories with more than a
million square feet of
retail space and make Harrison the home of a
professional soccer team with a new
25,000-seat stadium. 

  The concerns about the redevelopment project are
nearly as plentiful as the
abandoned factories. For one thing, residents question
whether the city is
prepared to handle all the new commercial development
and housing, which could
double Harrison's current population of about 14,000
and strain the school
system and other services. They are also puzzled by a
plan to build so close to
the waterfront, an area with a history of flooding. 

  Others question the presence of so many politically
connected developers, like
the company founded by Joseph Barry, Applied
Development Company. Mr. Barry was
released from federal prison in April 2006 in a public
corruption case. 

  Others with connections include the law firm of
Alfred C. DeCotiis, a
Democratic National Committee official, which played a
role in the stadium deal;
McManimon & Scotland, a Newark law firm whose lawyers
have contributed tens of
thousands of dollars to county and state party
officials, which was hired to
handle a $40 million bond sale; and one of the
principal developers, the
Roseland Property Company, which is led by the
chairman of the agency that runs
the Meadowlands sports complex. 

  Then there is the issue of the city's plans to seize
several properties for
redevelopment through the use of eminent domain. 

  "We don't mind the development," said Mr. Amaral, a
plaintiff who recently
lost a round in an eminent domain lawsuit. "We want to
see the town get better.
It's just the way they're doing it." 

  Change usually comes slowly to Harrison, as
evidenced by Frank E. Rodgers, who
was elected mayor in 1946 and went on to serve in that
post for 48 years. The
town's current mayor, Raymond J. McDonough, who has
held office since 1995,
referred telephone calls about the project to Gregory
Kowalski, executive
director of the Harrison Redevelopment Authority. 

  Mr. Kowalski dismissed the notion that politics
played a role in the selection
of Applied Development and Roseland Property Company,
which is headed by Carl
Goldberg, the chairman of the New Jersey Sports and
Exposition Authority, to
develop the area. "I don't see it," he said. 

  The grand plan for Harrison, which officials say
could take 10 years to
complete, encompasses four projects -- two involving
the construction of
condominiums and townhouses, which is the first phase
of an estimated 7,000 new
housing units, and another for construction of a
retail complex, and the
stadium, which will be the home of the New York Red
Bulls of Major League
Soccer. 

  Among the concerns is a tax abatement plan that
calls for a lump-sum payment
up front in lieu of annual taxes later. Critics say
tax abatement is not needed
here since the site is desirable enough to attract
developers without added
inducements. 

  Mr. Kowalski defended the abatements, and said that
if the project was seen to
fruition it would generate more than $2 billion in
taxable revenue. He deflected
the question of whether the town has sufficient roads,
schools and parking
spaces to accommodate such a sharp increase in
population. 

  "We're envisioning this as a mass-transit-oriented
project," Mr. Kowalski
said, adding that he expected most of the newcomers to
commute to jobs in
Manhattan. "We're not going see this huge increase."
He said Harrison had
already seen benefits from the redevelopment,
describing a new Hampton Inn that
opened recently as a "rousing success." 

  "We had big industry," Mr. Kowalski said. "We got
into the '70s and virtually
all of it was gone, we had brownfields" -- low-level
toxic waste sites
concentrated mainly near abandoned factories. 

  By the time R.C.A. shut down operations in 1976 --
it had made vacuum tubes --
Harrison was already in a downward spiral. 

  It was not always that way. During World War II --
perhaps the city's most
prosperous period -- there were an estimated 90,000
workers commuting to
factories within a 1.3-square-mile patch of industry
here. 

  The city has long been defined by the river and its
working-class population,
which over the last 30 years has shifted from European
to Hispanic immigrants,
who now make up more than a third of Harrison's
population. And it was the river
that insulated Harrison from some of the racial strife
in 1967 and the
subsequent white flight from Newark. The neighborhoods
of low-slung row houses
have largely remained stable, although in many cases
in need of improvement. 

  Yet despite the prospect of new residents and new
revenue, some residents
remain unconvinced that growth here is a good thing.
"I don't know, until it's
all built up we'll see what it'll do to this town,"
said Joseph DiBenedetto, 49.


  Seth Schneider, 29, who lives in Rockaway, N.J., and
commutes on the PATH
train from Harrison to Manhattan, worried about the
traffic the project could
bring. "It's already congested," he said. 

  Mr. Schneider, who works in the financial industry,
also wondered that with
the Newark hockey arena under construction and the
Meadowlands sports complex
just 15 minutes away, "Why a stadium here?" 

  Property owners like Mr. Amaral and Steven Adler,
whose father was a scrap
metal dealer, with adjoining properties near the
town's PATH train station, have
been made targets for seizure under eminent domain
laws. 

  Mr. Adler said he had been negotiating with
developers over four acres of land
he owns when he abruptly received notice that his
property had become a target
for eminent domain proceedings. "I don't mind
selling," said Mr. Adler, adding
that he had been offered about $20 million for his
property. "I do mind doing so
under the compulsion of condemnation." 

  Mr. Amaral said that he was not even allowed a
chance to negotiate and only
learned that his property was identified for
condemnation last fall. "It's sick
what's happening here," said Mr. Amaral, 55. 

  Last week, a Superior Court judge ruled that the
town could appoint
commissioners to begin considering the condemnation of
Mr. Amaral's property. On
Friday, Mr. Amaral received notice that he had 90 days
to vacate the premises.
Mr. Kowalski declined to comment on the dispute over
the use of eminent domain
because it is in litigation. 

  The two property owners have an ally in Steve
McCormick, a member of an
all-Democratic City Council who upset some members of
his party last year by
running a campaign that questioned the development
deals. "This town is an
unpolished stone," he said. "But this town is
basically being given away." 

  One day last week, Mr. Amaral pointed out the
abandoned factory across the
street from his businesses and spoke of the workers
who used to fill the street
now known as Frank E. Rodgers Boulevard. He also
pointed out a sign in his
storefront window that reads: "Stop Eminent Domain
Abuse." 

  "People come in and they don't know what it is," Mr.
Amaral said. "I say,
'It's where the government can take your property.'
They say, 'That can't happen
in this country.' I tell them, 'Yes, it can.' " 

 
  (END) 




 
____________________________________________________________________________________
Never miss an email again!
Yahoo! Toolbar alerts you the instant new Mail arrives.
http://tools.search.yahoo.com/toolbar/features/mail/