Neighborhood rallies against proposed community center on Pine Street

[MCA™]

Jersey City nonprofit gets green light to build youth center on empty lot
By Melissa Hayes/The Jersey Journal
May 08, 2010, 9:00AM

A Jersey City nonprofit is one step closer to opening a youth center in the city's Bergen/Lafayette section. After arguing with Pine Street residents over building a center there, the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency has designated Team Walker as the developer of 373-375-377 Communipaw Ave., an empty lot owned by the city.

Pine Street resident Lycel Villanueva said the residents had nothing against Jerry Walker, who founded Team Walker with his brother Jasper. "We've always been interested in helping him," she said. "We thought what he was doing was right for the community. It just wasn't the right place." An attorney for Team Walker sent a letter to the city Planning Board May 5 formally withdrawing the application for the Pine Street project.

Jerry Walker could not be reached for comment, but has said in previous interviews that the organization runs its programs out of public schools and has been looking for its own space for about 10 years. The group has about $1 million, including an $882,000 federal Community Development Block Grant for the project.

He had been eyeing a double lot on Pine Street with a vacant house because it's close to School 22 and would serve children in that neighborhood. The new site isn't far away, at the intersection of Communipaw Avenue and Halladay Street. It's a large open lot that would allow Walker to build a larger center than the one proposed for Pine Street, which would have only offered programming to about 15 students.

"Now he has the opportunity to essentially start from scratch. He could really cater to what the community wants," said Villanueva, whose husband Miles Poindexter suggested the Communipaw site at a November City Council meeting. While Pine Street residents attended City Council meetings last year to speak against building on their street, dozens of Team Walker supporters also turned out to argue that a center is needed.

Villanueva, an architect and professional planner, said the residents were never opposed to the much-needed youth center, but said it wasn't permitted on Pine Street, which is part of the Morris Canal Redevelopment Zone. "There's a lot of misinformation about this whole project," Villanueva said. "I think we got vilified in the process because the people didn't know all the information."

[Brooklyn]

Live in Lafayette and not that anyone is opposed to it, its just that it totally makes no sense putting this type of facilty on a small strictly residential block.  As someone said there are plenty of other spots along Communipaw or Pacific that would actually be closer to the school and more appropriate of a location.

[MCA™]

Neighborhood rallies against proposed community center on Pine Street in Jersey City
By Melissa Hayes/The Jersey Journal
November 30, 2009, 7:16PM

A Jersey City nonprofit that runs after-school programs wants to open a community center on Pine Street -- but residents say the narrow, dead-end street isn't the place for such a center.

About 40 people attended the Jersey City City Council meeting last Tuesday, many to protest the proposed plan, but some to support Team Walker and its programs.

Team Walker was founded in 1996 by Jersey City natives Jasper Walker and his brother Jerry. Jerry Walker was a star basketball player at St. Anthony High School and Seton Hall University.

Jerry Walker said the organization runs its programs out of public schools and has been looking for its own space for about 10 years. The Pine Street site is close to School 22 and would serve children in that neighborhood, he said.

Walker wants to buy a double lot with a vacant building that would be torn down to make room for the center.

"I understand the concerns of the citizens around there, but the kids that I deal with, they know how to behave," he said. "I don't think there will be a problem or an issue with the safety of their families."

Walker has about $1 million in funding for the project, including about $822,000 in a federal Community Development Block Grant.

Residents described Pine Street and nearby Boltwood Street as a quiet area, occupied by families that don't want to see increased traffic.

"We on Pine Street are not against what Jerry is doing. We would like to help Jerry find a suitable location," Pine Street resident Deborah Sinico said at the meeting. "Pine Street is not a suitable location."

Resident Miles Poindexter suggested the city sell Walker two lots it owns on Communipaw Avenue.

Resident Dianna Guadagnino suggested vacant land on Pacific Avenue.

Walker said zoning laws allow for a center on Pine Street. He still has to have plans approved by the Planning Board, which bumped him from its Dec. 1 agenda after residents raised concerns.

Resident Chantel Snow lives next to a school where Team Walker operates an after-school program.

"Although the center will be placed on their street, their quality of life should not really be affected that much," Snow said. "We cannot underestimate the value of programs and after school activities."

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