Where Are We Now?

Editorial by Joe Hawrylko

Over the 13 years of this magazine, reporting and commenting on city development projects and the controversies surrounding them had been a staple of our publication. And this month, we decided it was time to get back to our roots.

The long-delayed Athenia Steel park project, the dilapidated former American Legion Post on Lake Ave., the beautiful but outdated Recreation Center in Downtown Clifton and the ever changing plan for Schultheis Farm on Grove St. are a few of the major city-sponsored projects that have stagnated over the years.

Some of these boondoggles have been a thorn in the side of the city since 1999—has it really been that long that politicians have been promising an expansive park and ballfields on the former Athenia Steel property off of Clifton Ave?

Naturally, in a democracy, we don’t expect things to happen overnight—or in a few months. But it’s almost a decade later and we still only have a small portion of Athenia Steel developed, and ironically, it’s subsidized housing, probably the one thing this city can do without.

Trying to put a finger on the root of the delays and problems, it seems to always comes back to a lack of planning. One would assume that before purchasing a property, those responsible would know the problems and have a solid plan in place before entering into a contract. But looking back to 1999 at the purchase, that wasn’t the case.

Did the Mayor and Council determine how extensive and how long remediation of the former steel factory would take and what it would cost? And did they have a plan to get cars and people on and off the property?

We can’t change the past. There’s no way to turn back the clock on the Steel deal. But we can learn from our mistakes—that’s why history is important—we learn from the past. But assessing Clifton in 2008, it sure seems like some politicians are on the path to repeat the mistakes of their predecessors.

Take a look at the old American Legion Post on Lake Ave. on our cover. It was purchased in 2007 and was going to be at the center of a strategy to bring newly constructed housing into an older and cramped neighborhood, Botany Village, while also satisfying requirements from the Council On Affordable Housing.

However, there’s a catch—the plan banks on homeowners voluntarily selling their houses to the city or a designated developer. They would then have first priority in moving into the new homes, which would be constructed on properties that have already been acquired.
It’s a slow-moving domino theory but no one’s knocked over the first tile.

With the little information we know about the project, it seems that it could go on for decades. There’s already plenty of variables that could delay or completely derail the plan.

Are we going to be housing residents in hotels for a few months while construction takes place? What if some residents in the middle of the proposed development don’t want to sell? These and other scenarios could through a monkey wrench into the process and delay the project.

There’s no set timetable—no plan—for this project, and that’s just bad planning. What will the city do when the second or third tile in this domino housing strategy does not want to sell? Will the Mayor and Council use eminent domain?

Lake Ave. homeowners seem to be in the dark about this Botany housing project. On the street, residents we chatted with only heard rumors about plans, and nothing official from the city.
Some neighbors say a parking lot or a small green park is what is needed for the area, but remain cynical about the chances of anything coming to fruition. And sadly, no one from the city has solicited them for their opinions.

Think this would happen in another Clifton neighborhood, one with more affluence and voters? Do you think an old, boarded-up building would sit decaying elsewhere in Clifton? It sure seems that Botany residents are being marginalized by the elected leaders, and that’s not fair.