In This Issue:

– New Jersey: Ideas – and Willpower – Wanted

– Catching One’s Attention At Moynihan Station

– Calendar


New Jersey: Ideas – and Willpower – Wanted
New Jersey is in a funk. While still a prosperous place by all accounts, the state is hemorrhaging high wage employment and wealthy residents and the state treasury is broke. There is seemingly no money to satisfy existing commitments and comply with court-ordered mandates, much less take on new initiatives. For one of the wealthiest states in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, this is a puzzle of staggering proportions.

Perhaps most distressing is that all of the big, seemingly intractable public policy issues confronting New Jersey seem to be on hold. The problem is not so much the lack of solutions, but the willingness to try them. Most have been apparent for years, if not decades, as both voters and political leaders have averted their gaze from this slow-moving train wreck. Let’s list all the state’s challenges, one by one, and view what quickly becomes a staggering catalog.

The Big List
First, there is the perennial challenge of property tax reform. Everyone recognizes that the state’s over-reliance on local property taxes to pay for local services is not sustainable and is leading to a host of undesirable effects in terms of local planning. (See RPA’s “Fundamental Property Tax Reform” series: Land Use Implications of New Jersey’s Tax Debate, October 2005 and A Guide to Evaluating Proposals, May 2006. These and more can be found in the New Jersey section of our publications page at www.rpa.org)

The mantra of most local officials is “not one more public school kid”, a sad commentary indeed on the state of our society. With fiscal concerns overtly driving most local land use decisions it should come as no surprise that New Jersey’s land use patterns are increasingly skewed and dysfunctional. Yet the administration and legislature have been unwilling to even consider alternatives to the current system, settling instead for election year “refunds” which simply postpone the day of reckoning.

Second, there is how we get around, in other words transportation. In New Jersey, that mostly means addressing the sorry health of the Transportation Trust Fund – the state’s primary source of funding for transportation – which is basically empty. The fund received an ill advised re-structuring in March 2006. By extending the length of the bonds which pay for the Trust Fund, the administration was able to push back the day of reckoning a few years. But starting in 2012 and continuing until 2023, all the revenues collected by our current gas tax will be required to pay off the interest on money we borrowed – and spent. (See RPA’s “Putting the Trust Back in New Jersey’s Transportation Trust Fund”, July 2005 and “Reform, Revenue Results: How to Save New Jersey’s Transportation System”, November 2005.)

How will the state fund the staggering investments - $13.6 billion over the next 10 years just for bridges, according to a recent study – needed to keep the state’s highway network functional? Adding to the crush, desperately needed and long overdue new investments in both statewide and local public transit systems and in pedestrian and bicycle facilities will be needed as well. The state has several options – from raising the gas tax (one of the lowest in the nation) or asset monetization, the selling or leasing of assets. But the public has strongly resisted any strategy that will include higher taxes or tolls, and politicians have shown time and again that short-term political gain trumps long-term fiscal planning in New Jersey.

Third, there is the challenge of housing all our citizens in a decent manner, in other words affordable housing. The lack of it is consistently identified as a major impediment in attracting and retaining the highly skilled labor force necessary to grow the state’s economy. (See RPA’s “Out of Balance: Housing” April 2004 and “Balanced Housing for a Smart Region” July 2006.) Yet there is no clear strategy for overcoming the state’s deficit in this area.

After a humiliating court ruling striking down its third round methodology, the Council on Affordable Housing has gone back to the drawing board, leaving municipalities and housing providers with numerous unanswered questions. The Meadowlands Commission, one of the state’s regional planning agencies and the only one with the ability to both overrule local zoning and to enact inter-municipal tax-base sharing, has also been soundly reprimanded by the courts due to its unwillingness to plan for affordable housing within its jurisdiction. Finally, earlier this year the administration released a much delayed plan to promote the construction of 100,000 units of affordable housing with state subsidies. Shortly thereafter, the Governor questioned the financial feasibility of his own administration’s plan, in light of the state’s current fiscal situation.

Fourth, there is how we educate ourselves, particularly the challenge of public school construction. The School Construction Corporation, created by the Legislature to fund the rebuilding of the state’s public schools, has run out of money. Funded by an $8.6 billion appropriation in 2000, the SCC helped underwrite a vast school construction program, mostly in the suburbs, while it maintained control over school construction in the distressed “Abbot” urban school districts. The SCC was dissolved earlier this year and replaced by the New Jersey Schools Development Authority. The new institutional format may address some of the troubled agency’s past inefficiencies, but it was not accompanied by the funding necessary to finish the job.

Fifth, there is the challenge of having space for our food production, our recreation and our general psychic health – open space acquisition. The Garden State Preservation Trust, the state’s very popular source of funding for open space acquisition, is also running out of money. After much wrangling, in lieu of reauthorizing a fully funded program, the administration and legislative leaders agreed to place a question on the November ballot asking voters to allow the state treasurer to issue $200 million in general obligation bonds – the equivalent of one year of funding. No one is happy with this stop-gap measure, which again is being justified by the state’s dire fiscal situation, but any long-term solution requires a new funding source.

Sixth, there is the basic bones of our civic body, our urban infrastructure. While the private marketplace has dramatically reoriented residential and, to some extent, non-residential development towards the state’s urban areas (Jersey City and Newark have significantly outperformed suburban jurisdictions in terms of residential building permits issued since 2000), urban developers are essentially on their own when it comes to rebuilding the cities aging infrastructure. The costs of decades of neglect – crumbling water and sewer pipes, expensive site clearance and remediation, street reconstruction, and other issues – is being hoisted on the shoulders of the private development industry. The state has been unable to create a dedicated source of funding for urban infrastructure akin to the substantial funding it has consistently dedicated to open space acquisition, primarily for the benefit of suburban and rural areas.

Seventh, (we’re getting up the ranks in ordinal numbers here), there is managing our development process wisely, or smart growth – the state’s smart growth agenda is essentially held hostage by the apparent inability to resolve any of the issues described above. Smart growth projects are victims of the local electoral cycle, where elected officials repeatedly make bad decisions on the basis of bad information, while the state stands by, apparently unable to intervene and stand up for the larger public interests. One high profile transit village proposal is put on hold by an orthodontist who doesn’t really like transit. Another transit village proposal is sidetracked by irrational fears of school children. The list goes on.

As does the list of major problems left untackled by the state. As the list above shows, it’s quite a list. While it is easy to point the finger at the Governor and current legislative leaders, it should be noted that a nearly identical list could have been made for previous administrations and legislatures, and that current fiscal constraints make these problems even more difficult to solve.

To get a picture of how difficult it is to implement fundamental reforms, let’s take a look at a legitimately big idea floated by Governor Corzine. “Asset monetization” would raise funds for public projects through the sale or lease of the state’s toll roads, lottery and perhaps other assets. The idea may have merit, depending upon the specifics of its implementation. (See RPA’s “Ground Rules for a Public-Private Partnership in New Jersey.”) However, it is an easy target for glib political attacks, and the roll-out of the administration’s asset monetization proposal has been repeatedly postponed, and is now not expected until after the November elections. But even assuming a form of asset monetization is adopted, and some fresh cash trickles into the state treasury, we can expect fierce competition over the allocation of the new funds, which clearly will not be enough to satisfy every need.

Ideas anyone? Of course, there are actually plenty of ideas, good ideas, around to meet the problems described above. But what is notably absent is the political willpower to seek out and use those ideas. Complacency reigns. At its core, this stems from a complacent electorate. New Jersey’s residents are too willing to accept quick fixes, duplicative services and unsustainable tax cuts even as an increasing number vote with their feet. Getting the state out of its funk will require more courage and creativity from our political leaders, but it will also require a public consensus that the solutions will require real reform and shared sacrifice.

– Carlos Rodrigues, AICP / PP, New Jersey Director, RPA

Catching One’s Attention At Moynihan Station
The sign on a building can be compared to its manner of speaking. Does it shout at passers-by or does it whisper? Does it talk articulately or coarsely? Does it seduce or repel you with its voice?

There are many contentious and difficult issues surrounding the proposed construction of Moynihan Station West and a new Madison Square Garden inside the Farley Post Office on Eighth Avenue between 31st and 33rd Streets, and one of them is signage. Madison Square Garden is a sports and entertainment arena, and it’s important to the viability of their business that patrons know where to find the Garden and what events are taking place there. Moynihan Station West will be part of the largest transportation hub in the country, and, similarly, it’s important that its patrons know where it is and where its principal entrances are. However, it is also important that the landmark McKim, Meade & White structure in which the arena and train station will be housed is not violated by garish or otherwise inappropriate signage.

Two parts of the building are of particular concern. First, there is the Post Office’s Eighth Avenue façade, with its iconic columns and grand staircase. Second, there is the western wall of Moynihan Station’s West Train Hall. The wall abuts Madison Square Garden, and word on the street is that MSG wants the white brick wall replaced with glass, allowing Garden patrons a view into the Train Hall, and train passengers a view into the Garden’s lobby. One issue with this design is that a 1910 McKim wall would be demolished, although granted, the wall itself was never meant to be seen by the public. An arguably even more critical issue is: How much MSG presence in the train hall is too much? When does the Train Hall begin feeling like the antechamber to the Garden?

Effective but discreet signage may not be able to address all these issues, but it would help with some of them, particularly how much signage intrudes into the building’s appearance and function. Are there any models elsewhere in the world to be looked to?

There is no analogue elsewhere in the world for a project like this: a sports arena and an intermodal train station sharing space within an historic Beaux-Arts colonnade building. But there are aspects of the plan that resemble other efforts.

As with the current Madison Square Garden and Penn Station, Boston’s TD Banknorth Garden, the relatively new home for the Boston Celtics, sits on top of the below-grade North Station. But the analogy only goes so far: Moynihan Station will be the busiest train station in the nation, and it will have a substantial street-level presence; North Station isn’t even the largest in Boston, and it occupies the bowels of the sports arena. Furthermore, Boston’s Garden was completed in 1995 and looks like a parking lot, while the century-old Farley Building is a registered landmark. Perhaps the lack of preservation issues in Boston is why the building’s signage has been relatively unrestrained, dominating the area visually.

In general, Beaux-Arts buildings have tended to stay conservative with their contemporary signage so as not to distract attention from the historic architecture. For example the New York Historical Society on Central Park West, constructed four years before Farley, for signage relies primarily on six vertical banners placed between the middle six of its eight columns. Pedestrians on Central Park West can see the five banners, as well as a giant one on the north façade, with no private advertising anywhere on the building. Viewed from directly across the street, however, the wafer-thin banners nearly disappear, and the columns are uncompromised.

Kansas City’s vintage Union Station, which shares its space with a science recreation center, Science City, keeps its permanent signage off the façade. The sign bearing the name “Union Station” in gold letters is detached, appearing on an island garden in the middle of the station’s circular driveway. When signs do hang from the building, they are temporary, removable banners usually fitted into the façade’s existing rectangular slots.

During its restoration process, Union Station in Denver, an architectural cousin of the Kansas City station, opted to place a sign not in front but on top of the building. The iconic orange sign reads “UNION STATION” and “TRAVEL BY TRAIN”, using new signage to recall an earlier age of rail travel. The sign was so well received that Denver’s Major League ballpark, Coors Field, copied its block letters and adjacent analog clock.

Moving away from historic building to more contemporary architecture, one finds a range of solutions to how to tell people where to go or what’s inside a building without the visual equivalent of yelling.

The recently built Hauptbahnhof in Berlin, a gargantuan glass box that is similar to Moynihan in traffic and global significance, generally keeps its facades and sprawling interiors as uncluttered as possible. The two multi-story glass towers straddling the arched entrance at the front of the station almost never feature signage, with one exception being a pair of giant banners congratulating the Italian soccer team following its 2006 victory in the World Cup.

While banners may have their uses, they are unlikely to be helpful at the Farley Building except in special circumstances because events at Madison Square Garden change on a daily basis. Unlike a museum advertising a single exhibit on display for an entire summer, the Garden may host a basketball game one night, a hockey game the next afternoon and a concert 24 hours later. For decades the Garden has relied on electronic marquees on Seventh and Eighth Avenues to display its schedule. It will surely be strident in opposing efforts to sacrifice useful technology for the sake of architectural preservation. One appealing idea is small electronic ground level sidewalk signs at eye level that can change daily or even more frequently to advertise different events or to show directions.

There are other creative ways to herald the Garden that are unobtrusive to Farley. TD Banknorth Garden, for all its aesthetic shortcomings, at least avoids making matters worse by paying for a Boston Celtics logo on a shoddy warehouse across the street. Given the state of much of Eighth Avenue below and above Farley, this might make good use of some of the building’s run-down neighbors.

American Airlines Arena, home of the Miami Heat, designates itself “Heat Country” with a series of lamppost banners featuring Shaquille O’Neal and his teammates, leaving the beautiful Art Deco arena untouched. Perhaps a similar idea at Farley might include the transformation of the sidestreets – 31st and 33rd – into a Christo and Jean-Claude-like gateway to the Knicks or Rangers.

The Museum of Emerging Sciences and Innovation in Tokyo takes a different, more radical route, placing signage on the ground. Almost all of its wayfinding is at foot-level, backlit beneath finished glass that does not get slick in the rain. It uses big arrows and icons – a coffee cup for the café, a bus for public transportation – to direct patrons.

A final idea to explore is what might be called “sculptural signage,” where a piece of art takes on an iconic function that identifies a particular building or area of town. You can see this in front of the Seattle Art Museum, where Jonathon Borofsky's giant “Hammering Man,” a multi-story cartoon-like steel figure swinging an anvil, has become key visual identification for museum. Another example is the way the Michael Jordan sculpture outside the Chicago’s basketball arena shouts “Bulls.” Perhaps there are opportunities for large public pieces of art around or even on the historic Farley Building.

Whatever the answer, what this brief survey of signage makes clear is that with a little patience and attention, a building can learn to speak both effectively and softly. With buildings as with people, shouting is often not the best way to get one’s message across.

– Alex Goldberger, RPA Intern, Summer 2007

To see a slide show of the places and concepts mentioned in this article, click here.

Questions or comments on what’s in this issue? Send them to the editor of Spotlight On The Region, Alex Marshall at alex@rpa.org

October 17
6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Renaissance City, Newark, New Jersey
Conference Room 1201, 11 Park Place (between Broadway and Church St), 12th floor

October 18
10:00 a.m.
Urban Open Space Faces Critical Shortfall
Join local government and community speakers overlooking Riverbank Park in Newark's Ironbound district calling for passage of Public Question #3 on Nov. 6 to ensure that open space funding will be available for urban parks, playgrounds and open spaces.
Riverbank Park at Raymond Boulevard, Newark
For more info visit www.NJKeepItGreen.org

October 19
8:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
NYC2030 Comparative Practices: Urban Regeneration in European and Asian Cities
Peter Head, Director of ARUP
Center for Architecture, 536 LaGuardia Place
RSVP at http://www.aiany.org/calendar/event.php?id=1004741 or email lmanville@aiany.org for more information.

October 19
9:30 – Noon
The Window of Opportunity is Now: How Wireless Can Move Us to More Sustainable Transportation
Robin Chase, Founder of Zipcar and CEO of GoLoco
Baruch College, Conference Center, 151 East 25th Street, Room 759
Please register for this free event by visiting utrc2.org, or by e-mail to seminars@utrc2.org

October 19
1:30 p.m.
Planes, Trains,and Automobiles: Technology, Transportation and Technique
David Hart
MoMA, The Donald B. and Catherine C. Marron Atrium, second floor.
Free with museum admission.

October 19
7:15 p.m.
Electric Railroaders' Association New York Division Meeting
St. John's University Manhattan Campus, 101 Murray St.
$5.00 for non-members. Doors open at 6:15 p.m.

October 20
2:00 p.m.
Forest Hills: Garden in the City
Recently ranked the no. 1 “cottage community” in the U.S. by Cottage Living magazine, Forest Hills Gardens exemplifies the “garden city” planning that Jane Jacobs criticized. But are there also Jacobsean virtues to greater Forest Hills?
Meet at Austin St. and Continental Ave., near 71st Ave. subway station.
$15, $12 for MAS member.

October 21
12:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Walking Tour of Broadway Triangle With Community Leaders
Part of an AIA/New York New Visions co-sponsored charette focusing on the Broadway Triangle in Bushwick. This is a fantastic opportunity to help a community envision a better future for their neighborhood, and also test some of the concepts advanced in PlaNYC.
Contact Michael M. Samuelian at 212-801-3915 for more info.

October 23
6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Contested Streets: Breaking New York City Gridlock
Film screening and Q+A
NYU Casa Italiana, 24 W. 12th St

October 23
6:30 - 8:30 p.m.
High Line Community Input Session
Join FHL and the NYC Dept of Parks and Recreation for a community session focusing on the preliminary designs for the High Line Section 2
Cedar Lake Theater, 547 West 26th Street (between 10th and 11th Avenues)
RSVP to (212)206-9922 or rsvp@thehighline.org

October 23
6:30 p.m.
Fall 2007 Booktalk Series
Alice Sparberg Alexiou, author of "Jane Jacobs: Urban Visionary"
The Skyscraper Museum, 39 Battery Place
Free, RSVP to 212-945-6324 or programs@skyscraper.org

October 24 - March 2008
Future City 20 | 21: New York Modern
New York Modern, the first in a cycle of three related exhibitions, looks back at prophecies of the skyscraper city in the early 20th century when the first dreams of a fantastic vertical metropolis took shape.
The Skyscraper Museum, 39 Battery Place
Museum hours are 12-6 PM, Wednesday-Sunday.
General admission is $5, $2.50 for students and seniors.
For more info call 212-968-1961

October 24
6:00 p.m.
New York City Traffic Mitigation Commission Public Hearing
2nd Floor Meeting Rooms G-H, Westchester County Center, 198 Central Avenue, White Plains

October 24
6:00 p.m.
New York City Traffic Mitigation Commission Public Hearing
Hofstra University, Room to be determined

October 24
6:00 p.m.
Tri-State Transportation Campaign's 2007 Annual Gala
Midtown Manhattan
For more information, call Veronica Vanterpool at 212-268-7474

October 25
6:00 - 9:00 p.m.
New York City Traffic Mitigation Commission Public Hearing
Kaye Theater, Hunter College

October 27
10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
27th Annual Drew Symposium on Industrial Archeology in the New York-New Jersey Area
Drew University Hall of Sciences Auditorium, Madison, NJ
$30 per person, $7 for students.

October 27
2:00 p.m.
Moses Makes Movies: Bridges and Tunnels to the World of Tomorrow
Laura Rosen, administrator of the MTA Bridges and Tunnels Special Archive will screen and discuss two films released in 1967: "Three Decades of Service" and "Once upon A Dump."
New York Transit Museum, Corner of Boerum St and Schermerhorn St, Brooklyn Heights
Free with museum admission.

October 28
12:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
It's an A-nniversary Tour!
"Take the A Train" with transit historian Joe Cunningham.
Reservations and advance payment required: $20; Museum members $15.
Call 718-694-1867 for more info.

October 29
7:00 p.m.
People and Buildings: Haunted Housing
Screening of 1992 horror film Candyman and discussion of public housing.
Anthology Film Archives, 32 Second Avenue (at Second Street)
RSVP required: info@anothercupdevelopment.org. Free.

October 30
10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Community Planning Session
An AIA/New York New Visions co-sponsored charette focusing on the Broadway Triangle in Bushwick. This is a fantastic opportunity to help a community envision a better future for their neighborhood, and also test some of the concepts advanced in PlaNYC.
Only limited AIA involvement required.
Contact Michael M. Samuelian at 212-801-3915 for more info.

October 30
6:00 - 9:00 p.m.
New York City Traffic Mitigation Commission Public Hearing
York College Preforming Arts Center, 94-20 Guy R Brewer Boulevard, Queens

October 31
6:00 - 9:00 p.m.
New York City Traffic Mitigation Commission Public Hearing
Main Theater, Hostos Community College, Corner of 149th St and Grand, Bronx

October 31
7:00 p.m.
Can One Woman (Still) Make a Difference? Jane Jacobs and New York
St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery, 131 E. 10th St.
$12, $8 for MAS members and students. RSVP at 212-935-2075 or rsvp@mas.org

November 1
6:00 - 9:00 p.m.
New York City Traffic Mitigation Commission Public Hearing
NYC Tech Klitgord Auditorium, 285 Jay St, Brooklyn

November 1
6:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
AIA Charette
AIA CFA
Anyone that is interested in participating should attend.
Contact Michael M. Samuelian at 212-801-3915 for more info.

November 5
6:00 - 9:00 p.m.
New York City Traffic Mitigation Commission Public Hearing
Williamson Theater Center for the Arts, College of Staten Island, 200 Victory Blvd

November 6
6 p.m.
New York is a City Best Enjoyed on Foot, Yet We Plan Our Streets for Cars
Jan Gehl, Architect of Green and Livable Streets
Presented by Upper West Side Streets Renaissance
Jewish Community Center of Manhattan, 334 Amsterdam Avenue at 76th Street
RSVP required: david@transalt.org. Free.

November 6
6:30 p.m.
When the Big Get Bigger: New York's Universities and Their Neighborhoods
Benjamin and Irma G. Weiss Research Building, Rockerfeller University, 1230 York Avenue
$12, $8 for MAS members and students. RSVP at 212-935-2075 or rsvp@mas.org

November 13
8:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Thinking Bigger: New York and Transportation in the Northeast Megaregion
Details to follow

November 16
8:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Vision Long Island's 6th Annual Smart Growth Summit
Melville Marriott, 1350 Walt Whitman Rd, Melville, NY.
More info at: www.visionlongisland.org

February 15
6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
The Annual Leadership in Transportation Awards
NYU Kimmel Center, Rosenthal Pavilion, 60 Washington Square South, NY, NY
For more information: http://www.nyu.edu/public.affairs/releases/detail/1434

February 29
NJF Redevelopment Forum 2008
Hyatt Hotel, New Brunswick
For more information: Tim Evans at timevans@njfuture.org or Jay Corbalis at jcorbalis@njfuture.org