July 13, 2008
Dear Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy,
 
I’m writing to request a meeting with you, a small number of community leaders who live on both sides of the Jersey Ave. footbridge, with HEDC Director Carl Czaplicki, and Council President Mariano Vega to have an open discussion about the best way to see that Jersey Ave. Extension Road (JAE) does not become a major route for commuters trying to avoid Turnpike traffic.
 
Based on the fact that the Jersey Avenue road will be built, a recent meeting was held with both JAE opponents and the Lafayette JAE supporters to discuss common ground and unity going forward.
 
The very strong consensus was clear – that we must get the best design possible, a world class design for a world class commuter-unfriendly road, which will focus on connecting the park to neighborhoods and neighborhoods to neighborhoods and making Jersey Avenue into a high-class local street.  We want to discuss our solidly supported request that JC do the maximum in getting the best JAE possible and seek to implement Burma Road/Phillips St., Lafayette solutions to minimize commuter use of JAE.  Our city’s future, the quality of life of neighborhoods and LSP is at stake with JAE.
 
Most leading JAE opponents feel that instead of putting our time and energy into fighting JAE and further dividing neighborhoods, that we should use this juncture as an opportunity, with realism and a desire for neighborhood harmony and enriching our sense of shared multiculturalism, and a sense of trust in your willingness to fight and work together with different neighborhoods for us to get the best possible road, ideally something like a two lane road with a local town road feeling with no shoulder and with wide bike and walking paths, and a beautiful gateway entrance to LSP. We must have the best solutions to satisfy neighborhoods and minimize commuters and find solutions that will clearly lead to minimizing negative impacts and enhancing the positive possibilities.
 
At the meeting, in addition to a small group of leaders from Lafayette community groups and Downtown Coalition of Neighborhood Associations, myself and Eliza Wright of Friends of LSP, LSP administrator Frank Gallagher, John Neu, a responsible developer who is committed to the best plan for JAE and immediate area would attend. John is in touch with other developers seeing the necessity of getting a first-class local street development of the JAE.
 
John Neu has proposed that he (with help of one or two other developers) would pay for half of the costs to engage a legendary transportation planner, Sam Schwartz (“Gridlock Sam” who was Deputy Commissioner Transportation under Mayor Koch) of Sam Schwartz Engineering, SSE (www.samschwartz.com) to prepare a proposal to minimize the impact of commuters and maximizing the feeling of local streets.
 
We want to meet with you to seek your and the City Council support to fund the other half of the study, approximately $40,000. The group representing Lafayette and downtown neighborhoods and the Friends feel strongly that our dedication to the future quality of life is at stake here and JAE deserves this city funding to help us work together with your leadership and cooperation in getting JAE built with the best design and solution possible.
 
There is urgency for SSE to be hired also with funding primarily from John Neu and JC. The SSE study would augment the city's Dresdner Robin (DR) study and we could merge the resulting recommended designs and solutions, and give us all the important opportunity to pick the best of both, and then have JC’s chosen firm hired to implement the final plan.
 
I look forward to hearing from you and our setting up a meeting in the very near future.
I can be reached at 201-341-7895.
 
 
Sincerely,
 
Sam Pesin


cc:        Hon. Mariano Vega, Council President
            HEDC Director Carl Czaplicki