At 100, Park Jewelers clock unmoved

The Park Jewelers clock is 100 this year

Will the 100-year-old Park Jewelers clock on Park Avenue ever be relocated as promised?

Probably not without someone raising a big stink about it.

Maria Pellum's Crescent Times brought the issue of the clock up again in a recent post.

As part of the complicated negotiations surrounding the development of the new County office building on the Park-Madison block, the developer (AST) was required by the Planning Board's site approval to purchase the clock from its private owners and move it to the plaza in front of the new building --

"...Applicant shall install the Park Jewelers clock on the site and will expend up to a total of $50,000.00, including the $7,000.00 cost of existing infrastructure, to relocate, acquire, repair and install the clock so that it is in working order and sound structural condition. If the cost exceeds $50,000.00, applicant shall advise the Division of Planning and Community Development to make appropriate arrangements to finalize installation of the clock."

Though there have been ongoing negotiations over unresolved issues with the project -- including obtaining a permanent certificate of occupation, the making of PILOT payments, and repairs to the cracked pavement, the public has heard nothing of the clock's fate.

At the time, the UCIA and the developer were disinclined to pursue the matter. At one point, the developer told the City they had brought a 'clock expert' out and that the clock was not working and would cost to much to fix. The real problem? They had not bothered to arrange with the owner to have the power to the clock turned on.

Agreements are toothless if they are not enforced. If the Robinson-Briggs administration will not champion fulfillment of the developer's promises, all Charlotte De Filippo and the UCIA need do is just sit on the sidelines smiling like the Sphinx.

Meanwhile, the clock, which has historic value as being the street clock (I am told) that figured in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and was brought from Brooklyn to Plainfield, is one hundred years old this year.

It would be nice to have a celebration in its promised location, wouldn't it?

-- Dan Damon

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More on the Park-Madison and UCIA issues from Plainfield Today --

• October 13, 2006: "The Joy of UCIA - 13 for the 13th"
  
  
• October 11, 2006: "The Joy of UCIA - The PILOT"
  
  
• October 10, 2006: "The Joy of UCIA (Park-Madison)"

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ARCHIVED POSTS OF PLAINFIELD TODAY FROM 11/03/2005 THROUGH 12/31/2006 ARE AT
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