The alleyway next to the landmark Loews Jersey Theater in the heart of Jersey City’s Journal Square has been closed, despite objections voiced by area residents.And it could remain off-limits to pedestrian traffic for as long as two years, according to projections by Boonton-based Phelps Construction, hired to restore the theater which opened in 1929.Another casualty related to the shutdown is the closure of Square Ramp Parking on Pavonia Avenue, whose entrance is at one end of the alley.Months ago, representatives of the city Redevelopment Agency and Journal Square Restoration Corp. had assured residents they’d explore alternatives to a complete shutdown.For many years, the alleyway has provided people living on streets behind the theater – such as Van Reipen, Pavonia and Magnolia avenues – with a direct route to the PATH Transportation Center’s buses and trains.Pam Andes, an aide to Ward C Councilmember Rich Boggiano, said the city administration – which has committed anywhere from $6.5 million to $21 million as its share of the projected $105 million project – “never warned us” of the alley shutdown in advance.“A lot of disabled residents called our office to complain it was too hard to walk around the side streets to Kennedy Boulevard (to access the PATH Center),” Andes said. “My heart goes out to them.”Tom Zuppa, president of the Journal Square Community Association, who had pitched a potential compromise of opening the alley during peak commuting hours, agreed that “there is frustration in the community” with the closure. “It just shows a lack of creative thinking.”More to the point, insists resident Steve Fahive, is that the city has no legal right to put the alleyway off limits to the public.As proof, Fahive cites the terms of an easement incorporated into the deeds of “all future owners of Lot 30 (Ramp Parking) and Lot 41 (Loews Theater) in Block 10601” designating the alleyway “a public right of way for pedestrians.” The easement applies “… at any and all times until another equally convenient passageway and means of access is provided by the opening of a public street or boulevard over and along the line of the aforesaid way or way,” according to the citation.“There’s no exception anticipating Phelps Construction closing the walkway more than 100 years later,” he concluded.“The city and JCRA are bound by the terms of the easement,” he said. Moreover, he added, “the city owns the deed to the Loews and must enforce  the terms of the easement on the JCRA and Phelps.” No one from the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency, which awarded the construction contract, or Chris Bernardo, executive director of the Journal Square Restoration Corp., returned calls for comment.The post Despite Protests and the Terms of an Easement, Public Barred from Loews Alleyway  appeared first on Jersey City Times.