This is why Paterson approved licenses for the controversial Art Factory complex

PATERSON — The controversy-plagued Art Factory complex — which looms at the center of a pending whistleblower lawsuit against the city — has gained approvals for renewed licenses allowing music and dancing at its banquet halls.

Councilman Michael Jackson cast the only vote against the license renewals. Jackson repeatedly has argued that the Art Factory gets away with circumventing city laws because of its owner’s longstanding support of Mayor Andre Sayegh.

“There it is, criminality at its best in the city of Paterson,” Jackson said during Tuesday night’s discussion of the issue.

But other council members said they had no basis for rejecting the Art Factory’s applications for renewed licenses. Councilman Luis Velez, in fact, asserted that there have been numerous successful social events at the Art Factory complex.

“Let’s party,” Velez said during the vote. “Let’s enjoy.”

Jackson asked the city’s law director, Aymen Aboushi, about the Art Factory’s original certificate of occupancy and whether the banquet hall operation was permitted. Aboushi said the buildings are so old they never had original certificates of occupancy.

The attorney said Paterson’s construction code official, Jerry Lobozzo, has determined that the Art Factory operations are covered by something called a “continuing certificate of occupancy.”

Jackson rejected that explanation, asserting that the building should have been required to go through new zoning approvals when it switched from industrial to commercial.

In his pending federal lawsuit against the city, Paterson’s fired community improvements director, David Gilmore, claimed that he was subjected to retaliation by the Sayegh administration because he had issued about 150 summonses against the Art Factory for illegal occupancy.

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Another city employee, Jesus Castro, filed a federal lawsuit alleging he was passed over for a promotion by the Sayegh administration because of his work investigating possible violations at the Art Factory. Court records say Castro recently reached a tentative settlement in his lawsuit, but city officials have not yet revealed any details about that deal.

Lobozzo, the construction official, has his own lawsuit against the city, one in which he accused Gilmore and Castro of spying on him.

The complex of buildings on Spruce Street known as the Art Factory operated as factories for about 150 years.  After the industries shut down, the current owner, David Garsia, bought the property, which is near the Great Falls.

Garsia renovated some of the buildings, leased space to pop-up arts-related businesses, and even planned a large Christmas party in 2015. But city officials intervened, canceling the party and shutting the complex because of what they said were widespread fire safety problems.

Gilmore issued those summonses in 2016, when the complex reopened after meeting the fire codes. Sayegh’s inaugural ball was held at the Art Factory in 2018, even though its banquet hall had yet to get its dancing and music licenses.

One of Sayegh’s first press conferences as mayor four years ago was at the Art Factory as he posed for pictures behind the wheel of a bus and announced that Garsia would provide a free shuttle for Paterson’s historic and downtown areas. But that shuttle service did not end up happening.

Joe Malinconico is editor of Paterson Press.

Email: editor@patersonpress.com

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paterson approves licenses for controversial Art Factory complex