DeFusco: NO Flood wall! YES urban wineries and coffee roasters!

Folks, Mayoral candidate Mike DeFusco's weekend Facebook post about Saturday's rainstorm has provided too much material for one day.

A couple of readers sent screencaps of the entire discussion thread.

That's how amazing and informative it was; informative about Mike's shallow depth of knowledge, inability to answer questions without rescue from his (Rovian) Brain, and dishonesty about the cause/effect of flooding due to a rain event.

When Mike posts on Facebook, he doesn't like pushback.  Ask him for details, his Brain jumps in. Challenge him, he calls your motivations "political."  GA was scrubbed and blocked for the (alleged) crime of using the word "bullshit." (He prefers the 'F-bombs' from his spicy Brain!)

So... read the Facebook thread and you will find that Mike and his Brain do not like the "$200 million" Rebuild By Design flood wall.   Mike writes, "we don't need a $200 million floodwall to fix this (rainwater flooding), nor would it have made a difference" and his Brain writes, "Don't build that wall!"

Note: Mike (and his Brain) live on upper floors of their respective buildings and did not flood in Hurricane Sandy.  Nor did his newly announced running mate, who lives in an area that did not flood.

Ask yourself: why is Mike confusing storm surge mitigation (flood wall barrier) with rainwater mitigation (sewer drainage)?

Doesn't he know the difference?

DeFusco either (1) knowingly misleads the public or (2) is an ignoramus.  He proclaims he can "fix" rainwater flooding in Hoboken's low-lying areas with these 3 proposals:

DeFusco's (3) Proposals to "Fix" Flooding  

(1) "Cut wasteful Spending" 
The irony of Mike DeFusco calling the City's expense on litigation "wasteful spending" is hilarious. Why?  The DeFusco camp is populated with litigants suing the City of Hoboken.

There's DeFusco fundraiser Plaintiff Carmelo Garcia, and Plaintiff Perry Belfiore who just received a settlement, there's Plaintiff David Liebler, in the early stages of litigation.  Maybe if DeFusco's Plainitffs drop their lawsuits, wasteful legal spending will be eliminated!

DeFusco claims "legal fees have tripled"- but haven't "settlement costs" dropped? Mayor Zimmer cracked down on the Old Guard game of suing the City (or BoE), then 'splitting' the settlement between Plaintiff, attorneys and other "friends of theirs."  GA once wrote about how this game was played.

(2) "Study smart public private partnerships"
Yes, study. Then study some more. Then study about studying. Then study again. Wait until you forget what you studied, then study more. Take notes. Lots of them. Notes, and more notes. Then study your notes. Write notes about studying your notes.

(3) "Expand our tax base to bring uses to benefit the community, like coffee roasters, hydroponic gardens, and urban wineries, which take the burden off residents while creating vibrancy. Using this increased revenue to fix our failing infrastructure."
Oh, dear. I'll translate.

DeFusco will "expand our tax base" by appointing a developer-friendly Zoning Board to approve height and density variances. More taxpayers stuffed into denser, taller development is how you expand  your taxpayer base.

Taller, high density development will not "bring uses" like "coffee roasters" and "urban wineries." Clearly, he's pitching to the upper-middle class and wealthy demographics that give a rat's ass about "coffee roasters" and "urban wineries".

Will taller and higher density development"take the burden off residents?"  It hasn't since GA moved here before the big development boom in the late 90's.  Developers and their puppets talk a good game, but their promises are as empty as the imaginary swimming pool Hoboken never got .

Now, about  "increased revenue to fix our failing infrastructure"...

Bwaaaah haw haw...

GA refers you to a 2014 Rutgers study called Strategies for Flood Risk Reduction for Vulnerable Coastal Populations along Hudson River at Hoboken and Jersey City  prepared for the New Jersey Governor’s Office of Recovery and Rebuilding and New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. 

There is plenty to digest,  GA won't cover it today. But, it's interesting to note that our combined sewer system (a combined sewer system mixes sewage and rainwater)  was designed with "flap gates" at each CSO (combined sewer outlet) outfall that, if working properly, should prevent flooding into basements and streets. However, the "backwater effects" prevent the operation of the gates. (Not environmentally great, since the overflow would dump into the Hudson River).  

The better method is to separate the sewage lines from the stormwater lines.

The study has identified the two areas of habitual rainwater flooding:

"It is suggested to separate the system of main streets that experience the worst flooding. A length of 32,968ft sewer pipes for H-1 drainage area and a length of 24,258ft for the northwestern area have been calculated.  The costs for both arrangements have been calculated"  

Um, Mike DeFusco's height and density variances ("increased tax base") won't pay for an $83.3M fix for our "infrastructure."

How many "coffee roasters" and "urban wineries" will pay the $83,304,600 cost to separate our combined sewer system at two locations? 

GA Note:
It appears that DeFusco's Facebook page has been scrubbed of much of his inane stupidity- but readers have preserved the original in screencaps.