E.D. on next Council Agenda (oh boy...)

Never a dull moment in Hoboken politics- especially 40 days out from a highly-contested election.

Today, Mayor Zimmer issued this statement:

The City was recently able to meet with the property owner of Union Dry Dock. Following the meeting, Union Dry Dock sent a letter advising the City that it is not legally able to even discuss a sale of the property to the City of Hoboken at this time.

As a result, the City Council will be asked to authorize the use of eminent domain for the acquisition of Union Dry Dock at next week's City Council meeting. The authorization simply provides the City with the tools necessary to facilitate negotiations and does not mean that eminent domain will be implemented. However, without this authorization, the City has no ability to even begin negotiations given the position taken by Union Dry Dock.

Okay...

The question is: can anything substantive get done at a Council that's split into (4) competing political campaigns? 

Those are (1) Team Giattino (Jen Giattino, Tiffanie Fisher, Peter Cunningham), (2) Team DeFusco (Mike DeFusco, Ruben Ramos), (3) Team Romano (Dave Mello, Mike Russo) and (4)Team Bhalla (Ravi Bhalla and Jim Doyle).

GA says "No".

Because we saw the utter shitshow Team Giattino, Team DeFusco and Team Romano created over  a simple contract renegotiation. Yeah, simple.  $40M in benefits to Hoboken, including forgiveness of our $8.3M contingent liability.

Team Giattino, Team DeFusco and Team Romano blew up that deal simply because the Mayor negotiated it. That's the truth.

So then, what can we expect them to do with the Mayor's request for permission to use the "tool" of Eminent Domain?

Giattino, active in Republican Party politics (Mitt Romney delegate at the 2012 National Republican Convention, John Kasich candidate for the 2016 NJ delegation)  may have an ideological issue with using eminent domain here, like she did with the Southwest Park in 2011. 

Remember her first instinct was to vote "no" for acquiring land in southwest Hoboken.

But, it is election season so... who can predict if Giattino will abide by Republican Party doctrine.

DeFusco, the performing seal, will whine "what took so long!" while looking down at his Blackberry... 

Expect one Council member lament "we need more information."

For the record, as much as I love DeFusco's pool- party fantasy, it doesn't feel feel good giving Hoboken's last maritime business the boot- unless they agree to sell the land at a fair price.  According to the city, without the 'tool of eminent domain, it cannot proceed to negotiate the sale of the property with Union Dry Dock.

Again, our Council members (excluding Bhalla and Doyle) have shown that they cannot put the interest of the City before their own electoral ambitions.  Let's see how this goes.

Here's a little history on the site from hMAG:

"The 3.15-acre parcel of land houses the Union Dry Dock & Repair Company, the last functioning maritime business on Hoboken’s once-bustling working waterfront. Since 2000, the property has been for sale.... 

Union Dry Dock opened in 1908 in Weehawken (even serving as a setting for a music video by the band Blondie in 1979). The company bought the Hoboken property in 1976, moving operations there in the 1980s. Previous efforts to sell the land have fallen through. In 2001, the Stevens Institute of Technology planned to construct a soccer field on the site. In 2005, there was a $15 million contract for the property, but the buyer backed out. In 2009, a developer hoped to build residential towers on the land, but local zoning didn’t permit it. And in 2012, New Jersey Transit considered obtaining the land for NY Waterway’s ferry maintenance and refueling."