Bhalla supports reduced building heights at NJ Transit rail yards

In these last hours before Hoboken picks its next mayor, operatives have been throwing lies around like mulch.

One lie in particular reminds us of Ravi's views on the scale of buildings proposed for Hoboken's redevelopment zones.  Such as for the NJ Transit rail yards.

Since his 2009 election, Ravi Bhalla has opposed building heights for the NJ Transit redevelopment plan that are inconsistent with the intent and purpose of Hoboken's Master Plan.  

Transcripts don't lie. 

On December 2, 2014, the Planning Board held a hearing on Hoboken's Redevelopment Plan for the Hoboken rail yards. 

Then-Planning Commissioner Ravi Bhalla  raised objections that the heights of redevelopment which would be considered economically viable were inconsistent with Hoboken's Master plan;  Bhalla advocated for lower building heights  in favor of larger floor plates.  

2014: Bhalla argued for lower building heights for NJ Transit proposed redevelopment at the Planning Board 

Note that five years earlier in 2009, Team Zimmer ran on stopping NJ Transit's massive redevelopment plan which included its 70-story tower.

Guess what?   Zimmer succeeded in killing NJ Transit's massive 70-story tower proposal.  

At the Hoboken railyard, city Acting Mayor Dawn Zimmer holds a billboard with a slash through an NJTransit megadevelopment plan she managed to halt. 

Mayor Zimmer and Ravi Bhalla have been fighters for preserving the scale and character of  Hoboken in redevelopment zones. 

Recently, Bhalla urged the Council to consider a low-height "boutique" hotel at the Post Office redevelopment in favor of the W-Hotel height skyscraper supported by Jen Giattino and Mike DeFusco.   Ravi Bhalla and Jim Doyle were the only Council members to vote "NO" on the proposed 24-story hotel. 

And so, the false, ugly allegation that Bhalla has done horse-trading with a PAC to bring back the massive redevelopment plan the Zimmer administration successfully killed in 2009 is preposterous and offensive.

The basis for the smear is a $50K expenditure on (3) mailers critical of Bhalla's opponents by Stronger Foundations, an Independent Expenditure Committee (IE). 

Stronger Foundations IE is sponsored by the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 825.  This union endorsed Bhalla for Mayor in October.  

In the 2017 General Election, Stronger Foundations has spent a total of  $1,297,603 on 13 campaigns in 10 NJ Counties: Morris, Bergen, Monmouth, Sussex, Union, Hudson, Middlesex, Gloucester, Burlington and Atlantic.  

Stronger Foundations has spent massive amounts in south Jersey races:  $382,820.00 in the 8th Legislative District, $381,080.00 in the 11th Legislative District, $174,900.00 in the 2nd Legislative District,  $129,420.00 in the 3rd Legislative District, $101,345.00 in the 21st Legislative District.   

These are not in-kind donations to the campaign.  These are Independent Expenditures. 

 As defined by the Federal Election Commission: 

Independent expenditures are not contributions and are not subject to contribution limits. An independent expenditure is an expenditure for a communication that: Expressly advocates the election or defeat of a clearly identified federal candidate; and  is not coordinated with a candidate, candidate’s committee, party committee or their agents.

If you think that IEs suck as much as GA does (yeah, they suck) then elect Democrats who will overturn Citizens United v the FEC. the U.S. Supreme Court ruling which allows corporations and unions to spend unlimited amounts of money against particular candidates. 

Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission 558 U.S. 310 (2010) is a landmark U.S. constitutional law, campaign finance, and corporate law case dealing with regulation of political campaign spending by organizations. The United States Supreme Court held (5–4) on January 21, 2010 that the free speech clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution prohibits the government from restricting independent expenditures for communications by nonprofit corporations, for-profit corporations, labor unions, and other associations. 

Naturally, corporations and unions will spend money on candidates whose policies they believe will favor their interests.  Why would Stronger Foundations support Bhalla?

Not NJ Transit. Ravi wants to limit the height and scale of the rail yard redevelopment. If their interest was NJ Transit then the pro-development Mike DeFusco would be their guy, not Ravi.   

The answer for why Stronger Foundations backed Bhalla is Rebuild-By-Design.   

Bhalla is the only candidate committed to fulfilling the Rebuild-By-Design project.  

DeFusco trash-talked "the wall" and has shown little support for the project.   

 And those are my 2 cents