Message from Mayor Bhalla:
"Earlier this year, our community rallied together to prevent former Governor Christie's administration from taking over the last piece of our waterfront. With Union Dry Dock no longer planning to operate as a business, we now have a historic opportunity to complete a contiguous, public waterfront park, a decades-long vision that is finally within reach. As a next step, I'm calling for a Special Meeting of the City Council on Wednesday at 7:00 pm to request authorization to seek to acquire this land by purchase or condemnation in an amount not to exceed $11.6 million, which is the value of the land as per our appraiser. Hoboken is well positioned to secure this land without any tax increase through our dedicated Open Space Trust Fund and grant opportunities through Hudson County's Open Space Trust Fund, among other funding mechanisms. Simply put, we may never again have this tremendous opportunity to complete our waterfront with a public park if we do not act now."
Let's see what this Council does tonight.
Stay tuned.
Pick the most counterproductive thing they could possibly do and that is what they will likely end up going for.
ReplyDeleteThe ordinance on first reading passed unanimously . Gianttino promptly excused herself after the vote and DeFusco who was not at the meeting called in late and voted yes.
ReplyDeleteA funny aside after Ramos announced DeFusco had phoned in, DeFusco voted yes and started one of his aggressive grandstanding monologues but was cut short by Ramos by saying "you had us at hello" and the phone audio ended. Everyone else on the dais smiled.
The only real question in terms of valuation is whether the City will be required to compensate NYWW for "relocating" operations they intend to move there. If the GiaFusco gang hadn't played politics and delayed the eminent domain process for what has turned out to be a pretty critical month, this issue likely would not exist.
ReplyDeleteThat's simply an irrefutable incontrovertible fact but it's also water under the bridge since we it can't be undone. The city holds a weaker hand thanks to GiaFusco but it's good to see the council working together to play the hand it has left.