Marathon (4-hour) July Council meeting... why?

Okay people, GA is 4 states away from New Jersey.  No, I have not watched the 3 hour and 54 minute video of last night's City Council meeting.  However, I planned ahead and procured a sucker someone to watch the meeting for me; someone to provide the following report to you.

You're welcome.

I asked my sucker source:

"Why did a July council meeting go on for 4 frickin' hours?"

Here's my sucker's- source's not-so-short answer:

"The vast majority of the mtg last night was spent discussing the ordinance to rezone Steven's campus, allowing for the creation of an "edge zone" on the eastern portion of the campus from, approximately, the Howe Building at the top of the hill running south down on top of the escarpment to the area across from the Little League field.  In that area (which is currently zoned 10 stories) the new ordinance would allow two towers at a height of 225' near the Howe building and the rest of the Edge Zone to be built up to 200' in height. 

The shameless, pro-development element of the council was fine with it (Ramos and DeFusco), and of the rest only Tiff and Doyle were on record as being opposed to the height, but sometime during the afternoon yesterday the Council Feather flags, aka Peter/Jen flip-flopped and decided they were concerned about the height (after assuring Stevens they were fine with it over the past 12 months).  Even Russo decided he might flip-flop and screw Stevens.  So with Falco recused (Stevens employee), and Stevens needing 5 of 8 votes, all of a sudden its much coveted zoning changes were evaporating.  So the troika (Jen/Tiff/Peter) decided to pull it from a vote but hear public comment nonetheless, and have another special mtg 7/25 (and hear public comment again then.)

There was a rumor during the meeting of the ordinance being changed to reduce some of that 200' area height, but that would necessitate another first reading, another Planning Board review, and then a hearing and vote before them.  And Stevens is hot to trot on this so it can build and open its twin tower behemoth (student Center first few stories, dorms above) by August 2021 and the new school year.

So the council listened to all the public that was 90% in favor of the ordinance, having been urged and aroused by Stevens to attend and support the Ordinance, notwithstanding the fact that Ramos announce at the start of the mtg that there would be no vote.

Of lesser import (but more heartburn) is a DeFusco ordinance that removed rear staircases down to yards from the lot coverage calculation. So effectively the 60% lot coverage zoning rule is now 62% with a 3' by 10'-12' staircase down into your yard from your home or deck.

DeFusco misrepresented the truth about fire code requiring it and other implications.  The planning board voted 7-1 against it finding it to be inconsistent with the master plan, and the council passed it 7-2 anyway (Emily and Doyle being the 2).  Naturally, DeFusco missed the Planning Board meeting, so the 1 was not he.

DeFusco's  dissembling and insults hurled at the Planning Board are something to behold. You really should cut a clip... it occurs at 7:50PM or so."

There's a lot to digest there.  

Interesting how the weasel that Giattino, Fisher and Cunningham put on the Planning Board missed ANOTHER meeting! What's his attendance rate-- 50%?  And the absentee board member has the chutzpah to trash the Planning Board at public meetings? How would he know what goes on there when he's AWOL (literally) half the time?

Jim Doyle didn't miss a single Planning Board meeting in 3 years. Not one! And weasel-boy DeFusco has missed THREE meetings in a 1/2 year! 

Unbelievable. So much for the former-Reformer's judgment. Jen, Peter and Tiffanie thought it was a real good idea to swap Jim Doyle for an absentee weasel.

I heard several members of the public BLASTED them (Ramos, DeFusco, Giattino, Fisher and Cunningham) on ethical trespasses and/or turning a blind eye to ethical trespasses. Such as Tiffanie Fisher's amnesia about her Pay-to-Play complaint she filed against her political bedfellow (and absentee weasel) Mike DeFusco. 

Yep, I heard there were some real Kodak moments last night... stay tuned.