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| https://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2018/08/hoboken_zoning_rules_at_center_of_new_claims_of_et.html |
DEVELOPER/APPLICANT DONATION
TO DeFUSCO CAMPAIGN
Accountability at last!
FISHER'S INCOHERENCE ON B-40
Tiffanie Fisher, B-40 co-sponsor sat silent. Only after Mayor Bhalla vetoed B-40, did Fisher offer this senseless word-salad for co-sponsoring the ordinance that decreased the 'donut hole':
Monday's Jersey Joural article sums it up, except for an error in the contribution amount: it is $1,200 not $1,100.
In the absence of a local Ethics Board to enforce Hoboken's Pay-to-Play ordinance , Mike DeFusco has brazenly racked up violations in the tens of thousands of dollars. GA counted an excess of $93K, to be exact.
Tiffanie Fisher, a DeFusco ally, shrugged her shoulders in agreement with the absence of an enforcement mechanism with respect to her own letter of complaint to the City. Ah well, if the City won't enforce egregious flouting of campaign finance law, then its okay with me! Fisher's toothless letter was mere kabuki theater during election season.
Perhaps getting away with that magnitude of P2P excess emboldened DeFusco to believe he was invincible in the legislative arena. Because, the panoply of excuses he and co-sponsor Tiffanie Fisher have offered to explain why they drafted zoning ordinance B-40, an ordinance to expand lot coverage, are absolute gibberish. I mean that literally.
From somewhere in Italy, at the July 11th council meeting, DeFusco dissembled on speaker phone how B-40 was needed to comply with local and state fire codes.... um, nonsense. Increasing the footprint of a building to meet fire code?
FISHER'S INCOHERENCE ON B-40
Tiffanie Fisher, B-40 co-sponsor sat silent. Only after Mayor Bhalla vetoed B-40, did Fisher offer this senseless word-salad for co-sponsoring the ordinance that decreased the 'donut hole':
Monday's Jersey Joural article sums it up, except for an error in the contribution amount: it is $1,200 not $1,100.
Now, an ethical Planning Board Commisioner would have returned the $1,200 donation. An ethical Planning Board member would not have drafted legislation to reduce a variance from a donor/Applicant.
That's what an ethical Planning Board commissioner would have done.
DeFusco denied knowledge of the application and donation? Really?
Well, you don't have to be Robert Mueller to suss that one out.
Well, you don't have to be Robert Mueller to suss that one out.
GA will find out how long the Application has been posted online, and when Planning Board commisioners received their package. In fact, GA will find out if the project was discussed at a previous meeting.
In the meantime, let's see if Fisher can offer a coherent explanation for co-sponsoring B-40.
Let's see if the Council majority can defend it, and offer a coherent explanation why they robbed the Hoboken donut hole. 'Cause once you make "an incremental change" (Fisher's words) you set a precedent to make another, then another.
Let's see if the Council majority can defend it, and offer a coherent explanation why they robbed the Hoboken donut hole. 'Cause once you make "an incremental change" (Fisher's words) you set a precedent to make another, then another.
I haven't seen this many hidden conflicts since Yappy threw his big gutterball a few years back. Guess that's how these guys "roll"...
ReplyDeleteFisher: "Disengage, Misinform, Obfuscate"
ReplyDeleteDeFusco: "I am the first openly gay elected official in Hoboken to violate ELEC laws"
Zing!
DeleteRavi's email on this subject just hit my inbox. It's important and necessary. It clearly calls Mike out for being the Developer $$ candidate that he truly is. It's critical that word begin to spread the word about Mike's true motivations for the law that he proposed and was passed through the votes of the City Council minus Jim and Emily.
ReplyDeleteWhat really get upsets me is that Mike would not be allowed to get away with this developer-led work if Tiff, Jen, and Peter did no allow him to do so. The election is over, they lost, why also lose what you used to stand for in addition to losing an election? It's outrageous. Tiff, Jen, and Peter, because they were mad about an election, mad about someone they called "Unelectable" winning, just abandoned good government. Those three chose Michael Developer $$$ DeFusco to be on the Planning Board, and took off Jim Doyle off the Planning Board. All three of them know that Jim has more intelligence and qualification in his pinky than Michael possesses. All three of them know that Jim is without conflict, while Developer $$$ Mike, who Tiff filed an ethics complaint about, is completely conflicted.
How did Mike and Tiff, Jen, and Peter think they could get away with all this nonsense without there being loud complaints? I can't wait to clean house in the 2nd, 5th, and 6th.
And about Developer $$$ Mike, Mike has chosen to build a political career by engaging in Swibinski-designed scorched earth tactics. He's burned so many bridges as a result. You give Mike 5 minutes to talk, he'll burn a bridge. Let's see how he does in 2019 when he was zero reform support, and in fact organized reform opposition and old Hoboken opposition (Terry, Mike Russo, Anthony Romano can't stand him), unlike his first election. I truly believes he suffers from the same delusion Dave Mello suffered from going into 2017. Non one except Dave was shocked by his 2017 showing. Mike is similar.
In the meantime, I'm glad Ravi is hitting back hard and drawing attention to the truth that Mike's legislative work is developer funded work to serve developer interests in making more money. Mike deserves it all. He made a poor decision to build a career off a scorched earth tactics. He'll suffer for it electorally, so will Tiff, Jen, and Peter who decided to side with Mike rather than what's right for Hoboken.
One way or the other, developers will want something for their investment, and he only has a year and three months to make good. But his election did a few good things in that it ousted Castellano, who seems like the better choice now, it revealed the true colors of the other council members, and his donor lists are a who's who of those trying to destroy Hoboken while getting rich. In the next election cycle, it will be impossible for all of them to lose that stench.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first read about this issue, it struck me as odd that this zoning law change, whatever it's merits (or lack thereof) was being made as a stand alone rather than as part of an overall overdue updating of the code. Now it all makes more sense.
ReplyDeleteEspecially when you consider the fact that the master plan is being updated by the planning board on which he sits! Is he just going to keep cherry picking the things his handlers tell him to propose as zoning changes?
Delete"his donor lists are a who's who of those trying to destroy Hoboken while getting rich. In the next election cycle, it will be impossible for all of them to lose that stench." --- Yes. We'll see how long the "new energy, new ideas" label lasts.
DeleteManic, incoherent diatribes are a useless "new energy", and selling out Hoboken to developers is far from a "new idea".
DeleteBut over at MSFOX they are claiming that Hoboken homeowners would want the change: "This is a pathetic political attack over a modification most Hoboken residents would welcome." Hmmmm, not so sure how many folks would agree with that....
ReplyDeleteThe disinterest in Defusco’s pay to play violations is the saddest change to that site.
DeleteQAnon Brice spreading horseshit again with the Geek chorus, Fallick, chiming in.
DeleteNo, fire escapes/rear stairs are not post-Sandy "requests." They are a second means of egress required by code, and favored by developers. Slapping a second means of egress on the rear of a building means more interior square footage, larger more profitable spaces. Developers do not want to count the rear stairs/fire escapes in lot coverage-- that is what this is all about. Deflacko's ordinance gives the full 60% to the building. Then on top of that, they want to add decks which include the second means of egress.
Tiffanie sat on the ZBA so knows better. She knows this ordinance has zero relationship to base flood elevation changes post-Sandy. She's doing CYA. No homeowner wants adjacent and rear new construction built further out, then on top of that ugly rear stairs/decks.
Tiffanie has debased herself (again) in her alliance with The Shady Bunch.
Funny - every building I ever lived in had a fire escape and all of them were built years before Sandy. He is so full of horse shit it is beyond belief. I am a bit surprised he keeps up at his blogging. Even he has to realize by now he has become everything he once stood against.
Deletethe mayor's awesome letter deserves to be posted in full and savored, calls out sellout MDF and the butt hurts hard:
ReplyDelete"As Mayor, maintaining the charm and character of our City while protecting our community from overdevelopment is a major priority. You can rest assured that I have your best interests at heart, and not the special interests of developers and their profits.
That's why I recently vetoed a developer-favored ordinance championed by Councilman DeFusco that would have reduced the amount light and air in the open area in the middle of our residential city blocks, also known as the "donut hole", all across the City. This ordinance would have resulted in the gradual erosion of rear yard open space and allowed developers to reap the financial benefit of larger units, at the expense of Hoboken's charm and character.
Developers doing business in the City, including those who donated to Councilman DeFusco's campaign, would benefit by being allowed to build larger buildings as of right, without any public input through seeking a variance for exceeding lot coverage, as they have to do today.
Additionally, this ill-fated ordinance was deemed by City planning professionals as being inconsistent with Hoboken's Master Plan, which is the official document that guides land use decisions in Hoboken, and the ordinance was resoundingly rejected by the Hoboken Planning Board as being inconsistent with the Master Plan. Despite this, Mike DeFusco chose to violate the public trust and place the special interests of developers and his donors above of the best interests of our City (although it's not surprising given his previous history).
I thank Councilmembers Jim Doyle and Emily Jabbour, who were the only two to oppose the ordinance on the Council, and the many members of the public who reached out to voice their concern to their Councilmembers, as well. I will remain vigilant in ensuring that any future attempts are likewise scrutinized and that the interests of our community should ALWAYS come ahead of developer profits.
Thank you,
Mayor Ravi Bhalla
P.S. Below is an excerpt from the Jersey Journal article highlighting this important issue, or you can read the full article here"
please yank this tool off the planning board.
ReplyDeleteQuestion - does the NHSA indemnify its commissioners for any action resulting from a constant, reckless stream of SLAPP threats? Because I suspect sooner rather than later, somebody is going to call somebody's bluff, and then we'll see who's going to regret what.
ReplyDeleteI don't know the answer to anon's 11:21 question, but I have an opinion on all of this:
ReplyDeleteThe reason the civil court system is so backlogged is all the useless, frivolous lawsuits that you people (and people like you everywhere) bring to it.
Go about your day and stop suing each other.
Fortunately empty threats of frivolous lawsuits do not overburden our courts. Only actual frivolous litigation does. But the empty threats are still concerning when they are intended to intimidate people and stifle political discourse.
DeleteI agree that that litigation threat and counter litigation threat seems unproductive - it's always a mistake to sink down to the extraordinarily low level of the individual making those threats - but calling out the behavior seems to me to be appropriate.
I'm going to sue has to be the most overused phrase in Hoboken politics. Even beating out "more voices are better." LOL
DeleteMaybe combine the two - more litigants are better?
DeleteThe comparisons between DeFusco and Cammarano are getting much easier to make.
ReplyDeleteoh dear, tiff just sent out a rambling 100,000+ word email trying to defend herself and explain how she's actually 100% in favor of protecting the donut hole but, ya know, that evil Ravi guy is misleading us all.
ReplyDeleteoy.
Her vote does not match up with her words. Hopefully she's coming around and will not vote to override the Mayor's veto.
Delete