Holtzman vs DeFusco: Who's the REAL dud on the Planning Board?

That's one conflicted Planning Board Commissioner

Councilwoman Torquemada Fisher's relentless campaign to throw Commissioner Gary Holtzman off Hoboken's Planning Board is superbly ironic.   

First keep in mind that Fisher's idea of a "good" Planning Board Commissioner is the perennially absent, disruptive and always-disrespectful Michael DeFusco.  Remember, she picked him.

GA hears DeFusco is such a noxious presence on the Board they like it when he's absent.  His term is expiring soon. Will the Council of Spite return the never-absent, civic-minded, diligent Jim Doyle to his former Planning Board seat?

Of course, not.

GA suspects that if DeFusco will surrender the Planning seat, Fisher will grab it-- which the Board allegedly dreads. So I hear- allegedly.  From alleged people. Allegedly because she's the smartest one in the room and never tires of listening to herself.  Allegedly. 

So, see for yourself why it's superbly ironic that those who will sit in judgment of Gary this Wednesday (and who have preemptively tarnished his reputation in the media) hold high regard for a Planning Board Commissioner like Michael Defusco! 

Take a look, let's compare the two. 

GARY HOLTZMAN

Gary's been a resident activist in numerous land use and redevelopment activities for a long time... he was a key contributor to the 2004 Hoboken Master Plan, was Hoboken Dem Committee Treasurer (2007-2009), and served as Planning Board Chairman/Commissioner from 2011 to the present. He's got an OSHA 30 Construction Certification , Accreditation in  Land Use Law and Planning for municipal boards Level I & II, and a NJ Election Law Treasurer Certification- all are active.  

Gary is passionate about his Hoboken Planning Board service--  he is the kind of guy who would poll his peers and create a list of land use lawyers to assist both sides: the Board side and the Applicant side. (No board member wants to suffer an application from a crappy, inexperienced lawyer.)  GA knows Gary for years-- he is  honest as the day is long.

A former Planning Board professional who serves as Director of Planning, Zoning, and Community Development Toms River, NJ  said about Holtzman: 

"Of all of the chairs of planning boards in New Jersey that I have worked with over 35 years, I regard Gary as one of the two or three most effective. Hoboken is an exciting, robust and socioeconomically complex city that is struggling to maintain its unique character under tremendous growth pressure, while restructuring its administrative and governmental capability after years of dysfunction. Gary is a passionate and fearless champion for his beloved city and it was a privilege to be on his team with the Hoboken Planning Board.

Finally, GA searched the ELEC contributions database to check Gary's donation history, and could find none.  If he did donate, the amounts were too small to meet ELEC's reporting threshold.    

Holtzman has no issues which raise any red flags about his ability to perform effectively on Hoboken's Planning Board. 

To the contrary; he has a rich foundation in Land Use and Planning Law, and GA hears he does attend meetings.

MICHAEL DEFUSCO

In contrast, Michael DeFusco occasionally attends Planning Board meetings. Sometimes. 

Folks may recall how the appearance of impropriety hung heavily over DeFusco's recent Council effort to change the 'rear yard ordinance' which would have increased lot coverage. DeFusco's ordinance change would have eliminated a variance for at least one Planning Board Applicant: 318 Madison, who had donated $1,200 in total to the DeFusco campaign. 

click to read 

Planner's Report for 318 Madison

The appearance of impropriety goes on...  Planning Commissioner DeFusco's social media account shows an unseemly promotion of a developers project at the Hoboken rail yards. 

Councilman DeFusco is also on record trying to undermine public confidence in and the credibility of Hoboken's Planning Board. On July 11, 2018 he said this on the record at the Hoboken City Council:  

 "I feel frankly that the Planning Board is simply looking to maintain jurisdiction, not because its not good planning but because they are a bureaucratic board that looks to hold as much power as they can and I can understand why certain members of that board would like to see more projects go to them, it gives them more meetings to go to which gives them more play within the community..."

As mentioned, political donations from Applicants have caused- and will continue to cause-  conflict for Mike DeFusco as a Planning Commissioner.  His contributor base of businesses and developers who appear before the Planning Board (or are likely to) is vast. So far, on at least 3 of occasions, he has had to recuse himself  when it was discovered that Applicants had given money to his mayoral campaign.   

As mentioned, a search of ELEC's database for Holtzman contributions turned up zero. 

This is what a search for DeFusco contributors turned up.

blue= contributor is a business

yellow=  contributor is a PAC or Union

So tell me, who's the real conflicted Planning Board Commissioner?

Rip Van Tiff, wake up! 

And if you do, check out all of those P2P violations! Hoboken needs an Ethics Board.