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| PROOF Jen Giattino is a liar-- 'no collusion' between Bhalla Administration/Jabbour and Academy on residential tower development |
What was supposed to be a sleepy, end-of-year council meeting was anything but; it lasted 4 1/2 hours, concluding with an ugly, choreographed pile-on: everyone vs Councilwoman Emily Jabbour. Punishment for illuminating the Ramos appointment of a crony to a Council seat on the HUMC board? Or just plain nastiness?
THE GOOD...
GA is pleased about the passage of two ordinances which: (1) limit building height in the R-1 (to 40 feet or 3 stories) and (2) permit medical marijuana dispensaries to operate in Hoboken. Both roused extended council and public debate-- for and against.
As for the height ordinance, it simply returns to what it had been before 2015's FEMA recommendations. Predictably the 2015 increased height allowances have had devastating results to the historic character of Hoboken's R-1 district, as seen in a proliferation of 'thumbs' sticking up on blocks of historic row houses. This ordinance had bipartisan council support- except "no" votes from Mike DeFusco, Vanessa Falco, Ruben Ramos and flip-flopper Peter Cunningham.
THE BAD...
The arguments against passing the medical marijuana dispensaries ordinance were primarily because Fisher and DeFusco alleged it was "not perfect." DeFusco argued so vehemently to table the weed ordinance to make it "perfect" GA wondered why he was so worked up, until this came in:
FYI, I saw Mike DeFusco meeting with representatives of Medical Marijuana industry (believe they own dispensaries out West) along with their lobbyists at Choc O Pain last Friday Dec 14th. I was sitting at a table downstairs with [redacted] and others. Individuals he was meeting with came over and introduced themselves. Mike walked in and they went upstairs (downtown location) to meet. We left before they did, so they were up there less than one hour but I don't know for how long.
Wow... Councilman DeFusco did not disclose that he had already met privately with potential medical marijuana vendors.
Shouldn't he have mentioned he'd met with medical marijuana vendors interested in doing business in Hoboken? Did his effort to table the ordinance on have anything to do with maintaining leverage over a potential vendor? Witnesses corroborated this meeting took place.
THE UGLY.
Oh, this is bad people. Jen Giattino has been running a covert smear campaign against Emily Jabbour, alleging she and Mayor Bhalla are colluding with Academy Bus owners to build a skyscraper in the SW of Hoboken.
This is true.
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| Target of smear campaign |
Last night in New Business, Giattino asked Emily about this alleged collusion with Academy... then the others pounced on Jabbour rather viciously - I will post the video. Even Vanessa Falco got in the act. In short, Giattino, et. al, accused Jabbour and Bhalla of holding a meeting with Academy to collude on a massive development in Southwest Hoboken.
FALSE. GA has seen corroborating email, spoken with third parties, and here are the facts:
(1) The Hoboken School District has been in discussion with Academy on a proposed new school in SW Hoboken. BoE Trustees are aware of this.
(2) Last November, Hoboken School Superintendent Christine Johnson contacted Mayor Bhalla and Emily Jabbour (Chair of the Education Subcommittee) asking to meet in her office "to share components of the Academy proposal that have to do with the schools." It was described to Jabbour as a facilities meeting with the School's Director of Facilities, Tim Calligy.
(3) Mayor Bhalla declined to attend, sent John Allen.
(4) When Jabbour arrived at Dr. Johnson's, she saw "drawings" laid out on the table. Also there: Tim Calligy, Architect John Nastasi and Academy Owner David Lehmkuhl.
(5) Lemkuhl asked Jabbour, "Is this something the council could support?" Emily answered that she is in the minority, didn't know what the majority would do. Lenkuhl replied, "I have a relationship with Ruben Ramos. Ruben's very supportive, Mike DeFusco is very suportive."
(6) Since this meeting, there has been no further discussion, no follow-up, with Dr. Johnson and/or Academy. City Hall sources tell GA: this has not been discussed internally, meeting docs have not been reviewed because this "is not on our radar."
Got that?
Nice try, hyenas. Or should GA say lying hyenas. Oh yeah, last night Ruben Ramos denied he knew about the project. Funny, Lemkuhl said at the meeting, "Ruben's very supportive, Mike DeFusco is very supportive."
Meanwhile, GA is working on getting site plans and renderings of this proposal, along with the facts-- if Academy will permit the Architect John Nastasi to let me have them.
And one more...
Here's an email proving that either Vanessa Falco was confused or straight-up lying last night when she attacked Emily Jabbour for "not inviting her" to the Education Subcommittee All-School meeting with the Mayor. If Falco was referring to Christine Johnson's meeting-- she was not invited by Dr. Johnson; that was NOT an Education Subcommittee meeting, and not Jabbour's meeting.
So, maybe Councilwoman Falco owes Emily an apology?
I used to turn to the Hoboken government as a relief from the brazen lying in the federal government. Just a little reminder that people can set their less important differences aside, agree on principles, and get things done.
ReplyDeleteThat's over. They've completely converged.
Good job sourcing the PROOF of lying by the butt-hurts. Someone has to do it, and Heinis is doesn't have a close enough eye on Hoboken to do it. So it's up to YOU.
The butt-hurts will continue to lie, just like Trump does with proof of his lies is waved in his face. But others get the message. Hence the blue wave. The butt-hurts have a wave coming their way too.
And the common thread is....the toxicity of Republicans, both at the federal level, and in local DINO's like Cunningham, Giattino and Fisher.
DeleteI wonder what caused GiaRaFusco to jetison their own development plan and try to blame it on Ravi? Academy can't be happy about that.
ReplyDeleteThe response from the folks they leaked it to must have been pretty fierce. SW residents are pretty tired of getting screwed.
Spite, politics, promoting their personal interests at the expense of the whole town, the knowledge they are hated by just about every honest person in town, take your pick. All I know is this, next election they are doomed
Deletehey! as 4th ward guy i'm feeling left out!
ReplyDeleteVanessa, you need to get your shit together. Ain't no one to blame but yourself for any meetings you miss. No one is out to get you and everyone is busy. You need to stay on top of your own business rather than blame others.
ReplyDeleteI saw someone else post about how Jenn is just jealous of Emily, and I think that's totally true. Emily is a very smart young woman, and she's educated. Jenn, from what I understand, was too stupid to get into college and decided to become a ballerina instead? From seeing her speak in person and read the things she writes, I absolutely believe that (how she's too stupid, so she's jealous, to be clear).
ReplyDeleteAlso makes sense that Tiffanie would be jealous of her - Emily has a family, whereas Tiffanie is at home getting serviced by Roman Fisher-Brice while her bunnies watch. SAD!
So this email was between 3 people and it got to your blog somehow. how hard was your public records request and how long did you wait to get it? If someone gave you these emails shouldn't they haved released it to the press and public, or no?
ReplyDeleteSharing means caring.
Delete@anon - perhaps someone clued GA in to ask for emails in a specific date range without sharing content. Perhaps GA is clairvoyant. Perhaps GA saw someone typing an email on their iphone & OPRA'd it. Who cares how she knows? That's not the issue/
DeleteThe issue is the content of the email, no?
Anon- This email is a public document, not buried treasure. Any of the "3 people" is free to share it with whomever is interested-- and I was, and that goes for any correspondence sent by public officials. Same as any email or letter you see published on a blog, or in the press that is furnished by one of the parties. Don't you know that? How did Hudson County View get the UDD letter from Mayor Bhalla to Gov Murphy? Think he filed an OPRA? How did I get the letter from Chief Ferrante to Councilwoman Fisher and Councilman DeFusco? Think I filed an OPRA? No and No.
DeleteAnon is just annoyed that the email makes Jenn look like a real asshole and trying to distract everyone from the fact that Jenn is an asshole. Face it, these stunts Jenn and company pull make them look horrible. Instead of complaining about folks who shine a light on their stunts, how about you folks just cut it out already. Stop w/ the games. Stop w/ the smears. Stop w/ being bad actors and just grow the hell up already. Stop being sore losers and so counterproductive.
Delete