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| A decade in time: a 780 ft tower to a 300 ft tower... right direction, not there yet. |
STATEMENT FROM MAYOR BHALLA ON HOBOKEN YARD REDEVELOPMENT PLAN
“The original Hoboken Yard Redevelopment Plan, passed by the Hoboken City Council in 2014, will help revitalize downtown Hoboken and provide for responsible development that does not threaten the character of our City,” said Mayor Ravi S. Bhalla. “The City Council amendment to this plan proposes to allow the development to incorporate flood protection as part of our critical $230 million flood protection through Rebuild by Design, which will protect Hoboken for the long term from storm surge. While I appreciate the proposed amendment to integrate the elements of Rebuild by Design into the plan by the City Council, it is clear that there must be additional time to incorporate the community feedback received by my office and at tonight’s meeting before a final vote can occur. I’m asking the City Council, which is the redevelopment entity of the City of Hoboken, to postpone the scheduled vote on the Hoboken Yards Redevelopment Plan so this can appropriately occur.”
Ignore the petulant, partisan election time press releases (like the one lobbed yesterday by 5th Ward Councilman Peter Cunningham.) Ignore the partisan spin.
As GA has said before, the redevelopment of Hoboken's downtown transit area will outlive us all.
So the decision of the mayor to ask for time to incorporate community feedback (and hopefully amend the amended redevelopment plan) is not only the right thing to do, residents must demand guarantees for the preservation of all historic architecture that is in danger of being razed by LCOR for shiny, profitable towers.
However, with anti-Zimmer, anti-Bhalla, development-luvin' sharks biding time in Hoboken waters (imagine what a Mayor DeFusco or a Mayor Ramos would allow LCOR to build!), we cannot wait 10 more years to amend this plan. Perhaps the city can put a survey for residents online. Stay tuned.
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| DeFusco, Giattino, Fisher, Ramos tote their campaign PR person to this important HOBOKEN public meeting |
An important fact in this debate is that this proposal was not handed to the City Council out of the blue from City Hall and asked to vote on it. It was at least over a year in the making and the City Council subcommittee headed by Councilman DeFusco with Councilman Ramos and Councilman Russo working with the LOCOR and City officials.
ReplyDeleteThe usual hyper political, eye roll inducing anti-Bhalla comments by Councilman DeFusco last night and the contrived outrage by the his City Council collaborators is totally disingenuous.
Yeah with his campaign manager there taking notes.
DeleteTo be fair to MDF he has a very poor attendance record. LOL
DeleteThe most important takeaway from the meeting last night was the clear statement that the RBD alignment is set in stone, so the million SF of "future development" can be filed away under "LCOR's unrealized hopes and dreams" in the dustbin of history together with their 9 million SF 70 story plan back in 2008.
ReplyDelete