Giattino, Fisher attack on Hoboken District PILOT leading to litigation

Tiffanie Fisher and Jen Giattino seek "equity" for districts that do NOT share equal obligations and expenses 

And so, the weeks-long manufactured-conflict pitting Charters against the Hoboken District continues.  

The Hoboken Council majority continues to sit on an ultra-vires resolution to "share" a PILOT payment, as though they expect it to hatch.  It will not.  The 'egg' is rotten. Ruben Ramos' resolution violates NJ state law; the City of Hoboken cannot legally divert public money directly to Charter districts.  Moreover, the Hoboken City Council has no legal standing to direct Hoboken Board of Education on how to allocate public money.   

The Council knows this.    

Hence, their "fight" is political theater, grandstanding for Charter community votes in the 2021 municipal election.  At least three in this majority (Ramos, DeFusco, Fisher) wish to unseat Hoboken's wildly popular mayor.  With the support of about 3 out of 4 likely voters, that's a daunting goal... plus the incumbent is expected to get the backing of Senators Bob Menendez and Cory Booker. Hence, the Council is scrambling to divide the electorate, to manufacture an issue to run on.  And so they've taken their fight to school children.  My kids against yours. Under the pretext of "fairness."  

How revolting.  
 

COUNCIL PROVOKES CIVIL LAWSUIT WITH HOBOKEN DISTRICT

Hudson County View has reported: 


Make no mistake, the word "demand" from an attorney to an adversarial public board is not petulance, it's legal jargon that precedes litigation. And after weeks of being 'dicked around' by the Hoboken City Council, Hoboken School Board Counsel Vito Gagliardi served the City a Demand Letter.   The letter gives the Council until its December 16th meeting to honor their 2016 PILOT agreement with the developer of 770 Jackson. 

What a waste of time and public money. Litigation will cost three Charter districts and the Public district more than the actual PILOT amount ($243K).  The City Council will lose.  The NJ Department of Education is the governing authority over the public district's allocation of public money.  Once again, council members have no legal standing to tell a Public School District how to spend it's budget (which is 100% comprised of public money).  

GIATTINO, FISHER USE BOE FOR POLITICAL CLIMB, THEN THROW  THEM UNDER THE BUS 

Funny how Giattino and Fisher have turned on the Hoboken District. 

Ironic, because they owe their political ascent to activist Hoboken District volunteers, parents, BOE Trustees and BOE candidates who campaigned hard for them. In fact in 2017, they took BOE activists on board to run a mayoral campaign competing with the candidate recruited by Mayor Dawn Zimmer.  I was one of the only Kids First activists who stayed with Bhalla; I'd never forgotten his voluntary defense of the Hoboken District  in 2008 before he entered politics. 


That was then. 

So, what does one do with an orange once its juice is squeezed out?   

And so goes the Giattino-Fisher support for Hoboken District Schools when it no longer serves them a political benefit.  In hindsight, their support for the Hoboken District appears transactional.  How quickly they went from BOE advocates to adversaries.  The first hint that they'd turned on the District was their publicized opposition to that $1M contribution to the Hoboken Public Education Fund, part of the hotel developer's giveback.  

LAST WORDS: 
I literally cannot believe this is going on, and with all of the other CRAP this City has to deal with during PANDEMIC HELL.  A Hoboken covid-19 patient died the other day, and these fools are picking a fight with our District schools.... Going to the mattresses to divert public monies from our District positively reeks of classism, a lack of concern for the the less-affluent student population, a disrespect for elected Board of Education Trustees ability to run their own district, a lack of concern for the Special Education population requiring the most services that our District educates at a very high cost, a contempt for state law.   
 
What a shame.

Comments

  1. Thank you for writing this piece Grafix Avenger. The shenanigans, the raw political calculus by Ruben, Jen, Tiffany, and Mike is truly disgusting because they are sacrificing the well-being of kids to make a theatrical (and illegal) gesture towards charter school parents in advance of elections next year. This is not about policy, it's politics. Everyone can see it.

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    Replies
    1. You're welcome. It's very sad. Is nothing sacred? Every child, whatever district they attend, seems to be fair game for this bunch of hyenas.

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