A NY Waterway lawsuit seeking to bypass the local Hoboken board process for its marine operations was denied in Hudson Superior Court yesterday.
The ruling means NY Waterway will continue with its plans to convert Union Dry Dock into a maintenance facility for its ferries serving thousands of Hoboken residents among others but the Hoboken Zoning and Planning Boards will remain involved in their respective roles in the process.
Mayor Ravi Bhalla saluted the decision by Judge Jeffrey Jablonski stating Hoboken will renew efforts to seize the NY Waterway property by use of eminent domain. Previous efforts by the Hoboken City Council in 2017 were rescinded in 2018 with the threat of higher eminent domain powers held by NJ Transit.
Three of the five reporters at the Hudson Reporter suffered layoffs last week as reported by the New Jersey Globe.
Among them is senior political reporter Al Sullivan.
The New Jersey Globe remarked on his departure writing,
A voice emerges in the Hoboken summer “announcing” intent to add a choice in the Hoboken fifth ward council election this November?
No conversation with this potential candidate to date but this tweet by #HobokenCommuter urges residents that the Mile Square City needs “an advocate for improved quality on public transportation.”
They may have a point. The tweet with currently hundreds of Hoboken followers adds:
=&1=&And it’s a Friday… The city of Hoboken can’t seem to figure this out or provide solutions that work. We need an advocate for improved quality on public transportation. Vote for Nicola Maganuco for Hoboken City Council 5th Ward-your voice on transit https://t.co/11s3vwPNLz pic.twitter.com/m7ZTXADPNQ— #HobokenCommuter (@HobokenCommuter) July 26, 2019
Talking Ed Note: Did Hoboken’s council race in the fifth ward just get hotter? Peter Cunningham needs to have a chat with one Nicola Maganuco. Whatever Mr. Maganuco does, he should avoid any communication (typically via text harassment) with Ravi Bhalla’s paid political operative at all cost. He will be savaged and lied about at the Cave if a candidate soon enough.
Horse Sense Editorial:
Deal or steal?
| Hoboken’s replacement to the Municipal Garage? Part of what you see is what’s on tap. Maybe. It’s what you don’t see that counts? |
The devil is in the details but the required topline strokes are missing in the “settlement” that isn’t a settlement at all as announced by Mayor Ravi Bhalla with the Barry Bros. of Ironstate Development, re: Applied/the Shipyard.
From a basic vanilla standpoint, an exchange developing at the site of the Municipal Garage downtown is preferable to the waterfront in the northeast corner of town.
That isn’t saying much.
Even missing topline numbers on the real estate valuations of both the pier uptown and the municipal garage land downtown leaves many to wonder when the basic facts of the working proposal (not a settlement) will be provided and relevant answers fleshed out.
Official release:
Councilman Mike DeFusco is working to bring a live music and performing arts center to Hoboken as part of the city’s tentative agreement to relocate the waterfront Monarch project to the First Ward. A strong advocate for responsible and innovative development, Councilman DeFusco believes the pending deal will bring much-needed quality of life improvements to a portion of Downtown Hoboken that has been neglected for far too long. The agreement includes the construction of a new enclosed DPW garage to reduce noise in the neighborhood, investments in downtown infrastructure and bringing new retail space to Observer Highway, allowing small businesses to continue investing in Hoboken.
Last night torrential thunderstorms turned Hoboken streets into gushers of water but the kickoff for Councilwoman Jen Giattino surprisingly flooded with supporters.
Hosted at Moran’s, the popular Irish pub opened its doors on a day typically closed to a torrential flood of support for the popular two-term councilwoman.
Dozens came out in monsoon-like conditions, packing Moran’s wall to wall giving a kickstart to the sixth ward council race for Councilwoman Giattino, the popular City Council President
The summer grist is chewy and the nights are easy in the Mile Square City. It’s July but there’s no break in the action. Even a blast of summer heat over the weekend doesn’t slow Hoboken politics.
In the fifth ward, council candidate Phil Cohen will face opposition but in the meantime, he’s fighting on Twitter for a dead relic – protected bike lanes on Washington St. Councilwoman Tiffanie replied to him on her Twitter thread she won’t be wasting over $10 million of work on Hoboken’s main street to revisit protected bike lanes which don’t meet minimum federal guidelines.
Official release:
Dear friends and neighbors,
Please join me tonight for my Re-election Kickoff. I guarantee cooler temperatures and refreshing drinks!
Where: Moran’s 501 Garden Street When: Monday, July 22 Time: 6-8pm
Click here to RSVP
The more the merrier, so bring your friends and neighbors! -Jen
Official release:
Dear friends, I want to give you a heads up on work PSE&G will be doing next weekend (26th – 28th) that I expect will create significant traffic challenges in Southwest Hoboken. If you have weekend travel plans or activities you may want to consider that the project is expected to begin at 6pm Friday night and end at 6pm Sunday evening and plan accordingly. Please see below the message from PSEG: As part of PSE&G’s ongoing efforts to strengthen its electric system infrastructure, on =&0=& =&1=& For the duration of the project, the two westbound lanes on Paterson Avenue will be closed. The eastbound lanes will handle single lane traffic in each direction. Please be aware there will be some unavoidable sound connected to construction activities. Also, there are no planned electric service outages associated with this project. We remind you to refrain from going on or near our construction site and ensure all pets and children are not within the PSE&G work zone. Thank you for your patience and understanding as we improve electric service and reliability in your area. =&2=& =&3=& Twenty years ago a storm like we saw last night would have paralyzed Southwest Hoboken. We have come a long way since then with significant investments in our water and sewer infrastructure and we will continue to make them. I have always advocated for flood mitigation efforts dating back to the early 2000’s when I supported the NHSA’s efforts to develop a flood pump plan. Since then, I sponsored legislation while I served in the NJ Assembly to create low interest loans post Hurricane Sandy to help communities like Hoboken make needed infrastructure improvements. I have continued to support our own Hoboken resliency initiatives including the Southwest Resiliency Park, the 7th and Jackson Resiliency Park, and the to be built Northwest Resiliency Park. We have made a lot of headway, but we still need further investments including the NHSA expanding their capacity and developers making infrastructure investment a priority community giveback in all developments. This is a problem we can solve if we all work together. Please share this with everyone you think might be interested in or affected by this information. And don’t hesitate to reach out to me at any time to discuss this or any matter that is important to you. I hope you are enjoying your summer and finding ways to stay ! Regards, Ruben Ramos Hoboken City Council, 4th Ward