City Hall in an unusual step issued a statement Friday on Superior Court Judge Tolentino’s ruling on a rent control case at 206 Bloomfield Street. Read both but it’s reasonable to conclude it is not as far reaching as suggested in a statement by the Mile Square Taxpayer’s Association.
Hoboken Counsel Steve Kleinman views the case as applicable to a handful of cases where the proper paperwork was not executed per the judge’s ruling and the court did issue some tough words around the mismanagement and application to the plaintiff (owners) in this case. At the same time, the court backed away and did not challenge the constitutional grounding of the Rent Control Ordinance in Hoboken law and cites several important cases where it’s upheld.
The Mile Square Taxpayer’s Association is holding to its position. It’s spokesman states on Hoboken Revolt, “once a judge finds that the ordinance was retroactively applied, that the administration was flawed, those same issues will be important in the next case.” The statement also goes on to say the City recognizes the problem and understands it needs to fix the ordinance.
We find both of those conclusions dubious but anyone can see the City has not concluded it needs to fix the ordinance. Especially in light of the clear statement out of City Hall yesterday indicating only additional review, “as to whether any further legal proceedings are necessary or warranted in this specific matter.”
Read Judge Tolentino’s ruling for yourself and the City’s statement and you can decide who is closer to a more accurate reading. It remains to be seen whether anyone will use this ruling to make a case as the Mile Square Taxpayers Association suggests. You can also follow the Hoboken Revolt thread for the ongoing discussion.
A bombshell of sorts just hit Hoboken but from the lousy news focus from some outlets in this town you couldn’t be faulted if it escaped your attention. We exempt our friends at the mother ship of Hoboken Now as they are almost always our source for solid and steady news reporting. The bomb is a ruling from the NJ courts on Hoboken’s rent laws or more accurately, the poor administration of them.
Back in the day when we were just a little pony, growing up across the street from Central Park, we’d play soccer with folks from all over the world. The game itself was the language. You’d hear Spanish, Italian and other languages interspersed but the bottom line, the game and your game did the talking. Often we’d be asked “Where are you from?” meaning you don’t play like an American. Our fondest memory of that time was being addressed by a Brazilian in Portuguese convinced we were compadres.
Well what’s that have to do with rent control? In New York City, ever since World War II, rent control laws have been the de facto way of life. Decade after decade followed with occasional questions raised about the regulation but the calls for continued protection would drown them out and the hackles remain. Rent control was the de rigueur standard of how politicians communicated their caring for the public. What it created was a two tier system: one for those who lucked into such an arrangement and one for those who had not. The latter were almost always people without longstanding ties to the community. In other words if you had moved to New York after college, you would face the highest rents. Why? Because on any given day, the available occupancy rate would always remain around 3%. As a result, demand for those available shoeboxes would be very high. In Manhattan, this would also be compounded by the constant new herd stomping between downtown north of the financial district and up to 96th street running east and west.
Years later, we couldn’t help but laugh when we read a report of a junior PR underling who moved to New York and had trouble living in the Big City on her 30K salary. She didn’t understand why she wasn’t living the “Sex in the City” lifestyle. She had fled middle America after watching the show convinced that she would become another Sarah Jessica Parker. Reality presented something entirely different.
Now we’ve met lots of these types over the years. They would triple up in one bedroom apartments just so they could say they lived in the Big City with a zip code in the neighborhood of 10001. The irony of course is those who had older seeds planted sponged off the system with no practical restrictions at all. You had millionaire actors with 10 room apartments who lived in California for decades who would sublet “their place” to others and only occasionally using the space themselves if at all. This perversion of ownership has continued for decades and shows no sign of abating in the future. The mere mention of it causes a rush of old ladies on fixed incomes pouring into the street in sheer panic. Does any of this sound familiar? Can you say Church Towers?
So now Hoboken is going to be facing a conversation on the matter. A Hudson County Superior Court Judge looked at the policies in town and observed how owners were being kept from adjusting their rent based on a required form submission to City Hall. The only problem, there was no such form for the owner to submit and the town said the owner could not create and submit one either. How insane is that? Well, that’s pretty insane. But rent control is like the third rail on the subway system. To even touch it means you get zapped with immediate life draining current. It’s terminal and it’s final. As we well know, politicians don’t like terminal.
So where do we go from here? The City Council just made an appointment to the Rent Leveling Board and based on all the commentary, it was clear the voice of regulation was alive and well and most certainly in safe, re: pro-regulated hands. Did any questions arise on any of this insanity? Not a solitary word. But the New Jersey Superior Court has looked at this mess and found its religious zeal less than compelling. It’s estimated to have cost owners in the neighborhood of $10 million and for others, the draconian application’s cost was bankruptcy. And people wonder why the condo rush has been so strong. Well here’s part of your answer. Faced with such imposing regulation, building owners figured it’s best to get on the condo wagon while the going is good and not have to deal with the city’s strangling bureaucracy at all. Of course they then had to figure out how to make the city inspectors happy and come up with ways to satisfy their open palms but that’s a story for another day. (Ever try to get a home inspector to take a look at a problem in an offending neighbor’s building?)
So if we’re lucky maybe this situation will be highlighted and discussed in some capacity in this shortened election season. It’s certainly relevant and important enough to voters to do so. Hoboken itself could be on the hook for damages well into seven figures. Yes, again. The town counsel is taking a look at the problem now in City Hall. We suggest they begin a defense strategy to minimize the damage. And there will be damage. The only unknown appears to be the final tally.
And remember, the first politician to demagogue this issue wins. Oh shoot, I just launched another Paul Swibinski flyer campaign.
Talking Ed Note: 5:45 Trying to get a copy of the actual legal opinion filed by the judge in this case. The time period of concern for the town is probably in the middle of the decade but how many building owners it impacted is still unknown. If those folks get together and file a collective action….. (shudder).
Update 9:20 City Hall’s legal counsel has weighed in on the matter and disputes any major impact to the current rent control ordinance. This is especially interesting being that the story’s release comes on a Friday night and echoes clear concern on what could potentially lend itself to major political fallout. While it’s clear the ordinance itself does not appear to be in question, we notice the legal comments coming out of City Hall apply ahead and minimize the past concerns to a “handful.” The spokesman for the Mile Square Taxpayers contests that analysis. We tried earlier today to get a copy of the legal opinion and hope to do so by early next week. We’ll have a follow up report at some point soon thereafter.
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The first casualty in Hoboken’s mayoral race is official. Retired police officer Sal DeMeo has withdrawn his candidacy as reported in Hoboken Now.
The drawing for ballot position will be held for the remaining 7 candidates on Monday at 3:00. Some corrections were made to Dawn Zimmer’s petitions permitted by law within the 10 day period but were not required based on the valid numbers previously submitted.
Hat tip: Jamie Schuh / The Jersey Journal & Amy Sara Clark / Hoboken Now
With fall officially here and the mayoral campaigns fully in swing, there’s already more nuts out to play in Hoboken than a typical ACORN gathering. If you must go on the internet be careful out there, beware the trolls, political operatives and those of like mind filled with rancid bile. It’s said to be as contagious as the swine flu.
Did you miss the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new walkway between Hoboken and Jersey City? There were more politicians collected in one place armed with enough scissors and ribbons to necessitate an EMS unit on-site. Is there a law against that? If there isn’t, there oughta be.
Monday afternoon with the challenge deadline looming since last week’s eight mayoral petition filings, former Municipal Judge Kimberly Glatt lodged an electoral complaint to potentially KO an opponent. As was widely reported last week, both Acting Mayor Dawn Zimmer and Councilwoman Beth Mason had potential issues on their respective petition filings. The Acting Mayor was summoned to sign additional package pieces after being issued a receipt before the deadline which later proved to be a County clerical error and Beth Mason claimed a faulty elevator and poor building directions causing her to miss the 4:00 pm deadline.
One of the more questionable practices in elected office is the artful practice of voting present or in similar parlance: to abstain. Not too long ago, the Acting Mayor Dawn Zimmer felt compelled to do so in a budget vote indicating insufficient information on the matter to make a qualified vote. It proved to be both a contentious and controversial choice.
Elected representatives being who they are, can sometimes forget the chief purpose of their presence in an elected body: representation. Almost always, a vote of abstention requires an explanation, either in the political body where cast but certainly to the public at large.
When someone chooses to vote present or abstains on a vote, they alienate all the other voting participants of a body and their own supporters, not to mention the entirety of their constituents in one fell swoop. Which brings us to the present matter at hand. How do we even begin to describe the most recent abstention by Councilwoman Beth Mason in the last City Council meeting? We’ve been thinking about this one for a few days and it still doesn’t make any sense.
We’re of course talking about the Russo Clan resolution to force an illegal vote to rename the acting portion of Acting Mayor with the replacement adjective of Interim. A victory for the old guard would push the Acting Mayor out of the Council Chambers but that was certainly unlikely to occur if the matter was brought to a vote. On the issue of tabling (removing) this designated illegal resolution from further discussion, Councilwoman Beth Mason, clearly uncertain how to cast the vote based on the clear direction of the Hoboken counsel several times over two meetings choose the fine art of “abstain.”
The humor of this choice is multiple. Her former political allies and the old guard as a whole are united in their desire to stop any operational governance in not keeping with the old, dark ways. At the same time, Beth Mason has positioned herself over some years as being for transparency and has launched both an online petition sharply critical of the Acting Mayor and is about to spend quite a few dollars to air equally critical ads on the matter.
How does one spend thousands of dollars to highlight an issue to the public and yet refuse to bring the same matter before the City Council when it’s offered to them? We’re waiting for someone to question either Beth Mason or Paul Swibinski for an interesting explanation of vote. We can only guess she choose not to go on the record in a losing effort. Instead she’ll throw tons of money to highlight the very same issue to the Hoboken voters at large, which speaks volumes on the level of cynicism on the matter.
(Graphic: the universally recognized symbol for abstain.)
The Hoboken Police and Jersey City Bomb Squad finally completed the removal of all dangerous materials from 632 Garden St. They used a special disposable chamber. It did some sort of internal processing. You can see the swinging arm to the left of the device that seals any dangerous materials in the picture. (Click photos to enlarge.)
And finally, that unit along with the two Jersey City Bomb Squad Vehicles has left. The Hoboken Police are still in the building. We have no idea what remains for them to complete. One rumor was that there was some home made ammunition and this had to be disposed of as well. But there’s no confirmation on that. We’re reluctant to pass along even that as so much bad information has been going around today, along with some other very bad mojo. It started with this poor man Frank (Francis his official name but we aren’t using his whole name without confirm), and continued with plenty of screwballs along the way.
Was it something in the water?
We emailed Perry Klaussen. If you notice he’s now taken today’s photos that were specifically copyrighted per the exact story and posted them without permission on his website.
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Although the suspect was arrested this morning, the police were concerned about dangerous materials in the home. They restricted the block and took all necessary precautions for the residents and their force. Currently, the Jersey City Bomb Squad is performing a complete sweep of the premises.
The suspect was said to have brandished a .45 revolver and the weapon recovered. The police could have been in a dangerous situation with the suspect, but managed to subdue him without any extreme force. The home is described as being “a mess” with an =&0=& that are =&1=& owned. Some additional armaments may also be on the premises, some of which may be World War II vintage grenades. Some found and they were classified as inert. A specially designed mobile storage truck has been brought to the scene and looks to being prepped for the storage and removal of all of them. All rights reserved unless with expressed written permission. (Click on the photo to enlarge.)