When I was first elected to office, I ran on a belief of reactivating our historic terminal and the adjacent plaza into a European-style market, but at the time the entire terminal was actually off limits and excluded from the rail yard redevelopment plan. After years of advocacy, last night the City Council approved a plan to revitalize our train terminal and Warrington Plaza, envisioning the complex as a vibrant mixed use “Terminal District” in the very first phase of development.
The Rail Yard redevelopment project has been on the table for nearly two decades and after working collaboratively with all stakeholders, I’m confident we’ve developed a plan that works for our city. In addition to the expanded Terminal District, I also supported my Council colleagues’ push to re-envision the remainder of the rail yards project as a commercial development with state of the art office space, rather than residential. If after an analysis is done and it is determined that a commercial-only direction is not economically viable, then any new future residential buildings will be required to designate 20 percent of units as affordable housing, a push I was proud to work on with my colleague Councilwoman Falco.
Additionally, at my request, the project will incorporate a designated pick up and drop off zone for ride sharing services, taxis and shuttle buses on site, to prevent them from congesting our streets. I know for many of you, particularly my downtown neighbors, the impact this project could have on the flow of traffic has been of great concern. I’m confident incorporating a place for these vehicles to park within the development will alleviate a significant amount of any additional traffic.
BUDGET CRISIS IN HOBOKEN
Hoboken is again experiencing a deficit in the municipal budget, largely in part because of the administration’s track record of overspending and ignoring the warning signs about the state of our finances. Unlike last year, we’re now facing a shortfall that could be as high as $14 million. If nothing changes, this translates to a potential 15 percent tax increase. Nearly 80 hardworking city employees have also already been put on notice that they could be facing termination. These are men and women -- young families, single parents and dedicated employees -- who come to work to help Hoboken residents everyday.
When pressed to answer how we have gotten this far in the red, the Mayor has placed the blame on rising employee healthcare costs. Though partially correct, it is no surprise to him -- we’ve seen these costs trending higher for years, but our city spending never slowed. For the past two cycles, I’ve repeatedly called on the Mayor to replace Fairview Insurance Agency Associates with a more cost efficient provider, but the administration has not heeded my advice, and actively fought against it. Interestingly enough, this is the same politically connected health insurance vendor that allegedly had ties to a Super PAC involved in the 2019 election that supported the Mayor’s slate.
Rampant overspending across every department in City Hall, politically connected contracts, and unnecessary litigation combined with changing economic trends and the administration’s habit of tapping into our budget surplus, have all compounded to get us to this place. Making matters worse, our longtime Business Administrator Steven Marks unexpectedly stepped down from his position last week -- a resignation that coincided with the revelation of a budget deficit. Instead of having a succession plan or filling the position with a industry-leading professional, Mayor Bhalla has placed Hoboken’s day to day operations almost entirely in the hands of his political operatives, all of whom were connected to his 2017 campaign, while claiming he downsized his office size.
We cannot look the other way as this administration continually hands out lucrative jobs to political allies instead of prioritizing good and transparent local government. Now is the time for the Mayor to put politics aside and I look forward to working with him to provide sensible solutions to bridge the budget gap without eliminating jobs that are essential in the day to day operations of our city.
PARKING INCREASES CONTINUE
With our financial troubles mounting, the administration has again resorted to implementing backdoor parking taxes on residents to plug holes in the municipal budget.
Last month, in a 5-4 vote, the City Council raised residential parking permits by more than 240% and simultaneously increased parking penalties across the city. Last night, the Council doubled the cost to park in metered spaces in some neighborhoods of the city and passed a law to require visitor parking permits on Sundays, a day when most people come from out of town to visit their families.
While I was able successfully stop a similar parking rate increase last spring, it appears as though my colleagues are following the mayor’s lead to fill the budget deficit with parking revenue and all of the above passed 5-4 with myself in dissent.
Let me be abundantly clear that I am not against raising prices incrementally, so long as a majority of the additional funds go towards parking technology and infrastructure improvements. Currently, 70 percent of Parking Authority revenues are taken away from the department and funneled into the general city budget. This means that money collected from parking is largely not going to make parking better or more efficient, but rather is supporting unrelated city costs. In the coming year, I’ll be working to identify ways for us to make real investments in our parking system with modernized technology without placing the burden on taxpayers.
CURBING PUB CRAWLS
At last night’s City Council meeting, I re-introduced legislation that will put a system in place to recoup costs associated with large-scale bar crawls, like LepreCon and SantaCon. The city regularly pays in excess of $100,000 for additional public safety enforcement and environmental services cleanup on these days and it’s fundamentally unfair that this burden has fallen on the taxpayers... so that needs to change.
The plan I’ve proposed will establish a permitting and application process for all bars who participate in large-scale pub crawls, advertised by for-profit promoters from out of town who are only concerned about churning a profit… not on our quality of life. I’ve spent the past few weeks having productive meetings with stakeholders, including bar owners, to get their feedback on the ordinance and incorporated that into the updated law which advanced last night 7-2. A final vote will be held at the next meeting of the City Council on March 2.
The First Ward, my own downtown neighborhood, is the most negatively impacted with drunken disorder and chaos on days like LepreCon and SantaCon, which is why it was disheartening to see Councilman Jim Doyle and Councilwoman Emily Jabbour try to defeat this commonsense measure. Both of these representatives live uptown and it seems as though they are out of touch with the issues we are dealing with downtown on these days.
Check out my interview with CBS New York discussing legislation to regulate pub crawls in Hoboken.
Supporting the small businesses community has always been important to me, which is why I’ve spent the past four years pushing for innovative ideas that help them succeed. It’s the very reason I authored a business expansion plan, co-sponsored a special improvement district meant to invest in our business communities and updated our dated zoning to help more mom and pops return to our city.
My vision for Hoboken is not one of drunken bar crawls meant to bolster outdated bar business models, rather a place where makers, creators, artists and innovators can own businesses, where cocktail lounges and small gastropubs can dish up artisanal food. Standing up for a vision for the future means standing up for a better quality of life and that's exactly what I’m proud to be doing here.
As always, should you have any concerns, please feel free to reach out to me directly on my cell: 646.372.4341 or via email: mike@mikedefusco.com.
P.S. I am so grateful for your support and friendship as we continue to bring new energy and new ideas to Hoboken. As I have always said, I cannot do this alone and to that end, next month, I'll be hosting my first fundraiser of the year.
Please join me at Mulligans Pub, 159 1st Street, on March 10 at 6:30 p.m. so we can celebrate all that we have accomplished together an enjoy a festive night with neighbors and friends. If you're unable to make it but would still like to contribute to our mission, you can donate here.