Irate and Emotional West Hoboken Residents Protest Municipal Garage in Their Neighborhood

How would you like a municipal garage in your back yard? 

That was the question asked by dozens of emotional and upset residents of West Hoboken during Wednesday night's City Council meeting. 

A large group of Third and Fourth Ward residents, many of whom were new to the bi-monthly Wednesday meeting, expressed their concerns about and their disappointment in the potential new location of the City's municipal garage. 

The potential location for the garage was reported earlier this week by local blog Hoboken411. According to 411—and later denied by the Mayor's office—the Pino Property, which spans the blocks between Jackson, Monroe, 6th and 7th Streets, was selected to be the place. Hoboken Catholic Academy and the Jubilee Center are located right there. 

Emotions flared high as the residents delivered their remarks to the eight council members (Councilman Nino Giacchi was absent). Council members Theresa Castellano, Beth Mason and Michael Russo clapped for some the members of the public who got up and spoke on the issue. The other five council members did not. 

An ordinance introducing the appropriation of $1,980,000 and issuing $1,885,700 in bonds to pay for the construction of a pre-fabricated steel building to be used as the municipal garage, was taken off the agenda at the beginning of the meeting. And although a motion to let the public speak on the issue before starting the rest of the meeting was voted down, the residents stayed until the public portion at the end to defend their neighborhood. Or, in their words, to defend their homes. 

"This relocation will destroy West Hoboken," said 26-year-old Allison Fradenburg who moved to the Third Ward three weeks ago. 

"Please pick an area of the city that's much less residential," pleaded Jeff Goldberg. 

The other residents who spoke, all asked the council to reconsider and try to move the garage to a less residential area. One speaker even said he'd take the City to court. 

Third Ward Councilman Russo met with constituents earlier this week to discuss the plans. 

"We need to be honest," Russo said, adding that the Council should disclose some specific possible sites for the garage. 

Council President Peter Cunningham denied that anything had been decided officially about the new location yet. "There are actually numerous sites," Cunningham said, "Stevens is one."

Mayor Dawn Zimmer's office sent out a press release on Tuesday, stating: "There are ongoing negotiations, and we are reviewing all options. No decisions have been made, and all options are on the table. The City is under no contract to acquire properties."

The municipal garage was sold five years ago under former Mayor Dave Roberts. The revenues of the sale were supposed to plug the budget deficit. The current administration is left to clean up the mess though, since it will cost the City a lot more to build a new municipal garage. The city currently leases the garage that is located on Observer Highway. 

"Planning and preparation for the set up of a temporary site have been ongoing, along with clean up and organizing in preparation for an upcoming move from the current site on Observer Highway," the Mayor's press release stated also. 

"There's a lot at stake here," Cunningham said Wednesday night. "The news media have scared the public." He added that the garage's location would be on a "temporary basis," and that the ordinance was not location specific. Th negotiations are not public record.

After the public portion of the meeting ended around midnight, the council members went into a closed session to discuss ongoing negotiations.

Besides the actual location of the garage, many members of the public—as well as some council members—were upset with the lack of communication about the new location. 

Mark McCormick, 29, bought his place in the Third Ward in December. He called the process "opaque, murky and non-transparent." He worried that the building of a large steel, industrial type building, which will be used as a garage for environmental services, will destroy the property value of the neighborhood. 

Councilman-at-Large Ravinder Bhalla said the people's words resonated with him. 

"I wouldn't want to have this garage in my backyard," he admitted. Still, he said he was upset about the way some council members used the issue—and the public's "legitimate emotions"—for political gains.

"This is not a political issue," Bhalla said, "this is not a partisan issue."  

For the residents who sat in the Council chambers Wednesday night, it wasn't about politics at all.

"Don't put it in our neighborhood," said Fourth Ward resident Tim Occhipinti. "This is our home."