Tensions Flare High As Midtown Garage Re-Financing Fails

The refinancing of a bond on the midtown garage failed in a 5-4 vote on Wednesday night, with the four minority council members voting "no."

The bond on the garage has to be changed from tax exempt to taxable before the sale of the Hoboken University Medical Center to private owner HUMC Holdco LLC can be completed.

Peter Cunningham, who represents the northwest part of town and is one of the mayor's five allies on the council, said that fines and extra costs from the Internal Revenue Service will follow if this bond isn't changed. The mayor has said that if those costs are endured, lay offs will follow. 

That agreement involves a 99-year term and settled on a $45 rate for hospital personnel using the garage. Councilwoman Beth Mason said that the rate is too low, and that it would be attractive for potential developers who could end up the buying the building in the future.

The hour-long discussion that followed, occured along the lines familiar to those who attend Hoboken City Council meetings.

"This is a corporate subsidy," Mason said. "What a deal for a developer."

Parking and Transportation Director Ian Sacs delivered a passionate account of why the deal should go through and why the parking agreement's success would be contingent on the council's "yes" vote.

"The $45 issue was the final last throw for one of the unions. We made that concession on a contingency," Sacs said, explaining further that hospital employees would use other garages and parking during the day, freeing up spaces in the midtown garage, which currently has a resident waiting list of roughly 200 people, he said.

"Every single resident who waiting for years will have a space, and all you will have to do is vote 'yes,'" Sacs said.