Council Divided After Municipal Garage Discussion

A debate over a possible location of a new city garage divided the Hoboken city council Wednesday night, but after a lot of discussion, no official action was taken. Two residents of the area where the facility may be located sparked the debate by presenting a letter to the council opposing the re-location to any "residential neighborhood," and asking the council members to sign it.

"Which council members will sign this letter?" asked resident Nicole Sliger, after reading the document. Sliger, who appeared in front of the council with her husband, Sean, has lived on 6th and Monroe, near the proposed garage site, for the past three and a half years. 

Third Ward Councilman Michael Russo was the first to answer, saying, "I'd love to be the first to sign it." He then urged his fellow council members to do the same, passing the letter to his neighbor, Fourth Ward Councilman Michael Lenz.

The potential location for the garage is the Pino Property, which spans the blocks between Jackson, Monroe, 6th and 7th Streets. Hoboken Catholic Academy and the Jubilee Center are located there. An ordinance authorizing the appropriation of $1,980,000 and issuing $1,885,700 in bonds to pay for the construction of what will be a pre-fabricated steel building was placed on the agenda and will be read for a second time during the June 16 meeting. 

First Ward Councilwoman Theresa Castellano, Second Ward Councilwoman Beth Mason and Sixth Ward Councilman Nino Giacchi joined Russo in signing the letter. Corporate Counsel Michael Kates now has the document with the four signatures, although it is unclear if it has any legal value.

What followed was a back and forth between Russo and his fellow council members. 

Councilman-at-Large Ravinder Bhalla called Russo's comments "grandstanding." 

"There's an awful lot of politics going on," said Lenz, who then proceeded to run through a brief history of the garage ("which should have never been sold in the first place") and all the things that he said should have happened under previous administrations. Castellano simply shook her head. 

"These people elected me to do exactly what I am doing: stopping you from destroying their homes," Russo said. 

Councilman-at-Large David Mello said he wouldn't sign the letter because the language was too ambiguous, especially the term "residential." Mello said that any area in Hoboken could be considered "residential" and that he used to live in the area where the current garage is located. 

"It ties our hands as a council," Mello said. 

However Mello, as did Bhalla, said he would not vote for anything that the public opposed in unison. 

"I will not vote for any site that the community is in unity against," agreed Lenz.

Councilmembers Carol Marsh and Nino Giachhi did not participate in the discussion. 

At some point during the back and forth, Sliger, the resident who presented the letter, interrupted the council. She emphasized that she doesn't care about any of the politics. "We just want to know that you support the community," she said. 

Many other residents spoke up during the nearly two hour public portion Wednesday night, many of whom addressed the council during the last council meeting. Last time, those interested in making comments had to wait until the end of the meeting to make their points. This week, the agenda was suspended for a presentation on the current garage by Doug Cohen, principal developer and general counsel to the S. Hekemian Group, the company that bought the garage site from the city for $25.5 million during the Dave Roberts Administration.

Third Ward resident Brian Murray, one of the founders of the site notonjackson.com, also came to the meeting to have his opinion heard and try to convince the council to find another spot for the garage. 

"Each day the Jackson site is not officially off the table," Murray said, "it's a war on our family's quality of life."

A previous version of this article stated that only three council members signed the letter. In fact there were four: Theresa Castellano, Beth Mason, Michael Russo and Nino Giacchi.