Dear Editor:
Last month I received an email from the firm doing Hoboken’s Master Plan announcing two public meetings (January 13 and 27) to discuss the draft plan. So you can imagine my surprise when I opened my property tax bill and found a message from the Mayor Roberts declaring, among other “noteworthy achievements,” the Master Plan “completed.”
Is the mayor misinformed? Could he be misinforming? Has he forgotten that the Master Plan must be passed by the City Counsel before becoming city policy? I do not know.
What I do know is that the city’s current web site speaks of these upcoming public forums as “part of the Master Plan’s continuous public outreach process.” It goes on to announce that the first of these meetings will be held at 7 p.m. January 13 at the Hoboken High School (the next meeting will be January 27 also at 7 p.m.)
With plenty of opportunity to influence the final version, I urge everyone with an interest to read the draft report available on line at www.ci.hoboken.nj.us/html/masterplan/mpu1.html or in hard copy at City Hall and the Hoboken Library. Then show up at the public forums and at appropriate counsel meetings to help improve the plan.
Sorry, Mr. Mayor, there is still work to be done before the Master Plan can be declared “completed.”
James D. Vance