Dear Editor:
Recent letters and statements from Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise tout his record in a post he held years ago. This is understandable given his performance as County Executive today. Why would he use his taxpayer funded communications director to write about the County he “leads”? County taxes aren’t down, our schools aren’t top notch, and corruption and cronyism among public officials is rife, and includes his own HCDO allies.If Mr. DeGise was writing letters however, it would have been nice to read one about the ill-conceived high-rise at 800 Jackson Street. This project threatens the well-being of County residents in Jersey City, Union City, and Hoboken.
This project, from its inception to its current incarnation will not only destroy the view from Jersey City and Union City, it will, by its sheer bulk, and lack of visibility render Hoboken’s new 9th Street Light Rail stop unsafe and uninviting. This is not just my opinion, it is NJ Transit’s as well.
Just a month ago I watched Tom DeGise on cable TV congratulating the developer for agreeing to lower the height of a high rise a few stories. But the project still looms over the palisade, and still will close in the new light rail station, making it threatening and dangerous.
When I expressed these concerns to Mr. DeGise at a recent public event, he responded: “Tony, that’s a Hoboken issue”. I say “wrong, Mr. DeGise, it is a Countywide issue.”
The views being destroyed are in Jersey City Heights and Union City, not Hoboken. The Light Rail is designed to bring the county together. NJ Transit is spending millions on an outdoor elevator to make this light rail station in Hoboken accessible to Jersey City Heights and Union City. How will we be repaying that investment by allowing thoughtless development that makes this station unsafe before the ribbon is cut?
Mr. DeGise, despite the County Planning board’s lack of action for years and the Roberts Administration’s reluctance to support a steep slope ordinance in Hoboken, it is STILL possible to stop 800 Jackson Street. From The Heights view on down to platform security and Hoboken’s Masterplan the reasons are obvious.
If you choose to look the other way, then you join with the many HCDO elected officials that see Hoboken as a place to get contributions from developers or give contracts to supporters. We in Hoboken get very little from the County, despite paying the county’s highest per person property taxes.
It injures us to discover you are not interested in “Hoboken issues”, given the record-breaking tax abatements you doled out for years that we in Hoboken must make up for in out county taxes. Your inaction injures all residents of Hudson County as you allow this project to proceed unchecked, and let it diminish the potential of the new light rail station.
But the real insult is your last letter (published in another newspaper). How can you talk about “common sense” solutions and then spend your time and influence on political bickering and moaning? It doesn’t sound much like you are trying to “build bridges” — it sounds as though you are trying to sell us one. Anthony Soares
Hoboken Councilman at Large
City of Hoboken, Hudson County, NJ