State Assemblyman Anthony Chiappone, who is running for mayor against incumbent Mayor Mark Smith, appeared before the City Council on April 21, saying that he has asked Gov. Christopher Christie to investigate development deals allegedly being negotiated by the Bayonne Local Redevelopment Authority.
“My foremost concern is the property known as the Fidelco Property that is being negotiated in secret by the BLRA with a company called Peninsula Infrastructure Partnership (PIP).”
He said the BLRA has a $29 million obligation to be repaid to the current owners of the property, Fidelco/Roseland, on May 10, and the city has anticipated $28 million from the supposed deal for use in filling a gap in revenue in the current municipal budget.
Chiappone said he has spoken to the state Board of Local Finance from whom the city must get approval before the council can vote to pass a budget.
“They told me they also have questions about the $28 million,” Chiappone said, predicting a massive tax increase if the deal for Fidelco property does not take place.
Chiappone said he is not only concerned about the deal – with rumors claiming it may have fallen through – but also about some of the dealings of PIP, which may be connected to a failed Staten Island development a few years ago.
Chiappone told the council that Charles D’Amico, the city attorney, should be fired for refusing to disclose the names of those who are the principal owners of PIP.
In March, D’Amico advised the City Council that this information was not public record since the BLRA is in negotiations for a possible deal.
PIP representatives unveiled a proposed overlay for the Fidelco property that would include a shopping mall, two hotels, and some age-restricted townhouses.
But city officials since have said that no deal was in place and that the proposal had sparked renewed interest in the site from other developers, with whom the city is currently in discussions.
Councilman Gary La Pelusa, however, asked the council if he and other members would receive information about PIP prior to voting on the budget, saying they should be informed about whom the city is dealing with.
D’Amico lashed out at Chiappone, saying that his job is to provide legal advice to the City Council, and questioned how Chiappone, who is under indictment for allegedly misappropriating state payments to his legislative aides, could presume to give lessons on law to the City Council.
Chiappone tried to respond, but was warned by Council President Vincent Lo Re to return to the ordinance or get escorted by police out of the council chamber.
John Budnik, who is also running for an at large council seat, asked why the April meeting of the Bayonne Local Redevelopment Authority had been cancelled, and if there was any truth to reports that a pending deal for a new mall at the former Military Ocean Terminal had fallen through.
“Is the deal dead or not?” he asked.
Since the council is not required to answer questions raised during the public comment portion, Budnik’s question remained unanswered, although it was reported later in the meeting that the BLRA had not had a quorum for the April 15 meeting.
Also at the meeting, Former Councilwoman Maria Karczewski, who is running for one of two at-large council seats, claimed city workers and others who support her have been intimidated into removing signs from their houses.
“City workers fear retaliation,” she said. “Some people have been told to remove my signs.”
While Karczewski did not explicitly blame campaign workers for Mayor Mark Smith and his team, Councilman Terrence Ruane – who is running on the Smith ticket for an at large seat – clearly perceived this as an attack and said his ticket is not intimidating anyone.
“I take this as a personal insult,” he said. “We are not twisting any arms.”
Chiappone at this point said he was “embarrassed” by the fact that Ruane currently occupied a council seat Chiappone gave up last year, and criticized Ruane and the Smith administration for creating an “atmosphere of intimidation.”
Ruane blasted back, calling Chiappone “an embarrassment,” saying that the Chiappone, who is under indictment, should not “cast aspersions” against people who are trying to do the right thing by the city.
Meanwhile, Karin Morgan appeared at the public podium asking Councilman La Pelusa to explain his role in the Chiappone charges.
As reported in the “Bayonne Community News” last May, La Pelusa admitted that he was among the aides who had signed over his state checks to Chiappone in 2005, money that eventually ended up in Chiappone’s personal and reelection bank accounts.
Morgan asked La Pelusa if he had heard the term “unindicted conspirator,” and raised other similar provocative questions about La Pelusa’s relationship to the charges.
Although less confrontational at the April 21 meeting, Morgan has confronted La Pelusa before. Last September – after La Pelusa’s role in the Chiappone case was fully disclosed – Morgan had demanded that La Pelusa resign, a point La Pelusa quickly noted.
“Miss Morgan has appeared before this council twice, and is it a coincidence that she appeared now just before an election?” La Pelusa asked. “I did the right thing for Bayonne.”
Kathleen Henderson urged the council to move ahead with ordinances that would allow caregivers to feed, neuter and care for feral cats – which has been on and off the agenda since first proposed last August.
“I’m angry,” she said. “It is not illegal to feed these cats.”
She said that by passing the ordinance, the City Council would pave the way for the Bayonne Feral Cat Foundation to seek grant money to provide care for these cats.
Later in the meeting, the council agreed to introduce the ordinance, although Lo Re cautioned the public not to mistake this vote for approval.
“There are things in this I do not agree with,” Lo Re said.
Wilbeck to face BOE hearing
Alleging that Denis Wilbeck, a candidate for a council at large seat, has routinely used school resources in his campaign, the Board of Education is holding a hearing on April 29.
An employee has the option of whether to have this hearing in public or in closed sessions. Wilbeck, who is currently vice principal at Henry Harris School, said he wants his case to be heard in public.
He is being accused of using school stationery to distribute campaign materials in the current campaign for council, as well as use of school property and the school seal in previous elections.
“When I ran for freeholder, I filmed a video on the street in front of the high school,” he said.
In 2005 when running for freeholder, Wilbeck printed stationery that included the school district seal as well as a seal from one of the city boards he served on. A campaign worker used one of these envelopes to send out a campaign flyer, which is cited by the school district as a violation.
Wilbeck also encouraged students who needed community service as part of their requirements to graduate high school to request to work on his campaign.
“This was done before for Mayor Doria and others,” he said. “It was okay then, but not when I asked.”
The most recent violation of school policy allegedly came this year when Wilbeck used school stationery to deliver a voter registration card and a campaign flyer to a constituent.
“This was discarded stationery,” he said. “I didn’t mail it. I just put it in someone’s door. Somehow someone put a stamp on it, mailed it, and it was returned to the office of the Superintendent of Schools.” — ADS