HOBOKEN — Hoboken politics are interesting…and complicated.
On Friday, the Associated Press covered the story that was reported on the cover of the Hoboken Reporter two weeks ago, about state Assembly candidate and Hoboken Housing Authority Executive Director Carmelo Garcia filing a lawsuit accusing Mayor Dawn Zimmer’s administration of “ethnic cleansing.”
Garcia and his allies have been at odds with the Zimmer administration, whose allies have the majority on the unpaid housing board of commissioners that oversees Garcia’s job.
Garcia runs the federally subsidized housing projects in Hoboken.
The two factions have been part of a power struggle over the future of the projects. Garcia has promoted his “Vision 20/20” plan to demolish and rebuild part of the projects. Zimmer’s allies have wanted more details of the plan, and are concerned about Garcia having control over all of the lucrative contracts.
The power struggle has become so heated that Garcia taped a lunch he had with Zimmer’s husband, Stan Grossbard, earlier this year. Garcia has been trying to prove that the Zimmer administration is interfering in his work, giving positions to cronies, and trying to keep minorities out of power positions.
Two weeks ago, the controversy ramped up when he filed a lawsuit making the accusation of “ethnic cleansing” in Hoboken, among others.
Friday, the Associated Press published a small story on the controversy. In their initial version of the story, they noted incorrectly, “Housing director Carmelo Garcia is challenging a plan to destroy dilapidated public housing and give residents vouchers to relocate.”
The AP later removed that line, and in some news outlets, replaced the story with a more detailed version.
To read the Reporter‘s story on the controversy, click HERE.
To read the AP story, which appeared in the Wall Street Journal, among other places, click here.
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