City faces choice after commissioners assess southwest Hoboken property at $5.4M
A panel of three Condemnation Commissioners appointed by the Hudson County Superior Court has assessed the value of Block 12, a nearly one acre property in southwest Hoboken, at $5.4 million, a letter from Mayor Dawn Zimmer to the City Council revealed this past Wednesday. The Zimmer administration used its power of eminent domain to acquire the site, which it plans to turn into a park, but the final price it will pay for the property is yet to be determined.
If either the city or Ponte Properties, the former landowner, appeal the commissioners’ assessment, a trial will be held in Hudson County Superior Court to determine a final price, and the $5.4 million assessment will not be admissible as evidence, according to Zimmer.
Prior to the commissioners’ decision, the city had offered $2.9 million for Block 12, while Ponte had argued that it was worth just under $8 million.
“We are disappointed with this decision,” wrote Zimmer in her letter, “which we believe overvalues the property based on the Commissioners [sic] apparent decision to simply split the difference between the two competing offers.”
Zimmer said she had not decided whether or not to appeal the ruling as of yet. She emphasized that her decision either way would not affect the build-out timeline for the park, which is hoped to be completed by December 2015.
Part of the funding to purchase the property will come from a $3 million Hudson County Open Space grant.
State will seek public feedback on Rebuild by Design plan at Jan. 20 meeting
A public meeting will be held on Tuesday, Jan. 20 to solicit feedback from the public on the Lower Hudson Rebuild by Design component of the State’s Sandy Action Plan. The project aims to protect Hoboken, Weehawken, and northern Jersey City from flooding. The meeting will take place at 7 p.m. at the Hoboken Multi Service Center, located at 124 Grand St.
Representatives from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), N.J. Department of Environmental Protection, Rebuild by Design, Hoboken, and Weehawken will attend to discuss the project and listen to community feedback. The city will officially submit feedback collected through this community meeting to the state and HUD as part of its own feedback.
“I am proud that we are moving forward on this transformational project to make Hoboken and our neighbors more resilient to flooding,” said Mayor Dawn Zimmer. “This is an opportunity for members of the community to speak directly to representatives from the state and federal governments about how important it is to complete this project as quickly as possible.”
On Dec.16, 2014, the state of New Jersey announced its Action Plan for the third round of Superstorm Sandy funding which includes $230 million for the first phase of a comprehensive flood protection plan for Hoboken, Weehawken, and northern Jersey City awarded as part of the Rebuild by Design competition.
According to the proposed Action Plan, feasibility studies will take one to two years, followed by approximately two years for the design phase, followed by construction. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection will receive the $230 million in funding and manage the project.
Two public hearings on the Action Plan Amendment were scheduled for Jan. 6 in Toms River and Jan. 7 in Paramus. The Jan. 20 public meeting is specifically to collect feedback on the Hudson River Project element of the Action Plan.
Public comments will also be accepted through Jan. 15 at 5 p.m. via email to sandy.publiccomment@dca.state.nj.us and via U.S. mail to Jamie Saults, Constituent Services Manager, Sandy Recovery Division, NJ Department of Community Affairs, 101 South Broad St., Post Office Box 800, Trenton, New Jersey 08625-0800. The City of Hoboken asks that written comments also be copied to floodplan@hobokennj.gov so that the city can incorporate community input into its formal feedback on the action plan.
Hudson School Founder/Director Suellen Newman to retire after next school year
Suellen Newman, founder and director of The Hudson School, has announced she will retire at the end of the 2016 school year.
Newman has been the head of The Hudson School for more than 36 years, since she founded it in Hoboken in 1978, making her one of the longest serving school directors in the TriState area. The Hudson School is a private institution serving approximately 200 students in grades 5 through 12.
Newman will remain fully engaged with the school’s operations as its director through June 2016 when she retires.
“Suellen has created a unique and truly wonderful legacy by dedicating her life to the thousands of students who have attended The Hudson School over the last 36 years…She has worked to make every student a better, more compassionate and socially engaged person,” said Joel Freiser, chairman of The Hudson School’s Board of Trustees.
Newman shared her feelings as she made this historic announcement: “It has been a magnificent and rewarding journey leading The Hudson School for almost four decades. At THS we have created a foundation of respect and a partnership among educators, students and families that helped us to expand and thrive over the years. I know that what we have built together will continue to evolve and grow stronger in the coming years. I am proud and grateful for having had the opportunity to work with skilled and passionate teachers and administrators to guide two generations of children.”
The Board of Trustees will implement a thorough transition plan that ensures that The Hudson School maintains its academic standards and operates efficiently during the next 18 months while a new director is selected. The search process will rely on input from professional education consultants, faculty, staff, parents, alumni and students in order to allow the board to choose the best possible person to lead The Hudson School going forward.
“It is essential that we select a director who supports Suellen’s legacy and provides strong, professional leadership to meet the evolving needs of our students and faculty,” Freiser added.
The board will provide regular updates on its search and related matters.
Lawsuit alleging discrimination in Hoboken Housing Authority dismissed without prejudice
One of state Assemblyman Carmelo Garcia’s active lawsuits against the Hoboken Housing Authority (HHA) – for which he served as executive director until last year – was dismissed last month, although Garcia’s lawyer has said that it would be reinstated.
Garcia has been embroiled in a multi-year dispute with Mayor Dawn Zimmer and her allies on the HHA’s advisory board over the direction of the housing agency, which he had managed since 2010. The federal department of Housing and Urban Development funds the agency, which runs the city’s low-income subsidized housing.
In August of 2014, Garcia’s contract with the HHA was terminated by the board.
In a 2013 lawsuit, Garcia alleged that Zimmer and company were pursuing an “ethnic cleansing initiative” in town, trying to sequester minorities like him. After this initial complaint was dismissed for not including enough evidence, Garcia refiled with a few claims that the HHA had discriminated against him due to his race and threatened his employment, of which one claim under the New Jersey Civil Rights Act was allowed to continue.
On Dec. 19, 2014, Hudson County Superior Court Judge Christine Vanek granted a motion by attorney Thomas Abbate, who represents the HHA and its former board chairman Jake Stuiver, to dismiss Garcia’s remaining claim without prejudice due to his lawyer’s lack of response to interrogatories and discovery requests.
A dismissal without prejudice leaves room for a case to be reinstated, and on Wednesday, Garcia’s lawyer Louis Zayas said he had provided the requisite discovery documents and filed a motion to reinstate.
Zayas said he had a verbal agreement with Abbate that he would respond to Abbate’s discovery requests by Jan. 1 of this year, and was surprised to see the case dismissed in December. He called the dismissal “Mickey Mouse trivial nonsense.”
Calls and an email to Abbate this week went unanswered.
Garcia has also filed a new lawsuit since he was terminated this past fall, now including the information about the termination.
Zayas said he plans to file to have the remaining claim in Garcia’s first lawsuit consolidated and combined with the newest lawsuit Garcia filed against the city of Hoboken, Zimmer, the HHA, and affiliated individuals after his termination.
Mathnasium opens new afterschool math learning center in Hoboken
Mathnasium of Hoboken is now open for business, offering after-school math programs for children in grades K-12. The center, located at 706 Washington St., operates on the core belief that virtually any child can become great at math.
Mathnasium is a nationwide franchise with over 500 locations, but the Hoboken storefront is its first in Hudson County, and will serve Hoboken, Weehawken, and Jersey City. Ami Joshi and Bruhati Trivedi, the owners of Mathnasium of Hoboken, are both former teachers who live in Secaucus. Joshi was a public school teacher in Piscataway and Trivedi was a private school teacher in Jersey City.
“Mathnasium of Hoboken focuses solely on math, so we know how to teach it in a way that really connects with kids,” said Joshi and Trivedi. “Children at Mathnasium quickly learn that math can be fun and interesting as well as extraordinarily useful, both in terms of succeeding in school and for the valuable life skills it provides.”
They said the Mathnasium Model was particularly well designed for helping children who fall behind in math class and develop gaps in knowledge, something each of them saw in their past careers.
In addition to Joshi and Trivedi, there are four other instructors. They operate in rotation with students.
To find out more about Mathnasium of Hoboken, please contact Ami Joshi or Bruhati Trivedi, Owners of the Hoboken Mathnasium franchise, at (201) 683-7030, or visit http://www.mathnasium.com/hoboken.