Dear Editor: As your many articles over the last few weeks have pointed out, there has been a great deal of controversy lately over the changes to the publicly approved plans for the automated parking garage currently under construction at 916 Garden Street. Through my first foray into negotiating the sometimes-difficult path of the city government, there has been one civil servant that has helped me a great deal, Zoning Officer Joel Mestre. The first time I went to the Zoning Office (after he began his tenure), he took me into his office and explained the many terms, definitions and laws that I have become all too familiar with over the last few months. He instructed me that all the information in his office was public, I was free to examine anything I wanted to, and copy the entire file if I wished, which I did. Those photocopies became the basis for informing the public of the substantial number of deviations from the variance as granted for the construction of the HPA’s garage. After he visited my home and witnessed the inconsistencies between what was on file in his office and what was being built, he was the one to take the action to send it back to the Zoning Board for additional review. I must also say, that I am extremely disappointed that the Zoning Board did not request his presence at the overflowing Zoning Board hearing held on Tuesday, January 18. If it’s not in his job description to be there, then it should be, or at the very least, they should have secured his presence at such a critical meeting dealing with two major projects in Hoboken. All of that aside, while in his office I also witnessed how Zoning Officer Mestre deals with the architects, builders and contractors that are plying their trades in Hoboken. There is only way to describe how he treated them, like a pitbull. He has a fast working knowledge of the zoning ordinances, and gives them no room to deviate from the law. While I was there he told one architect he had to pull down part of a facade because he wasn’t using the right brick, and he refused another architect’s drawing because it had too many hand corrections on it. And the best part, he has given the parking authority an ultimatum to re-file the correct drawings to his office for review, or face a Stop Work Order. Mr. Mayor, if you read this, as a taxpayer, I want more people like Joel Mestre working in City Hall! Mike Baldassari