Weeks after the Hoboken City Council voted to use eminent domain, if necessary, to acquire northern waterfront property from the NY Waterway ferry company, the city was forced to back off and chart a new path last week.
After pressure from Gov. Phil Murphy and NJ Transit, the city will discuss how to find a use for the property that satisfies all of the involved parties.
NY Waterway, the private commuter ferry company that runs ferries from Hudson County to Manhattan, bought the former Union Dry Dock ship repair property on the north waterfront for $11.5 million last November. NY Waterway wants to use the property for ferry repair, refueling and maintenance. Hoboken had stated that they wanted the property for open public space but did not move on trying to obtain the land until after it had already been purchased. NY Waterway has since said that they will preserve some of the property for public space, too.
NJ Transit scheduled a vote to buy the property from NY Waterway and then lease it back to them, preventing Hoboken from trying to take it. But the agency ended up cancelling the special meeting after the City Council voted to end eminent domain proceedings Wednesday night. Click here for more.
Jersey City’s censoring of a burlesque show set for March 28 may lead to the revision of an ordinance prohibiting “obscene” entertainment.
Two days prior to the performance, the city’s law department warned FM, a new nightclub on Third Street, that the owners faced a $2,500 fine for the show – so the owners canceled it.
“The general consensus is that contemporary community standards would interpret a burlesque event as obscene entertainment,” the warning said.
The ordinance embodying those standards was adopted in the early 1980s and revised in the early 1990s. It was designed to prohibit the opening of strip clubs. But city officials now admit closing the burlesque show clearly did not meet the same standards.
“The city is planning to revise the ordinance,” said Hannah Peterson, spokesperson for the city. At the City Council meeting for this Wednesday a revision to the ordinance may be introduced. Click here for more.
Last week, the North Bergen Housing Authority fired Director of Security Geoffrey Santini, who had been accused in an NBC News investigative report of spending most of his time on his animal control business (he contracts with several towns) and little time at the federally funded full-time public housing slot.
Town spokesman Phil Swibinski confirmed the firing.
The NBC report on Feb. 28 also alleged that Santini misused a Housing Authority SUV – to which he had 24-hour access — for personal purposes, including for the animal job and occasionally giving rides to the mayor.
The Housing Authority suspended Santini shortly after the NBC report and began investigating. Click here for more.
