Councilman Cunningham: Bhalla, Russo Attempted to Rush Railyard Development to Appease Union Political Donors

HOBOKEN, N.J. — At the October 2 City Council meeting, the administration had requested a vote to approve amendments to the Hoboken Yards Redevelopment Plan, which include the construction of two 300+ feet buildings and improvements to Warrington Plaza. Seeing that the Mayor had not sought community input on the project and failed to produce traffic and feasibility studies, the City Council voted to table the matter until a citywide public hearing could be held so all residents could be afforded the opportunity to have their voices heard and ask questions about the redevelopment plan.

At last night’s community meeting, residents expressed a great deal of concern about the magnitude of this project. Instead of coming out to listen to his constituents and presenting his reasoning for the amendments, Mayor Bhalla chose to continue spreading misinformation on Nixle about the project while taking credit for a delayed vote that was in fact already done by Council President Jen Giattino.

“Mayor Bhalla has purposely continued to misrepresent the size and scale of this project to Hoboken residents for his own political gain,” said Councilman Peter Cunningham. “The administration has failed to follow the proper redevelopment amendment protocols to weigh how this could potentially negatively impact our existing community. With Councilman Michael Russo’s support to rush through this approval process, it has become abundantly clear that the two are only concerned about appeasing their union donors and protecting their own campaign contributions. This is the largest redevelopment project in Hoboken’s history and we cannot afford to let politics influence the decisions that will affect our city for decades to come.”

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