TEAM DAVIS VOWS TO STOP NADROWSKI ASSAULT ON BAYONNE TAXPAYERS

Council members Perez, Carroll, La Pelusa Will Vote Against Nadrowski’s Political Ploy, Saving Bayonne Taxpayers Millions in Legal Costs

BAYONNE, N.J. — Standing up for Bayonne taxpayers against a savage assault by mayoral candidate Sharon Nadrowski, Mayor Jimmy Davis is vowing to stop an attempt to break the city’s sale agreement on a major development project at the former Military Ocean Terminal that his opponent is pushing. Nadrowski’s bizarre plan would cost Bayonne taxpayers millions of dollars by breaching a contract that she herself supported and voted in favor of, and that her campaign manager Joe DeMarco personally negotiated when he worked for city government.

Council members Juan Perez, Neil Carroll and Gary La Pelusa all plan to vote against Nadrowski’s resolution to dissolve the contract and expose taxpayers to millions of dollars in legal liability at next week’s Council meeting.

City redevelopment attorneys have closely reviewed the matter and have produced a legal opinion memo stating that the developer, Bayonne Partners LLC, is not in breach of its contract with the city. Thus, Nadrowski’s actions to cancel the project’s financial and redevelopment agreements would constitute breach of contract by the city and would result in taxpayers being forced to pay millions of dollars in damages.

“I will not stand by and let Sharon Nadrowski cost each and every Bayonne taxpayer thousands of dollars to further her political agenda,” said Mayor Davis. “Let’s be perfectly clear here: if the city tries to exit this contract we will get sued and we will lose, but even more dangerously it would create a precedent for other developers to sue. Bayonne taxpayers would be forced to pay thousands of dollars more every year to pay for this costly mistake by Nadrowski, and I will never let that happen. Not over my dead body!”

“Sharon Nadrowski can’t even keep her own destructive political stunt straight, as this latest attempt to defraud Bayonne taxpayers is now the third version of it she has expressed,” said Davis campaign spokesman Phil Swibinski. “First she said the developer only had an ‘option’ to buy the land, which was proven to be false. Then she said she wanted to ‘renegotiate’ the already-settled contract, and now she lies again and says it’s ‘null and void’ when in reality it is active and legally enforceable. If Nadrowski’s million dollar plus threat to Bayonne taxpayers wasn’t so real it would almost be comical. The bottom line is that Mayor Davis and his team are going to defeat Nadrowski’s ridiculous resolution, save Bayonne taxpayers millions of dollars and prove that Nadrowski is the wrong choice for Mayor.”

Nadrowski’s latest version of her attempt to destroy Bayonne’s finances relies on two false statements:

• She claims that the agreement between Bayonne Partners Urban Renewal and the city is null and void because the agreement stated closing needed to occur by Nov. 3, 2021. However, she fails to mention that this clause can only be triggered if the city and state meet certain conditions that must be met prior to the sale, including providing a highway access permit, an NJDEP waterfront development permit and the extension of certain utility improvements to the site. Without those conditions being met, the buyer is under no obligation to close the sale by the November 3, 2021 date. The city has faced delays in meeting these obligations due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the state has yet to supply the necessary permits, which is out of the city’s control. Mayor Davis fully intends to complete these conditions as soon as possible to allow this project to begin.

• Nadrowski also claims that the PILOT granted was for a project with a maximum of 850 residential units, and the current project now has 1,250 residential units, and says the original pilot is not valid anymore. Again, Nadrowski is being dishonest and trying to twist the facts to her advantage. The Redevelopment agreement was amended in 2017 to increase the unit count from 850 to 1,250 and the city will receive more revenue due to this change, because the PILOT payment is based in part on the number of units at the site. The PILOT agreement is still completely valid and enforceable, and Nadrowski herself voted for this amendment to the plan.