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A Letter to the Judge presiding over the PA v BLRA case
Posted 02-15-2008 at 11:24 AM by neilbarton
The Advocate, on behalf of the citizens of Bayonne, mailed this letter today:
Superior Court Judge Thomas P. Olivieri
Chancery Division, General Equity, of the Superior Court for Hudson County
Hudson County Administration Building
595 Newark Avenue
Jersey City, NJ 07306
(201) 795-6000
Neil Barton
The Bayonne Public Advocate
www.BayonnePublicAdvocate.com
A civil activist website working to provide a voice & protect the citizens of Bayonne
Case: The Port Authority of NY & NJ versus Bayonne Local Redevelopment Authority
Dear Judge Olivieri,
I recently read the article in the Jersey Journal on February 15th 2008 entitled “P.A. lawsuit on land: No end in sight” and I found myself significantly frustrated. According to the article, you noted that “nobody who objected to the P.A. transaction bothered to go to court to try and block it.” You went on to say "I find that somewhat troublesome."
I would suggest that you are unaware of the background on this issue. Please consider this a “friend of the court” briefing from the citizens of Bayonne to bring you up to speed on this issue.
The citizens of Bayonne opposed this deal from the beginning.
Earlier in the year, when this agreement was to come to a vote, citizen upon citizen filled the city council chambers to voice not only concern, but anger at the Bayonne Local Redevelopment Authority. Person after person, unconnected with any political interests, got up to speak, in angry tones, begging and pleading with the BLRA not to make this deal. Even people who knew nothing about real estate had read in the papers that other suitors, with larger bids wished to have a chance to bid on this land. However, contrary to its mission to serve the public best interest, and contrary to the desperate pleas by innocent civilians, contrary even to the suggestion by their own attorney that they table the vote that night due to the high tension of the room and the opposition being expressed, the BLRA voted to approve the deal.
As a friend of the court, you should be made aware that this deal was done without the consent of the public. Also you should be made aware that the Port Authority is acting without the consent of the public.
Your Honor you wondered why no one went to court to block this action. I would respectfully submit that the citizens of a town should not have to go to court to force the government to do its will. Indeed, as I understand it, there are limitations to what judicial remedies that we citizens can avail ourselves. Certainly in the end the local government did act in our interests, taking advantage of what we were told was a legal loophole to reverse this deal. Credit should be given to the City Council who stepped in to stop an out of control city agency. But more credit should be given to the citizens of Bayonne, who after realizing that the BLRA would not listen, brought our voice directly to our elected representatives and made the Council members realize our concerns. This change happened not because of court actions, but because of civil activists petitioning our government for change. That is how government is supposed to work for citizens, not via court actions.
However, after having our trust abused by the city, and working hard to remedy that situation, we now find ourselves being abused by the state. One has to wonder why a state agency would do this when it is supposed to act in the public interest. One has to wonder what ulterior motives exist. Surely whatever it is can only be to the detriment of the citizens of Bayonne, if not NJ.
Your Honor we citizens must bring our pleading to you. The state has refused to listen. The Port Authority has refused to listen. Will you listen to the citizens you serve? Will you hear our pleas? We, who live in one of the most taxed states in the country, should not have to suffer a lawsuit that will surely only add to our burden. Is it possible that the Court might listen to our plea, or is our only remedy also a legal one? Do we citizens have to search & search at our own cost for some legal loophole of our own so that we can somehow evade the laws that prevent us from bringing suit against the Port Authority and the BLRA in order to stop this?
It is my hope that this letter might assist you in your dealings with this case. Perhaps some action can be taken on the part of the citizens.
Thank you for your consideration,
Neil Barton
Organizer of the Bayonne Public Advocate
www.BayonnePublicAdvocate.com, a Bayonne Community blog & civil activist website working to provide a voice & protect the citizens of Bayonne
cc: The office of the Governor of New Jersey
The office of the Mayor of Bayonne
The Executive Director of the Bayonne Local Redevelopment Authority
The Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey
The Editor of the Jersey Journal
Superior Court Judge Thomas P. Olivieri
Chancery Division, General Equity, of the Superior Court for Hudson County
Hudson County Administration Building
595 Newark Avenue
Jersey City, NJ 07306
(201) 795-6000
Neil Barton
The Bayonne Public Advocate
www.BayonnePublicAdvocate.com
A civil activist website working to provide a voice & protect the citizens of Bayonne
Case: The Port Authority of NY & NJ versus Bayonne Local Redevelopment Authority
Dear Judge Olivieri,
I recently read the article in the Jersey Journal on February 15th 2008 entitled “P.A. lawsuit on land: No end in sight” and I found myself significantly frustrated. According to the article, you noted that “nobody who objected to the P.A. transaction bothered to go to court to try and block it.” You went on to say "I find that somewhat troublesome."
I would suggest that you are unaware of the background on this issue. Please consider this a “friend of the court” briefing from the citizens of Bayonne to bring you up to speed on this issue.
The citizens of Bayonne opposed this deal from the beginning.
Earlier in the year, when this agreement was to come to a vote, citizen upon citizen filled the city council chambers to voice not only concern, but anger at the Bayonne Local Redevelopment Authority. Person after person, unconnected with any political interests, got up to speak, in angry tones, begging and pleading with the BLRA not to make this deal. Even people who knew nothing about real estate had read in the papers that other suitors, with larger bids wished to have a chance to bid on this land. However, contrary to its mission to serve the public best interest, and contrary to the desperate pleas by innocent civilians, contrary even to the suggestion by their own attorney that they table the vote that night due to the high tension of the room and the opposition being expressed, the BLRA voted to approve the deal.
As a friend of the court, you should be made aware that this deal was done without the consent of the public. Also you should be made aware that the Port Authority is acting without the consent of the public.
Your Honor you wondered why no one went to court to block this action. I would respectfully submit that the citizens of a town should not have to go to court to force the government to do its will. Indeed, as I understand it, there are limitations to what judicial remedies that we citizens can avail ourselves. Certainly in the end the local government did act in our interests, taking advantage of what we were told was a legal loophole to reverse this deal. Credit should be given to the City Council who stepped in to stop an out of control city agency. But more credit should be given to the citizens of Bayonne, who after realizing that the BLRA would not listen, brought our voice directly to our elected representatives and made the Council members realize our concerns. This change happened not because of court actions, but because of civil activists petitioning our government for change. That is how government is supposed to work for citizens, not via court actions.
However, after having our trust abused by the city, and working hard to remedy that situation, we now find ourselves being abused by the state. One has to wonder why a state agency would do this when it is supposed to act in the public interest. One has to wonder what ulterior motives exist. Surely whatever it is can only be to the detriment of the citizens of Bayonne, if not NJ.
Your Honor we citizens must bring our pleading to you. The state has refused to listen. The Port Authority has refused to listen. Will you listen to the citizens you serve? Will you hear our pleas? We, who live in one of the most taxed states in the country, should not have to suffer a lawsuit that will surely only add to our burden. Is it possible that the Court might listen to our plea, or is our only remedy also a legal one? Do we citizens have to search & search at our own cost for some legal loophole of our own so that we can somehow evade the laws that prevent us from bringing suit against the Port Authority and the BLRA in order to stop this?
It is my hope that this letter might assist you in your dealings with this case. Perhaps some action can be taken on the part of the citizens.
Thank you for your consideration,
Neil Barton
Organizer of the Bayonne Public Advocate
www.BayonnePublicAdvocate.com, a Bayonne Community blog & civil activist website working to provide a voice & protect the citizens of Bayonne
cc: The office of the Governor of New Jersey
The office of the Mayor of Bayonne
The Executive Director of the Bayonne Local Redevelopment Authority
The Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey
The Editor of the Jersey Journal
Total Comments 10
Comments
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DAZEGood Letter....and Good Luck.....I am not opposed to Port Authority or whomever.....I am opposed to how the BLRA negotiated.....in all fairness, The BLRA are the ones that should be brought up on charges.......
The BLRA mis-represented the City of Bayonne and with the help of WHO......Dori, Malloy, Corzine, Coffey, Kist, Menendez.....who???? There needs to be an investigation and get to the bottom of who made the mistake in the dealings at the Maritime district |
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adminthank you Daze, six hard copies were mailed today to all parties
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HappyPolskiSure wish I was in the office today. I'd author a letter to the same bodies with the hopes that additional voices might have a better chance of being heard through the din.
Good luck Neil. |
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adminThank you Stan, I contacted various papers today as well, I am hopeful that perhaps this will have some sort of impact.
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luluNeil
Your letter is excellent. We can only hope that Judge Olivieri now has a better understanding of the sequence of events that has led to this catastrophe. Thanks for taking the time to address this issue. |
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PurrThank you Neil, I appreciate all the hard work you put into this. I hope, for once, someone will think about us: the Bayonne taxpayer.
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LDePintoNeil,
Super letter. Unfortunately, there is justice and there is the law, and in this case I suspect that the Judge will not be allowed to consider your letter under the law. The PA has a right to sue. More unfortunate is that they may have a strong case........ |
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TheQuietManNeil,
You have it right and yet you have it wrong. You are absolutely right when you say that the people hated this sale from the start. The citizenry have complained from the start about the deal and it was a late hour deal that made the sale. The BLRA ignored everyone. This also means our two esteemed councilmen that sat on the board and then later claimed they made a mistake. Notice how they jumped ship right after it hit the fan? They knew the deal and still voted for it anyway! Made a mistake? They weren't expecting the outcry! Wait until they start complaining how unfair this is to the City. LoRe and Haleckey put the gun in our mouths and pulled the trigger. Where you have it wrong is that you claim the Port Authority has ignored everyone. The Port Authority did nothing wrong with their bid. By the way it is not 50 million it is actually 136 million with the land and road improvements (but that is for another day). For the record, I am for the Port Authority deal. The argument is that the city pulled another fast one again. They signed a deal and then reneged to get a better offer, which is not actually, but looks good on paper. The PA had a legal document and the BLRA (or should I say City) tried a stunt. The judge is not wrong for ignoring us the citizenry. This is a legal matter, nothing more. Unfortunately, this is going to hurt us in the end. Where the blame lies is with the city and the BLRA. This is what happens when you have one party control. There is no check or balance any longer. This is the lesson we need to learn. Bayonne will get the new contract in the end, but it will cost the city millions. The best part of this is when the housing goes in and the complaints start about the pier operation. There will be other lawsuits. The BLRA has managed to get this spectacularly wrong from the beginning. You don't mix industrial uses with housing. It is not rocket science. By the way, the new appointee is another Hudson County Democrat. Guess the City didn't learn its lesson yet. One last thought: I like you letter. I wish it would help, but it won't. Your heart is in the right place. |
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LDePintoNeil,
A copy to the Attorney General might also be appropriate :} |
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The Bayonne Public Advocate » The Port Authority case moves forward[...] would refer the readers to the letter that I wrote to the judge in this case on February 15th. I sent copies of this letter to the Governor, the Mayor, the Port [...]
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