The Hoboken City Council voted down a $15,000 legal contract for Antonelli Kantor Rivera, P.C. that would’ve began a lawsuit against the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that the administration touted would happen on Tuesday.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“This council unanimously asked the FAA to take action to protect us from non-essential helicopters. We had that sent to the FAA, we’ve heard nothing in response, we’ve heard a ton from out constituents,” said 5th Ward Councilman Phil Cohen, a resolution co-sponsor.
“The reason why this is in new business is because the administration presented this on the Friday after we had our deadline on Thursday. What follows is to increase the council’s budget, which is $3,000, an additional $15,000 to allow for the preparation of a complaint against the FAA and whatever research relates to the claims in that complaint.”
Cohen added that he and his colleagues had all heard from constituents who believe this is a public health emergency, therefore approving the emergency resolution was in everyone’s best interests.
1st Ward Councilman Paul Presinzano noted that Hudson County Executive Craig Guy and Kearny Mayor Carol Jean Doyle recently met with the owner of the HHI Heliport regarding cutting back on non-essential helicopter, as HCV first reported.
He said he personally spoke to Guy and said that HHI Heliport indicated they’d be scaling back on flights, while he told Mayor Ravi Bhalla, who has come out in support of filing a lawsuit, and Cohen he thinks litigation is the wrong approach.
” … I said to them very clearly that I’m not in favor of this because you work better as a team, so I feel like a coalition or Jersey City joining us, Union City, Weehawken, everybody … instead of us taking this alone,” he explained.
“Because when you sue the federal government, they’re just gonna drag things out as long as they can, one. Two, this administration that’s running the country right now seems to be very vindictive and my concern is if we spend $15,000 to go for a lawsuit and we suddenly lose a million dollars in grant funding – it seems to happen that way.”
Presinzano also mentioned that the U.S. Department of Justice is already suing Hoboken for their sanctuary city status, as well as that the lawsuit was going to cost way more than just $15,000 in the long run.
He then reiterated that he would have supported litigation if other municipalities had joined them.
2nd Ward Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher, a mayoral candidate, said she agreed with Presinzano’s points, and while non-essential helicopter travel definitely has a negative impact on Hoboken, she said Antonelli Kantor was the wrong firm for this.
“It feels like instead of rushing, to me, a primary election on Tuesday, we should spend just a few minutes to identify what the right attorney is, a little bit of input around suing the federal government at this time, and what our chances are,” she said.
The council voted 6-1(1) to add two emergency resolutions to the agenda, with Councilwoman-at-Large Emily Jabbour, another mayoral candidate, voting no and Council President Jim Doyle abstaining. They are both federal government employees.
The subsequent vote on the Antonelli Kantor contract failed 2-5(1), with only Cohen and Councilman-at-Large Joe Quintero, the other resolution co-sponsor, voting yes.
During a live radio interview with this reporter via Hudson Media Group’s Good Government Radio yesterday, Bhalla indicated he was optimistic the resolution would pass despite being in the midst of a budget crunch.
“Given the number of residents, this morning at the bus stops, the number of emails I’ve gotten, the number of text messages from residents who are so relieved that Hoboken is finally taking action,” he said.
“We would be remiss if the city council were not, at a minimum, to retain outside counsel to look at what remedies the people of Hoboken have … We need to do this with a sense of urgency, we need to do this now.”
Ravi tries to put Hoboken on another legal path to failure with 15K to some legal pals.
It blew up in his face. Wot a shame. 😂
Saw Ravi at the 15th and Willow bus stop yesterday. Not sure what support he thinks he was getting, because most everyone was telling him what a failure both this initiative, and his administration generally, was.
Why did Emily vote “No” not only to awarding this contract but also the need to vote on it as an emergency ordinance? Did Ravi sell this puppet off to the Hudson County Democrat Organization as she seeks their nomination for mayor?