Hoboken 1st Ward Councilman/mayoral hopeful Mike DeFusco plans to bring a “floating pool and urban beach” area to the Mile Square City if elected on November 7th.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“Politicians have promised us a community pool for as long as I can remember, but they have never delivered,†DeFusco said in a statement.
“Hoboken should be leading the way and providing innovative community amenities — which is why as Mayor, I will acquire the land currently owned by Union Dry Dock on the Hudson River to finally connect the entire waterfront and construct a municipal urban beach and floating pool complex.”
The Floating Pool concept would not only finally provide Hoboken residents with a public community pool, but would also include two Urban Beach spaces: a children’s splash pool, a riverfront marina and a continuation of the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway.
Located at 901 Sinatra Drive, the Union Dry Dock property is the last vestige of the waterfront’s industrial past and one of the only remaining undeveloped parcels on the Gold Coast.
Under DeFusco’s plan, the property would be acquired through transparent negotiations, and public-private partnerships would be sought to minimize upfront costs to Hoboken taxpayers while providing a much-needed community amenity.
One of his mayoral rivals, Councilman-at-Large Ravi Bhalla has already expressed an interest in making a city-run pool a part of his recreation program agenda.
While a spokesman for the Bhalla campaign declined to comment on DeFusco’s proposed pool plan, a source close to the councilman said “at some point in the campaign, plans will be subject to a reality test and we are going to be very comfortable in that comparison.”
There are only two way that Union Dry Dock property can be acquired for public use is outright paying the multimillion dollar asking price for active, profitable business on prime Hudson River real-estate or the use of emanate domain take the business and property. Both options seem highly unlikely to happen.
ditto! My taxes have reached an all time high and the City does not provide adequate essential services. A half mile from here is a large pool on the Palisades and one mile away is an olympic size pool. Zimmer’s supporters ran down the YMCA pool. This should be a private matter.
The public taking of private property is a costly and often abused process. Most times the taxpayers are on the hook for huge payouts that are never projected upfront. Taking Union Drydock will not only be probably the most expensive “taking” in the history of the City, but it will, most likely , be the most litigious one. If this jerk ever becomes Mayor, strap yourselves in because he is going to take your wallet for one heck of a ride!
While some may consider Union Drydock to bean eyesore, it is the last remaining reminder of Hobokens remarkable Maritime history. It still employs over 100 people, pays taxes and contributes to the local economy. It should be celebrate and not ostracized for the sake of political gamesmanship.
Even more frightening about this proposal is DeFuscos reference to private partnership. Roughly translated, that could mean that he is willing to make deals with his developer donors for height and density tradeoffs on projects all over town in return for them contributing to this moronic concept.
Take a look around you and you will see what happens when a Mayor trades height and density for give backs. Zimmer has done it over and over again and we are being swallowed up by over development and more and more traffic.
Clearly, DeFusco can’t think beyond the headlines and Public Relations gimmicks he is touting. He’s just another idiot with a dumb idea.