The Hoboken City Council voted 5-4 against a professional services contract that would have provided a Hop assessment and action plan at Wednesday’s meeting.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
” … Just in general, I think one of the most important things that we need to do as a city is figure out how to have an accessible, reliable, within city public transportation system, Hop system, that is expanded on weekends, late night, and the kind of system that makes people decided not to have a car,” said 2nd Ward Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher.
“One of the great things about this mayoral race is it was really issues focused and this topic of expanding the Hop was a big issue. When we think about the growth in our population over the last 10 years its been 20 percent and we’re gonna have another 20 percent growth and we can’t have 20 percent more cars, we have to have an expanded Hop system.”
She further stated that the proposed $55,004.03 contract with New York-based Nelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates felt “rushed” and “incomplete” due to a limited scope of services, which the city council has the ability to fix.
Similarly, 3rd Ward Councilman Mike Russo said he was on board with working to revamp the Hop system, but said the contract was hard to justify with transportation professionals available on staff and that transparency in the process is key
” … I think it’s important that we are very transparent about how we’re doing this. A lot of accusations were thrown around in our election, I think we need to avoid that stuff as much as possible because we need to unite the city and I think we do that by being as open and transparent as possible,” he explained.
“So if we’re not going to do this in house, I think we need to put it out to bid, I think we need to have that conversation, I think the council needs to evaluate what those bids look like and then make a decision from there. But I think we should revamp this and do this in a different way.”
After a woman in the audience briefly interrupted by speaking out near the microphone, 1st Ward Councilman Paul Presinzano said he was in favor of placing transportation contracts under more scrutiny.
“So I think in the past couple months, we’ve been a little more concerned with any types of contracts or any type of ordinance or resolution that’s been coming out of the transportation department, at least I have,” he began.
“We still have a Kimley-Horn contract that they came back begging for more money, they got it, and I still haven’t seen a report from that … I can echo what Councilman Russo had said, that we have professionals in these positions and consultants, for me, they just come back here every single time ‘we need more money, we need more money’ like we’re the piggy bank. And we’re gonna run into some financial straits which everyone agrees up here.”
He also felt consultants “just waste money” and that more work needs to be performed in house going forward.
Council President Jim Doyle then said “I disagree completely” before calling the vote.
The resolution was voted down 5-4, with Doyle, Councilwoman-at-Large Emily Jabbour, 5th Ward Councilman Phil Cohen, and Councilman at-Large Joe Quintero voting yes.
Jabbour, the mayor-elect and the sponsor of the resolution, shook her head and looked visibly frustrated as it became clear that the vote was going to fail, but she did not speak about the local legislation.
Earlier in the week, Jersey City resident Kevin Davis submitted an editorial that said the council should vote against the resolution since Nelson Principal-in-Charge Clayton Lane is also a founding member of Bike Hoboken, a sentiment he echoed during public portion.
Thrilling! Finally, the City Council is acting responsibly and not handing out cash when we have professionals in City Hall who can offer data and recommendations. No justification for this insider, friends and family taxpayer handout!
Love Jim Doyle’s non-argument. Way to go out on your shield for Ravi there, Jimbo. Your last two terms have been a wrecking ball to your earlier time on the council. Good luck and good bye!