Hudson County Superior Court Assignment Judge Jeffrey Jablonski awarded a subsidy of Hoboken developer Pegasus Partners $45,517 for expenses related to an Open Public Records Act (OPRA) lawsuit with the city last week, court documents show.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“Defendant shall immediately pay to Plaintiff the total sum of $45,517.00 for services performed by Plaintiff’s counsel through February 29, 2024 in connection with Plaintiff’s claims in this matter, and that the check in that amount shall be made payable to Plaintiff,” Jablonski wrote in an order last Friday, May 17th.
The same judge ruled in October that the city must release police station appraisal records, and while the city appealed, they eventually opted not to pursue the case any further.
That came just over a month after Just Block 112 sued for the records, which they said yielded no response from the city for six months.
Briefs filed in the case shows that the city’s position was that the appraisals were in draft form, which under New Jersey law makes them exempt from OPRA.
“It strains credulity to suggest that JB112 would be entitled under common law (or under OPRA for that matter) to a copy of a draft Appraisal prepared for the City’s own use and analysis, so that it could ascertain the City’s own position respecting possible Property value for a sale, before the City has even made that determination. That result would be absurd,” McManimon, Scotland & Baumann attorney William W. Northgrave wrote on September 19th.
” … Again, as the Appraisal remained in draft and was not finalized, the City reasonably believed that no further response to the Request was warranted. Counsel Cert., Para. 8. The Appraisal remains in draft as of this date,” he wrote in a separate brief on May 2nd.
1st Ward Councilman Paul Presinzano said in a statement this morning that this outcome raises concerns about the ongoing litigation between the city and the Western Edge project, a Pegasus Partners endeavor.
“How many millions of dollars are potentially going to be lost if the Western Edge case goes to trial? Once again this administration does what’s best for them and not what’s best for the taxpayers,” Presinzano said.
In connection to their lawsuit over the Western Edge project, which received approval from the planning board in May following a judge’s ruling, Just Block 112 believed Hoboken ordered the appraisal to be completed by December.
While the council voted against having the planning board determine if the zone in question was in need of redevelopment in April 2022, the exact same measure passed the following month, as HCV first reported.
Then in November, the governing body voted to designate an area in the 1st Ward that included the police station as a redevelopment zone, following the determination of the planning board.
Another example of Mayor Ravi Bhalla’s “Don’t Ask I Won’t Tell” policy costing Hoboken taxpayers big money.
45k plus what it cost to defend Bhalla.
The only question is why Bhalla refused to be transparent.
Why would anyone see Bhalla as a viable Congressional Candidate? He cannot build relationships with important stakeholders. He cannot develop executable plans without getting sued. His inner circle is clearly inept, and talent management is essential when working in a sprawling bureaucracy.
The list goes on….