Also seen lurking around the garage site was Masonite, Municipal Garage moving mouthpiece and Hoboken 411 roving reporter Lane Bajardi. He was an instrumental part of the initial sale of the Municipal Garage as pro development Mayor Dave Roberts made him chair of the Observer Highway Advisory Committee to move the garage in the first place despite his obvious conflict of interest in the matter.
Click here to read the Hudson Reporter article in 2006 on the Garage sale.
That's right, for those of you who don't know the background story never assume that Lane Bajardi represents John Q. Public on this matter. His motivation is simple as he resides at 70 Park Avenue apartment #5L and has a clear economic interest in seeing the Municipal Garage go away to increase his property value.
Keep in mind the garage was there when he bought his home. Is the L in apartment 5L for loser? Many who read this blog will probably think so. It should be duly noted that Lane was not taking any photos of the Garage after it had been cleaned out shortly after 4PM. That simply doesn't fit Hoboken 411's bash Zimmer at all costs narrative.
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| Lane "The Berserker Lurker" Bajardi seen lurking by the Municipal Garage Site yesterday. Nice pompadour! |
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| Lane Bajardi's residence at 70 Park Avenue- Right near Municipal Garage |
Mayor Dawn Zimmer, Director Jennifer Maier and Public Safety Director Angel Alicea were at the press event. Members of the press and bloggers were allowed to walk around the facility and inspect the premises. Both Mayor Zimmer and Director Maier stressed how thankful they were for the very hard work the Hoboken employees put in to get the garage cleared out by August 13th. I was able to get confirmation from Mayor Zimmer that she is still pursuing the letter of No Further Action from the DEP. The City of Hoboken has ten days to get the No Further Action (NFA) letter from the DEP past the close date of contract.
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| Director Jennifer Maier, Mayor Dawn Zimmer and City Workers at Garage Site |
The developer Hekemian has sent a letter out on 8-12-2010 saying the close was supposed to happen at 11:00am on Friday and according to a source actually showed up on the site at 11am and only found maintenance workers. There is a story on Hoboken Patch that goes into even more detail on the letter from Hekemian's lawyers.
Click below for the Patch story:
http://hoboken.patch.com/articles/hekemian-says-still-ready-to-close-city-still-cleaning-out-the-garage
There is no doubt in my opinion that if the City is heading to litigation that there can be no question that this issue could have been handled better by the Administration since litigation is never an optimal solution. With that said sometimes lawsuits are inevitable. Despite protestations by the developer Hekemian that they were ready to close the deal, no reasonable person actually believes that they intended to close on the property at $25 million when it is only worth $14 million. The events of the past several months have a lot to do with legal positioning on who gets the $2.5 million deposit. If the City is not fortunate enough to get the NFA letter as required to provide a cure within 10 days of the close date then its legal position could be jeopardized according to a source of mine that is familiar with environmental remediation. The normal approval process can take months according to my source.
The importance of the photo op was to show that the City of Hoboken did have the Municipal Garage cleaned out by close of business on Friday August 13, 2010. Whether or not it is splitting hairs that Hekemian claimed it should have been 11:00 AM or sometime on Friday will most likely be determined by the courts.
I was able to get some shots of the now cleared out Municipal Garage and they are featured below.
Below are some photos from yesterday's Hoboken Garage Clear out on August 13, 2010 at about 4:15PM:
Here is a quick video I shot of the garage doing a final walk through:
Below is is Hekemian's letter to the City of Hoboken declaring that they were ready to close on August 13, 2010 at 11:00 am:
